Church Go Open Source

Install WebHTB on Ubuntu 10.04

2010-12-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

Assume here your Ubuntu LAMP, PHP5, have been running well.

1. Download webhtb "wget http://www.webhtb.ro/downloads/WebHTB_V2.9.bz2"

2. Extract to directory /var/www/ "sudo tar -jxvf WebHTB_V2.9.bz2 /var/www/"

3. Change directory ownership "sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/webhtb"

4. Activate SSL module on Apache2 "sudo a2enmod ssl"

5. Generate SSL key for apache2
"sudo apt-get install openssl ssl-cert"
"sudo mkdir -p /etc/apache2/ssl"
"sudo make-ssl-cert /usr/share/ssl-cert/ssleay.cnf /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem"

6. Create Virtual Host for Webhtb "sudo vim /etc/apache2/sites-available/webhtb"

NameVirtualHost *:443

      SSLEngine On
      SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.pem
    
      ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
      DocumentRoot /var/www/webhtb/
      
              Options FollowSymLinks
              AllowOverride All
      
      
              Options Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
              AllowOverride All
              Order allow,deny
              allow from all
      

      ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /usr/lib/cgi-bin/
      
              AllowOverride None
              Options +ExecCGI -MultiViews +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
              Order allow,deny
              Allow from all
      

      ErrorLog /var/log/apache2/error.log

      # Possible values include: debug, info, notice, warn, error, crit,
      # alert, emerg.
      LogLevel warn

      CustomLog /var/log/apache2/access.log combined
      ServerSignature On

7. Activate Virtual Host WebHTB "sudo a2ensite webhtb"

8. Reload your apache2 "sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload"

9. Install sysvconfig php5-cli php5-snmp "sudo apt-get install php5-cli php5-snmp"

10. Create startup script for WebHTB "sudo cp -r /var/www/webhtb/docs/webhtb /etc/init.d/"

11. Edit startup script "sudo vim /etc/init.d/webhtb" #search this line dir="/var/www/html/webhtb" and change into dir="/var/www/webhtb"

12. Make it executeable "sudo chmod u+x /etc/init.d/webhtb" "chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/webhtb"

13. Set your root password "sudo passwd root"

14. Browse from another computer to https://your-server-local-ip/setup/index.php
Insert:
* MySQL admin user: root
* MySQL admin password: yourrootpassword
* MySQL WebHTB user: "leave it blank"
* MySQL WebHTB password: "leave it blank"
* MySQL WebHTB password again: "leave it blank"
* MySQL WebHTB databasename: webhtb
* Default interface: eth1 ---> ## Your LAN interface

Now you can manage your internet bandwidth :
1. Add interface --- add your LAN interface
2. Create some class (This is a must!!)
>Class Name : Squid-DNS
>Bandwidth : 10240 (10Mbps)
>Limit : 10240
>Prio :0
>Que : SFQ (Stochastic Fairness Queeing)
3. Add client
>Choose class Squid-DNS
CLIENT : DNS-request
BANDWITDH : 128
LIMIT :128
SRC IP : DNS Server Local IP / Provider (to add more than one IP click Add new src)
4. Add your next client to your CLIENT Class and there you go!!!

Install Canon iP1980 on Ubuntu 10.04

2010-11-23T03:19:00.000-08:00

Back to another tips again today....
Yes... like the title, here's the step :
1. Download the Canon iP1980 driver from here and here
2. And now repackage it using "dpkg -i cnijfilter-common_3.00-1_i386.deb" and yes... it's said that the package needed libcupsys2... and Hey Canon!!!! That package is obsolete and have been changed by libcups2!!!! What a shame for a big company like Canon that didn't have time for updating their driver.
3. But it doesn't meant we giving up right!!! What we need now is just changing the dependency from Canon OLD DRIVER!!! we just have to remove the libcupsys2 and change it to libcups2
4. First of all you will need to extract the .deb to a temporary directory (tmpdir) "dpkg-deb -x cnijfilter-common_3.00-1_i386.deb tmpdir"
5. Then we are going to pull the control file that is located in the tmp/DEBIAN/ folder. This is where you will make your dependency changes "dpkg-deb --control cnijfilter-common_3.00-1_i386.deb"
6. Edit the control file using your favorite text editor "vim tmpdir/DEBIAN/control"
7. Just remove the "libcupsys2" and change it to "libcups2"
8. After edit the control file, now you can repackage it using "dpkg -b tmpdir new-name-of-package.deb"
9. Just do "dpkg -i new-name-of-package.deb"
10. Do the same thing with the cnijfilter-ip1900series_3.00-1_i386.deb.

For you guys who don't want to bother with the "repackaging issue" you guys can download the driver from here and here

Install HP Laserjet 1020 on Ubuntu 10.04 Server

2010-11-23T02:20:00.000-08:00

Wow.... after a frustrated day, finally i can install HP LaserJet on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.
Straight to the step!!!

1. Download the HPLip from here
2. Execute the file "sh hplip-3.10.9.run" then just choose automatic for the installation way then follow and answer nicely every question and command :).
3. After the re-plug (or if you fail or choose to restart, you could just run "sudo hp-setup -i" again) and choose usb (for me).
4. If the hp-setup asking for the plugin, just choose to download it and it will be downloaded automatically.
5. After the installation is finished, YOU MUST HAVE SWITCH-OFF AND THEN SWITCH-ON AGAIN your printer!!!! This is what i miss and make the headache all the day, after that just try to print a test page from your CUPS.

Hope to save your days guys, have a nice ministry....:)

Install Magic Mouse on Apple Bootcamp

2010-11-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Hello All,

I received my Magic Mouse and it works great under OSX but I couldn't get it working under Windows at all. Searching here and around the web, I've compiled a guide on how I got it working. Hopefully, Apple will release proper drivers in the future but for now, here is what I did:

1. Remove your Magic Mouse from your OS X bluetooth device (i don't know why Windows connected with my OS X)

2. On Windows Turn mouse off...if you have already tried installing, remove the device and then turn the mouse off. To remove it, open Start, type "Devices" and press enter. Select "remove device"...Now let's get started:

1) Update the Bluetooth Driver.
Open Device Manager.
Start > (Right Click Computer) > Properties. Click Device Manager in upper left of this window. Double click (Bluetooth Radios), Right click on "Generic Bluetooth" and select "Properties". Open the Driver tab and then select "Update Driver". Click "Browse my computer for driver software". On the next screen, towards the bottom, click on "Let me pick from a list of device drivers...". Uncheck "Show compatible hardware". Select "Apple" and then "Apple built in bluetooth". Done
(You don't have to do this step if you already installed Bootcamp 3.1)

2)In the notification area of the task bar, right click on Bluetooth icon and select "Add a device". Turn on your mouse. It will show up on screen. Right click on the mouse icon. Select Properties. Select the "Services" tab and check the "Drivers for keyboard, mice, etc". The mouse may disappear from the screen since it's been added.

3) Disable power management for Bluetooth Radio. Open device manager, open Bluetooth Radios and right click on "Apple Bluetooth". Select the "Power Management". Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

4) Mouse should be working in Windows 7/Vista now.

For addition if you want some hack for smoother experience on your magic mouse, UneasySilence have managed to hack the driver to make it run on PCs running any version of Windows from XP to 7, you can get it here for 32bit and 64bit
Next time if you want to connect your Magic mouse to your Windows or OS X, just power up your magic mouse and wait for 3 seconds, then just left click 4 times... and viola!! "It's just works!!!"

Reverse Proxy on Apache2

2010-10-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

What is reverse proxy?
According to Apachetutor reverse proxy is a gateway for servers, and enables one web server to provide content from another transparently

In what scenario it can be use?
Company example.com has a website at www.example.com, which has a public IP address and DNS entry, and can be accessed from anywhere on the Internet.

