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Fix Ubuntu Audio Problem in Sony Vaio

Ramkumar — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:37:51 +0000

Ubuntu is notorious for its audio problems. Both Desktop PCs as well as laptops mostly fail to recognize the audio device. This post is specifically meant for solving the audio problem in Ubuntu in Sony Vaio laptops.

Reason for failed Audio

Ubuntu 10.04 is loaded with the old version of ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) , which fails to play most of the audio devices. To solve this problem simply upgrade to the latest version of ALSA and reboot.

How to Upgrade ALSA Driver

One of the blogger has given a detailed instruction on how to upgrade the ALSA driver. I strongly recommend you to follow the instructions (http://monespaceperso.org/blog-en/2010/05/02/upgrade-alsa-1-0-23-on-ubuntu-lucid-lynx-10-04/). Once you follow the instructions in the link above do the following steps.

Add this code into the repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa
Update the repository
Then in the terminal enter the following code sudo apt-get install linux-alsa-driver-modules-2.6.32-22-generic
(In the above code, change the version accordingly)
In the terminal enter sudo apt-get install linux-backports-alsa-2.6.32-22-generic
Reboot the machine
By default the volumes will be low, so open any sound mixer and increase the volume ( You can use alsaconf , pulse audio or the inbuilt audio configure window)

How to Change Theme in Opera

Ramkumar — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 06:16:07 +0000

Opera at recent times is popular amongst the browsers. Like personas in Firefox , Opera also allows to change its themes. Infact you have a good collection of Themes of Opera available. This guide will help you on how to change the background image , theme of Opera.

How to Change the Background Theme in Opera

Open Opera Browser.
Press Shift + F12 (Function Key 12)
This will open the Appearance window.
Click on the Find more Skin checkbox to get the list of all themes that are available for use with Opera.
Click on the theme that you like and Press Download button.
The theme will automatically download.
Opera will then prompt you with a message to apply the skin or not. Click on apply.

Find the Processor Model Number without any software

Ramkumar — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 06:27:10 +0000

This guide will teach on how to get the Processor Model and the Speed of the same without using any third party softwares. In Windows you would have been familiar with a tool called DxDiag , we are going to use this tool to retrieve the required information. Also this tool can give various other informations regarding the Memory, Mother Board, Graphics Card etc.

How to get the Processor Model No without any softwares

Click on the Start Menu and select Run.
In the Open text box, enter dxdiag and press Enter Key.
This will take some time to load the DirectX Diagnostic Tool Window.
Select the System tab (Its selected by default., Incase if the System tab is not selected, do select it)
You can see the System Information in the windows., where the Processor Name, Model Number as well as the Processor Speed can be found out.

Other Ways to find Processor Model Number

Right Click on My Computer Icon and select Properties Option ( You can also Press Window Key + Break Key , or Go to Control Panel -> System )
This will open the System Information Window.
Make sure you select the General Tab (selected by default).
You can find the processor details in the window.

How to a webpage to stumbleupon using toolbar

Ramkumar — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:19:19 +0000

This tutorial guides on how to add a website page to StumbleUpon using its toolbar. This can be done by many ways either using the StumbleUpon Toolbar, Manual Entry in StumbleUpon website or StumbleUpon Buttons.

Add a website page to StumbleUpon using Toolbar

For this you need to have the StumbleUpon Toolbar installed in your browser. (Only Mozilla based browsers).
Download the toolbar from here
Install the Toolbar and Sign In with your Stumble upon account.
Visit the page you want to stumble and click on I Like it button in the toolbar.
This will open a new popup window, asking for the submission details such as safe to work, tags,review etc.
Fill the details and click on Add Review.
This will submit the page to StumbleUpon and you can check the number of hits using the Favorites button in the toolbar.

How to Change Background Image in GTalk

Ramkumar — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:32:35 +0000

This tutorial is on how to change the background image of Gtalk without using any third party software. You would have seen several themes for Gtalk (in the Settings -> Appearance ) , each of the theme has its own stylesheet that can be edited by the user. We use this feature to add background image, change color of fonts or perform any other CSS trick.

How to Add Background Image in Gtalk

Open Gtalk and find out which theme you are using. (Click on settings in Gtalk window and select Appearance tab). The name of the theme appears below Chat Theme.
Open My Computer and navigate to “C:\Documents and Settings\” ( Where C:\ is the Windows installation drive)
Now browse through the folder which has the computer name as directory name.
Now again browse to “Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Google Talk\themes\system\chat”
Now you can see the list of the themes that you saw in the Settings-> Appearance, open the folder with the name of the present theme.
Now can browse through “\Contents\Resources”.
Now copy the background image to this folder and note down the file name. (In mycase its image.jpg)
Open the file named “main.css” with any text editor such as notepad.
In the BODY tag add the code “background-image: url(image.jpg)” (Incase your file name is not image.jpg , replace it with the file name you are using)
Save the file and close.

Note: You can also change the font – color by replacing the color option in the first line of BODY Tag.

About the Author

Storagepipe provides enterprise-class online backup software for companies with advanced server backup requirements.

Nero Lite Installation Features and Tutorial

Ramkumar — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:54:44 +0000

This tutorial will guide you on how to install Nero Lite in Windows XP and the features present in this burning software. Nero Lite is the minimized version of the famous Burning Software Nero. Nero Lite is compact, yet packed with the basic features that would be required for a normal PC user.

How to Install Nero Lite

Open the Nero Lite Installation Package. ( In my case Nero Lite 10.10.0.13100)
You will soon be prompted with the License Agreement window, click on Accept button in the License window.
This will open the Installation configuration window, select the products that you wish to have.
Click on Start Installation, this will initialize Nero Lite setup.
At the end of installation, you will be prompted with a message box, saying the installation is successfully completed.
Restart your computer and start using Nero.

Nero Lite Express Edition

Nero Lite Burning ROM

Nero Control Centre

How to delay / advance Audio in VLC Player

Ramkumar — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:10:36 +0000

This tutorial will guide on how to delay or advance audio sound in VLC Media Player. Sometime the audio goes out of sync with the video, that case, VLC provides features to advance or delay the sound so that both Audio and Video are synchronized.

How to Synchronize Audio in VLC Media Player

Open the video file, whose audio you want to synchronize.
In the Menu bar select Tools -> Track Synchronization.
This will open a window , select the Synchronization tab in the window.
You will see a window like this.
In the shown control, you will be provided with option to increase or decrease the value.
Zero(0) means the sound and video sync will not be altered, a positive value means Sound will be advanced over video, a negative value means the sounds will be delayed compared to the video.
Change the value manually until the audio syncs with the video. This is a trial – error method. VLC has no smart video – audio synchronization feature in it. (For that matter, hardly any media player has this feature)

Commonly Occurring Problems

Incase if the changes you have made have not come into effect, kindly stop the video and play it again.
Incase if the changing values are too high, you can specify your own duration by entering in the control box.

How to Mount a Virtual CD and DVD

Ramkumar — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:15:24 +0000

This tutorial will guide you on how to create a virtual CD or DVD using Magic Disk. Magic Disk allows you to create virtual CD/DVD Drives and can mount the image files on them. You can download Magic Disk here for free.

How to Mount a Virtual CD / DVD

Download and Install Magic Disk.
After successful installation you will see an icon like this in the System tray.
Right Click on the icon and select Virtual CD/DVD-ROM. In this menu select the option (No Media).
Click on Mount.
This will open the Browse for Image window.
Select the Image file (.bin, .iso, .cue, .nrg, .uif) and click on Open.
Now the image is been mounted on the Virtual CD/DVD and you can access them like normal CD/DVD.