Hello. Installed a live cd of Kubuntu Friday morning (four days ago) and I have just finished setting it up to stream some radio stations. I've done nothing else (except eat and sleep) in this time. This is the story of my journey if you are interested - I will obviously have to leave out some major chunks...
First, I am a Linux Noob. I have a couple of other distros I have been running off and on for about a year. They work perfectly for what I want to do and have had to do very little tweaking of them 'out of the box'.
I don't have any installed to my hd just yet - looking for that special one if you know what I mean. I found Kubuntu and thought I would give it a spin.
Second, I build systems and do a bit of programming, so I am not exactly a Noob when it comes to computers in general. I consider myself more a 'power user' though than a boffin. I'd love to hack the Linux Kernel, but quite frankly, my brain don't have the chops... There are those that know...etc. etc.
Ok. Enough background. This is what I wanted to achieve:
Install Kubuntu 11.10 on a 4GB SD card. Quicker than Live CD and with persistence. A potential candidate for my HD.
All images have been checked with HashCalc and not just the dl'd .iso files but the actual burnt images themselves i.e. CD, or SD card, or USB stick. I used the built in 'Check Disk Integrity' option on boot of each Kubuntu install I have done. I don't know if there is another way to do this that is better. I had a look on the official Ubuntu site about checking images within Ubuntu and my brain exploded. Actually, it didn't explode, I just realised that I was not intelligent enough to follow the steps as they had been given to me. Hopefully someone will tell me if this method is inadequate (the boot option). So for now I take it on good faith that this is a reliable method.
Ok.
This is the information requested when someone needs help.
So here it is:
====================================
What release of Kubuntu you are using.
11.10
If Kubuntu is installed, is it installed 'inside' of Windows (Wubi installation).
No.
What version of KDE you are using.
4.7.2
What version of Grub you are using.
Version: 0.97-29ubuntu64
What other Operating Systems are installed.
Win7-Pro-64-Bit-SP1
Information about your PC:
Type (Desktop or laptop)
Laptop
CPU (Central Processor Unit) make (Intel, AMD, ?) and whether 32-bit, 64-bit, or ?
Phenom II Triple-Core 64-bit 1.8 GHz -
GPU (Graphics Processor Unit) manufacturer and model
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 with 512 MB
RAM (how much installed)
4GB
HDs (number of and type internal - number of and type external)
1 320GB 7200rpm SATA HD
Optical Drives (number of and type internal - number of and type external)
1 DVD-RW
===============================================
I made an install with the built in Startup Disk Creator.
Checked disk on reboot - no errors.
Reboot - check disk - 1 error.
I tried this with a usb stick as well - same result, same pattern.
It would still work fine, but every time on second boot there would be 1 error.
This has been what has been taking up a lot of my 4 days spent - trying different cards etc..
I even repeated all these steps using Natty 11.04, but ended up in more of a mess, so I won't
even go into that, or the UNetbootin installs I tried. This program works for thousands I know -
I have never got it to work for me, yet.
Ok, back to SD card.
Before I got as far as trying to get Amarok to stream mp3 files for internet radio, I wanted to install
Flash to just do a quick speed check from the browser and see what sort of througput I was getting.
Rekonq kept crashing so I installed FireFox. Now this is the strange part. Sometimes the Flash would
install and sometimes it wouldn't - from the browser I mean. I have done over 10 installs identically and half of them the Flash installed flawlessly, the other half it told me I had a bad configuration. I will just leave it at that coz it started to drive me insane by the end of it. I eventually let it go...
This was too weird for words and I am not even going to try to understand it. I installed from Muon Package Manager and all was well.
Ah yes, Muon.
I installed the updates for the system and it went fine up to the point of Muon 'hanging', I killed the process and re-started. I checked the disk and now I have 2 errors on my SD card. It still starts and works though so I carry on. I am a couple of days in by this point remember and I just want to get something working.
