It's been a long time. Caught up with life and using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS as my go to OS on my desktop, I have been out of the Linux scene for ages it seems. Gone are the days when I used to have all the news about what's happening in the Linuxverse.
What's new, what's old, Who ranted, and at whom, Unity Vs Gnome-Shell. Flame Warrrrrsssss. Good old days.
In all this, I forgot about the nifty little Elementary OS slumbering on one of the partitions.
As booted it up, it greeted me with my favourite wallpaper that I got from a Sherlock Holmes game and as I was getting myself around different parts of the OS look what I found.
OMG! Words!
To quote Mr. Joey, "Calling all grammar nazis and typo hunters: Put your fingers where your gripes are and go up against the editors of OMG! Ubuntu! in time wasting typing game ‘OMG! Words!’".
So yeah, I thought about having some go at it and then I made this short demo for you all.
We
all know that Linux doesn't need an antivirus software(in the Windows
sense), one of the many reason why we just love Linux :-), but for
people who do have an interaction with M$ Operating Systems, or if you
have to make sure that a particular data is virus free, ClamTk works
extremely well.
It is a lightweight software, simple to use, and fast.
Note
that ClamTk is available for other distributions also, I even installed
it on my Knoppix persistent live USB(the process remains the same as
Knoppix is Debian based, the only thing different was that I had to
install the GDebi Package Installer to install the latest deb file).
On Ubuntu 12.10 or 13.04, do check this software, it's the best tool to configure Unity in my humble opinion.
All the necessary instructions are in the YouTube description box, great work Freyja Development Team. If you find this post useful, do share it with others.
Computer users have many options when it comes to Cloud based storage services, Enter Copy.
First of all, I found the company logo to be especially well crafted and beautiful, and I found the same to be true for the rest of my experience with Copy. There is a great sense of style and simplicity whether it is the WebUI, Desktop client or the Android app yet functionality hasn't been compromised for it.
Copy is cross platform(Linux,Android,MacOS,iOS,Windows), I personally tried it on Elementary Luna, Ubuntu 13.04, my low end(Samsung Galaxy Y) Android cellphone and found it to be working nicely. The best part, if you signup now using this link https://copy.com?r=rlBLP7 you will get 10GB Free space instead of the default 5GB(It is an introductory offer and not sure how long it will last so hurry up).
Installation of the Linux Desktop Client is quite easy, just download the copy.tgz from copy.com , extract it, depending on your operating system execute the CopyAgent from the x86(32Bit) or x86_64(64Bit) folder. Done as the rest is pretty simple.
If you find this post useful, do share it with others.
LibreOffice works well and keeps on getting better with every release, you can check my previous article for an extradordinary example.
LibreOffice can look out of place on KDE though(as was the case in my previous video) but don't worry, just install a package "libreoffice-kde" and it looks at home. You can install this package from your Package Manager of choice(Synaptic/Muon) or simply run sudo apt-get install libreoffice-kde in a terminal.
For Personas, you must have the latest LibreOffice 4.0.1 installed. Visit the Personas website here and open a Persona that you prefer and the copy the page's URL(Address). Now launch Libreoffice, goto Tools then Options then LibreOffice then Personalization. Check 'Own Persona' and click on 'Select Persona', enter the URL that you copied into the Persona Address box, click Ok. Done. The Persona that I used in the video is this.
FOSS leads innovation in many spheres and makes our life easy, one new thing in our arsenal is the LibreOffice Impress Remote. It's a free presentation remote control Android app for LibreOffice!
The LibreOffice team recently released the latest version 4.0.1 which is feature packed and covers the office suite needs of most users, plus they gave us this gem of an app for Android devices, it has features such as slide previews, speaker notes, slides grid view, and more.
For the remote control app to function, you must have the latest LibreOffice installed. Windows and Mac users can get it from here. For the Ubuntu and Ubuntu based distro user, I recommend that you add the stable PPA. Run the following commands in the Terminal, sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa sudo apt-get update
Then launch the software updater/update manager and upgrade your system, in case you don't have LibreOffice installed, install it from the Software Center.
Next download the LibreOffice Impress Remote Android app from the Google Play Store. Now watch the video below and get the app working in no time.
