Mohammed Sameer's Online Aggregator

All about Linux - Tue, 28/10/2008 - 7:07am
Download the full version of Crossover office and Crossover games for Linux and Mac. And get a legit serial number with one year support thrown in for free. Just for today. Courtesy: Codeweavers.

All about Linux - Sun, 12/10/2008 - 5:11am
Beautiful wallpapers for normal monitors are dime a dozen. In fact you will find links to quite a collection of wallpapers right on this blog. So what is unique about this set of wallpapers you might ask.

The USP of this collection is that it is optimized and targeted at portrait monitors ...

All about Linux - Fri, 10/10/2008 - 4:01am
Recent advances in storage technology has made it possible to literally carry all your data in your pocket. Kingston - one of the major global players in the USB storage and memory market with more than 2,000 memory products in its offing, has unveiled a 32GB USB flash drive called "DataTraveller 150".

All about Linux - Mon, 06/10/2008 - 3:38am
Yesterday - October 5 2008, Linux turned 17 years old. That is one year short for attaining adulthood if Linux were a human being. Seventeen years is no mean feat in the life of an operating system. Come to think of it, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, OS/2, all lasted only for a few years before they were superseded by their more mature counterparts. ...

All about Linux - Thu, 11/09/2008 - 7:41am
A recap of all the articles related to Ubuntu on this blog.

All about Linux - Wed, 10/09/2008 - 5:41am
Debian team is infamous for sticking to hard to remember names for each of its releases. Thankfully, they have stuck to one theme while naming the distribution releases - that of the "Toy Story" movie. Each release is named after a character in the Toy Story movie....

All about Linux - Mon, 08/09/2008 - 11:36pm
Your favorite Linux and Open Source blog has gained a new commenting system. It will be in a test phase for some time before it will be made a permanent feature of this blog.

All about Linux - Thu, 04/09/2008 - 12:56pm
Konqueror Tip : A handy tip in KDE's Konqueror web browser to surf the web using only the keyboard. Read on ...

All about Linux - Wed, 02/07/2008 - 2:41am
Statistics show that Adobe's Flash is installed in a whooping 98% of computers connected to the internet. Using Flash, a web developer is able to give his imagination a free reign and build gorgeous multimedia intensive albeit equally functional sites.

All about Linux - Sat, 21/06/2008 - 4:00pm
Would you like to own the "Guiness Book of World Records Certificate" in your name for being a part of Firefox history ? Then look no further because the good guys at Mozilla are providing a personalized copy of the certificate in your name - free for download.

All about Linux - Sat, 21/06/2008 - 2:26pm
On June 17th 2008, Firefox decided to set the Guiness Book of World Record for the most downloaded software in 24 hours. Mozilla foundation urged its users the world over to update their browsers by downloading the latest version namely Firefox 3. And the response was so massive on the D-Day that, there was an outage at the Mozilla data center for several hours. Once the servers were back online, the downloading continued and Firefox set the world record well within the 24 hours.

The record is 15,067,570 downloads (15 Million). Country wise, USA tops the list with a whooping 4 million + downloads. Surprisingly, sans the US, relatively small countries like Iran and France clocked more downloads than its larger counterparts like India and China.

If you are one of the people who downloaded Firefox on June 17th, then congratulations !!; You are a part of the Guiness Book of World Records. And the people at Firefox are ever too grateful to forget your valuable contribution.

So go ahead and download your own personalized Guiness Book of World Records Certificate (Ahem ... Firefox 3 Download Day Certificate that is) for helping set the record. Here is mine shown below.

All about Linux - Thu, 19/06/2008 - 11:00pm
OpenSUSE has released its latest version aka 11.0 today. This version contain cool innovations and new features. Some of them being inclusion of KDE 4.04, a brand new themed installer, latest Linux kernel (2.6.25.4) and a slew of features specific to OpenSUSE.

All about Linux - Thu, 19/06/2008 - 12:30pm
OpenSUSE has released its latest version aka 11.0 today. This version contain cool innovations and new features. Some of them being inclusion of KDE 4.04, a brand new themed installer, latest Linux kernel (2.6.25.4) and a slew of features specific to OpenSUSE.

For a list of new features, read the release notes. And check out the screenshots of the installer to get an idea on how easy it is to install on your machine.

All about Linux - Wed, 18/06/2008 - 4:32pm
After 15 long years of active development, Wine software which makes it possible to run native Windows applications, has reached it's milestone 1.0 version. What are the features of this new stable release of Wine you ask ? Well, one of the prerequisites of the version 1.0 release ...

