Starry Hope » Screencasts

Ubuntu Restricted Extras – Lets Ubuntu Play Everything

Jim — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:40:59 +0000

A fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) comes complete with Firefox, the Rhythmbox music player, and the Totem movie player. You may find, however, that some websites don’t work correctly because Flash and Java are missing, you may also find that a lot of your media files do not play. This is because Ubuntu (for legal reasons) only comes with support for free and open source audio and video formats. Many technologies such as Flash, MP3 and DVD are proprietary or patent encumbered and can not be included on the Ubuntu CD.

Thankfully, it’s extremely easy to set up your new Ubuntu system to play just about any media file you can throw at it. All you need to do is install one software package from the Ubuntu Software Center and your system will be configured to enjoy all of your media files and the whole internet. The software that we need to install is called “Ubuntu Restricted Extras.” This package, in turn, will download, install and configure Flash, Java, core Microsoft fonts (the fonts used on many websites), MP3 support, DVD support (for unencrypted DVDs) and support for just about every other audio and video format you can imagine.

To install this package, open the Ubuntu Software Center (by clicking Applications -> Ubuntu Software Center) and search for “Ubuntu restricted extras.” You should see the “Ubuntu restricted extras” package in the search results, then just click “Install” and let Ubuntu’s built-in package manager do all the hard work for you!

Because this package downloads and installs a lot of other packages (many of them not located on Ubuntu’s servers), it can take some time to finish downloading. Just be patient and let the process finish. It’ll be worth it in the end.

Once the package has been installed, you can restart Firefox and you should now be able to access all your favorite sites, like YouTube, that require the Flash plugin, play any multimedia files you may have, and watch non-commercial DVDs.

Bonus: Installing support for commercial DVD playback

Due to many varying laws around the world, Ubuntu can not ship support for commercial (encrypted) DVD playback. To install support for commercial DVDs, all you need is to install one file which can be found at Medibuntu called “libdvdcss2.” Medibuntu is a software repository that contains several restricted multimedia related applications, and you can follow the instructions on their site to install this repository on your computer. In our case, we just want the libdvdcss2 file, so we can install it manually. Just visit this page and download the libdvdcss2 package for your computer (either 32-bit or 64-bit). Once you’ve downloaded the file, simple double click it and follow the instructions to install. You should now be able to watch all your favorite DVDs on Ubuntu!

Legal Warning: Check with your local laws to make sure usage of libdvdcss2 would be legal in your area.

Last.fm Support in Ubuntu 10.04 – Scrobbling and Streaming

Jim — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:04:02 +0000

Setting up Last.fm streaming and scrobbling in Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx, is fast and easy. The Rhythmbox music player provides scrobbling support and the Last.fm client will let you stream your favorite stations in a nice stand-alone application. Here’s a screencast and written instructions on exactly how to set things up.

Setting up scrobbling in Rythmbox

First of all, what is scrobbling? According the the urban dictionary, it is the act of automatically sending the name of each song played by an audio player to Last.fm. Sending information about the music you listen to to Last.fm is useful because it helps them build a profile of the music you like which in turn enables Last.fm to suggest relevant new music to you which you’re likely to enjoy.

If you are using the default music player in Ubuntu, Rhythmbox, then setting up scrobbling is pretty quick and easy, just follow these steps:

1. In Rhythmbox, click on the Edit menu and then click Plugins.

2. Select the Last.fm plugin and click Configure

3. Enter your Last.fm username and password and click Close. Also close the Configure Plugins window.

Now, each song you listen to in Rhythmbox should be automatically scrobbled to Last.fm.

Installing the Last.fm desktop client

Last.fm provides an open source desktop client for Linux that allows you to stream your favorite Last.fm your stations, recommendations, and library. This is useful because it keeps Last.fm in its own window, outside the browser (where the Flash player can sometimes bog things down). Since Ubuntu 9.10, the Last.fm player is available right from within the Ubuntu Software Center, so installing it is a breeze. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Launch the Ubuntu Software Center

Click the Applications menu and choose Ubuntu Software Center. This will launch the Ubuntu Software Center, a one-stop place for finding and installing thousands of free software applications for Ubuntu.

2. Search for “last.fm” and install

Inside the Ubuntu Software Center, search for “last.fm” and you should find an entry called “Last.fm” with the red Last.fm logo. Simply click the install button next to this entry (and enter your password if prompted). The Last.fm client will now be downloaded and installed automatically. The whole process should only take a few minutes (depending on the speed of your internet connection).

3. Launch the Last.fm client

You can now find the Last.fm client by clicking on the Applications menu and the Sound & Video sub-menu and finally on Last.fm.

