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How to Install μTorrent (uTorrent) on Ubuntu 14.10

Last updated: September 30, 2014

µTorrent (or uTorrent) is a free, closed source, and most widely used BitTorrent client available in Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. The program was designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Vuze or BitComet.

µTorrent for Linux is composed of a µTorrent server and a web based client. Below I will show you how to install it in Ubuntu step by step, tested in a fresh 64-bit Ubuntu 14.10 installation.

1. Download the official package from the link below:

Download uTorrent Server

You may first check out your OS type from shutdown menu (top-right gear button) -> About This Computer. Then select download “µTorrent Server for Ubuntu 13.04 – 32-bit or 64-bit”.

2. Once the downloading process finish, go to the Downloads folder in file browser and extract the package through its context menu.

Tip: If you want other users on the Ubuntu system to be able to use the uTorrent server, extract the package to /opt/ directory. To do so, open Archive Manager as root/admin by running sudo file-roller in terminal, then open and extract the package.

3. Navigate to the result folder and run utserver from its context menu:

That’s right you see nothing happens because the server is running as a background program.

Tip: If you don’t see the Run option in its right-click menu, do:

Go to Properties in its right-click menu, check the box where it says “Allow executing file as program” under Permissions tab.

4. Finally in your web browser go to http://localhost:8080/gui/. When it asks, type in:

username: admin
password: leave it empty.

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos Ubuntu 14.10, utorrent

Install Multimedia Codecs, Enable DVD Playback in Ubuntu 14.10

Last updated: September 29, 2014

Due to legal constraints in many countries, Ubuntu does not include multimedia codecs to play mp3, movies, and DVDs out-of-the-box.

This quick tutorial will show you how to manually install the multimedia codecs to enable playback audio, video, DVDs in Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic.

Install Multimedia Codecs:

There is a package “Ubuntu restricted extras” available in Ubuntu Software Center. Installing it will pull in support for MP3 playback and decoding, support for various other audio & video formats such as mp4, avi, rmvb, wmv and more, Microsoft fonts, Flash plugin, LAME (to create compressed audio files), and DVD playback.

To install the package, just click the link below to bring up Ubuntu Software Center and click the install button:

install ubuntu-restricted-extras

During the installing process, you will be asked to accept the EULA license terms.

Tip: If you get a warning dialog says “to install ubuntu restricted extras, these items must be removed”, just click the ignore because -extra versions of these libraries will be installed instead, to provide additional functionality.

Enable DVD Playback:

After installed the package above, you should be able to play normal DVDs. But for playing encrypted DVDs, libdvdread4 and libdvdcss2 are also required.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, paste the commands below to install libdvdread4:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

The package provides a simple script to download & install libdvdcss2, to run the script:

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

If you can’t get the libdvdcss2 package from the script, download & install,

libdvdcss2_1.2.13-0_amd64.deb for 64-bit Ubuntu.
libdvdcss2_1.2.13-0_i386.deb for 32-bit ubuntu.

from the page: download.videolan.org/ubuntu/utopic

When done, you should be able to playback (and navigate DVD menus) in most video applications, including the default Totem and VLC media player..

In Howtos multimedia, play encrypted DVD, Ubuntu 14.10

Ubuntu 14.10: Remove Guest Session, White Dots From Login Screen

Last updated: September 28, 2014

This is a quick tutorial that shows you how to remove the Guest session and the white dots from Unity’s login screen in Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic.

1. To remove the Guest session:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, paste the command below and hit enter:

sudo gedit /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu.conf

Type in your user password when it asks. Note that there’s no visual feed back when typing password.

As the picture shows, when the editor opens, add a new line into the end and save the file

allow-guest=false

That’s it. You won’t see the Guest next time Ubuntu boots up.

2. To Remove white dots:

There is a graphical tool dconf-editor which provides options to change the login screen background and remove the white dots (draw grid).

a.) To install dconf-editor, click the link below to bring up Ubuntu Software Center and click the install button:

Click install dconf-editor

b.) To configure Unity login screen, you need the lightdm user privilege to launcher dconf-editor. To do so:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run commands to get root privilege:

sudo -i

Type in your user password when it asks.

