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[mavrothal]

Last Edited: Aug. 9

So now I have installed “Ubuntu Hardpot” (eg Teapot’s installation version 20080506, of the Ubuntu 8 Hardy Heron-thanks once more) on an SD card and got a “mainstream” user graphical interface (GUI) in an OS that I know very little about and is hard to find info on the web (compared to windows, mac or even the full Ubuntu installation). Application-wise I have a browser a notepad a video player and an audio player, and I start thinking that maybe Sugar is not that bad after all…!

Ah, but I can improve/upgrade this (new to me) system, I hear.
Here is where the new struggle starts for this newbie, and this tread is all about.

Let me first say that in my mind “mainstream” means that you go to a web page/repository you click on a link and you get what you want, installed and visible on your desktop or you download a file that then you click and get your app installed and visible in your desktop. Like Windows or Mac or … Sugar!!!  Is this the case with my newly installed  Ubuntu Hardpot? NO! So let me describe my so far affords (and hope for corrections and advise) towards a “terminal-free” (I know this is sacrilegious in this forum) mainstream version. Terminal is still mandatory but hopefully to a minimum.

1) get THE package manager, AKA Synaptic.
Open the terminal and issue the command
sudo apt-get install synaptic
Type the password
When it finishes close the terminal. Under the Ubuntu>System menu you find “synaptic package manager” open it, and TRY to find what you need. Usually searching with some descriptive name works however more often than not you are presented with too many choices. In general there is no need to get the “development” version because if you do you wouldn’t be reading this…
Try to get the xfce4 versions if available or packages that have few or no dependencies (you see that as soon as you select 'Mark for installation')

(Now PLEASE someone tell me when there are the KDE and KDE4, GTK and GTK2, GNOME and GNOME2  and so on, versions of the same thing, which one do we download for Ubuntu Hardpot? OK some did already -thanks- but you can still add your experience and knowledge)

2) get a GUI archiving/decompressing (for the .bz2 file that you may download)  and a find (so you can locate the xyz file that the “instructions” told you to modify) utilities
From synaptic above search for kfind and karchiver and install the packages.
Right-click on the terminal in the top drop-down menu select ‘properties’ and click on the ‘+’ sign of the window that opens. Give a name (“Find” in this case), a description if you want, select the terminal icon from the pop-up menu, type kfind in the command field and check the ‘Use sturtup notification’ box. Repeat for Archiver using the karchive command instead if kfind.
In general if you download a package that “looks promising” and fails to show up somewhere in your desktop (usually under the ubuntu drop-down menu) try to type the  name in the terminal. If a window opens and does what you expect, follow the above process replacing the command field with the word that you typed in the terminal to initiate the package from the desktop in a GUI.

PLEASE advise/correct if a better/easier/GUI-ready utility is out there.

3) get Abiword for document editing (open office is too heavy for the XO).
That’s easy. Type Abiword in synaptic and get it.
The same is true for Opera, Adobe Flash etc.

4) Internationalize your installation if you need it (edited to incorporate teapot’s comments on posts #9, #11 and #14 in this tread)
If you just want to type in another language
In synaptic type your language name eg “polish” get the aspell-pl (dictionary), the language-pack-pl and its depentencies and the fbxkb packages. I got just these and works fine.

Right click on the bottom panel select 'add new item' and pick 'keyboard Layout Switcher' from the list to place a small icon with the current language that also allows you to switch languages by clicking it.

To add the new keyboard layout  go to the ubuntu menu>settings>settings manager click on the keyboard and then on the layouts tab. Un-check the ‘Use X configuration’ box click the ‘+Add’ button and add your language.

To change the layout with a keyboard shortcut combination you have to go to the terminal (…) and type
nano .xfce4_startup
At the bottom of the file that opens add the line:
setxkbmap -option "grp:shifts_toggle"” to change layout pressing both shift keys or
setxkbmap -option "grp:alt_shift_toggle" to change by Alt+Shift


5) To change the GUI in another language 
You need, in addition to the packages described at 4 above, to get with synaptic the language-pack-gnome-pl   package  (in my example).  The log out and in the login screen select your interface language either from the left-most button on the bottom bar (‘Options’) or the 3rd from the left (usually marked ‘Last language’)
That’s it!

