Ubuntu install

Bad Blocks or sectors on a harddisk

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen) — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:45:00 +0000

A bad sector is a sector on a computer’s disk drive that cannot be used due to permanent damage (or an OS inability to successfully access it), such as physical damage to the disk surface.
There are two ways to detect bad sectors in Linux: you can use the Disk Utility GUI, or if you are a command line geek like me, you can use the badblocks command to check your hard disk for bad sectors:
sudo badblocks -v /dev/sda2
Badblock will give you the number of bad sectors in our hard disk.

jeroen@laptop:~$ sudo badblocks -v /dev/sda2
Checking blocks 0 to 56477867
Checking for bad blocks (read-only test): 2543654 done, 4:41 elapsed
4326543 done, 9:26 elapsed
done
Pass completed, 2 bad blocks found.
You have two options when you see bad blocks. You can either look for a new hard disk, or mark these bad blocks as unusable hard disk sectors. This involves two steps:
First we have to write the location of the bad sectors into a flat file.
sudo badblocks /dev/sda > /home/jeroen/bad-blocks
After that, we need to feed the flat file into the FSCK command to mark these bad sectors as ‘unusable’ sectors.
sudo fsck -l bad-blocks /dev/sda
or one reader suggested it should read:

sudo mkfs -c bad-blocks /dev/sda

read more detailed information at http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/37659/

Convert odd CDimages to ISO

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:15:00 +0000

If you want to burn CD images to CD usually you use the ISO format.
However, there are other formats containing raw date of an CD image.
These formats are NRG, IMG, CUE/BIN and MDF.

to convert these images to ISo you need to install software thats found in the universe and multiverse repository. These software programs are command line programms. If you're not comfortable with it, it's not for you.

To enable this repository navigate to [System] > [Administration] > [Software Sources] on the applications menu.

Enter your superuser password.

The software sources window should appear. Enable the "Community maintained open source software (universe)" and "Software restricted by copyright or legal issues (multiverse)" option.

Now you have the universe/multiverse repositories enabled!

to install the software needed for the conversion install these packages:
bchunk (CUE/BIN to ISO),
ccd2iso (IMG to ISO),
mdf2iso (MDF to ISO),
nrg2iso (NRG to ISO),

so open a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install bchunk ccd2iso mdf2iso nrg2iso

enter your password and there you go.

Here's what to do to convert from...
open a terminal, go to the folder where the file is located (using the cd command) and type one of the following commands:

IMG to ISO: ccd2iso filename.img filename.iso
MDF to ISO: mdf2iso filename.mdf filename.iso
NRG to ISO: nrg2iso filename.nrg filename.iso
CUE/BIN to ISO: bchunk filename.bin filename.cue filename.iso

New site for my Ubuntu and Mint info

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:50:00 +0000

Find my newest site here:

https://sites.google.com/site/installationubuntu/

Get rid of unity, install another desktop manager

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:49:00 +0000

Some do and some don't like the new unity interface that Ubuntu offers by default. Since this version of Ubuntu uses the new GNOME 3 desktop manager as well, things have changed a lot in the look and feel of your system.
I still don't like a lot of unity. It's not easily customizable and [I don't like that. I understand that from a point of view of helpdesk service provider that's nice, because every desktop behaves the same.

What are the choises.

First of all there are the standard derivatives of Ubuntu you could install.

Kubuntu, Xubuntu and Lubuntu will work fine. But what if you allready installed Ubuntu and don't want to reinstall the lot. This is what you can do:

For running KDE use one of the following commands in a terminal. Aftrer sudo you have to type your login password. It is not shown when you type it.:

for a full blown system (about 2 Gb extra harddrive use) use:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-full

for a smal laptop without plenty of resources use:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-mobile

for a normal system use:
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

for a KDE only system without the kubuntu artwork:
sudo apt-get install kde-full
or
sudo apt-get install plasma-desktop
or
sudo apt-get install plasma-netbook

For running XFCE (from Xubuntu) use this command:
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

if you don't want the xubuntu artwork us this instead:
sudo apt-get install xfce4

For running LXDE (from Lubuntu) use this command:
sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

if you don't want the xubuntu artwork us this instead:
sudo apt-get install lxde

When you're running a localised version of Ubuntu, sometimes you should add the language modules to your installation. E.G. for Dutch systems thats done with these commands:

for KDE systems:
sudo apt-get install kde-l10n-nl language-pack-kde-nl language-pack-nl language-pack-kde-nl-base

for GNOME systems:
sudo apt-get install language-pack-gnome-nl language-pack-nl language-pack-gnome-nl-base

As far as I could discover XFCE and LXDE don't have separate language modules. To be sure run this:
sudo apt-get install language-pack-nl

For german system change nl into de, for french into fr etc.

After this you have to logoff and logon again. When logging on press the button next to your name and choose the desktop manager of your choise.

Things to do After Installing Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:21:00 +0000

In this section I show different tricks to install additional things in Ubuntu and fine tune the system for different needs.Things I really want out of the box is multimedia support and a lot of software. Tools, science, games and browser plugins. I explain here how to make a nice working system. You can run one script to change the lot, or pick out the things you like and tweak your system the way you like.
For more and other tips you can read the Muktware manual.

I installed a lot of software that's not installed by default. It's all explained in this section. For my convenience I made a script to install the basics on both my laptops and desktop. Here is the script: DOWNLOAD to do it all in one except the things I noted below. The script is no more than a batchfile running a lot of installationcommands from the standard repositories and sometimes adds a new one. It's all explained below.
When you do run the script, don't forget to check for hardware drivers.

To execute the script save it in the download directory in your home directory and make it executable. (Use Nautilus, right click and select properties, rights and enable the executable bit)

or in a terminal type:

sudo chmod +x  /home/yourname/downloads/ubunruinstall-11-10.sh

And change yourname to your real loginname
Many things about this post will be similar to my previous write up on things you need to do after installing Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. and things you need to know after installing Natty Narwall But not everything. Ubuntu with classic GNOME desktop is now defunct and Ubuntu Unity has come to replace it. Unity is the new face of Ubuntu and there will be no more special desktop and netbook editions of Ubuntu. Instead, Ubuntu Unity will simply took its place. Now, let's take a look into the things you need to do after installing Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot.

Installing Restricted Extras and Updating Repositories During Ubuntu Installation

You can now install restricted codecs package(which include Adobe Flash, MP3 codecs and such) during installation of Ubuntu OS itself.

Notice the arrows pointing to the boxes in the screenshot above. If you tick both of them during the Ubuntu installation process(make sure you are connected to the internet before doing so), restricted extras package will be installed automatically and you will be able to play mp3's and watch flash videos(YouTube videos for example) out of the box.

But there is a catch. If you have a slow internet connection(which is very rare these days), ticking the boxes shown in the screenshot above will unnecessarily lengthen the installation process. I for one prefer to do all that after installing Ubuntu. If you are like me, the next two steps are for you.

Update Repositories

After you install brand new Ubuntu 11.10, the first thing you need to do is to update repositories and make sure you have the latest updates installed(Like I said before, you need to do this only if you haven't ticked the boxes shown in the above screenshot).

Open Terminal(Ubuntu 11.10 Classic Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T) and copy-paste the following command into Terminal.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Done. Ubuntu repositories have been successfully updated.

Install Ubuntu Restricted Extras

Install the "ubuntu-restricted-extras" package. This will enable your Ubuntu to play popular file formats like mp3, avi, Flash videos etc. Click Here OR simply copy-paste the command below into Terminal to install the package(You need not do this also if you have ticked the 'right' boxes).

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Done

Enable Full DVD Playback(Dual Layer DVD Support)

Though installing the restricted extras package will solve most of your problems, you may not be able to play dual layer dvds yet in your Ubuntu.

For that, you need to install libdvdcss2 package from medibuntu repositories. Simply do the following in Terminal.

sudo wget --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list && sudo apt-get --quiet update && sudo apt-get --yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get --quiet update
sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

Done.

FROM HERE THIS IS NOT DONE BY THE SCRIPT

Check For Availability of Proprietary Hardware Drivers

In my case, the hardware drivers including Nvidia graphics, sound and wireless drivers were enabled automatically. I didn't have to install the Nvidia drivers by hand anymore.

Check for additional drivers available and activate the ones you want. In 90% of the cases, this will do the trick. Those who were not able to get their hardware drivers enabled yet will have to do fair amount of digging through ubuntuforums.

FROM HERE THE SCRIPT TAKES ON AGAIN

Install Compiz Config Settings Manager

Compiz desktop effects are available in your Ubuntu by default and if you have any kind of 3D acceleration available(graphics driver ie), you are good to go with Compiz.

Now to tweak Compiz desktop effects in Ubuntu, you need to install "compizconfig-settings-manager" package. Click Here OR simply copy paste the following command into Terminal to install "compizconfig-settings-manager".

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Done. Compiz Config Settings Manager(CCSM) is significant as far as Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot is concerned. I will get to that later on.

FROM HERE THIS IS NOT DONE BY THE SCRIPT

Software I can't do without

Some of the applications that I regularly use in Ubuntu are not available by default. And all of them are available in the default Ubuntu 11.10 rep except these with a *. For these programs you need an alternative repository that can be added to your system using a ppa. Read on:

xsane (easier scanner GUI)

GFTP (Easy file transfer)

Samba (to share folders on your local network)

Eye of Gnome plugins, (to make EoG better)

Exaile music player, (An easy to use music player)

Sound Juicer (cd rip tool)

VLC DVD player (A very versatile media player. It plays anything)

Audacity (The best audio editor)

The GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program)

Keepassx (Manage your passwords crossplatform)

Chromium web Browser (The open source version of Chrome, the Firefox alternative)

Stellarium (Your own planetarium) (You may also install a newer version with its own ppa)
Kompozer (To make HTML pages with wysiwig)
Mozilla Thunderbird (Read and write email)
Grsync (Sync directories in your system)
Klibido (Read usenet binaries) (Alas not available anymore)
Gwenview a kde viewer
Geeqie another versalite viewer
Thunar the XCFE filebrowswer with an awesome batch rename function
PDFshuffler split and merge pdf files
fcrackzip to crack ZIP passwords
k9copy copy DVD's and reduce them to max 4.5 Gb
k3b a versatile CD and DVD burning tool.
Celestia A multi view planetarium
Phatch A batch renamer and photo resize. manual
UMplayerA versatile media player, including youtube recording.
QTQr* A Qr encoder and decoder using the webcam
YPPAmanager* a program to manage additional program repositories
PiTiVi a new versatile video editing program
Lives for better video editing
Transmagedon another great video editor
UNrar and 7zip for unzipping and zipping files.

