Enough Work! Time for Some Games: Hedgewars and Warzone 2100

Well we've done a lot of work with Ubuntu boxes but we have to have some fun too so I've decided to point you to a couple of my favorite Linux (Ubuntu 12.04) games.

The first is HEDGEWARS.  This game is a clone of the Worms game with a nice twist on the weapons.  The trailer video is a little long but worth watching.  Hedgewars has a single player mode and a multiplayer/online mode.

My second pick is WARZONE 2100.  Warzone 2100 is a RTS (Real Time Strategy) game.  It reminds me of Command and Conquer or Starcraft.  It is set in the post apocalyptic future and claims to have a unit build tree of over 400 different unit types.  It has two single player modes (Skirmish and Campaign) and an online multiplayer mode.  The video below is not mine but it gives you a good idea of what the game looks and plays like.  The official trailer is a good intro to the game but doesn't show game play.

How do you get these fun and free games?  Well this one is easy;  Just open Ubuntu Software Center and search for HEDGEWARS and click on the INSTALL BUTTON, then search for WARZONE 2100 and click on the INSTALL BUTTON.  Done!  Now get your game on!

Google TASKS make it an App. (and Google Chrome Browser too)

I use Google Tasks on my tablet and cell phone but didn't have a quick easy way to check my ToDo's on my Computer without remembering to go to Google's website.  If I could remember to check the site I wouldn't need the lists.  I wanted to embed my Google Tasks list into my Ubuntu 12.04 Desktop but I settled for a compromise instead. I made it into an App and put it on my Unity Launcher. 


To do this you will need to have the Google Chrome Browser installed on your Ubuntu System.  To install Chrome, start a Terminal Window and type the following:



wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add - (HIT ENTER)

sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list' (HIT ENTER all one line)

sudo apt-get update (HIT ENTER)

sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable (HIT ENTER)



Close your Terminal Window because you should now have the Google Chrome Browser installed and working on your system.


Launch Google Chrome Browser and goto http://mail.google.com/tasks/ig (Google Tasks webpage).  Once on that page you should see your list of Tasks (if you don't see your Tasks List you probably don't have a Google Tasks account.  Get one! they are free).  

While on the Google Tasks webpage you have to click on the little Wrench Icon in the upper right side of the Google Chrome Browser.  This give you a drop down menu list.  Navigate to TOOLS-->CREATE APPLICATION SHORTCUT.  Click on it and a pop up window will appear. 

In the pop window Check the APPICATIONS MENU option and click the CREATE button (if you want a Desktop Shortcut then Check the DESKTOP option too).

Your almost done.  Just click on your Unity Dash Home button and type TASK into the Search box.  You should see a green check mark icon labeled TASKS. Just drag it onto your Unity Launcher Bar.  When you click on the TASKS Icon on the Unity Launcher Bar you will get a nice popup window that gives you access to your Google Tasks.   (I guess you could have just drug a shortcut onto your desktop from Firefox but what fun would that have been).

Gimp 2.8 Stable, Released!

Gimp has not had a major update since 2008 but that just changed.  Gimp 2.8 Stable has been released!

In order to get it onto your Ubuntu 12.04 release you have to take a couple of simple steps.  The first step, at least for me, was uninstalling my older Gimp release.

1.  Start Ubuntu Software Center

2.  Click on the INSTALLED tab

3.  Click on the GRAPHICS link on the right side

4.  Located GIMP and click the REMOVE button.

NOTE:  I tried to simple install Gimp 2.8 without removing my older version of Gimp but that caused my software center to crash and gave me errors and not allow me to ADD or REMOVE any software packages.  I had to disable the new Gimp 2.8 Software Sources before I could continue.  Once I disabled the Gimp 2.8 Software Sources, I was able to uninstall my older Gimp Packages.  I then re-enabled the new Gimp 2.8 Software Sources and re-installed Gimp 2.8 and it work just fine.

Once that is done, you can close the Ubuntu Software Center and open a terminal window.  We'll need to add a third party software source and then install the new Gimp 2.8.  In the Terminal Window type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp  (HIT ENTER and wait until done)
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gimp (HIT ENTER and wait until done)

Close the Terminal Window, you are done and are ready to use Gimp 2.8.


One of the new features that I like is the Single Window Mode.  This makes Gimp act like other programs, containing itself to one window instead of the usual 3 or 4.  Here's a screenshot to just show you.

Gimp 2.8 Single-Window Mode

To activate the Single-Window Model simple click on the WINDOWS section on the MENU (see above screenshot) and check the SINGLE-WINDOW MODE at the bottom of the menu (highlighted option in above screenshot in orange).  Once I get a chance to play with it some, I'll post more.

Ubuntu 12.04. Ubuntu Tweak

There are several tweaks you can make to Ubuntu 12.04 but their settings are scatter throughout various apps and config files in Ubuntu. Let's get them all in one easy to use program.


Ubuntu Tweak is just what we need.  Let's install it.

