linux4all

This isn't a complete tour by any means, and I'm not a particularly expert user so I tend to lurk here (and may not be able to answer any questions), but I thought I'd post a link anyway, especially since I couldn't find a screenshot tour from the Ubuntu main website. At my journal!

sally_maria

One of the big advantages of open source is that if you don't like something you can fix it, or pay someone to fix it for you. So, if you'd won the Euro lottery (£117 million), what little "quirks" of your favourite distro or software would you pay someone to fix?

What projects would you donate to?

jana

I wasn't sure where to ask this question but I thought jabber is quite popular among Linux users, so maybe you can answer my question.

Does anyone know if there is a jabber transport for Skype? We use Jabber at our university, but a lot of our students use Skype, so it would be nice if I could chat with them without having to start the Skype client all the time.

Current Mood: curious

blnchflr

Somebody once lied (or, more likely, was ignorant) and told me that you couldn't automatically change/rotate your desktop wallpaper in Linux.

Being silly, I took them on their word and didn't investigate further. Silly, because this is Linux, there's programs for everything :oD !

So, if like me you've always wanted a program to change your wallpaper automatically on every start-up, or even rotate it at regular intervals, let me recommend DesktopNova! (It's in the repository, if you're using Ubuntu).

It's very simple to use, which also means very simple functions, but it gets the job done. (There's another program, Drapes, also in the Ubuntu repositories, which apparently has more complex functions, but on the downside, it's pretty impossible to get to run smoothly in 10.10).

( Screenshot of Settings window )

As for how the wallpapers are shown (zoom/scaled/what-have-you), that follows your default settings for background images.

t_fischer

Hello, I am currently using my Linux system in a Microsoft/Windows dominated environment. This means that even the printing service is accessible via the smb protocol only when using CUPS on my own machine.

Using the Windows-based printing system requires me to authenticate using a user name and a password. This is achieved by having a line like
DeviceURI smb://user:password/printer
in your /etc/cups/printers.conf. This means, my password is written in clear plain text in a configuration file on every Linux system I want to print from.

How do I protect my Windows password? Is there some PAM magic available? Using hashes instead of plain text? As my Linux system uses its own login system, the local password does not match the Windows password.

Current Mood: frustrated

alexseanchai

I've got an 80GB hard drive on this machine. One partition's Windows, one is Linux swap space left from before I reinstalled Windows, one is mostly just there, and I want to install Ubuntu on the fourth. Trouble is, every time I try, my choices are install on the whole disk and install on the whole disk. Except for the time I tried with a flash drive in; I now have a 16GB flash drive with a 10GB partition Windows recognizes and a 6GB partition from which I can boot Ubuntu.

I don't want to install on the whole 80GB disk. There's a reason I reinstalled Windows. I also don't want to boot from a USB anything, because every time I try to boot Ubuntu I have to glare at the 'This is not a bootable disk' message until I remember I need to disconnect the external hard drive before the computer thinks to check the flash drive.

What do I do?

ratcreature

I have bought a new laptop which has 4GB of RAM. I have installed Ubuntu on it, the 32bit version, because their website says that was the recommended one on the download page, but eventually I noticed that it only recognized 3GB of RAM. After googling I found that for it to use 4GB either the 64bit version was needed or that you could install some server kernel packages with something called PAE (?) to extend memory. I did the latter because I didn't want to have to start everything from scratch again, when I had already started to get things customized, and I wasn't sure what the lack of recommendation on Ubuntu's part meant for the 64bit version (like I vaguely remember hearing that in the past some programs didn't work or something).

Anyway, this server kernel package thing did work, so now my laptop sees all my memory, but I'm still wondering about this. In the help forum posts I skimmed the general tenor seemed to be in favor just using 64bit on newer systems that have such processors, and somewhat vehemently too (it was my impression that it was one of the repeat topics everyone is impatient and touchy about?), but then why is the 32bit version still the only recommended one when you download, even in the most recent versions?

ratcreature

My elderly Acer laptop (from early 2005) seems to be on its way to non-functionality (aside from the DVD not working for a while now, the display is has been getting vertical pixel stripes where the LCD doesn't work anymore, first it was one line, now a few weeks later already three), so while I'm hoping to string it along for a bit longer, I'm still starting to look around what I could do for a replacement.

I've been using linux since 1997 or so but I only bother to fiddle with it whenever I have to install it somewhere and something in the hardware doesn't work right, and because of my less than ideal finances my computers run as long as possible, so the hardware upgrades don't happen often enough to make me really proficient.

With my Acer laptop the wireless network was a pain, using some proprietary driver with some sort of trick that I have forgotten by now, but that took me days to make it work when I got it initially, and it doesn't let me use WPA encryption either only the old WEP which of course is not secure. Also the power management/battery monitoring never worked right.

