Sonora Communications, Inc.

These are just some notes I use to set up a new Ubuntu installation to get productive quickly.

More Info

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Intrepid

http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-ubuntu-8.10

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=766683

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=183125hp%3Ft=25151 (music howto)

Set Up Repositories

Eliminate the CD and Add Canonical Commercial Repository (VMware)

System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager -> Settings -> Repositories

Disable the cdrom source, if necessary:

Ubuntu Software -> deselect the CDROM

Enable the Commercial Partners repo:

Third Party -> select the partner repo

Update after modifying sources.list:

Click 'Reload'

Medibuntu Repository (Multimedia, Acrobat Reader, RealPlayer)

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/intrepid.list \
--output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && \
sudo apt-get update

Uninstall

sudo apt-get remove vim-tiny gnash gnash-common libflashsupport \
mozilla-plugin-gnash swfdec-mozilla

Install

sudo apt-get install vim-full dvd+rw-tools thunderbird keepassx \
xtightvncviewer ubuntu-restricted-extras acroread mozilla-acroread \
acroread-plugins w32codecs ntp ntfs-config alsa-oss faac faad \
flashplugin-nonfree non-free-codecs sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-jre \
sun-java6-plugin unrar openoffice.org-java-common

Install Options

• xinetd (super daemon - used for VMware Server and TFTP server)
• build-essential (compilers and tools)
• linux-headers-`uname -r` (kernel headers)
• lightning (calendar add-on for Thunderbird)
• gnomebaker (CD/DVD burning tool - Brasero is pre-installed)
• k3b (CD/DVD burning tool) (adds KDE libs)
• k9copy (CD/DVD copy tool) (adds KDE libs)
• lshw (hardware inventory)
• wireshark (network diagnostic tool)
• kompozer (HTML editor)
• libdvdcss2 (DVD playback)
• grip, lame, easytag, audacity (rip CDs, process music files, encode .mp3's)
  

RealPlayer

wget -c http://www.debian-multimedia.org/pool/main\
/r/realplay/realplayer_11.0.0-0.2_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i realplayer_11.0.0-0.2_i386.deb

Firefox Addons

• Foxmarks
• FireFTP
• FlashBlock
• Firebug

Configuration

Time

System -> Administration -> Time and Date -> Keep Synchronized with Internet

Printers

Most directly connected printers are plug n' play and just work automatically.

Our Linksys 3-port print server supports the LPR/LPD protocol, as do most print servers.  Use LPR/LPD instead of SMB protocol as there have been 'issues' using SMB in the past.  You need to know the LPD queue names used by your print server.  Linksys often uses 'L1', 'L2' and 'L3' (case sensitive).

System -> Administration -> Printing -> New

For LPD print servers, if you don't see an option for LPD printers, select "Other" under Devices and enter the URI in the form of:

lpd://ps/L1

Internal note: The Lexmark C510 is on print server 'ps' on queue (port) 'L1' using the PPD (printer description) file from the Support folder.  The Pan KX-2023 is on 'L2'. The Oki 520 is on 'L3'.

The PDF printer is via SMB using a generic postscript driver.

PDF Printer

The default configuration in 8.10 is simpler than in the past.  Just select Print -> To File -> PDF.

You can also install cups-pdf and do it the previous way if you wish.  If you do, there will be a PDF Printer detected.  Select the Generic -> PDF Printer driver.  The output files will be in your home folder, under the PDF folder.  If you have any trouble with this, try creating the ~/PDF folder manually.

NVidia Graphics Drivers

First, try System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers.  Try both nVidia driver versions if the newest one doesn't work properly.

Otherwise, and only as a last resort, you may need to download and install the drivers from nVidia.  You probably shouldn't use this procedure unless you really have to:

Download the latest driver from the NVidia web site then switch to a text-mode virtual console by hitting ctrl-alt-F1.  Then enter the following commands:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-xxxx .run

Edit the /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common file and add nv:

DISABLED_MODULES="nv"

Reboot.

Desktop

Preferences -> Appearance -> Fonts (Sub-Pixel Smoothing) -> Details (96dpi, Light Hinting)(try actual dpi of your monitor)

Gnome Terminal window placement

gnome-terminal --geometry=120x50+450+150

Panels (right-click, Properties) - 28 pixels

Sessions - Add Tomboy, Pidgin and Firefox to start up automatically

Preferred Applications - Thunderbird, F-Spot

Delete Context Option - Launch nautilus. Select Edit -> Preferences. Click on the behavior tab. Under the "Trash" section, select the option that reads "Include a Delete command that bypasses Trash"

Screensaver - Lock screen

Removable Drives and Media - Cameras - Digital Camera

f-spot-import %h
ln -s /home/extra/Photos /home/gcooper/Photos               # optionally link your existing photos library

Faxing

Viewer

If you have any trouble viewing fax files in the .tif format, try using the Evince viewer.

Network Faxing

See this page.

F-Spot Photo Manager

If you want to move your F-Spot photo database to a new computer or user home directory, you will normally only have to move the Photos folder plus the ~/.gnome2/f-spot folder to the same locations in the new home directory.

VMware Server

If you are upgrading from VMware Server 1.x, uninstall it first with:

sudo vmware-uninstall.pl

Download the free VMware Server software from here as a binary (.tar.gz) file.

sudo apt-get install build-essential xinetd linux-headers-`uname -r`
tar -xzvf VMware-server-2.0.0-122956.i386.tar.gz
cd vmware-server-distrib/
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

Then after a successful installation:

cd ..
sudo rm -rf vmware-server-distrib/

You will want to add a valid (your) username as the VMware Administrator.

I don't enable NAT, and I sometimes keep my VMs in my Home Directory, but otherwise I use the defaults presented.

VMware Server 2.0 no longer includes the VMware Console...it uses web browser management instead.

http://localhost:8222  or  https://localhost:8333

If you have keyboard problems installating a VM, you need to create ~/.vmware/config and add xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = TRUE to the file. Save it, restart your browser and it should work fine.

Text Terminal

Here is a sample configuration file for BASH:

# .bashrc
# Source global definitions
[ -f /etc/bashrc ] && . /etc/bashrc

alias ll='ls -l'
alias la='ls -A'
alias l='ls -CF'
alias ls="BLOCK_SIZE=\'1 ls --color=auto"
export GREP_OPTIONS='--color=auto'
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[00;36m\]\u\[\033[00m\]@\
\h:\[\033[05;33m\]\w\[\033[00m\] \$ '
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups

Remote Access

SSH

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

RFB (VNC)

System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop (enable and enter password)

Accessing Network (SMB) Shares

If the 'smbfs' package is not already installed, install it like this:

sudo apt-get install smbfs

Create a script that mounts your SMB shares at the mount point you specify in the script.  I named mine 'mymounts' and I keep it in a ~/bin folder with the rest of my scripts.  You could also just keep it on your desktop and forego the automatic execution below.

Make it executeable:

chmod +x ~/bin/mymounts

To make it run automatically when you log in:

System->Preferences->Sessions->Startup->Add

~/bin/mymounts

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