• Install xmbc standalone scripts

sudo apt-get install xbmc-standalone

• Create a user account xbmc, and set xbmc user to auto login, follow steps in this link to do it https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AutoLogin

• Logout and for xbmc user select session as xbmc.  Now login to xbmc, it should start xbmc automatically on login

• Now do a reboot and check if xbmc is starting automatically

This was  question  for which I could not find  answer in XBMC documentation/wiki. So thought this might be useful for someone who wants do the same thing. The solution was actually simple.  In the left pane of XBMC, there is play button, so you have to insert the DVD and press this button to start playing DVD. But there is an issue, when you do this when you are starting XBMC from within Gnome or KDE environment. XBMC will not play the DVD.  In this case you have disable auto mount of dvd in the Gnome or KDE environement.

Read the docs here to do it -

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Mount/USB

Recently I discovered that my local public library was offering books to download and read in ebook format. Thought to try it out, because ebooks were better as  there is nothing physical to get and return to the library.  So I downloaded the ebook file from the library website.  But it turned out I had to install Adobe Digital Editions software to read the ebook, and  there were only windows and mac version of the product only.  I had ubuntu os 9.10 installed in my machine,  so  here was a problem which I had to solve, and thought of sharing the solution here (Thanks to many ubuntu forum posts, giving the solution, but anyway wanted to repost in this blog).  Follow the instructions below -

• Install wine (it allows you to run windows programs in linux - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wine)

sudo apt-get install wine

• Download the Adobe Digital Editions .exe file - http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/#download
• Double click on the downloaded .exe file, to install as you would on a windows system
• Now double click the Adobe Digital Editions launch icon on your desktop,  to  open it.  First time, it asks for setup,  follow the instruction on screen to complete it.
• Now drag and drop the .acsm(ebook file)  onto the  Adobe Digital Editions  window to load the ebook.

Start reading and enjoy!