Are there any good USB 5.1 or 7.1 channel sound cards that work in Linux?

I'm trying to get a sound card that will plug into a really new Mini-ITX board. That leaves me with PCIe or USB, and PCIe cards seem to be expensive, crappy, and they required expensive riser and extension cards for Mini-ITX boards. I have an old Sound Blaster Live 5.1 that sounds great, but new Mini-ITX boards don't have any PCI slots.

Here are some options I've found, and why they won't work:

• Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro II: It's only stereo, not 5.1
• Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 SB1090: People on Newegg says it doesn't work in Linux
• Aureon 5.1 USB MKII: Discontinued, and only available in Europe
• Various PCIe cards at Newegg: The first two Creative ones have crap reviews, and the rest are really expensive.

From ubuntu Neil

• X-Fis (even the USB ones) work. They didn't used to but ALSA added drivers for them over a year ago and most people now don't seem to have an issue with them. I know the first review of one on Newegg complains about Linux support but seriously, there used to be threads complaining about them every day, that's fizzled off into nothing.

  You'll find with most of the better consumer audio devices that a lot of the special hardware (read: CMSS-3D, EAX, etc) requires special Windows-only software. You'll be able to hear sound and you'll be able to hear it in 5.1 setups with DTS (if that applies) but you won't get some of the fancier effects.

  Alternatively, you can use something as simple as a HDMI connection (if your Mini-ATX board has one, or through a graphics card) and port that into an AV receiver. Lots more money but much better sound and equaliser options (IMO).

  Neil : Do you think the Newegg complaints about the X-Fi USB drivers in Windows eating a lot of CPU are just bad drivers? So it should be fine with Alsa, right? Does the card to hardware mixing like the Sound Blaster Live 5.1 with the emu10k1 chip did?
  From Oli

• that is dificult to find but a give you some places to start to find :

  community wiki :

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupportComponentsSoundCardsCreativeLabs

  alsa page

  http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Matrix:Main

  From hhlp

How do I detect when the system suspends?

I need to be able to log the times that an Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop system is suspended and resumed.

I can detect when the system is resumed via a DBus signal (org.freedesktop.UPower.Resuming()) but the corresponding "org.freedesktop.UPower.Sleeping()" signal is never fired. Ideally, I'd like to use DBus, but given the lack of success I'm having, I'd be happy with any solution providing it can be called from the command line.

I've discovered one way to do it:

tail -f /var/log/pm-suspend.log | grep "performing suspend"

This simply listens on one of the pm logs for the suspend logging. Although this works, it's probably rather brittle. I've found relying on log parsing to be rather problematic in the past due to changes in the log statements.

Ideally I'd like a more robust mechanism. The service that invokes this will be ran as root.

From ubuntu Paul Robinson

• You can drop a script in /etc/apm/suspend.d. It should be executed every time the machine suspends.

  You can also use /etc/apm/resume.d in a similar fashion to run a script when it wakes up.

  Paul Robinson : Thanks for the answer, It seems like I don't have apm support in my kernel. I see "No APM support in kernel" when i run the command "apm". I know that I can enable this in the kernel for my machine. However, I need to run my program on other machines on which I won't be able to make this change so I don't think APM is going to work :-(
  From Javier Rivera

• Try putting the following in /etc/pm/sleep.d. This should be independent of whether your machine uses APM or ACPI.

  #!/bin/sh
  
  LOGFILE="/var/log/sleep.log"
  
  case "$1" in
          resume)
                  echo "Resumed from suspend at `date`" >> "$LOGFILE"
                  ;;
          thaw)
                  echo "Resumed from hibernation at `date`" >> "$LOGFILE"
                  ;;
          suspend)
                  echo "Suspended to ram at `date`" >> "$LOGFILE"
                  ;;
          hibernate)
                  echo "Hibernated to disk at `date`" >> "$LOGFILE"
                  ;;
  esac
  

  From Ryan Thompson

Alternatives to Unity for netbooks?