The company also has a couple of application servers which have private IP addresses and unregistered DNS entries, and are inside the firewall. The application servers are visible within the network - including the webserver, as "internal1.example.com" and "internal2.example.com", But because they have no public DNS entries, anyone looking at internal1.example.com from outside the company network will get a "no such host" error.

A decision is taken to enable Web access to the application servers. But they should not be exposed to the Internet directly, instead they should be integrated with the webserver, so that http://www.example.com/app1/any-path-here is mapped internally to http://internal1.example.com/any-path-here and http://www.example.com/app2/other-path-here is mapped internally to http://internal2.example.com/other-path-here. This is a typical reverse-proxy situation.

How do i enable Apache2 for proxy?
To enable Apache2 for proxy, you need to enable this modules :

mod_proxy: The core module deals with proxy infrastructure and configuration and managing a proxy request.
mod_proxy_http: This handles fetching documents with HTTP and HTTPS.
mod_proxy_ftp: This handles fetching documents with FTP.
mod_proxy_connect: This handles the CONNECT method for secure (SSL) tunneling.
mod_proxy_ajp: This handles the AJP protocol for Tomcat and similar backend servers.
mod_proxy_balancer implements clustering and load-balancing over multiple backends.
mod_cache, mod_disk_cache, mod_mem_cache: These deal with managing a document cache. To enable caching requires mod_cache and one or both of disk_cache and mem_cache.
mod_proxy_html: This rewrites HTML links into a proxy's address space.
mod_xml2enc: This supports internationalisation (i18n) on behalf of mod_proxy_html and other markup-filtering modules. space.
mod_headers: This modifies HTTP request and response headers.
mod_deflate: Negotiates compression with clients and backends.

After enabling those modules, we need to edit httpd.conf and insert line like these (do not forget to create the folder you specified below!!!) :

ProxyPass /news/ http://news_server.domain.lan/news/
ProxyPassReverse /news/ http://news_server.domain.lan/news/

And the final step is to edit our mods-enabled/proxy.conf :

ProxyRequest Off

Order deny,allow
Allow from all

ProxyVia On

How to FSCK - fix error LVM volume

2010-06-26T02:53:00.000-07:00

Boot from a CD
Boot from a CD with Ubuntu Desktop (or another desktop distro) on it, and run it from the CD. Then none of your filesystems are mounted, you can't run fsck on a mounted filesystem.

If you've used the Linux LVM to create your partitions, you'll need to make those accessible before you run fsck:

"lvm pvscan"
"lvm vgscan"
"lvm lvchange -ay 'NameOfYourVolumeGroup' "
"lvm lvscan"
Then you can run fsck:

"fsck -f NameOfYourVolumeGroup"

simply wait for the fsck process and boot into your Linux box again :)

Installing Zoneminder on Ubuntu 9.04 32bit & 10.04 32bit - The open source surveillance system

2010-05-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yes... you may have heard the Linux is going into CCTV world! On this tutorial we are going to
install zoneminder on Ubuntu 9.04 32bit.
Note that this walkthrough is taken from http://www.zoneminder.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_9.04_server_32bit with some modification due to update to ffmpeg module.
This also a solution to ffmpeg error on compiling zoneminder.We assume here you guys already installed the Ubuntu Server with LAMP and the SSH server if you guys want to do remote SSH,and change the IP of your server to static IP.

- Do the "apt-get update" and then "apt-get upgrade" to update your distribution to the latest
one.

- After that install webmin (optional), install sysvconfig: "apt-get install sysvconfig", enter; now
run it: "sysvconfig", enter , now choose "enable/disable", also
ensure webmin is checked if you want it; back to the main screen, hit "finished" to save; exit it;

- Ensure you had your capture card recognized, in my case i'm using Kodicom 8800 DVR card.
root@myhomeCCTV:/home/myhome# find /dev -name video*
/dev/video1
/dev/video7
/dev/video6
/dev/video5
/dev/video4
/dev/video3
/dev/video2
/dev/video0
/dev/.udev/names/video1
/dev/.udev/names/video7
/dev/.udev/names/video6
/dev/.udev/names/video5
/dev/.udev/names/video4
/dev/.udev/names/video3
/dev/.udev/names/video2
/dev/.udev/names/video0
root@myhomeCCTV:/home/myhome# lspci -v | grep Multimedia
04:08.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:08.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
04:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:09.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
04:0a.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:0a.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
04:0b.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:0b.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
04:0c.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:0c.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
04:0d.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:0d.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
04:0e.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:0e.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
04:0f.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
04:0f.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)

ZM Installation :
echo "/usr/local/lib" > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/ffmpeg.conf

echo "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/local/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH" >> /etc/bash.bashrc

echo "export LD_LIBRARY_PATH" >> /etc/bash.bashrc

ldconfig

aptitude install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r` automake perl libnetssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl libmd5-perl libmysqlclient15-dev libarchive-zip-perl libdate-manip-perl libdevice-serialport-perl libjpeg62 libjpeg62-dev libmime-perl libstdc++6 libwww-perl zlib1g zip unzip patch ntp openssl libpcre3-dev libssl-dev libjpeg-progs libcurl4-gnutls-dev munin munin-node libmime-lite-perl netpbm libbz2-dev subversion yasm

Install Perl Modules
type "perl -MCPAN -e shell", enter
(accept yes when prompted)
type "install CPAN", enter
(accept yes when prompted)
type "exit", enter
type "perl -MCPAN -e shell", enter
type "install YAML PHP::Serialization Module::Load X10::ActiveHome", enter
(accept yes when prompted,and yes again to fix dependencies problems if so)
type "exit", enter

FFmpeg & ZoneMinder from SVN
Install FFmpeg
cd /usr/src

svn checkout svn://svn.mplayerhq.hu/ffmpeg/trunk ffmpeg

cd ffmpeg

echo "Checked out external at revision 29318 - Checked out revision 18890" > xxx_SVN_info.txt

./configure --enable-gpl --enable-shared --enable-pthreads

make

make install

make install-libs

cd /lib

ln -s /usr/local/lib/libswscale.so.0
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libavformat.so.52
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libavcodec.so.52
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libavutil.so.50
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libavdevice.so.52
(all commands ran smooth, no broken symbolic links so far)

Install & Config ZoneMinder
cd /usr/src

svn co http://svn.zoneminder.com/svn/zm/trunk zm

cd zm

echo "Checked out revision 2887" > xxx_SVN_info.txt

./configure --with-webdir=/var/www/zm --with-cgidir=/usr/lib/cgi-bin --withffmpeg=/usr/src/ffmpeg CPPFLAGS="-D__STDC_CONSTANT_MACROS" ZM_DB_HOST=localhost ZM_DB_NAME=zm ZM_DB_USER=zmuser ZM_DB_PASS=zmpass --enable-debug=yes --withwebgroup=www-data --with-webuser=www-data

autoconf
(ok, outputs nothing here)

aclocal

automake
(now, the most important step, that takes about 3 minutes compiling)

make
(so far so good, lets now create the initial db; when prompted, use the **root
MySQL** password you created before;)

mysql -u root -p <> db/zm_create.sql

mysql -u root -p

grant select,insert,update,delete on zm.* to 'zmuser'@localhost identified by 'zmpass';

quit

make install

Post Install
Install Cambozola
cd /usr/src

wget http://www.charliemouse.com:8080/code/cambozola/cambozola-latest.tar.gz

tar -xzvf cambozola-latest.tar.gz

cp cambozola-0.70/dist/cambozola.jar /var/www/zm

Make sure ZoneMinder starts automatically
vim /etc/init.d/zm
#!/bin/sh
# description: Control ZoneMinder as a Service
# chkconfig: 2345 99 99
# Source function library.
#. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
prog=ZoneMinder
ZM_PATH_BIN="/usr/local/bin"
command="$ZM_PATH_BIN/zmpkg.pl"
start() {
echo -n "Starting $prog: "
$command start
RETVAL=$?
[ $RETVAL = 0 ] && echo success
[ $RETVAL != 0 ] && echo failure
return $RETVAL
}
stop() {
echo -n "Stopping $prog: "
$command stop
RETVAL=$?
[ $RETVAL = 0 ] && echo success
[ $RETVAL != 0 ] && echo failure
}
status() {
result=`$command status`
if [ "$result" = "running" ]; then
echo "ZoneMinder is running"
RETVAL=0
else
echo "ZoneMinder is stopped"
RETVAL=1
fi
}
case "$1" in
'start')
start
;;
'stop')
stop
;;
'restart')
stop
start
;;
'status')
status
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 { start | stop | restart | status }"
RETVAL=1
;;
esac
exit $RETVAL

