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    #1

    Live CD tweaking

    Hi friends,

    I started using Kubuntu Live CD (Latest flight CD). Its nice, especially the look & feel. I love it!

    However I am not happy with some of the things:

    1. Evolution is not fully compatible with GMail and I use GMail most of the times. I can't chat with Evolution

    2. The live CD does not mount the Hard drive automatically. Always I have to mount the hard drive manually, I have to edit /etc/fstab everytime I boot.

    3. I can't play mp3 stored in my hard drive.

    All these are bugging me because its not possible for me to install Kubuntu permanently in the hard drive because of some restriction.

    So I have been thinking about tweaking the live cd to include Firefox, automatic mounting of my hard drive and include the codecs for playing the mp3 files. But I am not an advanced user. But probably I shall be able to do the tweaking if its a simple process.

    Pls suggest me the way out.

    Thanks a lot.

    Regards,

    Raj
    Tags: None
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    #2
    Re: Live CD tweaking

    First of all, welcome to kubuntu.

    It' possible to edit/tweak the LiveCD, but the process it relatively complex (at least on Hoary/Breezy...don't know if a tool for that is included in Dapper). See here:
    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveCDCustomizationHowTo

    The (k)ubuntu LiveCD is meant to be used mainly as a preview and/or hardware test CD, so you're usually better of installing the full system on your hard disk.

    What do you mean by:
    because its not possible for me to install Kubuntu permanently in the hard drive because of some restriction.
     
    What kind of restriction?

    I'll try to answer asome of your questions, but as I said, you might be better of solving the restriction and installing it on your hard disk.

    Originally posted by rajsarkar
    1. Evolution is not fully compatible with GMail and I use GMail most of the times. I can't chat with Evolution
    There is Evolution on the kubuntu LiveCD? That's odd. :P

    2. The live CD does not mount the Hard drive automatically. Always I have to mount the hard drive manually, I have to edit /etc/fstab everytime I boot.
    You don't need to edit fstab to mount, you can give the needed options with the 'mount' command. (I can't give you the exact line since I do not know your setup, but basically you can define the filesystem with '-t' switch and mount options with '-o' switch...see 'man mount')

    3. I can't play mp3 stored in my hard drive.
    Mp3 and other restricted formats are not supported out of the box in (k)ubuntu, you need to add a few packages to get them to work. Unfortunately, with the standard LiveCD you have to do that every time you boot up, which isn't very practical. See:
    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats

    As I said, if you like kubuntu and your hardware works, I'd recommend taking the next step and install kubuntu on the hard disk (possibly with a dual boot installation).

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      #3
      Re: Live CD tweaking

      Dear Kubicle,

      Thanks for the reply. I do understand now that tweaking the LiveCD is a complex process.

      I have restriction in hard drive installation means I am not allowed by my employer to to do as the laptop I have been using belongs to my employer.

      I made a mistake in the earlier post. Its "Konqueror" and not "Evolution". Pls excuse me.

      I can now mount the hard drive. In some of the live CDs this is done automatically. Probably this can be incorporated in the future release. You know its only a simple process.

      I think having two web browser is a good idea. Popular browsers like FireFox could also be included in future versions.

      Playing MP3 can't be solved as I understand it.

      But I must tell you I am much more compfortable with KDE rather than GNome.

      Thanks a lot once again.

      Regards,

      Raj
      www.krittibas.org

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        #4
        Re: Live CD tweaking

        1. Konqueror and Gmail: Some KDE developers reason out that the problem lies actually with Google not wanting (at least for the moment) to support browsers other than the ones on their list (I think this includes the other Linux browsers). Also, at least one dev pointed out that Gmail contained some code that were either wrong or non-standard, or just a plain mess. I forgot the link to that developer's blog entry. There is a way to work around this. You can use a different browser identification for gmail.com in Konqueror. Go to Settings > Configure Konqueror > Identification then make a new Identification and use Internet Explorer or Mozilla (or Safari, I think) as the Agent ID (or something like that). I'm sorry I couldn't be specific with the instructions. I'm typing from Windows

        2. You don't need to edit fstab. As kubicle said, you could use the mount command, or use the Disks & Filesystems modules in KControl/System Settings. Live CD's from different distros behave differently when it comes to mounting hard drives. Knoppix, for one, mounts all partitions/hard drives. I don't know why this is not the case in Kubuntu.

        3. Yep, no easy solution for the MP3 problem. MEPIS and Knoppix are two KDE-based Live CD's that offers built-in MP3 support.

        As for your installation restrictions, there are some Live CD's that have a feature that allows you to save the configuration to a USB flash drive so that your configurations/settings are saved and loaded whenever you reboot. I just couldn't remember their names.

        Jucato's Data Core
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          #5
          Re: Live CD tweaking

          Originally posted by rajsarkar
          I have restriction in hard drive installation means I am not allowed by my employer to to do as the laptop I have been using belongs to my employer.
          Damn the oppressive employers of the world ...one thing you could try is to get an external hard drive and install linux there (you'd probably have to use a bootdisk since you can't install grub on your laptop) if you feel adventurous.

          That said, if you are stuck with using livecds, I'd suggest using one that mounts your hds and supports mp3 (though as a personal opinion they're often not as polished in looks as kubuntu ) like Jucato suggested.
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            #6
            Re: Live CD tweaking

            Thanks Kubicle and Jucato.

            Your advice to have an external hard drive seems promising. Now I would like to aske a few questions regarding the same.

            1. what kind of external hard drive should I use? you have written USB Flash. Is it same as an external USB firewire hard drive?

            2. I am bit confused about the booting option. Since I am using R51 IBM ThinkPad with Windows XP, I think I'll be able to boot from the USB drive. As I understand I have NTBootLoader already installed. If I set the the booting to be done from USB, will the NTBootLoader come into picture?

            If the NTBootLoader does not come into picture then can I install Grub in the external HDD and directly call it? I don't have much idea about MBR and its working. I am just asking can if I install Grub in External HDD can I call it directly by setting the boot option to be from the external HDD?

            Or probably I can write the boot program in another usb flash drive or floppy drive. In such case I should not install grub in the external HDD. Isn't it?

            Thanks once again.

            Raj
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