Ubuntu Unleashed

Hello world!

defcon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:05:53 +0000

Damned wordpress, somehow it used more memory than my host allowed or something went wrong.. Sorry for the downtime, didnt notice it was down cuz im experiencing some financial hardships atm. Bear with me as I get this up to tip top shape, also if your passionate about ubuntu and want to help out, hit me up @ defconoii[@]gmail.com

Ubuntu Unleashed Update

defcon — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Hey all, I havnt been keeping up with this site as much as I should be, the main reason is because im working on a new site Android Unleashed I am debating weather to switch over ubuntu-unleashed.com to wordpress.

If I do I’ll need a Ubuntu related design, and possibly a hot new logo, If you are a gfx artist and could do a mockup, feel free to reply.

Wordpress has a whole host of plugins so I can better serve you all, (related posts, more organized) I am also looking for a few partners that enjoy writing howto’s, tips, tricks, and report news. I want this site to be the first stop for Ubuntu news, New apps, Ubuntu Users to watch.

Ubuntu is my favorite os and I use it every day, its a big passion of mine like allot of this sites followers. I have had allot of offers in the past to write for this site, and I am extending the offer once again. Should we switch over to wordpress and allow registration to post news? Kinda like ubuntuhq? I am open to suggestions. Use the comments below.

Thanks,

Defcon

Communicate in Style With the New Synapse Instant Messenger!

defcon — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:43:00 +0000

There is a new IM app on the block, its called Synapse, it is a new alpha application which means its not nearly finished yet, from the screenshot at the side it looks amazing!

Here is some of Synapse’s Key Features that already stand out from all the others:

Grid View – A Compact way to see/browse your friends!
Activity Feed – Unified View for friends activity ie; Twitter, IM Status, Music playing & More!
Photo Sharing – Flickr Integration, Drag & Drop images to chat window!
Web Preview – Get a glance of a webpage or video behind a link right in your chat window when you send/share a link!
Code Sharing – Syntax Highlighted code blocks for easiy collaboration
Highly Extensible – Plugins are added with extreme ease, and the architecture wont hold developers back in creating new plugins/addons

Howto Install on Ubuntu

Please note that Synapse is only supported on Ubuntu version 8.10 (Intrepid) or later. If you are running an older version, you’ll need to upgrade first.

Save this key file to your desktop.
At the top of your screen, select System ? Administration ? Software Sources.
On the Ubuntu Software tab, make sure that both main and universe are checked.
On the Authentication tab, click the Import Key File button and select the key file you saved in step 1.
On the Third-Party Software tab, click the Add button, and paste the appropriate APT line for your version of Ubuntu:

Intrepid 8.10:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/firerabbit/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
Jaunty 9.04:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/firerabbit/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

After adding the source, press the the Close button at the bottom of the Software Sources window. When asked, click Refresh.
Back at the top of your screen, select Applications ? Add/Remove. Search for synapse, then in the results check the box next to Synapse Instant Messenger, then click Apply Changes.
NOTE: Some users have reported Synapse does not show up under Add/Remove. If you are unable to find Synapse using Add/Remove or Synaptic, Select Applications ? Accessories ? Terminal, and then type sudo apt-get install synapse. We hope to have a solution to this problem soon. If you have any problems, please see the Support page.

If you’re a GNOME user, you may want to enable the GTK theme for Qt using qtconfig-qt4. If on Intrepid, install the qgtkstyle package.

You can learn more about adding repositories and installing software in the ubuntu documentation.

Other (Source Code)

For information on how to build Synapse from source, see the Contribute page.

Developers Site
Other Os Download Locations/Install Documentation

Ubuntu Jaunty Hits Beta

defcon — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:38:00 +0000

As always the ubuntu developers have worked tirelessly to bring us another Beta release which should be stable enough to test for most people here are some of the features you can look at while downloading the iso or doing a release upgrade:

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in “update-manager -d” (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release ‘9.04′ is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a server system: install the update-manager-core package if it is not already installed; edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal; launch the upgrade tool with the command sudo do-release-upgrade; and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you choose to download the iso be sure to backup your home directory to another partition and checkout ext4 filesystem for improved performance.

