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Seven Essential Tips For Using Ubuntu Feisty Fawn
Ed Albro writes "Matthew Newton, a columnist at PC World, has a great article up on seven things you'll want to change as soon as you start using Feisty Fawn. Some are as simple as making sure the Alt key works right, another gives you step-by-step instructions for turning on the impressive Beryl interface. 'I could spend a whole 'nother column telling you about all the great packages that are not installed by default, but for now I'll just leave you with this bonus tip: If you're running Ubuntu on a laptop and your Wi-Fi card is not detected or supported, try installing the Ndisgtk package (listed as such in Synaptic, but as 'Wireless Windows Drivers' in Add/Remove Applications). Then select the new System, Administration, Windows Wireless Drivers entry in Ubuntu's menu bar.'"
I agree - I cringed when I read that - irresponsible!
I've used EasyUbuntu and the MediUbuntu repositories to get all the same jobs done safely - I would recommend those options instead of Automatix
there is a show stopper bug in either the kernel or driver for the ata2 interface.
o urce-2.6.20/+bug/107271
it's confirmed now that on many laptops the kernel has to restart the ata2 interface intermittently and thereby lock up your system for up to 30 seconds at a time essentially rendering your laptop useless.
stay on lts or edgy for the time being until this bug is fixed:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-s
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedForma
Here's the important part:
Click Applications Add/Remove. In the top right, change the setting to "All available applications". Then select Other in the left panel and then select the Ubuntu restricted extras package. Click OK.
To play most DVDs you'll need the libdvdcss2 package. This package is available using Medibuntu. This is a third party package, and not supported by Canonical. Here's a direct link to libdvdcss2:
i386: http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/pool/feisty/fre
amd64: http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/pool/feisty/fre
Save it to your desktop, then right click and hit Install. That's all you need to do to get codecs for everything. Please, people, avoid Automatix.
Here is the official guide from ubuntu.com: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading
First make sure your computer is fully up to date (with Edgy). Then follow these instructions:
1. Open System -> Administration -> Update Manager
2. A button on the top of the window will appear, informing you of the availability of the new release
3. Click Upgrade
4. Follow the on-screen instructions
That page also has a link on how to upgrade manually from a command-line, but it's not recommended.
Given that Feisty will automatically prompt you to install all codecs you will ever need, and the minimal rest (mainly dvd decryption and w32codecs if you prefer xine/mplayer over gstreamer) is in medibuntu, Automatix seems superfluous to me.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
the nvidia-glx-new package supports the 8xxx cards. There's a long story behind why it's called new, and it's all right here:
e stricted-modules-2.6.20/+bug/96430
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-r
Don't blame launchpad for the funkiness, they had to work around nvidia's move of de-supporting a huge amount of cards that are still currently very popular.
Save yourself sanity. Don't use devices that only have windows drivers running through NDISwrapper. You'll get only a tiny fraction of the functionality, it'll break all the time. My experience has been that devices with in-kernel drivers are worth whatever premium. Always get the intel wireless on your laptop.
... just image how terrible it is when you are using another OS's buggy binary-only driver. You have that mental image. Now add demons pouring acid down your throat. You're approaching the reality of NDISwrapper. I think half-broken internet access is worse than no access. You just get tempted to believe that you can really get whatever from the net, only to find that when you count on connectivity, it breaks.
NDIS is the lowest level of hardware "support" in Linux. If Stallman warns about binary blobs or nonfree drivers because you don't know what the code is and the drivers stop working after the company stops maintaining them
Who is this PC World joker, anyway?
Use the Firehose to mod down Second Life stories!
Oops, forgot w32codecs for Windows Media Audio/Video and Realplayer. Here's a deb for i386:
o decs/w32codecs_20061022-0.0_i386.deb
http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main/w/w32c
Save to desktop, right-click install. It's built for Debian, but it works for Ubuntu just the same. It's what I use and it works great.
After installing the VMware tools the scroll wheel on most mice will become disabled. To fix this:
/etc/X11/xorg.conf (Or with what ever text editor you wish.)
1. sudo -i (To become root.)
2. nano
3. In the Section "InputDevice" for your mouse change the line under "Protocol" that says, "ps/2" to "ImPS/2".
4. Restart X. (ctrl-alt-backspace, reboot, etc)
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
* Automatic codec installation is new and very helpful for multi-media.
* Restricted driver manager, helpful for those who need proprietary drivers (helped me with nvidia).
* Upstart, makes boot time much faster.
* Upstream upgrades for Linux Kernel, Gnome, Evolution, OpenOffice, Xorg, Gaim (I think) and many others.
Maybe not as big a difference as there is upgrading from WinXP to Vista, but then again Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy) was only released 6 months ago, not 6 years ago like XP.
http://www.mhall119.com
Linux Mint. An Ubuntu based distro that uses French female release names. The latest release is Bianca and the next one will be Casandra. So you can tell you parents it's Mint Linux, Bianca, as opposed to Ubuntu, Feisty Fawn. Also, the blue/green theme it uses out of the box looks nicer than the orange/brown of Ubuntu.
http://linuxmint.com//
ATi refuses to release basic specs for some cards (e.g., my X1300), so the free ati driver cannot support them. Just choose the proprietary ATi driver.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns