Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 Questions Thread

I just got Fawn installed on my R60. Everything mostly works well except for a few things:

1. The highest resolution I can get is 1280x1024 though my panel is 1400x1050. How do I get it to the correct resolution?

2. How do I install .mp3 support? Rhythmbox won't play .mp3s.

3. I accidentally deleted the taskbar on top. How do I get it back?

I am a relatively new to Linux. If you think you are talking down to me, you're not. I need basic help. I had Ubuntu five and six installed on my T42 which worked fine for internet and office. I never installed anything. Six didn't work so well on my R60 due to the wireless card issues. Any help greatly appreciated.

 

1. If you have the Intel GMA950, then you can get the correct resolution by installing the package 915resolution, which is found in Synaptic Package Manager (and should be easy to see as soon as you open it). If you have the ATi card, installing the fglrx drivers should take care of it, but may not. In which case, you'll need to edit your xorg.conf file by hand. What you'll do is go to a terminal and type:

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This will open your xorg.conf file in a text program, where you can then scroll down to the bottom to the part that says

Code:

Section           "Screen"

and you'll see a bunch of resolutions listed for several different bit depths. Simply type your resolution before 1280x1024 for every bit depth.

2. Try double clicking an .mp3 file. It will attempt to open Mplayer probably, at which case you should automatically get a pop-up window that will allow you to install the correct media codecs form there.

3. You'll want to right click on the bottom panel I believe, and then click something like "New Panel." From there, you'll just want to place it on the top of the screen, right click it, click "Add to Panel" and select the applets you would like on the panel (like the Menu, Power button, sound monitor, etc).

 

If you do this:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
It will lead you each step of configuring the screen. My desktop has 1680x1050 with SIS card(blame dell). The resolution mostly come with the detection of your screen pair with your video card. The default ATI driver in Ubuntu only gives you legacy stuff, not with latest screens. ATI/AMD site update their Linux driver more often than Nvidia.

 

Hey everybody,

Posted this on the official Ubuntu forums a few days ago, but didn't get any answers, so figured I'd give it a shot here.

Since upgrading to Feisty from Edgy, I've noticed 3 main problems which, while they aren't major or anything, are somewhat annoying to say the least:

1) Boot times from when I first turn on the computer to when I can finally log-in seem to have increased substantially, sometimes taking as long as 2 minutes. I know that this isn't related to my CPU (a dual core T2500/2GHz) as Edgy seemed to boot up in a flash. I went ahead and installed bootchart and am including the log ping if it can help anybody to figure out what might be wrong.

2) For some reason, I can't seem to add anything to to the start-up menu via System->Preferences->Sessions. I mean, I can add programs (gmailchecker & Skype, for instance), but after I reboot or log out/in, it's like I never added those programs and the start-up menu doesn't show them. Could this be related to whatever's causing the long boot times, i.e. problem 1?

3) I've set up the computer to suspend when I close the laptop lid, but whenever I open it back up, it never comes back to life and I'm forced to reboot. Are there any fixes for this that I'm not aware of, or is this just a problem w/ Dell M1210's? Also, I've read that this can be caused by running Beryl or other 3D desktop managers (I'm running Beryl 0.2), so could this be the problem?

Thanks!



HH

 

for the first one, it may be because your wired network card is waiting for an IP.

open your networking properties, and edit the wired network section, and there's a new radio button at the top of the dialog that says something like "enter roaming mode" or some such. select that, it'll skip trying to get a DHCP IP during boot, which can really slow things down

 

OK guys, its installed now. And my list of questions has grown dramatically. Again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

1.Startup time... whoa... it takes more than twice as long to boot feisty than XP did. Is this normal? whats up?

2.So I installed the restricted Nvidia drivers automatically through ubuntu (like you guys told me to). But i guess i still don't get 3D support. I just tried to play 3d chess and it said i couldn't. What do i need to do? should I just goto Nvidia website and download those drivers instead?

3.Screen. I am pretty sure that in Windows XP my screen was using a refresh rate of 60Hz, but in Ubuntu its only 50Hz... could this just have something to do with my nvidia video drivers? I just noticed the difference, is it even a bad thing?

4.User name and password. OK... i want to enter a password to log into Ubuntu. But i DONT want to enter a password every time i want to change a setting, install a program, etc. How do i change this cause i cant figure it out?

5.Sound. I don't have any sound. This is my device (via Everest Ultimate in Windows). Audio Adapter Realtek ALC660 @ Intel 82801GBM ICH7-M - High Definition Audio Controller [B-0]
These were the closest things i could find on their website. Can anyone confirm that these are the correct drivers. And explain how to install them.
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=8&PFid=14&Level=3&Conn=2
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/

6.Notebook keyboard hotkeys. Using functions such as pressing the “Fn” button and other keys have special effects. But only some of them work. I can use it do adjust screen brightness and sound, and open firefox but thats about it. Cant turn off my touchpad, or turn wireless on and off. My wireless also has its own specific button built into the laptop that doesnt work either.

7.Web cam. I don't know how to use it or where to find it. Its a built in web cam and shows up as a USB 2.0 web cam in XP. Thats all i know about it...

8.Synaptics Touch pad. Where are my settings for it? Do i need to manually install drivers? I REALLY need to disable it while a USB mouse is plugged it. Its driving me crazy.

9.Openoffice. This might sound dumb, but it never hurts to ask. When i have it set to “print layout” under the View tab, is it also possible to center that “print layout” within the window instead of being aligned to the left?

10.Beryl... Ive seen videos on youtube and it looks really impressive. But, i am also all about performance of my computer. I like things to boot fast, load fast, run fast, and use little resources. How much ram does it use, and performance does it draw from the computer. I have a pretty fast computer, but i still like to keep things simple. Core 2 Duo 1.83, 1GB ram, GF 7400
If i do want to use it. Is it just a matter of clicking “Enable” on the System> Preferences> Desktop Effects option?

11.Should I let programs such as my web browser Opera install PlugIns like macromedia flash and Shockwave or should i do that through add/remove programs or synaptic package manager.

12.Can someone tell me exactly what the difference is between add/remove programs and synaptic package manager. And when I should use each one for which tasks?

13.Task bars. I was trying to put the bar that is default on the bottom of the screen INTO the one that is default at the top of the screen. That way i only have one bar, i couldn't figure it out though. And dragging and dropping only puts then next to each other.

14.Memory card reader. It doesn't work. Ive got a RICOH adapter. Any suggestions?
The Device manager seems to see a bunch of my devices... but... doesn't install drivers or give me options to install drivers from there.

15.Any common complete NEWB tips you want to share would be great. I'm new to Linux, but am pretty technical when it comes to computers.

I think the most confusing part of Linux is installing things. What to install, how to install them, and where to find them.
I think one of the greatest features of Ubuntu compared to Windows is that it doesn't do anything unless you tell it to. Though, right now it means i don't know how to do crap, once i learn everything i think it will help me keep my pc clean and optimized all the time.

OK, thats all for now. I am sure i will have more questions later. Thanks guys!

 

It recognized your device,go to sound control panels and change the chipset.In my case,i change the realtek to Intel HD and sound work fine

what's your laptop https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SynapticsTouchpad

you can install Beryl on add/remove program,search this keyword and you know what to do.Must Have Internet

i didnt try opera but firefox update automatically

if you have a dual boot and you cant access to internet in Ubuntu,you can install Ext2IFS so windows can see your linux partition.

Surf web in windows,find useful information for linux,save them on linux partition .Backs to Linux and use these stuffs

 

I don't know if there is any other way, but how I did it was:
Right-click the panel you want to add everything to(bottom one) and select "Add to Panel"
The stuff in the top panel are:
-Menu Bar (if you like Windows, Main Menu might suit you better)
-Notification Area
-Clock
-Quit(if you select Main Menu instead of Menu Bar, this is in the Main Menu, so you don't need to add it)
-Network Monitor
-Volume Control

Hope this helps

 

If you have a wireless card that's active, Linux will attempt to access a secure wireless network at boot, and more than doubles your boot time. You'll need to edit your network list to comment out everything except the lo network. I can't remember where this is off the top of my head, but hopefully BigV or Lysander can come in and help out there.

You probably are using the drivers, I think there is a problem with the app. If you go into a terminal and type

Code:

nvidia-settings

it should bring up the nvidia control panel, and if there are a lot of options (like in Windows), then you're using the nVidia drivers. If not, (there will be like one option tab or it may not open at all), then you are not running the drivers. I am going to say that I'm pretty sure you're running the right drivers though.

This is normal. It has something to do with the nVidia drivers. If you open the nVidia control panel (as I mentioned above), it should say that you are running at 60Hz, but it tells Ubuntu that you're running at 50 for some reason.

You can't. This is the way Linux is. It keeps you (or anyone else) messing with the integral files of the system unless they are an administrator (and even then you can't do some things). It's like Vista's UAC, except far more advanced, and won't pop up nearly as often. Get used to it, because it is the way of the future (and Windows is just really slow on catching up).

Not sure about this one, besides check the Laptop Testing Team wiki as GRZ530 suggested.

Again, check the Ubuntu wiki on your laptop. It may just take some configuration, or it may not work at all. This is the problem with running Linux on proprietary-based laptops. You have to rely on the manufacturer for drivers for nearly everything, and that rarely happens on anything besides Windows. And then they close the hardware information off, so nobody can create their own drivers for it.

You can install gsynaptics. It's a package that can be found in the Synaptic Package Manager.

I would imagine so. O works a lot like Word, so the command to do so will probably be about the same. You could also look through the help of OO Writer.

It's pretty lightweight and works relatively well. It is still in beta however, and is far from stable. It also throws fits with nVidia drivers and will prevent you from suspending to RAM/disk correctly. But it is cool to play around with every once in a while. Beryl is a little more complicated than "Desktop Effects" which is included with Feisty. You'll have to download Beryl and install it via Synaptic for it's full power, but Desktop Effects will give you a "Sneak peek" of sorts.

I don't use Opera, and I don't suggest it either since it's closed source and thus can't be supported or promised to be reliable in Linux, however, in Firefox, you can usually let it install its own codecs. Some will give you fits though, so be aware. Flash player you will generally have to do yourself, so it will direct you to the download page. The installation instructions from Adobe are pretty straightforward, as is the install process.

Add/Remove Programs is a little more simplified. This is where you should go first. It has many applications and files that you will need, and many people will only need to use it. However, more advanced and technical files will need to be obtained from Synaptic. This includes lib files, specialized files, and more. They both get their stuff from the same servers though, and everything in Add/Remove Programs can be found in Synaptic. Synaptic is just a little more geared toward power users, whereas the other is for new people.

I'm assuming you want your window list to go into the top bar. To do this, you'll want to right click on the little separator to the right of the "Show Desktop" button, click on "Lock to Panel" to unlock it, and then right click it again, and click "Move." You can then move it to the top panel easily. You can also do this for any buttons or applets/icons you may have on the bottom panel.

Yeah, I haven't gotten it to work either. I think it's either the SD part or the Memory Stick part that is screwing it up. I don't really use it that often anyway, so I don't really care.

All I can suggest is to stick with it. It's like learning to walk all over again. When you come from a Windows world, it can be jarring the first time you try to switch. It becomes even more difficult when you're stuck with proprietary hardware that manufacturers refuse to allow their users to have options with.

The great thing about Linux is that you can truly do about anything you want with it. It really can become YOUR system.

 

It's always a better idea to install a new version of ubuntu as a clean install rather than an upgrade. Upgrades are good... but some Edgy remnants may be left behind which, in the future, could cause some conflicts.

As for your standby/resuming problem... Beryl is known to cause problems with that function. Try disabling it and see what happens.

 

Thanks for the replies. It worked like a charm. I had one, well actually several, but I'll limit it to one for now. Is there a way to eliminate the little texts that appear when you mouse over an icon. I was using a little program called AlphaXP to get rid of them in Windows, but that is not an option in Linux. Thanks for any help.

 

Sound: OK i went to System>Preferences>Sound ... then under the Devices Tab i have "Sound Events" "Music and Movies" "Audio Conferencing" - These are all set to Autodetect. I also have "Default Mixer Tracks" which is set to HDA Intel, The only other thing i can change it to is Realtek ALC861. Ive tried both and still no sound. I have also tried switching from autodetect to every other device listed with the other options and no sound.
Any other ideas to enable my sound?

