Every so often there will be some updates and enhancements available for your webbook. The webbook will automatically check for these whenever you are online. If it finds an update then it will let you know by showing a little orange star in the top panel. When you have a bit of spare time and want to download the updates (perhaps on a wifi connection, probably not whilst roaming on 3G) you can click the icon to start the update manager and pull down the updates.
it will then let you know what updates are available and you can look at the full description of each update before you download and install it. Here I have 8 updates to collect:
I pressed the Install Updates button and start downloading my 2.1 megabytes of updates.
1 minute 34 seconds remaining. I think I will go and put the kettle on.
The kettle has just boiled and the webbook has collected all the updates, it is now going to spend a minute or so installing them.
So now my webbook is fully updated and I can sit down with a nice cup of coffee (white, no sugar).
Hello! I’m trying to work out how to contact you or join this blog as I’ve just bought myself a webbook and I’m currently in the process of trying to find out whether the card supports 3d graphics and if so enabling that so I can setup compiz on the machine. Might be trying to push the lil too hard, but I guess it has to be done
Adam
consider yourself joined
the card itself does indeed do 3d stuff and will do Compiz, cube and all. It is great, but we have a packaging problem with the drivers from Via. I think I will do a post expanding on this.
If you could do a blog on the compiz stuff i’d really appreciate it! I have it all up and working on my other laptop, but that’s on kubuntu.
Cheers
Adam
@Adam, yep, a blog on Compiz is in the pipeline. I want to make a video showing the cube etc and put it on YouTube as part of the article, early attempts at videoing the screen were rubbish so I am going to try with a different camera and lighting.
hi, I notice on my update manager a greyed out update in the box below “your system is up to date; your package info was last updated ‘whatever’ ago.” It’s been there after doing my first update and since subsequent updates. It is virtualbox-ose-module-generic. I also notice that this package is listed under ‘installed (upgradeable)’ in the synaptic package manager, but the message ‘virtualbox-ose-module-2.6.24-20-generic is not going to be installed’, when I try to install this package manually it replys ‘linux-image-2.6.24-20-generic’ is a dependable ‘but it is not installable’. Problem or nothing to worry about? I’m totally new to linux systems btw, so I apologise if this is a non-question. -S
@Stephen
nothing to worry about. Virtualbox requires a kernel module to do some of it’s fancy virtualisation thing. The current kernel is 2.26.19 but 2.26.20 is in the pipeline and being tested. This is telling you that Virtualbox is ready for the new kernel and will install when the new kernel comes out.
Hi again Alan,
Had everything up and running and was really happy with how the webbook was running, but now I’m afraid I have encountered a bit of a problem.
I used the update manager to install all of the updates that it recommended. It was the first time I had done this so there were 65 I think! Anyway, rather foolishly I hadn’t noticed that the power wasn’t turned on at the wall so was running on battery, which subsequently died during the update. I’m not sure if this caused an issue or not but when I reran it did several updates and then popped up a window saying there was an issue and that I needed to enter a command via terminal to fix it (sorry can’t remember what it told me to do). I did this and it seemed to continue OK. However… the Orange star is still there and when I hover over it, it tells me that there are still 5 updates available. But when I click the Orange icon nothing happens. Update manager does not launch. It also does not launch through the System menu.
As well as this when I click on the Mobile Broadband icon on the desktop that does not launch either. Prior to the update this functioned perfectly. Now it will not open so I cannot connect vie 3G.
Can you please offer some suggestions as to what to try next?
Thanks
Ah ha!
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run ‘dpkg –configure -a’ to correct the problem.
E: _cache->open() failed, please report.
I think this is what it popped up when performing the auto update. It just popped up again when I tried to open System-Administration-Synaptic Package Manager… about to do as it says but am interested to know why it is asking me to do this?
Cheers
@Luckstar . . .oops. That sounds bad. Always a good idea to be on power when doing updates! OK, so start by trying what it suggests, you probably need to go to a terminal window and type “sudo dpkg –configure -a” – note the double – before configure and sudo to be superuser.
To find out what this means you can type “man dpkg” at the terminal to get the manual page for the dpkg command. Basically this command finishes off the installation of the stuff that got downloaded but not actually installed when the power went off.
Alan,
Sorry for taking up so much space on your blog! Running dpkg –configure -a for the second time seems to have fixed the problem so don’t worry!
After running the command it seemed to be “setting up” all of the packages again and both issues identified above seem to be resolved.
Cheers
Hello again!