Make /etc/init.d/zm executable:
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/zm

Make zm "automatic start on boot" -- Webmin -> System -> Bootup and Shutdown

Notes :
- There are some fix to also include support for Safari users or people surfing with the iPhone's built in Safari browser.Also, there is no need to do anything for Google chrome because its being detected as Mozilla\firefox.If you are using the JPEG streaming mode (Motion JPEG) with the browser Opera or Safari, or even using your iPhone, there is no reason to use cambozola because all those browsers support MJPEG natively.The problem: with ZM's CAN_STREAM setting set to "auto", ZM's auto detection believes those browsers don't support MJPEG, although they do.This is because ZM's auto detection is slightly outdated and this fix will update it.
You can do the changes manually or use the patch below.EDIT: If after this fix you experience flickering in Opera, here is how you fix it:
http://www.zoneminder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=61493
(or if you want the easiest way, you can download the
functions.php file from HERE, and overwrite the file function.php on /var/www/zm/includes/function.php)
- In file include/functions.php, change the following which is at around line 823 (May vary from installation to installation):
elseif (ereg( 'Opera ([0-9].[0-9]{1,2})',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],$logVersion))
to
elseif (ereg( 'Opera/([0-9].[0-9]{1,2})',$_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],$logVersion))
- In around line 876 (May vary from installation to installation),change:
function canStreamNative()
{
return( ZM_CAN_STREAM == "yes" || ( ZM_CAN_STREAM == "auto"
&& (isNetscape() || isKonqueror()) ) );
}
to
function canStreamNative()
{
return( ZM_CAN_STREAM == "yes" || ( ZM_CAN_STREAM == "auto" && (isNetscape
() || isKonqueror() || isOpera() || isSafari()) )
);
}

- In around line 840 (May vary from installation to installation),find this:
function isNetscape()
{
getBrowser( $browser, $version );
return( $browser == "mozilla" );
}
to
function isOpera() {
getBrowser( $browser, $version );
return( $browser == "opera" );
}
function isSafari() {
getBrowser( $browser, $version );
return( $browser == "safari" );
}

- For Kodicom KMC-8800 there's a fix, make a new file on /etc/modprobe.d/bttv.conf and place the option, for

for 1 card :
options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1
options bttv gbuffers=16 card=102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102 radio=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 tuner=4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4 chroma_agc=1 combfilter=2 full_luma_range=1 coring=1 autoload=0
for 2 card :
options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1
options bttv gbuffers=16 card=102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102 radio=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 tuner=4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4 chroma_agc=1 combfilter=2 full_luma_range=1 coring=1 autoload=0

- There's a issue with shared memory with my installation - i don't know if you guys got the same issue too, if so... just insert below line to /etc/sysctl.conf
vim /etc/sysctl.conf
then insert :
kernel.shmall = 134217728
kernel.shmmax = 134217728
to load this setting immediately
sysctl -p

- If you want to use another partition as storage just create a symlink from /var/www/zm/events to zoneminder default folder :
ln -s /path/to/your/partition /var/www/zm/events

Digital Surveilance with Zoneminder 1.23

2010-04-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

After several time our church congregation got stolen, we decide to upgrade our CCTV - yes we've been using the CCTV, but the quality is very poor (we seen the theft but the picture quality is very poor and the way to retrieve the recording isn't very comfortable - we've to search every single frame and there's no other way to skip it). Then we decide to upgrade the CCTV using computerize system which we find out will be doing more good for us.

My choice drop to Zoneminder, the fact of it being open source and it ran on LINUX also!!! has been always makes me believe we're not going wrong direction. As you guys know, we are non-profit organization and our budget come from the congregation, thats why we've to consider well every penny we spent and mostly because it ran on Linux which have been famous because of it's stability and robustness.

The hardware we choose this time is a set of computer (motherboard with onboard graphic card should be enough as we're going to install a server) and a DVR card - we choose Kodicom KMC-8800 8 channel DVR card.
Here is the list of supported hardware by Zoneminder

This time i choose Ubuntu 9.04 LAMP 32bit - Jaunty Jackalope as our base system. I'm not going to tell you guys about how to install it because the installation is pretty straight forward and well documented on internet. After the installation - make sure you guys give your server a static address, and change the repository to the local one (choose the closest one to you guys).

Once again!!! make sure you guys choose to install LAMP (Linux, Apache, mysql, PHP)!!!!

After that as usually, do some package update "sudo apt-get update" and the the upgrade "sudo apt-get upgrade" - install webmin to help us configure our system.

Now we're going to the install the zoneminder, installation is pretty straight forward also - we're going to make our life easier by installing it from debian repository "sudo apt-get install zoneminder" and if it asking for dependency fire up some command "sudo apt-get install -f" and try install the zoneminder again with "sudo apt-get install zoneminder".

After the installation progress is finish, try to link Apache with Zoneminder

"sudo ln -s /etc/zm/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/zoneminder.conf" and the reload apache "/etc/init.d/apache force-reload"

Notes :

For Kodicom KMC-8800 we've to make bttv.conf file on /etc/modprobe.d/ and write down

     options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1
     options bttv gbuffers=16 card=102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102 radio=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 tuner=4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4 chroma_agc=1 combfilter=2 full_luma_range=1 coring=1 autoload=0

   for 1 card - The 8 inputs are from /dev/video0 channel 0 to /dev/video7 channel 0, and

     options i2c-algo-bit bit_test=1
     options bttv gbuffers=16 card=102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102,102 radio=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 tuner=4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4,4 chroma_agc=1 combfilter=2 full_luma_range=1 coring=1 autoload=0

   for 2 card - The 16 inputs are from /dev/video0 channel 0 to /dev/video15
   channel 0.
   At this time it appears its not possible to install more than 2 cards of this card in the same computer, the computer will detect no more than 16 BT878 chips.

Install Final Cut Pro/Studio on Macbook

2010-04-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have facing some problem when installing Final Cut Pro on older Macbook white, yes the Final Cut Pro require us to have 128 MB of VRAM - As many of you know already, in many cases Apple's 'requirements' (and installer checks) for OS's, Apps, etc. are steeper than what the software will actualy run on (although not all features may work, or performance may be poor on some hardware).

The FCS 3 Install requirements lists "ATI or NVIDIA graphics processor (integrated Intel graphics processors not supported)" and "128MB of VRAM". They also list a higher minimum res (1280x800) display recommendation than FCS2 did (1024x768 min). And there's higher "requirements" listed for some apps like Color.

I copied the entire installation disk to my hard drive and deleted the installation check file from the FinalCutPro.mpkg file. (right click/"show package contents", etc.), and then go to "Content" - "Resources" and rename "Requirement Checker" file. Then the installer ran normally. After it was installed, I had to open up the applications' packages and change the "MRCheckPro.bundle" from the respective Contents/Resources folders (this is slightly different from older versions) with the one from here.
I should note that many newer Macbooks have more than 64MB shared VRAM, so people may not have to jump through these hoops on those models.
By the way, my experience with FCS 2 on this Macbook was that "almost" everything ran perfectly -- there were one or two filters (like "Bloom") that wouldn't render, but other than that, it was virtually indistinguishable from a Macbook Pro (and I should mention I have seen Mac Pros that couldn't render the Bloom filter either). I suspect this version will be similar...
Ok, have a great ministry with your Macbook.

