Ubuntu Linux Tips Tricks Apps How Tos News Wallpapers

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Desktop Edition CD

2009-11-17T15:57:00.005+05:30

A couple of days back I received the Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Desktop CD that I requested at shipit.ubuntu.com, and today I installed and updated it without any trouble, and found it really amazing.

There are lots of new features added or upgraded since installation part, let me go through it for the next few days so that I get a hold on it!

Awesome Ubuntu Wallpapers

2009-09-25T20:49:00.002+05:30

Ubuntu Cold Metal by ~frezorer on deviant ART

3d ubuntu blue 2 by ~hotamr on deviant ART

3d ubuntu with blue swirls by ~hotamr on deviant ART

ubuntu light by ~hotamr on deviant ART

Ubuntu Poster Ads - True Art

2009-09-25T20:36:00.004+05:30

Ubuntu cupoftea & Ubuntu nature - work in prog by *gasteropod on deviant ART

Ubuntu Usplash - Aliens Love Carbon

2009-08-19T01:25:00.005+05:30

Usplash AliensLoveCarbon by ~orion-pixels on deviant ART

A nice looking fresh ubuntu usplash screen for 1024x768 boot resolution by orion-pixels @ deviantART is available for download and can be installed on both intrepid and jaunty.
As usual I hope that you won't forget to shower some love as comments there to the artist for this awesome piece of art.

Ubuntu GDM Themes And Wallpapers

2009-08-15T14:47:00.004+05:30

Arc-Colors GDM-Walls by ~perfectska04 on deviant ART

A great creation of GDM's and Wallpapers by perfectska04 @ deiviantART. This package includes 6 versions - Brave/Blue, Human/Orange, Wine/Red, Noble/Purple, Wise/Green and Dust/Chocolate.
The GDM themes have max resolution of 2140x1200 and support all 16:9, 16:10, 5:4 and 4:3 screen ratios or anything in between.
To know more and download click here and hope you won't forget to shower some love as comments there to the author for these awesome creations.

Ubuntu GDM Themes With Fazer And Pulsar Flavours

2009-08-13T13:21:00.007+05:30

Yamaha Fazer GDM Theme:

Click here to download

Bajaj Pulsar 220 - The Fastest Indian GDM Theme:

Click here to download

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Boot Demo & Proposed GDM Theme

2009-08-12T01:50:00.011+05:30

Ubuntu Karmic will come with a whole new, shiny and flicker-free boot experience, boot screen demo and the proposed GDM theme has been revealed by the ubuntu design team, have a look:

Boot with Automatic Login - Flash Mockup:

Click here to play Demo

Splash Screen:

GDM Theme:

GDM Theme - Selected User:

GDM Theme - Menus:

(Click on images to enlarge)

Scribus - Desktop Publishing Made Easy On Ubuntu

2009-08-09T00:38:00.013+05:30

A couple of days back I had to submit an official project and when got ready to work on it suddenly realized that I don't have any Desktop Publishing Application installed on my ubuntu system, so as usual started googling around web and the very first result I found turned out to be the best I was searching for, and didn't even bother myself to scroll down for any else if available (or not, still I don't know).

Visited the site, grabbed little know-how about it and got it installed on my ubuntu (intrepid) system. Here are the steps to install and little introduction of it:

To install Scribus, go to Application > Accessories > Terminal and enter following code (you can also install it through Synaptic Package Manager):

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install scribus

Now to run it, go to Application > Graphics > Scribus, and in the very first dialog box you get options for page settings (see image below).

After page settings you click on ok button and get the workspace to start with (see image below) and rest you may get to know when you start working or also have an option to buy the Scribus Manual.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Connecting to FTP Server (with Login) on Ubuntu

2009-07-31T16:15:00.009+05:30

Ubuntu is always equipped with all great resources when we need to get any task done with an ease, doesn't matter whether it is on local machine or online. Here I am posting steps for connecting to a FTP server on your Ubuntu system.

First of all go to 'Places' and click on 'Connect to Server...' (see image below):

Now you will get the 'Connect to Server' dialog box on your screen (see image below):

Here you have choose your service type to 'FTP (with Login)' and just fill up two important information in this box, first one is your FTP server host name and second one is your FTP server user name (see images below).

Now click the 'Connect' button (make sure you are connected to internet).

