SliTaz -- 25 MB Live Distro.

I decided to try SliTaz the 25 MB Live Linux wonder. The beauty of SliTaz is in its rootfs.gz file which is compressed using LZMA compression. As per the Documentation the file can be extracted using lzma and cpio with following command:
# lzma d rootfs.gz -so | cpio -id

I mounted the iso and tried the above command in Ubuntu Hardy. Although, lzma and cpio are installed, it did not work. I decided to boot into SliTaz Live environment. I mounted the iso and copied the contents to a spare partition. Following grub line was available in /boot/grub/example-menu.lst file:

title SliTaz GNU/Linux
kernel /boot/bzImage root=/dev/null vga=771
initrd /boot/rootfs.gz

I added root (hd0,X) line and could but in Live Slitaz.Using the above command (# lzma d rootfs.gz -so | cpio -id) I could extract the rootfs.gz file. I copied contents to the root of the partition and changed the gub entry to:

title SliTaz GNU/Linux 1.0
root(hd0,X)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24.2-slitaz root=/dev/hdaX+1 vga=normal

This became Hard Disc install of SliTaz.

I find SliTaz very fast for web browsing.

Slim Ubuntu Desktops.

I am Ubuntu user since version 5.04 and it use to run on Gnome Desktop on 128 MB RAM comfortably. When Dapper Drake arrived I could install it but I had to add RAM to use it. I added 256 MB. Then the Laptop Display was broken and I converted the Laptop into Desktop by connecting an external monitor. This reduced available RAM to 312 MB.

I installed Gutsy and could use enhanced Desktop effects but it was very slow. I added KDE 4 also just to see what is coming but it was slow. For daily tasks I added Fluxbox. Then I saw LXDE thread and added LXDE. Since then I was using LXDE and liked it very much.

For Hardy Heron I decided to do Cli install and add Window Managers one by one. Initially I added openbox and fbpanel. Then I tried to install lxde meta package but it failed to install due to unmet dependencies. I checked the dependencies and could not find 3 packages in Ubuntu repositories. I downloaded these packages from Debian and installed through dpkg. Finally I could install LXDE Desktop.

Initially, I did not install any Login Manager and was using startx command after console login.

Today I discovered slim login manager and installed it. On Login Screen I could select the session by pressing F1 key. The first option was XFCE which I had not installed. After pressing F1 again the second option was openbox and I could login to openbox. Third option was IceWM, so I installed IceWM and could login to IceWM session.

I searched for "slim" files and got /etc/slim.conf file. In the section "Available sessions" I changed "xfce4-session" to "lxsession" which also became the default session.

Now I could login to LXDE Desktop. Then I thought that I should add all light weight WMs to the sessions and downloaded Fluxbox and JWM and replaced "wmaker" and "blackbox" with "jwm" and "fluxbox".

I really like these "Slim Ubuntu Desktops" and slim login manager.
LXDE
openbox
IceWM
Fluxbox
JWM

Rediscovering Mandriva with 2008 edition.

I began my tryst with linux by installing Mandrake Linux 9.1 on my then brand new Laptop in Sep 2004. In July 2005 I shifted to Ubuntu 5.04. Since then I have been an Ubuntu lover.

My love for Ubuntu is slowly fading with the RAM requirement going up with new versions. When I saw Mandriva 2008 DVD with Linux for you magazine I decided to give it a try.

I don't have DVD drive in the laptop, even the CD drive does not work. I install new versions of Ubuntu directly from iso. I have spare 1 GB partition to copy the contents of the iso. I converted Mandriva DVD into iso on another machine and copied it to my Laptop by connecting the two machines. I had to increase the spare partition to 4.5 GB since DVD is much bigger then a CD.

After reading the README and install.txt files I discovered that I had to go to this page to get the lines to write in menu.lst file of Grub boot loader. After entering the partition # on which i had copied the contents of the DVD I got the following lines:

title Mandrake Install
root (hd0,3)
kernel /i586/isolinux/alt0/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=128000 root=/dev/ram3 acpi=ht vga=788 automatic=method:disk,partition=hda4,directory=/i586
initrd /i586/isolinux/alt0/all.rdz

I copied the above lines at the end of /boot/grub/menu.lst file. On reboot I scrolled at the end of Grub menu and clicked on the line "Mandrake Install". The installation began.

