Tuesday, 31 January 2017

How to Install HandBrake 1.0.2 on Ubuntu 16.04, 16.10

Harry
  HandBrake is a free and open-source video transcoder, originally developed in 2003 by Eric Petit (aka "titer" from his SVN repository username) to make ripping a film from a DVD to a data storage device easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions.
   HandBrake is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. It uses third-party libraries such as Libav, libvpx, and x265.


HandBrake 1.0.2 Changelog:

  • Add options for saving and loading queue files
  • Removed system tray icon due to performance issues on Ubuntu
  • Usability improvements
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes
  • And much more, see the announcement 
Installation instructions: 
 
We can add this PPA to Ubuntu Operating  Systems and install MPV Media Player with few easy commands.

Open terminal and insert command line...


$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk handbrake-cli

For those who have installed handbrake from Ubuntu’s main repository archive, remove it either via Ubuntu Software Center or using the command:

$ sudo apt-get remove handbrake && sudo apt-get autoremove

 

How to Install Audacious 3.8.2 released on Ubuntu 16.04, 16.10

Harry
    Audacious is an open source audio player. A descendant of XMMS, Audacious plays your music how you want it, without stealing away your computer’s resources from other tasks. Drag and drop folders and individual song files, search for artists and albums in your entire music library, or create and edit your own custom playlists. Listen to CD’s or stream music from the Internet.


Audacious 3.8 changelog :

  •  This is a very small release with fixes for bug some .m4a files are played the error
  •  the vulnerability recently discovered in Game_Music_Emu.
Installation instructions: 
 
We can add this PPA to Ubuntu Operating  Systems and install Audacious 3.8 finally with few easy commands.

Open terminal and insert command line...

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install audacious audacious-plugins


How to install Neofetch 3.0 system information tool on Ubuntu

Harry
   Neofetch is a CLI system information tool written in BASH. Neofetch displays information about your system next to an image, your OS logo, or any ascii file of your choice. The main purpose of Neofetch is to be used in screenshots to show other users what OS/Distro you're running, what Theme/Icons you're using and etc.


    Neofetch is highly customizable through the use of commandline flags or the user config file. There are over 50 config options to mess around with and there's the print_info() function and friends which let you add your own custom info.
     Neofetch can be used on any OS that has BASH, it's just a matter of adding support. If your OS/Distro isn't in the list below, feel free to open an issue on the repo and I'll gladly add support. Neofetch currently supports Linux, MacOS, iOS, BSD, Solaris, Android, Haiku, GNU Hurd, MINIX, AIX, and Windows (Cygwin/MSYS2/Windows 10 Linux subsystem).

Neofetch 3.0

    The changes on offer in Neofetch 3.0 are fairly substantive, and range from additional operating system support to a new system-wide config installed to /etc/neofetch/config, including a slate of bug fixes, tweaks and improvements in-between.

Installation instructions:

  Opening terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and running the command:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dawidd0811/neofetch

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install neofetch

 Check version Neofetch :

$ neofetch --version
 





How to install XnView MP 0.84 on Ubuntu 16.04, 16.10

Harry
   XnView MP is the enhanced version of XnView Classic. It is a powerful cross-platform media browser, viewer and converter. Compatible with more than 500 formats
.

XnView MP 0.84 Changlog:
  • [Bugs] Image saved ot updated in browser
  • [Bugs] UTF8 in .XnViewSort
  • [Bugs] Crash with .001 files
  • [Bugs] Wheel mouse in browser
  • [Bugs] VideoMode=true
  • [Bugs] Slow delete when many subfolders exist
  • [Bugs] Leaks when creating catalog
  • [Bugs] Some problems with IPTC-XMP dialog
  • [Bugs] Set Rating/category & batch rename
  • [Bugs] Move subfolder in same path
  • [Bugs] Crash when setting a category and enter something in quicksearch
  • [Bugs] Crash at start with win10 build 14965
  • [Bugs] 180° rotation on BW picture
  • [Bugs] 8bf 64bits plugin
  • [Bugs] -ini & startup wizard
  • [Requests] Mosaic effect missing
  • [Requests] Paint feature
  • [Bugs] Delta Y in Watermark
  • [Bugs] 'sort' numeric not default
  • [Bugs] 'save as' extension
  • [Bugs] 'Save as' doesn't use 'keep date'
  • [Bugs] Custom path empty
  • [Bugs] Freeze when viewing folder of icon files
  • [Bugs] View problem
  • [Bugs] View problem
  • [Bugs] XnView freeze when closing view of RAW
  • [Bugs] MacOSX - edit description crash
  • [Bugs] Slow start & .XnViewSort
  • [Requests] afdesign thumbnail
  • [Requests] Qt 5.6.2
  • [Bugs] Problem category rename/move
  • [Bugs] Sessions & one instance
  • [Bugs] IPTC edit & parent keywords
  • [Bugs] Flickr removed
  • [Requests] XnView after filename in titlebar
  • [Requests] Check for update
  • [Bugs] Import with custom filename
  • [Requests] No session saved if tabs not used
  • [Bugs] Import&sort video files not copied
  • [Bugs] FLIF output failed
  • [Bugs] Catalog 'Delete' and 'Delete all' don't have same behavior
  • [Bugs] Going back to browser doesn't select the good file
  • [Bugs] BPG console flicker
  • [Bugs] File format color not working
  • [Requests] FLIF 0.2
  • [Bugs] Sidecar naming
  • [Bugs] '/' used in copy clipboard
  • [Bugs] Export dialog and resampler method
  • [Bugs] Parameter for external editor
  • [Bugs] Export output folder

Installation instructions:

   The GetDeb repository contains the latest packages of XnView MP, available for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, and derivatives.

