Tag Archives: gutsy

Zotero : a browser based reference manager

I’ve always struggled to manage all my bibliography and citations, either for work (I’m a Biologist) or for Linux resources. Proprietary softwares are expensive, open source applications have limitations. As a result, I was not using anything particular, from real papers in boxes to browser bookmarks and text files full of references. Quite a pain, totally useless. This morning, a colleague pointed Zotero at me. And now I’m happy :)

Zotero is a firefox extension (also available for Netscape and Flock) working on Linux, Mac and Windows. The citations can be used offline. When browsing a page where Zotero can get the citation data, a little icon appears in the url field:

screenshot.png

Most important, Zotero can export a bibliography to OpenOffice.org. On gutsy, no problem installing and testing the OpenOffice extension.
You can choose a standard formating style for the citations, and a custom style is in development. Sooooo nice for a scientist (for other people as well, but I cannot tell from experience)!

You have to have firefox open so that Zotero runs to create the bibliography in OpenOffice. So far, this is the only small limitation I see. As I said, I’m happy :)

flashplugin-nonfree on Gutsy: a working package in -proposed repositories

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere, on other blogs or tutorial pages, I have not done my homework, and will not do it for now. Real life sometimes requires more attention than other things.

flashplugin-nonfree has not been working on Gutsy for a while. I noticed when I installed Gutsy on my eldest son’s Christmas computer on December 25. Quite a bummer for a teenager, but he accepted to wait for an official fix rather than using some workaround. He’s been patient, but yesterday, well, that was it, I had to do something.

I had been following the bug report now and then, and a UF thread. A working flashplugin-nonfree version has been uploaded to the -proposed repositories. Here is the procedure that worked on his 32-bits install:

  • Completely purge the previously installed package. On my son’s computer, I used synaptic, as he does his updates/upgrades with update-manager and synaptic. Please use apt-get or aptitude if these are your favorite package managers
  • Edit /etc/apt/sources.list file to add this line:

    # Proposed
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-proposed main restricted universe multiverse
  • Reload the sources.list (with synaptic, or sudo apt-get update or sudo aptitude update) and install flashplugin-nonfree
  • Restart your browser (tested with firefox and epiphany on YouTube)

aptitude show flashplugin-nonfree
Paquet : flashplugin-nonfree
État: installé
Automatiquement installé: oui
Version : 9.0.48.0.2+really0ubuntu12.1
Priorité : optionnel
Section : contrib/web
Responsable : Ubuntu MOTU Developers
Taille décompressée : 160k
Dépend: debconf | debconf-2.0, wget, libgtk2.0-0, fontconfig, libxt6, libxext6,
libatk1.0-0, libc6, libcairo2, libexpat1, libfontconfig1, libfreetype6,
libglib2.0-0, libice6, libpango1.0-0, libpng12-0, libsm6, libx11-6,
libxau6, libxcursor1, libxdmcp6, libxfixes3, libxi6, libxinerama1,
libxrandr2, libxrender1, zlib1g
Suggère: firefox, konqueror-nsplugins, x-ttcidfont-conf, msttcorefonts,
ttf-bitstream-vera | ttf-dejavu, ttf-xfree86-nonfree, xfs (>=
1:1.0.1-5)
Est en conflit: flashplugin (< 6), xfs (< 1:1.0.1-5), flashplayer-mozilla Remplace: flashplugin (< 6) Description : Adobe Flash Player plugin installer This package will download the Flash Player from Adobe. It is a Netscape/Mozilla type plugin. Any browser based on Netscape or Mozilla can use the Flash plugin. This package currently supports the following browsers: Mozilla, Mozilla-Firefox, Firefox, Iceweasel, and Iceape. Also Galeon and Epiphany can use the Flash plugin. Konqueror can also use the Flash plugin if konqueror-nsplugins is installed. WARNING: Installing this Ubuntu package causes the Adobe flash plugin to be downloaded from http://www.adobe.com. The distribution license of the Adobe flash plugin is available at http://www.adobe.com. Installing this Ubuntu package implies that you have accepted the terms of that license. Homepage: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/FlashPlayer9%5B/sourcecode%5D

Warning

The -proposed repositories are for TESTS, so please comment them after you are done installing flash.

From the bug report, looks like the package has been built for Feisty, but not for earlier Ubuntu releases (due to issues with flash 7).

Hope this helps :)

Using restricted formats with Gutsy.

Even when you have decided you would go with free formats and applications, you can end up owning a device that only plays restricted multimedia formats (and do not wish to spend more money until its time to get a another one reading free and open-source formats), want to watch a DVD you’ve rented or bought, some videos on the intatubes, use some Microsoft fonts to share work documents with colleagues etc. The world is not perfect :)

For legal reasons, Ubuntu is not shipped with the packages that will allow you to use the restricted formats. In most parts of the world, you are however entitled to play and watch CDs or DVDs you own (you have paid for using the license, right?) on your Ubuntu system. It is illegal to use the packages to crack the protections and redistribute the files.

ubuntu-restricted-extras

This package and the kubuntu or xubuntu flavors (kubuntu-restricted-extras, xubuntu-restricted-extras) is located in the multiverse repositories. It will install the following:

 gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse,
            msttcorefonts, flashplugin-nonfree, sun-java6-plugin, unrar,
            gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad, gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse,
            gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg, liblame0, libdvdread3

 Installing this package will pull in support for MP3 playback and decoding,
 support for various other audio formats (gstreamer plugins), Microsoft fonts,
 Java runtime environment, Flash plugin, LAME (to create compressed audio
 files), and DVD playback. 
 
