Fun with Ubuntu Linux

Fun with Ubuntu Linux | The Road to Freedom - The Journey Starts |The Road to Freedom - Base Camp | Ubuntu All Together - Sharing, Networking, Backup, Synchronisation and Encryption | Ubuntu on the Lookout - Browsing, Email, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks| Ubuntu on the Move | Ubuntu on the Take | The MSI Wind U100 Netbook for Global Communications and Computing

Introduction

Ubuntu Linux Related Pages

This page was started three years ago and since then a number of topics have been split off into more specialised pages. This page with the pages split off from it is primarily a how I did it story with a lot of detailed information. There are now some additional how you should do it pages for the newcomer. The full set of Ubuntu related pages comprises:

• Fun with Ubuntu Linux - this page- Actually a serious look at migration from Windows to Linux: this page served as my documentation and work in progress. It was updated after two years for the next Long Term Support version Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron and after three years the Dapper Drake specific information removed when the support period ended. The original which includes Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake remains here.
• Ubuntu on the Lookout - covers installing and setting up the main programs which interact with the outside world through the Internet, namely Browsers, Email, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks. There are details of sharing and synchronising Email, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks etc., between between a number of computers and with PDAs running Windows Mobile.
• Ubuntu All Together - Sharing, Networking, Backup, Synchronisation and Encryption under Ubuntu Linux - Mounting Drives, File Sharing between Computers running both Linux and Windows and secure access to remote machines which are all prerequisites for the main topics of Backup and Synchronisation.
• Ubuntu Linux on the Move - covers global communications via mobile phones, PDAs and mobile broadband USB dongles etc., with some coverage of specific software and techniques to minimise data costs.
• Ubuntu on the Take - covers how to handle all the pictures we take in the Digital Camera era using Ubuntu Linux - it is currently being extended to include capturing video, editing video and authoring DVDs.
• PHP Scripts and setting up a Ubuntu Linux Server An introduction to PHP directed at form handling and encryption tested on an Ubuntu Linux Server.
  
• The Road to Freedom - A progressive migration from Windows to Ubuntu for Safety, Security and Savings in Home Computing is in two parts and marks the transition from a how I did it story to a how you should do it guide. It aims , in five dedicated evenings to take a normal Windows user through all the steps to improve, secure and backup their Windows system and then, in Part Two - Base Camp, to make the transition to a dual booted Windows and Ubuntu Linux System and configure Ubuntu to have capabilities similar or better than a typical pre-installed Windows system and much more secure.
  
• The MSI Wind U100 Netbook for Global Communications and Computing - how we brought all our other work together to provide the ultimate in mobile communications. It is so successful we have bought a second one! Another full guide.
  
• Open Source, Free and Cross-Platform Software - This is still under development coming out of our experiences with Ubuntu Linux. It addresses the issues of Open Source, Free and Cross-Platform Software. It is targeted at making the transition between operating systems, keeping options open for such a transition or just obtaining the enhanced security of Open Source software. It may even save you money as well!

Background to the Writing of Fun with Ubuntu Linux

I started experimenting with Linux because I have got so tired of the continual updates to Microsoft Windows XP and the associated Virus checkers, Firewalls and Malware detectors. With Windows, it is almost impossible to prevent a large data flow when one first connects and many programs seek information on updates etc. I have noticed that there are dozens of processes running in the background under Windows XP and the hard drive is now in continuous use even minutes after the last user activity has finished. This all makes Windows XP difficult to use securely whilst traveling on a costly mobile connection rather than Broadband.

Linux has come a long way since I first looked at it and many of the main Linux distributions had what are called LiveCD versions where you have bootable CD which allows you to trial the system without having to load anything onto your machine. The next stage is to install a dual (or multiple boot system) and the install programs will automatically partition your disk and put in a boot loader to allow you to choose when the machine starts up.

I did some research and the best seemed to be a Linux distribution called Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) which promised a 3 year support (updates, fixes etc.) for the desktop version and has a LiveCD and a simple install from the LiveCD. For those with some prior knowledge Ubuntu is based on the Debian implementation of Linux with the GNOME desktop interface - Kubunto is a variation with the KDE interface. It is directed towards the desktop and is arguably the most popular version for home use, a position it has achieved in less than 2 years from the first release. A good background introduction to Ubuntu is given in the Ubuntu Wikipedia Entry. The name comes from the African concept of ubuntu one part of which loosely translates as "humanity towards others".

Before we go any further I should point out one important difference between Ubuntu and many Linux implementations - you do not need to be a root user (administrator) to do system work but can use the terminal command sudo (SuperUser Do) to temporarily carry out root activities after entering a password which 'sticks' for 15 minutes - a big security and safety feature. This is one factor in my choice of Ubuntu along with the extensive and growing support for it in the community and by software providers. You will find that Ubuntu Linux system work is still more terminal oriented than Windows although it is fair to remember that it is virtually impossible to avoid the Run Command completely even in XP and Vista.

This page has become a record of my progress with details of all the changes I have made (and how) to the systems so I can repeat them in the future. It is in a sort of chronological order although I have done some re-ordering to avoid swapping back and forwards between different aspects. I have also included many of the links I found useful at the time. I hope it will be useful to others and perhaps avoid yet more reinventions of the wheel - in due course it may become refined enough to became a 'guide'.

It is now in 2009 three years on from the issue of version 6.06 Dapper Drake that I started with. I have upgraded most of my machines, without too many tears, to the next Long Term Support version 8.04 Hardy Heron or to 9.04 Jaunty Jacalope. Hardy Heron is more refined and even easier for the beginner making much of the original document redundant, Jaunty has some advantages for the mobile user although it has a shorter support period. I have gradually been updated this document and dropping the parts which are no longer relevant although I will keep the Original for reference and users of Dapper Drake.

I have extracted the majority of the mobile aspects to a new page - Ubuntu Linux on the Move and have started another new page covering what is perhaps the second most important activity after communications for inveterate travelers like ourselves, that is handling all the photographs we take with digital cameras, viewing them and ultimately putting them into a form that can be used on our web site. Retaining the fun approach I have called it Ubuntu Linux on the Take - it is currently being extended to include capturing video, editing video and authoring DVDs. Ubuntu on the Lookout - covers installing and setting up the main programs which interact with the outside world through the Internet, namely Browsers, Email, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks. Various aspects of Sharing, Networking, Backup, Synchronisation and Encryption under Ubuntu Linux form another page. Logically the next should be "Ubuntu Linux on the Make" covering Web Authoring!

I have written a guide go with the lectures I have given. This guide enables a normal unsophisticated computer user without programming experience to make the transition to Linux with no more hassle than the change from Microsoft Windows XP to Vista. It is titled The Road to Freedom -A progressive migration from Windows to Ubuntu for Safety, Security and Savings in Computing. It is split into two parts and the first part mainly covers Windows and the Base Camp - part two mainly covers Ubuntu.

