Some things to do after a fresh Ubuntu install

Open up a terminal screen and paste in the following text, then hit enter:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras non-free-codecs p7zip-rar acroread gimp inkscape blender vlc libdvdcss2 libdvdread4 faac faad audacious rubyripper cd-discid aacplusenc gtkpod lame cdrdao aacgain flac mp3gain normalize-audio vorbisgain arista soundconverter gnome-sushi winff devede openshot audacity cheese synaptic gconf-editor

HP G6 (i5) - Ubuntu 11.10 install

So my wife bought a new laptop as above and wanted Ubuntu installed. Wow what a task on this computer. All 4 primary partitions were alread used (windows, windows recovery file, HP bios tools, HP full image of the drive recovery tools). So first you have to eliminate one. I deleted the windows recovery partition with gParted. Then I merged or grew the windows boot partition into the newly unalocated partition.

Next, I found that the LiveCD would boot to a blank screen, so I had to edit the the kernel boot line to include the "nomodeset" command and the install went fine (wrong resolution though).

After the install I found that no matter what, the LCD was black after boot. After days of googleing I found the solution below.

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

 

And change the option row GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" as follow:   

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor splash"

 

Then update Grub installation with the command:

sudo update-grub

 

and restart the notebook.

Probem solved, but with a minor quirk or two... If you close the loptop lid, the screen will be black again when you open it. All you have to do is use the keyboard function that raises the brightness and it's back to normal. It seems that closing the lid turns the screen brightness to completely off.

Next, becareful not to hit the button that turns off the wireless. It turns off the radio and it won't come back on unless you reboot.

That's it, everything else works fine. If you use this information to help you with YOUR install and it works that's great. Remember this is not intended to be a guide but it's actually notes for me to use if I need to do a reinstall.

How to add the Medibuntu Repository to Ubuntu 11.04+

Open a terminal and paste the following and hit enter. You will be prompted for your password, enter the password and hit enter. DONE!

Using this method will add hooks to the USC (Ubuntu Software Center) so that the packages from the medibuntu repository will show up in the software center app.

sudo -E wget --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list && sudo apt-get -y --force-yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get install app-install-data-medibuntu apport-hooks-medibuntu && sudo sed -i "/^# deb .*partner/ s/^# //" /etc/apt/sources.list && sudo apt-get --quiet update

Ubuntu Oneiric - 11.10

Well, I upgraded to the latest version of Ubuntu and I must say it's a mixed bag of beans. I find the Unity interface and Gnome3 on the buggy side. The wife hates it and me for putting it most of our computers. I'm hoping things will improve over the next month or so, otherwise I'll have to switch to a different flavor of Ubuntu. The wife is talking windows again...

Nook EasyTouch

Father's day has come and gone, but I'm still loving my Nook EasyTouch that the wife got me. I've never really been much of a book reader but that's all in the past. I'm a reading fool now. It's not that I've never read a book or anything, it's just that I've always only read things like technical manuals and text books. Novels however are something I haven't read. Since the Nook has arrived, I've read several...

Thanks Baby...

New Car for Ericka!

My Daughter Ericka graduated from H.S. last month, and this past Thursday I bought her a new 2011 Nissan for a graduation present. She has been on cloud 9 ever since. My credit got her the car, but she is making the payments. There are no silver spoons in this house. I Love You baby girl... Do well in college and keep making me proud.

Today my best friend died. I love you Roxie!

Today my best friend Roxie was put to sleep due to complications from pancreatic cancer. Roxie was a male Ferret with a female name. When we got Roxie from a local pet store over 7 years ago, he came with papers that indicated he was a she.

Roxie has had a rough life during the past 1 1/2 years. I've had to hand feed him every 4-6 hours and keep him on medication to elevate his blood sugar. Through it all Roxie has been a loving and loyal friend to me. Unlike many ferrets, Roxie was very smart and litter box trained. Most ferrets can't be totally trained to use a litter box reliably but I could count on my baby Roxie. Roxie loved me as much as I loved him. He loved me to hold him and pet him for hours. If you know anything about ferrets, you know that they don't want to be held, they want to explore and hide. Roxie loved those things too, but he truly loved for ME to hold and pet him as I spoke to him. He enjoyed the contact we had during hand feedings and grooming time. Roxie loved to take warm showers with me and then run and play, rolling and scooting on the carpet to dry off. My life has been greatly enriched because Roxie shared his life with me. I'm very sad he is gone but I know he's not suffering from the ravages of cancer anymore. Roxie became very weak 3 days ago and I just couldn't bring him out of it. Today when I heard him crying and whimpering as I attempted to give him water through a syringe, I decided to let go and give my beloved best friend a much deserved rest.

I Love You Roxie, I hope there is an afterlife for animals and you are now running and playing in the dirt you craved so often. Think of me and please know how much I cared for you. Goodbye my baby, go have some fun.

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Job Search

This month marks 1 year since I lost my job.  Hundreds of applications and Resumes later, I'm finally getting a couple of interviews. Anyone who thinks Charlotte, NC is an easy place to get decent employment is mistaken (unless or course you are willing to take a job for slightly more than minimum wage, I'm not quite that desperate just yet).

This information is superfluous to most of you, but I wanted to make a blog entry of some type since I haven't posted in a very long time.

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Update: 2/25/2011

Life gets worse...

I was applying for a job as a police dispatcher and all indications from the chief were great. He called me and gave me a brief phone screening to be sure that I was okay with the third shift (I was), the pay (I was), and the days of the week I would be working (I said great!). He then said "Very Good, you will be hearing from very soon".

Today I got a rejection letter telling me they were moving forward with other candidates. This shit sucks ass. I'm running out of places to apply and I don't understand why I can't find something.

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