atuility.com

1. download the source code from cvs
    cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.elc.berlios.de:/cvsroot/elc login
    cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.elc.berlios.de:/cvsroot/elc co elc
2. install the following packages
    aptitude install libsdl-dev libxml-dev libsdl-net1.2-dev libxml2-dev libalut-dev libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libopenal-dev g++ libcal3d-dev libsdl-image1.2-dev
3. compile the client
    cd elc
    make -f Makefile.linux
4. run the client
    ./el.x86.linux.bin

While I tried several times on install linux client on ubuntu, here’s what I do

1. download and unzip the el_133_linux_full.zip to a temp directory, for example: /home/username/temp, it will create a new directory Eternal Lands-1.33
2. mkdir /usr/local/games/el
3. mv /home/username/temp/Eternal\ Lands-1.33/* /usr/local/games/el
4. cd /usr/local/games/el
5. ./el-133.x86.linux.static

You must run the game in root account, if running in user account, it abort or crash quickly.

Since 1996, I begin to use Java 1.0 to develop programs, on Windows and then Linux.
Now I’m using Java 1.5 and IDEA 5.0 for most of my Java development.
I also use Netbeans5.5, as I use Forte 1.0 since 1997, and Netbeans is still my favorite IDE for Java.

Install Sun JDK 1.6 through Automagix2, and then you can install Sun JDK 1.5 with this command:

aptitude install sun-java5-jdk

IDEA 5.0 need JDK 1.5 to run, it’s not supporting JDK 1.6.

After installed JDK1.5 and JDK1.6, it’s time to install some Java tools and IDE

1. Squirrel SQL client:
   • install: java -jar squirrel-sql-2.5-install.jar
   • configure the JDBC drivers for MSSQL, add jtds-1.2.jar
   • for MySQL, add mysql-connector-java.jar
2. NetBeans 5.5
   • just download and install
   • copy C:\Documents and Settings\username\.netbeans\5.5 to /home/username/.netbeans/5.5
   • Start netbeans
3. IDEA
   • unzip to a dir, like /opt/idea
   • change the file /opt/idea/bin/idea.sh
     IDEA_JDK=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun
   • then run ./idea.sh
4. I also installed the following software for my Java development works
   • iReport: design report from sql commands
   • Kettle: ETL works
5. finally, I also installed eclipse, which is becoming popular recently, but I seldom use it. I heard about it’s very good on Java development, but I still like Netbeans and IDEA.

I use outlook express on windows platform, for it’s fast and easy. But it would be troublesome for me to run outlook express on Linux. The way I am going to use is switch my email client first, then move it onto Linux.

Thunderbird can import the email and settings from outlook and outlook express, so I import all my email into Thunderbird first, then goes to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles and create a zip file for my profile, and transfer to Linux.

I’m using WinSCP to transfer files between Windows and Linux. My email isn’t too much, it’s a 208M zip archive, for about 2 years email.

After file transfered, unzip the file to /home/username/.mozilla-thunderbird and start the profile manager by this command:

mozilla-thunderbird -ProfileManager

Create a new profile, and choose the folder to the newly transfered profile.
Then start Thunderbird and all your email is there in Local Folders/Outlook Express Mail.
I will use Thunderbird on Linux as my primary email client, though Evolution is also good, but the windows version seems not well supported. I also like the “profile” method, which allows me to move computer and OS easily.

So, after 10 years of using Outlook express since version 4, I switched to Thunderbird 1.5, and hopefully will keep using it for the next 10 years.

I’ve been using Opera since version 4, and I still keeps the bookmark since 2000, so I must migrate my settings from windows to Linux.
if you are using same version on windows and Linux, here’s the easy way

1. Start opera on Linux, then close it. This will create a new directory .opera at home directory
2. copy all files from c:\program files\opera\profile into .opera, overwrite existing files
3. start opera again, you will find everything is there, just like the windows machine

If you are using different version, then copy opera6.adr, cookies4.dat, wand.dat from windows to Linux, which will keep most of the useful settings.

Firefox now is my favorite browser as it’s stable and has many plug-ins. I’m using version 1.5.0.9 on windows, and 2.0.0.3 on Linux. Here is what I did to migrate the settings

1. start Firefox, the close it. This will create a new directory .mozilla/firefox
2. copy all files from c:\documents and settings\your_user_name\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ to .mozilla/firefox
3. run this command: Firefox -ProfileManager, then crate a new profile, with the directory name of the newly copied one
4. start Firefox, with the profile as default, then you have everything migrated
5. One thing noticed, some plug-in may not working on 2.0, so uninstall them if required.

