Category: Ubuntu

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digitaleagle Skype, sound, Troubleshooting, Ubuntu, Uncategorized 1 Comment

I have tried to make Skype work, but I have finally given up on Pulse Audio.  My problem right now is that I can hear the other person, but I can’t make it loud enough for the other person to hear me.

These instructions I found here: Pulse + skype delay issues in jaunty.

This kills all of the currently running pulseaudio processes:

#killall pulseaudio

This uninstalls pulseaudio:

#sudo aptitude remove pulseaudio

It gave this output:

The following packages are BROKEN:
 ubuntu-desktop
The following packages will be REMOVED:
 linux-headers-2.6.28-13{u} linux-headers-2.6.28-13-generic{u} pulseaudio
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 3 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 76.5MB will be freed.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 ubuntu-desktop: Depends: pulseaudio but it is not installable
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

Remove the following packages:
ubuntu-desktop

Leave the following dependencies unresolved:
libpulsecore9 recommends pulseaudio
Score is -81

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?]

I went ahead and said yes.  Again, the output is:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
 linux-headers-2.6.28-13{u} linux-headers-2.6.28-13-generic{u} pulseaudio
 ubuntu-desktop{a}
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 4 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 76.5MB will be freed.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?]

Now, installing esound to replace Pulse Audio:

$sudo aptitude install esound

It gave this output, to which I said yes:

The following packages are BROKEN:
 pulseaudio-esound-compat
The following NEW packages will be installed:
 esound
0 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 28.1kB of archives. After unpacking 102kB will be used.
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 pulseaudio-esound-compat: Conflicts: esound but 0.2.40-0ubuntu3 is to be installed.
The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

Remove the following packages:
pulseaudio-esound-compat

Score is 119

Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?]

Finally, remove the pulse audio configuration file.

#sudo aptitude remove /etc/X11/Xsession.d/70pulseaudio

No, I can hear only out of one side of the headphones, and I still don’t have the volume for the Mic.  I think my biggest problem is that I can’t turn on the Mic Boost!  Here are some posts I have searched.

Ddell Inspiron 1720, Ubuntu with Skype & Mic problem please……

Bug #289419

This might have a solution!

So, now, I am going to try to go back to pulse audio.

First, remove esound:

#sudo aptitude remove esound

result:

The following packages will be REMOVED:
 esound
0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Now, reinstalling pulse audio

#sudo aptitude install pulseaudio

Reinstalling one of the dependencies that I noticed it removed earlier:

#sudo aptitude install ubuntu-desktop

Now, installing the volume panel that is supposed to fix my problem (from here):

#sudo apt-get install gnome-volume-control-pulse

I rebooted just to make sure I was doing it right.  Then, I found the sound applet by the clock in the notification area.  I was able to right click on the sound icon and choose “Sound Preferences”.  On the input tab, the volume was set at somewhere between 50% and 75%.  When I adjusted it up, I had plenty of volume.

Ubuntu 9.04

digitaleagle Install Help, Ubuntu, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I finally upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04  last weekend.  My wireless card quit working.  I tried several things like reinstalling the broadcom driver and all, but it wouldn’t work in Ubuntu 8.10.  I thought “”what would it hurt”, I will probably have to reinstall anyway.

The upgrade went with no problems, but it still didn’t fix my wireless problem.  I finally determined that my problem was with the network-manager and not my driver because I could see it with ifconfig.  So, I completely removed the network-manager, rebooted, and reinstalled.  Still no luck.  So, I was sitting on the couch programming with no Internet, and it just started working again!

I have noticed a few things working better!  First, when I do my dual screens, I noticed that it now places my Applications bar on the laptop screen.  Before, it didn’t seem to matter how I switched to dual screens, it would place my Applications bar on the other monitor.

Resources

Thread used for info on reinstalling network-manager

Gnome Keyring Password Issue

digitaleagle Desktop, Troubleshooting, Ubuntu, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I just upgraded my desktop to Xubuntu 9.04, and my Gnome Keyring password quite working.  This meant that I could not connect to wireless with the network manager.

So, I deleted the file $HOME/.gnome2/keyring/default.keyring.  I had to reenter the passwords, but this was no problem because it is a Desktop that is only on one network.

Hope it helps someone else.

Resources

Grub Boot Error

digitaleagle Troubleshooting, Ubuntu, Uncategorized 1 Comment

If you have any suggestions, please post a comment!

I have an old computer with an Abit VP6 motherboard.  I attempted to install Xubuntu 8.10 on it, but it does not want to boot.  It stops at “grub loading stage 1.5”.

I initially thought it had to do with the fact that I installed an SATA controller and started using an SATA drive as my OS drive (the only drive in the system because my IDE drive failed).  I thought that maybe the BIOS did not support booting off the drive, but it is at least getting to grub.  I don’t have grub installed on anything else that is bootable when the CD is not in the drive.

