Ruben Bakker's questions

I have recently built a Kaveri machine, but I'm having trouble getting the fglrx drivers up and running. I can install them, but the LightDM screen will simply be black.

The machine has an AMD A10-7850K APU and an Asus A88XM-PLUS motherboard. I have done tests using both Ubuntu 13.10 and 14.04. In the end I don't mind using either.

I have tried the following:

• Install the regular fglrx-updates -> No result
• Install the xorg-edgers ppa -> No result
• Manually install the official AMD beta version via this cchtml guide -> No result
• Remove all kernels and install the 3.12 kernel from the mainline ppa, and install the official AMD beta version against that kernel -> No result

It must be possible, because Phoronix has tested fglrx against the exact same APU on a slightly different motherboard of the same series, except they didn't provide any instructions on the installation bit.

Any help is welcome, as the internet is currently a barren desert when it comes to AMD's new APU on Linux.

How do I go about installing PyPy3 on Ubuntu 13.04? The download link is here: http://pypy.org/download.html

I've downloaded the Linux 64-bit binary and the .tar.gz source. I'm able to run pypy binary through the terminal, but that's not a very ideal implementation as it requires me to point to the pypy binary directory every time I want to use it.

The source won't really compile, and gives me this error:

Building PyPy with JIT, it'll take about 40 minutes and 4G of RAM
rpython/bin/rpython -Ojit pypy/goal/targetpypystandalone.py
/usr/bin/env: pypy: No such file or directory
make: *** [pypy-c] Error 127

I'm well aware that PyPy3 is beta software, but I'd like to have a spin with it anyway.

edit: After installing the pypy (Python 2) package provided by Ubuntu, I got a little further with the compilation process. A link to the output: http://pastebin.com/qTMkPsEP

I have downloaded and installed Intel's drivers from this link, following all instructions: https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads/2013/intelr-linux-graphics-installer-version-1.0.2

However, I would like to return to stock Ubuntu's driver configuration. How would I go about doing this? I've found this link, but it's only for Ubuntu 12.10: http://theclonker.de/?p=89

According to Synaptic, Intel's repository added the following packages locally (may contain typos; forgive me):

i915-3.9-3.8-dkms
intel-linux-graphics-installer
libdrm-dev
libdrm-intel1
libdrm-intel1:i386
libdrm-nouveau2
libdrm-nouveau2:i386
libdrm-radeon1
libdrm-radeon1:i386
libdrm2
libdrm2:i386
libkms1
libva-drm1
libva-egl1
libva-glx1
libva-tpi1
libva-wayland1
libva-X11-1
libva1
x11proto-input-dev
xserver-xorg-video-intel

I'm not sure whether the above list is complete and/or exhaustive as to the changes the Intel installer made.

Also important to note, Intel's instructions to delete their repository in Software Sources just flat-out doesn't work. It removes the repository, but keeps the packages installed locally.

Here's a rather odd problem I'm having. Whenever I open the dash and type into it, Chromium opens up and opens an "about:blank" tab for just about every letter I write into the dash. Why is it doing this and how do I stop it from doing this?

I have a little script that needs executing every time I open a wine program. The script is pretty simple:

#!/bin/bash
xdotool windowmove 67108871 1440 0

How do I get PlayOnLinux to run this script every time I open a certain program?

There's a similar question on the site, but it's outdated and doesn't specify exactly what I'm faced with. Namely, I have an old computer that I'm fixing for someone, and it's got this Intel 82865G integrated graphics controller. The problem is that it doesn't appear to handle any OpenGL things i throw at it.

For instance, glxgears returns this:

X Error of failed request:  BadAlloc (insufficient resources for operation)
  Major opcode of failed request:  153 (GLX)
  Minor opcode of failed request:  3 (X_GLXCreateContext)
  Serial number of failed request:  28
  Current serial number in output stream:  30

And glxinfo returns the same.

The computer runs Ubuntu 12.04 in Unity 2D. The graphics card is capable of up to OpenGL 1.3 according to Intel, if that is at all relevant.

I'm running into an awkward problem. Here's the thing:

If I start up my computer and run a Wine instance (Guild Wars 2, in this case, though it doesn't and shouldn't matter), sound works fine. While the sound works, the application does not show up under the "sound" tab in settings. And any other application launched thereafter will not have sound until the Wine instance is closed. I'm assuming Wine runs ALSA.

If I start any other application that requires sound before running Guild Wars 2, Guild Wars 2 will not have any sound. All the other applications appear to run pulseaudio.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

This is pretty important. My school is currently in a stage of digitalisation that wants to get rid of textbooks and replace them with tablets in class. They are, however, contemplating on using iBooks Author to allow teachers to create content for students. And as we know, files created with iBooks Author can only be used on Apple products. Therefore, all students will be required to purchase an iPad for use in class, for any alternatives simply become impossible.

For many reasons, I disagree with this approach, and would like to see a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy. This is possible if a workable solution to the problem is found. Namely, the school needs a system that allows the following:

• Easy(!) creation of digital textbooks by teachers. A lot of teachers aren't digital masterminds, and require a simple interface to create textbooks.
• Ease of use for students. Students shouldn't be distracted by complicated interfaces.
• The textbooks must be able to play multimedia. The textbook should be able to contain text, images, audio and video.
• Content allows for use on tablets (iOS and Android primarily). Preferably, it should allow for use on any device.

