I am using Ubuntu 9.10 but steps should be similar for other distributions too.

Video Tearing with Compiz

Ubuntu’s NVidia drivers are okay for this card. I tried playing 1080p video and it works well if you don’t have compiz turned on. When compiz is on, the video tearing is noticeable. This is what I did to solve it:

1. In CompizConfig Settings Manager (installable via Ubuntu Software Cemter), go to General Options > Display Settings. Set Refresh Rate to 60 and check “Sync to VBlank.”
2. Enable “Sync to VBlank” under nvidia-settings. To do this, go to System > Administration > NVIDIA X Server Settings. Then, choose OpenGL Settings, and check the “Sync to VBlank” box.

This stopped the tearing I guess, but the 1080p became very choppy, probably because the driver is old. Once I installed the latest drivers, the problem was no more.

Update NVidia Drivers

The drivers in the Ubuntu repositories are almost always old. To install the latest version, go to the NVidia site and download the latest version. As of Feb. 22, 2010, the latest version is 190.53. Set the .run as executable by right clicking the file > Properties > Permissions and then checking “Allowing executing file as program.”

Before installing, close X by typing into a terminal:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

Then run the installer:

sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.53-pkg2.run

Choose “Yes” for every dialog.

After installation, start X again:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

And the new drivers should be loaded.

Wheel:

The basic mouse functions will work in Linux but to get the mouse wheel customized, download Revoco 0.5. Extract the contents to some folder, go to that folder in the terminal and compile it by typing “make”.

Run revoco without any parameters to see the usage. Remember to run it as root! I personally prefer setting it to auto so I’ll run something like this:

sudo ./revoco auto=18

Where the number indicates the sensitivity. 0 = free scroll, 50 = clicky scroll.

The neat thing about revoco is that, unlike Logitech’s SetPoint, you only need to run this once and the settings stay regardless of whether the next computer you plug it in has SetPoint or revoco. Handy if you need it to function the way you like on a work computer

Extra Functions:

Download btnx and you can set functions to the mouse wheel/buttons. Remember to detect the mouse buttons first before assigning features.

Note that while btnx has a tab for revoco, it may not work if revoco is removed from the build of btnx due to a licensing issue.

So you have a Linux desktop or server and want to share files and/or printers to your Windows PCs or Macs. Luckily, all three operating systems support SMB so let’s use that. With Samba you can share files and printers on your home network and protect your shares with a username and password.

Install

First, fire up a terminal window and install the Samba server and GUI Configuration Tool:

sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba

Once finished the configuration tool can be found under System > Administration > Samba

Settings

Adding a new user.

Make sure the workgroup matches that of your Windows PCs by going to Preferences > Server Settings. If you are using Windows 7 or Vista, it’s “workgroup” (and Samba should already be set to that). If XP, it’s usually “mshome”.

Create a username and password to secure the shares by going to Preferences > Samba Users and click on “Add User.” Add as many users as you need.

Unix Username: Pick the linux user account
Windows Username / Samba Password: The Windows username and samba password will be used for authentication when accessing the share.

Shares

Time to add a share. Click the “+” button.

Adding a new share.

Directory: This is the directory which you want to share.
Share Name: The share name will be the name that will appear when you browse the server.
Description: This will not be shown over the network and is just for organization.
Writable: Check if you want to be able to write to the folder.
Visible: When checked, the share will be visible to users who browse the server. If unchecked, it will not be visible but is still accessible explicitly.

In the Access tab, set permissions by checking the users who may access this share.

Accessing the Share

Back in Windows, access the samba server by opening an Explorer window and entering in the address bar:

\\[ip address of the samba server]

To access a hidden share:

\\[ip address of the samba server]\[hidden share name]

When opening a share for the first time, Windows may prompt for a username and password. Just enter the username and password created earlier.

And now you have a fully functioning Samba server.

