After first installing Ubuntu, I had to install all of the tools and programs that I normally use. Last time, I just used the Ubuntu Software Center to search and find all of the tools that I wanted install. This time, I decided to use the command line and apt-get. You could still search by the package name if you want to use the GUI.
Installing Ubuntu 12.10
This post begins my Install steps for Ubuntu 12.10. This is my second Linux installation on this new laptop, and I am trying to document the steps that I take. Usually, the actual install process is pretty straight forward, and I don’t need to do anything special, but this one was a little different. Here are the steps that I took…
Software Installs on my new Inspiron 17R
This is a list of the software that I installed on my new 17R. My first installation on this laptop was Ubuntu 12.04, and I basically installed the same things as what I had on my old laptop. This was somewhat rushed and more like “notes”. Obviously, it’s been rushed because it has taken me so long to get it proofread and published.
Ubuntu 12.04: Games
I am not a big gamer, but I have found a few games that I do enjoy from time to time. So, this is a quick list of the games that I installed as part of my installation.
Getting Skype to work on Ubuntu 11.10
A while back, I typed up my research on Skype, and I forgot to publish it. My more recent installations on my current laptop haven’t required as much tinkering to get it to work. Still this article might help someone, and I already had it put together. So, here it goes…
Sound for Inspiron 17R
alfC got me into researching how to get the SubWoofer working on my laptop. I didn’t buy my laptop for high quality sound (as long as Skype works for teleconferencing with co-workers, I’m good), so I didn’t even notice that it wasn’t working. So, here’s my research…
The Problem
On Ask Ubuntu, the question was asked: How to activate subwoofer in Inspiron 17r?
Here’s the issue. The subwoofer control is disabled:
The sound works fine to me. The subwoofer is just a bonus feature, at least in my opinion. Still, it would be cool to get it to work.
About My Soundcard
I found my driver was snd-hda-intel:
skp@chestnut:~$ lsmod | grep -i snd_hda_intel snd_hda_intel 33491 3 snd_hda_codec 134212 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel snd_pcm 96580 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec snd 78734 16 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device snd_page_alloc 18484 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
Here are the details on my card:
skp@chestnut:~$ lspci | grep -i "audio device" 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
I read in the documentation that you can find the model like this:
skp@chestnut:~$ cat /proc/asound/card0/codec* | grep Codec Codec: IDT 92HD91BXX Codec: Intel PantherPoint HDMI
Alsa-Base.conf Attempt
I found a Debian system that seems similar: Installing Debian On Asus UX32VD. Just to try, I added this line to the end of the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file.
options snd-hda-intel model=alc269-dmic
To test, I found from Ubuntu documentation, that I could use this command to restart just this sound:
sudo alsa force-reload
Unfortunately, it didn’t work!
Default.pa Attempt
So, on to trying another solution from here and here.
Next, I added a line to the /etc/pulse/default.pa file:
load-module module-combine channels=6 channel_map=front-left,front-right,rear-left,rear-right,front-center,lfe
After restarting alsa, it seemed to work. I got a new Output device that had the Subwoofer enabled:
I still can’t hear the output in the Test sound window. But, at least I have the front and back speakers working:
HDA Analyzer Tool
I found an HDA Analyzer Tool in this question. You can see the instructions here.
Here’s how I downloaded it:
wget -O run.py http://www.alsa-project.org/hda-analyzer.py
It needed root access, so I ran it like this:
sudo python run.py
Possibly Related
Canary Alternative for Ubuntu
A while back, I came across a tech-talk about Batarang. According to the video, I had to have Canary because the tool depended on features that were not available in the stable release of Chrome. To spoil the story, Batarang is now available via the Chrome Store and works fine on Chrome. But, this is my story on searching for Canary for Linux.
What I found was that Canary was not feasible on Linux. The best alternative was to install the “daily” release of Chromium. Because I use Chrome as my day-to-day browser, Chromium works great as a development browser. They can exist side by side without conflicting.
The Chromium-Daily Repository
My first attempt was to use this chromium-daily repository. I’ll save you some time: it’s out of date. Skip on down to the next section. The only reason that I included this is to point out that it would be great if someone could pick it up to make it active again.
Here’s the install instructions to add the repository and install the browser:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
I get these error messages:
W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/source/Sources 404 Not Found W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found W: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu/dists/precise/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
To remove the PPA, I used this:
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*chromium*
Chromium Continuous Build Website
So, I found this website: Chromium Continuous Build. It apparently keeps a daily build out there. I just had to download it and unzip it on my drive.