1.  Open a TERMINAL window

2.  Type the following in the TERMINAL window;

      sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa (Hit Enter)
      sudo apt-get update (Hit Enter)
      sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak (Hit Enter)
      ubuntu-tweak (Hit Enter)

3.  That last one launches Ubuntu Tweak.

4.  Done. (there are too many options to explain them all.  See Screen shots)

TIPS:

You can find the Ubuntu Tweaks program under the SYSTEM filter in the DASH or by doing a search for ubuntu tweak in the DASH SEARCH.


On the TWEAKS tab there is an option for UNITY.  This is where you tweak your UNITY LAUNCHER BAR (left side in screen shots), your DASH and the UNITY TOP PANEL.  I like to set my Unity Launcher Icon Size to 32 so I can see more icons on it and I like my Dash Size set to Netbook which makes it full screen for some reason.

OVERVIEW

TWEAKS

ADMINS

JANITOR

Ubuntu 12.04. Weather on Unity's top panel

Okay, in Unity the widgets are gone and the bottom panel is gone, but I still want Ubuntu Desktop to tell me things.  Simple things like the date, time, sound volume and network connections are all up there on the top panel but there is one I really miss, the WEATHER.  Let's add it.

AppIndicators are applications that come with an indicator displayed on the top Unity panel (near where the TIME is displayed).  We want Weather Indicator.  It's a nice little app that displays the temperature and when clicked on gives more weather related details.

How to install it;

1.  Open a TERMINAL window.

2.  Type the following into the TERMINAL window;
     sudo add-apt-repository ppa:weather-indicator-team/ppa (Hit Enter)
     sudo apt-get update (Hit Enter)
     sudo apt-get install indicator-weather (Hit Enter)
     
3.  Close the TERMINAL window.

4.  Click on the DASH HOME button on the UNITY BAR (upper left corner see screen shot)

5. In the search bar type indicator-weather.


6. Click on the WEATHER INDICATOR app (orange one in screen shot)

7. Go through the setup wizard to select your home city and other settings.

8.  Done.

Notice that it's 62 degrees outside!  

If you click on the temperature you will get other weather related info.

NOTE:  I noticed that you have to manual start WEATHER INDICATOR app if you reset your computer.  I'll have figure out how to run it at start up and post here. 


UPDATE: See comments to read how to get weather indicator to run at startup.  Thanks swhitney for the help.
   

Ubuntu 12.04 Installed

I've upgraded from Ubuntu 11.10 to 12.04.  The only problem I ran into was Skype caused the upgrade to stop and I had to remove it before I continued.  Since Microsoft acquired Skype I guess I won't miss it much.  Everything I've read says that Unity got several improvements.  We'll see.

Ubuntu 11.10 and Photoshop CS2

I've got Photoshop CS2 running on Ubuntu 11.10 with WINE.  I noticed that when I upgraded from Ubuntu 11.04 that any command in Photoshop that needed the ALT (Left Click) combo would not work.  I know it had to do with all the Unity Keyboard Shortcuts but which one?

I'll save you some guess work.  Open CompizConfig Setting Manager then scroll down to the Window Management section. Click on the Move Window option (3 column, 2 one down).

This will open the General Tab.  Notice the Initiate Window Move shortcut?  Yeah, it's set to ALT-Button1 or ALT Left Click.  So every time we try an ALT command in Photoshop, Unity intercepts the ALT-Left Click and tries to Initiate Window Move. So to change it Click on the button labeled <ALT>Button1 beside the Initiate Window Move option in the General Tab




This will open a window that allows you to change the shortcut to a combination that you don't need anywhere else.

Now your ALT Clicks in Photoshop will behave as you expect (in this screen shot I've set my Initiate Window Move combo to SHIFT CTRL Button1).

B.T.W.  the  SUPER = the windows logo key on your keyboard

Five Ubuntu 11.10 Shortcuts and some common one's.

Ubuntu 11.10 Keyboard Shortcuts
SuperKey + S = (Windows Logo Key) Work space Switcher.
SuperKey + T = (Windows Logo Key) Open Trash.
Ctrl+Alt + T = Opens Terminal Window.
Prt-Scn = (Print Screen) Take a screenshot of the whole screen.
Alt + Prt-Scn = Take a screenshot of the current window.


Common Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl + C = Copy the selected text/object.
Ctrl + X = Cut the selected text/object.
Ctrl + V = Paste/insert the selected text/object.
Ctrl + A = Select all text.
Ctrl + B = Make the selected text bold.
Ctrl + I = Make the selected text italic.
Ctrl + U = Underline the selected text.
Ctrl + N = Open a new document or window.
Ctrl + S = Save the current document.
Ctrl + O = Open another document.
Ctrl + P = Print the current document.
Ctrl + Z = Undo the last change you made.
Ctrl + Shift + Z = Redo a change that you just undid.

I know the common shortcuts are "very common" but I had to learn them from someone so I'm just paying it forward.

