My customized version of Xubuntu that mirrors my mainline Ubuntu customization has now also been included on Softpedia. You can check out the write up and download link here.
Their editor's even gave it a 4 Star rating, not bad I say! The Xubuntu version doesn't have as many downloads, but its nice to have a second option. The plethora of choices is one of the best parts of Linux land - just doing my part!
Blessings,
Jesse
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Updates to Ubuntu Photo
I have uploaded updated ISO images of my 64bit version of Ubuntu Photo and the 64bit version of Xubuntu Photo. You can get the new ISO images at my SourceForge page.
New updates include: A Calendar Maker script for the GIMP, RawTherapee PPA for those who wish to install the latest version, UF Raw Gimp Plugin, all Ubuntu Updates as of 2/24/2014 and for Xubuntu an Ambiance Theme is available (but not default).
Blessings,
Jesse
New updates include: A Calendar Maker script for the GIMP, RawTherapee PPA for those who wish to install the latest version, UF Raw Gimp Plugin, all Ubuntu Updates as of 2/24/2014 and for Xubuntu an Ambiance Theme is available (but not default).
Blessings,
Jesse
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Customizing Xubuntu with Remastersys
As I did with the base Ubuntu 12.04, I wanted to create a customized version of Xubuntu 12.04. The first step was similar to my Ubuntu customization with a removal of unwanted default software and installation of my custom set.
While Xubuntu by default comes with some lighter weight programs such as Abiword and Gnumeric, I am more interested in the more feature rich LibreOffice Suite. Along with Abiword and Gnumeric: Pidgin, Transmission, Xchat, Gmusicbrowser and Parole get the ax for my application set.
The new applications include the aforementioned LibreOffice as well as Quadrapassel, GIMP 2.8 (From PPA), Hugin, Darktable (From PPA), Openshot Video Editor (From PPA), Banshee, RipperX, DVD Styler, gLabels, Audacity, Lucky Backup, WinFF and Shotwell. This rounds out the same software set installed on the Ubuntu Photo customization.
After customizing the XFCE environment, I had run the Remastersys program (as detailed in previous posts on Customizing Ubuntu) and when I went to test the ISO none of my customizations stuck - the default Xubuntu desktop and panel structure was back. After some research and trial and error I did the following to get my configurations to stick:
I copied my user configuration files located at ~./config/xfce4/ to /etc/xdg/xfce4/ & /etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/xfce4. After a reboot of the VM I created everything, I lost some the color theme and icon set settings. Changed those back and all was good. Next I copied ~./config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce4-panel.xml to /etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/xfce4/panel/default.xml (overwriting the existing default.xml file). Lastly I copied the contents of ~./config/ to /etc/skel and the final ISO tested and booted as expected with all customizations in place. Below is a screen shot of my customized setup.
I have uploaded my custom Xubuntu ISO to my Sourceforge project page (link) to go with my Ubuntu customizations. This version includes all Ubuntu system updates as of 11/22/13 and is 64Bit only.
Next steps for my photography geared Ubuntu/Xubuntu customizations include custom wallpapers, splash screens and maybe even a few icons. Don't know when that will be a reality at this point though, but that is what I would like to do next.
Blessings,
Jesse
While Xubuntu by default comes with some lighter weight programs such as Abiword and Gnumeric, I am more interested in the more feature rich LibreOffice Suite. Along with Abiword and Gnumeric: Pidgin, Transmission, Xchat, Gmusicbrowser and Parole get the ax for my application set.
The new applications include the aforementioned LibreOffice as well as Quadrapassel, GIMP 2.8 (From PPA), Hugin, Darktable (From PPA), Openshot Video Editor (From PPA), Banshee, RipperX, DVD Styler, gLabels, Audacity, Lucky Backup, WinFF and Shotwell. This rounds out the same software set installed on the Ubuntu Photo customization.
After customizing the XFCE environment, I had run the Remastersys program (as detailed in previous posts on Customizing Ubuntu) and when I went to test the ISO none of my customizations stuck - the default Xubuntu desktop and panel structure was back. After some research and trial and error I did the following to get my configurations to stick:
I copied my user configuration files located at ~./config/xfce4/ to /etc/xdg/xfce4/ & /etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/xfce4. After a reboot of the VM I created everything, I lost some the color theme and icon set settings. Changed those back and all was good. Next I copied ~./config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce4-panel.xml to /etc/xdg/xdg-xubuntu/xfce4/panel/default.xml (overwriting the existing default.xml file). Lastly I copied the contents of ~./config/ to /etc/skel and the final ISO tested and booted as expected with all customizations in place. Below is a screen shot of my customized setup.
 |
| Customized Xubuntu 12.04 LTS |
Next steps for my photography geared Ubuntu/Xubuntu customizations include custom wallpapers, splash screens and maybe even a few icons. Don't know when that will be a reality at this point though, but that is what I would like to do next.
