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Introduction
Ubuntu is a free Linux distribution, based on Debian with the Gnome GUI.
Releases come out every half year and are numbered by the year and month, as well as given a rhyming animal name:
4.10 "Warty Warthog"
5.04 "Hoary Hedgehog"
5.10 "Breezy Badger"
The next release will be 6.04 "Dapper Drake".
There will also be a special version for developers called "Grumpy Groundhog" that "will never actually be released, instead it will be in a state of perpetual development, representing the very cutting edge of upstream and distro packaging."
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Synaptic
& Terminal
Settings
Programs:
Audio-Visual
Internet
Games
Kids
Science
Misc
Endnotes
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Synaptic and Terminal
There is a program manager called the "Synaptic Package Manager" that is very much your friend. Learn to use it and you will be a happy Ubuntu user :) The other thing you'll want to use (though not as much) is the "Terminal", which is equivalent to a DOS-prompt in Windows.
Synaptic downloads its programs from special websites called Repositories; making sure you use the right ones is important to the well-being of your system. The Repository information is stored in a special file called the "sources list" which you can edit via Terminal with the command:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
For Breezy, it should at minimum have all the official repositories:
# Official Ubuntu Repositories
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ breezy main universe multiverse restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ breezy-updates main universe multiverse restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ breezy-security main universe multiverse restricted
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ breezy-backports main universe multiverse restricted
(note that a # at the start of a line disables its use)
You might also want to use Kubuntu's latest packages since you're likely to end up using some KDE programs:
## Kubuntu KDE packages
deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/kde-latest/ breezy main
#deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/amarok-latest/ breezy main
#deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/koffice-latest/ breezy main
In the example shown above, only the general packages repository is enabled; you can also remove the # from either or both of the other lines. The first of those is for amaroK, the much hyped music player. The second is for the KDE office suite.
Then run the following two commands from Terminal to add the appropriate key:
wget http://people.ubuntu.com/~jriddell/kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
sudo apt-key add kubuntu-packages-jriddell-key.gpg
I would also strongly recommend using a PLF Repository mirror, e.g.:
## PLF Mirrors (pick one)
deb ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/plf/ubuntu/plf/ breezy free non-free
#deb ftp://ftp.mandrivauser.cz/plf/ubuntu/plf/ breezy free non-free
#deb ftp://ftp.free.fr/pub/Distributions_Linux/plf/ubuntu/plf/ breezy free non-free
#deb ftp://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/plf/ubuntu/plf/ breezy free non-free
#deb ftp://ftp.cica.es/mirrors/Linux/plf/ubuntu/plf/ breezy free non-free
Then run the following two commands from Terminal to add the PLF's key:
sudo gpg --keyserver wwwkeys.eu.pgp.net --recv-keys CABA22AE
sudo gpg --armor --export CABA22AE | sudo apt-key add -
(note: recently it seems the key hasn't been working; I will try to find out why)
PLF contains libdvdcss2, opera, realplayer10, skype, sun-jre/sdk1.5 and w32codecs. Note that almost all of their packages are compiled exclusively for x86, but deb-src repositories are available for several; see this page.
The PLF has been superceded by "Medibuntu":
deb http://medibuntu.sos-sts.com/repo/ breezy free non-free
and their new key:
gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv 0C5A2783 && gpg --export --armor 0C5A2783 | sudo apt-key add -
OpenOffice.org 2.0.x isn't in backports yet (and might not be for a while... if at all), so if you want it (and future updates), add:
deb http://people.ubuntu.com/~doko/OOo2 ./
(note that if you use AMD64 or PPC, replace "OOo2" with "OOo2-amd64" or "OOo2-powerpc", respectively)
If you need the Thesaurus, see the second post of this thread.
I've been working on a metapackage repository of my own, to make installing packages that much simpler. To add it, first be sure that you have the Official Ubuntu and PLF Repositories in your sources.list and then add:
deb http://members.shaw.ca/Limulus/Conrad ./
The packages all start with "conrad" (from the German name meaning "daring advisor" ;) and are pretty much self-explanatory.
