Using NTFS-3G on Ubuntu 7.10

I recently decided to test out NTFS support on Ubuntu. I'd previously read good things about the NTFS-3G project (www.ntfs-3g.org) so I figured I'd test it out. My current system has two hard drives in it, one dedicated to Linux and all my data, the other for Windows (XP at the moment) and strictly for games and the occasional Windows-only app I may need to run when I don't feel like messing with WINE (Turbo Tax for example). Anyway, in a previous post I was using a SMB/CIFS mount to perform backups to, but I've had minor issues with it not unmounting correctly and with the Simple Backup utility just not being able to write to it now and then. So, I decided I might as well make use of NTFS-3G and my second hard drive, since in the end my main objective of backing everything up is in case my hard drive dies. They surely won't both die at the same time, right? :-)

So anyway, to get started, simply install the "ntfs-3g" package and its dependencies. Then, just add a line similar to the following to your /etc/fstab file:

/dev/sdb1 /media/ntfs ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.UTF-8,uid=1000,gid=1000,umask=0137,fmask=0137,dmask=0027 0 0

So, just as before, the first second is the drive/partition I want to mount (/dev/sdb1), the second part is the location I want to mount it to (/media/ntfs), which I created in advance, then I believe the next part just tells it to use the default settings when mounting the drive and also tells it to use the locale of your choice (assuming it is supported by NTFS-3G). Next is the "uid" and "gid" options if you want to force ownership to a particular user and group. If you don't utilize these, the mount point will be owned by root. However, if you also don't specify the "umask, fmask, or dmask" then it won't really matter as the default option is to make it readable, writeable, and executable by all users. In my example, I chose my own user account (I believe it has to be in numeric form according to the man page for NTFS-3G) and group to be the owner and set the file mask so that it would allow the user read/write access and read/write/execute on directories.

If you like to keep things extra simple, you can also install the "ntfs-config" package. Then all you have to do is run the application (under "Applications" --> "System Tools" after you install it) and it lets you simple check which NTFS partition(s) you want to mount and where you want to mount it to (it forces it to be somewhere under /media). Then after clicking OK it'll ask if you want to make it writable or not and bam, you're all done. Your /etc/fstab entry will look exactly like mine above but without the uid, gid, and mask settings (well that and your partition and mount point will likely differ). I believe this app even creates the directory you chose as your mount point as well.

Installing the Citrix ICA Client on Ubuntu

Here's how I installed the Citrix ICA client on Ubuntu 7.10 (and other versions for that matter):

• Download the latest Linux client from here (get the tar.gz version) into a newly created directory.
  
• Extract the en.linuxx86.tar.gz file (or whatever it was called if not this) from the directory where you saved it.
  
• Now run the setup program from the terminal (sudo ./setupwfc)
• Follow the prompts to install (or remove if need be) the Citrix ICA client. I chose to not use the defaults and installed mine to /opt/citrixICAclient instead just because that's generally where I install anything that isn't from an apt package.
• If you use a non-default path as I did, the installer says you need to create the ICAROOT environment variable. I didn't do that initially and it seemed to work fine, but I eventually added this line to /etc/profile: export ICAROOT=/opt/citrixICAclient
• Finally, to get the Citrix Presentation Server Client (the part that includes the Connection Center) to actually work, you need to install the motif-clients (and dependencies) package.
  
• Firefox should be good to go with ICA goodness now, enjoy.
  

Setting up Azureus on Ubuntu

Here's how I installed Azureus on Ubuntu 7.10 since I prefer it over the default BitTorrent client that comes with Ubuntu. I didn't use the "Azureus" package from the apt repository because it seems to grab all sorts of old Java packages and I had issues with it in the past. That was a while ago, so maybe they've fixed the issues, but as of this writing, only Azureus 2.5 is in the repository and version 3.0 is current. So, first make sure you have Java installed properly--I used the "sun-java6-plugin" package (and its dependencies) to get Java set up (mainly for Firefox use)--then follow these steps:

• Go to azureus.sourceforge.net and download the latest tar.bz2 file for Linux to your home directory.
• From the terminal and in your home directory, run the following command (all one line): sudo tar jxvf Azureus_version_linux.tar.bz2 -C /opt/
  
• Next, run: sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/azureus.desktop
• Add the following text to the new file:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Azureus
Comment=Java BitTorrent Client
Exec=/opt/azureus/azureus
Icon=/opt/azureus/Azureus.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Network;

• Now you should see the "Azureus" shortcut under the "Internet" menu.
• UPDATE: I just had to change the permissions on the Azureus directory in order for updates to work. Since the instructions above create the directory with only "root" ownership, I had to enter chown -R myusername:myusername /opt/azureus to allow the updates to work. So I guess if you have multiple people that use Azureus you may want to set up a group for those users that has the appropriate permissions assigned.
  

