Ubuntu in 7 Days: Day 2
Day1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7

In this article,Day 2, I will be trying to connect my various devices, especially critical once like printer/scanner and external Hard drives. This will be the minimal hardware that needs to be plugged in order to do my daily task.

For a list of supported hardware please access the Hardware Compatibility list at Ubuntu website.

Installed Hardware

Unfortunately there is no graphical way to find out which hardwares were recognised automatically during the installation. Or atleast it  is not built in with Ubuntu. To manually check we have to touch the Terminal or Command Prompt as Windows users have known as. Details can be found here.

Printer/Scanner

I have a HP LaserJet F4185 All-in-one printer. I don’t do that much printing nowadays but it is a necessity. Scanning is necessary as sometimes I will scan printed documents and more importantly old photos.

I plugged in the USB cable and powered up the printer and waited. Not long after there was a pop up informing of a successful install. Cool, no additional task to perform all set and ready. Imagine this in Windows.

Upon proper installation of your printer you will see this screen. Double click to see its properties.

You can do a test print from here.

A word on CUPS- Linux/Unix systems makes use of this Common Unix Printing Systems to perform printing functions. I am sure this worked great and had my printer recognised. I am reading up more details on this topic and will post any interesting stuff that I find.

USB Hard Drives

Now let us get on with our storage devices like the thumb drive and external hard drive. You must be joking if you say USB devices are not fully supported by Linux.

Imation 2GB Thumb drive was immediately recognised and mounted, same to the Seagate FreeAgent 160GB external hard drive. I had no issued reading and writing to these devices. Another hardware test passed with flying colours.

Just plug your devices in and you will see a shortcut appear on the desktop. If it does not, Click “Places” and you should be able to see it.

USB Card Reader/onboard card reader

These card readers are in effect USB, hence there should be no issued recognising it. What I have here is a multi/all in one card reader. It is able to read SD/SDHC, MMC, CF2, Memory Stick and what not.

This device was instantly recognised with all the slots recognised as well.

To test I used the available 1GB Kingston SD card and a 8GB CF2 card. Both were recognised and mounted accordingly. So no worries there for you.

Webcam

Be prepared to get your hands dirty. Yes, dirty. In this 7 day series I am trying my best to avoid using the Terminal or Command prompt, but in this case there is no choice. My onboard webcam was not recognised on the initial install, so we need to do some work to get it working.

Logitech Webcam’s should be able to work and auto-installed. If you don’t have webcam or intending to upgrade, get a Logitech Webcam. Check here.

Check Hardware

There is nothing to dread here. Linux has some tools for you.

First, you need to know what kind of controller this webcam is using and from which manufacturer. The onboard webcam will most likely to be a USB based one. So to find out Click Application >> Accessories>> Terminal.

Key in “lsusb” without the quotes. You should see the controller name. Note it down.

Now, we need to install EasyCam2 which will automatically detect the type of video camera controller and install the necessary. This application has made our lives so much easier. But there are some amendments you need to do the repositories (collection of application).

Update Sources

Click System >> Administration and Software Sources. You will be prompted for your password.

Click ‘Third party Software’ tab. Click add and key in the following one at a time.

   1: deb http://blognux.free.fr/ubuntu hardy main

   2: deb-src http://blognux.free.fr/ubuntu hardy main

Install EasyCam2

Go back to the Terminal and key in the below code one at a time

   1: sudo apt-get update

   2: sudo apt-get install easycam2-gtk

Once completed Click Application >> Accessories > EasyCam. Click Start Installation and follow through. You are done.

Source: Ubuntu Doc

Final Note

Most hardwares are automatically recognised with my tests. I have tested on another 2 year old PC and all devices including an ATI graphics with dual screens were properly recognised.

Wait up for my next article on all additional hardwares that needs to be up but not essential.

Related Posts:

• Ubuntu Linux – Replacing Windows Day 3
• Ubuntu Linux – Replacing Windows Day 1
• Ubuntu Linux – Replacing Windows
• Windows to Ubuntu in 7 days