Ryan Marcus — It’s all Frank’s fault!

As I am sure anyone with their music on a different internal drive has noticed, not all of your internal hard disks are mounted automatically at boot. However, getting an internal hard drive to automatically mount is fairly easy.

First, reboot your computer to make sure that no other drives are mounted. Then, mount the internal drive you wish to have mount automatically. You can do this by selected the drive from the “Places” menu and entering your password.

Now, open a new terminal and enter this:

df

Look for the drive mounted at /media/disk. For me, this was /dev/sdb1.

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdc1            152333348  24986968 119608276  18% /
tmpfs                  1036224         0   1036224   0% /lib/init/rw
varrun                 1036224       104   1036120   1% /var/run
varlock                1036224         0   1036224   0% /var/lock
udev                   1036224      2856   1033368   1% /dev
tmpfs                  1036224       384   1035840   1% /dev/shm
lrm                    1036224      2000   1034224   1% /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/volatile
/dev/sdb1 240362656 219662284   8490572  97% /media/disk

Quit any applications that may be using that disk (Music players, file browsers, etc.) and enter this:

sudo umount /media/disk

Once the drive is unmounted (which is should be after you enter your password) enter this:

sudo mkdir /media/disk

Then, open your fstab file:

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

In the new gedit window (which will appear after you enter your password), enter this at the bottom of the file:

/device/path /media/disk    fs_type rw    0    0

Make sure to replace /device/path with the device mounted in /media/disk when you ran df. fs_type should be the file system type of the drive, probably ext3. Those are TABS, not spaces, between each item.

Save the file, and restart to make sure your drive auto-mounts.

If you use dual-screens, Ubuntu Ibex, and the Nvidia drivers, you were probably just as mad as I was when you configured your dual-screen setup, clicked the handy “Save to X Configuration” button, and saw your nvidia-settings window disappear.

Ya, its a bug. Luckily, it is easy to fix. Apparently nvidia-settings doesn’t like overwritting the default Xorg file. In order to make it happy, open a new terminal and type:

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup
sudo /usr/bin/nvidia-settings

Set up your dual-screen settings, click the “Apply” button, and then click the “Save to X Configuration” button. You’ll be prompted to enter a path. Enter this:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

And press “Save.”

Restart your computer/Xorg to make sure it worked. If something went wrong, restore the xorg.conf_backup file to its previous glory and try again.

I’ve been using Ibex for about a week now (since the release, so I suppose more like 8 days) and I figure I could bless you all with a semi-extensive review .

Look and feel: The first thing I noticed was the new default desktop — a drastic move away from KidPix orange to a much more professional, darker, and more abstract look. The darker desktop compliments the Human theme quite well, and adds a better feel to the desktop.

OpenOffice: Despite normally being on top of software updates, Ubuntu was slacking in a very noticable place: OpenOffice. Currently, the repo’s contain version 2.4 of OpenOffice. This was a big disspointment for me, so I did a little Googleing and found out it was really easy to install OpenOffice 3 in Ibex.

Graphic User Interface: There were quite a few noticable GUI changes in 8.10. The first you may notice is the new shutdown menu. It is now a pull-down with options that don’t have confirmation messages. Be careful! I’d still say it is an improvment over the old screen. If you press your computer’s power button, you’ll be prompted with a very nice looking window. And, as an extra added bonus, Pidgin will intergrate into your shutdown menu, so you can change your status and your computer’s status from the same place.’

You’ll also notice that the restircted driver manager is much, much nicer.

Restricted Drivers: If you install the “restricted” drivers for your Nvidia or ATI graphics card, you’ll notice that the control centers for both are also installed. The ATI control center can be found under Applications -> Accsessories, and the Nvidia control panel can be found under System -> Administration. This makes dual-monitor setup much, much faster, and much, much easier.

Currently, suspend and hibernate are broken on my Dell Latitude D531 (it worked in 8.04), but other then that, everything is working great. More to come.

My friend just bought a Dell XPS M1530 and wanted to put Linux on it, and, of course, I felt obligated to help. The installer worked fine, but after booting into Linux for the first time, we ran into a problem.

The machine was running BIOS revision A09 (you can see what revision your machine is running when you boot the computer) and the first problem we had to solve was getting the touchpad to work. In order to this, we had to do a couple of things.

First, we had to add an option when we booted the kernel. To do this, boot into Ubuntu (you don’t need to login) and at the login screen press Control + Alt + F1. This will give you a text-based shell to your system. Login using the username and password you set during the installation.

