How to Manually Force a Program to Close

Yes, programs in Linux can crash.

If you need to force a program to close, but are wondering what the heck Kubuntu folks use instead of Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL), try using the terminal instead.

(I suspect there is a GUI like Task Manager kicking around somewhere that you can install, but that would require installing it or finding it. You already have a terminal).

What you need to do is find the Process ID of the program that is running, and then kill that process. First: open a Konsole window. In the window, type

ps -e | grep NameOfProgramYouWantToKill

or

ps aux | grep NameOfProgramYouWantToKill

Sometimes the name of the program not obvious or not what you expect it to be. In that case, you can just do

ps -e

or

ps aux

and scroll through the list to find it. Once you find it, you'll notice a number beside it, on the left. Type:

kill number

And hopefully you've shut the right program down. The program should disappear from the taskbar. As always, if you are consistently starting to experience problems with hanging programs, you should try rebooting the computer. If you still experience problems, Google for bugs or an update or patch for the software.

Getting International and Accented Characters in Kubuntu/Linux

I've been practicing my French again. One of my local friends grew up in Québec virtually all his life, and one of my local friends is studying French in Québec for a year. When I chat to them, I like to type the French words as they're meant to be written, which includes the accents.

Anyway, I had fun finding where to switch my keyboard so I could use the layout. In Windows, you do it by switching to an American English International Keyboard layout (Control Panel -> Regional and Language Settings, I believe... not in Control Panel -> Keyboard like you'd expect).

I found where to change it. There are lots of options. In addition to the language settings, there are variants in the language settings (dvorak, international...)

In Kubuntu with KDE, I found it in:

System Settings -> Regional & Accessibility -> Keyboard Layout

For reference:

Ubuntu U.S. International Characters Chart

I'm a Canadian with a normal American keyboard (Microsoft RT2300). I've added several keyboard layouts in the list as I want to mess around to see which one I'm the most comfortable with. I seem to be using U.S. English layout with the variant "international".

You can set up other options by using the tabs in the top (Switching Options Tab with "Show indicator for single layout" checked gives you the list in your taskbar so you can easily switch back and forth between keyboard layouts.

The only difference I notice from Windows is the cedilla. The comma key does NOT give the cedilla. You have to use the RIGHT ALT key, and then type comma. This gives you "ç"

Sometimes no audio in Firefox pages with Flash

After having my system up and running for a while, I noticed that if I use Amarok and then open Firefox, videos in YouTube would have no sound. I figured this was just a wonky Kubuntu feature until I decided to actually research the problem.

This problem was solved if I would reboot the system and open Firefox and watch videos first (before playing music). The problem still was recurring, though.

Apparently this is more than an ALSA sound driver fight between Firefox and Amarok. It's actually a bug (see link).

How to fix your Firefox audio: open a terminal/console, and type

cd /tmp
mkdir /tmp/.esd
ln -s /tmp/.esd-1000/socket /tmp/.esd/socket

CD and DVD Drive Hanging

On rare occassion, my CD or DVD drive will hang. The disc will show up on the desktop, but I can not eject it by right clicking. When this is the case, pressing the physical button on the drive often doesn't work either.

(I'm actually writing this post long after the fact... I think I did this to get it solved: )

In /etc/fstab, edit the line that looks like this:

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0

to this:

/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom udf,iso9660 noauto,user,ro 0 0

Also try:

chmod 777 /bin/mount /bin/umount

DVD movies won't run ("encrypted")

I couldn't run a regular movie DVD in my drive. Apparently it's because they are "encrypted". I was using Kaffiene media player. Here's what I did to fix it.

• Run Adept (Package Manager)
• Enable Universe AND Multiverse repositories in your list
• Do a search and install of a package named libdvdread
• Then, search and install package libdvdcss
• Run Kaffeine and enjoy your DVDs

If your unsure how to do all this. You should probably start by reading this:
followed by this:
Then this:

Kopete problems

Well, hold on.

We've got some problems with Kopete.

1. The settings are a little squirrely. It's a little mental workout to find the settings you need to change. Sounds don't automatically seem to be set up. (They are, but you just have to activate them in the right spot.)
   
2. Apparently there is no logging of conversations. Wait, no, there are, if you have a Kopete extension installed. Well it is installed, but I still can't find where my conversations logs are kept. All I want to do is see what some guy said to me the other day. Where do I find that?
   
3. Despite my installing Firefox and setting it as my default browser, links sent in a chat window in Kopete get sent to Konqueror.

The Kubuntu Live CD and install

I stuck the CD in. It took a couple minutes for it to all mount and load up. And it worked.

You could imagine how ecstatic I was to use a desktop that had more than 16-bit colour again.

Audio worked, I was able to use Kopete (instant messenger) right away. Firefox wasn't automatically installed, but Konqueror (file/web browser) allowed me to view most html.

The system ran pretty well considering it was using the CD and a partial hard drive mount.

Well, I'm already here. If I actually install the thing, I can put Firefox on and permanently tweak some things.

The install goes well. The only thing that took a while was the formatting of my 250GB drive. I didn't partition it.

By the way, it saw all 250GB.

And... it works.

The one that pushed me over the edge

I found the appropriate distribution from kubuntu.org. I ended up using the plain old PC desktop CD because I didn't have a 64-bit processor, and I wasn't installing a RAID server.

The .iso I downloaded sat on my computer for a couple months.

