Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Good Sites for Installing Ubuntu and Tweaking Gnome
The Linux Journal had an excerpt from Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional by Keir Thomas(Chapter 10) that has some very good tips on personalizing the desktop regarding things like the panels, themes, and login that might be useful. Another great site for installing ubuntu and making some changes at the start including gnome modifications is the Linux FUD blog. Finally, just for reference there is an ubuntu forum article and a blog entry on the Snippets blog under the ubuntu category with instructions on how to use a custom icon for the main menu.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
New or Second Hard Drive on Edgy
The steps for adding a new or second hard drive on Edgy are slightly different because of the new UUID system. The intro stuff is, of course, the same as I stated before for Dapper. Again, install gparted because it makes it easy to see where everything is. So to set up the second hard drive with Edgy, do the following:
1. Decide where you will want to mount your hard drive. This terminology can be confusing. First, your drive has a location such as /dev/hdb1. You then also need a mount point. I decided to to mount the new hard drive in /media/Storage. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo mkdir /media/Storage
You can call your folder within /media whatever you like
2. Find out where the hard drive is located. Use gparted for this. My second hard drive location is dev/hdb1 (your main hard drive is probably hda)
3. We will also need to download two packages using synaptic (acl and eiciel). These will be used later.
4. Find out what your hard drive UUID is. For this, go to the /dev/disk/by-uuid folder. For each "file" you see there, right click and then choose options. Check each one to see which has the "link target" matching your new hard drive. In other words, for me, I was checking to see which one matched hdb1. Once I had the correct one, either write down or copy the name (a string of numbers and letters).
5. Next type the following in a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
6. Edit the fstab file by adding the following information at the end (use what is already there for guidance:
(Your hard drive UUID) (Your mount point) (file system type) (options including the acl option) (0) (0)
Mine looks like:
2702b4b2-3225-4f51-9ebe-c04e86e7541g /media/Storage ext3 defaults,acl 0 0
7. Save the file and close it.
8. I next wanted to change the permissions on the new hard drive so that an average user could read, write, and execute the files located on it. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo chmod -R 2777 /media/Storage
(I'm not sure if the sticky bit is needed or not, but it worked and I don't see any harm)
(Substitute /media/Storage with your chosen mount point)
9. Reboot and everything should work.
10. The final step is to make sure all future files and folders created also have read, write, and execute permissions. For this we use the acl and eiciel packages installed above.
11. ACL and Eiciel. Eiciel is the gui for acl. If you right click on your shared folder, you should have a new tab for access controls. (As a side note, if this doesn't work, try running eiciel with the following command and then navigate to your shared folder: gksudo eiciel)
12. Once you are at the shared folder through the acl tab or the command, you want to click the default acl button and also check the default box. You want to make sure that read, write, and execute is checked for everything.
13. The next step is to do the same for all subdirectories. Eiciel does not act recursively so you have to set the default on all subdirectories by again going to those folders and right clicking and choosing the access control tab or by running the above stated command and then again clicking the default acl button and the default check box.
14. You may also want to then read the post of file sharing.
1. Decide where you will want to mount your hard drive. This terminology can be confusing. First, your drive has a location such as /dev/hdb1. You then also need a mount point. I decided to to mount the new hard drive in /media/Storage. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo mkdir /media/Storage
You can call your folder within /media whatever you like
2. Find out where the hard drive is located. Use gparted for this. My second hard drive location is dev/hdb1 (your main hard drive is probably hda)
3. We will also need to download two packages using synaptic (acl and eiciel). These will be used later.
4. Find out what your hard drive UUID is. For this, go to the /dev/disk/by-uuid folder. For each "file" you see there, right click and then choose options. Check each one to see which has the "link target" matching your new hard drive. In other words, for me, I was checking to see which one matched hdb1. Once I had the correct one, either write down or copy the name (a string of numbers and letters).
