Tag: 14.04

Categories
Freedom and Privacy Technology Ubuntu

How to Install Owncloud on Ubuntu 14.04 Server

I heard owncloud is awesome but I just couldn’t force myself to get it installed on my home server project until another situation lead me back to it – the need for a self-owned calendar instead of one that relies on some other cloud service.  I didn’t want my daily schedule on someone’s server to view.  After trying may supposedly simple solutions to synch a calendar to all my devices, oddly I was brought back to owncloud.  Not only did it solve my calendar situation (so far) but it seems like I have pretty much just removed the need for Pogoplug as well.  I wasn’t comfortable with pogoplug because I had to log in through their website…

Anyways, to make this long story shorter, after searching and trying this and that, this tutorial turned out to be the best and most simple tutorial for installing owncloud successfully on an Ubuntu 14.04 server.  Enjoy!

Tutorial for installing Owncloud on Ubuntu Server 14.04

I should note that there was a small issue, if i recall correctly in the commands in the tutorial above and it was ultimately resolved in this even more simple tutorial.  If yours doesn’t install perfectly following above, revert immediately to this one and it should be great.  Maybe even start with this one, ha

owncloud install package page

Categories
Technology Tutorial Ubuntu

Getting an Ubuntu Server Up and Running from Start to Finish: 14.04

All I wanted to do was turn an unused computer into a web host in my house so I could run wordpress on my own domain/website.  I knew Ubuntu is the best so that was my plan.  There are a lot of tutorials out there but I found it to be fragmented all over the world wide webs.

This post is to bring it all together in the steps needed so you can come back to it if you forget pieces (which I did shortly after successfully doing it). Here we go!

1. Prepare a USB drive for getting Ubuntu Server put on

This link will give you everything you need to prepare the drive. The only thing you have to change is the .iso file which can be downloaded from www.ubuntu.com.  For this tutorial you want to download the appropriate 14.04 server version (32 bit or 64 bit).  But the method of doing this is the same:

2. Install Ubuntu Server

This step-by-step tutorial is a good one to get your base server install going on the machine.  Once you’ve done it a few times this part, by the way, is fast and easy.  A bit intimidating the first time but rest assured most of the default settings are pretty not scary

3. Configure static IP

I had a bit of an issue in that during one install it gave me the name of the hard-wired connection as the normal ‘eth0’ but then after reinstalling it on another computer it was called ‘p1p1’.  I still don’t know the reason for this but it turns out that p1p1 and eth0 seem to act and operate and configure the same way.  Just a heads up in case you encounter it.  In this tutorial it explains how to set up the

4. Setting up the DNS servers with ddclient so the world can find your machine and domain

Now, before you begin this part, make sure you have your Dynamic DNS service details in front of you as you probably have to do some stuff in the back end where you registered your domain before you do the next stuff.  I did all this next stuff and then couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working and the reason was that I had to do stuff in my domain registrar (Namecheap in this case) first.  For the sake of a quick namecheap tutorial and to maybe trigger some help for your own registrar, I’ll just explain what I did:

a) log into namecheap admin

b) manage my domain

c) find my domain and click ‘all hosts”

d) type ‘what’s my ip’ in your favourite web search.  It’ll spit out your public facing ip address.

e) manually enter that into the ‘all hosts’ area in the @ record space and the www record space.

f) save those changes.

Now move on to do the ddclient stuff in Ubuntu and it should work…

This link should be your defacto starting point.  It may be all you need but I, of course, did other stuff and didn’t have patience…

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DynamicDNS

This one is good, too.

http://sourceforge.net/p/ddclient/wiki/Home/#introduction

Before even reading any of that I just did:

sudo apt-get install ddclient

And that seemed to get it on my system.  As soon as it was installed a GUI showed up to help with the install of the ddclient update stuff which was cool…. except that it didn’t work for Namcheap… so I just hit ‘esc’ a bunch of times and it got me out and finished the install eventually.  Then I did a:

sudo nano /etc/ddclient.conf (it seems some may need sudo nano /etc/ddclient/ddclient.conf)

I’m using Namecheap (I try not to plug too much but these guys have nailed it so many times) and they have a dynamic dns service for free with the domain you buy (big plus).  This is the tutorial I’m using but you can buy (or search free?) a dynamic name service that updates itself so you don’t have to buy a static IP from your ISP (internet service provider).

https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/583/11/

… just plug in the data, control ‘x’, and enter key.

This blog post is a super nice exhaustive post showing perhaps more stuff you’ll need for a namecheap / ubuntu server setup:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1941466

I’m not sure if I had to but I ran

sudo ddclient

.. and it seemed to ‘start’. I’m not sure if this will run on startup or not…

5. Ping it! Just Ping it, yeah!

go to another computer ideally outside of the local network you are on (ie. call your mom and ask her to open a terminal) and enter:

ping yourdomain.com (but make sure you tell her to replace that with your domain, lol?)

You should get a reply eventually showing your public IP address from your ISP followed by regular packets coming back at you.  If no reply, the update client may still be propagating the changes through the internet.  I’ve been told propagation can take 24 to 48 hours although I”ve never experienced more than about 5 hours wait.

