Announcement

**kubicle** · Dec 31, 2005, 03:42 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

Hmm...I'll try to answer some of the questions you have:

1. Kubuntu has a pretty good hardware support, so chances are they'll work (though you might need some configuration), but to be sure you should first try the LiveCD to see how it detects your most exotic hw. The LiveCD is a good way to get the feel of the system...especially if you're planning to wipe your XP installation. Remember there are already updates available for the LiveCD (and for the install CD) so they are not completely up to date (KDE 3.5 for example), so some bugs might already been solved.

2. The kubuntu default install is easy (it doesn't ask many questions), but you can do a detailed installation as well using 'expert' installl option. After the installation you'll need to install a few things if you wish to play mp3s, for example, or need support for other restricted formats. (this is pretty straightforward to do, and there are good instructions written on it available, one is here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats

3. k3b included in kubuntu is an excellent piece of cd/dvd burning software, I'm sure you'll be happy with it.

4. Some problems you might run into include setting up your wireless card , acpi (power management hickups) or and configuring your display properly. (It might all go smoothly as well, LiveCD is a good indicator for this). I don't know about that 3-in-1.

5. From what I've heard, the 64-bit version has some flaws and bugs (at least for some people) especially when running 32-bit software. So you may wish to try the 32-bit version if you experience 'severe' problems.

6. There are many good howtos and forums for (k)ubuntu, so you'll find answers to most of your questions, happy kubuntuying.

**surfer** · Dec 31, 2005, 07:19 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

As to the multi-card reader.

Yes, that works under (K)Ubuntu linux right out of the box. I know it does not work for Slackware, Knoppix and Debian due to the fact that multi-card readers are treated as multi-channel scsi devices under linux. Most linux distro's only support the first (so called) lun resulting in only being able to use the first slot in the reader.
For the mentioned distro's you have to recompile the kernel to use all slots (I did that a couple of times for my slackware boxes).

As said: (K)Ubuntu 5.10 does that right out of the box. Don't know for the older versions.

Harry

**ben_elliott** · Dec 31, 2005, 11:54 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

Another questoin.
Back when I was using Debian, I recall beinga able to look at all windows boxes on my network. This was very convenient because I do alot of file shareing and backup on other PC's. I have spent quite some time looking through this file system to find where my network is but have had no luck. Any suggestions?

benelliott

**surfer** · Dec 31, 2005, 12:11 PM

Re: Couple of questions.

Yes, that is also possible from KUbuntu 5.10. Konqueror, the all purpose web browser, file manager and network scanner is installed as an icon in your kicker bar (task bar in windoze). called System. If you choose the option remote places you can browse the network for samba/windows shares and connect to them (if you have the right to do that

).

Other options are smb4k (samba for kde) or linneighbourhood.

**ben_elliott** · Dec 31, 2005, 01:11 PM

Re: Couple of questions.

Awesome, thanks. Now I can get all of my old files back from when I had Windows on my laptop (mainly MP3's).

Thanks,
benelliott

**ben_elliott** · Dec 31, 2005, 08:56 PM

Re: Couple of questions.

Ok, more questions.

I know it was posted earlier but what was posted I can't find, and didn't work for me anyways. I want to have MP3 support! I downladed XMMS (cause I love winamp) thinking that it would come w/ MP3 support... but I guess it dosn't. So what am I supposed to do?

benelliott

-EDIT-

I renember, it was called gstrreamer0.8-mad. There are a bunch of packages listed that start w/ gstreamer0.8- but none of them end with mad... Any Ideas?

**kubicle** · Jan 01, 2006, 02:25 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

gstreamer0.8-mad is in the 'universe' repository, you need to uncomment the universe repositories in your etc/apt/sources.list

**ben_elliott** · Jan 01, 2006, 05:51 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

Originally posted by kubicle

gstreamer0.8-mad is in the 'universe' repository, you need to uncomment the universe repositories in your etc/apt/sources.list

Ok, so when I uncomment them and try to save it gives me an error message

the document could not be saved, as it was not possible to write file:///etc/apt/sources.list.
check that you have write acess (which i do) to the file or that enough disk space is avalible(which there is)

Renember, im a total newb when it comes to linux... so all help/suggestions are wanted and take

benelliott

**kubicle** · Jan 01, 2006, 10:32 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

Originally posted by ben_elliott

the document could not be saved, as it was not possible to write file:///etc/apt/sources.list.
check that you have write acess (which i do) to the file or that enough disk space is avalible(which there is)

In linux normal users don't have write access to system files (basically nearly everything outside your home directory).

