n3wt0n!

“Ubuntu 8.10″ you say? Yep, I’m still rocking the Intrepid Ibex. Ubuntu 9.04 doesn’t work as well as I’d have hoped and I’ve got my Ubuntu 8.10 partition all configured and useful.

I’m getting off topic, though. I’ve been playing with the Slick game library (which is an extension of the LWJGL for Java game programming). And with any video game, you need sound effects. Lots of sound effects. And when you don’t know how to make sound effects, what better way to make them than… randomly!? Yes, by using a “random sound effect” generator. Particularly, DrPetter’s SFXR.

Download SFXR from DrPetter’s page first, but if that fails you can grab it locally here.

The install is the standard linux make/make install, but it requires libsdl1.2-dev and libgtk2.0-dev installed first. (Thanks to cecil for pointing out the gtk2 requirement).

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install libsdl1.2-dev libgtk2.0-dev

Then run the make and install for SFXR (from within the SFXR directory)

make
sudo make install

Now you’re all set. You can run SFXR from the command line simply by typing sfxr.

I’m going to make this as simple as possible. I’ll even stay away from the “command line” until it makes sense to use it.

First, add the repository to your software sources file. The repository can be found at Launchpad, I found it by searching for PPA XBMC jaunty from the site’s search function. The two XBMC repositories for Jaunty are

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/jaunty-ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/team-xbmc/jaunty-ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

But we’re mostly interested in that first one (repository). Highlight and copy the first line so we can add it to our repositories. Open up the Sources manager

System > Administration > Software Sources

Then click the Third-Party Software tab. Click Add at the bottom left of the window and paste in the repository that you copied previously.

Next we need to Authenticate the repository so that it shows up in the system’s list of software that we can install. To do this, click the Authentication tab in that software sources window.

In order to authenticate, we need to import the XBMC key file for Jaunty. The public key, like the link to the repository itself, can be found on Launchpad. You might notice on the XBMC-Jaunty launchpad page the following line:

This repository is signed with 1024R/9317790E OpenPGP key.

The public key is found by first clicking that link. You’ll be presented with another link on a line like the following:

sig  sig3  9317790E 2009-04-04 ...

Click the first link to be taken to the repository’s public key. You need to copy everything below the heading. Everything includes

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

and the block of characters in the middle, all the way to the end of

-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

After that has been copied, create a file and paste the block into it. The name of the file doesn’t matter as you only need the file for another minute.

After the key has been pasted into the file, go back to Authentication tab of the Software Sources window. At the bottom left of the window is the Import Key File… button. Click it. Navigate to and select the key file you just created. Click OK.

You should now see the XBMC key information in the Trusted software providers window. That’s it for setting up the repository. Just click Close and you’ll be prompted to update the system’s available software listing.

To install, just go through the steps you would regularly to install software. Personally, I prefer to run the command from a shell.

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install xbmc

If you haven’t already done so, you can now delete the XBMC launchpad key.

Note: If you are using an ATI video card, you may need to install the ATI video card drivers from the ATI site. This is evident when you go to run XBMC and a window flashes and disappears.
It appears now that, in the updates leading up to but not necessarily including today, ATI video cards will now work properly with XBMC and no longer cause it to crash.

irw is the command to test if your IR Remote is working. I’m using a “Windows Vista Certified” MCE remote. irw becomes available when lirc has been installed, so go ahead and install lirc now if you havent’ already.

sudo apt-get install lirc

superm1 at the Ubuntu forums says:

Start out by installing lirc-modules-source
sudo apt-get install lirc-modules-source

Next grab the lirc_mceusb2.c source file from LIRC CVS.

Drop it in the appropriate directory in /usr/src/lirc-0.8.3/
sudo cp lirc_mceusb2.c /usr/src/lirc-0.8.3/lirc_mceusb2

Now issue these commands:
sudo dkms -m lirc -v 0.8.3 build
sudo dkms -m lirc -v 0.8.3 install

Remove and reload the module
sudo rmmod lirc_mceusb2
sudo modprobe lirc_mceusb2

Restart lirc to try it (assuming that it has been configured for a mceusb2 properly)
sudo /etc/init.d/lirc restart

Now you can give irw a try from the command line. It’ll start listening for button presses from the remote. If you press play and it shows that you pushed the play button (or left arrow, right arrow, stop, pause, etc) and the buttons match then that’s good.

Troubleshooting (like I had to do)

If you do this

sudo dkms -m lirc -v 0.8.3 build

and you get this

Error! This module/version has already been built on: 2.6.24-19-generic
Directory: /var/lib/dkms/lirc/0.8.3/2.6.24-19-generic/x86_64
already exists.  Use the dkms remove function before trying to build again.

Then you’ll have to do what it says and use the dkms remove function like this

sudo dkms remove -m lirc -v 0.8.3 --all

followed by

sudo dkms add -m lirc -v 0.8.3

And then pick up from the build stage again. That should set things straight.

Never fret, there’s an easy way to get this handy-dandy and appropriately priced Logitech Dual Action Gamepad working properly (within Ubuntu 8.10).

The symptom is probably that when configuring the game-pad inside a program (other than jscalibrator) that every button works properly, except for the directional-pad (D-Pad).

The problem is most likely that you followed someone else’s advice and tested that the gamepad works by using jscalibrator. That has got to go.

The gamepad works by simply plugging it in! Get rid of jscalibrator.

sudo apt-get remove jscalibrator

And you may want to

sudo apt-get autoremove

to remove any packages that were needed for jscalibrator but are not needed on your system any longer.

jscalibrator also leaves behind a configuration file in your home directory.

ls -la ~/ | grep joystick

should show a file, .joystick, in your home directory. Delete it.

rm ~/.joystick

Reboot your PC. Don’t just log out or ctrl-alt-Backspace, reboot the machine. When you next use your gamepad it should work (now that jscalibrator is gone).

This is too awesome to pass up. I’m reading this article on Ubuntu and it’s rise to prominence and Mark Shuttleworth is quoted as saying, “Look, I have a very privileged life, right? I am a billionaire, bachelor, ex-cosmonaut. Life couldn’t easily be that much better. Being a Linux geek sort of brings balance to the force.”

When I grow up, I want to be Mark Shuttleworth.