All about Linux - Wed, 18/06/2008 - 3:26pm
After 15 long years of active development, Wine software which makes it possible to run native Windows applications, has reached it's milestone 1.0 version. What are the features of this new stable release of Wine you ask ? Well, one of the prerequisites of the version 1.0 release, I am told, was that it should be able to run Adobe Photoshop CS2 flawlessly in Linux. And that has been achieved. Check out if and how far your favorite Windows application works in Wine by visiting the Wine Application Database.

You can download the binary packages or the source at the WineHQ website.

All about Linux - Sun, 15/06/2008 - 7:45am
A NASA engineer answers one of the age-old questions every kid has: What happens when you go to the bathroom in outer space? A little insight into zero-gravity toilet design.

All about Linux - Sun, 15/06/2008 - 2:36am
A NASA engineer answers one of the age-old questions every kid has: What happens when you go to the bathroom in outer space? A little insight into zero-gravity toilet design.

All about Linux - Fri, 13/06/2008 - 2:24am
Opera releases its newest version of web browser namely ver 9.50. And it comes with a slew of new features. Check out the enticing features built into Opera web browser 9.5. For once you are sure to get hooked.

All about Linux - Fri, 13/06/2008 - 1:07am
Opera has released yet another version of its flagship web browser by the same name. It comes with unique features, many of which are not yet available on alternate web browsers out of the box.

I have always found using Opera to be a pleasant experience. Some of the new features found in Opera are as follows :

1. Opera Link : For the very first time, all your bookmarks, speed dial and notes taken in Opera web browser will follow you around where ever you go. You can even access them from your mobile phone. The catch being you have to be using an Opera web browser. Opera provides space on their server to store your bookmarks and other settings which makes this possible.
2. Quick Find : Opera keeps track of not only the web addresses you visit but also words from pages you have visited. So if you do not remember the web address but remember a word on the web page, typing it in the address bar will let you zero in on the exact web page.
3. Better fraud protection.
4. A sharper skin.
   

Opera also claims that -
It’s faster, lighter and pushes us further out in front of other browsers, by blending the mobile and desktop worlds together in new and powerful ways.But let the end users be the people who decide that. Why not visit Opera and download the latest version namely 9.5 and take it for a spin ? For all you know, you might get hooked to yet another fabulous web browser.

All about Linux - Thu, 05/06/2008 - 1:57am
MySQL is a small, fast and highly configurable DBMS. It supports a number of different table file formats, depending on the requirements of the user. These are the main MySQL clients and processes (mysqld)...

All about Linux - Thu, 05/06/2008 - 12:30am
MySQL is a small, fast and highly configurable DBMS. It supports a number of different table fileformats, depending on the requirements of the user.

These are the main MySQL clients and processes (mysqld):

• mysqld - MySQL server daemon
• safe_mysqld - Server process monitor
• mysqlaccess - Tool for creating MySQL users
• mysqladmin - Utility for administering MySQL
• mysqldump - Tool for dumping the contents of a MySQL database. Useful for backing up a database from within the console.
  
• mysql - Command line interface to MySQL
• mysqlshow - List all MySQL database
• Mysql Administrator - This is a GUI tool which makes administering mysql database a painless task. Read more about it here.
  

Field Types in SQL

INTEGER - A whole number
VARCHAR(10) - Up to 10 characters.
CHAR(10) - Fixed number of characters
DATE - A date
DATETIME - Date and time
FLOAT - Floating point numbers

Field Types specific to MySQL

TEXT - Allows up to 65535 characters
DECIMAL(10,2) - Up to 10 digits before the point, 2 after.

Create a database

$ mysqladmin --user=ravi --password=xxx create database addressdb

Using the database

$ mysql --user=ravi --password=xxx
mysql> USE addressdb

Create a table

mysql> CREATE TABLE p_addr (i INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,address TEXT,email VARCHAR(30),pincode DECIMAL(10),phone DECIMAL(15),website TEXT);

Add a column called "name" to the table

mysql> ALTER TABLE p_addr ADD name VARCHAR(30);

Inserting values into table

mysql> INSERT INTO p_addr VALUES (1,"My, present, address","ravi@localhost",681024,2122536, "http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com","Ravi");

List the contents of the table

mysql> SELECT * FROM p_addr;

Delete a row from the table

mysql> DELETE FROM p_addr WHERE i=1;

Rename a column in the table from "address" to "home_address"

mysql> ALTER TABLE p_addr CHANGE address home_address INTEGER;

Note: You cannot use this method to rename a column which is a primary key.