Ubuntu 11.10 Unity

It's been about a week since I upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10.  I thought by now I'd be longing for 10.10 back and raving about what a big mistake upgrading was.  I assumed I'd at least switch to the Gnome 3.x desktop but I've been surprised by Unity.  I don't hate it, don't love it either, but it's growing on me.  Don't get me wrong, it has some issues and annoyances (Right Click Context Menus) but I can see where they are going with this.  I've looked at some Youtube videos of the next Ubuntu Release, 12.04, and see that they're addressing some of my complaints, the biggest of which is not having the ability to customize the look/feel of Unity.  I haven't found any "show stoppers" yet so I think I can live with the small issues I've encountered until Ubuntu 12.04 with Unity 5.0 comes out in a month.

I've thought about doing more 11.10 "how to's" but since we are so close to 12.04 I think I'll wait, upgrade early and write some articles for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS instead.

One parting tip... Most of the Unity customization lives in the CompizConfig Settings Manager.  To get to it; open a TERMINAL Window and type;
   ccsm

Sorry about the Blue Tint, it's one of those "annoyances"

Ubuntu 11.10 Right Click Desktop Shortcut Option.

Ubuntu 11.10 offers no way to create desktop shortcuts with a Right Click.  Let's make it bend to our will.

1. Install gnome-panel by opening a TERMINAL window and typing the following (it'll ask for your password)
sudo apt-get install gnome-panel

2.  Once Gnome-Panel installs we need to create a Bash Script.
    a. Open gEdit (or any text editor) and type the following;
#!/bin/bash
gnome-desktop-item-edit --create-new ~/Desktop
    b.  Save the Bash file with the name Create-Launcher

3. Copy the Bash File (Create-Launcher) to the nautilus-scripts folder by opening a TERMINAL window and typing the following;
cp Create-Launcher ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts

4.  Now change the permission on our new file (Create-Launcher) so that it has Execution permission by opening a TERMINAL window and typing;
chmod +x ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/Create-Launcher

5. Move the new file to the right click/scripts section of nautilus by opening a TERMINAL window and typing;
mv ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/Create-Launcher ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts/"Create Launcher"

6. Done!

Now when you Right Click on a blank spot on your desktop you see a Scripts option in the menu that appears that expands to give you a Create Laucher option.

If you select the Scripts/Create Launcher option you get the standard Desktop Shortcut Creator Wizard or to you "die hard" Linux people, the Ubuntu Create Launcher Dialogue Box. 

Made the jump to 11.10 and Unity

I finally made the jump to Ubuntu 11.10 with it's Unity interface.  I don't really want the Unity Desktop and would have liked to have a built-in choice (I know I can install Gnome 3 but it would have been nice to have this choice built-in).

My reason for making this jump is simple; from everything I've read Canonical is committed to Unity and if I want to stay with Ubuntu then it's Unity or custom work every upgrade.

We are getting close to the Ubuntu's Long Term Release and it will have Unity so I'm going to give it a chance.  I have to admit that I have some dislike of Unity going into this but I think most of it is because Canonical has taken away my choice in this matter.  However Canonical and Ubuntu has been good to me over the years since I've started this blog so I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, assume they know what their doing and give Unity a fair try.

The upgrade from 11.04 to 11.10 was painless, taking about an hour.  It booted fine and keep most everything I had under 11.04.  For some reason it decided to change my background to a Star Trek theme.  I think I had download this theme once in the past but it was too busy to use.  Since it is still too busy to use the only thing I've done so far is change the background.  I actually put some thought into this; its not Microsoft, its not Apple, and its not the Ubuntu I'm use to, so I went with something different.  I'll post more as I learn.

Create a Desktop Shortcut to a VPN Connection

I connect to my Office's VPN all the time.  I don't like the multiple clicks required to do this (Click on your NETWORK ICON in the system tray, Click on VPN CONNECTION, then Click on "NAME OF YOUR VPN").  I want a simple desktop shortcut. To do this I needed to know the TERMINAL command to start and connect to a given VPN.  After some searching I found it!

nmcli con up id "NAME OF YOUR VPN"

If you type this into Terminal your VPN will connect!

So let's make a shortcut to do this for us with just one click (Ubuntu 11.04).

1. Right Click on your desktop

2. Select CREATE LAUNCHER

3. In TYPE set it to APPLICATION

4. In NAME type what you want to call this shortcut

5. In COMMAND copy and paste the following:

   nmcli con up id "NAME OF YOUR VPN"

6. Inside the quote marks replace NAME OF YOUR VPN with what you called your VPN connection when you created it. (mine is Main Office)

7. Add anything you want in COMMENT

8. Click Ok and your done!

NOTE: you can change the icon for your new VPN Shortcut by click on it (Picture of a spring) in the CREATE LAUNCHER window and browsing your hard drive for the icon of your choice.

BONUS NOTE:  You can create a VPN DISCONNECT shortcut by creating a new launcher and replacing the COMMAND (Operation 5 above) with:

nmcli con down id "NAME OF YOUR VPN"

This was done on Ubuntu 10.04 booting to the CLASSIC desktop.  I don't care for UNITY and have no idea if this will work there.

