Kubuntu 10.04 Setup Guide

Much of this guide is going to be similar to the other guide, and the installation part before this is the same as described here, except that now there is a pretty slideshow when it installs.

You can download Kubuntu 10.04 here .

Concepts

This is the Kubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) default desktop. I tell a lie, I've right clicked on the Kmenu (blue lower right button) and changed the icon to an alternate, more Kubuntu themed, icon.

The Kmenu is your Application Launcher/Folder Launcher/Search bar/Power Options menu. Similar to a start menu in Windows, but vastly more usable and more powerful.

In the lower right corner, we have the system tray, a spot where the system holds a bunch of little applets (mini programs that help do things). If you expand the system tray, you'll see the device notifier. This will automatically pop up when you plug in removable media, such as USB drives and DVDs. You can Eject/Safely remove these devices from this menu.

If we click on the toolbox in the upper right corner and click add widgets, we get a nice menu of widgets to place on our desktop.

This is the default file manager, Dolphin. Please note that files are single click to open, and have little selector/deselector icons in the upper left when you hover over them. The usual Shift Click and Ctrl (Command for Mac) Click shortcuts from Windows and Mac will work here. This can be set to a double click to open behavior in the settings, but I suggest getting used to single click.

Refresh Software Sources

Before we do anything, we should connect to the internet and update the computer's software sources. Let's go to: "System Settings → Add and Remove Software → Software Updates" , and hit refresh.
Otherwise, we run into a lot of funky problems with things not installing.

Graphics / Wifi Drivers

If we open up The Hardware Drivers manager from "Kmenu → Applications → System" we can install drivers for devices without built-in, open-source support. Remember to reboot after all the
drivers have finished installing.
If you get a choice between the Broadcom STL driver and the Broadcom B43 driver, go for the STL driver. It's easier and more stable in my experience.
We can test the graphics drivers by going to "System Settings → Desktop → Desktop Effects" and enabling the effects. Nice little side effect, most computers run faster with these desktop effects turned on.

Highly Suggested Software

KInfoCenter

It's weird that they never included an application to see your computer's information. Here you can check to see how much RAM you have, what graphics driver you're using, what kind of processor is in the computer and such.

Ubuntu Software Center

We definitely ought to install the Ubuntu Software Center. This is a superior tool for browsing and installing applications for the average user. You can see a full explanation/review here, I highly suggest reading that if you are newer to Linux-based operating systems.

You can find it in "Kmenu → System → Software Center"

Kubuntu Restricted Extras


A collection of standard fonts, audio/video codecs, flash and java, which couldn't be included in the initial package of an open source package, but are fine to add "aftermarket".

Firefox

We might want to install the popular Firefox web browser. Thankfully, although the Kubuntu developers couldn't include it because of size limits of the install CD, they provided a simple installer in "Kmenu → Applications → Internet".

Kaffeine


Amazing and powerful media player. Has some features that Dragon player may be missing.

Extra Mouse Themes


Because many colors to pick from are better than a few.

Kamoso


If you've got a webcam, it's worth checking this out. It does install VLC, a video player which you may not need, but that allows it to record videos. Cheese is another good one.

GIMP


Best image manipulation program on Kubuntu.

Kdenlive


A wonderful non-linear video editor. I've been using it a lot, and love it. You can record your desktop, from webcam or video camera, edit, add effects, and publish to DVD or youtube. Great application.

Wine


Let's you try and use windows programs on Linux OS's. Not recommended for the faint of heart, unless you just wanna play the Orange Box.

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Better Notifications

One test feature that didn't make it into Lucid Lynx, was the "Ayatana" notifications. Think of these like Growl on OSX, ayatana notifications is what Ubuntu has.

To remedy the situation, the guy who wrote original code for the Kubuntu ayatana is releasing the notification system in a separate package, calling it "Colibri".

Just download, install, right click on the "i" in the system tray, and turn of application notifications. Reboot.

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Skype

Video chat is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, few Linux applications make it fun or easy. This is where skype comes in. It's as simple as any other instant messaging client, and has great sound quality. Remember that the version you download should be the same as the version of Kubuntu you installed.

32bit (x86) Machines


64bit (amd64) Machines

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DVD Playback

Here's something I almost forgot. There's two ways to do this. The pay way, or the free-and-legal-but-maybe-not-in-america way. I suggest both ( or whatever you feel like paying).

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The most legal method has us go to Fluendo's website, and purchase the only consumer Linux-compatible DVD playing software. It's not that expensive ($27), and works rather well.

