Using Ubuntu in the School of Computer Science, at the University of Waterloo.
CSCF Installation Notes
Older notes
- CsUbuntuFrontEnds - general discussion on Ubuntu configured Xdmcp server hosts, used by undergrads mostly
- UbuntuImageCreation - intended for CSCF Staff - step by step checklist for creating a new Image
- UbuntuInstallNotes - likely interesting only to CSCF staff, this is a HOWTO for installing the image and doing post-install configuration
- UbuntuPostInstallSteps - intended for CSCF Staff - steps after Ubuntu image is installed
- UbuntuInstallSteps - detailed step-by-step installing ubuntu server.
- UbuntuInstalledSoftware - a list of the key packages included with the CSCF Ubuntu distribution
RSG notes
How-to notes
Printing
- HowDoIPrint? - printing can be a pain in the butt, hopefully this helps
Image maintenance
- SystemImager - rsync based tool used to capture all files of a host and allow for installation on similar hardware thus duplicating the host except for hostname specific configuration
Teaching Labs
There is one teaching lab that runs Ubuntu, namely,
the
TrashCFGraphicsLab in MC6055, which will be moving to MC3007.
Xhier notes
Gnome Desktop
Some general notes that attempts to explain some technical aspects of the Gnome desktop.
Of particular interest is how does one set system wide defaults, some of which may be
mandatory or can be overwritten per user. The primary mechanism is known by
gconf
, see
GconfNotes for more extensive notes.
Resource Monitoring
- Cacti - information on the CSCF cacti installation, https://cacti.cscf.uwaterloo.ca which requires a login that will soon become available to all in CSCF. Currently still in beta mode.
Setting up a host for rup service
By
rup
service we mean that the host will give output when queried via the command
rup hostname
which indicated how long the host has been up since the last reboot and the load average, in short,
it's equivalent to running
uptime
. If one does not specify the host then the whole subnet will be queried.
In order for this service to work the host must have RPC daemon
rpc.statd
registered. In Ubuntu the recommended package is
openbsd-inetd
, in particular,
inetd
daemon provided by the package
inetutils-inetd
, does not understand the special syntax in
/etc/inetd.conf
, that
rstatd/1-5 dgram rpc/udp wait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/rpc.rstatd
It is probable that the problem may have been
/1-5
syntax. In any event, the
openbsd-inetd
is more secure, or so it
is claimed. One can confirm that
rpc.statd
has been registered by portmap if we get the following output
100001 1 udp 32769 rstatd
100001 2 udp 32769 rstatd
100001 3 udp 32769 rstatd
100001 4 udp 32769 rstatd
100001 5 udp 32769 rstatd
In particular, note the five instances which is consistent with the syntax in
/etc/inetd.conf
.
Power Management
- Setting on power management on some machines will cause machine to not restart properly and give error message can't access tty0. To regain Xwindows control of system type poweroff and then reboot system. You will have to determine why power management is not working properly or shut it off on the preferences section. (DRH - 22 Dec 2006)
Obsolete or Old Notes