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**slackrat** · Feb 28, 2007, 06:09 PM

Re: So I got it installed... But I still need some help.

heres a link to two excellent books released in the last year, the official ubuntu book, and ubuntu hacks......you'll find them online at this link:

http://www.sirdaz.com/lin/

youll need to get the xchm reader for them though, either thru synaptic , adept or simply, on the console 'sudo apt-get install xhcm'

If its your first time using the apt get pkg manager....be sure to run 'sudo apt-get update' first, the official book is the best starting point, the hacks book for when your feel ready to try some of the recipes in that book. The official book covers kde and gnome.

they will download in a tarred, zipped form, so you have to unzip them with Ark or a similar program. You can them open them with xchm when you have to choose 'Open with....."

Not all that different from zip files and pdfs etc in windows or mac.....

cheers

**mchuskie** · Feb 28, 2007, 06:40 PM

Re: So I got it installed... But I still need some help.

Lots of points to respond to... first of all welcome to the world of Linux!

In what I say below I'm going to be deliberately vague at times, giving pointers to where you might find out more detail (most of the time, that'll be in these forums). Hope it helps...

Originally posted by Ant2ne

What is the best way to run windows apps in my Kubutu enviironment. I'm addicted to the game Ultima Online. And would love to be able to play it in Linux. What is the best way to accomplish this? I read somewhere that debian and ubuntu have some windows app support. Is this true? I then just install the setup.exe as I would in a windows environment? Or will I need Wine?

Short answer: You'll need Wine, but with that installed and set up, you can almost just run setup.exe (in fact, you'll run "wine setup.exe") - the caveat being that Wine is by no means complete, and it in no way guarantees that your programs and games will run. The best way to play Windows games, sadly, remains to be through Windows.

What is the "Device Manager" in linux. I don't know yet Linux has detected all my hardware devices and installed them properly. All I know for sure is that my wireless is not working, and my display settings are not adjustable. Where is the best place to look for these drivers, and how do I install them. My Window's Device Manger lists 1394 Net Adapter, Broadcom 440X 10/100 Integrated Controller, and Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-Card. But without being able to view what IS working in Linux, I cant work on what ISn't. When this card is functional I'll need to join my Window's Workgroup at home. (I don't access it via phyciscal cable. So I'm sure once the wireless is up I'll be posting about "How to" do that. If there are no drivers for these products, who do I beg to create them for me?

As far as I know there's no direct analog of Device Manager in Linux. Note that the Linux model of drivers is quite, quite different to that of Windows - it's a deeper difference than them being called "kernel modules". There are many, many drivers that come as modules for the Kubuntu kernel - and the kernel will automatically load these when it detects hardware that needs them. The downside to this is that, if your kernel doesn't have the right modules or code to support a device, it's likely to be a Quite Difficult Thing to get it working.

You might want to look at KInfoCentre (K menu -> System) which will list lots of hardware information.

As for telling what hardware is working and what isn't - the acid test has to be, "is it doing what it should be doing?" You should have no problems with the wired ethernet connection; wireless is a little more tricky if you're unlucky (you won't even need to search to find other threads about wireless problems).

In terms of your display settings: there are many ways to change them, and once you get a bit more used to Linux you'll have no fears in editing the configuration file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) by hand. Until then - I assume you're trying through System Settings -> Monitor and Display. Make sure you're in administrator mode to make changes (click the button and then give your user password).

My OS sounds (in Linux) come through my speakers fine. But I'm not hearing sound in my Multimedia players. Do programs in Linux access IRQ and other settings directly? Or do they access these devices, like Windows (ie. does Linux use a HAL.) My thinking is, that the OS has detected my sound card and has installed my drivers for it, but the multimedia programs need to be set up somehow. I'm not sure how to attack this problem.

This is going to sound really patronising but have you made sure the volume is up?

Linux sound has for ages been in a bit of a transition period between different HALs (hardware abstraction layers) - terms you might hear bandied around are ALSA, OSS, aRts... Various apps talk to various sound systems, but you shouldn't have any problems especially if you're using the standard KDE apps (Kaffeine, amaroK etc).

Does anyone know if an Intel 64bit cpu version of Linux is in development? If there was a 64bit version, would 32bit programs and apps still work fine? Sure would be cool to have 64bit functionality! That would be another one up on my WinXP Pro!

There is a 64-bit version of Ubuntu - but the general advice seems to be that most people are better off with the 32-bit version, as (as far as I, happily in my 32-bit processor world, am aware

) there are all sorts of little things that won't work on 64-bit - Flash, for example.

