It’s great to know we have some dedicated people in the Ubuntu community.
Quoting from the Gnome Do Core Team PPA page:
64-bit users! There is a bug in Launchpad’s ppa that causes 64-bit mono package builds to fail, but David was in the marines for 12 years and only learned one thing- Leave no man behind. We’ve got a package for you at http://launchpad.net/do/+download
Thanks Kurt for pointing that out 🙂
I’ve been playing with encryption for some time now and I am always curious about removable storage encryption.
There are tons of guides to do this but it always seems to require either too many steps or some non-free software. I’ve been using this method succesfully adapted from this post for some time now so I wanted to share it here, if anyone has better ideas I’d love to hear it. Removable storage encrypted using this method can also be read directly from Intrepid Live CD sessions as Intrepid now includes cryptsetup by default.
You will need to install the cryptsetup package in Hardy, and also gparted as a helper graphical application to setup partitions and format your media. Gparted is already available on LiveCD sessions. Yes I know this can be done in command line, but I try to limit that as I show this to other CLI-agnostic friends.
Notice I’ve added a step (formatting with a regular partition first), and I used partitions instead of device names.
Find out which device your stick is by issuing from command line:
sudo lshw -C disk -short
This may also help detect other types of storage:
Find out which device your stick is by issuing from command line:
sudo lshw -C storage -short
Example output:
H/W path Device Class Description
=======================================================
/0/100/1f.1/0 /dev/sda disk 251GB Maxtor 6L250R0
/0/100/1f.1/1 /dev/sdb disk 251GB Maxtor 6L250R0
/0/100/1f.1/2 /dev/cdrom disk DVD-RW DVR-110D
/0/100/1f.1/3 /dev/cdrom1 disk RW/DVD GCC-4521B
/0/100/1f.1/3/0 /dev/cdrom1 disk
/0/1/0.0.0 /dev/sdc disk 256MB Cruzer Micro
/0/1/0.0.0/0 /dev/sdc disk 256MB
In this case the device is /dev/sdc.
Next make sure the device is unmounted:
sudo umount /dev/sdc1
Format your removable storage device using gparted, create one single ext3 partition on it. This will end up being partition /dev/sdc1 (assuming your device is /dev/sdc like in my example).
If you do not want to encrypt the whole removable storage, repartition it using gparted.
Overwrite the created partition with an encrypted partition on the target media:
sudo luksformat /dev/sdc1
This will ask you for a passphrase. The default file system is “vfat”, but you can specify a different one with the “-t” option. An example of the same, using an ext3 partition:
sudo luksformat -t ext3 /dev/sdc1
Make sure you type YES in all capitals when prompted, read the prompts carefully.
After this procedure, remove the stick and plug it in again. This should trigger a dialog which asks you for the passphrase and mounts the encrypted partition (along with any unencrypted one, of course).
I was able to read a stick encrypted this way in other computers, just by installing cryptsetup on them. You will need to install cryptsetup and reboot every computer where you want to access this.
Intrepid already comes with cryptsetup installed BTW.
I hear this kind of encrypted removable media can also be read from Windows using FreeOTFE but I haven’t tried it. If anyone can share how to do that, I’d also like to hear about it.
Just a little warning at the end: Please be aware that if you lose the passphrase, I CAN’T HELP RECOVERING THE DATA! This may sound obvious but in a previous posting about this I got private requests about such problems. No comments!
In no particular order…
Thunderbird 2.0 – 3.0b2pre
A bugtracker bugmail companion – provides a nice header with bug status, upstream links, etc. work nicely with Launchpad bug mail
Thunderbird 2.0b1 – 3.0
Adds buttons! Not sure how to explain them all…
Thunderbird 2.0 – 2.0.0.*
Duplicates the menubar on the toolbar as a menu of menus.
Thunderbird 0.5 – 3.0
Adds ‘Delete Mail Marked as Junk’ to folders’ right click menu
Thunderbird 2.0 – 3.0a2pre
Diccionario de Español/España
Thunderbird 2.0b2 – 3.0a1
Displays the currently selected dictionary in the status bar and allows to change it.
Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*
Thunderbird 2.0 – 3.0a2pre
Displays the mail program with which the selected mail was written – always useful to give some context to email – is the author using Windows, Linux, a Mac ?
Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*
Facilitates handling of duplicate contacts in your address books. You know you have some.