Change an existing record in the table

mysql> UPDATE p_addr SET name="Sumitra" WHERE i=2;

Delete the table from the database

mysql> DROP TABLE p_addr;

List the databases

$ mysqlshow --user=ravi --password=xxx
+-----------+
| Databases |
+-----------+
| addressdb |
| myblog    |
| mysql     |
| test      |
+-----------+

List the tables in the database "addressdb"

$ mysqlshow --user=ravi --password=xxx addressdb

Database: addressdb
+---------+
| Tables  |
+---------+
| p_addr  |
| mytble  |
| phonebk |
+---------+

These are only a subset of the commands in mysql. But this will be enough for creating and maintaining a simple database.

All about Linux - Mon, 02/06/2008 - 1:51am
Would you like to receive a free DVD of Oracle's Unbreakable Linux shipped to the location of your choice ? Then don't miss the chance. Because Unbreakable Linux is an enterprise class Linux distribution with truck loads of features ....

All about Linux - Mon, 02/06/2008 - 12:02am
First it was Ubuntu and now it is Oracle's turn. That is right; here is a wonderful chance to get yourself a DVD set of Oracle's Unbreakable Linux. Essentially Unbreakable Linux is Red Hat Enterprise Linux sans the Red Hat trademarks.

Oracle claims Unbreakable Linux delivers enterprise-class support for Linux with premier backports, comprehensive management, cluster software, indemnification, testing and more, all at significantly lower cost.

Fig: Enter your email id and a password.

Fig: Enter your name and address.

To order your Free DVD of Oracle Unbreakable Linux with free shipping and all, visit this page and click the "Register Now" button. If this is your first visit to the Oracle website, you will have to create an Oracle account. Next enter your shipping address which is the address to which you would like to receive the DVD set and press "Submit". That is it. Oracle will ship you a brand new DVD set of Unbreakable Linux.

All about Linux - Fri, 23/05/2008 - 3:04pm
Screen is a full-screen window manager for the console, that comes with every flavour of Linux and UNIX. It is best known for multiplexing a physical terminal across several processes. By using it, you can run any number of console-based applications within a single terminal.

All about Linux - Fri, 23/05/2008 - 2:30pm
Screen is a full-screen window manager for the console, that comes with every flavour of Linux and UNIX. It is best known for multiplexing a physical terminal across several processes. By using it, you can run any number of console-based applications within a single terminal.
For example, suppose I want to run the 'top' program to keep track of the system load, edit my programming code and check my mail at the same time ... Usually, I have to open at least 3 terminals to do all this. But by using the screen utility, I can run all these programs at the same time in the same physical terminal. Another great feature of this wonderful utility is its ability to decouple the terminal emulator from the running program, which ensures your job is running even if you accidentally close your window, or in case you log out. After detaching, you can reconnect once again to the same session and regain control over the running jobs.
Here I will explain how to use this utility.
1) First open a terminal (eg: xterm if you are in X windows) and type :

$ screen

2) Screen starts and creates a new single window with a shell, pretty much like what you had before. The path name of the shell is taken from the $SHELL variable. New windows can be created within the same physical terminal using the screen commands.
3) Now that you have started screen in a terminal, suppose you want to run the 'top' program to check the System load and at the same time you want to compile a program too - Also you would like to switch between the two to see the progress made by both.
For that, first execute the first program to be run (say 'top'). now 'top' will start in the terminal.
Now open a new window in screen by pressing the '[Ctrl + a] c' - which I will state as 'C-a c' . This will create a new window in the same terminal. Here, you can give commands to compile your program.
In screen, each window is given a unique identifier. The first window is numbered 0, the next window is 1 and so on. Now to switch between your 'top' and the compiling program, you can use the key 'C-a 0' and 'C-a 1' respectively.
You can also associate names with each running window - use 'C-a A' to give a name to the current window.
Here are a few other commands that might come in handy while toggling between various running windows :

• 'C-a p' and 'C-a n' can be used to switch to the next or previous window respectively.
• 'C-a N' - where N is the number from 0 to 9, that can be used to jump to the corresponding window.
• 'C-a w' displays a list of all windows. The unique ID of each window with its name and running process is displayed, for each window. The current window is marked with an asterisk(*).
• 'C-a k' - can be used to kill the current window. You can also type 'exit' to kill the current window. If no more windows are open, then screen exits. 'C-a \' also does the same thing.
• 'C-a d' - detaches the present screen session. You can also detach by closing the terminal running your screen utility. Though, this appears to close your terminal session, in reality this does not happen. It only unbinds your session from the current terminal. All the programs started under screen will still keep running.
  

