Problem in Kile: [ViewPDF] failed to start

21 Zulkaedah 1432H
Update: 25 Safar 1433H / 19 Jan 2012M, Khamis.


With a new laptop (mentioned in this post: How to solve Flash problems on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot) and Ubuntu 11.10 freshly setup, problems are bound to appear frequently at the beginning.

After ironing out the Flash problem, now here's another problem; i can't view the PDF compiled in Kile. As seen in Pic 1, i get the error:

[ViewPDF] failed to start

Pic 1 - The [ViewPDF] failed to start error.

Checking Kile in Ubuntu Software Center as seen in Pic 2, i had every add-ons marked except for one that i definitely don't need and isn't the cause for this error. So if everything is there, then why the error?

Pic 2 - Kile add-ons in Ubuntu Software Center.

Another check in Ubuntu Software Center for Okular, turns out that it wasn't installed along with Kile; each package had to be installed individually.

By now, you can guess how to solve this problem.


1. Run Ubuntu Software Center.


2. In the Ubuntu Software Center window, type the search term okular in the search field. The search results will be auto-filtered as seen in Pic 3.


3. In the search results, click on the Okular (okular) package. A More Info button and Install button will appear below the package's name, see Pic 3.

If you want to add add-ons, click the More Info button. From here, go to Step 4.

If you don't need any add-ons or straightaway want to install the package, click the Install button. From here, go to Step 6.

Pic 3 - Refer Step 3. Okular search results.

4. Tick the add-ons you need or untick the add-ons you do not need. Then click the Apply Changes button. See Pic 4.

Pic 4 - Refer Step 4. Okular add-ons in Ubuntu Software Center.

5. After changes have been applied, click the Install button, see Pic 5.

Pic 5 - Refer Step 5. Installing Okular with add-ons via Ubuntu Software Center.

6. An Authenticate window will appear prompting for your password. Key-in your password then click the Authenticate button. See Pic 6.

Pic 6 - Refer Step 6. Authenticating the installation action.

7. Once installation is complete, the Install button (see Pic 5) will turn into the Remove button, see Pic 7.

Pic 7 - Refer Step 7. The Install button is now the Remove button.

Try recompiling your document in Kile. My problem went away by now. See Pic 8.

Pic 8 - Refer Step 7. Everything is working great now. Kile is in the background window, Okular is in the foreground window.

How to solve Flash problems on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

19 Zulkaedah 1432H

Updated: 26 Ramadan 1433H / 13 Aug 2012M, Is.
26 Jamadilawal 1433H / 18 Apr 2012M, Rabu.
25 Safar 1433H / 19 Jan 2012M, Khamis.
19th Oct 2011, Ra.


My old Toshiba Satellite M100 laptop has met the end of its service life :(. Starting its service life in the place of the old  laptop is a new Lenovo IdeaPad Z470 laptop. The switch from old to new laptop happened around the Ubuntu upgrade from Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal to Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot.

The new laptop comes pre-installed with Windows 7. For reasons not-so-important-to-mention, the laptop has been setup to dual boot: Windows 7 or Ubuntu. i'm running Ubuntu 11.10 (64-bit).

Among the problems i face are:

• Adapting to the oddly placed Delete button on this keyboard. i miss the old keyboard :'(. Next time i get a new laptop, it's going to be a Toshiba! :D
• Adapting to how odd the keyboard on this new laptop feels when typing
• Problems with the touch-sensitive buttons (all the buttons in the volume button row) specific to this laptop. Problem isn't solved yet.
• Flash problems with FireFox and Chromium
• Bluetooth is turned on automatically at start-up. i want it turned off.

Below are the simple steps to solve the Flash problem with FireFox. i took the solution from here, Re: Problems with flash player in Ubuntu 11.10 and refined the explanation.

===
Update: 26 Ramadan 1433H / 13 Aug 2012M, Is.
James Maxwell (http://www.blogger.com/profile/12426809746992406630) suggested this post for Windows Firefox:
3 Tips to Fix Firefox Crash Problem
http://remote-technician.blogspot.in/2012/08/3-tips-to-fix-firefox-crash-problem.html
===

1. Run your FireFox browser.


2. Referring to Pic 1, from FireFox's toolbar: Tools > Add-ons

The Add-ons Manager tab will appear in the browser. See Pic 2.

Pic 1 - Refer Step 2.

Pic 2 - Refer Step 2. The Add-ons Manager tab in the FireFox browser.

3. In the Add-ons Manager tab, go to Get Add-ons tab. See Pic 2.

Referring to Pic 3, type the term flash in the search field then press the Enter button to search for the Flash-Aid extension.

The Search tab will automatically appear above the Get Add-ons tab. Look for the Flash-Aid extension in the search results. The current version at the time this post is written is Flash-Aid 2.2.1. Click the Install button to download the extension.

Pic 3 - Refer Step 3. Searching for the Flash-Aid extension and downloading it.

4. After downloading is done, click the Restart now link (located beside the extension's name) to restart your FireFox browser then install the extension, see Pic 4. Fret not, any opened tabs will be reloaded after restarting your browser.