Here are the new features since intrepid:

GNOME 2.26 – For a Good review of the gnome changes look here
Improved handling of multiple monitors with an updated gnome-display-properties by Federico Mena Quintero.
X.Org server 1.6
New style for notifications and notification preferences – for an example check out the flash video here
Boot performance – A number of improvements to the Ubuntu start-up process bring significantly improved boot performance to Ubuntu 9.04 Beta. Please open bugs if you experience any degradation, and tag them with boot-performance.
Ext4 filesystem support – One of my favorite additions, it improves boot performance and overall filesystem performance
There is a ton of other bug fixes and misc features added, Its been stable for me since alpha 3.

Get it while it’s hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/ (Ubuntu Desktop and Server)
http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/edubuntu/9.04/ (Ubuntu Education Edition)
http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/kubuntu/9.04/ (Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/beta/ (Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Ubuntu MID)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/9.04/beta/ (Xubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/9.04/beta/ (UbuntuStudio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/9.04/beta/ (Mythbuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/9.04/beta/ (Ubuntu ARM)

Howto: Install Google Chrome Alpha in Ubuntu!

defcon — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:04:00 +0000

For the past couple of years I have been waiting and waiting for the possibility for a Google Browser, there has been rumors over the years and finally Google came out with Chrome. Unfortunately Google Chrome was only released for windows, only until now there is a semi working gui that is actually usable!! Yea I just logged into my gmail account 5 minutes ago with Chromium for Linux! Im impressed, I thought it would never get to this stage, but it has, currently there is allot of issues to be resolved like the sandboxing for example There is also quite a few issues that you can follow here

If you would like to help with its porting efforts you can go here

FAQ: no native 64bit debs planed for now. The amd64 package is using ia32-libs.

Anyways let me show you how easy it is to install and start browsing!

First lets add the chromium ppa, head over to here

Select your Ubuntu version in the drop down where you see:
Display sources.list entries for:

Then input those apt sources into System->Administration->Software Sources-> Click Third-Party Software Tab, then click +Add to add the apt sources

Now press ALT-F2 and enter gedit, paste this into gedit(its the ppa key for security)
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: SKS 1.0.10

mI0ESaSPtAEEAK1nJtoDZ0ewpOOf0ET6Vp28LqO9mB4ubWjzXyRSbiha5pCvnnSIU1K+7Gzb t3r0iUV9eKLUmf8pqfF/9kwsoqFqFSCjp+XjUzXsEChcGBWvyfGdTX8ClFfwNxSVLvGSqmdX gZhs0F8tQB0lPWHGy3VvEt7wG/VHqpcOYpdNYRqxABEBAAG0IExhdW5jaHBhZCBQUEEgZm9y IGNocm9taXVtLWRhaWx5iLYEEwECACAFAkmkj7QCGwMGCwkIBwMCBBUCCAMEFgIDAQIeAQIX gAAKCRBam/O7Tl4XtV/2BACs/RTpEWB/NUlluJmp1e6iFoyyfbT+HOD3hg35aQMzbdcmijsA iY9MvIfZ0YKWyqNUdGpDj5n0bUNO0IcvKBBkOn5o4CiBsMp4DJHdrgJU4S00nAJK00E8I/yA v+x4C9uOacW3yrzSHs7Hv/vG6Z1Jh+1JrabK13hdhwOL8+aY6Q== =3GDx -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Now save the file and click +Import Keyfile on the Authentication tab of Software Sources, then click close. Then refresh your sources.

Click these packages to install them
chromium-browser
chromium-browser-dbg
chromium-testsuite
chromium-testsuite-dbg
python-tlslite

Once installed Execute Chromium via Applications->Internet->Chromium Web Browser

Now enjoy using Google Chrome in linux, and watch it progress!

Howto: Easily Get free newsgroup access over ipv6 in Ubuntu!

defcon — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 02:39:00 +0000

Did you know you could get almost anything off of usenet/newsgroups? Yea you can get 0day movies, music, games, apps, linux distro’s and anything else you could imagine right off of newsgroup servers. I have been using newsgroups for years to get what I need, torrents are too resource intensive and sometimes crash routers and modems. So here I will share how you can setup Sabnzbd with a few newsgroup providers that offer 100+days retention at a completely free price

First you’ll need to grab Sabnzbd, I currently use a premade deb from here

The latest version is version 0.4.7 which can be directly downloaded here, be sure to check the above url for an updated version if this post gets old.