You can also log out from the machine and re-login. Then start any terminal session and type 'screen -r' to once again be connected from where you left.
In case, there were more than one screen sessions running on the machine, Screen prompts for a host.tty.pid.
For example, say I have two screen sessions. So when I type 'screen -r' command, it gives the following message:

$ screen -r
There are several suitable screens on:
 2999.pts-6.localhost  (Detached)
 1920.PTS-6.localhost  (Detached)
Type "screen [-d] -r [pid].tty.host" to resume one of them.

Choose the proper tty.host to connect to and you are controlling your program again. You can also share your screen session with others like using VNC . Imagine you are having a problem with your code and want to share it with your boss who is located in another office. You can use screen to share your session with your boss, and he can see what you are referring to. The first user starts his screen in a normal fashion and executes the following commands ...

User1:
[Ctrl-A]:multiuser on [RET]
[Ctrl-A]:acladd 

The second user starts a new screen session and connects it to the first session using ...

User2:
screen -x 

There are lots and lots of features in Screen other than those that were described here. To know more about Screen, visit the Official Screen Home Page. You can also find a very good introductory tutorial at Kuro5hin.org.

All about Linux - Wed, 21/05/2008 - 1:11am
Of course you know what open source and Free software means. Or else you wouldn't be visiting this blog and reading its articles in the first place. But it is always nice to get the point of view of a main stream media. And if the media in question is the BBC, then it gets all the more sweeter.

All about Linux - Tue, 20/05/2008 - 11:30pm
Of course you know what open source and Free software means. Or else you wouldn't be visiting this blog and reading its articles in the first place. But it is always nice to get the point of view of a main stream media. And if the media in question is the BBC, then it gets all the more sweeter.

I have been an avid fan of BBC's technology program called 'Click' formerly known as 'Click Online'. In the last episode, Spencer Kelly - the Click presenter shows how you can build a fully functional working machine for nothing. BBC has published an article by Kelly called "The open source alternative" which gives an insight into how open source software can enrich our computing lives for zilch. The article also has a short interview with Paul Allen who is the editor of Computer Active magazine.

Read the article at bbc.co.uk.

All about Linux - Wed, 14/05/2008 - 11:43pm
It is yet time for another major release of Fedora Linux. The latest avatar of Fedora namely version 9 is code named Sulphur. If you are piqued by the strange names of Fedora, then you should read this article to get a better perspective. So what is in store for all Fedora fans out there ? Quite a few things really.

All about Linux - Wed, 14/05/2008 - 11:19pm
It is yet time for another major release of Fedora Linux. The latest avatar of Fedora namely version 9 is code named Sulphur. If you are piqued by the strange names of Fedora, then you should read this article to get a better perspective. So what is in store for all Fedora fans out there ? Quite a few things really.

For starters, Fedora has got what is known as PackageKit. This is a cross distribution package management solution which has a complete Yum backend. Then Fedora ships with the latest and greatest Gnome Desktop namely version 2.22. KDE 4.0.3 is also in the repository and can be installed by the hard core KDE fans. But the greatest news is that Fedora now ships with the Sun's Java as Sun has released Java under an open source license. To know the full set of features, read this article which explains all the features in more detail.

And after reading through the features, if you are excited enough (which you will be), then visit the download page and start downloading your favorite Linux distribution aka Fedora 9 Sulphur.

All about Linux - Fri, 09/05/2008 - 4:15pm
Qt is a cross platform application development framework which is widely used for the development of GUI and non-GUI programs. Some of the most visible products which have been developed using Qt are KDE, Opera web browser, Google Earth, Skype and Photoshop Elements just to name a few.

All about Linux - Fri, 09/05/2008 - 4:00pm
Qt is a cross platform application development framework which is widely used for the development of GUI and non-GUI programs. Some of the most visible products which have been developed using Qt are KDE, Opera web browser, Google Earth, Skype and Photoshop Elements just to name a few. Some of the pertinent reasons for using Qt are -

One: Qt library is released under a dual licensing business model which means you can develop open source or closed source applications. If you are developing the former, then you do not have to pay any money for using the library.

Two: It is truly cross platform - which filters down to the fact that you can write the code for your application in one platform - say Linux, and then copy the code to Windows and recompile the code without making any changes and your application is guaranteed to run on Windows.

Three: Cellphone behemoth Nokia's recent acquisition of Trolltech has definitely infused fresh breadth and energy into the future of Qt. The latest version of Qt namely version 4.3 has a lot of enhancements which make developing GUI applications using this library a joy for most C++ programmers.

"C++ GUI Programming with Qt4" authored by Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield; published under the Prentice Hall Open source software development series is well into its second edition. This book is touted as the "Official book on Qt from Trolltech".