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Now for the open-source alternative. This method let's you play DVDs in all of your current Linux DVD players, like Dragon Player, VLC, and Kaffeine.

Install the prerequisite:



Now, open up Konsole, and type/copypasta

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Hit enter, enjoy.

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Games

Why not check out PlayDeb? They've got a great list of updated versions of things for the Linux gaming scene. It's a real awesome site. Install their package, and click on their links.

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The last thing we ought to do (If you are doing a dual boot thing) is to fix the menu where you choose to boot up into Windows or Kubuntu. The guide to make that nicer can be found here. I am still working on a GUI program to do this for us.

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Enjoy!

featured on: OMG Ubuntu!

Basic Ubuntu Setup Guide

This is for Julian at work, and other people.

This assumes you've installed Ubuntu already.

Setup

Update the system first, via the update manager.

You'll want to make sure that the graphics drivers are installed, via the "Hardware Drivers Manager". This ensures the computer is using the graphics drivers, otherwise, the system could be rather sluggish.

Open of the Terminal and type in

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

This is a collection of non-opensource items that are fine to add "aftermarket" to the system, but are not allowed to be included in the initial package due to restrictions of the GPL (as opposed to the nicer LGPL license) , flash, java, microsoft fonts, video codecs.

Then, to activate dvd playback, run

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Then the computer can play DVDs.

That's really it to the post-installation of Ubuntu.

Making Grub2 Nice

Or how I learned to stop worrying and make my boot menu easier to use.

Alright folks, I've been meaning to write this one for a while. Ubuntu/Kubuntu 9.10 decided to switch to the GRand Unified Bootloader version 2. This is great feature-wise and all, but now you have to relearn how to edit the config files!

I've done some studying and found out how to do what simple things I used to do, make the boot menu simple.

So, Open the run command ("Alt F2"/"Alt Space"/Right click on desktop "Run Comand...") and type kdesudo kate (or on Ubuntu gksu gedit)
Let's open up /boot/grub/grub.cfg . This file is only a reference. Let's also make a new file. Let's save it to /etc/grub.d/09_custom .

Let's add some text to 09_custom :

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

Now we take a look at the entry for Windows in grub.cfg.


And paste that right into our 09_custom.

Next, we take a look at the first entry in the linux section of grub.cfg.


and paste that into our 09_custom.



Let's rename the menuentry "Kubuntu".
it's also very important that I changed, in the linux and initrd sections,

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic
and /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic

to simply just

/vmlinuz
and /initrd.img

These always point to the latest version of the files, so it will always boot us to the latest and greatest updated kernel.


If you want a seperator, make a menu entry like "----------Other----------". Be sure to hit enter once or twice after the last menu entry or it wont work and save 09_custom .

Now, open up konsole

And change to the directory with cd /etc/grub.d/ .

If we type ls, we can see that our file isn't green, or executable. This is a requirement, so let's fix this.

Do a sudo chmod +x 09_custom and voila!

Another ls reveals that we've changed the file.
Lastly, we sudo update-grub and it will make our new configurations ready to use.

If we reload grub.cfg, note that it has changed. Make sure to close kate without saving anything to grub.cfg .

We should have shiny new entries in our list. We didn't get rid of the other options, because we want to fall back on them if what we did ever goes wrong. These fallback options look nicer when a proper seperator entry is there.

There you have it! How to fix Grub to that normal people can understand what to do at the boot menu!

Kubuntu 9.10 guide for India :: part 2

Alright, now that we've got Kubuntu running, let's set it up. Let me show you the basics of the desktop.






This is the desktop. We've got a panel with a bunch of widgets, most important, the k-menu and task manager widgets. We've also got a folder view widget set to show the desktop folder's contents. You'll notice that everything is a widget, and this is highly configurable.
The k-menu starts with the favorites tab, you can right click to add/remove items.
Applications are all sorted by category.
The "places" section here will reflect whatever is in the file manager, dolphin's, sidebar.

On the right side of our default panel, we have the devices notifier widget. It's the little computer with a usb symbol on it and a cd popping out of it. It'll pop up when you plug a device in. To eject a disc, or "safely remove" a device, simply pop this open, and click on the eject symbol that appears when you hover over the device.

If the desktop is "unlocked", via a right-click menu, you can click on the cashew icon to configure the panel.

Or the desktop, and manage widgets.




Dolphin is the default file manager. You can add/remove/rearrange things in the sidebar to be more useful. I personally enjoy the fact that there are tabs.