Opening terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and running the command:

Ubuntu 16.04 xenial


$ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu xenial-getdeb apps" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'

$ wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install xnviewmp

Ubuntu 16.10 yakkety

$ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu yakkety-getdeb apps" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'

$ wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install xnviewmp

Install XnView MP 0.84 DEB package if PPA is yet to be updated

32Bit OS


$ sudo apt-get install gdebi

$ wget http://download.xnview.com/XnViewMP-linux.deb

$ sudo gdebi XnViewMP-linux.deb

64Bit OS

$ sudo apt-get install gdebi

$ wget http://download.xnview.com/XnViewMP-linux-x64.deb

$ sudo gdebi XnViewMP-linux-x64.deb

 Optional, to remove XnView MP, do:

$ sudo apt-get remove xnviewmp



How To Install GIMP 2.9 Development Version on Ubuntu 16.04, 16.10

Harry
    The latest development version of GIMP features a new revamped UI and usability changes. Several new themes by Benoit Touchette has been included in various shades of gray: Lighter, Light, Gray, Dark, Darker. The system theme has been preserved for users who prefer a completely consistent look of user interfaces across all desktop applications. The new UI themes are accompanied by symbolic icons.


   GIMP now keeps track of all GEGL-based filters that you used within one session and allows re-running them via the Filters > Recently Used submenu, just like old GIMP plug-ins. The new MyPaint Brush tool is now enabled by default.

Installation instructions:

   Run the following commands in terminal to install GIMP 2.9 Development Build on Ubuntu Linux Systems via GIMP Edge PPA by Otto Kesselgulasch:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp-edge

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install gimp

Once installed, open GIMP 2.9 from Ubuntu Dash or Terminal.



Hoe to Install Sublime Text Editor On Ubuntu 16.04, 16.10

Harry
    Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose. You'll love the slick user interface, extraordinary features and amazing performance.


Sublime Text 3 Build 3126 features:
  •  Added Indexing Status to the Help menu to give more information about what the indexer is doing
  •  Fixed a compatibility issue with some third party syntax definitions that include JavaScript.sublime-syntax
  •  Reduced the default number of worker processes used for indexing. This can be manually controlled via the index_workers setting
  •  API: Updated OpenSSL to 1.0.2i
Installation instructions:

    Run the following command to install Sublime Text 3 on Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Linux Mint 17 and Ubuntu Derivatives :



$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-3

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install sublime-text-installer





Once installed, open the Sublime Text from Ubuntu Dash or Terminal.


How to Install Wine 2.0 Stable on Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, 16.10

Harry
   Wine 2.0  is the first release made on the new time-based, annual release schedule. This implies that some features that are being worked on but couldn't be finished in time have been deferred to the next development cycle. This includes in particular the Direct3D command stream, the full HID support, the Android graphics driver, and message-mode pipes.


Wine 2.0 release highlights:
  •     support for Microsoft Office 2013
  •     the 64-bit support on macOS.
  •     support for Unicode 9.0
  •     better HiDPI scaling
  •     GStreamer 1.0 support
  •     an updated Gecko engine
  •     More Direct3D 10 and 11 features
  •     And much more, see the announcement

Install Wine 2.0 Stable:
 
Open terminal and insert command line...

1. Remove previous Wine 1.8 or other regular Wine packages via command:

$ sudo apt-get remove wine wine1.8 wine-stable libwine* fonts-wine* && sudo apt autoremove

2. run the following command to add the PPA:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/unstable

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get install wine2.0

Check version wine:

$ wine --version
 

Option, Remove Wine:

$ sudo apt-get remove wine2.0 wine-staging

$ sudo apt-get autoremove


Wine 2.0 Stable support Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak), Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus), Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf), Ubuntu 15.04(Vivid Vervet), Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr)





Monday, 30 January 2017

How to Fixed .gitignore file if not working

Anonymous


If you are an user of the GIT version control then you must be aware of the .gitignore file. For the ones how are not aware of this file, .gitignore helps you ignore or avoid certain files from being committed into the main repository using GIT.
Now it happens at times that the .gitignore file behaves weirdly and GIT fails to ignore all the file names listed in the .gitignore file and as a result all these files which you do not want to be committed into the repository start getting committed. And when your .gitignore file is not working, its a big mess!
A very very quick fix to this problem would be to get rid of any trailing whitespace in the .gitignore file, if you find one. Also, you should not put any comments next to the listed file in the .gitignore
If all this still does not solve your problem, follow these steps:
Step 1: Commit all your pending changes in the repo which you want to fix.
Step 2: Now you need to remove everything from the git index in order to refresh your git repository. This is safe. Use this command:
git rm -rf --cached .
Step 3: Now you need to add everything back into the repo, which can be done using this command:
git add .
Step 4: Finally you need to commit these changes, using this command:
git commit -m ".gitignore Fixed"
Please let us know if you were able to fix .gitignore using these steps.


Ignore changes to committed files

Temporarily ignore changes

During development it's convenient to stop tracking file changes to a file committed into your git repo. This is very convenient when customizing settings or configuration files that are part of your project source for your own work environment.
> git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>
Resume tracking files with:
> git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>

Permanently ignore changes to a file

If a file is already tracked by Git, adding that file to your .gitignore is not enough to ignore changes to the file. You also need to remove the information about the file from Git's index:
These steps will not delete the file from your system. They just tell Git to ignore future updates to the file.
  1. Add the file in your .gitignore.
  2. Run the following:
    > git rm --cached <file>
    
  3. Commit the removal of the file and the updated .gitignore to your repo.

How to enable USB authentication in facebook.

