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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Medibuntu & How to Install DVD codecs

Please read this post before installing anything. You are responsible for not violating copyright law, not me. I do not endorse theft.

Medibuntu (Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu) is a repository of packages that cannot be included into the Ubuntu distribution for legal reasons; copyright, license, patent, etc. But, if you want to play restricted formats like the w32codecs, quicktime videos or encrypted DVDs you'll need to intstall the Medibuntu repository. First have to make sure your allowed to download these packages because Legal Notice Patent and copyright laws operate differently depending on which country you are in. Please obtain legal advice if you are unsure whether a particular patent or restriction applies to a media format you wish to use in your country.

To add the repo:
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/feisty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

Then add the key that authenticates the repo:
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

The reload the your sources to add Medibuntu:
sudo apt-get update

Then in order to play encrypted DVDs download this package:
sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

There are many other things in this repo that you may find useful besides codecs. Skype, Opera, Java, Realplayer & GoogleEarth. While they might not be free and open source, they are FREE to use. For a list of packages in the Medibuntu look here.
edited by pHreaksYcle

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Feisty Fawn Starter Guide

If you decided to run Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04 on your Dell Inspiron 1501, you came to the right place. This blog is a great starter guide for getting things to work. Enjoy, it's not as hard as it looks and everything here is tested and confirmed to work. - redDEAD

AND NOW EVERY PIECE OF HARDWARE ON THE DELL 1501 WORKS IN UBUNTU

Getting Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04

Dell 1501 Compatability

Can't Get Feisty To Install

Dual Booting Ubuntu and Windows

Getting Wireless To Work Using ndiswrapper

Getting Wireless to work Using the Native Linux Driver

Beryl In Feisty With Xgl

Getting the Conexant Modem working in Feisty

Installing Java Runtime Environment 6.0

Installing Newest Azureus in Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn

Installing Wine

Installing VMware

How to Fix a Broken Key

Configure Synaptic Touchpad Settngs

Fixing Logout Freezing

Customizing Firefox

Installing Mozilla Thunderbird
edited by pHreaksYcle

Screen Capture - recordMyDesktop & Xvidcap

Recently I read this article on digg.com about screen capturing on Linux. recordMyDesktop produces files using only open formats; theora for video & vorbis for audio using the ogg container. Which is great, open source formats rock and we should all support them. To get recordMyDesktop, fire up a terminal and enter:

sudo apt-get install recordmydesktop gtk-recordmydesktop

Problem is if you want to upload your video to YouTube you can't use recordMyDekstop open source formats. This is my main problem with YouTube but if you can get a ton of people to see your video you gotta play with the devil.

This is why I choose to use Xvidcap it does the same thing that record my desktop does while offering a better menu layout and GUI. It uses the FFmpeg libavcodec and libavformat to encode video in MPEG 4 format.

xvidcap

You can download the deb here on sourceforge.com
edited by pHreaksYcle

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 New User Guides

If you decided to run Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon on your Dell Inspiron 1501 you came to the right place. This blog is a great starter guide for getting things to work.

Every piece of hardware on the Dell 1501 works in Ubuntu, some things require setup but it's no more work then a fresh install of Windows XP/Vista. It's not as hard as it looks and everything here is tested and confirmed to work.


Everything You Need to Know About Running Ubuntu 7.10 on the Dell Inspiron 1501

Fix For Gutsy Taking a Long Time to Load

Installing the Newest ATI Driver with AIGLX

Wireless in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon Using Restrictive Driver Manager

Wireless with Ndiswrapper

Compiz-Fusion with Xgl in Gutsy

HowTo Install Medibuntu& Play Encrypted (Copyrighted) DVDs

Easy Codec Installation

Getting the Modem to Work in Gutsy

Downgrading Your BIOS (fixes brightness/backlight issue)

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Thank You Sir, I Owe You a Beer Or How to fix a Dell Laptop Keyboard

Big thanks to a reader named Langolier. His suggestion of trying to pop my broken space bar key back in using this guide worked. I once killed an old Inspiron 3800 keyboard because I didn't know what I was doing. This guide explains what is down there, and how to fix it. It's a big help for anyone having Dell laptop keyboard issue.

Langolier, thanks to you, I don't have to go through the torture of Dell tech support. If you are ever in the Chicago, IL area, I owe you a beer sir.
edited by pHreaksYcle

Friday, June 15, 2007

My 1501 is Home

I received my 1501 back from Dell today. Shipped on Tuesday and returned Friday. I was pretty excited to get my computer back so quick, but now I realize my keyboard is a bit funky. The space bar is sticking when I type and the left side on the space bar button isn't working. Now I'm going to have to call Dell and get my keyboard replaced. Needless to say I'm a bit pissed. Hopefully this new repair will only take 3 days.

Expect some real updates & new soon.

Next Laptop is going to be a System76.
edited by pHreaksYcle

Saturday, June 9, 2007

My 1501 Is Being Sent For Repairs

Thanks for all your support and suggestions. Dell sent me the box to send my PC to their repair facilities. Hopefully I'll get my laptop back in less than two weeks, I'm shipping to them on Monday.

Don't worry I'll let you guys know how everything turns out.
edited by pHreaksYcle