Ubuntu notes
This page is a very terse distillation of things I've had to fiddle with. Most of these solutions have come from wading through Ubuntu Forums.
Enable Sensible Repositories
A vaguely useful apt sources.list:
deb http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy main restricted universe multiverse deb http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://nz.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-updates main restricted universe multiverse deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security main restricted universe multiverse deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu hardy-security main restricted universe multiverse deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu hardy partner deb http://medibuntu.org/repo/ hardy free non-free deb-src http://medibuntu.org/repo/ hardy free non-free
Note: Can replace security.ubuntu.com with nz.archive.ubuntu.com for faster transfers, with slightly less up-to-date-ness.
In the Event of Bad Signature Errors:
sudo apt-get update -o Acquire::http::No-Cache=true
One Line APT Keys command
Medibuntu requires its GPG key:
sudo apt-key advanced --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv 2EBC26B60C5A2783
Connect to a Windows VPN
Finally, some clever Ubuntu Gnome folks have written a network manager plugin for doing Windows VPN connections over PPTP. The extremely cool network manager is also available for KDE:
sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp network-manager-kde
Crazy Wireless Drivers
If you are lucky enough to have bought a HP or Compaq laptop recently, you've probably got a Broadcom wireless chipset. Broadcom are lazy wankers and don't release their driver code.
Solution (before 8.04): Use ndiswrapper 1.8. Blacklist the built-in bcm43xx and download these Win32 Broadcom 4318 drivers.
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.8 ndiswrapper-common
ATI Radeon Xpress 200M
Works in 8.04. In earlier versions, getting this chip to do 3D reliably is a pain in the arse. The fglrx driver does not work with Linux on laptops with the ATi Radeon Xpress 200M unless the BIOS is changed to use Sideport + UMI set to 128 MB. LAME.
Current Recipe
Get the latest Debian module building tools with this incantation:
sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make sudo apt-get install debhelper debconf libstdc++5 linux-headers-$(uname -r)
Download the latest ATI driver binary and tell it to build Ubuntu packages, then install them:
bash ati-driver-installer-8.34.8-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/edgy sudo dpkg -i *fglrx*8.34.8*.deb
Get the module assistant to build and install the fglrx kernel module thus:
sudo module-assistant prepare sudo module-assistant update sudo module-assistant build fglrx sudo module-assistant install fglrx sudo depmod -a
Configure your X server (or edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf by hand):
sudo aticonfig --initial sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv
and make sure you have this in xorg.conf as well:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection
- See also
- Getting the laptop ATI 200M chipset to play nice with the plasma telly, and getting the NVidia 8800GT to work at all with gutsy.
SSH Authentication With Keys
Turn off ssh login prompts and do everything with keys. This will reduce the attack surface on port 22. First, create a key using the following command:
ssh-keygen -t dsa -f ~/.ssh/mykey
This will ask for a pass-phrase and create a pair in your .ssh directory as two files, mykey containing the private key and mykey.pub containing the public key. Then for each host you log in to, scp your public key to your home folder and append it to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file, thus:
me@home$ scp ~/.ssh/mykey.pub me@remotehost:~ me@home$ ssh remotehost Password: me@remotehost$ cat ~/mykey.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Then, in your Gnome Sessions configuration under Startup Programs, add this:
ssh-add /home/me/.ssh/mykey
Note that you will need your full home path, not the ~ shortcut. Now, you can enter your pass-phrase once at the start of every session, and log in to your hosts without prompting for passwords. Once you have it working, you can then disable ssh password prompts.
Playing DVDs
For some reason DVD playing in hardy is lame. To fix, install VLC and bung this in /usr/share/applications/vlcdvd.desktop:
[Desktop Entry] Version=1.0 Name=DVD Player (VLC) Comment=Play a DVD main menu with VLC Exec=vlc --fullscreen %f Icon=vlc Terminal=false Type=Application NoDisplay=true Categories=AudioVideo;Player; MimeType=x-content/video-dvd;
Then update the desktop database
sudo update-desktop-database
Then choose DVD Player (VLC) in Nautilus - Edit -> Preferences -> Media tab.
LM Sensors
To get sensors to work properly you need to run:
sudo sensors-detect
first and follow the onscreen directions.