Harry

Facebook has added support for USB key two-factor authentication to improve account security.

Here are the steps to enable USB key authentication on your Facebook account:

Step 1: Go to the Security settings page and expand the Logins Approval section.

Step 2: In the Security Keys section, click the Add Key link and the Add Key button in the dialog that appears.

Step 3: When the prompt appears, plug in your USB key and tap its button when its light starts blinking.

Step 4: Once your key has been added, you’ll be prompted to re-enter your password to confirm the addition and to select a name to represent the physical key.

Step 5: When the process is completed, your newly added key will be visible under the Security Keys section.

If you’re not used to physical authentication keys, here are a few good practices:

Have backups keys: Just like everything else that fits in your pocket, keys can get lost (or possibly stolen). Therefore, you should have backup keys. Facebook’s security settings allow you to add multiple keys and to remove lost or broken ones.Have backup methods: For the moment, only the Facebook desktop website supports USB authentication, and the mobile website supports NFC-based keys such as the YubiKey Neo. Facebook’s mobile apps do not support physical keys yet. Therefore, you should still keep your app or SMS authentication enabled as a backup method.

Facebook’s USB authentication is not mandatory, but it is a welcomed move, as cybercriminals are targeting social media platforms at an accelerating pace. Hopefully, other social media services will follow suit and enable privacy-conscious users to breathe a sigh of relief.

How to add gitignore file in our Git Project

Anonymous

Here is Step by Step Tutorial to Create git ignore file for our git project.

For Ubuntu / unix os 

$ touch .gitignore 

Now Open  .gitignore using your Text Editor and  copy below  Code ( pattern) and paste in .gitignore file..
Copy and paste into .gitignore files.
# Compiled source #
###################
*.com
*.class
*.dll
*.exe
*.o
*.so

# Packages #
############
# it's better to unpack these files and commit the raw source
# git has its own built in compression methods
*.7z
*.dmg
*.gz
*.iso
*.jar
*.rar
*.tar
*.zip

# PHP IGNORE
#/inc/log.txt
/logs/log.txt
/logs/*.php
/*.txt
*.txt
test.php




# Logs and databases #
######################
*.log
*.sql
*.sqlite

# OS generated files #
######################
.DS_Store
.DS_Store?
._*
.Spotlight-V100
.Trashes
ehthumbs.db
Thumbs.db
 

  How to Fixed Gitignore if not Working properly.


 
 
 

Sunday, 29 January 2017

How To Fix No Wireless Network In Ubuntu 14.04 and 14.10

Harry
Solution 1:-

There have been plenty of reports regarding WiFi issues on Ubuntu 16.04. The majority of issues seems to stem from suspend/resume issues where the network would not re-connect, show the wrong icon in the top bar or similar.
The temporary workaround for this is to restart the network manager if you have no network at all, or, if you have network but the nm applet is showing the wrong status, just restart the nm applet.
Restart network manager.
sudo service network-manager restart
Restart the nm applet.
killall nm-applet && nm-applet &

How to fix it

So, this might or it might not work for you dep. on what issue you've been experiencing. But this did solve it for me on two different laptops.
Lets start with figuring out what WiFi chip we have.
sudo lshw -class network
The result should look something like this:
snews@TuxBook:~$ sudo lshw -class network
  *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Wireless 7265
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlp2s0
       version: 59
       serial: 60:57:18:78:f9:92
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=4.4.0-28-generic firmware=16.242414.0 ip=192.168.1.20 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
       resources: irq:49 memory:f7000000-f7001fff
With the above information available to us we can go to work and try to solve the resume from suspend issue.
sudo vi /etc/pm/config.d/config
In this file, paste the following
SUSPEND_MODULES="iwlwifi wlp2s0" 
The values for the suspend_modules dep. on the output from the lshw command. In my case I see that my driver is named iwlwifi and that the logical name for my chip is wlp2s0. Hence I add those to the suspend_modules line.
Now, issue a restart of the network manager
sudo service network-manager restart
Now you should be able to suspend your laptop and when you resume it, WiFi should get reconnected automatically, and you should see the correct network type indicator in the nm applet.
The above might also work for you, so give it a try and see what happens.
UPDATE: It seems that as of 16.04.1 this is not an issue for me any more.
Resources:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/762198/16-04-lts-wifi-connection-issues - This details the /etc/pm/config.d/config config, but I had to modify it a little bit to make it work on my two laptops.




 Solution 2:-
 
After dual booting Macbook Air with Ubuntu, when I logged in to Ubuntu, I found that Ubuntu did not detect any wireless network. Networking was on but it said ‘no network devices available‘.
No wireless network detected by Ubuntu 14.04
Indeed it is a common issue with Broadcom network adapters in Ubuntu. A relief is that Ubuntu provides additional drivers specifically for Broadcom adapters. But the issue is that to install additional drivers in Ubuntu you will need network connection. If you have wired connection, it will be very easy to install the additional drivers. But if you are restricted to wireless network only, you’ll have to look for alternate methods.
Since there are no Ethernet ports in Macbook Air and I didn’t want to buy an additional accessory just for this, as an alternate, I used the Ubuntu ISO image which I had used for installing Ubuntu. Let’s see how to fix no wireless network in Ubuntu 14.04 and 14.10 by installing additional drivers from CD-ROM.

Fix no wireless network detected in Ubuntu 14.04 and 14.10

First find out the network adapter in your system. You can refer to this article to find out make of wireless network adapter in Linux. In fact, you can just check in Software Sources if there are any additional drivers available for your system or not. If there are propriety drivers available, this method will easily work for you. Also, you will need the ISO image of the same Ubuntu version.