Learn the Command Line Interface (CLI) through Videos

Want to learn some COMMAND LINE (CLI) goodness.  Here's a cool site that will teach various Command Line usage through videos (WWW.PLAYTERM.ORG).  Most of the tutorials are short and easy to follow so don't be scared to let your inter geek out and impress your friends when you drop your mouse and start pound on that dusty keyboard.

A short post but the good ones usually are.

Change the GRUB default boot option

When I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.10 to 11.04 the default operating system selection in the GRUB Boot menu did not work for me. I found a nice program that allows you to change this setting along with a lot of other boot up options.

STARTUP-MANAGER

Let install it and make the change:

1. Open a command prompt and type or paste

sudo apt-get install startupmanager

2. Type in your password when prompted and let it do its thing.

3. After it installs you'll find it under SYSTEM-----ADMINISTRATION----StartUp-Manager

4. Click on it and give it your password when asked.


















5. Under DEFAULT OPERATING SYSTEM pick the boot option you want.

Close and done!

There are probably other ways to do this without installing an application but I wanted it to have a GUI interface to make it easy since it's a bad thing to miss this up.

Upgraded to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal)

Well I've done it now! I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.10 to 11.04, Natty Narwhal, and right from the beginning it gave me trouble.

The upgrade process took about an hour and went smoothly but on the first boot I was presented with the dreaded command prompt. It asked for my user name and password which I gave. It answered me with another command prompt!

Okay, don't panic...What is the command to start the GUI...hmmm...win? no! gnome? no!...gdm? Well I powered it off and rebooted and picked a different GRUB selection on the boot menu. I noticed that the default was "Ubuntu 11.04, kernel 2.6.38-10-generic-pae". I don't remember that -pae part being there on 10.10 so I looked down the list and saw a "Ubuntu 11.04, kernel 2.6.38-10-generic" and tried it. That Worked!!! A GUI...yeah!!! Well, I guess you could call it a GUI, it's the UNITY interface.

I wanted to give Unity a chance but after 10 minutes of looking around I decided it had to go. This IS NOT A DESKTOP GUI. It looks like it was made for low res monitors or netbooks and buries everything. I'll not get into it here but it has to go!!!

Let's change the GUI from Unity to Gnome 2.x or Classic;

1. Click on your logoff/shutdown button in the upper right conner by your user name.
















2. Click on the SYSTEM SETTINGS

3. That opens the below screen. Find the LOGIN SCREEN button and click it.















4. Click the UNLOCK button in the window that pops up and type in your password.

5. Click on the drop down and Select UBUNTU CLASSIC as the Default and close.

Next time you boot up you'll get Gnome 2.x (Classic) instead of the Unity Crap!

How to Install LibreOffice on Ubunutu 10.10

The jury is still out on Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal). I've come to relay on my Ubuntu box too much to upgrade but I wanted to run LibreOffice. Here's how to get LibreOffice on your Ubuntu 10.10 box:



1. Uninstall OpenOffice. Open a TERMINAL window and type:

sudo apt-get purge "openoffice*.*"

Hit ENTER and type Y when asked if you want to remove OpenOffice.



2. Add the LibreOffice Repository (still in the TERMINAL type:)

gksu add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

Hit ENTER

gksu apt-get update

Hit ENTER



3. Download and Install LibreOffice (still in the TERMINAL type:)

sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-gnome language-support-en

Hit ENTER



4. DONE.


NOTE: Step 3 will download about 140mbs of data from the Internet so be patience.

Garmin 305 Forerunner, Runkeeper.com and GPSBABLE

I have a Garmin 305 Forerunner watch which tracks several things about your runs, walks, or bike rides. It tracks the path you take with it's GPS, your distance, time and several other things. I use a nice Linux program to track activity with it, PYTRAINER. I even wrote an article on how to get PYTRAINER working with the 305. The problem is that this data is locked to the local computer and it's not easily shared with your running partners.

Well I found a nice Android App called RUNKEEPER. This App uses your cellphones GPS and it's internet connection to track and share your running session with your friends. I really like and recommend this App but I hate carrying my cell phone while I run and the GPS Tracking eats the phones battery.

I wanted a solution that would use the my Garmin 305 but allow me to put my data on RUNKEEPER. This is where GPSBABLE comes in. Here's how to do it.

1. Follow the instructions for installing PYTRAINER and GPSBABLE
2. Sign up for a FREE RUNKEEPER account at http://runkeeper.com
3. To get a copy of your run data off you Garmin 305 you need to connect it to your computer through it's USB.
4. Once your 305 is connected, open a TERMINAL window and type the following:

sudo gpsbabel -i garmin -t -f usb: -o gpx -F yourfilename.gpx

5. Hit ENTER and type your SUDO PASSWORD and hit ENTER.
6. This will create a file named yourfilename.gpx in your
HOME Directory.
7. Log in to RunKeeper
8. Select ACTIVITIES from the menu on the left.