I am very disappointed with some of the features of Unity. Not being able to hide the bar or even modify it with different shortcuts (favorites in 10.04 netbook remix). I have docky installed and I would prefer to just use that. But I want to still have the system administration programs somehow. What packages would anyone recommend as a replacement for Unity?

From ubuntu controlfreak123

• In the background of docky I recommend you just run GNOME to give you access to all your sys admin tools.

  From user3940

• xubuntu-desktop

  From outofstep

• The 2D netbook interface from 10.04 is still there. You can use it if you install ubuntu-netbook-efl-default-settings & netbook-launcher-efl (click the package names to install them, after installation there will be a new session choice in the login screen).

  I don't understand why Docky would prevent you from running system administration programs?

  From JanC

• I would say give KDE's netbook interface a try. I was very impressed with it compared to Unity.

  From Skaarg

Preseeding the installer?

I need to preseed a dual boot installation of Ubuntu 10.04. I want partman to use all already existing Linux partitions and all free space (like the option when installing Fedora 13). what would that recipe look like?

From ubuntu ulve

• You need an unattended install. A couple of approaches here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/UnattendedCD http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/tutorials/unattended-ubuntu-installations

  ulve : The information provided on the ubuntu preseed page ( https://help.ubuntu.com/10.04/installation-guide/powerpc/preseed-using.html ) does not include examples to do what I'm looking for.
  From misterben

How to install ubuntu on Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V?

Is there a way (now or in the future) to install ubuntu-server-64 on a Microsoft Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V?

I tried this quide: http://www.panterlo.com/2010/10/10/ubuntu-10-10-and-hyper-v-r2/ but you're never sure if ubuntu starts or not and if it's up and running the network fails after a very short time.

From ubuntu Sven

• this guide should help you :

  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/how-to-install-ubuntu-server-10-4-in-hyper-v.aspx

  Sven : up and running - thank you! PS: This works only with the server-version. If you need the desktop-version - you have to install the server first then apt-get install ubuntu-dekstop. PPS: To gain mouse-access you should install teamviewer and start it with alt-f2
  From hhlp

Any good sites explaining how to use PiTiVi?

I have played around with it a bit... but still could use some help.

From ubuntu TheX

• I found this video... it might help

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qukfyXLQe8g&feature=player_embedded#!

  TheX : I might be inclined to agree, if I new what they where saying.
  From LinkinX

• Did you take a look at the PiTiVi manual ?

  From Nicolas Schirrer

What does this UFW log mean?

CC-02 kernel

[  399.656733] [UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC= SRC=192.168.2.11 DST=192.168.2.22 LEN=60 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=14158 DF PROTO=TCP SPT=47368 DPT=22 WINDOW=5840 RES=0x00 SYN URGP=0

The output from sudo ufw status verbose

Status: active  
Logging: on (low)  
Default: deny (incoming), allow (outgoing)  
New profiles: skip  

To                         Action      From  
--                         ------      ----  
Anywhere                   ALLOW IN    192.168.2.0/24 137,138/udp (Samba)  
Anywhere                   ALLOW IN    192.168.2.0/24 139,445/tcp (Samba)  
22                         ALLOW IN    192.168.2.0/24  

I am trying to ssh to CC-02 using ssh server@CC-02 but I get "Could not resolve host name". But replacing CC-02 with the ip address works fine. I have checked /etc/hosts and /etc/hostname and I have them configured properly. I don't exactly know what the log really means. Do I need to open another port?

From ubuntu rEnr3n

• Your rules look fine for ssh, but I think you have some name resolution problems, as proven by it working if you use the IP address. You say that your hosts file, etc is set up correctly. is that on the target machine or the source? The source machine needs to be able to get the target machines name ... a good way of doing this is by enabling DHCP on your router. If you want to verify that this is the problem, manually put an entry in your hosts file on the source machine.

  the strange part is that the log does say the port is blocked ... from what I can see (and from the output of my own UFW status) it should be fine.

  rEnr3n : I missed the part of manually putting an entry to my client's hosts file. It's now recognized.
  From Nerdfest

How do I configure the "Print_to_PDF"-printer and where does it print to?