Some other repositories which may be of interest:
## Boinc!
deb http://pkg-boinc.alioth.debian.org/ubuntu/ breezy universe
## Opera
deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ etch non-free
## Skype (I've been told that this version doesn't work in Breezy... use the PLF version instead?)
#deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free
## Upower
deb http://repo.nanofreesoft.org breezy main
## Wine
deb http://wine.sourceforge.net/apt/ binary/
Note that you will get a "not authenticated" warning when installing packages from repositories for which you have not added keys; this is normal.
For more repositories, visit the Source-O-Matic!
If at some point you repeatedly get a "BADSIG" error from Synaptic, running these commands from Terminal seems to fix things:
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/*
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*
sudo apt-get update
I formerly listed the Unofficial Ubuntu Extras, but I have since learned that they have been basically scrapped with Breezy.
When you next run Synaptic after making changes to sources.list, you'll get an error message about the new repositories; press the Reload button to clear this up.
If you're using Terminal, instead of having to type out the full name of a file or directory, type just the first few characters and press TAB; it will fill in the rest for you! And by pressing the up (and down) arrow key(s), you'll be able to access previously entered commands! :) If you press CTRL-R you can search through your old commands by then typing a few of the characters you used.
Settings
First, a warning: if someone tells you to use Automatix, don't. Something like EasyBreezy (and soon, EasyUbuntu) is a better idea. For some older notes on why I don't like Automatix, see this page.
If you want to add add/edit/move entries in the gnome menu, run smeg (or go Applications -> System Tools -> Applications Menu Editor)
Unofficial Ubuntu Starter Guide (written for 5.04, but still has some handy tips). See also the Ubuntu Document Storage Facility which has tips for Breezy too.
Here's a screenshot of my (windows-like) desktop. For the background colors (right-click the Desktop and select "Change Desktop Background"), I used "Vertical Gradient" with the standard palette blue (#0000FF) and purple (#A020F0), with this picture centered. For the windows and desktop icons, I used a blend of theme elements; go System -> Preferences -> Theme and click the "Theme Details" button. I adjusted the settings as follows:
Controls: Clearlooks
Window Border: Human
Icons: Smokey-Red
Click "Close", then you can "Save Theme..." as whatever name you want :)
I removed the "Menu Bar" Gnome Panel Applet and replaced it with "Main Menu".
The file browser, Nautilus, has some secret settings. Go Applications -> System Tools -> Configuration Editor and put a check next to these keys to make it a little user friendly:
/apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_browser
/apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_location_entry
/apps/nautilus/preferences/no_ubuntu_spatial
If you want to see the Trash icon on the desktop, put a check next to:
/apps/nautilus/desktop/trash_icon_visible
To automatically logon at startup, go: System -> Administration -> Login Screen Setup, select the General tab and under Automatic Login, put a check next to "Login a user automatically on first bootup" and put your username in the field "Automatic login username"
When logging out/shutting down/resarting, don't check "Save current setup".
Ever notice when you right-click in a directory (or on the desktop) the "Create Document" option, but which says that there are no templates installed? Well, here's now to make a template :) Go Places -> Home Folder, right-click in it, "Create Folder" and name it "Templates". Now save any file you want in there (blank or not) and it will automatically show up under "Create Document". (e.g. if you go to gedit and save a blank file in ~/Templates as "Text File.txt" when you right-click and select Create Document, there will be an entry "Text File" :)
GUI method to access the Windows partition: Go System -> Administration -> Disks and "Storage List" should have "Hard Disk" highlighted. Click the "Partitions" tab; "Partition List" should have "Partition 1" highlighted. "Partition Properties" should read:
Device: /dev/hda1
Filesystem: Windows NTFS
Access Path: [change this to /mnt]
Status: [click Enable]
the Browse button will open sudo nautilus. you'll need to modify the file permissions of anything you transfer. go back and click Disable for Status when done.
