Category: Uncategorized

Ubuntu 12.04: Skype

digitaleagle Skype, Ubuntu, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Skype is a communication essential for my system because I have co-workers who use it.  There are plenty of alternatives to Skype, but none of them interact with other Skypers.

Although there are no desktop alternatives, there is one online tool that you can use — http://imo.im. It is a great alternative, but it is not integrated with your desktop.

Currently, Skype works for the most part.  I have trouble with it crashing periodically.  The crashes seem to coincide with changing networks.  For example, if I connect and disconnect from a VPN, I find I am offline even though the icon is green.  I am not sure if I just notice it then or if the connection change triggers it.  The worst part is that I can’t tell that it has crashed until I try to Skype someone and it says it can’t send the message.

So, here’s what I went through to install Skype…

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Ubuntu 12.04: Sound

digitaleagle Audacity, MuseScore, Ubuntu, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Sound has been a problem for me in the past.  I found that the sound seems to work slightly better on Fedora than on Ubuntu.  Ubuntu 12.04 has worked better for me, but I think things are still a little more flakey than I would like.  Some of my problems might come from a USB docking station that has a sound plugin and some of the problems definitely come from Skype.

Anyhow, these are the tools that I am currently using:

  • Audacity
  • Sound Settings — switching between devices
  • MuseScore

Checking Files with md5sum or sha1sum

digitaleagle How To, Uncategorized Leave a comment

When you download files or copy them between locations, there is always a chance that something won’t copy correctly.  The larger the file, the larger the chance of something getting messed up.  Creating a check sum on the file is a great way to check to make sure that everything adds up before and after the copy.

This post will explore the two tools, and give you a quick little intro on how to use them.

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Ubuntu 12.04: Office and Play on Linux

digitaleagle Microsoft Office, Ubuntu, Uncategorized 3 Comments

One the requirements for my laptop is to be able to edit Microsoft Office documents.  LibreOffice works quite well and was installed by default, but when exchanging complex documents with other Office users, Microsoft Office has no substitute.

So, my solution is to run Office using wine.  I have used winetricks in the past to install Linux, but that didn’t work this time.  This time a project called Play on Linux came through for me.

Here’s what I did…

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