Note that it is recommended to enable bluetooth on your Android device first before launching the app, and you must have a presentation running before you connect your Android device with the Computer. Enjoy and consider contributing to LibreOffice for their efforts.
Mageia began as a fork of Mandriva Linux in September 2010 by the former employees and contributors in Mandriva because they were not happy with the governance in the project. Unlike Mandriva which is a commercial entity, Mageia is a community project whose mission is “to build great tools for people. Further than just delivering a secure, stable and sustainable operating system, the goal is to set up a stable and trustable governance to direct collaborative projects”. Mageia is independent and in such short period it has garnered great popularity and userbase because of their great work, efforts and release system works. That will be the history lesson for the day and we come to their latest offering Mageia 2.
Mageia 2 comes with latest stable KDE 4.8.2 and the KDE experience has simply been great. It is quite responsive and highly stable. KDE developers are doing a great job of putting out incremental releases that elevates the user experience.
The default setup of Mageia is highly productivity as you have a well laid out bottom panel with the Application Launcher set to Classic Menu style(You can easily switch to Kickoff application launcher).
The Mageia Control Center provides you a single junction from where you can take care of all your administrative work.
The Mageia 2 ISO both the 32-Bit and 64-Bit are of approximately 700MB. You also have the option to get the Gnome-Shell version and a 3.4GB DVD ISO is also present. Firefox ESR 10 is your default web browser and the versatile Konqueror is also there. Telepathy is you default instant messaging client. You have the latest Gimp 2.8 taking care of your image manipulation needs.In office you only have Okular as there is no office suite by default but you can easily install the one that you want from the Install & Remove software. I installed Calligra suite and it was at its latest 2.4.1 which is something that I can say for most of the application that I installed like Chromium, VLC, Choqok as all were at their latest and greatest. You have Amarok for your audio playing and Dragon Player for videos.
Mageia 2 doesn't ships with Flash and non free media codecs but you can easily install them. Go to the Mageia Control Center and select “Configure media sources for install and updates” from Software Management.
Check the Nonfree and Tainted Release+Updates(Core would be checked by default). Then install the Smplayer, VLC from the Tainted repos and Flash also.
Using Mageia 2 one gets to understand why Mageia has become so popular and a favourite of many as it simply works. I highly recommend Mageia 2 KDE to anyone looking for an excellent KDE experience on a great distro backed by the superb Mageia community. You can download it from here.
If you have any comments/questions/suggestions please feel free to contact me via the comments section, Google+ or twitter. Also if you like what you have read, do share it with others.
The
XFCE Desktop Environment has risen greatly in popularity over the
past few years. The major credit for it goes to the XFCE team who
have been putting out releases with incremental updates and
advancements but there is a misconception among many people that XFCE
is bland. I encourage you to come on a voyage with me and you may
discover something splendiferous.
I
present to you Voyager 12.04 , the Beautiful XFCE distro from France
based on Xubuntu.
Voyager
is a highly customised, beautiful and user friendly Operating System.
As you can make out from the screenshot, the default setup of Voyager
features a single xfce4-panel, a simple Conky and a customised Avant
Window Navigator with special text icons instead of the standard
application icons which look quite cool and unique.
Conky
Control is among one of the most prised features of Voyager 12.04
which enables anyone even a total new user to have a taste of Conky.
All you have to do is right click on the desktop and select Conky
Control from the menu. Voyager 12.04 comes with 21 great Conky
configurations that you can enable with a single click.
You
can even choose to have multiple Conky running.
The
ISO size of both the 32-Bit and 64-Bit Voyager is approximately 950MB
and it is an excellent out of the box distro as it comes with a great
variety of software, codecs, wallpapers and themes with the exception
of Flash but it is not a big deal as you can easily install it.
Mozilla
Firefox is your default web browser and it comes with the option of 9
customised startpages, many useful extensions and bookmarks. There is
also a bookmark Install Flash which basically launches the Ubuntu
Software Center for you to install Flash.
Then
you have Thunderbird, Pidgin, Transmission, Hotot(which
is my favourite Micoblogging client) with the PPA added so you get
the latest version, GIMP, Darktable, Movie Player(Totem), VLC media
player, Clementine, Audio-Recorder,
Kazam for your screencasting, Pitivi Video Editor, Cheese, AbiWord,
Gnumeric, the Synapse Launcher and much more.