Once installed run sabnzbd from the command line and open a browser window to http://localhost:8080/sabnzbd/config/server/

Now enter one of these free servers for ipv6 access:
If I didnt specify a port its 119

1. freebin-auth.readnews.com
password: anything
Username: anything
threads : 8

2. newszilla6.xs4all.nl
threads : 3
speed : 50 per thread

3. readnews
Server:freebin.readnews.com
Threads: 8
Speed: 5 kb per thread
Retention:40?? days

4. Eweka.nl (I use this one)
news.ipv6.eweka.nl
Retention 120 days. Unlimited speed.

5. XSNews.nl
reader.ipv6.xsnews.nl
Retention: around 100 days too, Unlimited???
Signup for Xsnews here and enter your email address, they’ll send u a username/password

Free Trials:
Yottanews:
Server: free.yottanews.com
Threads: 1
Username & password: see http://www.yottanews.com/freeaccount.php
Speed: 60 kB/s

News-Service
Server: test.news-service.com
Port: 23
Threads: 4
Username & password: make something up, more than 6 characters.
Retention: 25 days
Speed: 25/30 kB/s per thread

Ok Now input one or all the servers in sabnzbd

You can get free IPv6 access through Freenet6. Visit Freenet6 and register yourself to obtain username and password.

Now lets set up ipv6

Click Here to install tspc or:
sudo apt-get install tspc

Press Alt-F2 then do:
gksudo gedit /etc/tsp/tspc.conf

Find the userid line and enter your useid for freenet6, then find the passwd line and enter your password you set, then set the server as broker.freenet6.net
Like this:
userid=your-name server=broker.freenet6.net passwd=your-password

Save the file and exit, then open a terminal:
sudo /etc/init.d/tspc restart

Now lets check if tspc created a new ipv6 interface:
ifconfig
You should see something like:
sit1 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4

Lets use ping6 to ping google to make sure its working…
defcon@pc:~$ ping6 ipv6.google.com PING ipv6.google.com(2001:4860:b002::68) 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 2001:4860:b002::68: icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=117 ms <--good stuff :) 64 bytes from 2001:4860:b002::68: icmp_seq=2 ttl=57 time=131 ms

Ok now we got ipv6 setup in ubuntu, this worked perfectly for me with Jaunty.

Now head over to Newzleech or binsearch and leech away!

Here is some other Cool Stuff you can do with ipv6

March Donations & Site Update

defcon — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:14:00 +0000

Thank you Richard H for your donation to Ubuntu Unleashed!

Richard H From Austria- $5.00

I will continue to share Donations to this site in weekly posts, thanks allot for your support!

Ubuntu Unleashed wouldn’t exist without support from readers. Thank you for deciding to keep Ubuntu Unleashed up and running.

Currently Ubuntu Unleashed makes around $100.00 usd per month with adsense, my total costs per month to survive are $1000.00 usd, This covers things like: food, rent, internet and electricity. My website hasnt been updated because im doing side jobs and other things to survive right now, but hopefully Ubuntu Unleashed can help support me more so I can continue to share great articles and news which I love to do.

I have been wanting to improve the user interface of Ubuntu Unleashed and create a user generated part of this site. I would like this site to be more of a news oriented site that developers can go to to share their new project. Possibly with a rss feed of new releases from project sites all over the web. If you are a web developer and share my passion in open source and Ubuntu, and want to help me improve Ubuntu Unleashed, Contact me below

Or via email @ defconoii at gmail dot com

Howto: Save Money in this Recession by making free Computer To Phone Calls with Google Voice and Gizmo5!

defcon — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Omg I am so happy Google Voice is out, and it got released in perfect timing, cell phone rates are high, home phone rates are high and people are getting broke quicker, including myself(already broke) Google voice also has the ability to send/recieve free texts!, and you may be able to get free calls by adding your number to your service if you are allowed to call certain favorite people for free Now I’ll explain how to make free calls with Gizmo5 and Google Voice to save you some money!

