Remotely Connecting to Ubuntu Server

In a previous post I managed to get my Ubuntu Server test system connected to my home network and the Internet (at least from the inside looking out). If you read the post then you will know that because my house is almost 100% wireless I needed to move the system into the hallway to be next to the router in order to physically connect. Now although I have a very nice hallway I don’t fancy sitting in it for hours with a keyboard on my lap. I also don’t really want to be running wires around the house and as I think that the system will end up in the garage I need to be able to connect remotely, from my Ubuntu or Windows systems.

Configuring Networking on Ubuntu Server After Installation

I recently bought an ‘old’ PC to use as a test system, running XP for my .NET development and Ubuntu Server (Jaunty 9.04) for my investigations into Linux. I have a few spare drives kicking around so having a totally separate installation of XP and Ubuntu would be a doddle. I fitted an additional 20GB drive and for now I’m content to open the side and swap the cables until I get around to sorting out a suitable boot loader.

The installation progressed without any problems until I reached the network configuration. As the router is in the hall and my usual connects via the wireless I didn’t have a network socket nearby – we only have one wired PC in the house. I opted for ‘Setup Networking Later’ option and the process completed without any further problems. Now, as a Windows ludite how do I configure the network without a GUI..?

ASP.NET Date Validation

A simple requirement at first sight not one with a simple solution. You have an ASP.NET page which allows the user to specify a date which is then used as an input parameter for an SQL Stored Procedure. What is stopping the user from entering ‘Hello World’ and submitting it? Answer, nothing unless you configure some sort of validation.

Reading an RSS Feed with C# and Python

When I started this site I had a project in mind that would download Podcasts as they were posted and maintain the content of my MP3 player so that I didn’t have to do it myself. Well since then I have lost my iTunes virginity and while it doesn’t do everything that I wanted (like telling me that a new episode has been downloaded) it does automatically download and delete them once I’ve watched/listened to them. But just because I don’t need to develop a complete application there is still an itch to scratch here – a few of them in fact.

• How do I download an RSS stream – it’s not just podcasts that uses them
• How do I parse the resulting XML
• How do I download a file and store it locally and
• How do I do this in C# and Python

Well this post will answer the first two questions using C# and LINQ and Python and it’s XML library.

Upgrading Ubuntu Intrepid to Jaunty

When it comes to upgrading Operating Systems I’m not known as an early adopter, I normally wait a while for others to have the headache of encountering and resolving problems. However, in a moment of madness I decided to upgrade my fully functional Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) installation to 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). I’ve read a few blog posts where users have upgraded and then found that thier sound no longer works or that thier display crashes or won’t hit the previous resolution so I made sure that I had a backup of my /home directory and exported a list of my installed applications.