Translations by Aljoša Vidmar

Hardware

Credits and License

You are free to modify, extend, and improve the Ubuntu documentation source code under the terms of this license. All derivative works must be released under this license.

This section contains information on the installation, configuration, and use of hardware.

Bluetooth

More and more <trademark class="registered">Bluetooth</trademark> devices are making their way into the market these days. Kubuntu has recognized this and offers support for many <trademark class="registered">Bluetooth</trademark> devices. For <trademark class="registered">Bluetooth</trademark> configuration, access the <guilabel>Bluetooth</guilabel> system settings by going to <menuchoice><guimenu>KMenu</guimenu><guimenuitem>System Settings</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. These settings provide you the options for configuring <guilabel>Bluetooth Services</guilabel> as well as <guilabel>Paired Bluetooth Devices</guilabel>.

Cameras

Information concerning webcams can be located on the Ubuntu community documentation site at <ulink url="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam"/>.

Hard drives - Partitioning and Booting

Graphical Partition Editor

Install the <application>qtparted</application> package (refer to the <ulink type="help" url="help:/kubuntu/add-applications/">Adding Applications</ulink> documentation for more help on installing applications).

Once installed, open <application>QtParted</application> by going to <menuchoice><guimenu>KMenu</guimenu><guisubmenu>System</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>QtParted</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

Check disk space usage and view the partition table

Open <application>System Settings</application> by going to <menuchoice><guimenu>KMenu</guimenu><guimenuitem>System Settings</guimenuitem></menuchoice>. Select the <guilabel>Advanced</guilabel> tab and then select <guilabel>Disks &amp; Filesystems</guilabel>.

Each partition will be listed under <guilabel>Available Disks and Filesystems</guilabel> details of each partition.

List mounted devices in a terminal

To list the mounted devices type the following and then press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key: <screen>mount</screen>

The listing shows the device (such as a hard disk partition), the mount point (where you access the files), the filesystem type and the mount options.

This example shows the hda2 hard disk partition mounted as '/', with the filesystem type ext3. The partition is mounted with two options, one to allow the device to be read from and wrote to and the other to remount the device as read only in the event of any errors.

/dev/hda2 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)

Mount/Unmount Windows partitions

NTFS or FAT32

For <acronym>NTFS</acronym> drives refer to step 4. For <acronym>FAT32</acronym> drives refer to step 5. <acronym>NTFS</acronym> allows only <emphasis>read-only</emphasis> access whereas <acronym>FAT32</acronym> allows both <emphasis>read</emphasis> and <emphasis>write</emphasis> access.

Read <xref linkend="listpartitiontables"/>

First, make a directory where the partition can be mounted. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by pressing the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo mkdir /media/windows </screen>

Next, type the following command to mount an NTFS Windows Partition and allow read-only access followed by pressing the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo mount /dev/hdaX /media/windows/ -t ntfs -o ro,umask=0222 </screen>

If your Windows partition uses the FAT32 filesystem, it is safe to allow read-write access to the partition. To do so, type the following command at the prompt followed by the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo mount /dev/hdaX /media/windows/ -t vfat -o umask=0000 </screen>

Replace <emphasis role="bold">/dev/hdaX</emphasis> with the correct device name for your partition.

To unmount the partition, type the following command at the prompt followed by the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo umount /media/windows/ </screen>

Mount Windows partitions on boot-up

Next, backup your configuration file for mounting drives and open the file in a text editor with administrative privileges. To do so, type the following at the prompt followed by pressing the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_backup </screen>

Edit your <filename>/etc/fstab</filename> by pressing <keycombo><keycap>Alt</keycap><keycap>F2</keycap></keycombo> and then typing <userinput>kdesu kate /etc/fstab</userinput> in the <guilabel>Run Command</guilabel> dialog followed by pressing the <guibutton>OK</guibutton> button.

/dev/hdaX /media/windows ntfs ro,umask=0222 0 0

If your Windows partition uses the NTFS filesystem, append the following line at the end of file: <placeholder-1/>

/dev/hdaX /media/windows vfat umask=0000 0 0

If your Windows partition uses the FAT32 filesystem, it is safe to allow read-write access to the partition. Append the following line at the end of the file: <placeholder-1/> instead of the one above.

Save and close out of the edited file.

Read <xref linkend="remountfstabwithoutreboot"/>.

Remount /etc/fstab without rebooting

At the prompt, type the following and then press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo mount -a </screen>

Run a system command automatically at Startup

Sometimes it can be useful to add a custom command to the startup process so that your computer executes it on every boot. Refer to the following procedure in order to set this up.

Edit the <application>crontab</application> with administrative privileges. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo crontab -e </screen>

Replace <filename>/home/user/command</filename> with the full path to your command.

Insert the following line: <screen> @reboot /home/user/command </screen><placeholder-1/>

Save the file and exit. If using <application>Nano</application> as the default command line editor, press <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>X</keycap></keycombo> followed by <keycap>Y</keycap> for <emphasis>Yes</emphasis> and then the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key.

Change default Operating System at boot

Make a backup of your boot configuration file. To do so, type the following at the command prompt followed by the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key (if asked for a password, enter your user password and press the <keycap>Enter</keycap> key): <screen> sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup </screen>