I have a printer queue called "Print_to_PDF". I don't know why and where from I have it, and also not how I can configure it. If I print using that printer, I cannot find the output file anywhere.

From ubuntu diverse_izzue

• Did You try this?

  http://askubuntu.com/questions/2710/can-i-make-pdf-the-default-for-print-to-file

  From Helder

• Generally speaking, there is not need to use the PDF printer anymore, because you should have the generic "Print to file" option in every printer dialog. This option allows you to choose PDF or Postscript and also an output directory. If you have an additional PDF printer, this is because you have the cups-pdf package installed. If you send something to this printer, it should end up in a special PDF directory in your home directory, i.e. in ~/PDF.

  From Marcel Stimberg

• As Marcel said, the CUPS-PDF "Print to PDF" functionality is no longer needed as "Print to File" gives you the same functionality. However, if you do have it installed, it will only work if you have a directory named "PDF" in your home directory. I had to actually create that directory in my home folder to get the "prints".

  You can create it by opening a terminal and typing:

  mkdir PDF
  

  It is case sensitive.

  From Mark

Extracting multiple file types while ignoring errors

System info:

aggitan@moneque:~$ uname -a
Linux moneque 2.6.32-25-generic #44-Ubuntu SMP Fri Sep 17 20:05:27 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

aggitan@moneque:~$ 7z

7-Zip 9.04 beta  Copyright (c) 1999-2009 Igor Pavlov  2009-05-30
p7zip Version 9.04 (locale=en_US.utf8,Utf16=on,HugeFiles=on,2 CPUs)

I've got a folder that has 68 archives in it ranging from .rar, .ace, & .zip.

I want to extract all of these files using their folder name as the first directory ("Extract here")

If I use file-roller it halts at the first error, there doesn't appear to be an "ignore error" flag for file roller.

If I use 7zip it dumps everything into the current folder and doesn't use clean folders

How can I extract everything into separate folders without spilling everything into the current directory?

From ubuntu aggitan

• for i in *; do mkdir "$i.extracted"; (cd "$i.extracted" && 7z x "../$i") || echo "Error with $i"; done

  Riccardo Murri : The simplest of the lot :-)

  aggitan : I cheated and cross posted this to super user, this is the answer I originally used. http://superuser.com/questions/200640/mass-file-extraction
  From Tobias Kienzler

• I'm not aware of any direct solution but with a little bash loop you can do it in a terminal (if, as your question seems to suggest, 7zip is able to do everything you want except for extracting into a folder based on the filename). Try (in the directory with the archives):

  for FILE in *.*; do DIR=${FILE%.*}; mkdir $DIR && 7z x -o$DIR $FILE ; done
  

  The ${FILE%.*} extracts the filename without the extension.

  Tobias Kienzler : you need to `cd $DIR` or otherwise tell 7zip to extract there...

  Tobias Kienzler : if there are both `stuff.zip` and `stuff.rar` this will mix up their contents

  Marcel Stimberg : The `-o${FILE%.**}` is telling to use the dir, but I should have reused the `$DIR` variable instead. I'll edit my answer.

  Marcel Stimberg : About `stuff.zip` and `stuff.rar`: That's true, but I think the OP wanted to recreate file-roller's "Extract Here" behaviour which does not create folders like `stuff.zip.extracted` but only uses the filename without the extension.

  Tobias Kienzler : that's true, +1ing

  aggitan : Thank you for your post. I'll try and use this script and the others for similar problems I come along!
  From Marcel Stimberg

• A little shell scripting might come to the rescue.