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Refresh Software Sources
Before we do anything, we should connect to the internet (and double check you are online) and update the computer's software sources. Let's go to: "System Settings >> Add and Remove Software >> Software Updates" , and hit refresh.
Otherwise, we run into a lot of funky problems with things not installing.
Closed-Source Drivers
This all may be rather unenjoyable without the proper device drivers.

If we open up The Hardware Drivers manager from "Kmenu > Applications > System" we can install our drivers. Remember to reboot after all the drivers have finished installing.
We can test the graphics drivers by going to "System Settings >> Desktop >> Desktop Effects" and enabling the effects. Nice little side effect, most computers run faster with these desktop effects turned on.

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If this doesn't work, there is the more ninja way to install the non-open-source drivers.
Open up Konsole from "Kmenu > Applications > System" .


Install the wireless drivers by typing in sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source and hitting enter. It'll ask you for a password, and if it's okay to download the drivers, obviously provide the password and say yes. It will not show you any dots or anything else when you type in your password, but don't worry, it'll accept what you type once you hit enter. The wireless may need a reboot to work properly.

Graphics drivers

Only install these if it's for your card, and the desktop effects don't seem to be working. Some ATI cards may work fine with the included open source drivers.

Nvidia Graphics Driver


Then open the Konsole and type "sudo nvidia-xconfig" and hit enter.


ATI Graphics Driver
Then open the Konsole and type "sudo aticonfig --enable" and hit enter.


Other Things

We might want to install the popular Firefox web browser. Thankfully, although the Kubuntu developers couldn't include it because of size limits of the install CD, they provided a simple installer.


It's found in "Kmenu >> Applications >> Internet".

I would install PlasmaNotify, to have Firefox notifications blend in with Kubuntu native ones.

Also, since you're dual booting, why not consider using Xmarks to sync the bookmarks?

Click on the little "i" in the system tray, and configure. Change the notification system to "Ayatana". You can preview the notifications to understand why I told you to change it.

As I said, you can lock and unlock the widgets, allowing you to remove, move, and configure them. Here I've changed the folder widget to show the home folder rather than the desktop folder.

Go to the System Settings, most easily found in "Kmenu >> Computer". Go to "Keyboard and Mouse >> Global Keyboard Shortcuts >> Run Command Interface" and change the shortcut for Run Command to Alt Space.

Once you get familiar with the names of programs, you can simply hit alt space and then the name of the application. It will show you a list of the most relevant matches to your typing, hit enter to launch the program. It's a real time saver. Check it out.


While we're in Keyboard and Mouse settings, you may have noticed that things are single click in nature. I'd say try and get used to using the green plus on hover to select, but if you'd like to go back to the Windows double clicking, feel free to change the behavior.

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Do check out all the different settings. You can change any theme or color if you look hard enough.

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For applications, please see my post on installing programs.

You'll be wanting to install the Software Center

and going to "Kmenu >> System >> Software Center" to check out all the programs you have immediately at your fingertips.


Things I can think you might want to install.

Kubuntu Restricted Extras


A collection of fonts, codecs, flash and java, which couldn't be included in the initial package of an open source package, but are fine to add "aftermarket".

VLC


The ultimate media player.

Mozilla Mplayer Plugin


Let's you watch embedded videos in Firefox.

Mouse Theme Extras


Because many colors to pick from are better than a few.

GIMP


Best image manipulation program on Kubuntu.

Kdenlive


A wonderful non-linear video editor. I've been using it a lot, and love it. The next version is supposed to be more stable/less crash prone.

Wine


Let's you try and use windows programs on Linux OS's. Not recommended for the faint of heart, unless you just wanna play the Orange Box.

Yakuake


If you learn to like using Konsole commands, this is a drop down terminal like those found in first person shooters like Quake. Set it to a nice keyboard shortcut, and hide/show the terminal at will. You also might never bother with command line much, so maybe you don't need a terminal open 24/7.

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DVD Playback

Here's something I almost forgot. There's two ways to do this. The pay way, or the free-and-legal-but-maybe-not-in-america way. I highly suggest whatever you feel like paying.

One, you could go to Fluendo, and purchase the only consumer Linux-compatible DVD playing software.

Or you could pop open Konsole and do the following.

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

Hit enter.

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Hit enter, enjoy. This method let's you play DVDs in all of your current Linux DVD players, like Dragon Player, VLC, and Kaffeine.

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The last thing we ought to do is to fix the menu where you choose to boot up into Windows or Kubuntu. The guide to make that nicer can be found here.

So, have fun!