Ubuntu - Auto mounting HDD at boot

After fidlling lot with Ubuntu finally here the sequence to auto mount HDD partitions and make them behave properly.

1. Open /etc/fstab. Add these lines.

 
/dev/sda2 /media/Vista ntfs-3g defaults,user,exec,uid=1000,gid=100,umask=000 0 0
 /dev/sda3 /media/SOFTWARE vfat defaults,user,exec,uid=1000,gid=100,umask=000 0 0

2. Make the corresponding directories in /media ( remember to mount the HDD partitions in the /media not the traditional /mnt else Ubuntu wont show it as HDD ).

3. Test the fstab success

 sudo mount -a

4. To find all the drives entries use fdisk or blkid

 sudo blkid

That's it, next reboot all partitions will be auto mounted.

iMac defeated

Finally tweaked ubuntu to defeat the display superiority of Mac. It aint so easy since Ubuntu is as ugly as anything can be. Unfortunately connonical didnt realize that users "look" at the monitor, so looks should be pleasant. But no big deal, not everything should be done by them lets fix it.

Simply install avant-window-manager and conky to get the look.

Installation guides.
http://www.quicktweaks.com/2008/04/11/three-little-things-to-make-your-ubuntu-desktop-beautiful-and-productive/
http://www.quicktweaks.com/2008/09/27/gmail-weather-beauty-right-on-your-ubuntu-desktop/

For Mac-user's envy here's the screenshot.

Mplayer

Well sometime linux can be frustrating and when it comes to mplayer nothing can me more worse. After lots of head banging i found a simple and elegant way to do it. Simply type in the following commands and mplayer will be up n running.

1. Add mplayer repositories. For that open /etc/apt/sources.list and augment these two line.

 deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper multiverse
 deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper multiverse

2. Run these two commands.

 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install mplayer

3. Run Mplayer, If all goes fine you can have a gala time. But for it was not so. Mplayer took lots of loading time while disabling screensaver. I read that a conflict b/w comfiz and mplayer. So simply goto mplayer>right click>preference>misc and uncheck "Disable screensaver" stuff.

4. In case mplayer not finding video out device. open ~/.mplayer/config and search for line "vo".
Simply add the output device name like xv. Finally your mplayer conf should have something like "vo=xv". To list all supported device type `mplayer -vo help` that will list you out all the option..

 mplayer -vo help

5. Worst, mplayer's got dumb. Simply mplayer>Right click>preference>Audio Tab select "pulseAudio".

Hope this helps