4. Complete the Last.fm Setup Wizard

The first time that you launch the Last.fm client, the Setup Wizard will ask you for your Last.fm username and password.

5. Start Enjoying your music!

Restore the Default Gnome Panels in Ubuntu [Ubuntu Beginners Series]

Jim — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:17:54 +0000

Sometimes crazy things happen when you’re using Ubuntu, especially when you’re first getting started. It’s easy to mess things up and sometimes hard to get them back to normal. One problem I often see is that people accidentally delete their top or bottom panels (the bars that go across the top and bottom of your desktop and contain menus and other useful widgets). It can be especially frustrating when your top panel disappears along with the Application Menu … what’s a person to do?

You might see instructions in a forum or on a blog post that tell you how “easy” it is to restore your default panels with some “simple” Terminal commands. While these commands might be easy for the seasoned Linux geek, they can be confusing for everyone else. In an attempt to make things as simple as possible, I edited a small program originally found here, and made something that will hopefully get you back to Ubuntu bliss as quickly as possible.

Introducing: PanelRestore

PanelRestore is a small program that will allow you to restore the default Ubuntu panels quickly (it will also allow you to backup and restore your existing panel configurations). Here’s how to use it.

1. Download PanelRestore – Right-click here and choose “Save Link As”. Save the PanelRestore.tar.gz file on your desktop.

2. Find the PanelRestore.tar.gz on your desktop, right-click on it and then click on “Extract Here.”

3. You should now see another file on your desktop called “PanelRestore.sh.” Double click on this file and you will be presented with a pop-up window asking you what you want to do – click “Run.”

4. Now you will see the main program window. Here you have the choice to save your current panel settings and restore panel settings from a file, or to restore the default panel settings. Choose “Restore Default Panel Settings” and click “OK.”

5. If you’re sure that you want to restore the default Ubuntu panels, click “OK.”

6. Enjoy!

Facebook Chat on the Nokia N900

Jim — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:21:28 +0000

Nokia N900 – On Sale at Amazon!

While it’s always been possible to use Facebook chat through the N900 web browser, chatting through the web interface on such a small screen was a real problem. Since Facebook has recently enabled Jabber/XMPP support, you can now add Facebook chat to the N900 and get a real integrated experience. This makes Facebook chat much more usable, and can help you keep in contact with all your friends.

Here’s a how to set things up.

1. Open the “Conversations” application and click on main menu at the top.

2. Choose “Accounts” from the menu.

3. If this is your first account, you will immediately be asked which type of account you would like to set up, if you already have accounts set up, you should tap “New.”

4. Choose the account type “Jabber.”

5. Enter your facebook username followed by @chat.facebook.com in the “User name” field. If you haven’t yet chosen a Facebook username, you can set one up in your Facebook Account Settings.

6. Enter your password an tap “Sign in.”

If you get authentication errors, it could be because you only recently chose a username on Facebook or because you haven’t used chat for a while. Log out of Facebook in all your browsers and log back in to reset the Facebook chat system for your username.

The N900 will automatically add all your Facebook contacts to your address book. This may add some clutter to your address book, but you can always delete unneeded contacts and merge the new address cards with existing contacts.

If you want to be left alone, you can set your “Availability” to “Offline” and only go online when you’re available to chat.

So, what do you think about Facebook chat on the N900? Will you use it? Leave your comments below.

Nokia N800 Gets Firefox 3 Rendering Engine

Jim — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:43:13 +0000

The “Mozilla based browser for maemo” project has released a development version of the Gecko 1.9 rendering engine for the Nokia N800. This project, also known as “MicroB”, allows N800 users to replace the Opera rendering engine of the N800 browser with the same rendering engine that will power Firefox 3. Once the new rendering engine is installed, a menu option is available for switching between rendering engines. The project also supports better integration with RSS feeds, better AJAX support, and the ability to write browser add-ons.

In our testing, we found that most AJAX based sites worked much better with the Gecko engine. GMail and Google Docs worked well but Google Reader crashed the browser. Popular social networking site digg.com worked much faster than with the Opera engine. Overall, sites rendered much more like you would expect on a desktop browser.

The MicroB project is still quite new but looks very promising. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can download MicroB from the project website and give it a try. Here’s a short video we made showing MicroB in action and its integration with the N800’s built in RSS reader.

