Ubuntu Intrepid Dell Mini how to

This tutorial describes how to configure a Ubuntu Desktop for daily use.

Follow my older post to install ubuntu on Dell Mini using a USB drive. Install the Broadcom STA wireless driver, as suggest by Ubuntu after first boot, and install all available updates.

Dell Apps

# Dell airplane mode
wget http://dell-mini.archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy-dell-mini/universe/binary-lpia/aircraft-manager_belmont11_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i aircraft-manager_belmont11_all.deb

Fix sound:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

# at the end of alsa-base file add

options snd-hda-intel model=dell

after saving the file, reboot the system and set the volume as described in the picture



Tweaks for the desktop:

Setting smaller font sizes

gconftool-2 --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/desktop_font --type string "Sans 8"
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/document_font_name --type string "Sans 8"
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/font_name --type string "Sans 8"
gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/titlebar_font --type string "Sans Bold 8"
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/monospace_font_name --type string "Monospace 8"

Unconstrain windows to the top of the screen

gconftool-2 --set /apps/compiz/plugins/move/allscreens/options/constrain_y --type bool 0

Making the top & bottom panels smaller

gconftool-2 --set /apps/panel/toplevels/top_panel_screen0/size --type integer 19
gconftool-2 --set /apps/panel/toplevels/bottom_panel_screen0/size --type integer 19


Enabling the windows key as keyboard shortcut as fullscreen mode
Preferences --> Keyboard Shortcuts --> Window Management --> Toggle Fullscreen Mode then press the windows key.
You can also set the tool bars to use small icons, as showed by the picture.

Multimedia Codecs, Java, Flash

# java , fonts, codecs
# The ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Configure repositories for extra Applications

On Ubuntu goto to System->Administration->Software Sources->Third Party Software and select "Add". You can also edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add lines to the end of the file.

# Canonical repository (VMWare and DB2 Express)
# enable this on the Software Sources Management tool (tab thir-party) from ubuntu/kubuntu menu

# Ubuntu tweak
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu intrepid main

# Google Linux repository, add both to get picasa
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ testing non-free

# Miro - The free open-source video platform.
deb http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/miro/linux/repositories/ubuntu intrepid/

# Virtual Box
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid non-free

# MediaTomb
deb http://apt.mediatomb.cc/ hardy main

# medibuntu repositories
# run this command to add this repository
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

To get the GPG key for Picasa and Virtual Box

# Google Key
wget -q -O - http://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

# Virtual Box Key
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

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

# Mediatomb Key
wget http://apt.mediatomb.cc/key.asc -O- -q | sudo apt-key add -

Java, Skype, Acrobat, GoogleEarth, Proprietary and Others

For installation execute the following commands:

# Update the index of your repositories
sudo apt-get update

# java, flash, google earth, virtualbox, libdvdcss2, codecs, skype, ffmpeg, amarok, lastfm, picasa, wine acrobatreader
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras googleearth libdvdcss2 ffmpeg non-free-codecs skype miro amarok libtunepimp5-mp3 lastfm picasa wine acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins ksnapshot kget ubuntu-tweak cheese awn-manager powertop

For other very usefull apps:

# Ubuntu Tweak
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

# Amarok media player, Lastfm music cleint
sudo apt-get install amarok libtunepimp5-mp3 lastfm

# The kubuntu-restricted-extras (install this one if you use kubuntu)
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras

# Mediatomb UPnP MediaServer with a nice web user interface. Share your media with PS3 and XBOX devices.
sudo apt-get install mediatomb

# Acrobat Reader
sudo apt-get install acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins

# Google Earth, Picasa
sudo apt-get install googleearth picasa

# Skype
sudo apt-get install skype

# Miro - The free open-source video platform.
sudo apt-get install miro

# KDE download manager
sudo apt-get install kget

# OSS voip, softphone, video conference tools
sudo apt-get install ekiga wengophone twinkle

# image and publishing tools
sudo apt-get install krita scribus inkscape karbon

# Kexi is considered as a long awaited Open Source competitor for Microsoft Access, Filemaker and Oracle Forms.
# Kivio is an easy to use diagramming and flowcharting application
# KPlato is a project management application.
sudo apt-get install kplato kivio kexi