Since I did not want KDE or Gnome I looked at other option which was Icewm. I decided to see what happens if I don't select any desktop environment. I was surprised to find that even then X window system was being installed. The installation was smooth. The Grub boot loader detected Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04 installations on the machine correctly.

After reboot I logged in the command line and entered startx command. The X window system started and I got into Window Maker. There was no panel but I got a Menu on right click. In the Menu there was an optopn to start IceWM session. I selected it and I got the bottom panel and blue Mandriva wallpaper. I checked the memory usage by clicking on xterm and got the following:

$ free -m
total used free
Mem 312 91 221
buffers/cache 35 277

This means Mandriva 2008 with IceWM is suitable for 128 MB machine and the memory required is less then what I got on Ubuntu Cli and LXDE desktop.

Just out of curiosity, I installed XFCE and created .xinitrc file with following lines to boot into it on startx command:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

exec startxfce4

I got following figures on XFCE:

$ free -m
total used free
Mem 312 136 176
buffers/cache 58 253

I think XFCE may also work on 128 MB RAM but IceWM is preferable to have more memory for the applications to run.

Usability of Ubuntu on 128 MB RAM PC.

Earlier I have posted about LXDE the new light weight Desktop Environment on this blog.

I decided to install it on Ubuntu command line system to really see how light. After installing Ubuntu Cli through Hardy Heron alternate CD and adding xorg xterm and testing the X window system working properly I added the repositories as per the previous post and tried to install lxde.

Initially lxde failed to install due to unmet dependencies. I discovered that required dependencies were not available in Hardy repositories. I downloaded the following packages from Debian and installed them through dpkg:

libnetpbm10_10.0-11.1+etch1_i386.deb
netpbm_10.0-11.1+etch1_i386.deb
xscreensaver_5.04-2_i386.deb

Finally I could install lxde.

There is a big difference in memory usage compared to LXDE on full Ubuntu install and login through GDM.

Memory usage full Ubuntu install & login through GDM:
Total used free
Mem: 312 255 56
buffers/cache 74 237

Memory usage Ubuntu Cli and using startx:
Total used free
Mem: 312 166 146
buffers/cache 44 268

Note: Memory figures are on the desktop with xterm only running.

I recommend it to all Ubuntu LXDE users.

Using Damn Small Linux on Pentium 200 MHZ 32 MB RAM

My 4 years old Laptop was getting heated up and ACPI was shutting it down at 72 degC. I have given it to my friend for opening and cleaning. Now I am forced to use the old Desktop bought in 1998. The specifications are Pentium I MMX 200 MHZ 32 MB RAM. I am using Damn Small Linux from live CD and Firefox Browser. I have to wait after clicking on Firefox icon, then I have to wait for loading of the web page. Once loaded, I can work quickly, like I am typing this on blogger.com at normal speed.

I have Broadband connection but web page loads slowly because of memory limitation on this PC. I am trying to enjoy the slowness, particularly, the gmail and other Google Applications which have become necessary part of my online life.

I am Linux Geek.

After using Linux for 4 years, I think that I am a Linux Geek.

Proof: After struggling with Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron, I concluded that I can report a Bug in Xorg 7.3 and submitted it on freedesktop.org.

Original Specifications of my Laptop:
HP COMPAQ Presario 2500 series Laptop, Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz, CDRom, 30 GB HDD, 128 MB RAM, Mandrake Linux 9.1 Tailor made CDs with multimedia codecs and Linuxant internal free modem driver (14.4 Kbps), Radeon IGP 330M/340M/350M video card, Ethernet Card.

Bought in July 2004. Original Mandrake Linux 9.1 worked very well. Then I started using Ubuntu 5.04.

Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake could be installed but was slow, therefore, I added 256 MB RAM to make it 384 MB total. With this RAM it is just suitable for today's Ubuntu. I have started using LXDE to make it faster.

