Configuring Ubuntu on my new HP G62-a55SF

As usual, after the Operative System installation, there are some drivers to configure and some programs and features to install.


Comparing to previous releases of Ubuntu an impressive progress has been done on the version 10.04, all the hardware (except the sound card) was recognized after the installation and I only added some plugging to create a better feel-looking.


A. Installing the sound card

To make our sound card works we need to upgrade the Alsa driver from 1.0.21 to 1.0.23 (you can check your current version with the command cat /proc/asound/version)

You can find below the set of commands that you need to enter in order to perform the mentioned update (This tutorial is inspired in the following blog: http://monespaceperso.org/blog-en/2010/05/02/upgrade-alsa-1-0-23-on-ubuntu-lucid-lynx-10-04/):


1. Stop the current Alsa service:

sudo /sbin/alsa-utils stop


2. Install the needed tools to compile and run the further binary packages

sudo apt-get -y install build-essential ncurses-dev gettext xmlto libasound2-dev
sudo apt-get -y install linux-headers-`uname -r` libncursesw5-dev


3. Download the source code of the last Alsa version

cd ~
rm -rf ~/alsa* ~/.pulse*
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/driver/alsa-driver-1.0.23.tar.bz2
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/lib/alsa-lib-1.0.23.tar.bz2
wget ftp://ftp.alsa-project.org/pub/utils/alsa-utils-1.0.23.tar.bz2


4. Create a new folder for the compilation and installation of the previous files

sudo rm -rf /usr/src/alsa
sudo mkdir -p /usr/src/alsa
cd /usr/src/alsa
sudo cp ~/alsa* .

5. Unpack the .tar files

sudo tar xjf alsa-driver*
sudo tar xjf alsa-lib*
sudo tar xjf alsa-utils*


6. Compile and install alsa-driver

cd alsa-driver*
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

7. Compile and install alsa-lib

cd ../alsa-lib*
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

8. Compile and install alsa-utils

cd ../alsa-utils*
sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

9. Remove the 3 tar files in our personal folder

rm -f ~/alsa-driver*
rm -f ~/alsa-lib*
rm -f ~/alsa-utils*

10. Reboot your computer


B. Installing the printer Drivers

A good work has been done regarding the integration of HP printers in Ubuntu. If you are lucky and decided to bought a HP Deskjet F4500 Series, the only thing you need to install are the following packages:

hplip
hplip-gui

To do that I highly recommend to use the Synaptic Package Manager. (This tutorial is based on the following blog: http://www.issux.com/2010/06/27/configurar-impresora-hp-en-ubuntu/ )

After installation you can access to the HPLIP Toolbox (System → Preferences → HPLIP Toolbox) and add a new printer, following the detailed steps (See Fig.1)

Fig.1 Adding a new printer from HPLIP Toolbox

C. Installing Cairo Dock

Cairo dock is a Apple-like-dock available for Ubuntu. The only thing you need to do is to download and install the following packages:

cairo-dock
cairo-dock-plug-ins

After installation you can run it from Applications → Accessories → GLX-Dock (This one with OpenGL enabled is much more funny)


D. Installing Compiz

By installing the whole Compiz package you will be able to enjoy a lot of desktop graphic effects like 3D cube and much more. To do that you only need to install the following packages:

compizconfig-settings-manager
compiz-fusion-plugins-extra

After doing that you can access to the Compiz configuration manager (System → Preferences → CompizConfig Settings Manager) and include the effects wished (You can enable the 3D Cube under the “Desktop” tab).


APENDIX
Here I will leave some useful and tested links if you want to install and configure Debian (Squeeze) on the machine:

*****Wireless*****
http://wiki.debian.org/wl
647970686F676862616E6E6174

*****Sound Card*****
http://www.esdebian.org/wiki/intel-corporation-5-series3400-series-chipset-high-definition-audio-rev-05

*****Touch Pad*****
Config on System/Preferences/Mouse

*****HDMI*****
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Advanced_Linux_Sound_Architecture#Using_udev_to_automatically_turn_HDMI_audio_on_or_off

aplay -l

/etc/alsa/hdmi-switch

*****Chrome*****
dpkg -i google google-chrome-stable_current_i386.deb
cp /opt/google/chrome/google-chrome.desktop /usr/share/applications

In case you installed Debian mint and you want to activate both cores:
sudo cat /proc/cpuinfo
sudo aptitude install linux-image-686-pae linux-headers-686-pae

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Installing Ubuntu on my new HP G62-a55SF

I recently bought a new laptop (see Fig.1) and of course, the first thing I did when I just arrived home was to format it and install a Ubuntu. I tried to perform this process even before to run Windows 7 for the first time but unfortunately it was not possible. Why? Because HP G62 series has an incompatibility with the Linux power administration, making the installation fails (black screen) even before the first welcome screen.

Fig.1 My new laptop

Because of that, in order to discard possible manufacture defects, I needed to run the pre-installed Windows OS and check that the laptop was ok.

To avoid the mentioned problem we need to install our Linux distribution with the option “ACPI=off” checked. But... If the installation fails even before of the first welcome screen, How could we mark this option?

Well, that is exactly what this post aims to explain so let's go!!

A. Prerequisites

An Ubuntu Distribution. With 4Gb RAM and a microprocessor I choose Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and 64-bit you can find the latest versions here: http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

B. Proccess

1. Run your computer with the bootable Linux distribution inserted on the CD/USB
   
   
2. Press F6 several times until the following screen appears (Fig.2):
   
   
   
   Fig.2 Screen After F6
   
   
   
   
3. Press ESC, It will bring you to the main screen (Fig.3):
   
   
   
    Fig.3 Screen After ESC
   
   
   
   
4. Press F6 and the “Other Options” combo will expand. Then press ENTER over the “acpi=off” line. The result should looks like this (Fig.4):
   
   
   
   Fig.4 Check acpi=off
   
   
5. Finally press ESC (main screen) and select “Install Ubuntu”. An interactive, guided, and extremely intuitive process will guide you over the Installation.

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Hello World!!

Hi everybody,

Today at work I have been trying to develop a little application with the idea of generating a simple xml including a set of data retrieved from from an Oracle data base.

For someone with some knowledge on computer science it could look like not a big deal.

I have been developing for almost five years on C# and recently I decided to move into a Linux/C++ development team in my new company (the last year I've worked as a “Product Definition”).

Linux and C++ is another world, that is a fact, but feeling like a complete newcomer after a wide programming experience is something difficult to explain (I spent almost a whole journey to develop the above application).

Through this blog, I will try to share my experience, avoiding people in my same situation to suffer as I am (understanding suffering as a positive way to grow) and, on the top of everything by creating a source of useful knowledge for anybody interested on have a contact with Linux and C++ world.

I will not only limit the content of my blog to C++, If I have an interesting experience with other technology or environment (Python, Eclipse CDT, Virtualization, Project Management, Java, etc) of course it will be included.

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