mcmlxxii

EDIT – Please note that this post only refers to the 64 bit version of Ubuntu.

Some significant changes have been happening to the X server over the past couple of releases of Ubuntu. One of the most noticeable alterations has been the removal of the xorg.conf file from the default Ubuntu install (edit – it was removed during the development cycle but reappeared in the release version).

It is a great thing that X is now at the stage where it knows devices well enough to configure them with no user input, but occasionally a device may be incorrectly set up, or one may want to customise beyond default settings.

Such is the case with my synaptics touchpad. I really like the fact that in Linux I can configure the touchpad to trigger a middle mouse button event when it is tapped with 3 fingers. Left click – one finger, right click – two fingers, middle click – three fingers. In addition, I want to be able to disable the touchpad while typing.

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For my OU course in Web Applications Development, I have to use a piece of software called FirstClass, from OpenText. Thankfully the nice people at OpenText have packaged up a version for Debian and Ubuntu, version 8.315-2 (one major release behind Windows admittedly, but perfectly usable). If you’re using a 32 bit version the install couldn’t be easier.

However, I switched to 64bit Linux some time ago now. After emailing OpenText to see if they will be compiling a 64 bit version and receiving a positive negative, I’ve discovered a quick and simple way to get it working without leaving a mess of libraries.

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As we all know Amarok is the best music player in the world, and it’s free. It’s only available on Linux at the moment but the devs are working hard to port it to Windows. Anyway I digress. I wanted to explain how I got Amarok playing on my laptop, accessing my music collection on my media server, through my bluetooth dongle, picked up by my Sony MBR-100 bluetooth audio receiver and finally terminating joyfully in my trusty Sennheisers.

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If you’ve used the Ralink RT73 chipset under Ubuntu for any length of time, you’ll know that the default drivers aren’t yet perfect (some supporting evidence). Some may have had more success, but in my experience they drop out regularly and transfer rates are pretty mediocre. The modules used are the rt2x00usb and rt73usb. These are the next generation of Ralink drivers from Serialmonkey, and to be fair they have improved a great deal over the past couple of years. However, there is a more stable driver, which, although requiring some sacrifice, rewards the user with good injection support, great transfer speeds and no drop-outs.

Step forward the rt73 legacy driver….
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