As per the forums, if your computer won't reboot properly try this:
From Terminal, run sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Add reboot=h to the end of the kernel line(s)
Shutdown and restart the computer; reboot should then work.
For backing up your important files and settings, use sbackup, the latest version of which is now available thanks to Backports! :-)
InitNG (install with sudo dpkg -i) is a package that can significantly decrease your boot time. On my computer (from when I press Enter in the GRUB menu until all the applets are loaded in Gnome) the boot time went from ~120 to ~90 seconds! Note that its still experimental, though it has been improving by leaps and bounds recently. The forums have a how-to (note that the first post is now rather out of date and so you should look at the most recent entries). I've moved my instructions for installation to its own page on the Ubuntu wiki.
If you live in North America, you likely use Letter size paper for printing; the rest of the world apparently uses A4 size, which Ubuntu defaults to. To make sure you're using the right one, open the Printer Settings (System -> Administration -> Printing), double-click the icon for your printer, go Printer -> Properties, click the Paper tab and select the proper Paper Size.
Audio-Visual
acroread
gnomebaker
gpaint
gstreamer0.8-misc, gstreamer0.8-plugins, gstreamer0.8-plugins-multiverse (installs basically all of the gstreamer0.8-* plugins)
gxine
ida
k3b
kalarm
krita (similar to gimp)
kview
mplayer-586 (assuming you use an Intel processor)
ogle-gui (with ogle or ogle-mmx)
totem-xine (replaces totem-gstreamer)
vlc
xmms (expandable with xmms-* plugins)
So I was doing a little surfing and wanted to listen to the MIDIs on this page. What an adventure that turned out to be! ;) Instructions like the ones in this or this thread are terrifying to anyone without a lot of Linux experience ^_-; But after several hours of searching, I figured out how to play them in XMMS (on my PC runnning Hoary) in just FOUR easy steps :) First, go to Synaptic and install "timidity" and "freepats" (and if you don't have it already, install "xmms" too ;). Second, download xmms-midi from this page (alternately, here) and save it to your Desktop. Third, run the following two commands in Terminal:
sudo dpkg -i ~/Desktop/xmms-midi_0.03-1qerub3_i386.deb
sudo cp /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg /etc/timidity.cfg
Finally, right-click a MIDI (such as one of those from the page, saved to your Desktop), "Open with Other Application..." and select XMMS. That should work just fine :) Note that XMMS takes a bit longer to close after loading a midi, but otherwise should perform normally.
Alternately, or in addition, you can play them in Timidity; for the first step from the above instructions, also install the package "timidity-interfaces-extra". Then repeat the last step, but click "Use a custom command" and type timidity -ig
I had to make some MP3s from a CD. First, you need a program to rip. Go to synaptic and install "grip". It can also encode, but I don't use it for that (if you're a command-line person, you might like "abcde" or "jack" :) When you run it, first go Config -> Misc and put checkmarks next to all three boxes:
Do not lowercase filenames
Allow high bits in filenames
Do not change spaces to underscores
then in the field "Characters to not strip in filenames" put in some of the more common ones, such as !',.()&- (basically anything not a letter or number that appears in the track names) Tip: If you don't select any tracks before pressing one of the Rip buttons, it will ask you if you want to rip ALL of them :) Then when you have all your WAV files in a directory, to encode them to MP3s go to Synaptic and install "lame". Now, unfortunately, the package is missing an extremely important file; a script that lets you process more than one file per command! You can get it by either going to sourceforge, downloading the 3.96.1 archive (1.2 MB) and grabbing the file "mlame" (a shell script) from the "lame-3.96.1/misc" directory OR... you can download it as a zip from my site HERE (1.3 KB ;) After you extract it, sudo nautilus to copy mlame to the directory /usr/bin Then, as per my old (Windows) apps page, for nice VBR MP3s: cd in Terminal to the directory with the WAV files and run: mlame -o "-b 32 -m s -h -p -V 0 -B 320" *.wav That worked really nicely :)
Binary Codecs for MPlayer (alternately add the PLF repository and install w32codecs)
libdvdcss for DVD playback (I recommend adding the PLF repository and installing their libdvdcss2 package, as well as the Ubuntu libdvdplay0, libdvdread3 and libdvdnav4 packages)
thoggen is a DVD ripper that saves in OGG format.