All updates were installed. And everything seems to be working fine. Just about everything has crashed and hung and we are many re-starts in, but I am making progress. I really won't bore you with the details, coz if you have read this far you deserve a medal anyway ;-).
So I persevere and move on to installing vlc phonon backend to get mp3 streaming in Amarok.
I read all the wikis and searched all the forums for the answer to this problem and this was the conclusion I came to. Thankfully others had documented this process and I learned from them.
I couldn't find VLC to start with and scratched my head for a long time over this. I learned about package managers and repositories, but was still at a loss. Then i configured software sources choosing the multiverse option in both Muon package manager and Muon software center. This Multiverse I only knew about again thanks to people posting possible answers to problems people were having with Amarok.
I consider myself to be quite good with computers and I fix them for friends and family. If it can be fixed I can usually fix it, but this Linux thing has humbled me, intimidated me even. The learning curve is equivalent to learning a new programming language. If there was a book to read or certain direction to take I would do it, but there is too much information, much of it outdated, many answers to problems along the lines of RTFM, but there really isn't a manual to FR to achieve what I wanted to do.
Okay, back to the problem:
I install vlc media player from software center first to get things going.
It downloads ok but hangs on the installing bar at about half way through - check with system
activity tells me it's sleeping and process is waiting for something to happen. I have to end the process here as it will not shut down 'manually'.
I go to applications - vlc is there and starts fine.
I open up Amarok>settings>configure amarok>playback>configure phonon>backend
There is no vlc option there so search for phonon-backend-vlc in muon package manager.
It does not find it - i do an eyeball-grep scanning down to 'P' - there it is - phonon-backend-vlc
I install it - it goes nowhere and hangs again - i have to terminate with system activity (ctrl-escape).
I check in amarok again to see if it has installed - no it has not. I have got to try something else.
I go to here and search https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/oneiric...on-backend-vlc
Voila - except there are two versions - I mouse over and see that they are indeed different versions
- I choose the latest one - phonon-backend-vlc/0.4.1-1
I click on it it takes me to a new page where I dl phonon-backend-vlc_0.4.1-1_amd64.deb (77.0 KiB)
I choose the default option to use QApt - it downloads - I choose to install - it hangs - I close window
I check amarok again to see if it is there - it is not - I restart and cross my fingers...
It's not so easy - plasma has had a crash - eventually reboot- no vlc backend there - what to do - despair
and depression should be kicking in now, but into the fourth day of my adventure - I won't be beat, not
now - I repeat my previous steps doing nothing different and it finally installs from QApt - result -
but is it in Amarok? Holy moly it is indeed.
I hit the prefer button which takes it to the top of the list and hit apply. Amarok crashes and asks me
if I want to restart - yes please. Amarok is locked I have to ctrl-escape into system again to shut it.
I restart - I select bluemars from the internet radio list under cool streams - the monks are singing -
hallelujah - except there is bad bad distortion - I select the volume icon in the bottom right and take
down the volume a notch - it stops the distortion - weird because that is my hdmi digital output and
I am not using it - I will take it out completely in a minute when I configure my mixer.
But for now there is one more thing I remember to do while I am at it - set vlc up as a plugin in firefox
I open muon software center and search for vlc under installed plugins and select info -
I select the multimedia plug in for browsers and install. The software center locks and I have to end process in system again. spotting a bit of a pattern developing here, I un-intrepidly open ff and check my plugs- lots of vlc stuff there - let's go to bluemars.org and see if it works now from in my browser.
I shut down Amarok and tune into bluemars - hey presto - it asks if I want to use vlc to open the content -
yes please. It works! I am almost starting to feel like a real hacker by now. The buzz is incredible -
four days of nailing jelly to a tree and kicking dead whales down the proverbial. Let's see just how
far we can push this thing now we are on a roll.