### Advanced usage

# visual partition editor
sudo apt-get install gparted

# To change the default JVM run the command below and select the relevant version.
# If you only have one JVM this step should not be required.
sudo update-alternatives --config java

# remote login using ssh
sudo apt-get install sshfs openssh-server

Auto start AWN when ubuntu starts?
System>Preferences>Sessions
Click New. Add a Title for it then for the command enter
avant-window-navigator

Restart, enjoy

Note: this post was created on a Dell Mini 9 with Ubuntu Intrepid.
references:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EeePC
http://www.ubuntumini.com/2008/10/installing-ubuntu-on-dell-inspiron-mini.html

Other Links:
Firefox on NetBooks: http://www.ubuntumini.com/2008/11/customizing-firefox-for-netbooks.html
Blog on Dell Mini: http://www.ubuntumini.com
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/UbuntuMini

Ubuntu Intrepid screenshots

Android Phone - TMobile G1

Today I replaced my iPAQ hw6515 with a android phone - The TMobile G1 from HTC.

For now the experience has been very positive.

Good:
- OS is amazing, compared with my PocketPC device. Supports WIFI, 3G, Bluetooth, GPS, USB connectivity, charges thru USB cable, visible on Ubuntu has a USB hard drive.
- Browser supports multiple windows
- IM support for gtalk, yahoo, msn aol
- Voice Dialing.
- Google Maps, GMail, Regular Email, Goggle Calendar, Google Contacts, GTalk
- Automatic sync of gmail, calendar, contacts, with your google account.
- keyboard, search keyboard key, Configurable key short cuts to start any App

Apps I Like:
- imeem mobile is so COOL. Web Radio/Music, on the android. Built-in amazon Music Store App.
- "Compare Everywhere" and "ShopSavvy" are very useful apps to check for store and web prices near where you are, just by scanning product bar codes.
- Web Browser, youtube, The weather Channel
- PicSay (Add text to pictures using the android)

Not so Good:
- When charging the phone you can not use the headset to listen to music. Both the charger and the headset use the same plug.
- On heavy use using GPS, 3G, Bluetooth, wifi doing music/web/IM the device lasted 5-6 hours.
- Can't talk on the phone and browse web at same time (this is probably a network restriction shared by all other phones, but is still very annoying).
- Device does not have a lot of internal storage, so if you install a few apps from Market, it's very easy to run out of internal storage.

Remarks:
- The G1 is an amazing phone. It works well doe snot crash or freeze like my pocketpc used to.
- Goggle Sync is so useful and amazing.
- Market is easy and you can find hundreds of useful apps (the bad thing is that you might run out of space if you install them all)
- The combination of all the apps on Market and the default Apps in the phone, make this the most user friendly, and useful phone I owned till today.
- I use the phone every day for non-phone related issues. Checking prices in the web why I go to a store. Find stores, restaurants. View a review before going to a restaurant. IM a friend. Check Maps for directions, check the dictionary on the web, check wikipidea, view my gmail, call thru skype, kill some time playing games, listen to web radio, podcast, utube videos, npr programs, npr web radio, my mp3 collection, buy music from amazon, scanning a book bar-code and perform a text search on the book.

This is truly a awesome phone. For next iteration would add a battery with higher capacity, allow charging and listening to music at same time, more internal storage or run the OS from the SDHC card, stereo bluetooth, tether data connection using bluetooh or USB.

Ubuntu 8.10 Entrepid 64 bit - Desktop HOWTO

This tutorial describes how to configure a Ubuntu/Kubuntu 64 Bit Desktop for daily use.

Multimedia Codecs, Java, Flash

Java sun plugin does not work on Ubuntu 64 bits after running this comand, but fonts and codecs should work fine. Flash works but crashes frequently.

# java , fonts, codecs
# The ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Configure repositories for extra Applications

On Ubuntu goto to System->Administration->Software Sources->Third Party Software and select "Add". You can also edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add lines to the end of the file.

