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Low Latency Kernel for a More Responsive System

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Coming from Ubuntu Studio distribution, the low latency kernel is primarily deve
loped with the goal of smooth audio recording. But the benefit of low latency is
increasingly being recognised in many desktop uses, like gaming and general des
ktop responsiveness.
Its not main line because generic tests usually measure throughput, not responsiv
eness, and the low latency kernel is actually just a little bit slower in long r
unning, server kind of tasks. But interactive use feels much faster, because, we
ll, there is less latency between your input and computer responding. And thats w
hat counts - for example, Google Androids kernel is very similar to Ubuntus low
latency kernel. Basically, there are just two differences to the generic kernel
- in-kernel preemption is enabled, and the kernel frequency is 1000, instead of
250 Hz.
Now, some distributions take a further step optimizing for desktop use, and usin
g non mainstream patches like the BFS CPU scheduler and BFQ IO scheduler, but th
e big advantage of this solution is its compatibility and availability. Installa
tion in any *ubuntu is a one liner:
--------------------------------------------------------------sudo apt-get install linux-lowlatency linux-headers-lowlatency
--------------------------------------------------------------Reboot. Enjoy that smooth KDE.
If there are graphic driver problems after installation, just reinstall them, an
d reboot again.
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Fresh Open Source Graphic Drivers
**********************************
Ubuntu is very conservative when it comes to updating graphic drivers. This is s
upposed to guarantee stability, but, in fact, open source graphic drivers are pr
ogressing so fast that newer ones are not only faster, but also more stable.
So, how to get the freshest Kubuntu open source drivers for Intel, ATI (AMD) and
nVidia graphic cards? Easy, thanks to Oibaf PPA:
----------------------------------------------------sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
----------------------------------------------------Enjoy! The PPA currently has packages for Precise (12.04) and Quantal (12.10).
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Faster KDE with Qt Raster Engine
*********************************
Upcoming Kubuntu 12.10 will have Qt Raster Engine enabled by default for noticea
bly better KDE performance together with OpenGL compositing. If you can t wait f
or 12.10, or are sticking to 12.04 because it s LTS, here is how to enable Raste
r instead of Native GUI rendering:
---------------------------------------------------------

kdesudo kate /usr/share/autostart/plasma-desktop.desktop


--------------------------------------------------------2nd line should read:
-------------------Exec=plasma-desktop
-------------------Add graphicssystem option, so it reads:
-------------------------------------------Exec=plasma-desktop --graphicssystem raster
-------------------------------------------Save, close, restart KDE. And that s it - 12.10 KDE performance in 12.04.
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(Much) Faster Swap
********************
Ok, so sometimes you have a lot of programs open, lots of big documents, heavy w
eb pages... Then your computer runs out of RAM, and swap kicks in. Instant 1000fold slowdown. (Well, its better than crashing...)
Standard solution - get more RAM into that rig.
But, since I am a software developer myself, I know there are always soft
solutions to the problem which can be done before throwing hardware at the probl
em. Just use what youve got better.
zRAM is one such solution. What it does is compressing less used data in
RAM, instead of sending it to HDD. In essence, it trades CPU time for RAM space
. Since your multi-core CPU is sitting idle most of the time anyway, this is a g
ood trade.
And the setup in Kubuntu 12.04 is a one liner. Open Terminal and paste (
ctrl+shift+v) this line:
---------------------------------sudo apt-get install zram-config
---------------------------------Thats it. Instant performance under pressure. (You don t have to take my word for
it, here are some tests.)
Definitely recommended if your computer has less than 2GB RAM, but probably wort
h installing on every computer, even with much more RAM. After installing, you c
an check it with:
-----------swapon -s
-----------It will show swap device (or devices, depending on number of cores your CPU has)
named /dev/zramX, which will have higher priority then HDD swap /dev/sdaX.
If you feel like doing some further optimizations, you can try changing swappine
ss parameter. Edit your sysctl.conf file:
-----------------------------kdesudo kate /etc/sysctl.conf
-----------------------------And add these 2 lines at the end:

