First get the medibuntu version of ffmpeg (makes more codecs available),but first remove any old ffmpeg,open a terminal and enter.


sudo apt-get remove ffmpeg

then enter.

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

then enter.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

then enter.

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Next Install the dependencies for Handbrake and the gtk gui.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install automake build-essential jam libdvdcss2-dev libtool subversion yasm zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev dvdbackup xmlto texinfo g77 gfortran libgtk2.0-dev nasm doxygen libsdl1.2-dev gfortran-multilib gcc-multilib g++-multilib libesd0-dev libgtk1.2-dev libfftw3-dev electric-fence

Next install and build Handbrake.svn and gtk gui (enter each line seperately,it will take some time to build)...

svn co svn://svn.handbrake.fr/HandBrake/trunk HandBrake

cd HandBrake

./configure

make

sudo make install

cd Handbrake/gtk

./autogen.sh

make

sudo make install

HandBrake should be available from the Applications menu under Sound & Video

One brilliant thing about Linux is that it can be tweaked anyway to suit any kind of a system. If your system is pretty old and if ubuntu is too slow in it, then here you go. LXDE(Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) is a light weight environment that's fast even on antique systems. It is surely not designed to be powerful or bloated but it is light enough to keep the system usage low.


Not all components are integrated but most of them are independent and each of them can be used with a few dependencies.


Here are some of the important LXDE features :


It's lightweight and runs with reasonably low memory usage.
Fast and runs on old machines producced in the '90s.
Gook looking gtk+2 internationalized user interface.
Desktop independent(every component can be used without LXDE)
Standard compliant, follows the specs on freedesktop.org


Installing LXDE in UBUNTU:
This first step is to edit the "/etc/apt/sources.list" file. Add the following lines to the file.(Please make a back up before you do so)

For hardy heron users:
"deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lxde/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/lxde/ubuntu hardy main"

For gutsy gibbon users:
"deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/lxde/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/lxde/ubuntu gutsy main"
Save and exit the file.

Now the source list has to be updated. Open a terminal and type the following command:
sudo apt-get update
Use the following command to install the LXDE environment:
sudo apt-get install lxde


This will install all the required components for LXDE. Now you need to logout from you system. Then go to Options->Select session.

Select the LXDE option and click on Change Session.

This tutorial will explain how to Print CD Labels with GIMP and Canon Pixma iP3000

Preparing your system


If you don't have it, install GIMP trough apt, aptitude, synaptic... whatever you like.

CREATE A PRINTER CLASS

On this part we will create a printer class that will save us time on configuring the printer each time we need to print a CD.

#1 . Open System Configuration and click on "Printers" then "Add Printer".
On the wizard select:

1) Printer Class -> NEXT

2) If you're using TurboPrint (recommended), select tp0 (or the number of your Pixma printer), otherwise select iPxxxx (where xxxx is the model of your printer) and press the arrow (->) on the middle to add the printer to the class. -> NEXT

3) Name now your printer CD_Label_Printer leave location and description blanked. -> NEXT -> FINISH

4) Now you must have another printer on the list named "CD_Label_Printer", click on it to select the printer than the tab "Instances" and with (default) select on the list below, press Configure.

5) Select on the first tab:

Page Size: CD Printable
Paper kind: CD Printable
Paper Origin: CD Tray

leave the rest as is and, if you're using TurboPrint, select the last tab "Controller Configuration", otherwise is done.

If you are using TurboPrint set the Print Quality to 1200 dpi or over (default CUPS driver just has 300 or 600 dpi).

USING GIMP WITH OUR PRINTER

1) Start GIMP and create an image of 800 x 800 pixels with some color background. If need use the bucket and fill the background with some weird color.

2) Create a new layer with transparent background, name it "mask" for an instance.

3) With the new layer selected, choose the circle selection tool and draw and adjust a circle to fill the canvas, then select Selection -> Invert Selection

4) Select the forecolor white and the bucket fill tool and fill the selection with it.

You must now have a "your background" color circle on the middle.
*I added mine as attachment to this post

5) Open your CD label image on GIMP and copy it to clipboard.

6) With background layer selected paste the CD label image.

7) The image must now be a new floating selection, with it selected click on "New layer". Now the image must be rasterized between the background and the mask.

