Howto: Use Ubuntu One to Sync Tomboy Notes Cross-platform
It was recently brought back to my attention by one of the FTN readers that you could sync your Tomboy notes cross-platform using Ubuntu One without actually having the Ubuntu One client installed, pretty handy seeing as a client does not exist on Windows and Mac. None the less this is the best way to sync your notes along with always having access to them via the web interface.
Is Google’s Chrome OS Good for Linux?
The number one reason Linux has not gained as much ground on the desktop as I think it could is simply that it does not always work out of the box and this is is due to the lack of driver support for standard peripherals. Most of the time Linux gets drivers for products much later in the devices life and by that point something better has come out that you want to use, be it a graphics card, sound card, wifi card, printer etc...Vendors don't see it as been worth while to invest in releasing Linux drivers along side Mac and Windows, because the returns are not significant enough.
Quick Tip: Getting your mic working with alsamixer
After installing Skype flawlessly if time around I was messing around with some sound settings and managed to muck something up and stopped my microphone from working. It was either me or an update, but more than likely it was me. After using alsamixer to fix my previous gripe with the pc speaker beeping and not finding a way to fix my problem in the Sound Preferences application found under System -> Preferences I turned back to alsamixer.
When I opened up alsamixer pressed tab until I was viewing [All] I saw that there were two options both called analog and I figure well everything else seems to be on why no see what they do, anyway, I ended up pressing up once to change them both to Digital and that seemed to fix my problem instantly!
Howto: Install Dropbox on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
Dropbox have officially released there .deb's for Ubuntu 9.10 32/64 bit! It's quite straight forward to install.
Step 1
Go to www.getdropbox.com/downloading and download the appropriate package for your system.
Note: If you don't have a dropbox account sign-up for one here
Step 2
Run the .deb file and follow the install instructions, it'll just take a moment.
Step 3
It'll tell you to logout and log back in, do so. Now run the application from Applications->Internet->Dropbox. It'll take a moment to load up then give you a warning that it's going to download/install a nautilus daemon, allow it to do so. This will just take a minute or so.
Step 4
You'll soon be greeted with a window that'll ask you if you'd like to login or create an account do what's appropriate for you.
Step 5
Once you've gone through the setup stage your Dropbox folder will now be located in your /home directory. You can however pick where you'd like to locate it and you can see that option in the setup, but the default is fine.
Step 6
Simple drag and drop files in and out of the folder and they will sync with the cloud and other machines you have it running on (can be Windows/Mac/Linux)
Congratulates you're all done! The thing I like the most about Dropbox is the fact that it's so easy to use, cross-platform and most of all free!
If you liked this guide or would like to add to it, please post a comment below and don't forget to subscribe (it's free)
Howto: Install Dropbox on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Beta
UPDATE:Ubuntu 9.10 has been released and so has an official .deb install file for Dropbox, updated Howto HERE.
UPDATE: I reposted this guide seeing as there's no need for it here: Howto: Compile Dropbox from Source on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
As of yet the dropbox team haven't released a .deb file for Ubuntu 9.10 (32/64 bit), I'm sure they'll release one by the time 9.10 is released, but I can't wait that long. So what we're basically going to do here is compile it from source, it's not all that scary...
Step 1
Download the source files from here www.getdropbox.com/downloading and unzip it (right click and "Extract Here").
Note: If you don't have a dropbox account sign-up for one here
Step 2
We now need to install the dependencies in order to build our install files from source.
Open up your Terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install libnautilus-extension-dev libnotify-dev python-docutils
Follow the prompts and it should a a few minutes to download and install everything.
Step 3
Navigate to where you created your /nautilus-dropbox folder (it'll probably have a version number after it) in the Terminal, in my case:
cd /Downloads/nautilus-dropbox-0.6.1/
Step 4
Once inside type the following commands into your Terminal:
./configure
make
sudo make install
Run each command one after another, they'll run for just a couple of seconds each.
Step 5
After installing it simply log out and log back into your system, navigate to Applications → Internet → Dropbox, click “OK” and it'll download and install the daemon and then prompt you for your dropbox details.
As you can see it's a pretty easy install and it's been working great for me!
If you have any questions, comments or tips, please leave a comment below.
Howto: Fix ATI Video Playback *UPDATE*
In my previous article you where made use VLC as your default media player if you wanted to have a good video playback experience. While I think VLC is a really good media player, I'm sure not every shares my enthusiasm for it and that's okay. I've found a way to fix this. I discovered a application that is installed with your Gstreamer codecs called "Multimedia Systems Selector". This method removes the need to switch you media player (eg. Totem) of choice.
Step 1
To access the program, run in the terminal:
gstreamer-properties
Or (for you GUI people)
Go to "System" -> "Preferences" -> "Main Menu". Then select the "Preferences" under the Systems directory. Look down the list and tick the box next to Multimedia Systems Selector" and "Close". You can now access the application throught "System" -> "Preferences" -> "Multimedia Systems Selector"
Step 2
Now in the program go to the "Video" tab and under "Default Output" use the dropdown menu for the "Plugin" option and change it from "Autodetect" to "X Window System (No Xv)" and "Close" the program.
You're all set, now you can use whatever media player you like!
If you have any problems, questions, suggestions please leave a comment.