Thunderbird 2.0 – 2.0.0.*
OpenPGP message encryption and authentication
Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*
Dumps a list of the installed extensions.
Thunderbird 2.0 – 2.0.0.*
An integrated calendar for Thunderbird (build 2008091718)
Thunderbird 0.7 – 2.0.0.*
Allow to redirect (a.k.a. « bounce ») mail messages to other recipients
Thunderbird 2.0a1 – 2.0.0.*
Allows bidirectional access to Google Calendar
Thunderbird 1.5 – 3.0a1
Adds a toolbar with unlimited number of text to quickly insert. It’s also possible to use varibles like [[TO=firstname]]. With settings for everything.
Thunderbird 0.7 – 2.0.0.*
Collapse quotes.
Thunderbird 1.5 – 2.0.0.*
Adds a ‘don’t ask me again’ option to the Domain Name Mismatch Security Error window.
Thunderbird 1.5 – 3.0a1
Locates duplicate messages in mail folders and removes them.
Thunderbird 0.6 – 2.0.0.*
Protects you from phishing with SPF and DomainKeys.
Thunderbird 2.0b1 – 2.0.0.*
Add toolbar for toggling tags.
Thunderbird 1.0 – 2.0.0.*
Empties the Trash folder and compacts folders in multiple Thunderbird accounts.
If you have any that make your Ubuntu life easier, let me know!
A new position for a support analyst based off London has just been opened at Canonical. It’s not listed on the website yet so I thought I’d give some lead to the Ubuntu Planet readers:
I am sorry this is painfully obvious but if you don’t speak excellent English don’t even think about it.
Let me know if you want to apply to any of those, it’s always best when someone has been referred.
And before anyone asks, yes, there is a referral bonus for such referrals – I guess that covers the million questions we get when we help someone apply.
Also don’t miss all the recent job postings:
Posting Date: December 2008
Job Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Job Summary: Working with key OEM and ODM customers in Taiwan, you will be responsible for the release into manufacturing of Ubuntu and Ubuntu based customized software. You will have experience in the PC industry of launching products for major brands and will be familiar with the engineering life cycles at a …
more details
Posting Date: December 2008
Job Location: Millbank, London
Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team involves deployment, support and administration of a variety of 3rd party systems, integration of those systems with other Canonical systems and migration of legacy systems.
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone.
Job Summary: Hold responsibility for the delivery of manual and automated testing for certification and hardware enablement. Quality Assurance Team Manager
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Home based. Some international travel may be required
Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team is to develop web applications and components to integrate Canonical websites and applications with other key internal and external systems.
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Home based with broadband, in an American/European time zone. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week.
Job Summary: Is your head in the clouds? We have a unique opportunity for a dynamic, technically astute product manager who can demonstrate an understanding of the way web-based services change the desktop experience. We’re looking for someone thinking about the cloud, but with feet firmly planted on a product schedule. The …
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Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. North American & European time zones preferred. Some international travel will be required.
Job Summary: Our goal is to make the best open source Linux Distribution, your job is to assist in solving issues around creating it. You need to be a jack-of-all-trades, able to quickly determine what the actual issue is and how to solve it, whatever “it” might be. Work on a broad …
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Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone.
Job Summary: Execute testing cases and tools for the Ubuntu mobile platform.
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Lexington, MA; USA preferred but applicants welcome for home workers
Job Summary: Integration of new hardware devices and technologies on mobile internet devices and subnotebooks. This engineer will have a broad scope of responsibilities to customize Ubuntu to work on mobile internet devices, netbooks and other unique hardware designs
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Home based with broadband, in an American or European time zone. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for one week.
Job Summary: The Project Administrator role is a key role in our software development teams. As a part of the technical team, the Project Administrator defines and monitors process and progress metrics. Strong communication and a steadfast commitment to not dropping the ball are required skills for this role, as the successful …
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Millbank, London; UK
Job Summary: The Web Designer will be responsible for the experience our prospective customers and our developer community have via our Canonical, Ubuntu and other web portals. These portals are critical to the success of our business and our products and our Web Designer will be expected to own this experience from …
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Millbank, London; UK
Job Summary: This is a key role in the Design and Customer Experience team and across the business. Our Lead Concept Designer will be responsible for creating unique, innovative and simply amazing concepts, from customer facing products and the finite detail within, to internal facing projects to ensure the business ‘gets’, buys …
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Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. Some international travel will be required.
Job Summary: To maintain the GNOME packages that form the basis of the Ubuntu desktop experience.
