Ubuntu:Edgy/Hardware

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Hardware

Mice

Activate side-mouse-buttons in FireFox

Just add two lines to xorg.conf will activate side-mouse-buttons in FireFox. This should work with most 5-button mouse. Here is a list of mice that worked with this instruction.

  • Logitech MX310
  • Logitech MX510
  • Logitech MX518
  • Logitech MX700
  • Intellimouse Explorer (first edition)
  • Razer Copperhead


Backup X.org configuration file

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak

Modify the X.org configuration file

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the Input Device section for your mouse and add two lines as shown below. You may also increase the number of buttons if your mouse has more than 7, just fix the rest of the section based upon the number of buttons (remember back/forward, wheel click & tilt left/right all count as buttons)

Change:

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier "Configured Mouse"
	Driver "mouse"
	Option "CorePointer"
	...
	Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
	...
	Option "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
EndSection

to:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Configured Mouse"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "CorePointer"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice" 
    Option         "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
    Option         "Buttons" "7" 
    Option         "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 6 7"
EndSection

If you want the wheel scroll button to scroll in firefox rather than the side buttons make "ZAxisMapping" "6 7" and "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 4 5".

At this point you can reboot your computer or restart X (Ctrl-Alt-BackSpace) to see if your forward/back buttons work in FireFox. They still won't work in Nautilus yet until you install the imwheel dameon.

Install & Configure IMWheel

  • Install IMWheel
sudo apt-get install imwheel
  • Modify IMWheel configuration file
gksudo gedit /etc/X11/imwheel/imwheelrc
  • Insert the following at the bottom of this existing file
".*"
None, Up, Alt_L|Left
None, Down, Alt_L|Right 
"(null)"
None, Up, Alt_L|Left
None, Down, Alt_L|Right


  • Create IMWheel start-up script
sudo mkdir /home/login
gksudo gedit /home/login/mouse
  • Insert the following into this new file
#!/bin/sh
exec xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 4 5" &
exec imwheel -k -b "67" &
exec $REALSTARTUP
  • Grant execution for everyone to this new script
sudo chmod +x /home/login/mouse
  • Configure this script to be executed at start-up
    1. Select 'System' > 'Preferences' > 'Sessions'
    2. Click the StartUp tab
    3. Click Add, then input: /home/login/mouse
    4. Click OK, then Close
  • Reboot your computer or your Gnome environment and then test your back/forward mouse buttons in Nautilus

How to configure Apple Mighty Mouse

Apple Mighty Mouse works out of the box, this how to should cover setting up of horizontal scrolling using ball and sidebuttons.

This is placeholder only. Please, provide working howto.

Graphics Card

How to install Graphics Driver (NVIDIA)

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx nvidia-kernel-common
sudo nvidia-xconfig
  • Should the above not enable the new driver, you can enable it manually by opening the X config file:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  • and replacing "nv" with "nvidia"
  • Enable XvMC by creating the nVidia XvMC configuration file
sudo gedit /etc/X11/XvMCConfig
  • Insert the following line into the new configuration file, to tell the players the name of the nVidia XvMC shared library:
libXvMCNVIDIA_dynamic.so.1
  • To use XvMC to accelerate video playback, use the following flags. See [[1]] for more details.
xine -V xxmc filename.ts
mplayer -vo xvmc -vc ffmpeg12mc filename.ts

How to install Beta Graphics Driver (NVIDIA)

  • WARNING this is very error prone.. a better method is to use Alberto Milones Envy program; http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html
  • Thanks to Alberto Milone
  • The nVidia driver has been split into different branches; latest and new legacy. See http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-9755/README/appendix-a.html to find out which driver you should be using. Latest=97xx / New Legacy=96xx
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
  • Add ONE of the following lines based on your architecture
deb http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/edgy/latest/32bit binary/
deb http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/edgy/latest/64bit binary/
deb http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/edgy/newlegacy/32bit binary/
deb http://www.albertomilone.com/drivers/edgy/newlegacy/64bit binary/
  • Save the edited file
  • Add the GPG key
wget http://albertomilone.com/drivers/tseliot.asc
gpg --import tseliot.asc
gpg --export --armor albertomilone@alice.it | sudo apt-key add -
  • Update and install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx
sudo apt-get upgrade
  • The upgrade should update your linux-restricted-modules & linux-restricted-modules-common packages.
sudo nvidia-xconfig
  • Add a menu option for nVidia Settings
sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/NVIDIA-Settings.desktop
  • Insert these lines in the new file and save
[Desktop Entry]
Name=NVIDIA Settings
Comment=NVIDIA Settings
Exec=nvidia-settings
Icon=
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;System;
  • Restart the computer and your new drivers should be installed.
  • Test the install with these 2 programs
glxinfo
glxgears

