1. $ sudo apt-get install alien fakeroot
2. Now, use alien in a fakeroot to convert the RPM package to a debian package:

   $ fakeroot alien -c RaidMan-9.00.i386.rpm

   You should get a message stating raidman_9.00-1_i386.deb created.
3. Next, we need to tweak some of the scripts inside the package to work properly on Ubuntu. Make a directory structure to extract the debian package into, and extract the package along with its control scripts:

   $ mkdir -p raidman_9.00-1_i386/DEBIAN $ dpkg -x raidman_9.00-1_i386.deb raidman_9.00-1_i386/ $ dpkg -e raidman_9.00-1_i386.deb raidman_9.00-1_i386/DEBIAN

4. Open the post-install (postinst) script with your favourite editor:

   $ vim raidman_9.00-1_i386/DEBIAN/postinst

   Remove the following line chkconfig --add raid_agent
5. Open the post-remove (postrm) script with your favourite editor:

   $ vim raidman_9.00-1_i386/DEBIAN/postrm

   Remove the following line chkconfig --del raid_agent
6. Now repackage the extracted content back into the debian package:

   $ dpkg -b raidman_9.00-1_i386/ raidman_9.00-1_i386.deb

7. Install the new package:

   $ sudo dpkg -i raidman_9.00-1_i386.deb

8. With a bit of luck the install should go smoothly and the background RAID agent ought to start automatically. You can control the RAID agent with the /etc/init.d script like so:

   $ sudo /etc/init.d/raid_agent stop $ sudo /etc/init.d/raid_agent start

   1. Open Firefox
   2. In the navigation bar type about:config
   3. In the page of items right click and select New >> String
   4. Insert name: network.protocol-handler.app.mailto
   5. Insert value: thunderbird

It seems to be a problem on any system that is non-US (or specifically sets their location to Canada)

I solved it nicely by:
-click K-menu, System Settings
-click Regional and Language.
-click SelectSystemLanguage button
-change from "English (Canada)" to "English (United States of America)"
-click Set System Language
-Log Out
-(I also restarted the x-server, thought I do not know if that is necessary)
It should be fixed now.

1. Copy the Type1 fonts dir to /usr/local/share/fonts/
2. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to add the lines:

   Section "Files"
      FontPath    "/usr/local/share/fonts/AFM"
      FontPath    "/usr/local/share/fonts/Type1"
      FontPath    "/usr/local/share/fonts/X"
   EndSection

3. Restart the X server (Alt-Ctrl-Backspace).

- start the computer in Recovery Mode
- choose: drop to root shell
- type: Xorg -configure

Now your system will make a file: /root/xorg.conf.new
- do what the terminal says. If you see a gray graphical screen + mouse arrow, then it's good. 
Close with Ctrl-alt-backspace.

- type: reboot
- restart normally.
- copy /root/xorg.conf.new in /etc/X11/xorg.conf
- restart the computer.

Configuring DHCP address for your network card

If you want to configure DHCP address you need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces and you need to enter the following lines replace eth0 with your network interface card

sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

# The primary network interface – use DHCP to find our address
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

Configuring Static IP address for your network card

If you want to configure Static IP address you need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces and you need to enter the following lines replace eth0 with your network interface card

sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.3.90
gateway 192.168.3.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.3.0
broadcast 192.168.3.255

After entering all the details you need to restart networking services using the following command

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Setting up Second IP address or Virtual IP address in Ubuntu

If you are a server system administrator or normal user some time you need to assign a second ipaddress to your Ubuntu machine.For this you need to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file and you need to add the following syntax.Below one is the only example you need to change according to your ip address settings

sudo vi /etc/network/interfaces

auto eth0:1
iface eth0:1 inet static
address 192.168.1.60
netmask 255.255.255.0
network x.x.x.x
broadcast x.x.x.x
gateway x.x.x.x

You need to enter all the details like address,netmask,network,broadcast and gateways values after entering all the values save this file and you need to restart networking services in debian using the following command to take effect of our new ipaddress.

After entering all the details you need to restart networking services using the following command

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Setting your ubuntu stytem hostname

Setting up your hostname upon a ubuntu installation is very straightforward. You can directly query, or set, the hostname with the hostname command.

