How to set a PIN password or a short password in Ubuntu Linux

If you are looking for a way to a PIN password or a short password in Ubuntu Linux, similar to Windows 10, you've come to the right place.

The way described here changes only the desktop login (lightdm service), but can be applied to other services as well if you wish.
Also, this allows you to have your original strong password for "sudo", while maintaining a fairly easy way to login to Ubuntu desktop.
Commands can be issued in the terminal program.

Installing pam_pwdfile.so

First of all, make sure you have installed the libpam-pwdfile package:

sudo apt-get install libpam-pwdfile

Creating the user/password file

You will be prompted to enter a new PIN password.
Your password will be encrypted and saved to a file named "passwd.like"

pinpass=$(mkpasswd -5)
echo "$pinpass" | sudo tee /etc/passwd.like

You will see the encrypted pin password echoed in the terminal. This password will be written to the /etc/passwd.like file.

Alternatively, you may use:
openssl passwd -1 yourpinpasswordhere

Setting up the desktop login service

The next step is to prepare the desktop login service to accept the PIN password before other password procedures. I've mentioned already the name of the desktop login service, lightdm .

Take a look at the file:

cat /etc/pam.d/lightdm

If you don't have this file, then your desktop (login) service is a different one, and you should find your desktop manager before going further. As explained before, this guide is for Ubuntu 16.04 but can be used for other login services as well.

It could be useful if you also create a backup:

sudo cp /etc/pam.d/lightdm /etc/pam.d/lightdm.backup

Now, you may edit the file using nano or gedit or any other  text editor:

sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/lightdm

At the top of the file mine had:

#%PAM-1.0
auth    requisite       pam_nologin.so
auth    sufficient      pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin
@include common-auth

I have modified it like so:

#%PAM-1.0
auth requisite pam_nologin.so
auth sufficient pam_succeed_if.so user ingroup nopasswdlogin
auth required pam_pwdfile.so pwdfile=/etc/passwd.like
auth required pam_permit.so
#@include common-auth

Save the file and close your text editor.

Log out and log back in.

You should be able to use the PIN password you set. By following this guide, the PIN password is only used for the desktop login service, not for the password of sudo commands.

Sources:
This is a modified guide based on a pam pwdfile guide for vsftpd at: http://www.rollnorocks.com/2015/11/authenticating-vsftpd-virtual-users-with-pam_pwdfile-so/

How to issue a time resynchronization in Windows - cmd/batch

 Hello again, I'm back. I found some spare time to add some updated tricks concerning technology, and general tips for Windows or GNU/Linux. :)

I've been having some problems with the time synchronization in Windows 7, which required more often synchronization. So after some googling around, I came up with this little batch commands:

echo Current date/time: %date%_%time%
%windir%\system32\sc.exe start w32time task_started
%windir%\system32\w32tm.exe /resync
echo Fixed date/time: %date%_%time%
pause

Save it as a .bat file and run it as an administrator (right-click on file > Run as administrator).
It's nothing much, pretty dirty scripting I confess, but it does get the job done, at least in my case. I hope it will help someone else too.

See ya!

Icon 'gtk-close' not present in theme

I recently started to use screenlets again, especially FreeMeteo for weather forecast. But on ubuntu 12.04 every time I login I get a crash message:

FreemeteoWeatherScreenlet.py crashed with GError in load_buttons(): Icon 'gtk-close' not present in theme

If you have a similar crash message, you can simply install the gnome-icon-theme-full package which contains the gtk-close.png file.

Source: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/indiv-screenlets/+bug/807129

Kernel mainline ppa downloader (aka kmpd / kmp-downloader)

About

kmp-downloader is a simple program that allows you to install fresh new kernel versions from the ubuntu kernel mainline ppa.

As it is, the mainline is not an actual "ppa" (personal package archive) and doesn't allow people to use apt-get to upgrade.

Requirements

You may need python beautifoul soup (python-bs4) or execute:

sudo apt-get install python-bs4

How to use it

You may download it using this quick link: https://github.com/medigeek/kmp-downloader/tarball/master

Save the archive and extract the files. Double click on kmpd.py (execute in terminal). If you're not sure about an option, press Enter and it will select the default answer.

You may also execute this command (one-liner):

cd /tmp; rm -rf medigeek-kmp*; wget --no-check-certificate https://github.com/medigeek/kmp-downloader/tarball/master -O kmpd.tar.gz; tar xzf kmpd.tar.gz; cd medigeek-*; python kmpd.py

You will be asked a series of questions, where you either reply by "Y" or "N" (yes or no) or simply press enter and let the program figure out the default reply (mentioned in square [] brackets). It will then install the appropriate debian packages.

