Picasa 3.6 works fine on Ubuntu 9.10

The latest version for Linux is Picasa 3.0, and that suck since the latest version of Picasa is now 3.6 (for windows). This doesnt matter much though since the windows version works just fine on Ubuntu 9.10. This is how easy it is to install:

1. A prerequisite is to have Wine installed (Wine is a windows emulation layer that makes it possible to install some windows apps)

• I would suggest to install wine trough Ubuntu Tweak so that you get a PPA (software source) so that the program is updated with all the other softwares you have installed. Ubuntu tweak is awesome, it lets you install some restricted softwares that is not included in Ubuntus official repositories, it also let you to easily tweak Ubuntu settings. So if you dont allready have it installed, do it now! To install Ubuntu tweak just download and double click on the .deb file.

2. Download the Picasa 3.6 Windows version from the Picasa homepage (just make sure you download the Windows XP/Vista/7 version, you might automatically be sent to the Linux download page)

3. Click on the picasa36-setup.exe file and choose to open with Wine (usually you get the option when clicking on the file, if not right click on the file and choose open with wine…). You can also choose to write “wine /path/to/picasa36-setup.exe” in the terminal (change the path to the folder where you downloaded the file). I got an error message when installing but only skipped installing update.exe and everything is working fine!

4. Enjoy using Picasa

Picasa 3.6 in Ubuntu 9.10

Playing poker on Ubuntu, a test of poker clients!

I like to play poker once in a while. I havent played since I started using Ubuntu and soon realized that its not totally uncomplicated to know what poker client to choose. So far I have not found any poker client that run natively on Linux. This does however not mean that you cannot play poker on Linux.

I have made a small evaluation of 9 popular clients. I have tested the clients on my now quite old Acer Aspire 5020 that runs Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and I have installed Wine 1.1.30. Wine lets you run Windows software (check out the app database) on other operating systems such as Linux/Ubuntu. With Wine, you can install and run these applications just like you would in Windows.

There are two ways of getting a poker client to work when using Linux/Ubuntu:

1. Using Wine – Several poker clients can be installed and run on wine.
2. Use a web browser based client that dont need to be downloaded and installed. How ever as my test clearly shows is that a browser based poker client. isnt OS independent and in some cases still only support Windows or Mac.

POKER ROOM	LINUX CLIENT	WIN CLIENT	WORK IN WINE	WEB CLIENT	WORK	GRADE	COMMENTS
Party poker	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	3	ok, its great that their web client support Linux! but they get a big minus for the fact that the win client dont even work on wine.
Poker Stars	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	4	Just download the win client and install in wine, its easy and works well!
bet365	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	4	Works on Wine but slightly unstable and no web client.
betfair	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	0	Unusable, Only support Win/Mac, also for web client.
Unibet	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	0	Nothing works here, only support Win/Mac, also for the web client.
Bet24	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	5	Only the Linux client is missing. Installs Adobe Air under Wine, Great look, fast, great client, great game. Definetly the best Ubuntu/Linux client out there!
Expekt	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	2.5	Installs and runs in Wine but is unstable. No web client and a unstable wine client takes down the score, otherwise a nice client.
Full tilt poker	No	Yes	Yes/No	No	No	2	Installs and runs but the text in dialogs where missing wich made it hard to setup and run. This might be due to individual settings!? Some tweeking might solve the problem.
bet888.com	No	Yes	Yes/No	Yes	No	1	Kinda works but is very unstable and slow. The web client dont either. I cant recommended this client.

How did I test the clients?

Checked out the websites for Linux supported clients and/or web clients. When there where no Linux client I installed the windows client on wine. I have signed up on all sites and tried to run the clients playing “free games”. I have not done any tweeks or changes to try to get a client to work. I’m a simple user and the whole idea is that it should just work! Please comment if you have another experience of any of the these or other clients in Ubuntu. I will play with the client that 1. have a Linux supported client or a working web client, or 2. has a client that works flawlessly on wine.

Conclusion

From my quick and simple evaluation I can conclude that I will use bet24’s poker client that has a working web client and that works great on Wine, I also like the look and feel of the client. As a backup I would play on Poker stars where the win client works fine on Wine, minus tough for the missing web client and not as nice looking client. I have also noticed that basically all platforms have clients for Win/Mac but dont even mention whether they do or dont run on Linux/Wine. Some poker rooms have a short FAQ entry but generally there is very poor information. The great exception is Party Poker that displays web client support for Linux on the front page banner! Thank you Party Poker!

bet24 poker client works like a charm on Ubuntu!