Adjust your image, add text, etc. When you're done press "Print" (CTRL+P)

9) Select your "CD_Label_Printer" and go then the tab "Image Settings"

10) Set the following values:

Check the box "Ignore page margins"

Width: 120.00 mm
Height: 120.00 mm

Position: Center -> none

Top: 85.00
Left: 5.00

Put your CD on the tray and Print it.

Torrentflux-b4rt is a web based transfer control client.Torrentflux-b4rt allows you to control your internet downloads / transfers from anywhere using a highly configurable web based front end.


Torrentflux-b4rt is very easy to install on a web server and includes a simple setup script which can be accessed from a web browser. Just upload the files to your web server, run the setup script and your torrentflux-b4rt installation is ready to go.

First you need to make sure you have install Ubuntu 8.04 LAMP server setup from here and now follow this procedure.

Now you need to go /var/www folder using the following command

cd /var/www

If your behind a proxy and havn't already set up your export...

export http_proxy = [enter your proxy here]:[port]/

wget http://gunblade.fakap.net/doc/torrentflux-b4rt_1.0-beta2.tar.bz2

So far we've gone and got the tar containing torrentflux-b4rt and stuck it in our default web root /var/www.

tar xjvf torrentflux-b4rt_1.0-beta2.tar.bz2

This unzips our archive.

personally I now rename the new folder from torrentflux-b4rt_1.0-beta2 to something a little nicer like torrentflux

mv torrentflux-b4rt_1.0-beta2 torrentflux

but thats optional.

now we need to install quite a few libraries for everything to work nicely.

Now you need to install the following packages

sudo apt-get install php5-cli php5-gd libxml-dom-perl libxml-simple-perl libthreads-shared-perl libdigest-sha1-perl libhtml-parser-perl zip unzip unrar transmission-cli phpmyadmin

let that churn away for a bit then run setup.php from a web browser of your choice from the torrentflux/html folder.

When it gets the part where it asks what user name and password to use for the database, copy the username provided (or enter a new one) open a new tab and go to the phpmyadmin page (http://[your box ip]/phpmyadmin), log in using your root username and pwd and click on privileges. add a new user, give it sufficient privileges and click save.

I just gave it full access to everything. This isn't required and you can just keep flicking between the two tabs trying to connect until you've found the required permissions and it works.

when the setup is finished it'll give you a log in screen. the user and password you enter here is going to be your superadmin account! so don't forget it!

So you want to have a working wireless setup in Hardy and you happen to have a D-Link WUA-2340 Wireless USB adapter.



We will be using ndiswrapper to install the driver for the adapter, so we should ensure all components of it are installed:

sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

Now would be a good time to start to download the driver, grab it from here

Now unzip the file:

cd directory where you downloaded the zip

unzip WUA2340_driver_140.zip

Now we need to setup ndiswrapper to use the driver we just downloaded.

Firstly, we need to get ndiswrapper itself setup properly.

sudo depmod -a

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

sudo ndiswrapper -m

The preceding incantation will load the ndiswrapper module and ensure that it loads automatically at startup. To ensure the module loaded correctly now is a good time to check it:

sudo lsmod | grep ndiswrapper

You should see a couple of lines with 'ndiswrapper' in them, if you don't then the module did not load correctly. It's beyond the scope of this howto to troubleshoot that issue unfortunately.

Now that ndiswrapper is installed and loaded up we need to install the driver.

cd 20071112-WUA-2340-S0026

cd Drivers

cd WinXP_2K

sudo ndiswrapper -i netA5AGU.inf

You may get some output stating that it is changing the registers from 256 to 64, this is not an issue and you can safely ignore it.

Now make sure it installed properly:

sudo ndiswrapper -l

You should see that the driver is installed and the device is present.

Now in a perfect world, you would be done now. However network-manager in hardy will not display any wireless networks for you to connect to. Rest assured your wireless adapter is installed and working, the problem is with network-manager.

There are two ways you can go from here. The first involves setting the wireless network you want to connect to manually (this might be good if you only use your wireless connection at home). The other choice is to replace network-manager with WICD which does work properly with this setup.

The Network Administration Method

* Open System->Administration->Network
* You should see your wireless connection in the list, click the Unlock button to make changes.
* Select your wireless connection and hit the properties button.
* Deselect 'Roaming'
* Select your wireless network from the list and enter in your WPA/WEP information for the card.
* Click ok, and now you have a working wireless connection. Congrats!