I have tried reinstalling Grub using these instructions, but that did not help.

Update: I installed Xubuntu 8.04 on the same machine, and installs and boots with no problem.  (My wireless card doesn’t work and the video driver needs work.)  So, I am pretty sure this isn’t a hardware issue.

Update: I posted a question to the forum here.

Linux Evaluation

digitaleagle Great Links, Ubuntu, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Just recently, I came across a very interesting evaluation of Ubuntu from a Mac User’s perspective:

Two Days Without Mac OS X Leopard: Ubuntu 8.10 Review

One of the most interesting things is how a supposed Linux newbie can point out applications that I hadn’t heard of even though I have been working with Linux for quite some time.  I don’t if that is a mark against me or if there is something to be said for fresh perspectives.

I noticed the part about Quicksilver, but Gnome-Do was not mentioned until the comments.  Should Gnome-Do be installed by defaults or should the settings have something there that would install it when enabled?

The fonts was interesting, and I went through the tutorial that he mentioned.

Also, the mumbles was interesting.  I am giving that one a try too.

I have noticed issues with the sound, and it is nice to know that I am not the only one having those issues.  I thought maybe it was the hardware on my PC.

My GPS Works!

digitaleagle gpsd, Ubuntu, Uncategorized 1 Comment

I had trouble with my DeLorme GPS a while back.  This new version of Ubuntu (or the kernel) fixes it.

I installed Ubuntu 8.10 just recently and I was able to get my GPS to work.  All I did was install gpsd with apt-get.

Here is the output from dmesg:

[39636.625066] usb 4-2: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 2
[39636.806942] usb 4-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[39637.437849] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[39637.437876] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[39637.437912] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[39637.437915] usbserial: USB Serial Driver core
[39637.452600] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for DeLorme Earthmate USB
[39637.452622] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for HID->COM RS232 Adapter
[39637.452637] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for Nokia CA-42 V2 Adapter
[39637.452670] cypress 4-2:1.0: DeLorme Earthmate USB converter detected
[39637.454432] usb 4-2: DeLorme Earthmate USB converter now attached to ttyUSB0
[39637.454461] usbcore: registered new interface driver cypress
[39637.454464] cypress_m8: Cypress USB to Serial Driver v1.09
[39637.486314] usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
[39637.487441] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[39637.488536] usbhid: v2.6:USB HID core driver

Partitioning in Ubuntu Installs

digitaleagle Great Links, Install Help, Interesting Articles, Ubuntu, Uncategorized 2 Comments

I just read a good tip about partitioning for Ubuntu.

They suggest using GParted Live to partition the hard drive first.  That sounds great!

I miss the option that Fedora has where you can delete all the Linux partitions and have it automatically create the new partitions.  I don’t remember the options for sure, but I think you can only delete all the partitions or shrink the existing partitions.  If I am reinstalling, I want it to leave my Windows partition alone and delete the Linux ones.  Another great option would be to manually pick the partitions to delete and use the freed space to automatically create the partitions.  Finally, another option that would be nice is to choose how much it shrinks the existing partitions.

Ubuntu Intrepid Woes — Keyboard

digitaleagle rdesktop, Ubuntu, Uncategorized 9 Comments

It didn’t take long for me to find something wrong with my new installation: the keyboard doesn’t work with remote desktop.

The big problem is that when I connect to my remote computer, the caps lock key doesn’t work.  So, I can’t turn on caps lock.  I tried to compile rdesktop from SourceForge, but that didn’t help.  The caps lock key works with it, but the arrow keys do not.

Here is how I compiled it (just in case you want to try):

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libssl-dev
./configure
make

I just now found a fix (from the thread).  Change the file /usr/share/rdesktop/keymaps/common .  Change the line that says “Caps_Lock 0x0 inhibit” to “Caps_Lock 0x3a capslock”.  I tried it out and everything works!

Now, I did have a couple of other issues.  I use a docking station at work, and the caps lock key works weirdly with it: pushing the key turns caps lock on and off, but it does not turn the caps lock light on or off.  Also, I have VMWare installed, and the arrow keys and such don’t work with the console.  Changing this common file, and it does not fix the problem.

Resources

Ubuntu 8.10 Installed Now!

digitaleagle Ubuntu, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I finally got Ubuntu 8.10 installed.  Despite a few problems it seems very nice.

A while back, I found an article that listed the new features.  Now is the time to explore those features.

The huge win for me was in the Wireless support.  My laptop has a Broadcom wireless card, and I have always had to install ndiswrapper.  This time, it worked on the Live CD without me evening having to do anything!

The article mentions the partitioner.  I would have liked an option to remove all Linux partitions and automatically create the partitions.  The options were remove all, none, or do it manually.

Overall, I am liking it very well.  I will keep you posted.