Installing 34 bit Skype on 64 bit Xubuntu

First, install 32 bit architecture, then update:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update 

Then add necessary Canonical repo and install Skype.

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/
$(lsb_release -sc) partner"
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install skype

Making Skype Work on Xubuntu 13.04 with nVidia Drivers

1. Install Skype from .deb from main website.

2. Rename the 'skype' executable found at /usr/bin to /usr/bin/skype-bin

3. Create the text file /usr/bin/skype and copy and paste the following information and save.

#!/bin/sh
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/mesa/libGL.so.1
exec /usr/bin/skype-bin

4. Set 0775 permissions on /usr/bin/skype

sudo chmod 0775 /usr/bin/skype

Installing Sigil (Ubuntu 13.04)

To install Sigil, in a terminal, type...

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunab/sigil-git
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sigil

Fixing a Broken Encrypted Swap Partition (Ubuntu and Xubuntu 12.04)

For some reason, with all of the Ubuntu derivatives I end up with a busted SWAP partition. This manifests itself in no defined SWAP at all, and a blacked out SWAP partition when viewed in Gparted. The solution is to redefine the SWAP partition, as follows. (If in doubt where your SWAP partition is, run 'sudo fdisk -l'.)

sudo swapoff -a
sudo cryptsetup remove /dev/mapper/cryptswap1
sudo gedit /etc/crypttab

Remove the SWAP line (e.g. /dev/sda3)

sudo /sbin/mkswap /dev/sda3
sudo swapon /dev/sda3
sudo gedit /etc/fstab 

Replace /dev/mapper/cryptswap1 with /dev/sda3.

If you're feeling brave and fancy trying to re-encrypt it, use...

sudo ecryptfs-setup-swap

If it all goes wrong, just repeat the process above.

N.B. Obviously /dev/sda3 in the above example is just that, an example. Replace it with whatever you find in your 'sudo  fdisk -l' results.

** To test whether swap is enabled use:

free -m