Keep in mind that changing the settings here will also change the format of time and date, numerical parameters eg decimal point symbol etc. If you want a mixed environment  (eg Polish interface and US decimal point) you need either
A) to use the terminal (…) and change some variable in the  invible .profile file by typing nano .profile and then changing/adding the selected parameters as described in teapot's posts #11 and #14 at the bottom of this page. For example to have a US numerical system and a Polish (in our example) GUI you add a new line at the bottom of the file that looks like this
export LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
Make sure that you do not add lines between the lines that start with if and fi (this call for conditional variables) and that your line does not have a # in the beginning (these are comment lines)
B) Go to synaptic and get the the language-package-kde-pl, language-support-pl, kde-i18n-pl, and kde-systemsettings  packages and their dependencies. The last one allows for various interface tweaks including “regional and language” from a control panel-like application that is placed under ubuntu menu. From there you can install your second language and other things. The down-site of this approach is that you burden and slowdown your XO. You install 2 libraries, 5 windows, 20 panels, 50 buttons and 200 icons (more or less  ) to type 20 lines in the terminal for you…

6) Install Skype (if you prefer it over other VoIP applications)
First update your Synaptic repositories with medibuntu  an Ubuntu data base for propitiatory applications like skype. This is also good for other applications
Now open the terminal (…) and type
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
when it finishes type
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update
It will ask you to accept a package that cannot be authenticated. Type  y.
Now, open synaptic search for skype, download  the skype package and its dependencies and when it finishes look for Skype in the Ubuntu>Network menu.
After you login in Skype open the Skype Options by right clicking on the small icon at the bottom bar, and pick “CS5535 Audio (hw:Audio, 0)” for Sound-in and Sound-out in the Sound Devices panel. Un-check  the “Enable Skype Video” box in the Video devices panel.  Video works but the quality is unacceptable and more important is crashing skype after few seconds.
That’s it! Works like a charm.

7) Install some more little utilities
that may help you with the new environment, show you under the hood, help maintain your system etc. There are dozens of these if you search synaptic. I just include some light ones that I like. In all the cases you just download from synaptic the packages with the indicated name.
knetload places an application in your Ubuntu>Network that opens a little icon in your bottom panel that shows that while you wait for a page to load (…) the network is working and things go in and out.
kcpuload allows you so see in another small icon in the bottom panel that while you are waiting your little XO is working full speed to catch-up with you demands. To install it you have to right-click in the panel and selected from the list as above in (4) for the “Language Switcher” button
xfce4-appfinder puts an application in your Ubuntu>Accessories menu that tells you what you have in your system and allows you to open it.
xfce4-taskmanager puts the ‘Process manager’ applications in your Ubuntu>System menu that allows you to see what is running and stop it (if you know that you are doing or you just want to play with it…)
fslint places an application in your Ubuntu>System menu that allows you to clean up the mess you created in your file system while you where playing with your installation...
Finally ksysv also places an application application in your Ubuntu>System menu that allows you to do more harm to your system like starting and stopping scripts. This is rather for more knowledgeable or more playful and risky users.
Keep in mind that these “little” utilities, especially those that run continuously (like CPU load), also burden the straggling hardware. So use your judgment if you use them all the time or periodically.

-ADOBE FLASH-
I also installed flash 10 beta 2 following the instructions for manual installation in the Abobe page. Seems a bit faster that Flash 9 but I’m not sure it worth’s the effort and is not easy to uninstall either…

-WINE-
Finally, I tried to install WINE (a windows emulator for the Linux) that allows some windows application to run in Linux, even if it’s probably way too “heavy” for the XO. Installed OK via Synaptic but then the configuration totally failed with multiple problems  (from opening drive_c to audio device identification). If anyone managed to Install WINE under Ubuntu Hardpot in the XO and it can actually be used at bearable speeds, PLEASE let us know how.

That’s as far as I went Ubuntu Hardpot on my XO. Please correct/simplify as needed, if you did it on your XO. I’m sure that all these can be found elsewhere but I thought to save the next newbie some running around and hope for your corrections, simplification BUT MOSTLY ADDITIONS about mainstreaming Ubuntu Hardpot without overtaxing the hardware.

So if you did something in your Ubuntu installation that  did nor require a lot of terminal use and added a nice feature/application or  improved an existing one to acceptable levels (by downloading some specific codec’s for video-audio that improve quality and performance is a simple example that come to mind), PLEASE CONTRIBUTE IN THIS THREAD, using annoyingly detailed instructions…

[colinwhipple]

Does Synaptic automatically check for updates when it is run, or is it necessary to click on "Reload" each time?

[Gerbal]

Unlike YUM, synaptic and apt only check for updates when you tell them to (i.e. click reload).
Or in the console
$ sudo apt-get update # checks for new updates and updates the list of available packages
$ sudo apt-get upgrade # downloads and installs available updates

Regarding which version of packages to install. You want to run the one with the least over head. Gnome and KDE are great and all but, they require alot of system resources and aren't suited to a machine like the XO.
You should be using a desktop environment like XFCE, Fluxbox, or enlightenment.

