Linux: Some issues I had with Kubuntu 8.04

Whilst reinstalling my desktop and all the applications I wanted, these were the problems/issues I encountered.

VMware does not work

I use VMware to test drive upcoming Ubuntu releases and for running Windows XP. I still need XP for my GPS software on my PDA. I tried to install VMware 1.x and it failed when compiling the netwokr modules. This link solved my problems and I managed to compile the modules. When trying to run VMware, another problem appeared:
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/lib/libcairo.so.2)

To solve this, you have to symlink /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1 to /lib/libgcc_s.so.1. Please note that /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/ already contains a file called libgcc_s.so.1, so you need to remove it first. After that, VMware will run just fine.

f-spot and KDE 4 aren't friends

I use f-spot as preferred application to manage my pictures. Though f-spot installs just fine in Kubuntu, it fails to run miserably with and SIGSEGV exception. Apparently, f-spot needs the gconfd that is started by default when running Gnome. This daemon is also started automatically by firefox, so as a workaround, just start firefox once, prior to running f-spot and you're good.

No administrator button in KDE 4 System Settings

The System Settings for KDE 4 application looks really great. The problem is that some settings requiring administrative privileges are not accessible, due to a missing administrator button. The KDE folks probably forgot to add this, and I hope it will be there in KDE 4.1. Anyway, as a workaround, just open a terminal and type: kdesu systemsettings. This allowed my to change the kdm login screen.

Those were the problems I encountered, other than that, it installed and runs just fine. The Ubuntu folks did a good job and delivered Hardy on time. Kudos guys, keep up the good work and thank you for bringing Linux one step closer, again, to world domination.

meh :)

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