Beryl – Compiz Merger

I know for some, this is a little old news, but I think that this is important enough to write for myself. For those who do not know what I am talking about, Beryl and Compiz bring eyecandy to the linux world. In my opinion, I think that I would prefer Linux’s beryl to Window’s Vista Aero effect. Anyways. Both of those companies are now Beryl, and instead of fighting against each other, they are working together to create the best eye-candy for Linux! I’ve Posted a couple YouTube videos below for those who want a taste of beryl.

The Second is a Comparison of Vista and Beryl!

Mark Shuttleworth Interview at Dell HQ

A little sit down interview between Mark Shuttleworth and what looks like a Dell representative.

Feisty Fawn Released!

Feisty Fawn was released on April 19th 2007. It includes many new features to help one transition from Windows to ubuntu! It also includes a “roaming mode” that allows many wireless network cards to be detected without having to install ndiswrapper (see my previous post.) I haven’t installed feisty my self, but feel free to check out ubuntuvideo.com for some awesome tutorials!

ShipIt

The world renowned (not really) Shipit program allows anyone to order a free ubuntu CD, but for the first time, ship it now allows people to preorder a free CD, or 3, of feisty fawn, ubuntu 7.04. Note: This may take 6-10 weeks to deliver after April 19th.

Feisty Fawn Release Canidate Postponed!

The feisty fawn release candidate has been delayed for some network issues. According to an employee of Canocial, the final release of ubuntu 7.04 may be pushed back no more than a couple of days.

Ndiswrapper *Update*

If you look at my previous post on ndiswrapper, you may have had some errors and you probably found some spelling errors on my part, but anyway, here is the easiest way to install your wireless drivers on ubuntu.

1. Open up the Synaptic Package Manager System > Administration > Synaptic Package Man.

2. Go to Settings > Respitories This will open a Software Sources window

3. Check all of the boxes.

4. Close the window and press Refresh back at the Package Manager

5. Search ndiswrapper

6. You should come up with the following results:
ndisgtk
ndiswrapper-common
ndiswrapper-source
ndiswrapper-utils
ndiswrapper-utils-1.1
ndiswrapper-utils-1.8

7. Mark all for upgrade

8. Hit the apply button and wait for them to install

9. Restart your computer

10. Open the terminal and enter ndiswrapper -i inffile.inf

11. Plugin your wireless card

12. Configure by going to System > Administration > Networking

13. Enjoy your wireless!

Audio Codecs

Have you ever wanted to play a .mp3 file in Ubuntu, well due to legal issues, Ubuntu does not ship with the codecs. If you would like them, you will need to install the following. Open up the terminal

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-gl

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-lame

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-mad

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.8-misc

Feisty Fawn?

So… if you haven’t heard yet, I am going to tell you now. The next Ubuntu release name Feisty Fawn is coming out April 19th. No offense to any other OS, but, this is only 6 months after the release of Edgy Eft. Currently, they are in Herd 4 testing and if you would like, you could go ahead and test it out yourself. In fact, currently, I am downloading the Herd 4 and will be installing it on this computer later today. If you would like to download the iso image. You can visit the ubuntu forums until I post the links here.

Wireless Devices

As you may or not know, installing Wireless in Ubuntu is one of the hardest thing todo. In fact, I almost gave up on wireless because I was getting so sick and tired of it. I will tell you now, If you do follow my steps exactly, you should be able to get wirelesss working on Ubuntu Edgy Eft. (6.10)

Step 1: Download the newest ndiswrapper from here and save it to your DESKTOP

Stem 2: Open up the terminal and type:

• cd Desktop
• tar -xzf ndiswrapper-1.33.tar.gz
• cd ndiswrapper 1.33
• make
• make install

That will install ndiswrapper. Now its time to install the wireless drivers. Find the wireless driver and place it on your desktop. Go back to the terminal and type the following

• ndiswrapper -i “name of driver”.inf

This will install the driver. Now all you have to do is check to see if it installed properly. Put the wireless device into the system. then go back to the terminal and type:

• ndiswrapper -l

The terminal should produce and output saying hardware detected. If there is an error message, then you may have done something wrong. Now that you have installed the device, reboot the computer. After that, plug in the device (if you have not already). Then, go to System>Administration>Networking You will see a list with the connections pluged in to the computer. Wireless should be on the list. Click on that and configure it with your network settings. If this process failed and you have tried it again and again, then comment this post and I will get back to you shortly.

The Purpose

I have created this blog to help the linux community get through all the troubles that I have been through as a new user. I can tell you now. The information that I am providing you with is for Begginers and Experts alike. I will avoid the terminal as often as I can but still enable the user to see the full benefits of Ubuntu Linux. If you have a specific problem that you need help solving. Please comment or e-mail me and I will try and help you

Thank You,

The Management