In the next step you will get a dialog box to enter your FTP server password with three options (see image below), choose any one of them as per your need and again click on 'Connect' button.

Wait! Its not done here. Some of you may get here an error message (see image below) and those who don't are ready to play with their files from server in the 'File Browser' of their ubuntu system.

And for those who got the above error, there is nothing to worry about, just open your internet browser (in my case it is firefox) and keep it minimized, then click on the 'Ok' button of 'Error' dialog box and go to your file browser and check the navigation panel at the left side of your file browser, your FTP server is ready there, just click on it and at the right panel you will find all your folders and files from your server ready to play with.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) Guide in Bengali

2009-07-23T12:10:00.008+05:30

Bengali Ubuntu users now can get help in there own language for using Ubuntu with this wonderful উবুন্টু লিনাক্স ৯.০৪ (জন্টি জ্যাকালোপ) সহায়িকা {Ubuntu Linux 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) Guide} provided by Bangladesh Linux Users Alliance (BULA), available to download @ http://linux.org.bd/go.php?link=ubuntuguide. The topics covered in this guide are installation, package management, network and Internet connection setup, customization, proprietary hardware driver and multimedia support, troubleshooting, and much more.

Thanks to BULA for a great job!

Microsoft Operating System: Ubuntu 8.04...oops

2009-07-16T00:23:00.006+05:30

Dell on its website (now rectified) had shown specification of Dell Mini 10v featuring Operating System as "Microsoft Operating System : Ubuntu 8.04" (see image below), which spread many words around web jokingly claiming Ubuntu as a Microsoft product now.

Source: Link

Nmap - The Open Source Network Mapper

2009-07-07T01:48:00.013+05:30

Nmap ("Network Mapper") is a free and open source utility for network exploration or security auditing. Many systems and network administrators also find it useful for tasks such as network inventory, managing service upgrade schedules, and monitoring host or service uptime. Nmap uses raw IP packets in novel ways to determine what hosts are available on the network, what services (application name and version) those hosts are offering, what operating systems (and OS versions) they are running, what type of packet filters/firewalls are in use, and dozens of other characteristics. It was designed to rapidly scan large networks, but works fine against single hosts. Nmap runs on all major computer operating systems, and both console and graphical versions are available.

Key Features:

Flexible: Supports dozens of advanced techniques for mapping out networks filled with IP filters, firewalls, routers, and other obstacles.
Powerful: Nmap has been used to scan huge networks of literally hundreds of thousands of machines.
Portable: Most operating systems are supported, including Linux, Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Solaris, IRIX, Mac OS X, HP-UX, NetBSD, Sun OS, Amiga, and more.
Easy: While Nmap offers a rich set of advanced features for power users, you can start out as simply as "nmap -v -A targethost". Both traditional command line and graphical (GUI) versions are available to suit your preference. Binaries are available for those who do not wish to compile Nmap from source.
Free: The primary goals of the Nmap Project is to help make the Internet a little more secure and to provide administrators/auditors/hackers with an advanced tool for exploring their networks. Nmap is available for free download, and also comes with full source code that you may modify and redistribute under the terms of the license.
Well Documented: Significant effort has been put into comprehensive and up-to-date man pages, whitepapers, and tutorials. Find them in multiple languages here.
Supported: While Nmap comes with no warranty, it is well supported by a vibrant community of developers and users.
Acclaimed: Nmap has won numerous awards, including "Information Security Product of the Year" by Linux Journal, Info World and Codetalker Digest. It has been featured in hundreds of magazine articles, several movies, dozens of books, and one comic book series.
Popular: It is among the top ten (out of 30,000) programs at the Freshmeat.Net repository. This is important because it lends Nmap its vibrant development and user support communities.

Steps to install nmap on your ubuntu system:

Go to Application>Accessories>Terminal and enter following command:

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install nmap

Now to scan your ubuntu system enter following command:

Code:

$ nmap localhost

If any port found open that you don't want to be open, use firewall to close that port.

You can also have GUI version of nmap, use following command to install nmap GUI:

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install nmapfe

Or

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install zenmap

To know more visit nmap.org!

Prism On Ubuntu - Your Favourite Web-Application on Your Desktop!