To greatly improve DVD playback: enable DMA (its on by default in Dapper, but not previous versions). Run sudo gedit /etc/hdparm.conf and add these three lines at the very bottom:
/dev/dvd {
dma = on
}
Save and on your next boot it will be enabled. You can turn it on for the current session by running sudo hdparm -d1 /dev/dvd (if for some reason you want to disable it in the current session, run sudo hdparm -d0 /dev/dvd You can also test its status by running sudo hdparm /dev/dvd To give you an idea of the performance enhancement, my CPU (P4) load using MPlayer: No DVD: <5%, Playing a DVD with DMA off: >90% (and playback a little jumpy), DMA on: <60% (and much smoother too :)
If you have directories with lots of pics or audio files that you'd like to open with Eye of Gnome or XMMS respectively, here's a little tip: right-click any directory, select Properties, Click the 'Open With' tab and add those two apps. From now on you'll be able to open any directory with those apps by right-clicking it and selecting the one you want.
This page has some really usefull GIMP tips.
Here’s a spiffy tip: mimms will record streaming windows media from the command line: type “mimms mms://streaming_video_url_here” and it will save a wmv to your working directory (note: the files are saved as wmv, but Breezy doesn’t like that, so just rename them to asf) Mplayer (with w32codecs from PLF) plays them back without a hitch. You can also record streaming video (e.g. mms or rtsp) with the command mplayer -dumpstream followed by the URL; just rename the stream.dump file produced when it finishes (but don't run more than one instance per directory).
Internet
amule
bittornado-gui
flashplugin-nonfree (test here; note that only flash works. There's a petition to get shockwave working too)
gftp-gtk
ipodder
konqueror (if you feel like trying an alternate browser)
mozilla-acroread (the Acrobat plugin for Firefox)
mozilla-mplayer (the Mplayer plugin for Firefox)
mozilla-thunderbird
webhttrack (and httrack and httrack-doc)
Skype is supposed to be pretty good and can be downloaded using the PLF or Skype repositories.
There are several ways to get Opera 8.5x on Breezy: use PLF, download and install (or use their repository as mentioned above to get) the Ubuntu (Debian etch) version and be sure to see the install instructions specific to Ubuntu. If you get an error message:
Opera encountered a problem during plug-in setup.
Plug-ins will not work properly.
Check your installation.
Could not start plug-in executable 'operamotifwrapper'.
/usr/lib/netscape/plugins-libc6/operamotifwrapper-3
Please install Motif.
go to Synaptic and install "libmotif3".
A *major* pet peeve of mine has been that Firefox (1.0.x) in Ubuntu won't update its extensions or themes (BTW, this is moot if you install 1.5 as discussed below). This apparently isn't an accident; some extensions have been put in the repositories as packages and the thinking went that people should update them from there... except that those represent only a *tiny* fraction of the total. As much of an annoyance (and security risk) as this is, its fairly easily fixed :) Step 1: get updates.xml as a ZIP from my site (2.5 KB) Step 2: install updates.xml
It would be a good idea here to close all Firefox windows ;)
go to Terminal and run "sudo nautilus"
navigate to /usr/lib/mozilla-firefox/chrome/
double-click "toolkit.jar"; file roller will open
navigate to /content/mozapps/update/
there should be only four files; drag and drop "updates.xml" there.
Step 3: run Firefox Extension and Theme updates should now be working :)
Here was an annoying problem; when I went to check my shaw webmail, I got the error message:
Firefox and webmail.shaw.ca cannot communicate securely
because they have no common encryption algorithms.
(which I wasn't getting from an XP computer...) A little searching led me to the solution: Go to about:config, find "security.ssl3.rsa_rc4_40_md5" and double click to change to "true". Shaw webmail should now work.