Get the Nokia N800 and accessories here >>

VMWare Fusion: Looking Better Than Ever

Jim — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 06:42:35 +0000

While Parallels may have got the jump on VMWare in the Mac virtualization market, VMWare Fusion is looking better all the time. I first tried Fusion out of frustration over not being able to install the latest versions of Linux on Parallels. VMWare has a much longer history in the VM market and their support for Linux is first class. Today, I found this video via TUAW that shows off some of the new features coming in the final Fusion release. The “Unity” feature of Fusion is similar to Parallel’s “Coherence” but looks much more impressive. Watch this video and check it out for yourself.

Buy VMware Fusion

Google Maps on the Nokia N800

Jim — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:03:59 +0000

I finally got my Nokia N800 today. I was amazed at how easily it connected to the internet with WiFi and with my mobile phone. One thing I found useful so far was being able to access Google Maps on the run. It’s a little small on the screen, but I found it useable, and it sure would be nice if you were lost somewhere (because I know you wouldn’t stop and ask for directions).

I captured this short screencast of the N800 in action using Google Maps. The video was captured using VNC on the N800 along with Chicken of the VNC and iShowU on my Mac, so there was some overhead in both processing power and network speed that caused the video to be slightly jerkier than it usually is. The AJAX maps also rendered slower when running VNC and you see a funny looking cursor instead of the regular N800 cursor … but as far as I know, using VNC is the only way to capture video from the N800.

Alternative download: Quicktime version

If you want more than just google maps on your N800, you could try the new Nokia Navigation Kit for the N800.

Install Ubuntu 7.04 on Your Intel Mac with VMware Fusion

Jim — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:27:43 +0000

The latest version of Ubuntu, Feisty Fawn, has been getting a lot of press recently. With news that Dell will soon be pre-installing Ubuntu on some of its systems, it’s almost certain that Ubuntu will only become more popular in the coming months. If you have an Intel Mac and would like to experiment with Ubuntu’s newest release what is the easiest way?

It seems there are 3 possible ways to try Ubuntu 7.04 on your Mac.

Install Ubuntu directly to your hard drive.
Install Ubuntu in Parallels (available at Amazon).
Install Ubuntu in VMWare Fusion (available at Amazon).

Installing Ubuntu directly to your hard drive might be a good idea if you have a spare drive that you can use. From the instructions I’ve seen online, installing Ubuntu on a partition alongside OS X is not for the faint of heart. Personally, I’m not willing to risk all of my data and my OS X install on an experiment to see if I can install Ubuntu.

Installing Ubuntu 7.04 in Parallels is not such a walk in the park either. There seem to be some problems with the latest Linux kernels and Parallels. When trying to install, Ubuntu will not be able to properly load the cd-rom driver and will fail to install. There are some (rather odd) workarounds for this, such as telling Parallels that you’re using Solaris during the install process. The guys at SimpleHelp have a tutorial that will help you get Ubuntu 7.04 installed in Parallels. Don’t expect things to work perfectly once it’s installed. I still experienced problems with the video drivers and screen resolution as well intermittent problems getting cd-roms to mount. The Ubuntu startup and shutdown screens also fail to display in Parallels. You’re left with a black screen wondering if anything is happening during the boot process. There are other annoyances such as the virtual machine failing to full shut itself down, a bug that causes most progress bars to be transparent, and the constant need to hit a key combination to release the cursor from Ubuntu and get back to Mac OS. Features such as Coherence and dragging files between Parallels and Mac OS are also not supported.

Because of all the problems with Parallels, I decided to give the VMware Fusion Beta a try. While Parallels may have beat everyone else to the Intel Mac virtualization market, VMware have been doing virtualization for much longer. With the Fusion Beta, they bring their years of experience to the Mac platform. Does it work any better with Ubuntu? The short answer is YES!

I was able to install Ubuntu 7.04 in VMware Fusion Beta with no problems. The only thing that was a small problem was installing the VMware Tools package, which I had to mess around with for a few minutes. Once those tools are installed, VMware really starts to shine. Fusion supports features such as file drag and drop between Mac OS and Ubuntu, clipboard synchronization, automatic cursor focus as you move in and out of the VMware window, and easy screen resolution resizing (it even works with the widescreen Macbook monitor). Fusion still needs some polish (like, seriously, those huge buttons at the top of the window are UGLY), but I’m sure VMware will work these things out before the final release this summer.

So far, I couldn’t be more happy with VMware Fusion, and highly recommend you download and try out the free ~~beta~~ evaluation (or buy it at Amazon).

Here’s a screencast I put together to show some of the features of VMware Fusion running Ubuntu 7.04.

Using Backpack Offline with PackRat – Screencast

Jim — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 22:18:14 +0000

This is the first of (hopefully) many screencasts I hope to bring you over the coming months. Today’s screencasat is about how to use your Backpack account offline on your Mac with a new program called PackRat.