Author: Dolapo Soboyede

How to Download Media Files from the Internet

This article discusses an easy way to download media files from the Internet. These include mp3, flv, swf files, etc using Firefox.

Get and install Video Download Helper add-on from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-downloadhelper/

After installation, an icon will show on the menu bar. If you browse a web page with downloadable media the icon will light up.

You can then click on the arrow button next to the Video Download Helper icon to see the list of downloadable files·

Then click on the one you want to download. That’s it!

How to install Canon MP250 on Ubuntu 11.10

This article discusses how to install the Canon MP250 all-in-one printer on Ubuntu 11.10

1. Download the printer drivers from the Canon website. You will need to select you Linux under ‘Operating system’ and your language. I choose English in this case.

2. Extract the contents of the archives. You can do this by opening a terminal (ctrl + alt + t), changing to the directory containing the drivers archive and running the following command :
tar xf mp250\ printer\ driver\ 3.40\.tar

I assume the name of the archive is ‘mp250 printer driver 3.40.tar’

Once done, you will have 3 archives created cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb.tar.gz, cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-rpm.tar.gz, and guidemp250series-pd-3.40-1_en.tar.gz.

3. Extract the contents of cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb.tar.gz using the command :

tar xzf cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb.tar.gz

This will create a folder called cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb in the same directory.

4. Change to the cnijfilter-mp250series-3.40-1-deb directory. You will find 2 folders (packages and resources) and a file (install.sh).

5. Change to the packages directory. You will see 4 archives :
cnijfilter-common_3.40-1_amd64.deb
cnijfilter-common_3.40-1_i386.deb
cnijfilter-mp250series_3.40-1_amd64.deb
cnijfilter-mp250series_3.40-1_i386.deb

The archives ending with ‘amd64.db’ are for 64-bit machines while those ending with ‘i386.db’ are for 32-bit machines. For the next steps I assume you’re using a 64-bit machine. If using a 32-bit one, do the same on the corresponding files.

6. Double-click cnijfilter-common_3.40-1_amd64.deb. This will fire up Ubuntu Software Centre and install some drivers. Once done, you will see a check mark and the word ‘installed’ for ‘IJ Printer driver for Linux’

7. Double-click cnijfilter-mp250series_3.40-1_amd64.deb. This will fire up Ubuntu Software Centre and install some drivers. Once done, you will see a check mark and the word ‘installed’ for ‘IJ Printer driver for Linux’

8. You’re done. Now test the printer by printing a test page. If all goes well, you will find it works.

Note : I tried using the install.sh file mentioned earlier to no avail, even after commenting out and updating some parts of it as recommended in some articles on the Internet, so I advise not to bother using install.sh.

How to Set Email Addresses for a Linux User

Sometimes you may receive email failure messages when your computer tries to send a mail to a linux user regarding things like errors in cron jobs, etc. and the email address is not a valid one , e.g. root@your-computer-name. To fix this, set up forwarding of emails or aliases for your linux users. Here are the steps to setting up aliases, assuming we want to do this for the user root.

  • Open the aliases file :
    $ sudo vim /etc/aliases
  • Enter the new alias you want on a new line in the following format
    root: youremail@address.com
  • Save and close the file
  • Run the newaliases command
    $ newaliases

Now that this is done, the computer will send all root’s future emails to youremail@address.com

How to Edit Multiple files with VIM

This tutorial is a simple technique for editing multiple files in VIM which I stumbled upon very recently.

Suppose you have 3 files you want to edit at a go, you can simply run

$ vim file1.txt file2.txt file3.txt

If you want to edit all the files in a directory, you can cd to that directory and run

$ vim *

While editing the files, you can switch to the next file using the command :next of :n. :wnext can be used to write changes and move to the next file in one go.

To move to previous file run :previous . To save and move to previous file in one go run :wprevious.

To see where you are in the list of files open, run :args

How to Type Special Characters in Ubuntu

Here I describe a technique to type special characters in Ubuntu with the keyboard if you use a few special symbols occasionally.

  • First, learn the hexadecimal value for the character. One way to do this is to open the Character Map application, find the character and check the unicode value at the bottom of the window. Close Character Map when done. Assuming the character you want to type is é then unicode values is 00e9
  • Type Ctrl + Shift + U, then type the unicode value of the character. You may omit leading zeros. So for é that will be Ctrl + Shift + U + e9. Then press Enter. Note after pressing Ctrl + Shift + U, an underlined u will appear behind the cursor to signify you are in unicode entry mode.

How to Fix Problem With Wireless on Toshiba Laptop Running Ubuntu

In this blog, I will describe a solution if you suddenly find out that wireless connection is not working on your Toshiba laptop running Ubuntu. This fix applies to a Toshiba Satellite to be specific but may work on other makes. While it may not fix all wireless problems, it worked in my case.

Symptoms
The light for wireless is not lit.
When you press Fn + F8 which is meant to switch on/off wireless, the wireless light does not come on.
You are unable to connect to the internet by wireless.

Cause
The problem could be caused by a problem in the hardware.

Solution
Switch off the computer.
Disconnect the power cable and remove the battery.
Press and hold the power button for at least 30 seconds.
Replace the battery.
Start the computer. Wireless facility should now start working.

Source
Jason’s Computer Science Blog – » Toshiba Laptop + Ubuntu, Wireless Switch Problem http://www.jasonernst.com/2012/03/05/toshiba-laptop-ubuntu-wireless-switch-problem/

How to Convert .AMR Files to .MP3 Format

In this article I will describe how to convert .amr files to .mp3 format.

AMR is the file format used to store spoken audio using the AMR (Adaptive Multi-Rate) codec. Cellphones commonly store spoken audio in AMR format.

We assume that you are using Windows 7, Vista or XP.

To convert a .amr file to .mp3 format, do the following:

  • Visit http://www.amrtomp3converter.com/
  • Download and install the AMR to MP3 converter software
  • Open the converter and add the .amr file you want to convert
  • Press the button to convert to .mp3 format, then select the destination folder