After I upgraded to the latest version of Ubuntu, I noticed the interface is different. It’s called Unity and it’s a minimalistic interface with large icons and auto-hiding menus.

I like having the Applications, Places, System menus at the top and visible. I prefer the Gnome interface because I knew where everything was and the menu does not auto-hide.

You can go back to Gnome through the log-in screen that appears when you boot up Ubuntu. If you are already in Ubuntu, you can log out by clicking on the power button and selecting Log Out…

At the log-in screen, choose your user name and on the bottom of the screen there is a drop menu with Ubuntu selected. Choose Ubuntu Classic and log in and now you’re back to Gnome.

I wanted to make a screencast that recorded my presentation slides and my voice.

First, I installed xvidcap through the Ubuntu Software Center. Xvidcap recorded the slides but would not record audio. I read the FAQ’s which said to adjust the mixer settings. I turned on the microphone and made sure that the mic levels were high enough. I was able to record my voice with Sound Recorder but I could not get xvidcap to record audio.

Then I installed PulseAudio Volume Control through the Ubuntu Software Center. This post recommends that you run xvidcap from the terminal window with the following command.

padsp xvidcap

When I did this, xvidcap recorded audio but it was choppy and garbled.

-

Through System> Administration> Synaptic Package Manager, I installed RecordItNow. Search for “recordmydesktop” and mark all three results (recordmydesktop, gtk-recordmydesktop, and recorditnow) for installation. (I could not get recordmydesktop, another screencast program, to work; it crashed my computer.)

You can run the program by going to Applications> Sound & Video> RecordItNow.

I like how the program has a countdown (5 seconds) before recording starts. You can record the entire desktop or choose a portion of the screen to capture. To do this, you have to left-click on the icon with the square and upside-down triangle. You have to click this icon several times and then a gray box appears on your screen. Then you can resize the box to capture the portion of the screen you want.

With recorditnow I successfully recorded my presentation with audio. By default, it saves the file as .ogv and I uploaded the video to youtube without any problems.

I noticed that the audio and video are slightly out of sync so I had to pause a few seconds before and after I proceeded to the next slide. At the end of my presentation I had to pause about 10 seconds. If I stopped the recording immediately after I stopped talking the last few seconds would be cut off. Other than these minor problems, RecordItNow worked fine for me.

My laptop is running Ubuntu 10.04 and I have an LCD monitor connected to it. I recently changed the LCD monitor from NEC to Samsung. When I booted up Ubuntu, the LCD monitor was stuck at the 1024 x 768 resolution and the optimal resolution 1280 x 1024 was not provided as an option. I didn’t have this problem with the previous NEC LCD monitor which Ubuntu detected automatically and displayed the correct resolution.

I tried to change the monitor resolution with System> Administration> Multiple Screens and also with System> Preferences> Monitors but neither worked. I could not get the monitor to display the correct resolution.

I found an article at ubuntugeek about how to add a monitor resolution with xrandr.

1. Go to Applications> Accessories> Terminal and type

xrandr

.

2. You will get an output of the display(s) connected to your computer and the supported resolutions.

LVDS1 is the laptop screen and VGA1 is the LCD monitor. Under VGA1, there is no entry for the 1280×1024 resolution. So I have to retrieve the settings for the 1280×1024 resolution and add it to the list.

2. To get the settings for the 1280×1024 resolution, type the following at the terminal window

cvt 1280 1024

.

You’ll get the following output.

Highlight and copy everything after Modeline. (Unfortunately ctrl-c does not work so you have to right-click and select Copy.)

3. Then type

xrandr --newmode "1280x1024_60.00"  109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync

^ You are pasting here what you copied in step 2. Remember to right-click and select Paste.

then type

xrandr --addmode VGA1 1280x1024_60.00

.

and then

xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1280x1024_60.00

.

The LCD monitor should now be set to the correct resolution.

4. Unfortunately, the monitor settings only apply to the current session. If you reboot, the setting will be lost. To make them permanent, type

gksudo gedit /etc/gdm/Init/Default

.

Look for

PATH=”/usr/bin:$PATH”
OLD_IFS=$IFS

and type the following and save.

xrandr –newmode “1280x1024_60.00″ 109.00  1280 1368 1496 1712  1024 1027 1034 1063 -hsync +vsync
xrandr –addmode VGA1 1280x1024_60.00
xrandr –output VGA1 –mode 1280x1024_60.00

It worked for me I hope it works for you. The original information was from a post on ubuntuforums.org.

