Ubuntu Fatal Error Grub Install EFI

 Well I ran into the grub install error during ubuntu install. Had to run around lot of hoops, installed boot repair etc. My learnings captured here for benefit of community.

1. Make sure secure boot is off in the bios. Sorry I do not know how to install with UEFI, I generally have only ubuntu and no dual boot. 

2. Make sure the start of the disk has a 200MB Fat 32 partition with boot flag set. 

3. Make sure there is a partition of 200 MB set with flag of boot_grub set.

All of these can be done using gparted prior to doing the install. 

Hope this helps some poor soul out there like me to debug the issue.

Reduce Memory Usage Ubuntu/Kubuntu

So, I have one of my machine which has 1GB RAM... I know it is good enough for the work I do, but still being that fanatic of getting more RAM for my work, I did the following changes to increase the free RAM.

1. Disable unnecessary services. There are two places this needs to be done as some services use upstart and other are still using init.

2. Disable upstart processes. Browse to /etc/init and rename the files ending .conf to something else and that service would not start. Remember not all services should be disabled.

This is the screen shot of the services I have disabled. I have appended a ".no" to the file name.

3. Next is to install the software sysv-rc-conf.

Run it as root in a terminal and remove the check marks for those services which you do not need.

I generally remove bluetooth, blrtty, portmap, samba. Do not remove

bluetooth - if you are going to use bluetooth on your computer.

blrtty - if you are going to use the assistive technology features of the OS.

portmap - if you have done any port mapping on the computer.

samba - if you are going to share using samba with some windows computer.

After doing this, my memory consumption in KDE4 is 198 MB... went down from some 300MB odd which was earlier. Suprisingly, KDE4 is taking lot less memory compared to gnome. May be the new GDM is taking lot of memory.

I keep shuttling between KDE and Gnome from time to time, but off late have been using KDE4 for its widgets and cool features.

Installing Tomcat On 64 bit Linux

So am doing one project where I have to work on exposing spring bean as soap webservice, json, restful webservice and as ejb.

As tomcat being easy and free server to host, I went down to install it and run my project using tomcat.

I will put spring beans and other stuff later. I would start with the installation of the tomcat software on my ubuntu sorry kubuntu linux 64bit.

1. Get the tomcat binaries from tomcat download site.

2. Get the 64bit jdk from sun's java site. make sure you are downloading 64 bit version of the jdk. For tomcat you just need jre, but I am using jdk (it contains jre), the reason being I would be using the same to configure eclipse to use this jdk.

3. Make the jdk-6u17-linux-x64.bin executable. Depending on the release, the file name would be different.

chmod 755 jdk-6u17-linux-x64.bin
./jdk-6u17-linux-x64.bin


4. This will create the jdk folder and the required jar files.

5. Move the jdk folder to /opt folder. I prefer to do this as I keep all my installed software in /opt.

sudo mv jdk1.6.0_17 /opt

6. Now similarly extract the tomcat folder and put it in the /opt directory.

7. Now create a group named tomcat.

sudo groupadd tomcat

8. Now create a user named tomcat

sudo useradd -g tomcat -s /usr/sbin/nologin -m -d /home/tomcat tomcat

note that this user cannot login into a a shell, this is for security reasons. So no one can hack into and login into the system using tomcat id.

9. Now change the ownership of tomcat directory in /opt to tomcat.

sudo chown tomcat:tomcat -R tomcat.6.0.20

10. Now add yourself to the tomcat group, (required if you want to put the files in tomcat directory by copying, pasting)

usermod -G -a tomcat username

11. Now log out and login.

12. Browse to tomcat/bin directory. Open the setclasspath.sh file in your favorite text editor.

add variable following variables just under CLASSPATH = line.

JAVA_HOME=/opt/jdk1.6.0_17
JRE_HOME=${JAVA_HOME}/jre

Save the file.

13. Now run the command ./startup.sh. Your tomcat should be up and running. If not refer to the logs file under tomcat/logs directory for debugging.

to check if tomcat is up and running, open firefox or your favorite browser and go to url. http://localhost:8080/.

And you are all set now...

Hope this helps...

Silence GTK Sound In KDE4

I switched to kde4 as like its sleek modern looking UI. However, I was not able to move or find alternate for firefox.

