Fix the apt-xapian-index error in Ubuntu

Some people complain that using Ubuntu or Linux in general involves too much "messing around."  To be sure, it helps to have some command line knowledge, know how to move through the file system, and how to use vim or nano to edit a file in sudo mode.

I don't run Windows at all.  Haven't since ... 2006?  But inevitably I end up trying to help someone with their Windows laptop.  Compared to tweaking something on Linux, it is a painful experience.  The entire setup works against you having any real control over your operating system (probably because it isn't YOUR operating system--you're just renting it).

Anyway, use Linux long enough and you may develop a keen sixth sense between you and your computer.  Warning signals started going off a day or two ago and I traced it down to a common problem: the apt-xapian-index file is hogging the processor at times, while rebuilds it's entire index.  Now, I had no clue about any of this before this morning, but the Ubuntu Forums, as usual, got me right to a simple fix.

Wacom Bamboo in Ubuntu

I got a Wacom Bamboo tablet that I've been using on my iMac for Inkscape.  However, since I prefer to do most of everything on Ubuntu, I looked into getting the Bamboo Pen tabled to work on my favorite OS.

Well, I was just about ready to compile from source, which is a lot less painful than most people make it seem--but then I came across this helpful blog post and discussion. 

I've been working on tweaking my Wordpress blog a lot lately.  That got me thinking of just how easy this blog is to maintain (thanks Google!).  Then, I thought of how I used to take notes on all sorts of stuff like the Wacom driver installation.  What better place to write down those notes than right here?

Soooo....

Here's what I did.  I'm running 10.04 (LTS edition):



  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:doctormo/wacom-plus
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install  xf86-input-wacom
  sudo apt-get install wacom-dkms
  sudo modprobe wacom


That was easy.

Ubuntu Command Line Only Installation

Spent some time today installing a barebones (ie. no desktop) version of Ubuntu on an old Acer Aspire One netbook.  Feels weird to refer to it as old, as it was only a few years ago that netbooks were hot as anything.  Of course then Microsoft felt the need to spread their OS virus onto all the Linux netbooks.  The rest is history--no one uses netbooks anymore.  So I guess Microsoft won, and lost. 

Pretty silly to imagine running Windows on a netbook....

Notes to self:

1. I used Unetbootin and the Ubuntu Minimal Install iso image.
2. Installed only the basic command line stuff
3. Now to add CLISP and a few other things....