Note: The GUI config tool is pretty basic. More advanced options can be set in the /etc/samba/smb.conf file. If this is edited, you can restart Samba server without rebooting:

sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart

A friend lent me her Eee PC for a few days so I can replace the default Xandros with Ubuntu. Because this install isn’t for me, I’d like to make this setup the least painful as possible to use. After much experimenting with booting without a disc and fiddling with the tiny hardware, I have found the way to install a pretty good setup. In this noob-friendly guide I will walk you through how to install a distribution of eeebuntu and set it up so that all hardware works (more or less).

Before we start let’s take a look at the specs of the Asus Eee PC 701SD:

900MHz Intel Celeron-M
512MB DDR2 RAM
8GB Solid State Drive
Intel GMA 900 Graphics
Realtek Wifi
Attansic LAN

Preparation

To install eeebuntu, you will need either a external disc drive, a 1GB+ flash drive, or a 1GB+ SD card. In this guide I used an SD card but instructions will be similar if you use a flash drive. I don’t have an external disc drive but I guess you would just burn the eeebuntu ISO to a disc.

First, you will need to grab a eeebuntu ISO. You can choose from the standard edition which features the desktop that we all know and love or netbook remix which has the Xandros interface. Whichever you choose, install steps will still be the same.

While the ISO is downloading, get UNetbootin which will “burn” the iso to your SD card or flash drive and make it bootable. UNetbootin is available for Windows and Linux. I will use the Windows version.

Also, you might as well head on over to array.org to fetch some kernel modules to get WiFi working. As of writing, eeebuntu is at 1.0 which is based upon Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. In this case, you’ll want to click “Hardy” and then click on “Use Alternate Install Method” to see the two packages that you must get. They should be linux-image-*.deb and linux-ubuntu-modules-*.deb. Save these somewhere; you’ll need them later.

When the eeebuntu ISO has finished downloading open up UNetbootin and choose the eeebuntu ISO and the SD card drive or flash drive you like to get it “burned” into. You might also want to format the drive just in case…

If you have any space left on your install medium then you might as well drop the two deb files you got from array.org inside.

We are done the preparation. Let’s move onto the eee…

Installation

Assuming you are ready to say goodbye to Xandros, put in the install medium and power the machine up. During its boot, repeatedly press ESC to launch its boot menu. Choose which drive you’d like to boot. Since I used an SD card, I would choose the card reader.

At this point, you should be in the eeebuntu boot menu. Choose the install option and follow directions. I decided to wipe the entire SSD.

Post-Install

USB/SD Mounting

Upon boot, chances are that SD cards and/or flash drives won’t mount properly. To fix this, fire up a terminal and enter:

sudo gedit /etc/fstab

Comment out the last line by adding a # as the first character in that line. That line may look something like this:

/dev/sdc1  /media/cdrom0  udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec  0   0

Save and then plug in an SD card or USB flash drive to see it work.

Networking

You may have noticed by now that neither WiFi nor LAN is working. Many guides on the internet say that, these instructions are for eee 1000+ models and totally neglect the 701SD. This is what caused me to despair for several days because I couldn’t find another solution. Anyways, remember those two deb files you downloaded? Copy them over to your home directory and launch the terminal and install them:

sudo dpkg -i linux-image-*.deb linux-ubuntu-modules-*.deb

Of course, you’ll need to replace the above file names with the actual file names. Let it install and then restart. WiFi should now be working.

Adding the array.org repository

Go to array.org’s install instructions for your version of eeebuntu. Click your version of ubuntu (if you are using eeebuntu 1.0 then click on “Hardy”). Follow instructions from “Setup the Repository” to the first step of “Uninstall the Generic Kernel (Optional)” inclusive.

