Getting The Most From X/K/ubuntu 6.06

Tech Support Forum Linux, BSD and Other OS's
1

OUT-OF-DATE! I wouldn’t recommend following this guide now…

[COLOR=“Red”]This thread is dedicated to Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS. If you are running the latest 6.10 Edgy Eft, DO NOT follow this guide!

[SIZE=“4”]Repositories[/SIZE]

To gain access to non-free software such as movie and music codecs, you need to set up the correct repositories.

Open up a terminal and type:

For Kubuntu:

kdesu kate /etc/apt/sources.list

For Ubuntu:

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

For Xubuntu:

gksu mousepad /etc/apt/sources.list

That command will open up a text file containing your list of repositories. In an effort to keep things simple, just delete all of the text in that file and replace with the text you see below. Just copy and paste.

[CODE]## Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the ‘main’

repository.

N.B. software from this repository is SUPPORTED by the Ubuntu

team, and is under a free licence

deb Index of /ubuntu dapper main restricted
deb-src Index of /ubuntu dapper main restricted

Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the

distribution.

deb Index of /ubuntu dapper-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu dapper-updates main restricted universe multiverse

deb Index of /ubuntu dapper-security main restricted
deb-src Index of /ubuntu dapper-security main restricted
deb Index of /ubuntu dapper-security universe multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu dapper-security universe multiverse

Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the ‘universe’

repository.

N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu

team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to

your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in

universe WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu security

team.

deb Index of /ubuntu dapper universe multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu dapper universe multiverse

Uncomment the following two lines to add software from the ‘backports’

repository.

N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as

extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes

newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.

Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review

or updates from the Ubuntu security team.

deb Index of /ubuntu dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu dapper-backports main restricted universe multiverse

########Extra Repositories#############

Opera Browser

deb Index of /opera/ unstable non-free
deb Index of /opera/ stable non-free

Wine

deb http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt dapper main

Skype

deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

Ubuntu ‘Commercial’ repositories

deb Index of /ubuntu dapper-commercial main

[/CODE]

Save the file and close once you have copied my repositories list into your own file.

To use the Opera repository, you must import the key:

gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv 6A423791 gpg --export --armor 6A423791 | sudo apt-key add -

Next, we need to make (X/K)ubuntu aware of these new repositories. You can do this by typing:

sudo apt-get update

Now that we have these new repositories ready for use, you may find that newer software is available for you to download and install. You can check this by typing:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
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Getting The Most From (X/K)Ubuntu

[SIZE=“4”]Install A Better Kernel[/SIZE]

The default ubuntu kernel is based on a generic i386 specification. If you have a Pentium 3 or better, you can improve the performance of your computer by installing a more appropriate kernel.

Simply type:

sudo apt-get install linux-686

If you run two processors or have a dual core CPU, you should type:

sudo apt-get install linux-686-smp

Or if you have an AMD based processor you should type:

sudo apt-get install linux-k7

For a Dual Core AMD CPU you should type:

sudo apt-get install linux-k7-smp
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Getting The Most From (X/K)Ubuntu

[SIZE=“4”]Useful Links[/SIZE]

Installing restricted media formats such as Flash, Java, MP3 and WMA

Revert to the traditional root sudo (I personally recommend you do this)

Filesharing with a Windows computer via Samba

File Sharing between two Linux machines via NFS

Setting up nVidia drivers

Setting up ATi drivers

VMware Server installation guide

Run Windows applications in Linux using WINE

Install XGL on Ubuntu (for nVidia)

Install XGL on Kubuntu (for ATi)

Backport newer packages from Edgy Eft and Feisty Fawn to Dapper

Make your own Debian packages

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Getting The Most From (X/K)Ubuntu

[SIZE=“4”]Installing RPM Packages[/SIZE]

NOTE: Only install an RPM package if there is no Debian package available. You should install RPM packages as a last resort

To install an RPM package, first you need to install a program called ‘alien’

sudo apt-get install alien

The syntex for installing an RPM package is as follows:

sudo alien -i <package_name>

An example might be:

sudo alien -i limewire.xxx.rpm

To learn more about alien’s functions, type:

alien --help
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Getting The Most From (X/K)Ubuntu