5. Next type the following in a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
6. Edit the fstab file by adding the following information at the end (use what is already there for guidance:
(Your hard drive UUID) (Your mount point) (file system type) (options including the acl option) (0) (0)
Mine looks like:
2702b4b2-3225-4f51-9ebe-c04e86e7541g /media/Storage ext3 defaults,acl 0 0
7. Save the file and close it.
8. I next wanted to change the permissions on the new hard drive so that an average user could read, write, and execute the files located on it. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo chmod -R 2777 /media/Storage
(I'm not sure if the sticky bit is needed or not, but it worked and I don't see any harm)
(Substitute /media/Storage with your chosen mount point)
9. Reboot and everything should work.
10. The final step is to make sure all future files and folders created also have read, write, and execute permissions. For this we use the acl and eiciel packages installed above.
11. ACL and Eiciel. Eiciel is the gui for acl. If you right click on your shared folder, you should have a new tab for access controls. (As a side note, if this doesn't work, try running eiciel with the following command and then navigate to your shared folder: gksudo eiciel)
12. Once you are at the shared folder through the acl tab or the command, you want to click the default acl button and also check the default box. You want to make sure that read, write, and execute is checked for everything.
13. The next step is to do the same for all subdirectories. Eiciel does not act recursively so you have to set the default on all subdirectories by again going to those folders and right clicking and choosing the access control tab or by running the above stated command and then again clicking the default acl button and the default check box.
14. You may also want to then read the post of file sharing.
File Sharing on Ubuntu
I have a desktop (I'll call my server) that all of my files are on and a laptop with which I need to access the files on my desktop. Both run ubuntu. I decided to share the files over my wireless network using Samba. My method can compromise network security, so you may want to find an alternative way unless you have a firewall in front of your network as I do. To share, do the following to your server computer:
1. Install Samba by installing the following packages on your server computer: samba and smbfs
2. Go to the folder you want to share under Places. Right click the folder and choose "Share folder."
3. In the dialog box that pops up, choose "Share with SMB"
4. In name, choose a share name--it can be anything you want. Leave the comment field blank.
5. Check "Allow browsing folder" if using Dapper or uncheck "read only" if using Edgy.
6. Click "OK"
7. To make sure that all users have read, write, and execute permissions to the files and subfolders in the shared folder, a couple steps have to be taken. First, type the following in a terminal (I will pretend that your shared folder is /home/Bob):
sudo chmod -R 2777 /home/Bob
(I'm not sure if the sticky bit is needed or not, but it worked and I don't see any harm)
8. Second, we need to set the default permissions for any new files or directories within the shared directory. For this, download two things using synaptic: acl and eiciel. Eiciel is the gui for acl. If you right click on your shared folder, you should have a new tab for access controls. (As a side note, if this doesn't work, try running eiciel with the following command and then navigate to your shared folder: gksudo eiciel)
9. Once you are at the shared folder through the acl tab or the command, you want to click the default acl button and also check the default box. You want to make sure that read, write, and execute is checked for everything.
10. The next step is to do the same for all subdirectories. Eiciel does not act recursively so you have to set the default on all subdirectories by again going to those folders and right clicking and choosing the access control tab or by running the above stated command and then again clicking the default acl button and the default check box.
11. Now we must edit the smb.conf file so type the following in a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
12. Notice that throughout this file there are headings in brackets such as [Global]. Under the [Global] heading, you will see workgroup=MSHOME. Change this if your workgroup is called something else, otherwise, you can leave it as it is.
13. Next, under the ####Authentication#### section, you will see the following:
; security = user
Remove the semi-colon and change it to look like:
security = share
14. At the bottom of the file, you will see a section under a [ ] heading with your shared folder name. Edit it so that it states the following so that all users on other computers can edit the files:
path = /home/Bob
available = yes
browseable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777
15. Save the file and reboot.
16. You can now access these files from your laptop under Places->Network Servers. Find the folder and choose to connect to it.