Next, enter:

sudo pico /boot/grub/menu.lst

Once you get the file open, scroll down until you see the end of all the comments. You should then see a GRUB menu item that looks something like this:

title Ubuntu 8.04
root (hd2,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=d7e165c2-5123-4034-b714-e9066d724f58 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

At the end of the kernel line, add:

i8042.nomux=1

So that, in the end, the entire kernel line looks like this:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=d7e165c2-5123-4034-b714-e9066d724f58 ro quiet splash i8042.nomux=1

Close pico by pressing control + X. Make sure to save the file to the same name it was before. If you get a permission denied error, you forgot to run the command with sudo.

Next, reboot the computer by typing:

sudo shutdown -r now

Once your computer is rebooted, you should be able to use your touchpad. You will have to do this every time you install a new kernel.

On my friend’s Dell, there were still problems. If you opened up mouse preferences, (System -> Preferences -> Mouse) there was no “Touchpad” tab like there is on most computer. In order to fix this, open up your xorg.conf file by opening a new terminal and typing:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Once the gedit window opens, scroll down until you see an InputDevice with a Identifier of “Configured mouse.” Delete this section. Chances are, you installed Ubuntu with a USB mouse plugged in, so the laptop treated that mouse as your default. Save your file and reboot.

For anyone who has tried running Starcraft in WINE in either a dual-screen setup or on a widescreen monitor has probably ran into this problem: The resolution doesn’t work.

Because of Starcraft’s lovely static 640×480 resolution, TwinView, as well as a wide screen monitor, aren’t going to like it very much. The solution, surprisingly, is rather simple.

Let’s get started. Like all WINE applications, let’s create our WINE prefix. Open a new shell from Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal. Once the shell appears, enter these commands:

mkdir .wine_sc
env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_sc” winecfg

Replace your YOURUSERNAME with the name of your home folder. If you don’t know the name of your home folder, type “cd && pwd”. Whatever is after “/home/” is the name of your home folder.

Once the wine configuration window opens, set your default Windows version to Windows 98 (from the popup menu.) Then click on the audio tab. Click on “Apply” if it is enabled, and then “OK”.

Now that we’ve got our WINE prefix setup, let’s install Starcraft into it. If you are installing from a CD, insert it. If you are installing from an ISO, mount it using the way you are accustom to. Either way, open up the disc. You should now see a Nautilus window with a file named “INSTALL.EXE” in it.

Open up a terminal so that both the Nautilus window and the terminal are visible. In the terminal, enter the following but do not press return. There is a space at the end.

env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_sc” wine

Next, click and drag INSTALL.EXE into the Terminal window. This will put the path to the EXE into the terminal, at the cursor. The line should now look something like this:

env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_sc” wine /path/to/your/INSTALL.EXE

Press enter, and go through the Starcraft installation. Make sure to create all of the shortcuts it suggests.

Now, for the fun part. Open up your xorg.conf file (you may want to back it up first) by pressing Alt + F2 and entering:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Go to the bottom of the file, and then add this:

Section “ServerLayout”
Identifier “SCLayout”
Screen 0 “StarCraft Screen”
InputDevice “Keyboard0″ “CoreKeyboard”
InputDevice “Mouse0″ “CorePointer”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “StarCraft Screen”
Device “Device0″
Monitor “StarCraft Monitor”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Virtual 640 480
Depth 24
Modes “640×480@60″
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “StarCraft Monitor”
VendorName “Plug ‘n’ Play”
ModelName “Plug ‘n’ Play”
Gamma 1
ModeLine “640×480@60″ 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync
EndSection

Keyboard0, Mouse0, and Device0 should be the defaults. If they are not, I will assume you changed them and know what they are.

Now, we need to allow user access to Xorg. Edit /etc/X11/Xwrapper.config, and the change the line:

allowed_users=console

To:

allowed_users=anybody

Save your xorg.conf file, and restart your X session by either rebooting or pressing control + alt + backspace. Once you’ve logged in again, we’ll create the shortcut to run Starcraft.

Open gedit or your favorite text editor (Applications -> Accessories -> Text Editor) and copy and paste the following into a new document:

#!/bin/sh
X :1 -layout SCLayout -ac &
XPID=$!
sleep 2
DISPLAY=:1 env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_sc/” wine “c:\Program Files\Starcraft\starcraft.exe” — /usr/bin/X :1 -layout SCLayout
sleep 1
kill $XPID

Save the document as sc.sh in your home folder. Make sure to replace YOURUSERNAME with the name of your home folder. Close your text editor.

