Tips and tricks for Ubuntu Linux
Over the past few months, we’ve looked at the installation and configuration of Feisty Fawn, the latest release of Ubuntu Linux, which is perhaps the most popular free Linux distribution available.
First we saw the standard Ubuntu release, followed by Kubuntu, the KDE desktop variation, last month. This time, we shall round off the series with a few extra tips.
Upgrading KDE
As regular readers of this column will know, every package from each variation of Ubuntu comes from the same set of repositories (large pools of packaged software).
This means that if you install KDE applications on the standard Gnome release, you will end up with exactly the same packages as you would by installing Kubuntu directly. Each variation of Ubuntu picks a different set of applications from the repositories.
However, the maintainers of Kubuntu often update several KDE applications, including the desktop release itself, in separate, semi-official repositories. If you configure your system to use these repositories, you can install the updates on Ubuntu or Kubuntu as you would any other.
Feisty came with KDE 3.5.6, which at the time of release was the latest version. Since then, 3.5.7 has been released, which fixes lots of minor bugs and contains a few significant enhancements, particularly to the Pim applications. You can read more about the new features at www.kde.org. A repository for the new version is available from the Kubuntu website. For details, see http://kubuntu.org/announcements/kde-357.php.
There are a few options for setting up a new repository. The hands-on way is to edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the necessary lines yourself. In this case, as shown on the Kubuntu website, the line to add is deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/kde-357 feisty main
Download the security key from the website and add it, as the packages are signed for authenticity. This step needs to be done only once:
$ wget http://people.ubuntu.com/~jriddell/kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
$ sudo apt-key add kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
Alternatively, use the Adept Manager in KDE or Software Sources in Gnome. Click ‘Import Key File’ from the Authentication tab and find the downloaded key. Then click the ‘Third Party Software’ tab and add the deb line above. This performs the same steps as the commands above.
The update notification manager will pick up the new packages, and you may install them that way if you wish. To get the job done quickly, update the package list yourself and perform the upgrade manually:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Amarok and Backports
Since Feisty’s release, the wonderful Amarok music manager has also been updated. This is expected to be the final version before the much anticipated 2.0 series for KDE 4.0 (due late in the year).
Full details of Amarok 1.4.6 can be found at http://amarok.kde.org. Release highlights include a more attractive icon set, performance improvements due to an upgrade to the built-in SQL database, and bug fixes and enhancements.
Previously, updates to Amarok were made available by the Kubuntu developers in exactly the same manner as KDE above. With 1.4.6, however, the update is part of the Feisty Backports. This repository is for applications that have been upgraded significantly since the distribution’s release, and will not be made available through the usual updates (which tend to be bug and security fixes only).
The packages may not have been tested as thoroughly as the standard ones, but should cause no problems. I would generally recommend that you install only the applications you regularly use from the Backports repository, as they are officially unsupported. Enable the repository either by editing the /etc/apt/sources.
list file, or from the GUI front-end by selecting the ‘Updates’ tab and ticking ‘Unsupported updates’. No new keys are necessary as these packages come from a standard Ubuntu repository.
You can update all the backported software, or choose Amarok alone:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install amarok
If you do not wish to install the other backported updates or any future ones, revert the change above by editing /etc/apt/sources.list again, or by unticking the ‘Unsupported updates’ option in the GUI.
Running Windows software
There are times when you may need to run a Windows application. Most people have a dual-boot setup in this scenario, allowing them to reboot into Windows if need be. The obvious disadvantage of this is having to stop what you are doing, shut down your computer and boot into another operating system. This can be particularly frustrating if you need to perform only a small task. A second option is to run Windows applications while Linux is still running. There are two ways of doing this: using software that implements virtualisation or using Wine.
Virtualisation involves using special features of the computer’s processor to run a separate operating system inside another. The ‘host’ operating system in this instance is Ubuntu, and the ‘guest’ is the one that runs inside. The guest can be any system that runs on a PC, so it could be another version of Ubuntu or, indeed, Windows. From the guest’s perspective, it is running on a normal PC, equipped with a network card, a graphics card, a hard drive and so on. This means that the guest operating system must be fully installed, just as with a new PC.
VMware produces two main products for virtualisation: VMware Workstation and VMware Server. The Workstation product is commercially available and aimed at the corporate desktop. The server product, although not open source, is available free of charge. For the majority of users, there is little difference between the two, except that support is not included in the free Server product.
