A few questions on Ubuntu!

T

TrainTrackHack

VIP Member
Okay, still new to Linux, here we go...:

1. In Windows I could scroll pretty much anything, anywhere by holding down the middle button and moving the cursor. Is this possible in Linux/Ubuntu? If not, I'm not gonna start crying...

2. Do I need to defrag ext3 drives? Even if not, is there any good, FREE defraggers that I could use to defrag my Windows partitions while in Linux?

3. When I open a, say, MP3 in the file browser and I already have something playing, it opens a new instance of the program and the two sounds start overlapping instead of stopping whatever is already playing and then opening the file I want it to. Currently using VLC media player, is there anything better for Linux?

4. How do I get VLC player to save all settings? I manage to find good equalizer settings (hate the presets) and as soon as I close it & open a new file they're gone - kinda annoys me.

5. Is there a CTRL+ALT+DEL equivalent in Linux/Ubuntu? If not, what do I do when I need one for some reason (can Linux freeze or something like that)?

6. Can I/how do I add more workspaces?

EDIT: Here's some more:

7. According to System Monitor, my CPU usage is almost constantly at +80%, occasionally it drops but hardly ever below 50%. I tried disabling all visual effects, but my CPU usage most of the time still lingered above 70%, IMO all the eye candy is just too nice for a 10%-30% drop in CPU usage. In processes list, when sorted by CPU usage, the system monitor itself came out on the top with the usage ranging from 15 to 35 percent most of the time, everything else was at zero. I haven't noticed any slowdown or lag at all, except when gaming, and it surprises me that the games perform so poorly when they don't look that hardware- intensive at all. What's going on here? Specs of the computer: 1.8GHz Sempron, 2.5GB DDR-400 in dual-channel (no swap partition), 8500GT (Visual effects pretty much maxed out). Ubuntu is installed on a 16GB ext3 partition, in addition I have another 16GB ext3 partition mounted as /home.
 
Last edited:
1. Linux tends to treat the scrollwheel button as just a third mouse button, completely unrelated to scrolling. Sometimes it's a menu. In firefox it opens a URL in a new tab. On the KDE desktop it gives a list of open windows (for me). I don't think it does that scroll thing though.

2. ext3 does not require defragmentation. I don't know of an NTFS or FAT defragger for Linux. If you do find one, it's probably safer to use Windows' native defragger for that. I wouldn't defrag a Linux partition with a Windows ext2 defragger if there was one, nor defrag a Windows partition with a Linux NTFS defragger.

3. There might be such a player, although I don't know if there is. XMMS maybe?

(I don't use VLC so I can't help with 4)

5. A rough equivalent of ctrl+alt+del+del (to restart) is ctrl+alt+backspace, which will restart the X server (GUI) and all of the GUI programs you have running. Although it doesn't actually restart the computer, you'll be quickly brought to a login screen and whatever misbehaving program will almost certainly have been killed.

Check the GNOME keyboard shortcuts to see if there's a shortcut set for the system monitor. If not, feel free to make one.

Linux can freeze, however the only times I've had this happen I was trying to run Second Life. Kernel panics are also possible, but rare.

6. For GNOME, right-click on the workspace pager that shows all your desktops, and look for preferences. In KDE, right-click the pager and click "configure desktops". In Compiz, get the program ccsm or "compizconfig-settings-manager" and under general options > desktop size tab you can set the dimensions of workspaces. Horizontal will add cube faces, adding vertical desktops will give you more cubes, but you'll need Expo or something similar to switch between cubes (one row in expo = one cube, I find one hexagonal prism to be plenty for my purposes).

7. Even just after booting it's 70%? Open a command line and enter "top", and see if that tells you the same thing.
 
For the whole MP3 thing, why don't you just use rythmbox to play your music?
Click to expand...
1. I can't play any music unless I add it to my playlist - and I really do prefer just browsing my songs in File Browser/Windows Explorer (depending on which OS I'm using) - for some reason I hate playlists

2. It can't play FLVs

3. I can't find a EQ or any other adjustments apart from volume

4. For some reason, it doesn't play any of my MP3s - I don't know what's wrong with it. It says "playing blah blah blah.mpblah" but the postition bat doesn't move nor do I get any sound.

Never mind the VLC questions anyway, I made another thread for'em (and some more)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top