9. Select POST NEW ACTIVITE (Top Menu)






10. Click on the the ACTIVITY TYPE and
EQUIPMENT TYPE then Click the NEXT Button on the bottom

















11. Click on the IMPORT MAP button














12. Click on the CHOOSE FILE button and select the yourfilename.gpx which you created in steps 4 - 6. This file will be in your HOME directory.
















13. After the gpx file UPLOADS you will see DETAILS Screen where you can change anything you like. When finished click on the SAVE Button.


























DONE!!!

I know that seems like a lot of steps but it's not that hard to do, just hard to explain. The nice thing is that your run data is still on your watch and you can download it to PYTRAINER (or other program) to keep locally.

GPSBABLE can do much, much, more and I encourage you to read its documentation.

IOS 4.2.1 DBus Error Fix (Iphone)

I've upgraded my Iphone 3gs to IOS 4.2.1 and it quit working with Ubunutu. It gave me the following error;

DBus error org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NoReply: Message did not receive a reply (timeout by message bus)

After a little searching I found a solution that worked for me.

1. Goto APPLICATIONS-->UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER
2. Once your software center app starts goto EDIT-->SOFTWARE SOURCES
3. Click on the OTHER SOFTWARE tab
4. Click the ADD button
5. In the pop up box type ppa:pmcenery/ppa
6. Click the ADD SOURCE button.
7. Once added, close your Software Center.
8. Goto SYSTEM-->ADMINISTRATION-->UPDATE MANAGER
9. Check for system updated and allow them to install.
10. Plug your Iphone into your computer and it should work.

I hope this helps someone else who's have this problem. I'm running Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit OS with Iphone IOS 4.2.1 on an Iphone 3GS phone. (No Jailbreak)

A Couple of Nautilus Tips

Nautilus is the FILE MANAGER Ubuntu uses. Here are a couple of quick tips.


How to show File Sizes under the thumb nails Nautilus uses.


1. Start Nautilus

2. Goto EDIT-->PREFERENCES

3. Click on the DISPLAY Tab

4. The top drop down box should say NONE. Change it to SIZE.


DONE!!!!










Tips number two will let you make Nautilus a little prettier.

How to change the background color or make it a texture in Nautilus display window.

1. Start Nautilus
2. Goto EDIT-->BACKGROUND AND EMBLEMS
3. The window on the left will appear.
4. Click and hold on the color or pattern you want
5. Drag that color or pattern onto the area of Nautilus you want to have that pattern or color.

DONE!!!!




I've applied the CORK pattern to the Nautilus' Main Window.

There you have it, two quick tips to make your "File Manager" a little better in Ubuntu. If you really want to get fancy you can add some ACTIONS or EXTENSIONS to enhance Nautilus' usability.

A working Web Cam

Just a short note but was something I had trouble finding. I wanted a web camera that worked with Skype under Ubuntu. I found the Logitech C270. It has a built in microphone and was truly plug and play.

Just download and install Skype 2.1 Beta for Ubuntu, plug in your C270 and it just works. You will have to go into the microphone selection section and pick the mic on the C270 instead of your microphone port if you want to use the built-in mic.



Go to SYSTEM-->PREFERENCES-->SOUND then click on the INPUT tab and you can pick which microphone you want to use.

The Logitch C270 has a hinge mounting system that is more suited to laptops than LCDs but with a small piece of Velcro it worked with my LCD just fine. The camera head can tilt so you can angle it up or down once you mount it.

The C270 has a very nice picture over Skype too. It is a 720P camera and seams to work nice even in my low light setting. Even using external speakers mounted on my monitor I noticed no feed back while using the cameras mic.

Virtual Box; Windows XP inside Ubuntu

I use MS Windows at work so I still need a MS Windows machine here at home too. I was going to make my home PC a duel booter but I did not have my MS Windows Install CD when I installed Ubuntu (it is very easy to make a duel boot Ubuntu/MS Windows machine if you have MS Windows installed before you install Ubuntu. If Ubuntu is installed first it get complicated and you can trash your system). Well last week I found my MS Windows XP Pro (Full Install Disc. Yes I paid the $299 or $399 to add XP Pro to a custom build PC once) So I decided to try to make a Virtual Machine.


After a little reading I decided to try out Virtual Box. Let me cut to the chase, it works great. You get Ubuntu and MS Windows XP on the same machine running at the same time and you can switch between them by simply minimizing a program (copy and paste work too).

There are two version of Virtual Box for Ubuntu, one you install from the UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER and the other you download as a .deb file. The difference as I see it has to do with OPEN SOURCE / CLOSE SOURCE debate, both version are free of charge. To me the difference that mattered was the fact that the Close Source supports USB and the Open Source didn't.

If you are one of those people that has to have Open Source Software no matter what, follow the red instructions: PART I - Installing VirtualBox OSE.

If you need USB to work skip the red section and go to the green: PART I - Installing VirtualBox PUEL



PART I - Installing VirtualBox OSE
How to Install the Open Source Version (NO USB SUPPORT):
1. Click on APPLICATIONS Menu

2. Click on UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER

3. In UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER do a search for "virtualbox"

4. This will return a result which contains VIRTUALBOX OSE

5. SELECT "virtualbox ose" and INSTALL it by click on the INSTALL BUTTON.

Done!!! You now have VirtualBox OSE installed and it will show up under APPLICATIONS--->SYSTEM TOOLS on Ubunut 10.10.

