Getting DVDs to play

Changes since the last post: New laptop - Dell XPS Now using Ubuntu 12.04 Getting DVDs to play - used this link.

BT Homehub screws up networking

A BT homehub firmware upgrade stopped both the wireless and wired connections working on my laptop.

Wireless has been retrieved by acquiring a USB wireless thingummy which uses n wireless stuff. This just works.

Wired can be fixed by following the instructions in this post and setting an IP address for the connection to use...

right click on network manager in the notification area at the top and click on 'Edit Connections'

Click on the Wireless or Wired tab as appropriate, click on the connection you want and click on Edit

Under IPv4 settings click Add to enter this information:

IP Address - 192.168.1.xx (last 2/3 digits any available address on your network)

Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0

Gateway - 192.168.1.254

DNS Server - 192.168.1.254.

Now up to 11.04

Smooth upgrade to 11.04

Issues:

• Ongoing conflict between broadcom drivers for wireless and ethernet card mean neither is working



• Can't have more than 3 windows maximised at any one time - next window appears blank.

Fix for getting notifications of thunderbird messages in the top right messages area.

After some more research figured it out what I needed to do.

Edit or add a file in usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/

I choose to edit a current file since I wanted evolution to not be there.

Opened file usr/share/indicators/messages/applications/evolution

Changed the line usr/share/applications/evolution.desktop to usr/share/applications/thunderbird.desktop (paths may vary depending on what you're trying to launch)

Save file and renamed it to thunderbird (remember I only renamed because I choose to edit the evolution file).

Logout or restart. ( I restarted, but I imagine logging out would give the same result)

The indicator dropdown should now only have what you want in it.

Cheers.

From - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1750374

Stuttering DVD

Laptop now upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10 (maverick meerkat)

DVD playback stuttering.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1605401&highlight=dvd+stuttering&page=2
post 20 -

To change the settings, run "gstreamer-properties", click the Video tab
and change the appropriate settings.

You may have set "ximagesink" ("X Window System (No Xv)") as video-output.
This means, that your cpu is doing all the work. Change it to "xvimagesink"
("X Window System (X11/XShm/Xv)") in order to let your graphics card do the work.

This didn't really do anything. My setting was 'default'

Next Post...

http://ubuntu-ky.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9961868&postcount=29

Re: Choppy video in Maverick
Found a solution on this thread and it seams to have fixed the problem for me.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1588889

In the terminal open the /etc/pulse/default.pa file

Code:

Sudo gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa

In the text file search for the line below:

Code:

load-module module-udev-detect

edit the line to add 'tsched=0' to the end of the line like below:

Code:

load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0

Save and reboot

What actually worked

System>Preferences>Appearance - No desktop effects

Skype

Skype was having video problems.
Video was transmitting with no problem, but I could only see a white rectangle.

Problem was a conflict with Cairo-dock. This needs to be run in non-GL mode.
System/Preferences/Start-up programmes.
Edit the command for Cairo dock from cairo-dock -o to cairo-dock -c.

Now it works fine.

Upgrade from Karmic to Lucid

Fairly painless upgrade. Basically it all just worked, including wireless settings. Very impressive.

First problem - Mozilla Sunbird was classed as obsolete and removed. This meant I had no access to my todo list. On the other hand, when I installed Lightning into Thunderbird, it found the todo list I had lost access to last month on the last upgrade when Lightning was made incompatible with the version of Thunderbird I had. I store calendars online using Google, but there doesn't seem to be a todo list option there so the list has to be stored locally.

Solution - download Sunbird from the Mozilla website.
- this picked up my previous profile
- export the calendar with the todo list embedded
- open lightning and import the .ics file, into the offline calendar.

Future proof - export Lightning profile when backing up.

Email scanning

Having installed ClamAV and ClamTK, I was disappointed they don't provide email scanning for Thunderbird.

Installing the clamdrib extension for Thunderbird and following the instructions here mean that every email that is previewed or opened gets scanned. Note - incoming emails don't get checked until you try and open them.

Not perfect, but better than nothing.