The proof of a lot of what I have written here is our MSI Wind U100 Netbook which is more powerful than a Toshiba Satellite yet only weighs in at 1.1 Kgs - this is now entirely used with Linux and I have fully covering the transition in Ubuntu on the MSI Wind U100 - it proved so successful we bought a second one so Pauline and I each have one and Pauline rarely uses anything else even at home.

LiveCD Trials

The first step is to try out an Ubuntu LiveCD on any machines or are thinking of using and deciding if Ubuntu Linux, or any Linux is for you. My first impressions were very favourable. The Dapper Drake LiveCD version ran immediately on both my AMD 2500 based desktop with 512 mbytes RAM and on my new Toshiba L20 laptop with 752 Mbytes RAM. It even recognised the WiFi card in the laptop and it was a simple matter to input the WEP code to give WiFi access. In a few hours with a LiveCD version I had learned enough to have access to Windows shared folders over the network. As a real test I plugged in by Bluetooth dongle and that was recognised and I could find my phone. The LiveCD distributions includes Open Office (compatible with Microsoft Office), Firefox and Evolution which is an email, contacts, tasks etc. package which is close in power to the earlier versions of Microsoft Outlook. The actual desktop and windows are cleaner and better thought out than in Windows and there is a useful workspace switching allowing one to do multitask very efficiently. I was very impressed even when running from CD and for simple tasks a LiveCD offers a safe way to work on any available machine. The trials gave confidence to proceed to first install on the desktop then on the laptop as well as a general understanding of Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular.

How to download the LiveCD and burn it

The LiveCD is available at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download and instructions and programs for checking the download and burning the CD are available at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto. I have also given full details in The Road to Freedom

Wubi

Starting from Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, there is another option, Wubi which stands for Windows-based Ubuntu Installer) which is another way of accessing and using Ubuntu for an extended period of time by running it in the Windows environment. Wubi installs Ubuntu within a single file in the Windows file system as opposed to being installed within its own partition. This file is mounted as a virtual file system and looks to Ubuntu Linux just like a real hard disk. Wubi also creates a swap file in the Windows file system which is seen by Ubuntu as additional RAM. The standard Windows mechanism is used to add an entry to the Windows boot menu to provide a choice of system to boot into when the machine is started up. It can be uninstalled (including the boot-up option) just like any other Windows program

The Wubi Installer for Windows can be downloaded from the internet and is also on the LiveCD. It can either use the Hardy Heron LiveCD for the data 'image' for installing or download it directly (900Mbytes so you need broadband). This gives a way of testing Ubuntu on machines which do not have CD reader such as many of the new ultra portable laptops often known as subnotebooks or 'Netbooks'. The only real requirement to try out Ubuntu with Wubi is that you have 4 Gbytes of disk space empty - ideally you need 8 if you are going to do an extended trial.

If you want to change to a fully installed system in its own partition(s) using Linux file systems you can use LVPM (Loopmounted Virtual Partition Manager) program to set up partitions and transfer the Wubi-generated Ubuntu installation to dedicated partition(s). The advantage of this route is that users can test the operating system and install any drivers before they install it to a dedicated partition. This is ideal for Netbooks and other machines without a CD/DVD drive.

So what are the disadvantages and reasons not to use this as a permanent solution if you are using Ubuntu for most of the time.

• You are running in a loop-mounted virtual file system using a single large file - this is much more vulnerable to problems if the file is damaged by a power outage or other system crash.
• You can not hibernate or suspend you machine - I avoid it on dual booted machines in any case.
• You can not rescue the system using the LiveCD as the file system is not mounted at that time.
• You may need to defragment the disk occasionally from within Windows otherwise there may be a performance reduction.

I have installed a Wubi system on my otherwise Windows only machine for Video editing etc for very occasional use.

The host drive (the Windows drive on which WUBI is installed) is accessible by Places -> host

I see Wubi as an ideal solution for mobile use by those who do not want to change but can not tolerate the security and data cost implications of Windows over a GSM/3G network. They can collect email and browse the web in safety then boot back into Windows. Others should review usage every month or so and transfer to a dedicated or dual boot system as soon as you are confident you intend to continue using Ubuntu.

Preparing the system and Installing

Having convinced myself that most of the software I needed was available and that the main hardware would work I decided to firstly install on my AMD Athlon 2500 based machine. This machine has two hard drives and already had the ability to boot both Windows SE and Windows XP with hidden copies of both operating systems on the second drive as well as a variety of partitions with FAT32 shared drives and NSTC drives. I squeezed down the size of a number of the partitions and made room for an unallocated space of 13.5 Gigabytes long so the Ubuntu Installer would have room to make a primary partition for itself and an extra swap drive which all Linux systems seem to use. The existing partitioning and dual boot was done using Partition Magic 8.0 which has never given any trouble in the past. The Ubuntu Install was allowed to use its defaults and used the unallocated space I had provided for the main Linux ext3 primary partition and stole some space from the existing extended partition for the swap file. Unfortunately the partitioning and booting program used by Ubuntu during the setting up conflict with that from Partition Magic which reported partition errors although the Linux tools shoed no errors and everything works fine. In the end I added some unallocated space between the Windows and Linux partitions just in case.

The Toshiba Satellite L20 Pro laptop had one extra NTFS partition for data which I reduced in size to allow 12 Gbytes for Ubuntu and made space in the extended partition for the swap file using Partition magic. I also used Partition Magic to set up the Linux partitions. When Installing Ubuntu it made a sensible looking default choice but I wanted to avoid problems with changing partition sizes so I used the option to set up partitions manually which ran Gparted. I left them as they were and then set the existing ext3 partition I had created to be root "/" , the swap was already set up. I ticked the box to reformat both. The install then proceeded from the CD, the time taken to coming alive being 25 minutes. I then checked set up the Wifi Access point name (case sensitive) and WEP key to get Internet access at elapsed time 30 minutes. I downloaded all the updates from System -> Administration -> Update manager - there were 194 Mbytes so that was all complete set up and rebooted by elapsed time 65 minutes. Interestingly on this installation I have icons for the Windows disks on the desktop and an icon for the network on the top panel which is the equivalent of the tooltray. At a latter stage I used Partition Magic to change the format of the shared drive from NTFS to FAT32 for better compatibility which I would recommend for a basic dual boot system.

Since setting up the two machines for dual booting I have read that it is very desirable if not essential to defragment the disk drives first - I think I did so on the desktop but had not realised the importance.

If you are using Vista it is best to shrink the Vista partition using the built in Vista tool Start -> Run : diskmgmt.msc

Customising The Grub Boot Loader Menu

I tend to tidy up the boot order and reduced the options (by commenting them out) in /boot/grub/menu.lst having backed up the original by:

You should read the instructions in the file and you may find that you have to redo some of the commenting out if you have a kernel update unless you also find and change place higher up in the file so it is reapplied.

I also tend to make changes to where savedefault is used so I do not go back after a restart to Windows unless I do so deliberately and I also reduce the time the menu is displayed. I also change the colours of the menu display. After these changes the top of my file looks like this:

The Start Up Manager utility

I have recently found that Ubuntu now has a GUI Start Up Manager available which will handle the basic changes you may want to make to Grub in the configuration file. It can be installed by the Synaptic Package Manager by System - Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager and search for startupmanager, tick it and click Apply. It appears on the System -> Administration Menu and seems self explanatory in use.