I shut down bluemars and vlc. I reload the bluemars page and tune in again - this time when it asks me
what program I want to use - I select other. It won't let me select 'other'. I shut the dialog window
down and try again - this time I select Amarok from the multimedia section. Oh yes Ma, Amaroking now!
How fast can we drive this thing till the wheels fall off? We have a SNNEGAP (Situation not normal -
everything going as planned) situation developing here. Let's go for a script in Amarok this time.
Let's see, what have we got on the menu?
I go back to Amarok>settings>configure amarok> and choose scripts. I hit the manage scripts button.
I choose the 'order by rating' radio button, and shoutcast is third on the list - looks good to me -
let's go with that.. I hit install and it works fine - I restart amarok as prompted.
I then go back to the scripts section where I just was and tick the box for the shoutcast script.
It is now there under internet, I navigate to the electronica section and pick what is probably
the best downtempo ambient station out there - radio ultimae - I am giddy with excitement and decide
I can take no more by this point, so I decide to sit down. Seeing that I am sitting down, I stand up.
Too quickly, the giddiness does not subside... the earlier feeling of raw red rage has subsided into
a strange elated calm...
So there you have it - I can now watch youtube or other flash video content in my browser
and I can listen to live radio streams with a choice of doing it in-house via VLC or outsourcing
to the house of Amarok.
I check one more time that things are ok with this install and restart the machine again.
I check the sd card - still 2 errors whatever they may be. It boots fine and works great though
apart from a distorted welcome sound, and the first second or two of the new audio stream reverts
back to normal volume and everything appears to be OK.
Well that wasn't too difficult was it? Just over 40 hours to get some mp3s a streaming and some
flash a flashing? And still no disk without errors, so I couldn't possibly trust this install
for anything other than 'experiments'. Still, one step at a time. I now have the latest Kubuntu
installation working well - although not flawlessly and I've learned a lot and am in a level deeper with
Linux.
Feel free to point out where I have been going wrong. As I said, I am a total Linux Noob and not the sharpest tool in the box at the best of times. This was just my experience for anyone that might be interested............
Sorry if the formatting is a bit out, but I'm tired and have to go and do something else now.
Cheers.
First, I am a Linux Noob. I have a couple of other distros I have been running off and on for about a year. They work perfectly for what I want to do and have had to do very little tweaking of them 'out of the box'.
I don't have any installed to my hd just yet - looking for that special one if you know what I mean. I found Kubuntu and thought I would give it a spin.
Second, I build systems and do a bit of programming, so I am not exactly a Noob when it comes to computers in general. I consider myself more a 'power user' though than a boffin. I'd love to hack the Linux Kernel, but quite frankly, my brain don't have the chops... There are those that know...etc. etc.
Ok. Enough background. This is what I wanted to achieve:
Install Kubuntu 11.10 on a 4GB SD card. Quicker than Live CD and with persistence. A potential candidate for my HD.
All images have been checked with HashCalc and not just the dl'd .iso files but the actual burnt images themselves i.e. CD, or SD card, or USB stick. I used the built in 'Check Disk Integrity' option on boot of each Kubuntu install I have done. I don't know if there is another way to do this that is better. I had a look on the official Ubuntu site about checking images within Ubuntu and my brain exploded. Actually, it didn't explode, I just realised that I was not intelligent enough to follow the steps as they had been given to me. Hopefully someone will tell me if this method is inadequate (the boot option). So for now I take it on good faith that this is a reliable method.
Ok.
This is the information requested when someone needs help.
So here it is:
====================================
What release of Kubuntu you are using.
11.10
If Kubuntu is installed, is it installed 'inside' of Windows (Wubi installation).
No.
What version of KDE you are using.
4.7.2
What version of Grub you are using.
Version: 0.97-29ubuntu64
What other Operating Systems are installed.
Win7-Pro-64-Bit-SP1
Information about your PC:
Type (Desktop or laptop)
Laptop
CPU (Central Processor Unit) make (Intel, AMD, ?) and whether 32-bit, 64-bit, or ?