I wanted to find out how to input Korean characters with Ubuntu. At first, I thought it was as easy as going to System> Preferences> Keyboard. I clicked on the Layouts tab and tried to add the Korean keyboard layout. Unfortunately, the Korean keyboard layout is just a regular QWERTY keyboard and does not have any Korean letters at all.

I found a post in ubuntuforums.org that explained how to enable Korean input.

1. Enable Korean language support by going to System> Administration> Language Support. Click on Install / Remove Languages, select Korean from the list and Apply Changes. Select scim as the Keyboard input method system.

2. Go to Applications> Ubuntu Software Center and search for scim-hangul and install Hangul Input Method Engine for SCIM.

3. On my computer SCIM was installed by default, but if not you can install it in the Ubuntu Software Center. It is called SCIM Input Method Setup. After it is installed you can find it under System> Preferences> SCIM Input Method Setup.

4. Restart your computer.

5. Activate SCIM by inputting ctrl + space bar. You should see a floating menu on the bottom right corner and/or a keyboard icon in the upper right corner. Both allow you to switch between Korean and English.

My preferred font for reading Korean text is Baekmuk Dotum and Baekmuk Gulim which are nicely legible. These can be installed through the Ubuntu Software Center by searching for Baekmuk series TrueType fonts. Then in Firefox, you can enable them by going to Edit> Preferences. Select the Content tab and select Advanced and then you can choose the fonts for Korean.

Update 01/02/2011

I was having trouble typing in text boxes in flash applications. Either one character or nothing appeared. (For example, logging into pandora or typing my zipcode for a map.) I guess scim was messing up the text input. When I exit scim, text input works normally. I decided to uninstall scim because I don’t use it often. I went to Applications > Ubuntu Software Center and searched for “scim” and uninstalled Scim Input Method Setup.

After I upgraded my desktop to Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), I received an error message from Palimpsest that my hard drive has bad sectors and that I should backup and replace it. I noticed on ubuntuforums that other users were reporting similar messages. It has also been reported as a bug on launchpad.

I have System Mechanic 6 installed on my Windows XP partition. I ran the hard drive repair tool on both partitions and it did not mention anything about bad sectors or needing to replace the hard drive.

I have a Seagate hard drive and I installed Seatools. I ran the diagnostic tests and my hard drive passed.

Before upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04, you should know that users are reporting that they are unable to hear sound while watching flash video. And it has been reported as a bug on launchpad.

After I upgraded to jaunty jackalope, I tried to watch a video on youtube but there was no audio. When I played an mp3 file I could hear it okay.

I tried to follow a ubuntu geek tutorial to fix the problem but it did not work for me. You have to install about a dozen packages in the synaptic manager and change sound settings.

Possible Solution

1. Uninstall flash through Applications> Add/Remove. I removed Macromedia Flash plugin.

Now you will manually install Flash. The following is based on an article from howtogeek.

2. Download Flash Player directly from Adobe’s website. Choose .tar.gz for Linux.

Updated instructions from the adobe website.

3. After the file downloads, right click it and Extract Here.

4. Open the folder named install_flash_player_10_linux. Go to Edit> Preferences. Under the Behavior tab, select Ask Each Time under the Executuble Text File heading. Then Close.

5. Make sure Firefox is closed and double click on flashplayer-installer. Choose Run in Terminal.

6. Follow the instructions in the terminal window. Installation is complete.

When you go to this flash player page, it should show that the latest version 10,0,22,87 is installed.

Now I can hear audio while playing flash videos. I hope it works for you.

I wanted a folder that requires a password to view its contents so that important documents could be secured and private.

In Ubuntu 8.10, there is a new feature called Encrypted Private Directory which is similar to what I wanted. It creates a new folder called Private under the Home directory. But it’s not very private because the folder is always visible. Accessing the folder is complicated because you have to mount it in the terminal window. If you try to access it through the file browser, you are told “THIS DIRECTORY HAS BEEN UNMOUNTED TO PROTECT YOUR DATA — Run mount.ecryptfs_private to mount again.”

One alternative is Crypt Manager which will encrypt a folder and then require a password to access it. Be sure to read the comments because some people had trouble installing the program and encrypting folders.

I decided to use Crypt Keeper which can be installed from Applications> Add/Remove Programs. After installation, go to Applications> System Tools> Crypt Keeper. A yellow lock will display in your taskbar.

By left clicking the lock icon and choosing New Encrypted Folder you can create a folder that will be password protected. Just be sure to click Forward to move to the next step.