Step 1:

Get the ISO image of Ubuntu. If you just had a fresh install, you must have this ISO image in some other system or same system in another OS in dual boot. Copy it to an external device such as USB or DVD. Just copy it, don’t burn it as bootable USB.
Now boot in to Ubuntu and copy this Ubuntu ISO image to your home directory.



No_wireless_Network_Ubuntu_2

Step 2:

Open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and use the following commands:
sudo mkdir /media/cdrom
cd ~
sudo mount -o loop ubuntu-* /media/cdrom
Basically we just manually mounted the ISO image as if it was a CD.

Step 3:

Go to Unity Dash and look for Software & Updates:
Ubuntu Software Update Settings
In the first tab Ubuntu Software, check the option of CD Rom with Ubuntu
Changing sources in Ubuntu SOftware
It will ask for your password and reload the software sources. Next is to go in Additional Drivers tab and select the propriety driver and click on Apply Changes.
Fix no wireless network in Ubuntu
Once the drivers have been installed, you’ll see that Ubuntu now recognizes the wireless networks in range.
Wireless networks finally detected in Ubuntu 14.10
I hope this post helped you to fix no wireless network issue in Ubuntu 14.04. If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to drop a comment.

Saturday, 28 January 2017

Dual boot Windows 8.x and Ubuntu 14.x.,16.x

Harry

I usually work on a Mac, and when working under Linux or Windows, I resort to Virtual Machines (VMWare Fusion / Parallels Desktop).
Sometimes however, a virtual machine is not up to the task. For this purpose, I have a cheap Acer laptop that came with Windows 8.1. But that is just Windows. So how do I make this laptop dual boot Windows 8 and Ubuntu using Ubuntu 14.x and Windows 8.1?
These are the few easy steps I took to make my laptop dual boot Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 14.x.
The described method can also be used to run Ubuntu from a USB stick, which works very well when using USB 3.0.

 

Before we begin …

This guide is intended for a computer that is already running Windows 8.1, with enough hard-disk space left so we can install Ubuntu next to Windows. Ubuntu recommends more than 6.4Gb, as it uses 6.4Gb for the install alone. So probably best to aim for at least say 20Gb of disk space you will need, but go higher if you can – I took 100Gb (84Gb Ubuntu and 16Gb swap).
 Tip : Read the entire article before actually doing anything ..
 Note : Leave some Gb’s available for your Windows partition … Windows needs extra space for it’s swap file.
 Note : Windows 8 and newer will very likely work much the same way.
 Note : I’m not a Linux expert, I assume there are better ways to do certain steps, but this worked for me.
 Tip : You can open this webpage in Ubuntu when you’re running the live version from your USB stick. Makes Copy/Paste easier 

Undo …? 

In case you’d like to undo these steps, read our article Remove UEFI Dual boot Windows and Ubuntu ….

Total Destruction at your own risk! 

Not likely that this will happen, total destruction, but the steps we take in this guide can result in a computer that will no longer boot your Windows setup, and might require a total reinstall of everything from scratch. Consequences like loss of all data should be expected!
So please please please pay attention to what you’re doing,… don’t blame us if your house implodes!

Running Ubuntu straight from USB … just 3 steps … 

If you are more interested in just running Ubuntu from a USB stick, then you will only need to follow these 3 steps:
Step 1 – Create a Bootable Ubuntu USB stick
Step 4 – Turn OFF Fast Boot
Step 5 – UEFI BIOS Settings to Enable boot from USB
Using the boot menu or giving USB the highest boot priority in the BIOS, will make it that you can boot Ubuntu when you see fit.
Specially on USB 3.0 drives in a USB 3.0 port, this work surprisingly well …
You might however need a separate storage devices to save your files … or figure out how to save files on your Ubuntu USB stick.

Tools we need …

First you’ll need a Ubuntu 14.x install ISO file, which can be found on the Ubuntu website.
For most modern computers, the 64-bit version will do. Take the 32-bit version if your computer has limited memory (<2Gb).
The 64-bit AMD (Mac) version is a special 64-bit version for MacOS X computers, so don’t confuse that with the regular 64-bit version.
I used Ubuntu Desktop 14.04 64-bit and my computer was already running Windows 8.1.
Next we need a tool called “Universal USB Installer” which helps us create a bootable USB drive or USB stick.
Download it from their website, to make sure you get the latest version, or download a copy from Tweaking4All.

DOWNLOAD - Universal-USB-Installer 

Platform: Windows
Filename: Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.5.4.exe
Version: 1.9.5.4
Size: 1.0 MiB
Date: July 13, 2014
 Download Now 

OK, when you have all that, and of course a computer running Windows 8.x, time to get started …



Step 1 – Create a Bootable Ubuntu USB stick

We have 2 options here: either create a bootable USB stick or a installation DVD.
For convenience and not wanting to waste another DVD, I recommend using the USB Stick method, specially when you have USB 3.0 available (computer and stick).
For those that wish to burn a DVD : Use your favorite disk burning application to burn the downloaded Ubuntu ISO file to DVD.
Creating a bootable USB stick is relatively easy with “Universal USB Installer“.
Download the application and double click it to get it started.
  1. Select Ubuntu from the “Select a Linux Distribution” drop down.
  2. Click “Browse” and select the downloaded Ubuntu ISO file.
  3. Select the correct drive at “Select your USB Flash Drive Letter“.
  4. CheckWe will format X:\ Drive as Fast32“.
  5. Click “Create” to start the process.

