I have a machine running Mac OS X (currently Leopard 10.5.2) and another running Ubuntu (currently Hardy Heron 8.04) and have been striving to get these two machines to interact more harmoniously on my local are network (LAN). In particular, I’ve been trying to get my Ubuntu machine to act more like a Mac in order to simplify things like file and printer sharing. I’ve had a lot of success but have found that information on such matters is fragmented and scattered across the internet. So, after collecting this fragmented information and refining it with my own experience, I have written five guides that hopefully will help others get started integrating their Ubuntu machines into their Mac OS X Networks. read more » »
We have made some changes around the Zaphu website recently. One big change is that we are trying out the Disqus comment system. It is only active on new posts, and you should be able to test it out for yourself below. If you like it, go ahead and register at the Disqus homepage. Be sure to ‘Follow’ us (Myself, Sam, Riley, and Bill) on Disqus and we will do the same for you. With the Disqus comment also comes a Forum system; you can check it out here. We are excited about the ability to bring all of the discussions together in one location. read more » »
I have computers running both Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) and Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04). Both of these operating systems have very attractive default desktop backgrounds. Leopard has the purple nebulous looking star field (below right) and Hardy has the modern artsy looking heron (below left). However, these very different looking wallpapers make my machines look inharmonious when they actually can be configured to get along quite well (see this post for some useful guides). Thus, I decided to create some widescreen wallpapers (shown above) that homogenize the default Leopard and Hardy Heron desktops and bring eye pleasing accord to my office. read more » »
If you have installed Netatalk following this post and Avahi following this post, it is fairly straightforward to share a USB printer connected to your Ubuntu machine with Macs on your local area network (LAN) via AppleTalk. By default, Netatalk installs and runs the print sharing service called papd. So, after the printer is installed on the Ubuntu machine in the customary fashion, sharing via Netatalk only requires some edits to the papd configuration file. This guide (written for Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and OS X Leopard 10.5.2) will get you started. read more » »
Using Firefly, your Ubuntu machine can host an iTunes media server which, with the help of Avahi installed as per this post, will show up in the iTunes “SHARED” list and will be accessible via Front Row. The following guide (written for Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and OS X Leopard 10.5.2) will get you started. read more » »
The image at left shows a windowed VNC session where I am sharing the desktop of my Ubuntu machine (running Hardy Heron 8.04) with my Mac (running OS X Leopard 10.5.2). If you have installed Avahi following this post and are running Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04), then it is easy to configure Ubuntu to use Vinagre (a VNC client that ships with Hardy Heron) to remotely share the desktop with machines running OS X on your local area network (LAN) via the Share Screen... button in Finder. The following guide will gets you started. (Note: In order to share the Ubuntu screen, the following configuration requires you to be logged into a Ubuntu session. Remaining logged into Ubuntu while you are away from the machine is not secure, but for my purposes and perhaps yours it is acceptable. I have yet to figure out how to enable resumable sessions that grant access to the Ubuntu login screen.) read more » »
If you followed this guide, your Ubuntu machine can now serve files to Macs on your local area network (LAN) using AFP. It would be nice if this Ubuntu/Netatalk Apple file server was discovered automatically by your Macs. This can be accomplished by installing Avahi, an implementation of Zeroconf similar to Apple’s Bonjour that allows services running on your Ubuntu machine to be broadcast on the LAN. The following guide (written for Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 and OS X Leopard 10.5.2) will get you started with the installation. When you are finished, the Ubuntu/Netatalk Apple file server will appear in Finder on your Macs connected to your LAN. read more » »
Apple computers communicate with one another using the Apple Filing Protocol (AFP). Using the freely-available implementation of this protocol called Netatalk, Ubuntu (currently Hardy Heron 8.04) can interface with Mac OS X (currently Leopard 10.5.2) and you can set up a AppleShare file server on a Ubuntu machine that is accessible to Macs on your local area network (LAN). The following guide will get you started. read more » »
Summer movie season is almost upon us, and I for one couldn’t me more thrilled! I always enjoy those comfy movie theatre seats and the relief of the air conditioning on those hot summer days. And let’s not forget the bonus features of popcorn, Twizzlers, and soda. I’m pretty sure I went to see some of these geek movies just because someone promised me a large tub of popcorn. But let’s get on with it, read below to catch a glimpse of some of this summer’s highly anticipated movies, and be sure to leave a comment if you think I have forgotten a flick that is high on your list. read more » »
This is just a quick tip for anyone having trouble with Leopard’s Dictionary.app behaving slowly when accessing it from the contextual menu. One feature of Apple’s Dictionary I love is being able to right click on any word and select ‘Look Up in Dictionary’ from the menu. However, in Leopard this feature can be very slow. The Dictionary application opens quickly but then it may take over a minute to display the appropriate definition. This problem is most likely caused by the Wikipedia lookup feature. Read on to see a couple of tips for speeding up definition retrieval in Leopard. read more » »
Summer movie season is almost upon us, and I for one couldn’t me more thrilled! I always enjoy those comfy movie theatre seats and the relief of the air conditioning on those hot summer days. And let’s not forget the bonus features of popcorn, Twizzlers, and soda. I’m pretty sure I went to see some of these 
This is just a quick tip for anyone having trouble with Leopard’s Dictionary.app behaving slowly when accessing it from the contextual menu. One feature of Apple’s Dictionary I love is being able to right click on any word and select ‘Look Up in Dictionary’ from the menu. However, in Leopard this feature can be very slow. The Dictionary application opens quickly but then it may take over a minute to display the appropriate definition. This problem is most likely caused by the Wikipedia lookup feature. Read on to see a couple of tips for speeding up definition retrieval in Leopard.