Panasonic AG-MX70 DSK (Down Stream Keyer)

2010-04-09T03:55:00.000-07:00

Yes it's a bit confusing for the first time we using the DSK function on AG-MX70, me either need about one week to figure out how to set the DSK on AG-MX70.

Here's the step :
1. Connect the source of your DSK by using Composite or Component to "EXT IN" jack at the back of your AG-MX70 ("Key" for "Composite" and "Y Pb Pr" for "Component"
2. Next is the setup of your video mixer section, go to "Setup" setting by pressing the "Set up" button under the LCD and change the "Gen. Lock" -- "Ref In" into "Ext Key"
3. Next go to "DSK Fade" setting by pressing the "DSK Fade" button under the LCD and change the "DSK Source" -- "Key" into "EXT" and "Fill" into "BodMat" (this will make sure your text color match your desired color.
4. To change your text color just go to the "PATTERN" setting ("Mix" ussually for the church) by pressing the "Mix" button under the PATTERN setting , and change "Pattern Edge" -- "Color" into the color you want ("Yellow" for me).
Yes you can change the color into the color you desired.
5. To start using the DSK, send the text to mixer (i'm using Easy Woship from one computer connected to my video mixer by using S-Video to RCA cable custom build). The text must using black background.

I know the result of AG-MX70 is a litle bit crappy, and if your church have budget, just plan to buy one more video switcher with Chroma Key function other than using DSK function on AG-MX70 (There just a plain text with no shadow under it)

Installing Webmin on ubuntu

2010-04-01T10:17:00.000-07:00

Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any browser that support tables and forms (and Java for the File Manager module), you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, Squid, file sharing and so on.

Webmin consists of a simple web server, and a number of CGI programs which directly update system files like /etc/inetd.conf and /etc/passwd. The web server and all CGI programs are written in Perl version 5, and use no non-standard Perl modules.

Preparing Your System

You need to install the following packages

sudo apt-get install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl libmd5-perl

Install Webmin in Ubuntu

You can use the above procedure but if you want to install latest version of .deb package you can download from webmin site under Download Section

Download latest webmin using the following command

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.500_all.deb

Now we have webmin_1.500_all.deb package you need to install using the following command

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

If your server complains that there is some library things does not find. Just run the following command

sudo apt- get install -f

You should now be able to login to Webmin at the URL https://localhost:10000/

kTouch E329 Mac OS X Driver

2010-03-28T00:44:00.000-07:00

Yes, some of you may have been looking for ages - driver for kTouch E329 on MAC OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Yes after doing some searching and research, finally i got the driver. The installation is a bit tricky but overall it's not very hard.

Allright let's download the file here (make sure your kTouch E329 isn't connected to your Mac)

after installing the driver, now it's time to configure your phone :

1. Enter the engineering mode by pressing *#3641# (don't mess with anything else or you will break the phone).

2. Go to option no.6 "USB Switch".

3. And choose QSC (this will make sure every time you connect your phone, it automatically switch to "modem" mode.

after that connect your phone and there will be system preference window which asked you to configure your new modem.

choose kTouch E329 modem and use #777 as phone number and smart as username and password.

viola!!! now you have been connected

Notes : everytime you got asked when connecting your phone via USB repeat 1-3 step (configure your phone for QSC mode once again even though it's already QSC - just press "OK" on QSC mode. This is the bugs on this phone - hope the factory will repair it soon)

How to Install Webmin in Ubuntu

2010-02-05T22:50:00.000-08:00

Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any browser that support tables and forms (and Java for the File Manager module), you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, Squid, file sharing and so on.

Preparing Your System

You need to install the following packages

sudo apt-get install perl libnet-ssleay-perl openssl libauthen-pam-perl libpam-runtime libio-pty-perl libmd5-perl

Install Webmin in Ubuntu

You can use the above procedure but if you want to install latest version of .deb package you can download from webmin site under Download Section

Download latest webmin using the following command

wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.500_all.deb

Now we have webmin_1.340_all.deb package you need to install using the following command

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

If your server complains that there is some library things does not find. Just run the following command

sudo apt- get install -f

You should now be able to login to Webmin at the URL https://localhost:10000/

SIS191 ethernet chipset problem on ubuntu

2009-06-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

After 3 days struggling with Ubuntu 9.04 installation over one of our church desktop computer, finally we find the solution. (i'm using Asus P5S-MX SE motherboard which use SIS191 as it's ethernet chipset another computer which use the same chipset and probably get the same problem is Acer Aspire SA90)

The problem begin when i'm choosing to switch our church office desktop to switch to Ubuntu Linux 9.04, the installation going very smooth and everything seems going very well, but when i try to update the package manager... here's come the problem.. strangely the updater just like hangs... it can't get package from the internet... At first i assume that there's a network problem on our church.. but after do some investigation i find out that there's no problem with the network, and finally i try to do some network tools like ping, dig (to find out if there's a problem with my dns) and strangely.. everything just going well (the computer can ping and resolve domain name).
And finally after some reinstallations of Ubuntu 9.04 and some googling - i find out that there's a bug (i don't know if we've to call it a bug or problem with the SIS), the old kernel (2.6 kernel) just can't recognize the SIS191.

There's a solution for this problem on HowtoForge regarding to this problem, but it's just seems to complicated for regular users - so i decided to install some network card to my ubuntu (i'm using TP-Link PCI ethernet card which only cost me 4 bucks) and it's instantly recognized by Ubuntu and after that we do some upgrade to the distro, and viola.. it's just work again and we can remove the network card and use the onboard one.

Magazine for Audio Video on church

2009-04-26T23:54:00.000-07:00

After several checking on what's the best free magazine for church, my choices turn to Worship Facilities and Lighting and Sound America - the first one (Worship Facilities) focus on design, construction, operation and maintenance magazine for today’s house of worship. You guys can subscribe for free at their website - for international user you guys can subscribe from their online subscription form (subscription is free for qualified church), and the other one (Lighting and Sound International) focusing on the entertainment technology industry with intelligence, wit, and professionalism, which is applicable to church audio video technology (i believe most of latest audio video technology targeted on church and congregations nowadays), you guys can also subscribe for free from here.

For online magazine i also reccomend TV Technology, Christian Video Magazine, Christian Computing Magazine, Church Production Magazine.

Video DownloadHelper 4.0.2

2009-01-22T23:32:00.000-08:00

The easy way to download and convert Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites.
This works also for audio and picture galleries.

Long Description

DownloadHelper is a tool for web content extraction. Its purpose is to capture video and image files from many sites.

Just surf the Web as you are used to, when DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item

For instance, if you go to a YouTube page, you'll be able to download the video directly on your file system. It also works with MySpace, Google videos, DailyMotion, Porkolt, iFilm, DreamHost and others.

Since version 3.1, you can setup the extension to automatically convert the downloaded movies to your preferred video format.

When you are on a page containing links to images or movies, you can download some or all of them at once. Moving the mouse over the items in the menu will highlights the links directly in the page to make sure they are the ones you want to pick up.

DownloadHelper also allows you to download files one by one, so that you keep bandwidth to surf for other stuff to download.

To modify your preferences, like changing the download directory, right-click on the icon and choose "Preferences".

When you first install the extension, your browser is redirected to a welcome page with links to a user manual at http://www.downloadhelper.net/manual.php and a faq at http://www.downloadhelper.net/faq.php

This does not change your homepage setting and the welcome page won't appear anymore.

Support can be obtained from http://www.downloadhelper.net/support.php

Works with:

Firefox: 1.5 – 3.2a1pre

Download Link

FLV Extract

2009-01-22T23:25:00.000-08:00

Extracts video and audio from FLV files without decompressing or recompressing. The video is saved as AVI (H.263/FLV1 and VP6/VP6F) or raw elementary stream (H.264/AVC). The audio is saved as MP3, AAC (with ADTS headers), or WAV (PCM).