Install them using a terminal with this command:

sudo apt-get install transmageddon unrar-free p7zip-full pitivi lives umplayer phatch celestia-gnome celestia celestia-common-nonfree k3b k9copy gftp fcrackzip pdfshuffler sound-juicer thunar gwenview geeqie gparted system-config-samba xsane eog-plugins exaile vlc audacity gimp keepassx stellarium chromium-browser kompozer thunderbird grsync

And some games for the children:

sudo apt-get install tuxpaint gcompris kbreakout kollision ktuberling ktron kspaceduel planets frozen-bubble supertux supertuxkart  extremetuxracer gnome-breakout  pacman torcs micropolis lincity-ng  pychess

Install Dutch language libraries using a terminal with this command:

sudo apt-get install gimp-help-nl kde-l10n-nl language-pack-kde-nl-base  language-pack-kde-nl childsplay-alphabet-sounds-nl chromium-browser-l10n gcompris-sound-nl thunderbird-locale-nl

And the tools with a separate PPA:

FROM HERE THE SCRIPT TAKES ON AGAIN

QTQR, Y-ppa-manager

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qr-tools-developers/qr-tools-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager qtqr

Back in time backup software

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bit-team/stable 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install backintime-gnome

Install DockBarX 0.44 in Ubuntu from the WebUpd8 PPA

As usual, DockBarX is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA for Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04. It also works under Ubuntu 11.10 but not as a GNOME3 panel applet.

Add the PPA and install DockBarX 0.44 using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dockbarx dockbarx-themes-extra

To also install the Avant Window Navigator DockBarX applet, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install awn-applet-dockbarx

Then, to use DockBarX:

with GNOME 2.x Panel: right click the panel, select "Add to panel" and add "DockBarX".
with Avant Window Navigator: in the AWN preferences, add DockBarX to your dock
as a stand-alone dock: press ALT + F2 and enter: "dockx".

For configuring DockBarx, a new "DockBarX Preference" entry should be available in your menu.

Furtherone you may need a PDF stitcher if pdfshuffler doesn't suit your needs: Couturier
You can download the .deb file and install this program. It offers the option of stitching PDF files into one larger file. Direct link
Second direct link

Parental control
The nanny project may suit your needs. Read more about it here

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nannysudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nanny

sudo wget -O - http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/PublicKey | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/ /" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xplanetFX

If you want to download a .deb or a .rpm please go to:

http://mein-neues-blog.de/xplanetFX/#install

Early Feb 2011 there was a new release with many improvements. Some of these include: -

Consistency between tabs, padding and buttons used throughout
‘Display’ now gives a more accurate preview of changes
‘View’ Position widget has colour, a new grid, more
The application has a new Splash screen and application icon

Amongst those changes come a few new features, notably: -

Ability to change corona blur
Star field can be zoomed
More shadow options
Faster rendering time

Download

The latest release of XPlanetFX, provided pre-packaged as a .deb, can be downloaded @ mein-neues-blog.de/files/xplanetFX/xplanetFX-latest_deb

Once installed the application can be launched the from the ‘Applications > Accessories’ sub-menu.

PPAmanager

This is a simple tool that allows you to search for PPAs and install them without hitting the terminal. It also allows you to manage (add/remove/purge) your existing PPAs with a few clicks.

Usage

Open a terminal (hopefully this will be the last time you install PPA via the terminal) and type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager

Once installed, go to “Applications -> System Tools -> Y PPA Manager“.

Grub Customizer for customizing Grub2
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

To use it, you have to right click on the panel and select “Add to Panel” From the window that pop up, select “Recent Notification”.

You should now see a new applet in your Gnome panel.

Simply click the applet and it will show a window with all your past notification

THIS IS THE END OF WHAT MY SCRIPT OFFERS

Linux Mint 11 installation tips:

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:38:00 +0000

In Linux Mint there is a lot working out of the box. A lot more than in the corresponding Ubuntu version. But not everything i want in my Mint is installed by default. So follow me:

Use this batch file, save it, make it executable (sudo chmod +x /home/yourname/installmint11.sh) an run it or do it yourself:

Update Repositories

After you install brand newLinux Mint 11, the first thing you need to do is to update repositories and make sure you have the latest updates installed(Like I said before, you need to do this only if you haven't ticked the boxes shown in the above screenshot).

Open Terminal(Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T) and copy-paste the following command into Terminal.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Done. Ubuntu and Mint repositories have been successfully updated.

Install Ubuntu Restricted Extras

Install the "ubuntu-restricted-extras" package. This will enable your Ubuntu to play popular file formats like mp3, avi, Flash videos etc. Click Here OR simply copy-paste the command below into Terminal to install the package.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

DVD playback is installed by default so lets go on:

THIS IS NOT DONE BY THE SCRIPT

Check For Availability of Proprietary Hardware Drivers

In my case, the hardware drivers except graphics, sound and wireless drivers were enabled automatically. I had to install the Nvidia drivers by hand.

HERE THE SCRIPT TAKES ON AGAIN

Software I can't do without

Stellarium

You can update your system with unsupported packages from this untrusted PPA by adding ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases to your system's Software Sources.

If you're using the most recent version of Ubuntu (or any version from Ubuntu 9.10 onwards), you can add a PPA to your system with a single line in your terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases  
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install stellarium

Some of the applications that I regularly use in Ubuntu are not available by default. And all of them are available in the default Ubuntu 11.04 and Linux Mint 11 repo.

xsane (easier scanner GUI)

GFTP (Easy file transfer)
Samba (to share folders on your local network)
Eye of Gnome plugins, (to make EoG better)

Exaile music player, (An easy to use music player)

Sound Juicer (cd rip tool)
VLC DVD player (A very versatile media player. It plays anything)

Audacity (The best audio editor)

The GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program)

Keepassx (Manage your passwords crossplatform)

Chromium web Browser (The open source version of Chrome, the Firefox alternative)

Stellarium (Your own planetarium allready installed if you did anbove)
Kompozer (To make HTML pages with wysiwig)
Mozilla Thunderbird (Read and write email)
Grsync (Sync directories in your system)
Klibido (Read usenet binaries)
Gwenview a kde viewer
Geeqie another versalite viewer
Thunar the XCFE filebrowswer with an awesome batch rename function
PDFshuffler split and merge pdf files
fcrackzip to crack ZIP passwords
k9copy copy DVD's and reduce them to max 4.5 Gb
k3b a versatile CD and DVD burning tool.
Celestia A multi view planetarium
Phatch A batch renamer and photo resize. manual
UMPlayer a versatile media player including youtube recording function.

Install them using a terminal with this command:

sudo apt-get install umplayer phatch celestia-gnome celestia celestia-common-nonfree k3b k9copy gftp fcrackzip pdfshuffler sound-juicer thunar gwenview geeqie gparted system-config-samba xsane eog-plugins exaile vlc audacity gimp keepassx stellarium chromium-browser kompozer thunderbird grsync

And some games for the children:

sudo apt-get install tuxpaint gcompris kbreakout kollision ktuberling ktron kspaceduel planets frozen-bubble supertux supertuxkart  extremetuxracer gnome-breakout  pacman torcs micropolis lincity-ng  pychess

Install Dutch language using a terminal with this command:

sudo apt-get install gimp-help-nl kde-l10n-nl language-pack-kde-nl-base  language-pack-kde-nl childsplay-alphabet-sounds-nl chromium-browser-l10n gcompris-sound-nl language-support-nl thunderbird-locale-nl

Install DockBarX 0.43 in Ubuntu from the WebUpd8 PPA

DockBarX 0.43 is not yet available in the official DockBar PPA, but as usual they've uploaded the latest version to the WebUpd8 PPA (for Ubuntu Karmic, Lucid, Maverick and Natty). Add the WebUpd8 PPA and install DockBarX 0.43 using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dockbarx dockbarx-themes-extra

The above command will install both DockBarX and an extra themes package. If you want even more themes (and you use Avant Window Navigator / Faenza icons), see: DockBarX Theme Pack For Avant Window Navigator / Faenza Users.

To be able to use the Helpers, you also need to install the following packages:

sudo apt-get install dockmanager dockmanager-daemon libdesktop-agnostic-cfg-gconf libdesktop-agnostic-vfs-gio

For Zeitgeist support, add the Zeitgeist PPA and upgrade to the latest Zeitgeist:


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

And finally, if you want to use DockBarX in Avant Window Navigator, you need to install the AWN DockBarX applet:


sudo apt-get install awn-applet-dockbarx

Tip: to be able to use the Window Previews feature, firstly enable it from DockBarX (Applications > Accessories > DockBarX Preference, on the Window List tab enable "Show previews") and then in CompizConfig Settings Manager make sure the "KDE Compatibility" plugin is enabled and that both options for this plugin (Support Plasma Thumbnails and Support Present Windows) are enabled.
As soon al DockbarX wil be implemented in de dockbar ppa use these commands instead:
To install Dockbarx to implement taskbar buttons like Win7 has

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dockbar-main/ppa 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dockbarx

Now add the dockbarX to your Gnome panel by right clicking on it an select it. After that remove the windowlist applet by right clicking right to the left of it and select the remove option. You may resize the Gnome panel by right clicking on it, select the properties and resize the panel.

A nice wallpaper called Xplanet

The DEB Packet is available via repository. Please keep in mind to never trust external repositories, unless you know what you're doing!

sudo wget -O - http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/PublicKey | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/ /" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xplanetFX

If you want to download a .deb or a .rpm please go to:

http://mein-neues-blog.de/xplanetFX/#install

Early Feb 2011 there was a new release with many improvements. Some of these include: -

Consistency between tabs, padding and buttons used throughout
‘Display’ now gives a more accurate preview of changes
‘View’ Position widget has colour, a new grid, more
The application has a new Splash screen and application icon

Amongst those changes come a few new features, notably: -

Ability to change corona blur
Star field can be zoomed
More shadow options
Faster rendering time

Download

The latest release of XPlanetFX, provided pre-packaged as a .deb, can be downloaded @ mein-neues-blog.de/files/xplanetFX/xplanetFX-latest_deb

Once installed the application can be launched the from the ‘Applications > Accessories’ sub-menu.

PPAmanager

This is a simple tool that allows you to search for PPAs and install them without hitting the terminal. It also allows you to manage (add/remove/purge) your existing PPAs with a few clicks.

Usage

Open a terminal (hopefully this will be the last time you install PPA via the terminal) and type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager

Once installed, go to “Applications -> System Tools -> Y PPA Manager“.

Grub Customizer for customizing Grub2

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

Grub Customizer will now show up in the Applications/System Tools menu.

Redent NotifyOSD in Ubuntu,

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jconti/recent-notifications
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install recent-notifications

To use it, you have to right click on the panel and select “Add to Panel” From the window that pop up, select “Recent Notification”.

You should now see a new applet in your Gnome panel.

Simply click the applet and it will show a window with all your past notification

FROM HERE THE SCRIPT DOESN'T HELP YOU ANYMORE

VirtualBox

if you need the Closed source virtualbox read this and use this:

Debian-based Linux distributions

Note: VirtualBox has been moved from non-free to contrib with 4.0, so please adjust your repository settings.
Add one of the following lines according to your distribution to your /etc/apt/sources.list:

type: sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
and add one of these lines to your file and save it.