One change may be highly desirable which unfortunately the start up manager will not handle is to:

Remove a Windows Restore Option from Grub Loader Menu:

At the bottom of the Grub configuration file /boot/grub/menu.lst you will find one or more entries which refer to the Windows systems which were detected during the initial installation. Many modern laptops and some desktops have a restore option which reformats the hard drive and re-installs and image of its state when it left the factory. It is very desirable to comment that out from the Grub Loader Options that are displayed as you are only a few key strokes from disaster if you start it up!

Grub Boot Enhancements

At a much latter stage I discovered how to add a nice background to the boot screen (for example see schultz-net.dk - Grub boot screens) and created a directory under /boot/grub/ with a collection of images including my current image. One only then needs to add a single line to the /boot/grub/menu.lst file which, assuming a dual boot system so boot partition is hd0,2 is

splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splashimages/current.xpm.gz

Uninstalling Grub

Grub modifies the Master Boot Record (MBR) which can be replaced using either an old Windows boot disk (cd or floppy) with fdisk on it, then run fdisk /mbr . Alternatively you can boot from the Windows XP CD and run the recovery consul. Also see below for utilities to replace the MBR.

A quick and easy way to re-enable or install Grub

You can restore GRUB after a Windows installation by following the steps below which are an amalgamation of information from the Ubuntu site and other places:

• Run Ubuntu from an Ubuntu LiveCD
• Open a Terminal and type in the following commands, noting that the first command will put you into the grub "prompt", and the next 4 commands will be executed within grub.
  • sudo grub
  • At the grub prompt of >, type find /boot/grub/stage2
  • This will identify the existing boot partition your linux is installed on and return something like (hd0,2)
  • To set the boot partition type root (hd0,2) .
  • And then to configure grub type setup (hd0) - NB Not the drive from the find.
  • Exit with quit
• Reboot (removing the LiveCD), and your boot menu should be back.

This is all you need to do if you had initially installed Ubuntu into a Windows system. If you are adding Windows then Ubuntu will not have anything in the grub configuration for Windows and you’ll have to edit the grub boot menu file.

Open the file /boot/grub/menu.lst with the following command having backed up the original by:

  sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_bak_1
  sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

You’ll see a sample section for Windows, which you’ll want to un-comment and add to the boot menu list in whatever position you want it in. (un-comment by removing the #’s) so, for example:

title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

The (hd0,0) assumes that Windows is installed on the primary drive and the first partition. If you had installed Windows somewhere different then it should reflect that.

Removing Grub to return to Windows XP - replacing the Master Boot Record (MBR)

Grub modifies the Master Boot Record (MBR) so you can not just uninstall Grub as the machine will not boot - the MBR has to replaced with one for the Windows system. In Windows 98 and XP the MBR can be replaced using an old Windows boot disk (cd or floppy) with fdisk on it, then run fdisk /mbr .

Ther Windows XP setup CDROMs has a tool called the Recovery Console, which is designed to help you repair a damaged master boot record or boot sector. In the case of XP, to start the Recovery Console and replace the MBR:

• Restart your computer with the Windows XP Setup disk in the CDROM drive - this may need a Fn Key to access it.
• If you are prompted to press a key to start the computer from CDROM, do so quickly.
• After a few minutes, you'll see a prompt to press the R key to start the Recovery Console.
• When the Recovery Console starts, it will prompt you to enter a number corresponding to the Windows installation that you need to repair. In most cases there will only be one choice as you will only have one Windows system.
• Enter your Administrator password or 'enter' if it not set. If you don't enter the correct password, you cannot continue.
• At the Recovery Console command prompt, type fixmbr and then verify that you want to proceed.

This did not work for me on one occassion as the whole recovery consule was unavailable as the program told me it could not find the disk perhaps because Grub was on a ext3 partition. Perhaps the best way is to use a little program called MBRFix (Details and Download) which does the job and works for both XP and Vista. One to add to my utilities disk.

In the case of Vista I understand that one can use the Bootrec.exe tool in the Windows Recovery Environment to troubleshoot and repair startup issues in Windows Vista including a missing MBR.

Applications

Many of the important applications and programs are installed automatically including OpenOffice (which is also available Open Source for Windows) and Firefox.

There is also a vast collection of supported and automatically updated Open Source programs access via Application -> Add/Remove -> Search and then tick the relevant box(es). If you do not find the program then tick the boxes to show unsupported and commercial programs. If this does not find the program you want then you will need to use the Synaptic package manager which can be accessed by the Advanced Button and again doing searches. In some cases you may nee to add extra areas to be searched but that will be covered under the program itself. See also below for the Medibuntu Repository to incorporate proprietory programs

Checking my Applications lists I find I have added:

• The Adobe Reader - essential (Medibuntu)
• Thunderbird - Excellent Email Package
• Kompozer (NVU) - an good WYSISWYG web editor also available open source under Windows
• gFTP - an FTP package
• GNOME-PPP - Dial-up modem connection tool
• Bluetooth utilities - File Sharing, Chat and OBEX Client
• Tomboy - A Wiki like note keeping utility I have added to the top panel
• File Finder - A file finding utility allowing searches for strings within files rather similar to Windows Search (panel).
• Seahorse - A PGP encryption management package
• Wifi-radar - Wifi Connection tool - Not really needed with Network Manager
• Tidy - HTML checking and formatter (Terminal Program)
• k3b - a sophisticated CD/DVD writing program (note basic facilities are already present) See below.
• Googlebar - Firefox add-on
• Truecrypt - disk encryption program replacing PGP - From Truecrypt Site
• Skype - This took some work configuring audio but has been worth it in the end - see section below. (Install by MediUbuntu)
• Picasa - Google's super photo processing and indexing program - Runs using modified Wine from Google Site. Repository available
• Google Earth - Goggles' super satellite imagery, maps, terrain etc to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips program - now in native Linux from the Google Site or via Medibuntu
• Wine - Wine Is Not and Emulator. This allows one to run many Windows programs in Linux
  • IrfanView 3.93- a windows graphics editor with batch processing
  • Paintshop Pro 4.14 - an old but trusty graphics program
  • GPSU 4.20 - My program for downloading and mapping from my Garmin GPS
  • FirstClass 7.0 - the Open University email and conferencing system
  • Notepad++ - a very flexible and superior replacement for the Windows notepad with context sensitive colouring for most tags in common types of files.
  • IMAPsize 3.6 - utility for managing online mailboxes - usable but with some anomalies
  • Dreamweaver MX 2004 - the ultimate web site builder runs under Wine 1.0 available for Hardy Heron

Several of these are from the 'Unsupported List' in the Add/Remove facility or using the 'Advanced' to get to the Synaptic Package Manager . They involve large downloads but note that you can also enable use of the CD if you have a slow link. Skype and Truecrypt need specially procedures. See also the list of Windows programs running under Wine. Several of the utilities can and have been be added to the top panel.

