To a free world

Here’s how to install Java on Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04. This will allow Firefox to run Java applications. It also works for those who are under 64 bit Ubuntu.

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What is Java ?

According to Wikipedia, Java refers to a number of computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems that together provide a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cross-platform environment. Java is used in a wide variety of computing platforms from embedded devices and mobile phones on the low end, to enterprise servers and supercomputers on the high end.

Flash is coming by default in Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 repositories with the 32-bit version. Here is a small procedure to install the 64-bit version.

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What is Flash ?

According to Wikipedia : Adobe Flash (previously called Macromedia Flash) is a multimedia platform originally acquired by Macromedia and currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications. Web site like youtube or dailymotin use this technologie.

Installation

We must start by uninstalling the current version of Flash installed on your computer if necessary as follows :

sudo apt-get remove flashplugin-nonfree flashplugin-installer

Then, we download Flash directly from Adobe :

wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/flashplayer10/libflashplayer-10.0.22.87.linux-x86_64.so.tar.gz

We then extract the archive and move the extracted file in the plugins directory of Firefox :

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tar xvf libflashplayer-10.0.22.87.linux-x86_64.so.tar.gz
sudo mv libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

Now, just restart Firefox to take full advantage of Flash!

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What is Google Earth?

According to Wikipedia, Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called Earth Viewer, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography and GIS 3D globe. It is available under three different licenses: Google Earth, a free version with limited functionality; Google Earth Plus (discontinued), which included additional features; and Google Earth Pro ($400 per year), which is intended for commercial use.

What’s new in Google Earth 5.0?

Here is a short video on youtube that explain it :

Installation

Google Earth is not available by default in the Ubuntu repositories and versions available in the Medibuntu repository are 4.2 and 4.3. So, we need to install the 5.0.11337.1968 version manually.

First, we must download the software as follows:

On Ubuntu 8.10, the default MTU of a network card is 1500. Normally, this causes no problem. I have an application called Elluminate which must connect to the network of Laval University with a mtu of 1480. This small tutorial will show you how to change it and also, how can that change be effective even if you restart the computer.
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Change for the session only

To check the MTU of a network card, use the command “ifconfig” as follows :

~$ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:a0:d1:a7:6d:7b
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
Packets reçus:0 erreurs:0 :0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
collisions:0 lg file transmission:1000
Octets reçus:0 (0.0 B) Octets transmis:0 (0.0 B)
Interruption:216

We note that for my part, the MTU of my network card is 1500. Note that if you have a wireless card, there is good chance that the name is wlan0. To change the MTU, you must again use the ifconfig command by adding at the end, the word mtu followed by the new value you want it. Here’s an example:

sudo ifconfig eth0 mtu 1480

We can validate the change by using the ifconfig command again:

~$ifconfig eth0
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:a0:d1:a7:6d:7b
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1480 Metric:1
Packets reçus:0 erreurs:0 :0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:2
collisions:0 lg file transmission:1000
Octets reçus:0 (0.0 B) Octets transmis:0 (0.0 B)
Interruption:216
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Permanent change

To make this change permanent without having to redo this command after each reboot, we need to add a small script to be executed during the computer start-up when the network card become active. To do this, we must first create the script in the “/etc/network/if-up” folder.

You can use gedit, kate or your favorite text editor like this:

sudo gedit /etc/network/if-up.d/mtu

or

sudo kate /etc/network/if-up.d/mtu

Here is the code of the script:

#!/bin/sh
ifconfig eth0 mtu 1480

Again, if you want to change the mtu of your wireless card, his name is probably wlan0. It will therefore change eth0 by wlan0.

Once the script is created, it must be made executable by the system as follows:

sudo chmod 755 /etc/network/if-up.d/mtu

Now, simply reboot and the mtu should be changed!

Good evening everyone!

If like me, you use an external keyboard, it may be useful to have the “Num Lock” button enabled by default when you start your computer. To do this, I found a very simple utility that allows you to do this. It’s numlockx. To install it, just run this command:
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