Open a new terminal window. In it, type the following:

chmod +x sc.sh
mv sc.sh .wine_sc

You may now close the terminal. Next, right click on the Ubuntu logo in the upper left hand corner of your screen and select “Edit menus”. Click on the triangle next to Wine, then the triangle next to Programs. Select the Starcraft folder. On the right side of the window, right click on the Starcraft icon and select Properties. In the command field, enter:

/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_sc/sc.sh

Click on the Close pushbutton. Now, click and drag the Starcraft icon into your Games menu. Close the “Main Menu” window.

Ta da! If you go to Applications -> Games -> Starcraft, Starcraft will open in its own X session, allowing you to play it like normal. To switch back to your main X session while in a game, press Control + Alt + F7. To then go back to Starcraft, press Control + Alt + F8. When you quit Starcraft, you will automatically go back to your standard X session.

Teamspeak seems to be one of those applications that is just needed. You don’t raid without it. You don’t shot without it. You don’t live without it. Therefore, if it is so needed, should Linux users be excluded from the fun?

The Linux version of Teamspeak is crap. Total crap. You can only select on audio interface, and despite my hours of screwing around with padsp, I still could not get it to work with my desktop microphone. But there is a solution. Use the Windows version of Teamspeak in WINE!

I assume that if you are a Linux gamer who wants to user Teamspeak that you already have WINE installed. If not, follow the instructions here.

Once you have WINE installed, we need to install the native Linux version of Teamspeak (why?) to get the icon so our WINE launcher looks pretty. Go to Applications -> Add/Remove… and search for Teamspeak. Install it.

Once the Linux version of Teamspeak is installed, open a new terminal by going to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal. Enter the following commands:

cd
mkdir .wine_ts
cp /usr/share/pixmaps/teamspeak.xpm ./.wine_ts

Don’t close your terminal just yet. Now, go to Applications -> Add/Remove… and uninstall Teamspeak by searching for it, unchecking the box, and clicking apply. Switch back to that Terminal.

Time for the tricky part. Well, kind of. A monkey’s common sense should get you through here. Enter this command:

cat /proc/asound/cards | grep USB

This will give you something that looks like this:

1 [default ]: USB-Audio – AK5370

If it does not, Linux is not even seeing your USB microphone. This guide can’t help you, sorry.

Find the number next to the USB device you want to use as your microphone. In my case, this was “1″. In that same terminal window, enter:

cd
gksudo gedit .asoundrc

Into the new gedit window that opens, copy and paste the following:

pcm.headset {

type hw

card 1

}

ctl.headset {

type hw

card 1

}

Replace the 1s with the number you had.

Now, run winecfg on our new wine prefix.

env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_ts” winecfg

Replace your YOURUSERNAME with the name of your home folder. If you don’t know the name of your home folder, type “cd && pwd”. Whatever is after “/home/” is the name of your home folder.

Once winecfg opens, click on the audio tab. Ignore any errors and click “Ok” to close winecfg. Now, open the wine registry editor by entering the following into the terminal:

env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_ts” wine regedit

Once again, replace YOURUSERNAME with the name of your home folder.

1. Click on the plus next to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER”
2. Click on the plus next to “Software”
3. Right click on the “Wine” folder and go to New -> Key. Name the new key “Alsa Driver” (without quotes.)
4. Right click on the newly created “Alsa Driver” folder and select New -> String value.
5. Set the name to “AutoScanCards” (without quotes)
6. Double click on the row of the new value. Enter “N” (without quotes) in the value field.
7. Repeat step 4 to 6 for the following name/value pairs:
   • Name: DeviceCount Value: 2
   • Name: DevicePCM1 Value: default
   • Name: DevicePCM2 Value: headset
8. Click the close button on the Registry Editor window.

Now, time to go back to winecfg window. Run this command, in case you have forgotten:

env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_ts” winecfg

Click on the audio tab, and set “Hardware Acceleration” to “Emulation”, and check the “Driver Emulation” check box. Click on the apply button, then the OK button. Now, we need to download Teamspeak and install it in WINE.

First we need to download Teamspeak. For the newest version, go to http://goteamspeak.com and download the Windows installer. Move it into your home folder. If you would like to use a version that I know works, run this:

wget ftp://ftp.freenet.de/pub/4players/teamspeak.org/releases/ts2_client_rc2_2032.exe

… and wait for the download to finish. Once you’ve got the Teamspeak installer downloaded, run it with this command:

cd
env WINEPREFIX=”/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_ts” wine ts2_client_rc2_2032.exe

If you downloaded a newer version, replace ts2_client_rc2_2032.exe with the name of your installer.