OK, so contrary to the original announcement, it has been decided that Firefox 1.5 will *not* be backported for Breezy (I'm not overly surprised though; the way the dependencies worked and with the long-term support implications, its not overly practical when the effort would be better suited to making sure it works right in Dapper). Fortunately, FF 1.5 can be quickly and safely installed in Breezy parallel to 1.0.7; here's what to do: take the text quoted in this post and save it as a file (e.g. install_firefox_1.5). Then from terminal, run sudo bash install_firefox_1.5; the script will take care of the rest and even create an uninstall script (/usr/sbin/firefox-1.5-remove) for when you upgrade to Dapper and no longer need this version. Note that patches will come directly from Mozilla (in Firefox), not Ubuntu (in Synaptic).
Did you know that you can use GAIM with Google's Gmail Chat? :)
Games
gnome-games-extra-data
kdegames
atomix
blobwars
burgerspace (a BurgerTime clone; P to pause, CTRL to pepper)
codebreaker (and/or gnomermind)
enigma
frozen-bubble
gnome-sudoku
gnubik
groundhog
gweled
kbounce
lbreakout2
liquidwar
monkey-bubble
pingus
solarwolf
space-orbit (run "orbit"; instructions in /usr/share/doc/space-orbit/index.html)
supertux
teg
trackballs
xjig (uses both mouse buttons and CTRL-click to flip)
xlaby (a particularly vexing maze; read the instructions (xlaby -i) first!)
To run teg (a Risk clone), change the "server port" to something high, like 14444 and (if you just want to play as a single human player) check "Start server locally", then go Game -> Launch Robot (repeat for up to six players total)
To run MAME, first go to Synaptic and install "xmame-x". Then get gxmame (0.35b2) as a deb and install that. Run GXMame and go Option -> Directories... -> XMame basic paths (tab) and add the location of your ROMs to "ROM paths"
Now, if you want something very silly, get Miller's Quest; first be sure the "ruby" package is installed, then
download the archive from its homepage, extract the directory (say, onto your desktop) and double click "millerquest.rb"; when prompted, choose "Run in Terminal". To quit, press CTRL-C in the Terminal window; you can load the (automatically) saved game the next time you run it.
Kids
any of the 'junior' meta-packages
gnomekiss (also install the lha package)
gtans
tuxpaint
Science
celestia (or celestia-gnome)
glunarclock (gnome panel applet)
gperiodic
gpredict
kalzium
kboincspy (see below)
kstars
openuniverse
sunclock
xaos
You can get versions of boinc-client and boinc-manager after adding the appropriate Repositories (as described in the Synaptic and Terminal section). Run Boinc! by running the command "boincmgr" (no quotes). To make boinc-manager work right, select "Attach to new project", set the URL to http://setiathome.berkeley.edu and the Account Key to what you were issued. You might want to get "kboincspy" instead of (or in addition to) boinc-manager. To make the kboincspy work right, go File -> Add Location... Click 'Open file dialog' button Navigate to /var/lib/boinc-client/ and 'add file': client_state.xml
Misc
dasher (enter text without using the keyboard)
krename (a nice GUI program for doing batch renaming)
leafpad (if you'd prefer a simpler text editor)
deborphan (run in Terminal; as per this thread, you can run the command: sudo apt-get remove `deborphan` to automate the process of removing orphaned packages (note the special characters around the word deborphan). Repeat until it says "0 to remove".)
IMHO, you should really only have a need for a software firewall in ubuntu if you don't have a hardware one
(i.e. in a router), but they can come in handy. You can use this page or this page to test it once its installed... I noted a suggestion on the ubuntu site that while it doesn't yet include a firewall, it probably should and that Firestarter would be a good candidate. Installation is simple: from synaptic, install "firestarter" After installing, go Preferences -> Interface and check both boxes then use with the "Notification Area" panel applet Based on the FAQ, to get Firestarter to automatically run on startup; from terminal: sudo visudo then add these two lines ('your_username' is your user name :) at the end:
# Firestarter Firewall
your_username ALL= NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/firestarter
save ('WriteOut' by pressing ctrl-O and save as 'sudoers'; when asked to overwrite, say yes) and exit (ctrl-X). Then go System -> Preferences -> Sessions
Click the 'Startup Programs' tab. Click Add. Copy in the following line:
sudo firestarter --start-hidden
(The default value for 'Order' should be fine) Click OK, then Close.