  #! /bin/bash
  
  for archive in "$@"; do (
      archive_dir="$(cd $(dirname "$archive"); pwd -P)"
      archive_name="$(basename "$archive")"
      # make a directory by appending `.d` to the archive file name
      name="${archive_name}.d"
      mkdir -p "$name"
      cd "$name"
      # extract contents with full path, 
      # replace 'x' with 'e' to extract into $name directory
      7z x "${archive_dir}/${archive_name}"
  ); done
  

  Paste the above into a file extract.sh (in the directory where you want to extract files) and then make it executable:

  chmod +x ./extract.sh
  

  The script creates a directory for each archive given on the command line by appending .d to its file name (e.g., for an archive stuff.zip it will create directory stuff.zip.d), and then extracts files from the archive into it.

  You can invoke it in a terminal like this (use wildcards to extract multiple archives in one go):

  ./extract.sh stuff.zip stuff2.rar
  

  Disclaimer: untested, so try it out with one or two sample archives before making the big run.

  Tobias Kienzler : if there are both `stuff.zip` and `stuff.rar` this will mix up their contents

  Riccardo Murri : @Tobias Thanks, fixed.

  Tobias Kienzler : +1. although as Marcel states, that *is* file-roller's behaviour. so it depends on aggitan's exact intentions

  aggitan : Thank you for the script I'll try and use this in the future.
  From Riccardo Murri

How can I read system mail?

Which packages need to be installed in order for system mail to be generated from for example a nightly rkhunter scan run by cron?

From ubuntu erling thalt

• I use mutt (sudo apt-get install mutt) to read it from the command line on my local machine.

  You can also forward the mail onto a "real" email address. I have three servers that all do their system error reporting to the root mailbox. I forward these all to my GMail account by editing /etc/aliases and adding:

  webuser: root
  root: oli@my-email-domain.com
  

  Obviously you'll have a different setup but if you just want your user's email, stick your username in there with your real email address.

  Nick HS : What does the `webuser: root` part do?

  Oli : I run my websites under a non-root user (for security). That bit forwards email from the webuser account to root. It just saves me typing out my email address twice.

  Don Faulkner : +1 for aliases. I make liberal use of them when I setup a server (and to a lesser extent on my desktops). For my servers, I have things like webmaster, postmaster, root, etc. go to mailing lists (really more aliases) so that multiple people easily get the notices.
  From Oli

• You can create a local email account in Evolution. If the system mails are forwarded to your user you will be also notified about it.

  From

sound problem on dc 7800

i have sound problem on my computer HP Compaq dc7800 after install ubuntu 10.10. i have google it the problem and see more user have the same problem. But the problem still not solved. can someone help me.

From ubuntu kiryn

• On Maverick and the last few releases I've been unable to get sound from the internal speaker on this model. As long as Analog Stereo Duplex is selected as the profile on the Hardware tab of Sound Preferences, sound is produced on the headphone and line out sockets.

  On an earlier release (Jaunty, or possibly earlier still, I don't remember which) the problem was fixed by changing an option in one of the sound preference interfaces relating to the "switch" which detects if headphones are attached. This option disappeared.

  There are a few suggestions elsewhere including this page, but I've not had any luck with them: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HdaIntelSoundHowto

  From misterben

Graphical tool for creating Deb packages

Are there any graphical tools for creating ubuntu/debian packages?

From ubuntu trampster

• Yes, there exits a piece of software named Ubucompiler which is decribed as "an easy software to ubuntu, debian, linux mint to compile, make, install and create a .deb package": http://code.google.com/p/ubucompilator/ On the other hand, on page http://www.webupd8.org/2010/01/how-to-create-deb-package-ubuntu-debian.html where creating .deb packages are discussed, a critic of Ubucompiler reads as follows: "Ubucompilator does not add the necessary Build-Depends to the Debian control file so yes, the .deb package can be created with Ubucompilator, but you cannot use the source code to say Launchpad so it can be build for different architectures, etc. Also, the packages are not signed and so on, so that's not the proper way of creating a .deb file".

  From marenostrum

• You could try debomatic. It's already in Ubuntu's package archives:

  sudo apt-get install debomatic
  

  It provides a simple tool to automate build of source packages with limited user interaction and a simple configuration. It has some useful features such as automatic update of pbuilder, automatic scan and selection of source packages to build and modules support.

