Raju Mopidevi 's Blog

Setup Multimedia

This is a perennial setup step on Linux distributions. We’ll install the codecs needed to watch DVDs, handle MP3s, etc. We’ll also setup firefox to be able to handle Windows media streams.

1. YaST -> “Software” -> “Software Repositories”
2. Click “Add”
3. Select “Community Repositories”
4. Select “Packman Repository” and “VideoLan Repository”
5. YaST -> “Software” -> “Software Management”
6. Uninstall xine-lib and install libxine1, w32codec-all, libdvdcss,libvdpau1, k3b-codecs, and mplayerplug-in
7. Open Firefox and type “about:config” into the address bar
8. Right Click -> “New” -> “String”
9. Enter “network.protocol-handler.app.mms”
10. Enter “/opt/kde3/bin/kaffeine” (output of “which kaffeine” at command line)

Install NVIDIA drivers

If you have an NVIDIA card, then you’ll want to install the drivers.

1. YaST -> “Software” -> “Software Repositories”
2. Click “Add”
3. Select “Community Repositories”
4. Select “NVIDIA Repository”
5. YaST -> “Software” -> “Software Management”
6. Install “nvidia-gfxGO1-kmp-default”



Now play video's using Mplayer

$mplayer -vo x11 filename

Linux

1) Bring down the interface: "ifconfig eth0 down"

2) Enter new MAC address: "ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:00:00:AA:AA:AA"

3) Bring up the interface: "ifconfig eth0 up"

Windows 2000/XP
Method 1:

This is depending on the type of Network Interface Card (NIC) you have. If you have a card that doesn't support Clone MAC address, then you have to go to second method.

a) Go to Start->Settings->Control Panel and double click on Network and Dial-up Connections.

b) Right click on the NIC you want to change the MAC address and click on properties.

c) Under "General" tab, click on the "Configure" button

d) Click on "Advanced" tab

e) Under "Property section", you should see an item called "Network Address" or "Locally Administered Address", click on it.

f) On the right side, under "Value", type in the New MAC address you want to assign to your NIC. Usually this value is entered without the "-" between the MAC address numbers.

g) Goto command prompt and type in "ipconfig /all" or "net config rdr" to verify the changes. If the changes are not materialized, then use the second method.

h) If successful, reboot your system.

Method 2:

This should work on all Windows 2000/XP systems

a) Go to Start -> Run, type "regedt32" to start registry editor. Do not use "Regedit".

b) Go to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\ Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}". Double click on it to expand the tree. The subkeys are 4-digit numbers, which represent particular network adapters. You should see it starts with 0000, then 0001, 0002, 0003 and so on.

c) Find the interface you want by searching for the proper "DriverDesc" key.

d) Edit, or add, the string key "NetworkAddress" (has the data type "REG_SZ") to contain the new MAC address.

e) Disable then re-enable the network interface that you changed (or reboot the system).

Method 3:

Use the program Etherchange from http://ntsecurity.nu/toolbox/etherchange/

Windows 9x

Use the same method as Windows 2000/XP except for the registry key location is "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\ CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net" and you must reboot your system.

With the release of openSUSE 11.0 right around the corner, you will see plenty of reviews, how-to’s and other various things about openSUSE, but how does it stack up against other distributions mainly Ubuntu/(K)Ubuntu?

I see openSUSE as being the perfect replacement for the users that have gotten their feet wet in linux with Ubuntu along side with those just looking to get their feet wet.

You may ask why, instead let me give you some comparisons that I think are important for the new user, or someone just looking at openSUSE 11.0 vs Ubuntu 8.04 (or openSUSE vs Ubuntu in general)

Installation:
Many people talk about the ease of installation with Ubuntu, but what you don’t hear is that “ease” of installation also removes to options of choice during installation. With the Ubuntu family your choice of Desktop Environments means the installation of a whole different distribuntion (ie. Kubuntu) or installing the wanted desktop environment AFTER you installed the default one. This reminds me much of the Windows Installers. A new user may never be exposed to KDE, may not even understand what a desktop environment is. Some may argue that “they don’t need to” but does that mean we should take away their choice of picking what is put on the system originally?

