How to install LimeWire on Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)

Written by Smaran on November 19, 2006 

Many Ubuntu users who have upgraded to the new Edgy Eft have been complaining that LimeWire and its 100% free counterpart, FrostWire don’t work anymore. New Ubuntu users are also having problems getting the two P2P apps to run. Here’s how to.

Lemon Frosty EftIf you’re an Ubuntu user, you’ve probably upgraded to the new version 6.10 (Edgy Eft). If you haven’t, I recommend you leave it that way for now, especially if less-experienced people other than yourself also use the computer it’s installed on. Edgy Eft is going through a teething period and users are reporting that not everything works as it’s supposed to. LimeWire is one of those things.

The first thing to do is make sure you have the latest version of Java installed. Open up Applications > Accessories > Terminal and type in the following.

java -version

If your version of Java is 1.5 or above, you’re good to go. If it’s an older one, you need to upgrade it. To update to the latest version enter the following in Terminal.

sudo apt-get install sun-java5-jre sun-java5-plugin

Next up is an important step to make if you want the current releases of LimeWire and ForstWire to work on Ubuntu 6.10. One of the changes in 6.10 is the switch to Dash as the default Command Line Interface. We are going to make Bash the default CLI. Paste the code below into Terminal. When you are prompted to install Dash, select “NO.”

sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash

Now, download either LimeWire (free version .rpm) or FrostWire (.deb).

The advantage with FrostWire is that an Ubuntu (Debian) installer package is available. Since LimeWire only comes as a .rpm file, you will need to open up System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager and make sure you have ‘alien’ installed. Alien converts packages designed for other Linux distributions so that they work on the distribution you are using, Ubuntu.

I tried out both, and in my case, FrostWire failed to connect to the Gnutella network. Others seem to be having no problem with it. If you have downloaded FrostWire, just double-click the .deb file and install it. It will now show up under Applications > Internet. If you have downloaded LimeWire, type the following into Terminal to convert the package from the .rpm it is to a .deb file.

alien -d limewire.rpm

Once it has been converted, double-click the new .deb file to install LimeWire. That’s it, you’re done. Enjoy sharing Creative Commons music ;-)
Here’s a good song to start with: Noite de Carnaval by Code (mp3).

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30 Responses

1 Nov 20, 2006 at 16:49 by king2

why use frost if gtk-gnutella is there ?

2 Nov 20, 2006 at 20:34 by marina llanos

necesito bajar el torrentz en castellano.

3 Nov 21, 2006 at 13:10 by Smaran

@ king2: Many Windows users are used to LimeWire and FrostWire and don’t necessarily want to adjust to using a new client.

Luckily, a lot of popular Windows programs like Firefox, Thunderbird, LimeWire and Skype are available for Linux too. That makes it easier for me to get people to switch.

4 Dec 01, 2006 at 15:24 by pimp

@ ReconUnit415:

just type:
sudo alien -d limewire.rpm

then the shell asks u to type in ur pw and u can install it with root privileges!
enjoy!

5 Dec 06, 2006 at 14:04 by Titan

Has anyone tried running limewire in Compiz? It doesnt work properly it shows a blank screen.

6 Dec 09, 2006 at 10:40 by Twisted

thanks for the tip on the limewire install its up and running, I did have to install alien, also I could not get alien to find the limewire using the -d switch so I replaced it with -i and that completely installed limewire with no further effort… T.

7 Dec 18, 2006 at 12:20 by Jeff

@kind2: not to mention gtk-gnutella is crap…

8 Dec 18, 2006 at 19:52 by frank petrie

I would like too have lime wire on my compter it would be a pleser

9 Dec 18, 2006 at 19:52 by frank petrie

I would like too have lime wire on my compter it would be a pleser

10 Dec 18, 2006 at 19:55 by frank petrie

thank you for if i had lime wire

11 Dec 30, 2006 at 21:55 by captainstormy

Thanks alot, I was having trouble getting limewire to work. I had it installed but it didnt do anything when I tried to run it. just doing the dpkg-reconfigure fixed the problem for me.

And to king2, I personaly like limewire because it is set up very well and is very configurable. Also, I know that all of the above mentioned programs connect to the same network, but I have always seemed to have better luck with limewire myself.

12 Jan 02, 2007 at 19:02 by Ryan

If you install Automatix2, you can install FrostWire using Automatix2, which does everything properly, and easily by itself.

13 Jan 10, 2007 at 02:27 by Jason

I followed the instructions to a T, but java -version still says:
java version “1.4.2″
gij (GNU libgcj) version 4.1.2 20060928 (prerelease) (Ubuntu 4.1.1-14ubuntu7)

Any ideas why? Thanks.

