Ubuntu Tutorials

Due to the many requests for details that I’ve recieved concerning the Firefox extension bounty I wanted to take a minute and outline the details.  It seems everyone thinks I’m being too secretive about the whole thing.  I didn’t mean for that to be the case I was just being brief with my post.  Here are the details.

I would like an extension that simply checks whether or not the current page is indexed on Google.  I know there are extensions that check for PageRank, which I suppose would be similar, but with this tool the important part is simply the indexing.  A page may be indexed but not have a PR value, and that is what I would like to find. Is the page I'm currently visiting indexed on Google?

To check whether or not a site or specific page is indexed in Google you can use the site: prefix to any URL.  An example would be site:http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/user-sitemap/ (results here).

I imagined a simple statusbar icon that would report a green color for a positive result or a red for negative.  Nothing more is needed but a small visual report based on a yes / no indexed result.

In theory it sounds fairly simple, I simply don’t have the time or experience with xul to build it myself.  I hope that satisfies all you curious cats out there.  I do have a few people that have shown some interest, which I’m grateful for.  At this stage I mainly want to get it done so whoever can throw somethingtogether first becomes my new best friend.

UPDATE: Jeremy pointed out that what I need is not a plugin but an extension (and there is a difference!).  If that changes anyone’s mind just drop me a note.

I’ve been sitting on the idea for a Firefox extension for a while now and I realize I just don’t have the time to do it. If you’re interested in helping me realize this extension I’ve set aside a nice shiny $50 for someone who wants to jump on it. Please email me for details if you’re interested (see contact page).

This post is a response to a few previous posts and comments and based on some other questions that I’ve been asked recently. I wanted to outline the few steps I use on a new installation. Your usage might vary a bit, but I realize this is something that new users might be interested in.

Repositories

After I install a new Ubuntu machine the first thing I do is make sure that I have all of the appropriate repositories enabled to give me the software I need. The simplest way to do this is using a GUI method to update your “Software Sources”.

System > Administration > Software Sources

When you’ve got this open you’ll want to make sure you’ve got each box checked as seen in the picture. I always un-check the source code option as I rarely do any compiling. You might notice that removing the source code inclusion speeds up your update time as it no longer has to ping generally unneeded repositories.

You can also select the Download From option to select your local mirror.

Security Updates

I then hit the next tab labeled Internet Updates. This allows you to set the options concerning your regular security updates. I always want my machine as up to date as it can be. That probably explains why I normally have at least one machine in perpetual alpha / beta. In any event, this will allow you to make sure your machine is up to date on the latest stable packages.

I generally make sure to include the important security updates (of course!) and usually include the recommended updates. Proposed and backported I haven’t been using, mainly because I’m not 100% on what they are for.

The major things that I update here are the automatic updates section. I update my machines daily, download automatically, and install security updates without confirmation. Again, I like to keep my machines up to date on security and the latest versions of my commonly used packages. Your usage here might vary, but this is what I have set.

Seveas Repository

After I have taken care of the above I add one third party repository. I generally don’t suggest using any third party repositories but this one has been very well supported and I trust Seveas. He works very closely with the main community and maintains, from what I can tell, a few of the official packages. He also maintains a few packages in his repository that I always end up installing. You can install his repository using the following:

You can add the following line within the Third Party tab (as seen in the screen shots) or use the second command to manually add it directly to your sources.list file.

deb http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl edgy-seveas all (replace edgy with your version as needed)

echo "deb http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl edgy-seveas all" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

You’ll also want to import his public key for authentication using the command below:

wget http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl/1135D466.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Another option is to download the key directly and import it using the Authentication tab as seen in the screen shots.

Get up to date

After all of that fun stuff is out of the way I then make sure my new installation is updated. Whether you’re installing Dapper, Edgy or even Feisty your machine will have security and suggested updates available. Make sure that you’re using the latest versions and the latest security. You can do this in two ways.

The first is to use the command line, which is done using the command below. It can be cut and pasted into a terminal as needed. It will check against the above changed repositories for updates, upgrade to those packages and clean up unneeded packages afterwards.

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude upgrade && sudo aptitude dist-upgrade && sudo aptitude autoclean

This can also be done using a GUI method by using the graphical Update Manager. You can find that in the same menu area as the software sources (System > Administration > Software Updates) or launch it using ALT-F2 and typing the following in the resulting window:

gksudo "update-manager"

You’ll want to make sure and select the Check option to scan for updates. You’ll then be prompted to update your system based on what the update manager finds.

Any new system should have quite a few updates available. The time it takes to update your system at this point will depend on your internet connection.