For example, for me I ran the following in the terminal:

sudo mv -v array-hardy.list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/
wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-apt-key.asc
wget http://www.array.org/ubuntu/array-hardy.list

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-eeepc
sudo apt-key add array-apt-key.asc

sudo apt-get remove linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-restricted-modules-generic

Post-Installation Scripts

A fresh eeebuntu install contains a few scripts that you may wish to run. They are located at /eeebuntu/scripts/. Open up a terminal there and do the following:

sudo ./config.sh
sudo ./config-gnome.sh

This will get a few things working, including the webcam.

Shutdown

If your Eee is not shutting down properly (ie. The LEDs are not turning off when it appears to have powered off) then apply the following quick fix:

sudo gedit /etc/init.d/halt

Add the following to the beginning of the file:

rmmod snd-hda-intel

Save and now it should shut down properly.

Caveats

Pressing Fn+F2, which should normally toggle wireless, will toggle wireless and freeze eeebuntu. If you accidentally press it and the whole OS hangs, then do a hard reboot. Once you start eeebuntu again, your wireless won’t be working. Press Fn+F2 again. eeebuntu should not hang when attempting to enable wireless, but it wont work immediately. To make eeebuntu recognize that the wireless is enabled, do another reboot. Clearly, trying to disable wireless using this method yields no benefit. Just don’t do it.

I have tested suspend a few times and it seems to work fine except the volume applet crashes consistently when resuming. Fortunately, it will ask if you’d like to reload it automatically.

Graphics

Compiz is enabled by default and it works smoothly. I haven’t tested second monitor support since I don’t have a VGA cable lying around.

Battery

On a full charge, the battery applet reports that it will last about 2 hours. I don’t know if that’s supposed to be normal for a little thing like this.

Conclusion

Figuring out the networking was the most headache inducing task. Once everything is set up, eeebuntu works nicely, although there are still a few flaws and inconveniences, which is slightly disappointing especially for a distribution that is tailored for Eee PCs. eeebuntu comes with a few apps preinstalled that are not found in an out of the box install of Ubuntu like aMSN, Conduit, AWN, and quite a bit more. Out of the 8GB in the SSD, you might have about only half of it left by now so consider uninstalling some packages.

References: array.org, eeebuntu Forums, eeebuntu Easy Installation Guide, Eee User Forums

Fresh out of the oven, I test the latest offering from Canonical, Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex, on my Macbook 2,1. Currently, I dedicate 32GB of my hard drive to Windows with Boot Camp. Because Wubi for some reason does not work in boot camp, and Disk Utility was being rather wonky, I will sacrifice my whole hard drive to test this release.

Macbook2,1 Specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz
1GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz (2x 512MB)
120 GB Hitachi Hard Drive
HL-DT-ST DVDRW  GSA-S10N (LG DVD Drive)
Intel GMA 950 Graphics
Atheros Wi-Fi
Intel HD Audio
Apple Bluetooth

Additional Hardware:

Samsung SyncMaster 225BW External Monitor

This experiment aims to determine the level of hardware compatibility of Ubuntu on the 2nd generation Macbook and not necessarily provide a general review. I will also make comparisons of this release with my Hardy Heron experience post.

LiveCD Impressions

Intrepid Ibex sports a shinier interface than Hardy Heron. Some noticeable differences include the slightly tweaked interface in the menus and a new progress bar.

The LiveCD detected my 1280 x 800 resolution properly when the laptop was not connected to an external monitor. When Ubuntu booted with the external monitor, it used 1024 x 768 mirrored on both screens.

Installation

Pre-Install Note: If you have OSX and plan to single boot Ubuntu, then change the startup chime to something acceptable by changing the volume inside OSX before you wipe it. It will be impossible to change the chime volume without OSX.

For some reason, Ubuntu 8.10 sometimes does not boot after an install with complete wipe of the hard drive. Upon boot, I have seen the dreaded flashing question mark folder numerous times. After many failed attempts, I think I figured out a way to a proper install. (This procedure is for a single boot Ubuntu.)

