Installing Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) into a LG R405

I have previously blogged about Installing Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) into a LG R405. I have now updated the system up to Ubuntu Hardy Heron (8.04) and have some remaining issues.

WiFi support is available through NDISwrapper and with more reliability through madwifi. To setup NDISwrapper you can download the package ndisgtk and use the Windows' drivers from on of the laptop's CDs.

Regarding madwifi, if you follow ticker #1192, you will find out version 0.9.5 will bring support for the wireless chipset AR2425. Meanwhile, you can download the driver from a SVN branch at the madwifi's repositories. NetworkManager works best with madwifi's driver (this includes support for eduroam).

Bluetooth got broken in the update (for some Nokia's mobiles). If you follow launchpad's bug #211252, you will notice that you may install Debian's SID bluez-utils to fix the issue (I have left a comment in the ticket stating just that). Fortunately, the regression has been fixed upstream. The fix, however, has not been applied in the Ubuntu package.

Sleep and hibernate work. Well... mostly. After waking up the sound dies (see Ubuntu's bug #200210). I have not bothered with scavenging the net to a fix/bug report.

The (graphical) intel driver has been improved (it is no longer blacklisted in compiz). Power management is better, since the brightness is not crazy anymore.

Concluding, support is still sub-optimal. Sadly, the alternatives are scarse.

Installing prooftree in Ubuntu

Download the bundled zip from the package proofs to your desktop. Now open the terminal and type:

cd /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex
sudo unzip ~/Desktop/taylor.zip
sudo mktexlsr

This procedure should work on all Ubuntu versions that are using TeX Live.

Related posts:

• How to install LaTeX Style Files (.sty) on Ubuntu, using TeTeX or Tex Live
• Setting up a LaTeX environment in Ubuntu (Feisty)

Installing Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) into a LG R405

I have bought — actually, it was kind of a present — my first laptop: a LG R405. Because I am not that geeky, I didn't even bother to checkout what the famous Windows Vista looks like and promptly installed Ubuntu on my machine, removing the other OS.

Installation went smoothly. What didn't work out of the box?

• wireless not supported by the default drivers: I followed a tutorial from the forums called HOWTO: Atheros AR5007EG on Feisty Fawn (with ndiswrapper) and it turned out OK. The problem was: how do I know my laptop has a chipset named AR5007EG (lspci reports an AR5006EG!)?
• bluetooth support is poor and falky: although a bluetooth icon appeared in my desktop I could not send files to my laptop (I had to google for an answer and understand I had to install bluetooth-gnome). I wanted bluetooth to synchronize the contacts on my Nokia 6680 with my laptop, I still have no idea how to configure the criptic kitchensink :(

About the Bluetooth Preferences. I do not understand what are the Services; shouldn't all the services be turned on? There is a section called Input Devices which I could crash just by connecting to a device. What is this section for? On the General pane, what is a class of device, what the hell is that option for? On the first pane, how do I bond from the laptop to a device? Why is it only from the device to my laptop? Why do I need to specify the class of device, does anyone care about this?

Brincando com o Pulse Audio

Assim que descobri que o PulseAudio estava disponível no Feisty instalei-o. O único problema que tinha a solução disponível no Launchpad. Resumindo, instalei o pacote libflashsupport para ter som no flash. Também fui ao sítio oficial, que é muito completo, e configurei melhor o MPlayer (que já funcionava de raiz, com um aviso).

As vantagens de tê-lo instalado é que agora consigo controlar o som de cada aplicação e até poderei enviá-lo para outros dispositivos de saída (se algum dia os tiver).

A instalação foi muito simples, apenas instalei todos os pacotes sugeridos pelo apt-get.

Setting up a LaTeX environment in Ubuntu (Feisty)

There are two base distributions for LaTeX authoring available in Ubuntu: TeTeX and TeX Live. The TeTeX project is not supported, so it is advised that we use TeX Live. I have also found that later has more packages available.

To install TeX Live, because I can afford the wasted space, I did:

sudo apt-get install 'texlive-*'

If I ever need more exotic packages, I will have a look on MiKTeX, which is the apt-get for the LaTeX world. Christian Schenk has a nice intruduction on how to use MiKTeX in Linux.

Laptop with Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty) too

I have just installed Feisty on the laptop I am using. Installation was not as smooth as I would imagine, since I had some problems:

• Hibernation does not work. It did on 6.10 (after I fixed it) works, after some hacking. Hibernation is so broken on Linux/Ubuntu... It was bug #66637. Again!
• Booting was taking forever because of a vfat partition (bug #47382). Fixed it running dossfck -ar /dev/sda1 (with the partition unmounted).
• Translation problems (in update-manager and in apport). These are minor problems.
• Cannot install auctex. Which means I cannot work (properly) whilst it is not fixed.
• The driver for Broadcom 43xx (or my wireless card) still does not do WPA2 Entreprise (i.e., no e-U). (Maybe this problem is Redhat's bug #213088.)
• NetworkManager still does not save connection with the type of "Connect to other wireless network". You have to fill the connection details: Every. Single. Time. Filled bug #426304.
• Firefox 2 still has that stupid bug where some pages are resolved (i.e., the title changes and the URL changes) but they are not displayed.

So... instead of being productive, I have been fighting the OS... go figure...

Update: found out relevant bugs.

Actualização do Ubuntu 7.04

Chegou mais uma actualização do Ubuntu 7.04.

Primeira novidade, que deliciará os utilizadores de redes sem fios: o NetworkManager é o novo configurador da rede.

