IT training working with your desktop ENG,2006

Install the cowbell package from the “Universe” repository see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications [p... To install extra codecs for Gstreamer: • Install the following

Working with your desktop

Ubuntu Documentation Project <ubuntu-doc@lists.ubuntu.com>

Working with your desktop

by Ubuntu Documentation Project <ubuntu-doc@lists.ubuntu.com>

Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006 Canonical Ltd and members of the Ubuntu Documentation Project

Abstract

A comprehensive guide to using Ubuntu in a desktop environment

Credits and License

Maintainers for the Ubuntu Documentation Team:

• Matthew Paul Thomas

This guide is based on the original work of:

• Chua Wen Kiat

This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty

of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AS DESCRIBED IN THE DISCLAIMER.

Copies of these licenses are available in the appendices section See also the online versions:

• GNU Free Documentation License [http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html]

• Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/]

Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information compiled in this publication is accurate and correct However, this does not guarantee complete accuracy Neither Canonical Ltd., the authors, nor translators shall be held liable for possible errors or the consequences thereof.

Some of the software and hardware descriptions cited in this publication may be registered trademarks and may thus fall under copyright restrictions and trade protection laws In no way do the authors make claim to any such names.

THIS DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A

PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,

INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Table of Contents

1 Linux Basics 1

1 Directories and File Systems 2

2 Permissions 3

3 Terminals 4

4 Text Editing 6

5 Users and Groups 7

2 Administrative Tasks 8

3 Adding, Removing and Updating Applications 9

1 What is a package manager? 10

2 Add/Remove Applications 11

3 Synaptic Package Manager 12

4 Command-Line Package Management With APT 13

5 Installing a Single Package File 14

6 Software Repositories 16

7 Updates 17

4 Music and Video 18

1 Playing and Organising Music Files 19

2 Playing and Extracting Audio CDs 20

3 Burning CDs 21

4 Video Playback 22

5 Multimedia Codecs 23

6 Using an iPod 24

7 Editing Audio Files 25

8 DVD Playback 26

9 Backing Up DVDs 27

10 RealPlayer 28

11 Video Editing 29

5 Internet 30

1 Connecting to the Internet 31

2 Web browsing 36

3 Email 38

4 Instant Messaging 39

5 Peer To Peer 40

6 News Readers 41

7 Networking 42

6 Office 43

1 OpenOffice.org 44

2 GNOME Office 45

3 GnuCash Accounting Application 46

4 Scribus Desktop Publishing Application 47

Working with your desktop

7 Graphics & Photos 48

1 Digital Cameras 49

2 3D Graphic Cards 50

3 gThumb Image Viewer 52

4 The GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) 53

5 Inkscape Vector Graphics Editor 54

6 Blender 3d Modeller 55

8 Games 56

1 Frozen-Bubble 57

2 PlanetPenguin Racer 58

3 Scorched3D 59

4 Windows Games 60

9 Programming 61

1 Basic Compilers 62

2 Java Runtime Environment (1.5) 63

3 Development Tools 64

4 Learning How to Program 65

10 Partitions and Booting 66

1 Graphical Partition Editor 67

2 Make Windows partitions available from Ubuntu 68

3 Make Windows partitions automatically available 69

4 Run a system command automatically at startup 70

5 Change default operating system at boot 71

6 Configure startup services 72

7 Other Tips 73

11 Printing 74

12 Advanced Desktop Configuration 75

1 Log in automatically when the computer starts 76

2 Open files with administrative privileges from the file manager 77

3 Install Extra Fonts 78

4 RAR Archiver 79

5 Advanced Desktop Applets 80

6 Hide Recent Documents in the Places menu 81

Chapter 1 Linux Basics

Linux is inspired by the Unix operating system which first appeared in 1969, and has been in

continous use and development ever since Many of the design conventions behind Unix also exist inLinux and are central to understanding the basics of the system