Hardware Changes and Laptop turned into Desktop:
Original HDD replaced by 40 GB HDD, CDRom does not work, LCD screen is broken. I have hooked up external COMPAQ V45 monitor and using it as a Desktop.

Since CDRom does not function I install from ISO.

Difficulty in installing Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron
I have installed from alternate ISO but the new Xorg 7.3 fails to show anything on the external monitor. I can see GDM login screen through broken patches on LCD screen, blindly enter my userid and password, hear the Gnome welcome music and get satisfaction that Hardy is installed.

I can see the console by pressing Ctrl Alt F1, login and try xrandr but could not make X work.

I went to Bugzilla and found a Bug in Xorg for my video card. I have also submitted a bug report.

Till the bug gets resolved using Ubuntu 7.10 with LXDE.

LXDE 0.3 - Lightweight and Fast Desktop Environment on Ubuntu.

Today I read about LXDE 0.3 - Lightweight and Fast Desktop Environment on Ubuntuforums and decided to install it on Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon.

I added the repository to Ubuntu sources list:
deb http://people.linux.org.tw/~pcman/ubuntu ./

then installed with apt-get
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lxde

apt-get automatically installed all dependencies including openbox and PCMAN File Manager.

After the installation, I could login to LXDE by choosing it from gdm.

It is beautiful DE with all Menu built automatically. See the sreenshot below:

Ubuntu KDE4 Desktop Widgets

I installed KDE4 Desktop on Ubuntu 7.10 as follows:
Added the repository:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu gutsy main

updated:
sudo apt-get update

installed:
sudo apt-get install kde4-core

Then I checked the available widgets in add widget dialog. There are very few.

I searched on Google "Get more widgets KDE4" and found this site.

Installed the following package:
sudo apt-get install extragear-plasma

Now see my KDE4 desktop with some of the widgets running:

There is comic strip widget at the top.
Below that there are two more:
Picture frame on left in which sideshow is running and
Dictionary.

File transfer between two machines running Ubuntu and using ssh.

I had successfully transferred a file from Windows machine to the one running Ubuntu through Samba but had no experience of a transfer between two Ubuntu machines.

I have an old desktop with 32 MB RAM on which Win98, Ubuntu server and Puppy Linux are installed. The CD drive on this machine still works. There is no USB port on this machine.

I have 3 years old Laptop on which the CD drive is not working and I don't intend to replace it.

Yesterday I was required to use some folders and files from a CD and decided to make an iso of the entire CD on the old desktop and transfer it to the Laptop by connecting the two machines.

For transferring the file I decided to use SSH, therefore I downloaded openssh-server on the desktop and installed it.

I made the iso using the dd command:
dd if=/dev/cdrom of=file.iso

I opened a Terminal on the Laptop and logged into the desktop through the command:
ssh desktopuser@ip_of_desktop

After confirming blah blah about RSA key etc I was asked the password and the terminal user changed as the desktopuser@desktop_host_name

I tried to transfer the file through scp command
scp file.iso laptopuser@ip_of_laptop:/home/laptopuser/

But found that the port 22 on the Laptop was closed.

I used the following command to see what was listening on the Laptop ports:
netstat -an | grep "LISTEN "

Although I was logged in from the Laptop to the Desktop no daemon was listening on port 22. I also changed the ssh client to openssh-client on the Laptop but could not make it listen on port 22.

I searched on Google but could not find any satisfactory solution.

Finally I decided to install openssh-server on the Laptop as well.

With openssh-server running on both the machine I could transfer the file that too after the server on the Laptop asked the password of the laptopuser.

Slax is very fast.

I love Puppy Linux because of its speed but Slax is equally fast and it has KDE desktop.

Today I downloaded the latest updated version Slax 6.0.1 which has fixed many bugs in Slax 6.0 which was launched on 13th Feb 2008.

I keep a spare 1 GB partition on my hard disc where I copy the iso and modify /boot/grub/menu.lst file to boot directly from the iso without burning CD.

