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You can use a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) test server on Ubuntu to develop a website on your computer before you upload it to a website host. To build a LAMP test website on your Ubuntu PC, you need to install LAMP and KompoZer, access your LAMP test website through root, edit your test website homepage, edit your test website new pages, and then test your website.

Installing LAMP and KompoZer
After installing LAMP and KompoZer, you can build and test a website in your LAMP test server on your Ubuntu PC. To install LAMP and KompoZer, do the following:

1. Install LAMP according to the instructions in How to Set Up a LAMP Test Server on Ununtu.
   
2. Click System, select Administration, click Synaptic Package Manager, and then enter your password to display the Synaptic Package Manager window.
   
3. In the Quick search field, type kompozer to display its package.
   
4. Select kompozer and then click Apply to install the free KompoZer web-authoring software. Alternatively, you can install Bluefish. However, KompoZer is easier to use.
   

Accessing Your LAMP Test Website Through Root
Accessing your LAMP test website as a root user lets you add and edit HTML files to expand and modify your test website. To access your LAMP test website, do the following:

1. Open Ubuntu, click Applications, select Accessories, and then click Terminal to display its window and a "~$" (tilde dollar-sign) prompt.
   
2. At the flashing cursor immediately after the "~$" prompt, Type sudo nautilus to run Nautilus and display a root - File Browser window.
   
3. Click File System, double-click var, and then double-click www to open it. As shown below, your www folder (your LAMP test website) should initially contain two files: index.html and testing.php.
   

Note: For information about the testing.php file, see How to Set Up a LAMP Test Server on Ununtu.

Editing Your LAMP Test Website Homepage
Edit you LAMP test website home page according your requirements. For example, your homepage should include hyperlinks to other pages in your test website. This simple example has only a homepage and two other pages.

1. Access your test website through your root browser according to the section above.
   
2. Right-click index.html, select Open with, and then click KompoZer to open it and display your initial homepage.
   
3. Type over the first line ("It Works!") with This is Your Test Website Homepage!
   
4. Type over the second line with Here is a link to New Page One. Select (highlight) New Page One, click Link to display a Link Properties window, type http://localhost/newpageone.html into the Link Location field, and then click OK to add the hyperlink and close the window.
   
5. Add a new line and type Here is a link to New Page Two Select (highlight) New Page Two, click Link to display a Link Properties window, type http://localhost/newpagetwo.html into the Link Location field, and then click OK to add the hyperlink and close the window.
   
6. Click File, and then click Save to save your new homepage in your LAMP test website.
   
7. Click File; click Save As to display the Save Page As window; in the Name field, type newpageone.html; and then click Save to create your New Page One in your test website.
   
8. Click File; click Save As to display the Save Page As window; in the Name field, type newpagetwo.html; and then click Save to create your New Page Two in your test website.
   
9. Minimize the KompoZer window to redisplay the root www - File Browser. As shown below, your www folder (your LAMP test website) should now contain four files: index.html, newpageone.html, newpagetwo.html, and testing.php.
   
10. Edit your test website new pages according to the section below.
    

Editing Your LAMP Test Website New Pages
Edit you LAMP test website new pages according your requirements. In each page, you should include links to Home and other pages in your test website. This simple example has only a homepage and two other pages.

1. Redisplay the KompoZer window. Click File, click Open File to display the Open HTML File window, select newpageone.html, and then click Open to display the page in a new KompoZer tab.
   
2. Type over the first line ("This is Your Test Website Homepage!") with New Page One!
   
3. In the second line, type over New Page One with Home. Select (highlight) Home, click Link to display a Link Properties window, type http://localhost/index.html into the Link Location field, and then click OK to edit the hyperlink and close the window.
   
4. Click File, click Open File to display the Open HTML File window, select newpagetwo.html, and then click Open to display the page in a new KompoZer tab.
   
5. Type over the first line ("This is Your Test Website Homepage!") with New Page Two!
   
6. In the second line, type over New Page One with Home. Select (highlight) Home, click Link to display a Link Properties window, type http://localhost/index.html into the Link Location field, and then click OK to edit the hyperlink and close the window.
   