Unix was primarily oriented towards the command line interface, and that legacy is carried on inLinux Thus, the graphical user interface with its windows, icons and menus are built on top of a basiccommand line interface Furthermore, this means that the Linux file system is structured to be easilymanageable and accessible from the command line

Linux Basics

1 Directories and File Systems

Linux and Unix file systems are organised in a hierarchical, tree-like structure The highest level

of the file system is the / or root directory In the Unix and Linux design philosophy, everything is

considered a file - including hard disks, partitions and removable media This means that all otherfiles and directories (including other disks and partitions) exist under the root directory

For example, /home/jebediah/cheeses.odt shows the correct full path to the cheeses.odt file thatexists in the jebediah directory which is under the home directory, which in turn, is under the root (/)directory

Underneath the root (/) directory, there is a set of important system directories that are commonacross most Linux distributions that are used The following is a listing of common directories that aredirectly under the root (/) directory:

• /bin - important binary applications

• /boot - files that are required to boot the computer

• /dev - the device files

• /etc - configuration files, startup scripts, etc

• /home - local users' home directories

• /lib - system libraries

• /lost+found - provides a lost+found system for files that exist under the root (/) directory

• /media - mounted (loaded) removable media such as CDs, digital cameras, etc

• /mnt - mounted filesystems

• /opt - provides a location for optional applications to be installed

• /proc - special dynamic directory that maintains information about the state of the system,

including currently running processes

• /root - root user home directory, pronounced 'slash-root'

• /sbin - important system binaries

• /sys - contains information about the system

• /tmp - temporary files

• - applications and files that are mostly available for all users to access

Linux Basics

3

2 Permissions

All of the files on a Linux system have permissions that allow or prevent others from viewing,

modifying or executing The super user "root" has the ability to access any file on the system Eachfile has access restrictions, user restrictions and have an owner/group association

Every file is secured by the following three sets of permissions, in order of importance:

applies to all other users

Inside each of the three sets of permissions are the actual permissons The permissions, along with theway they apply differently to files and directories, are outlined below:

• read

files can be displayed/opened

directory contents can be displayed

• write

files can be edited or deleted

directory contents can be modified

• execute

executable files can be run as a program

directories can be entered

To view and edit the permissions on files and directories, open the Places → Home Folder andright-click on a file or directory Then select Properties The permissions exist under the Permissionstab and allow for the editing of all permission levels, if you are the owner of the file

To learn more about file permissions in Linux, read the file permissions page

[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FilePermissions] in the Ubuntu Wiki

Linux Basics

3 Terminals

Working at the command line is not as daunting a task as you would think There is no special

knowledge needed to know how to use the command line, it is a program like everything else Mostthings in Linux can be done using the command line, although there are graphical tools for mostprograms, sometimes they are just not enough This is where the command line comes in handy.The terminal is often called the command prompt or the shell In days gone by, this was the way theuser interacted with the computer, however Linux users have found that the use of the shell can bequicker than a graphical method and still holds some merit today Here you will learn how to use theterminal

The original use of the terminal was a file browser and indeed it is still used as a file browser, in theevent of the graphical environment failing You can use the terminal as a file browser to navigate yourfiles and undo the changes that have been made

3.1 Starting the Terminal

To start Terminal choose Applications → Accessories → Terminal

3.2 Common Commands

View Directories - ls

The ls (LiSt) lists files in different colors with full formatted text

Create Directories - mkdir (directory name)

The mkdir (MaKeDIRectory) command will create a directory

Change Directories - cd (/directory/location)

The cd (ChangeDirectory) command will change from your current directory to any directory youspecify

Copy Files/Directories - cp (file or directory name) (to directory or filename)

The cp (CoPy) command will copy any files you specify The cp -r command will copy anydirectories you specify

Remove Files/Directories - rm (file or directory name)

Linux Basics

5

You can also use wildcards to match one or more files, such as "*" (for all files) or "?" (to match onecharacter)

For a more thorough introduction to the Linux command line, please read the command line

introduction [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BasicCommands] on the Ubuntu wiki.

