DLNA+xbmc=Awesome!

It's great when you learn new stuff, even better if you find it useful :D.
So I was checking videos on YouTube and found a rather interesting video about DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) uploaded by Geekyranjit (Ranjit Kumar).

I said yeah, let's try and get it working. I already had xbmc installed on my System (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS), went ahead and looked for Apps for my Lumia 520 and Nexus 7 (2012), found 'Nokia Play to' and 'BubbleUPnP UPnP/DLNA' for the respective platforms, and voila, Awesome Experience, Masha'Allah!




Made a quick video so that others can also come to know and use it. Hope you all like it and do share it with others if you found it useful.

P.S: I used xbmc on Ubuntu (Linux) but it works on multiple ecosystems so you should be able to use it with ease.

Links:
DLNA explanation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FGTazXDOyY
xbmc: http://xbmc.org/download/
Nokia Play to: http://goo.gl/b5r2e3
BubbleUPnP UPnP/DLNA: http://goo.gl/SvgWQ7

KINGSOFT OFFICE 2013, a Polished and Capable Office Suite

We have a new office suite in town, KINGSOFT Office 2013.
In this suite we have, Writer, Presentation, and Spreadsheet.

In my limited trial the software worked and behaved nicely with the fact that it clearly states being in Alpha stage. 

The compatibility with MS Office is good and according to some, better than our LibreOffice. Note that we still don't have support for saving in MS Office 2007 formats, i.e. .docx, .xlsx, .pptx although it opens documents in those formats okay.

Nevertheless you should try it out and see whether it works for you or not.


Downloads:
For Ubuntu: http://wdl.cache.ijinshan.com/wps/dow...
For Others(Windows,Android): http://www.kingsoftstore.com/index.html

ClamTk Virus Scanner- Simple, Straightforward, Works

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.

First install the software: https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applicati... , then check for updates, you can also use the command "sudo freshclam" to update, then download the latest ClamTk from here http://clamtk.sourceforge.net/index.html , and install it.

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).

The ClamTk website: http://clamtk.sourceforge.net/index.html
Ubuntu ClamAV Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ClamAV
My recent encounter with the viruses: https://plus.google.com/1127599409313...

If you find this post useful, do share it with others. 

Voyager 12.04 Explored!

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.

Edubuntu 12.04 Explored!

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. 

Xubuntu 12.04 Explored!

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.

Check this video to see Xubuntu 12.04 in action:

You can download Xubuntu 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.