YOU DO NOT HAVE USB SUPPORT FOR THE MS WINDOWS GUEST OS INSTALL THAT WE WILL CREATE IN PART III.



PART I - Installing VirtualBox PUEL
How to Install VIRTUALBOX with USB Support:

1. Goto the this web page and select the package for your version of Ubuntu (I used the 10.10) It should be noted that the i386 package is for 32 bit Ubuntu and the amd64 package is for Ubunut 64 bit (both 64 bit AMD and 64 bit INTEL processors. It's a bad name) FYI: this version of VirtualBox is called VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL).

2. Once you've downloaded the right package (a .deb file) install it by simply double clicking on it. This will start your UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER where you just click on the INSTALL BUTTON.

3. After your install completes, goto APPLICATION--->UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER

4. Click on EDIT--->SOFTWARE SOURCES

5. Click on the OTHER SOFTWARE tab.

6. Click on the ADD button. (this will pop up a box you can enter text into)

7. Paste one of the following lines into this pop up (ONLY USE ONE OF THESE LINES BASED ON WHICH VERSION OF UBUNTU YOU HAVE i used the 1st one, i have 10.10)

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian maverick contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jaunty contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian squeeze contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian etch contrib

8. Open a TERMINAL Window (APPLICATIONS--->ACCESSORIES--->TERMINAL) and type the following, on one line, and hit enter:

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

9. Once that is done, type the following in TERMINAL:

sudo apt-get update (HIT ENTER KEY)
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.0 (HIT ENTER KEY)

10. Once that is done, type the following in TERMINAL and hit ENTER:

sudo apt-get install dkms

You should be done installing VirtualBox PUEL and you can now run it by clicking on it in APPLICATION--->SYSTEM TOOLS--->Oracle VM VirtualBox.

I know that was harder but you will now be able to run MS Windows applications and get USB devices working too.

Here is a Trouble Shooting Guide




PART II - Making a Virtual Machine for you MS Windows to live on.


In Part II we will make a Virtual Machine or VM for your MS Windows Guest OS to live on. We start this by launching VirtualBox (APPLICATION---> SYSTEM TOOLS---> ORACLE VM VirtualBox)

Some things to note before you start:

First, when you create your Virtual Machine it will really just be one very big file stored on you Ubuntu box. I have two hard drives on my system, one is formated in the Linux format ext3. My second drive is format in FAT32. I wanted my Virtual Machine to have 40gb of hard drive space. FAT32 will NOT allow file sizes over 4gb so I had to use my Linux ext3 drive (which was smaller) for my Virtual Machine.

Second, when you create your Virtual Machine you will have to assign it RAM too. I have 3 gb of RAM and I wanted my Virtual Machine to have 1 GB of RAM. So when I start my Virtual Machine it gets 1gb of RAM dedicated to it leaving 2 gb for Ubuntu. If you only have 1gb or worse 512 mb of RAM to start with, you should make a duel boot machine and not do Virtual, it'll be too slow. You can have multiply Virtual Machines running at the same time too but each has to have RAM dedicated to it, so if I wanted to run XP and Windows 7 on my Ubuntu box I would have to give Xp 1 gb of RAM, Windows 7 one gb of RAM, leaving 1 gb of Ram for my Ubuntu, if I had all three running at the same time. Some guides, MS Windows XP runs fine with 512 mb but 1 gb is better, Windows 7 and Vista need a 1 gb but work better with the full 1.5 gb. In Short if you have less than 2 gb of RAM on your system, duel boot don't virtual.

Third you must have a full install disc of whatever OS you want to virtulize. I did MS Windows XP Pro.

On with the show! Let's create a VM (virtual machine).

1. Start VirtualBox

2. Click on the NEW button (This starts a Wizard)

3. Click NEXT

4. Type in a NAME for your Virtual Machine in the NAME box (I used MYGUESTXP)

5. Pick the OPERATING SYSTEM and VERSION of the OS you are installing (I picked MICROSOFT WINDOWS and XP) and click NEXT

6. Use the SLIDER to pick how much memory to give you VM (I pick 1024 mb) Click NEXT

7. Select how much hard drive space to give your new VM (I checked BOOT HARD DRIVE and
CREATE NEW HARD DISK default size 20,480mb) Click NEXT

8. Read the Screen and Click NEXT.

9. Select a DYNAMIC or STATIC Hard Drive. (Dynamic will grow if needed, Fixed will not and you could "fill up" your virtual drive) (I picked Dynamic) Click NEXT

10. You can change how big to make your VM hard drive (I changed mine from 20480 mb to 40000 mb but left the name as the default) Click NEXT

11. This screen will summarize your Hard Drive choices. Confirm them and click FINISH

12. This screen summarizes your entire Virtual Machine Setting Choices. Confirm them and click FINISH.

YEAH!!! You just created a Virtual Machine or VM.

