Slow RTL8188FTV in Debian/Ubuntu

Since the RTL8188FTV usb WiFi chipset is natively supported by Ubuntu/Debian, I got few for my Ubunut machinies.  The WiFi dongle is indeed detected and works straight away, however it is very slow.

A quick search on Google shows this may be caused by its aggressive power management.  After applying the below to disable its power management feature, its connection/speed is noticeable better.

sudo mkdir -p /etc/modprobe.d/

echo "options rtl8188fu rtw_power_mgnt=0 rtw_enusbss=0" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8188fu.conf

Ubuntu 20.04 and Windows shares

If you got this error when you were accessing your Windows share by click on the connecting machine on your file browser, you may want to try to use the direct path instead, i.e. smb://machine name/shared path

Apparently there is a bug in gvfs which causes this issue.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1179576/ubuntu-18-04-problem-to-connect-to-windows-10-smb-share

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1179576/ubuntu-18-04-problem-to-connect-to-windows-10-smb-share

Medibuntu Update

Just update the instructions for installing Medibuntu on 12.04.

http://www.unixmen.com/how-to-add-medibuntu-repository-in-ubuntu-via-terminal-and-gui/

LibreOffice and OpenOffice

When Sun was brought by Oracle, OpenOffice was replaced by LibreOffice.  Although they are supposedly very similar, it seems the LibreOffice is a bit less polished then the OpenOffice, and a bit slower too it seems.

Luckily putting back OpenOffice is not that difficult.   With three easy steps, and you are there:

1. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/office
2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get install openoffice

(reference: http://www.upubuntu.com/2012/05/how-to-install-apache-openoffice-34-via.html)

Moving from Ubuntu 11.10 to Kubuntu 11.10

When KDE moves to 4, I move to Gnome with Ubuntu mainly due to its file manager.  However, lately Gnome and Unity (not just Unity, in fact, it isn't that bad ... try Metro in Windows 8) gives me issues here and there.  These issues are all minor, but enough to annoy me.  Anyway, as you can guess what this post is about.  I move back to Ubuntu after gave KDE another go.  On the same hardware, it just runs better than Gnome.  It fews things are smoother, and things seem to work better.  For instance, simple thing as notifications.  With Compiz on, it gives me issues occasionally.  For instance, the transparency not display properly etc.

So far, my experience with KDE (Kubuntu) is much more pleasant than than Gnome 3 or Unity.

Update:
I had problem problems with DVD/CD writings with Gnome's bundled software.  On the same machine, K3b works perfectly.  I guess I am safely to say it is software issues.

Ubuntu ... where are you?!

I know Ubuntu 11.10 is not a LTS release, but it surely can't be this bad, can it?

One of the reason I upgrade to the new version of Ubuntu is the new version 3 Linux kernel.  However, I do not know where I should point my fingers to, many thinks works well in version 2.x are seriously broken.  For instance, ever since I have upgraded my machines to Ubuntu 11.10, both my laptop and my desktop (okay, both machines use Intel crappy graphics) fails to switch back on the screens after the screen goes into power saving.  I have tried different suggestions from different forums, at the end, I have to disable the power saving (for screen) at least completely (with little success).  Even after I have switched off the options to switch off the screen when idles for both machine, I still having problem at certain situations.  Now, I am really worry each time when I close my laptop lid as I do not know it will come back properly.  There are many time I need to restart the machine complete to regain the screen.

Another problem I have is the sound on my desktop.  It is still broken.  Although the new kernel is certainly running faster and seemingly lighter, I would advise you to stay on the old version of Ubuntu if you can.

Ubuntu, KVM and Resolution

Ubuntu is a nice alternative to Windows.  I have tried few distros like Redhat, SuSe, Mandrive, and Ubuntu is the distro I finally settle mainly because of the APT package system.  I do like to use Linux but I don't like to "fix" Linux.  Flexibility and customizability of Linux to me is a double edged sword, it is great for enthusiasts, but terrible to people just want to use.  Ubuntu is closest I can found (mind you, there is always something better in Linux world)

However, there is one essential thing I really hope can get fixed that is setting the resolution of a monitor.  Yes, there are GUI tools for it but they all seem to work only if the auto detection work.  For instance, if the monitor is connected through KVM, you are out of luck.  You are most likely need to set it manually, and doing so it isn't not nice at all.