There is an assessment of ease of installation, set up and functionality in the conclusions.

Adding Fonts in Linux (Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04) so they are accessible from Open Office

I wanted to install some extra Fonts in Hardy Heron, namely the Nadianne True Type font I use for Invitations, Wine Labels etc. and the various Windings fonts which provide ticks and other symbols used by Paline for marking Open University eTMA scripts. Nadianne is not a standard Windows font and originally I think came with a printer but the others are common to Windows hence the need to import them for marking. You can find the the Windings fonts in c:\windows\fonts. I eventually found a web reference at http://vitalbodies.wordpress.com/tag/installing-fonts-in-ubuntu/ where I discovered that True Type fonts which are available to all users are stored in folders under /usr/share/fonts/truetype in Ubuntu Linux so type in a terminal:

gksudo nautilus /usr/share/fonts/truetype

Next I created a new folder for your extra fonts which I called ttf-extra by a right click -> create folder etc.

Drag the extra fonts into the ttf-extra folder from where they were stored

Then alert Ubuntu that you added the fonts by typing the following in a terminal

sudo fc-cache -f -v

This rebuilds the font cache - the options are verbose and to force complete regeneration of the cache (neither may be necessary but I followed the instructions before reading the manual page)

It is possible from something else I read that creating a folder .fonts in your home directory and copying the font into it may be sufficient for a single user - I have not tried it. Other Linux systems may store fonts in a different place so you can try a search for truetype or fonts.

Media

Playing and organizing music files.

Ubuntu comes with Rhythmbox Music Player to play and organize your music. Applications -> Sound & Video -> Rhythmbox Music Player.

When you first use Rhythmbox, it will scan your home folder or folder(s) you specify for any supported music files you have and will make them available to be searched for and played automatically.

Playing and and Ripping Audio CDs

The Sound Juicer CD player opens automatically when you insert an audio CD . Sound Juicer will display the CD artist, album and track names if you are connected to the Internet. To play the CD, click the Play button or press Ctrl+P. To play a particular track, double-click on the track or select the track and click Play.

It is possible to extract the music onto your computer (rip) if you prefer to keep a copy of an audio CD on your computer without needing to insert the CD to listen to it. Sound Juicer CD Extractor is able to rip CDs. To start Sound Juicer manually, choose Applications -> Sound & Video -> Audio CD Extractor. Alternatively, it should start automatically when you insert a CD. Follow the instructions in the Sound Juicer manual on how to rip audio CDs.

The Rhythmbox Music Player is also able to play CDs. Simply insert a CD, ignore or close Sound Juicer, start Rhythmbox and double-click the audio CD item in the Devices list.

Record sounds and music

If you have appropriate audio hardware (such as a microphone), you can record sounds onto your computer. Choose Applications -> Sound & Video -> Sound Recorder to start the Sound Recorder.

Edit sounds and music

To edit audio, install Jokosher or Audacity. Jokosher is able to record audio as well as edit it, and Audacity provides many powerful sound-editing features.

Burning CDs and DVDs

Another of the critical functions I checked at an early stage was burning CDs and DVDs. Initially I did not realise that there was a simple mechanism built into the Nautilus file browser accessible via Places -> CD/DVD creator which gives you a folder into which you drag and drop the files for the CD/DVD. If you want to make Audio CDs then there is a program called Serpentine (Applications -> Sound and Video -> Serpentine).

K3b is a very sophisticated CD/DVD burner similar to Nero in its professional feel. A trial using K3b successfully burnt a full data CD and verified it - it selected speeds etc. to match the burner and disk. It looks as if it rates as highly as Nero for these jobs. The only slight downside is that it is designed for the KDE interface so it runs with a different look which gives an interesting insight into the differences between GNOME and KDE. I added MP3 burning support to K3b by opening a terminal window and installing a support package:

sudo apt-get install libk3b2-mp3 

Hardy Heron a CD/DVD burner built in called Brasero which seems to work very well for normal purposes and I have not yet installed K3b

Setting up for Playing and Ripping media Files with Proprietary and Restricted Formats using the Medibuntu Repository in Hardy Heron

I used EasyUbuntu to add the ability to handle many of the proprietory formats and programs in Dapper Drake. This has been superceeded and for Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron you should add the Medibuntu Repository - this third-party repository contains many useful programs which are not true open source, aloows one to enable DVD playback and to add the codecs for MP3 playing and ripping etc. It can be included by way of a few quick commands in a terminal:

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

This will add the Medibuntu repository, import the Medibuntu GPG key and make the new packages available for installing using System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager.

Using the Synaptic Package Manager to add programs including those from the Medibuntu Repository

Open theSynaptic Package Manager by System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manage.

When the Synaptic Package Manager has opened use Search to find the package/program you want, click the box and click Mark for Installation each one. When they are all marked, click Apply.

• You should enablie DVD Playback by installing the following libdvdcss2 libdvdread3 libdvdnav4
• You should add the non-free Media Codecs for mp3 etc by installing w32codecs
• You should add support for UDF format CD/DVDs used by some Windows programs by installing libudf0 libudf-dev udftools
• It is worth installing the gxine DVD player as it has DVD menu support gxine
• There are other Media Players without stripped codecs (amarok, mplayer, ffmpeg)
• Whilst you are in the Synaptic Package Manager you should also add Microsoft True Type Core Fonts for the Web by installing msttcorefonts

If you want to play commercial encrypted DVDs using the Totem Movie Player there is more information in Ubuntu documentation on Movies, DVDs and Videos

Installing proprietary Programs using the Medibuntu Repository in Hardy Heron

Medibuntu can not only be used to add music and video codecs but also to load commercial/proprietary programs which can not be made available directly in Ubuntu due to legal restrictions in some countries. Use the Synaptic Package Manager and Search for the program you want. The list of items includes:

• Adobe reader acroread and mozilla-acroread
• Google Earth googleearth-4.2 or googleearth-4.3
• Skype skype
• Real Player realplay

In most cases they will be added to your “Applications” menu.

If you load GoogleEarth its performance may be improved if one disables the atmosphere rendering by: View -> Atmosphere -> untick

Skype

I have found that there are options in the volume control on the panel to see more options including the Microphone boost tick box. Double click the icon to open the volume control and adjust as required for Skype.

Picasa

I was told about Picasa in feedback on my web page as a replacement for IrfanView. Irfanview is a picture editor which I like because it has batch conversion and renaming which allow me to create different size pictures for the web site differing in name eg xxxxxxxxi.jpg xxxxxxxw.jpg and xxxxxxxxb.jpg for my dual size popups. Picasa is a Google program which does a superb job of handling pictures and runs both under Windows and now Linux. It runs Windows code via Wine which they have put extensive work into developing for the Open Source movement. I have it installed on the Linux laptop and desktop and on a Windows Desktop. The two are almost identical in interface and it is one of the smoothest GUIs I have met on either. Purists may feel that a native Open Source version would be better but regardless of that Google have ported it to Linux rather than Apple and with Debian/ubuntu one of the specific flavours. It is a tremendous step forwards in acceptance of Linux in general and confirmation that Ubuntu is the way forwards in the future.