First I create a "install_cd" directory in /tmp and mount the iso on it by the following commands:

mkdir /tmp/install_cd
mount slax-6.0.1.iso -o loop /tmp/install_cd

Then I copy the contents of the iso on /media/hda8 (hda8 is 1 GB partition formatted in ext3) by following command:

cp -r /tmp/install_cd/* /media/hda8

Then I edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to add the following line:

title Slax 6.0.7
root (hd0,7)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=6666 rw changes=/dev/hdd8
initrd /boot/initrd.gz

"changes=/dev/hda8" is the cheatcode for saving configurations since Slax is a Live CD distribution which is loaded into RAM.

After rebooting I could run Slax.

After setting up the Network connection (Slax sets up automatically if it is dhcp but mine is static ip) I went to Slax site and downloaded Firefox module from this page.

After downloading I copied the module to /mnt/hda8/slax/modules so that it is available permanently.

Then I activated the module through Slax Module Manager. It is really very neat.

I have also changed time zone removed many keyboard layouts which are not required added Hindi (IN) Keyboard and installed additional fonts through KDE Control Centre.

It is an excellent distribution and very fast since it runs from RAM.

Installing Ubuntu 7.10 on 128 MB RAM PC from Desktop CD

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon Desktop (Live) CD does not run on 128 MB RAM machine but it has a boot option "only-ubiquity" for installation on Low RAM machines. I decided to install Ubuntu on 128 MB RAM desktop PC using this option.

Booting Ubuntu Live CD on low RAM machine also requires SWAP partition, therefore, I booted with Puppy Linux Live CD and created 512 MB Linux SWAP partition using Gparted. (The same could be done with Gparted Live CD or any other Linux Live CD which can boot on 128 MB RAM and has Gparted).

Then I inserted Ubuntu 7.10 Live CD and pressed "Esc" key to get the "boot:" prompt. I used the following command:

boot: live only-ubiquity

After waiting for a few minutes the first screen of Ubiquity installer was in front of me on default Ubuntu background. I did the selections on each step and chose the "Manual" partitioning method. I selected the / partition and proceeded to install.

Ubiquity took 3 hours but I could successfully install Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon on the machine.

Kamalakar

First impression of Fluxbuntu 7.10.

After waiting for one month (since RC release) I downloaded RC iso of Fluxbuntu 7.10 Gutsy. As expected the CD was not booting from the cdrom drive (there is a bug). I copied the iso on a spare partition and used the method to install from iso given here

I added Firefox but it was not added to Menu even after "sudo update-menus", howver, I could put Fireox icon on the Desktop linking it to the application.

My first observation is "it is not very lighweight" distribution. In fact it is heavier than running Fluxbox on Ubuntu Dapper. Perhaps that is the reason why it is not reaching the "Final" release stage.

kagashe

Getting Enlightened on Linux

Apart from Blogger, Gmail, iGoogle I use almost every Google Application like Google Documents, Google Maps, Google Calender etc., therefore, I was thrilled to see the above Desktop image of gOS.
I downloaded the iso, burnt CD and tried it Live and was very much impressed with newE17 Enlightenment Desktop and installed it to Hard Disc. Immediately after installation, I wanted to replace the Facebook icon with Orkut and Meebo icon with Gaim (or now called PIDGIN) but I was afraid that the attempt may mess up something.

I remembered that I had tried to fiddle with E16 version of this Desktop on Dapper Drake and did not like it. I removed E16 and tried to add gOS desktop to Ubuntu Dapper from gOS repositories but it refused to install due to broken dependencies because the package was meant for Ubuntu Gutsy which I have not installed. After searching a little more, I found the repositories containing E17 Desktop for Ubuntu Dapper.
I installed the Desktop and started to configure. I found some new terms like shelf, pager, ibar and ibox. Then I remembered the recent article posted on Linux.com in which the author has mentioned these terms and what they do. I could configure the Desktop within a few minutes using GUI tools and the screenshot is below:


The wallpaper was available in the system somewhere and I changed the default wallpaper. Look at the boxes at the bottom. The whole rectangular shape is called "shelf" which can be put on any side of the Desktop (aligned Left, Right or Center). The first yellow icon (after the cock's image) is the Start button. The 4 boxes next to it are the 4 Desktops (or workspaces) available in Ubuntu The space containing them is called "pager". The next box called "ibar" contains the icons of Firefox, Abiword, Evolution, GAIM, Gnumeric Spreadsheet have been inserted by me, then there are 2 applets (Temperature and Clock), the next box called ibox contains running minimized applications (Freecell, Rhythmbox, Home Folder, Terminal).

