Issues with Linux Mint (or Debian Linux) and Xsane

#notetoself

So, today, I was playing around with a new PC setup. And of course there was an issue with the HP Scanner. - I generally use Xsane vs Simple Scanner. Both of them had issues connecting to the Scanner with an I/O error. Simple enough. I had hopped that the printer being found and usable by default, that the scanner would also work. Nope.   I got

Failed to open device 'hpaio:/net/hp_laserjet_pro_mfp_m125nw?ip=192.168.1.1&queue=false':Error during device I/O

I found the answer again, here.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/153746/xsane-failed-to-open-device-hpaio-net-photosmart-c5100-serieszc-hp5180-err

I'm sure I've run into this issue before, and used this or another post like this to resolve the issue.  LOL, Basically, you've got to DL a plugin from HP and agree to their software terms.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Also for me, I found that I needed to adjust the Xsane settings again. - I DID have my other computer to see what the settings were. :)

Also, don't forget to setup the 0000's for the filename, and location. 

#notetoself

For the Love of Goo, The World of Goo.

As many of you may know, I've been helping out Ken Starks with his passion of a project called Reglue.  I've been honored to be able to contribute to that project with the Respining of Linux Mint, and Kubuntu for his needs.  Reglue's been given the rights to take the World of Goo and put it into their desktop distro for the computers that are going out to the Reglue Kids. But somewhere along the line, (Ubuntu 12.10?) the game would install, but nothing happened when you'd go to run it.

** Crickets. ** 

Segmentation Fault 

Computers screens went black, and there was a massive gnashing of teeth.

One person, Alan, whet so far as to creating a great script (something that I wouldn't have been able to do as well has he did). He did a fantastic job.

MOM4Evr posts a how to fix it here (I'm sure there are others, but hers came up in my first search) 

http://goofans.com/forum/world-of-goo/support/4780

libogg.so.0 

libvorbis.so.0 

libvorbisfile.so.3

download these 3 files:

http://2dboy.com/TopSecretTransfer/linux-libs64/

or:

http://2dboy.com/TopSecretTransfer/linux-libs32/

and replace those in

gksu nautilus /opt/WorldOfGoo/libs64/

or

gksu nautilus /opt/WorldOfGoo/libs32/

But what if there was simply an easier way to fix the .deb file, and not have to look for these files, or install them via a long script?  And why hasn't 2DBoy posted this fixed deb file, as it seems so simple to me? I don't have the answer for 2DBoy, but I did figure out the .deb file fix, and would have loved to have just posted the fixed deb file, but it IS a commercial game, so I don't have the liberty to post a link to the fixed file, but I will tell you how to fix it, so you can easily install it on your computer, and it'll be ready to go or whenever you re-install or upgrade your .deb based desktop distro you can just install this and go about other business. 

How to fix the .deb file. 

First you've got to "open it up".  I did this in my home folder. 

mkdir -p extract/DEBIAN

dpkg-deb -x WorldOfGooSetup.1.41.deb extract/

dpkg-deb -e WorldOfGooSetup.1.41.deb extract/DEBIAN  

**[...Copy the three Libs files...]**

Copy those three (Or 6 Library files, if you're going to do all of them) into their proper place in the .deb file that you just extracted.  And then you're done.

Such as  "/home/randy/extract/opt/WorldOfGoo/libs64"

Create your new .deb file. 

mkdir build

dpkg-deb -b extract/ build/

You should have a worldofgoo_1.41_all.deb file in your /home/randy/build folder. 

Now, install it like you would any other .deb file, and you're good to go. 

And before you go, I'd like to mention, that Ken IS currently hosting an indiegogo campaign, Deleting The Digital Divide One Computer at a Time. And even if you find this post AFTER his campaign, your donations would be STILL be MOST WELCOME. 

Droopy = Simple Home Web Server

So, just recently a friend of mine wanted me to check out how Droopy worked.  He had a busy day, and besides checking out this utility should take two people, or someone that has two ways to access the internet. I'm just doing a little update on what I found, and to answer some questions about how it's setup and used.  The page where I downloaded it from had enough information that even I could extrapolate how to get it setup and used.  This post is mainly to answer some of the questions that the setup page might have left unanswered.  http://stackp.online.fr/?p=28

I supposed that I ought to mention, that I am doing this on a Linux Mint 13 (LTS) MATE PC. I'm not sure if that will make a difference, but there is a possibility that if you're using something else, your experience will differ. Certainly your file manager might not be Caja, but most of the file managers allow you to do the same things.

As stated on the setup page, you can download (this opens in a new browser window) this is the text file that IS droopy. Just right click and save the file as droopy. I opened up Caja as root, as I knew I was going to need root access to change the file permissions, and to make it executable. I copied the droopy file to the /bin dir, and changed the permissions, and checked the box to make it executable. I did made the mistake of giving the file a .py extension, but it doesn't seem to need that.