NOTE: If you simply want to convert FLV to AVI including audio, the FLV Input Plugin for VirtualDub (see below) is most likely a better choice. FLV Extract currently writes out separate video/audio files which you would have to join. Also, FLV Input Plugin is able to maintain synch in variable framerate videos by inserting drop frames. However, it doesn't yet support H.264 or AAC.

NOTE: The AVIs will not play unless you have the right decoders. ffdshow-tryouts can decode FLV1, VP6F, and H.264; make sure they're enabled in its configuration dialog.

NOTE: The extracted MP3s may appear to have an incorrect duration in your audio player. This is because FLV Extract doesn't generate a VBR header, but the files are perfectly valid nonetheless. To add a VBR header you can load an MP3 in foobar2000, right click on it, go to Utils, and click "Fix VBR MP3 Header".

Changes:

1.4.0 (2008-Nov-16):

Supports H.264/AVC, written as a raw elementary stream.
Supports AAC, written as .aac with ADTS headers.
Extracts VP6 alpha channel to a separate file.
Prompts before overwriting files.

1.3.0 (2008-Feb-26):

Added dialog that lists the status of all files, replaces the message box that was shown for each file.
Doesn't leave files open upon error.
Better handling of incomplete files.
Changed VP6 FourCC from FLV4 to VP6F.
A few fixes for rare files.

Download Link

K-Lite Codec Pack

2009-01-21T03:30:00.000-08:00

K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of codecs and related tools. Codecs are required to encode and/or decode (play) audio and video. The K-Lite Codec Pack is designed as a user-friendly solution for playing all your movie files. With the K-Lite Codec Pack you should be able to play 99% of all the movies that you download from the internet.

The K-Lite Codec Pack has a couple of major advantages compared to other codec packs:
- It it always up-to-date with the latest versions of the codecs.
- It is very user-friendly and the installation is fully customizable, meaning that you can install only those components that you really want.
- It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn't contain any conflicting codecs.
- It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies.

There are three versions of the K-Lite Codec Pack: Basic, Standard and Full.
• K-Lite Codec Pack Basic contains only the most essential things. It contains everything you need to be able to play the most popular and widespread formats. It is small enough to fit on a single floppy. Also great for including on your movie CDs.
• K-Lite Codec Pack Standard contains everything you need to play all the commonly used formats. This package should be enough for the average user.
• K-Lite Codec Pack Full contains even more codecs. It also has encoding support for the various formats. This package is for power users and people who do their own encodings.

Features of K-Lite Codec Pack 4.5.3 FULL version :

• Player :
- Media Player Classic [version 6.4.9.1 rev. 85]
- Media Player Classic Home Cinema [version 1.2.972.0]
• FFDShow :
- ffdshow [revision 2624]
- ffdshow VFW interface
- extra plugins
• DirectShow video filters :
- XviD [version 1.2.0 build 2008-01-10]
- DivX [version 6.8.5]
- On2 VP6 [version 6.4.2.0]
- On2 VP7 [version 7.0.10.0]
- MPEG-2 (Cyberlink) [version 8.1.0.1608]
- MPEG-2 (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4]
- MPEG-1 (MainConcept) [version 1.0.0.78]
• DirectShow audio decoding filters:
- AC3/DTS/LPCM/MP1/MP2 (AC3Filter) [version 1.51a]
- Vorbis (CoreVorbis) [version 1.1.0.79]
- AAC (MONOGRAM) [version 0.9.5.0]
• DirectShow audio parsers:
- MusePack (MONOGRAM) [version 0.9.1.2 | 0.3.1.2]
- WavPack (CoreWavPack) [version 1.1.1]
- FLAC (madFLAC) [version 1.8]
- Monkey's Audio (DCoder) [version 1.0]
- OptimFROG (RadLight) [version 1.0.0.1]
- DC-Bass Source [version 1.2.0]
- AC3/DTS Source (AC3File) [version 0.5b]
- AMR (MONOGRAM) [version 1.0.1.0]
• DirectShow source filters:
- AVI splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.9]
- AVI splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- MP4 splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- MP4 splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4]
- Matroska splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- Matroska splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.3.0]
- Ogg splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- Ogg splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.1]
- MPEG PS/TS splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4]
- MPEG PS/TS splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- FLV splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.5]
- CDXA Reader (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.2]
• DirectShow subtitle filter:
- DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter) [version 2.39]
- DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter) [version 2.33]
• Other filters:
- Haali Video Renderer [version 1.9.42.1]
• VFW video codecs:
- XviD [version 1.2.0 build 2008-01-10]
- DivX [version 6.8.5]
- x264 [revision 1024]
- On2 VP6 [version 6.4.2.0]
- On2 VP7 [version 7.0.10.0]
- Intel Indeo 4 [version 4.51.16.2]
- Intel Indeo 5 [version 5.2562.15.54]
- Intel I.263 [version 2.55.1.16]
- huffyuv [version 2.1.1 CCE Patch 0.2.5]
- YV12 (Helix) [version 1.2]
• ACM audio codecs:
- MP3 (Fraunhofer) [version 3.4.0.0]
- MP3 (LAME) [version 3.98.2]
- AC3ACM [version 1.4]
- Vorbis [version 0.0.3.6]
- DivX ;) Audio [version 4.2.0.0]
• Tools:
- Codec Tweak Tool [version 2.2.9]
- GSpot Codec Information Appliance [version 2.70a]
- MediaInfo Lite [version 0.7.7.8]
- VobSubStrip [version 0.11]
- GraphStudio [0.2.9.0]
- Haali Muxer
- FourCC Changer
- Bitrate Calculator

Changes from K-Lite Codec Pack 4.4.5 FULL to K-Lite Codec Pack 4.5.3 FULL :

- Updated Media Player Classic Homecinema to version 1.2.972.0
- Updated ffdshow to revision 2624
- Added option to use experimental MT version of ffdshow. That has better H.264 decoding performance on multi-core processors
- Updated Haali Media Splitter to version 1.9.42.1
- Updated Ogg splitter (Gabest) to version 1.2.972.0
- Updated MPEG splitter (Gabest) to version 1.2.972.0

Features of K-Lite Codec Pack 4.5.3 STANDARD version :

• Player :
- Media Player Classic [version 6.4.9.1 rev. 85]
- Media Player Classic Home Cinema [version 1.2.972.0]
• FFDShow :
- FFDShow [rev. 2624]
• DirectShow video decoding filters :
- MPEG-2 (Cyberlink) [version 8.1.0.1608]
• DirectShow source filters :
- AVI splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.9]
- AVI splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- MP4 splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- MP4 splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4]
- Matroska splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- Ogg splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- FLV splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.5]
- MPEG PS/TS splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.4]
- MPEG PS/TS splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
• DirectShow subtitle filter :
- DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter) [version 2.39]
• Other filters :
- Haali Video Renderer [version 1.9.42.1]
• Tools :
- Codec Tweak Tool [version 2.2.9]
- MediaInfo Lite [version 0.7.7.8]
- VobSubStrip [version 0.11]

Changes from K-Lite Codec Pack 4.4.5 STANDARD to K-Lite Codec Pack 4.5.3 :

- Updated Media Player Classic Homecinema to version 1.2.972.0
- Removed regular version of MPC
- Updated ffdshow to revision 2624
- Added madFLAC (version 1.8)
- Added CoreWavPack (version 1.1.1)
- Updated Haali Media Splitter to version 1.9.42.1
- Updated MPEG splitter (Gabest) to version 1.2.972.0
- Removed AVI splitter (Gabest)
- The "Auto-load VSFilter" setting for Haali Media Splitter is now enabled by default

Features of K-Lite Codec Pack 4.5.3 BASIC version :

- ffdshow [revision 2624]
• DirectShow source filters:
- AVI splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- MP4 splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- MP4 splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.5]
- Matroska splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- Ogg splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- MPEG PS/TS splitter (Haali Media Splitter) [version 1.8.122.18]
- FLV splitter (Gabest) [version 1.0.0.5]
• DirectShow subtitle filter:
- DirectVobSub (a.k.a. VSFilter) [version 2.39]
• Tools:
- Codec Tweak Tool [version 2.2.9]

Changes from K-Lite Codec Pack 4.4.5 BASIC to K-Lite Codec Pack 4.5.3 :

- Updated ffdshow to revision 2624
- Updated Haali Media Splitter to version 1.9.42.1
- The "Auto-load VSFilter" setting for Haali Media Splitter is now enabled by default

Important Note :

- The K-Lite Codec Pack works only on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.

