Filling my Technological Void|Learning to Adapt to new Technology…… The Hard Way.

Recently I had to reinstall my Windows box so I decided to reinstall my Archlinux box as well. So I started taking backups which I must say that backing up data is starting to hurt the wallet since I have about 20-35 GB of data I need to save. So continued on and backed up everything and reinstalled Windows first since I wanted a dual boot configuration on this system. My system has a IDE and SATA hard disk which tends to cause problems when I configure it for dual booting. Usually I end up with having to use the BIOS boot options to go to either Linux or Windows. Well with the help of a friend on IRC (Thanks Qwerty) I created a /boot partition on the IDE drive which Windows was installed and then the rest of the Linux partitions on the SATA drive and then installed the GRUB to sda instead of the boot partition like I was doing previously and now I have a perfectly configured Dual boot.

Now if you are wondering what does this have to do with Symlink errors, hold your horses I’m getting there. After continuing with the install I did a pacman -Syu and made sure I upgraded all base packages but after downloading the updates it just wouldn’t get upgraded but rather gave me the following error.


checking package integrity...
checking for file conflicts...
error: could not prepare transaction
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/Kbuild exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/a.out-core.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/a.out.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/acpi.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/agp.h exists in filesystem
............  (Couple 100 of errors deleted) ................
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/xor_32.h exists in filesystem
klibc: /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm/xor_64.h exists in filesystem
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

Checked around and found that without performing the following command would result in the above error.

rm /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm

Running this command fixed the problem and I was able to upgrade the packages with no problem. The reason for this is shown below as quoted per www.archlinux.com

Due to a limitation in pacman’s conflict checking and symbolic link resolution, the upgrade to klibc-1.5.14-1 requires manual removal of a symbolic link before updating. Please run the command “rm /usr/lib/klibc/include/asm” as root to remove the symbolic link that will otherwise cause a few hundred false file conflicts.

Source

There are quite a few things I love about Arch Linux. But the Main thing I love is its speed. I’ve never been on a faster Distro. That said I’ve never been on anythign else other than Ubuntu Hardy Heron, Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon, Mandriva , Sabayon  and Mint.

One of the main things I always had a problem with is getting updates. The highest speed I ever got from Ubuntu Mirrors was like 30-35 Kbps and that too from a mirror from Mongolia. As for the other distributions I had either lower or comparitively same speeds as well. Let me show you the time it took to do a 12 MB update on Arch Linux in the morning in India.

Every single update I make seems to get me good speeds and I’m just loving it.

I just changed the wallpaper and changed the Icon Set for my Arch Desktop. Screenshot included below.

Wallpaper from InterfaceLift.com

Icon Set from Gnome-look.org

“You underestimate the power of the Dark Side. If you will not fight, then you will meet your destiny.”
-Darth Vader

As some of you might of heard I recently decided to install Arch Linux due to the constant nagging of Kalpik and some others in the IRC channel. The summary of our discussions go like this:

[22:33:42] <@kalpik> krazzy, ArchWiki :: Arch Linux - ArchWiki [22:33:57] <@kalpik> krazzy, ArchWiki :: Arch Compared To Other Distros - ArchWiki [22:34:11] <amitava> BUT IF u want peace of mind: Get a mac, get a life [22:34:26] <Filled-Void> lol [22:34:33] <amitava> >.< [22:35:01] <Filled-Void> kalpik, is Arch also a compile and use distro? [22:35:11] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, it can be if you want [22:35:20] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, arch is superb! you MUST try! [22:35:41] <Filled-Void> kalpik, Oh ok. then never mind I was looking for a change. Ubuntu is gtting old for me, Arch , gentoo and crux bleh need compiling [22:36:37] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, binaries for everything are available! [22:36:38] <amitava> wtf Filled-Void try leopard.. [22:36:39] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, try na! [22:37:00] <Filled-Void> kalpik, how big is the download [22:37:14] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, 135 MB for ISO and about 300 MB for gnome [22:37:17] <munna-boi> Filled-Void,PIRATE!!! Blilly uncle loves you [22:37:42] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, ArchWiki :: Arch Compared To Other Distros - ArchWiki [22:37:44] <Filled-Void> kalpik, Wht if I choose fluxbox instead? [22:37:52] <@kalpik> Manan, lol.. [22:38:08] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, lesser downloads i think.. i’ve only tried gnome [22:38:20] <Filled-Void> kalpik, Is it possible to install kde on it if I need it? [22:38:26] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, the ISO only installs base system.. [22:38:30] <@kalpik> Filled-Void, yes! [22:39:25] <aditya> kalpik: you guys telling Filled-Void to use arch? [22:39:26] <munna-boi> Filled-Void is one crazy ******* [22:39:31] <@kalpik> aditya, yes

So lets see I understand this much at this point.

