Using a mobile phone's Bluetooth Dial-up network (DUN) to connect to the Internet (UMTS/GPRS) while on the road is quite convenient for me. Sadly so this is not supported out-of-the-box in Ubuntu Karmic 9.10 (Netbook Remix) as it uses Network-Manager to handle - well - network connections. And that is not quite there on Bluetooth managed devices yet.
While the default solution (rfcomm and Gnome-PPP) still works, it's ugly to set up. Sadly so, zillions of Ubuntu-Forum threads and blog entries still detail this solution - or the issues encountered with it along the way.
The much better solutions is using Blueman, an improved Gnome-Bluetooth primarily developed by Valmantas Palikša. It brings the right UDEV magic along to teach Network-Manager about the Bluetooth devices it handles.
Just follow the steps on their downloads page to set up the Blueman PPA (Personal Package Archive) to get things working.
For some unknown reason the (K)Ubuntu developers did not update the Java plugin for firefox after jaunty (yet?).
The version that Karmic (9.10) pulls out of the multiverse repository is still jaunty's (9.04).
So when you try:
apt-get install sun-java6-plugin
you'll get something like
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
sun-java6-plugin: Depends: sun-java6-bin (= 6-15-1) but 6-16-0ubuntu1.9.04 is to be installed
E: Broken packages
Duh.
Actually if you have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE, package name sun-java6-jre) installed all files needed are already present.
Just not put in the right place on the filesystem.
So, run:
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre # install JRE if needed
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
This will install the JRE (if it's not already installed) and will symlink the firefox plugin for java in place so that it'll be found after a browser restart.
In case you wondered about the lack of activity here over the summer...
I've been working with the motorbikes unit of the company quite a bit as of late. They are great people and thus got me a bit enticed to try out their products.
So I ordered myself a BMW K1300S.
And wow. This is simply the best bike I've ever ridden.
It's extremely powerful while still agile and easy to maneuver. It's comfortable enough for a day ride and fun enough to take to the track.
The German newspaper FAZ found it flawless except for the price. I'd second that. It's nearly perfect. The small improvement I'd like on the 2010 model: make the windshield a little higher. The air flow basically ends up right on the helmet if you're above 6 ft. (1.82 m) tall.
But that's really a minor issue, I'm sure accessory developers will take care of it if BMW doesn't.
I got the bike with all the electronic gadgetry available so it has ESA II (Electronic Suspension Adjustment), Quickshift (so one can switch gears up without using the clutch), on-board computer, tire pressure monitor and (...yes I know...) handle bar heating (to save me: the bike was pre-configured when I ordered), ASC, ABS, whatever. Being a geek that's fine: lotsa knobs to play with. After 7 months I have to say none of these are really needed but none are completely useless either.
