Dear Spotify

I've upgraded 2 laptops from Ubuntu 11.04 to 11.10.

In upgrading Spotify/Wine I've had to make some changes.

First...my spotify failed to play local files again...

I had to download this:  winemp3.acm.so (x86 only)

then open a terminal session by pressing ctrl-alt-t. do a sudo su(to run as root) type your password, then type cp winemp3.acm.so /usr/lib/wine/winemp3.acm.so (x86 only)

After copying the file, I edited the wine config...click the audio section, and I changed the sound driver from oss to alsa, and the hardware acceleration from emulation to full.

After changing this, sound worked.

One thing to note, .m4a files don't play...but .mp3 files do.

So, if you have .m4a files and want to convert them, download sound converter.

open Ubuntu Software center, and search and click install. then open the folder and convert the files.



Thats it.

Start from the beginning then upgrade!

Lets start from the beginning.

I'm going to download Ubuntu 11.04, then upgrade to 11.10 which is now available.

If you'd like to do it this way...in windows:

go to http://releases.ubuntu.com/natty/

click on PC (Intel x86) desktop CD, then download...insert a blank 2 gig or better thumb drive.

then click here http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/ and click the download button.

once downloaded and installed choose Ubuntu 11.04 and choose your thumbdrive. and click create. Follow the prompts.

universal installer should look like this.

Place your thumbdrive into the computer of choice, and boot using the thumbdrive. Choose the second choice to install Ubuntu to the harddrive. I took snapshots of this step but they came out horrible.

Great thing about Ubuntu is during the install you can connect to wireless. You can also have it download updates while its installing...follow the prompts. Name the computer, give a name to your login, and create a password, these are all things you should be familiar with from installing windows.

Even with downloading updates and third party tools, on my antiquated IBM thinkpad x40 with 768 megs of ram and a 20 gig drive...it took all of 25 minutes...shave about 10 minutes off of that if you don't update.







click restart.

Unlike Windows, you have a fully loaded computer at this time. Still a few things to do, but you have a photo editor, an office suite...

First things first, update it. it may prompt you to upgrade to 11.10, but i declined for now. Either click on system administration, update manager, ot click on the star and type in update.

Then install wine and spotify...and if you use it install a gmail checker...I like Gm-notify...it integrates into the mail icon in the top of the screen. Install the restricted extras....you can do this in the Ubuntu Software center....type restricted extras and choose the ubuntu one.

reboot after updating, install your windows printers, and mount your windows share...(click here to make it permanent)


then upgrade, or don't. A few things to note...in 11.10 they removed the use of Ubuntu classic, all thats available is Unity. You can get a semi classic look by doing this, but it's a little off.


Till next time...

you want to print too?

Like I stated previously, Ubuntu comes fully loaded...

including...printing to a windows hosted printer...

Click on System/administration/printing

click on the Add button...click on the arrow next to Network printer...

choose windows printer via SAMBA

click on browse, it'll find your workgroup, click on the arrow, then click on the arrow next to the printer that has the printer...choose the printer you want to add and click ok.

choose set authentication details now, type your username/password click verify.

click forward...choose the proper driver..and click forward. then apply.

print as you'd like...

Make sure you have a password for Windows...pretty simple?

Spotify!

Update: I got errors opening Spotify, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling spotify, and wine...and even re-installing Ubuntu....still errors...I searched until I found this solution...

it opened further, but every time I tried to play a local file, errors again... but post #9 on the solution page fixed it...

Much easier way to make it work for those without a windows installation available. The crash is on winhttp.dll. Download this dll using google. Then copy it to your system32 folder under wine. Make a backup of the existing dll just in case. Then go to wine configuration and set it to try native and then builtin for the winhttp library. Spotify then works.

You are starting to like Ubuntu...it makes a low powered low memory laptop/netbook move pretty good...now you want to extend its capabilities...

First, can you connect to your windows computer that has your music collection?

on your Ubuntu computer click on places/network, double click on Windows Network, if you have your windows computer(s) as part of a workgroup, double click on that, you should see your windows computer next.

if you don't already have it, share your music folder on your windows computer...

this link should help with that.

now you see the share in ubuntu, right click on it and make a link.

you can now share files back and forth between both computers...if your windows computer is in anther room and you want to access it without getting up from the couch..try remote desktop. only available on Windows 7 pro, ultimate, and enterprise...if you have a different version...try teamviewer

Ubuntu has that built in...but I like a third party install...it works a little better...open the ubuntu software center, search for gnome-rdp, click install.

should now be under applications/internet/gnome-rdp. Find the ip address of your Windows computer...click here if you don't know how to do this...

once you determine the ip...setup gnome-rdp to connect to it...

You say you don't want to go through all this trouble? You just want to listen to your music on any computer?

Install a daap server on the computer that has your music...what's a Daap server?

I normally suggest either firefly media server or Logitech squeezebox server.

set it up, let it search for your music, then you can access that music from itunes, banshee music player...and others

ok, now onto Spotify...

Spotify has instructions on how to install it.

now that you have it installed....

you want to access your music on your Windows NTFS partition ...

follow these instructions...

you will have to type the full path in Wine configuration, you cannot see the hidden .gvfs folder in wine without typing it out.


that's it...enjoy your music in Spotify...till next time...

setting up Ubuntu properly

Now that you have Ubuntu installed...now you can add stuff to it.

you will notice that it comes fully ready to work. There is always room for improvement.

I switch off Unity, as I don't like the interface, log off, choose Ubuntu classic.

Next I add the restricted codecs...open a terminal window...applications/accessories/terminal

then paste this without the quotes "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras"


follow the prompts...

Run the Ubuntu Software Center, look for apps you may need.

Install Flash by searching in the Software Center for "flashplugin-installer"

Want to install Windows applications, try Wine... Windows in a 'nix environment

Next time we'll talk about Spotify and how to access music in Spotify on an NTFS partition.

learning Linux

As a Windows guy, it's not always easy to switch to Linux...

Enter Ubuntu.

Easiest and fastest way to go would be to

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

I suggest using a usb drive.

The great thing about Ubuntu is you don't have to install it to see how nice and simple it is. You can Run it from the cd or the usb drive.

when ready install it. You have a choice of wipe the drive and install, install alongside windows(for dual boot)

try it, play around...I use it on a netbook, and an older semi netbook(an IBM Thinkpad x40)

we'll try a few different things next time.