Debian Squeeze 6.0.2 update (Security – important)

Debian project has released update on Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) which addressed several security issues and bugfix. Debian Squeeze users are advised to update their installation using “apt-get update” and “apt-get upgrade” command to ensure all of the updates are installed properly.

p/s: Although I currently use Ubuntu, I was actually a Debian user and I continue to use Debian on my VPS to host this website till this very day. Without Debian, I would never has discovered thousands of wonderful open source software in it vast software repositories :)

Ubuntu 11.10 drops Synaptic package manager

The upcoming Ubuntu 11.10 release (Oneiric Ocelot) will drop Synaptic Package Manager from default installation in favor of Ubuntu Software Center.

This has been foreseen since Canonical has spend their effort in developing and improving Ubuntu Software Center as a convenience one-stop center to install free and paid software alike.

Personal Thoughts
Personally, I still prefer to use Synaptic Package Manager over Ubuntu Software Center as it is still doesn’t offer the same number of options that I used to get from Synaptic (ability to search by name, description, ability to test the fastest mirror).

But I believe the changes that Canonical and Ubuntu community made might make it easier to streamline the looks and functionality of package manager into desktop environment (Unity) regardless of the computing platform.

Synaptic

How to solve Apache – Could not reliably determine the server’s fully qualified name – error in Ubuntu

Apache2 web server will almost always display this information message :
"Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified name"
when it is first started in Ubuntu and Debian server.

The reason behind this message is because the web server fails to find the suitable domain name in the system.

How to remove the message
First, you need to edit “/etc/hosts” file and put your server name of choice in the file. For example:

127.0.0.1 server.mylocal

Then you need to add “ServerName” directive in the “/etc/apache2/apache2.conf” file.

ServerName server.mylocal

Finally, restart the web server for the changes to take effect. You will notice that the information message is gone now.

$ sudo service apache2 restart

How to remove user name from MeMenu in Unity (Ubuntu Natty)

The newly released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) features Unity shell interface which displays the current user name the top right of the panel (MeMenu) that adds a personalized feeling to desktop users.

However some users might not be comfortable to have their username appears on the computer screen, especially when they are working on a publicly accessible computer or when they do not want their username to appear on screenshots or screen-casts of their desktop.

So to remove the username, one only need to open a console, and run the following command:
gconftool -s /system/indicator/me/display –type int 0

Before

Before

After

Before

Alternatively, you can also choose to display your own fullname on MeMenu. You can do that by running the following command:
gconftool -s /system/indicator/me/display –type int 2

You return to the default setting of displaying your current username, by running:
gconftool -s /system/indicator/me/display –type int 1

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[via Chicomonte]