Compiling packages from source on Ubuntu

A default Ubuntu install doesn't come with many compiling tools like GCC, G++, libc6-dev, and Make that you need to compile programs from source. To get all those packages, type in:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

You will need the Ubuntu CD for this.

Jump words with Control-Arrow in the Ubuntu terminal

On a fresh install of both Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10, pressing Ctrl-[Arrow Key] does not jump words but instead writes a control code onto the screen such as ;5C or ;5D.

To fix this, add export INPUTRC=/etc/inputrc to /etc/bash.bashrc.

Make sure /etc/inputrc has these lines in it:

# mappings for Ctrl-left-arrow and Ctrl-right-arrow for word moving
"\e[1;5C": forward-word
"\e[1;5D": backward-word
"\e[5C": forward-word
"\e[5D": backward-word
"\e\e[C": forward-word
"\e\e[D": backward-word


Turn off system beep in Linux terminal

There are a variety of ways to turn of the system beep. I have tried three of them on my Ubuntu Feisty laptop and they both work in terminal emulators like gnome-terminal, etc. and in the virtual terminals.


Temporarily turn it off
$ xset b off
OR
$ setterm -blength 0

Permanently (although you could change it later) turn it off
- uncomment(as root) "# set bell-style none" in /etc/inputrc

- Or to change it to a visual bell (blinking the screen), change it to "set bell-style visual"
- If you only want to do it for the current user instead of for everyone, create an "~/.inputrc" file and add the set bell-style line to that file.


Some of the other ways include deleting or blacklisting your internal speaker. Or if you prefer the hardware/cross-platform approach, take it out manually. :)