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To remove the text that says: “Graph this data and manage this system at https://landscape.canonical.com/” while keeping the useful system information, edit (or add) the configuration file that controls the Landscape client:

sudoedit /etc/landscape/client.conf

Edit this file to include the section:
[sysinfo]
exclude_sysinfo_plugins=LandscapeLink

This is a better solution than editing the Message of the Day script (/etc/update-motd.d/50-landscape-sysinfo) because it survives updates to the Landscape and update-motd packages.

Test this change by running:
/etc/update-motd.d/50-landscape-sysinfo

It should look like:

  System information as of Mon Mar 19 06:46:31 GMT 2012

  System load:  0.0               Temperature:         59 C
  Usage of /:   8.1% of 39.85GB   Processes:           92
  Memory usage: 20%               Users logged in:     1
  Swap usage:   0%                IP address for eth0: 192.168.0.1

This article was updated with j's suggestion from the comments. Many thanks to j for making it even simpler!

I’ve installed Crashplan on my Ubuntu server (it installed its own JVM) and now I’m trying to start the Crashplan desktop client using X11 forwarding. I get:

$ cat /usr/local/crashplan/log/ui_error.log com.backup42.desktop.CPDesktop main SEVERE: Failed to launch CPDesktop; java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: no swt-pi-gtk-3448 or swt-pi-gtk in swt.library.path, java.library.path or the jar file java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: no swt-pi-gtk-3448 or swt-pi-gtk in swt.library.path, java.library.path or the jar file

Solution: Install Java. Specifically the JRE version 1.5. Unlike this report here it has nothing to do with 32/64 bit conflicts, because it’s a 32 bit machine. If you don’t want to install Java, and its associated clutter, then you could try following the advice in the Crashplan readme file about running the UI locally and connecting to the remote crashplan service via the service port:

Remote GUI Config of CrashPlan on a shell account:

What if you have a remote shell account on a box that has SSH access, but no X windows interface or GUI? We’re going to show you how to attach your local desktop CrashPlan UI to the remote CrashPlanEngine on a remote box.

We’ll do this by using SSH to forward local traffic to the GUI control port of the service on the remote machine.

Step 1. Install & start engine on host 1.2.3.4 (this is the far away text only server)

Step 2. Install CrashPlan on your local desktop. (Mac, Windows, Linux, doesn’t matter)

Step 3. In the CrashPlan folder of your local install, there is a folder called “conf”, edit the file called my.ui.properties. Add this as a new line at the bottom of the file and save it. Shut down the GUI, and add this as a new line at the bottom of the file and save it. (If you are running a CrashPlanPRO blue client, substitute 4283 for 4200 in the commands below.)

servicePort=4200

Step 4. We need to forward port 4200 locally to our remote server using SSH. Type this in terminal:

ssh -L 4200:localhost:4243 yourusername@1.2.3.4

Step 5. Run your CrashPlan UI. You’re now connected to remote CrashPlanEngine and can configure it at will.

Step 6. (optional) Pointing your UI back to local crashplan. Edit the “my.ui.properties” and comment out the servicePort change by putting a “#” in front and saving it. That’s it! Next time you use UI it will connect to your local CrashPlan again.

#servicePort=4200

Let me know if it works for you!

As a techie type, my ears pricked up when I heard Google announce their intention to release an operating system. I like noodling around with new software when I get the chance, but my main interest in Google’s Chrome OS is not for me. It’s for people for whom the phrase, “Open Explorer and go to your Documents folder” is filled with intrigue and mystery.

These are the relatives and friends who frequently get themselves into trouble with viruses, malware and trojans because they view the Internet with innocence and optimism. I’m not at all sure that Google Chrome OS will help them find their “missing” documents (although if any company on Earth could, surely it would be Google) but this caught my eye:

And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don’t have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

That would be worth its weight in gold. Modern operating systems make a real effort to ensure common tasks are quite easy to perform, but slip up, or stray from the path a little, and we stumble into a bewildering forest of menus, options and files. I remember running Windows 3.1 on my 486, and being amazed that I had three thousand files on the hard drive. I noticed recently that I have about 300,000 files on my home PC – I doubt that’s unusual. I think that most people using computers today need access to an Expert: Somebody who can guide them out of whatever tangled mess they find themselves in.

I don’t think that the role of Expert will go away, just because Google enters the OS market. However, if the Chrome OS could remove – dramatically reduce, at least – the dangerous bits associated with getting in a computer-related pickle, then that would be very welcome. I shall watch with interest.

Ajaxterm is a linux terminal available in a browser.

To paste text into the terminal window, you need to press the ‘Paste’ button, but Firefox doesn’t allow javascript to access your clipboard for security reasons. To change that:

• Go to about:config
• Filter for codebase
• Change the value of signed.applets.codebase_principal_support from false to true (double-click on it)

Now Firefox will prompt you when a website wants clipboard access.

(via Java Effective)

Job replies to Eliphaz, who is chastening him for lamenting his birth after all Job’s sons and daughters were killed:

How forceful are upright words!
But what does reproof from you reprove?
Do you think that you can reprove words,
when the speech of a despairing man is wind?

(Job 6:25 – 26)

I read this as: Despairing people say all kinds of things. Don’t correct the theology of what they say – that doesn’t help them. Instead, be compassionate and comfort them instead.

Having a technically orientated brain, like mine, makes the first option so much more inviting. Telling friends what they should think is so much easier than humbling myself to walk alongside them and support them.