1. Install Samba by installing the following packages on your server computer: samba and smbfs
2. Go to the folder you want to share under Places. Right click the folder and choose "Share folder."
3. In the dialog box that pops up, choose "Share with SMB"
4. In name, choose a share name--it can be anything you want. Leave the comment field blank.
5. Check "Allow browsing folder" if using Dapper or uncheck "read only" if using Edgy.
6. Click "OK"
7. To make sure that all users have read, write, and execute permissions to the files and subfolders in the shared folder, a couple steps have to be taken. First, type the following in a terminal (I will pretend that your shared folder is /home/Bob):
sudo chmod -R 2777 /home/Bob
(I'm not sure if the sticky bit is needed or not, but it worked and I don't see any harm)
8. Second, we need to set the default permissions for any new files or directories within the shared directory. For this, download two things using synaptic: acl and eiciel. Eiciel is the gui for acl. If you right click on your shared folder, you should have a new tab for access controls. (As a side note, if this doesn't work, try running eiciel with the following command and then navigate to your shared folder: gksudo eiciel)
9. Once you are at the shared folder through the acl tab or the command, you want to click the default acl button and also check the default box. You want to make sure that read, write, and execute is checked for everything.
10. The next step is to do the same for all subdirectories. Eiciel does not act recursively so you have to set the default on all subdirectories by again going to those folders and right clicking and choosing the access control tab or by running the above stated command and then again clicking the default acl button and the default check box.
11. Now we must edit the smb.conf file so type the following in a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
12. Notice that throughout this file there are headings in brackets such as [Global]. Under the [Global] heading, you will see workgroup=MSHOME. Change this if your workgroup is called something else, otherwise, you can leave it as it is.
13. Next, under the ####Authentication#### section, you will see the following:
; security = user
Remove the semi-colon and change it to look like:
security = share
14. At the bottom of the file, you will see a section under a [ ] heading with your shared folder name. Edit it so that it states the following so that all users on other computers can edit the files:
path = /home/Bob
available = yes
browseable = yes
public = yes
writable = yes
create mask = 0777
directory mask = 0777
15. Save the file and reboot.
16. You can now access these files from your laptop under Places->Network Servers. Find the folder and choose to connect to it.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Update on cups-pdf with Edgy
Edgy, at least on my computer, has made installing the cups-pdf package (allows you to print anything to a pdf) much easier. Just install the cups-pdf package using synaptic. Then go to System-->Administration-->Printing-->Choose New Printer. You should see a new local PDF printer detected so choose it. Then choose the Generic, Postscript Color Printer. Name it whatever you want--I chose PDF-Printer. And then your done. When you print something using the PDF printer, it will place the file in a PDF folder within your home folder.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Sound Juicer for Edgy with VBR
This is what I have found to work best when trying to rip a CD to mp3 using lame with VBR:
This help article is the best for the basics. However, I changed the "GStreamer Pipeline" entry so that it would encode using VBR instead of a constant bitrate. A Fedora forum post gives a couple of entries using VBR at two different qualities. As the fedora site states, more information on the VBR quality can be found at this wiki Hydrogenaudio site. The problem is that this pipeline resulted in tags showing track times that were much too long. For example, the tag showed 20 minutes for a song that was about 4 minutes. So, after some searching, the best I could find was to add "xingmux" and "id3v2mux" at the end. Therefore, the entire pipeline entry should be (all on one line):
This help article is the best for the basics. However, I changed the "GStreamer Pipeline" entry so that it would encode using VBR instead of a constant bitrate. A Fedora forum post gives a couple of entries using VBR at two different qualities. As the fedora site states, more information on the VBR quality can be found at this wiki Hydrogenaudio site. The problem is that this pipeline resulted in tags showing track times that were much too long. For example, the tag showed 20 minutes for a song that was about 4 minutes. So, after some searching, the best I could find was to add "xingmux" and "id3v2mux" at the end. Therefore, the entire pipeline entry should be (all on one line):
audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc vbr=4 vbr-quality=2 ! xingmux ! id3v2mux
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Wireless Cards with Edgy
My previous post on wireless cards requiring ndiswrapper applies equally to Edgy, however, make sure you have the latest version of ndiswrapper-utils. I had to install the packages listed below before installing the driver. Install these in the order listed:
ndiswrapper-common
ndiswrapper-utils-1.8
ndisgtk
This is the ubuntu page to search and download packages without using synaptic.