Phenom II Triple-Core 64-bit 1.8 GHz -
GPU (Graphics Processor Unit) manufacturer and model
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 with 512 MB
RAM (how much installed)
4GB
HDs (number of and type internal - number of and type external)
1 320GB 7200rpm SATA HD
Optical Drives (number of and type internal - number of and type external)
1 DVD-RW
===============================================
I made an install with the built in Startup Disk Creator.
Checked disk on reboot - no errors.
Reboot - check disk - 1 error.
I tried this with a usb stick as well - same result, same pattern.
It would still work fine, but every time on second boot there would be 1 error.
This has been what has been taking up a lot of my 4 days spent - trying different cards etc..
I even repeated all these steps using Natty 11.04, but ended up in more of a mess, so I won't
even go into that, or the UNetbootin installs I tried. This program works for thousands I know -
I have never got it to work for me, yet.
Ok, back to SD card.
Before I got as far as trying to get Amarok to stream mp3 files for internet radio, I wanted to install
Flash to just do a quick speed check from the browser and see what sort of througput I was getting.
Rekonq kept crashing so I installed FireFox. Now this is the strange part. Sometimes the Flash would
install and sometimes it wouldn't - from the browser I mean. I have done over 10 installs identically and half of them the Flash installed flawlessly, the other half it told me I had a bad configuration. I will just leave it at that coz it started to drive me insane by the end of it. I eventually let it go...
This was too weird for words and I am not even going to try to understand it. I installed from Muon Package Manager and all was well.
Ah yes, Muon.
I installed the updates for the system and it went fine up to the point of Muon 'hanging', I killed the process and re-started. I checked the disk and now I have 2 errors on my SD card. It still starts and works though so I carry on. I am a couple of days in by this point remember and I just want to get something working.
All updates were installed. And everything seems to be working fine. Just about everything has crashed and hung and we are many re-starts in, but I am making progress. I really won't bore you with the details, coz if you have read this far you deserve a medal anyway ;-).
So I persevere and move on to installing vlc phonon backend to get mp3 streaming in Amarok.
I read all the wikis and searched all the forums for the answer to this problem and this was the conclusion I came to. Thankfully others had documented this process and I learned from them.
I couldn't find VLC to start with and scratched my head for a long time over this. I learned about package managers and repositories, but was still at a loss. Then i configured software sources choosing the multiverse option in both Muon package manager and Muon software center. This Multiverse I only knew about again thanks to people posting possible answers to problems people were having with Amarok.
I consider myself to be quite good with computers and I fix them for friends and family. If it can be fixed I can usually fix it, but this Linux thing has humbled me, intimidated me even. The learning curve is equivalent to learning a new programming language. If there was a book to read or certain direction to take I would do it, but there is too much information, much of it outdated, many answers to problems along the lines of RTFM, but there really isn't a manual to FR to achieve what I wanted to do.
Okay, back to the problem:
I install vlc media player from software center first to get things going.
It downloads ok but hangs on the installing bar at about half way through - check with system
activity tells me it's sleeping and process is waiting for something to happen. I have to end the process here as it will not shut down 'manually'.
I go to applications - vlc is there and starts fine.
I open up Amarok>settings>configure amarok>playback>configure phonon>backend
There is no vlc option there so search for phonon-backend-vlc in muon package manager.
It does not find it - i do an eyeball-grep scanning down to 'P' - there it is - phonon-backend-vlc
I install it - it goes nowhere and hangs again - i have to terminate with system activity (ctrl-escape).
I check in amarok again to see if it has installed - no it has not. I have got to try something else.
I go to here and search https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/oneiric...on-backend-vlc
Voila - except there are two versions - I mouse over and see that they are indeed different versions
- I choose the latest one - phonon-backend-vlc/0.4.1-1
I click on it it takes me to a new page where I dl phonon-backend-vlc_0.4.1-1_amd64.deb (77.0 KiB)
I choose the default option to use QApt - it downloads - I choose to install - it hangs - I close window
I check amarok again to see if it is there - it is not - I restart and cross my fingers...
