However…I have (as of yesterday) migrated the site to a new VPS with Linode. I have almost the same VPS (now a Linode 512), however I was suffering from some high memory usage with the Fivebean VPS, which have inexplicably gone away with the Linode host. I don’t think this was the way the physical server was setup, it could quite easily have been Ubuntu 9.10, which is what the previous host was running. The new server is now running 10.04.1 LTS.

The main reason for me moving the service to Linode was not because of bad service from Fivebean/Bluemile, or because of the high memory usage issue. It was, in fact, because I almost always experienced lag when I was accessing the server via ssh. And when you run some things in screen via ssh (IRC being one of these), and frequently use the ssh connection to the server, you’ll soon come to realise that it becomes frustrating using it with lag all the time.
Again, this was nothing to do with the server (as far as I’m aware), it was more to do with the fact that the datacenter is in Texas, whereas I’m in the UK. The new Linode host is in a datacenter based in London, which is around 100mi away from where I live, thus, much better in terms of lag. Not to mention a convenient iOS app from Linode which allows me to check the stats of the server wherever I am, as well as reboot it, if necessary. Combined with the SSH app I also have, remote administration is remarkably easy for me.

I’d still recommend Fivebean/Bluemile to anybody who is in the market for a VPS, as they offer incredible service, however, Linode is a strong competitor, and it’s hard to promote one before the other.

So, it is without further ado that I introduce my next victim guest. Silver Fox is generally a quiet member of the Ubuntu Beginners Team, but does good work within said team which goes – largely – unnoticed. I thought it would be appropriate to try and bring these to light for others to see.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

I am a professional web developer and database administrator living and working in the UK.¬†¬† I don’t really have much family but I do have a good number of friends.¬† My hobbies include running, badminton and just lately photography.¬† I also keep a blog where I post pretty much anything on my mind.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

The earliest computer I remember “playing” with was an acorn electron.¬† I got fascinated by how what you typed somehow made sense to the computer (certainly didn’t to me). I got it into my head to try and work out how this all works.¬† After much time and effort I had to give up, I just didn’t “get it”.

I can’t remember what I was doing after that but I picked up the computer interest sometime around windows 3.1.¬† Again I was drawn to the programming side ,¬† with fond memories of writing applications in qbasic.¬† This time I seemed to get on better with it and stuck the course.¬† Years later I found myself with a ÔªøBSc (Hons).

Linux was a bit of a background noise initially to me,  I had heard people mention it but I was not sure what to make of it at all.  I finally took a jump after some serious problems with Microsoft Vista.  A colleague suggested I try Ubuntu (I believe I caught the end of 7.10).  Since then I have tried many distros but a firm favourite would have to be Ubuntu (and those based on it).

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

I joined Ubuntu Forums in June 2008,  though I lurked for a period before hand. Here is a link to my profile.   I try to help anyone I can, even if its pointing them to a howto.   I especially try to help those who post in Absolute Beginners Talk.  These are the people I can relate to most,  totally stuck and feeling lost.  I consider myself a beginner at best but I would like to think I must have learnt something by now about Ubuntu

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I am an Ubuntu Member. Here is a link to my wiki page.  My main involvements are with the Ubuntu Beginners Team.  I am in my second term of leading the IRC focus group. This group aims to provide real time support to those who require help.   I have other activities listed on my wiki page for those who would like an in depth breakdown.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

Currently I am mainly using Ubuntu and #! Crunchbang Linux at home.  From time to time I boot into Fedora and Zenix.

My favourite application would probably be Firefox.   Its usually one of the first application I run when I turn on my computer

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

My fondest memories on the forum are two little words, Thank You.  I get great pleasure from knowing that I helped someone.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

I have had some success in introducing people to Ubuntu. A few of my friends are now happily running the operating system with me serving as immediate source to help if it goes wrong (very little has )

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

ÔªøI would like to see awareness of Linux increase to the point where I can talk to “Joe Public” about Linux and to not get a blank look back.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Hello and welcome   The community is fantastic.  Never feel like you are alone when tackling a problem.