ndiswrapper-common
ndiswrapper-utils-1.8
ndisgtk
This is the ubuntu page to search and download packages without using synaptic.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Gnome Wallpaper and Themes
Two great sites for gnome themes and wallpaper are gnome-look and art.gnome. For themes, remember that you should look under the GTK 2.x and the Metacity categories. You will need both unless the theme you are looking at bundles both. GTK is for widgets (buttons, apps, etc.) and Metacity is for window borders. Download the file and install using theme preferences. Other good sites for wallpaper are Socksoff, caedes, and Interfacelift.
Ubuntu Guide for Edgy
Just as a note, the Unofficial Ubuntu Starter Guide has been updated for Edgy. The instructions are mostly command line but remember that you can use synaptic for the packages it says to install. However, it is an excellent reference for learning what these packages are called.
Update on iPod for Edgy
Instead of using gtkpod and gpodder, I highly recommend using the listen player. It can be downloaded using synaptic.
PLF for Edgy
(See update post-PLF is now medibuntu)
At the time of this post, the PLF repository was down for Edgy Eft. There's a link on their site to another fallback option. The link page is here. But just in case, this is the alternative APT line:
deb http://mrpouit.free.fr/plf-fallback edgy-plf free non-free
Also, you might need the key. There is a command line instruction on the PLF site but to do this my way, right click on one of the two sites below (the first is PLF and the second is the fallback) and choose save link location:
PLF
Fallback
Then go System-->Administration-->Synaptic-->Settings-->Repositories-->Authentication Tab-->Click on Import Key File-->Choose the file that you just downloaded.
At the time of this post, the PLF repository was down for Edgy Eft. There's a link on their site to another fallback option. The link page is here. But just in case, this is the alternative APT line:
deb http://mrpouit.free.fr/plf-fallback edgy-plf free non-free
Also, you might need the key. There is a command line instruction on the PLF site but to do this my way, right click on one of the two sites below (the first is PLF and the second is the fallback) and choose save link location:
PLF
Fallback
Then go System-->Administration-->Synaptic-->Settings-->Repositories-->Authentication Tab-->Click on Import Key File-->Choose the file that you just downloaded.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Network Printing on Ubuntu
My printer is connected to my desktop and I access it with my laptop over my apartment's wireless network. To do this, first install the printer as normal on the "server" computer. Then we must do the following, also on the server computer to which the printer is attached:
1. We must edit the smb.conf file so type the following in a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
2. Notice that throughout this file there are headings in brackets such as [Global]. Under the [Global] heading, you will see workgroup=MSHOME. Change this if your workgroup is called something else, otherwise, you can leave it as it is.
3. Under ###Printing###, you wil see the following:
; printing=cups
; printcap name=cups
Remove the semi-colons
4. Under ###Share Definitions### you will see the sub-heading [printers]. The following should be listed:
comment = All Printers
browseable = no
path = /tmp
printable = yes
public = yes
writable = no
create mode = 0700
guest ok=yes
5. Next, under the ####Authentication#### section, you will see the following:
; security = user
Remove the semi-colon and change it to look like:
security = share
6. Save the file and reboot.
7. Now you can access the printer from another computer. On the remote computer/laptop go to Administration->Printing
8. Click on new printer and select network printer. Find your printer and install it. For everything here, always enter "guest" as your User ID and leave the password field blank.
