When you setup your computer at the time of your initial Ubuntu installation, you assign your computer a hostname. In my case, I gave it a hostname and then later wanted to change it to something else. This is accomplished in two easy steps.

In Ubuntu 9.10, they removed Java 5 from the update repositories for Karmic because Java 5 was end of lifed in Oct. 09. This has made it more cumbersome for the Java 5 user on Karmic. Luckily, cumbersome is still pretty easy.

On a Sun keyboard, the ctrl key is actually in the space that the caps lock key occupies on a standard qwerty keyboard nowadays. In a program where the ctrl key is often used, this positioning can be helpful as no Vulcan figure stretches are required for common key patterns. So, why not change caps lock to be a control key.

On Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty, Compiz comes running out of the box on the mid-level preset for desktop effects. These effects and generally beautiful and pleasing, but a couple of the apps that I use are Java-based and have some compatibility issues with Compiz. At least for my apps, I've found a way around this issue.

Mark Logic Server seems to be the latest, greatest in content serve-up. At least it is generating a lot of excitement at the LDS Church, where it's being used for new content-centric apps/sites. Being caught in the wave of awesome, I was interested in getting it running in my favorite dev environment: Ubunutu-flavored Linux.

It wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was accomplished in almost as few steps as installing Apache or Tomcat. Except, after this installation, full XML xquery'age is now possible! Here are the steps, slightly elongated by the fact that all Mark Logic-supported Unix systems are rpm-based.

It's important to understand what libraries, utilities, engines and so on that are used by your Ubuntu Linux OS. It's easy to tell if you only have on option -- of course, it uses the only thing available. But if there are multiple options, which does it use? In general, the default; Here's how to set it.

This is similar to the Set Default Applications dialog in Windows XP.

It is one of the nicest things to be able to work remotely. Almost all my jobs have allowed this. My current job allows it on a limited basis as well. It's even more attractive an option now that I have a nice desk chair at home, for which I currently long, because I'm currently typing up this post from a 2nd grader mini-chair while I wait for my lovely wife, April.

Remote working goodness is just a few shell commands away via Cisco VPN in Linux!

As awesome as Linux is, I still have moments where I want something from the Windows world. Shy of putting a whole dual-booted partition on my harddrive, I am doing the virtual machine gig. I have tried VMWare before, but have just found the whole experience rather clunky. I even found VirtualPC (running on Windows) more pleasing. Another big kicker with VM's is performace -- I can't ever seem to get even comparable performance from a VM. Several of my coworkers report, however, that they are please with the performance of Sun's VirtualBox. I, therefore, am giving it a try.

I love the volume control scheme for Vista that allows one to adjust the volume on a per-application basis. It turns out that this functionality is also available for Linux!

I was having a really hard time getting DVD to play on Hardy Heron, but finally got it. After a daily ritual of attempts, finally, Ted and I struck gold!