Ubuntu Hacks by Oxer, Jonathan -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Ubuntu Hacks

Credits

About the Authors Contributors Acknowledgments

Jonathan Kyle Bill

Preface

Why Ubuntu Hacks? How to Use This Book How This Book Is Organized Conventions Used in This Book Using Code Examples Safari Enabled How to Contact Us Got a Hack?

1. Getting Started

1. Test-Drive Ubuntu

Downloading the Live CD Booting the CD Another Use for the Live CD

2. Get Help

Web-Based Documentation Interactive Help and Support Traditional Pay-per-Incident Support

3. Make Live CD Data Persistent

Set the Label on Your USB Memory Stick Boot the Live CD in Persistent Mode Testing Persistence How It Works

4. Customize the Ubuntu Live CD

Basic Requirements

Add extra swap Install the tools Standard Live CD

Prepare Original Image Set Up the Target Filesystem Apply Customizations

Delete unnecessary packages Install additional packages Customize the home directory

Unmount Customized Image Repack the Filesystem Build the ISO Burn and Boot More Information and Scripts

5. Install Ubuntu

System Requirements Preserving Your Existing Data Getting the Installation CD Installing Ubuntu

6. Dual-Boot Ubuntu and Windows

Preparation Installation

7. Move Your Windows Data to Ubuntu

Make Sure You Notify the Post Office

Transfer Outlook into Thunderbird Transfer your Thunderbird mail to Ubuntu

Are You Bringing the Browser? Your Stuff, Your Music Your Little Black Book Am I Forgetting Anything? You Could Just Hire a Mover

8. Install Ubuntu on a Mac

Reinstall Mac OS X Install Ubuntu

9. Set Up Your Printer

GNOME CUPS Manager CUPS Web Interface Share Local Printers Apply Print Quotas

10. Install Ubuntu on an External Drive

Set Up the Partitions Install GRUB Use chroot Tweak initrd Update GRUB

11. Install from a Network Boot Server

Prepare the PXE Boot Server

Configure DHCP Configure TFTP

Boot the Client

12. Submit a Bug Report

Getting Ready to File the Bug Creating a Malone Account Searching for Your Bug Filing Your Bug Report

13. Use the Command Line

Navigate the Filesystem Rename and Delete Files and Directories File Globs and Tab Completion

14. Get Productive with Applications

Office Suite Graphics and Photo Editor Web Browsing Email Instant Messaging Media Player

2. The Linux Desktop

15. Get Under the Hood of the GNOME Desktop

Configuration Nirvana: the Configuration Editor Scripting GConf

16. Tweak the KDE Desktop

Personal Hardware System Administration

17. Switch to a Lighter Window Manager

Generate Program Menus Change to Your New Window Manager Try XFCE Use Fluxbox Seek Enlightenment Other Window Managers

18. Install Java

Installing the Java Runtime Environment Confirming the Installation

19. Search Your Computer

Installing Beagle Starting beagled Using Beagle and deskbar-applet

20. Access Remote Filesystems 21. Tweak Your Desktop Like a Pro

Get Icons on Your Desktop Get Organized with Tomboy Automatic Wallpaper Switching Getting a Pull-Down "Quake" Terminal

22. Sync Your Palm PDA

Configuring Palm Synchronization Configuring the Sync Conduits Add the Pilot Applet

23. Sync Your Pocket PC

Connecting the Pocket PC Testing the Connection Establish a Partnership Synchronize with Evolution

Testing Multisync Syncing to the Pocket PC

Install Pocket PC Software Accessing the Pocket PC's Filesystem Troubleshooting

24. Customize the Right-Click Contextual Menu

Easy-Access Templates Custom Scripts

25. Download and Share Files with the Best P2P Software

BitTorrent

Command line GUI

aMule and eDonkey2000 LimeWire and Gnutella Other P2P Apps

26. Make Your Own PDFs

Installing CUPS-PDF Configuring CUPS for the PDF Printer Using Your New PDF Printer

27. Blog with Ubuntu

Installing Drivel Configuring and Using Drivel

3. Multimedia

28. Install Multimedia Plug-ins

Tweak Your Repository List Install General-Purpose Libraries and Tools Install Gstreamer Libraries Install Codecs of Ambiguous Legality

29. Watch Videos

Install MPlayer Use MPlayer

DVD playback (S)VCD playback Streaming playback Troubleshooting

30. Play DVDs 31. Buy Songs at the iTunes Music Store 32. Get a Grip on CD Ripping

Install Grip Configure Ubuntu to Default to Grip Configure Grip

Configure CD options Configure ripping options Configure encoding options Configure ID3 options Configure DiscDB options

