Playing MP3 on Linux (MP3 Plug-ins for Fedora)

2009-07-07T06:34:00.001-07:00

Getting APT
If you don’t yet have APT installed, get it now, because it’s going to make your life a lot easier. If you’re using RH4 or FC3, you can download it from the DAG website at http://dag.wieers.com/packages/apt/. (Read more about DAG in the sidebar “Dig DAG.”)
Dig DAG
DAG is part of a new file repository network known as RPMForge, which includes FreshRPMS, dries, DAG and PlanetCCRMA. Not only does this network provide the added packages that you need for multimedia and all kinds of other good stuff, but it also serves as a FC3 update mechanism for the base operating system. Once you have this version of APT, updates are a breeze. Issuing apt-get update; apt-get upgrade from the command-line will bring your system completely up-to-date.
At the time of this writing, the latest version of APT was apt-0.5.15cnc6-4.1.fc3.rf.i386.rpm, but grab whatever is the latest one available for FC3.
If you’re using Firefox as your web browser, click on “Tools, Downloads, Open” and click on the APT RPM file. Follow the prompts to install the package on your system. If you aren’t signed in as the root user, the Fedora package manager prompts for the root password.
If you’re using RH4, make sure to download the file made specifically for that distribution. There are some other gotchas for RH4; for more information, see the sidebar “Configuring APT for Red Hat Enterprise Linux.”
Configuring APT for Red Hat Enterprise Linux
If you’re using Red Hat Enterprise Workstation 4 (RH4) and the RH4 version of DAG’s APT package, some of the APT sources for RPMForge are commented out, such as the ones for “OS,” or operating system updates for Fedora Core 3. Do not enable the FC3 OS updates, because it could corrupt your RH4 install.
Having said that, you can enable the regular DAG FC3 feed in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dag.list as follows:### Dag RPM Repository for Fedora Corerpm http://apt.sw.be fedora/3/en/i386 dag### Dag RPM Repository for Red Hat Enterprise Linuxrpm http://apt.sw.be redhat/el4/en/i386 dag
Here, both the FC3 and RH4 repositories are enabled. If you don’t turn both of them on, you won’t get access to some of the extra multimedia goodies built originally for FC3. Capiche?
I Want My MP3!
Now that APT is installed, open a terminal window, become root, and issue the following (rather long) command:# apt-get install xmms xmms-mp3 xmms-wma xmms-flac xmms-aac xmms-skins mpg321 lame grip rhythmbox
This installs the X Multimedia System, the MP3, Flac, AAC, and WMA extensions for XMMS, a command-line MP3 decoder, the lame MP3 encoder engine, Grip, a GTK+- based CD ripper and MP3 encoder program, and Rhythmbox, an MP3/CD jukebox program with iPod connectivity. All of these should show up in your respective KDE and GNOME menus under “Sound and Video.”
XMMS in and of itself has a lot of extra add-ons available, so if you want all of those as well, run apt-get install synaptic. Synaptic is a GUI-based front end to APT, and allows you to do visual searches on names of packages. If you do a search on xmms, you’ll see all the extra stuff you can add in.