How to setup pivot (screen rotation) with default X.org NVIDIA drivers

  • Some LCD monitors are equipped with the pivot feature, to take advantage of it the display has to be rotated 90 degrees. The default nVidia drivers shipped with X.org ("nv") support software screen rotation. Note that it's unaccelerated and can be slow, read #How to install Graphics Driver (NVIDIA) if you decide to install the proprietary driver.
  • To rotate the screen find the "Device" section for the "nv" driver in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:
Section "Device"                                                                
       Identifier      "NVIDIA Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200]"
       Driver          "nv"
  • Add the following options to this section:
       Option "Rotate" "CW"

Where the "Rotate" option has two possible values (depending on the orientation of the monitor):

  1. CW - rotate the display clockwise (right).
  2. CCW - rotate the display counterclockwise (right).

How to setup pivot (screen rotation) with proprietary NVIDIA drivers

  • Some LCD monitors are equipped with the pivot feature, to take advantage of it the display has to be rotated 90 degrees. The proprietary nVidia drivers support hardware rotation with the Xrandr extension.
  • To enable rotation support find the "Device" section for the "nvidia" driver in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:
Section "Device"                                                                
       Identifier      "NVIDIA Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200]"
       Driver          "nvidia"
  • Add the following option to this section:
       Option          "RandRRotation" "on"
  • Then the display can be rotated (direction depends on the orientation of the monitor) by:
  1. Setting the "Rotation" property to either "Left" or "Right" in the "System > Preferences > Screen Resolution" dialog.
  2. Issuing either "xrandr -o left" or "xrandr -o right" command.

How to disable NVIDIA graphics logo on GNOME startup

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_backup
gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  • Find this section
 ...
Section "Device"
	Identifier	"NVIDIA Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400]"
	Driver		"nvidia"
	BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
...
  • Add the following line below it
   Option		"NoLogo"

How to install Graphics Driver (ATI)

  • See Unofficial ATI Linux driver wiki
  • Or Ubuntuforums.org
  • Or PenLUG.org

How to Correct the Graphics Resolution (Intel)

  • Intel 915g, 945g, etc. graphics chipsets only have a limited set of resolutions initially installed, despite the correct driver being detected.
  • Install the resolution altering tool:
sudo apt-get install 915resolution
  • Run the following to see the availible modes:
915resolution -l
  • Choose a resolution you don't need and replace, for example the following changes 1920x1440 to 1920x1200
915resolution 5c 1920 1200
  • This should add the option for that resolution to the "System>Preferences>Screen Resolution" tool.
  • If it works correctly then you can make the change permanent:
sudo gedit /etc/rc.local
  • Simply add the command you typed in above before:
exit 0

How to show nvidia GPU temperature (nvidia-settings)

At a terminal, type

nvidia-settings

How to detect CPU temperature, fan speeds and voltages (lm-sensors)

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors

Create file called mkdev.sh, and paste in the following

#!/bin/bash
# Here you can set several defaults.
# The number of devices to create (max: 256)
NUMBER=32
# The owner and group of the devices
OUSER=root
OGROUP=root
# The mode of the devices
MODE=600
# This script doesn't need to be run if devfs is used
if [ -r /proc/mounts ] ; then
if grep -q "/dev devfs" /proc/mounts ; then
echo "You do not need to run this script as your system uses devfs."
exit;
fi
fi
i=0;
while [ $i -lt $NUMBER ] ; do
echo /dev/i2c-$i
mknod -m $MODE /dev/i2c-$i c 89 $i || exit
chown "$OUSER:$OGROUP" /dev/i2c-$i || exit
i=$[$i + 1]
done
#end of file