Download Link

Smart Defrag 1.10

2009-01-21T02:04:00.000-08:00

Smart Defrag
The World’s Most Efficient Defragmenter

What’s the primary cause of slow/unstable PC performance? It’s disk fragmentation. Smart Defrag helps defragment your hard drives more efficiently than any other product on the market –– free or not.

This powerful, award-winning free defragmenter is 100% safe and clean with no adware, spyware, or viruses.

Key Benefits

Extremely Easy to Use

Install it and forget it. This powerful, free defragmenter works continuously, automatically and quietly in the background on your PC. Its intuitive interface makes Smart Defrag the ideal utility for complete computer dummies.

Exceptionally Efficient Defragmentation

Smart Defrag has the world’s fastest defragmenting engine. It’s been specially designed for modern, large hard drives, so it eliminates long waiting times.

Optimize Disk Performance

Smart Defrag doesn’t just use simple defragmentation. It also streamlines your file system, places the frequently used files and directories into the fastest area of the disk, enabling your computer to run at top speed with the most stability.

Always-on to Work Automatically

Smart Defrag works automatically and quietly in the background, so it continually and constantly keeps your computer fragment-free.

Data Safe and Reliability Guaranteed

Smart Defrag uses the commercial-level standard to move data and does not damage any file in your disk. Besides, unlike other "Automated" Defragmenters, Smart Defrag does NOT constantly perform analysis and defragment, which does damage your hard drive and shorten its life. Smart Defrag has a "Safe Intelligence" technology that can assure the health of your disk by deciding When and How to start defragmentation.

Free Defragmenter Forever

Smart Defrag is 100% freeware. Download, use, and update it absolutely free for your personal computers, business or enterprise servers –– it won’t cost you a penny.

Designed for Windows Vista, XP, 2000. and Windows 7

Download Link

Thunderbird - Best Email Client

2008-12-27T00:28:00.000-08:00

Still using old way to get your email inbox?
Now get your email to your computer and read it whenever you want without have to open your web browser.

Mozilla Thunderbird 2 is reloaded and more powerful than ever. It’s now even easier to organize, secure and customize your mail.

Keep Your Vital Information Organized

Thunderbird 2 features many new enhancements to help you better manage your unruly inbox, and stay informed. Thunderbird 2 scales to the most sophisticated organizational needs while making it easy to find what you need.

Advanced Folder Views

Thunderbird 2 offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages. As always, you can also set up RSS and newsgroup folders to stay on top of news and your interests. Thunderbird 2 also allows you to maximize your message view pane by opting for a folder drop down menu instead of the traditional sidebar.

Message Tagging

Thunderbird 2 allows you to “tag” messages with descriptors such as “To Do” or “Done” or even create your own tags that are specific to your needs. Tags can be combined with saved searches and mail views to make it easier to organize email.

Message History Navigation

Thunderbird 2 offers message history navigation that allows you to click “forward” and “back” much like in your Web browser. You can now quickly toggle between messages and folder views.

Improved Search

Thunderbird 2 features a find as you type pane that speeds up searches within displayed messages. Thunderbird also offers quick search, which starts showing search results as soon as you start typing in search terms.

Saved Searches

Do you find yourself searching for the same subject or message content over and over? Thunderbird 2 saves you time by allowing you to store this search as a folder. Rerunning the search is just a matter of clicking on the saved search folder in the folder pane.

Stay Informed

Thunderbird 2 has been updated to provide more informative and relevant message alerts containing sender, subject and message text for newly arrived messages. Folders provide a pop up summarizing new messages in that folder.

Easy Access to Popular Web Mail Services

Thunderbird 2 makes it even easier to integrate and use various Web mail accounts from one inbox. Gmail and .Mac users can access their accounts in Thunderbird by simply providing their user names and passwords.

Secure and Protect Your Mail

Mozilla has bolstered Thunderbird’s acclaimed security and privacy measures to ensure that your communications and identity remain safe. It’s like having your own security guard online.

Phishing Protection

Thunderbird protects you from email scams which try to trick users into handing over personal and confidential information by indicating when a message is a potential phishing attempt. As a second line of defense, Thunderbird warns you when you click on a link which appears to be taking you to a different Web site than the one indicated by the URL in the message.

Robust Privacy

Thunderbird 2 offers improved support for user privacy and remote image protection. To ensure a user’s privacy, Thunderbird 2 automatically blocks remote images in email messages.

Cutting Out the Junk

Mozilla has updated Thunderbird’s popular junk mail folders to stay ahead of spam. Each email you receive passes through Thunderbird's leading-edge junk mail filters. Each time you mark messages as spam, Thunderbird “learns” and improves its filtering so you can spend more time reading the mail that matters. Thunderbird can also use your mail provider's spam filters to keep junk mail out of your inbox.

Open Source, More Secure

At the heart of Thunderbird is an open source development process driven by thousands of passionate, experienced developers and security experts spread all over the world. Our openness and active community of experts helps to ensure our products are more secure and updated quickly, while also enabling us to take advantage of the best third party security scanning and evaluation tools to further bolster overall security.

Automated Update

Thunderbird’s update system checks to see if you’re running the latest version, and notifies you when a security update is available. These security updates are small (usually 200KB - 700KB), giving you only what you need and making the security update quick to download and install. The automated update system provides updates for Thunderbird on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux in over 30 different languages.

Get Your Mail, Your Way

Thunderbird allows you to customize your email to suit your specific needs whether it’s how you search and find messages or listening to music right out of your inbox.

Outfit Your Inbox

Thunderbird users can increase Thunderbird’s functionality and appearance using hundreds of add-ons. A Thunderbird add-on can let you manage contacts, place voice over IP calls, listen to music, and keep track of birthdates all from your inbox. You can even change the appearance of Thunderbird to suit your tastes.

Message Templates

Thunderbird 2 allows you to easily set up message templates to save you time – especially if you have to send the same mail message repeatedly.

Add-ons Manager for Extensions and Themes

The new Add-ons Manager improves the user interface for managing extensions and themes, making it even easier for you to customize Thunderbird 2. Install, uninstall, enable and disable your add-ons in a single place.

See Thunderbird Award

Firefox - The Best Web Browser

2008-12-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

With more than 15,000 improvements, Firefox 3 is faster, safer and smarter than ever before.

Three Distinct Firefox Advantages

1. Security
Main point:
• Firefox is the safest way to use the Internet.

Supporting points:
• We start with safety – We engage security experts before we even start development so we can identify and address potential problems before a single line of code is written.
• We build Firefox to be safe – Keeping people safe online is a big reason why Firefox exists. We take security very seriously, which is why we open our development process to allow security researchers to contribute at any point and on any topic. If a critical bug is discovered, we’ll make it public so it can be fixed as soon as possible.
• We actively work to keep Firefox safe – Security doesn’t stop once the product has shipped. We’re constantly monitoring threats and releasing new Firefox updates to stay ahead of the bad guys. Because we’re open source, we have an entire community of users around the world who help us make your web browsing safer.

