Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

I have installed this on two machines so far and the process was extremely smooth. Dual monitor support was there after installing EnvyNG. It automatically created my menu.lst file since I still have a Windows XP drive.

Telnet on Ubuntu

I have a few devices on my network that I need to communicate to through telnet. I switched my laptop over to Ubuntu and was at a loss... until now.

To enable Ubuntu to connect to a device via telnet from terminal, you need to install "telnetd".

From Terminal:
$ sudo apt-get install telnetd

Then restart inetd service:
$ sudo /etc/init.d/openbsd-inetd restart

Now, when you want to connect to a device, you simply open terminal and (just like in the DOS command line) type:

telnet "ip address"

...and you are on your way!

Installing SeaMonkey on Ubuntu

Just follow the instructions listed here:
http://ubuntuzilla.wiki.sourceforge.net/#installation

Quick Guide to setting up Ubuntu 7.10 after install

Setting up your computer after installing Ubuntu:

1. Enable extra repositories:
   Go to “System>Administrator>Synaptic Package Manager”, choose “Settings>Repositories”.
   Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following (this will enable the “Medibuntu Repository”:
   
   sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
   
   wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

2. For better customization of your desktop environment, go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
   
   sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
   
   To utilize this, go to “System>Preferences>Advanced Desktop Effects Settings”.

3. Install Audio/Video codecs:
   Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
   
   sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly

4. Install DVD playback:
   Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
   
   sudo apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss

5. Install Adobe Acrobat and the plugin for Firefox:
   Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
   
   sudo aptitude install acroread acroread-plugins acroread-escript
   
   sudo aptitude install mozilla-acroread

6. Install VLC plugin for Firefox:
   Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
   
   sudo apt-get install mozilla-plugin-vlc

7. Install Macromedia Flash and Java:
   Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
   
   sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree
   
   sudo aptitude install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts

8. Fix FoxNews.com video problem in Firefox:
   Install Greasemonkey: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/748
   Install the FoxNews Script: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/1371

9. (Optional) Install gdesklets (a Widget program):
   Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
   
   sudo apt-get install -y gdesklets
   
   After installation go to “System>Preferences>Sessions” and add the gdesklets shell so that it will launch every time gnome loads up.

10. Install Real Player:
    Download RealPlayer10Gold.bin from http://real.com/linux/ and save it to your home folder.
    
    Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
    
    chmod +x RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
    
    sudo ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin

11. A lot of what is needed can be installed via “Applications>Add/Remove Programs” or “System>Administrator>Synaptic Package Manager”:
    
    MS Fonts
    Wine
    TSClient
    Network Manager
    GMountISO

12. Add VPN support:
    Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
    
    sudo aptitude install network-manager-gnome network-manager-openvpn network-manager-pptp network-manager-vpnc

13. Manually add more fonts from Windows:
    Create a folder called “.fonts” in your home folder. Copy the fonts from the Windows Fonts folder to the “.fonts” folder. Log off and then back on, and they will be accessible to you.

14. Install TrueCrypt. Go to www.truecrypt.org/downloads.php and download the file that matches your distro. Extract it and install it.
    
    Give all users permission to run it. In Terminal:
    sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/truecrypt
    Enter the password when prompted. (without this step, you will need to enter sudo password every time you want to use TrueCrypt)
    
    TrueCrypt must be run from terminal, unless you get a special gui.
    
    Create a file in Terminal: truecrypt -c
    Create a file in Terminal with options (example):
    truecrypt –size 200MB –type normal –encryption AES –hash RIPEMD-160 –filesystem FAT -c
    Mount existing file in Terminal: truecrypt -u (path to file/filename) (path to directory to mount to)
    Unmount file in Terminal: truecrypt -d

15. Note for Noobs: to open a folder as root:
    Go to “Applications>Accessories>Terminal”, in the terminal window type (or copy/paste) the following:
    
    gksudo nautilus

16. Add PDF printer via “System>Administration>Printing”

17. Utilize Windows Programs (via Wine) simply by copying the appropriate file or Program Files folder to a folder in Ubuntu:
    
    Items that I've tried that work this way:
    TightVNC
    dbPowerAmp
    Diablo 2: LOD
    PDF Split and Merge
    

HOWTO: Audiobook on Zune (Linux or Windows)

This is a long and a tedious process, however it works and once you go through it a time or two it's not that bad. This process works on Windows XP or Ubuntu 7.10 using a WinXP system through Virtual Box (although getting the Zune to work is hit or miss for me). As a complete side note, after using Linux for 2 years now, Windows is a major drag to have to use.

