My Ubuntu Tips

by Alan Zisman (c) 2006, 2009

I'm not a Linux guru, just someone who's pretty comfortable working with Windows and Mac OS X systems who wanted to see to how well I could get Ubuntu Linux up and running as a replacement for those systems. There are some nice things about Linux and about Ubuntu in particular that make it a potentially appealing choice:

• Linux doesn't suffer from the plague of Internet-borne viruses, spyware, and vulnerabilities to hackers that plague Windows systems
• Unlike the (equally secure) Mac OS X, Linux can be installed onto the hardware that most people already have-- standard PCs. Many Linux-capable computers can be purchased cheaply or even obtained for free. For instance, I'm running Ubuntu Linux on a 2001-era HP Omnibook notebook... this Pentium III-800 MHz system cost US$4100 when new; I bought it recently for CDN$250. With 512 MB RAM and a 20 GB hard drive, it runs Ubuntu quite nicely.
• Ubuntu is free and comes with a range of equally free applications such as the OpenOffice.org office suite, The Gimp photo editor, and more. Lots of other free applications and utilities are available for free installation.

However, there are some things about Linux and about Ubuntu in particular that are less appealing to people like me:

• There are a large number of Linux distributions. While on the one hand, that means there are specialized packages for users with different needs (for instance free distributions vs paid distributions for people or organizations more comfortable with a formal support structure), it can be confusing. Moreover, some applications require different versions for different distributions, or are more easily installed in some distributions than others.
• Similarly, there are a multiplicity of potential interfaces; two major desktop interfaces: Gnome (used in the standard Ubuntu package) and KDE (used in the Kubuntu varient) and lots of others. This too is both a good thing and a source of confusion. I chose the standard (Gnome-based) Ubuntu, in part simply because I like the way it looks compared to KDE.
• There may be no Linux drivers for some hardware peripherals, or driver-installation may only be possible with more fussing than many users are comfortable with. When drivers do exist, they may be lacking some of the features of the commercial drivers for Windows or Mac OS X. While Ubuntu's scanner utility recognized the scanner in my HP PSC950 all-in-one, I couldn't actually get it to scan, for instance.
• There's a down-side to Ubuntu's being free and open source. For licensing reasons, it doesn't include software that isn't also free and open source (under the Gnu Public License- GPL). So free software such as Real Player or Adobe Acrobat isn't included. Even though there are Linux versions of these programs, they aren't open source and licensed under the GPL. Users have to download and install them on their own. Out of the box, Ubuntu is somewhat multi-media challenged- though it's getting better!

Tip 1: Get used to the Terminal

Once upon a time, there were no computer graphic user interfaces like Windows or the Mac OS... users very carefully typed commands at a 'command line', and when they pressed Enter, the computer would see if it could interpret what had been typed. An example of this remains in Windows' MS-DOS window.

MS-DOS evolved into MS Windows, and over time, Linux and Unix users have needed to do less and less from their command lines. (Ironically, the Mac operating system, which didn't have an easily-accessible command line interface gained one with its move to the Unix-based OS X). Nevertheless, some things in both Windows and Linux/Unix are more quickly and easily done at the command line, and in Linux especially, you really need to work this way from time to time. Luckily, most of what you may need to do that way (and everything here) will simply involve copying commands that other people with more experience than you (or I) have written out.

In fact, you can even copy from this web page (and others) and paste directly into the command line in order to avoid mistakes-- especially as some of the commands are relatively long.

• When working with the Ubuntu command-line, you access it by starting the Terminal. You'll find this by clicking on Applications, then Accessories, then Terminal. A window will open up with a flashing rectangular cursor awaiting your typed commands.
  
  

• Linux commands are case-sensitive. In other words, capitalization counts. 'ls' is the Unix/Linux command to list  the contents of a directory (i.e. folder). 'LS' won't work, nor will 'Ls'. Similarly, when you refer to file or folder names, you need to use the correct capitalization.