Other Considerations:
• It’s important to give concrete examples of potential threats rather than just mentioning the abstract concept of “security”. People can easily relate to the ideas of identity theft, stolen credit cards, viruses, spyware and phishing, so explaining how Firefox helps prevent these things is key.
• Specific Firefox security features include anti-phishing and anti-malware protection, one click site ID, protection from spyware, automatic security updates and more.
• The reality is that there are people out there who want to steal your personal information. That’s why we’re constantly refining Firefox with security updates every 6-8 weeks (and more often if a fix is needed to address a critical issue) to stay one step ahead.
• The main reason Firefox is safer is because of our open process, which allows us to identify, acknowledge and fix bugs more quickly than the competition.

2. Customization
Main point:
• When it comes to web browsing, we believe that one size doesn’t fit all.

Supporting points:
• Firefox has the most ways to customize your online experience specifically for the way you use the web.
• Add-ons (small pieces of software that augment Firefox to meet your unique needs) enhance the browser so you can be more productive, have more fun and be more creative online. For example, you can use the 3000+ Firefox add-ons to:
- communicate and stay in touch
- find the best shopping deals
- listen to music
- protect your kids from inappropriate sites
- access the latest news and weather reports
- and much more…
• There are also many different themes that let you express yourself by decorating your browser in a variety of ways.

Other considerations:
• The key challenge is getting people to think about the browser in a new way…that it’s more than just a utility. The browser isn’t just a static window to the Internet, it can be an active part of the Internet itself.
• It’s important to demonstrate the specific benefits of add-ons…the message isn’t customization, it’s why customization makes people’s Internet experiences better.
• It’s also important to remember the audience here…for consumer messaging, we want to focus on add-ons that are easy to explain and have the broadest possible appeal. In other words, this means referencing ones like eBay, FotoFox, FoxyTunes, etc rather than the more developer-centric ones.
• Using a familiar, non-technical analogy to convey a fairly technical concept is a very effective way of communicating the role add-ons can play in your web experience. For example, using add-ons is like designing your living space at work or building with blocks.

3. 100% Organic Software
Main point:
• Firefox is good for you: it stands for openness, innovation and freedom on the Internet.

Supporting points:
• We’re a public benefit, not-for-profit organization devoted to enriching people’s lives by preserving choice and innovation on the Internet (as opposed to being motivated by profits, shareholder value, usage of proprietary technology, etc.)
• We’re a global, grassroots effort – Mozilla’s products are a result of a collaboration between employees, volunteers, universities, foundations and corporate partners. Firefox was created by an international movement of hundreds of thousands of people from wildly different backgrounds, all seeking to develop the world’s best browser.
• Open source means a better browser for the 200 million regular Firefox users. We open up our process to anyone and everyone in order to encourage the innovation and development of exciting new technologies that will keep pushing the web forward and making it a better place for all.

Other considerations:
• The “100% organic software” concept sums up a fairly complex situation using a metaphor people can easily recognize. Organic stands for something that’s better for you, something trusted, something of higher quality…all key ingredients of Mozilla and Firefox.
• We need to focus less on the technical aspects of open source, which is hard for people to understand, and concentrate more on the tangible user benefits – innovation, accessibility, freedom, a better web, etc – to reach more potential users.
• A great example of the power of open source is the fact that Mozilla only has roughly 175 employees, yet is able to compete with some of the biggest companies in the world because of our amazing international community.
• Although the 100% organic concept really applies to the Mozilla organization as a whole, for our consumer messaging we need to show how this process ties back in to Firefox…the organic nature of our software development has created a healthier, higher quality browser that makes the web better for you.

See Firefox Awards

Open Office - open source replacement for Microsoft Office

2008-12-26T23:41:00.000-08:00

OpenOffice.org, now released in its long-awaited 3.0 version, is a free, open-source replacement for Microsoft Office—and the first and only application suite that can be seriously considered to be a substitute for the massive power and flexibility of Microsoft's suite. OpenOffice.org used to look clunky and work slowly, but the 3.0 version, which I tested in its final Release Candidate version (RC4), is sleek and fast. It still retains the essential look and feel of Microsoft Office 2003 and earlier versions, instead of imitating the new ribbon interface of Office 2007, but that's a plus for many users who want as much continuity as possible when switching to a new application. OpenOffice.org doesn't include all of Office's features, but it adds some conveniences that Office can't provide, such as built-in PDF export and a single interface for opening and editing word-processing documents, HTML files, worksheets, presentations, and drawings.

For governments and corporations that don't want to be dependent on Microsoft's formats and don't want to continue paying Microsoft's prices, OpenOffice.org 3.0 is a serious contender. If you're a private individual or small business already using Microsoft's product, I doubt you'll want to switch, but if your company or agency has been buying Office for thousands of desktops, or if you work for or with a government that requires open-source formats, download OpenOffice.org and don't look back.

OpenOffice.org 3.0 has six basic components: Writer, a word processor and HTML editor; Calc, a spreadsheet; Draw, a graphics editor; Impress, a presentations program; Math, an equation editor; and Base, a database application. When evaluating the product, though, I wasn't really aware of six separate programs, because all document types open in the same window, just with slightly different menus on the top line. The only exception is the Base application, where the form and query designer has created a separate interface—you work with the actual database forms, however, in the same window that you use for the other applications.

I like the way the interface hews closely to the familiar Microsoft Office 2003 standard, and it places some features more logically, so that, for example, headers and footers are on the Insert menu instead of the View menu. I'm less impressed with the word processor's view options. These are limited to a Web view (in which the text fills the window and there's no indication of what the text will look like on a printed page) and a full-page view, complete with top and bottom margins and a quarter-inch-thick gray bar between each page. There's no equivalent of a Word option that that preserves page layout on screen but doesn't waste space or add distractions by showing top and bottom margins. Nor will you find a matching capability for a powerful and little-known feature in Word that lets you view different parts of a document in two panes of the same window.

In OpenOffice.org's spreadsheet, I missed the graphic flexibility of Excel's conditional formatting, but I managed well enough with the low-frills, 20th-century conditional-formatting features. And I liked the simple elegance of the charting—it's almost as elegant as the charting in Google Docs—but got frustrated by uninformative error messages that told me nothing more than "This function cannot be completed with the selected objects." I was also disappointed that the charting feature was a lot less clever than Excel's in figuring out which columns to use as labels and which to use as data, but the resulting problems were easy enough to fix.

Compared with earlier versions, OpenOffice.org 3.0 marks an impressive, though uneven advance in features and performance—with some features potentially far in advance of the corresponding features in Microsoft Office. For example, when you insert a graphic in a word-processing document or HTML, you can attach automated actions to specific events that are related to the graphic. Clicking on the graphic will cause some programmed action, such as typing some text or opening a new window, to be performed automatically. In the Release Candidate version I couldn't get this feature to work reliably: Some of the supplied macros and some of my own recorded macros would run correctly, while others wouldn't, and I couldn't see any pattern to the success or failure.

Overall, I found performance to be impressively fast, on a par with that of Microsoft Office but with some limitations. On a Vista system with 4GB of RAM and a fast dual-core processor, I had to wait a surprisingly long time for the charting module to update a simple chart when I changed a display option. But file loading and saving, in all parts of the application, was almost instantaneous.

One attractive feature of OpenOffice.org is that it's the only major application suite that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux with almost exactly the same feature set on all platforms. Microsoft stripped out support for Visual Basic macros when it created Microsoft Office 2008 for the Macintosh, but OpenOffice.org now offers limited Basic support in all versions, including a shiny new Macintosh one that runs natively as an OS X application. Earlier versions of OpenOffice.org for the Mac required the user-unfriendly X11 environment. A third-party OS X port called NeoOffice is also available, but it's always a few minor versions behind.

Earlier releases of OpenOffice.org used annoyingly cramped and uninformative dialog boxes better suited to the limited screen real-estate of nineties-era computers than today's generous screens. Version 3.0 tends to use more spacious and informative dialogs, but they're still not informative enough. For example, I had to dig deep into the help file to figure out what "Register-True" means in the Paragraph Format dialog (it means that the bottom of each line of type will be aligned to an invisible page grid).