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian natty contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian maverick contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian squeeze contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny contrib non-free

(Up to version 3.2 the packages were located in the non-free section, starting with version 4.0 are located in the contrib section)
The Oracle public key for apt-secure can be downloaded here. You can add this key with

sudo apt-key add oracle_vbox.asc

or combine downloading and registering:

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

The key fingerprint is

7B0F AB3A 13B9 0743 5925  D9C9 5442 2A4B 98AB 5139
Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <info@virtualbox.org>

(As of VirtualBox 3.2, the signing key was changed. The old Sun public key for apt-secure can be downloaded here.)
To install VirtualBox, do

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.0

Replace virtualbox-4.0 by

virtualbox-3.2 to install VirtualBox 3.2.12
virtualbox-3.1 to install VirtualBox 3.1.8
virtualbox-3.0 to install VirtualBox 3.0.14
virtualbox-2.2 to install VirtualBox 2.2.4
virtualbox-2.1 to install VirtualBox 2.1.4
virtualbox-2.0 to install VirtualBox 2.0.12
virtualbox to install VirtualBox 1.6.6

Note: Ubuntu/Debian users might want to install the dkms package to ensure that the VirtualBox host kernel modules (vboxdrv, vboxnetflt and vboxnetadp) are properly updated if the linux kernel version changes during the next apt-get upgrade. For Debian it is available in Lenny backports and in the normal repository for Squeeze and later. The dkms package can be installed through the Synaptic Package manager or through the following command:

sudo apt-get install dkms

What to do when experiencing The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG ... when refreshing the packages from the repository?

# sudo -s -H
# apt-get clean
# rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*
# rm /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/*
# apt-get clean
# apt-get update

Indicator-Virtualbox offers a quick way to launch virtual machines via the desktop panel.

The applet, created by astrapi, sits in your panel and, on opening, lists all the virtual machines configured in Virtualbox. Selecting an entry launches the machine without the need to call the main virtualbox window.
The Indicator can be installed from astrapi‘s PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:michael-astrapi/ppa 
sudo apt-get- update
sudo apt-get install indicator-virtualbox

To launch press ALT + F2 (or use Synapse) and type: -

indicator-virtualbox

or add the indicator to the list of automatically started programs.

Choqok Twitter client

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neversfelde/experimental

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get-install choqok

Openshot video editor

To install OpenShot 1.3.0 in Ubuntu 9.10 or higher add the following PPA to your software sources: -

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonoomph/openshot-edge
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install openshot

Grub Customizer for customizing Grub2

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

Grub Customizer will now show up in the Applications/System Tools menu.

Redent NotifyOSD in Ubuntu,

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jconti/recent-notifications
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install recent-notifications

To use it, you have to right click on the panel and select “Add to Panel” From the window that pop up, select “Recent Notification”.

You should now see a new applet in your Gnome panel.

Simply click the applet and it will show a window with all your past notification

Ubuntu 11.4 installation tips

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 20:49:00 +0000

After reading this site I did partly something else:

Things to do After Installing Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

You can download this script to do it all in one except the things I noted below.

Many things about this post will be similar to our previous write up on things you need to do after installing Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. But not everything. Ubuntu with classic GNOME desktop is now defunct and Ubuntu Unity has come to replace it. Unity is the new face of Ubuntu and there will be no more special desktop and netbook editions of Ubuntu. Instead, Ubuntu Unity will simply took its place. Now, let's take a look into the things you need to do after installing Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal.

Installing Restricted Extras and Updating Repositories During Ubuntu Installation

You can now install restricted codecs package(which include Adobe Flash, MP3 codecs and such) during installation of Ubuntu OS itself.

Notice the arrows pointing to the boxes in the screenshot above. If you tick both of them during the Ubuntu installation process(make sure you are connected to the internet before doing so), restricted extras package will be installed automatically and you will be able to play mp3's and watch flash videos(YouTube videos for example) out of the box.

But there is a catch. If you have a slow internet connection(which is very rare these days), ticking the boxes shown in the screenshot above will unnecessarily lengthen the installation process. I for one prefer to do all that after installing Ubuntu. If you are like me, the next two steps are for you.

Update Repositories

After you install brand new Ubuntu 11.04, the first thing you need to do is to update repositories and make sure you have the latest updates installed(Like I said before, you need to do this only if you haven't ticked the boxes shown in the above screenshot).

Open Terminal(Ubuntu 11.04 Keyboard Shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + T) and copy-paste the following command into Terminal.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Done. Ubuntu repositories have been successfully updated.

Install Ubuntu Restricted Extras

Install the "ubuntu-restricted-extras" package. This will enable your Ubuntu to play popular file formats like mp3, avi, Flash videos etc. Click Here OR simply copy-paste the command below into Terminal to install the package(You need not do this also if you have ticked the 'right' boxes).

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Done

Enable Full DVD Playback(Dual Layer DVD Support)

Though installing the restricted extras package will solve most of your problems, you may not be able to play dual layer dvds yet in your Ubuntu.

For that, you need to install libdvdcss2 package from medibuntu repositories. Simply do the following in Terminal.

sudo wget --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list && sudo apt-get --quiet update && sudo apt-get --yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get --quiet update
sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2

Done.

FROM HERE THIS IS NOT DONE BY THE SCRIPT

Check For Availability of Proprietary Hardware Drivers

In my case, the hardware drivers except graphics, sound and wireless drivers were enabled automatically. I had to install the Nvidia drivers by hand.

If you are among the not-so-lucky, open Applications dash from Unity dock (Ubuntu 11.04 Keyboard Shortcut: Super + a) and select 'Additional Drivers' application(see the highlighted app in the screenshot).

Check for additional drivers available and activate the ones you want. In 90% of the cases, this will do the trick. Those who were not able to get their hardware drivers enabled yet will have to do fair amount of digging through ubuntuforums.

Install Compiz Config Settings Manager

Compiz desktop effects are available in your Ubuntu by default and if you have any kind of 3D acceleration available(graphics driver ie), you are good to go with Compiz.

Now to tweak Compiz desktop effects in Ubuntu, you need to install "compizconfig-settings-manager" package. Click Here OR simply copy paste the following command into Terminal to install "compizconfig-settings-manager".

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Done. Compiz Config Settings Manager(CCSM) is significant as far as Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal is concerned. We will get to that later on.

Essential Ubuntu Unity Keyboard Shortcuts

Productivity can be increased significantly in new Ubuntu Unity desktop if you know the essential Unity keyboard and mouse shortcuts.

Learn the essential Ubuntu Unity keyboard and mouse shortcuts.

Enable Transparency of Unity Top Panel

Launch CCSM. Hit Super + a and search for CCSM.

After launching CCSM, select Ubuntu Unity Plugin from 'Desktop' category. Now choose the Experimental tab from above.

There you will see the 'Panel Opacity' option. Change it to the value you like.

Increase/Decrease the Launcher Icon Size

Just as before, Launch CCSM(Super + a and search for CCSM) and then browse to Ubuntu Unity Plugin. Choose 'Experimental' tab.

Adjust the value of 'Launcher Icon Size' by simple scrolling. The default value of 'Launcher Icon Size' is 48, but I like it around 40.

Change Desktop Size

By default, Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal gives you four workspaces to play around. Keyboard shortcut for activating the four workspaces is Super + s. Now, if you want to increase/decrease that number do the following.

Launch CCSM yet again, and select General Options from the category 'General'. Select the tab 'Desktop Size' and choose the values you want. Simple as that.

Install Nautilus-Elementary in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

I can't use Nautilus these days without implementing the improvements brought about by the Nautilus-Elementary hack. So here is how you install Nautilus-Elementary in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Also read our Nautilus-Elementary in Ubuntu 11.04 review.

Copy paste the following commands into Terminal to install Nautilus Elementary in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:am-monkeyd/nautilus-elementary-ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
nautilus -q

Done. If sudo apt-get upgrade doesn't work, try sudo apt-get dist-upgrade instead of it.

Install Some Incredible Themes in Ubuntu 11.04

For me, nothing beats Equinox Evolution themes + Faenza icon theme combination. As an added advantage, both are available from the same PPA as well. Latest Equinox Evolution themes update brings with 3 new themes taking the total count to 5.

To install Equinox GTK theme collection and Faenza icon theme in Ubuntu 11.04, you need to do the following in Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-equinox equinox-theme faenza-icon-theme

Done. Now, learn how to enable breadcrumbs hack in Equinox Evolution themes, if you have already installed Nautilus-Elementary ie.

FROM HERE THE SCRIPT TAKES ON AGAIN

Software I can't do without

Stellarium

You can update your system with unsupported packages from this untrusted PPA by adding ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases to your system's Software Sources.

If you're using the most recent version of Ubuntu (or any version from Ubuntu 9.10 onwards), you can add a PPA to your system with a single line in your terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases  
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install stellarium

Some of the applications that I regularly use in Ubuntu are not available by default. And all of them are available in the default Ubuntu 10.10 repo.

xsane (easier scanner GUI)

GFTP (Easy file transfer)
Samba (to share folders on your local network)
Eye of Gnome plugins, (to make EoG better)

Exaile music player, (An easy to use music player)

Sound Juicer (cd rip tool)
VLC DVD player (A very versatile media player. It plays anything)

Audacity (The best audio editor)

The GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program)

Keepassx (Manage your passwords crossplatform)

Chromium web Browser (The open source version of Chrome, the Firefox alternative)

Stellarium (Your own planetarium allready installed if you did anbove)
Kompozer (To make HTML pages with wysiwig)
Mozilla Thunderbird (Read and write email)
Grsync (Sync directories in your system)
Klibido (Read usenet binaries)
Gwenview a kde viewer
Geeqie another versalite viewer
Thunar the XCFE filebrowswer with an awesome batch rename function
PDFshuffler split and merge pdf files
fcrackzip to crack ZIP passwords
k9copy copy DVD's and reduce them to max 4.5 Gb
k3b a versatile CD and DVD burning tool.
Celestia A multi view planetarium
Phatch A batch renamer and photo resize. manual
UMplayerA versatile media player, including youtube recording.

Install them using a terminal with this command:

sudo apt-get install umplayer phatch celestia-gnome celestia celestia-common-nonfree k3b k9copy gftp fcrackzip pdfshuffler sound-juicer thunar gwenview geeqie gparted system-config-samba xsane eog-plugins exaile vlc audacity gimp keepassx stellarium chromium-browser kompozer thunderbird grsync klibido

And some games for the children:

sudo apt-get install tuxpaint gcompris kbreakout kollision ktuberling ktron kspaceduel planets frozen-bubble supertux supertuxkart  extremetuxracer gnome-breakout  pacman torcs micropolis lincity-ng  pychess

Install Dutch language using a terminal with this command:

sudo apt-get install gimp-help-nl kde-l10n-nl language-pack-kde-nl-base  language-pack-kde-nl childsplay-alphabet-sounds-nl chromium-browser-l10n gcompris-sound-nl language-support-nl thunderbird-locale-nl

Back in time backup software

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bit-team/stable 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install backintime-gnome

Install DockBarX 0.43 in Ubuntu from the WebUpd8 PPA

DockBarX 0.43 is not yet available in the official DockBar PPA, but as usual we've uploaded the latest version to the WebUpd8 PPA (for Ubuntu Karmic, Lucid, Maverick and Natty). Add the WebUpd8 PPA and install DockBarX 0.43 using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dockbarx dockbarx-themes-extra

sudo apt-get install dockmanager dockmanager-daemon libdesktop-agnostic-cfg-gconf libdesktop-agnostic-vfs-gio

For Zeitgeist support, add the Zeitgeist PPA and upgrade to the latest Zeitgeist:


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:zeitgeist/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

And finally, if you want to use DockBarX in Avant Window Navigator, you need to install the AWN DockBarX applet:


sudo apt-get install awn-applet-dockbarx

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dockbar-main/ppa 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dockbarx

A nice wallpaper called Xplanet

The DEB Packet is available via repository. Please keep in mind to never trust external repositories! Even though I will never upload any shit to this repo I recomment the old scool way regardless: add the RSS to your favorite feed reader and fetch the package from the header of this website. The repository is signed (same goes for the packages, too) so you can be kind of “shure” that the stuff is what it is expected to be.

sudo wget -O - http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/PublicKey | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb http://repository.mein-neues-blog.de:9000/ /" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xplanetFX

If you want to download a .deb or a .rpm please go to:

http://mein-neues-blog.de/xplanetFX/#install

Early Feb 2011 there was a new release with many improvements. Some of these include: -

Consistency between tabs, padding and buttons used throughout
‘Display’ now gives a more accurate preview of changes
‘View’ Position widget has colour, a new grid, more
The application has a new Splash screen and application icon

Amongst those changes come a few new features, notably: -

Ability to change corona blur
Star field can be zoomed
More shadow options
Faster rendering time

Download

The latest release of XPlanetFX, provided pre-packaged as a .deb, can be downloaded @ mein-neues-blog.de/files/xplanetFX/xplanetFX-latest_deb

Once installed the application can be launched the from the ‘Applications > Accessories’ sub-menu.

