A Blog From an UBUNTU Newbie: 2009

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Install VLC Player in Ubuntu 9.10 / 10.04 with out internet connection (Offline)

VLC is one of the best video player under linux which solves most of the codec related issues. Full feature list of VLC can be found here.

For Ubuntu 10.04 go download the package from here

VLC offline installer will allow you to install VLC player with out internet connection (offline). Download the package from here http://rapidshare.com/files/305466861/VLC_Offline_Installer_ubuntu_9.10.tar.gz and save it in the desktop or home folder. Right click on the downloaded package and select extract here. Now you can see new folder. In the extracted folder double click on the install.sh file. This will bring up new window in which select run in terminal option. Now you are done. You can find the installed VLC player under Applications --> Sound & Video --> VLC.

Install Multimedia Codec in Ubuntu 9.10 / 10.04 with out internet connetion (offline)

For ubuntu 8.10 go here

For ubuntu 9.04 go here

For ubuntu 10.04 go here

Ubuntu restricted extras offline installer is a combination of packages containing multimedia codec and other most widely used restricted packages. This must be one of the most wanted package any body like to install after installing fresh Ubuntu. Installing ubuntu restricted extras will enable multimedia codec, java run time, flash, unrar, commanly used M$ fonts and libdvdcss (required to play encrepted DVDs). If you do not have internet connection then this package is for you. Download Ubuntu_restricted_extras_offline_installer_ubuntu_9.10.tar from this link http://rapidshare.com/files/305466863/Ubuntu_restricted_extras_offline_installer_ubuntu_9.10.tar.gz and save it in the desktop or home folder. Then right click on it and select extract here option. Now you can see new folder. Go to extracted (new) folder and double click on install.sh file. This will bring up new (small) window in which select run in terminal option. Now you are done. You can check it by playing some video and audio files.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Best Yahoo Messanger for Linux (Ubuntu 9.10) - Gyachi

Gyachi is yahoo messenger for linux which has many features like file transfer, photo transfer, mail notification, voice chat, web cam support...etc., Though many internet messangers like pidgin and Empathy provides some of this features none can match up Gyachi. Originally developed by Erica Andrews as Gyach Enhanced and discontinued due to his personal commitment. Presently due to some of the enthusiastic open source supporters this project is reborn as Gyachi (Gyach Improved). This is feature rich yahoo messenger under Linux. There is a dedicated PPA for this package. Installing Gyachi also easy under Ubuntu 9.10.

Go to System --> Administration --> Software Sources. In the new window Select third party software and click on Add tab. This will bring up small window in which type ppa:loell/ppa. Closing software sources window will ask you to reload. Once reloaded open synoptic package manager (System --> Administration --> Synoptic Package Manager) and search for a package gyachi --> Right click --> mark for installation then apply or else you can simply type sudo apt-get install gyachi in the terminal (Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal). Thats it. Now you can find Gyachi under Application --> Internet --> Gyachi

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Free Wallpaper Download

http://rapidshare.com/files/229754997/PSD.Women.Dresses.V3.11.rar

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Download YouTube Videos on Ubuntu / Linux

This is the easiest way one can download videos from YouTube.com. No software is required to do this.

1. Watch your favorite video on firefox till end.

2. Minimize the firefox window (Do not close it).

3. Go to /tmp folder (File System --->> tmp).

4. You can see a file name starting with Flash...

5. Copy this file and paste it in your favorite location.

Ideally it should work for all video websites. But i have not tried.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Disable Update Manager Popup Window

One of the change in the Ubuntu 9.04 is update manager. It pop's up every time if updates are available. Though it is good, some time it is annoying when you do some important work. This update manager pop up window can be disabled easily. Type sudo gconf-editor in the terminal and hit enter. In the new window navigate to apps --->> update-notifier. Now on the right hand side disable the auto_launch option by clicking on the tick mark. Remember that it will only disable pop up window not the update manager so if you want to update your system then go to System --->> Administration --->> update Manager and install updates.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Boot Multiple Distro from USB / Flash drive / Pendrive

The below article is obsolete and out of date. Instead you should use multibootusb tool created by me. This is an open source tool and I have released the software under GPL3. Multibootusb has both windows and linux version. You will also find packages for debian/ubuntu, fedora, Opensuse, magea, mandriva and Archlinux. Here are the download links.
Windows :: http://sourceforge.net/projects/multibootusb/files/Windows/
Linux :: http://sourceforge.net/projects/multibootusb/files/Linux/
Project home page is here :: http://sourceforge.net/projects/multibootusb/

For any queries on multibootusb please contact me via feedback.multibootusb[at]gmail.com. I would be more than happy to help you.