3.3 Switch to Console mode

The usual method of command-line access in Ubuntu is to start a terminal (see Section 3.1, “Starting

the Terminal” [p 4] above) , however sometimes it is useful to switch to the real console:

1 Use the Ctrl-Alt-F1 shortcut keys to switch to the first console.

2 To switch back to Desktop mode, use the Ctrl-Alt-F7 shortcut keys.

There are six consoles available Each one is accessible with the shortcut keys Ctrl-Alt-F1

to Ctrl-Alt-F6.

3.4 Disable the beep sound in Terminal mode

1 Start a Terminal session, select: Applications → Accessories → Terminal from the desktop menusystem

2 Edit → Current Profile Select the General tab Uncheck the Terminal bell checkbox

Linux Basics

4 Text Editing

All of the configurations and settings in Linux are saved in text files Even though you most often canedit configurations through the graphical interface, you may occasionally have to edit them by hand.Gedit is the default Ubuntu text editor, which you can launch by clicking Applications → Accessories

→ Text Editor on the desktop menu system

At times in this guide, Gedit is run from the command line using gksudo, which runs Gedit withadministrative privileges, in order to modify configuration files

If you need to use a text editor from the command line, you can use nano, which is a simple to usetext editor When running it from the command line, always use the following command, whichensures that the editor will not introduce line breaks:

Linux Basics

7

5 Users and Groups

To add users or groups to your system, you can use the Users And Groups application located inSystem → Administration → Users and Groups

Remember to log off and log back in order for the changes to become effective

To add a new user, click on Add user, fill-in the data fields then click OK To edit the properties ofeach user, click the Properties button located in the main Users window

To add a new group, select the Groups tab and click Add group Choose a name for the new groupand, if you want, change the default value for the Group ID If you try to allocate a Group ID that is inuse, the system will warn you

You can add users to the newly created group by selecting a user from the left menu and clicking onthe Add button Removing a user is as simple as adding one: select a user from the right menu thenclick Remove When you are ready, click OK and the new group with its users, if inserted, will becreated

To edit the properties of a group, from within the Groups main window, choose a group name andclick on the Properties button

To remove a user or a group from the system, select the user or group you want to delete and clickDelete

Chapter 2 Administrative Tasks

In Ubuntu, for security reasons, administrative tasks are confined to users with special privileges.Administrative access is given to individual users, who may use the sudo command to performadministrative tasks The first user account you created on your system during installation will, bydefault, have access to sudo You can restrict and enable sudo access to users with the Users and

Groups application (see Section 5, “Users and Groups” [p 7] for more information).

When you run an application that requires root privileges, sudo will ask you to input your normal userpassword This ensures that rogue applications cannot damage your system, and serves as a reminderthat you are about to perform administrative actions which require you to be careful!

To use sudo when using the command line, simply type "sudo" before the command you wish to run.Sudo will then prompt you for your password

Sudo will remember your password for a set amount of time, which by default is 15 minutes, but can

be changed This feature was designed to allow users to perform multiple administrative tasks withoutbeing asked for a password each time

Be careful when doing administrative tasks, you might damage your system!

Some other tips on using sudo:

• To use a "root" terminal, type "sudo -i" at the command line

• All of the default graphical configuration tools in Ubuntu already use sudo, so they will prompt youfor your password if needed

• For more information on the sudo program and the absence of a root user in Ubuntu, read the sudo

page [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RootSudo] on the Ubuntu wiki.

Chapter 3 Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

1 What is a package manager?

To add or remove applications in Ubuntu, you need to use a package manager This is a program that

installs and uninstalls software, and keeps track of all the components each piece of software needs.There are three main package managers you can use in Ubuntu:

• Add/Remove Programs - The easiest way to install and uninstall programs.

• Synaptic - Advanced control of software and other system components.

• Apt - For if you prefer using the Terminal.

