• Setup port forwarding at your home router: port 22 should be forwarded to your TonidoPLUG.
  • Note: When you open port 22 on your router, note that anybody can try to connect to your port. But if you have a strong password, it is very unlikely anyone will be able to hack into your TonidoPLUG (the key is to have a strong password)
• Next test your link. This is done by entering a terminal command such as: ssh username@YourName.tonidoid.com.  If this works you will get a request to enter the user password; I recommend that you do this to complete the test. If you login successfully, close the terminal window and go to the next step.
• Initiate Rsync from your PC (one external to your home network): Since you are initiating the connection externally, you do not need to know the public IP of your your external location. Just run either:
  • an Rsync command from your terminal window (something like: rsync -e ssh -a -P /path/to/source/dir/at/work/PC username@YourName.tonidoid.com>:/path/to/dest/dir) – or -
  • through a tool like GRsync to upload files to your home TonidoPLUG.

Happy computing!

Username: jaimelipani
E-mail: jonatanwebsterbaum@gmail.com

Username: rafaellabove
E-mail: jonatanwebsterbaum@gmail.com

Username: Andrianq
E-mail: pulvillarrac@gmail.com

Username: MikeWink
E-mail: bugbeemershonyhe@gmail.com

Username: Miriam
E-mail: obierebelominepyb@gmail.com

Username: arnoldisby
E-mail: naomyrotenford@gmail.com

If you have any other user/email information I can append to this list, please let me know.

Install for Ubuntu Jaunty:

First edit /etc/apt/sources.list file:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the next two lines to the bottom:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Add the following GPG Key:

sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 1781bd45c4c3275a34bb6aec6e871c4a881574de

Update the Source List:

sudo aptitude update

Install the Bisigi Project themes:

sudo aptitude install zgegblog-themes

Now select a new theme by going to System > Preference > Appearence.
Enjoy the new themes!

I have begun local testing for implementation in a small consulting firm. Thus far I have no significant issues with the Music, files or other documents.  Setup has also been super easy thus far (up until my thunderstorm).  I tested things on three PCs including :

• an eeePC running eeebuntu
• a laptop running Ubuntu 9.04
• a Desktop running Windows XP

-within our four walls — office– things linked fine.

That it is… until a Colorado thunderstorm came along a blew all the settings out on our modems and firewalls.  Actually (in retrospect) that was a good thing because I really got a good look at how things work.  On Linux machines that are servers  and probably on Windows, too, you need to pay special attention to Port Forwarding — in order to gain access to your Tonido files through your firewall.  For ‘normal’ machines that are not servers, it simply happens automagically assuming their DSL modems offer UPNP.  However, NO UPNP equals a manual Port Forward for those guys, too. For those systems that are buried in a secondary (or lower) network, you need to remember to Port Forward all modems between them and the internet.  It only took me two days to learn these simple points.  Undaunted by skill or knowledge, I finally slugged it out!

Otherwise, my testing has provided a few additional items worthy of note including:

1. You are only able to upload data from your ‘home’ machine it seems.  When I tried adding my contacts from my netbook browser nothing happened; however, when I moved over to my main laptop it was happy to upload things.
2. Because I use Evolution, my calendar was a breeze to upload as an ics file.
3. It is important to note that not everything you upload is easily “deleteable.” Contacts for example are only removable one at time… my 1300 person error will be a mess for quite a while.
4. Tonido screen layouts look very nice on a big screen but for netbooks they make things very difficult. Icons and text are simply too LARGE. You can work around by using your browser in full screen mode; that little F11 thing in FireFox makes the too large icons almost tolerable.
5. Calendar, contact export does not appear to be supported.  This means the information flow has to emenate from your main PC and out to the share environment.  I think that is somewhat sub-otimal; but it is perhaps a short-term problem(challenge); this may get fixed.
6. Having read quite a bit on the web, I agree that the tonido website content does the toolset a ‘huge’ disservice.  Tonido is a great environment which is unclearly under-communicated, under-stated, and unclear. It is interesting that the Tonido site does not appear to emphasize the application’s use for small business; which is huge.  I find this strange since there is a heavy emphasis on items such as Music and Photos- neither of which can be as profitable as file, contact, calendar, task and information sharing.  I guess that just proves we all have biases.

Interestingly, I was barely able to find mention of tonido on the Ubuntu Forums site (buried in a single posting)… on the main Ubuntu site it appears only once prominently.

Observation:

• Another userful review

• Find a xcursor theme you like (they are available via Synaptic, gnome-look and other sources)

The following steps are required if you manually download your preferred xcursor theme:

• If you download from the web, place the tar.gz or similar file on your Desktop.
• Right click your Desktop and Open “Change Desktop Background”
• Select the Theme tab
• Drag the xcursor tar.gz file into some whitespace between your themes; you will be asked if you want the theme installed- answer: YES

If you installed xcursor themes via synaptic then:

• Right click your Desktop and Open “Change Desktop Background”
• Select the Theme tab
• Next Select “Customize”
• Next select “Pointer” tab
• Finally pick your preferred package from the list available

Always:

• Jot-down or save the name of your new xcursor theme
• Open the “Compiz Settings Manager” next
• Select “General Options”
• Type the CORRECT name of your xcursor theme into the dialog box labeled “Cursor theme”

In order to see your new theme you may wish to reload your window via CTL-ALT-backspace. Log back into your desktop and you should have a new xcursor that remains as you change windows.

…mark

By way of giving a little bit back to the community, I have created a unified desktop environment with Login Screen, Desktop, icons and sounds to provide a cohesive (to my mind) environment.

If you would like to try these out on your Ubuntu Desktop feel free to download the 19+ MB set here. Note the readme document which contains installation instructions. I am guessing that this environment will work on any Gnome/ Debian base… but I have only tested it on Ubuntu 8.10.

Enjoy!

…mark

In Synaptic, I searched for “Flash” and came up with the offender: flashplugin-nonfree.  I simply elected to try adobe-flashplugin instead.  Simply look or search for this package and click “Mark for Installation”.  Synaptic should automatically try to install adobe-flashplugin and remove flashplugin-nonfree.  Once the operation has completed, restart Firefox and try it out!

1. Disable unnecessary services:  Go to System –> Administration –> Services Shut down unnecessary services you do not use.  ie:)  Bluetooth Device Management (If you do not use BT), Braille Display Management, Printer Service (if you do not use a printer), etc.

2.  Remove incomplete packages:  Open Terminal and type…

sudo apt-get autoclean

3. Remove residual configuration files:  Go to System –> Administration –> Synaptic Package Manager In the left column of the package manager, select Status, and then check for Not Installed (residual config packages).  If this option appears, then you will have to right-click each package individually, and select Mark for Complete Removal.  After selecting all the packages, click Apply.

4.  Remove isolated libraries:  Open Terminal and type…

sudo apt-get install deborphan

sudo deborphan

If it appears you have some isolated libraries, then use the following commands in Terminal to remove them:

sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove – -purge

sudo apt-get autoremove

That is it. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

And a side note to my readers:  Sorry I’ve been neglecting ND lately.  I’ll be getting married the first week in August and will resume more regular postings after our honeymoon.  (Including a tutorial on the DC power jack failure fix that affects so many Gateways.  If you need it right away, let me know and I can email it to you.)