If I get a new laptop I would like Linux to work right on it, ideally without me having to fiddle for ages and right out of the box, and not just some core functionality (that it recognizes the graphics card and touchpad), but also wireless card, battery management, sound and so on. The distros I have some experience with are Ubuntu (with KDE on top, not Gnome) and SuSE.

My needs are modest, that is I mostly want it for web browsing, email, watching video/DVD, and the usual every day programs, though it would be good if it was more suited than my current one for handling GIMP with large, many layered image files (but since my current one only has 512MB RAM pretty much any current laptop would be, I expect). It doesn't need to be extremely robust (though of course it shouldn't have completely shoddy workmanship, but I don't throw it around or drop it regularly or anything), nor extremely light, though I'd prefer if it wouldn't heat up too much and wasn't too loud with some constant fan activity either. My current Acer laptop you can actually have on your lap if you wanted to if there is a simple layer between you and the computer, without risking low level burns or skin irritations.

So I'm wondering whether anyone has recommendations for cheap laptops on which Linux would run without any hassle.

amaresu

My dearly beloved Ubuntu 9.02 will no longer be supported in 2 days. I've never upgraded before and have been putting it off until I had to upgrade. That time has apparently come. My question is essentially how do I do that?

Do I just hit the upgrade button on the Update Manager? Do I need to back up everything I haven't gotten around to backing up yet? Am I in danger of losing everything? How does this work?

Thank you!

faintdreams

I have an ancient (but otherwise fully functional) Toshiba laptop. It is a Satillite 220CDS.

I want to use it as a stand alone writing machine, (with ability ti save to a usb stick), and I think that Linux is probably the best way to go, but I am unsure which linux distro would be the least amount of hassle to install.

The gui doesn't have to be too snazzy (I've used fluxbox before so I'm not afraid of minimalism), but whatever I use it has to support a competent word processing package

My google fu is failing me so I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks (in advance)

Faintdreams

Duh posted to personal journal and no community one !

vass

Hi. I'm familiar with Ubuntu Desktop, but this is my first time with Ubuntu Netbook. I'm using 10.10. I have some questions.

How do I have multiple Firefox windows in multiple workspaces? For that matter, how do I send something to a different workspace? Or is that even possible? All I know is how to open something in a different workspace. Except that that doesn't work with Firefox: if it's open in one workspace, trying to open it in another workspace will just bring you back to the workspace it's already open in.

What I'm trying to do is have multiple windows of Firefox with logical tab groupings, which I can switch between with one click.

What I'd really like is a taskbar, but there just doesn't seem to be one.

I've tried googling this with no luck.

Thank you!

pixel

So we've all heard about how linux tools 'do one thing and do it well' and if we're new (or even not so new, natch!) to using linux we might not really understand what that means, and the raw flexible power that offers. You know you're on your way to a power user level when you really start thinking about how you can make your computer work for you, instead of the other way around. Here's the latest way I took a bunch of command line tools and glued them together so I could really Get Things Done. (I like the GTD style, but these tools certainly are flexible enough to be used any way you want or need.)

This is all stuff that is available in the repositories for Ubuntu 10.10, I'll provide some resource links at the bottom for other distro users.

( RemindMe )
( Remind )
( Taskwarrior )

See my whole desktop.
A Gist with all of the code. Including my full .conkyrc

( Resources )

*Note: Feedback, modifications, suggestions etc. gladly accepted. Please feel free to modify to your heart's satisfaction and give us a tour around your setup. I'm always on the lookout for tweaks and new ideas.

[1] ETA: Modified the reminders.sh script, it needs to call remind with the -q and -r flags (-q to tell it not to queue timed reminders which crashes conky D: and -r to tell it to not run RUN directives, which causes other problems.)

Current Mood: tired

zaluzianskya

This is probably super pathetic of me, but two hours of Googling isn't doing any good.

I'm trying to use VLC to take automatic screenshots of videos. Sounds simple, right? There used to be a nice, simple image output option you could select under Video > Output modules. Now it's not there. All the Googling I've done has told me that image output has been replaced with something called scene filter, and there's a scene filter thing underneath output modules that lets me tweak how I'd like the output to be done, but there's no way for me to actually select scene filter in output modules.

(I tried print screening to make this less incoherent, but it seems I can't do that while I have a drop-down menu open. Sorry.)

Is there any way I can do this? I'm not opposed to using the command line if that's what it takes.

baggyeyes

I've added the Fedora planet feed to Dreamwidth, for anybody who wants to follow.

fedora_project_feed

vass

[crossposted to my own journal]
OK, this is complicated. I have a friend living interstate, and I'm trying to talk her through this remotely.

Here's the deal: her old Linux computer died, but she managed to save the hard drive and put it in a USB external enclosure. She's plugged this into her Eee PC. The hard drive had a password on it. When she mounts it, the graphical file browser (I don't know which, whichever one Xandros uses?) shows certain files and folders as locked, particularly (but not limited to) her Thunderbird downloaded email.

Here's what we've done so far:
Created a mount point and mounted the hard drive
Chrooted into the hard drive and succeessfully accessed her files that way.

