Ubuntu

Instead of going through the list of applications manually from this article, you can instead install the organicdesign-workstation package. This article is still useful as a list and description of the software we use on our workstations.

Applications we use which are preinstalled

• Browser: Firefox 3
• P2P: Transmission
• MSN/IRC: Pidgin
• Office Suite: Open Office

Additional Software Installed

To install, type the name into the Add/Remove search box unless other instructions are given

• Browser addons: Flash plug in (from add/remove), download helper and firebug (from tools/addons)
• Email: Thunderbird
• Editor: Geany
• Media player: VLC
• Chat: Skype (download .deb from here, see this re installing on 64bit)
• Wine + IEs4Linux (for installation, see below)
• Vector Graphics: InkScape

Utilities

To install, type the name into the Add/Remove search box unless other instructions are given

• build-essential (install this before doing any compiling, use apt-get)
• Samba
• 7Zip
• Advanced Desktop Effects Settings (Ubuntu uses the Compiz window manager now which has many plugins and options)
• gparted (Disk partition editor, see also partition resize docs)
• AllTray (allows running apps to be iconised into the system tray)
• DisplayCalibrator (Set display gamma)
• ntfsprogs (allows you to run ntfsfix on devices which have been uncleanly dismounted from windows)
• sysinfo

Server Software & Utilities

To install server software for running a local development environment for our wiki work, just run through the necessary items in the Debian Post Install.

Sharing files with Samba

This has changed a bit in Ubuntu 8, you need to install Samba from Add/Remove then manage shares from the System/Administration/Samba menu.

• The administration app was crashing on my laptop due to being unable to open the /etc/libuser.conf file, but was fine after creating the file with no content.

Windows Emulator (Wine)

The windows emulator allows practically seamless integration of native windows applications into the Linux desktop environment. Internet Explorer is more difficult to set up in it than other applications due to its tight integration with the windows internal components, but a package is available allowing easy installation of multiple simultaneous Internet Explorer versions (see Installation on Ubuntu).

Below is a screenshot of my local laptop running Ubuntu. As you can see all the open windows are integrated naturally into the normal desktop environment but some of them are windows applications and some native Linux ones. The top browser window is Internet Explorer 6 running in windows emulation, but the bottom one is Ubuntu's Firefox. Music is playing from the Windows emulated Winamp in the top right, and the middle application is a Windows-only family tree program. I was able to drop a folder of music directly into the Winamp window to play it, and all file paths and open/save dialogue boxes can navigate the entire Linux directory tree just like a native application behaves.

Playing DVD's

Medibuntu (Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu) is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons like copyright, license or patent restrictions. It also includes many popular media packages for ffmpeg, w32codes, skype and google earth.

echo deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ hardy free non-free >> /etc/apt/sources.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update
apt-get install libdvdcss2 libdvdread3

You may need to reboot the machine before the new settings take effect properly.

To make the default DVD player be VLC, see this article

DVD Ripping

We use dvd::rip, install it from the add/remove menu, then see Rip a DVD for usage details.

Flash Player

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Ubuntu 8 Notes

• Playing MP3's in VLC exhibited regular glitches every few seconds, I found that by setting Audio/Output modules/Audio output module to ALSA in preferences fixed the problem. Also CPU-intensive operations tend to glitch the music, which is fixed by ticking Allow real-time priority in the advanced preferences.
• Also VLC has trouble with video on the default settings, I fixed it by setting the output module to OpenGL and then the OpenGLX sub item to Alternate fullscreen method

See also

• Debian Post Install - follow this for installing server software
• Wubi - install Ubuntu into an existing Windows environment without affecting boot loader
• 64bit issues