 

6.  Administrate me, baby.  I love it.

Now you’ve got a server running and doing stuff. You’ve seen Great Eagle, Moose Jaw and Apache before your eyes.  Now it’s time to turn words into dreams…?? or something like that.
This tutorial was the most simple and Ubuntu friendly tutorial I could find for getting webmin set up.  I’m converted back after a failed attempt with EHCP… if you figure it out please send me a nice simple tutorial and I’ll try again.

Here is the link to the tutorial

Note that I had to adjust the wget URL to the correct one for ubuntu by first going here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/webadmin/files/webmin/

then choosing the .deb file name and replacing it in the wget command in the tutorial above.  So, as of February 2, 2015, your wget command would look like this until the next release:

wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/webadmin/files/webmin/1.730/webmin_1.730_all.deb

I also had issues with the last item in the tutorial where you change the webmin admin…. didn’t work.  skip it and when the login page comes up, just use your main root user/password and it works fine.  Maybe someone could write a comment below how to change password because it would be nice not to use root…

7. Install WordPress

Why? Because that’s what every wimp does when he thinks he’s a server rock star and gets his first false sense of pride.  That’s why.

maybe this one?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqLsTycO9aA

and then this one maybe if you need to ssh and wget it on the remote machine?

http://code.tutsplus.com/articles/download-and-install-wordpress-via-the-shell-over-ssh–wp-24403

 

Categories
Ubuntu

How to Start Thunderbird and Other Programs at Startup in Ubuntu 14.04

This is a slight modification of my previous tutorial on the same topic for 13.10 since a couple of small things changed that mucked it up.  Hope this helps!

————-

I always open my email when I turn on my computer so I figured I could save a few steps and have it open automatically.  It’s easier than I thought and you could apply this to other programs/applications as well (like Firefox, etc).  It is reported this tutorial also works as far back as Ubuntu 12.04 as well.

So put on your seatbelt, kids! Here we go!

1. Press the Super Key and open your Dash and type ‘start’ and wait.  It should bring up the ‘Startup Applications’ thingy below.  Click it.

open-hud
2.Click the ‘add’ button on the first window that pops open and then the ‘browse’ button to go on the hunt for The Bird that is Most  Thunderous…
add-startup
3.Click the word ‘computer’ in the left pane.  Then double click the ‘usr’ folder in the right pane.
click-computer-and-usr
*The rest of the following bits in the tutorial should be the same as 13.10 so I’ll keep the same images.  Don’t be confused if it looks slightly different.
4. Navigate down to find the ‘bin’ folder, open it
open-bin
5. Navigate down (you might want to use your ‘page down’ button to speed this up) until you find ‘Thunderbird’ and click ‘open’ button
page-down-to-thunderbird
6. Fill in your favourite deets as I did in the most creative way below and click ‘add’:
name-it
7. In order for this to actually work you have to log out or restart your computer.  You can do that with the ‘log out’ option at the cogwheel on the top right side of your screen
You are done, son.  It’s that fun and easy.  Next time invite your friends and Gramma.
*Note: for some reason I had trouble finding Firefox but eventually it was there and I found it.
Now when you turn on your computer Thunderbird and whatever other program you want will be ready and waiting.
Categories
Amateur Radio Ubuntu

Sound problem with Qtel (open source Echolink) in Ubuntu 14.04

If you are looking to get set up Echolink on your shiny new Ubuntu 14.04 machine, be sure to read the how to article I wrote before.

However, even after having such a formidable victory and feeling waves of joy when the repeater list finally populated Qtel on my Trusty Tahr, I had a less-than-raring experience of not being able to hear the ECHOTEST server, or any other repeater, sound.

I remember VA7OBI told me that he had success when he opened 5200 TCP but when I tried everything it didn’t work for me.  In fact, remind me to publish the way that this frustration led me to fighting my ISP and how I got two months free internet out of the deal…but I digress… After I did a DMZ on my computer it instantly started working so it was definitely a port problem.

Here is what solved my problem *instantly*.

1. Open router or modem/router configuration page

2. Go to your firewall settings. 

3. Open (or often called ‘port forwarding’) the following port range:

5198-5199 UDP

4. Make sure this new rule in your router/modem is pointing to the machine (or multiple machines) where Qtel is installed.  In my case it was 192.168.1.75 to show an example IP address.

If you don’t know how to find your IP address, it’s very easy in Ubuntu.  Just open your terminal (control + alt + t) and type this:

ifconfig

you will see this kind of spew:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:16:76:b4:24:17
inet addr:192.168.1.75  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::216:76ff:feb4:2417/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
RX packets:11386 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:10070 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:9551513 (9.5 MB)  TX bytes:1181280 (1.1 MB)

eth0 is your hardwired connection which mine, obviously is.  If your machine is connected by wifi, it will look roughly the same but you will see ‘wlan0’ or something like that which will have your ipaddress beside it like mine above.

Now just make sure those 5198-5199 UDP ports are open and pointing to that machine where qtel is.

Final note: your modem/router may, from time to time, send out new IP addresses to your computer(s).  If Qtel stops working one day again, it’s probably just a matter of running this tutorial again and updating your IP address in the port forwarding rule in your router/modem.

If you feel really saucy and snazzy, you could set a static IP address for your machine and never run this tutorial again. I’m too lazy for now so I’ll risk having to do this again, ha.

Take it easy and keep on being Ubuntu