You might also want to use an avatar.png file like the ones below, as the setup page suggests. It's up to you of course.

     

At this point you should be able to run droopy. I also created a /uploads folder off of my home folder. Open your terminal, and run the droopy command in your uploads dir like so:

$ droopy -m "Hey, it's randy. You can send me a file." -p ~/avatar.png

I was able to click on the http://localhost:8000 in my terminal, to bring up the web page as others should see it, and there's a handy bar at the top of the page that you can click on to get your web page address. That's the address that you want to share with others to get to your computer.

Mind you, you have to make sure that your router allows this. For this, you'll have to know your router's settings and how to allow others past your firewall.  If it's just going to be a one time deal, I suppose one could take the risk, and pull their whole firewall down, but I'd not recommend it.

If all goes well, and you don't have a friend to try this out on, you can always do what I did, and test it out with your phone.  :)

In any case, I had some fun testing this out, and learning a few things.  I hope this can be of some use to someone, and leave a comment if you're so inclined, or a note to me over on G+

R_ 

Diggin' Salix 14.0 Xfce

One of my G+ buddies recently mentioned Salix OS, a Slackware Based Distro the other day, as he was putting it on some old hardware.  This was just about a week before a hard drive died on an old 256 MB P4 Laptop, that serves as a digital picture frame, and sometimes doubles as a remote "stereo" unit in our living room.

This laptop had been running Xubuntu on it, as I had wanted a light distro for this older hardware, but even that seemed a little heavy.  Another one of the challenges this machine poses, is that it doesn't have DVD drive, just CD-ROM, nor does it support booting off of a USB. It has only one 1.0 USB port on it.  So after searching Distrowatch for another distro, I decided on Salix. After all, someone else I knew spoke well of it.  I knew that I was going to get outside of my "comfort zone" with something that wasn't  Ubuntu / Debian based.  I figured I was up for the challenge. As it turned out, it wasn't that hard.

Aside from the need for the Broadcom drivers, for the WiFi to work, the install went smooth.  I did the "full" install, and also let it wipe out anything that might be on the drive. Had I not had a network connection via wire, it wouldn't have gone so smooth.

Next came the snigglies and snags for me.  Not having been baptized into Linux via Slackware, etc, and the floppy disk installs of the 90's, some of the struggles some of you long term Linux fans have triumphed over, I had to do some digging and learning to get the the rest of the system setup as I wanted.

I wanted to be able to view this machine via Remote Desktop Viewer on my Linux Mint machine.  After some trial and error, and some more errors, and trials. I got it setup.  I got x11vnc going on it, for it's VNC server. Once I got that installed via GSlapt, and added the proper line for it to autostart I'm now able to access the machine while it sits on the shelf where it normally sits.  For what it's worth, (note to self)  the line that one needs in the Applications Autostart is this:

/usr/bin/x11vnc -repeat -forever

If you don't use the "-repeat -forever"  it'll boot, and start the x11vnc server, but once you exit your first vnc session, it will not start up again. It took me a little while to get those two additional switches figured out.

Next, was to try and get Rhythmbox on it, as it was listed in Sourcery Slackbuild Manager.  But it failed due to dependency's not being met.  I intend to get back to figure out how to build from source, or at least get it on the system in the future.  The reason for wanting Rhythmbox on the system, is so far, Rhythmbox is about the best thing out there that works with DAAP music shares, or at least with the one on my NAS drive.  But since that failed to install out of the box, I went ahead and copied the music from the NAS drive to the unit. That backs up the music, something I had considered anyway.  Also Rhythmbox handles the Shoutcast Streams if one wishes to add a few to it. I usually do.  But, that didn't work out.  So had to stick with the default media player of Exaile.  Even though I don't need Rhythmbox on it now, it's a puzzle that I want to figure out. 

Exaile looked like it would work right, right out of the box, as it says it supports DAAP shares. But it didn't find mine.  It did work with a manual entry, so it's good to go. Also the Radio Streams didn't work. Audacious and VLC both can do those, so it's good. 

So, overall, I'd say that Salix 14.0 with XFCE is a winner.  Much snappier than it's Debian/Ubuntu based Xfce counterparts.  While I didn't get it EXACTLY the way that I wanted, or had expected, it turned out well for my purpose. 

As a standalone OS, for most people, I think that Salix would work well, it has LibreOffice, and handles network drives well. If you want to see a full rundown of it, check this posting out.

Digital or Electronic Signing of your documents

I don't know about you, but I don't like to print out a document, sign it, and then have to re-scan it back into the computer. This can happen a lot if you're also in the process of looking for a job.

