Ubuntu With Me

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:33:00 +0000

This blog has moved to http://bleuwinter.wordpress.com

Installing PPA from lauchpad on Ubuntu 9.10

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:28:00 +0000

Most updated packages are PPA(Personal Package Archive) on Launchpad which makes our lives easier for installing it (we don't have to compile from source). THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO PROVIDE.

For example, I googled SMPlayer on launchpad and choose the first choice that came up on the search.

Then see the highlighted words... ppa:rvm/smplayer

Then open the Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and type the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

This is the general command: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:"repository-name"
In other packages, copy the highlighted package name and paste over "repository-name"

As usual, it will ask your password, key in the password and wait until it has finished acquiring the gpg key.(Usually it will return to yourname@yourcomputername (Example: bleuwinter@bleubox)

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install smplayer

Follow the instructions, if it ask you if you would like to continue to download 11.9MB (for example), key in Y and press enter.

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:45:00 +0000

What's new on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala?
1. New GDM Login (Though I hate it because of it's colour)
2. New Default Icons (Pretty cool actually)
3. New Theme (New Wave & Human)
4. Ubuntu One (Online Storage - 2gb free)
5. Mozilla Firefox 3.5
6. Empathy (Supports Voice and Video chat) - You can switch to Pidgin(better looking)
7. Software Center (Replaces Add/Remove)
and more...

What else does Ubuntu 9.10 comes pre-installed with?
1. Open Office - Edit or view your documents, presentations, spreadsheets (Supports Microsoft extensions like .doc, .docx, .ppt and most other extensions)
2. Rhythmbox - Play music, rip cds, share music through DAAP on LAN, sync with Portable Player(iPod, MTP), manage cover arts, update status on Instant Messengers, stream radio online, subscribe to pod casts.
3. Totem Movie Player - It plays movies...duh. Well, it can stream and play videos from YouTube and BBC (which I've never succeeded) - Try Minitube for YouTube.
4. Evince PDF Reader - View PDF
5. F-Spot Photo Manager - Edit, upload your photos to Picasa Web, Flickr or SmugMug, 23 or export to Facebook, create DVD photo slideshow and more with extensions.
6. Gimp - Edit pictures or create animation. Check out Meet the Gimp for more tips.

There are many more software which is downloadable from Synaptic Manager or Ubuntu Software Center. Try Ubuntu Live CD or USB now. (You don't have to install it on your computer, it will just run on your memory/RAM and you can decide later if you would like to install it.)
Checkout 10 things I Like About Ubuntu 9.10 (not by me)
How to make a Ubuntu Live USB?

Chat with Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:19:00 +0000

Chatting with Ubuntu is not so hard and if you would like to voice chat or video chat, it's possible as well.

Skype works fine with both voice chat and video chat as long as the drivers are properly installed (google your drivers if there's a problem). Get it from Medibuntu which stands for Multimedia, Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu. Configure the sound devices(skype test as well) and video devices if the default doesn't work(Ctrl+O or Skype Menu==>Options) and don't forget to unmute the microphone. (Look at the images bellow).

Pidgin connects to almost all IM protocols (ICQ, MSN, Yahoo!, Gtalk and more). The latest feature of Pidgin is video and voice chat but for some reasons I couldn't use it. You can try and see if it works for you. Download and install the latest package from it's official website.

Empathy which is almost like Pidgin but what it lacks it good looks and the integration with gnome notification(Pidgin works great with it). It will be the new default IM for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala but that doesn't mean you can't install Pidgin. Just download Pidgin or search it in the Synaptic Manager. Install Empathy from Synaptic Manager(Make sure you install Telepathy as well). Voice and video chat enabled and all you have to do is click on the microphone or webcam icon next to a contact in your list.

NB: Do remember that voice and video chat only works for Gtalk accounts on both Pidgin and Empathy.

Google Translate & Dictionary

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:52:00 +0000

pyGtranslator is a desktop standalone for Google Translate. Why use it?