Picasa allows you to make a series of reversible changes to a picture in a very easy way - the GUI interface makes a rotation and colour balance almost trivial whilst keeping he original files completely intact. You can then 'star' (high level select) many files in multiple folders and then export them (with changes permanently applied) to a folder for making a CD etc. The export allows them to be resized - ideal for my purposes but does not provide the renaming although a single simple command line can do that in a terminal. I will now export each size to a separate directory then rename and merge them. Overall Picasa largely replaces Canon Zoombrowser, Irfanview and Paintshop Pro for dealing with pictures efficiently and without messing up the EXIF parameters.

Batch renaming is well explained in How to Bulk Rename Files in Linux and the command I use to add an i to the filename before the extension is:

rename -v 's/\.jpg/i\.jpg/' *.jpg

Wine

Using Wine (Wine Is Not an Emulator) to run Windows programs

Wine enables one to run many Windows programs in Linux. It is under continuous development and the number of applications it can handle has increased dramatically including a number of the most demanding games. Because it is under continuous development you may need the latest version and that has obvious risks - an upgrade may break what works for you.

I initiall used Wine to run two well behaved Windows applications Paintshop Pro and Irfanview, for which there is no GUI replacement for some of the batch functions I use. I got the information from Ubuntu Hacks (See the book list below) and their website at Wine HQ. To loosely quote "Wine is an Open Source implementation of the Microsoft Windows API on top of the X windows system and Unix. Wine is a compatibility layer for running Windows programs and does not require Microsoft Windows - it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API (Application Programming Interface) consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code"

The implementation of Wine was much improved in Ubuntu Hardy Heron. The version installed is 1.0 (1.01 in Jaunty) and it is now fully integrated into the Ubuntu Linux system. It appears on the Applications menu with a slide out menu giving Programs, Browse C:\ Drive, Configure Wine and Uninstall Wine Software. The Programs then slides out to give the programs as they would have appeared in the Start Menu. All very well integrated. The extension .exe is now linked to Wine so you just double click the install .exe or .msi file to set it all going. Most of the configuration of wine is via the Configure Wine GUI.

Wine Example Dreamweaver MX 2004

The following is a screenshot showing how it now looks when one is opening Dreamweaver MX 2004

I installed Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 without any problems by double clicking the install .exe file - it complained that it would require mdac 2.6 to be loaded for all its facilities but it all seems to work anyway. It also automatically downloaded and installed the Ghecko Rendering engine.

Fonts

The only thing for me to install were some fonts using System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager so I could load the Windows truetype fonts which many applications use - search for, mark and load msttcorefonts

This will also load a Windows cab extractor cabextractor . msttcorefonts is part is a package in the Ubuntu multiverse repository.

I have not used Dreamweaver extensively but I have tried out many of the facilities without any problems - the only anomalies I have seen have been to do with use of drives on Windows partitions especially those that had not been mounted in advance. The file -> Open route seems to be better and one can also set up a Site on a Windows partition and have all the files accesible. Dreamweaver has been one of the biggest demands for installing under Wine (It was No 3 on the wishlist) and success has been ellusive up till now so overall this is a huge step forwards. I have read that Dreamweaver 8.0 also now installs without problems.

I have looked up about Mdac 2.6 (Microsoft Database Access Components) and it is needed to provide database connectivity which will probably not be required for many pages. I understand it can be downloaded from the Microsoft site and installed using Wine by double clicking on the downloaded mdac_typ.exe but I have not tried to do so.

Some Programs Tested under Wine 1.0 and Ubuntu 8.04 (and higher)

I have loaded a number of programs by the simple expedient of clicking on the downloaded .exe file without any major problems including:

• Paintshop Pro 4.2 - Fully operational
• IrfanView 3.95 - Fully operational (version 4.0 and higher do not install)
• Notepad++ - Fully Working
• GPSU 4.20 - fully working on normal serial connection but not via a USB-Serial cable
• FirstClass 7.0 - Fully Operational Client and Offline (Personal)
• FirstClass 8.3 - Client and Offline
• IMAPsize - usable after copying a working copy of the directory over that loaded by the installer to get round a hang up whereby it kept saying that no accounts had been set up. In addition some of the backgrounds are transparent making toolbars difficult to read.
• OU eTMA Handler
• Minitab 15 - just usable but with some non destructive runtime errors and quirks

Accessing Ports from Wine

If you want to use a port you need to create a symbolic link in ~/.wine/dosdevices with the name of the device. Windows serial ports are called com1, com2, etc. Similarly, parallel ports use "lpt" followed by a number, such as lpt1. You should link these directly to the corresponding Unix devices, such as /dev/ttyS0 and /dev/lp0. I added a serial port with the following command in the ~/.wine/dosdevices folder:

 ln -s /dev/ttyS0 com1

so I could access my GPS with the GPSU program which ran fine when loaded with Wine and again created a link on the desktop.

I also added a link to my USB-Serial cable which shows up as /dev/ttyUSB0 (see below) by

Wine Betas (Advanced)

The version of Wine available packaged in Ubuntu Hardy Heron and higher of is probably adequate for all but the most demanding applications but the latest versions can be utilised by adding a new repository to Synaptic Package Manager accessed via Applications Add/Remove by go to Advanced and selecting Settings->Repositories. Then click add, select custom, and for Ubuntu Hardy (8.04) enter the following:

After adding the repository, you also need to add the key for the repository to your system's list of trusted keys.

Download and save Scott Ritchie's key (right click -> save as) to your desktop. Then open the Authentication tab, click import key file, and select the key file you just saved (Scott Ritchie.gpg). It is safe to delete this file after doing this step.

Click close to finish, and then reload the package information when prompted. If you have Wine installed, the system's update manager will now inform you of the latest Wine beta release and prompt you to upgrade. If you haven't installed Wine yet, go to Applications->Add/Remove and search for Wine

Enhancements to WINE to open native Linux programs such as OpenOffice (Advanced)

This section is not for the total newcomer to either Linux or Windows and is not totaly wthout risk, although the worst would probably be you would have to remove WINE and Add it back as a fresh copy. When you are running a Windows program under WINE there are few built in programs so if you wanted to run an Office application you would have to do the same as on a real Windows machine and install Microsoft Office or OpenOffice. What you actually want to be able to do is to access programs which are available in the Native Linux machine so that if you right click on a document file attachment which is in FirstClass or the eTMA File Handler then it will open up the File using the copy of OpenOffice that comes installed with Ubuntu Linux. This seemes a fairly normal requirement to me and I was surprised that no such facility was built in to make set up such associations and even more surprising that there was no proceedure easily found by Googling. I eventually came on a set of postings which gave a suitable way forwards.

There are several stages.

