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Cisco VPN client for linux installation doesn't happen out-of-the-box. There is plugin of VPNC which gets integrated with NetworkManager of Ubuntu but I didn't focus on that. Maybe somebody would like to guide the steps for it. I investigated a little and found bunch of articles / blog post about VPN issue. Some of the articles are outdated or needs a update. Following steps will get VPN client working on Ubuntu Intrepid and use certificate based authentication to connect.

First get the distribution of VPNClient for linux. This distribution is valid for 32-bit as well 64-bit installations.

wget http://tuxx-home.at/vpn/Linux/vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz

tar -xvzf  vpnclient-linux-x86_64-4.8.01.0640-k9.tar.gz

cd vpnclient

sudo ./vpn_install

This command should result in similar output below:

Cisco Systems VPN Client Version 4.8.01 (0640) Linux Installer
Copyright (C) 1998-2006 Cisco Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By installing this product you agree that you have read the
license.txt file (The VPN Client license) and will comply with
its terms.

Directory where binaries will be installed [/usr/local/bin]

Automatically start the VPN service at boot time [yes]

In order to build the VPN kernel module, you must have the
kernel headers for the version of the kernel you are running.

Directory containing linux kernel source code [/lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/build]

* Binaries will be installed in "/usr/local/bin".
* Modules will be installed in "/lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/CiscoVPN".
* The VPN service will be started AUTOMATICALLY at boot time.
* Kernel source from "/lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/build" will be used to build
the module.

Is the above correct [y]

Making module
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/sachin/vpnsandbox/vpnclient
modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic'
CC [M]  /home/sachin/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.o
In file included from /home/sachin/vpnclient/Cniapi.h:15,
from /home/sachin/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.c:31:
/home/sachin/vpnclient/GenDefs.h:113: error: conflicting types for ‘uintptr_t’
include/linux/types.h:40: error: previous declaration of ‘uintptr_t’ was here
make[2]: *** [/home/sachin/vpnclient/linuxcniapi.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/sachin/vpnclient] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.27-7-generic'
make: *** [default] Error 2
Failed to make module "cisco_ipsec.ko".

To get around this error you need to patch couple of files in the existing source. Download the patch and apply it.

wget http://projects.tuxx-home.at/ciscovpn/patches/vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

patch < ./vpnclient-linux-2.6.24-final.diff

After successful patch of the files you can proceed to the install procedure again -

sudo ./vpn_install

You should be able to see all files getting compiled successfully. If it is successful you will see a message like below -

* You must run "/etc/init.d/vpnclient_init start" before using the client.
* This script will be run AUTOMATICALLY every time you reboot your computer.

Now you can copy your vpn configuration files (*.pcf) in /etc/opt/cisco-vpnclient/Profiles folder and you can start connecting the the vpn network using command -

vpnclient connect <profile_name>

If you want to use certificate based authentication for the connection then following additional steps will be required.

sudo cisco_cert_mgr -U -op import

This will ask you for the certificate file location and password for the file if required. Enter the passwords for importing certificates if required and proceed with connection.

Beta software prohibited! (Photo obtained from here)

I was really disappointed over past few weeks about Ubuntu 8.04 release. The major reason of disappointment was Firefox 3 beta 4-5. The browser might be having lot of new things which are amazing, the performance might have been improved for JavaScript execution but in reality, the overall performance of the browser wasn't that good. I was experiencing slow browsing speeds, sometimes the browser wouldn't respond and sometimes even crash.

Firefox 3 is still gaining popularity and there are tons of plug-ins which are still not compatible with it. My favorite plugins are no longer usable with Firefox 3 and that was a big drag for me. Firebug was one of them.  The main reason why I feel very disappointed was Firefox 3 was in beta!

Ubuntu was simplifying Linux for all the users who don't want to touch command line for writing documents and browsing internet etc. They are doing a great job on that front too. Firefox 3 made me think is it going away from that objective by giving beta software distribution? I will urge Ubuntu community for not including any of the beta software in mainstream distribution for any reason. That might not only discourage non-technical users but also put wrong message on the table.