The
default theme of Voyager 12.04 is Ambiance-Voyager-Dark which in
combination with Faenza-Dark-White icons looks stunning.
There
are many more themes available and as the developer is into travel
photography you have slew of picturesque wallpapers to choose from.
I
highly recommend Voyager 12.04 as it is an excellent lightweight,
feature packed, beautiful OS plus it is a Long Term Support release
as it is based on Xubuntu 12.04 which makes it a super fine distro to
try and use.
For
the download links you can check the Voyager website here
which is in French but Google Translate is present there so you can
check the website in a language that suits you.
If you have any comments/questions/suggestions please feel free to contact me via the comments section, Google+ or twitter. Also if you like what you have read, do share it with others.
The move
from Gnome 2 to Gnome 3 resulted in varied emotions with many people
liking the much needed change and for many, lets just say that they felt
devastated.
The
Linux Mint team after waiting out the initial change with Mint 11,
released Mint 12 with Gnome 3 and now they have their work cut out with
the Gnome 2 fork MATE and the Cinnamon Shell.
Linux Mint Debian 201204 ships with both MATE and Cinnamon Shell on the same ISO which is approximately 1.2 GB for both 32Bit & 64-Bit. They also released an Xfce edition of LMD but today we are going to have a look at LMDE with MATE.
Mint users will find MATE familiar to what they have been using over the past few years. You have the feature full Mint Menu that many people love and appreciate.
Gnome 2 applications have also been forked and have new names now. For example, the File Manager Nautilus fork is Caja, Gedit fork is Pluma, Eye of Gnome image viewer is now Eye of MATE image viewer and so on.
LMDE is a semi-rolling disto based on Debian Testing so you will see software at fairly latest versions. LMDE ships with many great applications like Mozzila Firefox and Thunderbird, Pidgin, Transmission, GIMP, GNOME Mplayer, VLC, the complete LibreOffice suite etc.
The LMDE includes the Mint Software Manager so installing applications is fairly simple.
You also have the Synaptic Package Manager and the Mint Update Manager which means managing and updating LMDE is a breeze.
I have been using the LMDE from quite some time now and I have had no issue with it and MATE. I will recommend LMDE to anyone looking for the GNOME 2 usability with a stable semi-rolling release experience base on Debian Testing. You can download LMDE from here
If you have any comments/questions/suggestions please feel free to contact me via the comments section, Google+ or twitter. Also if you like what you have read, do share it with others.
GNU/Linux and FOSS in general has changed the way in which we interact with Computers and with the World. It has opened gateways that none of us could’ve imagined. GNU/Linux contributes to the world in many ways but one contribution that I highly appreciate is that in the field of Education.
We all feel good when we see and hear about people in Africa using Puppy Linux to setup Internet Cafe, Debian GNU/Linux powering a Library in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, the OLPC movement and many more.
Edubuntu is one such distribution trying to make a change in the world with their goal being ”Our aim is to put together a system that contains all the best free software available in education and make it easy to install and maintain”.
Edubuntu 12.04 which is also the first Long term support release(will be supported for 5 years) of the Edubuntu project had released on the same day with the Ubuntu 12.04 release and just in case you don’t know, Edubuntu is based on Ubuntu and is also a part of the Ubuntu family(official derivatives).
Edubuntu 12.04 ships with the Unity-Shell and Gnome Classic(you can read more about that in this post) and what is more interesting is that the Edubuntu installer asks you whether you want to make Gnome Classic the default session.
The
Edubuntu 12.04 ISO both 32-bit and 64-bit are 2.6GB+ but you get quite a
raft of education related applications ranging from Preschool to
Tertiary level plus many of the Open Source favourites like Firefox,
Thunderbird, Empathy, GIMP, Scribus, Inkspace, LibreOffice Office Suite,
Totem, Rythmbox and more.
The installer also gives you the option for selecting the education related applications that you want to install/not install which makes sense as a college student will not require Preschool and Primary level applications. While we are on education related applications, Edubuntu ships with the KDE Education Project, GCompris, Celestia, Tux4kids Entertainment Suite, Stellarium just to name a few.