Note: it will not fix the problems with other packages. I suggest running linux ppa packages without dkms package (without closed source packages like nvidia driver or virtualbox driver), in order to have a smooth, errorless installation.

Uninstall

To uninstall the kernel packages, remember to boot to a different kernel image first. Then you can use your favourite package manager to uninstall the packages.

If you prefer the command line, if you installed version 3.5.3, you can uninstall it using this command:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.5.3.* linux-image-extra-3.5.3.* linux-headers-3.5.3.*

python: download url to file with progress bar

This is an alternative answer for a question on stackoverflow:
http://stackoverflow.com/a/22776/286994

I modified the answer a bit, using .format instead of % string formatting and sys.stdout.write(), and posted it on gist github: https://gist.github.com/3176958

#!/usr/bin/python
# Improve http://stackoverflow.com/a/22776/286994
# (using .format() instead of % string formatting)

import sys
import urllib2

file_name = url.split('/')[-1]
u = urllib2.urlopen(url)
f = open(file_name, 'wb')
meta = u.info()
file_size = int(meta.getheaders("Content-Length")[0])
print("Downloading: {0} Bytes: {1}".format(url, file_size))

file_size_dl = 0
block_sz = 8192
while True:
    buffer = u.read(block_sz)
    if not buffer:
        break

    file_size_dl += len(buffer)
    f.write(buffer)
    p = float(file_size_dl) / file_size
    status = r"{0}  [{1:.2%}]".format(file_size_dl, p)
    status = status + chr(8)*(len(status)+1)
    sys.stdout.write(status)

f.close()

I'm using this solution for the kernel mainline ppa downloader: https://github.com/medigeek/kmp-downloader

Hiren's boot cd using unetbootin (missing boot options)

If you try to use unetbootin to copy Hiren's bootcd on a usb flash drive and you boot using the flash disk, you'll notice that some options are missing, especially the "mini windows xp" boot option.

To overcome this problem you have to copy the file "HBCD/isolinux.cfg" to the main folder and replace the file "syslinux.cfg"

Then everything will work as expected.

Bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/unetbootin/+bug/971403

Now you can read xps files in ubuntu!

About
  OpenXPS or XPS stands for XML Paper Specification. It is based on XML and it's a new electronic paper format originally developed by Microsoft and it serves as a PDF alternative. XPS files are usually created using "Microsoft XPS Document Writer" in Windows environments. It is now standardized as an open standard document format.

Quoting Wikipedia:
 An XPS file is in fact a Unicoded ZIP archive using the Open Packaging Conventions, containing the files which make up the document. These include an XML markup file for each page, text, embedded fonts, raster images, 2D vector graphics, as well as the digital rights management information. The contents of an XPS file can be examined simply by opening it in an application which supports ZIP files.

 The OpenXPS document format specification supports features such as color gradients, transparencies, CMYK color spaces, printer calibration, multiple-ink systems and print schemas.

 Evince already supports xps, but it has to be compiled with that option enabled. In order for evince (the program that allows you to read pdf document files) to read xps files, libgxps is required first.

Status update
..for libgxps in Debian (we'll see about Ubuntu afterwards):

• We are very close to a release in Debian.
• We have a willing debian developer to sponsor it.
• It's now maintained by debian-gnome team: http://anonscm.debian.org/viewvc/pkg-gnome/packages/unstable/libgxps/
• Package release was blocked by a libarchive bug: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=662603 (now fixed)

There's a PPA!
After much frustration, I have created a PPA for evince with xps: https://launchpad.net/~medigeek/+archive/evince-xps/

Note: The evince version in Ubuntu 11.10 oneiric ocelot doesn't work with xps (segmentation fault when opening the file) and there are several packages to be backported. I've decided not to backport it. It works in Ubuntu 12.04 precise pangolin.
If you need to read an xps file, package libgxps-utils provides enough conversion tools, e.g. command:

xpstopdf myfile.xps

Libreoffice recent documents - History manager extension

This solution works for Windows operating systems as well as Linux distributions (It's actually system independent)
If you need to clear or define how many items the recent documents list bears, you can install this easy-to-use extension/addon/plugin: History manager for Libreoffice/Openoffice

