Easy Installation of FreeNX Server in Ubuntu 12.04

It looks like we can skip the dependency problems during FreeNX installation by skipping the freenx metapackage.

Installation then becomes as follows:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freenx-team

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install freenx-server freenx-smb freenx-rdp freenx-session-launcher gnome-session-fallback

Then, connect away with NoMachine's nxclient!

nxsetup doesn't seem to be required.  Printing and samba file sharing still not working though :(

FreeNX and X2Go in Ubuntu 12.04

So FreeNX finally has a repository for Ubuntu Precise Pangolin.  I've been working on and off it for the past couple of weeks to get it working, but it's not perfect.

For the installation, I'd have to download some esound-client and other deb files from Debian's repository.  Apt-Get would tell you what deb files you would need to look for to get the installation going.

For connection, the standard Gnome desktop worked the best, but for some reason the bottom Task Bar panel is missing.

Printing and File Sharing isn't working yet.  It looks like I'll have to go hunting in the log files to see what's not working.

I've also tested X2Go in Precise.  This is easy, except for the file sharing and printing.  Printing is a one-off thing.  At first it looks like it's working.  On my next connection, it just stops behaving.  X2Go also has a difficult user interface, it hurts to use...

Update:  It looks like the "missing" taskbar was due to a window resizing issue.  If I maximize the NX window, the taskbar is there after all.

Google Drive

I've been following Google Drive news for the past few weeks and finally it has launched.  At least somewhere.  I don't know anyone yet using it, and I don't know when I'll be able to use it.  Going to drive.google.com tells me it's not ready yet for me. 

It might have to do with the fact I'm paying for additional storage in gmail.  Maybe they haven't figured out yet how to reconcile the old and new storage options.  Before, I only paid $5 a year for 20gb mail storage.  Now they offer 25gb for all storage for $30.  $5 to $30 seems a bit steep for now, but in the future, I think I'll definitely need more than 5GB for all the files I wanted synced.

Then, I'll also have to wait for their linux client.  I use linux for my primary computer (laptop) and just use my Windows  desktop for some development work. 

I have other choices that can work now: Dropbox and Ubuntu One.  What stopped me in Dropbox was the limited free space (though it can definitely grow with referrals).  Prices are a bit steep.  Ubuntu One used to not have a Windows client.  I guess I can go try Ubuntu One again.  They're priced similarly to Google Drive, and I would be able to use it now.

Still, there's the Google in the Google Drive.  And that's a charm I would want to try first.

Nvidia joining Linux Foundation

Nvidia recently joined the Linux Foundation. What I hope that leads to in the long run are better open source drivers. Intel and AMD both support open source graphics drivers, and because of that, our company buys AMD and intel driven integrated graphics hardware only. It doesn't matter to us that nvidia proprietary drivers are the fastest. We as an SME are not into games but favor chipsets or processors with integrated graphics hardware.

The Digital PA System (Part 2)

Our Public Address system is finally working! Well, basically. We still have to setup two sound servers for two rooms, but the system now works with one microphone as sound source, and 3 speakers as sinks to PulseAudio.

Our final setup will be as follows:

Building 1:

• 1.1. Computer with Speaker on 1st Floor
• 1.2. Computer with Speaker and Microphone on the 2nd floor
• 1.3. Computer with Speaker on 3rd Floor

Building 2 (150 feet away from Building 1)

• 2.1. Computer with Speaker on 1st Floor

Building 3 (30 feet away from Building 2)

• 3.1. Computer with Speaker on 1st Floor

We use 1.2 as our primary sound server, sending audio streams to 1.1, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, and of course, to itself. To get the Mic working, we use the module-loopback to redirect Mic Source to Speaker Sink. Because dynamic automatic configuration of the module-combine does not work for remote tunnels, I installed a rather crude bash script/cron job to poll when sound servers become online and reconfigure module-combine.

