Showing posts with label installer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label installer. Show all posts

Manager for installing applications from PPA repositories

Search results for Chromium package.
I just discovered an application I was hoping for: Y PPA Manager.

Find easily the corresponding repository for a specific application, remove added PPA-repositories, etc., with this simple desktop tool.

Install instructions

The following command lines will install the tool, and I almost promise; this is the last time you add a repository from the command line.
# Add repository
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager

# Add description to repository for easier identification
sudo sed -i.bak 's/$/ #Y-PPA-Manager/' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-y-ppa-manager-natty.list

# Install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager

Features

  • For example, search for Chromium and it will offer you more than 20 repositories, from daily, beta, official ones.
  • It advises, if there isn't a repository for your current distro, for example, Ailurus still isn't available for Natty.
  • You can browse all packages offered by a repository before enabling it for your system.
  • Somehow, I often run into problems with PPA keys, maybe because I just copy the corresponding PPA entries from /etc/apt/sources.list.d to another machine.
    Each time I run the apt-get update command, I get lots of warnings about missing GPG keys.
    Y-PPA-Manager offers a command to clean up all these errors by automatically importing all missing keys.
  • The PPA-purge option disables a PPA from your Software Sources and reverts your system to normal after testing a new version from a PPA.
In short words: A-must-have-tool for Ubuntu.

Command line

You can also use Y-PPA-Manager commands directly from the shell (in case you still miss the terminal), just execute this to see all available commands:
y-ppa-cmd
launchpad-getkeys  # import all missing keys
ppa-purge              # remove a PPA repository source from your system

Convert existing PPA repositories to Natty

I'll offer you here some commands you might want to use to convert your existing PPA repositories to your upgraded distro.
When upgrading Ubuntu to a newer version, all your personal repositories will be disabled to prevent problems.
After the upgrade you'll have to enable them by hand, even worse, the ones you had disabled before upgrading still point to the repositories of the previous distro.
You might use some of these commands to make these changes automatically.
# Become super-user
sudo -i
# Enter repository list folder
cd /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
# Change maverick to natty for all maverick specific list files and store them as natty ones
for sl in *-maverick.list ; do echo ${sl/maverick/natty} ; sed 's/# \(.*\) maverick\(.*\)/\1 natty\2/' $sl > ${sl/maverick/natty} ; done
# Remove the "disabled ..." comment
for sl in *-natty.list ; do echo ${sl} ; sed -i.bak 's/ disabled on upgrade to natty$//' $sl ; done
# Check they are all fine
for sl in *-natty.list ; do echo ${sl/maverick/natty} ; cat $sl ; done
# Cleanup backup files and maverick list files (not needed any longer)
rm *-maverick* *.list.bak

Install new fonts in your system

Specimen Font Previewer
In a previous post, we learned how to convert Open Type fonts into True Type ones.
Now we'll learn how to store them in your system, so all text and graphics applications will find and use them.
Normally, you'll not un-/install fonts continuously on your system, so you would prefer (like me) a simple way, without the need to install additional software (like kfontview on KUbuntu, or the ones you can find for Windows).

On Ubuntu


All fonts can be stored in two locations:
  1. In ~/.fonts
    Only you will see fonts copied here. You can copy fonts here with nautilus or from the shell:
    mkdir -p ~/.fonts         # make sure folder exists
    cp *.tff ~/.fonts # or whatever's the name of the fonts you want to copy
    fc-cache -f -v ~/.fonts # reload the font cache to make new fonts visible

  2. In /usr/share/fonts/truetype
    All users will see fonts copied here. You can copy fonts here with nautilus or from the shell:
    mkdir -p /usr/share/fonts/truetype/myfonts    # create a sub-folder to be organized
    cp *.tff /usr/share/fonts/truetype/myfonts # or whatever's the name of the fonts you want to copy
    fc-cache -f -v # reload the global font cache to make new fonts visible


No extra software is needed. But even so, we'll mention a useful tool that doesn't come in your default Ubuntu installation: Specimen Font Previewer, a simple tool to view and compare fonts installed on your system.
You can install it from the Applications menu or from the shell:
sudo aptitude install gnome-specimen


Note: In a previous post, I explained how to install certain Microsoft fonts on your Ubuntu system.