* I need to download about 300 MB
* You start out with Nothing other than a CLI.
* Loads of configuration.
* Looking forward towards lots of pain and aggravation

Interesting. Good enough for me to become cannon fodder for this reckless experiment. Although I must say that kalpik and some others did say they would help me out when I install it. Well hell with that, I thought how hard could be to install it myself. (The previous line in correct words mean backup your data cause you are so screwed .)

Here is a certain link which may explain why Arch might have some benefits over other distros. Please don’t start a distro war here. If you plan on come in riding on your horse guns blazing be free to do so on IRC in #ArchLinux or their forums. As for other Windows users and Mac users I am in no way asking you to change and I pray you don’t the configuration changes don’t justify your change to the platform unless you are so sick with the platform you are using. Of course you could try it in a VM though if you would like.

Answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Here are two Install Guides you will find very very handy. Follow these word by word and you should be fine.
Beginner’s Guide
Install Guide

Anyway I’m going to be quite short and say I downloaded the File needed for the base system from here..

Went on installing and I’ll be very frank it wasn’t hard at all. As long as you follow the Beginners Guide Step by Step. You want to be adventurous knock yourself out, but don’t throw your CPU out once you find out that you just overwrote your Windows/Linux partition.

Step 1 : Read the Beginner Guide.
Step 2 : If you didn’t do Step 1 then go back to Step 1 and read it.
Step 3 : Pick an Environment (Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox etc) you will be happy with and continue from there. You can install others later but lets first get this baby up and running.
Step 4 : Once you have decided which environment you want read the guide from the portion corresponding to the respective environment you have selected.
Step 5 : Install “yaourt” you can find the wiki for it here.Yaourt - ArchWiki
Step 6 : Install any or all the other programs you need. Remember this is Arch the only thing you have is probably your terminal and very basic utilities. Mainly you would want Multimedia Players, Chat programs, Codecs, Java, Flash. This should give you a fully functional system. Also you might want to install HAL and FAM. Each one of these are documented in the various wikis which I have linked below.

At this point you could call it or you could keep on customizing your system to your liking. Currently I have all the above installed and the rest is still coming. So you will see a couple of updates in this here and there.

Pros :

* You only get what you want. Theres no extra bloat.
* It is damn fast. Wouldn’t you love 12-15 second boot ups as well as shutdown . No I dont mean from CLI I mean from Gnome 2.22.2.
* You don’t have to sit all day waiting for your computer to compile all day long.
* Its a rolling release . No more waiting for your friends courier or favorite magazine to come out with the next release.

Cons :

* Arch is a bit of a pain getting it configured from scratch.
* You need a broadband connection . Considering that this is a base system you will need tons of downloads tog et your computer up to date.
* Arch is intended for Intermediate to advanced users. No, I’m not either I’m a beginner with this and if it weren’t for help I’d probably be still with a CLI.

Image of resources Being used:

Wikis for Everything you need :
Although you can google or find this on Arch Linux’s Website I’m goign to link this for the benefit of the user.
Beginner’s Guide
Installation
of a Desktop Environment
Java and Flash
Yaourt
Audio Codecs
All you need to know about Pacman
Compiz Fusion
openOffice.org (Don’t forget to install libsndfile)

Recently Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) pushed some updates which contained a kernel update . I believe the kernel number was 2.26.24-18. Anyway it was at the same time that I thought of installing KDE 4.1 Beta 1 out on my system. Somehow while installing the updates I managed to screw up my system in more than one way.

The updates went through but on reboot once I entered the new kernel option in the grub Menu I was missing Sound, Desktop Effects and my systems seemed to way slower. now comes the funny part. I opened up synaptic and found that the KDE 4.1 packages didn’t seem  like it got installed since it was still in the menu along with the Linux kernel files. For some odd reason I couldn’t select them either. There was a Partial Upgrade option but clicking it actually did not change anything. it just gave another error message that said “The packages could not be authenticated.”

Its at this point I tried downloading again, again ….and again. The funny thing is when I closed Gnome out and opened KDE 4.1 it did actually open albeit the sound and desktop effects of course. Anyway at the end of this adventure I decided to just reinstall the whole thing and see if I get the same problem.