• In most Linux applications (as in most Windows applications), pressing the control key plus the letter 'c' (i.e. Ctrl+C) copies whatever is currently selected to the Clipboard; Ctrl+V pastes the contents of the Clipboard at the cursor. (Mac users use the Command  key for this). To copy/paste in the Terminal, however, you need to hold the Shift  key down alongside the Control  key for these commands. (Or just use Copy or Paste in the Terminal's Edit menu).

• Besides the ls command to list  directory contents, another useful command is cd  which stands for change directory. Your command is applied within the current directory, which is listed to the left of the flashing cursor. It can often be useful to move to a different directory, for instance to run a program which has been downloaded there. Note that nested directory names are separated with the '/' (slash) symbol (as they are in Internet addresses), while in MS-DOS and Windows, the '\' (backslash) symbol is used: so I could:

cd Documents/Pictures/London-Paris2005

to change to the directory that holds the photos of my 2005 trip to London and Paris which is within the Pictures directory which sits within my Documents directory which is within my Home folder where the Terminal automatically opens.

If you have a CD-ROM (or DVD) icon on the desktop and you want to run a program from the Terminal, you'll first need to cd (change directory) to the CD-ROM disc- to do that, type:

cd /media/cdrom0     and then type your command.

• Another handy Unix/Linux command is cp (short for copy). In Tip#5 (below) we'll use the cp command to copy all my trip photos into another directory so that they will appear in the screensaver.
  
•  The final Unix/Linux command that you need to know about is sudo, short for super-user do. Often, you need special administrative permission to do something; in the graphical interface, a window pops up asking for your password. That won't happen at the command line. If you don't have permission to do something (for instance, to copy those photos into the required directory), you'll just get an error message stating you lack permission to do that. The easiest way around that is to proceed your command with the sudo command. (You'll see several examples of that below). The first time you do that, you'll be prompted for your password... once you type that, your command will be authorized to proceed.

Don't worry if you don't feel comfortable at the command line in the Terminal. Following instructions by rote is OK; you don't have to understand what you're doing.



Tip 2: Use Ubuntu's built in tools to add software

Windows users are used to either buying boxed packages of software, Googling to find sites to download software, going to sites like www.mozilla.org or www.openoffice.org to download programs like Firefox or OpenOffice, or going to download sites like download.com or versiontracker.com. Ubuntu users can (generally) avoid doing any of those things- and avoid awkward installations by using tools built into Ubuntu to get and install software.

One of useful additions in the System tab of EasyUbuntu is to add to the Repository list. This adds to the sources of software Ubuntu uses for its handy Add/Remove Applications menu item. This is the easiest way to add software, as it installs it and automatically adds an icon to the Applications menu.

By default, the handy Add/Remove Applications item shows you "Canonical-maintained Applications". You can expand the set of applications by changing that to All Applications in the entry near the top.





Some that I typically add:

• Abiword is a quick and easy-to-use word processor with support for Microsoft *.DOC and Word Perfect formats.
• Real Player plays a variety of music and video files and Internet radio
• aMSN is an MSN Messenger clone (note that you probably already have the multi-format GAIM instant messenger program installed, but MSN fans will be more comfortable with aMSN).
• gFTP is an easy-to-use program for connecting to ftp Internet servers
• Adobe Reader (although another PDF viewer is already installed)
• WINE Windows Emulator allows the running of some Windows applications within Linux.
• Kompozer is a web authoring system. (I'm using it right now for creating this page).
• Audacity is a multi-track sound recorder and editor
• Banshee and Anorak are music organizers and players
• Thunderbird email application (in place of the default Evolution program)

When you click Apply or OK, your programs are downloaded and installed. Afterwards, you get a confirmation of the programs installed and the location of their icons. What could be easier?

Some items may not appear in the Add-Remove item; instead, try the Synaptic Package Manager - click System, then Administration, then Synaptic Package Manager. You'll be prompted for your password. Use its search function.



You can scroll down the list of hits, to see a description for any you have questions about.

When you find what you're looking for, click on the box beside the package name- Mark for Installation will pop up. You can click on items from multiple sources, installing them all at once by clicking on Add.