It has a CPU, Memory, Video, Networking, Sound, Serial Ports and USB Ports (if you installed the PUEL version of VirtualBox). What you do not have yet is a GUEST OPERATING SYSTEM. Read Part III for that :-)

Before you get to Part III, select your new VM by single click on it's name inside VirtualBox. Then Click on the SETTINGS Button . You can look around in the various section and change anything you think you might need too on your VM. I found that the only thing I needed to change was under the VIDEO section. I used the SLIDER to give my VM 32mb of video ram so that I could run a 1024 x 768 display with 32 bit color on my VM.




PART III - Installing a Guest Operating System on your new VM.

A computer is good to no one without and Operating System installed on it, even a virtual computer. Let's put an OS on our new VM.

1. Select your VM by single clicking on it in VirtualBox.

2. Click the START button.

3. A wizard will start, read it and click NEXT.

4. Pick the CD/DVD/HARD DRIVE your FULL MS Windows Install disc is located in. (mine was my DVD drive) Click NEXT.

5. A summary window will appear. Read it and Click FINISH.

6. This will start a standard install of whatever guest OS you are installing (mine was MS Windows XP Pro)

7. Complete the standard install of your Guest OS just like you were installing it on a real PC.

You are now done!!!.

You have created a Virtual Machine that runs a Guest Operating System inside Ubuntu.

What to do now? Install whatever software you want to run inside your VM. You install stuff just like you would if your computer was real. Do your updates, active your OS, whatever you would normally do. I've installed XP Pro, Installed Service Pack 3 on it, did all the Security Updates, Installed MS Office 2007, Photoshop CS 2, Hooked up an HP Printer/Scanner, plugged in and used several USB Thumb Drives and Hard Drives and Installed a few freeware apps I use. What I couldn't get working was my Garmin Forerunner Watch (see last post).





SOME CLOSING HINTS

Under DEVICES-->INSTALL GUEST ADDONS will make your VM act like a program running on your Ubuntu box (copy and Paste from it, mouse/keyboard trapping by click not Right-CTRL)

Your Virtual Machine will think your Ubuntu Host is another computer on the same network as it, so you can do network neighborhood sharing with it if you have SMB Sharing on your Ubuntu.

Under SETTINGS in VirtualBox you have to active USB Support and ADD a FILTER for each USB device you connect. The top Right Icon in the below screen shot ADDS a new "catch all" filter. Sometime when using USB Ubuntu will get confused as it will try mount the device too. Beware of data lose.

Garmin Forerunner 305 and Ubuntu

I've decided to get into shape (too much time playing with Ubuntu). The problem is I don't have a lot of spare time and I need to know how far and fast I run (mostly walk). That meant that I have to go to a park with a known distance which reduced the workout time.

Enter the Garmin Forerunner 305 Watch with Heart Rate Monitor. It tracks your run/bike time, distance, course, heart rate, and a host of other things. Cool, if I mix running with computers I'll keep at it just to play with the toy. Problem is it comes with MS Windows Software and OS X (Mac) but not Linux. Back to my old friend Google and in two hours (and a mile and a half run) I had my Ubuntu 10.04 tracking, plotting and telling me how slow and fat I am.

There are a couple of tricks to get this working but its not hard, just do the steps in order. I know there are a lot of steps but they are baby steps to make it a 10 minute job. (No making fun of my times either, I was walking :-)

1. Use this link and download gpsbabel_1.3.5-1.1_i386.deb (It has to be this version)

2. This will download a .deb file. Just double click on it to run it.

3. It will tell you that there is a newer version available. Ignore it

4. Click on the INSTALL Button and let it do its thing.

5. Goto your UBUNTU SOFTWARE CENTER and do a search for PYTRAINER.

6. Install it. (if you did not do step one pyTrainer would install the wrong version of gpsbabel and it won't work with your Runner).

7. Goto your APPLICATION menu and look under OFFICE and you'll see pyTrainer.

8. Plug in your Forerunner into a USB port.

9. Start PyTrainer

10. In pyTrainer goto the TOOLS-->GPS DEVICE PLUGIN menu item.

11. That will bring up the PLUGINS window. Select GARMIN VIA GPSBABEL 3.5.1. and click on PREFERENCES Button.


12. This will bring up a the PREFERENCES window. Change DISABLED to ENABLED and click OK.


13. Close pyTrainer and disconnect your ForeRunner 305.

14. Take you ForeRunner 305 out for a test jog and get some data in it.

15. Come back and plug in your Forerunner 305 and start pyTrainer.

16. Goto menu FILE-->IMPORT FROM GARMIN GPS DEVICE (VIA GPSBABEL).

17. Within a few seconds you will have imported your data.

Once you import your data pyTrainer allows you to view how far you went, how fast you went, see your route on Google Maps, Count Calories you burnt, see your heart rate, and see graphs and charts that compare these stats and more. It tracks your workout over one day, one week, one month or one year. It's a very nice program.



