I've got two ubuntu systems now, both very clean and straight forward setups. No hardware hassling, which is amazing IMHO, after coming from years of redhat. Here's some notes for setting up both systems, which some may find useful:
Ubuntu 8.04 on an Intel Mac Mini
I like using linux for my main workstation, and since Mac Mini's are quiet and small, I transitioned from an intel tower to the Mac Mini; was quite smooth. Installing was no problem; put the regular intel Ubuntu 8.04 DVD into the Mac Mini's drive, reboot and install.Here's some extra info bringing up the Mac Mini from a newly bought system.Ubuntu 8.04 Install Details
First time setting up linux on an intel mac mini.. no problem. Never once booted OSX, or needed to. Turned on machine with regular Intel Ubuntu CD in drive, Hold down ALT key on mac keyboard to boot the CD.Easy install.. no tricks. Just normal intel install on the mac mini's internal drive.
Ubuntu 8.04 Post-Install
After reboot into OS:- 1) 'apt-get update' to update the apt-get database.2) Used 'network-admin' to:
* Setup static IP, hostname, removed '127.0.0.1 tahoe' entry from /etc/hosts
* Setup DNS and gigabit router
* Disable wireless et al.
3) Installed NFS so that my local tools (like 'admlog') will work: 1a) apt-get install nfs-common
1b) Tweaked /etc/exports on file server to allow exports to new machine
1c) Added to /etc/fstab:
192.168.1.14:/net /meade/net nfs intr,hard,bg,rw,nolock,vers=3 0 0
1d) mount /meade/net
4) Some aliases for root's login to use my local network tools (tweaked /root/.profile): admlog() {
/net/bin/admlog $*
}
piss() {
/net/bin/piss $*
}
5) Started installing necessary stuff: apt-get install tcsh
apt-get install gpm -- console copy/paste..!
apt-get install ssh -- sshd
apt-get install vim -- replaces 'vim-tiny'
apt-get install gawk -- for 'piss'
apt-get install rdate
6) Installed necessary dev stuff: apt-get install g++
apt-get install manpages-dev -- don't forget the man pages!
apt-get install subversion -- aka svn
apt-get install libx11-dev
apt-get install libxt-dev
apt-get install libxft-dev
apt-get install valgrind
apt-get install libglut3-dev -- gets opengl, glut, etc
apt-get install doc-linux-html -- /usr/share/doc/HOWTO
Optional dev stuff important for me: apt-get install indent
apt-get install xxdiff
ln -s /usr/bin/xxdiff /usr/bin/xdiff
7) Disable X windows on bootYeah, I like my own window manager, and like to start it manually, and not have X come up automatically.
OK, init is completely different now, you can't just change run levels.
mv /etc/X11/default-display-manager /etc/X11/default-display-manager.bak
echo false > /etc/X11/default-display-manager
..and then to stop it: /etc/init.d/gdm stop
8) Installed chkconfig. Well, found 'rc-config' anyway on the web, which is close enough.9) Started making myself at home:
chsh /bin/tcsh -- for erco and root
rcp -rp on:/usr/local/src/fltk-1.3.x-svn /usr/local/src/fltk-1.3.x-svn
rcp -rp on:/usr/local/src/flwm /usr/local/src/flwm
rcp on:/usr/local/bin/nixieclock /usr/local/bin/
10) Removed weird thai/malaysian/indian/arabic fonts that were crowding up my gimp font browser with too much noise: apt-get remove ttf-arabeyes
apt-get remove ttf-lao
apt-get remove ttf-malayalam-fonts
apt-get remove ttf-thai-tlwg
apt-get remove ttf-indic-fonts-core
Got the list of installed fonts by running: aptitude search '~i' | grep font
11) Various other stuff: apt-get install mplayer
apt-get install xpdf
apt-get install mpage
apt-get install dict
apt-get install xvncviewer -- 'vncviewer' (yes, unauth'ed)
apt-get install imagemagick
aptitude install desktop xfce-desktop -- small desktop (I use FLWM, but tried this just for fun)
apt-get install kompozer
apt-get install lame -- mpg conversion
And after all that, I was pretty happy.