Allow user lightdm to create a connection to the X server:

xhost +SI:localuser:lightdm

Switch to user lightdm in this terminal window:

su lightdm -s /bin/bash

Finally start dconf-editor:

dconf-editor

c.) When the dconf-editor opens, navigate to com –> canonical –> unity-greeter in left. Then disable the value for both draw-grid and draw-user-backgrounds.

Done. You’ll see the changes in next boot.

In Howtos remove guest session, remove white dots, Ubuntu 14.10

How to Install Oracle Java JDK 6, 7, or 8 in Ubuntu 14.10

Last updated: September 27, 2014

This quick tutorial shows you how to easily install Oracle Java JDK 6, JDK 7 and/or JDK 8 (includes JRE) in Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic via PPA.

Thanks to Webupd8 Team for providing the installer scripts in PPA that automatically downloads Oracle Java package from its official site and installs it on your system.

1. To add the PPA, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, paste the command below and hit enter.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java

Type in your user password when prompts. Note that there’s no visual feed back when typing your password.

2. After added the PPA, run commands below one by one to install Java (you may replace number 8 in the code with 6 or 7):

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

If you have two or more Java versions installed on your system, run command below to set Oracle Java to default (you may replace number 8 with 6 or 7):

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-set-default

Finally, check out java version via:

java -version

You’ll see something like this:

java version “1.8.0_20”
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_20-b26)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.20-b23, mixed mode)

In Howtos Install Oracle Java Ubuntu, Ubuntu 14.10

[Quick Tip] Disable Apport Error Reporting in Ubuntu 14.10

Last updated: September 26, 2014

This quick tutorial is going to show you how to turn off the Apport error reporting system in Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn.

Apport is a system which gathers potentially useful information about the crash and the OS environment. If any process in the system crashes, a dialog pops up and asks user to send error report to help fix the problem.

Reporting bugs is important, it helps improving system stability, but if you’re constantly getting crash report popups, you may want to disable it.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, paste the command below and run to edit the config file:

sudo gedit /etc/default/apport

You can use gksudo to replace sudo, but install gksu first from Ubuntu Software Center.

When the file opens, change the value of ‘enable’ from ‘1’ to ‘0’ and save it.

After that, stop the Apport process so you don’t have to restart your computer:

sudo service apport stop

That’s it.

In Howtos apport, Ubuntu 14.10

Final Beta of Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Available for Download

Last updated: September 29, 2017

Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic Unicorn Beta 2 and its official flavors are now available for download.

This Beta features images for Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Gnome, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu Cloud.

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the final beta release of Ubuntu 14.10 Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products.

Codenamed “Utopic Unicorn”, 14.10 continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs.

This beta release includes images from not only the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products, but also the Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu Studio and Xubuntu flavours.

The beta images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of 14.10 that should be representative of the features intended to ship with the final release expected on October 23rd, 2014.

see the official release note.

According to Ubuntu 14.10’s release schedule, there will be:

Kernel Freeze on October 9th
Final Freeze and Release Candidate on October 16th
Final Release of Ubuntu 14.10 (Stable) on October 23rd

What to expect in the Ubuntu 14.10 Final:

Both Unity 8 (Mir) and Unity 7 (X.org) available.
Ubuntu 14.10 will bring better 3G mobile modems.
Kubuntu 14.10 will be using KDE Plasma 5.

Download Ubuntu 14.10 Beta 2:

For Unity: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/14.10/
For Kubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/14.10/
For Lubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/14.10/
For Ubuntu Gnome: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-gnome/releases/14.10/
For UbuntuKylin: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/14.10/
For UbuntuStudio: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/14.10/
For Xubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/14.10/
For Ubuntu Cloud: http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/utopic/

In News Ubuntu 14.10

Ubuntu MATE 14.10 Beta 2 Available for Download

Last updated: September 25, 2014

Ubuntu MATE 14.10, an unofficial Ubuntu flavor maintained by Ubuntu community, has just reached its second beta release.