!# /bin/bash
success=0

# Default Sink is the hardware sink
slaves=alsa_output.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo

# try to load each network sinks
pactl load-module module-tunnel-sink server=server1.local && success=1
pactl load-module module-tunnel-sink server=server2.local && success=1
pactl load-module module-tunnel-sink server=server3.local && success=1 

pactl list | grep server1.local && slaves=${slaves},tunnel-sink.server1.local
pactl list | grep server2.local && slaves=${slaves},tunnel-sink.server2.local
pactl list | grep server3.local && slaves=${slaves},tunnel-sink.server3.local

# Only revise combo sink if slaves was changed
if [ "$success" = "1" ]; then
  pactl unload-module $(cat tmp_module_combo)
  pactl load-module module-combine sink_name=combo slaves="$slaves" > tmp_module_combo
  pacmd set-default-sink combo
fi

The script is run every 2 minutes on 2.1's user's account.

 1.1, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1 are simply configured to accept network connections without authentication. We no longer use RTP sender/receiver as it is really killing all our wireless access points. Hopefully, this problem will be fixed in the future, as RTP multicasting really makes setting these sound systems easy.

The Digital PA System

We have a new project at our office, a Public Address (PA) system. A PA system seems a strange requirement for a small business like us. We already have redundant IM systems (A Jabber server as well as Empathy's distributed People Nearby service), but the argument for it is rather spiritual.

To implement the PA system, I voted to implement it the ultra-modern way, through the computer network. I've had my experiments with PulseAudio two years before, and from what I recalled, such a setup should be possible. We just have to weigh the pros and cons.

Pros:
1. Less capital expenditure. We already have a network. No need to put additional wiring to connect our disjoint offices which comprise three small offices, one of which a hundred feet away.
2. Flexible, programmable. Changes and expansions are as easy as connecting new speakers to a computer

3. It's a good experience

Cons:
1. Computers must be running on each area with the PA speaker. That's not much of a negative when there are already computers running in all areas
2. Network bandwidth. We have a combination of gigabit ethernet as well as wireless G.
3. It's pretty much experimental for us, without any professional consultants to rely on (or pay (which makes it a good thing...))

We're on the implementation stage now. We bought several two-way speakers and connected them to dual-core computers in each areas. These computers will act as sound servers. We had to use dual core computers after finding RTP multicast+gigabit network is a bit "demanding". (Most of our computers are Semprons or Atoms.)

Originally our plan was to use Pulseaudio's RTP multicasting for tremendously easy configuration. Unfortunately, we still haven't found a way to stop RTP from killing our wireless access points everywhere. We have some ideas to try like not putting any wireless access point/switch between any two sound server. Unfortunately, blocking multicasting on the wireless access points themselves are a no-go. We're just using inadequate consumer wireless routers that aren't configurable enough.

Today, I've gone to test fixed configuration instead using module-tunnel-sink and module-combine, with much success. I got my lowly laptop to act as master playing music to three other sound servers smoothly (and without stuttering when wired). I still have to solve the dynamic part, like reconfiguring the combined sink whenever a new sink comes up or one goes down. Maybe some bash scripts would help.

I'll update when I get this done and running.

eMachines D443 with the new AMD E-450 APU

We got the newest eMachines 14.1" notebook featuring AMD's E-450 Fusion APU. At 1.65Ghz, E-450 is a very minor upgrade to E-350's 1.6Ghz.

Specs include:
CPU: AMD-E450
Graphics: AMD 6320
RAM: 2GB DDR3
Hard Disk: 500GB
Optical Drive: DVD Writer
Wireless Network: b/g/n
Battery: 6 cells
OS: None

I don't know the mall price (if it can be found in retail), but at our buying price of less than 17k, this makes more value and performance sense for most business users rather than any netbooks in the market right now.

Unfortunately, since we're an Ubuntu/Linux shop, we can't make the laptop work with Ubuntu 10.04 or even 10.10 Beta yet. With frequent glitches and crashes, the E-450 is just too new. Same thing happened with E-350 and 10.10 and it looks like the problems of latest hardware not working with Ubuntu is still going to be a major issue. We might try some other distros. Hopefully, by the time 10.10 launches next month, we'll get a more stable experience in Ubuntu.