Windows Secret Tips

2009-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Note : To get the latest Tips & Tricks abouts Windows visit the discussion forum section and register there to set updated on new links .
To fully reap this Manual you need to have a basic understanding of the Windows Registry If you wants to know the basic of registry then go to Registry Tips page of this site.
Important Note: Before you read on, you need to keep one thing in mind. Whenever you make changes to the Windows Registry you need to Refresh it before the changes take place. Simply press F5 to refresh the registry and enable the changes. If this does not work Restart your system.
google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);
1) Disabling Display of Drives in My Computer :
This is yet another trick you can play on your geek friend. To disable the display of local or networked drives when you click My Computer go to :
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Now in the right pane create a new DWORD item and name it NoDrives. Now modify it's value and set it to 3FFFFFF (Hexadecimal) Now press F5 to refresh. When you click on My Computer, no drives will be shown. To enable display of drives in My Computer, simply delete this DWORD item. It's .reg file is as follows:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDrives"=dword:03ffffff
2) Pop a banner each time Windows Boots :
To pop a banner which can contain any message you want to display just before a user is going to log on, go to the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinLogon
Now create a new string Value in the right pane named LegalNoticeCaption and enter the value that you want to see in the Menu Bar. Now create yet another new string value and name it: LegalNoticeText. Modify it and insert the message you want to display each time Windows boots. This can be effectively used to display the company's private policy each time the user logs on to his NT box. It's .reg file would be:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"LegalNoticeCaption"="Caption here."
3) Secure your Desktop Icons and Settings :
You can save your desktop settings and secure it from your nerdy friend by playing with the registry. Simply launch the Registry Editor go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
In the right pane create a new DWORD Value named NoSaveSettings and modify it's value to 1. Refresh and restart for the settings to get saved.
4) Deleting System Options from the Start menu :
You can actually remove the Find and Run options from the start menu by performing a simple registry hack. Again like always Launch the registry editor and scroll down to the below key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Right-click on the right pane and select New, DWORD Value. Name it NoFind.(To remove the RUN option name it NoRun). Double-click the newly create DWORD to edit it's value and enter 1 as its value. This will disable the FIND option of the Start Menu and will also disable the default Shortcut key(F3 for Find.)
To restore the Run or find command modify the value of the DWORD to 0 or simply Delete the DWORD value.
google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad);
5) Cleaning Recent Docs Menu and the RUN MRU :
The Recent Docs menu can be easily disabled by editing the Registry. To do this go to the following Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
Now in the right pane, create a new DWORD value by the name: NoRecentDocsMenu and set it's value to 1. Restart Explorer to save the changes.
You can also clear the RUN MRU history. All the listings are stored in the key:
HKEY_USERS\.Default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RunMRU
You can delete individual listings or the entire listing. To delete History of Find listings go to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Doc Find Spec MRU and delete.
6) Other Similar Useful Tricks :
Launch Regedit and go to the following Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies
Under this key, there will definitely be a key named explorer. Now under this explorer key we can create new DWORD values and modify it's value to 1 in order to impose the restriction. If you want to remove the Restriction, then you can simply delete the respective DWORD values or instead change their values to 0. The following is a list of DWORD values that can be created under the Explorer Key-:
NoDeletePrinter: Disables Deletion of already installed Printers
NoAddPrinter: Disables Addition of new Printers
NoRun : Disables or hides the Run Command
NoSetFolders: Removes Folders from the Settings option on Start Menu (Control Panel, Printers, Taskbar)
NoSetTaskbar: Removes Taskbar system folder from the Settings option on Start Menu
NoFind: Removes the Find Tool (Start >Find)
NoDrives: Hides and does not display any Drives in My Computer
NoNetHood: Hides or removes the Network Neighborhood icon from the desktop
NoDesktop: Hides all items including, file, folders and system folders from the Desktop
NoClose: Disables Shutdown and prevents the user from normally shutting down Windows.
NoSaveSettings: Means to say, 'Don't save settings on exit'
DisableRegistryTools: Disable Registry Editing Tools (If you disable this option, the Windows Registry Editor(regedit.exe) too will not work.)
NoRecentDocsHistory: Removes Recent Document system folder from the Start Menu (IE 4 and above)
ClearRecentDocsOnExit: Clears the Recent Documents system folder on Exit.
Nolnternetlcon: Removes the Internet (system folder) icon from the Desktop
Under the same key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/CurrentVersion/Policies you can create new subkeys other than the already existing Explorer key. Now create a new key and name it System. Under this new key, system we can create the following new DWORD values(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):
NODispCPL: Hides Control Panel
NoDispBackgroundPage: Hides Background page.
NoDispScrsavPage: Hides Screen Saver Page
NoDispAppearancePage: Hides Appearance Page
NoDispSettingsPage: Hides Settings Page
NoSecCPL: Disables Password Control Panel
NoPwdPage: Hides Password Change Page
NoAdminPaqe: Hides Remote Administration Page
NoProfilePage: Hides User Profiles Page
NoDevMgrPage: Hides Device Manager Page
NoConfigPage: Hides Hardware Profiles Page
NoFileSysPage: Hides File System Button
NoVirtMemPage: Hides Virtual Memory Button Similarly, if we create a new subkey named WinOldApp, we can add the following DWORD values under it(1 for enabling the particular option and 0 for disabling the particular option):
Disabled: Disable MS-DOS Prompt
NoRealMode: Disable Single-Mode MS-DOS.

Windows@Linux

Playing MP3 on Linux (MP3 Plug-ins for Fedora)

Windows Secret Tips