Another attempt at Ubuntu

In the previous post on ubuntu Linux I was praising a bit about the open source operating system. This time I will try to be more realistic. After getting the ubuntu 6.10 edgy CD I was anxious to know as to what were the improvements from the previous versions. The 690 MB free Ubuntu CD contains only a very basic set of open source programs. I lost access to Ubuntu OS when I re-installed Windows XP. At the same time the space used by Linux was there still. To regain the space I formatted the entire hard disk and then reinstalled WinXP. Since then I never tried Ubuntu. This is the second attempt to install Ubuntu Linux. As I said I wanted to see what was new in the Ubuntu edgy (v 6.10) I inserted the CD and found that it worked like a Linux live CD. After some automatic process Ubuntu loaded with the CD. There was an icon for installing ubuntu in the system. I double clicked it and the installation started with set of questions. Most of the questions were simple. But the one related to hard disk partition made me confused. Finally I got the word that I could delete all partitions that I am going to use for Linux and select the option utilize the free space and don’t alter the used spaces. So I installed that way.

Previously installation was more textual and now the installation is graphical. I expected this. I also expected it to be easier to install other applications but still things remain the same. One more thing about installing the repositories is that to play mp3 and other files all the repositories need to be downloaded. We need to install the repositories from the internet. What if the user does not have access to internet? Instead of asking everybody to download from internet they could provide all repositories with the free CD so that the user will have an option to install or uninstall software at their own disposal. With every new upgrade Ubuntu needs more and more hardware resources. A resourceful hardware configuration is needed for Ubuntu.

Regarding the community based support (ubuntuforums.org) it is good as long as you get a reply. When there is nobody who could understand your problem then you can’t complain. You can see some threads in the forum where people just couldn’t explain things to make others understand the problem. Otherwise forum is a good place for Ubuntu OS support.

Suse Linux, another Linux distribution comes with a set of 4 or 5 CD’s. Maybe Ubuntu Linux should also be providing a set of CD’s instead of asking everybody to download the repositories from the internet. Google though strives hard to promote the open source Firefox browser, it is yet to offer a Linux version of Google talk. The messenger tool Gaim supports exchange of text messages with no support for voice chat. This is a major let down. Skype, the only VOIP available for Linux is again not easy to install.

With Windows Vista releasing soon it’s going to be the standard operating system in all new systems. It is not good to compare Vista or XP with Ubuntu (or any other Linux distributions) but still Open source software will establish its own existence in the long run.

The following snippets contain whatever problem I faced and the solutions I got during the installation and other times while using.

Note: It is not a rule that what worked for me will work for you. If you have any doubts you can refer forums.

The first thing I discovered when I installed ubuntu Linux in my system was that I could not access Internet using firefox. To correct this1. Go to firefox location bar. Type “about:config” without quotes.2. Search for network.dns.disableIPv6. The default value would be false.

3. Double clicking on that line will change the value to true.

After doing this I could access Internet through firefox. Every time I install Ubuntu Linux I need do this to access Internet through Firefox.

System - administration - wired connection (eth1) {select the modem connected to the net} - disable other modems.System - administration - Networking Tools - select ping tab and ping sites like www.google.com and www.yahoo.com.

All other applications cannot access internet as of now. To enable access to all other applications follow this method. The following will work for BSNL internet connections. The modem I use is UT300R2 ADSL Modem:System - administration - networking - under connections tab select the correct modem and press properties - If automatic configuration DHCP is enabled then select “Static IP Address” instead. Write the IP Address as 192.168.1.10 and the Subnet mask as 255.255.255.0 and also Gateway Address as 192.168.1.1 . Press Ok and the close button.Via http://blog.taragana.com/wp-content/upload/bb7.swf

Open a terminal

sudo gedit /etc/resolv.conf

A new window will open and show a single line. Replace the line by this

nameserver 61.1.96.69
nameserver 61.1.96.71
nameserver 192.168.1.1

Save the document and close it.

Restart the system.The above mentioned steps will make internet available for all applications including gaim (gtalk/yahoo/msn).

Now install the repositories. To install the repositoriesSystem - administration - synaptic package manager - settings - repositories - select universe, multiverse, restricted (select all checkboxes i.e., all repositories) under ubuntu 6.10 tab. click on close and then press the reload button at the top. All the repositories will start downloading.After finishing this process programs like mozilla thunderbird can be installed.

ProblemFirefox 2 exits when1. Logging into gmail

3. I click on a page link which contains flash/JavaScript say for example google videos, youtube etc…

How to rectify this?

No extension is used at present.

Solution: open the terminal and type the following

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

A file will open with lots of text in it. There you could see

DefaultDepth 16

Now you have to change the value from 16 to 24. Save the file and restart the system.

This will make firefox work without any problem.

Only after doing this install the firefox extensions.

Google toolbar for firefox 2.0 (ubuntu 6.10)http://www.vryhofresearch.com/software/google-toolbar-edgy.xpi via (http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy#How_to_install_Google_Toolbar_for_Firefox)The official google version of the toolbar will not work for firefox 2 of ubuntu 6.10

After installing all the repositories I somehow downloaded xmms which looks and works very similar to winamp. I am happy that xmms plays mp3 files.

How to install real player automatically without doing anything extraOpen a terminal and paste thiswget http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/pool/main/r/realplay/realplay_10.0.8-0ubuntu1_i386.deb && sudo dpkg -i realplay_10.0.8-0ubuntu1_i386.deb

Update: Installed Automatix which is said to be useful in installing different applications in Ubuntu.

Problem - How to listen to music online in Ubuntu using Firefox? If you have Ubuntu edgy (6.10) try listening to MusicIndiaOnline.com or Dishant.com or Tamilsongs.net using Firefox. I tried all the three sites but couldn’t listen to any song. Real Player is installed in my system.

Solution – Sites such as Tamilbeat.com, tamilmp3world.com and bollyfm.net (for Hindi) allow us to download mp3 music. Instead of downloading right click and open in a new tab to start listening online. A player at the bottom of the page will start playing the songs. The multimedia components I have installed using Automatix are as follows AUD-DVD Codecs, Mplayer and FF Plugin, Media Players (Totem, VLC, Beep), Multimedia Codecs and Real player.

Related
Top 10 Ubuntu apps and tweaks (Lifehacker)

December 21st, 2006 in technology