PPAmanager

This is a simple tool that allows you to search for PPAs and install them without hitting the terminal. It also allows you to manage (add/remove/purge) your existing PPAs with a few clicks.

Usage

Open a terminal (hopefully this will be the last time you install PPA via the terminal) and type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager

Once installed, go to “Applications -> System Tools -> Y PPA Manager“.

Grub Customizer for customizing Grub2

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

Grub Customizer will now show up in the Applications/System Tools menu.

Redent NotifyOSD in Ubuntu,

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jconti/recent-notifications
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install recent-notifications

To use it, you have to right click on the panel and select “Add to Panel” From the window that pop up, select “Recent Notification”.

You should now see a new applet in your Gnome panel.

Simply click the applet and it will show a window with all your past notification

THIS IS THE END OF WHAT MY SCRIPT OFFERS

VirtualBox

if you need the Closed source virtualbox read this and use this:

Debian-based Linux distributions

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian natty contrib
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian maverick contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian hardy contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian squeeze contrib non-free
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lenny contrib non-free

sudo apt-key add oracle_vbox.asc

or combine downloading and registering:

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

The key fingerprint is

7B0F AB3A 13B9 0743 5925  D9C9 5442 2A4B 98AB 5139
Oracle Corporation (VirtualBox archive signing key) <info@virtualbox.org>

(As of VirtualBox 3.2, the signing key was changed. The old Sun public key for apt-secure can be downloaded here.)
To install VirtualBox, do

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.0

Replace virtualbox-4.0 by

virtualbox-3.2 to install VirtualBox 3.2.12
virtualbox-3.1 to install VirtualBox 3.1.8
virtualbox-3.0 to install VirtualBox 3.0.14
virtualbox-2.2 to install VirtualBox 2.2.4
virtualbox-2.1 to install VirtualBox 2.1.4
virtualbox-2.0 to install VirtualBox 2.0.12
virtualbox to install VirtualBox 1.6.6

sudo apt-get install dkms

What to do when experiencing The following signatures were invalid: BADSIG ... when refreshing the packages from the repository?

# sudo -s -H
# apt-get clean
# rm /var/lib/apt/lists/*
# rm /var/lib/apt/lists/partial/*
# apt-get clean
# apt-get update

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:michael-astrapi/ppa 
sudo apt-get- update
sudo apt-get install indicator-virtualbox

To launch press ALT + F2 (or use Synapse) and type: -

indicator-virtualbox

or add the indicator to the list of automatically started programs.

Choqok Twitter client

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:neversfelde/experimental

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get-install choqok

Openshot video editor

To install OpenShot 1.3.0 in Ubuntu 9.10 or higher add the following PPA to your software sources: -

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonoomph/openshot-edge
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install openshot

Top Additional Applications to Install After Installing Ubuntu 11.04

Top additional applications I install after installing Ubuntu hasn't changed much from last time. But this list is subjective and depends largely on personal preferences. Anyways, here is mine.

Chromium Web Broswer [Also, Learn How Google Chrome is Different From Chromium]

SMPlayer - A Really Good MPlayer Front End.

VLC Media Player - Supports Almost All Video/Audio File Formats.

Clementine - The Promising New Amarok 1.4 Fork.

Hotot Twitter Client - My Favorite So Far.

Dropbox - My Favorite Online File Synchronizing Tool.

We have already featured a post dedicated to things you should do after installing Ubuntu, now lets take a look at the applications/softwares to install after installing Ubuntu. Please bear in mind that this is a post meant for newbie Ubuntu users primarily. Top 18 applications to install after installing Ubuntu.

[image via ubuntu wallpapers]

This article have the following sub categories

Top Ubuntu Multimedia Applications

Top Internet Applications for Ubuntu

New Awesome Themes for Ubuntu

Miscellaneous Applications

Top Multimedia Applications for Ubuntu

My favorite multimedia applications for Ubuntu include,

VLC Media Player

VLC media player is arguably the most comprehensive multimedia application available for Ubuntu. It is fast and has support for almost all multimedia formats.

Click here to install VLC from official Ubuntu repositories.

If you want to Install the bleeding edge version of VLC instead, check this post for details regarding installing latest VLC in Ubuntu.

SMPlayer - Incredible MPlayer Frontend

SMplyer is another awesome media player application for Ubuntu which is basically a nice and simple frontend for award winning MPlayer multimedia player for Ubuntu/Linux.

Click here to install SMPlayer from official Ubuntu repositories.

If you prefer the bleeding edge version of the player instead, here are the instructions for installing the latest SMPlayer in Ubuntu.

Banshee Music Player - The Default Music Player for Ubuntu from Next Release

Most of you will be aware of this already, Banshee will most probably become the default music player for Ubuntu from the next major release, Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal ie. Banshee is already the default choice for many among Ubuntu users and and you might also want to give it a try.

Click here to install Banshee from official Ubuntu repositories.

If you want to install the latest version of Banshee instead, instructions here.

DeadBeef - An Extremely Lightweight Music Player Alternative

I was deeply impressed by this nice little music player which is extremely good at syncing *very* large music collections quickly and without any stability issues. DeadBeef is what you need if you are looking for something basic and simple.

Click here to install DeadBeef from official Ubuntu repositories.

Or you might want to install the latest bleeding edge version of DeadBeef.

The other alternative music players you can install in Ubuntu include Clementine, Amarok, Bangarang, Canola media center among many others.

Boxee - Incredible Open Source Multimedia Center
Boxee is one of the most popular open source projects and it is also probably the best media center application for Ubuntu.

Boxee is based on yet another awesome media center application called XBMC. And if you might want to learn more about XBMC, read our XBMC review and installation instructions.

To install Boxee, you need to download latest DEB package for Boxee from here and then simply double click to install Boxee in your Ubuntu.

Minitube - Youtube Desktop Client for Ubuntu

Minitube is a flash free YouTube desktop application for Linux and Mac OSX. Minitube is perhaps one of the cleanest looking YouTube desktop client I have ever used in Ubuntu.

Minitube is not available in the default Ubuntu repositories yet. Read our Minitube review and installation instructions instead.

Top Internet Applications for Ubuntu
Here are my favorite internet related applications for Ubuntu,

Chromium Web Browser
Chromium is the Open Source web browser project from where Google Chrome is derived from. To put it straight, Google Chrome is a rebranded version of Chromium. You might want to learn more about the difference between Google Chrome and Chromium.

Click here to install Chromium from official Ubuntu repositories.

Or you might want to install the latest version of Chromium web browser instead.

Other web browser alternatives you could install in your Ubuntu include Opera, Midori, Google Chrome and even the latest under development version of Firefox 4.0.

Deluge Bit Torrent Client
Default bit torrent client for Ubuntu is Transmission and it is more than enough for your day to day use. Deluge is a very good alternative bit torrent client for Ubuntu though.

Click here to install Deluge from Ubuntu repositories.

Or else, you might want to install the latest version of Deluge instead.

JDownloader - The Best Download Manager Available

JDownloader is a simple cross platform download manager which probably is also one among the most popular download manager for Linux platform. JDownloader is Open Source and written entirely in Java.

Read JDownloader installations instructions for Ubuntu.

Pidgin IM Client

Pidgin was the default IM client for Ubuntu until last release, which was then replaced by Empathy IM client. Pidgin still is a power packed IM client and have support for almost all IM platforms.

Click here to install Pidgin from default Ubuntu repositories(recommended method).

If you want to install latest Pidgin build instead, instructions here.

Hotot - My Favorite Twitter Client for Ubuntu

There are plenty of twitter clients for Ubuntu available for free download. I have tried a lot of them, but nothing comes close to the functionality and ease of use aspects of Hotot IMO.

Hotot twitter client is not yet available in the default Ubuntu repositories. You should instead read this post on how to install latest Hotot twitter client in Ubuntu.

Dropbox - Online File Syncing Application

Dropbox is probably one among the best online file syncing/sharing tool available for Ubuntu. And unlike Ubuntu One, the default online file syncing app for Ubuntu, Dropbox is cross platform as well and a lot less buggier.

Read detailed instructions for installing Dropbox in Ubuntu.

Top Themes to Install in Ubuntu

This is something every newbie Ubuntu user should be looking for, a more eyecandy desktop. Well, I got to tell you there are plenty of desktop configuration options available. But here we are going to discuss about themes alone.

Equinox GTK Theme + Faenza Icon Theme

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you must probably knew about my addiction for this particular theme combination already.

Learn how to install Equinox + Faenza theme combination in Ubuntu.

Orta GTK Theme is as Good or Even Better
Equinox is not the only theme that can be used with Faenza icon theme, Orta GTK theme is my other favorite theme for Ubuntu and its absolutely superb.

How to Install Orta theme in Ubuntu from PPA.

And if you are interested in more desktop eyecandy, you should check out our collection of most amazing GNOME GTK Themes and Icon Themes for Ubuntu.

Miscellaneous Applications

Here are a bunch of applications for Ubuntu which belong to the 'others' category,

Cheese - Take Photos and Record Videos Using Webcam

Cheese is a must install especially if you are a laptop user, since most laptops/netbooks have a webcam these days. Cheese is a simple application that lets you take photos and record videos using your webcam. Cheese have some even cheesier effects also to make your photos and videos look, well, different.

Click here to install Cheese from official Ubuntu repositories.

Avant Window Navigator(AWN)

Avant Window Navigator is an awesome dock application for your Ubuntu desktop. AWN is simple and it was one of the first dock application for Ubuntu which featured easy drag and drop functionality of different AWN apps.

Click here to install AWN from official Ubuntu repositories.

The AWN shown is the above screenshot is a slight different version which is not yet available with official repositories. More about AWN Lucido and Installation Instructions.

