Tag: Ubuntu

As default USB drives in Ubuntu are optimised for performance, i.e. when data is written to the drive it is cached.  When you unmount or eject the drive, you usually get a notification to wait whilst data is written to the drive.

After searching a bit on the net I found that you can add a couple of options to the device, sync and dirsync that cause the data to by written synchronusly rather than caching it.  I have been running with this option enabled and it seems to work.

When I now eject the drive (NOTE: You still need to unmount / eject else you get a warning!) it ejects straight away without the please wait whilst the OS clears the  cache.

To set the option install gconf-editor if it is not installed via sudo apt-get install gconf-editor or synaptic package manager.

run gconf-editor from a terminal or choose Applications > System Tools > Configuration Editor.

Navigate to System > Storage > default_options

I added the option to the vfat section, which covers most usb flash drivers because they are Fat16 or FAt32.

I have not tried it with the ntfs etc, as I still want ubuto to cache writes to my ntfs partitions.

In the right had side, double click the mount_options item to bring up the editor

Click add, and enter
sync
choose Ok.

Click add, and enter
dirsync
choose Ok.

The options are now added. Click Ok to close the key editor, and close gconf-editor.

You should now be cooking on gas…

Found these instructions at http://www.aptana.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=10640

Blogging to ensure I have a copy, credits go to janmartin.

Lets start with a fresh Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 installation:

• sudo apt-get install build-essential
• sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk
• sudo update-java-alternatives –list
• sudo apt-get install ruby irb ri rake rdoc ruby1.8-dev rubygems
• sudo apt-get install libmysql-ruby mysql-server
• sudo gem update –system
• sudo gem install rails –include-dependencies

Some tests:

• ruby –version
• rails –version
• mysql –version
• gem list

END of command line installation

Download
Aptana + Rails (Linux).
Extract it into ~/aptana

Follow these instructions:
# Open up Aptana, and Navigate to the Help > Software Updates > Find and Install menu.
# Select “Search for new features to install”, click “Finish”
# Select “Ruby on Rails Development Environment”, click “Finish”
# Select the Ruby on Rails Development Environment feature.
# Continue through the dialog boxes until complete.

Follow these instructions:
http://www.aptana.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1397

Configure:
Menu -> Window -> Preferences

Rails -> Configuration
Rails path: /usr/bin/rails
Rake path: /usr/bin/rake

Ruby
Installed interpreters:
/usr

Ri/rdoc
RDoc path:/usr/bin/rdoc
Ri path: /usr/bin/ri

Finished!