1. Install Ubuntu by inserting the disc and holding the C key as the Macbook boots.
2. Do a regular install, wiping the hard drive along with OSX.
3. At this point if after the reboot Ubuntu runs, then good for you. Otherwise, insert your Mac OSX disc and reboot your computer holding down the C key again.
4. Once you are inside the OSX install, click Utilities and then choose Terminal.
5. Type “diskutil list” to list the partitions that you have on your hard drive. Look for your Ubuntu partition which may look something like disk0s1. (Diskutil may report this partition with the name, “Microsoft” something)
6. We will “bless” the Ubuntu partition so that it boots by invoking the command “bless –device /dev/disk0s1 –setBoot –legacy –verbose” where disk0s1 is your Ubuntu partition.
7. Restart your computer without the OSX disc. Ubuntu should start up. (Let me know if this doesn’t work!)

Strangely, I noticed that during the install process the map for the time zone sometimes behaves rather erradically in this release and I had a little bit of difficulty choosing my city on the map. Other than that, installation goes as swimmingly as before except now we are greeted with shiny partition bars. Yum.

Also, I noticed that the “Migrate documents and settings” features actually recognizes my Windows XP for once!

Wireless

Thanks to the included Atheros driver, the Macbook’s wireless chipset is now automatically recognized and functioning. This removes one of the biggest annoyances of setting up Ubuntu on this computer. Mad props to Canonical and Atheros.

Trackpad

Two finger scrolling does not work by default although the right hand side of the tackpad serves as the scrolling area. Because there is no default two finger tap support and there is no secondary button on the trackpad, you will have to tap the bottom right corner to right click. (This setting is a little finicky. Keep trying until you manage to right click.)

This page has the solution. Put the code inside a file called anything you like with the extension fdi (e.g. appletouch.fdi) and place it inside /etc/hal/fdi/policy. You’ll need to do a full reboot for these settings to take effect.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>
    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.touchpad">
      <match key="info.product" contains="appletouch">
        <merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">true</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.VertEdgeScroll" type="string">false</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.HorizEdgeScroll" type="string">false</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.VertTwoFingerScroll" type="string">true</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.HorizTwoFingerScroll" type="string">true</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.RTCornerButton" type="string">false</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.RBCornerButton" type="string">false</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.LBCornerButton" type="string">false</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.LTCornerButton" type="string">false</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton1" type="string">1</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton2" type="string">3</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton3" type="string">2</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.PalmDetect" type="string">1</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.ClickFinger1" type="string">1</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.ClickFinger2" type="string">3</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.ClickFinger3" type="string">2</merge>
      </match>
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>

The setting still produces common accidental clicks as you move the cursor. To work around this, keep reading.

You should also notice that the trackpad requires a little more pressure from the finger to move the cursor. This may be fixed by installing gSynaptics (or “Touchpad” from Add/Remove).

sudo apt-get install gsynaptics

Once that is installed, go to System > Preferences > Touchpad. Set the sensitivity to whatever you wish. (Mine is at almost max.) While you are here, you should also probably change the tapping time under the “Tapping” tab to something very low so that you don’t accidentally click while moving the mouse.

If anyone has a more OSX-like setting such as one including drag-lock, please share. I know they’re out there.

Keyboard

The keys with lights (num lock, caps lock) no longer light on, but still functions. I still haven’t figured out a way to type with the numpad.

Pressing the function keys will change brightness, volume, etc. Fn + Function key will invoke the actual F1, F2, F3… keys with the exception of F11 and F12 keys. F12 invokes a right click and F11 types out previously existing text (don’t ask!). (Thanks, Tomas for pointing this out.) It looks like some keyboard problems, including the eject key, can be solved by installing pommed. (Thanks, Cybik.)

sudo apt-get install pommed

To get the LED lights working, simply uninstall mouseemu.

sudo apt-get remove mouseemu

Once mouseemu is removed, you’ll notice that the LEDs work, but none of your other keys are responding. A restart is all that’s needed at this point. (Thanks, AlesFlowers.)