My Laptop: I have a Haier W36. It is a Chinese brand computer and likewise, is built in China. The product webpage is also all in Chinese. So the wiki page cant really help me here. Guess this might only add to my issues.

Nvidia drivers: I typed "nvidia-settings" intot he Terminal and it did display a settings modifier for my videocard. When i went back to the chess game it said this
"Your system does not have the required software to enable 3D mode. Please contact your system administrator and ask them to install the OpenGL Python bindings and the GtkGLExt Python bindings." So am i going to have to install this as well to get any 3D things to actually work?

Synaptics Touchpad: I installed GSynaptics. Now when i goto System>Preferences I have an icon for Touchpad. But when i click on it I get this
"GSynaptics couldn't initialize.
You have to set 'SHMConfig' 'true' in xorg.conf or XF86Config to use GSynaptics"
Now what do I do?

Opera Browser: I didnt know Opera wasnt open source. I personally still think its a great brower and i do prefer it over firefox... at least in windows I did. Now i cant seem to get any support for it. So for Anyone else out there that uses Opera and Ubuntu... where can i get flash plugin? everyhitng only seem to be compatible with Mozilla

Some added Questions

17. I installed VLC Media player via synaptic package manager. The website said i should also install "Libdvdcss2" along with VLC for DVD's to work. But i cant find that file in synaptic package manager or add/remove programs. Where can I get it?

18. Antivirus and Firewall. OK, ive been told before that u dont really need them (or at least antivirus) for Linux... but say i would just feel better and more secure if i still did. What should i use. I mean AT LEAST a firewall would still be necessary right? I live in China, connect to chinese networks all the time. The main reason I switched to ubuntu was because i got a really bad virus in XP just 2 weeks after i got my computer, despite the fact i had evey know security program running, Ive never gotten a virus in 8 years until i moved here. So i feel really vulnerable at all times.

19. Optimizers or Cleanup Software. I used to use Crap Cleaner (CCleaner) in XP. Anyhitng good like that i can get for Ubuntu?

20. How can i make the icons on my desktop smaller and the same size. I figured out how to change their size when viewing them in folder... but the desktop i cant figure out.

Thanks again guys

 

Go into the terminal and type

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Go to the synaptics section and add just above the bottom line "SHMConfig" and make it "true". It should look something like this in the end

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Synaptics Touchpad"
	Driver		"synaptics"
	Option		"SendCoreEvents"	"true"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/psaux"
	Option		"Protocol"		"auto-dev"
	Option		"HorizScrollDelta"	"0"
	[B]Option		"SHMConfig"		"true"[/B]
EndSection

Save the file, and then restart your X server by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Backspace, or just restart your computer. Now you should be able to access the Touchpad settings...

 

For the Opera Question. It works very good on Ubuntu. You should have not problems with Flash or plug-ins of that nature.

I actually don't remember how I got the plug-ins for Opera. Maybe I installed it when I ran into a plug-in or in just auto installed. Being that I don't remember is a good thing. It's most likely as easy as FireFox.

 

I really don't know. Intel HD audio usually works out of the box for people. You could try www.ubuntuforums.org for more help. Go into a terminal and type:

Code:

lspci

and post the results here. I'll see if your audo pci ID matches (or is similar to) mine.

Yeah, it probably doesn't help. Big name brands like Dell usually work pretty well with Linux, whereas your smaller brands tend to use either cheaper parts or less popular parts that aren't as well supported.

Well, I'll try to play the chess game tonight and get back to you. But you are using the nVidia drivers, so maybe the chess game has some wierd other dependencies (not the first time I've heard of this game giving issues).

AuroraS answered this quite nicely.

Flash player should install fine if you download it from Adobe's site. Just make sure to use the .tar.gz file and not the .rpm file.

Some added Questions

libdvdcss2 is not in the Ubuntu repositories because it is illegal in many countries to use it. I don't believe that China is one of those countries since as much as I can tell, piracy laws are very lax there. I won't direct you to a link for it, because I am in the US and that would probably be illegal, but here is a link that should help you out with DVD playing, as well as many other things.