- Click "Get it" and download the .oxt file.
- Open Libreoffice writer, menu > Tools > Extension manager > press Add and open the .oxt file you've downloaded.
- Close Libreoffice and re-open it. Go to menu Tools > Add-ons > History manager

How to set default apps (aka how to use xdg-mime)

How to set default apps in Chromium / Chrome / Firefox / Ubuntu Linux

Situation: You hate the default app that opens when you double click a file or when you open it with chromium browser and you want to change it.

a) In Unity (and probably Gnome 3 Shell), some default apps can be changed through gnome-control-center: System settings > System info > Default applications

b) You can also right-click on a file > select Properties > Open with. See what applications/programs are listed there. You can also add them and set them as default.

c) If none of the above work, you can use xdg-utils (xdg-mime) to set a default application for a specific Mime Type

First, you have to figure out what text string to use as a "mime type". An easy way to find it is to look into the default application's desktop file.

Example: Chromium opens magnet links and bittorrent files with transmission-gtk by default. The .desktop files are usually in folder /usr/share/applications/. We use "cat" command to look into the file /usr/share/applications/transmission-gtk (a line that starts with "MimeType"):

$ cat /usr/share/applications/transmission-gtk.desktop
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Transmission
[...]
Exec=transmission-gtk %U
Icon=transmission
Terminal=false
TryExec=transmission-gtk
Type=Application
MimeType=application/x-bittorrent;x-scheme-handler/magnet;
Categories=Network;FileTransfer;P2P;GTK;

Bingo! x-scheme-handler/magnet and application/x-bittorrent are the mime types we're after.

How to use xdg-mime command? Simple: xdg-mime default myapp.desktop mymimetype

..where we substitute myapp.desktop and mymimetype with the values from above.

Following the example above, we want magnet links and bittorrent files to open with Deluge (deluge-gtk) application. First you have to install the deluge-gtk package (otherwise the .desktop file won't exist). Then you have to execute:

xdg-mime default deluge.desktop x-scheme-handler/magnet
xdg-mime default deluge.desktop application/x-bittorrent
grep -i deluge ~/.local/share/applications/*

The last command (grep) should return "application/x-bittorrent=deluge.desktop" and the other mime type for magnet. Otherwise, something went wrong (maybe the desktop file didn't exist?).

And that's about it! Close and open chromium-browser again (or logout/login).

For the sake of documentation, the files that have to do with mime types and default apps are:

~/.local/share/applications/defaults.list
~/.local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
~/.local/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache
/usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache
/usr/share/applications/mimeapps.list
/usr/share/applications/defaults.list

Error creating XPS file

Error creating XPS file: Source _rels/.rels not found in archive

If you see the above error when trying to use xpstopng, xpstopdf, xpsto* tools provided by libgxps, then you probably suffer from this bug:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=670895

In short, the problem lies with libarchive versions prior to 3.x and zip files created by windows.
Solution?
a) Just update to 3.x or newer and you'll be good to go.
b) As a workaround, you can recreate the zip file:

unzip lorem-ipsum-and-image.xps -d temp/
cd temp/
zip ../newfile.xps *
cd ..

You now have a working copy of your XPS document.

How to install 1385:5f01 Netgear WPN111 (ar5523 driver)

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 1385:5f01 Netgear, Inc WPN111 (no firmware)

If you have the above device or a usb wifi dongle that requires ar5523 driver, you can try the commands and packages I've documented in order to make it work.

The weird thing with this device is that the firmware adds +1 to its ID. If you look at the code (SVN repository), you'll see that it's registered as "1385:5f00".

How to install the device driver
1. Install this package, depending on the version of ubuntu you may have:

• 12.04 (precise pangolin): https://launchpad.net/~medigeek/+archive/experimental/+files/ar5523-source_0%7Eslh.12%7Eppap1_all.deb
• 11.10 (oneiric ocelot): https://launchpad.net/~medigeek/+archive/experimental/+files/ar5523-source_0%7Eslh.12%7Eppao1_all.deb
• 11.04 (natty narwhal): https://launchpad.net/~medigeek/+archive/experimental/+files/ar5523-source_0%7Eslh.12%7Eppan1_all.deb

2. Execute the following commands, copy-paste them one by one:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -f install
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic module-assistant
sudo m-a a-i ar5523-source
wget http://verein.lst.de/~hch/ar5523.tgz
tar xvf ar5523.tgz ar5523/uath-ar5523.bin --strip 1
sudo mv uath-ar5523.bin /lib/firmware