My favorite Firefox plug-ins/extensions/add-ons:

• adblock plus
• add bookmark here
• deepest sender: blog editor, support wordpress and blogger.com
• downthemall: great download manager
• fasterfox
• flashblock: block flash ads
• foxclocks
• foxyproxy
• imglikeopera: this is learned from opera
• tab mix plus
• user agent switcher: make Firefox act as Mobile phone UA
• view cookies
• view formatted source: this is a must for web developer
• web developer: must install
• wmlbroser: I was a mobile application developer before

update is easy, there’s an icon in the corner, click and then install updates.
To improve the download speed, better select the nearest server, and it will greatly increase the speed. For myself, if use a server in US, that’s 14k/s, if use a server in Taiwan, that’ll be 135k/s, nearly 10 times.

After that, install synaptic by running this command:

Synaptic is graphical package manager, I use it to select which software to install. I installed
lynx: Text-mode WWW Browser
elinks: advanced text-mode WWW browser , this one support more features than lynx
apache2, php5, mysql5: That’s my development platform
mysql-query-browser, mysql-administrator: two GUI program for mysql
filezilla: for FTP, SFTP etc.
liferea: feed aggregator
postfix: my favorite MTA
proftpd: my favorite FTP server
quanta: the HTML editor
samba: to share files with windows
subversion: version control software
synergy: share mouse, keyboard and clipboard over the network
thunderbird mail: the email client
gFTP: the FTP client

As I am a native Chinese at Beijing China, I enabled the Chinese language support in Ubuntu, it downloaded about 40 packages, and then I’m able to import and view Chinese without problem.

I’m still in need of a few other software, like Opera, Skype, Sun Java SDK etc. , there’s a software called AutoMatix can install those software easily for you.
Download and install Automatix2 from http://www.getautomatix.com , then install the following software:
Skype, flash player, Java 1.6 JDK and JRE, aMule, RealPlayer, Totem Xine, Acrobat Reader, GnoCHM, Opera
I also installed VirtualBox, Wine, Extra fonts, Multimedia Codecs

I have a 20 inch LCD which support 1680×1050, but the current setting only allow 1280×1024, so I open /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and make it support 1600×1050:
1. find the screen section, and add “1680×1050″ in every Modes line.
here’s the result:

Section “Screen”
    Identifier    “Default Screen”
    Device        “nVidia Corporation GeForce 7300 LE”
    Monitor        “Generic Monitor”
    Defaultdepth    24
    SubSection “Display”
        Depth    1
        Modes        “4095×4095″    “1680×1050″    “1280×1024″    “1024×768″    “832×624″    “800×600″    “720×400″    “640×480″
    EndSubSection
    SubSection “Display”
        Depth    4
        Modes        “4095×4095″    “1680×1050″    “1280×1024″    “1024×768″    “832×624″    “800×600″    “720×400″    “640×480″
    EndSubSection
    SubSection “Display”
        Depth    8
        Modes        “4095×4095″    “1680×1050″    “1280×1024″    “1024×768″    “832×624″    “800×600″    “720×400″    “640×480″
    EndSubSection
    SubSection “Display”
        Depth    15
        Modes        “4095×4095″    “1680×1050″    “1280×1024″    “1024×768″    “832×624″    “800×600″    “720×400″    “640×480″
    EndSubSection
    SubSection “Display”
        Depth    16
        Modes        “4095×4095″    “1680×1050″    “1280×1024″    “1024×768″    “832×624″    “800×600″    “720×400″    “640×480″
    EndSubSection
    SubSection “Display”
        Depth    24
        Modes        “4095×4095″    “1680×1050″    “1280×1024″    “1024×768″    “832×624″    “800×600″    “720×400″    “640×480″
    EndSubSection
EndSection

2. logout, then re-login, this will cause the settings updated, and then change the resolution in preference.
3. press the auto-adjust button on the LCD

I just bought a Dell Dimension E521, to replace my HP Pavilion a1117cl as my primary desktop machine. The E521 come with Windows Vista Home Basic, but I would like to install Ubuntu linux as my desktop OS. Vista is ok, but after 10 years of talking about linux desktop, I’m going to give it a try on my new desktop. I have been using many  Slackware,  Redhat, Fedora, Debian for about 10 years on server side, and  as 2nd desktop machine. This time I decide to use Linux as my primary machine for all my daily works.

The CPU is AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+, though AMD64 has appeared for sometime, but I still think Linux desktop isn’t ready for it. I select the latest Ubuntu i386 desktop edition.

After one hour’s download, I have Ubuntu 7.0.4 i386 burned on a CDR, and boot into it from CD-ROM.

Click the install icon, and after answered a few simple questions, I have Ubuntu installed on my machine, I have selected manual partition because I would like to keep the Dell Utility partition on disk which has some usage if there’s hardware issue.

Remove the CDR from the computer and reboot, I have a Ubuntu desktop running smoothly with sound and 1280×1024 screen.