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: London, UK
Job Summary: Provide marketing expertise to support and develop business with our growing list of high-profile business partners, particularly major PC suppliers and OEM/ODMs.
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Europe or USA
Job Summary: Channel Manager will be responsible for building commercial relationships with top level Telcos and related industry partners
more details
Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Preferable London, UK however other candidates home based in American or European time zones may also be considered.
Job Summary: The PM will be managing the implementation project life cycle: requirement gathering, implementation and testing within time, quality and cost standards. Also managing project risk, as well as planning and delivering complex software integration projects; reporting of project progress and status internally, to customers and stakeholders; managing escalations, changing controls …
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Posting Date: November 2008
Job Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Job Summary: Perform automated and manual testing of custom versions of Ubuntu Desktop. Support local Field Engineering staff with SQA process development/implementation.
more details
Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone.
Job Summary: As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, this role will be to design and develop new innovative elements of the Gnome platform. The candidate must have strong coding and debugging skills in C, coupled with in-depth knowledge of X11, OpenGL and GTK+ programming. This role will work closely with …
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Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone
Job Summary: We’re hiring talented engineers to develop a new, innovative desktop experience, in Ubuntu Linux. You will design and implement key elements of the KDE platform, in coordination with your peers in the community . As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, this role will be to design and develop …
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Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband, in an American/European time zone
Job Summary: As a member of the Desktop Experience Team, the Software Engineer’s role will be to design and develop new innovative elements of the Ubuntu Desktop. The candidate must have strong coding and debugging skills in C/C++, coupled with in-depth knowledge of OpenGL and experience with Linux graphical toolkits. This role …
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Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Europe
Job Summary: Based in Europe the OEM Channel Manager will be responsible for building relationships with top level OEM/ODM and local MNC accounts in focus region. As part of the Business Development Department, the OEM programme counts 6 Channel Managers who seek to create a network of partners across the globe with …
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Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Home-based but prefer time zones from Europe to east coast USA
Job Summary: We are looking for a software engineer that is passionate about bug tracking in open source projects. The position requires experience in both web and server-side programming. The ideal candidate has strong experience with other bug tracking systems and a desire to tackle the problem of bug management across a …
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Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: China – with regular travel engagements
Job Summary: The application Field Engineer will support deploying Ubuntu and assist in sales opportunities. The continuous improvement and refinement of engineering and technical sales processes is a key aspect in this position. This involves building working relationships within Canonical to enhance the efficiency of collaboration between different teams.
more details
Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Home based position in Taiwan, with regular travel engagements
Job Summary: Field Engineer
more details
Posting Date: October 2008
Job Location: Your home (given appropriate facilities including broadband Internet) in an American or European time zone
Job Summary: Develop automated testing tools for the Ubuntu mobile platform.
more details
Posting Date: September 2008
Job Location: Taiwan
Job Summary: The Kernel Field Engineer will support the kernel team with hardware enablement in Ubuntu. This is achieved by working with our partners, system builders, ODMs (Original Device Manufacturers) and development teams within Canonical to assess and implement device drivers and other hardware bring up as necessary. This is a highly …
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Posting Date: August 2008
Job Location: Taiwan
Job Summary: Part of the systems administration team for Canonical Ltd, with specific responsibility for all on-site systems administration related tasks in Canonical’s Taiwan office.
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Posting Date: August 2008
Job Location: Your home, as long as you have broadband. Some international travel will be required.
Job Summary: The role of the Ubuntu Translations Coordinator is to oversee, represent, guide and optimise the processes and workflow of the Ubuntu translations community as well as coordinating the LoCo Teams project. Applicants should have experience of working in a translations community and with computing user groups, be knowledgeable of the …
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Posting Date: July 2008
Job Location: At home with broadband. This job involves international travel several times a year, usually for periods of one or two weeks
Job Summary: The BIS team is responsible for building and supporting the internal IT systems that Canonical uses. This role on the BIS team involves design and implementation of custom Salesforce integrations and add-ons.
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I’ve been meaning to post a picture of my laptop’s « decoration » for a while, perhaps start another chain reaction…
I think what you put in your laptop tells a bit about who you are or what you do 🙂
So here’s my current laptop:
One more thing, I got a zebra-themed vinyl skin applied on the laptop, which protects the machine – the stickers are on that vinyl layer.
Clicking on the image will bring you to Flickr where I added some notes.
What’s on your laptop ?