Printing
For linux tools like gimp and firefox 3 to recognize the laser printer on my Mac, had to configure linux printing with:- 1) Run: system-config-printer2) Click 'Server Settings' from browser
3) Enable the 'Show printers shared by other systems'
4) Then 'Apply'.
Firefox Tweaks
firefox 3 -- middle clicking to 'paste' a link no longer works. Had to enable it: 1) about:config
2) Double click on "middlemouse.contentLoadURL" to change "false" to "true"
Installed acrobat
Downloaded latest, ran INSTALL program:- 1) At the "Enter installation directory for Adobe Reader 8.1.3 [/opt]" prompt, specified:
/usr/local
..which creates "/usr/local/Adobe/..."2) ln -s /usr/sbin/acroread /usr/local/bin/acroreadNote that acroread's shell script handles a lot of weird flags (-version, -display..).
3) That's it -- firefox viewing PDF files will open WITHIN the browser.
To change firefox to open acroread as a separate window:
- a) Run 'acroread'b) Click Edit > Preferences > Internet
c) Deselect 'Display PDF In Browser Using [Acrobat application]
d) Click OK
Flash Player Install
Trouble installing flash playerAfter installing, it would not load up into firefox. Was getting errors about libnss3.so not being found.SOLUTION:
- Had to manually create several symlinks:
ln -s /usr/lib/libnss3.so.1d /usr/lib/libnss3.so
ln -s /usr/lib/libnspr4.so.0d /usr/lib/libnspr4.so
ln -s /usr/lib/libplds4.so.0d /usr/lib/libplds4.so
ln -s /usr/lib/libplc4.so.0d /usr/lib/libplc4.so
Configured rdate to slam clock every 12 hours to network timekeeper
Sorry, but after years of dicking with ntp, I've decided its more trouble than it's worth. Went back to good ol rdate which has worked reliably for many years, and I'm fine with it. Configured new machine with rdate:55 0,12 * * * root /usr/bin/rdate -s -l -p meade >> /var/log/rdate.log 2>&1Installing Maya 2009
Found that Maya 2009 'setup' program needs to have: 1) rpm
2) bash
So: apt-get install rpm
apt-get install bash
Then, regular maya install.RSH Setup
1) Install inetd
apt-get install inetutils-inetd
2) Install rsh server + client:
apt-get install rsh-server
apt-get install rsh-client
3) echo + > /root/.rhosts
chmod 600 /root/.rhosts
4) Modify this line in /etc/pam.d/rsh to allow "+" to work:
BEFORE: auth required pam_rhosts_auth.so
AFTER: auth required pam_rhosts_auth.so promiscuous
5) Restart inetd
/etc/init.d/inetutils-inetd restart
6) rsh localhost ls
Installed doxygen
1) Just ran:
apt-get install doxygen
This will at least generate html and latex docs.
Downloaded the PDF docs from their website, and copied it into
/usr/share/doc/doxygen (because it doesn't seem to come with..!)
2) You may want 'pdflatex' to generate the latex docs into a pdf file.
(You'll find the Makefile in the documentation/latex/ directory wants this)
To install pdflatex:
apt-get install texlive
Installed sox for sound recording
apt-get install sox
apt-get install libsox-fmt-oss -- needed for oss + /dev/dsp to work
Test recording from audio input:
sox -w -c 2 -r 44100 -t oss -s /dev/dsp /var/tmp/foo.wav
Ubuntu 7.04 on HP Pavilion dv2000 Notebook
A few months ago (Fall 2007), got an "HP Pavilion dv2000" notebook computer, and installed Ubuntu 7.04 on it. Nice light machine, and pretty cost effective.Install was smooth/default. Only odd things I noticed:- Apparently the csh/tcsh is not preinstalled on Ubuntu. Had to apt-get it, since I prefer the csh for my login shell, instead of bash. Kinda weird, since every Unix release I've ever encountered since the early 90's always included a csh.. sun, freebsd, sgi/irix, linux distros. Ubuntu's the first that didn't include a csh!
- The dv2000's onboard ethernet apparently is not gigabit.I then made the mistake of thinking "I'll just get a gigabit PCMCIA card", but when I tried to install it, found the HP dv2000 does not have a PCMCIA slot..! That thing that *looks* like a PCMCIA slot is actually an ExpressCard slot. So no go for PCMCIA on this thing.
