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November 30, 2014

Install Kubuntu Linux

Introduction

Kubuntu is a complete general purpose operating system for personal computers and corporate systems. Kubuntu is a Linux based operating system with Debian and Ubuntu specific package management system and distribution architecture. Kubuntu is suitable for you if you want to try out Linux, want a complete desktop user interface, want to play Linux games, want to use Linux for general purpose computing. Kubuntu desktop interface is based on famous KDE desktop environment.


Features


Kubuntu comes with it's own software store Muon Discover, which features a slick method for installing available online repositories software. You can also easily remove existing programs by just going Installed near the top of the program.


Muon Discover

Kubuntu desktop has an easy to use main menu Kickoff for launching your favorite applications and programs. One can easily search for an application in the search box. And finding, new installed application is a breeze by going Applications->Recently Installed.

Kickoff represented by a K over a gear icon
Kickoff when opened

Kubuntu desktop can be fully configured to your needs from the System Settings window, which can be found under Kickoff->Computer->System Settings.


System Settings window

Kubuntu's powerful Dragon Player will play all of your multimedia files easily.

Dragon Player


Download and Installation


Just head over to http://www.kubuntu.org/ to download the operating system iso file. You may download 32-bit or 64-bit file depending on your system and then burn the iso file on a DVD and then boot your computer from the DVD and then install Kubuntu by following the online instructions.


First Boot


After you finished installation of Kubuntu and boot your computer into Kubuntu, the first thing you should do getting the Internet connection on the Kubuntu. Because, the system as with it's default state does not come with enough software installed to run all different files and programs. So, you need working Internet connection for downloading all necessary additional packages to the system. To make life easier I have created a package which will install all the necessary files and also configure the system with necessary permissions. Just download the package from the following link


Download


This package is designed for just installed Kubuntu 14.10 system with Internet connection.

But you can also use this package if you want to make sure everything is installed.

After downloading the package, extract the package by right clicking on the file->Extract->Extract Archive Here, Autodetect Subfolder. This will create a SConfiguration folder. Into the SConfiguration folder just follow the instructions from ReadMe.txt file to start the setup. If everything went well you should see the following message.




Now, you have a fully working Kubuntu 14.10 system!

November 21, 2014

Ubuntu/Kubuntu Install upstream open source graphics drivers

Ubuntu comes with stable version of open source GPU drivers for providing support for various GPU's from different vendors (AMD, nVIDIA, Intel, S3 ...). But, since open source drivers are updated continuously from different contributors, it is sometimes useful to try upstream version of drivers. Any upstream drivers are regarded as unstable yet they provide new functionally and bug fixes.

Oibaf provides upstream drivers for various Ubuntu versions through Personal Package Archive (PPA). PPA is an online software repository system for Ubuntu Linux. One can install package (software) from PPA repository to local system by adding PPA address to Ubuntu software sources list.


Now, let's install upstream GPU drivers from Oibaf PPA on the Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE plasma desktop environment).


Open up terminal application

Kickoff -> Applications -> System -> Konsole

Add ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers (PPA address) to system

Put the following in the terminal: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers [Press enter key]. Here sudo command gives permission to make changes to the system, apt-add-repository command adds a ppa address to the system.

Then the following will show up for confirmation

Just press enter key to confirm.

Now, update the system's software repository by putting the following command in the terminal:


sudo apt-get update


That's it, now you can download the drivers from Oibaf PPA repository. To accomplish that, you have to upgrade the system by putting the following command in the terminal:


sudo apt-get -y upgrade


Wait for a while for all the processes to be finished in the terminal. if everything is finished type exit and press enter key to exit from the terminal window.


