Ubuntu installation

Ubuntu

[[1]] is a popular Linux distribution, best suited for desktop computers. It is based on Debian, therefore the packaging (*.deb) works rather well.

This page so far is by no means an installation guide, but it contains some extra information. Daniel K. Schneider decided to some of his installation notes in this wiki, so he won't loose them ;)

Displays

Most Linux distribution's installer (at least the free ones) can't handle some slightly more fancy hardware automatically

Usually you have to do two things

1. Find and install a driver for your graphics card
2. Hand edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

Example Nvidia FX + 2 digital monitors

I have a Quadro FX 3450 card, a 24 and a 20 monitors. This is an executive summary. Find better explanation on Google :)

(1) You need to download the Nvidia driver.

• Either from Nvidia. E.g. file NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run
• Or via apt (a package manager):

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx

(2) Save the xorg.conf file

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.save1

(3) Install the driver

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-9755-pkg1.run

(4) Run the X server configurator (but make sure you have a copy of your old xorg.conf file !!)

nvidia-xconfig

(5) The result won't do it, but it's a start. You have to hand-edit and merge information from the old xorg.conf.save1 file !!!

E.g. I have this (I am minimalist and hate configuration work, so I stop when it works). I.e. if you want a single display for both monitors (you can drag stuff from monitor to the other) you only need to define one screen. Below may some not used or even slightly harmful stuff ...

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier     "Default Layout"
   Screen         "Screen0" 0 0
   InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
   InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
   InputDevice    "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
   InputDevice    "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
   InputDevice    "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# path to defoma fonts
   FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
   FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
   FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
   FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
   FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
   FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
   FontPath        "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
   FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
   FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
   Load           "i2c"
   Load           "bitmap"
   Load           "ddc"
   Load           "extmod"
   Load           "freetype"
   Load           "glx"
   Load           "int10"
   Load           "type1"
   Load           "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier     "Generic Keyboard"
   Driver         "kbd"
   Option         "CoreKeyboard"
   Option         "XkbRules" "xorg"
   Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
   Option         "XkbLayout" "ch"
   Option         "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
   Option         "XkbVariant" "fr"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier     "Configured Mouse"
   Driver         "mouse"
   Option         "CorePointer"
   Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
   Option         "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
   Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
   Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

                                                     # /dev/input/event
                                                     # for USB
   Identifier     "stylus"
   Driver         "wacom"
   Option         "Device" "/dev/wacom"          # Change to 
   Option         "Type" "stylus"
   Option         "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

                                                     # /dev/input/event
                                                     # for USB
   Identifier     "eraser"
   Driver         "wacom"
   Option         "Device" "/dev/wacom"          # Change to 
   Option         "Type" "eraser"
   Option         "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
                                                     # /dev/input/event
                                                     # for USB
   Identifier     "cursor"
   Driver         "wacom"
   Option         "Device" "/dev/wacom"          # Change to 
   Option         "Type" "cursor"
   Option         "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier     "Monitor0"
   HorizSync       28.0 - 51.0
   VertRefresh     43.0 - 60.0
   Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier     "NVIDIA Corporation NV41 [Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI]"
   Driver         "nvidia"
   Option "DPMS"
   #DKS (5 lignes)
   Option "TwinView" "Yes"
   Option "TwinViewOrientation" "LeftOf"
   Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "56-76"
   Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "31-80"
   # Option "MetaModes" "1920x1200 +0+0, 1600x1200 -1920+0"
   Option "MetaModes" "1920x1200,1600x1200; 1920x1200,NULL"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier     "Screen0"
   Device         "NVIDIA Corporation NV41 [Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI]"
   Monitor        "Monitor0"
   DefaultDepth    24

   SubSection     "Display"

Viewport 0 0 Depth 24

       Modes       "1920x1200" "1600x1200"
   EndSubSection

  # not really needed, but some games may want this
  SubSection     "Display"

Viewport 0 0 Depth 16

       Modes       "1920x1200" "1600x1200"
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier     "Screen1"
   Device         "NVIDIA Corporation NV41 [Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI]"
   Monitor        "Monitor1"
   DefaultDepth    24
   SubSection     "Display"
       Depth       24
       Modes      "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Printers

Printers don't necessarily work automatically either:

A good bet is to use this application:

• http://localhost:631/admin

Before you do so, it is like that you need a a PPD file (a file that defines properties of your postscript printer). Get it from:

• http://openprinting.org/printer_list.cgi

Example Infotec

Example for Infotec ISC 1032 (A low end color copy and printer machine)

• Look at the entry:
  • http://openprinting.org/show_printer.cgi?recnum=Infotec-ISC1032
• Get the PPD file (and copy it anywhere) ** http://openprinting.org/foomatic-db/db/source/PPD/Infotec/PS/Infotec-ISC1032_PS.ppd
• Then, start http://localhost:631/admin in your browser and when asked upload the PPD file
• Finally configure the printer (e.g. define paper size, trays and stuff).
• If CUPs printing doesn't work, use "HP JeDirect" and port 9100.

Opinions

Add yours ...

• Daniel K. Schneider uses Ubuntu since March 2007, because he got fed up with Mandriva updates not working correctly. I hate all OS's (Unix, Mac, Win) but prefer to work on Unix because it's fairly stable and appropriate for what I do. I also do have Windows machines (a Dell XP II and Acer tablet PC) for doing stuff that needs Win. (E.g. wordprocessing with Framemaker, X3D, Games).

• After 3 days, I found package installation indeed more robust. Though I failed with a non supported package, i.e. Cinelerra that I got from another site. It installed but crashed on start.

Links

(there are many others)

Official

• http://www.ubuntu.com/ (home page)
• https://help.ubuntu.com/ (help pages)
• http://ubuntuforums.org/

Other

• http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~djm/ubuntu/
• http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edgy