For those users who have similar problem, they can uninstall the Firefox 3 from synaptic package manager and install Firefox 2 browser instead. Happy browsing!

I have already started early testing of Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). I am very impressed so far with the stability, performance and features. Today, I tried to configure multiple monitors for presentation. After lots of efforts I couldn't configure them in proper way. Whenever projector screen was being used, laptop screen resolution will get messed up.

After lots of efforts I couldn't get it working and finally I gave up. I think, Gutsy is just not ready yet. So far, I couldn't get the multiple monitors working. Somebody has already started a thread here. (Sorry... no replies yet )

I just hope that this feature will be better supported in main release or at least in a patch, as early as possible.

For now, I guess at least with beta this kind of humour still stands true.

I downloaded beta of Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon yesterday. Wow! That's the only word comes to my mind after having a look at latest version. This version is much changed from the 7.04 (although I wasn't expecting much from this release). This release has few very good features, to start a few:

• Installation wizard has provision to migrate existing users data. This feature is just brilliant! Now, I don't need to rush through my installation and create a backup before I want to try next version of my favourite operating system!
• Display configuration comes now in very user friendly screen. I always faced problems with connecting and extending the second screen to the display configuration. I used to screw up something every time (... I know I'm dumb but isn't why the operating systems are there in the first place). This screen will allow us to change the display configuration in predictive way and easily.
• Restricted driver support for the nVidia, ATI and other devices. For the first time, I installed these restricted drivers as another package! To make my joy multi fold, Ubuntu by itself detected the driver and a nice pop-up comes near the clock informing about the restricted drivers. Very user friendly.
• Faster boot and response time. The memory footprint is also very less (~200 MB on my laptop with 1 GB RAM).
• GNOME 2.2 is just better than previous versions. My early impressions are very nice about this. No crashes so far. Seems to be stable and neat! I hope this impression continues for longer time.
• Network configuration just became simpler. For my needs to switch between wireless networks, office, VPN and home networks was seamless. For the first time I was prompted to enter the necessary authentication and later on it's doing on its own! This has reduced my all pain to pay attention to my network connections. Kudos to Ubuntu team and developers, job well done!
• Not the last but for eye-candy lovers (including me) Compiz fusion is just superb. The default set of effects implemented are very nice and lightweight. All the effect options are available in user friendly screen and you can very easily turn them on and off.

... and one more important thing. I could manage to install Lotus notes on my Ubuntu. Now the last reason why I was dependent on Windows is also gone and I can happily keep only one operating system in laptop (not to mention that will be ubuntu)!

Gutsy Gibbon is declared and its about to hit the road in couple of weeks. I was excited by the news of new Ubuntu. Breezy was good but I was having few issues with it. Many of those got fixed in Feisty. To quote a few issues were wireless connectivity, widescreen monitor drivers for specific nVidia chipsets etc.

Finally another version is on the verge of a release and I'm quite sure that, this release must be better than ever. Ubuntu 7.10 is declared and its code name is 'Gutsy Gibbon'. For the developers and geeks who can't wait for couple of weeks, there is a beta version download available which can be upgraded later on. Those can't wait another second on the post please proceed here for download.

So what's new in this release? (Features I liked the most are listed here)

• GNOME 2.20
  GNOME is coming reloaded with lots of features. A detailed description of all the features which will be improved / introduced can be found here.
• Dynamic screen configuration for nVidia, ATI etc. chipsets. This was one of the features where Linux lacks a lot than Windows. I hate to compare Linux features with Windows yard-stick but sometimes it becomes necessary.
• Automatic printer configuration! I remember spending about an hour in just getting one printout on Kubuntu. This seems to be pretty nice if this works as expected.

Apart from the tiny list mentioned above there are loads of features available in GNOME new release. Go checkout all of them and start writing your precious reviews about the improvements or bugs in the system. I would be hunting blogosphere for reviews related to gutsy.

Thank you very much Ubuntu team for the hard work and prompt releases. Please keep the good work going as you always did!