Ubuntu Computer refuses to Boot

Boot your computer on a Ubuntu live-CD or live-USB

then follow the section 2nd option : install Boot-Repair in Ubuntu from this link:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

Reset Libreoffice to default

First close Libreoffice and
uninstall it in the software centre then
login as root by going to
terminal and typing
gksudo nautilus. This allows you to navigate and change root files and folders.
Open the parent directory by going to the
home folder and in the tool bar select
Go and then select
Open parent. this opens the root folders. Now select
View and select
show hidden files, than search for
registrymodifications.xcu Now select
open item location. You should now be it
/home/computername/.config/libreoffice/4/user/registrymodifications.xcu
Select the folder
.config on the tool bar and rename the
libreoffice folder to something like
Libreoffice1.
Now reinstall libreoffice and a new
registrymodifications.xcu file will be created, resetting all defaults in the process.

How to switch off Word completion in Libreoffice

To Switch off the Word Completion

1. Choose Tools - AutoCorrect - AutoCorrect Options - Word Completion.
2. Clear Enable word completion .

USB formatting for unstable USB drive.

This page describes how to format USB drives.  USB drives can be problematic and become unreliable or even lock you out. Read more…

How to update Adobe flash player for Ubuntu

As of May 2015, the old "pepperflashplugin-nonfree" is deprecated in favour of an official, maintained, one-step package called adobe-flashplugin, which works for Firefox and Chromium and derivatives, but not for Yandex.

I've tried many methods and this is the only one which work so far!

First, open the software centre and go to the

• 'edit' tab at the top of the screen. Now select 
• 'software sources' and select the 
• 'Other Sources' tab. Under that, check the two boxes for:
• 'Canonical Partners'

Now install 'synaptic' by searching for it in the Software centre. 

Open synaptic and in the

• 'quick filter' box, search for 'adobe'. Look for a package which says 
• 'flashplugin-installer'. Right click it's box and select:
• 'Mark for removal'

This piece of crap 'flashplugin-installer' has never ever worked or updated properly!

Now find the package:

• 'adobe-flashplugin' right click on it and select:
• 'Mark for installation'.

Synaptic will probably want to also add 'adobe-flash-properties-gtk' so approve this as well.

Please like if you found this helpful =]

How to convert a stereo song to mono or extract audio songs from video files.

This is useful if say you have a single large speaker like a stage monitor and you want both channels going through the speaker.

• Install VLC media player if it's not installed already. Then select
• Media from the menu at the top of VLC screen. Now select 
• Convert/Save and click on
• Add and choose the file you want. This can be a video file in which VLC will extract the song and convert it to say mp3/mp3 mono, or convert an audio track. now click 
• Convert/Save. In the profile box, select
• Audio mp3 or whatever file type you want. To the right of the profile box there is a tool button to edit the selected profile so click this 
• Tool Button. Select 
• mp4/mov if it not selected already and go to the 
• Audio codec tab. The codec should say mp3 and the bitrate should be set around
• 128kb/s but you can play with this to 320kb/s or 60kb/s depending on the size of file and quality you want. A good tip is to view the properties of a song by right clicking it and checking to see what bit rate the audio part is.. Now go to the 
• Channels window and select 
• 1. This will make the track mono. Now click 
• Save. This should bring you back to the convert screen. At the destination window, 
• Browse to the location you wish to save the new mono track but it's important that you name the file and place
• .mp3 at the end of it, for example happybirthdaymono.mp3. VLC will not put the extension file type for you. Now click
• Save and then click 
• Start.  You should see the progress bar at the bottom of VLC moving as it's converting.

Enjoy!



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Download Ubuntu

Here is a link to the latest version of Ubuntu:

Download Ubuntu

Who wants Windoze 10, which amazingly rapes you of your privacy and with it's endless security flaws when we have Ubuntu! Please buy them a cup of coffee =]

How to reinstall software you have paid for/bought

To reinstall purchases that you made in a previous Ubuntu installation: 

• Open the software Centre
• From the “File” menu, choose “Reinstall Previous Purchases”.