Docky - Yet Another Dock Application

Docky is another really good and simple dock application Ubuntu and it is well integrated into the GNOME Desktop as well. Docky provides an application launcher, running application management, and various "docklets" including a CPU monitor, weather report, clock etc.

Click here to install Docky from official Ubuntu repositories.

Or you might want to install bleeding edge version. Instructions here.

Synapse - One of Its Kind Launcher Application for Ubuntu
I was never a fan of third party launcher applications since I was quite satisfied with the default ALT + F2 functionality of Ubuntu. But everything changed once Synapse happened.

Detailed review and Installation instructions for Synapse launcher in Ubuntu.

7zip and zip support in Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 23:15:00 +0000

Once I downloaded a 7z file and it wouldn't open. First I thought that the archive was corrupted so I downloaded it from another mirror and I got the same error.
Then I realised that Ubuntu doesn't come with support for .zip and .7z archives allthough Linux Mint does have support for .zip and .7z by default.

To open .zip and .7z archives in Ubuntu open terminal and type:

For .zip

sudo apt-get install unrar-free

For .7z

sudo apt-get install p7zip-full

These small things are annoying for beginners. I'll add them to my installscript for the next version of Ubuntu.

Change the location of your home subfolders

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:10:00 +0000

Not only can you change your desktop folder, you can change the location of any other folder Ubuntu creates for you in your home folder, like Documents or Music – and this works in any Linux distribution using the Gnome desktop manager.

In this example, we’re going to change desktop to show our Dropbox folder. Open your home folder in a File Browser by clicking on Places > Home Folder.

In the Home Folder, open the .config folder. By default, .config is hidden, so you may have to show hidden folders (temporarily) by clicking on View > Show Hidden Files.

Then open the .config folder by double-clicking on it.

Now open the user-dirs.dirs file…

If double-clicking on it does not open it in a text editor, right-click on it and choose Open with Other Application… and find a text editor like Gedit.
Change the entry associated with XDG_DESKTOP_DIR to the folder you want to be shown as your desktop. In our case, this is $HOME/Dropbox.
Note: The “~” shortcut for the home directory won’t work in this file (use $HOME for that), but an absolute path (i.e. a path starting with “/”) will work.

Feel free to change the locations of the other folders as well.
Save and close user-dirs.dirs. At this point you can either log off and then log back on to get your desktop back, or open a terminal window Applications > Accessories > Terminal and enter:

killall nautilus

Nautilus (the file manager in Gnome) will restart itself and display your newly chosen folder as the desktop!

Google videochat in Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:36:00 +0000

From now google videochat is also available in Linux. Go to this website and download the installer:

Google videochat

Make a second wireless accespoint

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:14:00 +0000

Sometimes it is necessary to have a second router in your large house. To use a common router as second access-point you have change its settings. The first router is the captain of the network. The second router only access-point.

If the address lines are different, there's not much of a problem. Just connect the second router and off you go: 192.168.x.x.
If router 1 is on 192.168.1.x giving addresses and router 2 is on 192.168.2.x, it all works fine.
But if both routers are on 192.168.1.x, the first router will block the second router. Turn the router function of the second router off and make it a dumb access-point.
This is the way to do that:
Just use the first router as you always did. If it already works, don't change that.
Connect the second router temporarily with a computer with a normal Ethernet cable. Connect it at a Ethernet port and not at the WAN port. Start the router login screen in your browser. Usually at 192.168.1.1. of 192.168.2.1
In this configuration screen you can give your second router a fixed IP address that is out of the range of the DHCP server of the first router. E.G: 192.168.1.150

Turn off the DHCP server in this second router. Make sure the second router is using another channel than your first router. Now your almost done. Close your browser and disconnect the second router from your PC or laptop.

Now connect router one with an Ethernet cable in Ethernet port 1 and connect this cable to Ethernet port 1 on the second router. DON'T USE THE WAN port!

Router 2 is now a dumb access-point for router 1.

You may use this at work if you need more access-point at your desktop, or want to use WIFI where it is not available.

Ubuntu one indicator

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:31:00 +0000

To check the status of ubuntuone (connected, etc) do:

u1sdtool -s

It will print something like:

State: QUEUE_MANAGER
    connection: With User With Network
    description: processing queues
    is_connected: True
    is_error: False
    is_online: True
    queues: IDLE

To check the current transfers (upload/download) do:

u1sdtool --current-transfers

It will print something like:

Current uploads:
  path: /home/marcos/Ubuntu One/Imagens/Flames/legendary-trap (cópia).jpg
    deflated size: 49724
    bytes written: 0
Current downloads: 0

GUI

Install the ubuntuone-indicator indicator that will provide some info on the tray area.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rye/ubuntuone-extras

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ubuntuone-indicator

In a terminal, start the indicator with:

ubuntuone-indicator

To read more about this subject look here.

HOWTO build your own open source Dropbox clone

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:44:00 +0000

I found a very interesting blog about dropbox like syncing on linux computers. Alas it is stil in earlyu development phase, it's worth while folowing. At least I do.

Read more about it here.

Check linux for rootkits

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 19:02:00 +0000

Rootkit malware is also possible on Linux and OSX. Those of us in UNIX-land (and yes, Mac people, that includes you) don’t often have to deal with malware. There is room for debate about the exact reasons for that, but few would argue that Linux, BSD and OSX get hit as hard or as often as Windows. This does not, however, make us immune to malware. We all download software online, and even those who stick with only their software provider’s packages can still be afflicted by bugs or security holes which may allow nasty people or software inside. As the old saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Today we’d like to show you some ways that you can scan your system to make sure there are no nasty rootkits lurking in the shadows.

The Quick and Dirty Personal Scan

A common technique used by some malware authors is to replace a normal system binary with one that takes additional or alternative actions. Many of them try to protect themselves by making their corrupted versions immutable in an attempt to make the infection harder to remove. Fortunately, this leaves traces behind that can be picked up by normal system tools.
Use the lsattr command to display the attributes of your system’s binary files in locations such as /bin, /sbin, and /usr/bin, as shown here.

lsattr /usr/bin

Normal, non-suspicious output should look something like this.

You may need root privileges to scan some places like /sbin. If the output contains other attributes like s, i, or a, that could possibly be a sign that something is
wrong, and you may wish to try a deeper scan as shown below.

To read about CHKrootkit and rootkit hunter
Read further on this website

sudo chkrootkit > mylogfile.txt

sudo rkhunter -c

Yes, so to help clean these up, as root you'll need to remove those s, i, or a attributes with:
root-shell# chattr -sia /usr/bin/whatever
Once those attributes have been removed (note, read about the attributes first and make sure the other tools warn you! /usr/bin/X11/ for example may intentionally have these set), you can once again manipulate those files to edit, delete, or whatever.

So then you have incorrect/compromised binaries? On a Debian system you can get older packages to manually download (wget http://...) and install (dpkg -i ___.deb) from http://snapshot.debian.org/

Change default Theme for new users

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:23:00 +0000

The default Ubuntu theme for new users in Ubuntu is the Ambance theme. I don't like it and want something completely different. That's easily done this way:

Place the gnome config files into a folder called /etc/skel, any new user you create will have those files in there home folder.

thought I'd add the folder you want to put in /etc/skel is .gconf
And you should make your installed theme available in /usr/share/themes and icon theme in /usr/share/icons.

This should work.

An easy way for an dedicated Grub 1.99 partition

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:50:00 +0000

When GRUB 2 is in its own dedicated partition it is 'operating system independant', so we can add or remove one or two operating systems without the inconvenience of losing the boot of the remaining operating systems.
Those of us who are multi-booting with more that two operating systems in their computer like to be able to set their own user friendly names for their operating systems.
It's okay to edit the grub.cfg directly when GRUB 2 isn't part of an operating system, making it easier to do what we like with GRUB and have fun with it and learn more GRUB commands and tricks.

Choose an existing partition or create a new one and format it with a file system, you will need at least about 60 MiB of space in the partition for grub 2 files, but a little more room than that might be advisable.
Format the partition with a file system and optionally give the file system a FILE SYSTEM LABEL.
Mount the partition by clicking on its icon in the 'Places' menu.
Run a grub-install command similar to the one shown below,
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/media/grub2 /dev/sda

Where: '/media/grub2' is the mount point for the file system I want to have GRUB files created in
Where: I want to make a new /boot/grub directory and fill it with GRUB files.
Where: '/dev/sda' is the hard disk in which I want to write the stage1 code to MBR in

That command creates a new /boot and /boot/grub/ directory if one doesn't already exist, and creates or refreshes GRUB files in /boot/grub, all except for grub.cfg.
If you don't make a grub.cfg then there will be no GRUB Menu and your computer will boot to a GRUB Command Line Interface, see GRUB2 How To Boot From CLI Mode

If you want a GRUB Menu you need to make a grub.cfg file and copy it to /boot/grub.
You can make your own grub.cfg file and customize it in any way you like.
The proper way to do it would be to use the grub-mkconfig command, and alter the file path to make it point to the 'Dedicated' /boot/grub/'. See How to Update the GRUB Menu .
Another way would be to make your own grub.cfg, if you need an example to help you get started, look here, grub.cfg - Grub Wiki.
Or, copy and paste this one, grub.cfg, to a blank text file, name it grub.cfg, edit it to your needs and paste it in your Dedicated /boot/grub.
Later, you can also make and add other files such as background images.

I had trouble getting my 'Dedicated GRUB 2' to display any background image at first.
I was getting 'error: No video mode activated', after trying the background_image command in CLI Mode.
I needed make a fonts folder in my 'Dedicated GRUB 2 Partition and copy the fonts from /usr/share/grub/unicode.pff and /usr/share/grub/ascii.pff into it. Then I had to correct the fonts path in my grub.cfg header area,

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
set default=0
set timeout=5
set root=(hd0,2)
if font (hd0,2)/fonts/unicode.pff ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
terminal gfxterm
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

After that I was able to display my splashimage in my 'Dedicated GRUB 2 Partition'.

After this it´s neccesairy to install grub in the partition of your linux OS. Use this method for doing that (where sda5 should be replaced with the device name of your /boot partition:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda5

Where: /dev/sda5 is the disk you wish to install GRUB to, (boot.img to first hard disk MBR), otherwise use '/dev/sdb' for second hard disk or '/dev/sdc' for third hard disk.

Normally, most people will want to install GRUB to MBR in the first hard disk if Ubuntu is installed in a so-called 'internal' disk inside a computer. By an 'internal' disk I mean a disk that is more or less 'permanently' connected to the motherboard by IDE ribbon cables or SATA cables.
If your computer has more than one hard disk and you're not sure which hard disk's MBR you want to install GRUB2 to, it might be best to install GRUB to all of your disks, just to make sure.

If you have Ubuntu installed in a so-called 'removable' disk, such as a USB 'external' drive, or any disk that you intend to remove from the computer, you should probably install GRUB to the MBR of the same disk you have Ubuntu installed in only, meaning your USB external drive.

If you want to install GRUB2 to the boot sector of a partition for some strange reason, you may use something like /dev/sda1 or /dev/sda2 for writing GRUB's boot.img to a partition boot sector. The practice of installing GRUB2 to partition boot sectors is not encouraged. It reduces GRUB's reliability and it could be dangerous to other operating systems if users use the grub-install command carelessly or ill-informed and write GRUB to the wrong boot sector.