If you open more than one of these programs at once, they may not work Close them all and open justone

You need administrative access to use any of these programs

• Chapter 2, Administrative Tasks [p 8]

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

11

2 Add/Remove Applications

With the Add/Remove… item in the Applications menu, you can install programs to do new thingswith Ubuntu You can also remove programs you don’t want You need administrative access to useAdd/Remove Programs

• Chapter 2, Administrative Tasks [p 8]

If you know the name of a program you want to install, enter it in the Search field Otherwise, begin

by choosing a software category on the left

Programs that are already installed begin with a check mark next to their name Uncheck a program ifyou want to remove it from your computer

When you click Apply or OK, any new software will be downloaded from the Internet, and Ubuntuwill make the changes you selected If you have not activated the online package archive, you may beasked to insert your Ubuntu CD-ROM to install some packages

Some software cannot be installed or removed using Add/Remove Applications If you cannot findthe package you are looking for, click Advanced to open Synaptic

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

3 Synaptic Package Manager

Synaptic is an advanced package management application that can install and remove every packageavailable to your system The interface is graphical like Add/Remove Applications, but presents muchmore information and gives you complete control over the software on your computer

To launch Synaptic, from the System menu choose Administration → Synaptic Package Manager.You need administrative access to use Synaptic

• Chapter 2, Administrative Tasks [p 8]

If you know the name of the package you want to install or remove, click the Search button, andenter the package name or a short search term You can also search for packages by description (for

example, you can find all packages mentioning “arcade” or “mathematics”).

Use the categories on the left to filter the list of packages To return to the list of categories after doing

a search, click Sections

To install a package, click the box next to it and choose Mark for installation If you change yourmind, choose Unmark To remove a package that is already installed, choose Mark for Removal.When you’ve finished, click Apply and Ubuntu will make the changes you selected If you don’t want

to make any changes, close the window instead

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

13

4 Command-Line Package Management With APT

If you are comfortable using the Terminal, you can use apt (Advanced Packaging Tool) to install orremove software You need administrative access to use apt

• Chapter 2, Administrative Tasks [p 8]

To update the local list of packages, enter in a Terminal:

sudo apt-get update

To install all available updates:

sudo apt-get upgrade

To install a package:

sudo apt-get install package

To remove a package:

sudo apt-get remove package

To list other apt commands and options:

apt-get help

For more information, see Debian’s apt manual

[http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#apt-howto]

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

5 Installing a Single Package File

The preferred method of installing programs is via the package managers described in this chapter.However, although the Ubuntu package archives are very large, it is possible that you may wish toinstall a package that is not available in the Ubuntu archives If this happens, you can also downloadand install files from websites

It is important to ensure that any files you download come from a safe source before

installing them

There are many different kinds of Linux package files Most of these are associated with the package

managers of specific Linux distributions Examples are Debian Package files (.deb files), RPM

Package Manager files (.rpm files), and Tarballs (.tar files).

This section deals with installing these single files

It is not guaranteed that these files will be compatible with your system and you will notreceive security updates if you install these files For these reasons, if you wish to install aprogram, always use a native Ubuntu package of the application available through a packagemanager, if there is one available

5.1 Install/uninstall deb files

These files are Debian packages The package files associated with Ubuntu have the deb suffix

because of Ubuntu's close relations with the Debian GNU/Linux distribution You will need

administrative privileges to install a deb file (see Chapter 2, Administrative Tasks [p 8]).

To install a deb file, double-click on it If you prefer using the Terminal, enter:

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

15

sudo apt-get install alien

5.3 Install tarballs

Files with the tar.gz or tar.bz2 suffix are package files known as tarballs which are widely used in

Linux and Unix

If there is no native Ubuntu package available in any of the Ubuntu repositories, you can use thecommand line to install or uninstall the Tarball file by following the instructions that come with thepackage

Tarballs often contain the source code of the program, and need to be compiled in order to be used To

do this, extra software will generally be needed (see Section 1, “Basic Compilers” [p 62 ] )

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

6 Software Repositories

6.1 What are Repositories?

There are thousands of programs available to install on Ubuntu These programs are stored in

software archives (repositories) and are made freely available for installation over the Internet This

makes it very easy to install new programs in Linux, and it is also very secure, because each programyou install is built specially for Ubuntu and checked before it is installed To organise the software,

Ubuntu repositories are categorised into four groups: Main, Restricted, Universe, and Multiverse.