Make this file executable, then run it

sudo chmod +x mkdev.sh
sudo ./mkdev.sh

Now detect sensors, and answer "y" to all questions.

sudo sensors-detect

To load the manual modules, type

sudo /etc/init.d/module-init-tools

Load the modules into kernel with

sudo sensors -s

And check the output

sudo sensors

How to control fan speed (lm-sensors)

Install and config lm-sensors first, see section above. Then run pwmconfig to test your fans

pwmconfig

If you can control fan speeds, great. Now creat a file called /etc/init.d/fancontrol, and paste in the following

#!/bin/sh
#
# Fancontrol start script.
#
set -e
# Defaults
DAEMON=/usr/sbin/fancontrol
PIDFILE=/var/run/fancontrol-pid
PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
test -f $DAEMON || exit 0
. /lib/lsb/init-functions
case "$1" in
       start)
               log_begin_msg "Starting fancontrol daemon..."
               start-stop-daemon --start -o -q -m -b -p $PIDFILE -x $DAEMON
               log_end_msg $?
               ;;
       stop)
               log_begin_msg "Stopping fancontrol daemon..."
               start-stop-daemon --stop -o -q -p $PIDFILE
               log_end_msg $?
               ;;
       force-reload|restart)
               sh $0 stop
               sh $0 start
               ;;
       *)
               log_success_msg "Usage: /etc/init.d/fancontrol {start|stop|restart|force-reload}"
               log_success_msg "  start - starts system-wide fancontrol service"
               log_success_msg "  stop  - stops system-wide fancontrol service"
               log_success_msg "  restart, force-reload - starts a new system-wide fancontrol service"
               exit 1
               ;;
esac
exit 0

Make it excutable

sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/fancontrol

Test it

/etc/init.d/fancontrol start

and

/etc/init.d/fancontrol stop

If it works fine, autoload it when you reboot. Insert the following line into /etc/rc.local, before "exit 0"

/etc/init.d/fancontrol start

How to monitor CPU, GPU temperatures, fan speeds and voltages (GKrellM)

  • Install hddtemp first to monitor hard drive temperatures
sudo apt-get install hddtemp

GKrellM is a hardware monitor that can display CPU and GPU temperatures, fan speeds, voltages, CPU load, network load, disk activity, disk temperature, memory usage, and swap usage. The installation is very easy, and configuration is just a few mouse-clicks. You can set alerts to warn you if the CPU is too hot or there is a fan failure. The hddtemp utility works with GKrellM to allow it to sense the disk temperature, as keeping your disks cool (e.g. less than around 40C) will allow them to last longer than if they run continually at higher temperatures (e.g. above 50C).

sudo apt-get install gkrellm

To run the program

Click Applications -> System Tools -> GKrellM

To configure the settings,

Right click on GKrellM -> Configuration

I was struggling with lm_sensors before, but it doesn't detect all of the sensors on my computer. Later I found "GKrellM". It displays the GPU temperature on my nVidia 6600 GT out of the box. GKrellM also has plugins that show weather info, set reminders, etc.

Add an audio alert (optional Step): Here is how to play an audio message when the CPU is too hot or a fan fails. First you need to find or record your own audio alert files. (I use Audacity to record my own.) Then go to:

Configuration -> Builtins folder (Left side)-> Sensors -> Temperatures folder (Right side)-> CPU -> Alerts Button

Paste ONE of the following lines into a Terminal window first to test the sound. If you have two sound cards, you can use "-ao oss:/dev/dsp1" option to route the sound to the second sound card. Modify the file path and name so it points to the correct file. If you can hear the sound, then copy that line to a command line text field on the GKrellM's Alerts window.

mplayer /home/myfolder/alert_messages/heat_alert.mp3
mplayer -ao oss:/dev/dsp1 /home/myfolder/alert_messages/heat_alert.mp3

CPU

How to enable your CPU's Power Saving/Frequency Scaling features

Enter your BIOS at boot and make sure both ACPI and Cool'n'Quiet (AMD) or SpeedStep (Intel) are enabled. Some BIOSes may not have option at all. If that is the case it is probably enabled by default. Other BIOSes may have the option but it is listed as another name altogether. If that is the case check your BIOS manual for more info.

