Using Ubuntu in the School of Computer Science, at the University of Waterloo. (THIS PAGE NEEDS UPDATING)

• CSLinuxWorkingGroup - meeting notes, mailing list info
• Ubuntu Home Page
• Ubuntu Code Names or "When will we see a Karmic Koala!"

CSCF Installation Notes

• SCS CSCF Infrastructure Group (CSI) Ubuntu 16.04 Project
• How to Duplicate the SCS Ubuntu Systems Deployed by CSI

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

• UbuntuFirstImpressions - things I noticed right away that I wanted to configure/update
• UbuntuImageCreation - RSG notes on what they do.
• UbuntuDistroUpgrade - RSG notes on upgrading to a new version of Ubuntu - any issues,etc
• UbuntuQuota - Quota Setup and usage

How-to notes

• UbuntuHowTo - notes on accomplishing various tasks with this distribution
• APCUPSD - Setup APCUPSD to monitor a ups - including networking notes
• BasicAdminTasks - this is intended to be a quick reference for Linux / Debian / Ubuntu newbies
• BurningCDs - quickie HOWTO burn CDs
• DiskScheduler - optimize Ubuntu Disk Performance Settings
• MEFUbuntuFrontendFAQ - DRAFT FAQ for help-desk concerning new front-end servers running Ubuntu/KDE/Gnome
• UbuntuLocales - quickie what to do about weird characters on your xterm (or, languages not showing up properly in the system)
• NTFS read/write utilities
• CaptiveNTFS - procedure for installing and configuring the Captive NTFS driver
• VirtualMachines
  • VmWare
• DualMonitors - configuring Ubuntu to work with dual (or more) monitors
• UDEV and networking
• UbuntuOnT61Laptops - we issue T61 laptops to some grad students, here's how Linux works (and doesn't work) on the
• ADAddUbuntu - Account Management on Ubuntu Linux using the CSCF Active Directory.
• GRUB2 - repair GRUB2 boot loader
• UEFI - UEFI booting and notes
• LinuxWirelessUW - Wireless networking at UofW
• UbuntuWirelessNdiswrapper - Using NdisWrapper wireless drivers
• CustomLauncher - How to create a custom Application Launcher for your toolbar

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

• UbuntuGradPCSetup - procedure for creating an image from the "golden master" machine
  • UbuntuGradPCSetupChangLog - the changelog for the "official" image as loaded on csgradpc machines.

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