It's not so easy - plasma has had a crash - eventually reboot- no vlc backend there - what to do - despair
and depression should be kicking in now, but into the fourth day of my adventure - I won't be beat, not
now - I repeat my previous steps doing nothing different and it finally installs from QApt - result -
but is it in Amarok? Holy moly it is indeed.
I hit the prefer button which takes it to the top of the list and hit apply. Amarok crashes and asks me
if I want to restart - yes please. Amarok is locked I have to ctrl-escape into system again to shut it.
I restart - I select bluemars from the internet radio list under cool streams - the monks are singing -
hallelujah - except there is bad bad distortion - I select the volume icon in the bottom right and take
down the volume a notch - it stops the distortion - weird because that is my hdmi digital output and
I am not using it - I will take it out completely in a minute when I configure my mixer.
But for now there is one more thing I remember to do while I am at it - set vlc up as a plugin in firefox
I open muon software center and search for vlc under installed plugins and select info -
I select the multimedia plug in for browsers and install. The software center locks and I have to end process in system again. spotting a bit of a pattern developing here, I un-intrepidly open ff and check my plugs- lots of vlc stuff there - let's go to bluemars.org and see if it works now from in my browser.
I shut down Amarok and tune into bluemars - hey presto - it asks if I want to use vlc to open the content -
yes please. It works! I am almost starting to feel like a real hacker by now. The buzz is incredible -
four days of nailing jelly to a tree and kicking dead whales down the proverbial. Let's see just how
far we can push this thing now we are on a roll.
I shut down bluemars and vlc. I reload the bluemars page and tune in again - this time when it asks me
what program I want to use - I select other. It won't let me select 'other'. I shut the dialog window
down and try again - this time I select Amarok from the multimedia section. Oh yes Ma, Amaroking now!
How fast can we drive this thing till the wheels fall off? We have a SNNEGAP (Situation not normal -
everything going as planned) situation developing here. Let's go for a script in Amarok this time.
Let's see, what have we got on the menu?
I go back to Amarok>settings>configure amarok> and choose scripts. I hit the manage scripts button.
I choose the 'order by rating' radio button, and shoutcast is third on the list - looks good to me -
let's go with that.. I hit install and it works fine - I restart amarok as prompted.
I then go back to the scripts section where I just was and tick the box for the shoutcast script.
It is now there under internet, I navigate to the electronica section and pick what is probably
the best downtempo ambient station out there - radio ultimae - I am giddy with excitement and decide
I can take no more by this point, so I decide to sit down. Seeing that I am sitting down, I stand up.
Too quickly, the giddiness does not subside... the earlier feeling of raw red rage has subsided into
a strange elated calm...
So there you have it - I can now watch youtube or other flash video content in my browser
and I can listen to live radio streams with a choice of doing it in-house via VLC or outsourcing
to the house of Amarok.
I check one more time that things are ok with this install and restart the machine again.
I check the sd card - still 2 errors whatever they may be. It boots fine and works great though
apart from a distorted welcome sound, and the first second or two of the new audio stream reverts
back to normal volume and everything appears to be OK.
Well that wasn't too difficult was it? Just over 40 hours to get some mp3s a streaming and some
flash a flashing? And still no disk without errors, so I couldn't possibly trust this install
for anything other than 'experiments'. Still, one step at a time. I now have the latest Kubuntu
installation working well - although not flawlessly and I've learned a lot and am in a level deeper with
Linux.
Feel free to point out where I have been going wrong. As I said, I am a total Linux Noob and not the sharpest tool in the box at the best of times. This was just my experience for anyone that might be interested............
Sorry if the formatting is a bit out, but I'm tired and have to go and do something else now.
Cheers.