1) Simple interface
2) Uses less CPU processor
3) Remembers your last history
4) You don't have to open your internet browser

Dictionary is also a desktop standalone application which you can find it in the Ubuntu applications menu--> Office --> Dictionary. It's name explains it all, it gives definition or meaning of a word.

Both applications uses internet so be sure to be connected to the internet.

Games on Ubuntu the easy way

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:49:00 +0000

I'm sure why Ubuntu or Linux was never good enough for gamers is because you can't play games that your friends are playing. There are few options you could choose from:

1)Cedega

Subscribe to Cedega for a certain amount of fees(6 months - 25usd, 12 months - 45 usd) and install it on Linux. You could check out the games database.

2)PlayOnLinux

It is a frontend of Wine to run windows software on Linux. They have many choices to install PC games. All you need is original CD or DVD of the games, install it following the instructions and you can play it. You could try to install games that aren't in the list as well but it may or may not work, trial and error basis.

3)PlayDeb

Open Source games one-click install(provided you follow the 1st few steps)

You can filter the games by genre and click install this now below the game chosen.

Best alternative. =)

OpenShot: Video Editor

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:02:00 +0000

OpenShot is a new video editor which looks promising as it has made so much progress while it's still new in the open source region.

Features:
1) It claims to add almost any video and yes "flv" as well. (I tried mpg2, flv, mp4, mpg and all of these worked.)
2) Zoom in and zoom out (the length of video)
3) Multiple tracks (You can add by clicking the add button which is on the far left above the tracks.)
4) Split and resizing of videos - Makes video editing easier without the necessity to resize the track over and over again. (Use Razor, next to mouse button)
5) Video transitions
6) Add pictures, watermarks and overlays... (You can make a logo or something on Gimp and add it on a track 2 - which is above track 1 - the edited video and the logo will be on the video)
7) Multiple output format ~~(Most output works but sadly right now YouTube HD output doesn't, I shall wait for fixed bugs but meanwhile I would use other output formats)~~
8) Support 32-bit and 64-bit.
9) Simple interface

When I installed OpenShot on my Ubuntu 9.04, I couldn't start OpenShot from the shorcut on desktop or the shorcut on the Gnome menu. Right click on the shorcut on the desktop and change the command to:
python /home/YOURNAME/openshot/openshot/openshot.py
YOURNAME should be the username of your system.
Then it works!!!

How to install on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala?
Open Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal) and run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

Then, it will ask your password, so key in your password and if you realise, the gpg key is automatically downloaded.

sudo apt-get update

It will then update to get the latest packages from the sources and now you're ready to download them.

sudo apt-get install openshot ffmpeg-extra frei0r-plugins melt python-support x264

After OpenShot is installed, find it on Applications → Sound & Video → OpenShot Video Editor

Multimedia Software

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:16:00 +0000

From now on, I'm going to update more about video editing, audio editing and photo or graphic editing on Linux. Some of these software can also be used in Windows. Of course, these software are open source.

The main software that you will need to download would be:

1. Audacity - A simple audio editor. Now with this tool, you can cut your mp3 and create a special ring tone for yourself that no one else would have. You can record, fade in, fade out, increase or decrease the amplitude of the sound and more. Check it out (Linux, Windows and OS X versions available).

2. Gimp - Graphic and photo editor. It's easy to use, looks complicated in thebeginning, but once you get used to it, you wouldn't look back. You can even create your comic with this tool (Linux, Windows and OS X versions available).

3. Cinelerra - a video editor and compositor for Linux. Again, it looks complicated and you will need to learn how to use it. Every beginning is difficult, but it's worth to learn. Of course you can't compare it to Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro / After Effects, Apple's Final Cut Pro / Express. It is not as simple as Windows Movie Maker or Apple's iMovie but it sure has a lot more things that it can do.

