The gui network doesn’t work, I don’t know why.. so, we shall be using the console way..

1. cd /etc/network/
2. sudo kate interfaces .. note that, kate is the text editor in KDE.. if u don’t have kate installed, use any other text editor like gedit..
3. provide ur password..
4. add the following lines of code in ‘interfaces’

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 10.111.4.114
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 10.111.4.2

auto eth0

Note that the first 2 lines r for the local addresses.. and, initially, as with me, u will find only the first two lines.. add the next 4 lines, with ur IP in address, subnet mask in netmast and default gateway in gateway..

by now, u r almost half way done.. only the nameservers need to be configured…

now, check out ur network status by going to /etc/init.d

code: cd /etc/init.d/

now start the networking service with the super user privileges:

sudo ./networking start

u will get an error message like, can’t find resolv.conf .. it is the configuration file which stores ur nameserver settings.. if u don’t get any error messages, u can check if ur network is working by pinging to some address like :

ping 10.111.4.60

if u get replies, ur network has been configured, else, u will have to add the nameserver settings in resolv.conf (if u earlier got a message like resolv.conf not found..).. the procedure for this is:

cd /etc

sudo kate resolv.conf

now, add any no. of nameservers in the following format:

nameserver 144.16.192.2
nameserver 144.16.192.55

All the configuration finished, u now have to start the networking service by going to /etc/init.d/

code: cd /etc/init.d/

sudo ./networking start

Finally, u can check ur network by pinging to any IP .. Congrats!!

If u have proxy servers, u can configure them in console by setting the $http_proxy environmental variable..

code: export http_proxy = http://144.16.192.245:8080

where 144.16.192.245 is the host and 8080 is the port ..

This tutorial is all about installing webcam drivers that do not get installed automatically on plugging the webcam.. if the driver gets installed automatically, then its ur day, else u may have to struggle for days to find a suitable driver..

To begin with, u must get the gspca module installed with ur kernel.. Its reported that from Ubuntu Hardy (8.04), gspca driver is installed in the kernel by default.. else, u can follow a tutorial here .. the original gspca module can be found here .. to check if ur gspca is installed correcly or not, install a package called ekiga with the synaptic package manager (or apt-get).. in that, u can find ur cam working after going/skipping the registration process.. but, at this stage, u may not be able to use cam at other places like skype or kopete.. to check, u can also check “dmesg” in console to see if the cam is detected after the cam is plugged..

again for some this process works, but if u r as unlucky as me, it wont work for u.. so, u will have to follow some additional steps:

1. install easycam2 .. a very good tutorial can be found here ..
2. open easycam and u will see that it has started downloading the correct driver.. good for u.. make sure the cam was plugged in while the driver gets downloaded and installed..
3. after the driver is installed, plug out the cam, and restart the computer.. make sure that the cam is not connected while the computer boots up..
4. once the bootup is complete, install a cam viewing software like cheese (very easy through synaptic package manager) .. this step could have been done earlier..
5. plug in the cam.. u will find that cheese opens up automatically, and u can see ur pic..

But, the bad thing is, u may not see the cam working again after a reboot (which is the case with me) .. as, with every boot, default cam modules are loaded and easycam drivers are not loaded (I think so).. there is a trick for that.. u can plug out ur cam every time u shut down ur machine.. and plugin only after the computer is booted completely, in which, the easy cam drivers get a preference

What if u have booted up, and don’t want to restart the computer to see the cam working.. there is a trick to make the cam working without a reboot!! the trick is to restart the gspca modules, so that the easycam drivers are picked up by the cam ..

To restart the cam modules, follow these steps:

1. sudo modprobe -r zc0301
2. sudo modprobe -r gspca
3. sudo modprobe gspca

The first 2 steps are to stop the modules: zc0301 and gspca.. and the last one is to start the gspca module

Do post comment if that solves ur problem .. or even adds to ur problem .. it took me 6 days to figure this thing out in ubuntu hardy

But, there are other cool things you can do in linux, which is otherwise not possible in windows. Analogous to windows’ “end process”, in linux, we have “kill process”..

To Kill a process, u can simply open console, and type

kill <pid>

where pid is the process ID.. to get the process ID list of all processes, type

ps ax

in the console..

This command gives u the list of all the processes, which may be very long, and fill up the whole screen.. but, if u wish to know the pid of a specific process, use a filter called grep to filter the output from “ps ax”

code: ps ax | grep skype

where skype is the process of which u want to know the procees id (pid) ..

once u get the pid, type

kill 84001

where 84001 is the process id of the process.. u can check by doing “ps ax | grep skype” again to check if the process is killed.. in some cases, if the program is unresponsive, and doesn’t get killed.. in such a case, u can use a parameter called -9 to terminate the program..

code: kill -9 84001

still, there can be a situation, when the entire o/s gets unresponsive, and u don’t get an option to even open the console.. in that case, switch to the text only console mode by pressing:

ctrl + alt +F2

There kill the unresponsive programs using kill <pid> or kill -9 <pid> and then switch back to the desktop environment by pressing:

ctrl + alt + F7

there can be one more situation, in which, u don’t know which process has got unresponsive, and the whole o/s gets unstable.. in that case, save ur work and force logout by pressing:

ctrl + alt + backspace

note that, in case of forcing logout, u may loose ur work.. so, save all ur important data and sessions..

Thats All!!!

*This procedure is tested on debian based ubuntu hardy, gutsy and intrepid…