1. You need to make the associations for the file types you want to open in native linux - this has to be within the WINE windows registry so is not something to be undertaken lightly.
2. One needs a mechanism to open a native linux program and pass the parameters, or better still pass the selected files to a utility which can work look at the associations and open the appropriate program. This exists as part of the gnome desktop and is called gnome-open but is not well documented.
3. You need a script to convert the path to the file from a format such as C:\documents\file.doc to /home/username/.wine/drive_c/documents/file.doc

In practice:

• The associations can be set up as a file (word.reg) which can created in advance and then loaded by the registry editor
• A single script can be used to do the path conversion and the shell script winenative is placed in /usr/bin/

The names used above follow those of the originator of the idea, Tres Finocchiaro, which I found under the unlikely heading of [Wine] Fun Wine Project -- Configure Some Default Registry Entries. The contents of the two files word.reg and winenative on my system are:

The proceedure is to first save the files word.reg to your desktop and do an import into the wine registry by executing in a terminal:

regedit Desktop/word.reg

The second file is the " winenative " shell script. Save it to your desktop, copy it to /usr/bin, and make it executable by:

sudo cp Desktop/winenative /usr/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/winenative

You should now be able to open the common word processor files formats in OpenOffice and PDF files in the Linux viewer. You can add .zip .xls .ppt .ods, .odp etc to the list if you want.

Many thanks to Tres Finocchiaro for the original idea and Hilary BH Wright for the improvements to winenative.

Web Authoring

Kompozer (Nvu) and Tidy

Kompozer (a development of Nvu Which is no longer supported) has proved to be a very adequate WYSIWYG editor which I largely use to produce the Ubuntu Web pages and then uploaded them with gFTP. I noticed that the HTML source is a bit untidy and tends to gain a lot of extra lines. Tools ->Preferences -> General -> Reformat Source Code helps. Kompozer (Nvu) is OpenSource and is also available for Windows.

I discovered there is a HTML syntax checker and re-formatter called Tidy which corrects mark-up in a way compliant with the latest standards, and is optimal for the popular browsers. Tidy is a product of the World Wide Web Consortium and will tidy up the source and indent it etc for easy viewing. It can be installed using Add/Remove -> Advanced and search for Tidy. It is a command line package but fairly intuitive (man tidy or tidy -h will give you the information to run it) Errors are reported. Useful options are -m to modify the source file, -i to indent output and - w nn to wrap at line nn . A typical call is:

Also note that Kompozer (Nvu) also has built in tools for mark-up clean-up and checking via the W3C on-line HTML validator so there are no excuses for bad code and every page can display the validated symbol at the bottom.

FireFTP for Firefox 3 in Hardy Heron

I have been looking through the Firefox extensions and came upon FireFTP which is an addon to Firefox 3 which transforms it into an FTP program. I will have to try this out but the hope is that it will be possible to again work seamlessly between Windoz and Ubuntu on a dual boot system. The facilities look as comprehensive as the WS_FTP LE program I use under Windoz and gFTp under Linux. If I am using Komposer which is once more Mozilla based I should be able to again move to a common profile and keep all my settings although that is not a serious problem in any case.

Arachnophilia

Arachnophilia is another web editor which I used to use a lot. It has recently been updated and the latest versions run under Sun Java 1.4 or higher and are both cross-platform and true Freeware. In fact I use the author's definitions of what freeware is elsewhere. Before running Arachnophilia you need to load the correct version of Sun Java in Ubuntu - the some versions of the free package which may already be loaded are not suitable and you should install the Sun Java and also make a change so it is used by default.

First check for which version you are using by

java -version

GNU libgcj is the one that does not work although it is version 1.4

Now see if any others are present, I found the correct one was loaded but not the default so try:

update-java-alternatives -l

If you have a Sun Java higher than 1.4 then select it by, for example

sudo update-java-alternatives -s java-1.5.0-sun

If you do not have then you have to use Applications -> Add/Remove -> Advanced -> Search for sun-java and Mark the sun-java5-bin sun-java5-jre and sun-java5-plugin for installation (right click) -> Apply then go back through the two lines above to check it is there and select it. Hardy Heron has Sun Java 6 already loaded so this should not be required.

~/.Arachnophilia

Apache Server and PHP

PHP Test Script fragments including File handling and Encryption

These have all been moved to a new page PHP Scripts and Ubuntu

Backup

This is being moved to be part of Sharing, Networking, Backup, Synchronisation and Encryption under Ubuntu Linux

Hardware Support

Motherboard and SATA drives (initramfs and busybox error running LiveCD or booting with Hardy Heron)

It is possible that one can not even start up with a Hardy Heron LiveCD with some motherboards, BIOS and SATA drive configurations. At an early stage one is dumped into a terminal with a statement about busybox and initramfs. This is unlikely and has only happened to me once and all is not lost as there are various options at GRUB boot time which can be appended to the startup string. There has been much discussion and it still comes down to trial and error but the most likely string is:

all_generic_ide floppy=off irqpoll

Some other options mentioned are:

pci=nomsi
nomsi
noirqpol
noirqdebug

Timer/acpi errors may respond to:

nolapic
noapic
acpi=off
The proceedure is:

When you boot the LiveCD and it askes what to do, press F6 and add the chosen option string(s) after quiet splash, so for example it looks like

quiet splash all_generic_ide floppy=off irqpoll

After you have installed Ubuntu you may have the same problems when Grub runs. If that is the case on rebooting wait until you get to the GRUB menu, hit esc and then hit the "e" key and arrow down to the kernel line and hit "e" again, then enter all_generic_ide floppy=off irqpoll then hit enter, and then "b" that should get you booted, once booted open a terminal and

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.list

find this line:

# defoptions=quiet splash

edit it to look like this

# defoptions=quiet splash all_generic_ide floppy=off irqpoll

save your changes and exit gedit,

then in the terminal do:

sudo update-grub

and it should all be sorted at the next boot!

Modems

Up to now we have been considering systems with broadband access through a Ethernet or Wifi connection from an ADSL/ Modem/Router/Firewall box. My section covering Modem support for when you have no broadband access and are on the move has got far too large and has been moved to a new page - Ubuntu Linux on the Move.

For completeness here it is worth noting that support for some types of modem is poor in all versions of Linux. The type of modem which is used in many machines and built into many recent cards are often referred to as Winmodems or soft modems because they use Windows and the processor to do much of the hard work in software rather than do it on the chip or card. This includes not only internal modems but many external USB modems and includes ADSL modems. This software is often proprietary and Linux is poorly supported by most manufacturers. I therefore got out my old but very trusty US Robotics V90 external serial interface Fax Modem for the desktop with instant success.

The laptop has a soft modem and again I took the easy way out when I then remembered that I had a Xircom PCMCIA modem and Ethernet card. I plugged it in and it was recognised immediately and I had a telephone connect working a few minutes later during my initial LiveCD tests.