Finally, I burned it to a CD. So it sat on both my computer and on CD for another month.

And then lo, on the 30th day did the heavens open and Windows misbehaved and this user freaked out and had one of her bi-annual f'n'r-fits (format-and-reinstall, folks). And so this user ran out and bought a new hard drive and.... re-installed Windows (2000 Pro).

• And her video didn't work properly. (Doth thoust need to install the drivers manually? Yes, you do.)
• And her onboard ethernet didn't work. Again.
• And installing the drivers didn't work to fix all these annoying problems. Again. How did I finally get it working the last time? Who the hell knows.
• And... only half of her brand spanking new 250GB hard drive showed up.

Furthermore, installing the newest drivers would be nice, but the Ethernet card didn't work so... (ha ha, funny funny; slight oversight). Installing the drivers gets halfway then tells me I need DirectX9.0c. Installing DirectX9.0c requires Windows Service Pack 4 first... but Windows Service Pack 4 requires...

I have all these on my secondary hard drive, but it's still a pain.

After some research I discovered that my motherboard may need an upgrade to support hard drives larger than 137GB. I checked the BIOS, my version actually had been upgraded and was fine. (This all has to do with 48-bit Logical Bit Addressing).

Oh by the way, Windows also needs Service Pack 4 if you're using Windows 2000, and Service Pack 1 if your using XP, if you want it to see your 250GB drive.

Oh, ok. But wait, I have my Service Pack installed!

Oh by the way, the Service Pack has to be included on the install CD. When you install it.

Oh @#!*.

Cliff's Notes is essentially: I got to the point where the ethernet was working but I really couldn't fix my video (16-bit colour 640x480 resolution baby, YEAH!). My 250GB drive was in limbo. This was after two days. Then I realized I had that spunky little Kubuntu Live CD kicking around...

Well, we'll just see what happens.

Why Kubuntu?

The archaic version of Red Hat I had tried left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Whether that was Red Hat's fault or mine is somewhat debatable. Last time around, I asked all my supremely nerdy friends what they liked, and they came up with that.

Bad idea. By the way, don't ask a group of male nerds what they do for fun.

Time for a quote from Edmonton band Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie.

From the song Every OS Sucks:

Now there's lih-nux or lie-nux,
I don't know how you say it,
or how you install it, or use it, or play it,
or where you download it, or what programs run,
but lih-nux, or lie-nux, don't look like much fun.

However you say it, it's getting great press,
though how it survives is anyone's guess,
If you ask me, it's a great big mess,
for elitist, nerdy shmucks.

"It's free!" they say, if you can get it to run,
the Geeks say, "Hey, that's half the fun!"
Yeah, but I got a girlfriend, and things to get done,
the Linux OS SUCKS.
(I'm sorry to say it, but it does.)

Exactly my experience (except for the girlfriend thing, because I'm a straight chick).

As I did my research online, time and time again Kubuntu popped up. Easy to use, graphical interface, comes with great software packages. There's even a Live CD.

Live CD = try it out before you commit. Excellent.

Initially I felt moderate shame about being a computer nerd ("professional" to some) and choosing the easy cutesy Linux. Then I remembered my last experience and the fact I don't need to prove my manliness. I felt much better.

Besides, all the nasty innards will still be there for me to play with. I can use command line if I really really want to.

Kubuntu it was.

Why Linux?

1) As a programmer and education enthusiast, I believe in the open-source movement. I strongly believe we need to push our society towards a symbiotic society (as opposed to a "let's see how we can mentally mess with these people and make them spend money they can't afford" society). This is actually a huge issue for me. I really don't like the direction society is going in. Society should be communal, helpful, and open. It should be (positive) education-centric. Our current society does not stress this.

At risk of sounding hokey, I would like to see a "Star-Trek" society. Open and free education, people who work at their jobs because they enjoyed learning their field.

2) My first experience with the Internet was in 1995. Over the last eleven years, I've seen the experience turn ugly. "In the olden days", you plugged in the line, it worked. These days, you need (in addition):
- a good firewall (not every one will cut it), and learning how to use it properly
- the other crappy firewall because OS updates don't work well without it
- a good web browser with fewer (bad) ties to the OS; one that you can customize (to protect yourself better - think cookie, certificate, and password handling)
- finding numerous browser add-ons that prevent web sites from hijacking your browser
- a registry checker to keep tabs on other baddies that got past all of the above

Wow, I know what I'm doing on a computer and I'm frustrated and slightly overwhelmed by all of this. I couldn't imagine the paranoia and stress all you normal folk go through /*insert dorky smiley face here*/.

I'm not so stupid as to assert viruses and other problems can not happen with Linux. However, the beauty of Linux is that community enforces itself. Linux developers don't have the same pressures and obstacles non-open source developers do. Linux developers don't need to cover their butts if they do something stupid - they just fix it. Linux developers don't encounter the same office politics when solving a problem. Open source development also gives more open collaboration.

Linux developers develop because they want to, not because they have to. Isn't that nice?

Linux developers who feel they need to evil and put evil junk maliciously on your system promptly get smacked upside the head by the rest of the community. The problem gets solved immediately.

I want an OS and developers I can rely on.

3) The issues go beyond just the OS. I feel this way about other computer applications too.

4) I'm a Computer Scientist. Linux is probably something I should know a little about (even if I picked the "easy" version).

5) I'm really frugal. (From where I'm from, that's a good thing.)