Graphics/Display

The Intel GMA 950 works fine out of the box.

Monitor positioning in the “Screen Resolution” app actually works now and so do dual monitors!

External monitor still doesn’t work properly by itself with the laptop screen turned off as evidenced here.

When the display changes brightness (such as when the computer is left idle), the screen should turn down the brightness. In 8.04, this worked wonderfully with a smooth transition. In 8.10, it appears jerky.

iSight

Does not work out of the box. Refer to the community documentation.

Sound and Microphone

Speakers seemed very quiet even when at max volume but after some random tweaking, I found that you should unmute only and adjust the Surround volume to what sounds the most natural. My Surround setting is at maximum.

The built in microphone does not seem to work out of the box.

Other

Bluetooth

Bluetooth appears to work out of the box.

Battery

It still feels like the battery is being drained faster than OSX.

Hard Drive

The load and unload cycles for my hard drive is quite high. If you would like to check yours, follow these instructions (taken from here).

sudo aptitude install smartmontools
sudo smartctl -H /dev/sda
sudo smartctl  -a /dev/sda | grep Load_Cycle_Count

In the reported line, take a look at the last number. Check how much it increases in some length of time and calculate, given that rate, how many cycles will occur in one day or one hour. The ideal rate is 90 or less cycles per day. I get about 21 cycles per 10 minutes (or 126 per hour or 3024 in a day)!

Because the hard drive is a very mechanical component, parking and unparking can deteriorate it. A hard drive is meant to last about a certain number of total cycles. Here is the bug report.

On that blog post, there is more information about the load/unload cycles bug and an “ugly fix” which lets you sacrifice battery life and hard drive protection from sudden movements for a longer hard drive life.

(Thanks, AlesFlowers for the heads up on this issue.)

There is a fix which can reduce the number of cycles. Simply open up /etc/default/acpi-support

sudo gedit /etc/default/acpi-support

Change the value of ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE to true. (Thanks, Mikkel.)

Etc.

Suspend now works perfectly.

Hibernate sort of worked. When hibernating it doesn’t actually shut the computer down so I had to use the power button. It restored from hibernation properly though.

There is a bug with the Screenshot Utility when Compiz is running and there exists a window close effect. The utility takes the screenshot immediately as it closes so it will capture its own window as it is fading out. Workaround: Set the delay to at least one second.

Finally, flash installs inside Firefox properly!

The Macbook generates quite a bit of extra heat in Ubuntu. I’ll see if there is a solution to this.

Conclusion

Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex has slightly improved 2nd generation Macbook support with the inclusion of Atheros Wifi drivers, and proper dual monitor support. Things that still dont work properly out of the box include better trackpad support, dedicated external monitor support, and volume controls. It feels more polished than Hardy Heron, but it for some reason introduces a numerous new bugs (e.g. no LED on caps/num lock keys, numpad no longer works, eject key no longer works, flickering display brightness) which is disappointing. Thankfully, many of these problems can be remedied. Slight hardware and configuration issues aside, after using it for a few days it really does feel more polished than before.

If you would like to tinker some more so that Ubuntu feels more like a Mac then consider taking a look at this article.

References: “How to single boot Linux without delay on Macbook” post, Community Ubuntu Macbook Documentation, Ubuntu Demon’s Blog

Macbook2,1 Specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz
1GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz (2x 512MB)
120 GB Hitachi Hard Drive
HL-DT-ST DVDRW  GSA-S10N (LG DVD Drive)
Intel GMA 950 Graphics
Atheros Wi-Fi
Intel HD Audio
Apple Bluetooth

You may download and try out Linux Mint here if you wish. YMMV.

Installation

As usual, I wipe my entire hard drive and start from scratch. Installation is almost identical to and just as good as Ubuntu 8.04. Easy and flawless.

