Install Oracle Java 7 in [X]Ubuntu 12.04 Precise via PPA

Oracle Java is the alternative to OpenJDK package, but is not longer available in Ubuntu repositories (due to some change in Java License). Oracle Java remains my choice because I find it to work better with some applications (specially java web applets).

If you want to give OpenJDK a try, view here instructions to install it.

“WebUpd8” team provides a PPA with one package that automatically downloads and installs Oracle Java JDK/JRE/Plugin 7 from its official website and installs it on your computer.

Install

Open a terminal window and run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java -y
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

References

Web Upd8

Install HandBrake in [X]Ubuntu 12.04 (deb)

As I mentioned on the previous post, HandBrake is a GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, and it can be installed in Xubuntu 11.10 via ppa. However packages for Precise are yet to be released. Luckily, if you manually download the deb files you'll be able to install them correctly.

Install

First, open http://goo.gl/zIohH in your web browser and download the version you're interested in (handbrake-gtk is the version with graphical interface and handbrake-cli is the version for command line interface), also make sure you download the correct version (i386 or amd64) for your Xubuntu installation (type uname -m on terminal, if you're unsure).

Once downloaded, click the deb files to open and installed them via "Ubuntu Software Center" or open a terminal window and run:

sudo dpkg -i handbrake-*.deb

References

official HandBrake releases for Ubuntu

Install HandBrake in [X]Ubuntu 11.10 (ppa)

HandBrake is a GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder.

Personally I use it to transcode some videos so that I can see them on my Android smartphone. It has already some presets with enconding settings specific for iPhone, iPad and Android.

It includes one with a graphical interface and one with command line interface. I find them both very useful. For instance, even though we can create a queue of jobs with the graphical interface I use the version with the command line interface when I want to automate some other things with a shell script.

Install

Open a terminal window and run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases -y && sudo apt-get update

If you only want to install the version with graphical interface, type:

sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

If you want to install the version with command line interface, type:

sudo apt-get install handbrake-cli

If you want to install both versions, type:

sudo apt-get install handbrake-*

References

official HandBrake releases for Ubuntu

[FIX] Multimedia keys, Clementine and Xubuntu 12.04

Clementine is my preference for listening and manage my music collection, and one thing that I like about clementine is that it integrates well with my Xubuntu desktop. However the version in the precise repository (1.0.1+dfsg-1ubuntu2) doesn't work with keyboard multimedia keys.

I've tried the development version (1.0.1-362-gd34c6e6~precise) and the problem is fixed.

Install

Open a terminal window and run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:me-davidsansome/clementine-dev -y && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install clementine -y

References

Clementine Development ppa

[FIX] gnome-open/gvfs-open open nautilus instead of actual file

When using gnome-open/gvfs-open to open a file when nautilus is set as the default file manager, the file is not opened with the preferred application, instead nautilus is opens highlighting the file.

After some research I found this to be a bug yet to be fixed. But knowing that exo-open behaves properly, I came out a solution that's a little a hack: replace gnome-open and gvfs-open for exo-open.

Fix for YOUR USER only

As a prerequisite you should have a "bin" directory on your $HOME and it should be added to your $PATH. Them open a terminal window and run:

ln -s `which exo-open` ~/bin/gnome-open && ln -s `which exo-open` ~/bin/gvfs-open

Fix for ALL USERS

Open a terminal window and run:

# backup sudo mv /usr/bin/gnome-open /usr/bin/gnome-open-bak sudo mv /usr/bin/gvfs-open /usr/bin/gvfs-open-bak # create symbolic link to exo-open sudo ln -s /usr/bin/exo-open /usr/bin/gnome-open && sudo ln -s /usr/bin/exo-open /usr/bin/gvfs-open

References

http://askubuntu.com/questions/35602/using-gnome-open-to-open-pdf-files

[HOW TO] Create cbz file from command line

Open a terminal window, change current directory to the directory where the jpeg files are located and run:

zip filename.cbz *.jpg

References

http://en.flossmanuals.net/e-book-enlightenment/making-cbzs/

Map graphics tablet to a output

The general command form to map the tablet's input area to the given output is:

xsetwacom --set $DEVICE MapToOutput $OUTPUT

Where $DEVICE is the name of the tablet's device as given by the xsetwacom --list command, and $OUTPUT is the name of the output as given by the xrandr command.

Once this command is issued, the desktop cursor will remain within the boundaries of the selected output when the tablet's pen is moved.

Example:

First, find out the name of the device:

$ xsetwacom --list
Wacom Bamboo1 stylus id: 20 type: STYLUS
Wacom Bamboo1 eraser id: 21 type: ERASER
Wacom Bamboo1 cursor id: 22 type: CURSOR

In this example the graphics tablet has 3 devices, so we'll map them all to a specific output:

$ xsetwacom --set "Wacom Bamboo1 stylus" MapToOutput "VGA1"
$ xsetwacom --set "Wacom Bamboo1 eraser" MapToOutput "VGA1"
$ xsetwacom --set "Wacom Bamboo1 cursor" MapToOutput "VGA1"

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_tablet
Ubuntu Manpage: xsetwacom