7. In the third line, type over New Page Two with New Page One. Select (highlight) New Page One, click Link to display a Link Properties window, type http://localhost/newpageone.html into the Link Location field, and then click OK to edit the hyperlink and close the window.
   

Testing Your LAMP Test Website
Each time you finish editing any page on your LAMP test website, you should test that page by opening your test website in a web browser, such as Mozilla Firefox. In this simple example, you edited three pages. Therefore, you should test all three pages as follows:

1. Open your web browser, type http://localhost in its address line, and then press Enter to display your LAMP test website homepage.
   
2. Click on the New Page One hyperlink to display your new page one, and then click on the Home hyperlink to display your home page.
   
3. Click on the New Page Two hyperlink to display your new page two, and then click on the Home hyperlink to display your home page.
   
4. Click on the New Page One hyperlink to display your new page one, and then click on the New Page Two hyperlink to display your new page two.
   
5. Click on the New Page One hyperlink to display your new page one, and then click on the New Page Two hyperlink to display your new page two.
   

Note: If any hyperlinks are not working, edit your homepage and new pages according to the sections above.

In the Ubuntu 12.04 distribution of the LInux operating system, Brasero Disc Burner is the default disc-burning software, which lets you write to (burn) any blank, writable disc (CD or DVD) that you place into your optical drive. If you have any problem with Brasero, you can install alternative disc-burning software, Xfburn.


To install Xfburn into Ubuntu 12.04 on your PC, do the following:

1. In the Launcher, click on the Ubuntu Software Center icon.
2. Type xfburn in the search field.
3. Click Xfburn, and then click Install.

If you are planning to upgrade from Ubuntu 12.04 to 12.10, please first perform a full-system backup. At least back up all your data. The upgrade might not work.

Today, 11-27-2012, after attempting to update my main PC from Ubuntu 12.04 to 12.10, I could not make Ubuntu 12.10 work correctly. Despite using the recommended "proprietary, tested" Nvidia display driver, I could not stabilize my display:

• The Unity launcher would not unhide smoothly.
• YouTube videos played in stop motion.

Fortunately, before attempting the upgrade, I performed a full-system backup through Clonezilla. I was therefore able to restore my main PC to Ubuntu 12.04.

This failure to upgrade surprised me because I had successfully installed Ubuntu 12.10 (through a live disc) onto my standby PC. I needed only fix the frozen-Dash problem and disable the unwanted Amazon ads. For more information, please see: Fixing and customizing Ubuntu 12.10, Repairing frozen Dash in Ubuntu 12.10, and Disabling Amazon shopping results in Ubuntu 12.10.

Personally, I do not plan to upgrade from Ubuntu 12.04 until the next long-term-support release is available. Although this is unfortunate, I am still an Ubuntu fan. In my opinion, its 12.04 release is superior to all other Linux distributions.

This article explains how to share files and folders between your Ubuntu 9.10 computer and your Windows XP computer through your wired, ethernet home network. For background information and additional details, see Mount samba shares with utf8 encoding using cifs. Though this background information focuses on servers, it also applies to workstation computers. Therefore, procedures and examples in the article below focus on networking Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows XP computers.

To network Ubuntu 9.10 with Windows XP, you need to perform two procedures:

1. On your XP computer, use the Set Up Sharing on Windows XP procedure below to share your XP Shared Documents folder with all network users.
2. On your Ubuntu computer, use the Set Up Sharing on Ubuntu procedure below to create a share point, which is a desktop icon through which you have read and write access to the Shared Documents folder on your XP computer.

Set Up Sharing on Windows XP
To set up Windows XP to share documents with Ubuntu through your wired, ethernet home network, do the following:

1. On your Windows XP computer, click My Computer to display its window.
2. Right-click Shared Documents, click Properties to display its window, and then click Sharing to display its page.
3. In the "Network sharing and security" frame:
1. Select Share this folder on the network.
2. Write down the Share name, which is "SharedDocs" in this example. You will need the Share name when you perform the Set Up Sharing on Ubuntu procedure below.
3. Select Allow network users to change my files.
4. Click Apply to set folder permissions, and then click OK to close the window.
5. Click Start, click Settings, and then click Control Panel to display it.
6. Double-click System to display its window, and then click Computer Name to display its page.
7. Write down the contents of the Full-computer-name field, which is "alpha" in this example. You will need the Full computer name when you perform the Set Up Sharing on Ubuntu procedure below.