The rationale used to determine which software goes into which category is based on two factors:

• The level of support software development teams provide for a program

• The level of compliance the program has to the Free Software Philosophy

[http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/philosophy]

You can find more information about the Repositories available on the website

[http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/components]

The standard Ubuntu Install CD contains some software from the Main and Restricted categories.

Once your system is made aware of the Internet-based locations for these repositories, many moresoftware programs are made available for installation Using the software package management toolsalready installed on your system, you can search for, install and update any piece of software directlyover the Internet, without the need for the CD

6.2 Adding Extra Repositories

To install software from the “Universe” or “Multiverse” repositories:

1 Open System → Administration → Software Properties

2 Select Add

3 To use the “Universe” repository, turn on Community Maintained (Universe)

Adding this repository will mean that the majority of the Free Software universe will beavailable to install on your system This software is supported by a carefully selectedgroup of volunteers within the Ubuntu Community, but is not supported by the core

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications

After installing some important updates, it may be necessary to restart your computer If so,Ubuntu will inform you with a popup and an icon in your notification area

Chapter 4 Music and Video

This section describes the music and video players available to use with Ubuntu and how to configurethem to listen to different types of multimedia files

Music and Video

19

1 Playing and Organising Music Files

To play and organize your music, Ubuntu comes with#Rhythmbox Music Player, which looks similar

to iTunes When you first start Rhythmbox, it will scan your home directory for any supported musicfiles you have and add it to the database To start Rhythmbox, choose Applications → Sound & Video

→ Rhythmbox Music Player

Ubuntu does not directly support the MP3 format, because it is restricted by patents and proprietary rights Instead Ubuntu supports the Ogg Vorbis format out of the box, a completely free, open and

non-patented format Ogg Vorbis files also sound better then MP3 files of the same file size and aresupported by many portable music players

• Players that work with Vorbis [http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/PortablePlayers]

You can still play your old MP3 files by installing MP3 support (see Section 5, “Multimedia

Codecs” [p 23 ] ) Instructions for other formats, such as Windows Media Audio

(wma/wmv) and other patent-encumbered formats can be found on the Ubuntu Wiki

[http://wiki.ubuntu.com/RestrictedFormats]

The Cowbell ID3 tag editor can edit the metadata on your mp3 and other music files To use Cowbell:

1 Install the cowbell package from the “Universe” repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing

and Updating Applications [p 9]);

2 To run Cowbell, choose Applications → Sound & Video → Cowbell Music Organizer

Music and Video

2 Playing and Extracting Audio CDs

When you insert an audio CD, the Sound Juicer CD player and ripper opens automatically To play

the CD, click the Play button or press Ctrl-P To play a particular track, double-click on the track or

select the track and click Play

To extract (rip) your audio CD, make sure the tracks that you want to rip are selected, then click the

Extract button or press Ctrl-Enter.

If you are connected to the internet, Sound Juicer will retrieve the CD artist, title, and track

data from MusicBrainz.org [http://musicbrainz.org], a community-maintained database of

Sound Juicer can extract audio files to these formats:

• Ogg Vorbis - A patent-free lossy audio compression format, which typically produces higher

quality and greater compression than MP3

• More about Vorbis from vorbis.com [http://vorbis.com/faq/]

• FLAC - The Free Lossless Audio Codec It can compress audio files up to 50% without removing

any information from the audio stream

• FLAC Web site [http://flac.sourceforge.net/]

• WAV - Typically used for voice recordings Sound Juicer uses this format for low quality mono

audio files

You can also extract CD audio files to the proprietary non-free MP3 format Instructions on how to

rip to the MP3 format are in the help for Sound Juicer Choose Help → Contents and navigate to the

Preferences section.