• If prompted, sign in to your Ubuntu Single Sign-On account.

• Select a title, click it, and click “More Info”.

• Click “Install”.

If this does not work, there is also a fallback method:

• Go to https://software-center.ubuntu.com/subscriptions/ in your favorite web browser.  
   
• Click a title.

• Copy the “deb https...” line and add it to your system's software sources. There are a couple ways to do this:
  • - Command line:
    1. Start a terminal. b. Obtain root privileges by running 'sudo bash'. c. Using your favorite text editor, paste the deb line (as one line) at the end of a file called /etc/apt/sources.list d. Run "apt-get update".
    - Update Manager:
    1. Run update-manager, or invoke it from the software update icon at the top of the screen. b. Click "Settings...", and enter your password. c. Click "Other Software". d. Click "Add..." e. Paste the deb line into the dialog box. f. Click "Add Source". g. Click "Close". h. If prompted, click "Reload".
    2. Close Update Manager.
• Install the software, using synaptic (GUI) or apt-get (command line).

What hardware is compatible with Ubuntu?

No likes finding the new system they bought or the latest graphics card is not compatible with Ubuntu, so here is a full list of compatible hardware.

Click below..

Component catalogue

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Install a spellchecker in LyX document processor.

Assuming you have the most excellent program LyX installed here is how to install a spellchecker:

Check in the Software Centre (not system settings) to see if ENCHANT is installed. If not, install it. 

Start Lyx and select:

• Tools then go to
• Preferences
• Language settings, then
• Spellchecker. Then at 
• Spellchecker engine, select 
• Enchant and press 
• Enter, and click on 
• Save.

Now we don;t have to paste and copy text into another program to check the spelling.. 



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Create a Shortcut to insert the Date in Libre Office

The date can be inserted in Libre Office by using the Insert drop down menu at the top of the screen but this is time consuming.

There is no shortcut for inserting the date but we can create one!

Go to:

• Tools >
• Customize > 
• keyboard then to the
• Shortcut keys window.

In the shortcut window, select an unused shortcut combination for example

• Alt+D In the
• Category wndow, select
• Insert. then in the 
• Function window, select 
• Date then click 
• Modify and click 
• Okay

Now when you press the –Alt D– combination, the date is inserted =]


Temp link
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How to reset or change Ubuntu Root password..

We need to boot into recovery mode to change the password or even if we have forgotten the password. Here's how to do this:

Boot up the computer, and after the BIOS screen has loaded, hold down the left

• SHIFT key. You will then be prompted by a menu that looks something like this:

Now select

• Recovery mode using the arrow keys and press 
• Enter

This menu should pop up..

 Now select:

• Root using the arrow keys again to move the highlighted line and press 
• Enter At this point you should see a root prompt which reads:
• root@ubuntu:~# The file system will be read only so we have to re–mount it with write permissions. So type this into the prompt:
• mount -rw -o remount Now we use the passwrd command but we have to select the user. Say our user is called dave72, then we type this:
• root@ubuntu:~# passwrd dave72 Now we have selected the user and now we choose a password to enter. Say the password is 1234 then type:
• Enter new UNIX password: 1234
• Retype new UNIX password: 1234
• Passwrd: password updated successfully
• root@ubuntu:~#

 BTW, the command passwrd is spelled like that to distinguish it as a command rather than a word. Now simply reboot the computer and you're done.


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How do I open a terminal window in Ubuntu?

The sidebar to the left of the desktop in Ubuntu has lots of Icons, but right at the very top is a Ubuntu button which when clicked opens the 'Dash'.

So go ahead and open the Dash..

You see a place where you can type stuff so type 'terminal' and an icon of the terminal window will present itself with the appropriate label.