So I bought a "TRENDnet TU2-ETG" USB gigabit ethernet dongle (very cheap), which Ubuntu 7.04 automatically recognized as eth2, and was able to easily enable by just running "network-admin" from the command line, assigning it an IP address, and un-checking the onboard eth0 to disable that. After rebooting, the USB gigabit was up and running happily.
- There are continuous complaints on the console and /var/log/messages about:bcm43xx: Error: Microcode "bcm43xx_microcode5.fw" not available or load failed.
Apparently the easy solution for this is to blacklist the module from trying to load, but I haven't bothered. (Update: it is now December 2009, and these messages are still happening, but I've been ignoring them)
- Disappearing mouse.Possibly caused by switching virtual consoles (ctrl-alt-f1, etc), the X server's mouse would sometimes disappear.
When booting into our custom runlevel 3 (x windowless), starting flwm would have no mouse. Sometimes even ubuntu's defaults would do the same. This page seemed to have the fix:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3009
..explaining it as a driver bug caused by the hardware mouse cusor default. By setting the cursor to software, it works around the problem.
Made following ("HWCursor" "off") change to /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Section "Device" Identifier "nVidia Corporation C51 [Geforce 6150 Go]" Driver "nv" BusID "PCI:0:5:0" #ERCO: DISABLE HARDWARE CURSOR -- sometimes disappears! Option "HWCursor" "off" EndSection - X11 enable TCP portTo allow remote X11 access, modified /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf
before: DisallowTCP=true after: DisallowTCP=false - I happened to read this article on slashdot:
Ubuntu May Be Killing Your Laptop's Hard Drive http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/30/1742258Indeed, my system had this problem of an 'over agressive power saving feature", as shown by the HD's "Load_Cycle_Count" increasing at a steady rate:
smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sda | grep Load_Cycle_Count
..so I took those steps to fix it, but forgot to document it properly, but I think it just involved adding 'hdparm -B 255' or some such. Grepping the /etc/ directory, looks like I created these:
--- /etc/acpi/resume.d/99-hdd-spin-fix.sh #!/bin/sh hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda --- /etc/acpi/start.d/99-hdd-spin-fix.sh #!/bin/sh hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda --- /etc/acpi/suspend.d/99-hdd-spin-fix.sh #!/bin/sh hdparm -B 255 /dev/sdaSee also: http://halojetter.blogspot.com/2007/10/ubuntu-not-killing-your-laptops-hard.htmlAlso, I may have disabled laptop power saving mode:
# grep LAPTOP /etc/default/acpi-support ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=false <-- offAll else seems well with Ubuntu 7.04 on the HP Pavilion dv2000 so far. It's been getting heavy use the last month or so.
Useful apt-get commands
A collection of useful apt-get commands.. UBUNTU: APT-GET/DPKG REDHAT: SIMILAR RPM COMMAND
------------------------------- -------------------------------------------
Searching for packages: apt-cache search some_string http://rpmfind.com/, etc
Show Package Info: apt-cache showpkg xxx rpm -qpi /tmp/foo.rpm
Show Package Dependencies: apt-cache depends xxx
Install: apt-get install xxx rpm -ivh /tmp/foo.rpm
Re-Install: apt-get --reinstall install xxx rpm -ivh -force /tmp/foo.rpm
Remove: apt-get remove xxx rpm -e pkgname
Remove everything (configs too): apt-get --purge remove xxx
Upgrade: apt-get -u upgrade
Show upgrades: apt-show-versions -u
Show All Installed Packages: dpkg --list rpm -qa
Find package given filename: apt-file search /bin/ping rpm -qf /bin/ping
Find filenames in a package: apt-file list xxx rpm -ql pkgname, rpm -qpl /tmp/foo.rpm
Updating the apt-file cache: apt-file update
*** SOURCE PACKAGES ***
Getting source packages: apt-get source xxx
Build package: apt-get -b source packagename rpm -ba, rpm-build -ba /tmp/foo.rpm
Building Package Dependencies: apt-get build-dep xxx
