four forces

Install Sopcast in Ubuntu Linux (PPA)

2011-10-26T08:48:00.000-04:00

Sopcast is a peer-to-peer (P2P) software application to distribute video streams in real time on a network; the distributed video streams are typically TV channels from all over the world but may also come from other sources.

To install Sopcast in Ubuntu Linux open a terminal and enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jason-scheunemann/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install sopcast-player

To associate the sop:// protocol with sopcast-player in Firefox:

Type about:config into the Location Bar (address bar) and press Enter.
Right-click and select New > Boolean
Name: network.protocol-handler.expose.sop
Value: false
Next time you click a Sopcast link you will be asked which application to open it with. Select /usr/bin/sopcast-player and you're done.

Use "I'm feeling lucky" instead of search results in the Firefox address bar

2011-10-21T05:16:00.002-04:00

To go directly to the "I'm feeling lucky" result from Google instead of showing search results when entering information in the Firefox location (address) bar:

Open a new tab (Ctrl-T)
Go to about:config and click on "I'll be careful, I promise"
Find the variable keyword.URL and set its value to
https://encrypted.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=
Make sure keyword.enabled is set to True

And that should be all. More information is available at the Mozilla zine.

Set Duck Duck Go as the search engine in the Firefox Address Bar

2011-01-30T04:50:00.003-05:00

Duck Duck Go is a search engine that uses information from crowd-sourced sites (like Wikipedia) with the aim of augmenting traditional results and improving relevance. The search engine philosophy emphasizes privacy and does not record user information.

To set Duck Duck go as the Firefox Address Bar "I'm feeling lucky" search engine:

Go to about:config
Find keyword.URL and change its value to
https://duckduckgo.com/?kp=-1&q=!+

To enable safe searching use https://duckduckgo.com/?&q=!+ instead.

Watch Al Jazeera Live on Linux

2011-01-30T04:45:00.001-05:00

To watch live streaming Al Jazeera on Linux use the command:



rtmpdump -v -r rtmp://livestfslivefs.fplive.net/livestfslive-li…ve/ -y "aljazeera_en_veryhigh?videoId=747084146001&lineUpId=&pubId=665003303001…&playerId=751182905001&affiliateId=" -W "http://admin.brightcove.com/viewer/us1….24.04.08.2011-01-14072625/federatedVideoUI/BrightcovePlayer.swf -p "http://eng…lish.aljazeera.net/watch_now/ -a "aljazeeraflashlive-live?videoId=747084146001&…lineUpId=&pubId=665003303001&playerId=751182905001&affiliateId=" | cvlc -

You can also use mplayer instead of cvlc (command live VLC).

Add snow and "Jump around the world" animation to your videos

2011-01-23T06:07:00.001-05:00

The free and open source OpenShot video editor has added some really cool features.

You can now add a snow effect to your videos:

You can set many different parameters, such as the number of snow flakes, direction of wind, speed, size, etc.

You can also add a beautiful animated map with a jump around the world. This effect is often used on television and movies, and is very effective at showing the distance traveled between 2 far away places:

You may enter the latitude and longitude of anywhere on the planet to anywhere else on the planet, set a custom world map texture, enter your own labels, and set the text and line colors.

ImageMagick Quick Reference

2010-11-30T10:29:00.003-05:00

Change image file format:

  convert input.png output.jpg

Almost 100 file formats are supported.

Resize an image:

  convert input.jpg -resize 75% output.jpg 
  convert input.jpg -resize 800x600 output.jpg

Compress an image:

  convert input.jpg -quality 50% output.jpg

Trim image borders:

  convert input.jpg -trim output.jpg

Borders that are the same colour as the edge of the image are cropped.

Batch Operations:
Operations can be applied on multiple images using the mogrify command. For example, to convert to jpg, resize and trim all png images in the current directory:

  mogrify -trim -resize 800x600 -format jpg *.png

How to abbreviate C and C++ code snippets in vim

2010-11-29T18:00:00.003-05:00

To save time when writing C or C++ code in vim, you can abbreviate common snippets by inserting the following lines in your ~/.vimrc file:



if has("autocmd")

   au FileType c,cpp call LoadCAbbrevs()

endif " has("autocmd")



" Abbreviations for C programming

func LoadCAbbrevs()

  iabbr do do {<CR>} while ();<C-O>2h<C-O>

  iabbr for for (;;) {<CR>}<C-O>k<C-O>3l<C-O>

  iabbr switch switch () {<CR>}<C-O>k<C-O>6l<C-O>

  iabbr while while () {<CR>}<C-O>k<C-O>5l<C-O>

  iabbr if if () {<CR>}<C-O>k<C-O>2l<C-O>

  iabbr intmain int main (int  argc, char const* argv[]) {<CR><CR>return 0;<CR>}<C-O>2k 

  iabbr #d #define

  iabbr #i #include

endfunc

It should be straightforward to modify these and add your own abbreviations. The format is iabbr <keyword> <abbreviated code>. Please leave a comment if you have any time saving abbreviations for commonly used code.

