Installing Chromium in Ubuntu 10.04 is a very simple and quick process.  Just run the following three commands in your terminal (Applications/Accessories/Terminal):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

Integrating Chromium into new ubuntu theme:

http://ubuntuguide.net/integrate-chromechromium-to-new-ubuntu-theme-in-ubuntu-10-04

The build queue is apparently backed up right now, so it may take some time before the patched version is released.  To manually fix your installed version, do the following:

1. gksudo gedit /usr/bin/pithos
2. Comment out line 173 (by placing a # character).
3. Save and close the file.

Thanks to Kevin for this fix!

Fortunately changing this back requires running only one line of code:

Open up terminal, or the run application box (Alt-F2), paste the following command in, and run it:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string menu:minimize,maximize,close

These changes should be instantaneous.

Moving Back to the Left Side:

If you ever want to change this back, all you have to do is run:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/button_layout --type string close,minimize,maximize:

If you are wondering why this has been changed, see this post:
http://www.tuxguides.com/ubuntu-why-the-buttons-were-moved-in-10-04/

There is an easy solution to this. Just load the video in firefox, and then hit pause once it starts playing. Then, open up the terminal, and run the following command:

smplayer /tmp/Flash*

or

vlc /tmp/Flash*

This probably also works for many other video players using similar commands.  I have had success with youtube, and vimeo when using this, but I would assume that it also works with many other video services.  This will not work with encrypted flash videos though.

ssh user@hostname "echo `cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub` >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

If you receive an error about ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub not existing, run the following to create it first:

ssh-keygen -t rsa

In this particular case, I am going to be focusing on how to setup and use Squid with your router running the open source firmware, ddwrt (also confirmed to work on tomato firmware mods).

Configuring Squid:

You are going to need a computer that is either on 24/7 or one that is on whenever you need access to the internet.  I have a server running at my house that is always on, so I decided to use that.  I am running ubuntu on my server, so my instructions will be specific to that, but if you are running a different distribution of Linux, you should be able to easily figure out what what commands you will need to use in order to install and configure squid.

sudo apt-get install squid

Then, you need to configure the software to allow transparent proxying (forcing users to use the proxy by channeling all http traffic going through the router to go through the squid proxy).  If you do not want to force all users to use a transparent proxy, skip the following sections, and use the section at the end that explains how to use the proxy by configuring your browser.

sudo nano /etc/squid/squid.conf

edit:

http_port 3128

to read:

http_port 3128 transparent

Configuring DDWRT:

First, you need to enable ssh on your router to allow you to edit some commands (see the guide here or here).

Next, you need to create and run a script (or you can add this as a startup script for ddwrt).  Make sure you edit the four variables in lines 2-5:

#!/bin/sh
INTERNAL_NETWORK=\"192.168.69.0/24\"
ROUTER_IP=\"192.168.69.1\"
PROXY_SERVER=\"192.168.69.123\"
PROXY_PORT=\"3128\"
if [ -z $TRANSPARENT_PROXY ]; then
/usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i br0 -s $INTERNAL_NETWORK -d $INTERNAL_NETWORK -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
/usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i br0 -s ! $PROXY_SERVER -p tcp --dport 80 -j DNAT --to $PROXY_SERVER:$PROXY_PORT
/usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o br0 -s $INTERNAL_NETWORK -p tcp -d $PROXY_SERVER -j SNAT --to $ROUTER_IP
/usr/sbin/iptables -t filter -I FORWARD -s $INTERNAL_NETWORK -d $PROXY_SERVER -i br0 -o br0 -p tcp --dport $PROXY_PORT -j ACCEPT
export TRANSPARENT_PROXY=\"1\"
else
echo \"This script has already run!\"
echo \"If it hasn't, unset \$TRANSPARENT_PROXY manually via the shell.\"
fi

If you created this as a startup script for ddwrt, you now need to restart your router in order for it to work.  If you created it as a script, you can simply run the script to enable the transparent proxy.  This script will have to be recreated and run every time you restart the router, so  it is recommended that you set it up as a startup script once you get it working.

If you ever need to disable the proxy, just create and run the following script:

#!/bin/sh
INTERNAL_NETWORK=\"192.168.69.0/24\"
ROUTER_IP=\"192.168.69.1\"
PROXY_SERVER=\"192.168.69.123\"
PROXY_PORT=\"3128\"
if [ -z $TRANSPARENT_PROXY ]; then
/usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -D PREROUTING -i br0 -s $INTERNAL_NETWORK -d $INTERNAL_NETWORK -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
/usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -D PREROUTING -i br0 -s ! $PROXY_SERVER -p tcp --dport 80 -j DNAT --to $PROXY_SERVER:$PROXY_PORT
/usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o br0 -s $INTERNAL_NETWORK -p tcp -d $PROXY_SERVER -j SNAT --to $ROUTER_IP
/usr/sbin/iptables -t filter -D FORWARD -s $INTERNAL_NETWORK -d $PROXY_SERVER -i br0 -o br0 -p tcp --dport $PROXY_PORT -j ACCEPT
export TRANSPARENT_PROXY=\"1\"
else
echo \"This script has already run!\"
echo \"If it hasn't, unset \$TRANSPARENT_PROXY manually via the shell.\"
fi

If you have any issues with getting this to work, please post in the comments section, and I will do my best to help you.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose

If you need usb support in your virtualbox install (great for hooking up devices that are not compatible with linux), you need to install the proprietary version (also free), and do a few tweaks in order to get it to work.