On Windows


Fonts are installed in only one location: %WINDIR%\Fonts
Just open this location with the explorer and copy any font files here. They'll be immediately available for all users.

Add Ubuntus default repositories from shell

Often you see instructions for this step which refer either to use the graphical tools like Synaptic or Software Sources, or to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list by hand (bad habbit).

Why not use Software Sources command line parameters to do this automatically?

Add default repository


The tool that's accessed from Ubuntus administration menu is called software-sources-gtk. It can be given the name of the repository that should be enabled on the command line.

Example for installing partimage from universe repository


sudo software-sources-gtk -e universe
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install partimage


That way, you can enable any of the four repositories main, universe, restricted, and multiverse.

Update for Ubuntu Hardy


The command changed lately from software-sources-gtk to software-properties-gtk.

Add third party repositories


Again, you shouldn't edit the /etc/apt/sources.list configuration directly, but instead you simply create a new file xyz.list in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d folder.

Example of adding repository for KeepassX


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:keepassx

# For Hardy
sudo echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/keepassx/ubuntu/ hardy main # KeepassX" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/keepassx.list
sudo apt-get update

That way, it's much simpler to automate tasks like adding and removing third party repositories from shell scripts and keep your /etc/apt/sources.list file clean.

Y-PPA-Manager

With Natty there comes another repository manager, more graphically, but can be used from shell too. Read more about it in this post.

Wubi

Wubi is an unofficial Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other application. If you heard about Linux and Ubuntu, if you wanted to try them but you were afraid, this is for you.



Advantages


  • It does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader.
  • Just run the installer, no need to burn a CD.
    (Wubi will download the selected ISO that you selected. You can choose between Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio. You could later burn the ISO onto a CD if you want.)
  • Wubi keeps most of the files in one folder, and If you do not like, you can simply uninstall it.


On my laptop, I started by using Ubuntu from a LiveCD (very slow on startup and not very handy). Then I installed it on an external USB drive (much faster and very useful as you work directly with partitions).
Having Ubuntu installed into a 10 Gb file in your Windows system is handy if you don't want to carry your external USB drive all the time.
Of course, it is a bit slower than using it from a partition, but if you make sure that the file is defragmented than it is very usable.

Tips & Tricks


Upgrade to Ubuntu 7.10


If you installed Ubuntu 7.04 with Wubi and you want to upgrade to 7.10, don't upgrade the system with Ubuntu's update-manager as it will leave you with an unusable system. Read more about the correct procedure.

Instead, you should use the latest Alpha version of the Wubi installer and make sure that you check your Windows NTFS filesystem to avoid an error during the installation process.
chkdsk /r


Can't find kernel after automatic update


Sometimes the Linux kernel is updated, which includes a change of the grub boot loader.
Unfortunately, this update fails to put the correct path to the new kernel file in the boot loaders menu configuration.

In such a case, when booting into grub you get an error saying that the vmlinuz-2.6.xx-xx-generic can't be found.

We have to edit by hand the file C:\ubuntu\disks\boot\grub\menu.lst file.
Search all entries like
root        (hd0,1)/ubuntu/disks

and change them to
root        (hd0,1)/ubuntu/disks/boot


To do this we have two options:
  1. Launch Windows and edit the file with your favorite text editor.
    Then restart the system and launch the Wubi Ubuntu system.
  2. When booting Wubi, press the Escape key so you can see grub's boot menu.
    • Press 'e' above the first entry.
    • Search the line that reads as mentioned above.
    • Press 'e' again.
    • Add /boot at the end of the line.
    • Press 'Esc' two times, then 'b' which should boot into your Wubi system.
    • Once started you can edit the file with
      gedit /host/ubuntu/disks/boot/grub/menu.lst