Checkbox for Ubuntu 16-04

I discovered Checkbox at the time I also discovered that if you press the Windows key on your keyboard, the Unity screen comes up. I had pressed the Windows key and there was Checkbox, an app I had not seen or heard of. It is a very thorough system checker and you can see the impressive list of what it checks on the Ubuntu help page. It checks everything! The video I have on this post has no sound but is a live example of what it is like to use Checkbox and how you can select preferences. I got it to check everything and it takes a while. I did have one problem. There was no opt out when the tests came up and it was too hard at the time to get my headset and earphones when Checkbox was doing the test for those. I was under time pressure . When I used the laptop later in the day I nearly blew my ears off with the racket coming from my speakers. Checkbox had set the volume to very high and the sound distortion was incredible. Easily fixed though, and my own fault for not plugging things in. It’s a very comprehensive diagnostic tool and worth knowing about. Checkbox is still an active Ubuntu project so the refinements and improvements are happening all the time. It is very much a community, collaborative project.

Install Steam on Ubuntu 16.04

I tried to install Steam on Ubuntu 16.04 about a month ago. I got a shortcut onto the desktop. I had the hourglass going and I was thinking it was going to load but nothing. I just could not get it past that point. There is all sorts of help on the Net and  all I can say is – persist. Eventually you will get there like I did. I found it easier to install Steam through Terminal:

sudo apt-get install steam

I had followed the instructions on the Linux Config site. Plenty of stuff downloaded through Terminal and then I thought I was there but it just wouldn’t work. I had it loaded on Windows so I just left it. You can also look on the site It’s F.O.S.S.. That site has some other ideas you can try.

Today, I decided to try and get it going and a line of code on the ask Ubuntu site was the thing which got Steam updating, functioning and allowing me to log into my account:

env LD_PRELOAD=’/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6′ steam steam://rungameid/730

It took a while but versions of Linux vary, laptop hardware varies and with Linux you have to ensure you have all the bits you need in order for software to work. Happy now!

Ubuntu 16.04

Not quite what I was expecting from Linux, but still, I think we are getting there. I got notice of an opportunity to upgrade to 16.04 from 14.04 as I was installing updates to 14.04. I waited for the updates to install and then started on the upgrade. My opinion with Linux is that it seems to be better to do a clean install from an iso than upgrade an existing version. It takes AGES. Two hours later I had the upgrade installed. It had stalled when it was installing fonts and appeared to be quite dead. I left it  for 15 minutes and it righted itself thank goodness. It was then very glitchy as it got going. The laptop would hang and then get going again and I was thinking I had not made a good decision. This is a Dell Studio 1558 i7 cpu Q740 1.73 GHz with 6 GB RAM. I can see where the problems are. Ubuntu 16.04 is probably built for something a bit faster. Graphics have been an issue. I can’t use Shutter because it hangs the computer. I use the print screen button and then crop the picture which takes longer but at least I am not stalling my computer. I had Kaffeine running TV from a DVT stick and then it fell apart but, as you can see from the picture it was working fine again this morning. Speaking of which, when I rebooted this morning I had a lovely black screen with a colourful stripey rectangle to the right. Nice modern art but not an operating system. I shut it down, waited for a minute and then turned it back on. A magenta screen with a choice of 3 options. Oh good. Choices but none seemed to mean anything to me so I selected the one highlighted. Linux instinctively chooses the right option in my experience. So now my laptop has been running all morning. I have done any number of different things on it and have been to all sorts of different sites and used different applications. I still cannot use Shutter. Everything loads quickly, everything looks really nice. The graphics on this are well designed. I shall wait until the next version of 16.04 because I can say one thing for the Net, everyone gets on there and says what problems they are having. Coders and developers then have a way of fixing things which are going wrong and getting good information out. I have installed the updates. It appears to me running more smoothly and I am following what I have not already done on 16 things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.04. This sort of advice is very helpful. This version is running better on my Dell than 14.04 so I am hopeful the silly nonsense will be resolved. I hate living with the feeling I shall jam up the works just because I want to cut and paste!

USB Bluetooth adapter

It is the teenniest thing. I just happened to find this bluetooth adapter in its package when I was op shopping. Never overlook a bargain. It means I have options. I connected my Targus USB Ultra-Mini Bluetooth 2.00 Adapter with EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) to my Ubuntu laptop and we were in business…sort of. It connected , lit up and I could send files from the laptop to my Samsung S5 phone . Sending files to the laptop from the phone was not working and no matter what I did ….nothing. That was the main reason I wanted the bluetooth connection. Yes, I can connect the wire to my phone and transfer things that way. Yes, I can use Dropbox which is very efficient when I have access to wifi. Bluetooth gives me a wireless option when I don’t want to use wires and I don’t have wifi access. It also means I can use it on my desktop computer. I googled to get help, as you do. I found this help on a Linux Mint tutorial and found by loading the Blueman programme from the Ubuntu Software Centre I could have full functionality with phone and laptop. The devices connected quickly and the files transferred easily both ways. I did not need to install the obext ftp.

Ubuntu Tweak

How can you forget your own best friend? I have blogged about Ubuntu Tweak before when I was on Ubuntu 10. I installed the version for 14.04, cleaned up the Ubuntu installation and let Ubuntu Tweak preen my desktop. It’s a very handy utility with numerous options which is very reliable. I used the instructions on unixmen to install it.