All this worked fine. I didn't bother to create a boot mount point in etc/fstab because it's a USB drive and she'll be unplugging it often.

What I don't know is an easy way of giving her access to the files through her graphical browser. In particular, it'd be good if there was some not too complicated (since I have to explain it to her over the phone) way of setting it up so she can use Thunderbird normally.

She's going to get a new desktop very soon, with a larger hard drive. Would it be easiest just to copy everything over to that? Maybe clone the old hard drive? Is there an easier way I'm not thinking of?

Current Mood: hopeful

brewsternorth

I'm currently posting from another PC because my Asus Eee PC 901, running Asus' own proprietary version of Xandros, is no longer connecting to my local wireless internet!

The error message that I get warns me to "make sure that the 'dcopserver' program is running!"

Can any Linux gurus elucidate? Are there updates I needed to download that would have helped?

sally_maria

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while, so I thought I'd try and start a conversation. I've been using Linux for about a year, but wouldn't consider myself any kind of expert.

I was wondering which distros people use, and if you stick to just one, or if you "distro-hop" or use different ones on different machines. What do you love most about your distro of choice?

jana

A survey some of you might want to take (link to the survey). From the website:

This research study is being conducted by Don Davis and Iffat Jabeen, graduate students at Texas State University-San Marcos. The purpose of this research is to examine the role and possible benefits of legitimate peripheral participation** and learning in the Gnu/Linux FOSS community.

** Legitimate peripheral participation -- in a nutshell -- is a theoretical framework for understanding how newcomers become experienced members in a community (of practice).

pixel

Switched to Ubuntu 10.4 right after it was released and guys, I have guilt over how much I love it. Even the windows buttons moved to the left.

Zippy bootup. In fact I threw the netbook version on my 2 year old (I think it's like the 2nd model released by ASUS) netbook, and it booted just as fast as my dad's brand new ASUS netbook running Windows 7. I'll admit, I gloated.

Change to apt-get has been pretty painless. The only thing I am missing from yum is tools to search for packages. Most of the time it doesn't slow me down much but it'd be nice to check if a package exists before I try to blindly install it. Tips welcome!

Things are just available, and often with clear instructions. Sometimes it was a crap-shoot to find things on Fedora.

Most everything 'just works' including my Blackberry and my Kindle. Now I've got calibre to manage my Kindle and that's been joyous.

I think it's pretty. It feels slick right out of the box. I've added some of my favorite goodies to make me feel at home and it's all been easy as pie.

UbuntuOne caused some pain at first, I don't use is as much as I thought I would, but when I need it it's there.

Edit: Went an reviewed some of my old posts. The install start to finish was 40 minutes, impressive right off the line. Was also impressed with printer install, nVidia support install. I stopped using Gwibber, which is the default twitter/facebook/social media app, didn't like it, never got over it. Am using Tweetdeck now, it makes me love twitter again.

( Updated screenshots ahoy! )

I have to say I've been really pleased. I haven't even glanced at Fedora in months.
Questions welcome, people showing off their Ubuntu setups also welcome, I love to get ideas/inspiration.

siliconshaman

I have two problems.
1] I'm trying to secure my home server, which has an static LAN ip just outside the 1-100 range and is DMZ'ed.
Now it's running lucid..and for some reason I can't fathom, although the firewall is set to allow incoming connections on the SMB port specifically mentioning the other computers on the LAN by host name...it won't let them connect. [in point of fact, they can't see the server].

2] I can't get Tor to start... it's installed ok, but the throwing the error unable to bind the listening port [9050] to the home address, suggesting that another instance of tor is using it.. but there is no other instance of tor running [I checked using htop]. If it's any help, the Torcc file is blank, which I'm not sure it shouldn't be.

Any suggestions..I've been up all night and I'm brain fried. I can probably shut down the firewall and tor and revert to an open server.. but that's just asking some script kiddie to poke at it. I'd like to get it up and secure so that no-one but the three computers my family use can access the server, and the server uses tor to connect to the net. [and if possible works as a tor relay.]

But damned if I can see how to right now...I'm doing what it says in the instructions and it isn't doing what it should according to them.

Current Mood: exhausted

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Mini-screenshot tour of Ubuntu 11 Natty Narwhal beta

Because I spent too long on the lottery machine yesterday...

Jabber transport for Skype?

Tip: Automatically change/rotate desktop wallpapers

Using CUPS to print on Windows printer share: How to protect your password?

Trying to install Ubuntu alongside Windows XP

Ubuntu RAM question

laptop recommendations?

Question about upgrading

Suggestion for best Distro to put onto an old laptop

Ubuntu Netbook Edition

Getting Things Done, the Linux way

aaa VLC help?

New Feed Added

Chroot question

Newbie seeking HALP

Distro discussion

Survey for Linux users

Followup: Ubuntu vs Fedora

plea for help

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September 2019

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