Set Up Sharing on Ubuntu
To set up Ubuntu to share documents with Windows XP through your home network, do the following:

1. On your Ubuntu computer, click Applications, select Accessories, click Terminal to display its window, and then do the following:
1. Type sudo aptitude install smbfs, press Enter, type your password, press Enter again, follow the prompts, and then to install the smbfs packages, which you need for sharing files on the network.
2. Type sudo mkdir /media/ubuntusharename, and then press Enter to name the share icon that will be on the Ubuntu desktop. Use a meaningful name for the ubuntusharename. This example uses "betashare" because the Ubuntu computer name is beta.
3. Type sudo nano /etc/nsswitch.conf, and then press Enter to display the nsswitch configuration file through the nano editor.
4. On the Hosts line, use the arrow keys to move your cursor to the "d" in dns on the hosts line, type wins and a space immediately before dns so that the hosts line is
   hosts: files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] wins dns mdns4.
5. Press Ctrl+X, type y, and then press Enter to save your edits and close the nano editor.
6. Type sudo aptitude install winbind, and then press Enter to install windbind.
2. Close the terminal window, and then turn off your Ubuntu computer completely.
3. Turn your Ubuntu computer back on, click Applications, select Accessories, click Terminal to display its window, and then do the following:
1. Type sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_old, and then press Enter to back up your fstab file. Do not skip this step because fstab is an important system file. In case you need to recover fstab, use the following command: sudo mv /etc/fstab_old /etc/fstab.
2. Type sudo nano /root/.smbcredentials, and then press Enter to display your credentials file, which might be empty.
3. Add two lines to your credentials file:
   username=winusername
   password=winpassword
   Replace winusername with your user name on your Windows XP computer. Replace winpassword with your Windows XP password.
4. Press Ctrl+X, type y, and then press Enter to save your edits and close the nano editor.
5. Type sudo chmod 700 /root/.smbcredentials, and then press Enter so that only root can access your credentials file.
6. Type sudo nano /etc/fstab, and then press Enter to display your fstab file. At the bottom of the file, add the following line:
   //wincomputername/winsharename /media/ubuntusharename cifs guest,rw,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777 0 0
   Replace wincomputername with your Windows XP Full computer name, which is "alpha" in the Set Up Sharing on Windows XP procedure above. Replace winsharename with your Windows XP Share name, which is "SharedDocs" in the Set Up Sharing on Windows XP procedure above. Replace ubuntusharename with your Ubuntu share name, which is "betashare" in this example. Therefore, this line on the example Ubuntu computer is:
   //alpha/SharedDocs /media/betashare cifs guest,rw,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777 0 0
7. Press Ctrl+X, type y, and then press Enter to save your edits and close the nano editor.
8. Type sudo mount -a, and then press Enter to display your Ubuntu-share icon on your Ubuntu desktop.
4. Close the terminal window, and then double-click your Ubuntu-share icon to open it. It should contain the same folders and files as the Shared Documents folder on your Windows XP computer.

If you are experiencing problems running OpenOffice.org under Ubuntu 10.4, you might be able to solve those problems by simply installing the OpenOffice.org Office Suite over your current OpenOffice.

After recently updating my PC to Ubuntu 10.4, I discovered I could not install the LanguageTool grammar-checker extension for Writer (the OpenOffice.org word processor). Also, I could not export an ODT file as an XHTML file. I found the solution to both problems accidentally. While looking for any Ubuntu software that might help, I stumbled upon OpenOffice.org Office Suite. Installing this suite over my existing OpenOffice repaired both problems.

For more details, please see my Associated Content document, How to Repair OpenOffice.org On Ubuntu 10.4.