3. Restart your computer and replug your usb dongle. Hopefully it works. :)


Source(s):

• http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/ar5523
• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1012812
• http://forum.ubuntu-gr.org/viewtopic.php?p=229452#p229452
• http://forum.ubuntu-gr.org/viewtopic.php?p=229667#p229667

Ubuntu Server Guide στα ελληνικά

 Μετά από παρότρυνση ενός μέλους του ubuntu-gr στην ταχυδρομική λίστα (ubuntu-gr mailing list) και με λίγη βοήθεια από τον Σίμο, καταφέραμε να δημιουργήσουμε τον οδηγό "Ubuntu server guide" ως PDF στα ελληνικά.

 Φυσικά, η μετάφραση ήδη υπάρχει ως HTML: http://help.ubuntu-gr.org/10.04/serverguide/el/

 Το πρόβλημα φαίνεται να ήταν με τη δημιουργία PDF αρχείου. Εμφάνιζε "####" χαρακτήρες αντί τους ελληνικούς.

 Το serverguide διασπάστηκε πριν λίγο καιρό από το ubuntu-docs και δημιουργήθηκε καινούργιο project: https://launchpad.net/serverguide
 Aπό εκεί βρήκα τις πιο πρόσφατες μεταφράσεις:

https://translations.launchpad.net/serverguide/

https://translations.launchpad.net/serverguide/oneiric/+pots/serverguide/el/+details

 Τώρα, πώς μεταφράζουμε τον οδηγό και πώς δημιουργούμε το pdf; Εκτελούμε τις εξής εντολές:

sudo apt-get install xsltproc bzr fop gnome-doc-utils docbook-xsl libservlet2.5-java
bzr branch lp:serverguide
cd serverguide
mkdir po

Μετά πάτε στο https://translations.launchpad.net/serverguide/oneiric/+pots/serverguide/el/+export
Ζητάτε το αρχείο ως .po (PO format). Θα σταλεί στο email.

Μετονομάζετε το αρχείο ως el.po
Μεταφέρετε το el.po στο φάκελο po/

Patch-άρετε το bzr tree:

wget http://people.ubuntu.com/~medigeek/serverguide_el/bzrpatch.diff -O bzrpatch.diff
bzr patch bzrpatch.diff

Για να δημιουργήσετε html:

make serverguide LN=el

Για να δημιουργήσετε pdf:

make serverguide-pdf LN=el

 Το pdf στα ελληνικά με Ubuntu fonts: http://people.ubuntu.com/~medigeek/serverguide_el/pdf/serverguide.pdf

  Το πρόβλημα με τα fonts αναφέρθηκε ως σφάλμα:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/serverguide/+bug/922251

Windows says "network cable unplugged", but works in ubuntu

..and I'm back on the Net! I'm going to travel to Guatemala soon, first time Atlantic-crosser and eager to do so! I won't be able to write for about 2 months, unless I find a good safe spot to write.
    Now to the main course. This was one of the worst problems I have ever faced in my life: "Network cable unplugged" but isn't. If you want the solution, scroll down to the last paragraph.

    I was cleaning up the appartment yesterday, and the PC was switched off during the day. I have a dual boot set up with Ubuntu as the main operating system. "It's been ages I didn't boot to Windows", I said to myself -- so the first thing I did was to boot up to Windows and try to check for some updates.
    Waiting for Windows 7 to boot up, I went out, bought some beverages from a store nearby and came back -- and no, it's not *that* slow, but why not take advantage of the waiting time? Anyway, when I came back I saw the tray network icon with a yellow triangle over it. "Hum, now what?". The error was: "Network cable unplugged". But the cable was plugged!
    These were the steps I took and none of them were faulty or broken: Router was working fine, all the LED lights showed that Internet was connected. Also the LED light for LAN network was green for the computer. I though of booting to Ubuntu.
    In Ubuntu, everything worked as expected. "Maybe it was a one-time error?" I mumbled while rebooting back to Windows. Nope -- the error "Network cable unplugged" remained.
    I used another cable, didn't work again. Another one, nada. "It can't be!!", I said, "Εvery cable is problematic?!". I booted to Ubuntu looking/googling for answers. After a couple of hours "researching" to figure out a solution, I decided to drop it. Since Ubuntu worked, why would I care?
    But it was eating me up inside. The day after (today) I tried another google search, pissed off about the whole thing. And I found the answer. It wasn't the cable, nor the router, nor the driver, it was Windows, simply and stereotypically.

