Ubuntu released Hardy Heron a couple days ago and I’ve finally gotten around to trying it out. I should disclose that I spend the majority of my time in OS X so Ubuntu is more of a curiosity for me than a day to day OS. I attended the Web 2.0 Expo this year and heard Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems, talk about their acquisition of VirtualBox. VirtualBox is a free virtualization application, similar to VMWare and Parallels, that lets users run other operating systems inside a host operating system. In the past I’ve run Ubuntu instances from Parallels but I’ve found Parallels to be unstable at times under Leopard so I decided to give VirtualBox a try.

After downloading VirtualBox, it was a snap to set up a new VM and then mount the Ubuntu ISO. The installation went without a hitch and I was up and running in no time. The only part of the installation that needed any manual configuration was getting Ubuntu to run at a resolution other than 800×600. Even after I installed the “Guest Additions” from VirtualBox (Devices > Install Guest Additions), I didn’t have any choices other than 640×480 or 800×600. After a quick Google search, I came across the solution of manually editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf (don’t worry, it’s not that scary). The only other thing I haven’t been able to figure out is how to get my mouse wheel to scroll. I’m assuming this is an issue with VirtualBox that will be updated once the developers have a chance to work with Hardy Heron a little more.

Overall, Ubuntu 8.04 is awesome. It’s pretty fast; I’m not sure if this is because I’m now running it under VirtualBox and not Parallels or if the developers made some major speed updates. It comes with Firefox 3 Beta 5 (the newest right now). I’m increasingly impressed how Ubuntu is really becoming an alternative to Windows that I almost feel comfortable recommending to friends and family who know almost nothing about computers.

It’s definitely worth checking out and playing with.

Most applications in OS X automatically use OS X’s Network > Location settings (Apple > Location > [select a location]) including proxy settings for those of us who have employers that require all traffic to go through proxies. Firefox doesn’t use OS X’s proxy settings which is extremely annoying (there’s a Firefox extension to do this; I can verify that it works but can’t verify it’s not sending all your data to some other server or anything). SSH is another program that doesn’t respect OS X’s proxy settings. My guess is that this is because OS X’s SSH is a version of OpenSSH which Apple never customized enough to allow proxy support.

After a lot of research and help from a co-worker, I figured out how to use SSH on the Mac behind an HTTP proxy and have SSH automatically detect whether or not it needs to use a proxy. This works on Leopard but may not work in previous versions of the operating system.

Create a file (I’m going to call mine proxytest) and put it wherever you want on your Mac (make sure it’s executable by typing “chmod +x proxytest” in the terminal). This file is based on a user’s hint on macosxhints.com. Open the file and enter the following text:
#!/bin/sh

# Determine the hostname and port of the proxy and then establish the connection
PROXY_PORT=$(scutil --proxy | awk '$1 ~ /'"$PROTO"'Port/ { print $3 }')
/usr/bin/nc -X connect -x $PROXY_HOSTNAME:${PROXY_PORT} $HOST $PORT
fi


Then, go to your SSH config file (~/.ssh/config) or if it doesn’t exist, create the file. In the config file, enter the following line (of course, replace [path_to_your_file] with the actual path to your file):
ProxyCommand [path_to_your_file]/proxytest -P HTTP -H %h -p %p

Now, fire up your terminal and SSH as you normally would. Enjoy!

I finally got around to tethering my Blackberry 8800 to my Mac (on Leopard using AT&T). I’ve had the 8800 for awhile now but for some reason, never got around to actually pairing it so I could use the Internet while traveling through the bluetooth connection. The process was fairly painless after I figured out how to actually connect to the phone. I think Apple may have changed the process slightly in Leopard since the instructions I’ve come across have differed a little from what I actually had to do. The steps I took were basically as follows:

• Pair the Mac with the phone (make sure the Blackberry is discoverable by going to Settings > Bluetooth > Options and remember to make it not discoverable once you’re done).
• Copy the script located at Fibble.org to /Library/Modem Scripts (that’s your Mac’s root library, not your user library).
• Open System Preferences > Network and select Bluetooth and copy the settings from my screenshot (the password is “CINGULAR1″).
• Hit “Connect” and you should be done.

The connection speed seems decent (like an old dial-up modem) and should be fast enough for checking email and news while I’m on the road.

If you need help, check out this thread at fibble.org.