Lembram-se de me ter queixado do Control Center? Pois bem, parece que me ouviram! (estou a brincar, claro...)

Se repararam na imagem do menu, agora existe uma aplicação para activar o bling-bling. Pena que o Compiz, aplicação responsável pelos efeitos, não ser 100% compatível com o Metacity. Quando se activam os efeitos, parece que não mudámos de gestor de janelas, o aspecto mantém-se, bem como a maioria dos atalhos e a maioria das funcionalidades. Mas a maioria não é a totalidade, passando eu a ter um ambiende de trabalho que reage, de quando em vez, de maneira inesperada.

Infelizmente, existe um bug nas as drivers (não-livres) da minha placa gráfica (NVidia), o que torna algumas janelas invisíveis. É um pouco chato, geralmente gosto de saber o que tenho nas minhas janelas :P Ou seja, de volta ao meu ambiente, aborrecidamente, estável.

How to install LaTeX Style Files (.sty) on Ubuntu, using TeTeX or Tex Live

One thing that makes LaTeX so powerful is the enourmous amount of extensions available. Some extensions, usually with the .sty filename extension, do not come with an installation tutorial. I consider that they do not come with a tutorial because it is assumed it is an easy task. Another reason for having no installation instructions might be because it is platform dependent (i.e., different installation directories).

The directory for installing LaTeX files, on Ubuntu, depends on the distribution you are using. If you are using TeTeX, it is:

/usr/share/texmf-tetex/tex/latex

If you are using TeX Live, it is:

/usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex

To install a style file you have to create a directory for it and copy the contents there. Next you have to run the program mktexlsr as root.

This is an example on how to install the prooftree extension, using the TeTeX distribution:

1. create a directory named prooftree on /usr/share/texmf-tetex/tex/latex
2. copy the file prooftree.sty and the file prooftree.tex to the directory /usr/share/texmf-tetex/tex/latex/prooftree
3. run sudo mktexlsr

Say what?

Silly error! :D

Mais novidades do feisty

O serpentine 0.7 quase está aí a chegar, só estamos a esperar que seja sincronizado com a versão do Debian! Nem sabia que já estava disponível na distribuição mais respeitada da comunidade OSS :)

Agora pode-se mudar as cores de alguns temas do Gtk+! w00t!!

E instalar software com licensas esquesitas agora é mais simples.

O Adblock do Epiphany está a melhorar, embora precise de algum amor de UI e precise do poder e da integração que o Adblock Plus (para o Firefox) tem.

E um filme engraçado: Certo na fachada!

Ubuntu 7.04

Novo Ubuntu

Instalei, no morpheus, o Ubuntu 7.04 Herd 2. Uma coisa que não vi publicitada é o novo Centro de Controlo:

Juntaram o menu Preferências e o menu Administração numa aplicação idiota. Os botões são ordenados na horizontal, o que os torna difíceis de ler. É lento, a filtrar conteúdos. E, a meu ver, a moda de colocar tudo num “saco” e adicionar uma caixa de procura, não é o interface ideal para quem não conhece.

Ainda não actualizaram o Serpentine. O que se reflecte em bug reports inúteis e pessoas ficarem descontentes com uma aplicação desnecessariamente.

O Amule foi actualizado para a versão 2.1 e empacotaram a versão que corre sem parte gráfica: rejubilo!

O Nautilus tem um motor de procura integrado. No entanto, ao selecionar o menu Locais, Procurar Ficheiros… é-nos apresentada outra aplicação. Porquê a redundância? E porque não se podem guardar as procuras? Porque não se pode fazer um arrastar-e-largar para guardá-las?

O Gedit 2.17 tem um painel lateral, para listar os documentos abertos. Porque alguém quer ter essa listagem num painel e continuar a ver as abas?

No Homepage

A minha página pessoal está em baixo. Como instalei o Feisty (Ubuntu 7.04) ainda não tive paciência para instalar o lighttpd. Entretanto acedam aos meus artigos através do google cache e do meu blog através do endereço usual (http://irrepupavel.blogspot.com/).

Ubuntu 6.10

Eu já estou a instalar, e tu? De acordo com as notas de lançamento, parece-me mais uma melhoria estrutural, mas já me estou a sentir mais quentinho cá dentro ;)

Party on!

Linksys WPC54G on Ubuntu Dapper (bcm43xx)

Installing Linksys WPC54G on Ubuntu Dapper is somewhat easy. First you need to install the firmware extractor:

sudo apt-get install bcm43xx-fwcutter

After that you have to download the drivers from Linksys (or use the CD that came with the device).

After that you have to extract the contents of the zip file and open the console on that directory (if you use the CD it’s on the CD path):

bcm43xx-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware/ Driver/NT/bcmwl5.sys

Unplug and plug your card again.

Done! Now you just have to configure it ;)

Flash font problems in Ubuntu Breezy

I was also suffering from the same problem Vitor was having. On Ubuntu Breezy you need to do the following:

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

A minha irmã é mais l33t que eu!

Bah! Eu estou ainda a usar o Breezy Badger e a minha irmãzinha já and a blogar acerca de aventurar-se no Edgy Eft! Pior: nem sabia que a versão 6.10 se chamaria Edgy Eft!!!111oneleben!!

Ela explica porque gosta do seu sistema operativo — sim, apesar de ser de um curso de letras, ela sabe o que isso é! — e até ensinou-me que até eu sou unbuntês :D

Note to self: corrigir o speedtouch-suite para poder instalar o Dapper Drake...