  • Step 2: Remove Userspace Scaling Software

powernowd

sudo apt-get remove powernowd

cpudyn

sudo apt-get remove cpudyn
  • Step 3: Install CPU Module

Identify your cpu type by runnig the command

cat /proc/cpuinfo

You can also Check the following links AMD CPU Chart - [[2]] Intel CPU Chart - [[3]]

AMD Sempron/Athlon/MP ( K7 )

Socket Types: A, Slot A

sudo modprobe powernow-k7

AMD Duron/Sempron/Athlon/Opteron 64 ( K8 )

Socket Types: 754, 939, 940, S1 ( 638 ), AM2 ( 940 ), F ( 1207 )

sudo modprobe powernow-k8

Intel Core Duo

sudo modprobe speedstep-centrino

Intel Pentium M

sudo modprobe speedstep-centrino

Intel Pentium 4

sudo modprobe p4_clockmod

Others (Unknown)

I'm not entirely sure which cpus are supported using this module. If your cpu doesn't work with one of the above methods try this one.

sudo modprobe acpi-cpufreq
  • Step 4: Scaling Modules
sudo modprobe cpufreq_conservative
sudo modprobe cpufreq_ondemand
sudo modprobe cpufreq_powersave
sudo modprobe cpufreq_stats
sudo modprobe cpufreq_userspace
  • Step 5: Testing/Configuration

Show Available Governors

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors

You should see output similar to

powersave conservative ondemand performance
  • Step 6: Load Modules at Boot

Add the following lines to the end of /etc/modules

cpufreq_conservative
cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_powersave
cpufreq_stats
cpufreq_userspace

Also add the module you selected in Step 3

  • Step 7: Install cpufrequtils

This is a simple, effective tool for using the modules from the command line.

sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

Test that it's working.

cpufreq-info
  • Step 8: Select a governor

The different governors control how the CPU speed is scaled. Your choices are:

ondemand

CPU frequency is scaled based on load.

conservative

The CPUfreq governor "conservative", much like the "ondemand" governor, sets the CPU depending on the current usage. It differs in behaviour in that it gracefully increases and decreases the CPU speed rather than jumping to max speed the moment there is any load on the CPU. This behaviour more suitable in a battery powered environment.

performance

CPU only runs at max frequency regardless of load.

powersave

CPU only runs at min frequency regardless of load.

See [[4]] for more details.

I typically use ondemand. You get a very slight performance hit and save a lot of power (and produce a lot less heat when idle).

Try it out:

cpufreq-set -g ondemand

On systems with more than one CPU you need to repeat the last command for every other CPU you have with specifying the parameter -c (CPU). To set the governor for the second CPU write:

cpufreq-set -c 1 -g ondemand

To see how many CPUs you have type:

ls /sys/devices/system/cpu/ 
  • Step 9: Configure cpufrequtils to automatically set this governor on boot

Edit the file /etc/default/cpufrequtils. Change the line:

ENABLE="false"

to

ENABLE="true"

Set the GOVERNOR value to the governor name you chose in Step 8.

Sources: [[5]] [[6]]

Modems / Network

How to identify Modem chipset

wget -c http://easylinux.info/uploads/scanModem.gz
gunzip -c scanModem.gz > scanModem
chmod +x scanModem
sudo cp scanModem /usr/bin/
  • To identify Modem chipset
sudo scanModem
gedit Modem/ModemData.txt

How to install Windows Wireless Drivers (Ndiswrapper)