I noticed that after installing Kubutu, many of my Windows settings went back to default. WinXP runs fine, just my settings are different, particularly in the way I view files. I think that using GPart forced Win to rebuild my file table, and lost my settings. Not that big of a deal, but interesting. GPart did delete partition, remove some space from my WinXP partition and create 2 partition for my Linux install without damaging my XP data! Very nice!

Trust Windows, eh...!

I noticed that Linux likes my RAM. Windows XP doesn't like to use more than 512K of my 2 gigs before it start page filing even though I still got plenty of ram left. Whereas it seems Kubutu keeps loading ram up into the first Gig I don't have enough Linux programs to find out exactly when it will start page filing. It is only my first day, so I'll test it more in the future. But, why not use the ram? I hate page filing if I don't have to. *thumbs up* for Kubutu.

Empty RAM is wasted RAM, indeed. If you look in KInfoCentre under "Memory", it will show you that much of the RAM usage is for disk cache, which is freed to become application memory as needed.

I swear it seems that Kubutu's web browser surfs a little bit faster. Webpages seem to load faster, and file download quicker. Is it my imagination? Why is this? I can only think that those windows authorizations and phish philters and crap is slowing me down somehow. Too bulky I guess. Any thoughts?

Different browsers perform differently. Some just perform... better than others.

Suggested Online Reading material? I'm too poor to buy a book. I plan to hit the school library but They are Windows Nazis around here.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/ as well as these forums.

Please give me suggestions on what software is good and where I can get it (for free) as I'm a poor college boy. Hyperlinks would be GREAT!

How does over 20,000 packages, fully searchable and all free, sound to you? You have it*, it's called Adept and it lives in your K menu.

(* you might need to enable extra repositories - search the forums for how to do this)

DRIVERS. For the above mentioned Items (and whatever else I'm missing)

See above.

I need Viri, spyware, popup blocker firewall and adware. In Windows I use Avast (great free anti viri), I use Spybot and Windows Firewall. Any suggestions on Linux versions of these programs?

There isn't any spyware for Linux in the wild, likewise adware. Firefox has a built-in popup blocker. Firewall is built-in, and set to be secure by default - if you feel the need to set advanced settings then I recommend firestarter, which you can install through Adept. The only real reason to have anti-virus is to scan files destined for Windows machines - check out clamav.

The multimedia supplied with Kubutu does not play .wmv files. Do I need a different player? (and if so please suggest one) or do I need to update or add on? (Please tell me how)

You need to install the package libxine-extracodecs (I think that's what it's called).

I like to write programs. Particularly ones that help me simplify working on other programs, and help me interface with applications and games the way I want to. I use Windows Visual Basic. What is a Linux version of Visual Basic. I don't realy want to learn another program language right now. (With school and learning a new OS I've got my hands full) So something similar to basic and that uses window like formsplease!

Heh, VB is how I started programming, too. Check out Gambas (again, through Adept). (Then learn C++ :P)

Wow, that was a long post... Hope it helps!

**Ant2ne** · Mar 01, 2007, 05:18 PM

Re: So I got it installed... But I still need some help.

I found this wonderful link to help me install my particular wireless card.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...less+1390+WLAN But I'm not a member on that forum.

I ran though all those steps listed there, and i got this feed back at the end

Code:

     Cell 03 - Address: 00:18:F8:72:0D:16
          ESSID:"Cygne_linksys"
          Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
          Mode:Managed
          Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
          Quality:59/100 Signal level:-58 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
          Encryption key:on
          Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
               24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
               12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
          Extra:bcn_int=100
          Extra:atim=0
          IE: WPA Version 1
            Group Cipher : TKIP
            Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
            Authentication Suites (1) : P

Cygne_linksys is me! So this is definatly a step in the right direction. No this is a WPA no WEP, Wireless Assistant 0.5.5 can't help me! I did the whole Network Manager (KnetworkManager) but it doesn't want to list any wireless networks.

Now what?

UPDATE: Hooody hoo!! I did it! after 5 or so hours, I'am now wireless as I type this. The trick is to NOT EVER EVER EVER load up the Network Settings in the System's Settings and make any changes or ever run teh Wireless assistant!! For some reason, doing this screws up the drivers/modules/config whatever you call it in Linux, and wont let Network Manager change it. Not too bad unless your wireless network uses WPA which the kubuntu Network Settings and Wireless Assistant do not support. When I figured this out I had to redo all steps in the above link, even though the author states that you need to do a complete kubuntu reinstall. I was prepared to do that, but I guess I lucked out.

How can I disable/remove Wireless Assistant, and make it so I can't change network settings via system settings?

My Next goal is to figure out wine, and get Ultima Online working, But FIRST, I'm gonna back up my OS! I don't ever want to have to go though that crap again! This is a good time to learn about Kubuntu's back up system. =)

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So I got it installed... But I still need some help.

So I got it installed... But I still need some help.

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