Music and Video

21

3 Burning CDs

When you put a blank CD in the drive Ubuntu will ask if you want to burn an audio or data CD.Clicking on Burn Audio CD will launch Serpentine To add music to your audio CD, either dragmusic from your File Browser or use the Add button You will also need to select the size of your CD(21, 74, 80 or 90 minutes) Serpentine will warn you if you exceed the set limit

To make a photo or data CD, click Burn Data CD Ubuntu will open a CD/DVD Creator window.The CD Creator is built into the File Browser, and it allows you to add any file or folder you havepermission to access When you are ready to burn the CD, click Write to Disc Ubuntu will thenprompt you to select the drive containing the blank CD, and give you the opportunity to name the CDand select the write speed Finally, click Write to create the new photo or data CD

Music and Video

4 Video Playback

To play video, Ubuntu comes with Totem Movie Player, which looks and functions similar to

Windows Media Player Features of Totem include custom playlists and DVD playback You can startTotem by clicking: Applications → Sound & Video → Movie Player from the desktop menu system

To read video files, Totem uses the Gstreamer framework To play some video formats, you may need

to add further codec support (see Section 5, “Multimedia Codecs” [p 23 ] )

There are also other multimedia applications available Examples include Mplayer, Xine and

Totem-xine (which uses the Xine framework, instead of the Gstreamer framework) You may benefitfrom trying alternative video players

Music and Video

Other applications, such as Mplayer and Xine, do not use the Gstreamer framework

Due to patent and copyright restrictions, codecs for these programs are not included

at all in Ubuntu For more information on these read the Restricted Formats

[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats] wiki page

To install extra codecs for Gstreamer:

• Install the following packages from the “Universe” and “Multiverse” repositories (see Chapter 3,

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications [p 9]):

You will need to use Synaptic Package Manager to install these packages

Some of these packages may not be permitted in some countries: you should verify thatyou are permitted to use them before installing them

Music and Video

6 Using an iPod

You can play music directly off an iPod with Rhythmbox Music Player Plug the iPod into the

computer, and open Rhythmbox

To transfer music files to and from an iPod, you can use gtkpod:

1 Install the gtkpod package from the “Universe” repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and

Updating Applications [p 9]).

2 To run gtkpod, choose Applications → Sound & Video → gtkpod

Music and Video

25

7 Editing Audio Files

Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds To use Audacity:

1 Install the audacity package from the “Universe” repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing

and Updating Applications [p 9]).

2 To run Audacity, choose Applications → Sound & Video → Audacity

3 For further help with Audacity, use Audacity’s Help menu

Music and Video

8 DVD Playback

The movie players provided in Ubuntu are capable of reading DVDs that are not encrypted However,most commercial DVDs are encrypted with CSS (the Content Scrambling System) and currently forlegal reasons it is not possible to include support for these DVDs in Ubuntu However it is possible toenable support as follows:

The legal status of this library is not fully clear In some countries it is possible that the use

of this library to play or copy DVDs is not permitted by law Verify that you are within yourrights in using it

1 Install the libdvdread3 package (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications [p.

9]).

You will need to use Synaptic Package Manager to install this package

2 To activate DVD decryption, type the following line into a terminal prompt:

these To install Xine, install the gxine package from the “Universe” repository (see Chapter 3,

Adding, Removing and Updating Applications [p 9]).

5 You can then open gxine from the Sound & Video menu

Music and Video

27

9 Backing Up DVDs

You can back up your DVDs to files or onto DVD+/- discs with DVD::RIP To install DVD::RIP:

Before backing up a DVD, you must ensure that you are legally permitted to make copies ofit

1 Install the Multimedia Codecs (see Section 5, “Multimedia Codecs” [p 23]).

2 Enable DVD video playback (see Section 8, “DVD Playback” [p 26]).

3 Install dvdrip and transcode from the “Multiverse” repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing

and Updating Applications [p 9]).

