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Recently, I have been trying out the Linux Mint operating system which caught my attention in DistroWatch.com. It currently ranks 5^th in the Page Hit Ranking, trailing Fedora by a very small margin. My first impression with Linux Mint is that it is for those who want to play MP3 songs and DVD movies out of the box. Those are two common missing functions most wanted by most users. A lot of the big name distro, such as Ubuntu and Fedora, do not include those functionality by default.

Linux Mint is a variant of Ubuntu with integrated media codecs. After using Linux Mint for a few hours, I can immediately see that it is trying to get the good things all together in one place. First, it has a very flexible application menu, very similar to the one in OpenSUSE. You can drag applications to the “Favourites” section of the menu so that you can find them easily. You can also hide certain sections of the menu, which is divided into Places, System, and Applications.

Another thing it has is what it calls the Software Portal (or mintinstall). The Software Portal is very similar to OpenSUSE’s One-Click-Install system which I have described in here. By just clicking the install button on the Software Portal site, you can install some popular software such as Google Earth, VirtualBox, Second Life, Microsoft Fonts and more. One point worth mentioning is that when I installed VirtualBox, I didn’t have to go through all the steps that I went through in Ubuntu (steps here). It just works. However, I am finding the number of software you can install through the portal site is still limited.

Another thing that surprised me is the Ndiswrapper driver installation tool which they called it “Windows Wireless Drivers”. I used a D-Link DWL-G132 Wireless USB Adapter to test it. I downloaded the Windows driver and found the .inf file. I used the Ndiswrapper driver installation tool to install the .inf file. Right away, Linux Mint detected my wireless USB adapter and I am able to connect to my wireless network.

If you are looking for a Linux distro that fills the gap of missing codecs out-of-the-box, then you may want to give Linux Mint a try. I will be testing Linux Mint on my MSI S262 Megabook to see if the compatibility is any better. Results will be coming soon.

Today, I am going to show you how to install VirtualBox on Ubuntu. VirtualBox is an open source virtualization product that works very similar to VMware Server. It allows you to run an operating system on top of another operating system. This allows you to have access to multiple operating systems at the same time. For computer technicians, virtualization gives you the flexibility to provide support for different platforms.

I am using Ubuntu 7.10 as my host OS. You can use other Linux, Windows, Macintosh and OpenSolaris operating systems as your host OS. For supported guest operating systems, you may want to check out the list in this link - http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes.

It is quite easy to install VirtualBox on Ubuntu. All you need to do is use the Add/Remove program.

1. Click on Applications in the top bar.
2. Click on Add/Remove…
3. Enter “Virtualbox” in the search bar.
4. You should see “InnoTek VirtualBox” in the search results. Click the check box.
5. Click the “Apply changes” button at the lower right hand corner and wait for the installation to complete.

After the installation, you should find “InnoTek VirtualBox” listed under “System Tools” in the Applications menu. However, if you launch it and start creating a virtual machine, you will soon realize some errors when booting the virtual machine. Before you work with your VirtualBox, you should also complete the following steps.

1. In a terminal, type “gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst” without the quotes. Enter your password. A text editor will open up.
2. Add “nmi_watchdog=0″ to the “kernel” line. Save the change and exit gedit.
3. Reboot your computer.
4. In a terminal, type “sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup” without the quotes. Enter your password and let it build the module.
5. Then go to “System” -> “Administration” -> “Users and Groups”.
6. Click on “Manage Groups”.
7. Select “vboxusers” and click “Properties”.
8. Check your username and click “OK”. Then click “Close”.
9. Logout and login again.

Basically, the steps above were to build the kernel module required by VirtualBox and give your user account the permissions to access the module. You should now be able to use VirtualBox without problems. Next week, I will be show you how to install a guest operating system with VirtualBox. If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.

I was trying to install a fresh copy of Windows XP for my client’s computer. The computer is using ASUS P5NSLI motherboard with 4GB (4 x 1GB) of PC5400 memory installed. The computer booted up fine with the Windows XP installation disc. However, during the installation, when it was copying the setup files to the hard drive (the step after formatting), it always told me that it could not copy a certain file. Initially, I thought the Windows XP disc was bad so I tried a couple other discs, but the problem remained.

So I have started the troubleshooting process. First, I thought it was the RAID problem. There were two identical hard drives configured in RAID 0 mode. I deleted the RAID and recreated it. The problem remained.

I then tried using different versions of the RAID drivers that are required to load by pressing F6 at the startup but still no luck. Then I thought the DVD ROM was at fault so I connected a different DVD ROM to the computer. It still couldn’t copy some files. As a last resort (I thought it was), I decided to update the BIOS and hope it could resolve the problem. However, it didn’t help either. I had to take a rest at this moment as I was exhausted.

After resting, I started to test around the hardware inside the computer and started with the RAM as they are easy to remove. I took out one of the memory sticks and tried the installation again. Right away, the installation process ran smoothly. After Windows finished install, I put the memory stick back in and Windows couldn’t boot up. I didn’t think it was a problem with the RAM because the installation process started up fine. It was only when the setup trying to copy files to the hard drive that failed. As a result, I always thought the problem was related to the DVD ROM, the hard drive, or the disc. This was a lesson to me.

Do you have your own business? What do you do if your business partner is not putting in as much effort as you? What makes you to yell at your partner? The following are some reasons why I can no longer partner up with a person in a business.

1. Lazy - If you are a lazy person, then you should not start your own business. For a business, laziness means failure, loss, bankrupt, closing up, etc. You will never succeed in a business if you are lazy and not willing to work overtime.
2. Disorganize - To start your own business, you must be very organized because when starting up, there’s only you and your partners doing all the work. Most of the time there are not enough man power. If you are not organized, then very likely you will miss a lot of tasks and getting blamed.
3. Not Showing Up - Do not think that since your are one of the bosses, you can then not show up to work without notice. If you are really not able to show up at work because you need to meet with clients or have lunch with them, then you should inform your partners about these events.
4. Ideas Without Action - No matter how many ideas you have, if you are not putting them into action, then there’s no point to bring them up in meetings just to impress your partners. It will just make you look worse.
5. Over Exaggerate Your Words - Sometimes, it is necessary to exaggerate your words in order to overcome the customers. But if you over exaggerate or if you are doing it every time you talk, then it is going to hurt your business because the customers will soon realize the inaccuracy. Customers are not stupid. Stick to the truth!
6. Not Living Up to Your Words - If you said you would do something, then you better do it. If you don’t think you can complete it, then at least you should give it a try. You can always learn something from the experience.
7. Cheating On Customers - Don’t cheat! If you charged your customer more than what the amount should be, then you better refund it or give your customer a discount on his next purchase. It will hurt your company’s reputation if the customer found out that you cheated.

These are some of my reasons why I don’t like my business partner if he is such a person. To be honest, it is fine to me if you are my friend with these characteristics. However, for a business partner, these characteristics are not acceptable. If you have talked to your partner about the problems listed above and he just give you a bunch of excuses in response, then it is time to leave, either you or your partner.

What are your reasons? (or excuses?)