Troubleshooting Calibre 0.9.12 and Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS

Hi,

I've recently moved to Linux from Windows and have been using Calibre without issues. Yesterday I had cause to reinstall linux, but after installing Calibre 0.9.12 I started having graphics issues (icons disappearing in Unity and desktop wallpaper disappearing after reboot). Afterwards, the UI disappears altogether. I have tried several times from a clean install and the same problems occur.

I was using an earlier version of Calibre before the reinstall yesterday, which worked well.

Here are the steps I followed:

- clean install of Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 64 bit, with no updates.
- no other packages installed (seems like everything I need is already installed).
- install Calibre as per the instructions on the Calibre web-site (and using the default install directory).

I would welcome some troubleshooting tips.

I am willing to install an older version of Calibre if someone can show me how (I can download the older versions from Sourceforge but I think I need to "install" rather than simply untar'ing the file).

Here's the console output for the Calibre installation:

dsana@spitfire:~$ sudo python -c "import sys; py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2; u = __import__('urllib.request' if py3 else 'urllib', fromlist=1); exec(u.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read()); main()"
[sudo] password for dsana:
Enter the installation directory for calibre [/opt]:
Will download and install calibre-0.9.12-x86_64.tar.bz2
Downloading calibre-0.9.12-x86_64.tar.bz2
100% [================================================== ====================]
Downloaded 57535358 bytes
Checking downloaded file integrity...
Extracting files to /opt/calibre ...
Extracting application files...
Creating symlinks...
Symlinking /opt/calibre/fetch-ebook-metadata to /usr/bin/fetch-ebook-metadata
Symlinking /opt/calibre/lrf2lrs to /usr/bin/lrf2lrs
Symlinking /opt/calibre/ebook-convert to /usr/bin/ebook-convert
Symlinking /opt/calibre/ebook-meta to /usr/bin/ebook-meta
Symlinking /opt/calibre/lrs2lrf to /usr/bin/lrs2lrf
Symlinking /opt/calibre/lrfviewer to /usr/bin/lrfviewer
Symlinking /opt/calibre/calibre to /usr/bin/calibre
Symlinking /opt/calibre/markdown-calibre to /usr/bin/markdown-calibre
Symlinking /opt/calibre/calibre-debug to /usr/bin/calibre-debug
Symlinking /opt/calibre/calibre-parallel to /usr/bin/calibre-parallel
Symlinking /opt/calibre/web2disk to /usr/bin/web2disk
Symlinking /opt/calibre/calibre-server to /usr/bin/calibre-server
Symlinking /opt/calibre/calibre-customize to /usr/bin/calibre-customize
Symlinking /opt/calibre/ebook-viewer to /usr/bin/ebook-viewer
Symlinking /opt/calibre/calibre-smtp to /usr/bin/calibre-smtp
Symlinking /opt/calibre/epub-fix to /usr/bin/epub-fix
Symlinking /opt/calibre/ebook-device to /usr/bin/ebook-device
Symlinking /opt/calibre/calibredb to /usr/bin/calibredb
Setting up bash completion...
Installing bash completion to /etc/bash_completion.d/calibre
Setting up desktop integration...


You can automate future calibre installs by specifying the
installation directory in the install command itself, like
this:

sudo python -c "import sys; py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2; u = __import__('urllib.request' if py3 else 'urllib', fromlist=1); exec(u.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read()); main(install_dir='/opt')"

Change /opt above to whatever directory you want calibre to be
automatically installed to

After reading another thread, it seems that the installer does this:

All the installer does is install symlinks in /usr/bin, manpages, bash completion and other guff.

So I downloaded Calibre 0.9.12 from Sourceforge and untar'd it. I now have a working Calibre.

I don't know why there was system issues after using the Calibre installer, but after countless clean linux installs I am happy to get Calibre up and running, and will now use this method for installing/updating.

[jgaiser]

No direct answers, but..

1. I've been using Ubuntu 10.04 (last LTS) successfully with all versions of calibre.
2. I won't touch Unity with a ten foot pole. Until i can figure how to reliably install stock gnome, I'm staying where I am.
3. *Do* the updates. If for no other reason than security. There may be video driver issues that have been fixed.

Originally Posted by jgaiser

No direct answers, but..

1. I've been using Ubuntu 10.04 (last LTS) successfully with all versions of calibre.

Hi, yes Calibre up and running again as per my previous reply!

Originally Posted by jgaiser

2. I won't touch Unity with a ten foot pole. Until i can figure how to reliably install stock gnome, I'm staying where I am.

I use gnome classic. But in order to reduce complexity for troubleshooting I went with the default config which is unity.

Originally Posted by jgaiser

3. *Do* the updates. If for no other reason than security. There may be video driver issues that have been fixed.

Again, for troubeshooting simplicity I did not apply any updates (Calibre installation problems also occurred when all updates were applied).