Howto: Fix ATI Video Playback
If you've come from my post on Howto: Fix Ubuntu 9.04 ATI Driver Issues and the drivers installed successfully congratulations. Although now you've found in Movie Player (Totem) when playing video and moving the window the video starts to tear or when you click on a window that covers up Totem the video plays on top of every other window. The reason this occurs is simply because the ATI drivers suck! (I'm using the driver that are accessed through "System" -> "Administration" -> "Hardware Drivers")...however there is a way to fix this!
Update: I've written an update to this fix here.
Step 1
Firstly we need to install VLC media player, I personally think this is the best video player out there on any platform seeing as it will play just about anything under the sun. In your terminal run:
sudo apt-get install vlc
It shouldn't take too long to download and install.
Step 2
Once it's installed open up "VLC media player" from your "Applications" -> "Sound & Video" menu.
Click on "Tools" -> "Preferences" -> "Video". Where is says "Output" the current value is "Default", change this using the drop down menu to "X11 vidoe output". Click "Save" and exit the window.
Step 3
You're going to want to make VLC your default video player, this can be done by right clicking a video and going to "Properties" -> "Open With" and select VLC, if VLC is not there go to "Add" and select it from the list of applications, click "Add" again and set it as the default video player.
Note: You might have to repeat this step for different video formats eg. avi, xvid, mp4. You only have to set VLC as default to that video format once on any file of that format, after that it'll know to open up those formats in VLC. Although if you do run into a video that opens in Totem, you know what to do.
If you have any problems, questions, suggestions please leave a comment.
Howto: Fix Ubuntu 9.04 ATI Driver Issues
When I upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 I was pretty annoyed that I couldn't use my favorite application Gnome-Do with Docky (a OSX like dock) or even Avant Windows Manager, because the ATI propitiatory drivers were just so bad. Windows would hang when being maximized, everything was slow, video playback was terrible, all-in-all the drivers suck! Unfortunately the open source ATI drivers didn't really help much either (they did work fine though, just had no effects) so I had to do without my application for a while. The reason AMD/ATI's drivers are so bad is because they don't support the newer version of xserver being used in Ubuntu 9.04. You'd think they would make sure they supported any changed or upgrades made to the most popular Linux distro, yet here we are...with crappy drivers. Nonetheless, I've found a way to use the existing ATI drivers with Ubuntu 9.04 and have it all run pretty well.
What we'll basically be doing is downgrading our current version of xserver (which is version 1.6 in Ubuntu 9.04) to version 1.5, which is supported by the ATI drivers. Here how to do it...
Step 1
We need to backup our "sources.lst" just in case , type the command below into your terminal:
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
Note: Please be careful when doing anything with administrative privileges.
Step 2
Now we need to edit that "sources.lst" file to use Ubuntu 8.10 Interpid repositories. This is done by opening up the file in gedit and using the replace tool. In your terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Highlight the word "jaunty" and click "Replace" on the toolbar. Replace it with the word "intrepid" and click "Replace All".
Make sure you save the changes before you exit the windows.
Step 3
We need to update our repositories, please make sure you have completely uninstalled the ATI drivers at this stage. In your terminal type:
sudo apt-get update
Step 4
It's time to remove xserver, in your terminal type:
sudo apt-get autoremove xserver-xorg gnome-session
This will make a few minutes, when it's done we'll reinstall xserver (but it'll be version 1.5 not 1.6) and the ATI drivers.
Step 5
In your terminal type:
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg fglrx-amdcccle fglrx-kernel-source xorg-driver-fglrx libdrm2=2.3.1-0build1 gnome-session
This will take some time to download and install everything so go make a sandwhich!
Step 6
Open up your "Synaptic Package Manager" and lock all the xserver-xorg*, fglrx*, xorg-driver-fglrx, libdrm2, and gnome-session packages at their current version. Do this by selecting the currently installed package eg. "xserver-xorg-core" going to "Package" and selecting "Lock Version".
Tip: In your Synaptic Package Manager press "Search" in the toolbar and enter the packages you're looking for, eg. "xserver-xorg". Sort the packages by pressing "Installed Version" twice and you'll be able to see all the currently install packages from the top starting with that searched name all in a row. Now you can select the one at the top and press Shift + Down Arrow Key and mass-select and lock them all at the same time. This is a big time saver. Repeat for all other packages.
Step 7
Now that you've locked all the xserver and ATI packages, run
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.bak /etc/apt/sources.list
and then restart your PC.
Step 8
After restarting, Go into your "Synaptic Package Manager" and search for "gnome-session". It should be one of the locked packages. Unlock it via the "Package" menu in the toolbar and then run your update manager and it should get you to install an update for the package. That should fix the shutdown/restart problem that may occur for some people using the menu in the top right.
Step 9
Now go to "System" → "Adminitration" → "Hardware Drivers" and enable the ATI drivers.
You'll have to restart again for the drivers to take effect.
Congratulations you now have Ubuntu 9.04 and ATI drivers working in harmony...well...working :p
Click to enlarge
Note: If you run into problems with video playback check out: Howto: Fix ATI Video Playback
If you have any problems, questions, suggestions please leave a comment.
Edit: I was reminder to add the update that will fix any issues with shutdown and restart from the menu in the top right, see Step 8.
Edit: I was informed there was a typo in Step 4 that has now been fixed. I ensure you I have tested this myself and it works, I just unfortunately missed that typo and I apologize.
I rewrote and added to a guide I found here.
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