Ubuntu Hacks By Bill Childers, Jonathan Oxer, Kyle Rankin Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: June 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-52720-9 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-652720-4 Pages: 447 Table of Contents | Index The Ubuntu distribution simplifies Linux by providing a sensible collection of applications, an easy-to-use package manager, and lots of fine-tuning, which make it possibly the best Linux for desktops and laptops Readers of both Linux Journal and TUX Magazine confirmed this by voting Ubuntu as the best Linux distribution in each publication's 2005 Readers Choice Awards None of that simplification, however, makes Ubuntu any less fun if you're a hacker or a power user Like all books in the "Hacks" series, Ubuntu Hacks includes 100 quick tips and tricks for all users of all technical levels Beginners will appreciate the installation advice and tips on getting the most out of the free applications packaged with Ubuntu, while intermediate and advanced readers will learn the ins-and-outs of power management, wireless roaming, 3D video acceleration, server configuration, and much more Ubuntu Hacks By Bill Childers, Jonathan Oxer, Kyle Rankin Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: June 2006 Print ISBN-10: 0-596-52720-9 Print ISBN-13: 978-0-59-652720-4 Pages: 447 Table of Contents | Index Copyright credits Credits Preface Chapter 1 Getting Started Hack 1 Test-Drive Ubuntu Hack 2 Get Help Hack 3 Make Live CD Data Persistent Hack 4 Customize the Ubuntu Live CD Hack 5 Install Ubuntu Hack 6 Dual-Boot Ubuntu and Windows Hack 7 Move Your Windows Data to Ubuntu Hack 8 Install Ubuntu on a Mac Hack 9 Set Up Your Printer Hack 10 Install Ubuntu on an External Drive Hack 11 Install from a Network Boot Server Hack 12 Submit a Bug Report Hack 13 Use the Command Line Hack 14 Get Productive with Applications Chapter 2 The Linux Desktop Hack 15 Get Under the Hood of the GNOME Desktop Hack 16 Tweak the KDE Desktop Hack 17 Switch to a Lighter Window Manager Hack 18 Install Java Hack 19 Search Your Computer Hack 20 Access Remote Filesystems Hack 21 Tweak Your Desktop Like a Pro Hack 22 Sync Your Palm PDA Hack 23 Sync Your Pocket PC Hack 24 Customize the Right-Click Contextual Menu Hack 25 Download and Share Files with the Best P2P Software Hack 26 Make Your Own PDFs Hack 27 Blog with Ubuntu Chapter 3 Multimedia Hack 28 Install Multimedia Plug-ins Hack 29 Watch Videos Hack 30 Play DVDs Hack 31 Buy Songs at the iTunes Music Store Hack 32 Get a Grip on CD Ripping Hack 33 Burn CDs and DVDs Hack 34 Automate Audio CD Burning Hack 35 Rip and Encode DVDs Hack 36 Create a Video DVD Hack 37 Connect to a Digital Camera Chapter 4 Mobile Ubuntu Hack 38 Put Your Laptop to Sleep Hack 39 Hibernate Your Laptop Hack 40 Prolong Your Battery Life Hack 41 Get Proprietary Wireless Cards Working Hack 42 Roam Wirelessly Hack 43 Make Laptop Settings Roam with Your Network Hack 44 Make Bluetooth Connections Hack 45 Expand Your Laptop Hack 46 Hotswap Your Laptop's Optical Drive Chapter 5 X11 Hack 47 Configure Multibutton Mice Hack 48 Enable Your Multimedia Keyboard Hack 49 Configure a Touchpad Hack 50 Connect Multiple Displays Hack 51 Change the Ubuntu Splash Screen Hack 52 Enable 3-D Video Acceleration Hack 53 Make Your Fonts Pretty Chapter 6 Package Management Hack 54 Manage Packages from the Command Line Hack 55 Manage Packages with Synaptic Hack 56 Manage Packages with Adept Hack 57 Install and Remove Standalone deb Files Hack 58 Search for Packages from the Command Line Hack 59 Install Software from Source Hack 60 Modify the List of Package Repositories Hack 61 Cache Packages Locally with Apt-cacher Hack 62 Create an Ubuntu Package Hack 63 Compile a Source Package Hack 64 Convert Non-Ubuntu Packages Hack 65 Create Your Own Package Repository Hack 66 Convert Debian to Ubuntu Chapter 7 Security Hack 67 Limit Permissions with sudo Hack 68 Manage Security Updates Hack 69 Protect Your Network with a Firewall Hack 70 Use an Encrypted Filesystem to Protect Your Data Hack 71 Encrypt Your Email and Important Files Hack 72 Surf the Web Anonymously Hack 73 Keep Windows Malware off Your System Chapter 8 Administration Hack 74 Edit Configuration Files Hack 75 Manage Users and Groups Hack 76 Mount Any Filesystem Hack 77 Control Startup Services Hack 78 Build Kernels the Ubuntu Way Hack 79 Back Up Your System Hack 80 Clone an Installation Hack 81 Rescue an