14 Jan 18, 2007 at 04:45 by pudland

Hmmm, i also have a blank screen when running under AIGLX/BERYL. Java version is 1.5. ideas?

15 Jan 25, 2007 at 04:04 by Shane

OK first off trying to install the sun-java5-jre and sun-java5-plugin gives a message that the packages were not found. Any idea what the proper package names are? I have all the multiverse repos enables as well. I currently have java 1.4.2 installed on Ubuntu Edgy 6.10.
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

16 Feb 03, 2007 at 02:48 by MaxRISC

I fought with Limewire and I never got it working with 6.1 Ubuntu.

Thanks for pointing out the GTK-Gnutella. It is a much more robust P2P client. I love it!

17 Feb 15, 2007 at 04:45 by Josh

Change the java package names to sun-java6-jre and sun-java6-plugin since it’s what’s in the repos now.

Also, to those having problems with compiz and beryl, IMHO java is flaky on linux as is. Adding it to the flaky layer provided by either of these two window environments increases your potential problems exponentially. The only fix I could think of is uninstalling compiz or beryl and going back to regular old kde or gnome.

18 Mar 09, 2007 at 09:00 by Don Atello

mine couldn’t find java5 or 6. any key differences between frostwire and GTK-Gnutella never used either but am comfortable with limewire. very new to ubuntu.

19 Mar 13, 2007 at 03:52 by Justin

I have the same problem as Jason, and iv un-installed java 1.4.2, using Synaptic, and reinstalled java 1.5.0 and it still comes up with:

java version “1.4.2″

What the hell do I do?

20 Mar 28, 2007 at 09:06 by Tom

[quote comment="41283"]Hmmm, i also have a blank screen when running under AIGLX/BERYL. Java version is 1.5. ideas?[/quote]

Did you find a fix to this? I have the same platform and same Problem

-Tom

21 May 05, 2007 at 18:13 by James

re aiglx and a blank window.

you can run limewire in a nested xserver – once that has no windowmanager, or beryl or aiglx

xnest is the command you need.
man xnest for info on the options.

looks a litle bit horrible, but works just like any other window.

beryl effects get applied to the xnest window, but not to the limewire running within it, so no white screen

works for lots of other apps that have issues with bery/compiz

22 Aug 02, 2007 at 04:28 by Mau

Disable Beryl
Launch LimeWire
Turn on Beryl
And bingo. !!!

23 Aug 15, 2007 at 07:52 by Kirby

Bad News:
Hey, if you are getting a blank screen when starting the actual Limewire, and you’re using Beryl, like I am, then just right-click your beryl thingie and select your Gnome or Compiz window manager. I found all my window contents were suddenly displayed.

Good News:
Although you don’t seem to be able to use Limewire in Beryl, you can switch back to beryl after you get your window contents displayed, and you can continue to work with your neat-o 3d desktop and the window contents remain displayed until you restart Limewire! (Worked for me, anyway. Hope it does for you too.)

P.S.: I’m using Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty with a Radeon x1600 Pro and Beryl. Installed Limewire Pro from the Limewire website, with the package installer that automatically opens it from Firefox. Installation was easy and Java 5 installed automatically (after confirming in the terminal box below the install when it paused).

After restoring the Beryl window manager, you may have to restore the Limewire window from your taskbar on the bottom, and if you try to open another window, such as your options, with Beryl, then you’ll have to do the whole window manager thing again. It’s good to get all the preferences set up first, and then switch back to Beryl.

24 Sep 11, 2007 at 15:12 by rey

[quote comment="28618"]thanks for the tip on the limewire install its up and running, I did have to install alien, also I could not get alien to find the limewire using the -d switch so I replaced it with -i and that completely installed limewire with no further effort… T.[/quote]

25 Sep 15, 2007 at 04:59 by limewire

Hi boys!808b367be1e27f3efab89b67344edb8b

26 Nov 25, 2007 at 01:28 by Nu 2 Linux Ubuntu

Good instructions. They worked for me. Limewire is up and running. Did not try Frostwire (yet).

27 Nov 28, 2007 at 13:43 by limewire

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28 Dec 11, 2007 at 08:54 by http://musicdownloads.tripod.com/music-downloads.html

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29 Dec 11, 2007 at 09:51 by http://musicdownloads4free.angelfire.com/free-music.html

Thanks boys95ed5449f72fd3774f4d3d7b23e5a486

30 Feb 08, 2008 at 02:20 by young god

wat is goin on when i go to search a blank screen eat the f

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