  It is meant to help developers to build their packages without worrying too much of compilation, since it will run in background and no user feedback is required during the whole process.

  The project is developed by a Ubuntu developer: https://launchpad.net/debomatic

  andrewsomething : There is nothing graphical about debomatic, nor does it help with creating the packaging... It's more of a build daemon/repository.
  From Lucian Adrian Grijincu

• Check out Ubucompilator in its updated version 1.0 beta. A short usage introduction video can be found here: http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/ubucompilator-easy-deb-creator-10-beta.html

  From webwurst

• GiftWrap is another option.

  From Murat Gunes

Best flash player on ubuntu?

When I encounter a flash video in ubuntu I get an option to install 3 different swf players:

• Adobe
• Swfdec
• Gnash

Which is the most stable and preferred player?

From ubuntu grm

• You forget Lightspark. But none of these alternative is really stable and they will usually work on few videos and crash on the others. If you watch lot of video I suggest you stick to Adobe Flash, if you don't watch a lot of videos and don't play online flash videos games Lightspark and Swfdec are good.

  grm : Actaully it didn't appear in the selection screen for 10.10, but thanks for your advice.
  From Nyamiou The Galeanthrope

• Adobe Flash.

  It might be slow but it's still the best of the lot still for feature compliance and stability.

  NightwishFan : I have made progress using Gnash day to day though it needs a workaround (disable cookies for youtube) to play youtube videos. I would say stick to the adobe plugin for now.
  From Oli

• It really depends on many factors. I have the best user experience with the Adobe version.

  However if you are using a 64bit version of Ubuntu, it might be tricky to set up Adobe flash. There's a shell script that helps you in that process. Download it and use these commands in terminal:

  wget http://queleimporta.com/downloads/flash10_en.sh
  sudo bash ./flash10_en.sh
  

  There are couple of updates and modifications to that script you can find it here.

  Nick HS : I **really** wouldn't recommend using that script. Whilst not purposely malicious as far as I can tell, I can see at least one error (`killall -9 firefox` should be `killall -9 firefox-bin`). Why not just use the adobe flash PPA (`ppa:sevenmachines/flash`) that has a native 64bit build?

  AndyB : Nothing against the PPA it's just not known by everyone. I learned now as well. Thanks for sharing. Maybe you might write a wiki that could be beneficial for everybody who just facing the problem.
  From AndyB

How i can reset the defaults settings in Unity?

I have been experimenting with window managers and now I misconfigured compiz, to me it would be useful a terminal command

From ubuntu Briam Falcó

• Just delete the configuration files/folders of unity in your home folder,. seems like .unity or .local/share/unity

  and probably the the unity gconf setting. Search in .gconf folder.

  From squallbayu

• I think this will help

  How to reset ubuntu/Gnome settings to default without loosing any data or reinstalling

  From Open Help

How to do a clean reinstall of initramfs

I was getting the error mentioned in this post on ubuntu 10.04. I upgraded to ubunu 10.10 through software update and again I'm getting this error.

mount: mounts none on /dev/pts failed: Device

Here is the boot log:

IP-Config: no response after 4 secs - giving up
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: line 32: ipconfig: not found
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: line 32: ipconfig: not found
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: line 32: ipconfig: not found
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: line 32: ipconfig: not found
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: line 32: ipconfig: not found
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: line 32: ipconfig: not found
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: line 32: ipconfig: not found
/scripts/init-premount/dropbear: .: line 32: can't open '/tmp/net-*.conf'
fsck from util-linux-ng 2.17.2

I had purged dropbear, and it looks like some scripts are still remaining. Is it possible to do a clean re-install of initramfs?

EDIT 1: sudo update-initramfs -u doesn't solve the issue. Also sudo update-initramfs -c -k all also doesn't solve the issue.