The main goal of this book is to teach how to write GUI programs using Qt4 and is targeted at the entry level to intermediate and advanced C++ programmer. So it starts off on a shallow curve, hand holding the reader from the first rudimentary steps in writing a simple C++ GUI program using Qt4. And over the chapters, gradually builds up steam and introduces the reader to complex scenarios such as creating plugins, 3D graphics, application scripting and more. Going through the book, I didn't feel like I was studying a programming framework rather I found the language used in explaining things quite lucid, clear and interesting all the same.

The book is divided into three parts. A new programmer in Qt will find the first part really useful because it covers the fundamental concepts and practices required for programming in Qt. The second and third part of this book comprising of 12 and 7 chapters respectively deal with specialized topics and can be read in any order. For example, if I want to build a GUI program which needs to connect to a database at the back end, then I can straight away read the 13th chapter namely "Databases", of this book provided I am conversant with Part I of this book which covers the foundation of programming in Qt 4.

The second edition of this book builds up on the first edition and contains numerous changes. For one, a couple of additional chapters have been included such as "Look and Feel Customization" and "Application Scripting". The book has been thoroughly revised to include changes incorporated in Qt 4.2 and Qt 4.3. The original "Graphics" chapter has been split into 2D and 3D graphics chapters respectively. The tiny chapter on Embedded Programming has been expanded to include programming in Qtopia, thus making it not tiny anymore.

What I really like about this book is the realistic examples which are used to introduce each Qt control or concept. There are plenty of images scattered within, which impart visual appeal to the book. More over, these images hopefully give the reader an idea about the correct way of designing their software.

Going through this book, I find that the authors have explained different scenarios of developing programs in Qt 4 exhaustively without overwhelming the reader. Each program is split into digestible chunks of code with detailed explanation succeeding them. This makes it quite easy to understand what each line of code accomplishes.

The appendixes contain a new section namely "Introduction to Qt Jambi". Qt Jambi is the Java edition of the Qt application development framework. Apart from that, there are of course the other sections in the appendix namely installing Qt, building Qt applications and also a concise section listing the main nuances of programming in C++ for Java and C# programmers.

One thing I noticed is that the hard bound book I received did not have a companion CD containing the Qt library and the IDE used to design your applications. Then again, one can always visit the Trolltech site and get the Qt 4.3 library and applications which is available as a free download. Even better, if you are developing your Qt applications in Linux then it is very simple to install all the necessary libraries depending upon the Linux distribution you are using.

All in all, this is a great book not just for any neophyte in Qt but also for the accomplished Qt programmer to use as a ready reference.

Book Specifications
Name : C++ GUI Programming with Qt4 - Second edition
ISBN No : 0-13-235416-0
Authors : Jasmin Blanchette & Mark Summerfield
No of pages : 720
Publisher : Prentice Hall
Price : $ 59.99 (US), $ 65.99 (Canada)
Rating : 9/10

All about Linux - Tue, 06/05/2008 - 4:37pm
A regular reader of this blog would be aware of mini Linux PC's which fit on the palm of your hand and which is targeted at end users. Now what would you say if I told you that there exists a miniature Linux PC which is targeted at the Military ?

All about Linux - Tue, 06/05/2008 - 4:30pm
A regular reader of this blog would be aware of mini Linux PC's which fit on the palm of your hand and which is targeted at end users. Now what would you say if I told you that there exists a miniature Linux PC which is targeted at the Military ?

No Kidding! There is indeed such a PC and its name is "Engineering Development Kit" (EDK) which is a 7-10 pound computer that targets small ground, naval, and air vehicles. And believe it or not, it has a whooping 100 Gigaflops of processing power. The PowerBlock 50 measures 4.1 x 5.3 x 5.8 inches, with a seven-pound shipping weight, and a weight of less than 10 pounds fully configured, says Mercury.

Linuxdevices.com has the full scoop on this story.

All about Linux - Tue, 06/05/2008 - 4:04pm
Which Linux user wouldn't know about the venerable Slackware ? The same one which has been elevated to cult status through the efforts of a single person Patrick Volkerding. Over all these years when flashy Linux distributions like Ubuntu rule the roost, Slackware has been successful in retaining its followers.

All about Linux - Tue, 06/05/2008 - 4:00pm
Which Linux user wouldn't know about the venerable Slackware ? The same one which has been elevated to cult status through the efforts of a single person Patrick Volkerding. Over all these years when flashy Linux distributions like Ubuntu rule the roost, Slackware has been successful in retaining its followers. Nay, Slackware user group comprises of a passionate set of Linux users who are keen on configuring their Linux box the old fashioned way namely editing plain text files. And these users have invariably mastered the art of configuring their Linux OS inside out.