From what I read, the book can prove incredibly useful to newcomers, and old-timers alike. I really do think it’s well written, helpful, and I would quite happily recommend it to anybody looking for a book on Ubuntu. Not to mention, the book is compact (much thinner, but equally as full as, some other Ubuntu books I own), and very stylish…that’s my opinion of course…but I think this book would look quite the part sitting on anybody’s bookshelf.

See for yourself:

The book can be bought on Amazon (UK site link), or many other bookstores.

Anyway, in time honoured tradition, I thought I’d share the stats from my somewhat neglected rtorrent screen session for the 10.04 release:

Not quite sure about those tracker messages, but nonetheless, it seems that more people are wanting the 64 bit release this time around.

Simply put – we have new staff over on the Ubuntu Forums Please join me in congratulating drs305, duanedesign, Iowan, lisati, loell, Ms_Angel_D & philinux on their new roles on the forum, I’m sure you’ll all do great!

One thing that did frustrate me (immensely), while trying to install Lucid, was the partitioning situation. I wiped my Ubuntu partition(s) completely, including my /home and everything. I decided before installing that I’d make backups of the important stuff, and go from there. Somewhat frustratingly, the partition manager mid-way through ubiquity decided to give up the ghost and die. Not a problem, I thought, as I downloaded the daily live CD, I’ll just install from here….no go – the daily live CD was showing exactly the same issues as the Alpha 2 disc.

Before I ditched my attempts to install Lucid and drop back down to Karmic (9.10), I figured I’d try running GParted, and create the partitions before running ubiquity. Good job I did! This worked fine, without any hitches. Naturally I think I should’ve been able to specify my partitions as part of the ubiquity installer, but at least it’s installed now! More on my Lucid thoughts as I get any experiences to share with it.

1. Tell as much as you’re willing about your “real life” like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

I am Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community Manager working at Canonical for three years now, I am 30 years young and an Englishman living in the Bay Area, California with my wife, Erica. My parents live in Northern England and I have a brother living in Northern England and another brother living in the Isle Of Man. I was born in the north of England in North Yorkshire, raised in the south in Bedfordshire and and studied at Wolverhampton University in in the Midlands, graduating with a 2:1 in Interactive Multimedia Communication, going on to become a a journalist writing for a number of Open Source magazines and websites and writing a few books. I then became an Open Source consultant for the UK government-funded OpenAdvantage before moving to Canonical to become the Ubuntu Community Manager. My hobbies include writing, recording and producing music, videogames, movies, writing, travel and relaxing with friends.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I got interested in computers when I was a kid playing with a Commodore 64. I used to play games on it and try to write simple little programs in BASIC. Computers fascinated me, and my interest in video games (I was an epic Sega dork) got me into first learning BASIC and then learning C.

When I was 14, complete with bowl haircut, jack ups and large white socks, I went to night school to learn C and got more and more interested in the technology behind how software works, despite largely sucking at C. Shortly before I left for University my brother Simon came to stay for a few weeks and got me interested in Linux, specifically Slackware 96. Although it was ultra-technical, what really fascinated me was the concept of a global community of passionate contributors working together to build an Operating System that we could all share. I went to University and immediately formed a Linux User Group in my new home and progressively got more and more interested in Linux, starting to contribute to projects and then starting to write for magazines. I heard about Ubuntu when it was known as No Name Yet and it really captivated me: it really represented something I had been dreaming about – the fantastic technical foundation of Debian, but a different focus on integration, usability and ease of use.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What’s your role there?

My primary involvement in Ubuntu at the beginning was getting to the know the community, contributing bug reports and feedback and co-writing The Official Ubuntu Book. At the time I was spending most of my spare time knee-deep in the GNOME project and working with local Linux communities in the West Midlands, and my interest in Ubuntu grew from there.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I am an Ubuntu Member, and proud to be one! I contribute in a range of areas. I lead a team at Canonical that is tasked with helping to produce a rocking community to participate in and we work on a wide range of projects as part of that role. My contributions include team management, governance, software development, some translations, bug triage, raising awareness of Ubuntu and creating new initiatives to get people involved.