# Canonical repository (VMWare and DB2 Express)
# enable this on the Software Sources Management tool (tab thir-party) from ubuntu/kubuntu menu

# Google Linux repository, add both to get picasa
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ testing non-free

# Miro - The free open-source video platform.
deb http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/miro/linux/repositories/ubuntu hardy/

# Virtual Box
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy non-free

# MediaTomb
deb http://apt.mediatomb.cc/ hardy main

# medibuntu repositories
# run this command to add this repository
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

To get the GPG key for Picasa and Virtual Box

# Google Key
wget -q -O - http://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

# Virtual Box Key
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

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

# Mediatomb Key
wget http://apt.mediatomb.cc/key.asc -O- -q | sudo apt-key add -

Java, Skype, Acrobat, GoogleEarth, Proprietary and Others

For installation execute the following commands:

# Update the index of your repositories
sudo apt-get update

# google earth, virtualbox, libdvdcss2, codecs, skype, ffmpeg, amarok, lastfm, picasa, wine acrobatreader
sudo apt-get install googleearth libdvdcss2 ffmpeg non-free-codecs skype miro amarok libtunepimp5-mp3 lastfm picasa wine acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins

For other very usefull apps:

# Amarok media player, Lastfm music cleint
sudo apt-get install amarok libtunepimp5-mp3 lastfm

# The kubuntu-restricted-extras (install this one if you use kubuntu)
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras

# Mediatomb UPnP MediaServer with a nice web user interface. Share your media with PS3 and XBOX devices.
sudo apt-get install mediatomb

# Acrobat Reader
sudo apt-get install acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins

# Google Earth, Picasa
sudo apt-get install googleearth picasa

# Skype
sudo apt-get install skype

# Miro - The free open-source video platform.
sudo apt-get install miro

# KDE download manager
sudo apt-get install kget

# OSS voip, softphone, video conference tools
sudo apt-get install ekiga wengophone twinkle

# image and publishing tools
sudo apt-get install krita scribus inkscape karbon

# Kexi is considered as a long awaited Open Source competitor for Microsoft Access, Filemaker and Oracle Forms.
# Kivio is an easy to use diagramming and flowcharting application
# KPlato is a project management application.
sudo apt-get install kplato kivio kexi

### Advanced usage

# visual partition editor
sudo apt-get install gparted

# To change the default JVM run the command below and select the relevant version.
# If you only have one JVM this step should not be required.
sudo update-alternatives --config java

# remote login using ssh
sudo apt-get install sshfs openssh-server

VirtualBox - running windows and other linux inside ubuntu

# Fast Virtual Machine (faster than VMWare) with a simple interface
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-2.0

If you need to connect USB devices directly to your VMs, you will need to change some settings.

• Add your user to the group "usbusers". You can use the tool available on System->Administration->Users And Groups
• Edit the script `/etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh and delete # symbol before the four lines around line 40 (Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work).
  

Then execute
Code:

/etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh start

Add this to your /etc/fstab
Code:

# virtualbox usb patch
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=46,devmode=664 0 0

Check "USB devices" section of your
/etc/udev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules
file. This section should look as here
Code:

# USB serial converters
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", MODE="0664", GOTO="usb_serial_start"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE="0664", GOTO="usb_serial_start"

Restart, enjoy

These instructions are based on this forum post. but where adjust for ubuntu 8.04 64 bits.

Ubuntu on a USB pen/drive

Easy tool to create a bootable USB drive, for multiple distributions.

Install:
sudo apt-get install p7zip p7zip-full mtools
wget http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/unetbootin-linux-latest
chmod +x unetbootin-linux-*
sudo ./unetbootin-linux-XXX

Reference: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

How-to flash the bios using Linux

Goto http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/ under "Normal Bootdisk"

get http://www.fdos.org/bootdisks/autogen/FDSTD.288.gz

Create a folder, unzip the floppy image, mount the floppy image:

sudo mkdir /tmp/biosdisk
gunzip FDSTD.288.gz
sudo mount -t vfat FDSTD.288 /tmp/biosdisk -o loop,r
cd /tmp/biosdisk

Copy all the files you need. Example:

cp /home/lafa/bios/AWDFLASH.EXE .
cp /home/lafa/bios/SG33S117.BIN .

Exit the folder, umount, create the ISO file:

cd ~/
sudo umount /tmp/biosdisk
mv FDSTD.288 boot.IMA
mkisofs -o bootcd.iso -b boot.IMA -c boot.cat ./boot.IMA

Burn the bootcd.iso file, with your favorite burn utility.
Boot your pc using this CD.

