Installing RealPlayer involves adding a new software repository and then using the Synaptic Package Manager to download and install RealPlayer. The software repository is hosted by Canonical, the company that’s the chief sponsor and director of Ubuntu, as a method of providing some useful proprietary extra software

The below are the steps installing RealPlayer in Ubuntu

1. Click System -> Administration -> Software Sources.

2. When the Software Sources window appears, click the Third-Party Software tab.

3. Put a check alongside the first entry in the list, which should read http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu hardy partner. Then click Close.

4. You will see a dialog box informing you that the information about available software is out-of-date. Click the Reload button. Once this has completed, the Software Sources dialog box will close automatically.

5. Open the Synaptic Package Manager (System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager) and click the Search button. Search for realplay. In the list of results, click the check box alongside the package, and click Mark for Installation. Click the Apply button on the toolbar. Close Synaptic.

6. Click Applications -> Sound and Video -> RealPlayer 10 to start the RealPlayer setup program. Click...

It is both curious and sad that many Linux veterans have not heard of the screen command. Curious because they needlessly go to extra effort to replicate what screen takes in its stride and sad because they are missing a powerful tool that would benefit them greatly.

You connect to a server via SSH and are working at the remote shell. You need to open another shell window so you can have the two running side by side; perhaps you want the output from top in one window while typing in another. What do you do? Most people would open another SSH connection, but that is both wasteful and unnecessary. screen is a terminal multiplexer, which is a fancy term for a program that lets you run multiple terminals inside one terminal.

The best way to learn screen is to try it yourself, so open a console, type screen, and then press Enter. Your display will blank momentarily and then be replaced with a console; it will look like nothing has changed. Now, let's do something with that terminal. Run top and leave it running for the time being. Hold down the Ctrl key and press a (referred...

Ubuntu and its close cousins Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edubuntu are all designed with ease of use and familiarity in transition in mind. These distributions focus on keeping things simple and clean to help smooth out the learning curves when you are adapting to a new system.

The Ubuntu installer (Ubiquity) is a prelude to the simplicity of the Ubuntu system, breaking down the install process into about 10 clicks. Canonical Ltd., the support company behind Ubuntu, has even made it easy for people to obtain installation media by offering to mail CD-ROMs, free of charge if needed (https://shipit.ubuntu.com/login). If you have a fast Internet connection however, you can download one of the many ISO images for free from one of the many mirrors around the world (www.ubuntu.com/ getubuntu/downloadmirrors). The list of mirrors is huge to make sure there are plenty of servers available for people to download from. If one is not available, or unresponsive, try another.

The download mirrors can be a bit confusing, so there is also an enhanced download page (www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download) available to make things more clear. The current, stable offering at the time of this writing is Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn). Ubuntu 7.10 is...

The simplest and most common use for a USB drive is to share files between systems. Dapper supports most USB drives. Simply plugging the drive into the USB port will automatically mount the drive. From there, you can access it as you would access any mounted partition.

Linux, Windows, Mac, and most other systems support FAT file systems. In order to share files with other users, consider formatting the drive with mkdosfs. For example:

1. Install the dosfstools package if mkdosfs is not already installed.
sudo apt-get install dosfstools

2. Unmount the drive (for example, /dev/sda1) if it is currently mounted.
sudo umount /dev/sda1

3. Format the drive using either FAT16 or FAT32.
mkdosfs -F 16 /dev/sda1 # format FAT16
mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sda1 # format FAT32

If you do not mind restricting file sharing to Linux-only systems, then you can format the drive using an ext2 or ext3 file system using any of the following commands:

mkfs /dev/sda1 # default format is ext2
mkfs -t ext2 /dev/sda1 # explicitly format type as ext2
mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda1 # explicitly format type as...

Trapping Ctrl+Alt+Delete
Different versions of Linux either have the Ctrl+Alt+Delete (CAD) key sequence enabled or disabled. In Ubuntu Dapper Drake, this key sequence is enabled, allowing a quick shutdown and reboot. However, the Gnome desktop intercepts CAD. To reboot, you need to switch to a text window (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and then press CAD.

Since the Gnome desktop intercepts CAD, you can remap this key sequence to run a different command. For example, to bring up the Gnome System Monitor, you can use:

gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_10 \
'<Control><Alt>Delete'
gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_10 \
"gnome-system-monitor"

The system monitor enables you to see the running processes and selectively kill applications. This is similar to using CAD under Microsoft Windows to bring up the System Monitor.

Unfortunately, the reboot command runs as root, so you cannot make CAD run /sbin/reboot. However, you can use gksudo (a graphical front-end to sudo) to prompt you for your password and then run reboot as root:

gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_10 \
"gksudo reboot"



Disabling Ctrl+Alt+Delete
Sometimes you may want to prevent CAD from rebooting the system. For example, a critical server may have CAD disabled to prevent...

The application you use to rip audio files from CD and encode them into space-saving MP3 or Ogg Vorbis formats is commonly referred to as a ripper. For some time now, the most commonly used non–command-line ripper was Grip, which still has its dedicated following. Other simpler-to-use rippers, however, have surfaced more recently, such as RipperX, Goobox, and the one that comes bundled with Ubuntu: Sound Juicer.


Sound Juicer
Sound Juicer is a relatively new program that is pretty straightforward to use and quite capable in terms of what it does. It isn’t perfect, though, and it still can be a bit quirky. In addition, unlike many of its ripping cousins, Sound Juicer does not automatically create a playlist for the songs you rip and encode, and it lacks a simple means by which to adjust the encoding bitrate.

Despite these limitations, there are still many people who prefer Sound Juicer to the competition, so you might as well give it a try to see how you like it. To get started, just place the CD you want to rip in your drive; Sound Juicer will start up automatically and display the title of your CD, the...