4. Kino - a non-linear DV editor. Usually we use this software to capture video to hard disk from DV tapes and to cut the captured video and to convert it to available codecs on Linux.

Elinks - A Text Based Web Browser

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:36:00 +0000

I know, your 1st question would be,"Why do I need a text web browser?" The answer is simple, it's for reading text and it's faster to load(well, images take a long time to load). It might be a little boring, but imagine if you're doing a project where it involves words, words, and more words. Your eyes get hurt with all those bright and colourful words and all you need is text, not picture or when you're studying something by browsing online. It's is useful at those times.

Elinks uses terminal so for those who can't stand that standard white background or black background could configure the looks of your terminal. Like what I did to mine. Ubuntu comes with gnome-terminal (the default terminal), that can be set to change the background. Change it in Edit-->Profile Preferences-->Background.

Here is a screenshot of Elinks on my computer, by the way Elinks is a command line based(cli) application.

They have many shortcuts, try to learn them as they can make browsing fast, remember to read the tips which are at the bottom of the terminal and press ESC to go to the menu.

To install on Ubuntu, go to System-->Administration-->Synaptic Package Manager and search for Elinks. There is another version which supports images as well which is called Links 2.

For more information of the software, click here.

Swiftfox

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:26:00 +0000

Introducing new browser made for Linux. Swiftfox works exactly like Firefox except that it works faster in loading the application. You may have realized that Firefox takes some time to load before it starts in Linux so I guess people finally decided to make Firefox for Linux only and this is where Swiftfox comes in. Try it now...

Install Windows from Pendrive

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 19:08:00 +0000

This was something I did for my friend who was desperate and came to me for help when his hard disk failed(bad sectors) and needed to reinstall it but guess what, his recovery got deleted (the starter file) by viruses or trojans (I'm not sure of this), his dvd-rom doensn't work and his bios doesn't support usb dvd-rom but it supports usb hdd surprisingly.

Requirements:
*Ubuntu Live CD or Ubuntu installed on the computer (provided you've installed gparted (System-->Administration-->Partition Editor)
*A usb pendrive (enough space to copy windows installer to it)
*Windows Original CD (I tried it with XP, Vista & Windows 7)

Tutorial:
1. Insert the pendrive and make sure there's enough space for Windows installer (the whole cd or dvd size)
2. Copy everything from the CD/DVD of Original Windows and paste it into the pendrive.
3. Open partition editor (System-->Administration-->Partition Editor)
4. Choose to view the partition of your pendrive (on the top right of the windows manager of the software.
5. Right click on the partition where you copied the Windows installer t --> Manage flags --> Check boot --> Ok
6. Remove the pendrive and set the BIOS on the computer that you want to install Windows to boot USB hdd as the first choice(you can change this later).

Ubuntu helps even installing Windows...how great is that? Compared to the many tutorial on Google, I'm sure this is one of the simplest and fastest way of creating a USB Windows Installer (especially if you have Ubuntu Live CD, or Get one now.

Ubuntu for Hospitals

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sun, 17 May 2009 13:59:00 +0000

Being a Medical Student has taught me that Hospitals especially those Government ones that have limited resources could use Ubuntu to save their money. While I was doing my practical in a computer-based Hospital (the paperwork) last year it has made me realize that Hospitals spend so much on the IT department(creating the software, laptops, server, wireless routers & paying for Microsoft Windows). I'm not saying that Windows is bad. In fact, Microsoft is easier than Linux. Linux isn't that hard as well. It needs just a little tweaking & you're save from viruses & spyware.
Hospitals being paperless will definitely save many trees, space & time but doing that with Ubuntu installed would be much better as it will save money, and that money could be used for other developments or equipments.