I do have to apologise, but I have yet another question. The time has come to update my shiny new webbook, so I clicked on the icon and watched as it loaded up the 101 updates it needs. However, when I asked it to update it comes up with a biglist of error messages that all look like this:
W: Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gcalctool/gcalctool_5.22.3-0ubuntu0.1_i386.deb
Could not connect to localhost:4001 (127.0.0.1). – connect (111 Connection refused)
I can’t think of anything obvious that I’ve done wrong, and I’ve barely used the thing so I haven’t quite had the chance to break it! So I’m once again left feeling like a bit of a dunce. I can see I have alot to learn about Linux! Any advice or help you can offer would be very gratefully received.
Sheona
@Sheona, do you by any chance have a proxy server set up or have used the webbook on a network with a proxy server? or are you perhaps trying the update in a CPW store where it would appear that they block the Ubuntu update site?
@Alan, the only network I have used my webbook on is my own home wireless TalkTalk connection and I do not have a proxy server set up. I figured the CPW wireless would restrict access so I haven’t even taken it in to the shop!
ALso, while I am unable to download the updates, I seem to have no problem downloading new software from the main repository (not that I’ve found, at least…I’ve only downloaded 2 or 3 things).
Sorry to post again (!), but I had let my dad borrow my webbook as he’s considering getting one and it seems that yes he has used it on a network that probably had a proxy server set up. Parents, eh? Have also tried downloading new software since the above post and it isn’t working either. So basically, ignore the previous post…I was talking rubbish!
Ah, in that case lets just check that the proxy server is really really turned off. Go to System-preferences-network proxy and make sure that is set to direct internet connection. Then go to Synaptic package manager and settings-preferences-network and make sure that is set to direct internet connection too.
can you help me? everytime i try to play any sort of game, including the education one that was already on the webbook when i got it, my machine starts going really jumpy and wont run smooth or most of the time when it goes full screen the screen just shows loads of lines across it and wont let me do anything apart from completly shut it down, please help, this is very frustrating
@stephen, ok, I am guessing that you mean gcompris? that is a known issue, it works fine with the via graphics drivers (which are generally way better all round) so you could follow the instructions in the series of posts on Compiz, or to just get it working right now press alt+F2 to get the run program dialog then type in “gcompris -x” and it will start perfectly. If there are any other games with a similar issue then you are going to have to give me a hint about which ones you mean!
if i install xp will i still need to do all this tweeking to get videos and games working properly, i’m not an expert on computers so i’d rather not mess around with things like altering drivers and command lines, i’m considering xp because i know how to use it, i just want something simple to use
@Stephen, XP comes with not very much. You have to download and install flash, you might need some additional codecs for stuff like divix, you might want an office suite, you can download and install OpenOffice.org or pay loads and install Microsoft Office. You might have trouble installing proprietary software that comes on CD or stuff that requires you to have a CD in the drive when you run it. Generally I find Ubuntu a lot easier than XP. Installing software is just a matter of choosing it from the list in the synaptic package manager. For the webbook you would have to install the drivers after the operating system but I have not tried XP on the webbook so I don’t know what it is like generally.
i have a web book has a second book for the car,, i have a 3 dongle working with vista, the web book is linux and had an orange dongle, i want to make the 3 dongle work how can i do it
Thanks dean
Urgent Query re latest updates: wader core connection assistant for mobile devices
Hello Alan, I’ve been conscientiously installing updates on my webbook as advised for a few weeks now without really understanding what they all are or even where they come from.
This evening there were two significant sounding and pretty big Wader core updates, but just as I was about to download them a very SCARY warning message appeared and I got cold feet.
I ‘d be very grateful if you could shed a bit more light on these particular updates and let know whether it is SAFE to install them. (By the way, are you providing some of these updates yourself or are they all coming from Ubuntu?)
@Alison, what was the scary message? I will rebuild a webbook and try the updates again tomorrow, but if you can let me know what message you got I will get the guys who own that repository to take a look at it. Most updates come from the main Ubuntu repositories, the Wader updates come from a Launchpad archive (this one https://launchpad.net/~wader/+archive) and this is managed by Warp networks of Spain who were commissioned to make the dialer for the webbook.
Many thanks for your prompt response, Alan. As I’m at work now, I won’t be able to look at the warning message again until this evening, but the gist of it was that the Wader core updates lacked proper endorsement and could expose my computer to malicious infiltration by third parties. (Having read about the Wader project on this blog and the other Alan’s blog, this warning struck me as rather odd!) Does that help?