Advantage:
New User: Ubuntu
User with experience (even minimal): openSUSE
(Note: Because openSUSE has the Choices, but Ubuntu has the precieved ease of installation)

The boot process:
When you start up your boxes you will immediatly see that openSUSE has more attention to detail when it comes to looks. The GRUB and Splash screens look much better. However, the major part of the boot process is the boot time. In openSUSE 10 – 10.2 I would have easily said this was a huge advantage for Ubuntu, but with openSUSE 11.0 the gap has been shrunk. However with the loading of apparmor and some other suse additions, Ubuntu is still just a hair faster (maybe this will change in openSUSE 11.1)
Advantage:
Speed: Ubuntu
Looks: openSUSE

Themes:
The first thing you see when you turn on your machine is the default theme shipped with your distributions desktop environment. Although Ubuntu has made their default nicer (not the very bland ugly brown) openSUSE is still more vibrant and eye catching. I also believe the openSUSE Menu’s are much better.
Advantage:
openSUSE

Installation of Restricted Formats:
Although openSUSE now has 1-Click Installation, it is not straight forward when you log into your package manager. This is something that Ubuntu has done very well. Ubuntu allows you to open it’s package manager and install the restricted formats package and will install everything that you need for playing your mp3’s, avi’s etc. (Note: openSUSE ships by default WITH MP3 support).
Advantage:
Ubuntu

System Management:
For those new to openSUSE you can find almost everything within one convenient location called YaST. YaST is short for Yet another Simple Tool and it is just that, a simple easy way to change your configuration for almost everything with your system. Here is a quick snippit of what YaST looks likes, and the possible options you have.

YaST in KDE 3.5:

YaST in GNOME:

Ubuntu has some great GUI based configuration tools under the system menu, but with YaST they are compiled in a single location, and some of the YaST modules are much better then their counterparts (ie. SaX for Video Card / Resolution configuration)

Advantage:
openSUSE

Package Management:
Previously Ubuntu beat the hell out of openSUSE in this regard, but with the progression of zypper this gap is closing fast, and Ubuntu may be passed up shortly. Zypper is faster, leaner and smarter then most other package management tools, but I do not yet see YaST Software Manager pulling ahead of the Ubuntu Package Management counterparts “YET”. This may very well change with openSUSE 11.1. Just to note, this is a VERY VERY slim win for Ubuntu, as both are great functionally sound, just some rough edges need to be straightened out within the Software Manager
Advantage:
Ubuntu

Security:
AppArmor. Enough said. (AppArmor is the openSUSE / Novell version of SELinux). Ubuntu has nothing on top of the Linux OS for further security.
Advantage:
openSUSE (Long shot)

Stability:
They are both Linux OS’s, they are both sound mature products, they are both extremly stable. You can’t knock either in this category.
Advantage:
Tie

The community:
Ubuntu currently has the biggest following of users and has the best structured “free support” using forums and wiki. However many distributions including openSUSE have seen this format and are fixing their way of doing things. openSUSE has recently launched forums.opensuse.org, and they have a pretty comprehensive wiki and a very informational mailing list. I think it may be a while before the SUSE forums gets the content that the Ubuntu one has, but it’ll be a great day when it does.
Advantage:
Ubuntu

Conclusion:
Ubuntu and openSUSE are both very mature and solid Desktop Operating systems. However, I give the overall advantage to openSUSE because it’s continued attention to detail and rapid development. I believe the ONLY shortfall that openSUSE has against Ubuntu is the very small gap in the Package Management spot. Once this void is closed, the rest will follow feat. OpenSUSE is more polished, more refined and gives you the choices you deserve during installation.