One last thing, open source drivers need texture compressions library. Texture compression library is a requirement for many modern 3D games and software. Texture compression library comes separately from open source drivers and one has to compile them from the source to install them. However, To install texture compression library onto Ubuntu simply download the pre-compiled libraries.


follow this for running executable files on Ubuntu

http://onthim.blogspot.com/2014/12/run-executable-files-on-ubuntu-linux.html


Pre-compiled texture compression library for Ubuntu variant distributions


http://onthim.blogspot.com.au/p/onthim-downloads.html


Now, Install precompiled library


Open Home folder (suppose I have download the file in home folder)

Kickoff -> Computer -> Home

Extract the downloaded file

Right click on the tc*.tar.gz file -> Extract -> Extract Archive here Autodetect Subfolder

Install

navigate to recently created tc folder and open the Setup.sh file (make sure it is executable and the file managers runs it).

That's it, now you have upstream drivers!

How to install program under kubuntu Linux via binary file



Some software from different vendors target different Linux Distribution, Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Suse, Arch Linux and so forth. To make their software compatible among all the different Linux distributions, software vendors distribute their software in Binary file form.

Binary files are files which can be executed without any particular package managers provided by different Linux Distributions, so that the same binary file can be used for installing software on many distributions. A majority of the games software on Linux come in binary form. To install software from vendor provided binary file, one has to first get the file from the Internet or some other sources. After then, one has to make the file executable (files can be opened by some other programs or files can be run by itself). Making a file executable makes it to be able to run by itself. And finally by opening the file the particular software that come with the file can be installed by following on screen instructions.

In some cases, the binary files are designed for running from the terminal environment (command line) instead of running graphically. In that case, one has to open a terminal and run the file from the terminal. Any files can be run from terminal by putting ./ followed by the file name in the terminal. For example, ./binary [Press Enter key]. Here . means current folder and / is folder separator. In the terminal you will have to navigate to binary file folder by using cd command. For example, if the file is in Download folder, you would put cd Download [Press Enter key].

Sometimes, the binary file may need access to system folders. In this case, you have to use sudo command to give access. For example, sudo ./binary [Press Enter key].


Now let's go through an example in Kubuntu 14.10 Linux,


Open up Firefox web browser

Kickoff -> Applications -> Firefox web browser

Download Ayam (A free 3D modelling software)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ayam/files/Ayam/1.20/ ->
Download Ayam-1.20-Linux-x86-Install into Home or Download folder

Open Home folder (suppose I have download the file in home folder)
Kickoff -> Computer -> Home

Make the file executable
Right click on the Ayam-1.20-Linux-x86-Install -> Properties

Click on the Permissions tab

Check the Is executable -> click on the OK button to exit

Now, you can just open the file normally to run the program.


Now, lets run the file from terminal


Open up terminal application

Kickoff -> Applications -> System -> Konsole

Run the program (suppose the file in Home folder)
enter: ./Ayam-1.20-Linux-x86-Install and punch ENTER key

Now, you can try other applications if you want to :)




How to install programs in Kubuntu via deb file

There are several ways one can install software under Ubuntu Linux operating systems. Ubuntu has a built-in package (software) management system where one has to get the package file from the Internet or any other sources and then upon opening the package file with the package manager software, the particular package (software) will be installed. 

These package files are known as deb file since they have a .deb file name extension to them. For example, to install Google Chrome web browser under Ubuntu, one would go to https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/ and download the deb file. After downloading the file completely, one just opens the file by double clicking on the file and the file will be opened by the default Ubuntu package manager to install. Afterwards, one just follows the on screen instructions from the package manager to install the software.

For example for installing Google Chrome under Kubuntu (Kubuntu is a Ubuntu variant with KDE plasma desktop environment) , simply follow the following steps:

Open up Firefox web browser
Kickoff -> Applications -> Firefox web browser

Download Chrome Deb file
https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/ ->
Accept and Install -> Save in the download or Home folder

Open Home folder (suppose I have download deb file in home folder)
Kickoff -> Computer -> Home

Open Chrome deb file
Find google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb in Home folder and open it

Install Chrome
Click Install Packages -> Make sure you have Internet connection for downloading dependency packages.

Run Chrome
Kickoff -> Applications -> Internet -> Google Chrome

Now, there you have it!