When using an external keyboard, I noticed that numlock was off by default; very annoying after a while ;) All I needed to do was go into Synaptic and install numlockx If that doesn't work for you, follow the further steps on the ubuntu guide.
If you're used to windows, you're used to a 'persistent clipboard'. That is, if you copy something from one program, close it and paste in another, it will paste. ubuntu only pastes if the first program is still open. The solution is available here.
bubblemon (gnome panel applet) is a nice graphical way of showing how much of your system resources are being used.
sensors-applet and hardware-monitor are gnome panel applets which can monitor various aspects of your system. I had a little trouble getting the temperature sensor working though, so I installed lm-sensors, ran sudo sensors-detect and allowed it to modify my system settngs "To make the sensors modules behave correctly" After that, temperature was displayed nicely :)
timer-applet (gnome pannel applet) is a nice little countdown timer.
konserve is a nice little program to backup (small to medium sized) directories. Its a KDE program, so to make it run correctly in Gnome, use konserve --nofork. For output filename, use the ".tar.gz" extension.
To get sun-j2re either use PLF or do the following:
1. if they're not already installed, use Synaptic to install "build-essential", "fakeroot" and "java-package"
2. go to Sun's Java Download Page and get the "Linux (self-extracting file)" [e.g. "jre-1_5_0_01-linux-i586.bin"]
3. then run the saved file from terminal: fakeroot make-jpkg ~/Desktop/[filename]
4. take the info produced at end and run with sudo in Terminal: [e.g.: sudo dpkg -i sun-j2re1.5_1.5.0+update01_i386.deb]
5. when its all done, test your java installation
6. The .bin file on the desktop and .deb file in /home/[username] can be deleted when you're done.
As per the above example, Sun Java will appear in Synaptic as "sun-j2re1.5"
To upgrade Java when a new release is made available, repeat steps 2 through 5.
It has been said that you can speed up OpenOffice by disabling Java in it:
Go Tools -> Options
OpenOffice.org -> Java
uncheck "Use a Java runtime environment"
For some desktop eye candy, install gdesklets and gdesklets-data. "You can populate your desktop with status meters, icon bars, weather sensors, news tickers... whatever you can imagine... Virtually anything is possible and may even be available some day." ;)
dmidecode, run with sudo, can tell you a lot about your system...
baobab can tell you where all your used HD space went :)
fdupes, run in Terminal (fdupes -r -d [directory]), finds duplicate files by their content (not by filename) and allows you to pick whch you want to keep.
Unlike in Windows, the GUI (Graphical User Interface) isn't bolted firmly onto the system. In fact, its extremely modular; for some fun, you can install any of the following package sets in Synaptic to get an alternate Desktop Environment ("a common graphical user environment and development platform") or Window Manager ("client programs which are either part of a desktop environment or, in some cases, standalone. Their primary purpose is to control the way graphical windows are positioned, resized, or moved. Window managers also control title bars, window focus behavior, and user-specified key and mouse button bindings." definitions as per this page). In case you're interested BTW, Gnome is a Desktop Environment which uses metacity as its Window Manager.
Desktop Environments:
KDE: kubuntu-desktop (uses the kwin window manager)
Xfce: xubuntu-desktop (uses the Xfwm window manager)
Window Managers:
Afterstep: afterstep
Enlightenment: enlightenment*
Fluxbox: flux* (note: conflicts with Blackbox: blackbox*)
FVWM: fvwm-gnome
IceWM: icewm*
Openbox: openbox*, obconf
Window Maker: wmaker
* indicates multiple packages starting with that name
At the login, you can select the one you want under "Session" (if you log in automatically, log out and the login screen will appear). Note that this will add icons to the Gnome menu (you can hide/move/delete them by going System Tools -> Applications Menu Editor in the Gnome Menu). There are probably even more DE / WMs in Ubuntu, this is just to 'test the waters' :)
[Note before you read this section: the characters here are "Unicode", but Firefox seems to be defaulting to "Western"; to change the default view, go View -> Character Encoding and click the Unicode Radio button.]