You need to have the operating system booted first, before you can use the command.
If the operating system you're trying to fix won't boot you need to chroot into it from another operating system such as a Live CD operating system before you can run grub-install. In that situation it might be easier to use grub-setup instead, please refer to How To Re-install GRUB from Live CD - with grub-setup.

The grub-install command doesn't run grub-mkconfig (or update-grub), so the user still needs to run one of those commands if a new grub.cfg is wanted. See grub -mkconfig - make a new grub.cfg file.

Examples of the grub.cfg file in the dedicated grub partition:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function recordfail {
  set recordfail=1
  if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}

function load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=nl
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,7)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 8385-8482
insmod tga
if background_image /boot/grub/background/earthrise-tux-windows.tga ; then
  set color_normal=white/black
  set color_highlight=white/light-gray
else
  set menu_color_normal=white/black
  set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

menuentry "Linux Mint configfile" {
    configfile (hd0,9)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
}
menuentry "Linux Ubuntu configfile" {
    configfile (hd0,5)/boot/grub/grub.cfg
}


### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###


### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.

menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional NL(on /dev/sda1)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ntfs
    set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 067a6eea242a2681
    drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
    chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    linux16    /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(hd0,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    linux16    /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
 

Example of the grub.cfg file on the OS partition:

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
fi
}

function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}

function load_video {
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=nl_NL
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
if background_color 44,0,30; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
if [ ${recordfail} != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
    if hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
      if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
        set linux_gfx_mode=keep
      else
        set linux_gfx_mode=text
      fi
    else
      set linux_gfx_mode=text
    fi
else
    set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
if [ "$linux_gfx_mode" != "text" ]; then load_video; fi
menuentry 'Ubuntu, met Linux 2.6.38-10-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-10-generic root=UUID=e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2 ro   quiet splash vt.handoff=7
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-10-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, met Linux 2.6.38-10-generic (herstelmodus)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.38-10-generic ...'
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-10-generic root=UUID=e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2 ro single
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-10-generic
}
submenu "Previous Linux versions" {
menuentry 'Ubuntu, met Linux 2.6.35-30-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-30-generic root=UUID=e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2 ro   quiet splash vt.handoff=7
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-30-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, met Linux 2.6.35-30-generic (herstelmodus)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
    recordfail
    set gfxpayload=$linux_gfx_mode
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    echo    'Loading Linux 2.6.35-30-generic ...'
    linux    /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-30-generic root=UUID=e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2 ro single
    echo    'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
    initrd    /boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-30-generic
}
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    linux16    /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
    insmod part_msdos
    insmod ext2
    set root='(/dev/sda,msdos5)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root e25d5b4e-d3df-47ec-be92-2f79d417d9f2
    linux16    /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

Firefox language packs

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 09:04:00 +0000

To read the most recent manual for installing the proper language pack in Mozilla Firefox read this website:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Language_packs

Fortuna Alpha 6

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:02:00 +0000

Want to try a gameplay in ancient Greece on Win, Mac and Linux?
The developers behind highly anticipated open source RTS game 0 A.D. have announced another update, Alpha 6 “Fortuna” which brings with it a bunch of bug fixes, new textures, map overhauls, sounds, new unit stances, and even a flight mode as a proof of concept for the versatility engine.
Wildfire Games says of the release:

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of “0 A.D. Alpha 6 Fortuna”, the sixth alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare.

We have added hundreds of terrain textures and dozens of sounds, redrawn and added Hellenic units and buildings, implemented unit stances and put in some WW2 fighter planes just to show that the game engine can support flight.

What’s new?

Top features:

New unit stances, including Violent, Aggressive, Defensive, Stand Ground, and Avoid
250 new terrain textures
43 new sound effects.

Art:

New Greek houses
New Greek siege tower
Updated shield patterns for Greek hoplites
Art released for all of the remaining Champion units
Thracian Mercenary unit
New movement animations for giraffes and lions.

New maps:

Cycladic Archipelago III, a huge Greek islands map
Southern Greece real-world map
Updated Belgian Bog
Cantabrian Highlands random map now uses the Temperate biome terrain set
Gambia River map, using the new Tropic biome terrain set
Mediterranean Coves.

Programming:

Delay in carrying out unit instructions eliminated
Units less likely to get stuck
Various improvements to the text input boxes in the game
Unit selection limit matches population cap (200 units).

The Atlas scenario editor:

Player settings editing panel: Set teams, colors, default AI behavior, starting resources etc
Entity filter: Enter part of the name of an object/objects you want to add to your map to filter them out from among the rest.

Just for fun:

Flight demo: A brand new P-51 Mustang can fly around the map, and attack targets on the ground and in the air.

Download and install

0 A.D. of course cross platform, and they’ve provided download instructions for all three Operating Systems. They’ve even got neat shiny buttons, too.

Install Adobe flashplayer 11 beta in Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:34:00 +0000

First download Adobe Flash Player 11 Beta from labs.adobe.com

Extract archive in you home folder.

Open terminal and type:

For Firefox:

mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins/

cp ~/libflashplayer.so ~/.mozilla/plugins

Done!
To remove it and switch to stable version:

rm ~/.mozilla/plugins/libflashplayer.so

Chrome:

sudo mv /opt/google/chrome/libgcflashplayer.so /opt/google/chrome/libgcflashplayer.so-backup

sudo cp ~/libflashplayer.so /opt/google/chrome/libgcflashplayer.so

To remove it and switch to stable version:

sudo mv /opt/google/chrome/libgcflashplayer.so-backup /opt/google/chrome/libgcflashplayer.so

Make your own ChromeOS netbook

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 07:45:00 +0000

Lifehacker wrote this nice tutorial:

Google recently released their own line of Chrome OS-clad netbooks, but with only a few choices and a somewhat high price tag, you might be more comfortable running Chrome OS on your own machine. Here's how to install it on your current laptop or netbook.

We've spent some serious time with Chrome OS, and found it to be a remarkably good productivity tool for the right user. It's super quick to boot up, moves fast, and is relatively pain-free since it is, in effect, just a browser. This also makes it perfect for netbooks, since they're low on power. Whether you want to install Chrome OS on your own netbook or you just want to try it out before you buy yourself a Chromebook, you'll need to do a little work to get it up and running.

You can't get the official Chrome OS build from the web; Google only sells it on its Chromebooks. You can, however, download its slightly less polished open-source counterpart, Chromium OS. In this guide we'll be using Hexxeh's "Vanilla" builds of Chromium OS, which are similar to the official version of Chrome OS, but take a bit more work to set up. We'll also show you how to get Chromium OS installed on a live USB stick for testing, as well as how to install it (or dual-boot it) on your own netbook for regular use.

What You'll Need

A compatible machine. Chromium OS, sadly, doesn't run well on every machine out there. On some machines, it runs very slow, and may have other issues with things like the trackpad, webcam, or Wi-Fi. It's worth trying on your machine anyway (after all, hardware compatibility is constantly improving, and you can test it on a live USB drive before committing), but just know that it might not work amazingly well. (For example, it definitely does not work on Macs in my experience.) Here's a list of netbooks on which Chromium OS has been tested, and which ones work well (or have worked well at one point in time).
A 4GB USB stick. Sadly, you can't burn Chromium OS to a CD; the only way to test it out natively or install it is to use a USB thumb drive. If your computer doesn't support booting from a flash drive, you can boot from the Plop Boot Manager Live CD and then boot to the USB stick from there.
Hexxeh's Vanilla Chromium OS build. This is the image we'll burn to our USB drive. You can either grab a direct download or a torrent from the home page. These are often stable, but are nightly builds, meaning each day a new build comes out with new quirks, bugs, or fixes. See more about finding a stable build below.
A working Linux live CD or installation. You'll only need this if you want to dual boot your netbook with Chromium OS, so you can partition your drives and install a bootloader (since Chromium OS does not have an actual installer built in that does these things). If you don't have one, just grab an Ubuntu live CD; it should work fine. You may need to use Unetbootin to put it on a flash drive if your netbook doesn't have a CD drive.

Preparation: Download Your Chromium OS Image

Unfortunately, the big downside of turning your netbook into an "unofficial" Chromebook is that you only have "unofficial" Chrome OS builds to work with. Hexxeh's builds are by far the most popular, but they all have their quirks. You basically have two choices: Flow and Vanilla. Flow is Hexxeh's custom build with automatic updating and more hardware support, but it hasn't been updated in over a year, and has some pretty annoying SSL issues that make accessing things like Gmail a pain. Vanilla is a nightly build almost straight from Google, but as a nightly build, stability can vary quite a bit from build to build, and with almost one a day out there, you have a lot to choose from.

I recommend going with the vanilla builds. Generally, you can find a pretty stable one that works with your hardware, but it takes some trial and error (unfortunately). You can do a bit of Googling using your particular netbook model, but you might have to try a few builds before you find one that works. Some might be slow or buggy, and some might not work with your hardware. I ended up having to go back to a mid-May build because Google later removed support for my Wi-Fi card.

So head to Hexxeh's Chromium OS page and start with the Vanilla builds. Download one and run through the following steps. It might take a few tries to find one that's stable and compatible, but once you do, you can just stick with that build for awhile.

Step One: Create Your Bootable Flash Drive

The first thing we'll need to do is get Chromium OS onto a flash drive so we can test it out. This is actually a pretty simple process. First, format your USB drive as FAT32 to clear any of the data off it (in Windows, this is as easy as right-clicking on the drive in My Computer and hitting "Format"). Next, download your Chromium OS build of choice, and unzip the image file to your desktop.

You'll need a small program to write the Flow image onto your flash drive. Windows users should download a copy of Windows Image Writer, while Linux users can run sudo apt-get install usb-imagewriter in a terminal to get the USB-ImageWriter program. Start up the respective program, pick the IMG file on your desktop as the source, and then hit Write. When it's done, you'll have a bootable USB drive from which you can launch Chromium OS.

Step Two: Boot Into Chromium OS

To boot from your USB drive, stick it in your machine and start it up. If you've started from a USB drive before, you're good to go, but if not, you may need to change a few BIOS settings. Hold down the Delete key when your computer boots up (or whatever key your computer tells you to press to enter setup), and find the setting for "Boot Priority". Make sure the "USB Drive" choice is above "Hard Disk", then reboot your machine. You should see the Chromium OS startup screen fairly shortly.

Before it boots you into Chrome, you'll need to pick a wireless network and enter your Google credentials. If everything's working as it should and your Wi-Fi card is supported by that build, you'll boot right into Chrome and immediately see all your settings, bookmarks, and extensions synced right down to your netbook. That's it! You can start trying out Chrome OS right away, and see all that it has to offer.

If you ran into a roadblock at this step (the most common being Wi-Fi not working), go back and try another build. See if you can find anything on the web about your particular Wi-Fi card and when it might have been supported. From the information I could find, it seems like Wi-Fi support was a bit more ubiquitous before May 21, so try a build from before then and see if it works instead.