Ah, OK, I think that message is warning you that the package is coming from an unsigned repository. This is OK, you can’t digitally sign launchpad repositories and it is warning you that this isn’t a core Canonical/Ubuntu supported update.
Thanks for that, Alan. I’m afraid I’ve encountered another problem. After installing the Wader updates a box appeared containing the text, “Wader has been upgraded (or reinstalled) & needs to be restarted. Please press the command button [?] in order to stop Wader.” Beneath the box was a button labelled “Run this action now”. I assumed I was supposed to press the button in order to restart Wader, but there was no response and all I could do was close the box. Where does that leave me? How do I restart Wader? Do I have have to? I would greatly appreciate your help or advice!
Postscript. It has occurred to me that the mysterious ‘command button’ might in fact refer to the ‘Run this action now’ button and that the action in question was to stop Wader, not restart it, hence the lack of response. As for restarting Wader, perhaps that happens automatically? In any case, the on-screen message was poorly worded and ambiguous. I would very much appreciate your comments, Alan. (I also got my first error message when I subsequently installed some Ubuntu updates, but thankfully it vanished again and I was able to install them after all.)
By the way, I did try calling the Geek Squad only to be told that they have instructions no longer to provide any support to customers who bought the Ubuntu webbook!!!
@Alison, yes the restarting wader thing was just because it might have been running whilst the upgrade happened, restarting the webbook certainly does this if it didn’t do it as part of the upgrade (restart-wader-core from a command line would also work). The wording of a lot of messages around upgrades tends to be poorly worded because there are a lot of ways to apply an upgrade, not just with the Synaptic package manager but the command line and other package managers. The package manager buttons are also translated strings so if you are using a different language the buttons change. The wording probably made perfect sense in a different context.
Very interesting comment about Geek Squad. CPW have stopped returning my emails and I am really not sure what is going on.
Hello,
I changed my ubuntu to xp.nd i wanted to know why i still can not connect to the internet.it gets the signal from a wireless network but cant get through internet explorer,can you help?thanks
@Bella, I don’t know much about Windows, do you get an IP address? can you ping your router? Try opening a command line window and typing “route print” and see if you have an IP address probably starting with 192.168 try pinging your router, at a guess try “ping 192.168.0.1″ if you get replies from that try pinging an address on the outside “ping 84.12.94.124″ then if that works try pinging by name to see if DNS resolution is working “ping webbookblog.com” A browser is not a particularly good low level diagnosis tool for networking issues.
just bought a webbook cant get by user name password they are saying the one im putting in is wrong can i get by this problem
@dominic, you might want to check out this post
@Bella,
Go to Start -> Run
Type ‘cmd’ (press enter)
Type ‘ipconfig /all’ (press enter)
Now, look for the section ‘Adapter: ‘ which refers to the wireless card (maybe Alan can tell us the name of it to help me out?). Reply to here telling me EXACTLY what it says in that sections, particularly bits such as ‘IP Address:’, ‘DHCP Lease Expires:’, ‘Gateway:’, ‘DNS Servers:’, ‘Subnet:’ and so on…
Type ‘ipconfig /release’ (press enter)
Type ‘ipconfig /renew’ (press enter)
Type ‘ipconfig /flushdns’ (press enter)
[TECH NOTE: this releases all IP bindings, forces all adapters to try and get new ones, and then clears the DNS resolver cache]
Type ‘ping http://www.google.co.uk‘
Type ‘tracert http://www.google.co.uk‘
Reply to here telling me EXACTLY what it says.
[TECH NOTE: ping is the same as linux, tracert fully stands for 'trace route']
NB: Do not include the ‘quotes’ when typing!
Regards,
Matt Dinnery,
Webmaster,
Medical Admissions – Getting you in…
http://www.medicaladmissions.co.uk
hi i cant seem to play games online like on facebook or king.com with my webbook please can you help?
facebook is a social networking site rather than an online game. King.com seems to require windows even though the games are flash based and should be cross platform. It also seems to require something called shockwave which is related to flash somehow but isn’t the same. That only runs on Windows. Personally I like the games in the repositories Go to applications- add/remove and look in the games category. Loads there to keep you amused.
Hi,
We purchased a webbook for our daughter. Have found you forum and was wondering if the change to VIA graphics drivers would sort some of the game software problems re screen size (-x for gcompris) fretsonfire has a similar problem.
If the drivfer upgrade does solve some of the problems Is there a prepackaged autoish driver install?
Also how to make the wader 3g software update when using the update app?
Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions
Patrick