Wireless

Still no MadWifi drivers mean no out of the box wireless. However, Mint does pre-install both Ndiswrapper and unrar. That way, I had to just pop in my Boot Camp disc, find the Atheros XP drivers (atherosxpinstaller.exe) and using the terminal, unrar the file. Then, I go to the Control Centre, click Windows Wireless Drivers, and choose the net5416.inf file.

It’s unfortunate that the user still needs to take steps to get their wireless working, but Mint helps by pre-installing some required software.

Trackpad

The trackpad feels essentially unchanged from a regular Ubuntu install which is to say, disappointingly bad. A better configuration is provided in the Ubuntu Documentation and my previous Ubuntu experience post.

Keyboard

The keyboard functionality is identical to Ubuntu 8.04 except the brightness indicator looks different from the volume indicator.

Graphics

Desktop effects works out of the box as expected, but Mint includes the Advanced Desktop Effects application (also called CompizConfig Settings Manager) which lets you use a plethora of other, flashier, desktop effects. Nice.

The external monitor issue that I have described in my Ubuntu post is still present.

Sound and Microphone

Quietness and non-logarithmic volume controls are still present. Microphone fix available in Ubuntu Documentation.

Bluetooth

Working, as expected.

Battery

I’ve used Mint for about half an hour now and the battery has already dropped to 79%. The battery life seems to be no different from Hardy.

Conclusion

Linux Mint is a souped up Ubuntu (and that’s a good thing). I sometimes prefer Mint over Ubuntu because it does a lot of things that Ubuntu should be doing or would be convenient. This distro is more featured than Ubuntu out of the box with Ndiswrapper, CompizConfig, unrar, and more that I haven’t come across. Unfortunately, that is all. Mint does not bring better compatibility to the table (at least, for the 2nd gen Macbook) than Ubuntu does. The things that worked still do, and those that didn’t still don’t.

For more information, refer to my Ubuntu Hardy experience.

Installation

First, install the OpenSSH server. During this time, you may want to record the server’s IP address or host name.

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Second, you’re done.

Connecting

From Linux or Mac OS X

Linux and Mac OS X includes SSH functionality via the Terminal. Simply fire up Terminal in Applications > Accessories for Ubuntu or /Applications/Utilities/ for OS X and enter the following

ssh -l login_name ip_address

For example:

ssh -l lijamez 192.168.1.123

You should then be prompted for your password that is associated with your account on the Ubuntu box.

From Windows

You will need to download PuTTY. Once downloaded, open it up and enter the IP address or host name into the Host Name field. Then connect and your login name will be prompted.

File Transfers (SFTP)

You can use scp to transfer files to and fro.

scp /home/user/file.txt login_name@ip_address:/home/user2/

An example:

scp /home/james/file.txt lijamez@192.168.1.123:/home/lijamez/

Alternatively, you may use a dedicated application if you need to transfer many files. Use port 22.

For Linux, you can use gFTP or your desktop environment’s file browser.

For Mac, there is Cyberduck.

For Windows, there is WinSCP.

For all of them, there is FileZilla.

Disable

To disable the OpenSSH service, go to System > Administration > Services. Find “Remote shell server (ssh)” and uncheck it.

References: Techotopia

Macbook2,1 Specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz
1GB DDR2 SDRAM 667 MHz (2x 512MB)
120 GB Hitachi Hard Drive
HL-DT-ST DVDRW  GSA-S10N (LG DVD Drive)
Intel GMA 950 Graphics
Atheros Wi-Fi
Intel HD Audio
Apple Bluetooth

Note that this is my personal experience with Ubuntu 8.04 on my Macbook. YMMV.

Installation

I wiped the entire hard drive clean using Ubuntu’s installer to avoid partitioning issues described in a bug. Other than that, installation is extremely straightforward and flawless.

Wireless

The lack of MadWifi drivers in Hardy continue the annoyance of tethering your laptop to an RJ-45 cable to manually download and compile the drivers to get online. My preferred method is to install the Windows Atheros drivers with Ndiswrapper. The instructions for doing so are in the Ubuntu documentation.