For instance, I have recently moved to a newer version of Ubuntu which uses a newer implementation of XOrg.  Unfortunately, the changes made in the new XOrg breaks the driver of my old AGP GeForce graphics card.  I don't really bother too much about all these 3D thing, but one nice feature of a property GeForce driver is its ability to force a resolution and a refresh rate graphically (okay I am still using a CRT monitor).  Without the nVidia driver, I need to do things manually.  To make things even more complicate, the old xorg.conf has been demoted in favor of something else (though you can still use it)

Anyway, cutting a long story short, I had tried a few settings combinations and with my limit knowledge and impatience, I gave up after ending up many times in recovery mode (so I can change my xorg.conf settings)  I finally gave up on my GeForce 400MX card and replaced it with a Radeon 9600 card.  And this time, things is a bit easier.  I can use the xrandr to set the resolution and refresh rate using the instructions from this site:

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-change-display-resolution-settings-using-xrandr.html

Except, I put all these commands in a script file, and call this script file within the /etc/gdm/Init/Default

As I said at the beginning, I would prefer this can be done graphically so average users like myself can do simply basic things such as setting resolutions and refresh rate easily without the need of editing setting files with text editors.

Remote Desktop history

It seems to like a common feature on modern software that record your recent visits to places. However, this can also be an annoying feature as it keeps a trail on where you have been. For instance, the remote desktop keeps a trail of IPs where you have connected to.

Anyway, in order to remove these IPs from the history, open up

~/.local/share/vinagre/history

with your favorite text edit, and remove IPs you don't want. Save the file, and you are done.

Ralink Wifi Adapter Driver

Recently I had got myself a netbook due to its weight and its bargain price (it was heavily discounted when I got it). Unlike the Asus book I got for my sister which I needed to download a custom driver or two in order to get it fully work, Windows has all its driver for this little things. However, the default Ralink driver for the WiFi network seems a bit flaky after sleep. Hence I decided to install the driver from the Ralink directly. On the same website, you can also find the Linux driver. I have not tried it myself, but newly Ubuntu 10.04 certainly needs it.

Older ATi Card and Ubuntu

I have been using VESA driver instead of ATi driver for my old IBM Notebook due to the corrupted notification problem in Ubuntu.

Today, I have found the following from the Ubuntu site, which may seem to be the solution for my problem.

Window corruption with older ATI graphics cards

With older ATI graphics cards with 32MB or less of video RAM some corruption of direct rendered windows, for example OSD notifier windows, might appear. This may be worked around by disabling 'RenderAccel' in the Xorg configuration. (426582)

To do this first exit to the console using the following command:

sudo service gdm stop

Then create an Xorg configuration file with the command below:

sudo Xorg -configure

Then add the 'RenderAccel' option to /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Device"

...

Driver "radeon"

Option "RenderAccel" "off"

EndSection

And restart X/GDM.

sudo service gdm start

Ubuntu and NTFS

It seems that by default Ubuntu does not allow you to format drives with NTFS system. If you want to have more advanced options, you need to install the package ntfsprogs, i.e.

sudo aptitude install ntfsprogs

After the installation, you can format disks with NTFS system and check their "health"

Opera 10

It has been a while since I have been using Opera 10 on Ubuntu. It seems that a usable browser has finally arrived. Firefox is good, but it is awfully slow on Ubuntu (all versions I have tried), especially on those flash sites or Javascript heavy sites. Opera 9 is okay, but it hangs a lot on Javascript/ flash heavy sites. It is a rejoice to see something finally works well.

Getting Skype

Skype can be setup and update periodically by including the

deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free

in the sources.list

What a joy! My Creative Zen finally works in harmony with Ubuntu (without fiddling things manually). I still can't add or remove songs to or from my Zen, but at least now I can play songs on my Zen using RhythmBox. Baby steps.

Opera respository

If you like me who likes Opera browser, you may want to add this into your sources.list file:


## Opera
# wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add -
# deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ sid non-free
# deb http://deb.opera.com/opera-beta/ sid non-free
deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ stable non-free
deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ testing non-free
deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ unstable non-free


Update: You may want to use the official Howto at
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OperaBrowser instead.

This would allows you to get the program and its updates through aptitude

display setting

There are many aspect of Ubuntu has been improved. However, I do not really understand the rational for their decision for removing old good working video setting tool from the setting menu. The new one is not as good as the last one.

Anyway, the tool is still there, but is hidden. The command for it is

sudo displayconfig-gtk

Also, if you are like me who has an old machine running old Intel integrated graphics. You may want to set the color depth to 16 as it does not support color depth higher than it that well