Install The Goodies

Now that your system is up to date you’ll want to install the goodies. Your usage really might vary here but this is a list of packages that I always install on a new machine. Mainly codecs, media players and a few of my favorite apps.

sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-gl gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse libxine-extracodecs w32codecs
vlc beep-media-player flashplugin-nonfree sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin libdvdcss2 rar unrar mpg321 vorbis-tools liferea tilda glipper

Your packages might vary here as mentioned above but this list in combination with the instructions above will install all your needed media codecs, the VLC player, java, flash, DVD playback, windows codecs and my favorite media player, beep (as mentioned before in the gnome media players post.)

Have I missed any packages here? What else might be on your new machine setup list?

This weekend was my Feisty testing weekend (see my previous post on the recent release of Herd 3). Everything seems to be working well enough so far and I’m impressed with a few of the new features. I’ll very likely be upgrading all of my machines upon final release.

In any event, this morning I decided to add Beryl to the mix and, as usual, I’m really impressed with what a community of open source coders can do! To everyone on the Beryl team, keep up the fantastic work!

And, now to the good part.
Installing Beryl on Ubuntu Feisty with AIGLX.

You’ll need to add the beryl-project repositories to your sources list. You can do that by adding the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org feisty main

You’ll also want to import the project GPG key for authentication

wget http://ubuntu.beryl-project.org/root@lupine.me.uk.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Now that you’ve got these added you’ll want to make sure you’ve updated to the changes

sudo aptitude update

If you haven’t already you’ll need to make sure you have 3D acceleration setup with the Nvidia drivers.

sudo aptitude install nvidia-glx

The X.org 7.2 in Feisty includes AIGLX so it’s pretty simple to get it going. Below are a few things you’ll want to add, or verify are included in your xorg.conf file. As usual, before you make any changes to your xorg.conf you’ll want to make a backup!

Under the Section “Module” make sure that you’ve got the following:

Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
Load "glx"

Now check the Section “Device” and add:

Option "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"

On my machine (Nvidia GeForce MX 440) I also needed to add this next line to the device section:

Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"

And lastly you’ll want to make sure that these options are included, normally at the end of the file:

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

OK. At this point AIGLX should be setup and ready to run. You will need to restart X before the changes will take place. If you are reading these instructions on the machine you’re upgrading you’ll want to make sure this is bookmarked to come back to for the final steps. You can use one of the links below this post to save it to your favorite social bookmarking page.

To restart your desktop use one of the following (for ubuntu or kubuntu users):

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart (ubuntu)
sudo /etc/init.d/kdm restart (kubuntu)

…ok, and now you’re back. Now we’ll want to install a couple of packages. The beryl packages and the theme decorations:

sudo aptitude install beryl emerald-themes

After you’ve installed these packages you’re ready to go with Beryl! Hit ALT-F2 and run

beryl-manager

You should hopefully see a Beryl splash screen at this point. If not you there should be a new Beryl icon in your notification tray. You can make sure it is running by right-clicking the icon and making sure that Beryl is selected in the desktop manager options.

Enjoy! If you’ve never used Beryl before be sure to check out some of the basic usage commands such as:

CTRL-ALT-right / left arrow : switch to next cube side
CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-right / left arrow : switch to next cube and bring current window
CTRL-ALT-left-click (drag) : move cube with mouse movement

…you might be interested in seeing more at the Beryl FAQ page.

If you end up having any trouble with Beryl you might want to check out the Beryl Troubleshooting page.

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Tags: beryl, feisty, ubuntu, aiglx, 7.04

There are those of us that do a lot of ssh during the course of a day. I know I do quite a bit for accessing my files from my office. In any event you’ll probably want to setup public key authentication which allows you to login via ssh without a password.

Of course this adds a level of convenience for you, but could be considered less-secure. While its difficult to spoof an rsa/dsa encryption key (probably more difficult than a simple password) anyone that has access to your machine would be able to access the remote machines via this authenticated key.

There are a few quick steps for setting this up that I’ll outline below.

First you’ll need to generate your local public key. This is the public end of a local public / private pair that you’ll share with the remote machine to identify you.

ssh-keygen -t dsa (on your local machine)

Second you’ll need to copy this key to the remote machine using a command such as:

scp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub user@yourserver.com:~

Lastly, log into the remote machine via ssh (using your password for the last time!) and use this command to add the newly generated key to the list of authenticated keys:

cat id_dsa.pub >> .ssh/authorized_keys

You’ll also probably want to delete the original key as well.

rm id_dsa.pub

At this point a copy of your key is now stored on the remote machine as an authorized keys and any ssh connection coming from the local machine will match that key and connect with the key authentication instead of a password. So nice.