You can proceed to obsolete article now...

As we all know best way to test new Linux distro is to boot from Live CD. But now a days new distros are coming out on the daily basis. So why you waste CD's? Better you can boot live distro from USB and it will be more fun if you have a multiple flavor of live distros in a USB. So in this post i will explain easiest way to create bootable USB with multiple Live distros, Troubleshooting and adding new distro which are not supported by the multicd.sh. By following this method i could boot 21 distros / Utilities from my Pendrive with lot of space to store data :-))

NOTE:: All the methods worked well for me but i can not give guaranty for anyone.

Creating and installing Multiple Distros in to USB / Pendrive

This involves two parts:-

1. Creating Multiple Live distro --->> Using Multicd.sh
2. Installing Multiple Live distro in to a USB / Pendrive --->> Using Unetbootin

Part I
For the first part you can follow up this post. At the end of it you will get multicd.iso file with your favorite distros.

Note:: If you write this multicd.iso in to a CD / DVD as an image file then you can directly boot from CD / DVD with multiple distros.

Part II
This part is quite simple and strait forward. If you do not know what is Unetbootin then click here to find. Download the window version of Unetbootin from same link as it is better supported. Remember that installation is not required for the windows version. I have not tested the Linux version but i think it should work.

Once the multicd.iso file is been created, reboot and login to windows. Insert Pendrive and wait for some time for windows to recognize it. Go to my computer to see the name of USB / Pendrive. In my case it is F:\. Now double click on the Unetbootin.exe file which you have downloaded from the above site. Unetbootin has three options Distribution, Disk Image and Custom. Click on the Disk Image option and navigate to the multicd.iso file which you have already created. Make sure that Type is set as USB Drive and Drive as recognized by windows. In my case it is F:\. Once again check everything and give OK. Unetbootin will take some time to install multicd.iso depending up on the size. After successful installation Unetbootin will ask you to reboot and go ahead. Now you have successfully installed multiple distro in USB and all set to access your favorite distro.

Upon reboot set your BIOS boot preference to USB. If you do not know how to set BIOS option then check this link to learn more. Once you set your BIOS option, system will boot from USB and you can see the list of distros you have already compiled using multicd.sh. Choose your favorite one to login. Remember that it is not a persistence installation so when ever you shutdown or reboot all data will be lost.

Problem and Troubleshooting

It is well and good if you can boot all the distros successfully. Trouble shooting is as easy as installing those distros. In some cases it may happen that you can see the list of distros after boot up from USB / Pendrive but may not be able to log in to distro. Note down which are the distros creating problem. For example Linuxmint and Knoppix are not booting. Login to Ubuntu and insert your pendrive / USB. Open pendrive and go to boot/isolinux and double click on isolinux.cfg (this is the file created by multicd.sh). Once you click on isolinux.cfg a new small window will prompt you with four options and click on Display. Now new text file will open with content like this (only entries for linuxmint and knoppix are given bellow). Note down the path for both kernel and append.

Now go to root folder (just open Pendrive), search for isolinux.cfg file (this is the file created by Unetbootin) and open it in the same fashion. Now find the entry of kernel and append for Linux mint and Knoppix. Ideally both the isolinux.cfg file entries should be same. If not then copy entry of linuxmint and knoppix from /boot/isolinux.cfg to /isolinux.cfg. Thats it. Boot from USB to login.

Adding distro which are not supported by the multicd.sh

In case if you want to add more distros which are not supported by the multicd.sh then follow up this method. When you download any distro it will be in iso format. Rightclick on it and select Extract here. Once extracted you can see the files and folders inside. Just copy and all and paste in to USB / Pendrive as it is (i mean do not change the directory structure). Note that some of the files and folders are not required like [BOOT] and isolinux (folder). Now search for the isolinux.cfg in the extracted folder and open it. Look at the entry for menu label, kernel and append. Copy those lines and paste in to /isolinux.cfg in the Pendrive. Save it and boot from USB. Now you can see those menu label entry in the boot up screen. Select the entry to go ahead.

Note:: Some of the distros use same directory structure with same name. In that case you can not install both. For example Linux mint and Ubuntu so choose your best distro.