Step Three: Install Chromium OS

If you find you like Chrome OS, or you want to try it out for longer without inserting the thumb drive every time, you can install it to your system. You have two choices: Install Chromium OS as the only operating system, or dual-boot it with something else. Installing it on its own is very easy, but means you erase whatever else you had on your netbook at the time. Dual booting is more time-consuming, but assures that you still have your previous Windows or Linux installation to fall back on when Chromium OS isn't enough (or if you decide you don't like it).

Installing Chromium OS as the main operating system is easy. Boot into Chromium OS from the thumb drive and hit Ctrl+Alt+T to open up the command line. From there, just type install and hit Enter. If you're asked for a password, type in facepunch and hit enter. It'll take a few minutes to install, after which you can remove the thumb drive and boot into Chromium OS just by turning on your machine (you'll notice it boots insanely fast, too). That's it! You now have your own custom Chromebook. If you want to dual boot, however, follow the instructions below.

Alternative Step Three: Dual Boot Chromium OS with Another Operating System

Chances are, you don't want to give up your existing netbook distribution of choice just yet. In that case, you'll need to do quite a bit more work. For what it's worth, unless you absolutely need Windows on your netbook, this method isn't really worth the trouble—it'll be a lot easier on you to just use the Live USB stick until you decide to install Chrome OS as your netbook's main OS. If you need to dual boot, though, here's how to go about setting it up.

Step 3.1: Partition Your Hard Drive

Make sure all your data is backed up, then grab that Linux live CD or thumb drive we mentioned earlier and boot into it. Alternatively, if you have a form of Linux already on your netbook, you can just boot into that. Once you're booted in, insert your Chromium OS thumb drive as well.

First, you'll need to partition your hard drive. You'll need two partitions for Chromium OS: a "C-ROOT" partition, which holds the root OS, and a "C-STATE" partition, which holds your settings and other data. Open up Gparted from System > Administration on your Ubuntu Live CD, and select your thumb drive from the source menu in the upper-left hand corner. Note the sizes of the C-ROOT and C-STATE partitions on your thumb drive. You'll also want to note the partition reference for each, which will be something like /dev/sdb2.

Now, select your netbook's main hard drive from the drop-down. Click on your main partition, which should have a healthy amount of empty space, and go to Partition > Resize/Move. Shrink it down so you have at least 3 GB of empty space, and hit the Resize/Move button. Then, click on your new "unallocated" free space and go to Partition > New. You'll want to basically mirror the partitions on your thumb drive. So, if your thumb drive's C-ROOT partition is 858 MB, then you'll want to make an 858 MB partition here. Under file system, choose ext2. Then, click on the rest of your unallocated space and create another new partition, this time just filling up the rest of the space. Choose ext3 for this partition's file system. When you're done, your partition map should look something like the image above (you'll notice one of the partitions is almost too small to see, because it's only 800 MB. That's normal). Hit the Apply button in the toolbar to complete the process.

When you're done, note the partition references of your two new partitions. Remember, this will look something like /dev/sda3.

Step 3.2: Copy the Chromium Files

Now, open up a Terminal window. We're going to copy the partitions from your thumb drive onto your hard drive, effectively installing Chromium OS next to whatever operating system you currently have. In the Terminal, type:

sudo dd if=/dev/C-STATE_USB_PARTITION of=/dev/MACHINE_SMALL_PARTITION bs=4096
sudo dd if=/dev/C-ROOT_USB_PARTITION of=/dev/MACHINE_LARGE_PARTITION bs=4096

Where C-STATE_USB_PARTITION is the partition reference for your thumb drive's C-STATE partition, MACHINE_SMALL_PARTITION is the corresponding partition on your netbook's drive, and so on. So, for example, my commands looked like this:

sudo dd if=/dev/sdb1 of=/dev/sda3 bs=4096
sudo dd if=/dev/sdb2 of=/dev/sda4 bs=4096

See the multiboot guide on Hexxeh's Wiki for more information on setting this up.

Step 3.3: Update or Install the GRUB Bootloader

Lastly, you'll need to make sure you can boot into Chromium OS. From Ubuntu, open up a Terminal window. If you're dual booting with Windows, run the following commands:

sudo grub
> root (hd0,0)
> setup (hd0)
> exit

Then run

sudo update-grub2

When you boot up next, you should get the option to boot into either Windows or Chrome OS.

If you're running Linux as your other operating system, you already have GRUB installed. Open a Terminal window and run grub-install -v to see what version. If you're running GRUB legacy (prior to version 1.99), you just need to boot into Linux (these commands assume Ubuntu) and run:

sudo update-grub

However, if you're running GRUB2 (1.99 or later), you'll need to add Chrome OS' entry manually. Type gksudo gedit /etc/grub.d/40_custom to edit your GRUB configuration file. Add the following line to the end of the file if you have Intel graphics:

menuentry "ChromiumOS" {
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,x)
linux /boot/vmlinuz root=LABEL=C-ROOT rw noresume noswap i915.modeset=1 loglevel=1 quiet
initrd /boot/initrd.img
}

If you have Nvidia graphics, add this instead:

menuentry "Chrome OS NVIDIA" {
root=(hd0,x)
linux /boot/vmlinuz console=tty2 init=/sbin/init boot=local rootwait root=LABEL=C-ROOT rw noresume noswap i915.modeset=1 loglevel=1 apci=force single
initrd /boot/initrd.img
}

When you reboot, you should get the option to boot into Chrome OS.

Note that I have not tested all of these methods. These are taken from the MultiBoot Guide on Hexxeh's Wiki. Everyone's GRUB setup is going to be a little different, so you might have to do a bit of research on your own to get it all working. Like I said before, the dual-booting option is quite a bit of work, and unless you need Windows on your netbook, you're better off just sticking with the flash drive until you know you want Chrome OS, then installing it on its own.

VirtualBox vdi files moving

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:21:00 +0000

How to move VirtualBOX .vdi files! The original article is found here: HowtoGeek

Properly moving VirtualBOX

Need to move a virtual machine, only to find that copying and pasting doesn’t work? Perhaps you just want to know what to backup? Take a look at this quick guide on the process to get a better understanding of VirtualBox

First things first: be sure that your virtual machine is shut down and powered off. Next, make sure you get rid of any snapshots you have. There isn’t a fool-proof and safe way to do this without getting rid of them, unfortunately. Select your virtual machine and click on the “Snapshots” tab.

Select your snapshot and click the delete button. Be prepared to wait a while as VirtualBox merges differences with your machine’s current state. The machine’s state won’t actually change, though, so don’t worry. Now that the prep stuff is out of the way, we can start the moving process.

Once that’s done, go to File > Virtual Media Manager. You’ll see a list of media that you’ve used or have attached to your machines.

Select which virtual machine you want to move, then click on the “Release” icon above. In my case, I’ll be moving W7.vdi from my home directory to another hard drive.

Once you have it released, close VirtualBox go to its default settings directory, /home/user/.VirtualBox/

You can copy your .vdi file from inside the HardDisks directory if you want to just back it up, or you can move it. Be patient, as this can take a while depending on your configuration.

Meanwhile, let’s edit the VirtualBox.xml file to our liking. This is the step most people don’t really know much about, but it’s pretty vital in making sure things work smoothly. Open it up in gedit.

Scroll down a bit and you’ll get to the parts we need to edit.

If you’re changing the location of your virtual machines, find the xml tags for “MachineEntry” and change the source path. If you’re changing the location of your virtual disk images, find the xml tags for “HardDisk” and change the location there. As you can see, each machine is tied to a disk image by its UUID, which should not be changed. If you’re moving virtual machines to a new computer, be sure to copy these this file over and replace the previous configuration file.

In my particular case, I just wanted to move the disk image to a more spacious drive, so I left the other things intact.

If you’re changing hosts between Windows and Linux, be sure to change the version declaration at the top of the file to say “windows” instead of “linux” as well.

Once you’ve moved the .vdi file, fire up VirtualBox and go to File > Virtual Media Manager.

Click on the old .vdi file and click remove. Now, click “Add,” navigate to its new location, and click “Open.” Click “OK.”

Now that the new .vdi is added to VirtualBox’s list, we have to attach it to your virtual machine. At the main screen select it, go to “Settings,” and click on the “Storage” panel.

Under the appropriate IDE controller, click the “Add Attachment” button. You’ll see a hard disk get added automatically, but it probably won’t be the correct one.

Click it and on right side, under “Hard Disk,” choose the correct .vdi file. Click “OK.”

If you followed all the steps and you edited the VirtualBox.xml correctly you should be able to start up the machine without any problems! There are a few hairy areas, so if things aren’t working, be sure you’re using the correct paths and you’ve edited only the relevant areas of VirtualBox.xml.

Install Thunderbird 5 in Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 20:39:00 +0000

In case you are not aware, Thunderbird 5 is now released and is available for download. This latest release contains many bugs fixed and comes with extra features like new addons manager, tab dragging and reordering and enhanced account manager. For Ubuntu users, you can either download the tar file, unzip it and run the executable file or use a PPA and install it via the Ubuntu Software Center. The latter method is preferable as it allows you to receive regular update and is able to better integrate with the system.

Installation

To install Thunderbird 5 via PPA, open a terminal and type the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/thunderbird-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install thunderbird

Done. Go to “Applications -> Internet -> Thunderbird” to run the application.

Integrate Thunderbird to the Messaging menu

For the Thunderbird to appear in the Messaging menu, all you have to do is to install the “Ubuntu Unity Messaging Menu” extension.
In Thunderbird, go to “Tools -> Add-ons“. Search for “Messaging Menu”. Install the first extension that appears in the screen.

Restart Thunderbird after the installation. The Thunderbird entry should appear in the messaging menu now.

Replacing Evolution

If you are using the calendar feature in Evolution and you want to migrate to Thunderbird, you might be disappointed to find that Thunderbird does not come with a Calendar feature by default. You can, however, install the several extensions to implement the calendar feature.
Lightning is the most popular (and most comprehensive) Calendar extension for Thunderbird. It is almost a “must-install” for every Thunderbird user.
Alternatively, if you are a Google Calendar user, you can also install the Google Calendar Tab extension that loads your Google Calendar in a new tab.
If you are using IMAP to check your email accounts, there is no need to do any email migration from Evolution. However, for those using the POP protocol, follow the instructions here to migrate all your settings from Evolution.
Lastly, enjoy your Thunderbird.

Alternatives for Dropbox

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 12:41:00 +0000

Dropbox may be the most popular service for syncing files and storing them online, but that doesn't mean it's the best. Some of us are currently considering Dropbox alternatives due to recent security or privacy concerns, while others just want to see what else is available. Here's how Dropbox stacks up against four other major online syncing services: Windows Live Mesh, SpiderOak, SugarSync, and Wuala.

We've mentioned Dropbox a lot because of how useful seamless file sync is, but most of our favorite Dropbox tricks would work with any of the tools highlighted in this post. Some services give you more space, others more flexibility, and others more security. Below, we'll walk you through each of our favorites.

What These Services All Do

These five services offer free online space for storing/backing up your files, sharing them with others, and keeping them in sync across multiple computers and/or mobile devices. They all work with Macs and PCs, and in some cases Linux and many mobile platforms as well.

If you're in a hurry, here's a quick comparison chart of the five services by platform, storage space, and pricing for additional space.

If you're a Linux user, your choices from the above five services are limited to Dropbox, SpiderOak, and Wuala. If your phone runs Window Mobile or Symbian, SugarSync will likely be your service of choice.