Wifi Connections and drivers

Wifi cards in laptops are much better supported than modems but even so there may be a need to install drivers. The problem is that the drivers for a WiFi card are complex and few manufacturers support Linux. There are however a limited number of chips which are used by a large number of manufacturers and some of the most popular now have built in support in the kernel. Even then proprietary considerations mean that in some cases such as the Broadcom 43xx chips used by many manufacturers including Belkin and Dell need the proprietary firmware installed. Those that have no native Linux support can often be installed by a technique of 'wrapping' part of the Windows drivers in code to integrate them into Linux - the ndiswrapper mechanism. The basic windows .inf and .sys files can be obtained in many ways including from your Windows system or the CDs provided.

The code below shows that it need not be complex and covers the Belkin Card using the Broadcom 4306 chip. It got the WiFi up but had problems in integration into the system so one could not easily start a useful connection through it. This is based on a thread  Broadcom (4306) - Ubuntu Forums  and the thread covers the two possible methods. All these mechanisms which use Windows drivers or place drivers into the kernel have a downside in that they need to be repeated if you upgrade to a new kernel - you do have the choice at boot-up which kernel you chose so you can use the old one until you are sorted. In some simple cases you may even be able to experiment using the LiveCD. The ndiswrapper actions are shown to indicate that it is not rocket science. First the tools are installed (that can be from Add/Remove Advanced). Then you find the windows drivers and put them in a directory ready for the next time, make the modules, install them and check and add them into the drivers loaded during booting up. In this case there may be an incomplete driver already present which needs to be removed from the sequence loaded at boot-up which is covered in the thread.

The alternative using bcm43xx-fwcutter to load the extra firmware follows noting that the kernel version may need to be changed

Configuration can be done using the System -> Administration -> Network or possibly wifi-radar on Dapper Drake but the Network Manager Applet takes care of it all in Hardy Heron

Turning off a Synaptic's touchpad tap-to-click feature.

There is also a program called gsynaptics which allows you to control the touch pad via a GUI interface which can be installed via the Synaptic Package Manager and search for gsynaptics. It is accessed via System -> Preferences -> Touchpad.

USB 2.0 to Serial RS232 Hardware Installation (FTDI Chip)

I have put this at the end as it males an interesting comparison of Linux and Windows XP on which to finish. The background is that I had to obtain a RS232 to USB converter because the new laptop has no serial connector and I needed to download and upload waypoints to my Garmin GPS. I did a bit of Googling and I chose a device which used a FTDI chip because I found their chips were supported in Linux - others may be but it seemed best to play safe.

It was purchased from Tronisoft for £11.42 ref 2446 as USB 2.0 - RS232 cable with 25 way adapter and delivered the following day. I spoke with them before ordering and they were very helpful but had no Linux machines so said they would be glad for feedback. The disk provided has drivers for Linux, Mac and Windows 98/2000 and XP. I thought it would make an interesting comparison so I kept notes.

Windows: I first tried to install under Windows XP by turning the machine on and then plugging in the cable - it detected new hardware and started the install wizard. It found the two drivers only when it could check the web. A small CD with drivers was also provided. Total time about 5 minutes and another 10 or so to connect my serial modem and check it worked. It installed it as Serial port 4. I repeated it on the laptop taking a bit less time although I had to change the allocated port (13 which was beyond what the GPS software could handle) by Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Handlers and Properties of the device -> Port Settings -> Advanced - fortunately ports 1 and 2 were free although all higher ports had been allocated already.

Ubuntu Linux: I plugged in the cable and nothing seemed to happen and I then had to find out a way of deciding if it had installed - which I did not really believe - it was too easy! I looked in the Device Manager and there was evidence that it had done something as there was new 8-bit FIFO so a quick look on the Internet provided a couple of commands which could be run to find out more namely lsusb and dmesg. The first produced a few lines which showed that the device had been identified and the second produced far more output, most of which I could not understand, but repeat runs with and without the device plugged in convinced me it was worth fetching my serial modem to use as a test. The output also indicated the device was detected as an FT232BM made by FTDI and installed as /dev/ttyUSB0 and watching the /dev directory showed it coming and going as one plugged in and out. The modem was also detected and I set up Networking to use ttyUSB0 and worked fine on a short trial. If I had been more confident and known where it would be installed it would have been easier and much quicker than Windows XP.

Although Ubuntu came out ahead for ease and speed I must admit that I had chosen a device with a FTDI chip knowing that they were more likely to be supported. Time was taken going up a learning curve as there was ten years to one week difference in experience, even so the complete investigations and trials on two machines to working solutions on both were completed in only just over an hour after delivery - this write up has taken longer!

Epson Perfection V200 Scanner under Ubuntu Linux

This Howto describes the steps necessary to use the Epson Perfection V200 Photo scanner with Ubuntu Hardy Heron. It is closely based on an excellent Howto in Uellue's Blog.

Other Epson scanners should work in a similar way, there is a list of supported devices on the Epson web site below. The driver provides support for 8 bit and 16 bit color depth and 300, 2400 and 4800 dpi resolution when used by GIMP through Sane .

Firstly a number of Ubuntu packages need to be added via System -> Administration -> Synaptic package manager and Search for each package and Install it. The packages are:

• sane
• sane-utils
• xsane
• alien (a tool to convert the .rpm packages available to .deb packages for Debian and Ubuntu)

The drivers are available on the Epson Japanese vendor's site. Choose your scanner and your distribution, fill out the small questionnaire and submit the form. You are directed to a download page. There are no Debian (.deb) packages but if you get the RPM packages for "gcc 3.4 or later" you can use utility called Alien to convert the packages to the .deb format in order to install them. In a terminal:

sudo alien --scripts iscan-2.8.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
sudo alien --scripts iscan-plugin-gt-f670-2.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm

To install the generated .deb packages use dpkg:

sudo dpkg -i iscan_2.8.0-2_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i iscan-plugin-gt-f670_2.0.0-2_i386.deb

Now plug in and switch on the scanner and use lsusb in a terminal which should show the scanner. The output will look like:

pcurtis@triton-ubuntu:~$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 04b8:012e Seiko Epson Corp.
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
pcurtis@triton-ubuntu:~$ ]

Now use the utilities from sane-utils in a terminal. First use sane-find-scanner to check whether Sane finds the device. With scanimage -L you can find out if the driver is properly installed. The output looked like this:

Depending on your exact installation only root may have access to the scanner although my original user was already in the scanner group. To allow other users to access the scanner, they must be members of the scanner group. You then either need to reboot or restart udev after adding the extra members. The terminal output looks like this:

pcurtis@triton-ubuntu:~$ sudo adduser peter scanner
Adding user `peter' to group `scanner' ...
Adding user peter to group scanner
Done.
pcurtis@triton-ubuntu:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/udev restart
Stopping the hotplug events dispatcher: udevd.
Starting the hotplug events dispatcher: udevd

It has also been reported by some users that a line has to be added to a sane configuration file - mine was OK and the line had been appended automatically but for completeness check and add a line containg epkowa to the end of /etc/sane.d/dll.conf if you have a problem.

After that my scanner works fine and can be accessed most easily via GIMP but can also be accessed directly by xscanimage or xsane.

