Ubuntu

This article describes the items which must be installed manually after the organicdesign-workstation package has been installed. Eventually we hope to have all installation and configuration handled by the package. To do this we need to create a script which analyses the system and creates all necessary configuration, this is being developed at the end of this article.

Dell specific

Most of our laptops are Dell's because they're a very Linux friendly manufacturer. Dell maintain their own repository of kernel modules (such as those needed for modems to work etc) and other specific configuration. So add it to your sources.list by appending the following (change hardy to what ever you're distro of Ubuntu is such as gutsy, intrepid or jaunty).

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dell-team/ubuntu jaunty main deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/dell-team/ubuntu jaunty main

Then update and upgrade as usual,

apt-get update apt-get upgrade

Dell modems

I found Dell dgc modems to install easily with the driver from Dell, eg dgcmodem_1.04_i386.deb. But the other popular Conexant modem they use is hsf and I found that wouldn't compile on many Dell laptop models.

I was able to get an hsf modem to work at 14.4Kbps using the free driver from Linuxant. I had downloaded the deb version of the generic packages with source, for example hsfmodem_7.80.02.01full_i386.deb. After I installed it with dpkg -i it gave no errors, but still it would fail to detect a modem from the gnome ppp, but I then ran hsfconfig which compiled successfully and then asked questions about area code etc which it had not been able to do before. After this process, the auto-detection of the modem succeeded from gnome ppp.

Note: It's best to run through pppconfig from root and fill in the ISP details so that all the files are already set up before trying to connect from gnome ppp because it doesn't have permission to write to the ppp configuration files itself.

Note II: You can fix this permissions issue by setting permissions manually as follows:

chmod 777 /etc/ppp/chap-secrets chmod 777 /etc/ppp/pap-secrets chmod 777 /etc/ppp/peers chmod 777 /etc/ppp/peers/*

Ubuntu Tweak

Remember "TweakUI" for fatware? Well this is the Ubuntu equivalent, gives easy access to all the internal OS and application settings and defaults.

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu jaunty main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list echo "deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu jaunty main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list apt-get update apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

DVD Ripping

We use dvd::rip, install it from the add/remove menu, then see Rip a DVD for usage details. I think some of the things installed for DVD reading above are required for the ripping to work properly. Note that currently our procedure only allows the xvid4 codec for the encoded result, divx is not working for us yet.

Adobe Acrobat Reader

The default evince document viewer that comes with Ubuntu is very good, but it doesn't handle some of the more sophisticated aspects of PDF document handling such as editable forms. To do these things currently still requires the Adobe package which can be installed from the Medibuntu repository.

echo deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ jaunty free non-free >> /etc/apt/sources.list apt-get update apt-get install acroread

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.

Chromium Browser

From root do the following:

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list echo "deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/chromium-daily/ppa/ubuntu karmic main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 0xfbef0d696de1c72ba5a835fe5a9bf3bb4e5e17b5 apt-get update sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Package Script

This manual post-install needs to be converted into an automatic script which can then be added to the organicdesign-workstation package. There will need to be an overall configuration file such as /etc/organicdesign/organicdesign.conf which determines the main parameters such as what the associated server is etc.

See also

• Wikipedia:Ubuntu
• Ubuntu workshop
• DynUsb - allows drives to be removed safely without needing to be unmounted first
• Overview of various ways to install software on Ubuntu
• How to compile programs on Ubuntu
• Debian Post Install - follow this for installing server software
• Wubi - install Ubuntu into an existing Windows environment without affecting boot loader
• 64bit issues
• Apple wireless keyboard on Linux
• Transmission
• Toms Hardware review on Karmic Koala
• Migrate from Windows XP to Ubuntu
• Change button location in Lucid Lynx