There's also much more to consider when choosing an online storage provider than just storage capacity and price per gigabyte.

Unique Features

There are advantages and disadvantages of all of these services. Here are some of the unique features each offers:

Dropbox: Besides its ease of use and great performance, especially when syncing over a local network, Dropbox has the best third-party integration so you get access to a ton of tools like SideCLOUDload, Dropbox Screen Grabber, Dropbox Linker, and a whole lot more. Syncing email clients (Outlook or Thunderbird) across multiple computers works with Dropbox but not other syncing solutions because of its unique syncing technology. Plus, there are a great many ways to gain more storage space in Dropbox.

Live Mesh: Microsoft's file syncing tool works really well in the background (so well, you probably won't even notice it). You can use Live Mesh just for local syncing and/or 5GB of SkyDrive's online storage space (out of SkyDrive's 25GB max). As you might expect, Live Mesh has some unique benefits for Windows users: you can remote control your Live Sync connected Windows computer (similar to Remote Desktop Connection) and sync Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer program settings. SkyDrive is also where Office Web Apps online documents are stored, so you get that integration as well.

SpiderOak: Besides its really strong "zero knowledge" security features (see below), SpiderOak is very versatile: it can sync not only your desktop or mobile device but your external drive or network volume as well—so you can use it to keep your desktop, laptop, and USB thumb drive in sync, for example. SpiderOak offers a lot of information about your backups, uploads, and syncs, so you always feel in control of your data. Refer a friend and you get an additional 1GB more free space (up to 50GB max for the free referral space).

SugarSync: SugarSync does what Dropbox does, but lacks the LAN sync and strong API support. It makes up for that in more features for media streaming, mobile syncing (including auto syncing photos and folders from Android devices), and folders selection and permissions/passwords settings. SugarSync's web interface has a bit more functionality than Dropbox, with its separation of photos from files and also a very useful direct editing feature where you can edit files from within the webapp. You get a generous 5GB free to start with and can earn 500MB more space for each referral.

Wuala: From Swiss storage manufacturer LaCie, Wuala, like SpiderOak, offers locally encrypted data backup and syncing. Although the 1GB of free storage space is on the low end to start with, Wuala has a unique way to earn additional storage: you can buy more space or exchange unused storage on your computer (e.g., empty space on an external drive) for more storage on Wuala.

Ease of Use

Drag n' Drop to one folder. When it comes to simplicity, Dropbox wins hands down. You have a Dropbox folder, drag files into it, and magically the files appear in identically named folders on your other computers. Sharing files for collaboration on Dropbox is also just as easy: from the website, go to the sharing tab, select the folder/files and enter the email addresses of people you want to share the files or folders with.

Like Dropbox, but with multiple folders support. SugarSync has similar functionality, with its Magic Briefcase folder, but because you can sync multiple folders on more than one computer, managing your synced folders and shares can get more confusing.

Easy visual clues. Both Dropbox and SugarSync have handy tray icons and integrate well with Mac and Windows. There's a visual clue over folders to show whether they've been uploaded or not, and you'll be notified if you get near or go over your file storage limit.

Traditional file management interfaces. SpiderOak and Wuala have folder management user interfaces that aren't really difficult to understand or navigate, but they do require just a bit more thought and planning than simply dumping everything in a catchall folder. Live Mesh asks you to select each folder you wish to sync individually. By allowing you to select which folders to backup/sync, however, you get more control (a good tradeoff between simplicity and power. We've previously posted a workaround using a symlink and a small Windows app for syncing files and folders outside of the dropbox folder, if you prefer more control over Dropbox's simple "one folder" access).

Backup separate from syncing. Of the five services, SpiderOak's interface/system may be the most awkward and confusing to set up. With the other services, you select the folders you want to backup/sync and the app starts to make that happen. With SpiderOak, you first have to choose your folders/files to back up and wait for those files to be uploaded. Then, in another screen, you have to choose the folders you wish to sync between devices. This might be good in corner cases where you want to backup files to the cloud but not sync them to another computer, and it also eliminates some overhead by separating the backup and sync function. From a user standpoint, however, it may feel like an unnecessary step. Wuala also separates the backup and syncing function (though you don't have to first backup in order to sync), so clearly these two services are designed for people who may want more options than just syncing.

Security & Privacy Policies

SpiderOak and Wuala both shine in the security department, because, unlike Dropbox, your data encryption key is only saved on your computer. SpiderOak has a well-publicized "no password storage" policy stating your data and even filenames are inaccessible to the company.

Dropbox's reputation, on the other hand, has dramatically dropped recently due to recent security mishaps, awkward terms of service changes, and the fact that employees can, after all, access your unencrypted data. While we don't think there's a major security concern here we do recommend you encrypt any sensitive data stored within Dropbox (or any online storage service, for that matter).

The other service providers haven't come into as close scrutiny as Dropbox. Here's what these service have to say about their security practices:

SpiderOak: "SpiderOak never stores or knows a user's password or the plaintext encryption keys which means not even SpiderOak employees can access the data. Our zero-knowledge privacy approach means we can never betray the trust of our users" SpiderOak also recently added 2-factor authentication.
SugarSync: "We use industry best practices to ensure that your data is safe and secure. Your files are transferred securely using TLS (Transport Layer Security) and are stored in the cloud in an encrypted format using 128-bit AES-the same level of protection used for online financial transactions."
Live Mesh: This Technet post says that files stored on Microsoft servers are protected by access controls but are not encrypted.
Wuala: "All files are directly encrypted on your desktop. Your password never leaves your computer. Not even we as the provider can access your files or your password. Wuala employs proven encryption technology (AES, RSA and SHA) to secure your data."

In short, SpiderOak and Wuala definitely have the most assuring security policies/practices, but you still want to take matters into your own hands and encrypt any and all sensitive data stored online.

Performance

Both Dropbox and Live Mesh performed best in my tests because they both synced directly over my local network, without having to go through the online servers first, as these syncing services typically do. Dropbox's LAN sync and Live Mesh's local sync are unique and very useful time-saving features if you use these services to keep computers on your home network in sync. You can also use them, of course, for syncing computers and devices that aren't on the same network.

Otherwise, the services all performed relatively the same, with barely any noticeable difference when saving new files or deleting them. I found SpiderOak just a bit faster but more resource-intensive in the initial folder upload than Wuala, while SugarSync took up more system resources than the others in the background.

Sharing

All of the services make sharing files with others very easy. Just right-click or select the files/folders and enter the email addresses of your recipients.

With Wuala and SpiderOak, you create groups or "share rooms" (SpiderOak's comes with its own RSS feed) to distribute to more people at a time, so it feels more of a collaborative environment.

In addition to this folder sharing for collaboration or to give others access to your files, all of the services also let you create public links to your files so you can post a link on Facebook to a document, for example. SugarSync has direct posting to Facebook Photos.

One major downside to Dropbox is that files shared with you by others count towards your allotted Dropbox space, and, like most of the services, you also don't have any control over the permissions of the folder. For sharing and syncing a read-only folder, SugarSync may be your best bet because you can specify folders to be read-only and password protected. Depending on your settings, you may also be able to control editing of files in shared files for groups with Wuala.

Conclusion

As we've mentioned before, you can use multiple online cloud storage services to make the most of the available free space. For your work documents, for example, you might select SpiderOak or Wuala; for streaming music on your mobile phone, SugarSync; to backup files from one computer to another over your local network, Live Mesh; and for everyday files, Dropbox.

If that's too much overhead, however, the decision for which online syncing service is right for you will depend on your priorities: simplicity and third-party support (Dropbox), security (SpiderOak/Wuala), Windows advantages(Live Mesh), or most features and platforms support (SugarSync).

Grsync a nice dropbox like local sync tool

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 21:27:00 +0000

Most people these days use some type of online backup like Dropbox, but what if you just want the same feature, but backing up to an external hard drive instead? Here’s how to do it the easy way.
Whether you are on Windows, Linux, or Mac, Rsync backups files and folder on any of these platforms.
Rsync comes as a command line utility, and the secret to make it work, lies in how skilled you are with command line switches. If you loathe the command line, Grsync gives a nice user interface for Rsync, and it is also available for Windows and Mac.

Getting Started with Grsync

Install Grsync with your package manager.

Prepare a folder, ideally somewhere outside your PC – an external hard disk, or a network storage drive, for your backups. Once you have done that, open Grsync, and create a new session.

A session stores a different set of source and destination directories, and any configuration associated to them. Simply click the add button to add a new one, and delete it if you no longer need the session.

The top box is the source, and the bottom box is the destination. The destination folder is where you want to back up your files, this folder acts as your Dropbox folder. The source folder is where you keep all your important files in your computer.

You have three options the basic, advance, and extra. The basic options are pretty self- explanatory, and you’ll find most of the options they will ever need here. You might want to select “skip newer” and “delete on destination” option. “Skip newer” tell grsync not to overwrite files that are newer in the back up folder, and “delete on destination” tells grsync to trash files that you have in your back up folder but not in your computer.

Hover your mouse over each option to understand what it means.

The simulation menu is very useful if you are not sure that you have selected the right options.

Simulation does not copy your files, it only gives you a list of files that Grsync will backup with the options that you have selected.

If you are happy with the output, click the execute menu to save the settings, and perform the backup.

Once we have a session that backup our files to an external storage device, we have to create another one that synchronize files between the network folder and your computer. This way, Grsync will download new files in the network folder into your computer. Please remember that Grsync only copies the folder that you specify in the source field, and if you want to synchronize that folder, you need to specify a path to that folder in the destination field, not the actual folder.
For example, we want to synchronize the document folder in the back up drive with our document folder inside our home folder. To do this, we set our home folder, “home/zainul”, and not “home/zainul/document” in the destination field.

Scheduling Backups
To get a Dropbox-like synchronization, you need to schedule Grsync to synchronize both your folder and the network folder. Windows, Mac, and Linux have their own GUI based scheduler. Gnome Scheduler might be the easiest way to schedule these backups for Linux. You can use Task Scheduler, if you are running Windows, and iCal if you are on Mac.

We have to add both back ups as recurring tasks.

Give them a good name, and enter this as the command

grsync –e “name of the session”

Remember to schedule both sessions that you just created: the one that back up your files to the network folder, and the one that download new files from the network folder to you computer.

Rsync is a great tool to keep your files synchronize across computers, network drive, and even mobile devices. Try it out, and feel free to share what you think with the other fellow readers in the comments section.

Google + and a webcam

noreply@blogger.com (Jeroen Adolfse) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:13:00 +0000

Google+ in new social network created by Google.
One feature of Google+ is Hangouts. Hangouts is group video chat.

/facepalm :P

Many people have problems witch web cams on linux, this problem also affects GoogleTalk plugin witch is used for Google+ Hangouts and also in Gtalk video chat.

To fix this problem start Terminal and type:

sudo mv /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin /opt/goog/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.real

then,

sudo gedit /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin

When Gedit opens paste:

#!/bin/sh
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin.real

save.

and at last type in terminal:

sudo chmod +x /opt/google/talkplugin/GoogleTalkPlugin

Now restart Browser and enjoy video Google+ Hangouts.

Win :)