From ubuntu nixnotwin

• sudo update-initramfs -u
  

  Simple as. Shouldn't be able to hurt anything.

  On another note, you should ask whoever packages dropbear to add that to their postrm script.

  From Oli

• I was able to solve the dropbear issue.

  I did the following:

  1. I removed all dropbear related files by using the command: sudo find / -name dropbear* -exec rm -ri {} \;
  2. Then I did sudo update-initramfs -c -k all
  3. Now only this error remains mount: mounts none on /dev/pts failed: Device It looks like there is an obsolete mount entry created by dropbear in the config files which get executed in pre-init stages. If some one could figure out that config file, I would be able to solve the whole issue.
  hhlp : do you check your /etc/fstab ?

  nixnotwin : Yes I did. There is no entry for /dev/pts in fstab.
  From nixnotwin

External monitor with NO mouse cursor

I am using a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo L7310 laptop computer with an external monitor. I'm wishihg to use version 10.04.

The problem is, when I plug my laptop into the external monitor with my laptop screen turned either on or off, I do not see the mouse cursor on the external monitor! The mouse cursor is still there, although invisible. If I connect the external monitor to my laptop before swithing both on, the same happens.

Is there any solution to make the cursor appear on the monitor?

From ubuntu Csaba Nyerges

• @Others: The graphics chipset in this is the UniChrome Pro IGP.

  @Csaba: As a workaround, can you press Control+Alt+F1 (this should switch you to a terminal) and then press Control+Alt+F7 to switch back to the X session. I've seen a couple of reports that say this gets the mouse back.

  I've also seen that Control+Alt+Left then Control+Alt+Right (should switch virtual desktops if you have more than one) fixes it for some people.

  Csaba Nyerges : Thanks for the hint! Unfortunatley the keyboard combination does not work, I am still facing the problem. No mouse cursor on the external monitor while it appears on the laptop's. Is there any other solution to try?
  From Oli

Letting modifier keys act as toggles under X

Is there any way to let the Shift, Ctrl and Alt keys behave as toggles under X? I know how one could do it under CLI (for example, by doing this) but found no reference for doing so under X.

Please note that this is not a question on sticky keys, which can be enabled by an accessibility option.

From ubuntu Gödel

• Keys in X11 are remapped with xmodmap, but there is no Control_Lock in /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h

  If you have a few keys you could map Control to something like ISO_Next_Group_Lock and define your keys in this group with "Control + Key".

  I found some info here: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=75771

  From sroecker

• This is implemented on the DE level AFAIK. KDE has the option to Lock Sticky Keys:

  With Lock Sticky Keys enabled:

  If you press the Shift key twice then press the F key, the computer interprets this as Shift+F. Now if you type a P, the computer interprets this as the letter P (Shift+P). To de-select the Shift key, press it again.

  http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdebase-workspace/kcontrol/kcmaccess/index.html

  Gödel : That's a good answer for KDE users, though it isn't for GNOME users like myself.
  From scottl

What is the Deal with the Copyrights Issue of Ubuntu and Canonical

I just came across this post via Hacker News and wonder what is all the fuss about? Ubuntu will always be free, right? That is a promise no one is intending to break. More than that, The Ubuntu itself, will remain licensed under same licenses it is today, right?

I would appreciate if one can tell how this shall affect our use of the great Ubuntu whatsoever.

From ubuntu Tzury Bar Yochay

• Most of the Ubuntu community are strong believers that Canonical will stick to keeping Ubuntu free (as in freedom, and also in price) - as they promised - and under the same licenses it is today.

  There are people however who have real issues with Canonical's copyright assignment policy, and I suggest you read the article you linked to find out more about their concerns.

  From fluteflute

• I think there are two things here. First : Ubuntu is and will remain free. At least, that's what they claim. This should answer some of your concerns.

  Then there is Canonical. This company is a for-profit company, supposed to make money by contributing/supporting Ubuntu. Since Ubuntu is free, they obviously need to find other means of making money. And this is where the problem lies : in order to make money, they plan to add new services/features that will not be part of Ubuntu, but sold alongside it. Ubuntu One is an example.