Rip a CD

33. Burn CDs and DVDs 34. Automate Audio CD Burning

Use Serpentine Use K3b

35. Rip and Encode DVDs

Load Your DVD Configure Settings Queue and Rip

36. Create a Video DVD

Install tovid Convert the Video Create the XML File Create the DVD Filesystem Structure Burn the DVD

37. Connect to a Digital Camera

Import from a Non-USB-Storage-Device Camera Import from a USB-Storage-Device Camera Automatically Rotate Your Photos with gThumb

4. Mobile Ubuntu

38. Put Your Laptop to Sleep

Getting Some Sleep Testing ACPI Sleep

39. Hibernate Your Laptop

Configuring Hibernation Using Hibernation

40. Prolong Your Battery Life 41. Get Proprietary Wireless Cards Working

Installing ndiswrapper and ndisgtk Wrapping the Windows Drivers Configuring the Adapter

42. Roam Wirelessly

Using Your Wireless Network Card NetworkManager and You

43. Make Laptop Settings Roam with Your Network

Install laptop-net Configure laptop-net Profiles

Configure the offline profile Configure the default network profile Test your configuration

Create Personal laptop-net Profiles

Configure the patterns file Configure the after-select script

44. Make Bluetooth Connections

Pairing Manual Pairing Bluetooth File Transfer Connect to the Internet

45. Expand Your Laptop 46. Hotswap Your Laptop's Optical Drive

5. X11

47. Configure Multibutton Mice 48. Enable Your Multimedia Keyboard

Assign GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts Hotkeys

Understand Hotkeys configuration parsing Set keyboard type Customize predefined actions Create custom actions Test Hotkeys Onscreen display settings

Start Hotkeys Automatically

49. Configure a Touchpad

Preparing Your X11 Configuration Installing qsynaptics Configuring the Touchpad with QSynaptics

50. Connect Multiple Displays

Grok the Xorg Conf File

Section "Device" Section "Monitor" Section "Screen" Section "ServerLayout"

Tracking Down X Errors Configure Xinerama Configure TwinView on nVidia Configuring MergedFB on ATI/Radeon Combining Methods

51. Change the Ubuntu Splash Screen 52. Enable 3-D Video Acceleration

Measure Performance Identify Your Video Card Drivers

nVidia ATI Matrox

53. Make Your Fonts Pretty

Fonts Are Not Created Equal Font Management with Defoma Onscreen Font-Rendering Preferences

Screen resolution Smoothing Hinting Subpixel order

Install Microsoft Core Fonts Install Macintosh and Windows TrueType Fonts

6. Package Management

54. Manage Packages from the Command Line

dpkg apt and Friends

Lazy like a fox

55. Manage Packages with Synaptic

Reload the Package List Install Packages Update Packages Remove Packages Search for Packages Edit Preferences and Add Repositories

56. Manage Packages with Adept

Basic Adept Usage Receive Update Notifications Automatically

57. Install and Remove Standalone .deb Files

Install a .deb Remove a Package

58. Search for Packages from the Command Line

Search for Packages Based on Keywords Search for Packages Based on Files They Contain

59. Install Software from Source

Install Compiler Tools Get and Compile the Source

Step 1: configure Step 2: compile Step 3: install

Hacking the Hack

60. Modify the List of Package Repositories

Add and Remove Repositories Unofficial Repositories

61. Cache Packages Locally with Apt-cacher

Installing Apt-cacher

Server setup Client setup

Configuration Options Traffic Reports Hacking the Hack

62. Create an Ubuntu Package

Create Package Files Build the Package Update the Package

63. Compile a Source Package

Enable Source Repositories Install Package Build Tools Install Build Dependencies and Fetch the Source Apply Changes Build Binary Package

64. Convert Non-Ubuntu Packages

Convert Packages with Alien Solve Package-Conversion Problems Convert Ubuntu Packages to Other Formats

65. Create Your Own Package Repository

Anatomy of a Repository Getting Started Update the Repository Manage a Repository Without Shell Access

66. Convert Debian to Ubuntu

Perform the Conversion Mix Ubuntu and Debian

7. Security

67. Limit Permissions with sudo

/etc/sudoers Syntax Show It's Working Enable the root Account

68. Manage Security Updates

Ubuntu Update Policy Obtain Security Updates Automate Update Notifications Package Signatures Monitor Security Advisories

