I don't know about where you live, but where I live, it feels like October. Halloween orange has sprouted everywhere from the grocery store to the doctor's office, the weather has acquired a distinctive chill, and, of course, we have a new release of Ubuntu Linux. Version 7.10 hit the Net just last week, right on time. (Ubuntu releases tend to come each October and April.)
I previewed the "Gutsy Gibbon" edition last month, and found that (as you might expect from an OS with a major release twice each year) most of the changes are minor, incremental--evolutionary as opposed to revolutionary. There are a couple of exceptions, like the addition of Compiz for desktop effects (windows that fade in and out, Expos
For legal reasons, Ubuntu lacks a small system library that decrypts the video on most commercial DVDs. The system's default media player isn't quite DVD-ready, either. Luckily, everything we need to play our DVDs is easy to fetch and install, though not quite as easy as the typical point-and-click dance for software installation on Ubuntu.
To begin, select
Open a Terminal window (
After you enter your password, Ubuntu will fetch and install the libdvdread3 package. Now to install the necessary decryption library, enter this command:
Okay, the libraries you need are now in place, but you still need to install a smarter video player before you can watch the latest Netflix arrival. To download and install the VLC media player for DVD playback, issue this command in a Terminal window:
(You can also find VLC under
To make VLC fire up automatically when you insert a DVD, click
Now test your work: Pop in a DVD. VLC should appear and load the disc's main menu. The
By default, Gutsy Gibbon tosses some Compiz-driven visual bling your way, if it thinks your machine is up to the task. For instance, you should notice that windows and menus fade in and out, instead of simply appearing and disappearing. To check the status of your desktop effects, click
If 'None' is selected, Ubuntu probably tried and failed to enable desktop effects. You can try selecting
If "Normal" or "Extra" desktop effects are working for you just fine and you want to fine-tune them to the nth degree (and enable additional features), close the dialog box and enter this line in a Terminal:
Now open the Visual Effects tab of the Appearance Preferences dialog box again. You'll see a fourth option, 'Custom'. Click that, and then click the
Once upon a time, there was a great multiprotocol instant messaging client called Gaim. For its 2.0 release, two things changed. First, the app became known as Pidgin. Second, its creators radically reworked the interface--simplified it, really. The result is a pleasure to work with, but I had two nagging complaints.
The first annoyance was that Pidgin 2.0 provided no indication of which IM network any given buddy was on. That shortcoming is now gone: In Pidgin 2.2, which ships with Gutsy, you can select
As for the other hassle, I spent too many years living with early IM clients that made you press Control-Enter (not just Enter) to send a message. That keystroke is hardwired into my brain now. And I actually like things to work that way: I want to be able to press Enter to put a line break in an IM, and that can't happen if Enter sends the message. Setting things up this way used to be possible in Gaim, but for simplicity's sake the option was removed from the interface as Gaim became Pidgin. You can, however, still activate it. From a Terminal, enter:
In the (often blank) text file that opens up, add the following lines:
Save and close the file. Now fire up Pidgin and message away with your old-school keystrokes.
Using the Extended Preferences plug-in, you can manipulate other Pidgin settings that have been hidden in the stock interface. To access these, in Pidgin click
It's a crying shame but true: Though we are well into the 21st century, a lot of Linux apps, ranging from the Gnome Terminal to the OpenOffice.org word processor, beep your PC's internal speaker when they need your attention. What is this, 1982? Seriously.
There are several solutions to this problem. First, you can disable the internal speaker entirely. To do so, open a Terminal and enter these two lines:
In the text file that opens, add the following lines at the bottom, save, and close:
Personally, though, I like to humanize the beep rather than eliminate it. To find a beep you can stomach, fire up a Terminal and enter this command:
Now press
...and press
When you've found the beep you want, make it the default by clicking
Looking back to the post-install tips I offered up just six months ago for the Ubuntu Feisty release, I notice that quite a bit of the advice has been superceded by improvements in the system. For example, you don't need Automatix anymore, because Ubuntu has gotten so good at fetching multimedia codecs and browser plug-ins. And you don't need Beryl for desktop effects anymore (that project has merged with Compiz anyhow), since they come included with Ubuntu.
My first and last tips from that column, however, are still relevant. If your right Alt key doesn't work, therein lies the fix, and if you don't know what a package manager is or what it does, go read up. Then take a deep breath and start exploring the universe of free software. I'm glad you've arrived!
Matthew Newton, PC World