For this example, I also wanted to pay a little homage to Neil Armstrong, as he just passed away.  Don Pablo Pereira, a reporter had a little story about a letter from Mr. Armstrong and I'll post a link to that at the end of the blog post.

You'll need to also have created a scanned image of your own signature, that you will be using.  If you need help with that, leave a comment, here or on G+ and I'll do a separate blog post about how to create your own digital signature with the GIMP.

If you want, you can grab the document that I made in LibreOffice and edit it too.  I imagine this will work in OpenOffice too, but I've not tested it with OpenOffice.

Once you have your document open,  you will want to import the image file.  Be sure to have your cursor near the spot you want it to be imported to, if you can.

Insert>Picture>From File...

Once you've done that,  you'll notice that it's not lined up the way that you'd want it to be on your document as a signature. 

It'll look all wonky like this:

This is certainly not the way you'd have a signature show up on a real document! It's got to be fixed!

It's an easy fix. Just go up to the top of the page and click on Wrap Trough.

Then move your signature to the spot that you want it on your page, and save. 

Once you save it, print it to paper, if you want, or Export it as a PDF or Print it as a PDF. 

The choice is yours. 

Pretty simple, eh? 

If you used my document,  you'll also have a fresh .PDF of the same letter that Neil Armstrong sent Don Pereira.

Don Pablo Pereira's real reply from Neil Armstrong.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave them!

How many others have struggled to get their documents signed, but didn't want to go through the hassle of print, sign, scan, save, etc?  Do you have some stories of how you'd go about this?

Until next time,
Hang Loose!

RandyNose

HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One CM749A#B1H (Google Affiliate Ad)
HP LaserJet Pro P1102w Printer CE657A#BGJ (Google Affiliate Ad)

Pimping: Motho ke motho ka botho

Install Neverwinter Nights in Ubuntu

I was checking out the above blog (Motho ke motho ka botho) this past weekend, and I find it to be a cool blog, much like my own, the owner writes about his experiences with Linux and his Computer. A Chronology of stuff that he's done and put on the blog so he can go back to and review it later. Being able to backtrack to what you do, is part of doing good documentation.  It's not something that I've done a good job at,  after all, it's just my computer, right?

True, it is just my computer, but also part of the geek element to Linux and other open source projects is to put down (via a blog, forum, or?)  how you did what you did not just for you, but because someone else might have the same problem and they might find your solution helpful.  You never know what you might blog about that will help some other person trying not to pull all their hair out.  

Currently in the Linux Desktop world, the distribution of Ubuntu is the most popular.  Even if I don't run or use a modified version of Ubuntu, it NEEDS to be there, and it NEEDS our support. Even if I don't agree with all of the modifications and changes that happen to it, I still need to be supportive of it.  Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu needs user support, and I don't mean just money, but support with their mission. I know I've not been the best example of this, and I'll make a conscious effort to be more supportive of the Ubuntu Team. 

Here's one definition of Ubuntu:

Ubuntu: "I am what I am because of who we all are." A translation offered by Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. Similar to a saying: A single straw of a broom can be broken easily, but the straws together are not easily broken."

Open Source, and Linux need to be able to get along in a world where there are monetary Goliaths pounding away at the public with commercials.  Linux is not created by one person, one company or just one idea.  It's a compilation of many ideas, many desktops, and many ways to get the job done. 

I have to applaud anyone who hangs out in the Ubuntu forums and helps out. - I know they were there when I needed some help.  How about you? I guess now that I've been a Linux user for over 3 years,  and have had a few experiences I could help out a bit more.   The Ubuntu Forums are the most active, and probably where one could do the most good.  Linux Mint, also.  I'm currently using Linux Mint LTS, and plan on keeping it that way, as I don't like to change every 6 months.  I personally prefer to find my buttons and labels and widgets in the same place more or less.  But it doesn't mean that you or I couldn't help out. 

But back to the previously mentioned blog, and game.  It's just really cool that there's someone out there doing something like this, creating some well written blog posts that others can find and use for their personal enjoyment.  And he's helping his community out by giving away machines with Linux on them.

And for that, I'd like give a shout out, and...

Pimp His Penguin.... 

Upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04 = Problem(s)

I had upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04, and wasn't happy with the replacement of Firefox 2 to the Beta Version of Firefox 3, as it doesn't support the add-ons that I like. Specifically Tiny URL creator, and the Google Toolbar. While I might have been able to get them to install if I changed the Browsers ID tag, I didn't want to HAVE to do that. So, after adding and removing the browsers, I noticed I couldn't launch a link from Thunderbird or from Tomboy notes. I got the error "there was an error launching default action command for this location" So after a little research I discovered that Firefox no longer launched as "firefox %s" but rather as "firefox-2 %s". Changing the default browser in the System > Preferences > Perfered Applications Menu (Internet Tab) to reflect this change fixed the error.