I am very happy to see that I can customize the Desktop on E17 with GUI tools provided and any user can do it and get enlightened.

I forgot to add you can have one shelf in each corner and fully customize it like on the green gOS desktop there is another shelf on right (middle aligned) with Network and Clock applet.

I could add the orkut icon to the ibar after setting it to open my orkut account and I am adding the sreenshot below. The orkut icon is next to gmail icon.

Running Linux on Pentium MMX 200 MHz, 32 MB RAM

Hi,

I have an old desktop with Pentium MMX 200 MHz 32 MB RAM. It has Windows 98 since it was bought. Ubuntu is my favorite distribution so I installed it first in dual boot with JWM window manager. Here is my post describing Ubuntu installation on this machine.

Later on I tried Damn Small Linux and did a frugal install. I added Opera from mydsl and found that it was faster compared to Opera on Ubuntu with JWM.

Then I fiddled with the sound card and found that it was Yamaha OPL3-SAx. I searched on many Linux forums including Ubuntuforums and learnt that I required alsaconf to configure it. I remembered that Puppy Linux Live CD had this utility.

I inserted Puppy Live CD and could configure the sound card without inputting any DMA or IRQ numbers by using alsaconf. I could test the sound through alsaconf at the end of the configuration.

Then I decided to play an audio CD and discovered that I could remove Puppy Live CD (although I had only 32 MB RAM) and insert and play the audio CD in the same drive. Amazing!

I also configured my network connection and saved all configurations on the hard disc at the end of the session.

Now whenever I insert Puppy Live CD the saved sound card and network configurations work. There is no need to do hard disc install.

I am looking for suitable Opera version for Puppy like I have in mydsl.

How to write to Windows NTFS partition from Ubuntu Feisty.

After you install Ubuntu in dual boot with windows it is necessary to have Read/Write access to your old files on NTFS partition. When you install Feisty, it mounts your NTFS partitions Read only. Here is how to get write access to the partition.

Click on Applications/Add-remove.
Type NTFS in the search box and select all available applications in show box.

You will find NTFS Configuration Tool, select it to install and click apply.

After the utility is installed click on Applications/System Tools/NTFS Configuration Tool.
Check the required boxes and click ok.

kagashe

Installing Ubuntu Feisty using Windows Bootloader

Hi,

One of my friend wanted to install Ubuntu Feisty on his office desktop without installing Grub on MBR and instead use Windows Bootloader to boot into Windows or Ubuntu. I checked on Illustrated Dual Boot Site and decided to use Wingrub to accomplish this.

I edited the BIOS settings to make first boot device as "floppy".

I used alternate install CD to install Ubuntu and when the installation asked "Install the GRUB boot loader to the master boot record?" I selected "No". On next screen I typed "(fd0)" and inserted a floppy to install Grub on floppy.

On rebooting I could boot into Ubuntu since the floppy was inside the drive. The installation was perfect. I commented the "savedefault" line in /boot/grub/menu.lst as suggested on Wingrub page.

Then I removed the floppy and rebooted into Windows and followed the instructions on Wingrub page which I am reproducing below:
To relax the security attributes for the boot.ini file:
1) Click Start
2) Click Run
3) Type CMD in the run box
Open: CMD
4) Click the 'OK' button

Type cd \ (to go to root directory)
Type attrib -s -h -r boot.ini (so that you can see boot.ini file which is hidden)
Open the file boot.ini file and add the following line:
C:\GRLDR="Start Grub" (This will add "Start Grub" line to Windows Bootloader.

Then I downloaded WINGRB0206.EXE from sourceforge

I double-clicked on the installer's icon and received a window titled 'WinGrub 0.02 Build 6 Setup: Installation Options'.

