Friday, July 22, 2011

Solution to CIFS mount failure

Once the OS is upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10, the network drive mounted in CIFS type is no longer working again.

Trying to tackle the issue by the following command:
..
CIFS VFS: cifs_mount failed w/return code = -22

In a Google search, one post has been found useful.

Re-installing smbfs package again solves this problem:

..
$ sudo apt-fast install smbfs

Friday, July 15, 2011

Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 old package repository

Ubuntu release Jaunty 9.04 has been deprecated while the repository is completely taken off from the mirror server and Ubuntu server as well. Since missing on the repository servers, this repository is being hunted by the users who stick to this particular release for a long time. For people who might have forgotten to upgrade the OS on their own, this could be a bad news. That means no more package available could be installed, via regular way.

To port the old release repository for maintenance and last minute update, a post on the forum points to an interesting location:

http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/

which stores all those obsolete releases of Ubuntu repositories including Jaunty 9.04. However, this requires some changes in sources.list file for proper redirection.

Open /etc/apt/sources.list and edit as follows:

#
# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 9.04 _Jaunty Jackalope_ - Release i386 (20090421.1)]/ jaunty main restricted

# deb cdrom:[Ubuntu-Server 9.04 _Jaunty Jackalope_ - Release i386 (20090421.1)]/ jaunty main restricted
# See http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradeNotes for how to upgrade to
# newer versions of the distribution.

#deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/archive/ jaunty main restricted
#deb-src http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/archive/ jaunty main restricted
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty main restricted


## Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
## distribution.

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
## review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
#deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/archive/ jaunty universe
#deb-src http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/archive/ jaunty universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty universe

## N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
## team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
## your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
## multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
## security team.
#deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/archive/ jaunty multiverse
#deb-src http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/archive/ jaunty multiverse
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse
deb-src http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the 'backports'
## repository.
## N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
## extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
## newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
## Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
## or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
# deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical's
## 'partner' repository.
## This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
## respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu jaunty partner
# deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu jaunty partner

#deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-security restricted main multiverse universe
#deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/archive/ jaunty-updates restricted main multiverse universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-security restricted main multiverse universe
deb http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jaunty-updates restricted main multiverse universe

Save and exit.

After that, you may try the following to check if you can checkout the updates correctly:
$
$ sudo apt-get update

You may now install those missing packages previously supported in Ubuntu release 9.04 before you decide to upgrade to a newer but still obsolete release 9.10.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Ubuntu Upgrade from 9.04 to 10.04 - a CD/DVD way

Something interested is found from the post about the way to upgrade Ubuntu 9.04 subsequently to 9.10 and then to 10.04. The method involves performing Ubuntu upgrade by using an ISO image of Ubuntu 9.10 downloaded from the repository server.

Upgrading Using the Alternate CD/DVD

Download the alternate installation CD via:
$
$ sudo wget http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/releases/9.10/ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso

Burn the ISO to a CD and insert it into the CD-ROM drive of the computer to be upgraded.

If the ISO file is on the computer to be upgraded, you could avoid wasting a CD by mounting the ISO as a drive with a command like:
$
$ sudo mount -o loop ~/Desktop/ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso /media/cdrom0

A dialog will be displayed offering you the opportunity to upgrade using that CD.

Follow the on-screen instructions.
If the upgrade dialog is not displayed for any reason, you may also run the following command using Alt+F2:

$
$ gksu "sh /media/cdrom0/cdromupgrade"

After an upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 is successfully completed, another wave of upgrade to 10.04 can be done through GUI update manager.

Ref: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KarmicUpgrades