Tag: Open Source

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Technology

Fixing Add/Remove Error in Ubuntu

If you’ve used Ubuntu, then you’d be aware that to install/uninstall new application you can resort to the graphical installer under Applications > Add/Remove. This installer allows you to browse through repositories of software, search through them and install the ones you want.

So when Kinshuk mentioned that he was facing a problem with Ubuntu’s Add/Remove application I thought I should go ahead and write this post because I faced this myself once. What happened with him is that when he started Add/Remove, he couldn’t see a single application listed under it and the all the categories were blank. Here’s how to solve this.

  1. Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. You’ll be prompted to enter your password. Do so. Note that the problem (no software listed) affects only Add/Remove and not Synaptic.
  2. Search for the application gnome-app-install. Right-click and choose Mark for Complete Removal. This will prompt you that some other packages will be uninstalled too. Agree to that.
  3. Click Apply. After that is completed, search out gnome-app-install again and install it.
  4. At third base now, just a bit more to go for the home run. Remember those packages which were removed earlier? You need to install them again. This is to ensure that you can carry out upgrades smoothly in the future since one of these is a meta package which handles that. Search out, and choose to install these packages:
    1. apturl – This allows your browser to handle apt:// protocol links and launch the application installer when you click on such a link in your browser.
    2. ubufox – Modifications Ubuntu makes to Firefox. You could leave this out, but I suggest you install it because leaving it out can cause problems during upgrade in the future.
    3. ubuntu-desktop – A meta package listing software bundled with Ubuntu. Keep this in for smooth upgrades.
  5. Reload your repositories. Click the Reload button in Synaptic Package Manager.

Done! Go to Add/Remove again and you’ll find that software listing and categories have been restored. I didn’t come across a bug report in Launchpad for this, and I’d forgotten to take screenshots so I didn’t file one. Maybe if one you who come across this post while searching on the Internet for a solution could take a screenshot and file a bug report before rectifying the error?

Categories
Technology

SEO EXPERT? O REALLY? YA REALLY!

o-really-ya-really

A few days I posted about MozillaCamp Delhi, which (hopefully) will be taking place on 10th February 2009. I went to their page today to see if the venue has been finalised. (It hasn’t.) I came across a new entry in the list of attendees. One where the person had manually given 3 spaces, written the number, and then added his name (instead of just hitting return and adding a new entry in the list). Our user is a SEO EXPERT / WEB DEVELOPER – MOZILA FIREFOX USER.

preetam-singh-patel
No shittin'! This is taken straight from his site.

In case you haven’t already hotfooted to his webpage, do so. He is “I M OWN PERSON-THERE’S NO ONE ELSE IN THE WORLD OUT THERE LIKE ME” and owns a “black-brown jarman shepherd”. I could probably quote some other biographical details but it’s best that you read it yourself. No, I mean, really. Please do. Why give out spoilers here?

As a Mozilla Firefox user since the days when it was a fledgling little baby, I think I feel happy about this. After all, Mozilla Firefox finally seems to be trickling down to the users of…er…that level. Which is a good thing. With a greater number of users on our side we can no longer have statements in web development tutorials / books such as “Since IE occupies the majority of market share, code for it instead of bothering to make it compatible with others” (paraphrased statement from an actual book by Wiley Publications).

Preetam Singh Patel – and Obsessed Firefox Users like him – are accidental heroes in the long road towards eventual domination that Mozilla Firefox is on the path to.

Typical users of web browsers IE Firefox Safari Opera
Click on the image to enlarge

PS – Don’t I just love the mockery done for Safari users? Hell yeah!

PPS – A few hours after posting this, the venue for MozillaCamp Delhi was finalized. It is going to be held at Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road. You can get a map / directions to the venue here (http://tr.im/mozcampdel, in case you want to share with others)