A long time back, I had reviewed Slackware 11.0 and I found it every bit classic Linux and really took a liking to it. In fact, after I installed Slackware on my machine, I used to use it most of the time even though I had a couple of other Linux distributions installed on my machine too.

If you negate the latest versions of the packages that are bundled with Slackware 12.1, I believe not much has changed as far as installing it on your machine and configuring it. To know what are the changes in this new release, do read the official announcement.

All about Linux - Mon, 05/05/2008 - 2:11am
Suppose you are required to create a 10 GB partition on your server running Linux, you have got two options namely :
Create a partition from the unpartitioned space on your machine or
Add a new drive.

All about Linux - Mon, 05/05/2008 - 1:55am
Suppose you are required to create a 10 GB partition on your server running Linux, you have got two options namely :

• Create a partition from the unpartitioned space on your machine or
• Add a new drive.
  

If you are opting for the latter then it is a simple thing of plugging in the new drive, letting the system detect it, using a partitioning tool to create the requisite partition, formating the newly created partition and finally mounting it. But if it is the former namely, creating a partition from unpartitioned space, then the task gets a bit trickier.

Joey Prestia explains the exact steps needed to add a new partition to an existing system. The task can be broken down into the following steps :

1. Determine what partitions need to be created and where.
2. Create the partitions (I use 'fdisk' here but any Linux disk partitioning tool should work)
3. Re-read the partition table either with 'partprobe' or by a reboot
4. Make a filesystem on the partition, label it, and create the necessary mount points
5. Add the appropriate entries to '/etc/fstab' so the partitions are mounted upon reboot
   

Check out Joey's notes to know the exact commands used to accomplish the above tasks.

All about Linux - Sun, 04/05/2008 - 4:14pm
I am sure any Ubuntu user will swear by the fact that it is a piece of cake getting multimedia to work in Ubuntu. In fact Ubuntu walks a fine line in ensuring that the users who are passionate about freedom and those who are keen on functionality are provided for.

All about Linux - Sun, 04/05/2008 - 4:05pm
I am sure any Ubuntu user will swear by the fact that it is a piece of cake getting multimedia to work in Ubuntu. In fact Ubuntu walks a fine line in ensuring that the users who are passionate about freedom and those who are keen on functionality are provided for.

But playing encrypted DVDs is a bit trickier. Tech-recipes.com provides a simple way of enabling DVD playback in Ubuntu.

In fact there are just two simple steps namely,

$ sudo apt-get install totem-xine libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdread3

and

$ sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh

All about Linux - Sun, 04/05/2008 - 2:01pm
I have been asked by many people to explain the file system hierarchy in Linux because they find the file system in Linux quite different from what they are used to in Windows. To put it simply, it can be visualized as a tree with its roots and all.

All about Linux - Sun, 04/05/2008 - 1:53pm
I have been asked by many people to explain the file system hierarchy in Linux because they find the file system in Linux quite different from what they are used to in Windows. To put it simply, it can be visualized as a tree with its roots and all. At the top of the hierarchy is invariably the root path which is represented by '/'. All other directories are created beneath this root path. And each of the sub directories have a specific purpose. For example, '/etc' contain the configuration files, the '/opt' directory is used to install third party software, '/boot' contain the grub files and the Linux kernel and so on.

Today I came across this very beautiful image which explains the Linux file system in lucid detail at linuxconfig.org.

Fig: Linux file system hierarchy

All about Linux - Fri, 02/05/2008 - 3:04pm
No matter what OS I am running on my machine, one thing I really like to do is, adorn my desktop with is a beautiful, aesthetic, less distracting and pleasing to the eye wallpaper. I like my wallpapers to be vivid with colors but at the same time not be an eye sore. Nature, animals, abstract art, blue swirls ... are all my favorites.

Here are a couple of links which collectively have literally 100s of wallpapers of different hues, colors and designs. All of them are eye catching and quite a few are actually stunning. But I will let you be the judge of that.

• 218 HD Resolution Desktop Wallpapers for Nerds - This is a collection of wallpapers which are literally stunning. I do like the ones by Hamad Darwish who claims to be one of the few photographers commissioned by Microsoft in 2005 to shoot photos to be used in Windows Vista's Wallpaper Collection.
• Social wallpapering - This is a community effort to classify, rank, and distribute high resolution images for use as computer wallpaper.
• Wallpaper images - And if you are a nature lover and like to swoon at flowers, leaves, pebbles, rocks, vegetables, fruits and what not, then this is the right place to be. Mike Swanson is a technical evangelist for err... Microsoft and he has made available his entire collection of wallpapers as a free download.
  