Universal USB installer
Universal USB installer
After clicking “Create” a recap will be shown of the planned actions – please verify them before clickingYes“.
Universal USB Installer - Planned Actions
Universal USB Installer – Planned Actions
After clicking “Yes”, a few windows will fly by indicating work in progress …
Universal USB Installer - Prepping USB Drive
Universal USB Installer – Prepping USB Drive
Note that during this process, the ISO fill will be taken apart (which takes a little time), and your USB stick will be prepped.
Once you see the message “Installation Done, Process is Complete!” (in the black part of the window, in green text), your USB stick is done and ready.
Click “Close” to close Universal USB Installer.



Step 2 – Make a backup of your current Windows setup

Backups are funny – you only need them when you didn’t make one … so we better play it save, since we will be doing some pretty drastic things to your harddrive. Windows 8.1 comes with the tools we need to create a recovery drive (USB Stick, at least 16GB, USB 3.0 recommended if your computer supports it) and a backup of your personal files (depending on your computer, this might be a lot of files, and a network share or larger USB drive might be needed).
There are other ways of doing this, so be my guest to pick your preferred method and tool. Here we use the standard Windows tools.

Before making backups … 

This is a good time to:
  • Make sure all Windows UPDATES are DONE … Avoid a nasty forced Window update in the process.
  • Old stuff (documents, programs, Ubuntu ISO, etc) are REMOVED. No need to backup those.

  Creating a Recovery Drive

For this you will need a 16 Gb USB Stick (or larger). If your computer supports USB 3.0 and you have a USB 3.0 stick laying around, then by all means use it! It makes a huge difference and will save you a lot of time. This is NOT the same USb stick we just used for Ubuntu!
To get to Windows Recovery, open a Windows Explorer window and paste “Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Recovery” in the address bar (without the double quotes of course) and press ENTER.
Note : I assume that this Recovery option will look similar for Windows 8. For Windows 7 however, it will look very different, and it most certainly does not exist under Windows XP.
Windows 8.1 - How to get to Recovery Tools
Windows 8.1 – How to get to Recovery Tools
From the “Recovery” window, select the “Create a recovery drive” option.
Windows 8.1 - Recovery - Select "Create a recovery drive"
Windows 8.1 – Recovery – Select “Create a recovery drive”
This will guide you through a wizard to create a recovery drive.
Check “Copy the recovery partition from the PC to the recovery drive” and click “Next“.
Recovery Wizard - Check "Copy the recovery partition"
Recovery Wizard – Check “Copy the recovery partition”
In the next window, you’ll have to select the right USB drive – this will be the drive that Windows will use to store the recovery data on.
Click “Next” when done.
Recovery Wizard - Select the USB drive
Recovery Wizard – Select the USB drive
In the next window, you’ll get a warning that the selected drive will be totally erased, and if you’re sure you selected the right drive, click “Next“.
Recovery Wizard - Confirmation to erase
Recovery Wizard – Confirmation to erase
Now it’s a matter of waiting … grab a snack and a drink if you’d like … or write an article for your website (that’s what I’m doing) … 
Recovery Wizard - Creating Recovery Disk
Recovery Wizard – Creating Recovery Disk
The entire process took only a few minutes on my setup – but this all depends on the speed of your computer, USB port and USB drive.
Recovery Wizard - Finished
Recovery Wizard – Finished
Once completed, click “Finish“, and remove the USB drive properly (use the Windows Eject option), and store it in a safe place … you’ll need it when things go South on ya.

  Backup your Personal Files

In this step we will backup your files and such, which might need more space – all depending on what you’ve collected over time.
I will not spent too much time on this particular backup method, I store all my files on my NAS, so anything on my computer can go anyway.
For files that are stored in “My Documents”, you can use the “File History” tool.
First you’ll need to connect a drive, a USB drive for example.
To get to this tool, paste “Control Panel\System and Security\File History” in the address bar of Windows Explorer.
It will right away seek a suitable drive. You’ll see a button “File History” which most likely is set to “OFF” at this moment.
Set it to “ON” and click the now functional button “Backup Now“.
  Warning: this will only backup your files from “My Documents!
So if you have stuff laying around elsewhere, you will need to manually back those up as well.



Step 3 – Make room on your hard-drive for Ubuntu

Now that we have either a bootable USB Stick/Drive (or DVD disk), and a recovery drive for Windows, time to make prepare your hard-drive for Ubuntu.
Resizing/Shrinking your Windows partition is relatively easy – given that you have enough hard-disk space.
For this we will use the “Disk Management” tool, which can be found in the “Control Panel” – if you can’t find it, type “Disk Management” in the search box of the Control Panel window.
Once “Disk Management” opens, you will most likely see an unexpected number of partitions … the days of Windows XP and one or two partitions seem over with all the recovery partitions these days. Multiple Recovery Partitions (really?), an EFI partition and finally a “C:” partition.
Windows 8.1 - Disk Management
Windows 8.1 – Disk Management
To shrink the “C:” partition, right click the C-partition first and select the “Shrink Volume…” option from the popup menu.
Windows 8.1 - Disk Management - Shrink Partition
Windows 8.1 – Disk Management – Shrink Partition
A popup window briefly appears, analyzing available space.
After that a “Shrink C:” window appears where we can define how much space we want to take away from the C:-drive.
In the field “Enter the amount of space to shrink in MB“, we basically enter the amount of MB we’d like our Ubuntu partition to be. In the example below, I reserver 100 GB for my Ubuntu partition (100,000). Depending on your disk space and Ubuntu needs, you can of course decide on different values. I would carefully guess that 10 GB (10,000) is what you should take as a minimum, but I’m sure that number can be tuned.
Remember this value … it will help you select the right partition at a later time.
Windows 8.1 - Disk Management - Define Ubuntu Partition Size
Windows 8.1 – Disk Management – Define Ubuntu Partition Size
Once decided how much space you’d like to use, click the “Shrink” button – this process can be surprisingly fast …
After completion, you will see that “Disk Management” indicates a nice chunk of “Unallocated” space – which is exactly where we will place our Ubuntu setup.