Click through the installer (yes, yes, accept, you own my soul, accept…) and ignore the error about codecs not installing. Make sure to create a desktop shortcut! Close the Teamspeak installer.

Now, making it all a nice part of the Ubuntu system is something I always like doing. Right click on your little Ubuntu logo (in the upper left of your screen. Yes, that one.) and select “Edit menus”.

Click on “Internet” and click and drag the Teamspeak launcher on your desktop into the pane on the right. Once it is there, right click on it, and select “Properties.” In the window that appears, click on the icon button (which is probably currently a bottle of wine.), and enter this into the field at the top:

/home/YOURUSERNAME/.wine_ts/teamspeak.xpm

… and press enter. Close the “Main Menu” and “Launcher Properties” windows.

Now you can open Teamspeak! Go to Applications -> Internet -> Teamspeak 2 RC2. Once it opens, go to Settings -> Options. You should be able to select “USB Audio” as your input method and the only option for output. Set the sound driver to Wave and check the force 8 bit recording box. Click apply and then close.

Ta da!

As many of my fellow Linux gamers have noticed, dual screens can be a bitch. Especially with WINE. The solution is actually pretty simple. A package hidden away in the repositories called “devilspie.” This guide will help you set up a full screen game on one of your displays. This is only going to work if the game supports the resolution of one of your monitors. (I.E., my main screen runs at 1680×1050.So does CS:S.)

The issue I am talking about is getting games (in this case WINE games) to run on your main display in fullscreen mode. When I started messing around with this stuff, I had a few goals:

1. To not change any of my dual monitor settings
2. To be able to use my secondary display while in-game
3. To be able to move my mouse from the game onto the secondary display (or to disable that)
4. To be able to double click on a game and have it work  without changing my whole system just to play a game.

A challenge, to be sure, but I found it to be a lot easier then I thought. First things first. Let’s install the devilspie package from the repos.

1. Open System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager.
2. Click on the “Search” toolbar icon.
3. Set the “Look in” popup to “Name”
4. Enter “devilspie”
5. Right click on the “devilspie” package and select “Mark for installation.”
6. Click the green apply toolbar icon.

Now, let’s add the devilspie service to our session, so that devilspie runs whenever we start up our computers. To do this:

1. Open System -> Preferences -> Sessions
2. Click the “Add” button.
3. After your window looks like the one below, click “Ok”
4. Close the Sessions Preferences window.

Next, let’s install the front-end GUI to Devil’s Pie so we don’t have to muck around with config files. To do this, download the .deb file from here. Get the most recent version. I used release three. Once the file is downloaded:

1. Double click the .deb file on your desktop.
2. When GDebi loads, click on “Install.”
3. Once the installation is done, press Alt+F2 and enter: nautilus /usr/share/applications
4. In the new nautilus window, type “gd” whic should bring you fairly close to gDevilspie.
5. You can click and drag this launcher to your panel, your desktop, or your menus (if you open Edit menus.)

Next, we need to setup our WINE game so that Devil’s Pie can deal with it. This is pretty easy. First, open winecfg. If you’ve got a wineprefix setup for your game, you should know how to do this. If not, press Alt+F2 and enter “winecfg”.

1. Click on the “Graphics” tab.
2. Check the box labled “Emulate a virtual desktop” and enter in the size of your main display.

Now that winecfg is closed, we need to know the name of the window it creates for its emulated desktop. The quickest way to do this is:

1. Run winecfg again.
2. Winecfg should open in a large emulated desktop window that fills more then your whole primary monitor. If it does not, repeat the steps above to setup wine in a emulated desktop.
3. Look at the bottom of your screen at the small tabs that represent windows. If you have removed this bar or moved it, I assume you know how to get it back.
4. Look at the tab representing your wine emulated desktop, and take note of its name. Mine was “Default – Wine desktop”

Now its time for the kicker. Set up the Devil’s Pie rule.

1. Open gdevilspie in the way you set up earlier.
2. Click on the “Add” button.
3. Name your rule whatever you want.
4. In the “Matching” tab, check the “window_name” checkbox.
5. In the first field on the left side of the pane, enter the name of the window of your emulated wine desktop.
6. Click on the “Actions” tab.
7. Check the “fullscreen” box.
8. If you move over to raw tab, you should see something like what I have. If you do, click “Save.”
   

   

Now, restart your computer. When you log back in, your WINE virtual desktop will be fullscreen on your main monitor.