The wireless gear that are on my network are configured to have a static IP address for organizational purposes. Once the Atheros drivers are installed, I couldn’t get static IPs to work even with the correct desired IP address, subnet mask, DNS Server, and router address from my working Windows and OSX. I tried both Ndiswrapper and MadWifi drivers and neither of them can get the Internet on a static IP. Maybe I’m just doing it wrong (?).

Trackpad

To be honest the default trackpad settings in a fresh installation is terrible. In OSX, a light brush of the trackpad is enough to move the cursor. However, in Ubuntu more pressure must be applied to the trackpad to increase the surface area that is in contact. This raises an issue with moist fingers that do not slide smoothly. In addition, sometimes a quick brush may register as a click, which will often cause undesired actions such as unfocusing a window, or accidentally clicking on a link.  The scroll bar is on the right side of the trackpad, which is not really a problem once you realize it’s there. Because the Apple trackpad has only one button, right clicking is impossible with the default settings.

Fortunately, a much better configuration exists and replacing it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf  with this little gem from the Ubuntu documentation is a relief.

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Synaptics Touchpad”
Driver “synaptics”
Option “SendCoreEvents” “true”
Option “Device” “/dev/psaux”
Option “Protocol” “auto-dev”
Option “SHMConfig” “true”
Option “LeftEdge” “10″
Option “RightEdge” “1200″
Option “TopEdge” “10″
Option “BottomEdge” “370″
Option “FingerLow” “10″
Option “FingerHigh” “20″
Option “MaxTapTime” “180″
Option “MaxTapMove” “220″
Option “SingleTapTimeout” “100″
Option “MaxDoubleTapTime” “180″
Option “LockedDrags” “off”
Option “MinSpeed” “1.10″
Option “MaxSpeed” “1.30″
Option “AccelFactor” “0.08″
Option “TapButton1″ “1″
Option “TapButton2″ “3″
Option “TapButton3″ “2″
Option “RTCornerButton” “0″
Option “RBCornerButton” “0″
Option “LTCornerButton” “0″
Option “LBCornerButton” “0″
Option “VertScrollDelta” “20″
Option “HorizScrollDelta” “50″
Option “HorizEdgeScroll” “0″
Option “VertEdgeScroll” “0″
Option “VertTwoFingerScroll” “1″
Option “HorizTwoFingerScroll” “1″
EndSection

This configuration will increase the sensitivity, add right clicking via two finger tap, scrolling with two fingers, and middle clicking with three fingers (which is something even OSX doesn’t have)! It would be nice if that configuration comes with a fresh install.

Keyboard

During install, I chose “US – Macintosh” as my keyboard. The function keys work just fine. A press of the F keys will toggle screen and volume settings and fn + F keys will result in the actual F1, F2, F3, etc. (Almost identical to OSX.)

Graphics

Compiz 3D effects worked straight away and ran quite smoothly with extra effects. No additional drivers needed.

At home, I like to use my external monitor (Samsung SyncMaster 225BW) instead of the laptop’s screen. Using Ubuntu with that DVI monitor works, but somewhat strangely. In the Screen Resolution application, I set the external to its native resolution, 1680×1050 and my laptop’s screen to “Off.” Chances are, once I apply the settings my external will display a garbled screen. After much experimenting, I realized that I must move the mouse around the screen as I apply the setting to temporarily prevent it. (Looks like bug#209528)
I posted a video of the problem here. Note: The distorted screen appears only at higher resolutions, including 1280×1024.

iSight

Does not work out of the box but I didn’t try to install the drivers. Instructions are in the Ubuntu documentation. Linux distros seem to lack a high quality web conferencing client anyway.