 Please note that packages from multiverse are restricted by copyright or legal
 issues in some countries. See http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/licensing for more
 information.

Enable the multiverse repositories. Here is a GUI tutorial, below is a complete /etc/apt/sources.list file for Gutsy:

# Base.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted universe multiverse

## Bug fix updates.
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted universe multiverse

# Security.
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu gutsy-security main restricted universe multiverse

Reload the /etc/apt/sources.list file and install the package with your favorite package manager. The procedure I give here is with aptitude, please use apt-get or Synaptic if you prefer. 

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install ubuntu-restricted-extras

You’ll be pretty much set up with these.
You’ll have to accept some licenses along the install process. Use the Tab key to get to the OK button ;)

Other codecs

These are not within the Ubuntu repositories. You have to go for third party repos. Be aware that you should disable all third party repos to perform a version upgrade.

libdvdcss2 and the xxxcodecs (w32codecs, w64codecs and ppccodecs) are provided by the medibuntu project. Please look here for a tutorial.

Unfortunately, seveas repos do not have Gutsy packages yet.. Looking forward to it :)

Midori, a lightweight web browser with the webkit rendering

Please see the updates below to get the latest Midori and Webkit for Ubuntu.
Also, you can go here for support, Stemp seems busy ;)

This is a translation of the midori article written in French by my friend Stemp. midori is a web browser using the webkit engine. If this is of some interest to you, there is also an epiphany-webkit package in Bruce Cowan’s PPA.

As far as I know, Stemp has packaged midori for Ubuntu, but some libs need to be upgraded from the debian repos.

Translation:

The biggest problems with compiling on Ubuntu are the older webkitgdk libraries.
Debian Unstable has the latest libwebkitgtk :

The libwebkitgdk-dev package from Ubuntu will need to be uninstalled.

The midori sources are here: midori-0.0.10 (currently an early alpha).

To compile:

./configure
make
sudo checkinstall

Install the package and go!
Please check the screenshots on Stemp’s blog page (first link).

Edit1: midori-0.0.11 is now available.
Edit2: There is now a midori package for gutsy in Stemp’s PPA. The procedure to install with your favorite package manager is here.
Edit3: Midori 0.0.12 is now available on Stemp’s PPA.
Edit4 – 071208: Midori 0.0.13 et Webkit svn 283+ now available on Stemp’s PPA. Please note that webkit svn28482 will prevent current version of epiphany-webkit from running.
Edit5 – 080512: midori-0018-and-webkit-33023 now in Stemp’ PPA.
Edit6 – Midori 0.1.1 and WebKit 38850 from the webkit-team PPA with install instructions for Ubuntu.
Edit7 – Midori 0.1.5 and WebKitGtk+ 1.1.3 for Ubuntu Hardy, Intrepid & Jaunty.

Common bugs in gutsy with workarounds

With Frodon, we’ve been working on collecting, and linking all in one handy place, a series of common gutsy bugs with Launchpad entries and fixes. Please check the UF thread I’ll be also updating here. Hope you’ll find this info helpful :)

We’ve been searching the forums for these, please feel free to point us at other threads with bug reports and fixes, thanks.

Share your gutsy install/upgrade experience.

Ubuntuforums are the official support forums for Ubuntu. Many users seek support or help with their Ubuntu system, but not only. The chat areas are also very active. However, when it comes down to the OS, most of the threads are to solve issues, fix things, get encouragements, basically get community help.

As the community grows the forums can fulfill another need: have users come over to get feedback, and if possible, positive feedback.
Frodon has started a thread where you can also share your positive experiences regarding the recent install/upgrade to gutsy, the latest Ubuntu release.

As zasf points it out:

“I’m going to upgrade right now. I wanted to have a look at the forums in order to know some other’s experience before doing it.”

So please, contribute to the thread, answer to the poll, so that your own experience can allow to draw a broader picture of the overall transition to gutsy.

WordPress.com tags for Ubuntu and gutsy

You can follow all the posts from wordpress.com tagged with “Ubuntu” or “gutsy” with a rss feed reader:

Ubuntu tag: http://wordpress.com/tag/ubuntu/feed/
Gutsy tag: http://wordpress.com/tag/gutsy/feed/

I do not understand a lot of them, as I only read French and English, but I really like this buzzing community feeling, and I discovered several interesting blogs.
If you were not quite sure that Ubuntu is really popular, here is a proof: I reported several spam blogs tagged with “Ubuntu” (you know, the usual medical or real estate stuff) :D

The Frigde: 10 Gutsy Gibbon features in 10 days.

Part of the fever spreading out for Gutsy release in 8 days now, The Fridge has started another countdown.
For the next few days until October 18th, new features will be highlighted. I knew of tracker, the first to get attention, but had never actually tested it. The very well written Fridge article was the one deciding me for a test, and now I am using it with deskbar. Bullet Proof X is the one for today, nice addition too. So I’ be collecting the links to post them here, all in one place, just for me. May be you’ll find this collection handy too ;)

Official archive mirrors of Ubuntu

I have always wondered if a place describing the status of the different official mirrors for Ubuntu repositories existed.
Well, it does :)
Aaron Whitehouse has mentioned it on the ubuntu-devel mailing list, quite an interesting page. You can find it here:
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archivemirrors

I never realized that some mirrors could be one week behind.. That is currently the case for some gutsy mirrors in France.

Update (071010):
ubuntu-devel thread (please read down the thread)