1. We must edit the smb.conf file so type the following in a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/samba/smb.conf
2. Notice that throughout this file there are headings in brackets such as [Global]. Under the [Global] heading, you will see workgroup=MSHOME. Change this if your workgroup is called something else, otherwise, you can leave it as it is.
3. Under ###Printing###, you wil see the following:
; printing=cups
; printcap name=cups
Remove the semi-colons
4. Under ###Share Definitions### you will see the sub-heading [printers]. The following should be listed:
comment = All Printers
browseable = no
path = /tmp
printable = yes
public = yes
writable = no
create mode = 0700
guest ok=yes
5. Next, under the ####Authentication#### section, you will see the following:
; security = user
Remove the semi-colon and change it to look like:
security = share
6. Save the file and reboot.
7. Now you can access the printer from another computer. On the remote computer/laptop go to Administration->Printing
8. Click on new printer and select network printer. Find your printer and install it. For everything here, always enter "guest" as your User ID and leave the password field blank.
Adding a New / Second Hard Drive on Dapper
(See update post for Edgy)
There are, of course, a few preliminary steps to adding a new hard drive such as installing it and making sure the BIOS recognizes it. As far as ubuntu, I suggest installing gparted with synaptic. This will let you partition and format (I recommend ext3 or Reiser as a filesystem when formatting--do no choose NTFS as it is not very compatible with linux). Gparted will also let you see where the device is located (my new hard drive partition was at /dev/hdd1) and your file system (mine is ext3). So once you have this information, you need to edit fstab.
1. Find out where your hard drive mount point is. In ubuntu, its usually under /media but if nothing is there, you will have to designate a spot. I decided to to mount the new hard drive in /media/Storage. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo mkdir /media/Storage
You can call your folder whatever you like
2. Next type the following in a terminal (make sure you know where your hard drive is from gparted such as /dev/_________):
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
3. Edit the fstab file by adding the following information at the end (use what is already there for guidance:
(Your device location) (Your mount point) (file system type) (options) (0) (0)
Mine looks like:
/dev/hdd1 /media/Storage ext3 defaults 0 0
4. Save the file and close it.
5. I next wanted to change the permissions on the new hard drive so that an average user could read, write, and execute the files located on it. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo chmod -R 777 /media/Storage
(Substitute /media/Storage with your chosen mount point)
6. Reboot and everything should work.
There are, of course, a few preliminary steps to adding a new hard drive such as installing it and making sure the BIOS recognizes it. As far as ubuntu, I suggest installing gparted with synaptic. This will let you partition and format (I recommend ext3 or Reiser as a filesystem when formatting--do no choose NTFS as it is not very compatible with linux). Gparted will also let you see where the device is located (my new hard drive partition was at /dev/hdd1) and your file system (mine is ext3). So once you have this information, you need to edit fstab.
1. Find out where your hard drive mount point is. In ubuntu, its usually under /media but if nothing is there, you will have to designate a spot. I decided to to mount the new hard drive in /media/Storage. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo mkdir /media/Storage
You can call your folder whatever you like
2. Next type the following in a terminal (make sure you know where your hard drive is from gparted such as /dev/_________):
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
3. Edit the fstab file by adding the following information at the end (use what is already there for guidance:
(Your device location) (Your mount point) (file system type) (options) (0) (0)
Mine looks like:
/dev/hdd1 /media/Storage ext3 defaults 0 0
4. Save the file and close it.
5. I next wanted to change the permissions on the new hard drive so that an average user could read, write, and execute the files located on it. To do this, type the following in a terminal:
sudo chmod -R 777 /media/Storage
(Substitute /media/Storage with your chosen mount point)
6. Reboot and everything should work.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Gtkpod and gpodder
(Also see iPod update post)
For my iPod, I previously used gtkpod and gpodder. Gpodder (a podcast catcher) is nice because it also has the ability to sync to your iPod. Gtkpod is easy enough to install with synaptic, then you just have to configure it to your liking. However, when I installed gpodder, the synaptic/ubuntu repositories didn't have the gpodder package so the process was a little more complicated. So before anyone tries this, see if the gpodder package has been added to the ubuntu repositories first. If not, follow these steps:
1. Install the following packages (also listed on the gpodder site) using synaptic: gtkpod, python-eyed3, python-gpod, python, python-gtk2, python-glade2, python-xml, and wget.