1.) Shut dowm your PC.
2.) Unplug the power cord.
3.) If you have a laptop, remove the battery as well.
4.) Walk away from the problem for at least 30 minutes.
5.) When you return, reconnect battery and power cord.
5.) Start as usual.
6.) If this solves the problem, take 20 minutes and post this to all of those message boards that you didn't find the solution to.

Here's what I did:

- Shut down my PC.

- Switched off the router.

- Unplugged the ethernet cable.

- Switched off the extension cord. Unplugged the power cord.

- While it was unplugged, I pressed the power button once.

- I went to my neighbour and had a lovely 20-minute chat.

- Came back, connected the power cord and powered it on.

- Switched on the router.

- Plugged the ethernet cable.

That's it. As simple as it may be, it might save you from buying a new network ethernet card. :)

Indefinitely offline

In case anyone is wondering what happened to me, I have some real life issues to sort out. I will have some basic internet access and email, but nothing fancy.
Hopefully I will be back online within a year or so. Until then! :-)
If you liked any of my posts or projects or backports so far, the donation link on the right-side menu is a good way to express your gratitude. Cheers!

How to enable man pages search in Google

 I was messing around with Google this morning, when I realised that you can actually "subscribe" yourself to a custom search for linux manpages. You have to be logged in of course. :-)

 I say "subscribed" in quotes, because it's not really a subscription, but rather a pointless (my opinion) feature. The only good thing about it is the icon that you notice directly what you want to search, giving a simple explanation of what the command does - in other words, the title of the manpage.

 The steps are quite easy! You go to http://www.google.com/search?q=man+nmap and press the "Sign in" link on the top right corner. You log in with your Google account, then you are redirected back to the Google search page.

  Afterwards, you go to Settings ⟶ Search settings.

 Next, scroll down to "Subscribed Links" and click on the Subscribe button next to the "Unix Manpages". Click "Save preferences" and you're redirected back to the "man nmap" search. The search result is listed third here, so the result might be different than yours.



 Finally, let me justify why I consider this pointless. If you use Firefox, you can easily integrate a quick search keyword with your favourite operating system's manpages website. Not all of them have this feature/website, but Debian and Ubuntu have it!
 - Head on to http://manpages.debian.net.
 - Select Man -> All sections -> Debian Sid.
 - Right-click in the white text box next to "Man Page or Keyword Search".
 - Select "Add a keyword for this search".
 - Name: Manpages, Keyword: man
 - Click Save.
 - Head to your location bar text box and type in "man nmap".

Voila! Have fun keyword-ing!

Blogger and Firefox - How to save your password

 Some websites don't allow you to save your password in Firefox built-in password manager, for example Yahoo and Blogger. Really irritating!

 One beautiful day (my irony tends to build up under 35 degrees Celsius), I noticed that the Blogger page actually redirects you to a Google account sign in. Therefore, I've come up with this little link that will allow you to save your password and take you back to Blogger:


https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=blogger&continue=http://www.blogger.com/

Someone might make a good use of it. I also hope someone will find a way or fix the yahoo login page. Enjoy!

P.S. Make sure you install Secure Login add-on - it's a really handy application that allows one-click installs!

Swine/Avian flu comeback?

We've seen  the avian/bird flu to "fly away" from the media attention, as soon as a new wave of infection, called swine flu, popped out. There exist 3 main "types" (genus / species) of influenza virus - A, B and C. Their "subtypes" (serotypes / strains) are really easy to merge with each other and create a whole new subtype, which isn't covered by a vaccine. If you still didn't understand it, imagine crossing a black cow with a white cow and ending up getting a black cow with white spots (or vise versa) - that's a rather simplistic comparison!

Now, CDC and the pharmaceutical companies (and subsequently the doctors that cooperate with them) warn about the widespread influenza virus infection. They expect the same or similar strains that have appeared so far. To some of you, this might look like "a big game" played by medicament-related companies. I have no idea what's going in the background and in the behind-closed-doors meetings, but one thing is sure: You have to be prepared.

Note for employers: this really concerns you, if you don't want to have insufficient personnel unexpectedly!
CDC has a well-written article about how should businesses and employers be prepared for the winter: http://www.flu.gov/plan/workplaceplanning/guidance.html




It may statistically be a pandemic crisis, but if people and public areas are well-prepared there's nothing to be afraid of. Quite honestly, I doubt anyone of you reading this post will face any serious symptoms. Surely pre-schools, schools and libraries can provide better hygiene control, teaching children how to wash their hands properly is a great way to start. Secondly, liquid hand sanitizers should be available in some rooms. Moreover, it should be possible to "recycle" the air in the premises, providing a fresh set every now and then; for instance, leaving a window open for a couple of minutes while on break.