You also have Epoptes (a Greek word for overseer) is an open source computer lab management and monitoring tool and the option to have the LTSP(Linux Terminal Server Project) which adds thin-client support to Linux servers hence empowering schools, businesses, and organizations all over the world to easily install and deploy desktop workstations.
All in all Edubuntu 12.04 is an excellent release in every respect and carries the contribution of FOSS to the World and Humanity in the field of Education further. You can download Edubuntu 12.04 from here
If you have any comments/questions/suggestions please feel free to contact me via the comments section, Google+ or twitter. Also if you like what you have read, do share it with others.
I believe that what ever a computer users requirement are the Ubuntu Family(official derivatives) have them covered and such beautiful member of the family is Xubuntu.
Xubuntu comes with lightweight and highly customisable Xfce running at the current stable release 4.8.1. The default look of Xubuntu 12.04 is quite appealing.
Gtk3 is also implemented in the 12.04 release so all you Gtk3 application look and work nicely.
The Xubuntu site and branding have also been updated lately, making Xubuntu all the more exquisite.
Xubuntu is production ready from the start providing my favourites Firefox and Thunderbird as its default Web Browser and Mail Client respectively.
The highly versatile Pidgin is your default instant messaging client. AbiWord for your Documents and Gnumeric for Spreadsheets is provided under your office applications and you can easily install LibreOffice/Calligra from the Ubuntu Software Center.
If you have any comments/questions/suggestions please feel free to contact me via the comments section, Google+ or twitter. Also if you like what you have read, do share it with others.
Kubuntu is a Bemba word which means "kindness towards Humanity". Kubuntu is also the official Ubuntu derivative that uses the K Desktop environment a.k.a KDE. I have already explained Desktop environments here. If you are new to Linux or don't know about Linux, then I would kindly suggest that you check my previous blog posts so that we both are on the same wavelength.
The Kubuntu 11.10 release announcement states: "We are proud to announce the release of Kubuntu 11.10, the Oneiric Ocelot: the latest release of our friendly OS, built on Ubuntu's core, polished with KDE’s applications and workspaces. Kubuntu 11.10 is a grand example of friendly, fast, and beautiful software. We recommend it as the perfect OS for casual users, social butterflies, Linux gamers, software developers, professionals, and anyone interested in a free, open platform that is both beautiful and useful."[1]
I have been using it since its release(approximately two months now) and I am highly impressed. Let's see if Kubuntu is able to impress you by the end of the post.
The default KDE wallpaper "Horos"created by Nuno Pinheiro.
Kubuntu 11.10 comes with KDE 4.7.1 which has seen subsequent upgrades and we are currently running KDE 4.7.3(By the way, KDE 4.7.4 has been released and updates will be coming soon).
KDE since its 4.x iteration uses the Plasma Workspaces. Plasma Desktop and Plasma Netbook both are available in Kubuntu but first, let us develop an acquaintance with the Plasma Desktop. The Plamsa Desktop basically comprises of these elements:
The Panel which is also referred as the taskbar.
The Desktop.
The Plasma Tool Box which is located at the top right of the screen as well as at the end of the panel.
Let us first get acquainted with the panel. The panel contains a number of widgets also referred as plasmoids.
1) The K on the panel is the Kickoff application launcher.Click on it and you are greeted with "Favourites" Tab. The applications that you use the most can be quickly accessed from here, sort them alphabetically or just arrange them to your preference like I did by dragging them up and down.
Also you can type straightaway and launch an application with the Kickoff's search box either by searching an application by name or by description. Like in this case, I typed "mar" pressed Enter and launched Marble.
The "Applications" Tab is where all the apps installed on your system are present in their respective categories. Right click on any application an you will find the options "Add to Favourites", "Add to Desktop" and "Add to Panel" options. I prefer to keep my desktop and panel clean of application icons.
The "Computer" Tab is where you fill find links to system application,your favourite places and available storage media.
The "Recently Used" Tab is where your recently used application and files show up, right clicking will give you the options to clear recent applications/documents.
The "Leave" Tab gives you options to leave your KDE session or shutdown your computer.
There is a computing philosophy that applications must be accessible in two clicks or less. For people believing in that school of thought, there is the Classic Menu. Right click on the Kickoff and select "Switch to Classic Menu Style".