3. Download gpodder from the gpodder site and save the deb file to wherever you like.
4. Install the gpodder deb file by finding it and double clicking on it. This will bring up the synaptic interface and just go from there.
That should be it. Other configurations and adding podcast feeds can be done within the program (which shows up under Applications->Sound and Video). If any problems, try re-booting and then run the program again.
For my iPod, I previously used gtkpod and gpodder. Gpodder (a podcast catcher) is nice because it also has the ability to sync to your iPod. Gtkpod is easy enough to install with synaptic, then you just have to configure it to your liking. However, when I installed gpodder, the synaptic/ubuntu repositories didn't have the gpodder package so the process was a little more complicated. So before anyone tries this, see if the gpodder package has been added to the ubuntu repositories first. If not, follow these steps:
1. Install the following packages (also listed on the gpodder site) using synaptic: gtkpod, python-eyed3, python-gpod, python, python-gtk2, python-glade2, python-xml, and wget.
3. Download gpodder from the gpodder site and save the deb file to wherever you like.
4. Install the gpodder deb file by finding it and double clicking on it. This will bring up the synaptic interface and just go from there.
That should be it. Other configurations and adding podcast feeds can be done within the program (which shows up under Applications->Sound and Video). If any problems, try re-booting and then run the program again.
Ubuntu pdf-cups printer (Dapper)
(See update post for Edgy)
To print anything to pdf, do this:
1. Install cups-pdf using synaptic
2. Open a terminal and type:
sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
3. Go to System->Administration-> Printing and click to add a new printer.
4. Select Local Printer & Use A Detected Printer
5. Click on PDF Printer
6. Choose "Generic" as the manufacturer
7. Choose "postscript color printer rev3b"
8. Leave the driver set to "Standard (suggested)"
It will save the pdfs in a PDF folder within your Home folder
My thanks to this blog (which has a ton of other ubuntu guides as well) for these instructions!
To print anything to pdf, do this:
1. Install cups-pdf using synaptic
2. Open a terminal and type:
sudo chmod +s /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
3. Go to System->Administration-> Printing and click to add a new printer.
4. Select Local Printer & Use A Detected Printer
5. Click on PDF Printer
6. Choose "Generic" as the manufacturer
7. Choose "postscript color printer rev3b"
8. Leave the driver set to "Standard (suggested)"
It will save the pdfs in a PDF folder within your Home folder
My thanks to this blog (which has a ton of other ubuntu guides as well) for these instructions!
Ubuntu Screen Resolution 1280x800
My laptop (Acer TravelMate 2420) has a 1280x800 screen resolution which was not automatically enabled when I installed dapper. I found that the 915resolution package could help. So if you have this problem, try this:
Install the package 915resolution using synaptic. This may be enough but it wasn't for me. I then had to edit a couple of the configuration files for which, unfortunately, there is no gui to help. Therfore, do the following:
1. Open a terminal and type: 915resolution -l
2. The above command will give you a list to choose from, pick one for 1280x800 (for me it was Mode 65/32 bit) and write down the values
3. Then type the following in the terminal and enter your password when prompted:
sudo gedit /etc/default/915resolution
4. Edit the mode, xreso, yreso, and bit sections of the file to the values you have written down. For example, mine were:
MODE=65
XRESO=1280
YRESO=800
BIT=32
5. Then save the file and close the window
6. Then reboot. I know there are probably quicker ways but I would rather reboot because I then know everything re-started and I don't have to worry about that being a variable.
