Here goes whoopsie!

Mucking around in my system, I noticed a file  /var/lock/whoopsie. Since I had no idea what this was and where this came from, I was naturally suspicious. A couple of web searches answered the question for me. Apparently, this is Ubuntu's take on Dr. Watson, or crash-reporting.

I wanted it turned off, and here's how I did it:

pushd /etc/default/
sudo cp whoopsie whoopsie.backup
sudo vi whoopsie

change report backups to false. I.e.

diff whoopsie.backup whoopsie
3c3
< report_crashes=true
---
> report_crashes=false

sudo stop whoopsie

references:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/135540/what-is-the-whoopsie-process-and-how-can-i-remove-it

Installing Brother MFC-J430W on Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS

Yep, upgraded from my Brother MFC-210C to MFC-J430W. Thanks OfficeMax for the awesome Thanksgiving sale. Now, we have wireless printing in da home! This allows me to print from my iOS devices as well!

Brother's instructions helped me get up and running quickly, but since they are trying to cover several setup configurations all at once, it can get a little confusing. Here's what I did to install it on my fresh Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS install.

Determine drivers needed
we need to figure out what drivers to install for Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS

From the following page, it looks like it is brscan4 http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/download_scn.html#brscan3

brscan4 models
DCP-7055 DCP-7055W  DCP-7057  DCP-7060D  DCP-7065DN  DCP-7070DW  DCP-8110DN
DCP-8150DN  DCP-8155DN  DCP-8250DN  DCP-9055CDN  DCP-9270CDN  DCP-J140W  DCP-J525W
DCP-J725DW  DCP-J925DW  FAX-2950  FAX-2990  HL-2280DW  MFC-7240  MFC-7290
MFC-7360  MFC-7360N  MFC-7362N  MFC-7460DN  MFC-7470D  MFC-7860DN  MFC-7860DW
MFC-8510DN  MFC-8515DN  MFC-8520DN  MFC-8690DW  MFC-8710DW  MFC-8910DW  MFC-8950DW / MFC-8950DWT
MFC-9125CN  MFC-9325CW  MFC-9460CDN  MFC-9465CDN  MFC-9560CDW  MFC-9970CDW  MFC-J2510
MFC-J280W  MFC-J425W  MFC-J430W  MFC-J432W  MFC-J435W  MFC-J4410DW  MFC-J4510DW
MFC-J5910DW  MFC-J625DW  MFC-J6510DW  MFC-J6710DW  MFC-J6910DW  MFC-J825DW  MFC-J835DW

Since I have a 32 bit install, i'll be going with the following:

brscan4 32bit  deb  0.4.1-2  61 KB  2012.Oct.09
scan-key-tool 32bit  deb  0.2.4-0  45 KB  2012.Oct.09

Found at: http://www.brother.com/cgi-bin/agreement/agreement.cgi?dlfile=http://www.brother.com/pub/bsc/linux/dlf/brscan4-0.4.1-2.i386.deb&lang=English_lpr

and http://www.brother.com/cgi-bin/agreement/agreement.cgi?dlfile=http://www.brother.com/pub/bsc/linux/dlf/brscan-skey-0.2.4-0.i386.deb&lang=English_lpr

Pre-requisites

found at:http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/before.html#prereq

List of pre-requisites: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/before.html

Pre-required Procedure (2) (sic)
    Related distributions
    Ubuntu8.04 or greater
    Related products/drivers
    cupswrapper printer/PC-FAX drivers
    Requirement
    1. "sudo aa-complain cupsd" command is required before the installation.
    2. "sudo mkdir /usr/share/cups/model" command (as it is) is required before the installation. 

NOTE:aa-complain changes the enforcment of security policies so that instead of aborting the offending operation, a complaint is written to the syslog instead. From the aa-complain man-page:

 aa-complain is used to set the enforcement mode for one or more profiles to complain. In this mode security policy is not enforced but
       rather access violations are logged to the system log.

Driver download page: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/index.html

Download the lpr driver
 http://www.brother.com/cgi-bin/agreement/agreement.cgi?dlfile=http://www.brother.com/pub/bsc/linux/dlf/mfcj430wlpr-3.0.0-1.i386.deb&lang=English_lpr

Download cups driver
 http://www.brother.com/cgi-bin/agreement/agreement.cgi?dlfile=http://www.brother.com/pub/bsc/linux/dlf/mfcj430wcupswrapper-3.0.0-1.i386.deb&lang=English_gpl

Install the lpr driver per the following instructions. I'm linking to the original Brother page for reference.
ref: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/instruction_prn3.html ref: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/instruction_prn1a.html

follow the install instructions for cupsdriver:

# pushd :~/temp/brother-printer/brother-mfc-j430w
# sudo dpkg  -i  --force-all mfcj430wlpr-3.0.0-1.i386.deb

Selecting previously unselected package mfcj430wlpr.
(Reading database ... 169820 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mfcj430wlpr (from mfcj430wlpr-3.0.0-1.i386.deb) ...
Setting up mfcj430wlpr (3.0.0-1) ...

# sudo dpkg  -i  --force-all mfcj430wcupswrapper-3.0.0-1.i386.deb
Selecting previously unselected package mfcj430wcupswrapper.
(Reading database ... 169848 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mfcj430wcupswrapper (from mfcj430wcupswrapper-3.0.0-1.i386.deb) ...
Setting up mfcj430wcupswrapper (3.0.0-1) ...
cups stop/waiting
cups start/running, process 11255
lpadmin -p MFCJ430W -E -v usb://Brother/MFC-J430W?serial=BROG2F131293 -P /usr/share/cups/model/Brother/brother_mfcj430w_printer_en.ppd

check to ensure that drivers are installed:

# dpkg  -l  |  grep  Brother
ii  mfcj430wcupswrapper                        3.0.0-1                                         Brother CUPS Inkjet Printer Definitions
ii  mfcj430wlpr                                3.0.0-1                                         Brother lpr Inkjet Printer Definitions
ii  printer-driver-ptouch                      1.3-3ubuntu0.1                                  printer driver Brother P-touch label printers

 I think P-touch is from my older MFC-201C. I'll let it be for the time-being.


