Remove old kernels

When you boot your computer and have 10E10 kernels to choose from in the bootloader, it is annoying... Usually you just have to boot the first one on the list, but if you have a Window$ OS installed, well, you have to go though the kernel list until you find the Window$ loader.

The option is to remove old kernels :)

Here's the trick:

1. Find out what is the version you are currently using with

uname -r

2. Check what kernels are installed in your machine

ls /boot | grep vmlinuz | cut -d'-' -f2,3

that will give you the KERNEL_IDs

2.6.28-23
2.6.28-24
2.6.28-25

3. Find the stuff associated with the kernels you don't want with

dpkg -l | grep ^ii | grep KERNEL_ID | awk -F' ' '{ print $2 }'

that should give you the UNWANTED_STUFF_LIST

linux-headers-2.6.28-23

linux-headers-2.6.28-24-generic

linux-image-2.6.28-25-generic

linux-restricted-modules-2.6.28-25-generic

4. Finally, remove the items in UNWANTED_STUFF_LIST with

sudo aptitude remove UNWANTED_STUFF_LIST[N=1, ..., N]

Personally, I always keep the version I am using, (duh!) plus the previous one... You never know ....

Comparing stuff

To compare files I used to be very blunt and use

diff $file1 $file2

but then my front-desk mate said "Add | vimdiff - ". He has shared some ideas on how to compare stuff with another colleague of ours.

In the meantime, my boss introduced me to tkdiff and I absolutely loved it.
As a good open source software ;) works on Linux, Mac and M$ Window$ :)

So enjoy!

Changing your Console Prompt

I've been looking for a while on a good post on how to change it, and finally, a good reference came up.

*This* site is a good guide! Really... ;)

More on Ubuntu 9.04 - If you have an ATI card

.... then you are in troubles :(

This post from Ubuntu Forums was referenced to me and summons up the problems that surround ATI drivers and the new and likeable Jaunty release from Ubuntu.

Fitting Toolbox for Matlab

Matlab has a fitting toolbox of its own, but it is payed.



Here you can find a very simple, practical and FUNCTIONAL replacement :)

Enemy Territory - To Do's for Ubuntu

My favourite site to download ET stuff :) It has the executables, the patches and some hints and tips :)


Plus you should download etpatch 2.60b and follow the instructions :)

In Ubuntu there are a couple of things that you might have to do.

• If you don't have sound when launching the game, do:

echo "et.x86 0 0 direct" > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/oss

• If PB kicks you "by game violation integrity" then go to $INSTALATION_PATH_FOR_ET/pb/ and run pbweb.x86. Then go to your $HOME and do rm -fr .etwolf/pb (to clean previous pb files). Recreate it (mkdir .etwolf/pb) and copy your files from $INSTALATION_PATH_FOR_ET/pb/ to that directory. Then run pbweb.x86 again there.

• Some ATI cards have some issues with Quake games. If you get flashes when running ET, then you have to disable compiz before running the game. Do metacity --replace & before running ET and after it, do compiz --replace &. I don't know how NVIDIA cards behave regarding to this.

You can always patch these things together in a small script, like:

#!bin/bash
# Bugz in ET:

# solve flashes
metacity --replace &

# solve sounds
sudo echo "et.x86 0 0 direct" > /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/oss

# run et
et

# recover graphics
compiz --replace &

After Installing Ubuntu

Recently a new version of Ubuntu has been released here.

Usually there are some things you should do after a fresh instalation of Ubuntu. Here I have found an extensive list of things to do and from them I've compiled my own list. Here goes:

1. Tools for compiling from sources
sudo aptitude install build-essential checkinstall cdbs devscripts dh-make fakeroot libxml-parser-perl check avahi-daemon

2. Java
sudo aptitude install sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin equivs ttf-sazanami-gothic ttf-sazanami-mincho

3. Control Pannels to manage Compiz
sudo aptitude install ubuntu-tweak

sudo aptitude install simple-ccsm

4. Codecs and related programs
sudo aptitude install vlc mplayer

sudo aptitude install non-free-codecs libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 ffmpeg toolame libmp4v2-0 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert mozilla-helix-player helix-player libmad0 libjpeg-progs libmpcdec3 libquicktime1 flac faac faad sox toolame ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview flac libmpeg3-1 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-dev

sudo aptitude install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mpegdemux gstreamer0.10-gnonlin gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-sdl gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-schroedinger gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse totem-gstreamer

sudo aptitude install gstreamer-dbus-media-service gstreamer-tools ubuntu-restricted-extras

sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh

sudo aptitude install gsfonts gsfonts-x11 flashplugin-nonfree

5. Wine. Seriouslly, there are a couple of apps that are worth it.
sudo aptitude install wine

6. (De)Compressing
sudo aptitude install unace rar unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils aish uudeview mpack lha arj cabextract file-roller

7. Music player. If you don't like VLC to manage your music library, I found that Amarok is the best program to use. I've also tried Exaile and Rythmbox, but Amarok presented the best case :)
sudo aptitude install amarok amarok-engine-xine amarok-engine-yauap amarok-engines amarok-common

8. Partition tools
sudo aptitude install gparted ntfsprogs

9. Some plugings for your text editor
sudo aptitude install gedit gedit-plugins

10. Filezilla..
sudo aptitude install filezilla filezilla-common

11. Gnome Do. Been using it for over a year now, but with the Jaunty I discovered the Docky-Gnome-Do. Goodbye cairo-dock and AWN and hello docky :)
sudo aptitude install gnome-do

I add to the list the following apps:

12. Geany. A very powerfull program. I recommend it for coding.
sudo aptitude install geany

13. Skype
you can either add the repositoires to
/etc/apt/sources.list
or get it from here

14. Picasa
The perfect program for newbies to keep our photo galeries updated and do some corrections on our shots.
Get Picasa from here



So far, that's it.