Unbootable System Hack 82 Check the Captain's Log Hack 83 Mount Removable Devices with Persistent Names Hack 84 Mount Remote Directories Securely and Easily Hack 85 Make Videos of Your Tech-Support Questions Hack 86 Synchronize Files Across Machines Chapter 9 Virtualization and Emulation Hack 87 Run Windows Applications Hack 88 Play Windows Games Hack 89 Run Ubuntu Inside Windows Hack 90 Use Xen to Host Virtual Machines Hack 91 Create an Ubuntu/Xen Virtual Machine Hack 92 Split Your Machine's Personality Chapter 10 Small Office/Home Office Server Hack 93 Install and Configure an Ubuntu Server Hack 94 Build a File Server Hack 95 Administer Your Server Remotely Hack 96 Build a Web Server Hack 97 Build an Email Server Hack 98 Build a Caching Proxy Server Hack 99 Build a DHCP Server Hack 100 Build a Domain Name Server Colophon Index Copyright © 2006 O'Reilly Media, Inc All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use Online editions are also available for most titles (http://safari.oreilly.com) For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com Nutshell Handbook, the Nutshell Handbook logo, and the O'Reilly logo are registered trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc The Hacks series designations, Ubuntu Hacks, the image of a tuning fork, and related trade dress are trademarks of O'Reilly Media, Inc Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks Where those designations appear in this book, and O'Reilly Media, Inc was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein Small print: The technologies discussed in this publication, the limitations on these technologies that technology and content owners seek to impose, and the laws actually limiting the use of these technologies are constantly changing Thus, some of the hacks described in this publication may not work, may cause unintended harm to systems on which they are used, or may not be consistent with applicable user agreements Your use of these hacks is at your own risk, and O'Reilly Media, Inc disclaims responsibility for any damage or expense resulting from their use In any event, you should take care that your use of these hacks does not violate any applicable laws, including copyright laws Credits About the Authors Jonathan Oxer (http://jon.oxer.com.au/) is president of Linux Australia, the national organization for Linux users and developers He is the author of "How To Build A Website And Stay Sane" (http://www.stay-sane.com), writes regularly for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers, and his articles have been translated into French, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Norwegian, and Spanish and have appeared in dozens of publications In 1994, he founded one of the first businesses in the world to specialize in dynamic web sites and online content management, and in 1995 he became one of the first people to ever do real-time event coverage via the Internet when a live feed was run from the floor of the Bicycle Industry Trade Show in Sydney, Australia His company, Internet Vision Technologies (http://www.ivt.com.au), has since developed web sites, intranets, extranets, and custom web applications for clients ranging from backyard businesses to multinational corporations Jonathan has been a Debian developer since 2002 and has convened the Debian Miniconf in a different city every year since 2003 He has presented dozens of tutorials, papers, and keynotes on various technology and business topics at both corporate and government seminars; at conferences, including LinuxTag, linux.conf.au, Open Source Developers Conference, and Debian Miniconf; and at user groups, including Melbourne PHP User Group and Linux Users Victoria He sits on the Advisory Group of Swinburne University's Centre for Collaborative Business Innovation, which is responsible for researching and formulating IT-related, post-graduate curriculum strategies, and on the Australian Federal government's e-Research Coordinating Committee Reference Group He lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife, daughter, and son Kyle Rankin is a system administrator for QuinStreet, Inc., the current president of the North Bay Linux Users Group, and the author of Knoppix Hacks, Knoppix Pocket Reference, and Linux Multimedia Hacks (all from O'Reilly) Kyle has been using Linux in one form or another since early 1998 In his free time, he either writes or does pretty much the same thing he does