In case you missed it, the latest edition of Ubuntu was released this week, Natty Narwhal (or 11.04 if you prefer).

It seems to have been one of the most popular releases ever, because I can't connect to the Ubuntu website to upgrade!!! What's happening is that because Canonical's servers are so busy, the upgrade assistant can't download the release notes for the new version. And so the upgrade fails.

It doesn't happen often, but once in a while you'll need to open a RAR file in Ubuntu.

What's a RAR file, you ask? Well, essentially it's a slightly more obscure zip file format. Windows handles ZIP file formats nicely, Linux is comfortable with TAR.GZ archives. Neither operating system loves RAR files.

Ever wondered how to set the alarm clock on your iPhone? I got one at Christmas and spent ages browsing through the settings looking for the alarm setup.

It turns out that the clock's where the configuration settings are. On my iPhone the clock's inside the Utilities folder. 

Ever been stuck with a single, wired internet connection, but needing to connect more than one computer to the internet?

You'll be glad to know that with Ubuntu, it's easy to share an internet connection by creating an ad-hoc wireless network. It happened us recently on holiday - we had a single wired network connection, but two laptops. Both machines were wireless enabled.

Here's how to set up the connection:

We maintain a couple of Facebook fan pages for Unreality TV and its sister site, Unreality Shout.

In the Windows environment, keyboard shortcuts help us get things done more efficiently, without wasting time using the mouse to navigate. Part of the difficulty in migrating to Ubuntu is that many of the old Windows shortcuts don't work anymore. In this post, I've hunted out some useful keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate Ubuntu more professionally.

Firefox can be customised in many ways using the about:config URL. But sometimes, you may mistakenly enter a value or you may want to reverse an entry completely.

However, if you've ever tried to delete a custom entry, you'll know there's no option labelled "delete". It's actually the "Reset" option you want to choose if you want to remove a custom entry. Here's how it's done:

As you know, I’ve been getting to grips with CentOS, the Community ENTerprise Operating System.

Another little foible that CentOS inherits from Red Hat Enterprise is that it doesn’t include native support for MP3 playback. Again, down to legality/licensing issues. Damn those lawyers!