2) The three dots next to Kickoff is the Activities widget. The Activities takes multitasking to a whole new level. With the help of Activities you can basically design and keep different desktops as per your needs.
The first one is "Mohammad Kamil Nadeem". I prefer to keep the following widgets on it:Folder View, Analogue Clock and System Monitor.
Have just finished reading "The Autobiography of Malcolm X". Excellent book, highly recommend.
For the purpose of taking screenshots for this post I created a new activity and renamed it to "Kubuntu 11.10 Explored!".
Consider the following example: A student needs certain widgets for his college work but not always. So he creates a "New Activity" with the widgets he needs and switches to it when he needs them. Makes sense right. The widgets running in the screenshot below are:Eyes, Folder View, Timer, Trashcan, Notes, Comic Strip with the xkcd comic(plenty comics available in the likes of Dilbert,Garfield,Snoopy and more). Kcalc is your calculator and it's not just any calculator. The wallpaper used in the screenshot below is courtesy Georgi Karavasilev. The shortcut for switching between Activities is "Meta+Tab".
3) Next to Activities is your Pager widget for managing your virtual desktops. I prefer to keep four virtual desktops but one can keep upto 20 virtual desktops. 4) Task Manager widget for managing your running applications. 5) Show Desktop for minimising all windows and showing the desktop. 6) Notification widget for your notifications. 7) System Tray widget. One application that I would like to mention here is Klipper which is an excellent clipboard tool. 8) Digital Clock.
I told you above about the Plasma Toolbox(the thing that looks like a cashew). The Plasma Toolbox on the panel allows you to configure,control add new widgets to the panel.
And the Plasma Tool Box on the desktop allows you to configure and manage the desktop.
You can move the Tool Box to anywhere on the screen edges. Add another Panel if you may and configure it into an application dock or whatever pleases you. I have used the default desktop theme "Air" in the screenshots above. Now let me show you "Oxygen".
How To: Add an empty panel>open panel's Plasma Tool Box>place it on your desired screen edge(I placed it on top)>drag and drop wanted applications from Kickoff to the panel>use the sliders to get the desired length>More Settings>Center+Auto-hide. Voila.
Great many widgets come with Kubuntu 11.10 install, few of them you have already seen and here are some more.
The widgets running are: Dictionary, LCD Weather Monitor, Picture Frame, World Clock, News and Fuzzy Clock. Notice that the World Clock has a configuration handle. This configuration handle will appear on every widget on the desktop when your mouse is over it and will not appear if you lock the widgets. You can use it to increase/decrease the size of the widget, rotate it and configure it.
More widgets can be installed easily by "Get New Widgets". KDE is extensively Kustomizable. In many places you will find "Get New ------", "----" being the thing that you will be inspecting. http://kde-look.org/ is the hub where everything KDE related is present and it is this source that "Get New -----" taps in. After you are at peace with your widgets and panel use Lock Widgets and lock them in their place.
Right clicking on the desktop will present the Standard Menu.
Run Command leads to KRunner. "KRunner is a tool for searching and launching files and applications. It can also be used for more generic operations such as calculator or unit converter. KRunner can be activated by pressing the Alt + F2 key combination".[2] I use KRunner for most of my work and it is excellent.
There are people who use Google for calculations(Yes Internet has enslaved humans)because using the calculator seems a hassle. Not here.
KRunner does your calculations too. Just add "=" before or after your calculation.
I would recommend that you check its tutorial to learn about more functions.
Desktop Settings.
Layouts in Kubuntu 11.10 present you with four options. Desktop is your classic desktop that works and acts like, yes you are right a desktop. It is the one we mainly use. Newspaper Layout puts your widgets into columns much like in a newspaper. With more widgets(depends on your screen size)there will come a scroll bar at the side. Notice that the Plasma Tool Box's options will change as per the layout.
Then there is the Folder View Layout that displays the content of the Home folder or the one you choose on the desktop much like the Folder View widget that you have seen above.
Search and Launch Layout brings a full screen application launcher with search.
KDE is a Single-click environment by default. If you find it a sudden change in the routine you can easily change it to Double-click from System Settings>Input Devices>Mouse,but I would encourage you to embrace it as it prevents carpal tunnel, tendinitis, and other nasty repetitive strain injuries.