4 You can run the program using the command dvdrip (see the run application manual

[ghelp:user-guide#tools-run-app] for help on how to run an application without using

the menu) If you wish, you can add a menu entry for the program dvdrip (see the menu

editor manual [ghelp:user-guide#menu-editor] for help on how to add menu entries).

We recommend you enter it in the Sound & Video menu, and that you use the file

/usr/share/perl5/Video/DVDRip/icon.xpm for the icon

5 To start dvd::rip, choose Applications → Sound & Video → dvd::rip

Music and Video

10 RealPlayer

1 Install the realplay package from the Commercial repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing

and Updating Applications [p 9]).

2 To run RealPlayer, choose Applications → Sound & Video → RealPlayer 10

Music and Video

29

11 Video Editing

Kino is an advanced video editor It features excellent integration with IEEE-1394 for capture, VTRcontrol, and recording back to the camera It captures video to disk in Raw DV and AVI format, in

both type-1 DV and type-2 DV (separate audio stream) encodings For more information, see the Kino

website [http://www.kinodv.org/article/static/2] To use it:

1 Install the kino package (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications [p 9]).

2 To run Kino, choose Applications → Sound & Video → Kino Video Editor

You can also try the PiTiVi video editor by installing the pitivi package from the “Universe”

repository (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and Updating Applications [p 9]) PiTiVi is a video

editor for the GNOME desktop It is still in fairly early development, but worth a try

Chapter 5 Internet

This section describes a number of tasks related to the internet, including how to connect to theinternet, configuring and using an internet browser, and using other types of internet programs

31

1 Connecting to the Internet

1.1 Basic Procedure

This section describes the basic procedure for connecting to the internet

If you have a wireless connection, or connect to the internet through a modem (including

an ADSL modem), and this section does not work, you should read Section 1.2, “Wireless

Cards” [p 31 ] or Section 1.3, “ADSL Connections” [p 33 ]

To connect to the internet:

1 Open System → Administration → Networking

2 Select the connection you wish to use, then click Properties

3 Ensure Enable this connection is turned on

4 If your ISP or network administrator has given you an IP address, set Configuration to Static IPaddress, then enter the address in the IP address field and click OK Otherwise, set Configuration

to DHCP and click OK

5 To activate or deactivate network connections, select your connection, then click

Activate/Deactivate

1.2 Wireless Cards

Many wireless cards are automatically detected by Ubuntu during installation To see if your

card is supported, open System → Administration → Networking If your wireless card is

listed, you can follow Section 1.1, “Basic Procedure” [p 31 ] to connect to the internet A

complete listing of wireless cards which work with Ubuntu can be found online at the Ubuntu Wiki

[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WirelessCardsSupported] Please add your wirelesscard to the list if it works with Ubuntu

Some cards may not work automatically with Ubuntu If this is the case, please look at the Wireless

Troubleshooting Guide [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WirelessTroubleshootingGuide] on the Ubuntu Wiki

which is an excellent resource for troubleshooting wireless cards

If your wireless card does not work with Ubuntu, you may have to do some research in order toactivate it A good way of getting a wireless card to work is to use the ndiswrapper tool which allowsUbuntu to use the Microsoft Windows driver for the wireless card To do this, follow the instructions

below in Section 1.2.1, “Windows Wireless Drivers” [p 32 ]

All other information regarding wireless networking on Ubuntu is collected at Wireless Networking

Central [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs] on the Ubuntu Wiki.

1.2.1 Windows Wireless Drivers

Even if your wireless network card does not have a native Linux driver, you may still be able to get itworking with ndiswrapper Ndiswrapper is a Linux module which allows Ubuntu to use the Windowsdriver for wireless cards (in most cases)

These instructions apply only to the x86 and AMD64 versions of Ubuntu, and not to Ubuntufor Power PC (PPC)

If you have access to the internet, you can see if your wireless cards is

in the list of cards supported by ndiswrapper on the ndiswrapper website

[http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/List]

To install ndiswrapper, install the package ndiswrapper-utils (see Chapter 3, Adding, Removing and

Updating Applications [p 9]) This package is provided on the Ubuntu CD If you have access to the

internet, you can also optionally install a graphical tool, ndisgtk from the Universe repository (see

ghelp:add-applications#extra-repositories).