I typically search for 'Flash' and then choose the flashplugin-nonfree and adobe-flashplugin packages. Then I search for 'restricted' and select ubuntu-restricted extras and linuix-restricted modules.

The VLC media player is also worth installing...

Searching for 'microsoft', I select the msttcorefonts item. And searching for 'wine' let me add wine- useful for running some Windows programs in Ubuntu.


Tip 3: Stumped with an installation?

I learned this one the hard way. Besides the many programs listed in Ubuntu's easy to use Add-Remove option, a number of other sources are now also coming out with Linux versions of some of their free programs. For instance, Google now has Linux versions of its outstanding Google Earth: (http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html) and its Picasa photo album software: (http://picasa.google.com/linux/).

The Picasa download page offers a *.deb file for Debian/Ubuntu which works without problem. Double-clicking it opens a 'Package Installer' that (after typing your password) installs the program and adds an icon to the appropriate (Graphics) Applications Menu item.

In contrast. however, double-clicking the downloaded GoogleEarthLinux.bin doesn't do anything useful. The file tries to load in the gedit text editor, and fails... it's not a text document!

Instead... I open my Home folder (clicking on Places, then Home Folder) and drag the downloaded GoogleEarthLinux.bin file from my Desktop into that folder. Then I open a Terminal window, which by default opens in my Home Folder. Typing the file name at the command line also fails to run it... it just gives a 'command not found' error message.

Moreover, typing "./GoogleEarthLinux.bin" (without the quotation marks) gets me one step closer... instead, the error message reads 'Permission denied'.

Try this (thanks to reader Justin): "right click on the downloaded Google Earth installation file, select the properties tab and click the "Execute" Checkbox." After that, you can type the command "./GoogleEarthLinux.bin" in the terminal

The program uncompresses and starts to run an installer... you're asked to confirm an install-path (location for the program) and (optional) location for a 'symbolic link' (the equivalent of a Windows shortcut or Mac alias). I added /Desktop to the end of the symbolic link path to put the link on the Desktop. (Note that the capital-D is needed in /Desktop- Linux is case-sensitive- it read: /home/azisman/Desktop).



Note the importance of the './' in front of the program name when typing the name in a Terminal window... no, I don't know why it matters, but it does! In similar fashion, I downloaded the free VMWare Server application (and uncompressing the archive)... there's an install file named vmware-install.pl but simply typing its name in the Terminal window gets a command not found error message. Typing ./vmware-install.pl does the trick and starts the installation.



Tip 4: Add your own photos to the slideshow screensaver

It's easy to set the default screen saver... click System then Preferences then Screensaver. And there's a large list of screen savers to choose from. My favourite displays your favorite photos. To do this, it makes use of the F-spot photo manager, installed as part of the default Ubuntu package.

In order to make use of it, though, you need to first open F-Spot (in the Graphics applications menu), add some photos to its library, and mark them as Favorites... then when you choose the F-Spot screen saver, it will display your whatever you've chosen as favorites.






Lots more information...

I've posted another page on installing and configuring Ubuntu, based on what I did (32 times!) in my elementary school computer lab...

There is a very active community of Ubuntu users committed to helping each other. Perhaps the best collection of tips can be found at the Ubuntuguide: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Main_Page. There, you'll find links for tips on most of the issue that may confront Ubuntu users, with pages for Ubuntu versions from 5.10 on up in multiple languages. Bookmark the page for the Ubuntu version you're using and check there first!

Note: A nice discussion on adding media support to Ubuntu 7.04 by ZDNet columnist Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=526&tag=nl.e622

The Wired Magazine article on optimizing Ubuntu at: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Optimize_A_Fresh_Ubuntu_Installation has some useful suggestions.

For older versions of Ubuntu, I've found the hints at: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper useful.

Struggling with getting my desired video resolution (again, not a problem for me with current Ubuntu versions), I found the Ubuntu Dapper Installation Guide a big help.


- last updated: April 26, 2009