2009-07-04T16:59:00.017+05:30

Prism, previously called WebRunner, is a simple XULRunner based browser that hosts web applications without the normal web browser user interface. It is based on a concept called Site Specific Browsers (SSB) that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop. XULRunner is a Mozilla runtime package that can be used to bootstrap XUL+XPCOM applications that are as rich as Firefox and Thunderbird. It will provide mechanisms for installing, upgrading, and uninstalling these applications. XULRunner will also provide libxul, a solution which allows the embedding of Mozilla technologies in other projects and products.

You can install "Prism" on your ubuntu system through Synaptic Package Manager or just go to terminal and type:

Code:

$ sudo apt-get install prism

It is very simple to add any web-application on your desktop as short-cut through prism, here's an example where I show you adding twitter! (you can also install twitter for prism through Synaptic Package Manager)

Go to Application>Internet & click on Prism

You will get following dialogue box on your screen:

Now just enter the URL & name of the web-application like twitter and check the buttons if you wish to have navigation bar, status messages & progress and navigation keys.
Don't forget to check Create Shortcuts>Desktop.
Click on settings button, now you can use any image you like to have as your application's icon from web or from your machine.
Press OK and see your desktop for the shortcut of web-application you just created.

Click on the shortcut icon of your web-application & enjoy!

Install Firefox 3.5 - The Fastest Browser on Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex

2009-07-03T00:16:00.006+05:30

Firefox 3.5 is more than twice as fast as Firefox 3, and ten times as fast as Firefox 2.

Steps to install firefox 3.5 on Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex System:

Go to Accessories>Terminal and enter following code:

Code:

$ sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"
$ sudo sh -c "echo 'deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"

Now add Authentication key through following code:

Code:

$ sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 247510BE

And the last and final code:

Code:

$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox-3.5

Now, enjoy the fastest browser!

Ubuntu-Tweak 0.4.7.2 Released on 21st June, 09

2009-06-22T23:38:00.012+05:30

Today the recommended updates section of update manager in my ubuntu system showed the update for Ubuntu-Tweak and clicked on install updates & found this new version.

Ubuntu-Tweak is the most favourite application for me on my ubuntu-system. It has lots of such important feature to get on a single click, you wish for to have on your ubuntu system.

Here are the major features in this verion:

Fully support Linux Mint 7
New option to fix root theme
Ability to update PPA sources from old style to new style
Some new PPA sources: Pidgin, Moovida
Loads of bugs fixed

The most interesting feature I liked is, when I clicked on Third-Party Sources it ask me to update PPA resources and on clicking 'Yes' button within a fraction of second it updated the same.

Thank you TualatriX for such a great ubuntu application & congratulations for your graduation!

Wireshark 1.2.o Released

2009-06-18T10:30:00.005+05:30

Wireshark is an award-winning multi-platform network protocol anaylyzer developed by an international team of experts. It is the continuation of the project started in 1998.

Wireshark 1.2.0 is released on 15th of June,09. It is the new stable release branch of Wireshark.

Key Features:

Wireshark has a spiffy new start page.
Display filters now autocomplete.
A 64-bit Windows (x64) installer is now provided.
Support for the c-ares resolver library has been added. It has many advantages over ADNS.
Many new protocol dissectors and capture file formats have been added.
Macintosh OS X support has been improved.
GeoIP database lookups.
OpenStreetMap + GeoIP integration.
Improved Postscript(R) print output.
The preference handling code is now much smarter about changes.
Support for Pcap-ng, the next-generation capture file format.
Support for process information correlation via IPFIX.
Column widths are now saved.
The last used configuration profile is now saved.
Protocol preferences are changeable from the packet details context menu.
Support for IP packet comparison.
Capinfos now shows the average packet rate.

More Features: Link

Source: http://www.wireshark.org

Pidgin - A Multi-platform IM Client

2009-06-15T14:22:00.006+05:30

Pidgin is a chat program which lets you log in to accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on MSN, talking to a friend on Google Talk, and sitting in a Yahoo chat room all at the same time.
Pidgin runs on Windows, Linux, and other UNIX operating systems. Pidgin is compatible with the following chat networks out of the box: AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, MySpaceIM, and Zephyr.
It can support many more with plugins. Pidgin supports many features of these chat networks, such as file transfers, away messages, buddy icons, custom smilies, and typing notifications. Numerous plugins also extend Pidgin's functionality above and beyond the standard features.
Pidgin integrates with the system tray on Windows, GNOME2, and KDE 3.1.

