Like most students, I have a summer job. As a computer science student with a web development background, I am programming from home for a company called eCenter Research Inc.

Their setup requires that I can connect to their PHP/MySQL/SVN setup through SSH. No problem with Ubuntu. But I am also required to have an IAX-compatible VoIP client so my boss and other programmers can call me. You see, most VoIP clients are only SIP-compatible. IAX and SIP are just two different protocols for running Voice over IP.

When I started with eCenter, they suggested I use this program called Zoiper. It works well in Windows and okay in Ubuntu, but I found myself having to reboot into Windows just to answer a phone call, annoying both my boss and I, because the client wouldn't pick up audio or wouldn't work at all.

Earlier in the week, I did some research on IAX-compatible VoIP clients (being entirely new to VoIP) and came up with nothing. However, my Google-fu must have been strong this morning, as I found an incredible GNOME-intergrated, IAX-compatible VoIP client for Ubuntu, including a PPA!

The program is actively developed by a French-Canadian company (Savoir-faire Linux), called SFLphone.

To install it, simply add the PPA, refresh apt and install!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoirfairelinux; sudo aptitude update; sudo aptitude install sflphone-client-gnome

Then it can be found in Applications > Internet > SFLphone VoIP Client

Enjoy!

I'm not going to get into the details on why Mark Shuttleworth insisted on moving the window controls in Ubuntu from the right (which they've been at since October 2004 and in general on Windows and Linux since 1994) to the left, but as Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx was released, the window controls are staying on left.

To adjust the controls from the left back to the right, you can change the theme away from 'Ambiance' or 'Radiance' or run the following command in the Terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal)
gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string "menu:minimize,maximize,close"


Installing VirtualBox's "Guest Additions" is not as straight forward as I'd like it to be for an Ubuntu Server Guest but I figured out the solution.

In this tutorial I am using:

• Host: Windows XP Professional
• VirtualBox: 3.1.6
• Guest: Ubuntu Server 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)

So say you have a host with VirtualBox installed (I have Windows XP, you have any version of Windows, Mac, Solaris, Linux, etc.) and have an Ubuntu Server installed as a guest. If you want to install "Guest Additions" for added features (such as seemless mode, copy and paste support, or shared folders in my case), you're supposed to click Devices > Install Guest Additions... but when I clicked the button, nothing popped up. Why doesn't anything pop-up? Did it download? Was there an error?

Unbeknown to me, VirtualBox actually downloaded an image called VBoxGuestAdditions.iso, all without telling me. Great,  it's downloaded, but how do I mount and install it?

First off, let's grab some libraries we need for Guest Additions to install
sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r`
Then mount it
sudo mount /dev/cdrom1 /mnt

Then run the proper executable (make sure you look for the correct one for your machine)
sudo bash /mnt/VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run

There will be an error that states the not all features could be installed

Installing the Window System drivers ...fail!
(Could not find the X.org or XFree86 Window System.)

But this is okay. VirtualBox's Guest Additions installs some features that we don't need on a server (seemless mode, copy and paste, etc.) If you want these features, you'll have to install 67MB+ of X.Org libraries
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core

So it's up to you: GuestAdditions with 67MB+ of X.Org libraries or let these drivers fail and enjoy shared folders.