Step 4 – Turn OFF Fast Boot

We need to turn of Fast Boot, so we can actually boot from our USB drive. Note that this option might or might not be applicable for your computer.
Fast Boot can be found in the Power Options (Control Panel) and to get there, open a Windows Explorer window and paste “Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options” in the address bar and press ENTER.
Windows 8.1 -Power Options
Windows 8.1 -Power Options
In the Power Options window, click the “Change what the power buttons do” option.
Windows 8.1 -Power Options - Disable Fast Boot
Windows 8.1 -Power Options – Disable Fast Boot
Here we uncheck the “Turn on fast startup (recommended)” option.
  If this option is disabled (grayed out – like shown above), then first click the “Change settings that are currently unavailable” to enable the option.
When done, click the “Save changes” button.



Step 5 – UEFI BIOS Settings to Enable boot from USB

Secure Boot is actually a BIOS (or more correct UEFI) option, which makes sure that the computer is only booted with software the PC manufacturer trusts (see also this Microsoft TechNet Article). Please note that “Secure Boot” is not a requirement for any Operating System (as far as I know), rather an attempt by hardware manufacturers to get PC’s more “secure” … (can you hear me couch?)
“Secure Boot” should not be confused with “UEFI” and “Legacy” boot mode! 
When Windows was installed with UEFI Boot Mode, then changing it to “Legacy” will cripple your Windows.
Before proceeding : Insert the Ubuntu USB Stick we just made, so we can see it when we change the boot order.
Note : I ran into this article for older Ubuntu versions on Acer.

  Getting in to the UEFI BIOS

Option 1 – Direct
Disabling Secure Boot can be done by going into your “BIOS” at boot up time (the usual F1, F2, F12, Del or Esc keys),…
My Acer Laptop required me to press and hold F2 as soon as you see the Acer logo, and Acer Desktops seem to prefer the Del key instead.
More details for Acer equipment, read this article “How to Enable or Disable Secure Boot” on the Acer website.
Option 2 – Via Windows
Sometimes it’s easier to click “Restart” in Windows while holding down the SHIFT key.
In the upcoming screen go to “Troubleshoot”  “Advanced Options”  “UEFI Firmware Settings”  “Restart”.
See also: Microsoft Technet.
  For those who use “Start-Is-Back“: The SHIFT trick (option 2) does NOT work in the Start-menu.
Instead, on the login screen, click the power button (lower right), press and hold the SHIFT button and click “Restart”.

  Disabling UEFI Secure Boot

Short version: Go into your (UEFI) BIOS and disableSecure Boot” … 
Long version:
There is a great variation of what BIOS screens will look like. The only (UEFI) Windows box I have is my Acer Laptop (Aspire V5-552P-X440), so I’ll base everything on that – other computers might look similar or very different, but I’m sure that with a little looking around you’ll find what you need.
The “Secure Boot” option can be expected under the “Security” or “Boot“.

“Secure Boot” Grayed Out …
 

On some systems, Acer for example, you’ll first have to set the “Supervisor Password” on the “Security” screen.
Once the password is set, the “Secure Boot” option becomes enabled (found in the “Boot” screen!).
Once “Secure Boot” is set to “disabled”, you can remove the “Supervisor Password” by setting it to a blank password.
Definitely recommend removing the password – there is nothing worse than forgetting your BIOS password …
Find the “Secure Boot” option – the one that you can set to either “enabled” or “disabled”.
This was on my Acer rather confusing since “Secure Boot” appears on the “Security” screen and the “Boot” screen.
I figured that one out after some tinkering. You will need the one on the “Boot” screen.
Set “Secure Boot” to “disabled“!
Don’t forget to set the “Supervisor Password” to blank again, if you had set it before.
UEFI BIOS - Set Supervisor password (sometimes temporary needed)
UEFI BIOS – Set Supervisor password (sometimes temporary needed)
UEFI BIOS - Disable Secure Boot
UEFI BIOS – Disable Secure Boot

  Enable booting from USB

Since we’re in the BIOS … let’s make sure we can boot from USB …
Option 1 (recommended, if your BIOS allows this) is to set the “Boot Menu” option.
On my Acer this will enable a menu to select a boot device by press F12 during boot as soon as you see the Acer logo.
Handy for future use, and you do not need to go back into the BIOS after we’ve installed Ubuntu … (also saves time when no USB drive is attached)
UEFI BIOS - Boot Manager Example (Acer) - Described in Option 1
UEFI BIOS – Boot Manager Example (Acer) – Described in Option 1
Option 2 is to change the “Boot order” in your BIOS – Acer for example defaults to the “Windows Boot Manager” FIRST, instead we need to set our USB Stick with Ubuntu to the first one. No need to remember F12 during boot … but when you’re done with the Ubuntu installation you might want to set it back the “Windows Boot Manager” as the first one, to speed up booting and to prevent annoyance when you forgot to remove a USB drive.
Don’t forget to save the settings (under the “Exit” screen) and your computer will reboot.