If you're ever typing and you need a special character (e.g. "æ"), go into Accesories and run Character Map, select the "Latin" script and double-click the character to copy it into the text field at the bottom of the window (from where you can copy it to paste into your application). If you find yourself using certain extended characters more and more often (e.g. you type some German and need Ä, ä, Ö, ö, Ü, ü and ß), here's a little hack that can add them to your keyboard. Assuming that you use a US keyboard layout, first backup the file us in /etc/X11/xkb/symbols and then open it with gedit (you'll need to use sudo for both those tasks). Now go System -> Preferences -> Keyboard to see the keyboard options and click the Layouts tab; click Add and look at the different keybords. Under Available layouts, click U.S. English and click the arrow so it shows you the extended options and click "International (with dead keys)". Make the window bigger so you can see what you're doing and find where the characters you want are. Now go look at the file you're editing and find the corresponding characters in the "U.S. English - International (with dead keys)" section. Copy them (or the portions therof that you want) into the proper place in the first section. To get the German characters, I changed the defaults for A, O, U and S to:
key { [ u, U, udiaeresis, Udiaeresis ] };
key { [ o, O, odiaeresis, Odiaeresis ] };
key { [ a, A, adiaeresis, Adiaeresis ] };
key { [ s, S, ssharp ] };
Save and go back to the "Choose A Layout" window. Click off of U.S. English and back onto it. The changes you wanted should now be in place. Click OK and put a check mark next to the new entry (you'll have two U.S. english entries; you want the second one). Now go to the "layout Options" tab and click "Third Level Choosers" and pick the one you want to access the new keys (I'm using the "Left Win-key"). Press Close. To use, press and hold the 'third level chooser' key you selected and then the key with the extended character. Adding shift to the mix does just what you think it would.
A little tip on how to make Ubuntu a little more Mac-like, from a chat log:
K: Do you know how I can get that feature of some window managers
where windows "roll" up when I double click the top bar?
C: ?? I'm not sure I understand what you mean; example?
K: When I double click the top bar of a window it maximizes or restores ....
I would prefer if it would shrink the window into the top bar
C: Oh.. like on macs?
K: OS9 did that OS X doesn't :P
C: I'm researching; I will try to find the answer :)
found it!
K: That was fast :)
C: System -> Preferences -> Windows
Titlebar Action
Double-click titlebar to perform this action:
change "Maximize" to "Roll up"
K: Perfect :)
That's exactly what I wanted :)
C: Cool; that adds functionality; I'll add that to my page :)
K: Nice
Ubuntu caches the thumbnails of images and videos on your computer, but it (amazingly) doesn't seem to have a mechanism to limit the volume of thumbnails and the directory can grow huge; this blog entry details how to clean them up with just a single command:
find ~/.thumbnails -type f -atime +7 -exec rm {} \;
You might want to disable the "Detachable Toolbars"; go System -> Preferences -> Menus & Toolbars and uncheck the box next to it.
Endnotes
Op-Ed: Anti-Virus software is not needed for Linux (and here's an example of what he means when he says that having AV programs are "at worst, downright harmful". Ouch!) And another op-ed along the same lines: the very notion of anti-virus software for Linux is about as necessary as wearing a life jacket around the house to prevent drowning.
Op-Ed: To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; to mess up your Windows box, you just need to work on it.
If you need additional help, the Ubuntu Forums are quite helpful.
For some really neat tips, see the Ubuntu Blog.
Some interesting (and often highly opinionated ;) articles can be found on the Blog of Helios.
If you find that you're really getting into Linux, consider attending a Linux User Group (LUG) meeting in your area. I've been attending Saskatoon Linux Group meetings since July 2005 :)