 If you are using XFCE (which you should be) search xubuntu in synaptic and make sure all of that is installed.  Then try xfce and install the stuff that looks useful to you.

If you can try to find GTK packages as they don't require the extensive dependencies and processor overhead of KDE and gnome packages.

I would recommend trying to simplify your questions/instructions into distinct and readable pieces. Critiquing a tutorial is helpful, but put it in the thread of said tutorial.

Keep in mind Linux is Linux, It can be difficult and marvellous.

[mavrothal]

If you can try to find GTK packages as they don't require the extensive dependencies and processor overhead of KDE and gnome packages.

Thanks I'll try it.

Critiquing a tutorial is helpful, but put it in the thread of said tutorial.

This is certainly NOT my intention or interest. Getting some answers is. Thus the new thread.
If anyone feels critiqued or even not appreciated enough, My apologies.

Keep in mind Linux is Linux,

I must disagree on that. Windows was (is) DOS and Mac is (some kind of ) *nix. So linux use only with GUI should be possible for the rest of us.
Hopefully contributors in this thread will make the case.

[colinwhipple]

I tried to install gnome, but got a message that it "Depends: gnome-keyring-manager  (>= 2.20.0) but it is not installable"

Is gnome a dead end on this distro?

[mavrothal]

Is gnome a dead end on this distro?

I would think that questions regarding teapot's Ubuntu distribution should go in the relevant thread http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=2240.15 I really do not know if GNOME can be installed under (or over) Ubuntu 8.

[StewieGriffin]

Someone here successfully installed KDE, so I think Gnome would work fine as well.  Just that you may be short in system RAM.

Try:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

and see what happens...

[teapot]

Someone here successfully installed KDE, so I think Gnome would work fine as well.  Just that you may be short in system RAM.

Try:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

and see what happens...

This will install almost 1G of stuff. It should work, however if someone really needs Gnome, I can try to make a more "lightweight" set of packages that will exclude some obvious bloat (Compiz, Mono, Evolution, etc.)

[colinwhipple]

Someone here successfully installed KDE, so I think Gnome would work fine as well.  Just that you may be short in system RAM.

Try:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

and see what happens...

This will install almost 1G of stuff. It should work, however if someone really needs Gnome, I can try to make a more "lightweight" set of packages that will exclude some obvious bloat (Compiz, Mono, Evolution, etc.)

The word "need" does not fit my interest in Gnome; I am just trying things out.  I don't care for Xfce.

But I think I have over two gigs of free space on my SD card, so tomorrow I can give that install a shot.

[teapot]

To install non-English languages support, you need to install language-pack-[two-letter country code] packages. This will include input, translations and spellchecker dictionary. There is no need to modify xorg.conf -- keyboard layouts can be configured in the settings menu if you disable "Use X configuration" in "Layout" tab. Language for the user interface and dictionaries (unrelated to keyboard) can be chosen in the gdm (login GUI) menu.

To test this I have just configured my XO to use Russian as the default language for everything.

Edit:

1. Some applications are from Gnome, so you may want to add language-pack-gnome-[two-letter country code] for their translations.

2. I had to add

setxkbmap -option "grp:shifts_toggle"

line to .xfce4_startup file to make two shifts switch between keyboard layouts. This may or may not be necessary for other languages, however with Russian there are two distinct modes (roman and cyrillic input) that have to be switched by something.

[mavrothal]

To install non-English languages support, you need to install language-pack-[two-letter country code] packages. This will include input, translations and spellchecker dictionary. There is no need to modify xorg.conf -- keyboard layouts can be configured in the settings menu if you disable "Use X configuration" in "Layout" tab. Language for the user interface and dictionaries (unrelated to keyboard) can be chosen in the gdm (login GUI) menu.

2. I had to add

setxkbmap -option "grp:shifts_toggle"

line to .xfce4_startup file to make two shifts switch between keyboard layouts.

OK so this and the next newbie will not be confused,
You are saying that in the point 4 of the original post  the files to be downloaded are ok but the language selection can be done through the keyboard layouts tub and the switching  through editing in the terminal the invisible   .xfce4_startup file by issuing the command
nano .xfse4_startup
after openning the terminal and adding the line
setxkbmap -option "grp:shifts_toggle"
or
setxkbmap -option "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
at the bottom of the file.
And this would be an ALTERNATIVE method that does not involve the “risky” sudo command. Correct?