The only gotcha was the fact that pyTrainer from the Ubuntu Software Center is version 1.7.1 the newest is version 1.7.2. The 1.7.1 installs GPSBABEL's newest version 1.3.6 which will not work with pyTrainer 1.7.1. 1.7.2 may have fixed this but I don't know.



UPDATE: I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 to 10.10 and it updated my GPSBABLE which broke PYTRAINER. I uninstalled PYTrainer and the Newer GPSBABLE, reread my own article, following my own instructions and it didn't Work!!!

It would not detect my GPS but my old data was still there even after the remove/re- install process. Well after hours of tinkering I found that if I followed these instructions for the install AND RAN PYTRAINER as SUDO it worked! So follow these directions for the install but to run PYTRAINER open a terminal window and type:

sudo pytrainer

Hit enter and it will work and you will have your old data.

If you are doing a new install of pytrainer and don't need your old data you can make a desktop shortcut to the PYTRAINER program (open your APPLICATIONS menu find PYTRAINER, right click on it and select ADD THIS LAUNCHER TO DESKTOP) Once you have a desktop shortcut you can right click on the desktop shortcut and select PROPERTIES then edit the COMMAND section to say:

gksudo pytrainer

and your good to go. You can just double click the desktop shortcut and don't have to use the scary TERMINAL Commands.

Not Linux but Useful Info BLOGGER

I have this blog associated with an old email address that I do not want to keep so I needed to transfer this blog to another email account. I started searching and after a few hours I was ready to give up and figured it couldn't be done when I found this great article.

Use the link and read the nice article with screen shots so that you get this right. If you mess this up, you will lock yourself out of your Blog.

He is a summary of the above linked article.

1. Log into your blogger/blogspot account with the old user name (old email address).

2. Click on the Permission tab.

3. Click on the Add Author button on the permissions tabs.

4. Enter your new user name (new email address) and send the invite.

5. Log out of Blogger/Blogspot and log into the new email address.

6. Open the email and click on the invite link in the email.

7. Log out of your new email account

8. Log back into your Blogger/Blogspot account using the Old email address as your user name.

9. Go to the Permission Tab again and you should see two email addresses there, your old and your new.

10. Click on the Grant Admin Privileges button beside the new email address.

11. You can now use either email address (user name) to manage your blog.

12. Click on the Remove link beside your old email address (user name).

13. Confirm the remove and log out as your old email address (user name).

14. Log into Blogger/Blogspot with your new email address (user name).

15. Done!

If you get this wrong you will not be able to manage or worse not able to access your BLOG. I encourage you to read the linked to article, if for no other reason than the fact that they have other good how-to article relating to Blogger/Blogspot.

Needed a Cheap Scanner and Got a Printer Too

I needed a cheap scanner that would work with Ubuntu. I had nice little Cannon but it was a MS Windows only scanner. I've looked on and off for about 6 months now, reading on-line about which ones work with Linux and was surprised that there wasn't a lot of information out there on which models work and when I found one, I couldn't find that model for the price I wanted.

I finally stumbled across an HP article which contained a very nice chart that lists what HP printers/scanners/fax/all-in-ones work with different Linux Distros. The chart will tell you what features work and what ones don't. There is a nice how to install the HPLIP software with screen shots and explanations as to what each command does (You will have to use the Command Line but it's not hard) The main thing to remember is not to plug your device into a USB port until the instructions tell you too.



As I said I wanted a cheap scanner but found an HP OfficeJet 4500 AIO on Amazon for $59. It has a ADF (Auto Document Feeder), Printer, Fax, Copier and has a network port (wired). So far, I know the printer, scanner, and copier work just fine on Ubuntu 10.04 but I don't have anyway to test the Fax so your on your own there. Don't get me wrong this is a cheap device, it's all plastic, hinges are weak, and scanning at over 300 dpi is slow, but it works and was only $63 delivered.


Since I bought this for it's scanner, I don't really care, but ink is $25 for a tri-color (200 page limit) and $30 for a Black (700-900 page limit). If you were using this for its printer, you would be ahead to just sell it for $20 and buy a new printer every time you run out of ink.

I want to do some OCR work in Ubuntu and scan in some old photos. As I find software and begin working with Linux scanner software I'll document it here.

OpenOffice Howto: Paste Unformatted Text Shortcut Key

I know OpenOffice is not just for Linux but I've all but replaced MS Office with it even at work (I still have to have Outlook for email).  What I wanted was a way to quickly copy and paste unformatted text.  I know there is already a shortcut key combo for this but it's awkward ( CTRL ALT SHIFT V)  That's 4 Keys!!!  Too many.  

Here's what I did to fix this.  Start OpenOffice Writer then goto Tools --> Customize. Select the Keyboard tab from the Customize window that popped up (Pictured below).   Select Edit in the bottom left list.  Then select "Paste Unformatted Text" from the bottom right list and finally assign the keyboard shortcut you want it to be from the top list.

I notice that the F4 key (Function Key F4) is unassigned so I used it and went from a 4 key combo to 1.