As an user you can see your current hostname with

sudo /bin/hostname

Example

To set the hostname directly you can become root and run

sudo /bin/hostname newname

When your system boots it will automatically read the hostname from the file /etc/hostname

Setting up DNS

When it comes to DNS setup Ubuntu doesn’t differ from other distributions. You can add hostname and IP addresses to the file /etc/hosts for static lookups.

To cause your machine to consult with a particular server for name lookups you simply add their addresses to /etc/resolv.conf.

For example a machine which should perform lookups from the DNS server at IP address 192.168.3.2 would have a resolv.conf file looking like this

sudo vi /etc/resolv.conf
enter the following details
search test.com
nameserver 192.168.3.2

First install sysv-rc-conf if its not already installed. Then run it.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sysv-rc-conf
sudo sysv-rc-conf

To install package called package.deb type the following command:
$ sudo dpkg -i package.deb

Run:
echo "deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ gutsy free non-free" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list

Followed by
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update

Then.

gksudo aptitude install acroread acroread-plugins acroread-escript

Regarding realplayer. You can try the method below.

Download RealPlayer10 from www.real.com/linux

To install realplayer save the file to your home folder

mark the file executable:

Inside your terminal type:
chmod a+x RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
Next:
sudo ./RealPlayer10GOLD.bin
enter password

To complete the path where you want to install realplayer type:
/opt/RealPlayer

You should now begin copying files accept the default, and allow the installer to configure system wide symbolic links, If asked to specify the prefix for symbolic links just press enter.

1. You need to do this with kdm stopped.  It is also preferable to have a network connection although not absolutely necessary.  Either remotely ssh into the computer or press Ctl-Alt-F1 to get an alternate terminal session. Then run the following:
   

   tat@kintyre:$ sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop
   

2. Check for any existing nvidia drivers:
   

   tat@kintyre:$ dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia
   
   ii  nvidia-glx-new  100.14.19+2.6.22.4-14.10  NVIDIA binary XFree86 4.x/X.Org 'new' driver
   ii  nvidia-kernel-common  20051028+1ubuntu7  NVIDIA binary kernel module common files
   

3. Remove any existing nvidia drivers:

   tat@kintyre:$ sudo apt-get remove nvidia-glx-new
   tat@kintyre:$ sudo apt-get remove nvidia-kernel-common
   

4. Install the new nvidia drivers (assumes you downloaded the latest nvidia driver file, eg. NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2.run to /usr/local/src/nvidia).

   tat@kintyre:$ cd /usr/local/src/nvidia
   tat@kintyre:$ sudo chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2.run
   tat@kintyre:$ sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2.run
   

   Just take all the defaults and you should be OK.  It will dynamically build the kernel modules needed. I also selected to install the 32-bit gl libraries when prompted (the default).
   
   
5. Re-start kdm:

   tat@kintyre:$ sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start
   

Howto: Create a list of installed packages

dpkg --get-selections > installed-software

dpkg --set-selections < installed-software

dselect

dpkg -L php5-gd

After a successful install of Kubuntu its easy to revert to Ubuntu:
    
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

When it asks what dm to use; kdm or gdm; select gdm… continue…
When done its time to remove the Kubuntu packages;

    sudo apt-get remove kubuntu-desktop kubuntu-artwork-usplash

It will remove some of the Kubuntu packages and with autoremove the
rest of the Kubuntu packages can be removed now;

    sudo apt-get autoremove

When done reboot (or restart x) and you have your Ubuntu ready for usage.
Replace Kubuntu with Xubuntu;

    sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
    Select gdm as dm
    Remove Kubuntu as explained earlier

If you wish to keep the Kubuntu packages simply skip the remove step.
If you wish to revert from Ubuntu to Kubuntu ;

    sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
    Select kdm as dm
    sudo apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop
    sudo apt-get autoremove

If you revert to Kubuntu make sure to select kdm as dm, all others require gdm.
Want to switch from gdm to kdm or vice versa while having both installed?

    sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm
    and select your preferred dm
    or
    sudo dpkg-reconfigure kdm
    and select your preferred dm

Its not very hard to switch from one environment to another, and sometimes
its easier to use the cd you have laying around and switch after install.