Dolphin is your file manager and in my opinion it is the best file manager.
It is seamless, configurable and highly productive. You would notice there is no Menubar. I personally prefer not to have it but if you want it you can have it from settings.
Kubuntu 11.10 has Muon Software Center that takes care of your software installations.
Kubuntu 11.10 has Muon Package Manager for your package management and system updation.
Updation is fairly simple. Check for Updates.
Apply Changes. It will prompt for your password, Enter it. Done.
Let's have a look at some of the applications that come with Kubuntu 11.10. You will notice that simplicity is a key factor in default apps selection. rekonq is your default web browser.
Rekonq works great, is tightly intergrated, very fast and easy to use. It is a young project and hence not at par with Firefox or Chromium. You can easily install Firefox or/and Chromium from the Software Center. I would recommend that you install Oxygen KDE 3.6 add-on on Firefox to make it seamlessly blend with the KDE.
"Kontactis the integrated solution to your personal information management (PIM) needs. It combines well-known KDE applications like KMail, KOrganizer and KAddressBook into a single interface to provide easy access to mail, scheduling, address book and other PIM functionality".[3]
Kontact provides great functionality in a single interface. You can run these applications individually also.(KTimeTracker is buggy at the moment and doesn't works but it will soon be fixed).
Kopete is your default chat client and supports all of your major service providers.
KTorrent is your default bit-torrent client. It is a great application.
Amarok is your default music player. Dragon Player is you default video player. It is a straight forward application but it is very basic.
I prefer SMPlayer as my default video player.
LibreOffice is your default office suite. Some of my personal favourites apps are: Choqok(micro-blogging client), SMPlayer(video player), VLC, Basket(multi-purpose Notepad), Marble(Desktop Globe). You can easily install them from the Software Center.
System Settings is comprehensive and brings all your configuration modules in a single interface.
You can explore it at your will but I would like to bring a few settings to your attention. "Oxygen" is Kubuntu 11.10 default in Application Appearance and Wokspace Appearance but as I said earlier, KDE is highly Kustomizable. This is the Application Appearance module.
This is the Workspace Appearance Module.
Desktop effects will works as per your system configuration and hardware acceleration is not a must as it works even with software rendering(Although some effects will not work in this case).
You can switch between windows in five ways, "Alt+Tab" being the shortcut for Windows Switching. My personal favourite are: Present Windows.
and Cover Switch.
The Desktop Cube effect is a favourite of many in the Linux Universe. Its Shortcut is "Ctrl+F11".
You can configure the shortcuts to your liking from the "Shortcuts and Gestures" module in System Settings.
Workspace Behaviour is where you can configure the Virtual Desktops, Screen Edges and Workspace(switch between Plasma Desktop and Plasma Netbook).
By the default the top left corner is set to "Present Windows-All Desktops" so when you place your mouse there it activates.
Plasma Netbook is designed for Netbooks and similar portable devices.
In Plasma Netbook you don't have the Panel as in the Plasma Desktop. Plasma Netbook will present you with the Search and Launch Layout. At the top is the "Activity Bar", you can place it on any of the screen edge's, increase/decrease its size and select whether it auto-hides or not. There is also a "Page" present by default with the Newspaper Layout.
You can add more Pages using the Plasma Tool Box and configure it in the way you want. The Applications in Plasma Netbook run full screen which basically makes sense as Plasma Netbook is designed for small screen devices.
The application controls will be present on the "Activity Bar" which will present itself when you mouse over on the top screen edge. Other than these few things your KDE functionality remains the same.
When you would have seen the first screenshot a thought, "It looks like Windows" would have come to your mind. I believe you will understand why I didn't mention it. Also as development never stops in the Linux Universe, here is a sneak peak at what you can look forward in KDE 4.8 which will go live some time in January 2012.
You can download it from here. All the information pertaining to trying and installing Kubuntu is provided there.
Are you Impressed?
This will be my last post for the time being as I have to pickup studies now. I had great fun in writing this Blog and this is my humble contribution back to the community, A community that has given me so much. Peace Be With You.
If you have any comments/questions/suggestions please feel free to contact me via the comments section, Google+ or twitter. Also if you like what you have read, do share it with others.