The options are, 'Type of install:' ('Full', 'Normal', 'Minimum', or 'Custom').
I left the spinbox set to 'Full' for mine.

Right under that spinbox are: 'WinGrub GUI', 'Stage Files', Create shortcut', and Create Desktop Icon'.
The first three checkboxes were already checked, and I also added a tick mark to the fourth checkbox, to have the installer create a desktop icon for me.
I guess that makes it a 'custom' install. The spinbox resets to 'custom'. Okay.
Next>

The next Window is to tell me where WinGrub wants to be installed, or allow me to browse for an alternative location if the default location isn't suitable for me. I just clicked 'Install'.
Install

As quick as a flash, a new Windows appeared and a blue progress bar zipped across it, a new icon appeared on my desktop, and WinGrub was installed.

That was simple wasn't it? :)

Now I see a nice new icon has been added to my Desktop.

Now I double-click the WinGrub icon on my Desktop, and a Window titled 'Base Setup' opens.

The 'Base Setup' Window has a field with a big empty space in the middle titled 'Choose Drive'.

In my computer there is one line in the top of that space. It says, 'C-Free:7300M, Total: 13548M'
I selected that line with my mouse.
I imagine in some computers there might be a list of partitions you could install WinGrub in, but I only have one.
I clicked 'Ok'.

The next Windows opens, it's called 'WinGrub -C:\Grub\
The big square in this one is titled 'General Options'.
I clicked the 'Profiles' spinbox and down came a list of options, 'sample', 'default', 'netboot', and 'dskboot'.
I selected the last one, 'dskboot'.

Below the 'General Options' rectangle in the same Window there is a box called 'Menu table', in which the lower left field has just changed to show some terms I'm familiar with.

I clicked on the top line, '', and this caused some output to appear in the right-hand side fields.
The top field, called 'title', now has 'load /boot/grub/menu.lst' printed in it.
Right under that in the next field, I see' find --set-root /boot/grub/menu.lst
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst

Finally, back up in the upper rectangle, just to the right of the 'Profiles' spinbox, which is set to 'dskboot', there's a 'save' button. It doesn't have 'save' written on it anywhere, but I can tell what it's for by the icon. I clicked that.

In the 'Base Setup' window again I clicked 'tools'-->'install Grub',
and in the 'Install Grub' Window I saw system drive 'C' was pre-selected.
I clicked on the radio button for BOOT.INI
and hit the 'Install' button at the bottom middle of that window.

Then, I closed the WinGrub Setup and rebooted my computer.

Windows Bootloader provided the following options:
Please select the operating system to start:


Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Start Grub

When I clicked on "Start Grub" I could boot into Ubuntu.

Now suppose my friend wants to remove Ubuntu from the machine he could simply remove the "Start Grub" option from boot.ini file after deleting the Linux partitions.

kagashe

Downloading Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty on Windows XP using BitTorrent

Hi,

It is long long time since I posted on this blog because I was not having regular access to Internet. I reached my daughter's home and she has a desktop with 24 hours cable internet connection. Although it has Xubuntu 6.06 in dual boot with Windows XP the Linux is not in use due to 128MB not being sufficient for adequate speed on Xubuntu. Moreover, the desktop is used by all family members so the default OS is Windows XP.

Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty was released on April 19th 2007 and I wanted to download it ASAP. I decided to have the experience of downloading through BitTorrent. There are many sites offering Bittorrent clients for Windows. I decided to download the original Bittorrent client. In order to use Bittorent you need the link to the torrent file of the iso which is a small file (27 K).

I had to modify the Windows XP firewall settings for the Network Connection to allow access to port nos 6881 to 6889 for which instructions were available on this site.