-----------------vm.swappiness=80
-----------------Default setting is 60, and most advice for desktop optimization says to
lower it to something like 10 or 1, like this one. That kind of setting avoids u
sing swap as much as possible, but then, once you hit swap, the performance wall
is that much harder.
Since we now have a very fast swap, it actually makes sense to go the ot
her way and instruct kernel to swap more proactively with a value of 80. This wi
ll leave more RAM free for disk cache or application loading.
-------------------------vm.vfs_cache_pressure=50
-------------------------While we are editing sysctl.conf, this line adds more preference to filesystem c
ache over other caches, simply because not all caches are equally important for
system speed.
You need to restart your system for sysctl.conf changes to become active
. Do you feel a speed up under pressure? Do share.
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Boot-Repair
********************
- is a simple tool to repair frequent boot issues you may encounter in Ubuntu li
ke when you cant boot Ubuntu after installing Windows or another Linux distributi
on, or when you cant boot Windows after installing Ubuntu, or when GRUB is not di
splayed anymore, some upgrades breaks GRUB, etc.
Boot-Repair lets you fix these issues with a simple click, which (generally rein
stall GRUB and) restores access to the operating systems you had installed befor
e the issue. You need to boot from your live stick of Ubuntu again and then run
these commands in Terminal:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair
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Grub Customizer
********************
- is a GUI configuration tool to allow users to change the Grub 2 settings witho
ut using the command line. The application allows the user to add, remove, freez
e, rename and reorder boot menu items. It will also allow changes to the Grub 2
configuration settings such as background image and menu timeout. For long-time
users familiar with StartUp-Manager, this application performs many of the same
capabilities with additional options. It also makes convoluted guides such as my
Grub 2 Title Tweaks unnecessary for all but the most devoted command-line enthusi
asts!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

-------------------------------------------------------------------------But hopefully, if all went well, you should now be logged into your brand new Ub
untu 12.10 desktop at this point.
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Gdebi Software Installer - Alternative to the Ubuntu Software Center (optional)
********************************************************************************
Ive found that the software center can be at times very slow at installing packag
es manually. Sometimes Im in a hurry and I dont want to wait for it to install som
ething I have downloaded from a third party vendor or whatever. Gdebi is great f
or installing 3rd party software *.deb packages very quickly.
To install Gdebi software installer copy and paste in Terminal:
----------------------------sudo apt-get install gdebi
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VERIFICARE DRIVERI VIDEO - daca functioneaza....UBUNTU
********************************************************
Run this in terminal to check your video driver and hopefully you have all yes lis
ted:
-----------------------------------/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
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Auto Mount Windows NTFS Partition in Ubuntu 12.10
********************************************************
-----------------------------------sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
sudo mkdir -p /etc/hal/fdi/policy
-----------------------------------Now, launch ntfs-config from the Unity Dash Home. Click Advanced Configuration a
nd check the partitions you want to auto-mount at start-up.
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make software open much faster
.... UBUNTU
********************************************************
1.
Install prelink by opening a terminal and running the command "sudo apt-ge
t install prelink" acceptting any dependencies. You don t need the quotes.
2.
Turn on prelinking by editing /etc/default/prelink as root and changing th
e line that says PRELINKING=unknown to PRELINKING=yes

3.
Initialise the prelink databse by running the command "sudo /etc/cron.dail
y/prelink" in a terminal. This will take quite a while to complete but thereafte
r will update very quickly every day. Once again, you don t need the quotes arou
nd the command.
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MAP A LINUX NETWORK DRIVE
......UBUNTU
*******************************************
To have it mount automatically every time you boot, edit fstab:
------------------------gksu pluma /etc/fstab
------------------------then add an entry like this:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------192.168.1.199:/share/name /media/sharename nfs users,rw,auto 0 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------Save, close, and then reboot, or to load the new fstab entry without rebooting:
------------------------sudo mount -a
------------------------Linux Mint
Using Samba:
**************
1. Install the smbfs package;
2. Create the directory for the mount (ex: /media/lua);
3.1 If you want to have the drive mounted only once use the mount command:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------sudo mount -t cifs //192.168.0.199/Volume_1/Pessoais /media/lua -o guest,rw,uid=
1000,gid=1000,nounix,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------3.2 If you want to have the drive mounted every time you boot, edit the /etc/fst
ab file:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------//192.168.0.199/Volume_1/Pessoais /media/lua cifs guest,rw,uid=1000,gid=1000,nou
nix,iocharset=utf8,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777 0 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------4. To load the fstab just type on the console:
---------------sudo mount -a
---------------Using NFS (if you have the 1.08 firmware or higher on the DNS-323):
********************************************************************
(important: this instructions work but with firmware 1.09 I found NFS to be quit
e unstable)