So my conclusion is simple, use bet24 for playing poker on Ubuntu/Linux, there you can use both the win client on wine and their web client! Good luck!

Interesting features in the next Ubuntu version 9.10 Karmic Koala

The next Ubuntu version of Ubuntu, version 9.10 (the nr 10 is for the release month) called Karmic Koala is to be released October 29th (keep track of new ubuntu releases in you gcal). This is a so called LTS (Long Term Support) release. There are alpha versions available now for the impatient.

I have until now been of the opition that the next release seem to become pretty lame, lacking any “big” or revolutionary features. As the list of features get clearer the more exited I become The news from OMG Ubuntu have made reconsider. There seem to be several interesting features in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala (for more information please read the excellent blog from OMG Ubuntu):

• The main features have from start been better cloud computing support and
• Improved Netbook remix editions for better utilisation of small screens etc

This is nice but not “killer” features for me personally, but here are some other new features to be exited about:

• The most exiting feature is a very tight integration with Wine
• A improved migration assistant
• Improved network manager
• Social network integration/notifier
• Integration with UbuntuOne – Canonical’s cloud storage service
• Flickr free startup with x-based start-up screen
• Support for running Android applications
• Only one admin/settings menu
• Faster bootup (the goal is under 25 sek)
• Replace add/remove with “Software store”
• New Grub botloader version
• Support for the new file format EXT 4
• Better development tools
• Maybe a new theme colour

More sources about the Karmic Koala

• OMG Ubuntu
  
• Web upd8
• ars technica
• reddit

Installing Firefox 3.5 In 64 bit Ubuntu 9.04

I have tried and successfully installed Firefox 3.5 on my 64 bit Ubuntu 9.04 installation. First I just downloaded and tested 3.5 for a couple of weeks. This version of Firefox is installed parallel of the version installed via add/remove program and does not affect that version. I then “upgraded” the old firefox 3.0.14 to Firefox 3.5.

Test install

1. Download the firefox-3.5.3.tar.bz2 file from www.mozilla.com
2. Extract the file by clicking on the file so that it opens in a new window, in the menu click on “extract” (just like a zip file)
3. Place the extracted Firefox catalogue where you want it, a tip is to place it in your home catalogue and rename it to .firefox3.5, this way it will be a “hidden” catalogue placed in the same place as all your other apps. To see your hidden files and folders in Nautilus, click on the view menu and check the show hidden files box (or simply press alt+h).
4. To start Firefox, go to the catalogue you installed and click on the file named “Firefox”
5. To create a shortcut in the menu, right click on the program menu < edit menu< new object and the path to “Firefox” /home/X/.firefox/firefox

Enjoy!

Upgrade to Firefox 3.5

I used the ubuntuzilla script to install the latest firefox version and the excellent guide from tombuntu. Easy and smooth!

Install flash player plugin in 64bit Ubuntu 9.04

To install the flash plugin on 64 bit Ubuntu, use the 32 bit version “install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz” that you can download from adobe. There are a 64bit version of flash player 10 available now, but it didnt work for me. I’ve read that it’s because Firefox is only available in 32-bit or can only use 32 bit plugins… I dont know its true but both flash and moonlight only worked in 32 bit versions for me.

To install the flashplayer

1. Download the “install_flash_player_10_linux.tar.gz”
2. Extract the file libflashplayer.so (Extract the file by clicking on the file so that it opens in a new window, in the menu click on “extract”) and
3. Copy the file in to the catalog /home/X/.mozilla/plugins, (X being your computer/home folder name). If you are new to Ubuntu: .mozilla is a hidden file, to see your hidden files and folders in Nautilus, click on the view menu and check the show hidden files box (or simply press alt+h).
4. To verify that the plugin works, open Firefox and write “about:plugins” in the adress bar, you should see the following result.

Setting up a ubuntu home network

I have always found setting up network hard. I have strugled and only made lame attempts that hardly never worked. So I have not tried to set up a home network with my ubuntu computers until now. This is how I did it:

1.I started by making sure both computers are connected to my wireless netgear router

2. I then installed samba from program > add/remove software > samba

3. I then added smbfs from synaptic package manager system > administration > synaptic package manager > smbfs

(I dont know if I really need both samba and smbfs but after reading some forum posts I installed both and it does work…)

4. I then go to the folder I whant to share on the network, for example “pictures” in my home folder.

5. Mark the folder and right click and choose share options

6. I then choose to “Share this folder”

7. Repeat steps 1-4 on other computer(s)

8. Click on the menue Places > Network > Windows Network > WORKGROUP and here you should now find the connected computers!