To know more visit: http://pidgin.im

Open Logo Fonts - By Zafar Hassan

2009-06-11T21:44:00.022+05:30

This is a great artwork done by Zafar Hassan, and found @ ubuntu-art.org.
To know more and get this font click here.

Here is the way to install it to your ubuntu system:

Go to Accessories>Terminal and type:

Code:

$ sudo nautilus

Now within the file browser go to the File System>usr>share>fonts>truetype folder and here you create a new folder and name it exactly as your downloaded font file name excluding the extention (.ttf)
Copy and paste the downloaded font file to this new folder and close the File Browser.

Now, you can check it and use it!

aMSN - MSN (Windows Live) Messenger Clone

2009-06-09T03:10:00.012+05:30

aMSN, Alvaro's Messenger, is an open source multi-platform web live messenger which has more or less the same features as Windows Live Messenger. It gives you a complete feel of Windows Live Messenger in your Ubuntu system. It features multi-language support, off-line messaging, file transfers, new graphical interface, emoticons, multiple profiles support, dock icon, sound events, email notification, and URL processing and there is a long list of other features waiting for you to have a look.

The Developers - Link
Extra Skins - Link
Extra Plugins - Link

You can install aMSN on your ubuntu system simply through Synaptic Package Manager or use the following command in Terminal:
Code:

$ sudo apt-get install amsn

Gufw

2009-06-04T04:07:00.007+05:30

Screenshot - Gufw

Gufw - A graphical user interface (GUI) for ufw (uncomplicated firewall), the default firewall for ubuntu, which is an easy to use firewall itself.
With Gufw you can easily configure firewall actions like enable or disable firewall, or allow or deny incoming traffic (take a look on screenshot above).
You can easily install it from Synaptic Package Manager or use the following command:
Code:

$ sudo apt-get install gufw

After installation you can access it from System>Administration>Firewall configuration.

GNU/Linux Stickers - Awesome Creations

2009-06-03T20:29:00.007+05:30

Again I found these awesome creations by Deviantdark @ his deivantART page:

http://deviantdark.deviantart.com/art/Powered-by-GNU-Linux-82766279

For Details & to Download click above page link and I would now request you all again as I did in my last post to shower some love on him as comments over there.

Ubuntu Stickers - You would love to stick them up

2009-06-03T02:55:00.010+05:30

Ubuntu Stickers by ~deviantdark on deviant ART

You can grab them from the creator Deviantdark's deviantart page @ http://deviantdark.deviantart.com/art/Ubuntu-Stickers-63103968
Please feel free to put some words as comments to him (Deviantdark) over there for his wonderful piece of artwork.

Ten (10) Free Linux E-Books for Beginners

2009-06-02T00:59:00.009+05:30

A must have kind of collection by linuxhaxtor.

Link: http://www.linuxhaxor.net/2009/05/10/10-free-linux-ebooks-for-beginners/

Audacious: Winamp's taste in ubuntu

2009-05-31T18:55:00.010+05:30

Screenshot - Audacious

If you are a Winamp fan and want your ubuntu system to play your favourite albums in your beloved media player, then just don't get disappointed, there is a great and almost same option available for your ubuntu system and that is Audacious (take a look on screenshot above).

Audacious is free and lightweight media player based on GTK2. It runs on Linux and many other *nix platforms. It supports a wide range of audio codecs with good audio quality.

You can install it through Synaptic Package Manager or you can use following code in terminal:
Code:

$ sudo apt-get install audacious

I know most of you would like to use winamp skins in audacious, if so, just download your favourite skin or skins on your ubuntu system from your available source and just extract it to this location: /usr/share/audacious/skins/

To change the skin go to the "Preference>Appearance" section of audacious and just click on the skin you want to choose.

Screenshot - Audacious Preference

Now, enjoy your playlist!

Portable Ubuntu for Windows

2009-05-30T10:21:00.005+05:30

Portable Ubuntu for windows is an ubuntu system which runs as a windows application. This system is built with the Colinux Kernel, Xming Xserver and Pulse Audio Server for Windows. When you have a machine with windows as operating system this tool then turns to be useful if you need to use Ubuntu.

Download Portable Ubuntu for Windows - Link