1. Install nfs-common package;


2. Install NFS on the DNS-323 (you have to download the Add-On from the D-Link s
ite and install/activate it on the Add-Ons section of the administration page of
DNS-323). Add on Network Access configuration of the DNS-323 the IPs of the mac
hines which you want to have access to the drive. Later, if you have some proble
ms connecting to the DNS-323 after a restart you may have to stop/restart the NF
S service;
3. Create the directory for the mount (ex: /media/lua);
4. Edit the /etc/fstab file and write something like:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------192.168.0.20:/home/usr/nethdd /home/q/Server nfs users,rw,auto 0 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------sau
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------192.168.0.20:/home/usr/nethdd /home/q/Server nfs4 rw,_netdev,auto 0 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------5. To load the fstab just type on the console:
---------------sudo mount -a
---------------Notes: You will have to adapt the above commands to your IP and folders;
To edit the /etc/fstab just select "Open as administrator" with your mou
se right button.
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How do I install OpenOffice.org instead of LibreOffice?
********************************************************************
This include a recommendation to first remove LibreOffice. These two packages ar
e very similar and may not work together.
1) For installing OpenOffice you have to first uninstall the LibreOffice which i
s by default installed in your Ubuntu.
So open the Terminal Window and type the following command and give password.Thi
s will remove the LibreOffice completely.
----------------------------------------------sudo apt-get remove --purge libreoffice-core
----------------------------------------------(OR) Open the Ubuntu Software Center and search for LibreOffice core and click on
remove (uninstall).This will uninstall the LibreOffice completely.
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2) Download OpenOffice from its official website. The download file will be in *
.tar.gz format.
http://www.openoffice.org/download/other.html
Installing the packages
************************
Once you downloaded the right package, you need to unpack it. You can accomplish
this on two ways:
- Graphically: using the tools from your desktop environment. For exampl
e, on KDE is enough a right click Unpack archive here.
- Virtual terminal: open a virtual terminal (konsole on KDE, gnome-termi

nal on gnome...) on the folder containing the archive and issue this command
----------------------------------tar -vxzf <file-name>
----------------------------------where <file-name> is the name of the package you downloaded.
On both cases a new folder will be generated. Inside this folder you ll find a f
older named RPMs or DEBs, depending on the package you downloaded. Move to that
folder and open a virtual terminal there.
Now issue the right command, depending on your system:
----------------------------------sudo dpkg -i *.deb
----------------------------------Type your superuser password when asked. The installation is not ready y
et. Now you need to issue:
----------------------------------cd desktop-integration
----------------------------------and then
----------------------------------sudo dpkg -i *.deb
All done. Now Yo
u can open your OpenOffice from MENU.
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Parallel installations:
***********************
AOO have few external dependencies and the program itself is quite self
contained. Because of that, RPM and DEB packages can be unpacked to obtain a loc
al install that will work without problems.
The procedure described below is useful to test new versions without unistalling
the previous one.
The first part of the process (downloading and unpacking the right packa
ge) was already discussed above. Now, once you are on the RPMs or DEBs folder, i
nstead of opening a virtual terminal create another folder with a simple name, s
omething like INSTALL. Enter on this new folder and open there a virtual termina
l to issue the following command:
---------------------------------------------------------------------for i in ../*.deb; do dpkg-deb -x $i . ; done
---------------------------------------------------------------------Be careful to not forget anything! Not even a single dot!
A folder named opt will be created, containing the whole "install". On t
he path
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------path-to-INSTALL-folder/opt/openoffice.org3/program/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------you ll find the scripts to start the different components (swriter to st
art Writer, scalc for Calc, simpress for Impress...)
NOTE: with this "installation" you cannot use the desktop-integration pa
ckage. Menu entries and file associations must be done by hand.
Sursa... http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50119
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pornire si oprire interfata x (desktop)

Start - Stop XSERVER


.....Xubuntu 11.10
**************************************************
as root:
------------------------------service lightdm stop
(start - to start the xserver)
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1. Uninstall Libre Office on 10.10
--------------------------------------sudo apt-get autoremove libreoffice-*
--------------------------------------2. install openoffice
-------------------------------------sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/office
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install openoffice
sudo dpkg --configure -a
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Actualizare PcManFM la ultima versiune
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------sudo add-apt-repository http://ppa.launchpad.net/lubuntu-dev/lubuntu-daily/ubunt
u
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pcmanfm -y
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