I am having a problem uploading a profile picture to Plenty of Fish...a dating website

Hi, Rosette

Would be useful to know which browser you are using, although I would assume it is Firefox. I have successfully uploaded profile pictures to many different sites using Ubuntu and Firefox, so it could be that the photo file is genuinely unreadable in some way, or that it's just too big for the site to accept. The site should state their policy about acceptable file sizes and numbers of pixels.

You could try opening your photo in the GIMP (an image editing suite which is probably already installed). Try going to Image=>Scale Image, and making the image a LOT smaller if it's more than say 1000 pixels. Change it so that it's at most 640 pixels across. The GIMP will automatically resize the height for you to match. When you've finished editing the file, resave it with a different file name.

The GIMP should write out a valid JPEG file which you can then try to upload.

On the iPod front, we have some real problems. That's because Apple, who sold you the iPod, wish to specifically prevent people from using the device without going through iTunes. This helps Apple retain control of their customers, and makes sure only Apple can sell them music. Instead of providing a device which is accessible through standard approaches like their competitors, they have engineered features into the iPod which are designed prevent any non-Apple software putting music on the device.

Apple refuses to make their approach for crippling the iPod public, so open source authors cannot easily emulate the iTunes software. The moment they are smart enough catch up with the approach, Apple changes the software on the iPod to break the software. iTunes is only available for Mac and Windows. Apple is not interested in helping you, as a customer, put your own music on your own device.

If you share more information about the iPod (e.g. the model) it is possible that it can be made to work, but I've struggled myself when it comes to e.g. an iPod Touch with recent Apple firmware.

For the future, if you want to ask questions on the forum, it's probably good to split questions which are totally different into separate questions (this one combines both Firefox photo uploading and ipod problems). The following webpage provides a really good guide for newbies describing how and why to ask questions in the best ways for online forums...

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html

The iPod situation isn't quite as bad as Cefn describes (even if the general principle of difficulties faced by open-source developers is more or less correct). Most iPods can now be managed with Ubuntu, though some need a one-off sync on a Windows PC or Mac first.

If you ask about it in a separate question, stating the iPod model (Touch, Nano, etc), which version of Ubuntu you're using, and which program you're trying to use with the iPod (e.g. Rhythmbox) then there's a reasonably good chance that someone should be able to help you out with it.