at work: works with Linux Bill Childers is Director of Enterprise Systems for Quinstreet, Inc He's been working with Linux and Unix since before it was cool, and previously worked for Sun Microsystems and Set Engineering In his spare time, he works with the Gilroy Garlic Festival Association as one of its chairmen, and enjoys playing with his children Contributors Scott Granneman specializes in helping schools, nonprofits, and businesses harness emerging technologies Through presentations, consulting, and publications, Scott explicates the power of the Internet, the World Wide Web, and related technologies He has helped educate thousands of people of all agesfrom preteens to senior citizenson a wide variety of topics A mix of educational experience and practical knowhow enables Scott to deliver the kind of hands-on solutions his clients expect And, as the Internet continues its phenomenal growth, he helps his clients take full advantage of each new evolution of this emerging technology Detailed information is available at www.granneman.com Brian Jepson is an O'Reilly editor, programmer, and coauthor of Mac OS X Tiger for Unix Geeks and Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther He's also a volunteer system administrator and all-around geek for AS220, a nonprofit arts center in Providence, Rhode Island AS220 gives Rhode Island artists uncensored and unjuried forums for their work These forums include galleries, performance space, and publications Brian sees to it that technology, especially free software, supports that mission Thomas Pletcher operates a communications agency in upstate New York using Ubuntu and other free and open source software He is also a writer/partner at CommunityMX.com He and his wife Barbara operate a site (http://www.pfne.org/rescue) devoted to rescuing Great Pyrenees dogs, a wonderful breed he hopes to see on the cover of an O'Reilly book before long Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the people who made this book possible Jonathan The biggest thanks definitely have to go to my wife Ann and our children Amelia and Thomas, who for several months barely saw me from one week to the next Writing Ubuntu Hacks has been one of those periods when everything else, including sleep, became secondary to just getting the job done, and my family was amazingly supportive and understanding through everything BIOS settings caching proxy servers dhcp argument DHCP servers DNS servers email servers file servers minimal installation remote administration passwordless authentication, configuring secure file copy SSH configuration SSH installation X11 forwarding static network configuration UPS-triggered shutdowns web servers services, distributed services, managing command-line method manual startup and stop services administration tool Shuttleworth, Mark Simple Backup tool configuring custom settings package restore from backup slave nameservers smbclient smoothing SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) servers software installation from deb files installation from source code source code package compiliation from software installation from compiling with customized options unsigned files sources.list file splash screens Squid Web Proxy Cache sshfs (SSH filesystem), ssh (Secure SHell), testing submitting bug reports sudo 2nd default configuration syntax, /etc/sudoers file visudo and configuration file editing support interactive help paid support swapfiles creating for running Ubuntu in Windows for temporary disk image storage disabling in Windows risks, hibernation and multiboot systems sizing for use in hibernation virtual machines and SwitchProxy Sylpheed Claws symlinks Synaptic, package management using synaptics mouse driver syslog system administration backups [See backups] cloning installations destination system preparation export of installed packages list import of package list configuration files, editing file synchronization across machines filesystems, mounting mount command network filesystems, mounting kernel builds [See kernel builds] logging [See logs and logging] permissions, managing with sudo [See sudo] remote directories, mounting remote server administration removable devices, mounting with persistent names device serial numbers udev startup services, controlling command-line method manual startup and stop services administration tool tech support videos text editors [See vim] unbootable systems, rescuing