Seriously, you really don't need it. Linux comes with a firewall built in already (that is much better than the Windows firewall), so you're good to go there. If you still want an AV client, though, one option is ClamAV. It is available in Synaptic. There are also Linux versions of a few antivirus softwares out there, such as http://www.kaspersky.com/linux.

Not needed. Simple as that.

I'm not sure I remember correctly, but you should be able to just right click on them and there may be an option to resize. I don't really recall right now. If not, I don't really know.

Thanks again guys[/QUOTE]

 

Try commenting out some stuff on your /etc/network/interfaces file as listed in this thread.

As I recall I had issues with this as well back in Herd 5. I haven't tested it the final release. You could try Google I guess if all else fails (though that should be a first option).

Beryl is your problem. There is a conflict with 3D desktops and the nVidia proprietary driver. You can suspend to RAM/disk, but you can rarely get it to resume correctly. You'll have to exit Beryl before you suspend, or just not use it at all. I wonder if there's some way to add some code to the suspend command that will shut down Xgl/AIGLX before you suspend and restart it when you resume?

 

Just finished installing Ubuntu on my asus a8jm.

How do i get my sound to work?? Not getting anything from the speakers.

My graphics card is a 7600 go and it says my max resolution is like 1024, 768 or whatever. Is that just the max or is my nvidia driver not installed properly??

In the synaptic, i am unsure which php, mysql, apache to install. Can anyone tell me the right ones??

Thanks.

 

you graphic card should support a higher res
what's your laptop screen's native resolution? you should always go with that one (unless you use an external monitor)..
sound: no clue

 

Sound Issue: This is what came up in terminal

Would any of this info help with my webcam or mem card reader too? since there isnt a laptop wiki page for my computer?

Opera: Ok, i got the flash plugin working. When i installed it from the adobe website, it only worked for firefox. But when i went to synaptic package manager and installed flash plugin, it worked for both. Thanks

Touchpad: Great i inserted that code and now i can access the touchpad options. Also, pressing Fn and touchpad key disables/enables now. But, does anyone know if there is a way to have it disable the touchpad automatically when a usb mouse is plugged in?

Firewall: There is one built in? how do i access its options?

 

Sounds, I don't know.

As for the 7600go, you should try installing the nvidia-glx package.

For PHP/MySQL/Apache, if you don't know, you should go with PHP5, MySQL5, and Apache2. Those are the most recent packages, and you have no reason for another specific, older version that I know of.

 

I found this forum which says:

after you install the nvidia-glx package you have to run:

#nvidia-glx-config enable

Not to sure how i would RUN that?? Can anyone give me direction on how to do that??

 

The leading '#' canonically means that you have to run the program with root privileges. So you could either login as root and, at the shell prompt, run:

Code:

nvidia-glx-config enable

Or, as a regular user, run:

Code:

sudo nvidia-glx-config enable

Schwab

 

Heh...

The firewall in Linux is a real firewall, as opposed to the super-simplified toys that ship with Windows. As such, it can be really, really complicated -- essentially its own programming language -- and assumes you know something about how TCP/IP operates at the lowest levels. The learning curve, she is very steep here.

There are some pre-cooked firewall filter sets available. Some Googling should turn them up.

However, the most effective thing you can do is to turn off services you're not using. That way, there's no bug for 5kr1pt |<1ddi3s to exploit, since there's nothing running on the port. Examples of things you probably don't need running include:

• NFS,
• FTP servers,
• apache or other HTTP servers,
• TFTP servers,
• NTP servers,
• Xwindows server (tunnel through SSH instead),
• Outward-facing SMTP server (local connections only),
• Outward-facing syslog daemon (local connections only).

Most distros already do most of this for you, but I find NFS turned on unnecessarily more often than not.

Schwab

 

Sorry, only just noticed that. The file can be edited using this command:

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

And commenting out everything but the Io entry.

 

You'll want to run it in a terminal. It can be found in Applications>Accessories>Terminal. Than, as ewhac said, just type "sudo nvidia-glx-config enable." Although, I though for sure that Feisty would enable them for you automatically. I guess I was wrong.