Installing USB Version:

Make sure the open source version of virtualbox is uninstalled:

sudo apt-get remove virtualbox-ose

First, add the respective line to your /etc/apt/sources.list file according to the current version you are running (for example, add the first line if you are running Jaunty):

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jaunty non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian intrepid non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian gutsy non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian dapper non-free

Download and add the key for the new repositories:
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Install virtualbox:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-3.0

Configure usb support:

Edit:

Editting /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh is no longer required after further review.

Make sure you are part of the vboxusers group:

sudo usermod -G vboxusers -a `whoami`

Then, logout and back in.

After that, in virtualbox, click on settings for the virtual machine, and go to usb. Make sure enable usb controller is enabled. Then click on OK, and see if it works.

Make sure that you enable guest additions (if it is available for your guest operating system).  It makes the experience a lot more seamless, and easy to use.  You can move your mouse in and out of the guest window seamlessly, and the mouse is then a lot less jerky.

Virtualbox Screenshot

Adapted from:  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox/USB

After installing, my root partition was an ext4 partition, but my home partition was not since it was on a separate partition.  I decided to convert my home partition over to ext4 to get all of the benefits that it provides.

WARNING: Do not do this to a root partition unless you know what you are doing.  I have not tested this/looked it up, and I do not know how this will end.  Also, as with all tweaks (especially on a filesystem), there is some danger of messing up your computer.  I am not responsible for anything that happens.  Make sure all of your files are backed up before attempting this.

Converting

Make sure your operating system supports ext4, and if not, apply any relevant patches to the kernel.

Make sure you are using a live cd, or do not have the file system mounted.  Then, unmount the volume that you are converting, and convert it.

Example with /dev/sda1 (run “fdisk -l” to see your filesystems):

umount /dev/sda1
tune2fs -O extents,uninit_bg,dir_index /dev/sda1

Mounting

Now that your filesystem is converted to ext4, you need to mount the drive.  To mount the drive to a directory for the current session (not automatically on reboot):

mount -t ext4 /dev/sda /directory/to/mount/to

To mount the drive permanently, you need to add it to your fstab:

UUID=your-uuid-number-here /directory/to/mount/to ext4 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1

Restart your computer.

Booting from ext4 partition

If you are booting from an ext4 partition (if your /boot directory is in your / directory, or if you are converting your /boot directory) you need to apply a few more tweaks before rebooting:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Then, find your operating system and add the following to the end of the kernel line:

rootfstype=ext4

Now, update grub:

sudo update-grub

Update your fstab the same way you would have above:

UUID=your-uuid-number-here /directory/to/mount/to ext4 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1

Restart your computer.

bin/lin/setup

This gave me an error:
error while loading shared libraries: libuuid.so.1

So, I looked this up online, and download the 32 bit libuuid deb from here (http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/e2fsprogs/libuuid1_1.38-2ubuntu2_i386.deb), extracted the deb file (right click, and select extract here), and extracted data.tar.gz. Then, cd to the data/lib folder from the extracted data.tar.gz, and move the two files to /usr/lib32

sudo cp libuuid.so.* /usr/lib32

After this, go to the install directory, and run:

10.1/ISE/bin/lin/ise

Most of ISE programs worked for me, but I had some trouble getting the floorplanner to work. You need libXm (http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/multiverse/o/openmotif/libmotif3_2.2.3-2_i386.deb). Install this in the same way that you installed libuuid (for more help, please request in the comments).

Impact:

I never got this to work (it didn’t work for me in Windows XP either though). I had to use the export software that came with with my fpga board). Since this does not work in linux, I tried running it through virtualbox (with usb host sharing). This unfortunately did not work, so I got it working under qemu (there are more details on how to get this working here (http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=slackware:qemu#using_an_usb_device_in_qemu))

Sources:
http://braiden.org/?p=55
http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Comp/comp.arch.fpga/2008-03/msg00838.html
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=203459

For school, we have just started using Xilinx 10.1 with the Digilent Basys board. When I looked on the Xilinx website, I was happy because the webpack (the software I needed for my class) worked with linux. I downloaded the software, and was hoping that it would be smooth sailing from there.

I had a lot of trouble getting sound with my wintv-hvr-950, and decided to try to get my kworld global tv terminator to work. I struggled with this for a while, sometimes getting audio to work, but the audio was playing back too fast, and it sounded like chipmunks were talking. Obviously, this was unwatchable.

I then remembered that I had a cable with the tuner that had audio out. I decided to hook this up to the line-in on my sound card. I set the correct options in mythtv, and eventually got this to work. No matter what I did, this audio also sounded aweful. It wasn’t playing back too fast, but there were popping noises, and clipping. Eventually, I decided to go back, and try using the tuner without the line-in, since that was not giving good quality.

I set the audio device in the backend back to /dev/dsp1, and then proceeded to play around with the sampling rate in the frontend:

setup/setup/TV Settings/Recording Profiles/software encoders/live tv

I eventually got 32000 to work for the sampling rate, and no one sounded like chipmunks anymore!

Notes:
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/KWorld_Global_TV_Terminator – A reference for the Kworld Global TV Terminator.

I edited /etc/modprobe.d/saa7134 to

options saa7134 card=65 tuner=54

for the Kworld Global TV Terminator in ubuntu/mythbuntu.

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Hauppauge_WinTV_HVR-950 – A reference for the Hauppauge WinTV HVR-950. I am not going to go into how to get this card working because there are other sites out there that do a much better job at explaining how to setup/use this card. Just search through the ubuntu forums for help getting it setup in ubuntu/mythbuntu.