Google voice also had the ability to send/recieve free texts!

Ok First and foremost you need to have a Grandcentral account as of this moment for migrate over to Google Voice.

If your an existing Grandcentral user you will need to login here and click upgrade to google voice

Or create an account at Google.com/voice if it lets you yet, because Google Voice will be rolled out slowely all over the united states.

Once you got a Google Voice account all set up, grab Gizmo5 from Here(There is also other os versions at that link as well!)

Grab the debian .deb

Double click it to install, click Accessories->Internet->Gizmo5

Follow the directions to create a gizmo5 account.

Once created Click Home->Edit Profile

Now Copy your Sip #

1. Sign in to Google Voice.
2. Go to the Settings link at the top right of the page.
3. Click the Add/Edit Number link right above your phones, to the right of the page.
4. Click the Phones tab.
5. Click Add a new number.
6. Select Gizmo in the Phone Type drop-down menu.
7. Enter your SIP number without 1.
8. Enter a name for that phone, if you want.
9. Click Save.

Woohoo ok now we are all done setting it up, now lets get to calling

You will need to place all your calls with your Google Voice account, you click Call, Enter the number you want to call, select Gizmo with the dropdown list of phones you want to ring, then select Place Call.

Gizmo will ring and connect you to any United States phone number for Free.

Also if you have a Android Based G1, in a few days Evan will have an app released for the G1 to make calls with Google Voice More Info Here

Feel free to donate any small amount to Ubuntu Unleashed by clicking donate on the top right, right now this is my only job ;\

Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 5 Has Been Released!

defcon — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:58:00 +0000

Upgrading from Ubuntu 8.10

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10, press Alt+F2 and type in “update-manager -d” (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release ‘9.04′ is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

New features in Jaunty

These features are showcased for your attention. Please test them and report any bugs you find on Launchpad:

http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu

Updated packages

As with every new release, packages–applications and software of all kinds–are being updated at a rapid pace. For a list of all packages being accepted for 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, please subscribe to Jaunty-changes:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/jaunty-changes

X.Org server 1.6

The latest X.Org server, version 1.6, is available in Jaunty. For a little while, this will again cause increased instability for some users while the proprietary video drivers catch up.
Font size optimization

Font dot-per-inch settings are now optimized based on your monitor’s capabilities, rather than defaulting to 96 dpi. You can further customize your dpi settings via System ? Preferences ? Appearance ? Fonts ? Details…
New style for notifications and notification preferences

Included in Jaunty is a simple menu which can be used to set preferences for notification icons, such as where they pop up on the taskbar. There is a possibility that Ubuntu 9.04 will get a whole new notification system, as shown in the Flash movie here:

http://www.markshuttleworth.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/jaunty904_notifications_example1_web_092.swf
Linux kernel 2.6.28

Alpha 5 includes the 2.6.28-8.26 kernel based on 2.6.28.7.
Ext4 filesystem support

Alpha 5 supports the option of installing the new ext4 file system. ext3 will remain the default filesystem for Jaunty, and we will consider ext4 as the default for the next release based on user feedback.

Alpha 5 adds Ext4 support to gparted (Curtis Gedak).
Download Alpha 5

Get it while it’s hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Ubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Ubuntu Education Edition)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Kubuntu) Kubuntu release notes
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Xubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (UbuntuStudio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Mythbuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-netbook-remix/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Ubuntu Netbook Remix)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mid/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Ubuntu MID)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/jaunty/alpha-5/ (Ubuntu ARM)

Known issues

As is to be expected at this stage of the release process, there are several known bugs that users are likely to run into with Jaunty Alpha 5. We have documented them here for your convenience along with any known workarounds, so that you don’t need to spend time reporting these bugs again:

The installer sometimes fails to tell the kernel to reload the partition table during partitioning. This is a race condition, so not everyone will be affected, but if you are then you may have to re-try partitioning a few times before it completes successfully. We believe that the main problem lies in udev, and will be fixing that immediately after Alpha 5. 334278

A new XServer, version 1.6, is included in Alpha 4. The binary proprietary fglrx driver is not yet supported for this server and will exhibit various serious issues if run against it. Users of this driver are encouraged to wait or to switch to the open source -ati driver in the meantime. 313027