What’s Ubuntu MATE?

Ubuntu MATE is a new Ubuntu flavor started a few months ago. The first release will be Ubuntu MATE 14.10, Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic integrated with MATE Desktop Environment.

Ubuntu MATE is a Ubuntu community project developed by the core MATE Desktop development team, and maintained by the heroes from the Debian packaging team.

At the moment, Ubuntu MATE is not an official Ubuntu “flavor”. The team are working towards that.

MATE Desktop Environment is the continuation of classic GNOME 2. It provides an intuitive and attractive desktop environment using traditional metaphors for Linux and other Unix-like operating systems.

Ubuntu MATE

The Beta2 release has been focused on fixing broken things and improving what was already present in Beta1. See the official release note for details.

Download Ubuntu MATE at: https://ubuntu-mate.org/download/

In News Ubuntu MATE

Wifi Hotspot: Access Point Mode Is Not Supported By This Device

Last updated: April 22, 2024

This tutorial is trying to help those who want to create AP wifi hotspot in Ubuntu Laptop but stuck at “Wifi Hotspot: Access Point Mode Is Not Supported By This Device” error message.

I’ve written three tutorials about how to turn Ubuntu Laptop into a wifi hotspot for Android, and Windows phones. Access Point Mode does not support issue is one of the most asked questions from my readers. Below I will show how to fix it using Broadcom bcm4313 as example.

UPDATE: THIS TUTORIAL IS OUTDATED! It does NOT work anymore in current Ubuntu releases!

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to tell your wireless chip information:

lspci | grep -i Network

In my case, it outputs:

02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

The chip id is BCM4313, manufactured by Broadcom.

2. Check the below table. Find out the driver that works for your wireless adapter and support AP mode.

For Broadcom, there are three drivers that support AP mode, but only brcmsmac (check link page for supported chips) support wifi chip BCM4313.

Driver	Manufacturer	Support AP Mode
adm8211	ADMtek/Infineon	no
airo	Aironet/Cisco	?
ar5523	Atheros	no
at76c50x-usb	Atmel	no
ath5k	Atheros	yes
ath6kl	Atheros	no
ath9k	Atheros	yes
ath9k_htc	Atheros	yes
ath10k	Atheros	?
atmel	Atmel	?
b43	Broadcom	yes
b43legacy	Broadcom	yes
brcmfmac	Broadcom	no
brcmsmac	Broadcom	yes
carl9170	ZyDAS/Atheros	yes
cw1200	ST-Ericsson	yes
hostap	Intersil/Conexant	?
ipw2100	Intel	no
ipw2200	Intel	no
iwlegacy	Intel	no
iwlwifi	Intel	yes
libertas	Marvell	no
libertas_tf	Marvell	yes
mac80211_hwsim	Jouni	yes
mwifiex	Marvell	yes
mwl8k	Marvell	yes
orinoco	Agere/Intersil/Symbol	no
p54pci	Intersil/Conexant	yes
p54spi	Conexant/ST-NXP	yes
p54usb	Intersil/Conexant	yes
rndis_wlan	Broadcom	no
rt61pci	Ralink	yes
rt73usb	Ralink	yes
rt2400pci	Ralink	yes
rt2500pci	Ralink	yes
rt2500usb	Ralink	yes
rt2800pci	Ralink	yes
rt2800usb	Ralink	yes
vt6656	VIA	yes
wil6210	Atheros	yes
wl12xx	Texas Instruments	yes
zd1211rw	ZyDAS/Atheros	yes

3. Find out current driver running on your wifi adapter by running below command:

ethtool -i wlan0 | grep driver

If need, install ethtool from Ubuntu Software Center. The command outputs something like this:

driver: wl0

So in my case I need to switch wireless driver from wl0 to brcmsmac to get AP mode support.

4. Install brcmsmac driver.

sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer

5. After installed the new driver, try to enable it from Additional Drivers utility (search & open it from the Unity Dash), and finally restart.