The best news is that you do not need to have explicit permission of Microsoft to use these wallpapers on your Linux desktop ;-) .

All about Linux - Thu, 01/05/2008 - 4:32pm
XML also known as eXtended Markup Language is a language created to structure, transport and store data or information. But that is the most simple explanation. In reality, there is much more to the semantics of XML. When you embark on the path to mastery of XML, you invariably come across terms like XLink, Namespace, DTD, Schema and so on.

To get a fair idea on what XML stands for, check out the following article which explains XML in 10 points. It took me just 10 seconds to read through the article. Put in a nutshell, these are the main points sans the explanation -

1. XML is for structuring data
2. It looks a bit like HTML
3. It is text, but isn't meant to be read
4. It is verbose by design
5. XML is a family of technologies
6. XML is new, but not that new
7. It leads HTML to XHTML
8. XML is modular
9. XML is the basis for RDF and the semantic web
10. It is license-free, platform-independent and well supported.
    

All about Linux - Thu, 24/04/2008 - 2:16pm
The next major release of Ubuntu has taken place. The new name being Hardy Heron. It is released as a Long Term Support (LTS) version. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop edition is supported till year 2011 (3 year support) and the server version is supported till 2013 (5 year support).

Some of the features that will be big draw for any Linux enthusiast are as follows :

• Wubi Windows Installer - This allows any Windows user to install Ubuntu on their hard disk without any partitioning what so ever and run it from a folder in the 'C:\' drive. It allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way.
• Enhanced security via SELinux
• Integration with Microsoft Active Directory
• Support for KVM out of the box. KVM, or kernel-based virtual machine, is a device driver and userspace component for Linux that utilizes hardware virtualization extensions such as Intel's VT to create virtual machines running on a Linux host.
  

You can read the main features of the Desktop edition of Ubuntu Hardy Heron here.

If you are as excited as I am in this new release, then choose a mirror close to your geographic location and start downloading this excellent Linux distribution. On the other hand, if you already have Ubuntu installed, you can also upgrade following the steps detailed here.

All about Linux - Sun, 20/04/2008 - 8:07pm
The following is a list of about 100 of the best open source applications, that actually help make Linux more usable for people. This list aims to show potential Linux users that there is really a pile of large, effective, productive and usable range of free, Open Source applications. This list tends to lean towards tools which are invaluable in web development related work.

Read the whole list of 100 open source applications. You will definitely find some very useful applications which you did not know existed.

All about Linux - Thu, 17/04/2008 - 12:46pm
I once read a book called "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey which explains the qualities that a person has to imbibe to be highly successful in life. It is a great book which provides inspiration to people to act and make positive changes in their lives.

Guess what, Rami Taibah has compiled a set of 7 habits that Linux users can use to be highly effective which makes a great read. The list goes as follows :

1. Never login as root - This is redundant if you are using a Linux distribution such as Ubuntu which uses sudo to elevate a user temporarily to super user mode. Nevertheless a valid point.
2. Properly name your files - I usually stick with that but even if you have spaces in the names of your files, bash completion helps you in getting the names of the files right.
3. Place /home in its own partition - I concur with that wholeheartedly. Read this article to know more about partitions.
4. Proper crash management - Use xkill and the likes to close a misbehaving application.
5. Try out multiple distributions - You have got a whole lot of them to choose from.
   
6. Brush up your command line skills - Learn to use command line tools to accomplish complex tasks. It is a big time saver. Don't forget to pick up some bash scripting skills on the way.
7. And finally, always be ready to unleash the power within - in other words experiment.
   

All about Linux - Tue, 15/04/2008 - 4:46pm
When Asus rolled out the eeePC, it received rave reviews. Now it is the turn of HP to jump into the sub-notebook market. HP has unveiled a laptop with 8.9" high resolution WXGA display, 92% full size QWERTY keyboard and touch pad. It comes with an optional solid state drive, weighs just 1.19 KG and is just 1.05 inches thick.



HP 2133 Sub Notebook Specification

• VIA C7-M ULV processor
• 512 - 1 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
• 120 - 160 GB SATA hard drive
• USB 2.0 ports - 2 Nos
• VGA External monitor port
• Audio in/ Microphone Jack
• Audio out/ Headphone Jack
• Express Card 54 Slot
• SD Card slot
• RJ-45 network jack
• 1 AC Power connector
• Kensington Lock slot
• VGA webcam (Optional)
• Stereo speakers and
• Stereo microphones and
• is wireless enabled
  

It's all aluminium case makes it sleek, sturdy and lightweight. HP has targeted this sub-notebook at the education segment namely the students and it will compete directly with other sub-notebooks such as Asus eeePC. The HP 2133's price starts at US $499.