Pic 4 - Refer Step 4. Restarting FireFox to install the Flash-Aid extension.

After restarting FireFox, to check whether the Flash-Aid extension is installed, go to the Extensions tab, see Pic 5.

Satisfied, close the Add-ons Manager tab, there's no further need for it.

Pic 5 - Refer Step 4. Checking for the Flash-Aid extension in the Extensions tab.

5. In your FireFox browser, notice the Flash-Aid button (see Pic 6) at the right-hand-most on the same row of the address bar. See Pic 7.

Pic 6 - Refer Step 5. The Flash-Aid button.

Pic 7 - Refer Step 5. Flash-Aid button position in my FireFox browser.

Click-hold the Flash-Aid button. A pop-up menu appears. Choose Wizard Mode for aid to correct the flash errors. See Pic 8.

The Flash-Aid Wizard window appears, see Pic 9.

Pic 8 - Refer Step 5.

6. In the Flash-Aid Wizard window, Installation Options; under the question:

Which version of flash you want to install?

Choose from the drop-down menu the version of flash you want to use depending on your architecture, then click the Next button. See Pic 9.

If you're running Ubuntu 32-bit, use:

• Adobe Stable, from repositories (32bit with compatibility wrapper)

If you're running Ubuntu 64-bit, you can choose to use:

• Adobe Stable, from repositories (32bit with compatibility wrapper), or
• Adobe Beta, from Adobe Labs

i chose "Adobe Beta, from Adobe Labs".

Pic 9 - Refer Step 6.

7. Still in the Flash-Aid Wizard window, Removal Options; under the question:

Which installed plugins you want to remove?

Tick the box for the plugins you want to remove then click the Next button. See Pic 10.

i left all the boxes ticked and simply clicked the Next button.

Pic 10 - Refer Step 7.

8. Still in the Flash-Aid Wizard window, Tweaking Options; under the question:

Which optimization tweaks you want to apply?

Tick the box for the tweaks you want to apply then click the Next button. See Pic 11.

i left all the boxes ticked and simply clicked the Next button.

Pic 11 - Refer Step 8.

9. Still in the Flash-Aid Wizard window, Script Options; under the question:

What do you want to do?

Choose what you want to do then click the Finish button. See Pic 12.

i left the option at Execute and simply clicked the Finish button.

Pic 12 - Refer Step 9.

The Flash-Aid Wizard window will disappear and a Terminal window will appear. See Pic 13.

Pic 13 - Refer Step 9.

10. In the Terminal, follow the commands that appear.

If requested, type in your password then press the Enter button. See Pic 13.

When asked:

Do you want to continue [Y/n]?

Type in y then press the Enter button. See Pic 14.

Pic 14 - Refer Step 10.

11. When the process in the Terminal has finished, see Pic 15; close the Terminal, then restart your FireFox browser.

Pic 15 - Refer Step 11.

12. Try going to a website with flash contents to check if your flash has been installed correctly.



Flash problems return

After quite sometime, it appears the flash problem suddenly returns for no reason. It's possibly because of the new Ubuntu updates for flash or browser. A notification (see Pic 17) is supposed to automatically appear to inform about updates. Most of the time i don't notice it :P

13. Simply go to the Flash-Aid icon (see Pic 6), click-hold, then select Check Update. See Pic 16.

A notification will appear to inform about any update, see Pic 17. If there is a new update, choose the update method (Wizard Mode / Quick Mode / Advance Mode) you are comfortable with. i'm sure by now you have a preferred method :).

Pic 16 - Refer Step 13. Checking for update.

Pic 17 - Refer Step 13. Update notification. Update available.

This this just my opinion: Even if there is an update, if your flash is working OK, just leave it be -- Don't update. It's not broken, so why fix?

This Blender n00b is modelling a house

14 Zulkaedah 1432H

Sharing my attempt at learning Blender by following the guide, Blender 3D: Noob to Pro, starting from nil. The closest i've come to anything 3D is using CATIA in my previous study/ramble.

The following pics were modelled using Blender 2.59 on my husband's PC running Ubuntu 11.04.

By the way, my old Toshiba Satellite M100 laptop has performed its duty excellently and reached the end of its service life (the fan has stopped spinning for the second time), while the new Lenovo IdeaPad Z470 laptop is at the service center for hard disk problems :( *sigh*... which also means i'm currently unable to continue writing my over-delayed thesis, and it's nearly TWO weeks already! That's why i'm learning Blender at the moment -- to use time as wise as possible.

Pic 1 is the result from this page:
- Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/What is a Mesh?

Pic 1 - Cat face! :D


Pic 2 is the result of these pages:
- Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Quickie Model
- Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Quickie Render

Pic 2 - N00bie house.


Pic 3 is the result of this page:
- Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Improving Your House

Pic 3 - It's a house. It's a bank. It's a...


Pic 4 is me rambling before starting the next lesson:
- Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Modeling a Simple Person

Pic 4 - Traditional Malay house on stilts. Nostalgic, huh?


A lot more reading to do! :-\