Outside of Ubuntu I like to develop community best practice with The Art Of Community and the annual Community Leadership Summit, do some podcasting with Shot Of Jaq and FLOSSWeekly, videocasts with At Home With Jono Bacon and Severed Fifth: Live In The Studio, record Creative Commons metal with Severed Fifth and work on some software projects such as Lernid, Acire, Python Snippets and some other projects.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What’s your favorite application? Your least favorite?

I naturally use Ubuntu as my Operating System, both on my desktop as well as on the server that hosts my site and a range of other sites I run. I have so many fave applications – I love Empathy, OpenOffice.org, The GIMP, TomBoy, Scribus, Thunderbird, Docky, Network Manager, Gwibber, Quickly, Glade, and many more. As for least fave, I am not really sure I have a least fave – there are so many programs I haven’t got to yet.

6. What’s your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What’s your worst?

Fondest memory is a kid who emailed me telling me how he walked five hours from his village in Africa to an Internet cafe to to work on Ubuntu for an hour and then walked back. He emailed me telling me it was worth the effort and that he loved Ubuntu.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

Fairly well, I think. Basically anyone who is not an Ubuntu user gets the advocacy pitch from me about how Ubuntu would rock their world. Many have tried it, which is what I consider a win, and a bunch have switched. Some don’t, which is fine, but my first goal is to have people take a sip of Ubuntu before they drink the rest of the bottle.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?

I want to see free software, delivered via Ubuntu, become the most ubiquitous platform in the world for users and developers, available to all, respecting local languages and culture, and inspiring innovation and sharing.

9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

Welcome to the Ubuntu community and welcome to the start of awesome journey in which we can all put a brick in the wall to create an incredible free software platform. I look forward to meeting you all!

That’s right, we have 1,000,000 members on Ubuntu Forums now, and I’m glad I could be a part of that awesome community

A snippet of the screen:

Ubuntuforums.org Millionth Member

As mentioned in my previous post, I’ve upgraded both my graphics card, and my monitor recently – both of which, I love, especially the monitor…1920×1200 is a lovely resolution That said, I decided to reinstall Ubuntu last night, because I’d been running the same install since Alpha4 of Karmic, and I’d been experiencing a few oddities. I didn’t know whether this was the 64 bit version I was running, or some odd config files left over from somewhere.

Because I was lazy, I used the Karmic CD I got from ShipIt, completely forgetting that these are 32 bit versions of Ubuntu, not 64 bit. I only realised once I’d booted into the system. The upside of this is that I noticed a couple of issues had gone, and that there really is little difference between the 32 bit or 64 bit. So much so, I’ll be going back to 64 bit for Lucid Kudos to the developers though, the installer picked up my resolution perfectly on the LiveCD, and also noticed that I have 4GB RAM, so installed the PAE kernel without even asking! Colour me impressed!

All in all, reinstalling showed me a couple of new things that I seem to have missed out (mainly things like that on the installer), and it has indeed fixed a few issues. I estimate this install will last around 6 weeks, and then I’ll install Lucid…but we’ll have to wait and see….

I previously had a 9500GT, so it’s a relatively small upgrade, but I got it as some games were crashing/bluescreening, and giving a graphics card/driver related error. When I tried rolling back the drivers, and then reinstalling older & newer versions to no avail, I figured the next logical step was new stuff!

I have to say, I was suitably impressed, Ubuntu loaded up, picked up my dual screen* setup perfectly, and it was as though nothing had ever changed. Brilliant…now for Windows 7! I foolishly expected minimum fuss, as it had been good to me when I installed it all those many moons ago, only to boot it twice since then. How wrong I was. 800×600 single screen until I downloaded and installed the drivers, and rebooted.

I think we’ll give the point to Ubuntu then!
* About 30 minutes after installing the new graphics card, I’d purchased a new 24″ screen online, to replace my current 2×20″ setup. I need more desk space!