These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity Interface.

They may be the same or similar for other versions, but no guarantee is made.

There are a lot of reasons why your wireless / Wi-Fi connection is not working, but the most common is lack of a driver.

While Ubuntu (and other Linux distros, in general) provide good support for a wide variety of hardware devices, there are various reasons a particular device is not supported, but the 3 most common are:

1. the device is newer and support is not provided in the default operating system.
2. the device and the driver for the device is proprietary, in which case it cannot be part of the Linux kernel (Linux licensing requires that all software that is part of it be openly available, so proprietary software (commonly called closed source cannot be part of it. Nothing prevents proprietary software from later being installed, though).
3. the device is proprietary and no driver is provided for it and no documentation exists that would allow someone to write a driver for it (over time, if a device is popular enough, people may reverse engineer it and write a driver for it).

Fortunately, Ubuntu makes it quite easy to install a proprietary device driver – as long as Ubuntu knows about it (so, you might still be out of luck for very new devices).

Getting an Internet Connection

Ironically, to fix the problem, you need an Internet connection.

The easiest way (but not necessarily the most convenient) is to use a wired Ethernet connection:

You connect your computer to your wireless router. There should be a number of Ethernet ports on the back of your router:

Using an Ethernet connection should be a simple case of plug-and-play.

Alternately, you can use a wireless card or USB device that you know works with Ubuntu (assuming you have one):

Using an alternate wireless connection, you will need to go to the settings and connect to the device:

1) Click on the network icon (shaded in yellow) and select your wireless device:

2) Enter your wireless security code:

Once you are connected to the Internet, follow these instructions for installing a hardware driver.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – Wireless / Wi-Fi Not Working appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 using the Unity Desktop, running under VirtualBox 4.2.12.

They may be the same or similar for other version combinations, but I make no guarantee.

Sometimes, after installing updates, the VirtualBox Guest Additions stop working.

To get them working again, it is necessary to reinstall them.

1) Open the Dash by tapping on the Windows / Super key:

2) Type vboxadditions into the Dash query field:

3) Press Enter to open the VirtualBox Guest Additions Folder:

4) Click the Run Software button:

5) Click on Run:

6) Enter your password and click on Authenticate:

This will then uninstall and then reinstall the VirtualBox Guest Additions.

After rebooting your machine, everything should be working correctly again.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – VirtualBox Guest Additions Stop Working After Update appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

These instructions are for Ubuntu 12.04, with the Unity interface, running under VirtualBox 4.1.12_77218. They should be the same or similar for other version combinations, but no guarantee is made.

Sometimes, when Ubuntu updates are applied to your system, the VirtualBox Guest Additions stop working. Symptoms may include: (1) screen resolution reverts back to the default setting, (2) shared folders no longer work.

Trying to fix it by selecting Install Guest Additions… does nothing (and it won’t because Guest Additions are already installed).

The fix is to rerun the Guest Additions installation program. There are three ways to do this.

Method 1

1) Locate the VBOXADDITIONS disk icon (it is probably the only disk icon) located near the bottom of the Launcher (it is most likely just above the trash can icon) . Click on the disk icon:

2) Click on Open Autorun Prompt:

This will uninstall the Guest Additions and then reinstall them. The rest of the procedure is exactly the same as for installing VirtualBox Guest Additions.

Method 2

1) Open Dash by tapping the Super key (usually, this will be the Windows key on your machine). Alternately, you can click on the Dash icon at the top of the Launcher.

2) Type vbox into the dash query field. This will bring up the VBOXGUESTADDITION… folder:

3) Press the Enter key. This will open the VBOXGUESTADDITIONS… folder. Alternately, you can select the folder by either using your mouse or navigating to it using the arrow keys:

4) Double-click the VBOXADDITIONS icon:

5) Click on Open Autorun Prompt:

This will uninstall the Guest Additions and then reinstall them. The rest of the procedure is exactly the same as for installing VirtualBox Guest Additions.

Method 3

1) Click the Folder icon on the launcher:

2) Click on File System, then double-click on the media folder:

3) Double-click the VBOXADDITIONS icon:

4) Click on Open Autorun Prompt:

This will uninstall the Guest Additions and then reinstall them. The rest of the procedure is exactly the same as for installing VirtualBox Guest Additions.

The post Ubuntu 12.04 – Virtualbox Guest Additions Stop Working after Update appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

These instructions are for Ubuntu 11.10, with the Unity interface, running under VirtualBox 4.1.8. They should be the same or similar for other version combinations, but no guarantee is made.

Sometimes, when Ubuntu updates are applied to your system, the VirtualBox Guest Additions stop working. Symptoms may include: (1) screen resolution reverts back to the default setting, (2) shared folders no longer work.

Trying to fix it by selecting Install Guest Additions… does nothing (and it won’t because Guest Additions are already installed).

The fix is to rerun the Guest Additions installation program. There are two ways to do this.

Method 1

1) Locate the VBOXADDITIONS disk icon (it is probably the only disk icon) located near the bottom of the Unity ribbon (it is most likely just above the trash can icon) . Click on the disk icon:

2) Click on Open Autorun Prompt:

This will uninstall the Guest Additions and then reinstall them. The rest of the procedure is exactly the same as for installing VirtualBox Guest Additions.

Method 2

1) Click the Folder icon on the Unity ribbon:

2) Click on File System, then double-click on the media folder:

3) Double-click the VBOXADDITIONS icon:

4) Click on Open Autorun Prompt:

This will uninstall the Guest Additions and then reinstall them. The rest of the procedure is exactly the same as for installing VirtualBox Guest Additions.

The post Ubuntu 11.10 – Virtualbox Guest Additions Stop Working After Update appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

I am probably one of the few, if only people around who use w.bloggar for my blogging needs. While it is an old and outdated program, it has three essential features for me: (1) customizable edit keys (that’s how I input these coloured sections without typing in HTML code), (2) it is easy to upload images and (3) it doesn’t add bloat to the images (the images I upload are in no way, shape, or form modified by w.bloggar).

For most people, though, I would still recommend Windows Live Writer.

A few days ago, I began having problems with w.bloggar when trying to post or upload images. It would return the message: “Unable to parse the XML response.Parser Reason:Invalid at the top level”:

At first, I thought it was something funny happening at the server end of this site. I figured it would go away in a few hours. It didn’t.

Then I tried using Windows Live Writer. It worked.

Then I created a new account in w.bloggar through File -> Add Account…. This solved the problem.

For some reason, my original blog account info / setup / configuration has gone wonky. Creating a new account clears up the problem. (Of course, I still have the bother of recustomizing w.bloggar to my tastes again)

The post w.bloggar – How to Fix "Unable to parse the XML response" Error appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.