Posts tagged ubuntu
Ubuntu Karmic – Codecs for DVD, MPG, AVI, and All the Rest
Nov 1st
I’ve hit this topic before, but nowadays its become much more simpler. In older releases of Ubuntu you needed to add the codecs separately, and sometimes even add a third party repository. No you just have to install the restricted extras package.
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
Now you can play for music, your videos, and watch your oldschool DVD if you still have them. I recommend using the default video player totem, but there are others. The popular ones are:
totem-gstreamer
totem-xine
gxine
VLC
Each one has its feature, but ultimately each will do the same thing; play your files. I used VLC for a while, but totem-gstreamer is will integrated into Ubuntu, and seems to work just fine.
Ubuntu Bugs in Release Candidate – Hating
Oct 28th
There are several posts going around about a bug in the Ubuntu Karmic release candidate. One post details the lack of the 64 bit installer being able to detect multiple sata hard drives.
“The 9.10RC Karmic Koala ubiquity disk partitioning steps (#4, #5 in the installation screens) seem to have regressions when booting the AMD64 ubuntu live desktop CD on systems with multiple disks.
This is a shame of a bug to be exploited by haters. Once Ubuntu is up and running it cannot be compared to Windows. It is much more stable, will run for months without needing to be shutdown. There is no worry of viruses, and spyware, and 99% of applications have a version that will run. The only two applications, that I can think of, that will not run on Linux is iTunes, and Quicken. THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES THOUGH, and always a way to do what you want to do.
The only reason Windows is liked more than Linux is because the majority of humanity is NOT TECH SAVVY. If a problem is encountered in Linux, Google is your friend. There is always a solution! It is worthwhile to find the solution, to get Ubuntu working, because of the benifits.
1) No more viruses or spyware. There are very few bad things that can happen when using Linux.
2) Stability, and no need to defragment. Your machine will run for months or years without needing to reboot.
One of the only reason to use Windows is for games. Drivers for top end video cards, and the games themselves, are generally only supported on Windows.
Create a Swap File – Separate Partition is not Needed
Oct 28th
Debian, and Ubuntu have an incredibly convenient package that creates a swap file in any directory. Install with:
sudo apt-get install dphys-swapfile
The installation process with automatically create the swap file. Then just enable it with:
sudo swapon -a
Viola, a fully function swap file that is not on a separate partition.
Ubuntu Graphical MDADM – Raid Utility
Oct 25th
Ubuntu had created a simple to use MDADM control center. It is integrated into an disk utility interface where the S.M.A.R.T status of your hard drives can be examined. For a block of raid hard drives the utility will give you the option to add, remove, fix, or repair individual drivers. This utility makes it extremely simple to replace broken drivers determined faulty by S.M.A.R.T. I was comfortable using the command line to use MDADM, but this utility makes its even easier.
The new drive utility is found in the administrator panel of Ubuntu Karmic Koala.
Gnome Disk Utility
Ubuntu – Mac Tiger – Windows XP – and MythTV on the Same Desktop
Jun 3rd
I have integrated Ubuntu Jaunty, Mac Tiger, Windows XP, and a MythTV PVR into my desktop environment using the default compiz in the Ubuntu repositories. Ubuntu is the host operating system, Mac Tiger is a VNC connection on the local network maximized to fullscreen, Windows XP is running in VirtualBox, and MythTV is capturing HD 720P via FireWire from my SA4250HD Optimum cablebox.
The cube also looks nice with these multiple screen, and with a powerful video card you can actually see MythtTV while on the cube. Open /usr/bin/mythtvfrontend and remove the line at the top that prevents it from opening multiple instances. Now you can open a MythTV frontend on each of the cubes viewports. You can actually watch different videos on each side of the cube.
Compiz Screen 4 Desktops – Ubuntu, Mac, Windows, MythTV
Ubuntu Automounts Secondary HD Partitions to the Desktop
Nov 14th
This is a convenient feature of Ubuntu, which typically has to be achieve via editing the fstab configuration file. Although editing the file is achievable, the convenience of having coexisting partitions auto mounted is noteworthy; any little bit of time saved when installing a fresh OS is considerable. Other features can also be automated including keyrings associated with a user login. Overall Ubuntu gets a thumbs up for the little conveniences that were not overlooked.