Step 6 – Installing Ubuntu

OK, on to the next step: Installing Ubuntu …
Start your computer and make sure it boots from the USB drive. 
On my Acer I noticed that the USB drive sometimes does not appear in the boot menu, and a warm reboot (CTRL+ALT+DEL) is needed.
Once booted from your USB drive, you’ll see something like this:
            GNU GRUB    version 2.02^beta2-9
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
* Try Ubuntu without installing                      
│   Install Ubuntu                                      │
│   OEM install (for manufacturers)                     │
│   Check disk for defects                              │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

We have two options now, install straight from here (untested!). or conveniently use the graphical interface Ubuntu offers us by booting into Ubuntu straight from the USB drive (the first option “Try Ubuntu without installing”).
  This would the same option you’d use if you decide to always run Ubuntu from the USB drive.
Select the optionTry Ubuntu without installing“.
Depending on the speed of your USB port and USB drive, Ubuntu will boot pretty quick and show a screen like this:
Ubuntu - Running from USB
Ubuntu – Running from USB
You will initially see a window with some hints concerning keyboard shortcut. You can close this window by clicking the   button or by clicking somewhere on the desktop.
Next we double click the installation icon on the desktop called “Install Ubuntu 14.04 LTS” (name will be different for other Ubuntu versions).
Ubuntu Setup - Select Language
Ubuntu Setup – Select Language
A screen will appear where you have to select your preferred language.
Select the language and click “Continue“.
Ubuntu Setup - Enable Wifi/Network
Ubuntu Setup – Enable Wifi/Network
In case your computer has WiFi, a dialog will appear asking for WiFi access. If needed, select your WiFi, enter your WiFi password and click “Connect“.
It takes a few seconds to connect and strangely enough the screen remains almost similar even after connecting.
Note that we do need a network connection at some point …!
Click “Continue” to go to the next screen.
Ubuntu Setup - Download Updates?
Ubuntu Setup – Download Updates?
In the next screen you can optionally choose to right away download the latest updates and 3rd party applications (for Mp3 audio). To speed up the installation process, I skipped this – you can still do the updates and 3rd software installation at a later time.
In this screen you will also see the disk space requirements (6.4Gb), and that an Internet connection and your computer plugged into a power-supply (Laptops) are recommended.
Click “Continue“.
 If Ubuntu asks to unmount certain mounted partition, then click “No”. Your hard-drive should not be mounted at this point anyway, so it is most likely referring to an additional drive, like for example an extra USB drive (which I did to save screenshots).
The following screen asks you for what type of install you’d like to do …
  Now be VERY careful here!!!
You want to select the “Something else” option, the other option will clear the entire hard-drive and that’s not what we want.
Click “Continue” after selecting the “Something else” option.
Ubuntu Setup - Partition table
Ubuntu Setup – Partition table
The next screen, after a few seconds, shows the layout of your hard-disk partitions. Maybe it looks intimidating, but don’t worry.
  Be VERY careful here!!! 
Here we will select the destination partition! The selected partition WILL be destroyed! 
(You made a Windows backup right?)

When looking through the list you should see at least one row with the Device called “free space“.
On my hard-disk there were 3 “free space” rows but only one came close to the free space I created earlier when I shrank the C:-drive.
The other two looked like none-sense (1Mb partition? 0Mb partition?).
We are going to split that partition in 2 parts, one for Ubuntu and one for Swap.
You can make a 3rd partition if you prefer for just your files (documents, media, etc) or a 4th for /tmp, etc.
You can read more about it in “Deciding on Ubuntu Partitions and Sizes“.
Since I have a hard time deciding my space needs for my documents, and since I make a habit out of saving documents on my NAS, I simple decided to use only two partitions. One for Ubuntu and one for Swap.
Some people argue that “Swap” is no longer needed.
If you decide to create a “Swap” partition, then a rule of thumb is to make this partition twice the size of the amount of RAM your computer has. If disk space is limited, take 1.5x RAM.

How much memory does my computer have?
 

If you’re not sure how much memory is installed in your computer, open a Terminal window and type:
 cat /proc/meminfo
The first line will say “MemTotal” which shows you how much memory is installed (in kB).

We will create the first partition for Ubuntu. For determining the proper size you will need to know how much swap space you want to use and I used the 2x RAM rule. I have 8Gb of memory in my laptop so the swap size will be 16 Gb.
Since my “free space” is 104857 MB (say 100 GB), I have to reserve 16Gb for the swap partition. You can do the math with Google.
Open a Google Window in your browser and type “104857 MB – 16 GB in MB” and Google will give you the answer: 88857 MB.
Obviously you will need to do this with your numbers to get the right answer for you. Watch the uppercase MB and GB!
OK, so I will end up with a 84Gb (88.857 MB) Ubuntu partition and a 16Gb Swap partition – let’s do it …
Select the “free space” row that looks like the free space you created earlier.
Click the “+” button at the left, under the list of partitions.
Ubuntu Setup - Root Partition
Ubuntu Setup – Root Partition
As shown above:
In the field “Size” we enter the calculated number (which was 88857 for me),
set the “Type of the new partition” to “Logical“,
set “Location for the new partition” to “Beginning of this space“,
set “Use as” to “Ext4 journaling file system“,
set “Mount point” to “/” (root).
Click “OK” to apply these changes.

After Ubuntu created this partition, the list of partitions will be updated.
Find the row you just created (look at the “Size” column and the “Type” column, which should reflect the number you just entered and the “ext4”).
The immediately following row should be “free space” and have the size we calculated for our swap space.
Select this row.
Ubuntu Setup - Space left for Swap
Ubuntu Setup – Space left for Swap
Once you selected the “free space” row, of the size you determined for your swap partition, click the “+” below the partition list again.
Ubuntu Setup - Swap Partition
Ubuntu Setup – Swap Partition
As shown above:
The “Size” field should already hold the right value (the desired swap partition size).
Set “Type for the new partition” to “Logical” again,
set “Location for the new partition” to “Beginning of this space“,
and set “Use as” to “swap area“.
Click “OK” to apply these changes.

By default the boot-loader will be installed on “/dev/sda” – do not change that value, and unless you have multiple disks and really know what you’re doing.
I’m not sure if it’s needed, but my paranoia makes me select the partition that we just created for Ubuntu, before continuing.
Click “Install Now” if you’re comfortable with the partitions we just made and installation will begin.
Ubuntu Setup - Location
Ubuntu Setup – Location
In the next screen you’ll have to select your location – you can type your location to see if it’s in the list or find a location near you.
Click “Continue” when done.
Ubuntu Setup - Keyboard
Ubuntu Setup – Keyboard
In the next screen we select our keyboard, and click “Continue“.
Ubuntu Setup - Create User Account
Ubuntu Setup – Create User Account
In the next step we will create a user account.
Up to you what names you’d like to enter and if you like login to be automatically.
When completed, click “Continue” and installation will start.
Ubuntu Setup - Installing ....
Ubuntu Setup – Installing ….
Installation, depending on your setting, can take a while, so this might be a good time to walk the dog or get a snack.
At the end of the process, Ubuntu will ask to reboot your computer – DO NOT REBOOT and stay in the Ubuntu Live environment. We still need to tweak a few things, because at this point your computer will boot straight into Windows again.
Click “Continue Testing“.


Step 7 – Getting Dual Boot Windows 8.x and Ubuntu to work

When we boot our computer at this point, it will go to Windows right away, which is not what you’d expect from “Dual Boot”. So we need to repair a few things.
If you screwed up and rebooted anyway: reboot your computer and boot from the Ubuntu USB stick.
Before we continue, we do need a network/Internet connection! So if you are not connected yet – do so now (click the network icon in the upper right corner and follow the steps).
First we will use a little program called “Boot Repair” which by default is NOT installed, so we will have to install it.
Open a Terminal window (click the Ubuntu icon in the upper left corner and type “terminal” and click the “Terminal” icon).
Type the following statements (more info at Ubuntu Help):
1 2 3 4
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair sudo sed 's/trusty/saucy/g' -i /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yannubuntu-boot-repair-trusty.list sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && (boot-repair &)
These statements will add a repository so we can get “Boot Repair”, update your setup, install “Boot Repair” and finally start “Boot Repair”.
Quite a lot of messages will fly by and eventually Boot Repair starts scanning.
Boot Repair - Scanning your drives
Boot Repair – Scanning your drives
At the end of the scan it will most likely notify you that EFI was detected, just click “OK“.
Right after a warning appears about packages that will be installed, just click “OK” again and the main window of “Boot Repair” will show.
Boot Repair - Main Window
Boot Repair – Main Window
Here we click the “Recommended repair” button, and “Boot Repair” will do it’s magic.
Boo Repair - Repair in progress
Boo Repair – Repair in progress
After a few seconds a message might appear. In this message you’re asked to copy and paste the statements displayed and execute them in Terminal. So we open another Terminal window. Right click the text (possible choose “Select All” first) and select “Copy“. Next go to the new Terminal window you just opened, right click in the window and choose “Paste“.
Boot Repair - Execute these lines in Terminal
Boot Repair – Execute these lines in Terminal
You might notice that the first statements will be executed, but the last statement is just sitting there. Press ENTER to execute this last line as well.
Again a lot of info flying by …
Once you see the prompt return in the Terminal window, click “Forward” in the message window from which we just copied the statements.
Boot Repair - Execute these lines in Terminal as well
Boot Repair – Execute these lines in Terminal as well
Again a window opens with text that we need to copy and execute in terminal, so repeat the same steps we just did.
And again a lot of info flying by …
Once Terminal completed the task, click the “Forward” button in the message window, as we did before.
“Boot Repair” will now reinstall Grub.
Some people, like myself, run into an error message at the end saying “An error occurred during repair”.
If you’d like you can write down the link, but honestly: I wouldn’t know what to do with it anyway – I did look at it though … but still don’t know what to with it.
Click “OK” .
Once “Boot Repair” finished it’s magic, time to go to the next step: Fixing the boot-loader from the Windows end of things.
Reboot your computer … and most likely your computer will boot straight into Windows …
Once Windows is booted, login and start a command prompt as administrator.
The easiest way to do this is by pressing the Windows key + X. (  + X)
In the opening window select “Command Prompt (Admin)“.
In the command prompt window type the following and press ENTER:
bcdedit /set "{bootmgr}" path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi
You can now close the command prompt and reboot your computer.
During the boot of your computer you should now see a menu that allows you to boot – your menu may look different.
I recommend testing “Ubuntu” and “Windows Boot Manager” – just to make sure it all works as expected.
            GNU GRUB    version 2.02^beta2-9
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
* Ubuntu                                             
│   Advanced options for Ubuntu                         │
│   Windows Boot Manager (on /dev/sda2)                 │
│   System setup                                        │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

If your computer is NOT booting into the Grub Bootloader … 

I ran into this issue myself. My computer (Acer Aspire V5 552P) has a priority list in the BIOS (“Boot” screen) which sets the “Windows Boot Manager” as the highest priority. To get Grub to appear, I had to give my hard-disk hghest priority by moving it to the first position.
After doing that Grub booted just fine.
An application (untested!) like EasyUEFI, which runs under Windows, might be of assistance for this as well.