Saturday 11 September 2010

Ubuntu Netbook Remix

10" HP Mini 110-1081TU & 14" Compaq Presario Notebook Installation Guide

Introduction

A netbook is, by definition a mobile device.  You never know when you may lose or have the device stolen. So I recommend that no private information is retained on the machine.  If it must be present, encrypt it.  As you probably have other devices using web-centric email and documentation can overcome many but not all of these issues.  This installation is tailored with these security issues in mind.

Installation

Get Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) from http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download-netbook
Use this guide to create a bootable USB stick.

Post Installation

After installation, the internal microphone and wireless networking probably won't be working, see section in Problems.
For panel customisation see gconf.
For additional software I highly recommend, see Additional Software.
Finally I've added a section on hardware.

gconf

Custom Date Format for Clock Applet

To apply a custom date format for the current user (do not need root access):
  • for time format parameters see http://php.net/strftime 
  • use gconf-editor for the custom_format and format keys in /apps/panel/applets/applet_5/prefs
  • example: wk.%V | %a %d-%b-%Y %H:%M
    will display time as wk.22 | Sun 01-Jun-2008 12:18
  • my default is %a %d %b %Y %H:%M to show Sun 01 Jun 2008 12:18
This can also be achieved using a the gconftool-2 command as your user, not root:
gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/panel/applets/applet_5/prefs/custom_format "%a %d %b %Y %H:%M"
gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/panel/applets/applet_5/prefs/format custom
To show key/values pairs in a conf directory, use:
gconftool-2 -R /apps/panel/applets/applet_5/prefs

Reset Shutdown Confirmation

Reset this using the gconf-editor. The key is /apps/indicator-session/suppress_logout_restart_shutdown
If on, it will suppress the confirmation dialog for logout, restart and shutdown action.
Set with the command:
gconftool-2 --set --type bool /apps/indicator-session/suppress_logout_restart_shutdown true

Remove Email notification

Use package manager to remove indicator applets:
apt-get remove evolution evolution-common gwibber indicator-application indicator-me indicator-messages

Order Favourites

Favourites are hidden in the file ~/.gconf/apps/netbook-launcher/favorites/\%gconf.xml
Entries are numbered and relate to further entries in sub-directories.  Still working out how to simplify the ordering of favourites, even alphabetically.  A script here would be really nice.

Additional Software

Skype

Skype is now available from standard Ubuntu Netbook Remix package repositories, so installation is as simple as:
apt-get install skype
For further information see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Skype

Adobe Flash Plugin

Install from Ubuntu Software Centre or Synaptic. To find use:
aptitude search flash | grep -i adobe

Google Chrome

Chrome is now included in the default Ubuntu packages as chromium.

Installation

From Ubuntu default repositories:
apt-get install chromium-browser
To install using Google repositories:
  • Append Google repositories to /etc/apt/sources.list:
    # Google software repository
    deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ stable non-free main
  • Add package signing key:
    wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | apt-key add -
  • Update repositories:
    apt-get update
  • Finally install Google Chrome from command or install from Synaptic:
    apt-get install google-chrome-beta

Extensions

My suggestions for Chrome extensions are:
  • AdBlock
  • Browser Button for AdBlock
  • FlashBlock
  • Google Dictionary
  • Google Mail Checker Plus
  • Google Reader Notifier
  • Google RSS Subscription Extension

File Encryption - encfs

I recommend putting no private data on the mobile device.  If you do, then encrypt it. encfs is a small, simple encryption of a file system.  Installation is simple with:
apt-get install encfs
To encrypt a source directory to a destination directory then using full paths:
user@host:~$ encfs /home/user/source/ /home/user/destination/
Now anything you place in the destination will be automatically encrypted to the source directory.
Once you are done, unmount using:
user@host: fusermount -u

OpenOffice.org

To install the latest version of Open Office:
add-apt-repository ppa:openoffice-pkgs/ppa
Then call:
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
Alternatively,
apt-get --fix-missing --list-cleanup update
apt-get -u upgrade
apt-get check
apt-get autoclean
apt-get autoremove

Managing Photographs

The default photograph program is F-Spot which uses Mono. I've had a play with this program and am not at all happy. Particularly as there are better alternatives like, Shotwell
To install this and remove F-Spot run:
apt-get install shotwell
apt-get purge f-spot

Recording CD/DVD

The default CD/DVD recorder is brasero.  I've had problems with this program in the past so have reverted to xfburn.

Playing DVD's

Videos on DVD's can be played using Totem, but Gstreamer libraries need to be added. This site has a good explanation. Essentially it entails installing a few additional packages:
apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse
To play all region DVD's there is one more package to install.  Which can be done by installing the package directly:
wget http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/groups/dvd/deb/libdvdcss2_1.2.5-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i libdvdcss2_1.2.5-1_i386.deb
Or, get the latest libdvdread package and running the contained script.