I don’t know what I did to screw up my install very badly but the install and 400 MBs of updates including the kernel went on without event. Maybe tomorrow Ill give KDE 4.1 a try again .

PS: Always remember to make backups of those deb files you downloaded in case something does go wrong. It would saev you the trouble of having to redownload everything of course.

Its been quite a while since I posted anything. I guess the hectic schedules are taking its toll. But nonetheless I finally got my hands on the DVD edition of Ubuntu Hardy Heron 64 bit and with my fingers crossed installed it on my system.

All I have to say is that I’m quite impressed. Every single bug I had earlier in Gutsy Gibbon has not made its way over to Hardy Heron. The Install procedure went through without a hitch  and I believe that Ubuntu is getting really good with its Operating System over time.

While I was doing the install I took a few screenshots and also wrote up a document showing the Install procedure , but trust me when I say that the Installation was very easy. You can download the Install guide from the link below which I have included. if anyone feels that I should add something to it or someone does have something to add to it . Please let me know. I’ll be more than happy to included it.

Download it from here:

I’ve been busy for the past few days ( read as slacking off). Anyway I thought of sharing this video of me using Compiz Fusion on my Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon Desktop. To record the movie I used the software called gtk-recordmydesktop. Then used the command ffmpeg to convert my video to a size which I cold upload easily. Although converting it did come with a noticeable degrade in quality of the video. But in my defense theres no way I’m ever going to be able to upload a 300 MB video for 5 minutes on my Desktop. You can also access my video here.

Heres the steps I used for the process. First lets install both the required software.

sudo apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Once you have them installed you can record your video by clicking Applications > Sound and Video > gtk-recordmydesktop.

You can change the filename by clicking on Save As and then settign the location and the file name to your choice. Now all you have to do is click on record and it will record anything that happens on your desktop to the file. Once you are done recording then you can start recording by clicking on the record button. You can end the recording by clicking the little button which is now in your system tray (or whatever it is called in Ubuntu ). You can see the button in the below image.

Once you do that you should get the screen shown below.

You do not want to close this screen. If you do close this screen out you will lose the video that you were just recording and the encoding stops. Once the encoding is done you should find the file at the place where it was set to be saved at or in your home folder. You will see that if you were recording your whole desktop the size will be quite big. you can convert the video to a smaller size by using the command ffmpeg. For my video I used the following command.

ffmpeg -i compiz.ogg -s 4cif to.mpg
You can check the man pages for detailed help about the ffmpeg command.

The effects in the Video I have used above are given below.
Compiz Fusion Effects
Splash
Compiz Benchmark
Desktop Cube
Rotate Cube
Cube Reflection
Cube Caps
Expo
Scale
Animations
3D Windows
Water Effect
Wobbly Windows
Snow
Window Preview
Scale
Ring Switcher
Shift Switcher

I’ve been using the 64 bit version of Ubuntu for about 3-4 months now. Considering that it has been satisfying my needs I’m pretty happy with it. I’ve also managed tog et quite a few people to try out Ubuntu as well. Recently one of my friends said that he would try out Ubuntu if I could get is favorite game to work on it which happens to be Call of Duty 4 : Modern Warfare. So I set out to see if Wine could be used to play COD4 (Call of Duty 4) on Ubuntu 64 bit Gutsy Gibbon.

I must say that although the process was kind of scary I managed to pull it off and finally get it to work. In fact here is a screenshot of it in game.

Before continuing I must say that the process is kind of scary for a person new to Linux and that you wont be able to get the best of graphic quality. As you can see the above is set to Low on my machine and it has a 8600 GT as a display card with 2 GB of RAM and a AMD x2 4400 Processor. I found that at low settings it was definitely playable. I would post a movie but unfortunately I haven’t exactly found out how glc works as of yet, which is a Fraps alternative for Linux. Anyway for the process to do this on your 64 bit machine read on.

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Well recently I was getting bored with Gnome so I decided to try my luck at installing KDE. Amazingly the process seemed much more easier than I thought it would be. I’ve given the process as shown below and heres a picture of my desktop in KDE.

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Recently I’ve noticed quite a few asking for methods changing the looks of the Ubuntu Desktop to make it a bit more appealing. Personally I don’t like the brown theme Ubuntu has going on at the moment But its really not hard to change anyway . Well I’m going to show you how you can customize your desktop to get it to look a bit better ot at least give you shove in the right direction.Heres two of my desktops that I customized.

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