Using WICD

For this method we will install WICD which is an alternative to network-manager that has the benefit of, you know, working with this adapter.

Before you start you should know:

Installing WICD will remove network-manager and ubuntu-desktop from your system. This is not an issue for day to day use but ubuntu-desktop MUST be installed for distribution upgrades to work properly (Ie, Hardy->Ibex). Before you dist-upgrade to Ibex, reinstall the ubuntu-desktop package (this will uninstall WICD).

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, lets get going.

We need to add the WICD repository to our sources.list.

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Append the following to the file then Save and close it:

deb http://apt.wicd.net hardy extras

Now update your packages and install WICD:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wicd

You will be prompted if you want to install this package from an unverified repository. If you wish the installation to proceed, type Yes.

Now that WICD is installed type Alt-F2 and then /opt/wicd/tray.py to launch the tray applet. Double-clicking the applet will display a list of all wireless networks in range. Use the dropdown arrow next to your network and enter your encryption key for your network, click connect automatically at start, then click connect. Now you should be connected to your wireless network!

To make the applet load automatically at startup do the following:

* System->Preferences->Sessions
* Click Add
* Enter WICD for the name
* Enter /opt/wicd/tray.py for the command
* Enter WICD Tray Applet for the description.
* Click OK
* Click Close

Step 1: Create a random keyfile

sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/root/keyfile bs=1024 count=4

This will create a file with random content with the size of 4096 bits (better than a 20/30 character password....).


Step 2: Make the keyfile read-only to root

sudo chmod 0400 /root/keyfile

That will make the keyfile readable only by root. If someone get access to this keyfile, then you have a bigger problem on your computer anyway.

Alternatively chown your desired keyfile to root:root and move it into the /root folder.

Step 3: Add the keyfile to LUKS

LUKS/dm_crypt enabled devices may hold up to 10 different keyfiles/passwords. So, next to having the already setup password we're going to add this keyfile as additional authorization method.

sudo cryptsetup luksAddKey /dev/sdX /root/keyfile

sdX is of course your LUKS device.

First you'll be prompted to enter an (existing) password to unlock the drive. If everything works well, you should get an output like this:

Enter any LUKS passphrase:
key slot 0 unlocked.
Command successful.

Step 4: Create a mapper

LUKS devices need to create a mapper that can then be referenced in the fstab. Open /etc/crypttab

sudo nano /etc/crypttab

and add then a line like this

sdX_crypt /dev/sdX /root/keyfile luks

or you can use the UUID of the device

sdX_crypt /dev/disk/by-uuid/247ad289-dbe5-4419-9965-e3cd30f0b080 /root/keyfile luks

sdX_crypt is the name of the mapper that is being created. You can use here any name e.g. "music" or "movies" or "sfdsfawe" ....

Save and close the file by issuing ctrl-x, enter, enter. Ctrl-x closes nano but first it asks to save the file [yes = enter] and what the name shall be [same name = enter].

What we have done there actually is telling that /root/keyfile shall be used instead of password entry to unlock the drive.

Step 5: Mount the device in fstab

Now, we have an unlocked device (well, not yet but when the system is being booted up) and we just need to mount it now. Open /etc/fstab

sudo nano /etc/fstab

and add a new entry like

/dev/mapper/sdX_crypt /media/sdX ext3 defaults 0 2

Make sure you have the correct mapper name that you added in step 4. Also make sure that the mount point/folder exists. After having added it, save again the file and close it (ctrl-x, enter, enter).

Step 6: Reboot or remount

That's it. Now you can reboot and the additional devices should be auto-unlocked and mounted. You can also test it by remounting all devices

sudo mount -a

If you're running out of disk space and you want to quickly see what packages are using the most space on your hard drive, use the following command


dpkg-query --show --showformat='${Package;-50}\t${Installed-Size}\n' | sort -k 2 -n | grep -v deinstall | awk '{printf "%.3f MB \t %s\n", $2/(1024), $1}'

That will sort the packages by size, putting the largest ones on the bottom. If you only want to see the top few, you can type

tail -n 10

at the end, because in all likeliness you have a *lot* of packages installed

NVidia laptop cards come with a feature called PowerMizer that dynamically underclocks the GPU when it's not being used much. This is great for battery power but horrible for performance when using Desktop Effects (compiz). Unfortunately, NVidia does not provide a way to configure PowerMizer on Linux however, it's not difficult to create a script that will give you maximum speed while on AC power and maximum power savings while on battery.


