Ubuntu

• • What is android?

• android and linux (similar) (other)

• About Android, quite extensive explanation of how it works: 2009 article

  • about wavelock - great explanation - (lets you say that you need to have the device on)

• integration with linux.

check http://fridge.ubuntu.com/

Compiz http://wiki.compiz.org

python window organizer: http://code.google.com/p/pywo/

Update Dec 2012: still using Oneiric and everything going great! Best OS ever on this laptop!

Update June 2012: back to Oneiric on my laptop!!! Yeahh!! :)))) I'd forgotten how everything just worked fluidly and super-fast (with absolutely no hint of a glitch)!!! Now my Windows desktop seems boring again! Long live old and very old software and machines!!! As long as it works great as this does!!! Yeahhhhhh!! :)))) Oneiric rules in my machine!!! :) (I think, after this experience, I'll never upgrade this system ever again!)

Update May 2012: the new version 12.04 is a major and thorough disappointment. Slow, reboots (reminds me of microsoft!), terrible. I suppose most problems come from my laptop hardware (from 2003). If I'd read this before, I'd never installed it: "For hardware older than about a half-decade, Ubuntu 12.04 is becoming more sluggish to use, burning through greater power, and really not being worthwhile to pursue the upgrade. The Linux support for this older hardware has passed its prime. " Will have to reinstall 11.10. I also tried it on the desktop, but can't even understand the Alt+tab thingy (it skips different windows of the same app!! Incredibly bad!!).

Update Oct 2011, I've tried the new version of Ubuntu (oneiric) and I'm really happy about it. Not only it is faster, uses less resources (the fan now very rarely makes noise, while in Windows 7 it was going on frequently while the laptop was unresponsive), and works extremely well, including using transparency effects and dealing greatly with resolution in my outdated laptop (sporting an ATI 9200 and a 17" display with 1680x1050 pixels resolution) and also supporting the wireless native chipset (an intel) which Windows 7 officially supported but never worked (I had to install a pcmcia Wireless adapter for 7!) but, even better it also works with the router's server printer mode, which Windows completely refused to do after more than 6 hours of fiddling. So, great experience, definitely to keep! Great thing that firefox sync is working great as this allows for the use of Ubuntu and the sporadic use of Windows 7 to update windows mobile (except that perhaps it is even possible to sync with windows mobile!! in that case, goodbye Windows!!).

What a great experience!!

--

Since I've heard about Linux I wanted to try it. I tried many distros, including live CDs like Knoppix and complete installations like Fedora, but it always seemed too unnecessarily complicated. Now, with Ubuntu, I finally feel at home. The difference between Windows and Linux is more than just difference of price, it's a whole philosophy, that distinguishes those that simply want to use the software as an utensil, and those that want to understand it and shape it to fit their own needs. See here a philosophical presentation of both sides.

Here are my tips to work fluidly with the system so that I won't forget them!

Settings for printer:

• • Install nvidia official drivers

  • install vdpau by adding software source:

    • ppa:nvidia-vdpau/ppa

    • install smplayer, choose vdpau in output

  • to eliminate tearing we have to disable composite and all the nice special effects that the gnome envirnment provides :( nvidia says it's going to fix it

    • sudo nvidia-xconfig --no-composite

  • more recent versions search for smplayer and mplayer

To play restricted content

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Enable rotation and switch between external monitors

• • Enable Xrandr rotation

    • sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

    • add in

      • Section "Device"

      • Option "RandRRotation" "on"

  • Enable shortcuts to switch between monitors (source)

    • sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

    • add in

      • Section "Screen"

      • Option "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP: NULL; CRT: NULL, DFP: 1360x768_60 +0+0; CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP: 1360x768_60 +1280+0"

    • now, terminal command xrandr -s 0 chooses first metamode, xrandr -s 1 chooses second metamode and so on...

    • now, just add the shortcuts going to system->preferences->keyboard shortcuts and assign the xrand command to the shortcut

Maximus: to start windows maximized!

JDownloader:

• • to make unrar work (source)

• install in ubuntu

CPU frequency monitor

• CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor

GRUB edit:

• • sudo gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

  • ok, now we have grub2, so we have a new location:

    • sudo vim /etc/default/grub

VIM

• • sudo vim /etc/vim/vimrc

  • au BufReadPost *.s set syntax=gas

Opera (to get tls 1.2)

• http://www.opera.com/download

  • sudo dpkg -i file

Voipbuster

• • sudo apt-get install telepathy-sofiasip

  • then, in empathy, add sip account (source but changed "sip" to "sip1" and added the stun server)

  • username : nickname@sip1.voipbuster.com

  • your password *****

  • Advanced option

    • stun.voipuster.com

  • select:

    • • [x]Discover Binding

  • don't fill field Server but select Port 5060

  • Keep-Alive Options

    • Mechanism : Auto

    • Interval 0

  • Miscellaneous Options

    • Authentication username nickname

    • Transport UDP

Interesting shortcuts and terminal commands:

• • Alt+F2

  • right alt+print+k (restart x) - instead of Ctrl+Alt+bksp

  • xrandr -o left

  • gconf-editor

  • man

  • help

  • du (disk usage for al partitions)

  • df -h (human

  • ls (dir)

  • cp (copy)

  • mv (move)

  • rm (delete)

  • rmdir (remove directory)

Unsolved Problems in earlier versions of ubuntu (mid 2010, no solution attempted in oneiric):

• • DTS and DD audio output through CMI8768+ and toslink:

    • 8768+ and 8770 seems to be the same.

    • Several people report it works.

    • Perhaps the main problem is to get the sound to pass-through

    • Check alsa site.

    • here's a general guide for mythTV

  • Digital passthrough for alsa

    • interesting guide for audio on linux

    • check the OSS drivers at http://www.4front-tech.com/osshw.html

  • Updates (on July 2010):

    • The tler property (described by Quindor) can only be changed with the latest version of smartctl, but the apt does not have the latest version yet.

    • Nvidia new driver is still not on the apt repository, which is kind of frustrating (lots of improvements to vdpau)

Try out:

• Ubuntu tweak

Other problems in Oneiric:

[SOLVED : It was a pdf reader - Okular - uninstalled it a few months ago and the problem is completely gone!! Before I discovered the culprit, bought 1Gb DDR sodimm, wow, what an expensive free software, but my laptop is now faster than ever with 2GB of RAM!! ^_^]

first seriously bad experience, the computer essentially freezes while accessing the disk. I don't understand what causes the problem. It's not the swap file, as I have disabled it and erase the swap disk. Process iotop shows kswapd having lots of IO, but I'm not sure if that is at the origin of the problem. Also, it only happens after repeatedly entering and exiting standby mode. Solution: has not recurred since now, every two days or so, I reinitiate the laptop.

Swap vs. no swap - Alex on Linux

Swap FAQ :

gksudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

Search for vm.swappiness and change its value as desired. If vm.swappiness does not exist, add it to the end of the file like so:

vm.swappiness=10 to disable swap

$ sudo swapoff -a

Ok: this is not getting away, had to shut down the laptop 3 times already.

now deleted swap disk entirely (rm /host/ubuntu/disks/swap.disk) and keeping shortcuts to reboot as seen

Windows Mobile, new versions on old mobile phones: raise. xda-developers for iPaq (Sable) (ROMs)