In order to set up ndiswrapper, it is necessary to obtain the Windows driver for your wireless card.Generally, the best way to do this is from the CD supplied with your wireless card You shouldcopy two files to the same place on your computer, one ending in SYS and one ending in INF Ifyou find any files which end in BIN, also copy those If you are not able to find the right files, and

have alternative access to the internet, you may be able to obtain help from the ndiswrapper website

[http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/mediawiki/index.php/list]

If you have installed the graphical tool ndisgtk, to set up ndiswrapper, simply select System →

Administration → Windows Wireless Drivers from the menu, and follow the instructions given

If you have not installed the graphical tool, use this procedure:

1 Open Applications → Accessories → Terminal and type:

sudo ndiswrapper -i ~/Desktop/drivername.inf

The above command assumes that your INF file is named drivername.inf and wascopied to your Desktop Replace these values if necessary

33

sudo depmod -a

sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

4 To ensure that the module is loaded each time you boot the computer, type:

For a router-style ADSL modem, simply follow Section 1.1, “Basic Procedure” [p 31 ]

For information on setting up a PPPOE ADSL modem see Section 1.3.1, “PPPoE Modems” [p.

33 ]

For information on setting up a USB ADSL modem see Section 1.3.2, “USB ADSL Modems” [p.

34 ]

1.3.1 PPPoE Modems

This section is about setting up an ADSL Internet connection using an ethernet PPPoE modem

You will need to have subscribed to an Internet Service Provider, and your Internet connection

must be installed and functional A "DSL" light on your modem usually shows that the line is

To set up the modem:

1 Open Applications → Accessories → Terminal

2 In the terminal type:

sudo pppoeconf

3 A text-based menu program will guide you through the next steps, which are:

1 Confirm that your Ethernet card is detected

2 Enter your username

3 Enter your password

4 If you already have a PPPoE Connection configured, you will be asked if it may be modified

5 Popular options: you are asked if you want the 'noauth' and 'defaultroute' options and toremove 'nodetach' - choose "Yes"

6 Use peer DNS - choose "Yes"

7 Limited MSS problem - choose "Yes"

8 When you are asked if you want to connect at start up, you will probably want to say yes

9 Finally you are asked if you want to establish the connection immediately

4 Once you have finished these steps, your connection should be working

To start your ADSL connection on demand, in a terminal type:

sudo pon dsl-provider

To stop your ADSL connection, in a terminal type:

sudo poff dsl-provider

1.3.2 USB ADSL Modems

Often parts of ADSL USB modem drivers are proprietary, closed source software, with a restrictivelicence, and so the whole driver cannot be supplied with Ubuntu To get a modem to work with thesedrivers, you will need to download files from Internet with a computer having a working connection,then transfer the downloaded files to you Ubuntu installation

USB is far from the ideal medium for network access, if you have a modem that can connectboth via USB and ethernet or a ethernet router, you should use the ethernet connectioninstead of the USB modem

Since any USB modem installation will require Internet access to download the necessary proprietarydrivers, as well as extensive configuration which is beyond the scope of this guide, all we can do here

is to list the USB Modem models known to work with Ubuntu with links to the relevant installationinstructions on the Ubuntu community help site

The installation procedure of USB modems differs depending on the specific make and model of yourmodem To identify model of your modem, Note the name and number on the front Occasionaly youmay have to look for a label to discover the exact model Consult the list below to see which driver

Read this file, it should list what modem chipset you have Once you are aware of the chipset you

have, see http://www.linmodems.org/ and follow the directions for your modem More infomation can

be found at SettingUpModems [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SettingUpModems] on the Ubuntu Wiki.