The following are much preferred (the iBooks approach doesn't meet some of these):

• Easy sharing. The teacher must be able to easily share the textbook with students and push updates effortlessly. Files are technically a no-no, but acceptable. The school already has a system for pushing files to students.
• Free of charge. The school can't afford licenses for every student or for every teacher.
• HTML5. Anything HTML5 is good.

Does anything come to mind? You can think outside the box, really, see if anything meets the requirements.

Okay! This sounds kind of hard, but it should be entirely doable.

I have Ubuntu and Windows on the same disk. On the Windows partition, I have a game installed (Guild Wars 2, but this shouldn't matter). Upon booting up Ubuntu, the Windows partition is mounted under "/home/ruben/Windows". Under Windows, my game folder would be in "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArenaNet\Guild Wars 2". So under Ubuntu, it's in "/home/ruben/Windows/Program Files (x86)/ArenaNet/Guild Wars 2".

Now, because I want to save space, and because I want to be able to access the game from both Ubuntu and Windows, I want to create a path to "/home/ruben/Windows/Program Files (x86)/ArenaNet/Guild Wars 2" for PlayOnLinux. PlayOnLinux, per default, installs Guild Wars 2 in this folder:

"/home/ruben/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/GuildWars2/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/ArenaNet/Guild Wars 2"

So what I want to do is create a fake folder in "/home/ruben/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/GuildWars2/drive_c/Program Files (x86)" that redirects to "/home/ruben/Windows/Program Files (x86)/ArenaNet". Can this be done?

What I've tried doing is this:

sudo ln -s "/home/ruben/Windows/Program Files (x86)/ArenaNet" "/home/ruben/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/GuildWars2/drive_c/Program Files (x86)"

But it doesn't appear to work, as PlayOnLinux gives me errors about not finding the folder.

Any help would be so much appreciated.

I have installed TeamSpeak 3 using the .run file provided on their downloads page, but something has gone awfully wrong and I want to completely reset all settings to default. I figured that a clean reinstall would sort that out, but after removing the folder it unpacks and re-running their .run script, my settings remain in place.

Is there any way to completely remove TeamSpeak 3 so I can reinstall it?

Is it possible to use the Natty BFB (Ubuntu button that opens the dash) in Precise?

I really liked the design of having the button on the menu as opposed to having it on the launcher.

Previously in Ubuntu 11.10, when I had Libreoffice open in several workspaces, I would click on the Libreoffice icon to get an exposé-esque preview of all windows from all workspaces. With Ubuntu 12.04, this no longer seems to be the case. One might argue that this is better, but the usage of clicking that icon and picking the right window has become part of my workflow, and I'm very much missing that feature now.

How do I allow the Unity launcher to show all open windows of one application, regardless of their position or workspace?

I'm helping a friend of mine set up an Ubuntu environment for school, but he requires special software that reads things out loud because of his dyslexia. Now, I immediately knew that Orca should do just the job for this, but I'm particularly clueless about how to set it up. Right now, it just screams random things at me when opening windows, closing them, etc., when I just require it to speak (selected) text out loud. Preferably text from text editors and PDF files.

Is there any easy way to set it up accordingly? Because I've toyed around a lot, but haven't been able to get it to work just like I want it to. Help would be magnificent.

I have this laptop that doesn't handle the backlight very well.

In /etc/default/grub, I have added a acpi_backlight=vendor function to get it to work at all. Which is cool, and the backlight now actually works, but the minimum backlight setting is still pretty high.

Is there any way to decrease the backlight below minimum? I don't mind having to type in the terminal to do that, as I won't need to do it often (just at night etc.)

All right, so, I got a really persistent error. I tried to install mfc6490cwlpr:i386 (downloaded as mfc6490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb) and installed it using either gdebi or the Ubuntu Software Centre, probably both even. Following instructions, I restarted my computer and the following error appeared on my upper bar in Unity:

An error occured, please run Package Manager from the right-click menu or apt-get in a terminal to see what is wrong. The error message was: 'Unknown Error:'<type 'exceptions.SystemError'>'(E:The package mfc6490cwlpr:i386 needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.)'. This usually means that your installed packages have unmet dependencies

I tried several ways to remove it. Among the following commands:

sudo dpkg --remove --force-remove-reinstreq mfc6490cwlpr:i386
sudo dpkg --force-all -r mfc6490cwlpr:i386

Digging further into history, I find this command:

sudo dpkg  -i  --force-all  --force-architecture  mfc6490cwlpr-1.1.2-2.i386.deb

I'm running on a 64-bit AMD processor.

Whenever I do anything that involves apt-get, updating, synaptic or what what what, I get this error:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: The package mfc6490cwlpr:i386 needs to be reinstalled, but I can't find an archive for it.

The updater recommended a dist-upgrade, which didn't work.

Does anyone have any ideas to remove the corrupt .deb? I can reinstall it later when I have more time to look into hooking up the printer. But for now, I'm more concerned about getting it off off my computer.

Worth mentioning: I am NOT adept at the command line, though I try hard. I'm fairly dangerous with it, actually.