Tired with the slow performance of my tablet (such that I actually shy away from using it ’cause it’s just too danged slow), I’ve elected to install Linux on it. I kind of tossed a coin and decided on the Ubuntu flavor of Linux. I was driven mostly by the fact that it seems to have the most significant share of the Linux install base (at least according to Wikipedia) and I figured that implies that most problems I’m likely to encounter should already have been encountered and dealt with by other pioneers in this arena.
I can see that, if I get hooked, I’m very likely to also install Linux on my server in the back room as well.
While the novelty of a new operating system has an appeal to me, the freedom to uninstall and reinstall is also a tremendous draw as well. The last computer for which I received a *real* Windows install disk, and not a crappy “recovery CD” was with my NEC Computer that I purchased back in 1996. I really dislike paying for an operating system (even a “reduced cost” OEM version) and not getting an actual install disk with it. Having to completely wipe out my system and restore it to a state, potentially years old, is just silly.
Some Tips:
To make my Ubuntu files available to other computers on my local network I needed to follow these directions that I got from here.
Sharing folders via the Shared Folders application
To share folders using the Shared Folders application:
1. Press Applications ? Accessories ? Terminal to open a Terminal.
2. Type shares-admin and press Return to open Shared Folders.
3. Press the Unlock button and enter your password in the Password for (username): field.
4. Press the Authenticate button.
5. You may receive a message which says Sharing services are not installed. If this happens, ensure that the two checkboxes in the message box are checked and press Install services. Sharing service support will then be downloaded and installed; this may take a while.
6. Select the Shared Folders tab and press Add.
7. Select the location of the folder you wish to share by changing the Path option.
8. Choose Windows networks (SMB) from the Share through option.
9. Enter a name and comment for the shared folder.
10. If you would like people accessing the shared folder to be able to add, change and remove files in the folder, uncheck Read only. If you leave Read only checked, people will only be able to view files in the folder.
11. Press OK to make the shared folder available. Other people on the same network (LAN) as you should now be able to access the folder.
I tried using the user interface in the file browser to share a folder in my home directory that I titled “public” but this did not work immediately. So I followed the above steps and the ones below in one shot (unscientifically changed two variables at once).
I’m pretty sure that these steps below are what finally made the sharing work. I just “changed” the password to the one I was already using. Apparently the GUI forgets to do this?
Accessing shared folders via Windows
If you would like to access a shared folder hosted on an Ubuntu computer by using computers running Windows, you may have to perform some additional steps:
1. Press Applications ? Accessories ? Terminal to open a Terminal.
2. Type sudo smbpasswd -a username, replacing “username” with your own username. Press Return to run the command.
3. Enter your password when prompted with “[sudo] password for username:” and press Return again.
4. When prompted with “New SMB password:”, enter the password that you would like to use to access the shared folder and then press Return. You can leave the password blank, which will allow anyone to access the shared folder.
5. When prompted with “Retype new SMB password:”, enter the password that you just entered and then press Return.
6. You should now be able to connect to the shared folders on the Ubuntu computer.
More to come…