A video of HP 2133 Sub-Notebook - Courtesy: Notebook.com

But the one thing which excites me the most is that HP sells this sub-notebook with SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 as an option.

Xavier has written an indepth review of this eye catching notebook with plenty of pictures to supplement his narration.

All about Linux - Mon, 14/04/2008 - 10:15am
If you had anything to do with software development, you may be familiar with the saying - "Develop once and run on any platform". This quote was made popular by Sun Microsystems when it created the Java language. Any application developed using Java can be compiled on any platform and made to run on any other platform without any recompilation. In other words Java applications are OS and architecture independent as long as there is a Java runtime environment (or JRE) installed on the targeted platform in which you decide to run the application.

When I first read about Adobe AIR, the one thing that struck me was its similarity with JRE. But if you negate the "compile once run anywhere" aspect, there is little in common between Adobe AIR and Java (JRE). Adobe AIR is a runtime environment which allows rich internet applications developed using HTML, JavaScript, Flash or Flex to be deployed on the client machines and to run them seamlessly.

The advantage for the end user is that he can install and run an AIR application irrespective of the type of OS he uses as long as he has Adobe AIR installed on his machine.

Two weeks back, Adobe released a version of Adobe AIR for Linux. While this is cause for much rejoicing, the package is still in alpha stage and is not feature complete. More over, there are a few prerequisites in installing Linux version of AIR, them being :

Fig: Adobe AIR installation setup for Linux

Fig: Installing an AIR application

• Officially, it can be installed only on the following Linux distributions : Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SuSE and Ubuntu. But since Ubuntu is derived from Debian, I presume, Debian users can also install it on their machine (I haven't checked). And so should numerous other Linux distributions derived from Debian.
  
• AIR currently supports only Gnome or KDE desktop environments.
• Only RPM and Debian package management systems are supported.
• There is support for transparency in AIR applications but you have to enable Compiz or equivalent compositing window managers.
  

I was able to install Adobe AIR on my machine running Ubuntu Gutsy and it was a seamless process. The runtime installer is a binary file for which I had to give executable privileges. Double clicking on it started the installation process. Once it was finished, I was able to install AIR applications on Linux in the same way you install software on Windows. AIR application setups all have a '.air' extension and they are owned by Adobe AIR. You can also uninstall the application by running the installer again. In Ubuntu, the AIR applications are installed in the /opt directory by default though you can provide an alternate path too.

Fig: An RSS reader AIR application running on Ubuntu

Adobe AIR for Linux alpha will expire on March 1st 2009 but a final Linux version of AIR which is at par with the ones on Windows and Mac can be expected some time in the second half of this year.

Linux version of Adobe AIR does not run all AIR applications yet. A list of AIR applications which are known to run on Linux can be found here.

All about Linux - Tue, 01/04/2008 - 4:07pm
It is really amazing that in many ways than one, it is the open source software developers who are in the forefront of innovation the most. If you ask me, one reason may be because they listen to the end users more than any proprietary software developers. Secondly, the open source programmers are not tied down by the bureaucratic hurdles that weigh down on their closed source counterparts. But in my opinion, the most pertinent reason is that creating open source software is purely a labour of love - a love of coding and creating something of real value to themselves and to others.

Take Nautilus file manager for instance, it has a plethora of hooks built in which allow a user to navigate to different locations by just typing in a name. For example, to get network locations, you type in network:/// in the location bar of nautilus.

There are a number of such shortcuts which allow an end user to navigate to different locations with ease. Shankar has compiled a set of nautilus shortcuts which throw light on the in-built versatility of Nautilus.

All about Linux - Sun, 30/03/2008 - 2:40am
Would you like to have all the important Linux and FreeBSD commands with suitable examples fit in a couple of pages ? If you do, then you have got your wish.

Colin Barschel has put together what he calls the Unix Toolbox. This is a fabulous piece of compilation which contain all the frequently useful commands in Linux and their equivalents in FreeBSD. This document covers a wide range of topics divided into 22 sections such as system, processes, file systems, network related, VPN, cryptography, installing and managing software and so on.

What I really like about Unix toolbox is that it is well structured, each section has a Linux subsection immediately followed by a FreeBSD subsection which explains equivalent commands in FreeBSD. Secondly, the document is made available in multiple formats namely PDF, HTML page, booklet version fit to be printed and made into a small booklet and so on.

A very good resource for any Linux/FreeBSD enthusiast. There is also an additional bonus. Visit the homepage of this site and you get a FreeBSD console right within your web browser. As of now there are 30 commands which can be used. Colin has used the termlib library to create the virtual terminal.