6. Finally run:

iw list

Below section tells you AP mode is support now:

Supported interface modes:
* IBSS
* managed
* AP
* AP/VLAN
* monitor

For some wireless chips, run below command instead to check out supported interface modes:

sudo iwconfig wlan0 mode master

7 To make this work at next boot, go to /etc/modprobe.d directory in terminal:

cd /etc/modprobe.d/ && ls

Or in your file browser (open as root), find out and remove the line blacklist brcmsmac that blacklist the driver in any file in that directory.

In Howtos wireless driver

3 Ways to Create Wifi Hotspot in Ubuntu 14.04 (Android Support)

Last updated: November 15, 2014

Dear readers, I’ve found a new way to create wireless hotspot in Ubuntu, AP mode with Android devices support, using Unity’s Network Manager.

After this tutorial, I’ve found 3 ways to create wifi hotspot in ap mode:

Using Ap-hotspot, an open-source app from github: see this post.
Using KDE connection editor, see the post.
Using Unity’s Default Network Manager with a little hack. See below

Below I will show you how to use Unity’s default network manager to create a wireless hotspot with Android devices support, tested in 64-bit Ubuntu 1404 with Nexus 4 and Sumsung Galaxy ace3.

1. Disable WIFI and plug in an internet cable to your laptop so that your Ubuntu is connect to a wired internet and wireless is disabled.

2. Go to Network Icon on top panel -> Edit Connections …, then click the Add button in the pop-up window.

3. Choose Wi-Fi from the drop-down menu when you’re asked to choose a connection type:

4. In next window, do:

Type in a connection name. The name will be used later.
Type in a SSID
Select mode: Infrastructure
Device MAC address: select your wireless card from drop-down menu.

5. Go to Wi-Fi Security tab, select security type WPA & WPA2 Personal and set a password.

6. Go to IPv4 Settings tab, from Method drop-down box select Shared to other computers.

When done, click the save button.

After above steps, a configuration file created under /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections directory. File name is same to the connection name you typed in step 4.

Now press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, paste the commands below and hit enter to edit the configuration file:

gksu gedit /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/wifi-hotspot

Replace wifi-hotspt with the connection name you typed in step 4.

When the file opens, find out the line mode=infrastructure and change it to mode=ap. Finally save the file.

When everything’s done, enable WIFI from Network Manager icon on the panel. It should automatically connect to the hotspot you created. If not, select “Connect to Hidden Wi-Fi Network …” and select it from the drop-down box.

Now you can search and connect the access point from your Android mobile and enjoy!

In Howtos Ubuntu 14.04, wifi hotspot with android support

Geary 0.8 Released with Redesign & Signature Support

Last updated: April 22, 2024

Yorba Team has recently announced its Geary Mail Client 0.8 with lots of new features and improvements. Here’s how to upgrade it in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

According to the release note, Geary 0.8 now looks a lot sharper and more modern than before. The compose new message and reply window are now inline the main window. You can still pop the composer out into a separate window through the Detach button.

Compose new message and Reply window are now inline the main window

Another new feature is that signature support has been made into Geary. It will automatically insert a signature of your design into an email, whether new or replying to another.

Geary with signature support

Also the new release brings great improvement on database speed and IMAP connection stability, and more:

Saving drafts to server can be disabled
Improved interface, now using GtkHeaderBar and modern widgets
Database speed optimizations to reduce lags and improve read times
Improved connection handling and reestablishment
Show attachments lacking a Content-Disposition
Important bug fixes
Updated translations

Install Geary 0.8 in Ubuntu 14.04 or Linux Mint 17:

UPDATE: The step below is outdated! See how to guide instead.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa

sudo apt-get update 

sudo apt-get install geary

Above commands will add the official PPA and install the latest geary packages in your Ubuntu. For those don’t want to add the PPA, you can grab the .deb directly from the Launchpad Page.

In Howtos Geary, Ubuntu 14.04

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