69. Protect Your Network with a Firewall

Initial Firewall Setup Initial Management-Machine Setup

Create a firewall project Define a new firewall Add a host-specific policy

Compile and Install the Policy Automatic Policy Startup Automatic Policy Installation

70. Use an Encrypted Filesystem to Protect Your Data

Kernel Setup Create an Encrypted Device

Create a loopback disk image Set up the block device

Unmounting Remounting Hacking the Hack

71. Encrypt Your Email and Important Files

Generate a GPG Key Pair Importing GPG Keys Signing a GPG Key Encrypting Files Using GPG Decrypting Files Using GPG

72. Surf the Web Anonymously

How Onion Routing Works Installing and Using Tor Other Apps

73. Keep Windows Malware off Your System

8. Administration

74. Edit Configuration Files

Navigate Through the File Edit a Line Copy and Paste Undo Save and Exit Search and Replace Help Where to Learn More

75. Manage Users and Groups

Use the User Administration Tool Manage Users and Groups from the Command Line

76. Mount Any Filesystem

Add a Local Partition Mount the Filesystems Mount Network Filesystems

77. Control Startup Services

Services Administration Tool Command-Line Method Change the Runlevel Manually Start and Stop Services Disable Scripts from Starting

78. Build Kernels the Ubuntu Way

Get the Source Tools You Will Need Configuration Methods Configuring the Kernel Compiling and Packaging Install Your Kernel Package Rebooting and Testing Installing on Other Machines Install Multiple Copies of One Kernel Version

79. Back Up Your System

Get Simple Backup Configure Simple Backup

Use recommended backup settings Use custom backup settings

Configuring Custom Backup Settings

Configure files to include Configure files to exclude Configure the backup destination Configure recurring backups

Restore from Backup

80. Clone an Installation

Export the List of Installed Packages Prepare the Destination System Import the Package List Hacking the Hack

81. Rescue an Unbootable System

Boot into Rescue Mode Common Rescue Scenarios

The system won't go past the boot menu, or the menu is missing The system goes past the boot menu but can't access the root filesystem The system boots and continues through part of the boot process, but hangs at a particular service

Conclusion

82. Check the Captain's Log

View the Logs

83. Mount Removable Devices with Persistent Names 84. Mount Remote Directories Securely and Easily 85. Make Videos of Your Tech-Support Questions 86. Synchronize Files Across Machines

The Problem with rsync Synchronize Files on Two Machines with Unison Using SSH Tweaking Your Profiles Changing the Location of Your Logfile Directory Further Information About Unison

9. Virtualization and Emulation

87. Run Windows Applications

Install Wine Configure Wine Install a Windows Application Run Windows Applications Working with Wine Running Other Windows Components

88. Play Windows Games

Run Blasts from the Past Run Current Windows Games with Cedega Run Google Earth with Wine

89. Run Ubuntu Inside Windows

Install coLinux Set Up the Debian Image Install Ubuntu Enabling SSH Running X11 Applications

90. Use Xen to Host Virtual Machines

Initial Host Installation Base Packages Required by Xen Obtain Xen3 Binary Distribution Extract Binary Distribution Configure GRUB Bootloader Xen Services Enable Networking Disable TLS Libraries Reboot

91. Create an Ubuntu/Xen Virtual Machine

Prepare VM Filesystems

Root filesystem Swap filesystem Mount the root filesystem image

Install Ubuntu into the Root Filesystem Configure the Virtual Machine Run Setup Within the VM Image Get Ready to Crank Up the VM Configure the VM in Xen Boot Your Virtual Machine Create Additional Guests

92. Split Your Machine's Personality

Installing VMware Server Running VMware Server

10. Small Office/Home Office Server

93. Install and Configure an Ubuntu Server

Minimal Installation Static Network Configuration UPS-Triggered Shutdown

94. Build a File Server

Enable Quota Support Install Samba Add Shares Share Printers

95. Administer Your Server Remotely

Configure SSH X11 Forwarding Configure Passwordless Authentication Copy Files Securely

96. Build a Web Server

Install Apache Install PHP Configure Dynamic Virtual Hosting

97. Build an Email Server

Postfix SMTP Server Reduce Spam with Greylisting Activity Reporting POP and IMAP Services

98. Build a Caching Proxy Server

Basic Squid Setup Proxy Traffic Reports Peering Proxies

99. Build a DHCP Server

Install the DHCP Daemon Basic Configuration Assign Addresses to Specific Hosts Hacking the Hack

100. Build a Domain Name Server

Understand DNS in 60 Seconds Authoritative and Recursive Lookups Install BIND9 Create an Authoritative Forward Zone Firewall Rules

Colophon

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