Source : PCW.co.uk
Over the past few months, we’ve looked at the installation and configuration of Feisty Fawn, the latest release of Ubuntu Linux, which is perhaps the most popular free Linux distribution available.
First we saw the standard Ubuntu release, followed by Kubuntu, the KDE desktop variation, last month. This time, we shall round off the series with a few extra tips.
Upgrading KDE
As regular readers of this column will know, every package from each variation of Ubuntu comes from the same set of repositories (large pools of packaged software).
This means that if you install KDE applications on the standard Gnome release, you will end up with exactly the same packages as you would by installing Kubuntu directly. Each variation of Ubuntu picks a different set of applications from the repositories.
However, the maintainers of Kubuntu often update several KDE applications, including the desktop release itself, in separate, semi-official repositories. If you configure your system to use these repositories, you can install the updates on Ubuntu or Kubuntu as you would any other.
Feisty came with KDE 3.5.6, which at the time of release was the latest version. Since then, 3.5.7 has been released, which fixes lots of minor bugs and contains a few significant enhancements, particularly to the Pim applications. You can read more about the new features at www.kde.org. A repository for the new version is available from the Kubuntu website. For details, see http://kubuntu.org/announcements/kde-357.php.
There are a few options for setting up a new repository. The hands-on way is to edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list and add the necessary lines yourself. In this case, as shown on the Kubuntu website, the line to add is deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/kde-357 feisty main
Download the security key from the website and add it, as the packages are signed for authenticity. This step needs to be done only once:
$ wget http://people.ubuntu.com/~jriddell/kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
$ sudo apt-key add kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
Alternatively, use the Adept Manager in KDE or Software Sources in Gnome. Click ‘Import Key File’ from the Authentication tab and find the downloaded key. Then click the ‘Third Party Software’ tab and add the deb line above. This performs the same steps as the commands above.
The update notification manager will pick up the new packages, and you may install them that way if you wish. To get the job done quickly, update the package list yourself and perform the upgrade manually:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Amarok and Backports
Since Feisty’s release, the wonderful Amarok music manager has also been updated. This is expected to be the final version before the much anticipated 2.0 series for KDE 4.0 (due late in the year).
Full details of Amarok 1.4.6 can be found at http://amarok.kde.org. Release highlights include a more attractive icon set, performance improvements due to an upgrade to the built-in SQL database, and bug fixes and enhancements.
Previously, updates to Amarok were made available by the Kubuntu developers in exactly the same manner as KDE above. With 1.4.6, however, the update is part of the Feisty Backports. This repository is for applications that have been upgraded significantly since the distribution’s release, and will not be made available through the usual updates (which tend to be bug and security fixes only).
The packages may not have been tested as thoroughly as the standard ones, but should cause no problems. I would generally recommend that you install only the applications you regularly use from the Backports repository, as they are officially unsupported. Enable the repository either by editing the /etc/apt/sources.
list file, or from the GUI front-end by selecting the ‘Updates’ tab and ticking ‘Unsupported updates’. No new keys are necessary as these packages come from a standard Ubuntu repository.
You can update all the backported software, or choose Amarok alone:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install amarok
If you do not wish to install the other backported updates or any future ones, revert the change above by editing /etc/apt/sources.list again, or by unticking the ‘Unsupported updates’ option in the GUI.
Running Windows software
There are times when you may need to run a Windows application. Most people have a dual-boot setup in this scenario, allowing them to reboot into Windows if need be. The obvious disadvantage of this is having to stop what you are doing, shut down your computer and boot into another operating system. This can be particularly frustrating if you need to perform only a small task. A second option is to run Windows applications while Linux is still running. There are two ways of doing this: using software that implements virtualisation or using Wine.
Virtualisation involves using special features of the computer’s processor to run a separate operating system inside another. The ‘host’ operating system in this instance is Ubuntu, and the ‘guest’ is the one that runs inside. The guest can be any system that runs on a PC, so it could be another version of Ubuntu or, indeed, Windows. From the guest’s perspective, it is running on a normal PC, equipped with a network card, a graphics card, a hard drive and so on. This means that the guest operating system must be fully installed, just as with a new PC.
VMware produces two main products for virtualisation: VMware Workstation and VMware Server. The Workstation product is commercially available and aimed at the corporate desktop. The server product, although not open source, is available free of charge. For the majority of users, there is little difference between the two, except that support is not included in the free Server product.
Source : PCW.co.uk
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