  What is debated here is their way to achive that : by forcing evey contributor to give up their freedom in licencing model, and let canonical "own" everything contributed. This giving up of freedom is an ethical problem. It goes against the "mind" of the free software licences. And could break the free spirit of Ubuntu itself.

  I think the main issue is a question that we can't answer now: how much of Ubuntu will stay "free" as it is claimed, and how much will be optional services sold by canonical ? If more and more "super-features" are being added as paying options, you could argue that Ubuntu is less free than it should... Especially if those features are proprietary software (lacking even the "free-as-in-speach" side of the "free" meaning).

  Right now, I think Canonical is still doing its job, and I still appreciate it. Ubuntu is a really solid and user-oriented distribution, and I won't change because of this article. But that's a personal statement, and since I'm not a defenser of the free software, it cannot be seen as "the" answer to the question.

  Moreover, I really don't have a crystal ball to look at the future :-) In some years from now, maybe I will change my mind and start using something else because Canonical has been pushing too far their commitment for profitability... I really hope that's not going to be the case.

  From Little Jawa

• Michael Meeks has written a very good article on his blog about the pros and cons and different forms of copyright assignment.

  From JanC

configure: error: *** Unable to locate Tk includes

I am trying to install the latest stable release of GRASS GIS from SVN. In the stage of running configure command I get the following error at the last stage.

checking for location of Tcl/Tk includes... /usr/include/tcl8.5
checking for tcl.h... yes
checking for tk.h... no
configure: error: *** Unable to locate Tk includes.

The command I run for configuration is -

./configure --with-tcltk-includes=/usr/include/tcl8.5 --with-proj-share=/usr/share/proj

Can anyone suggest me what I am missing?

From ubuntu Chethan S.

• It would appear to be tk8.5-dev you can install it by doing sudo apt-get install tk8.5-dev

  To find out missing files in the future you can use apt-file (sudo apt-get install apt-file). After installing do apt-file update and then you can search for your missing file. For example in this case I did apt-file search tk.h and it brought up tk8.5-dev.

  Another neat trick is if the package already exists in the repositories (it does as grass) you can do sudo apt-get build-dep PACKAGE (in this case sudo apt-get build-dep grass) which will install all the dependancies for GRASS allowing you to compile it with ease.

  Chethan S. : Thanks a lot! You have saved me hours of time. I could use apt-file search option to solve next few similar errors which came up.
  From Nick HS

What IRC clients are available?

I believe the question says it all.

Please and thank you.

From ubuntu garbagecollector

• XChat

  XChat is a graphical IRC Client with a GTK+ GUI. It has a look and feel similar to AmIRC for the Amiga. Special features include the mIRC extension DCC RESUME and mIRC color, multiple server/channel windows, dialog windows, and a plugin API.

  It does pretty much everything you could want an IRC client to do.

  

  From dv3500ea

• IRSSI is the way to go: http://www.irssi.org/

  It was even in the TV show 'Numbers'; check out the video on the Irssi homepage. (P.S. That was supposed to be funny)

  From Robert Massaioli

• Empathy!

  Installed by default in Ubuntu. It really serves as a very easy to use IRC client. Don't expect very advanced features though ;)

  DrKenobi : I think Empathy is OK. You can't expect many features on IRC.
  From KingWilliam

• Quassel is another IRC client for Ubuntu. It uses QT.

  csgeek : if you don't want to use irssi Quassel is great. I can run headless, and do a server/client setup where you just "connect" to your irc session that was running in your remote machine, or headless
  From gamerchick02

• I always liked pidgins irc but pidgin is another empathy. If you want a totally separate client for irc, I would recommend XChat. Both are available in the Ubuntu Software Center.