So here's the plan, feel free use it and distribute it.
1. Install Ubuntu or Xubuntu (depending on the computer's hardware)
2. Configure it by removing unwanted software & needed software.
a)Unwanted
*Music Player
*Video Player
*Games
b)Wanted
*Hospital Software
*Medical Software
*LAMP(for the server)
*Firefox or any lightweight browser
3. Instead of the hospital software as mentioned above, you could pay someone to build a webpage with multi-user login(doctors, nurses, administration), with the functions that you would want so it wouldn't stress the hardware(if the software is bombastic).mSo all the doctors, nurses or administration has to do is open the browser --> login --> patient--> information.

Advantages
1. Paperless
2. Fast, the results are uploaded on the server as soon as they get them.
3. No virus attacks
4. Cheap
5. User friendly
6. Hi-tech

If I own a hospital. I'm definitely doing this.

Songbird - Music Player

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:15:00 +0000

A beautiful Music Player for the modern generation.

Pros
*Cross-platform
*Supports multiformat playback - ogg, mp3, aac, wma, flac & more
*Uses GStreamer
*Watch Folders
*Album Art (configure it in options to be able to get it from internet automatically & to get it from the local folder)
*Web-browser - that's right, Firefox built-in.
*Custom Skins - Just like an add-on.... Same like Firefox.
*Many add-ons.
*SHOUTcast Radio
*Last.fm Scrobbling

Cons
*Not very stable
*Slow for some reason compared to Winamp.
*More complicated that WMP & Winamp. (You need to get used to it, oh well, it took us some time to get used to WMP & Winamp)

Download here.

How to install Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:57:00 +0000

Ubuntu - Humanity towards others.

Ubunchu: Manga about Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Mon, 11 May 2009 21:07:00 +0000

Ubunchu is a Japanese Manga comic of 3 school students in a system-admin club who are getting into Ubuntu.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Author: Hiroshi Seo
Original Language: Japanese

Thanks to the author Hiroshi Seo, two ubuntu-jp LoCo members (Fumihito Yoshida and Hajime Mizuno) and Doctormo. There are many translations available besides English for example(Spanish, French, Korean, Portuguese, Indonesia, Russian, Vietnamese, Hungarian, Serbian, Persian/Farsi & Asturian.) They are being updated for other languages as well, so if you can help, please help. Thank you.

To download them, click here.

Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 Countdown

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:21:00 +0000

I can't wait...

Ubuntu Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:12:00 +0000

Full Circle is an independent magazine for the Ubuntu Community and this is great for Ubuntu newbies or those who would like to try out Ubuntu or better, switch totally to Ubuntu. As all of you know, and for those who do not, Ubuntu is currently the leading open source operating system.

[You: What?]

Don't believe it, check it out in DistroWatch, or OsDisc.com.

[You: If it's that good, why is it free?]

Well, after being in this world where it's a dog eat dog world out there, I know we don't trust that we can get good things free. Folks, change your opinion and give it a try. It would not hurt, it takes few minutes to pop in the LiveCD and just try it out or easier, search for Ubuntu on YouTube and watch. There are many people that we should be grateful in the production of Ubuntu. Thanks to them, we get to enjoy Ubuntu.

Get your Full Circle Magazine from the official website in your preferred language.

*For those who would like to contribute by writing an article for Full Circle, click here for more information.

Ubuntu Live USB

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:51:00 +0000

Downloaded Ubuntu iso? Don't have a CD and you don't want to waste that precious DVD? Well, use your USB pen drive. Better of all, use an old 1GB pen drive and promote Ubuntu to your friends and keep as your rescue pen drive.
Follow the following tutorial:

1. Unetbootin
First of all, format your pen drive into FAT32 (usually most of them are formatted into FAT32.)
Partition them if you have a bigger size of pen drive or you don't have to as it will not overwrite your files so you could always place your files in a folder such as My Doc.

So if you want to delete your iso on pen drive delete the rest of the files except My Doc. Download Unetbootin from the official website. [It is available for Windows, Linux (source), Ubuntu, Debian, openSUSE & Gentoo.]
Then, choose Diskimage and search for the location of your Ubuntu iso.
Choose the drive that you will want to install and click ok.