1.Install Audible Manager (or simply have the directory with your AA files within it).

2.Install Nero 8 (I believe that version 7 works as well).

3.Nero ImageDrive is installed already with Nero 8; create 1 virtual drive.

4.From within Nero ROM, create a CD Audiobook Project.

5.Drag 1 Audiobook (*.AA files) to the CD; the *.AA files are already sized to fit on a standard CD-ROM.

6.You have two choices at this stage and it doesn't matter which one you use. The first is that you can actually burn the CD or burn it to an Image. I chose to create an image.

7.After the image(s) are created, mount the first image using Nero ImageDrive. If you burned the CD, have the CD inserted.

8.Now you can rip the CD to mp3, flac, ogg, etc. However, if you have a ZUNE and you want this to be on your player than follow these steps.

9.Create a new folder labeled Audiobook.

10.In the Zune Software Settings, add the path to the folder that you just created under Podcast. The podcast type allows the ?resume? feature (aka bookmark); the other folder locations do not offer this functionality.

11.Prior to ripping the CD, change the Genro to Podcast. This is important!

12.If the audiobook is a multi-cd book, then insert disc 1.

13.In the Album tag, enter ?Book Name, Disc x? (without quotes and x represents the disc number). If you have 4 discs in the series then each disc will have its own podcast folder.

14.Now, rip the cd and make sure that it is the folder that you created in step #9 and the folder that you set in the Zune software on step #10.

15.After the album is ripped, go into the Zune software and go to Podcast. From here, right click on the new podcast (audio book) that you just ripped.

16.From here, the one item that you must change is under ?Preferred playback order; change this setting to ?Oldest episodes first?. Out of a few books that I've done this to this method works 99% of the time; for some reason some tracks on CDs that are ripped just come out in a bizarre order and I have not determined how to fix this yet.

My original post of this can be found:
Ubuntu Forums
Zune Scene Forums

Audio/Video on D620 + Docking Station Ubuntu 7.10

I've spent some time looking into getting the audio working off of the docking station as well as the video off of a 2nd monitor that is hooked up to the docking station. The solutions are easy to implement...

Audio:

• "In the volume control, under the switches tab, enable IEC958. If the switch isn't there, unhide it from within the preferences menu. You may now plug your external speakers into the headphone jack of the dock."
• You have to mute your speakers on your laptop otherwise they will still work. The volume control for the external speakers hooked up to the docking station need to have their own volume adjustment.

Video:

• 1. Started up the Laptop off the dock and logged in
• 2. Placed laptop on the dock and ran: sudo nvidia-settings
• At this stage, I have had to put laptop into dock for a minute, and then undock it.
  
• 3. Clicked on 'X Server Display Configuration'
• 4. Clicked on 'Detect Displays'
• 5. Clicked on the disabled display and made a mental note of the device name for the
• external monitor which is in brackets (in my case DFP-2)
• 6. Clicked on Save to X Configuration File
• 7. Clicked on Quit
• 8. Edited the device section of my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file as per the following:

• Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce Go 7900 GTX"
      Option         "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP-2"
  EndSection

• Save it and quit and reboot.
  

Wireless Connection

My wifi connection did not start with my computer. So, I found this article, followed the steps and it resolved the issue.

Type in a terminal “sudo gedit /etc/init.d/wifi” and paste the followings in the file (basically our 3 commands):

#!/bin/bash

#kill all wpa_supplicant instances
killall wpa_supplicant

#stop the network interfaces
/etc/init.d/networking stop

#start the network interfaces
/etc/init.d/networking start

Close the gedit window, and type “sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/wifi” to make the script “executable”. When done, we must add it to be executed at every system
start-up as the last “thing”. :))

To do that type the following in a terminal window:

“sudo update-rc.d wifi defaults 99″

Later if you will like to disable this you have two choices:

1. “sudo update-rc.d -f wifi remove” OR
2. “sudo chmod -x /etc/init.d/wifi”