Adding more functionality to Kubuntu 9.10 NBR

In a previous article, I covered off the installation of Kubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) onto an aging, but much loved and reliable ASUS 701 EEE Netbook. In this entry, I will detail a few of the additional bits of functionality I’ve added to the already awesome Netbook Remix (NBR) of this latest OS drop.

Topics Covered

• Pairing Bluetooth to a Nokia E71
• Installing EEE Control (EEE PC Tray)
• Installing UbuntuONE
• Installing Skype

As always, if there are things you think I should be including, or better ways of doing stuff, let me know in the comments 🙂

Pairing Bluetooth to a Nokia E71

Using an inexpensive bluetooth adapter allows you to get online without having to drag out cables etc when you’re on the bus, in the car – wherever.

The adapter detected fine – but then came the job of setting up the pairing with my Nokia E71:

On the EEE

• From the Home Screen, open the ‘Internet’ group, then open up ‘kbluetooth’
• You should see a bluetooth icon appear on your toolbar
• Right-click the bluetooth icon, and select ‘Settings’ > ‘Bluetooth Adapters’ from the dropdown menu.
• From the ‘Bluetooth Adapter’ dialogue box, set:
  • Adapter Name: ‘[WhateverYouWant]’
  • Mode: ‘Discoverable’

NOTE: Your Netbook is now being all promiscuous and stuff to the world, long-term, this isn’t good.

• Click OK

On the Nokia E71

• Select ‘Menu’ > ‘Connectivity’ > ‘Bluetooth’ and set:
  • Bluetooth ‘On’
  • Visibility ‘Shown to all’ (the same promiscuous warnings apply)
  • My Phones Name ‘[WhateverYouWant]’
  • Remote SIM ‘Off’ (not sure what it does, didn’t need it on)
• Now, scroll/tab to the right and you’ll see the ‘Paired Devices’ list.
  • Select ‘Options’ > ‘New Paired Device’

Your phone should now scan for any bluetooth devices in range (if your workplace is anything like mine you’ll see a heap of devices)

• ‘Select’ the device with the name you set in the EEE steps above.

• The phone will now prompt for a passcode – Enter a passcode (numeric) into your phone.

On the EEE

• You should now be prompted to enter a passcode on the EEE, enter the same numeric code

On the E71

• You will be asked to ‘Authorise device [the EEE] to make connections automatically’, select ‘Yes’
• Your connection should now appear in the phone

(Optional)

• Select ‘Options’ > ‘Assign short name’ and change the name of the device to something more friendly if you wish.

On the EEE

• Right-click the bluetooth icon, and select ‘Settings’ > ‘Bluetooth Device Manager’ from the dropdown menu.
• Your E71 should appear in the list, select the device and click ‘Set Trusted’

Congratulations, your devices are now paired… now to do something useful with the connection!

Installing EEE Control (EEE PC Tray)

EEE Control is a utility written to allow easy management of the ASUS EEE embedded devices such as en/disable the Webcam, SDCard, Wifi as well as setting power and performance schemes.

To set it up under Kubuntu NBR, simply open a terminal window and enter the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install eeepc-tray

You should see an icon appear on your taskbar which allows you to access the functionality supported by your model of EEE netbook.

Installing UbuntuONE

“Ubuntu One is your personal cloud. You can use it to back up, store, sync and share your data with other Ubuntu One users.”

…it’s just not in the Kubuntu NBR by default. To fix this, simply open a terminal window and enter the following:

sudo apt-get install ubuntuone-client-gnome

You will then find a UbuntuOne cloud icon in your ‘Internet’ applications group, and from there you are only a simple configuration away from your 2GB of free storage out in the interwebs somewhere.

Installing Skype

Skype is a VoIP client, if you haven’t heard of it in the last 5 years, you’ve probably been living under a rock – it works, the voice quality is acceptable and while the video capability can be variable, it’s got a huge number of subscribers so, give it a crack – you’ll probably find a number of your friends are already on there. My Current Skype Status is:

To get things running on your netbook, see below:

• Visit http://www.skype.com/go/getskype-linux-beta-ubuntu-32 and download the .deb file
• Click the .deb to open in package installer
• Follow the (very) simple instructions

Remember, those of us with low resolution screens may need to invoke the <Alt> + <Mouse Click & Drag> trick to see the bottom of some dialogue boxes.

Hope this helps those of you out there wanting to squeeze a little more life out of your beloved Netbooks