  • Read #General Notes
  • In order to install ndiswrapper you need a copy the windows drivers for your Wireless ethernet device.
  • This is only meant to be installed if your card isn't supported by Ubuntu, check Ubuntu's list of natively supported wireless cards.
  • Check ndiswrapper's list of supported wireless cards if your card isn't supported natively, please visit Ndiswrapper's official supported cards list
  • Find out if you have acx module loaded. Because acx module interferes with windows driver, we need to remove it if it is found.
lsmod | grep acx
  • Remove the acx module if found. It could also be acx_pci or similar. Please Note: New kernel updates will auto load the acx module again. So repeat the following two commands every time the kernel is updated.
sudo rmmod acx
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
  • Add a new list at the end of the file like this:
# drivers wireless ACX
blacklist acx
  • Install ndiswrapper and drivers (due to a bug in Edgy, you need to specify ndiswrapper-utils-1.8)
sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-utils-1.8
sudo ndiswrapper -i /location_of_your_wireless_driver/your_driver.inf
sudo ndiswrapper -l
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper
  • Set ndiswrapper to load on startup
sudo ndiswrapper -m
gksudo gedit /etc/modules
  • Add the following module to the list
ndiswrapper
  • Now you can configure your wireless card with ifconfig and iwconfig.
e.g. Supposing wlan0 is your wireless device.
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "AP" key ababababababababab mode Managed
iwconfig
  • You sould now be able to see the MAC address of the access point and signal rate.

Ndiswrapper for Broadcom 43xx wireless chipset

  • The Broadcom 43xx (bcm43xx) wireless chipset is one of the most common chipsets, so special scripts have been written for it.
  • Only follow this if you have a bcm43xx device. To check in the Terminal type:
lspci | grep Broadcom\ Corporation

If it displays a line similar to this,

0000:02:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 03)

you have a Broadcom wireless chipset. Please proceed with the instructions.

  • Put the Ubuntu CD that you installed Ubuntu with in the CD drive.
  • Download this to the desktop (the Firefox default, so if you haven't changed it, that's where it went/will go).
  • In a terminal type
cd ~/Desktop (or wherever you downloaded the file)
tar -xf bcm4318*.tar.gz
sudo ./ndiswrapper_setup

Your wireless chipset should now work. Try rebooting if you have problems. Please see this thread if you have problems: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=197102&highlight=install+ndiswrapper

How to enable WPA with Ndiswrapper driver

  • First, make sure the Ndiswrapper driver works by itself without encryption.
  • Create a file called /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, and paste in the following. Modify the ssid and psk values.
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
 network={
   ssid="YourWiFiSSID"
   psk="YourWiFiPassword"
   key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
   proto=WPA
   pairwise=TKIP
 }
  • Test it. Make sure your router is broadcasting its SSID.
sudo wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -dd
  • If your WPA works. Load it automatically when you reboot.
gksudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces
  • Change your wlan0 section to the following.

If you are using static IP:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.1.20
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
pre-up wpa_supplicant -Bw -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
post-down killall -q wpa_supplicant

or this, if you are using dhcp.

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
pre-up wpa_supplicant -Bw -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
post-down killall -q wpa_supplicant


  • Reboot

How to install Modem Driver (SmartLink)

uname -r (must be 2.6.10-5-386)
wget -c http://easylinux.info/uploads/sl-modem-modules-2.6.10-5-386_2.9.9a-1ubuntu2+2.6.10-34_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i sl-modem-modules-*.deb
sudo apt-get install sl-modem-daemon

Palm

How to configure PalmOS Devices

gksudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/10-custom.rules
  • Insert the following line into the new file
BUS="usb", SYSFS{product}="Palm Handheld*", KERNEL="ttyUSB*", NAME{ignore_remove}="pilot", MODE="666"
  • Save the edited file
  • Add the pilot-applet to the Taskbar by Right-Clicking on an empty spot
  • Follow the instructions on screen

Hard Drive

How to list partition tables

sudo fdisk -l
  • You can also use System -> Administration -> Disks

How to list filesystem disk space usage

df -Th
  • You can also use System -> Administration -> Disks

How to list mounted devices

mount

How to remount /etc/fstab without rebooting

sudo mount -a

USB

How to list USB devices

lsusb

Workaround for random device disconnections

Random disconnection is a kernel bug that is not fixed yet. Some users report randomly disconnecting USB devices, especially external hard drives. One solution is to start the system with the option "irqpoll" in grub, but this doesn't work for everybody, and is believed to make the whole system slower. The other solution is to disable USB 2.0. This will result in way slower read/write, but the connection remains stable.