I entered the URL of the torrent file in BitTorrent by clicking on Add button. I was asked where to save the downloaded ISO on the hard disc and the download began. Since it was day 1 there were more people asking for the file than those sharing theirs (called seeds). My max download speed was limited by the ISP (could reach 12 KB/s only). In spite of such low download speed the PC was uploading at 3 KB/s and surfing was not possible. After trying for a few hours I decided to pause the download for one or two days. On April 20th I found that 98% machines were seed and it was possible to download and also surf on the desktop. It took more than a day to download the ISO.

kagashe

Sound problems in Ubuntu 5.10

Recently I installed Skype and my tryst with "sound recording" in Ubuntu Breezy began. I searched on Ubuntu forum and did the following settings as suggested on one of the posts:

System>Preferences>Sound
Uncheck Enable Sound Server Startup
System>Preferences>Multimedia System Selector
Set Default Sink to OSS Open Sound System
Set Default Source to OSS Open Sound System

I could not record sound from the external microphone.

I read number of posts in many threads with no result.

Then I went to Skype Forum and serched for "Ubuntu" and found an excellent advice:

For testing your audio-setup, I suggest you to use
aplay -D default test.wav
arecord -D default testrec.wav

"aplay" and "arecord" are ALSA command line utilities. The first command did not play anything since there was no "test.wav" file.

But I could record from the microphone after using "arecord" command. Then I played the recording:

aplay -D default testrec.wav

Then I found that I could also record from the "Sound Recorder" of Gnome.

After fiddling with some other "Sound and Video" programs I found that I could not record the sound once again. I restarted the PC and could record once again.

I found one excellent post Unofficial Skype + Linux Sound FAQ on Skype Forum.

Hope it helps some people.

Resizing NTFS partition on Windows XP

Hi,

When I installed Ubuntu in dual boot with Windows XP on my daughter's desktop I could resize the partitions since it had FAT32 partitions.

Recently I installed Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy on another desktop which had 80 GB SATA hard drive. The administrative tools in Windows XP did not allow me to resize the NTFS partition (c:/ drive size 45 GB). But I was sure that Ubuntu installation CD could do this.

So I put the install CD and booted (after changing boot options in BIOS). At manual partitioning stage I resized the partition to 20 GB. Just as a curiosity I aborted rest of the installation process and rebooted in Windows XP.

I was able to see the unused space but there were 3 primary partitions (all NTFS) so I could not create the fourth one. I copied the contents of drive D: temporarily on C: and deleted the partition (drive d:). Then I created three extended partitions in FAT32. (Windows XP allows no of extended partitions). I named one partition as D: and copied the data back from C:

I had created another 2 FAT32 partitions one of 9 GB (for linux /) and another of 600 MB (for SWAP).

I rebooted putting Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy install CD and installed the operating system using the two FAT32 partitions (changing them to Linux partitions).

The GRUB boot menu boots in Ubuntu if you don't select Windows XP. I modified the menu.lst file in /boot/grub and brought Windows XP on top of the list since the user wanted the machine to boot in Windows by default.

I am now more confident of installing Ubuntu Linux in dual boot with Windows XP on an existing system.

kagashe

Upgrading Ubuntu to the new release.

Hi,

I received free CDs of Ubuntu Breezy Badger 5.10 recently. So I wanted to upgrade from Ubuntu Hoary Hedgehog 5.04 to the new version. After reading many posts on Ubuntuforums I decided not to do an "upgrade" but go for a new install of Breezy.

When you do a fresh install you need to reformat the partition. So how about your /home folder (containing personal files)? It is best to have /home on separate partition. If you don't have it create it, mount it and copy the required files or everything on /home.

Since I started my Linux journey with Mandriva my /home already existed on separate partition (Mandriva does it by default). When I installed Ubuntu 5.04 I used it during the installation.

I put the install CD and installed Breezy on the partition which had Hoary. I created the same userid (which I had on Hoary) and I could login to Breezy without any problem.

But I realised very soon that there was some mistake. After posting on Ubuntuforums and reading a couple of posts I found the problem. My /home contained the config files (in hidden folders/files) from Hoary and Breezy was trying to use them.

I did a fresh install after deleting most of the hidden folders/files. Before deleting .mozilla I saved my bookmarks. I did not delete .evolution (mail client) and .gaim (Instant Messenger) which were suppossed to work (and they did).

That is how I upgraded my Ubuntu Linux to the new version.

kagashe