Users of Intel i845 or i865 video chipsets are unable to load X, getting an error message of “Fatal server error: Couldn’t bind memory for BO front buffer”. Users on these systems are advised to wait for a resolution to this bug before upgrading. 304871

OEM configuration fails in Jaunty Alpha 5 due to a repeating error pop-up when setting up the end user. This bug will be resolved for Jaunty Alpha 6. 334281

Users testing the ARM images on NSLU2 systems will need to take special measures to avoid time-consuming locale generation. Use the ‘Go back’ button in the installer, select “Change debconf priority” from the main menu, and select medium priority; once at the detailed locale selection screen, de-select all locales. Detailed instructions can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ARM/NSLU2. In Jaunty Alpha 6, this will be handled by default.

Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is now disabled, to reduce issues experienced by users who accidentally trigger the key combo. Users who do want this function can enable it in their xorg.conf, or via the command dontzap –disable.

Font sizes may be abnormally small or large on monitors which mis-report their capabilities. If you suspect this may be the case, please see X/Troubleshooting/HugeFonts for steps to troubleshoot this issue.

Reporting bugs

It should come as no surprise that this alpha release of Jaunty Jackalope contains other bugs. Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve future releases. Please report bugs through the Ubuntu bugtracker

If you want to help out with bugs, the Bug Squad is always looking for help.
Participate in Ubuntu

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

More information

You can find out more about Ubuntu on the Ubuntu website and Ubuntu wiki.

To sign up for future Ubuntu development announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu’s development announcement list at:
http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

Announcing GNOME Do 0.8. With 20 new plugins, faster search, better results, animated themes!

defcon — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:54:00 +0000

Announcing GNOME Do 0.8. With 20 new plugins, faster search, better results,
animated themes, and 111 fewer bugs, your desktop’s killer app just got killer-er.

Awesome New Plugins

Banshee, Bibtex, Cl.ickable, Claws mail, Google search, Opera, Ping.FM, Remember the Milk, System services, TinyUrl, Tracker search, and Translate to name a few. Plugins also install much faster now.

Faster Search, Better Results

Memory usage is down, and searches are noticably snappier. Our relevance algorithms are also better than ever — Do will learn your habits and offer personalized search results immediately.

Animated Themes

Do’s themes — Classic, Mini, Glass, and the newly added Nouveau and Docky — now sport gorgeous animations and dropshadows. Watch for falling jaws.

Docky

Docky is our attempt to make Do more discoverable and memorable. It’s the same Do you know and love, just a little friendlier.

File Previews

We’ve added preliminary support for viewing file thumbnails, so you can better recognize the images, movies, and documents you encounter in Do. If your file manager displays thumnails, Do will attempt to show them.

Improved Text Entry

With support for copy, paste, and longer lines of text, Do’s new extended text entry mode is perfect for composing emails and tweets. Activate text entry mode by pressing your period key.

Many Bugs Exterminated

82 core bugs and 29 plugin bugs have been meticulously tracked and squished. There’s still a lot of work to do, but Do 0.8 is one well-oiled machine.

New Plugin API

In creating a more cross-platform codebase, a wonderful, platform-agnostic plugin API emerged. Plugins now have extensive access to notifications, logging, relevance information, threading tools, and much more.

Howto Install:

8.10 (Intrepid)

$ sudo aptitude install gnome-do

8.04 (Hardy)

If you are upgrading from an old installation of Do, please be sure to completely remove your old version.

$ sudo aptitude purge gnome-do gnome-do-plugins gnome-do-plugin-rhythmbox

and remove the Do plugins configuration directory

$ rm -rf ~/.local/share/gnome-do/plugins/

Once you have removed your old installation, or if this is your first time, follow these instructions.

Add the Gnome Do PPA Repository to your sources list. (See the Ubuntu Repositories).

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ubuntu hardy maindeb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ubuntu hardy main

In Synaptic Package Manager, search ‘gnome do’ or install from the terminal:

$ sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install gnome-do

7.10 (Gutsy)

Add the following to your /etc/apt/sources.list (here’s how)

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ubuntu gutsy maindeb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ubuntu gutsy main

then run

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gnome-do