This HOWTO is aimed primarily at users of NVidia 8 and 9 series laptop graphics cards (though, it may be useful for 7 series users as well). This HOWTO assumes you are running compiz and have already properly configured the NVidia proprietary drivers. If you are not using compiz, this guide will not be useful for you.

Implementation

The first thing we will need is a utility called nvidia-settings. If you've installed the NVidia drivers directly from the NVidia website or using envyng, you can skip this step

sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

The nvidia-settings has a unique property that, with essentially no CPU/GPU activity, when you ask the card to print all of its information, it causes the card to go to maximum power. The nvidia card only drops a power level every 30 seconds so, we are going to take advantage these two facts to keep the card at maximum power if we are on AC power.

If you have no custom scripts, follow these instructions first

mkdir -p ~/bin

Then, open up gedit and paste the following script


#!/bin/bash

while true; do
if on_ac_power; then
nice /usr/bin/nvidia-settings -q all > /dev/null
fi
sleep 25;
done

Save the script as ~/bin/nvidia-power.sh. Then, start a terminal and type the following:


chmod +x ~/bin/nvidia-power.sh

~/bin/nvidia-power.sh &

disown

exit

If you are on AC power, the card should now be locked at its maximum power but, if you are on battery power, you should see no difference at all (until you next plug your laptop in).

Next, we will need to add this script to run when you login. On gnome, go to System->Preferences->Sessions, click Add. Add a descriptive name for the startup program (maybe, "NVidia Power") and for Command use, "/home/your_username/bin/nvidia-power.sh" (replace your_username with your username). Now the command should run whenever you login.

Testing

Testing is fairly straightforward. Start a terminal and type:

nvidia-settings

Scroll down to the bottom of the window this command brings up and look on the left side for the PowerMizer option. If your laptop is plugged in, you should see that your graphics card is running at full power. Watch it for a minute (the time it takes for the card to normally drop to lowest power) and make sure it stays at the highest power level. Now, unplug your laptop and wait for another minute. After less than a minute, your card should drop down to minimum power (as long as you keep it idle). Now, plug the cable back in and, in less than 30 seconds, the card should come back to full power and stay there.

The one caveat of this approach is that it can take up to 25 seconds for the card to come back up to full power. There are more complex ways to make the card instantly go to full power when plugged in but, on average, it will be at full power within 12 seconds so, it's probably more hassle than it's worth to use more complex methods.

Source from here

Basically you have a good install of ubuntu and then realise that you want to dual-boot. You don't want to erase ubuntu, so you install windows. Grub then gets erased and there is NO way to get back into ubuntu.


So do the following:

1) Boot off the LiveCD

2) Open a Terminal (Applications-Accessories-Terminal) and type in the following commands, noting that the first command will put you into the grub "prompt", and the next 3 commands will be executed there. Also note that hd0,0 implies the first hard drive and the first partition on that drive, which is where you probably installed grub to during installation. If not, then adjust accordingly.

sudo grub
> root (hd0,0)
> setup (hd0)
> exit

4) Reboot (removing the livecd), and your boot menu should be back.

5) Open the grub file:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

6) Scroll to the bottom and add the following:

title Windows XP
root (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

Note that you should also verify that hd0,0 is the correct location for Windows. If you had installed Windows on the 4th partition on the drive, then you should change it to (hd0,3).

ou want to enable a password less account in Gnome for your family/friends who have access to your computer.

This is different than not typing a password (autologin)


How to - by example

Create a user (system/administration/user and groups)
You can put fancy characters in the real name but not in the username.
You are obliged to enter a password. We will get read of it afterwards.

example:
username: guest
real name: invité (or guest or whatever you want to display in the graphical greeter later on)
profile: desktop user (DO NOT use administrator)
password: password

click ok and close the users and groups tool.

Remove the password for the guest user
open a terminal

sudo passwd -d guest

Authorize login with no passwords in gdm

sudo sed -i 's/#PasswordRequired=false/PasswordRequired=false/' /etc/gdm/gdm.conf

Authorize login with no passwords in pam

sudo sed -i 's/nullok_secure/nullok/' /etc/pam.d/common-auth

You can now log in with your guest user with no password.

If you want a graphical greeter screen, select it in system/administration/login window [local tab] (example: human list)