[SIZE=“4”]Install A Firewall[/SIZE]

For Ubuntu / Xubuntu:

sudo apt-get install firestarter

NOTE: Kubuntu users can install Firestarter, but you will be required to install a few GNOME libraries to solve dependencies

For Kubuntu:

sudo apt-get install guarddog

NOTE: Ubuntu / Xubuntu users can install GuardDog, but you will be required to install a few KDE libraries to solve dependences

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Getting The Most From (X/K)Ubuntu

[SIZE=“4”]Finding & Installing Programs From the Terminal[/SIZE]

Let’s say for example that you want to install a vector drawing program but you don’t know of any available for Linux. You could do a search on Google, or you could use the powerful command line tool ‘apt-cache’. Apt-cache searches your distribution’s repositories and displays the nearest matches to your search term.

Open up a terminal and type:

apt-cache search vector drawing

These are the results of our query:

inkscape - vector-based drawing program asymptote - script-based vector graphics language inspired by MetaPost cimg-dev - powerful image processing library gnome-office - The GNOME Office suite ivtools-bin - Drawing Editors evolved from idraw sketch - Interactive vector drawing program for X11 sodipodi - Vector based drawing program sunclock-maps - sunclock vector graphic maps tgif - Interactive 2-D drawing facility under X11

Looking through the list, I determine that ‘Inkscape’ is probably the kind of application I am looking for. But to make sure, I want to find out a little bit more about it. To do so, I would type:

apt-cache show inkscape

And the result would be:

[CODE]
Description: vector-based drawing program

Inkscape loads and saves a subset of the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
format, a standard maintained by the WWW consortium.
.
Inkscape user interface should be familiar from CorelDraw and similar
drawing programs. There are rectangles, ellipses, text items, bitmap
images and freehand curves.
As an added bonus, both vector and bitmap objects can have alpha
transparency and can be arbitrarily transformed.
.
Inkscape supports multiple opened files and multiple views per file.
Graphics can be printed and exported to png bitmaps.
.
Some of the import and export features are provided using the packages
dia, libwmf-bin, pstoedit, sketch, imagemagick, and perlmagick.
.
Other Extensions use libxml-xql-perl and python-xml.
.
Homepage: http://www.inkscape.org/[/CODE]

After reading through it, I decide that I want to install it. So I would type:

sudo apt-get install inkscape

And there you have it. That is how you find and install programs from the terminal :slight_smile:

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[SIZE=“4”]How To upgrade to Edgy Eft[/SIZE] [COLOR=“Red”](At your own risk!)

Be aware that things can go wrong. Always back up your work before attempting system wide changes.

The first thing we need to do is update our sources list to include the Edgy Eft repositories. We can do this by typing:

sudo sed -e 's/\sdapper/ edgy/g' -i /etc/apt/sources.list

Then perform the upgrade by typing:

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude dist-upgrade && sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

There will be dependency problems at first. This is why we run ‘dist-upgrade’ several times. Just press ‘Y’ to accept the dependency resolution suggestion.

After the installation has finished, you might consider running ‘sudo aptitude dist-upgrade’ one more time just to be safe. You might even consider running ‘sudo apt-get dist-upgrade’ a few times as well.

Finish the installation by running

sudo apt-get -f install sudo dpkg --configure -a

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[SIZE=“4”]Install Extra Screensavers! (Kubuntu Only)[/SIZE]

sudo aptitude install kscreensaver-xsavers xscreensaver xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-data xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-gl-extra

[SIZE=“4”]Install The Building Environment (To Compile Software From Source)[/SIZE]

sudo aptitude install build-essential

[SIZE=“4”]Install Microsoft’s TrueType Fonts[/SIZE]

sudo aptitude install msttcorefonts
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[SIZE=“4”]Upgrade To The Latest nVidia & ATi Drivers[/SIZE]

The nVidia and ATi drivers in the Dapper repositories are getting very old. So if like me, you want the very latest in nVidia tech you should add these repositories to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/dapper/nonlegacy/32bit binary/

And add the key:

wget http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/tseliot.asc
gpg --import tseliot.asc
gpg --export --armor [email protected] | sudo apt-key add -

More info here

I installed the ‘very latest’ nVidia legacy driver from there and all is working fine