Ubuntu 7.10 Build Doc

This is a not-as-complete version of my Ubuntu 6.10 build doc as a lot of the items are going to be the same and I've gotten a lot more comfortable with Ubuntu since then, so there's less for me to have to write down as I tend to remember more now. That and some of the items are not even needed as Ubuntu has made some good improvements over the last year. Anyway, here goes...

• First, configure the apt repositories by either uncommenting all the lines in /etc/apt/sources.list or by using Synaptic to enable everything. I made mine look like this initially:

## Canonical-supported Open Source software (main)
## Proprietary drivers for devices (restricted)
## Community-maintained Open Source software (universe)
## Software restricted by copyright or legal issues (multiverse)
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy main restricted universe multiverse

## Recommended updates (gutsy-updates)
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-updates main restricted universe multiverse

## Pre-released updates (gutsy-proposed)
# deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-proposed main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-proposed main restricted universe multiverse

## Important security updates (gutsy-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

## Unsupported updates (gutsy-backports)
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ gutsy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

## Third-Party Software
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner
deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu gutsy partner

• Install the restricted version of your video card if it is detected or if you want it. I have an nVidia card, so I just enabled the restricted driver and it downloaded the "nvidia-glx" package for me and enabled the "normal" 3D graphics. I bumped it up to "extra" under System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects.
• Install the Microsoft fonts package ("msttcorefonts") if you want them and configure Firefox default fonts like so (if you want web pages to look as they were likely intended) -- Proportional: Serif, Serif: Times New Roman, Sans-serif: Arial, Monospace: Courier New
• I prefer to change my font style to "Subpixel smoothing (LCDs)" under System > Preferences > Appearance > Fonts and then change the font sizes all to 9 instead of 10.
• Set up time syncing if you care about that sort of thing (System > Administration > Time & Date)
• I have a Logitech MX510 mouse and unfortunately the side buttons still do not work out of the box with Ubuntu. So, to fix, I had to modify the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file as follows (the bold lines are the ones I either added or modified from the existing file) - more info at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ManyButtonsMouseHowto:

Section "InputDevice"


Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Buttons" "7"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 6 7"
Option "Resolution" "800"

EndSection

• You want Adobe Flash for web surfing, so be sure to get the "flashplugin-nonfree" package if you didn't already get it via Firefox.
• I generally want Adobe Reader too instead of Evince, so to install that:

• Click here to add the Medibuntu apt repository or for Gutsy...
  
• Run (all one line) sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
• and then (again, one line) wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update
• and finally, install the "acroread," "acroread-escript," "acroread-plugins," and "mozilla-acroread" packages to get Adobe Reader set up.
• Finally, it appears there's an issue with version 8.1.1 from the Medibuntu repository. If you load up Adobe Reader on its own (as opposed to the embedded in Firefox version) it gives an error regarding "libgtkembedmoz." To correct this, go the main Adobe Reader window and then click on Edit > Preferences > Internet. Set the browser executable to /usr/bin/firefox and the libgtkembedmoz folder to /usr/lib/firefox.

• If you want Java, install "sun-java6-plugin" and its dependencies (or "sun-java5-plugin" if you need the older version).
  
• I'm not a fan of the default screenshot utility (Gnome-snapshot), so I install "ksnapshot" and its dependencies instead.
• I use Azureus, so I installed it using these instructions.
  
• I need Citrix ICA for work, so I installed it using these instructions.
  
• Now that the apps I use are installed, I typically hide the ones I don't use from the menu since all the included apps seem to be tied to the "ubuntu-desktop" package. So far this includes (formatted as package name / friendly menu name):
• evince / Document Viewer
  
• gnome-screenshot / Take Screenshot
  
• gnome-btdownload / BitTorrent
  
• ekiga / Ekiga Softphone
  
• evolution / Evolution Mail
• If this was a fresh install, be sure to restore data via "sbackup" (in my case anyway) and reconfigure it to start backing up my system again. Instructions can be found here.

And that's all I have for now. I will update this doc as needed, if you see any errors or corrections that need to be made, drop me a comment.

5.1 Surround Sound

I continuously had issues getting the various video apps to play back in 5.1 surround sound. Eventually I stumbled upon this part of the Ubuntu Guide and it solved my issues so far.