  From Brian John

• XChat-Gnome

  XChat-Gnome is very similar to XChat however it aims to have a more friendlier user interface and integrate better with your desktop. I find for starting out on IRC its much easier to get the hang off

  sudo apt-get install xchat-gnome xchat-gnome-indicator

  Screenshot:

  

  From Nick HS

• I use Opera browser's built-in chat client. During Ubuntu Openweeks I just have to click the link to the classroom that is present on the openweek wiki page and the chat window opens in another tab.

  From jumbli

• Smuxi is a nice GNOME IRC client, which features indicator support like xchat-gnome, and can be run in a client/server arrangement where the server is always connected to IRC, much like irssi+screen.

  From RAOF

• If you're looking for something dead simple, I'm becoming a fan of LostIRC.

  From EvilRobotSquid

• I use Firefox browser or Empathy

  fluteflute : Firefox is usually seen as a web browser rather than an IRC client...?
  From atareao

How can I enable ATI open source drivers?

I have a ATI Radeon 3600 and I am kind of new to Ubuntu and Linux. I have read that proprietary ATI drivers aren't good enough and that open source drivers do work very well.

From ubuntu pedroo

• This document explains how to install and use the open-source radeonhd drivers on Ubuntu. This shouldn't be necessary... unless you're having problems with the open-source "ati/radeon" driver that comes pre-installed with Ubuntu.pre-installed with Ubuntu.

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonHD

  EDIT: As JanC pointed out, you shouldn't install the RadeonHD driver if the pre-installed driver works.

  pedroo : Thanks. Less complicated than I thought...

  DoR : @pedroo If this answers your question than click on the checkmark.

  JanC : You shouldn't use the radeonhd drivers except if the default radeon open source driver doesn't work!

  DoR : @JanC, the quote I posted basically says as much.

  JanC : The question didn't mention any problems with running the default driver, and switching to radeonhd (if it works) might cause issues with upgrades in the future. No need to confuse new users with temporary workarounds for exceptional edge cases!

  DoR : @JanC I doubt the asker knew that the open source drivers were used by default.

  JanC : That's why I posted my answer explaining that... ;-)

  DoR : @JanC Ok gotcha, edited my answer.

  pedroo : Thank you very much!
  From DoR

• I assume you mean "Radeon HD 3600" and not "Radeon 3600".

  If you are using a recent Ubuntu version, the proprietary AMD/ATI drivers for that card don't support your card anymore.

  Fortunately, the open source radeon driver is starting to get pretty good now (especially since 10.10, but already good on 10.04 too). And the radeon driver is used by default, so you don't have to enable anything...

  pedroo : Thank you very much!
  From JanC

• I'm in the same boat. I have a laptop with an ATI Radeon HD 3650 video card and I always had to jump through hoops to get things working.

  If you are using Maverick however, then things should just work right out of the box for you (i.e. you would by default use the open source driver). If you want to download the proprietary driver then you can go to System -> Administration -> Additional Drivers and download the ATI/AMD proprietrary FGLRX graphics driver.

  I did not notice any performance change before/after installing proprietary driver in Maverick so I don't think it's needed. If you using Lucid and below however, I noticed that without the fglrx driver my laptop tended to overheat and automatically shut down, so if you encountered such scenarios and you cannot upgrade to Maverick, try to use AMD's driver.

  pedroo : Thank you very much!
  From Johan Harjono

• The radeonhd guide gives great instructions on removing the fglrx drivers, but it is not the right method for lucid/maverick unless you want to install the infrequently updated radeonhd drivers which are different than the radeon drivers.

  I would take a look at this page to get a rundown on what the radeon drivers can do : http://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature. It references the drivers as "xf86-video-ati", but they are labled under the "xserver-xorg-video-ati" in the ubuntu repository. You need to make sure that you completely remove the the flgrx files as they can screw up the xf86 install. You will find a lot of good info on the drivers at the x.org website and tips on clean installation.

  One thing to note - I am running Kubuntu and ran into problems when I used the non-repository PPAs on the xorg driver. I would try out the ones Ubuntu provides before using the xorg PPAs.

  pedroo : Thank you very much!
  From