And for point 5 that the addition of the  language-pack-gnome-pl package (in my example) is sufficient for complete  language change if the selection is done during login. Correct?
Does this also changes variables like the money sign, decimal point etc? or you still need the system settings control panel for that?

And an unrelated to this thread issue but I have to ask since you apparently know the most: do you by any chance have an idea why I get the error
Boot device: /sd/disk:\boot\olpc.fth Arguments:
<buffer@ff8392cd>:0: Unrecognized program format
when I try to boot with a modified for overclocking olpc.fth with your installation?
Thx

[teapot]

OK so this and the next newbie will not be confused,
You are saying that in the point 4 of the original post  the files to be downloaded are ok but the language selection can be done through the keyboard layouts tub and the switching  through editing in the terminal the invisible   .xfce4_startup file by issuing the command
nano .xfse4_startup
after openning the terminal and adding the line
setxkbmap -option "grp:shifts_toggle"
or
setxkbmap -option "grp:alt_shift_toggle"
at the bottom of the file.
And this would be an ALTERNATIVE method that does not involve the “risky” sudo command. Correct?

Switching layout options from a script does the same thing as setting it in xorg.conf, however it's local to the user's session, as opposed to xorg.conf that is global for all sessions (you can have multiple users with different layouts and options). Editing user's login script is also preferable because accidental errors in that script cause less significant consequences. It's also the only thing that is not covered by the minimal set of configuration tools that are already installed with Xfce.

You can configure layouts themselves easier (and switch them without restarting your session) by using Xfce setup.

And for point 5 that the addition of the  language-pack-gnome-pl package (in my example) is sufficient for complete  language change if the selection is done during login. Correct?

Yes. In particular, login screen itself (drawn by gdm, a gnome application) and text editor (gedit) need that package to show their translated versions. If it's not installed, their GUI will remain in English.

Does this also changes variables like the money sign, decimal point etc? or you still need the system settings control panel for that?

Yes. By default they are all configured through LANG variable that is selected during login. You can set other variables that will override LANG for particular language-dependent parameters:

LC_CTYPE
LC_NUMERIC
LC_TIME
LC_COLLATE
LC_MONETARY
LC_MESSAGES
LC_PAPER
LC_NAME
LC_ADDRESS
LC_TELEPHONE
LC_MEASUREMENT
LC_IDENTIFICATION
LC_ALL (overrides everything else if set)

You can run applications with some of those variables changed -- for example, command line gcalctool will run calculator with all default settings (in my case Russian messages and decimal comma and dot as an optional thousands separator that I keep turned off), however since I am in US, where comma is used as a thousands separator, I would rather prefer running it as LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8 gcalctool , so messages will be in Russian yet numbers will have decimal dot.

Of course, some applications ignore or don't support language settings.

And an unrelated to this thread issue but I have to ask since you apparently know the most: do you by any chance have an idea why I get the error
Boot device: /sd/disk:\boot\olpc.fth Arguments:
<buffer@ff8392cd>:0: Unrecognized program format
when I try to boot with a modified for overclocking olpc.fth with your installation?

Make sure that the first line of that file is
\ Boot script

(IIRC, it only needs backslash and a space to recognize it).

[mavrothal]

Yes. By default they are all configured through LANG variable that is selected during login. You can set other variables that will override LANG for particular language-dependent parameters:

Though I'm trying to avoid terminal at least in this tread which is the file that should be edited /amended with the LANG parameters if nessecary? the .xfse4_startup ?

Thanks again. Your contribution to the Ubuntu on the XO is invaluable.

[mavrothal]

Code:

Make sure that the first line of that file is
\ Boot script

(IIRC, it only needs backslash and a space to recognize it).

that did it ! the (space)

Can you also walk on the water?... 
No, no, I have a better one... Can you make a flash plugin that will play acceptably in the XO?...

[teapot]

Though I'm trying to avoid terminal at least in this tread which is the file that should be edited /amended with the LANG parameters if nessecary? the .xfse4_startup ?

.profile in the home directory. Environment variables can be set like this:

Code:

export LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8

at the end of that file.

This is only necessary to override the defaults associated with the language chosen at login -- gdm and its scripts set LANG variable based on the menu choice.


There is also the global environment file /etc/environment -  for example,adding

Code:

LANG=ru_RU.UTF-8

to it will switch everything (including the login screen) to Russian as a default. Please note that with default console font it messages on the console may become unreadable -- if you logged in on the console and see translated messages with missing characters, reset laguage by entering

unset LANG