To edit your sources list you need to open it with root (super user) priviledges. In kubuntu this can be achieved in many ways...one is to open a 'run command dialog' with Alt-F2 and type:

Code:

kdesu kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list

(you can of course substitute 'kwrite' with the editor of your choice

In general, when you need to do something as 'root', use either:

Code:

kdesu [program]

(for GUI programs)
or

Code:

sudo [program]

(for console programs)

And you don't have to wait for your answers, repositories and mp3s are a very common question and most answers can be found by searching the forum

**ben_elliott** · Jan 01, 2006, 07:58 PM

Re: Couple of questions.

Allright thanks, ill try that and reply later tonight if it dosn't work

thanks for all your help
benelliott

**ben_elliott** · Jan 02, 2006, 12:15 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

Humm, I did everything that you guys have been telling me to do but it still dosnt work... How can I go about makeing sure my speakers even work. I know they work in WinXP, but I can't seem to get them working in kubuntu...
Suggestions?

Also,
What media formats other than MP3 aren't supported by kubuntu?

Thanks

_EDIT_
Ok, along with the above, I'm trying to install Flash, I searched the forums and that didnt help me... To be more specific, I'm trying to install Flash on FireFox so I can properly view flash websites.. I downladed "install_flash_player_7_linux.tar.gz", extracted and tryed to execute the install but nothing happened... so i read the readme and decided to do the manual install.. it reads

To manually install the Plug-in Player for Linux, follow these directions:

- Copy the following files to your browser's plugins folder:
libflashplayer.so
flashplayer.xpt

So i get those two files and try to transfer them to mozilla/firefox/plugins... but there is no plugins folder, so i
sudo mkdir /etc/mozilla-firefox/plugins/

that works but then i cant copy the two files into plugins folder cause im not root... or something along the lines of that...

Sorry for being a complete Newb... but i got to start somewhere...

thanks,
benelliott

**kubicle** · Jan 02, 2006, 04:12 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

Originally posted by ben_elliott

Humm, I did everything that you guys have been telling me to do but it still dosnt work... How can I go about makeing sure my speakers even work. I know they work in WinXP, but I can't seem to get them working in kubuntu...
Suggestions?

So you got gstreamer0.8-mad installed? and still no success?

To troubleshoot further:

1. Have you tried to play mp3s with amaroK? Does it work?

2. When you open mp3s (either with XMMS or amaroK), do you get an error message? Or does the song start playing, but no sound?

3. If there's no sound, but the song is playing, do you hear a sound when you open systemsettings|'Sounds and Multimedia'|'Sound System' and press the 'Test Sound' button?

4. If there's no sound when pressing the 'Test Button'...open KMix and check that key sound controls (Master, PCM, etc.) aren't muted (light dimmed) and that volumes aren't set to zero.

5. If sound controls are ok, check that your soundcard is configured, open KInfoCenter|'Sound'...what does it say?

Originally posted by ben_elliott

Also,
What media formats other than MP3 aren't supported by kubuntu?

It's easier to say that kubuntu supports only 'free' media formats out of the box, restricted formats include such common formats as rm, wmf, avi and xvid...and 'gazillion' others that most people (including myself) have never heard of :P

Luckily the gstreamer-plugins metapackages and w32codecs mentioned in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats cover most of them.

**vetto** · Jan 03, 2006, 12:18 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

as far as your speakers are concerned, I had this problem when I switched to Kubuntu from Ubuntu. In the mixer turn off external amp and turn on PCM. I dont even know what PCM is,

but with it off no sounds at all come out.

**ben_elliott** · Jan 04, 2006, 12:47 AM

Re: Couple of questions.

Ok, I have tried the above two posts and neither have worked... Darn. In response the the post above the above post... here is what my Kinfocenter/Sound says

Sound Driver:3,8,1a-980706 (Alsa v1.0.9 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux tubular 2.6.12-9-amd64-generic#1 Mon Oct 10 13:27:39 BST 2005 x86_64
Config Options:0

Installed Drivers:
Type 10: Also emulation

Card Config:
ATI IXP rev 1 with ALC658 at Oxfbdfc800, irc 17

Audio Devices:
0: ATI IXP AC97 (DUPLEX)

Synth Devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: Realtek ALC658 rev 0

-Thats the end-
Now that I typed all of that, please tell my it is somewhat useful to you... Thats everything in order what it says under KInfoCenter/Sound. The sound I'm using is onboard because I'm using a laptop... I don't really know if that would make a difference though

Thanks for helping so far. I hope you know what is wrong!

benelliott

Announcement

Couple of questions.

Couple of questions.

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment