[SOLVED] Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

[fredislost]

Just installed Kubuntu on my computer yesterday, and I'm thrilled to be free of windows. I'm just having a couple of problems.

First, I've installed a few packages using the package manager, but they didn't show up in the menu. Firefox showed up on its own, but gimp and R are eluding me. Using the KDE menu editor, I tried to make shortcuts to these programs, but I haven't found anything to put in the command line that works. I also tried to run these programs from Alt+f4. No dice. Any ideas?

Also, I haven't exhausted the forums looking for the solution to this yet, but I have a Logitech quickcam for notebooks that I'd like to run. Any thoughts?

Thanks very much,
Fred

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

First, welcome. Second, which version of Kubuntu did you install? Third, since installing Gimp via the package manager, have you rebooted? Sometimes - not always - a reboot is required before the installed package will show its entry in K Menu.

[fredislost]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

I've installed Kubuntu 9.04.

Restarting worked for gimp but not for R. I installed R using the KPackageKit instead of Synaptic - should that matter? Synaptic is still showing it installed.

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

I would use Synaptic to 're-install' R. By the way, what is 'R'?

[askrieger]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

From the package description for r-base:

R is a system for statistical computation and graphics. It consists
of a language plus a run-time environment with graphics, a debugger,
access to certain system functions, and the ability to run programs
stored in script files.

It's very cool stuff for people doing numerical analysis and such.

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

Running R
Once installed, open up a console and type:

R

(R on Debian or Ubuntu GNU/Linux)

[fredislost]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

Wow, you just run it in the command window. Crazy.
Thanks Snowhog!

Any ideas on the webcam driver?

[Snowhog]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

...I have a Logitech quickcam...

Do you know which model?

[fredislost]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

It's a Logitech QuickCam® for Notebooks Deluxe. I'm seeing posts to the effect of these might just not work, but they seem to be older and i was hoping some wonderful person had figured out a fix.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

Adding an application to the KMenu....

Most applications install executable binaries (they are ELF, not "EXE", but you won't see a file called somename.elf) under /usr/bin. While there are exceptions you can usually navigate to that subdirectory to locate the binary to execute. IF you don't find the binary in that location you can pop open a Konsole and issue "locate bin/fragmentofname" and find out where it is located. Without the leading "bin/" you'll get files which are not binaries in the list. Also, some applications are started by a script. SecondLife is an example. After you use Ark to uncompress it you'll find the script, secondlife, directly under the directory created. In my case:
/home/jerry/downloads/SecondLife-i686-1.23.4.123908

The icon for the application can be found in one or more of several locations, except for cases like Secondlife, where the icon is located at the same location the script is. Places to look for application icons are:

• /usr/share/apps/somekdeapp/icons
• /usr/share/nonkdeapp/icons
• /usr/share/icons (primarily default DE gui icons)
• /usr/share/kde4/apps/somekde4app (some have icons, some don't. Sometimes the icon is in a subdirectory.
• /usr/share/pixmaps (many apps will place an icon in this directory or one of its subdirectories.)

BTW, *.desktop files are located at /usr/share/applications. IF you've installed an app icon on your desktop then you'll find a copy of the *.desktop file under /home/youracctname/Desktop

Creating KMenu entires for Konsole applications amounts to checking the box marked "Run in a terminal". Once you get a KMenu option that successfully fires the application you can drag the icon from the menu to a Desktop Folder view, set to show the Desktop, on the desktop.

[fredislost]

Re: [SOLVED] Can't find installed packages, looking for webcam fix

Found a fix that works for the webcam at this link:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...ht=skype+video

Which is, install the libv4l-0 package, then use the following command in the konsole: "LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so skype"

Thanks for all your help, folks! Much appreciated.