This worked for me and was much more simple than I expected. I actually read alot before starting and almost gave up without even trying I also started by making the misstake and not share any folder before trying to connect to the network computers. A folder must be shared for the computer to show on the network, so make sure to share a folder on each computer!

My new Desktop Theme

I really like my latest desktop look!

I found the wallpaper here from the excellent blogg clububuntu.

I also use gdesklets that I have written aboute here, and the themes I have described how I installed/use to pimp my desktop.

The theme I use right now is a modified version of “DarkRoom”

Enjoy

My latest Desktop

Adding a network printer in Ubuntu

I have several Ubuntu computers at home all running Ubuntu 9.04 but I only have one printer. To add the printer to the home network was much easier than I expected, this is how I did it (I followed this exellent guide):

1. On the computer with the printer, open up printer manager with by going to System in the top toolbar panel, then Administration and Printing. This will open the Printer Configuration window.

2. Select Server in the menu bar, and then Settings.

3. If this computer only serves as a Print Server and does not need access to a printer connected to another computer select the second box. “Publish shared printers connected to this server”

4. Select the OK button.

1. On the other, network connected computer that is NOT connected to the printer (If both computers are receiving an internet connection from the same router then these two computers are networked).go to Systems > Administration > Printing Server > Settings

2. Select the first box “Show printers shared by other systems”

3. Select the OK button. In a few seconds the Printer Configuration window will update and icons for the printer/s attached to the Server will be shown.

TaDa!

I have a HP PSC2110 so I also install HPLIP Toolbox from the software repository by clicking on program > add/remove software > search for HPLIP > Apply

Skype with video chat now available for Linux

A new version of Skype for Linux was released a while back. The development of Skype for Linux has been left behind and been very basic while the development of the Windows version has progressed. Finally there is a new release available! The big news for this version  is the support for video chat, something that has been missing until now!

Just download the new version direct from skype. The version on their homepage says for Ubuntu 8.10 but it works just as well for Ubuntu 9.04. Download the .deb file and click on the file to install, it cant get much easier

Easy fix for gDesklets that dont want to start

On one of my computers (Dell XPS M1530) I got an Error Message after installing and trying to run gDesklets: Failed to execute child process “gdesklets” (No such file or directory). Or in Swedish “Misslyckades med att köra barnprocessen “wxvlc” (Filen eller katalogen finns inte”).

There is a very easy fix for this problem. This happens due to some problem related to what Phyton version is installed. To fix the problem:

1. System > Administration > Synaptic Manager

2. Make a Quick Search, enter “python2.5″ (without quotation marks)

3. Install

4. Done, now start gDesklets

I found this fix here (thank you fleaaccela): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1158189

To get gDesklets to autostart at bootup, read this post:

http://bernehjalt.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/how-to-autostart-gdesklets/

The Ubuntu 9.04 Experience som months later

As I have mentioned in previous posts I was positively “surprised” after installing Ubuntu 9.04. I have read a lot of negative comments from people that have had problems… well after a couple of months, running Ubuntu at home on my Acer Aspire 5020 and at work on my Dell XPS M1530, and installed Ubuntu on my Acer Aspire One I can only say that I am very happy. I have only found a few not insignificant but still manageable problems.

• At work the most serious problem is to access and save files on the shared file servers. Nautilus doesn’t work very well so I use dolphin instead but at some times there are problems saving files on the network. So I have to save locally to then copy the file to the network. This is very annoying and distrupting at work. SOLVED – I maped the network drives in places so I can now access them and save normaly!
• I have had some problems with (on my work PC, Dell XPS) the sound, using USB headsets, (spotify wont work with the USB headset), skype etc. It does work… sometimes, but it is very annoying and disrupting at work. SOLVED – I bought new and better (cheaper as well!) headphones
• The ATI graphics card drivers on my work PC, Dell XPS doesn’t save the external Acer AL1916W screen resolution so every time I boot up I have to change the resolution, this is also annoying. It is most likely possible to hack this in xorg.conf but I don’t want to do that. I actually had the same problem with WinXP, I always had to set the external screen resolution… But still, it should work.

I cant recall any problems with my Acer Aspire 5020.

On my Acer Aspire one there is one serious problem that actually have made me not use ubuntu there so much. After installation everything is fine, wireless pops up and works just like with the other PCs. However after some time (one or several reboots) the wireless mysteriously stops working… I have read that others have had the same problem. I have not researched this yet… anyone have any fix?

So my conclusion is that it actually works really well, I use Ubuntu as my desktop at work (as a marketer, so Im no techie ) and the problems are so far manageable. I now have a reliable and fast desktop, pimped in my taste. So with this release I have taken the step to move over to Ubuntu.