Installing on a Legacy Laptop - Toshiba Portege 3440

Having had so much success, I spent some time working out how to install Ubuntu on my old but much loved Toshiba Portege 3440CT. It has been upgraded to a 30 Gbyte drive and 192 Mbytes of Ram with a 500 Mhz processor but it is below the recommended specifications. Despite that it ran the Dapper Drake LiveCD at a reasonable speed especially after I had created a Linux Swap File - the LiveCd will use any Linux Swap files it locates - an undocumented facility. As this runs under Dapper Drake I have removed the details from here but they are still accessible at Fun with Ubuntu Linux - Dapper Drake

Disabling Suspend and Hibernate for Laptops in Ubuntu Linux

I had problems when testing suspend and hibernate on the Portege which resulted in some very peculiar happenings. It is also a recipe for disaster to use hibernate on a dual booted machine. GNOME contains a database for storing your preferences called 'gconf, which is a similar database to the Windows registry. There is a Configuration Editor Program for Gnome which can be accessed via Applications -> System Tools -> Configuration Editor to easily make changes for the current user. To make global changes it is best called in a terminal by:

sudo gconf-editor

Navigate through the left hand tree to apps -> gnome-power-manager. Find the options named 'can_hibernate' and 'can_suspend' and uncheck them both.

Right-click on each in turn and click Set as Mandatory to make sure that it applies to all users then exit the Configuration Editor. Changes will not appear until after a reboot.

Some further useful Configuration Tips

Put a Trash Can on the desktop:

Ubuntu has an option for adding a Trash Can icon to the desktop. Open a run dialog by Alt+F2 and open the Gnome Configuration Editor by typing:

gconf-editor

Now browse down to the apps \ nautilus \ desktop key amd on the right hand side, you'll see an entry called trash_icon_visible. Just check the box - you can also change the trash_icon_name to Recycle Bin if you have a Windows background! You can also add your Home Folder and there are many other useful changes you can make using gconf-editor which are not accessible in the programs but without having to edit configuration files if you explore - try searching for a program name using Edit -> Find

Looking Forwards

Reference Books

A Roadmap for your future transition to Linux.

I hope that this page has persuaded you that Linux is now a real alternative to Windows - a desirable and arguably essential change if you are going to use use a laptop 'mobile'. Try out Ubuntu Linux with a LiveCD, there is little to lose. It may even work on a machine which no longer runs Windows effectively as long as you can fit 256 Mbytes memory and preferably 384 Mbytes for Hardy Heron. I even got Dapper Drake running in 192 Mbytes

Even if you do not change immediately there are some things you can do which will make both your existing computing safer and the transition easier. Avoiding the use of Outlook Express and Internet Explorer and the replacement of a USB ADSL modem by a ADSL/Firewall/Router reduces risks by 4 fold even with good security software. So my beliefs and recommendations are:

1. Reduce your dependence and use of Microsoft Software and proprietary software and instead use Open Source equivalents available for multiple operating systems.
   
   • Firefox is better and more secure than Internet Explorer
   • Thunderbird is better and more secure than Outlook Express
   • Open Office is equivalent to a Microsoft Office Suite and uses compatible file formats
   • The Lighting extension to Thunderbird adds calendars and task management making it is equivalent to Microsoft Outlook
   • Kompozer is an adequate WSYWYG HTML Editor
   • GParted is an alternate to Partition Magic
   • TrueCrypt is an excellent Encryption package which can be used under Linux
     
2. Change to an ADSL Modem/Firewall/Router/Wifi unit for your connection to broadband - many are under £50 and often have a free Wifi card with them. I use ones from 3Com. This combined interface will allow you to connect many machines by cable and Wifi and, more importantly, give valuable protection to you under Windows and be easy to use with Linux. In contrast the USB modems which you got free from your Broadband provider are soft-modems and will not work easily with Linux.
   
3. Avoid buying hardware which you know is Windows dependent such as soft-modems which include most internal landline, USB landline and ADSL modems. Wifi connections are also going the same way.
   
   • I you have or find an old fashioned serial external V90 or V92 modem buy or keep it even if you need a USB to Serial converter.
   • Keep any PCMCIA modems such as those from Xircom
     
4. Do some checks before you buy your next Laptop, Wifi card/dongle or other hardware. My Toshiba with an Atheros chip WiFi chip was autodetected and set up from the Live CD whilst some WiFi chips such as those from Broadcom are less well supported at the time. A Google search for the hardware including Ubuntu may help.
   
5. Think ahead and check other hardware. I deliberately got a USB to serial adapter which I knew was supported under Linux, others are not. Most Printers are supported but combintion Printer-Scanners are less well supported.

Presentations

The more time goes on the more I believe that Linux distributions such as Ubuntu have now reached the point that they are a practical alternative to Microsoft Windows and offer considerable advantages. This was brought home to me when two of my friends, both extremely careful and professional, contacted me the same day saying they were infected with Viruses on their Windows machines.

I have recently given some lectures on the QE2 looking at the options for the normal home user who is wondering if change is desirable and feasible with the title:

I am now in the process of writing a guide book to go with my lectures which will give a real possibility for an unsophisticated computer user without programming experience to make the transition to Linux with no more hassle than the change from Microsoft Windows XP to Vista titled The Road to Freedom -A progressive migration from Windows to Ubuntu for Safety, Security and Savings in Computing

Conclusions

The following tables show how Ubuntu Dapper Drake matches up to Microsoft Windows XP for normal applications and utilisation on a desktop and for Mobile use on a Laptop. The sections on the darker background are those which are desirable or essential somewhere on our machines especially on the 'Power User' desktop which have not or can not be met using Linux. It looks as if we will only need to keep one dual boot system at home and probably keep the laptop as a dual boot because we have a TV dongle for boating in the UK. The optimum system configuration of our machines will be addressed when we have gained a little more experience and investigated Linux networking more fully but we are now committed to Linux almost certainly Ubuntu, whilst on the move, and very much more open source software everywhere. It has been a fascinating and enlightening investigation. The bottom line is that after a week I rarely switched back to Windows but from the start I thought the final step would be to convert Pauline which might need a new laptop for her! In the event the continual updates and problems with Windows ment that her time under Ubuntu increased and after less than two years she was also fully converted without a new laptop.

Before you Leave

Requirements and Support Tables

Before You Leave

I would be very pleased if visitors could spare a little time to give me some feedback - it is the only way I know who has visited, if it is useful and how I should develop it's content and the techniques used. I would be delighted if you could send comments or just let me know you have visited by sending a quick Message to me.

Fun with Ubuntu Linux | The Road to Freedom - The Journey Starts |The Road to Freedom - Base Camp | Ubuntu All Together - Sharing, Networking, Backup, Synchronisation and Encryption | Ubuntu on the Lookout - Browsing, Email, Contacts, Calendars and Tasks| Ubuntu on the Move | Ubuntu on the Take | The MSI Wind U100 Netbook for Global Communications and Computing

Copyright © Peter and Pauline Curtis Most recent significant revision: 20th June, 2009