Debian tips and odd bits

Odd tips on installation, useful packages and whatever else crops up.

Using pacpl to rip CD’s in Debian

maggie

First you need to install pacpl. Open a Terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install pacpl

Any dependencies, as usual with Debian, will also be installed.

Ensure that your CD is in the drive, and decide in which directory you want to put the resulting MP3 tracks – I would suggest your Music directory which will probably be /home/[yourname]/Music.  It’s a good idea to create a directory here with the name of the artist, so the files will be put directly into /home/[yourname]/Music/[ArtistsName] as they are copied & ripped.

Then type:

pacpl --rip all --to mp3 --outdir /home/[yourname]/Music/[ArtistsName]

If you want to check the manual, just type:

man pacpl (q to close it)
or
pacpl --longhelp (q to close it)

Skype on Linux

maggie

Although Microsoft acquired Skype and incorporated it into their Office 365 suite, and since then into Windows 10, it is still possible to download it for Debian here: https://www.skype.com/en/get-skype/. However, it will only work if you have a 64-bit system.

If you’d prefer not to dabble with this installation you can use a great, yet very simple, alternative directly on the web. See Skype Alternative for more details.

If you’re continuing with the Skype download and installation, you need to choose the Linux DEB package (not Linux RPM or Linux SNAP) which will download skypeforlinux-64.deb into your Downloads folder.

Open a Terminal and change the directory to your Downloads folder:

cd Downloads

Then you need to find the file within your Terminal. You can do this by listing the contents of the directory in the order downloaded so that the skype file is at the bottom:

ls -ltr

Now to install it, you need to type:

sudo gdebi skypeforlinux-64.deb (you’ll be asked to enter your password before you can proceed).

You should now find Skype in your applications menu (Debian) or Internet menu (MX-Linux).