Crypt Keeper does not run at start up. The protected folder is not visible in the file browser until you run Crypt Keeper, select the folder and enter the password.

I used Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) while waiting for 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) to be released. According to Ubuntu Documentation, you should not skip versions when upgrading. Instead you should upgrade sequentially. For me that meant upgrading from 7.10 to 8.04LTS and then 8.10.

Trying out 8.10

Before upgrading I downloaded the 8.10 iso file so I could boot up from the live CD and test it out. After downloading the file, I made sure it was intact. A md5sum file check will display a hash, a string of alphanumberic characters. If the downloaded file’s hash matches the hash Ubuntu provides, the file is intact. You can check the hash on Ubuntu’s website. Then I burned the live CD.

Upgrading to 8.04LTS

I upgraded to 8.04LTS through the Update Manager (System> Admininstration> Update Manager). Because 8.04 is a Long Term Release and 8.10 is not, Ubuntu 8.04 is not configured by default to show a way to upgrade to 8.10. Ubuntu Documentation has a step by step guide to show normal releases (like 8.10) in 8.04 LTS. Go to System> Administration> Software Sources. Click on the Updates tab. Under the heading Release Upgrades choose Normal releases.

Tip: Disable Power Management. While I was downloading the update, Ubuntu would put my computer to sleep which paused the download until I woke it up. System> Preferences> Power Management. Put computer to sleep when inactive: Never.

Ubuntu 8.10

Ubuntu remembered most of my settings. I had to change the screen resolution. It remembered my Firefox bookmarks. Applications I installed in 7.10 were still there. One thing I noticed is that Firefox is more stable. Before sometimes it would crash if I had a flash video playing and I closed the tab.

Tip: Firefox 3 has a zoom capability that can make images appear pixelated and low resolution. To fix this, in Firefox go to View> Zoom and select Zoom Text Only.

On December 4, 2007 Adobe released version 9,0,115,0 of Flash Player. Ubuntu users who try to update to the newest version may get a md5sum mismatch error because the installer was updated but its file name was not changed. (MD5sum verifies file integrity by comparing the hashes of the original file and downloaded file. A hash is an alphanumeric string.)

This is the error message displayed in the terminal window.

Download done.
md5sum mismatch install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz
The Flash plugin is NOT installed.

Solutions:

1. Manually install Flash through adobe.com.

2. Or install an unofficial package with instructions from tombuntu.

3. Ubuntu documentation recommends enabling proposed updates which will install a fixed version of flash player. Go to System> Administration> Software Sources. Select the Updates tab, and enable Pre-released Updates (gusty-proposed). If this doesn’t work, Launchpad has further instructions.

Update: February 6, 2008

Today there was a recommended update to fix the md5 error.

Before I installed the update, I ran Adobe’s Flash version test which showed version 9,0,48,0.

I installed the update and went back to the version test to see if I successfully upgraded to 9,0,115,0. But I received a message, “Click here to download plugin.” I assumed that Flash was uninstalled and tried to install it in Firefox.

But I got another error saying that Flash was already installed.

I restarted Firefox and Ubuntu but Flash would still not work. So I decided to manually install Flash. Fortunately, I found an article at howtogeek which details how to install Flash manually.

1. Download Flash Player directly from Adobe’s website. Choose Option 1: .tar.gz.

2. After the file downloads, right click it and Extract Here.

3. Open the folder named install_flash_player_9_linux. Go to Edit> Preferences. Under the Behavior tab, select Ask Each Time under the Executuble Text File heading. Then Close.

4. Make sure Firefox is closed and double click on flashplayer-installer. Choose Run in Terminal.

5. Follow the instructions in the terminal window. (You have to press Enter twice and then type y for yes.) Installation is complete.

6. The flash version test should now display 9,0,115,o.

After using screenlets, I have found that they aren’t very useful. I would have some running on the desktop but I rarely look at them. Also some screenlets would not start up with Ubuntu even though I selected Automatically Start on Login.

To uninstall screenlets through Synaptic Package Manager, go to System> Administration> Synaptic Package Manager. Search for “screenlets”. Select it, right click, and choose Mark for Complete Removal. (This option also removes configuration files associated with screenlets.) Then select Apply.

Go to Settings> Repositories> Third Party Software tab. Select deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gilir/ubuntu gutsy main universe. Then click on Remove and Close. Screenlets are now uninstalled.

Screenlets.org provides an alternative method for uninstalling screenlets.