Click this icon and a terminal window will open.

But what is a terminal window and why do I need it?
  The terminal window is a way to directly program Ubuntu. For example, using the word 'sudo' gives you root permissions.

Ubuntu has a lot of protection around it and that's why we need permission to alter our own system files! Usually apt-get refers to grabbing something online from a web site.

So if you were to type 'sudo apt-get update' in a terminal window for example, Ubuntu would update itself using what is called 'repositories' which is another word for stuff stored on a computer somewhere that is fresh =]

   Check out my book– the Adept magician.. Learn magic if you dare!

How do I update Ubuntu?

How to update Ubuntu? My advice is:

Don't bother!

The reason is that Ubuntu has many dependencies and removing and installing programs can lead to difficulites. 

I'v also found the Ubuntu after it has been updated becomes unstable especially when lots of programs have been installed.

For me, the best solution is to put a fresh copy of Ubuntu especially the long term releases.

There are some things you might want to do first though. For example if you are using firefox, you might want to save all your bookmarks. First, go to: 

• Bookmarks at the very top of the firefox window and select 
• All Bookmarks Now select the tab which says 
• Import and backup, then select 
• Export Bookmarks to HTML I prefer this to exporting bookmarks in another format. Now 
• Save the bookmarks on you external hardrive.

Another tip is to use only one folder for everything! So you can create a folder called 

• Backup and then create folders within it called 
• Home
• Desktop
• Downloads 
• music
• videos 

These are obviously folder I created to mimic the Default folders Ubuntu already has. Then I can simply move all contents into these folders, and then move the whole lot to another drive.

You should also note which programs you have installed in the software centre.

Another thing which should be done is copy passwords of Thunderbird and Firefox. It's probably best to write these down on a hard copy.

OK this system is a little time consuming but 

1. We now have a complete backup of all files in a separate drive which is very secure and we can copy them back to the new copy of Ubuntu.
2. Everything is now updated with the lastest configuration and
3. We are not mixing and older system files with newer system files.
4. The system has been tested thoroughly by experts in Ubuntu.

I do this every few months and I've never lost any data of had any issues with software and the system is always up to date.

 

Installing Ubuntu

Installing Ubuntu is very easy but...

• If you use a USB 3 flash drive it might not be recognised, so try the USB 3 flash drive in a USB 2 port. The USB 3 ports are blue in colour and USB 2 are black.
• Use a USB 3 drive! If you have one, installation is much, much faster with one of these, even in a USB 2 port.
• There a two types of encryption available. One encrypts the system files, and the other encrypts the Home folder and all your files.
  The problem with the above is that if you have a crash of some sort and all your files are encrypted.
  So when you use say a USB drive with Ubuntu on it to recover your files, guess what– yep you can't do anything with them because they are encrypted!
• If I encrypt the system files instead of the Home folder, I found I have to start Ubuntu twice to get it working.
  That's because the screen would be blank on first startup and would be fine upon restarting. So now I don't bother encrypting the system files. 

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How to disable overlay scrollbars on Ubuntu.

I find these scroll bars annoying– maybe it's just me? But here is how to change scroll bars bar to normal slide bars. Read more...

How to Change the Computer Name for Ubuntu.

Say you don't like the name chosen for your computer or you want to change it from time to time for security reasons. Read more...

How to get rid of duplicate files in Ubuntu

This can be a real headache. I found while transferring old files to new versions of Ubuntu, things can get a little out of hand sometimes. Read more...

How to remove drum intro sound in Ubuntu..

This intro sound is annoying especially if you have children. It's easy to forget to turn the volume down and Ubuntu proudly wakes them up. Read more...

How to log in as Root in Ubuntu.

This is how to get to the hidden system files as an administrator and change them or delete them at will. Read more...

Using Anti–Spam temporary Email service

Signing up for various accounts can be awful because of the constant spam they send you afterwards. So a temporary email service is great. Read more...