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy 64 bit - Desktop HOWTO

This tutorial describes how to configure a Ubuntu/Kubuntu 64 Bit Desktop for daily use.

Multimedia Codecs, Java, Flash

Java sun plugin does not work on Ubuntu 64 bits after running this comand, but fonts and codecs should work fine. Flash works but crashes frequently.

# java , fonts, codecs
# The ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Configure repositories for extra Applications

On Ubuntu goto to System->Administration->Software Sources->Third Party Software and select "Add". You can also edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add lines to the end of the file.

# Canonical repository (VMWare and DB2 Express)
# enable this on the Software Sources Management tool (tab third-party) from ubuntu or kubuntu menu

# Google Linux repository, add both to get picasa
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free
deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ testing non-free

# Miro - The free open-source video platform.
deb http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/miro/linux/repositories/ubuntu hardy/

# Virtual Box
deb http://www.virtualbox.org/debian gutsy non-free

# MediaTomb
deb http://apt.mediatomb.cc/ hardy main

# medibuntu repositories
# run this command to add this repository
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

To get the GPG key for Picasa and Virtual Box

# Google Key
wget -q -O - http://dl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

# Virtual Box Key
wget -q http://www.virtualbox.org/debian/innotek.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

# medibuntu Key
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

# Mediatomb Key
wget http://apt.mediatomb.cc/key.asc -O- -q | sudo apt-key add -

Java, Skype 2.0, Acrobat, GoogleEarth, Proprietary and Others

For installation execute the following commands:

# Update the index of your repositories
sudo apt-get update

# google earth, virtualbox, libdvdcss2, codecs, skype, ffmpeg, amarok, lastfm, acrobat
sudo apt-get install googleearth libdvdcss2 ffmpeg non-free-codecs skype miro amarok libtunepimp5-mp3 lastfm acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins

For other very usefull apps:

# Amarok media player, Lastfm music cleint
sudo apt-get install amarok libtunepimp5-mp3 lastfm

# The kubuntu-restricted-extras (install this one if you use kubuntu)
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras

# Mediatomb UPnP MediaServer with a nice web user interface. Share your media with PS3 and XBOX devices.
sudo apt-get install mediatomb

# Acrobat Reader
sudo apt-get install acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins

# Google Earth, Picasa
sudo apt-get install googleearth picasa

# Skype
sudo apt-get install skype

# Miro - The free open-source video platform.
sudo apt-get install miro

# KDE download manager
sudo apt-get install kget

# OSS voip, softphone, video conference tools
sudo apt-get install ekiga wengophone twinkle

# image and publishing tools
sudo apt-get install krita scribus inkscape karbon

# Kexi is considered as a long awaited Open Source competitor for Microsoft Access, Filemaker and Oracle Forms.
# Kivio is an easy to use diagramming and flowcharting application
# KPlato is a project management application.
sudo apt-get install kplato kivio kexi

### Advanced usage

# visual partition editor
sudo apt-get install gparted

# To change the default JVM run the command below and select the relevant version.
# If you only have one JVM this step should not be required.
sudo update-alternatives --config java

# remote login using ssh
sudo apt-get install sshfs openssh-server

VirtualBox - running windows and other linux inside ubuntu

# Fast Virtual Machine (faster than VMWare) with a simple interface
sudo apt-get install virtualbox

If you need to connect USB devices directly to your VMs, you will need to change some settings.

• Add your user to the group "usbusers". You can use the tool available on System->Administration->Users And Groups
• Edit the script `/etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh and delete # symbol before the four lines around line 40 (Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work).
  

Then execute
Code:

/etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh start

Add this to your /etc/fstab
Code:

# virtualbox usb patch
none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=46,devmode=664 0 0

Check "USB devices" section of your
/etc/udev/rules.d/40-permissions.rules
file. This section should look as here
Code:

# USB serial converters
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", MODE="0664", GOTO="usb_serial_start"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE="0664", GOTO="usb_serial_start"

Restart, enjoy

These instructions are based on this forum post. but where adjust for ubuntu 8.04 64 bits.