Every now and then firefox alert used to give this annoying bell like sound, it is really frustrating. I found a solution for this annoyance.

Open up ~/.gtkrc or ~/.gtkrc-kde4 in your favourite editor. Add the following two lines to the file.

gtk-enable-event-sounds= 0
gtk-error-bell=0

Now log out and login. And you are all set.. the annoying sound is gone.

How to Install Sopcast Player Linux

Seems google codes are creating lot of new things for linux. A new addition to this is the sopcast player.

So, here is the easy step to install sopcast player.

1. Head down to this site.
2. Click on downloads.
3. Select the package rpm or deb or simple .gz file.
4. Install it and enjoy...

If you are getting error related to library file just put a comment and will tell you which one to install.

Now just start it and enjoi the world of sopcast.

It is heartening to see so many apps now coming for linux.

At last desktop effects on my asus m51ta-x2... yoo... hoo....

Seems the latest git for ati open source driver has the dri (direct rendering infrastructure) working. So, after installing the drivers from the source I was able to enabled desktop effects in my kde4. Yup sweetness of success atlast... so here are the steps to enable it...

Open your favorite command line too (konsole, terminal, xterm etc)

sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config git-core

sudo apt-get install libdrm-dev x11proto-gl-dev mesa-common-dev xutils-dev x11proto-xf86dri-dev x11proto-fonts-dev x11proto-randr-dev x11proto-video-dev x11proto-xext-dev x11proto-xinerama-dev x11proto-render-dev xserver-xorg-dev

git clone git://anongit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-ati

cd xf86-video-ati

./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr --enable-dri

make

sudo make install

Now reboot your computer. I thought restarting kdm should have worked, but it seems the driver files are not getting loaded.

Open your system settings and go to desktop effects. Click enable, but before you press apply go to advanced and change the rendering to xrenderer. Now click apply and there you go.. linux eye kandy the way you want :-D....

some changes are done from the steps given here. All credit goes to the post in the link and to open source ati developers... hats off to you guys...

asus M51TA-X2 and kubuntu...

I am getting this new laptop ... well here is the config... I specifically bought this as it does not support linux, so would be fun installing and playing with it to make linux work :-)...

Model
Brand	ASUS
Series	M51 Series
Model	M51TA-X2
General
Operating System	Windows Vista Home Premium
CPU Type	AMD Turion X2 Ultra ZM-82 2.2G
Screen	15.4" WXGA+
Memory Size	4GB DDR2
Hard Disk	250GB
Optical Drive	DVD Super Multi
Graphics Card	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650
Video Memory	512MB
Card slot	1 x Express Card
Other Features	30days Zero Bright Dot LCD
CPU
CPU Type	AMD Turion X2 Ultra
CPU Speed	ZM-82(2.20GHz)
CPU L2 Cache	2MB
Display
Screen Size	15.4"
Wide Screen Support	Yes
Display Type	Wide XGA+
Resolution	1440 x 900
Operating Systems
Operating System	Windows Vista Home Premium
Graphics
GPU/VPU	ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650
Video Memory	Dedicated 512MB
Graphic Type	Dedicated Card
Hard Drive
HDD	250GB
HD RPM	5400rpm
Memory
Memory	4GB
Optical Drive
Optical Drive Type	DVD Super Multi
Optical Drive Interface	Integrated
Communications
WLAN	802.11n Wireless LAN
Bluetooth	Yes
Ports
Card Slot	1 x Express Card
USB	4
IEEE 1394	1
Video Port	1 x VGA, 1 x HDMI
Other port	1 x E-SATA
Audio Ports	1 x Microphone-in jack 1 x Headphone-out jack (S/PDIF)
Audio
Audio	Integrated Sound card
Speaker	Internal Speakers
Input Device
Touchpad	Yes
Keyboard	Standard
Supplemental Drive
Card Reader	MMC, SD, MS/PRO
Webcam	1.3MP
Power
Battery	6-cell lithium ion
Manufacturer Warranty
Accidental Damage Warranty	1 year ASUS Accidental Damage Warranty - Drops, Fire, Spill, Surge for purchase after 9/10/07
Parts	2 years limited
Labor	2 years limited