I created a directory to put it in (~/bin/chromium). Then, I wrote this script to download the latest version:
#!/bin/sh wget http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromium-browser-continuous/Linux_x64/LAST_CHANGE LAST_BUILD_ID=`cat LAST_CHANGE` echo "Last Update ID: $LAST_BUILD_ID" wget http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromium-browser-continuous/Linux_x64/$LAST_BUILD_ID/chrome-linux.zip unzip chrome-linux.zip
Then, I ran the chrome binary. This is the version it downloaded:
The cool part is that it is separate from my main chrome browser because it is chromium, and my main browser is chrome.
Batarang
To download the Batarang extension, I ran this:
git clone git://github.com/angular/angularjs-batarang
After it was downloaded, I went to Chrome Extensions:
chrome://chrome/extensions/
Then, I checked the Developer Mode:
Next, I clicked Load Unpacked Extension:
I chose the directory:
That installed the extension. I went to my site with Angular installed. I used Ctrl+Shift+J to open the console. And, there it was:
Resources
Setting up Remote Scanning
At first, I couldn’t scan from my laptop with the scanner connect to my server. So, here’s what I found to make it work.
First, this is my setup. I have a Dell Inspiron laptop with Ubuntu 12.04 installed. I use it wirelessly in my house. Then, I have an HP Printer Scanner Copier 1315 hooked to my Home “server”. That “server” is more of a desktop with server responsibilities, but it is also running Ubuntu 12.04.
My Server Configuration
These were the steps that I went through to configure my server after installing Ubuntu. (just to help remember)
Installing SSH
My first requirement for a server is that I be able to get to it from my laptop. SSH will allow me to both open remote terminal sessions and copy files from nautilus.
I simply installed this ssh metapackage from the Software Center.
My first attempt to connect brought me this message:
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @ WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! @ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOMEONE IS DOING SOMETHING NASTY! Someone could be eavesdropping on you right now (man-in-the-middle attack)! It is also possible that a host key has just been changed.
This was because I was reinstalling my server, and I had connected to the previous installation with my laptop. The fix was easy (it was actually in the message):
ssh-keygen -R israel
To set it up to where I could connect without a password, I ran this command:
ssh-copy-id israel
Printing
I have an HP printer, so I chose to install the HPLIP Toolbox from the Software Center.
I could launch it through ssh with the command “hp-toolbox”. Then, I chose the Setup Device option off the Device menu for my printer.
I selected USB:
Then, I selected the device:
Then, I entered the information about the printer:
This added, the printer. Next, I made it the default printer:
To make the printer accessible over the network, I had to tweak the cups configuration. I edited the /etc/cups/cupsd.conf. I added a Listen line with the machine’s hostname.
I also turned “Browsing” on to make it easier to discover the printer.
To make the network name resolve correctly, I removed this line from /etc/hosts:
Finally, I restarted the cups service with the command:
sudo service cups restart
That gave me some access, but I still had issues. Then, I found an easier way to do it. I ran the the printer configuration:
system-config-printer
On the printer dialog, there is a Server > Settings option.
There, I checked the sharing options to open things up for my private network.
Java Installation
I have a personal application that I use at home, and Java is a requirement for that. I took the easy route and installed Java using Web Upd8’s method. That just meant running these three commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
I confirmed that it installed with:
skp@israel:~$ java -version java version "1.8.0-ea" Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0-ea-b55) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 24.0-b22, mixed mode) skp@israel:~$ javac -version javac 1.8.0-ea
Finally, I needed to add a mysql user. I don’t need to install mysql because it’s embedded into my application, but I do need the user. I used this command:
useradd -r mysql
Resources
Packt Celebrates Their 1000th Title
You may want to sign up on Packt’s website!
From what I understand, Packt is publishing their 1000th book on September 30th. To celebrate, they will be giving out two free surprises. I don’t know what the surprises are, but they have been good to me so far.
Here’s the official text:
To celebrate this event with our readers, we’d be gifting them with not one but two assured surprises which would be revealed to them by the 30th of September, 2012. Anyone who is already registered or signs up for a free Packt account before 30th September 2012 is guaranteed a surprise gift.
So, head on over to their website: http://www.packtpub.com/