sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gdm2setup/gdm2setup
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-gdm2setup

Once done there will be a second Login Screen in your menus indicated with (GDM2Setup). From there one can change general options, wallpaper, decoration, and theme of GDM.

NOTE: It is common practice for manufactures to change the chip sets of a wireless adapter and not change the model number (especially with USB devices). This can cause a lot of headaches for Linux users who, like me, do their research find a compatible device to find out they have a new subversion with a chipset that either doesn’t work or requires the slightly messy busyness of using ndiswrapper with windows drivers.

1) Rename /usr/bin/skype to /usr/bin/skype.real
2) Create a batch file called ‘/usr/bin/skype’ owned by root as follows:-

#!/bin/sh
export XLIB_SKIP_ARGB_VISUALS=1
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype.real “$@” 2>/dev/null
exit 0

3) Make the newly created /usr/bin/skype executable

After following these instructions the problem was solved.

first as root edit /etc/default/grub and uncomment (remove the # before) and change the value to look like this:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1280×800

Then as root edit /etc/grub.d/00_header and find this line:

set gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}

insert below it this line:

set gfxpayload=keep

Once that is done run as root:

update-grub

Now reboot and you should have the Grub2 menu and the terminal set to the new monitor resolution.

sudo aptitude install icedtea6-plugin

which will remove Sun Java 6 and install the appropriate IcedTea packages. Now that is done Java applets and Java powered web applications seem to work just fine.

THE HARD WAY

The first thing to do is to enable the unstable repositories to your /etc/apt/source.list:

# UNSTABLE
deb http://mirror.its.uidaho.edu/pub/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

Now run aptitude update then you need to set the priorities of your repositories so that apt-get upgrade does not default to unstable by editing /etc/apt/prefernces:

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=testing
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 300

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -1

Now it is time to install the components needed for fglrx (ATI Driver) from unstable (as root):

aptitude -t unstable install fglrx-source

The next step is to make sure module assistant is installed from testing/squeeze and create the module(as root):

aptitude install module-assistant

m-a a-i fglrx

Once that is completed configure Xorg. Assuming you are in X, switch to a new terminal by pressing ALT-CTL FX (where FX represents f1 – f12) and implement the new driver.

Login as root:

invoke-rc.d gdm stop

once that is done create the xorg.conf file

Xorg -config

now edit /root/new.config.org and replace the display device from radeonhd to fglrx. As mentioned above I have had mixed resolts with this method. Sometimes it seems to work sometimes it doesnt. However, downloading directly from ATI seems to always do the trick.

THE EASY WAY

download the appropriate file from here. Then you need to make sure it is exacutible and install from terminal:

chmod +x (filenamehere)

as root:

./(filenamehere)

this will pop up an automated install script to follow and once dead you should simply need to reboot you computer.

It is built from Ubuntu as the base using Gnome, but adds a lot of its own configuration tools, adapted synaptic package, and a nice menu system. The installation is from a live CD and will be familiar to anyone installing Ubuntu or Fedora from live media. The menu system allows for easy search and access to all your applications and ability to bookmark you favorite applications.

Once installed I could watch flash on YouTube and Hulu, listen to mp3s and watch wmv, mpg and avi movies. At first I could use totem to play a comercial (encripted) dvd, but then a few days latter when i tried again, it wouldn’t work leaving me to install VLC. I could not find a solution online; however, others have experienced the same problem. All the applications a desktop user would need where installed, OpenOffice, Firefox, gFTP, pidgin, Transmission, etc. One criticism, was the inclusion of Gnome M Player, M player and Totem seemed redundant.

The crowning achievement of this distribution is that it is multimedia capable from a fresh install. I only had to install the proprietary nVidia drivers via the standard restricted drivers interface common in Ubuntu. Once done, enabling Compiz effects was easy as in Ubuntu. Though Mint is built from Ubuntu as a foundation, it is more then a simple Ubuntu remaster, with the time and detail spent to polishing the user interface, installing all needed media codecs, flash and java. It has the task bar and menu along the bottom, making it comfortable to anyone migrating from the Windows world.

alsa force-reload

to solve this problem edit /etc/modprobe.d/sound.conf and add:

options snd_usb_audio index=1

Reboot and hopefully all is well.