Sneezing, coughing and even talking might expel liquid (droplets) along with some particles (droplets nuclei). One of the best ways to trigger attention while warning other people is to show why sneezing and coughing are bad, and some pictures of the actual moment are a good way to start:
- http://pileofphotos.com/view/188/People-sneezing
- http://www.immediart.com/catalog/popup_image.php?pID=434



It's common sense that some people will get sick during the winter. That doesn't mean that they all will catch the bird or the swine flu. Babies should of course be taken care of and checked by a paediatrician, whereas adults and teenagers should also take precautional measures.

The easiest pathways for a micro-organism to enter our body is through the mouth, the eyes or the nose. The droplets from sneezing and coughing are really contagious. Therefore, "nose-picking", "eye-rubbing", "thumb-sucking" etc. should be avoided at all times; or at least until you get your hands cleaned! :-)


Also note that one of the first symptoms is almost always a sudden fever, followed by a runny nose/sore throat/higher fever after 8-12 hours; they might not all be expressed and might be in a different sequence!

There is one thing though in this whole bird/swine flu story that drives me nuts. The western capitalistic countries seem to be in a non-infective bubble. Many people in the least developed or developing countries don't have the adequate medical equipment nor the vaccines to combat and prevent the virus from spreading. Because of this, people might die, and only a few of us care. The media simply draw attention to what happens in the "western civilization", avoiding to show deaths that happen in other places of the world, where - under famine and food shortage - pathogenic micro-organisms spread wildly and only some of us provide help.

If the flu was just a marketing trick to cause mass hysteria and sell out their vaccine merchandise, I have a brutal comment for such companies, but then again I prefer not to  express my opinion.


Finally, I recommend taking the "Flu I.Q." test, it's a fun way of being informed about general information and facts regarding the influenza virus:

Workaround: brasero - slow speeds while burning

Brasero is a cd/dvd writing application for the Gnome desktop manager. Its advantages are ease of use, a lot of burning options and support for plugins!

Currently in Ubuntu 9.04, if you try to burn a disc, you might notice that:

• Everything goes well until about 50%.
• Afterwards, it continues, but the report does not show anything (empty progress bar).
• The speed is less than 2x, from 600 KiB/s to 800KiB/s, but the burning keeps going.
• Somewhere in the end, brasero shows progress again, but starts from 0%!!
• Burn was successful.

Note: You should consider that this might not always be your issue with slow speeds. For example, maybe your drive is not working well, or maybe your power supply unit (PSU) does not have enough "W" to supply all your hardware with adequate power.

The bug information is extensively reported here:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=582261

One of the developers detected and corrected the problem, which seems that it was using the wrong plugin ("wodim" instead of "growisofs"). Since Ubuntu's binary package brasero has wodim as a dependency, it might cause problems if you try to remove wodim.

There is a workaround though that seems to do the trick:

Don't forget to install the package for growisofs: dvd+rw-tools

1. Tell brasero to use growisof:
  - Press Alt+F2, and execute this command:

gconf-editor 

  - Head to apps ⟶ brasero ⟶ config ⟶ priority.
  - Change the number "0" next to wodim-burn to "-1" in order to disable it.
  - Change the number "0" next to growisofs-burn to "1" in order to set a higher priority.

2. Instead of using "Max" in speed burning options, set it manually at a high speed - e.g. choose 16x for a DVD or 52x for a CD.

That's it!


Credits go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/brasero/+bug/370999/comments/15
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/brasero/+bug/370999/comments/16

People are practically showing off where they got their songs on last.fm

I just stumbled upon the famous http://last.fm/ website - really great website that tracks down your audio preferences. Useful to show off your stats and music to your friends.
It's unfortunate that many people practically show off the origin of their (illegally downloaded?) songs, take a look: http://www.last.fm/search?m=all&q=www.

Makes you think again before posting your audio along with your personal information... ;)

Nikola Tesla: the forgotten wizard

To Nikola Tesla, a great Serbian-American who has given the basis of most electrical/radiological machines we use daily in our era. He provided the basis for an uplift of the way we live and work. Thank you, Nikola and happy anniversary.