Blessings,
Jesse
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Transferring a Virtual Machine From Xenserver to Hyper-V
Exporting a Virtual Machine from Xenserver and then importing it into Hyper-V is not officially supported from any documentation I can find on-line. If you have need for this conversion, and your Virtual Disks are in VHD format, this is really quite simple. The below tutorial will walk you through the steps I took to move a VM from Xenserver to Hyper-V. I have not tested this with virtual disk formats other than the VHD format, so other scenarios are untested and unknown to work or not.
First step: In XenCenter, export the target VM (VM must be shutdown to export) with the OVF/OVA option and be sure to not choose the option to create a single OVA file. Importing to Hyper-V will not work with the single OVA file export. All the remaining default options are fine, choose to verify the export if you desire.
Second step: On the Hyper-V host, create a folder on the hard drive where you will want your VM's files to live. Once the folder is created, copy the VHD and OVF file from the first step to this folder (The VHD file will be named with a large string of letters and numbers).
Third step: In your Hyper-V manager, create a new Virtual Machine and name it as desired. For the VM destination, select the folder created in the second step that contains the VHD and OVF files. Assign the memory and network options and for the virtual disk, select the exported VHD from the above step.
Fourth step: Adjust and fine tune the remaining settings (virtual processors etc...) and then power it up, your all done!
I have tested this by exporting VM's from Xenserver 6.0.2 and 6.1 and importing them to Hyper-V 2012 running in full Server 2012 hosts.
Blessings,
Jesse
First step: In XenCenter, export the target VM (VM must be shutdown to export) with the OVF/OVA option and be sure to not choose the option to create a single OVA file. Importing to Hyper-V will not work with the single OVA file export. All the remaining default options are fine, choose to verify the export if you desire.
Second step: On the Hyper-V host, create a folder on the hard drive where you will want your VM's files to live. Once the folder is created, copy the VHD and OVF file from the first step to this folder (The VHD file will be named with a large string of letters and numbers).
Third step: In your Hyper-V manager, create a new Virtual Machine and name it as desired. For the VM destination, select the folder created in the second step that contains the VHD and OVF files. Assign the memory and network options and for the virtual disk, select the exported VHD from the above step.
Fourth step: Adjust and fine tune the remaining settings (virtual processors etc...) and then power it up, your all done!
I have tested this by exporting VM's from Xenserver 6.0.2 and 6.1 and importing them to Hyper-V 2012 running in full Server 2012 hosts.
Blessings,
Jesse
Thursday, October 17, 2013
My Customized Ubuntu Listed on Softpedia
My Photography geared customization of Ubuntu, which I so creatively called Ubuntu Photo, has been listed on Softpedia. A bit of an unexpected, albeit pleasant surprise! You can find the link here and see their brief write up.
I originally had a base system geared toward general users, but have since decided to scrap that and focus solely on my photography geared version. Long term I would like to further my customization beyond the default fall-back mode and extra set of applications.
I would also like to do a customized Xubuntu version, but it will take a bit more research on the customizations with XFCE as Remastersys does not keep all the user customizations and the desktop stays the same as the default Xubuntu (that I am not wild about).
Blessings,
Jesse
I originally had a base system geared toward general users, but have since decided to scrap that and focus solely on my photography geared version. Long term I would like to further my customization beyond the default fall-back mode and extra set of applications.
I would also like to do a customized Xubuntu version, but it will take a bit more research on the customizations with XFCE as Remastersys does not keep all the user customizations and the desktop stays the same as the default Xubuntu (that I am not wild about).
Blessings,
Jesse
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
64 Bit Version of My Custom Ubuntu Available
I now have a 64bit version of my customized Ubuntu completed and uploaded to SourceForge. This is only the photography geared version and I am done with my 'base' version and will only be maintaining the Photo version.
In this version, Skype is out and Audacity is in (for editing audio to possibly use with a DVD). It also has Shotwell .14.1 and the 3.5 Kernel from Ubuntu 12.10 as opposed to the 3.2 series originally released with 12.04.
You can check out the download link here, enjoy!
Blessings,
Jesse
In this version, Skype is out and Audacity is in (for editing audio to possibly use with a DVD). It also has Shotwell .14.1 and the 3.5 Kernel from Ubuntu 12.10 as opposed to the 3.2 series originally released with 12.04.
You can check out the download link here, enjoy!
Blessings,
Jesse
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Customizing Ubuntu Part 4: Fine Tuning & Final ISO
After going through the customization process and thinking over some of the applications I originally included, I decided to trim them down and go about the final product in a different way. The final ends up being two different customized versions. The first being a slim (though with Remastersys, the ISO is still 1GB) version that has the classic GNOME environment by default and some additional programs. I won't re-list the applications I removed, as they were not reconsidered and you can read about them in part one of this series.