The Help system looks as if it's rich in details, but in fact, some cross-references lead nowhere. The help page about the new version's very limited support for Office-style Visual Basic for Applications programming has a promising-looking link to a page on the "Basic IDE" (Integrated Development Environment)—but when I clicked on the link, it took me to a page containing a few sentences about programming OpenOffice.org and nothing at all about the Basic IDE. No doubt some of this will be fixed in the shipping version or in future updates.

For anyone thinking of switching from Office to OpenOffice.org, the biggest question is, How well will OpenOffice.org handle your old Office documents and worksheets? The answer is, astonishingly well, even with the new Office 2007 formats—but only when the original document includes no features that OpenOffice.org doesn't support. For example, I was deeply impressed by the way OpenOffice.org retained all the complex formatting and embedded images of a newsletter that I had originally created in Word. Every page break and column break was exactly where it belonged—a feat I hadn't seen in any other Office alternative. Inserted graphics in formats like JPEG and BMP imported perfectly. But OpenOffice.org ignores any Office 2007 Smart Art or any of the scalable line-art created by Office's drawing feature.

Similarly, OpenOffice.org managed to open most—but not all—the features in my spreadsheet-killer worksheet, a prize-winning monster created by former PC Magazine technical editor Ben Gottesman. OpenOffice.org displayed the complex chart and data without a hiccup, although it choked on the complex Excel pivot table in the original, and it didn't even try to convert it into the OpenOffice.org equivalent, called DataPilot.

PowerPoint presentations opened equally well if the original files were in the Office 2003 file format. OpenOffice.org could open presentations in the Office 2007 format, but Office 2007 presentations aren't officially supported, and the Office 2007–format presentations that I imported into OpenOffice.org had defective formatting and missing data. When I exported the same 2007-format presentations from PowerPoint 2007 into the Office 2003 format, OpenOffice.org opened them perfectly.

I don't plan on switching to OpenOffice.org 3.0 anytime soon, if ever. But for the first time, I'm ready to recommend this new version as a viable alternative to Microsoft's offering. It still has rough edges, but it has an impressive feature set, a generally lucid interface, pure open-source credentials, and—in the current economic climate—the decisive advantage of being absolutely free.

By Edward Mendelson

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Audacity

2008-12-24T21:32:00.000-08:00

About Audacity

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

Recording

Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.

Record from microphone, line input, or other sources.
Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings.
Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware).
Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording.

Import and Export

Import sound files, edit them, and combine them with other files or new recordings. Export your recordings in several common file formats.

Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files.
Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files) with libmad.
Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library.
Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to CD.
Import and export all file formats supported by libsndfile.
Open raw (headerless) audio files using the “Import Raw” command.
Note: Audacity does not currently support WMA, AAC, or most other proprietary or restricted file formats.

Editing

Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps.
Very fast editing of large files.
Edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks.
Use the Drawing tool to alter individual sample points.
Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.

Effects

Change the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa.
Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises.
Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects.
Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects.
Other built-in effects include:
- Echo
- Phaser
- Wahwah
- Reverse

Sound Quality

Record and edit 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit (floating point) samples.
Record at up to 96 kHz.
Sample rates and formats are converted using high-quality resampling and dithering.
Mix tracks with different sample rates or formats, and Audacity will convert them automatically in realtime.

Plug-Ins

Add new effects with LADSPA plug-ins.
Audacity includes some sample plug-ins by Steve Harris.
Load VST plug-ins for Windows and Mac, with the optional VST Enabler.
Write new effects with the built-in Nyquist programming language.

Analysis

Spectrogram mode for visualizing frequencies.
“Plot Spectrum” command for detailed frequency analysis.

Free and Cross-Platform

Licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and GNU/Linux.

Screenshot

source: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

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Pidgin

2008-12-24T02:24:00.000-08:00

Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a multi-platform instant messaging client. The software has limited support for many commonly used instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to log into various different services from one application.

The number of Pidgin users was estimated to be over 3 million in 2007. Released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Pidgin is free software.

Pidgin supports multiple operating systems, including Windows as well as many Unix-like systems such as Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and AmigaOS (through the X11 engine). It is notable for its support for multiple instant messaging protocols. It has built-in support for NSS, offering client-to-server message encryption for protocols that support it. The program is extendable through plugins, including "Off-the-Record Messaging" and Pidgin encryption, providing end-to-end message encryption.

Pidgin features some of the standard tools for an instant messaging client, such as tabbed conversations, a Contact list, file transfer on supported protocols, and conversation and chat logging.

Tabbed conversations is an optional feature on Pidgin. The IM window consists of the message window, formatting tools, and an edit box.

Contacts (usually known as "Buddies") are added by the "Buddy List" window or by the IM window. As a client that supports IRC and other chat programs, it can also add different IRC channels and IM Chats. Contacts with multiple protocols can be grouped into one single contact instead of managing multiple protocols and contacts can be given aliases as well or placed into groups.

To reach users as they log on or a status change occurs (such as moving from "Away" to "Available"), Pidgin supports on-action automated scripts called Buddy Pounces to automatically reach the user in customizable ways.

Pidgin supports some file transfers, with the ability to pause, resume, and cancel transfers and observe multiple transfers in a separate window, lacking more advanced features like folder sharing from Yahoo. However, when used through the MSN protocol, file transfers are slow, as data is routed through MSN servers to the receiver, instead of utilizing a faster peer-to-peer functionality. A Google Summer of Code project aimed to add peer-to-peer functionality in 2007. Support for MSNP15 was added in version 2.5.0 but did not include support for peer-to-peer transfers.

Further features include support for themes, emoticons, spell checking and notification area integration.

Supported protocols

Bonjour (Apple's implementation of Zeroconf)
Gadu-Gadu
Internet Relay Chat
Lotus Sametime
MySpaceIM
.NET Messenger Service (commonly known as MSN Messenger or Windows Live Messenger) (no multimedia support)
Novell GroupWise
OSCAR (AIM/ICQ/.Mac)
QQ
SIMPLE
SILC
XMPP (Jabber, Google Talk)
Yahoo! (only basic chat and file transfers)
Zephyr

source: http://en.wikipedia.org

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CCleaner

2008-12-24T01:48:00.000-08:00

PC WORLD Editor's Review of CCleaner

Somewhere under the layers of software detritus, your PC is vigorous and eager to work. CCleaner searches through a number of programs and removes useless files. It's highly configurable, allowing you to select which problems to look for and which items to ignore.

Many cleaners scrub out just your browser cache or your temporary files folder, but CCleaner goes further. It cleans temporary files from common third-party applications as well. The vendor's list of cleaned programs includes Adobe products (Flash Player, Photoshop, and Reader to name a few), Ad-Aware SE, eMule, Firefox, Google Toolbar, Kazaa, Microsoft Office, Nero, Norton Antivirus, OpenOffice, Real Player, WinAce, Windows Media Player, WinRAR, WinZip, and Google, Windows Live, and Yahoo Toolbars.

CCleaner goes beyond the basic wash and polish with extra mini-tools. A registry scanner removes old and unused entries, including ActiveX Controls, fonts, installers, shared DLLs, fonts, help files, application paths, icons, unused file extensions, and invalid shortcuts. CCleaner also includes an uninstaller and a list of deletable startup entry keys (the latter is something you'll want to evaluate carefully before removing a mystery key that turns out to be helpful.)

Note: CCleaner includes an optional Yahoo toolbar that you may choose to install along with the program. Installing this toolbar may trigger alerts from some antispyware programs. CCleaner's makers assert that CCleaner is spyware-free. This file is donationware. If you donate a certain amount (ten pounds sterling or 20 USD at the time I write this) through the vendor's site, the vendor pledges to send you links to all new releases before they're publicly available for download.

--Laura Blackwell

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