booting to rescue mode rescue scenarios user and group management command line management groups tab user administration tool System Log Viewer System V init scripts Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] tab completion TAP-Win32 adapter 2nd taskbar grouping tech support videos test-driving Ubuntu [See also Live CD] [See also Live CD] Tetris text editors Thunderbird 2nd TLS (Thread Local Storage) libraries, disabling for Xen Tomboy Tor installation and use onion routing Totem touchpads qsynaptics X11 configuration tovid installing video conversion TransGaming games database Transmeta-equipped CPUs and battery life trash, emptying without warnings Tridgell, Andrew TrueType fonts, installing TwinView Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] Ubuntu ancient African meaning running inside Windows [See coLinux] web site Ubuntu Forums and IRC chat room Ubuntu Security Announcements mailing list Ubuntu Wiki ubuntu-keyring package udev device serial numbers udevinfo command udevtest uninterruptible power suppy (UPS) Unison application menu entries logfile profiles synchronization via SSH syncing Windows and Linux machines Unison resources universe repository unsigned files UPS (uninterruptible power supply) UPS-management packages USB memory sticks users, adding Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] vCalendar VCard vi 2nd [See also vim] [See also vim] video 3-D video acceleration graphics cards, measuring performance video card drivers 2nd video card identification video chipset, identifying video DVDs, creating video playback vim changing text copy and paste help option modes navigation through a file save and exit search and replace undo vimtutor tutorial program virtual machines Dapper virtual machines [See VMs] hosting [See virtual machines:hosting (see VMware\\] security of VMware Server [See VMware Server] virtual servers virtualization viruses, protecting against visudo tool vm_base.img VMs (Dapper virtual machines) booting configuring configuring in Xen creating additional guests filesystem preparation installing Ubuntu running setup in the VM image VMware VMware Server disk space allocation installing OS installation running virtual machines, creating Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] w32codecs wallpaper switching Warty Warthog web browsers web servers dynamic virtual hosting, configuring PHP, installing Webalizer Wiki, Ubuntu window memory WindowMaker Windows Administrator boot server, using as DOS games, running [See DOSBox] dual-booting with Ubuntu malware, inoculation against moving Windows data to Ubuntu browser migration email music, video, and other documents nonstandard data locations third-party applications My Documents folder programs, running in Linux [See Wine] running Ubuntu from [See coLinux] Windows games, running [See Cedega] Wine basic commands configuring Google Earth installing Internet Explorer, running in uninstaller program using Windows applications, installing running wireless cards configuration verifying operation wp_tray Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] X11 (X Window System) 2nd 3-D video acceleration coLinux, running applications in fonts multibutton mouse configuration multimedia keyboards multiple monitor displays splash screens touchpads, configuring xev Xinerama Xen configuring VMs in enabling networking GRUB bootloader configuration initial host installation rebooting required base packages server setup TLS (Thread Local Storage) libraries, disabling Xen services Xen3 binaries extracting Xen) xev (X events) XFCE Xinerama xmodmap command Xorg configuration file 2nd correction errors Xorg logs XPlanet Index [SYMBOL] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] yakuake ... bookquestions @oreilly. com The web site for Ubuntu Hacks lists examples, errata, and plans for future editions You can find this page at: http://www .oreilly. com/catalog/ubuntuhks/ For more information about this book and others, see the... administrator and all-around geek for AS220, a nonprofit arts center in Providence, Rhode Island AS220 gives Rhode Island artists uncensored and unjuried forums for their work These forums include galleries, performance space,... have been written about Ubuntu and its sister distros, Kubuntu and Edubuntu In Macedonia, Ubuntu will be installed in 468 schools and 182 computer labs In South Africa, HP is going to offer desktops and notebooks with Ubuntu on them