The additional software that made it to the base system follows:
In addition to the base packages available in the stock Ubuntu system (LibreOffice, Firefox, Shotwell etc...) I picked the above programs to form what I would consider a more complete package (less some unnecessary applications, and of course the classic GNOME look) for more everyday, general use. And while some of these may not be needed, I think they make a good base install for many users. Going back, if I were to start over, I would likely not include Skype as it might not be desired for all users - but it can be easily removed. This base setup also still has PPA's in place for the GIMP, Pithos (Pandora Client) and Darktable if those applications are desired. The OpenShot stable PPA is also in place to ensure the most current version is available when the program is updated beyond the installed version when I created the ISO files.
The next custom ISO is a version with software geared toward digital photography, which is one of my main uses for my laptop. For this ISO I have removed Pinta from the system and added the following additional programs:
Currently both ISO files are 32Bit. With Ubuntu's stock kernel being a PAE kernel, this shouldn't be much of an issue as PAE enables 32Bit systems to get past the 4GB memory limit. However, if there is interest in my project and a 64Bit version I would be willing to create 64Bit ISO files. I originally could not boot a 64Bit ISO in Virtualbox, but have since fixed that issue by enabling the virtualization technology in my system's BIOS.
Next step for this project is a customized version of Xubuntu. The XFCE powered version of Ubuntu has come a long way since I first looked at it in version10.04, but again, I am not a big fan of the default configuration. XFCE has the added bonus of being more customizable, much like the classic GNOME environment was before the introduction of GNOME 3. Even though many users man not want or need the flexibility to configure a desktop environment extensively, many still do though.
Eventually I would like to go further with customized Linux distributions, with Remastersys you have additional options for custom boot splash images and some other customizations for starters. And at some point I would be interested in working through the directions from the Linux From Scratch project for a completely custom, ground up build. I will be sure to document here any additional explorations I dive into.
But for now, the customizations I have done so far are available for download on Sourceforge at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/customizedubunt/
Blessings,
Jesse
The additional software that made it to the base system follows:
- Quadrapassel - Tetris clone, just one more little game to add for fun.
- Lucky Backup - Graphical rsync front end that is great for backups and can be scheduled to automatically run.
- Skype - For free video calls, not in the repositories and available pre installed in this image.
- Pinta - Basic imaging program, great for cropping, resizing and other basic imaging needs.
- gLabels label designer - For designing and printing on any number of different labels. From mailing labels to CD labels. Comes with a large number of pre-loaded popular label templates.
- Banshee -Music player of choice right now.
- Ripper X - For copying CDs to MP3 format on your local hard drive (so as to add them to an MP3 player, or just listen on the computer)
- Synaptic Package Manager - For software management.
- OpenShot Video Editor - Great video editor for Linux, can be used to create photo slide shows and other home videos.
In addition to the base packages available in the stock Ubuntu system (LibreOffice, Firefox, Shotwell etc...) I picked the above programs to form what I would consider a more complete package (less some unnecessary applications, and of course the classic GNOME look) for more everyday, general use. And while some of these may not be needed, I think they make a good base install for many users. Going back, if I were to start over, I would likely not include Skype as it might not be desired for all users - but it can be easily removed. This base setup also still has PPA's in place for the GIMP, Pithos (Pandora Client) and Darktable if those applications are desired. The OpenShot stable PPA is also in place to ensure the most current version is available when the program is updated beyond the installed version when I created the ISO files.
The next custom ISO is a version with software geared toward digital photography, which is one of my main uses for my laptop. For this ISO I have removed Pinta from the system and added the following additional programs:
- GIMP 2.8, along with the resynthesizer plug-in, python layer effects plug-in and the G'MIC plug-ins.
- Darktable - A digital darkroom program for developing photographs. Darktable supports RAW image formats.
- Hugin Panorama Photo Stitcher - For stitching panoramic photographs and other composite images.
- DVD Styler - For creating DVDs that will play in standard DVD players.
- WinFF - To convert video files between formats. DVD Styler typically needs MPEG format for video files.
Currently both ISO files are 32Bit. With Ubuntu's stock kernel being a PAE kernel, this shouldn't be much of an issue as PAE enables 32Bit systems to get past the 4GB memory limit. However, if there is interest in my project and a 64Bit version I would be willing to create 64Bit ISO files. I originally could not boot a 64Bit ISO in Virtualbox, but have since fixed that issue by enabling the virtualization technology in my system's BIOS.
Next step for this project is a customized version of Xubuntu. The XFCE powered version of Ubuntu has come a long way since I first looked at it in version10.04, but again, I am not a big fan of the default configuration. XFCE has the added bonus of being more customizable, much like the classic GNOME environment was before the introduction of GNOME 3. Even though many users man not want or need the flexibility to configure a desktop environment extensively, many still do though.
Eventually I would like to go further with customized Linux distributions, with Remastersys you have additional options for custom boot splash images and some other customizations for starters. And at some point I would be interested in working through the directions from the Linux From Scratch project for a completely custom, ground up build. I will be sure to document here any additional explorations I dive into.
But for now, the customizations I have done so far are available for download on Sourceforge at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/customizedubunt/
Blessings,
Jesse
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)