How to upgrade to the latest version of Fedora

2010-11-28T18:35:00.003-05:00

The easiest way to upgrade to the latest version of Fedora is by using preupgrade. Just run the following list of commands in a terminal:



su

yum  update

yum  update rpm

yum install preupgrade

preupgrade

How to Enable Alt+Ctrl+Del in Fedora and Ubuntu Gnome

2010-11-28T18:30:00.001-05:00

By default the Alt+Ctrl+Del combination is disabled in Gnome for both Fedora and Ubuntu. To enable it:

Go to System>Preferences>Keyboard
Select the Layouts tab
Click the Options button
Expand Key sequence to kill the X server, and select the checkbox

Fedora Linux Animated Wallpaper

2010-11-16T11:58:00.003-05:00

The default Fedora wallpaper can be spruced up by making it subtly change depending on time of day. Install the animated wallpapers using the command:

yum install laughlin-backgrounds-animated-gnome
for the Gnome desktop or

yum install laughlin-backgrounds-animated-kde
for KDE.

Then, you can pick the new wallpaper by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting Change Desktop Background in Gnome or the wallpaper chooser in KDE.

Test Gnome Shell in Fedora Linux

2010-11-16T11:25:00.002-05:00

Install Gnome Shell by running this command in a terminal:

yum install desktop-effects gnome-shell

Then, enable the Gnome Shell from System > Preferences > Desktop Effects

You can always go back to using Compiz desktop effects or the standard desktop from the same dialog box. It may be necessary to log out to revert all changes.

Connect to an Exchange server without using Outlook

2010-11-10T04:42:00.001-05:00

If you don't want to use Microsoft Outlook and your Exchange server does not support IMAP, there are a couple of options:

DavMAil Exchange Gateway
DavMail is an exchange gateway allowing users to use any mail/calendar client (e.g. Thunderbird with Lightning or Apple iCal) with an Exchange server through Outlook Web Access.

It works on Windows, Linux and MacOS X. [Link]

Evolution
Novell Evolution connects to Microsoft Exchange (including Exchange 2007) via the web interface and has support for mail, calendar and address book. More information can be found at the Wikipedia entry.

Unfortunately, the MacOS version is outdated and the Vista version is buggy. It should run fine on XP and Linux. [Link]

Do you use any other way to connect to an Exchange server? Please leave a comment.

Hotmail Free POP3 Access

2010-11-10T04:35:00.001-05:00

POP3 is now available to Hotmail users.

Settings:

POP server: pop3.live.com (Port 995)
POP SSL required? Yes
Username: Your Windows Live ID, for example yourname@hotmail.com
Password: The password you usually use to sign in to Hotmail or Windows Live
SMTP server: smtp.live.com (Port 25)
Authentication required? Yes (this matches your POP username and password)
TLS/SSL required? Yes

Add line numbers using lineno.sty in RevTex 4

2010-11-10T04:32:00.000-05:00

Download the lineno Latex package.
Unpack it (unzip lineno.zip) and copy all lineno/*.sty files into the directory that contains your Latex document.
In the Latex preamble include the line
\RequirePackage{lineno}
before the \documentclass{...} command.

Note: this is necessary due to incompatibilities between the lineno package and RevTex. If you are not using RevTex to prepare your document you can also use the standard way: \usepackage{lineno}
Line numbers can be activated by adding the line
\linenumbers
after \begin{document}

Convert eps files to jpg in Linux

2010-11-10T04:17:00.002-05:00

To convert from eps to jpg using ghostscript:

gs -sDEVICE=jpeg -dJPEGQ=100 -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -r300 -sOutputFile=myfile.jpg myfile.eps

This produces huge files. You can trim and resize them in image magick:

mogrify -trim -resize 800x600 myfile.jpg

Block Ads in MSN Live Messenger

2010-11-10T04:15:00.005-05:00

To block the ads in the buddy list window of MSN Live Messenger:

Go to the Control Panel
Double-click on Internet Options
Select the Security tab and click on Restricted sites
Click on the Sites button below and add rad.msn.com to the zone. Click on Close and the ads should disappear.

You may also want to add the following sites to the list:



rad.msn.com

global.msads.net

rss.video.msn.com

ads1.msn.com

rad.live.com

specials.uk.msn.com

Alternatively, you can completely remove the ad elements.

Setup Mozilla Thunderbird to work with Microsoft Exchange Server

2010-11-10T04:12:00.004-05:00

1. Setup a new account under Tools/Account Settings/Add Account...
Select "E-mail Account" and add your details.
Use IMAP and input your incoming exchange server (try port 993 and SSL encryption).

2. Subscribe to all required folders by right clicking on the account name and choosing 'Subscribe...'.

3. Change the trash folder's name to 'Deleted Items':
Follow the instructions in the Mozilla Zine.

4. Go to Tools/Options/Advanced/Config Editor:
Set boolean mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new to true.
Set boolean mail.imap.expunge_after_delete to true.

5. Go to Tools/Account Settings for the IMAP account:
Have it place a copy of sent mail to the 'Sent Items' folder.
Also have it save drafts and templates in the 'Drafts' folder.
Go to Junk Settings and have it send all junk to 'Junk E-mail'.

6. If you are not using the Thunderbird default SMTP server, go to Tools/Account Settings/Outgoing Server and configure your outgoing SMTP server.

And that should be all...