Debian HOW-TO : Flash 9

Last Revision : April 27th, 2007

Since October 18, Flash 9 is available (in beta version) for Linux. The official release is out since January 16, 2007.

Here is a quick how-to on how to install it.

In this tutorial, I use sudo to get root privileges.

• Installation

To ease the installation process, install the package flashplugin-nonfree :

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

For Debian Etch, Lenny, or Sid, that's all there is to it. The above mentioned package will take care of installing the latest Flash Player for you.

Debian Sarge users have a few extra steps to take care of though.

On Debian Sarge

Once you have flashplugin-nonfree installed, download Flash 9 directly like that :

wget http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz

Once you have the file, you can decompress it like that :

tar zxf install_flash_player_9_linux.tar.gz

To effectively install the plugin, first navigate to the right directory :

cd install_flash_player_9_linux/

Then install it like that :

sudo cp libflashplayer.so flashplayer.xpt /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/

That's it, verify that the plugin is present by typing :

about:plugins

in Firefox address bar.

• Notes

Konqueror users may have to "rescan" the available plugins so the changes take effects :

Settings -> Configure Konqueror... -> Plugins -> Scan for New Plugins

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Debian HOW-TO : AIGLX + Compiz

Last revision : May 26th, 2007


You've got this Debian machine, and yet you want to use the famous "3D desktop" everyone's talking about ?


On Debian Etch (or Sid), it is surprisingly easy to configure a "3D desktop".

Here is how to do it.

• Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you have direct rendering enabled. In other words, the output of

glxinfo | grep direct

should say (if glxinfo doesn't work, make sure you have the package mesa-utils installed) :

direct rendering: Yes

If not, make sure your card is properly configured and that the drivers for it are rightly set up. If you need help about that, refer to the tutorial on NVIDIA drivers or the one on ATI drivers. Any INTEL card will do just as well.

A 3D desktop with Compiz, showing a very handy feature : "expose" (a la Mac OS X).

• xorg.conf

A few changes have to be made to the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

In Section "Module", make sure you have

   Load   "dbe"

in first position.

In Section "Device", ensure you have

   Option   "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"   "true"

in last position. Plus, if you don't already have a Section "Extensions", add one somewhere (still in your xorg.conf) :

Section   "Extensions"
   Option   "Composite"   "Enable"
EndSection

Also, NVIDIA users should make sure that they have those 2 lines in the Section "Screen" of their xorg.conf file :

   Option   "AddARGBGLXVisuals"   "true"
DefaultDepth   24

As well as those lines in Section "Device" :

   Option   "AllowGLXWithComposite"   "true"
   Option   "TripleBuffer"   "true"

• AIGLX

Starting with xorg 7.1, AIGLX is integrated in the X server. Also, it should get loaded automatically. Ensure that it does :

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i aiglx

which should say (==) AIGLX enabled. If it doesn't get loaded, you can force it by adding :

   Option   "AIGLX"   "true"

to Section "ServerLayout" of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

It is to be noted that, technically, NVIDIA drivers do not use AIGLX (starting with version 1.0-9629), though the X server configuration is the same.

• Compiz

Compiz's installation is quite straight forward. First install the required packages :

sudo apt-get install compiz

Then, add Compiz to your desktop environment (Gnome, KDE, or Xfce) startup script.

Gnome

Go in Desktop -> Preferences -> Sessions. Then choose the Startup Programs tab and add an entry for Compiz :

compiz --replace --fast-filter

KDE

Simply create a file ~/.kde/Autostart/compiz.desktop with this content :

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=compiz --replace gconf & kde-window-decorator &
GenericName[en_US]=
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
TerminalOptions=
Type=Application
X-KDE-autostart-after=kdesktop

Xfce

Simply edit the file /usr/share/desktop-base/profiles/xdg-config/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc (or /etc/xdg/xfce4-session/xfce4-session.rc) and replace xfwm4 with compiz:

Client0_Command=compiz --fast-filter

That's it. Restart the X server and you are good to go.

The "film view", showing multiple desktops

• Tips

You can view my xorg.conf here.

Issuing this command :

grep -A 2 '<' /usr/share/gconf/schemas/compiz.schemas

will give you a complete list of the Compiz shortcuts.

If you get any weird issues with Compiz (ie no windows' borders), simply erase the gconf entry of compiz :

rm -r ~/.gconf/apps/compiz/

and restart GNOME.

>>> Read the full article

Debian HOW-TO : ATI drivers

Last revision: June 13th, 2007

ATI has made tremendous efforts recently to enhanced its Linux drivers quality, and it shows. Debian users can now install the ATI drivers with minimum effort.

Here is how to do it.

• Requirements

First, download the latest ATI drivers (installer) from ATI's site.

Then install the required building tools, plus fakeroot and debhelper (I use sudo to get root privileges temporarily):

sudo apt-get install fakeroot debhelper build-essential libstdc++5

• Using the ATI installer

Second, prepare the ATI packages from the file just downloaded:

fakeroot sh ati-driver-installer-8.37.6-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Debian/etch

Of course, replace Debian/etch with your specific distribution. To get a list of all available distributions:

fakeroot sh ati-driver-installer-8.37.6-x86.x86_64.run --listpkg

• Driver installation

Third, install the required resulting packages (only those 2 are required):

sudo dpkg -i fglrx-driver_8.37.6-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-src_8.37.6-1_i386.deb

Then install the kernel headers.

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

The package for Debian Sarge is named a little differently: kernel-headers-$(uname -r)

At this point you must build the fglrx module with module-assistant:

sudo apt-get install module-assistant
cd /usr/src
sudo m-a prepare
sudo m-a a-i fglrx

• Configuring X

Finally, make sure your /etc/X11/xorg.conf (or /etc/X11/XF86Config-4) file is correctly configured. A little hint there on Flavio Stanchina's page. You can always look at my X configuration file for reference.

Note: I first published this guide on linuxforums.org under the nickname antidrugue.

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