Sound and Microphone

Worked out of the box, but seems a little quiet even when volume controls are set to maximum. The volume slider is also not very smooth. The first ~0%-50% produced almost no volume difference and ~70%-100% changes the volume significantly which suggests that the slider is not logarithmic. There is a section in the Ubuntu Documentation that may help, but I experienced distortion at high volumes. I had to enable and unmute “Surround” inside volume controls. With enough experimenting to find a satisfactory setting, it may not be a critical issue.

Did not test the microphone, but it seems to be a simple volume issue.

Other

Bluetooth

Seems to be working out of the box.

iPod Touch/iPhone

I was disappointed when I realized my iPod Touch does not work as well as I thought it would after reading some stuff about it. The package ipod-convenience does enable the iPod to be mounted wirelessly but the software constantly crashes and freezes my desktop, turning several processes into zombies. I understand that the iPhone/iPod Touch software is completely different under the hood so there’s nothing to do but wait.

For those who are interested in trying it out, this is the article I used.

Battery

My informal testing felt like Ubuntu and OSX has the same battery life when Ubuntu is running nothing but the bare essentials (such as Ndiswrapper) and OSX is running a bunch of processes in the background during my casual use (including Wifi, CoverSutra, Google Notifier, Time Machine, Dashboard Widgets). Naturally, I assume that running OSX a roughly equal load will offer a longer battery life. The battery life when running Ubuntu is rather disappointing.

Etc.

Also, I also notice that applications very often hang such as Firefox and Synaptic. Importing my collection of mp3s into Banshee (my preferred media player) froze the application after every 400th imported song or so. I had to kill the process to quit Banshee. These rough edges may not be caused by the hardware, but I think they should be noted.

Conclusion

Ubuntu has made great strides from previous versions fixing bit by bit with every version. There are, however, some annoyances that are present such as the garbled external display.  In general, Hardy Heron is a good and usable on a 2nd generation Macbook after some post-installation setup, especially if you don’t care about external displays, webcam conferencing, etc. A huge annoyance for me was the external display issue because I use it very often. The two deal breakers for me were unsatisfactory iPod Touch support and battery life. I will switch back to OSX but still continue experimenting with Linux.

References: Ubuntu Community Documentation

Let’s begin…

Install Packages

First, install the required packages by typing the following into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install apache2 php5 libapache2-mod-php5 mysql-server libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql phpmyadmin

This will install Apache, PHP, MySQL, their respective modules, and phpMyAdmin. Enter your preferred root password for mySQL when prompted and choose apache2 to be automatically configured.

If you’d like, you can test whether if Apache is working properly by going to http://localhost/ in your web browser.

Letting Other Computers on the Same Network Connect (Optional)

Optionally, if you want computers on the same network to connect to the server you may want to edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf by invoking the command:

sudo gedit /etc/mysql/my.cnf

Then, replace the following line with your own IP address.

bind-address = 127.0.0.1

Configuring

To enable PHP and MySQL to work together, edit the php.ini file:

sudo gedit /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Then un-comment the following line. Save and close the file.

;extension = mysql.so

Accessing PHPMyAdmin

Edit the Apache configuration file:

sudo gedit /etc/apache2/apache2.conf

Add the following line to the bottom of the file. Save and close.

Include /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf

Restart Apache.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Testing PHP

Create and edit a file called testphp.php in your /var/www/ folder:

sudo gedit /var/www/testphp.php

Insert the following text inside that file and save:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Go back to your web browser and navigate to:

http://localhost/testphp.php

The PHP page should display. If a download window appears instead, something went wrong. Try reinstalling php5 and libapache2-mod-php5.

Testing phpMyAdmin

Navigate your web browser to:

http://localhost/phpmyadmin/

If the phpMyAdmin login page displays, then…

You are done. That wasn’t so hard.

Now that you have LAMP running, why not try some applications? To manage your server remotely, it would probably be a good idea to install SSH.

Note: The root directory of your web server is /var/www/

Source: HowtoForge, Highub