Difference between revisions of "Miscellaneous"

Revision as of 22:50, 12 February 2010

Ubuntu Starter Guide

http://ubuntuguide.org

Adding startup service

To ensure a service which exists in /etc/init.d is run on startup, simply run:

sudo update-rc.d <service> defaults

Enabling Printing

1. /bin/chmod 06555 /usr/bin/lpr /usr/bin/lprm
2. /sbin/chkconfig lpd on

Hardware

ATI Radeon on a custom kernel

Stock ubuntu kernels include the ATI kernel source, but if you've built the kernel yourself and you're getting atiddxDriScreenInit failed errors in Xorg.0.log, you'll need to install this manually with

sudo apt-get install fglrx-kernel-source 

Reboot once the install completes, and fglrx should be good to go.

Logitech MX-1000

Feisty

Add this section to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Logitech MX-1000"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Protocol        "evdev"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Name"            "PS2++ Logitech MX Mouse"
        Option          "Device"          "/dev/input/event4"
        Option          "Buttons"         "20"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"    "4 5"
EndSection

where "Name" and "Device" are read from the relevant "Name" and "Handler" for your device in /proc/bus/input/devices. Then follow the remaining instructions in http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=65471

Although this document describes the steps for a USB mouse, this also works when connected to the PS2 port. Note, however, that a Logitech MX-1000 forward and back keys are 8 and 9, and xvkbd is located in /usr/bin rather than /usr/X11R6/bin. In addition, as stated in the text, part 1.4 is unnecessary.

Gutsy

Add this section to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Logitech MX-1000"
        Driver          "evdev"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Name"            "PS2++ Logitech MX Mouse"
        Option          "Device"          "/dev/input/event4"
        Option          "Buttons"         "20"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"    "4 5"
EndSection

where "Name" and "Device" are read from the relevant "Name" and "Handler" for your device in /proc/bus/input/devices

Also, I needed to append "SendCoreEvents" to the Logitech line in the layout section

Hardy

Add this section to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Logitech MX1000"
    Driver  "evdev"
    Option  "Name"  "PS2++ Logitech MX Mouse"
    Option  "HWHEELRelativeAxisButtons" "7 6"
EndSection

where "Name" is read from the "Name" for your device in /proc/bus/input/devices

Convert m4a to mp3

• Ensure libfaad2-0 and ffmpeg (from medibuntu) are installed, and run:

ffmpeg -ab <bitrate in kb/s> -i <inputfile> <outputfile>

Note: the error output buffer too small can be ignored.

Changing default ALSA soundcard

asoundconf list
asoundconf set-default-card <cardname>

List hardware details

sudo lshw -businfo

Add swap space

• Create swap partition using fdisk

• Create swap filesystem

sudo mkswap <device>

• Activate swap

sudo swapon <device>

• Modify /etc/fstab to allow swap to be activated at boot time

Change userid/groupid for an existing user/group

• Change groupid in /etc/group
• Run sudo grpconv to update /etc/gshadow
• Change userid in /etc/passwd (and also the primary groupid for any changed groupids)
• Run sudo pwconv to update /etc/shadow

Music Naming Strategy

• Albums: eyeD3 --to-v2.3 --set-text-frame="TSOP:" --set-text-frame="TPE2:$artist" --set-text-frame="TSO2:" --set-text-frame="TSOA:$album" --set-text-frame="TCMP:" $file
• Compilations: eyeD3 --to-v2.3 --set-text-frame="TSOP:" --set-text-frame="TPE2:Various Artists" --set-text-frame="TSO2:ZZZD" --set-text-frame="TSOA:$album" --set-text-frame="TCMP:1" $file
• Singles: eyeD3 --to-v2.3 --set-text-frame="TRCK:" --set-text-frame="TSOP:" --set-text-frame="TPE2:Various Artists" --set-text-frame="TSO2:ZZZH" --set-text-frame="TALB:Singles" --set-text-frame="TSOA:" --set-text-frame="TPOS:" --set-text-frame="TCMP:1" $file
• Soundtracks: eyeD3 --to-v2.3 --set-text-frame="TSOP:" --set-text-frame="TPE2:Various Artists" --set-text-frame="TSO2:ZZZL" --set-text-frame="TSOA:$album" --set-text-frame="TCMP:1" $file

File Ownership

• chown root:admin $file
• chmod 664 $file
• chown root:admin $dir
• chmod 775 $dir

Power management on VGA / DVI monitors

There is a standard called DPMS where a couple of pins are used for the computer to signal the monitor to go into a low-power mode. This is separate from any power management settings on the computer itself, and from the kde/gnome screensaver.

The nVidia driver fully supports DPMS, and the nvidia configuration tool typically sets it up for you. If you want to turn it off, comment out the line in the monitor section of xorg.conf.

# Option "DPMS" "true"

awstats: Can't locate object method "isp_by_name"

(Sometimes Can't locate auto/Geo/IP/isp_by_addr.al). This often manifests as a partially loaded awstats webpage, ending shortly after beginning of the "Hosts" table

• Change /usr/share/awstats/plugins/geoip_isp_maxmind.pm from isp_by_xxx to org_by_xxx

awstats: Hostname not resolved

To ensure that unresolved hosts (eg. intranet or corporate proxy hosts) are represented properly in awstats, add them to /var/lib/awstats/dnscache.txt

awstats: Couldn't open server log file "/var/log/apache2/access.log" : Permission denied

Change /etc/cron.d/awstats to run command as root, rather than www-data

ssh: Slow login

This may be due to the MOTD (Message Of The Day) scripts trying to get volume information for filesystem mounts that are no longer available (eg. Samba mounts). To fix this, update the MOTD scripts to make them ignore remote filesystems by editing /usr/share/pyshared/landscape/lib/disk.py and adding these lines after except ValueError: continue:

        # prevent slow reading of unavailable remote filesystems
        if filesystem == "cifs":
            continue

GRUB 2: error: no such disk

This may be caused by the line "insmod lvm", if you don't have the floppy drive disabled in the BIOS, but no floppy drive is present.

Disable user list at login

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list true