And reboot with your pendrive plugged in.

*Make sure your bios is set to boot from USB
*It can be also used to create other Linux Live USB.

2. uSbuntu Live Creator

This is a cool USB Live Creator for Windows. Not only does this software boots like a live USB but it can also launch Ubuntu directly on Windows without configuration and installation using VirtualBox. Still wondering? Try it... It's easy and user friendly.

Download now here.

*Make sure your bios is set to boot from USB

3. Ubuntu Live CD
Using Ubuntu 8.10 Live CD you can create USB Live CD. Usually I'll use an empty CD-rw and burn the latest Ubuntu iso on it. Then boot Ubuntu Live CD and use the option to make Ubuntu Live USB from System administration menu.

4. Cd2usb

"cd2usb by hacktolive.org" a window software which is programmed to turn Ubuntu 8.10 from a Live CD or iso to Ubuntu USB Live.
To use this software is so easy, Download --> Extract --> Plug In Flash Drive--> Run cd2usb.bat --> Follow the instructions --> Poof your Ubuntu Live USB is done

Download it here.

Requirements:
*Windows PC (tested on XP and Vista)
*Flash drive with at least 800 MB of free space
*Flash drive must be in a FAT / FAT32 file system
*Ubuntu CD / Ubuntu ISO

Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Xubuntu?

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 10:31:00 +0000

Kubuntu (KDE)
If you have a better hardware such as 2GB RAM and a 2GHz of processor or Dual Core processor, then go on with it. It has better graphics and looks more like Vista with that additional bar on the right.
The application software are good looking and easy to use. Overall it has good performances and good looks. You can install Compiz and have additional graphics performance such as snow, rain, 3d cube, fire and more.
You can customize how your desktop looks which can never be found on other operating system except Linux and BSD.

Ubuntu(Gnome)
At least have more than 512MB Ram (I know it supports 256MB Ram but it's better if you use 512 if you want a smooth performance). It is the most stable and has large community support. If you can live with a little less graphic abilities and prefer stability, Ubuntu will be your favourite.
Applications are user friendly and you can always install KDE applications on your desktop. It might not look so good but it works well.

Xubuntu (XFCE)
It is the fastest and lightest OS compared to the other 2. It is advisable to install Xubuntu on old computers such as Pentium III with at least 128MB Ram. You still can install it on old computers with text installations (Live CD works with at least 192MB Ram) but it might not give a smooth performance. In that case try other lighter Linux available on the internet such as Crunchybang Linux, Vector Linux and others. Xubuntu is fast but not good looking at all unless if you install Compiz and use Emerald Theme Manager (not on old computers). Applications are fine except LAN Manager. Thunar (File Manager) doesn't come with a LAN Manager unlike Konqueror(Kubuntu) and Nautilus(Ubuntu) so you'll have to install an additional software and configuring might be necessary for certain software.

*None of the above videos are done by me. Thanks to the owners who shared it on YouTube.

Why Ubuntu?

noreply@blogger.com (BLeuwinter) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:35:00 +0000

There are many distros that you can choose from. Such as Debian (Ubuntu is based on Debian), Gentoo, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Knoppix, Sabayon and many more(Check it out on DistroWatch). There are too many to choose from so if you are confused, compare it here. If you're still with me, let me tell you the advantages of Ubuntu:

1. Stable
2. Free as in beer
3. It has the largest community support (trust me on this).
4. You could go to the forums to find or post problems & solutions or use irc to ask help from other people or help other people after you have gone through those problems.
5. Easy to add/remove software & it's free (You need internet for this).
6. Easy for a beginner. (Start from an easy distro, then if you want to move on further go for a harder but more customizable distro.
7. You get free CD posted to your address on request. (It's awesome for those without internet connection).
Don't wait, do it now:
*Download from the Ubuntu official page
*Get them for free from Ubuntu sponsors
*Buy them on Ubuntu store
*Buy them on OSdisc