HDMI Audio output Nvidia problem

Earlier today I decided to install Linux Mint 15 Cinnamon on our TV media pc (an Acer Aspire Revo R3700 that has an nvidia Ion graphics card) and once installed no matter what I did I could not work out how to get the audio to play through the TV via the HDMI cable as the sound options would only show the default sound card which is for the usual sound outputs and spdif  (When I clicked the sound icon on the panel and clicked the output devices, it would only show the default device.)

(Note: Using the nvidia graphics drivers too 304 I believe the version number is.)

Searching the net for ages threw all sorts of weird ways to 'fix' the problem but half were so complex it made my head throb.

On one site I glanced a snippet about the kernel and I remembered that when I installed mint 14 mate on it a few months ago I had to mess about with the HDMI audio.

If you open a terminal and type: uname -r it will display the current kernel installed (cant remember what it was off hand as iv'e now updated)

So what I did was to load in the Update manager, then click the preferences and clicked both boxes for the level 5 updates.

Then click apply and the Update manager will refresh and there should be 3 or 4 updates which are your kernel updates. (should show 3.8.0-26-generic in the names)

Click apply and after a while it completes, I did a uname -r but it still showed the original kernel, so a quick reboot and recheck showed the new kernel.

Updated kernel version: 3.8.0-26-generic

Now when I clicked on the sound icon on the panel and click output device , the HDMI audio output option is now available and works perfectly.

Hopefully that will help anyone who is having problems finding a solution to the problem of trying to find how to get it working without needing to be a genius to understand some of the fixes they will no doubt have found like myself while searching the net.

PS. After the new kernel is installed etc, I went back into the Update Manager and unticked the level 5 update option.

Note: please let me know if this worked for you as a fellow 'Minter' tried but still the HDMI Audio wouldn't work for him, so please leave a comment on if it works or not for yourself.

Easily install Apache web server

With planning on setting up a media/web server when we move house, I wanted to start working on a website for personal access (ie for possible future home automation using Arduino's etc) but as seen as I don't have the server running full time as its just a test set-up on an old laptop at the mo I thought about setting up apache with php and mySQL so that I could develop the webpages on my main pc and test locally rather than having to upload them to the server.

I came across a website back when I was still a windows user and remembered that they also did a Linux dist as well that installs the apache web server along with php and mySQL.

Rather than me trying to run through the set-up etc, it is much easier just to go direct to the website and follow the instructions there.

http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html

To install it is very simple and the website walks you through the steps required to get it all running.

Enjoy.

Quick tip: Transparent Terminal backgrounds

Ok so 99% of Mint users will already know this, but it's something that I had read somewhere that it was a bit of a fiddle to do, but I was bored one evening so while thinking about if I could customise the Terminal a bit I stumbled across the background settings (Usually very weary of playing with any settings in case I break it!)

Open a Terminal, then click: Edit -> Edit Profile preferences

Along the top you will see the background tab, simply click that and near the bottom you will see the transparency option :D

Just enable and then adjust the slider to the opacity you want, simple!

(Can even use a custom background if you want, but I like to keep mine pretty plain so its easier to read the text).