Archive for the ‘Tricks’ Category


Kubuntu Lucid Lynx after upgrade gfx driver problems

Posted by Flo in Tricks on May 12th, 2010.
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After upgrading to the new Kubuntu version: Lucid Lynx, the graphics drivers on my computer stopped functioning. Any attempt to reïnstall them failed because they seemed to be already intstalled. After a quick search, more people seem to be affected by this. The only work-around I found resulted in working open source drivers (for ATI: fglrx), but not in working commercial drivers. Though, after an hour of trial and error problem solving I seem to have everything working again. Here’s a short guide for people who didn’t find the solution yet.

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Solving white screen after upgrading to KDE4

Posted by Flo in Tricks on May 7th, 2009.
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After every large Kubuntu upgrade my computer seems to get problems, probably because the hardware is quite old. When upgrading to Kubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope, I got yet another graphics related problem leading to a white screen after logging into kubuntu. It did take me some time to find the best solution, so here it is, I hope you’ll find it faster than I did.

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Install source code in tar.gz packages in Kubuntu

Posted by Flo in Tricks on January 25th, 2009.
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If you’re the administrator of your Kubuntu installation, you probably have to install a program or two. The most popular applications are installable through the adept package manager, but sometimes you’ll need something that’s only distributed in tar.gz source packages. If you’re lucky, there’s a install.sh file in it, otherwise this guide may come in handy…

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Play AVCHD discs on your computer

Posted by Flo in Tricks on December 23rd, 2008.
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If you buy a High Definition (HD) camera, there’s a big chance that the output format will be AVCHD. The only way to maintain this HD quality is to write it on a disc in this format, but you will need a compatible player (blu-ray) to play it on your television. The problem starts when you want to play these discs on you computer. If you search the web, you will find websites where they tell you that buying expansive software is the only way to view the movies on these discs on you computer. This is, however, not true. In this guide I will tell you how to play AVCHD discs on you computer legally for free.

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Install tar.gz packages with a install.sh file in Kubuntu

Posted by Flo in Tricks on November 17th, 2008.
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Installing tar.gz packages with a install.sh file in it isn’t the hardest thing to do when using Kubuntu, but if you always use deb packages, like me, it can take a while before you have found a way to install them. When you have found out how it works, you have a chance to run into a little permission problem that probably only occurs when using Kubuntu. So here’s my guide for unexperienced users how you DO install these packages in Kubuntu.

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Rip flash videos with RealPlayer

Posted by Nick in Tricks on November 13th, 2008.

RealPlayer makes ripping flash videos from the internet even easier than before. No more copying a link into a different website, just click and download.

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Fix your Kubuntu login screen resolution

Posted by Flo in Tech, Tricks on September 13th, 2008.
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After installing Kubuntu Hardy, I noticed that I could scroll through the login screen. This is because Kubuntu’s xserver gives you the option to add some virtual space around your screen, so everything is bigger, and you can scroll to the things you want to see. The problem is that I didn’t want this virtual space. So here’s a quick guide how to repair this problem (a lot of people seem to have it).

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Installing NVIDIA drivers in Kubuntu

Posted by Flo in Site news, Tricks on August 17th, 2008.
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When installing my NVIDIA drivers on Kubuntu Hardy, it came to me that this wasn’t as easy as it probably should be. I use the word probably because I use a quite old graphics card, and Kubuntu automatically seems to install the drivers for the newest cards. However it may be, I had some problems with it, and when solving these problems, I saw that it is possible to install your NVIDIA drivers in a better way than just letting Kubuntu fix this. Here’s a quick guide (with a small troubleshooting section that you can use when you boot into the command line interface) how to install your NVIDIA drivers on Kubuntu the “easy” way.

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6 Comments (7,581 views)

Setting your screen resolution in Kubuntu Hardy

Posted by Flo in Tech, Tricks on August 12th, 2008.
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When upgrading to Kubuntu Hardy, I found that the maximum possible resolution I could use seemed to be 800×600… Not being able to select my preferred 1024×768 resolution, I had to figure out how to be able to select this resolution. This took me about 6 hours… and the solution for this problem is quite easy. So here’s my newbie (it’s me who is obviously the n00b…) guide in fixing this problem.

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3 Comments (5,364 views)

Rip videos and music from Youtube

Posted by Flo in Tricks on August 6th, 2008.
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Sometimes videos are just too interesting to let them stay on Youtube, you just need to have them. There are several ways to do this, but I think that using the free program “MediaCoder” is the best way. This is a quick guide explaining how to use this software to get videos from youtube. I will also explain how to use it to only rip the music from a Youtube video (so you don’t have to search for it on usenet, P2P or a torrent site). This trick also seems to work for MySpace, Google Video and some other video services.

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4 Comments (3,805 views)