7. You may be done, but probably not. So next go back to a terminal and type:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
8. Go the area labeled "Subsection 'Screen'" and below that there is a subsection labeled "Display." Below that you will see a bunch of lines with resolutions. Change the DefaultDepth line value to 24 and in the depth 24 section, add "1280x800" at the beginning of the other values.
9. Save that file, close the window, and again reboot.
10. Once rebooted, you may have to go to System->Preferences->Screen Resolution and switch to 1280x800.
If you have any problems or want to see examples of how the configuration files look, check out these two sites: Display1 and Display2
Install the package 915resolution using synaptic. This may be enough but it wasn't for me. I then had to edit a couple of the configuration files for which, unfortunately, there is no gui to help. Therfore, do the following:
1. Open a terminal and type: 915resolution -l
2. The above command will give you a list to choose from, pick one for 1280x800 (for me it was Mode 65/32 bit) and write down the values
3. Then type the following in the terminal and enter your password when prompted:
sudo gedit /etc/default/915resolution
4. Edit the mode, xreso, yreso, and bit sections of the file to the values you have written down. For example, mine were:
MODE=65
XRESO=1280
YRESO=800
BIT=32
5. Then save the file and close the window
6. Then reboot. I know there are probably quicker ways but I would rather reboot because I then know everything re-started and I don't have to worry about that being a variable.
7. You may be done, but probably not. So next go back to a terminal and type:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
8. Go the area labeled "Subsection 'Screen'" and below that there is a subsection labeled "Display." Below that you will see a bunch of lines with resolutions. Change the DefaultDepth line value to 24 and in the depth 24 section, add "1280x800" at the beginning of the other values.
9. Save that file, close the window, and again reboot.
10. Once rebooted, you may have to go to System->Preferences->Screen Resolution and switch to 1280x800.
If you have any problems or want to see examples of how the configuration files look, check out these two sites: Display1 and Display2
Ubuntu Wireless Cards
If you have problems with your wireless cards, check notes for your card on the Supported Cards page. For example, I have a TrendNet card and was instructed to use Ndiswrapper. I downloaded and installed ndiswrapper-utils and ndisgtk. If you have to use this method, download or find the .inf and .sys files for your card online or on you driver installation CD and then open the wireless card program now installed (System->Administration->Windows Wireless Drivers). Click "install new driver" and point the program to the .inf file, configure your network, and your done!
Ubuntu Dapper Drake
A lot of these posts will be about linux because it makes me crazy a lot of times until I finally get something to work how I think it should. So if I get something to work that I've had problems with, I'll post it here. I currently use Ubuntu (Dapper Drake) because its easy and is actually useful most of the time. I've used Fedora and Mandriva (when it was Mandrake) in the past. The best two reference sites for Dapper, I think, are:
The Unofficial Starter Guide
and
The Restricted Formats page
Most of the packages indicated on the Restricted Formats page can be installed using synaptic if you have first added the plf repository listed here. You only need to add the binaries repository
(deb http://packages.freecontrib.org/ubuntu/plf/ dapper free non-free) unless you have some need for the source. The page also has the repository for Edgy Eft up if you have already switched over. In addition, you will be able to install the msttcorefonts package from the plf repository which will enable you to use Windows fonts such as Times New Roman.
The Unofficial Starter Guide
and
The Restricted Formats page
Most of the packages indicated on the Restricted Formats page can be installed using synaptic if you have first added the plf repository listed here. You only need to add the binaries repository
(deb http://packages.freecontrib.org/ubuntu/plf/ dapper free non-free) unless you have some need for the source. The page also has the repository for Edgy Eft up if you have already switched over. In addition, you will be able to install the msttcorefonts package from the plf repository which will enable you to use Windows fonts such as Times New Roman.
Friday, September 15, 2006
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