To disable USB 2.0, type this in the terminal:

sudo modprobe -r ehci_hcd

Test if the copy/write process is stable, and if you want to disable USB 2.0 upon boot, type:

sudo sh -c 'echo blacklist ehci_hcd > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ehci'
sudo update-initramfs -u -k `uname -r`

Optical Drives

How to speed up CD/DVD-ROM

e.g. Assumed that /dev/cdrom is the location of CD/DVD-ROM
sudo hdparm -d1 /dev/cdrom
sudo cp /etc/hdparm.conf /etc/hdparm.conf_backup
gksudo gedit /etc/hdparm.conf
  • Append the following lines at the end of file
/dev/cdrom {
    dma = on
}
  • Save the edited file

How to mount/unmount CD/DVD-ROM manually, and show all hidden and associated files/folders

e.g. Assumed that /media/cdrom0/ is the location of CD/DVD-ROM
  • To mount CD/DVD-ROM
sudo mount /media/cdrom0/ -o unhide
  • To unmount CD/DVD-ROM
sudo umount /media/cdrom0/

How to forcefully unmount CD/DVD-ROM manually

e.g. Assumed that /media/cdrom0/ is the location of CD/DVD-ROM
sudo umount /media/cdrom0/ -l


Monitors / Displays

How to enable Large Widescreen Support

  • 24/23" widescreen monitors sometimes have issues running 1920x1200.
  • Examples include: Dell 2405, HP 2335 or an Apple Cinema Display.
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  • Add the following line to the appropriate "Monitor" section
Modeline	"1920x1200" 154 1920 1968 2000 2080 1200 1203 1209 1235
  • For example the HP2335 should now look like:
Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"hp L2335"
	Option		"DPMS"
	Modeline	"1920x1200" 154 1920 1968 2000 2080 1200 1203 1209 1235
EndSection

How to enable CRT output (external monitor/projector) for notebooks (Intel)

Note: Valid for IntelĀ® graphics controller-based products only

sudo apt-get install i810switch

Turn on CRT output

i810switch crt on

Turn off CRT output

i810switch crt off

Sound

How to setup the surround speakers (5.1 and others) with ALSA

  • Edit the ~/.asoundrc file, create it if it doesn't exist:
gedit ~/.asoundrc
  • Enter the following section:
pcm.!default {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "surround51"
    slave.channels 6
    route_policy duplicate
}
  • This will allow to play the surround output and duplicate the stereo output to all 6 channels (not only front ones).


How to change default soundcard

  • View available soundcards
sudo asoundconf list
  • You should get something like this
Names of available sound cards:
  Live
  V8237
  • Switch soundcard with 'example' being the name of the preferred soundcard
sudo asoundconf set-default-card example

Misc

How to list PCI devices

lspci


How to install a Wacom tablet

For a detailed guide with screenshots about how to configure the "Extended input devices" in your graphic applications, please follow the official Dapper guide at https://wiki.ubuntu.com//Wacom

With the version of the Linux Wacom driver (0.7.2) in Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake, if you unplug you tablet, it won't function when you plug it back in and you will have to restart X. For this reason, it is best to leave the tablet plugged in. This limitation will be removed when the 0.7.4 version of the driver is included in Ubuntu.

  • 1. Using Synaptic package manager, check if the packages xserver-xorg-input-wacom and wacom-tools are already installed - if not, install them. If you prefer using the command line, you can also execute :
     sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-wacom wacom-tools
  • 2. Save a copy of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf :
      sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
  • then edit it with the command line :
      gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
  • and change all /dev/wacom occurences into /dev/input/wacom (created by wacom-tools udev scripts), then save the file.
  • You should be ready to go after you have restarted X. Remember to configure the "Extended input devices" in your graphic applications (Gimp, Inkscape), however you can already check if it's working by moving your stylus on the tablet : the mouse cursor should go through the whole screen.