Networking

Tethering to iPhone using USB

I was very impressed with this as you do not need a jail broken iPhone. Tethering your iPhone via USB uses a iPhone Ethernet driver written by Diego Giagio. Paul McEnery has set up a PPA repository with the driver and it’s dependencies so there is no longer the need to compile both libiphone and ipheth. The first step is to add the PPA repository to your Synaptic repositories. To do so, open a new Terminal window and execute the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmcenery/ppa
sudo apt-get update
Next, install the driver and dependencies:
sudo apt-get install gvfs ipheth-dkms ipheth-utils
Now plug-in your iPhone via USB, if internet tethering is enabled you should see a new interface pop up and a blue banner on your iPhone along with a dialog on your computer notifying you about a new Ethernet connect.
Note: You may need to re-install these packages if your kernel updates.

Network Time Protocol (NTP)

NTP is used to synchronise the date and time. First, configure your timezone:
dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
Using the menu, select your location, for example Australia / Melbourne.
Next, install required software:
apt-get install ntp
Finally set your NTP time servers.  This can be done manually by adding the entries directly into /etc/ntp.conf
server 0.au.pool.ntp.org
server 1.au.pool.ntp.org
server 2.au.pool.ntp.org
server 3.au.pool.ntp.org
These servers are maintained by NTP Pool Project, http://www.pool.ntp.org/zone/au 
(XFCE) Set using the time-admin command: Applications > Settings > Time and Date.  
(UNR) Set using the time-admin command: System > (Administration) Time and Date.  
Select servers in your locale.
Servers provided by the xx command are:
time.esec.com.au (Australia)
ntp.adelaide.edu.au (South Australia)
ntp.cs.mu.oz.au (Melbourne, Australia)

Problems

Internal Microphone Not Working

To fix problem when the internal microphone is not working, but internal output speakers fine.

Lucid Lynx 10.04 

On upgrading to this release, it appears that Skype now uses Pulse-Audio.
To mange the sound devices install pavucontrol:
apt-get install pavucontrol

Install ALSA

To enable microphone support on Karmic:
  • First determine what kernel are you running: (here, highlighted in red)
# cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=lucid
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.04 LTS"
  • Find backports module for your kernel (appended codename 
aptitude search linux-backports-modules-alsa-lucid
  • Add the ALSA package:
apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-lucid-generic
  • Reboot.
Assign user and group rights:
  • To set user rights, go to System>Preferences>Sound and change everything to ALSA. 
  • Add your user to pulse group, System -> Administration -> Groups & Users.
  • Reboot.
Set the sound levels:
  • Using a Terminal session to setup sound levels, call:
    alsamixer
  • Press Tab once on the keyboard to show microphone
  • Turn Front Mic volume to maximum
  • To exit, press ESC.
Make sure to set all channels to high volume levels in alsamixer except for external amplifier

Getting Sound Card Information

  • To get device summary information:
lspci | grep -i audio
hwinfo --sound
  • To gather lots of sound card information, run these commands:
sudo aptitude install --reinstall hwinfo
hwinfo --sound
aplay -l
cat /dev/sndstat
lspci -nn
lsmod | grep snd
cat /proc/asound/card*/codec* | grep Codec
grep audio /etc/group

Advanced Sound Card Set-up

This used to be a problem, but since I've upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 karmic-updates, all devices work. I suggest installing ALSA packages.
Try adding this to alsa.conf:
options snd-hda-intel model=[your_card]
A detailed explanation can be found at, https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/64930
If the output of the command:
grep audio /etc/group
looks like this:
audio:x:81
or like this:
audio:x:81:pulse
Then replace that audio line with something like this:
audio:x:81:YOUR_LOGIN
Where YOUR_LOGIN is the user name you use to log into Ubuntu.
Check for correct /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf options at bottom of this page:
For some initial suggestions:
Try adding the following string to the /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf file:
options snd-hda-intel model=YOUR_MODEL
Valid model names depending on the codec chip, can be found at ALSA-Configuration
If you do not know your codec chip name, you can execute the following Terminal command to find out:
cat /proc/asound/card*/codec* | grep Codec

No Video in Skype

I'm using machines with built in video and microphones. To see what video devices (if any are loaded):
$ lsmod | grep video
uvcvideo 56990 0
videodev 34361 1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat 13251 2 uvcvideo,videodev
video 17375 1 i915
output 1871 1 video
I got this working in the end by running:
ldconfig
env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype
It could then see a webcam under /dev/video0 called Webcam-101.
Re-running Skype without ld pre-load seemed to preserve former settings.
Source:  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Skype
Duplicate Home Directory in "Files and Folders"
If you get duplicate entries in the "Folders" window of the "Files & Folders" menu, then this is because the file
~/.config/user-dirs.dirs
is corrupt. I found the easiest solution was to remove all folder entries in this file and restart the session.

Hardware

Batteries

Due to limited battery life I'm considering getting an extra battery, or upgrading it.
My current battery is a Li - Ion 3 Cell HSTNN-LB0C.
Evidently model HP HSTNN-CB0D is a replacement. 
But I'm still investigating this...

Alternate Installations

There are other light weight Ubuntu derivatives:
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