Connect the printer via USB, and wait a few seconds ~30. Check to see if printer is found:

# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046e:6000 Behavior Tech. Computer Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 04f9:0281 Brother Industries, Ltd

Open up in a new browser window, and point it to your cups configuration page:

http://localhost:631/printers/

If all went well, you should see something like below:

▼ Queue Name ▼ Description Location Make and Model Status
MFCJ430W MFCJ430W  Brother MFC-J430W CUPS Idle

clicking it should take you to the link:
http://localhost:631/printers/MFCJ430W

You should see something like below:


Description: MFCJ430W
Location: 
Driver: Brother MFC-J430W CUPS (color, 2-sided printing)
Connection: usb://Brother/MFC-J430W?serial=BROG2F131293
Defaults: job-sheets=none, none media=na_letter_8.5x11in sides=one-sided

At this point, test that everything is printing correctly. From the "Maintenance" task lists, select "Print test page". I got a nice printer test page.

 

Sharing your printer over SAMBA no need since this is already a network printer. Simply download windows drivers (Mine was Vista 32bit), and add new printers (network), and the rest happens automatically

Scanner installation

insure sane-utils and xsane packages are installed

sudo-apt get install sane-utils
sudo apt-get install xsane

Instructions at: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/instruction_scn1a.html


Install USB scanner work only with root

 sudo dpkg  -i  --force-all brscan4-0.4.1-2.i386.deb
Selecting previously unselected package brscan4.
(Reading database ... 169852 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking brscan4 (from brscan4-0.4.1-2.i386.deb) ...
Setting up brscan4 (0.4.1-2) ...
This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

check if it is installed and loaded:
dpkg  -l  |  grep  Brother
ii  brscan4                                    0.4.1-2                                         Brother Scanner Driver


test if printing works for root


sudo xsane

Setting up for normal users:
Instructions: http://welcome.solutions.brother.com/bsc/public_s/id/linux/en/instruction_scn1c.html#u9.10

sudo vi /lib/udev/rules.d/40-libsane.rules

Add the following lines indicated by "+". The lines not starting with + are given for context (diff style). Ensure that + is not included in your actual edits:

ENV{libsane_matched}=="yes", RUN+="/bin/setfacl -m g:scanner:rw $env{DEVNAME}"

+# Brother scanners
+ATTRS{idVendor}=="04f9", ENV{libsane_matched}="yes"

LABEL="libsane_rules_end"

save and reboot

sudo reboot

Getting backuppc to work after upgrading to Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS "PRECISE"

I saw the latest notice saying Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS was available, so I went ahead and bit the bullet and updated. So far, it's been a positive experience, but I'm sure there will be other things I'll find that broken or that need tweaking. Backupppc is just the first thing I've discovered. I've also seen several backup apps available in the Ubuntu Store, but I'm not yet sure which ones will work for my use-case (backing up windows laptop to server at home).

first things first: this is my current install:

# cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=12.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=precise
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS"

backuppc version: version 3.2.1

This string is available when you log in to the webadmin page.

During the install, i ended up selecting "Install distributor's version" of config.pl. Everything went nice and dandy till I logged in after the reboot. I found that my laptop was listed as before, but none of the backups were displayed.
This was understandable because I had changed the location of the backups from the default.

By default, backuppc wants to install at: /var/lib/backuppc However, I got a 1TB drive much after I had started backing up, so I moved the entire backup to the following path: /mnt/windowsE/backuppc 

YES, that's a windows NTFS partition. I wanted to do that so that I could have access to the data from native windows as well (backup isn't the only purpose for the drive, it's my media store as well, and keeping it windows, simplifies a whole bunch of other things. NFS / CIFS not withstanding)

 SIDEBAR: following is an excellent starting point for doing this switcheroo http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/backuppc/index.php?title=Change_archive_directory

However, I hadn't followed the instructions exactly: I manually edited /etc/backuppc/config.pl and changed $topDir to point directly to my new location /mnt/windowsE/backuppc.

It turns out that this is not cool per backuppc because the $topDir path in config.pl is "informational" only, and is used for updating. In the internals, the path is actually hard-coded during installation, and this can lead to various funkiness.

The better method is to set the appropriate path right during the initial install of backuppc, but this was not possible in my case. The alternative is to then mount the desired path on the expected location ("if you can't bring the mountain to Mohammad...")

 I set up my /etc/fstab with the following rule:

/mnt/windowsE/backuppc /var/lib/backuppc bind defaults,bind,uid=114,gid=127 0 0

uid=114 and gid=127 correspond to the userid and gropuid of the dedicated backup user on my machine. These can be retrieved using:

# id -u backup_user
114
# id -g backup_user
127

Also, since the default config.pl had been over-written, my backup method was no longer set to rsyncd. I restored these settings from the previous version (Ubuntu update was nice enough to store this as /etc/backuppc/config.pl.ufc-old).

After the above changes, I issued a reboot so that the system starts up cleanly (though I hate doing that!). Plus it let me see if there would be any issues with backuppc starting by itself at reboot.

None occurred and I'm cooking with gas.