…just remember that anyone with access to your machine will now have this access as well. Definitely keep this in mind if you’re using any kind of a public machine.

I am hoping that some of you Launchpad users / gurus can shed some light for me on the best use of Launchpad. I would like to do more bug work but I can’t seem to follow the use of the system well enough. Here are some of my issues / concerns.

1. Subscribing to submitted bugs. I have the hardest time keeping up on my submitted bugs because I find that I’m not automagically subscribed to them upon submital. This makes it difficult to provide additional information because I’m not notified on those requests. Is there a way to make sure I’m subscribed to my own bugs?
2. Notifications on random bugs. I’ve noticed that ever since I became an Ubuntu Member I am bombarded with bug tickets. Bugs and issues that I’ve never heard of, subscribed to or commented on. This is one issue that makes it very difficult for me to create and manage my own submissions because I then have to find them in a see of others. Can someone tell me how I can stop getting bug notifications that I’m not subscribed to?

I know this topic might be old news to some of you, but I wanted to make sure that our new users out there were familiar with it. What is it? VLC, the magical media player. This is a media player that you really should checkout.

From the VLC website:

VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

Basically the reason that this program is so great is that it can play just about anything you throw at it! It handles quite a bit just out of the box and is cross-platform for use on OSX or XP. Give it a try for your media playback, or check out my previous post for other gnome media players, or you might also want to see how to make sure you’ve installed ubuntu multimedia codecs for use with this or other players.

To install VLC player search via Synaptic for “vlc” or use the command below to install the main package and dependencies.

sudo aptitude install vlc

Is there anything that VLC can’t play? I haven’t run into anything yet? Have you?

UPDATE: Install Opera 10 Web Browser in Ubuntu 9.10

I realize, in all of my posts, I’ve never outlined how to install the Opera browser. There are two methods you can use to install it, and both will be outlined below. Before I get into those steps though I have a few things to say about the browser.

First, I think the Opera browser is a really quality piece of software. In the “browser wars” I think it really has a lot to offer and I compare it, as far as standards compliance is concerned, at about the same level of Safari. I think, technically speaking, Opera and Safari are better browsers than Firefox. The usability and extensions of Firefox are one of the main things that makes it a good browser and so popular.

Having said that I should mention I use Firefox or Flock (based on Firefox) as my browser primarily for the great community around it and due to the great extensions. Also, most importantly, is the principle that Firefox is free software whereas Opera is not. For me, if anything, that is reason enough.

Without further ado here are the instructions for installing Opera on your Ubuntu machine.

Method #1

The easiest method is to visit the Opera website and use the download icon. When I visit that site it recognizes (or defaults) to a listing of Ubuntu compatible versions. Everything from Warty to Edgy are available. Simply select your version, download and install the package. Installing the package can be done using the Gdebi Package Installer (open with..) or using the command sudo dpkg -i opera*.deb (save to disk) after downloading.

Method #2

The second method is to download Opera from the Ubuntu repositories. This is probably the more trusted method, but many users prefer method #1 due to the fact that it can often be more up to date. As usual I will suggest that the official method, the official repositories, is what you should use. To install Opera use the following:

sudo aptitude install opera

Or, as always, you can use any GUI method such as Synaptic or Adept to install the opera package. What are some of your thoughts on Opera? Do you use it? If so, why? If not, why not?

technorati tags:opera, firefox, safari, install, dapper, edgy, hoary, warty

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UPDATE: Thanks to Daniel I have found a trunk build that offers the latest and greatest. I will now be using Flock again, just keeping up via the trunk until final release! I am stoked! There are some <napoleon>sweet</napoleon> new features that I’m sure a lot of people are going to enjoy!

As many of you know I have been a fan of Flock for some time now. I try to follow the releases in anticipation of it catching up with the Firefox 2 engine.. anyone know when that is going to be? In any event here is a quick post on the release notes and upgrade instructions for anyone interested in upgraded or installing Flock.

Download Flock (save to desktop)

Installation instructions found on my previous post here.

technorati tags:flock, browser, 0.7.10.1

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Quick post today for all of you that consider yourselves tough enough to tackle the herd. Ubuntu 7.04 “Feisty” Herd 3 has been made available. If you’ve got a free machine and some spare time this weekend why not give it a spin.

Changelog:

Information on recent updates here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FeistyFawn/Herd3/

Downloads:

Downloads for the following types below:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/feisty/herd-3/ – Ubuntu

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/feisty/herd-3 – Kubuntu

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/feisty/herd-3/ – Edubuntu

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/feisty/herd-3/ – Xubuntu

Testing:

Make sure to let the team know how your installation went.

Here is a short test you can run for QA.

..and for those with more time you can use the long test for more detail.