Parking Fail

Parking Fail: "

Parking Space




"

How to install VMware Server 2.0.x on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic)

How to install VMware Server 2.0.x on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic): "

This tutorial will explain howto install VMware Server 2.0.x on Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic).The problem with vmware server 2.0 is it not working with kernel version 2.6.30 (The VSOCK module won’t be compiled but VMware Server will work without it) this is the patch from vmware forums


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Secure Ubuntu 9.10 Mail Server

Secure Ubuntu 9.10 Mail Server: "The Mini-Course will help you set up a secure Ubuntu 9.10 Server using Postifx, Dovecot and Thunderbird with TLS and SMTP AUTH.
The goal of this configuration is to create a secure mail server using encrypted communication to retrieve mail and to send mail through your mail server.
1. Encrypted Connection to Retrieve Mail
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How To Enable Multimedia (MP3, AVI, MPEG, Flash, etc ..) support in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)

How To Enable Multimedia (MP3, AVI, MPEG, Flash, etc ..) support in Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)Why doesn’t Ubuntu support MP3 ‘out of the box’?
Ubuntu cannot include support for MP3 or DVD video playback or recording. MP3 formats are patented, and the patent holders have not provided the necessary licenses. Ubuntu also excludes other multimedia software due to patent, copyright, or license restrictions, such as Adobe Flash Player and RealNetworks RealPlayer.
That doesn’t mean you can’t play .mp3 and other media files in Ubuntu, it just takes a bit of work (not much). Follow these instructions to get mp3, AVI, Mpeg, Flash, etc .. and other multimedia support on your Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala).

In Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", the universe, multiverse and restricted repositories are activated by default.

Run the following in terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal), it will add medibuntu repositories in your sources list, It will also adds Medibuntu's GPG key to your keyring, which is needed to authenticate the Medibuntu packages.
$ sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/karmic.list --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
$ sudo apt-get -q update
$ sudo apt-get --yes -q --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring
$ sudo apt-get -q update
Now you can Install non-free-codecs, this will enables your system to support for MP3 and various other audio formats, unrar, Java runtime environment, Flash plugin, Microsoft fonts, w32codecs etc!
$ sudo apt-get install non-free-codecs
You can install more codecs and DVD Support by using following command, this will help you to run DVDs, AVI files and other mpeg codecs.
$ sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder
Now Install some media players like VLC and Mplayer
$ sudo apt-get install vlc mplayer
You can also install some interesting and useful utilities like Audio Editing Software Audacity
$ sudo apt-get install audacity

100 Incredible Open Courses for the Ultimate Tech Geek

100 Incredible Open Courses for the Ultimate Tech Geek: "While colleges can be a great place to build up your knowledge of technologies of all kinds, real world experience and free learning resources on the web can do a pretty good job of showing you the ropes as well. Here are 100 free resources to help you hone your techie skills and learn more about the ever-changing world of technology.

There's sure to be something that interests you at OnlineCourses.org."

French tax authorities moving 130000 PCs to Thunderbird

French tax authorities moving 130000 PCs to Thunderbird: "According to OSOR.EU,
All 130,000 desktop PCs at the Directorate General of Public Finance (DGPF)...

OpenSource-DVD 17.0 herausgegeben

OpenSource-DVD 17.0 herausgegeben: "Opensource-DVD, eine Sammlung von freier Software für Windows, ist in Version 17.0 mit Aktualisierungen und 10 neuen Programmen freigegeben worden."

Celeste Paul (seele): HCI Foundations: Evaluation Methodologies

Celeste Paul (seele): HCI Foundations: Evaluation Methodologies: "

This semester I have a class which examines foundational literature in Human Computer Interaction (HCI). Each week we have a topic and have been asked to write a short response or position on a question related to the topic. These responses could be interesting to those who are interested in HCI or would like to know more about the real science behind usability and design. I’ve decided to share some of my responses here on my blog.


Question: What principles and techniques can be used to evaluate interfaces?


Keywords: Heuristic evaluation


Heuristic evaluation is a method of using heuristics, generalized guidelines or principles, as a way of rating a product or process. In the case of usability engineering, heuristics used in evaluation are based on common design principles. The usability engineering industry tends to use a collection of 10 basic heuristics which were developed by Molich and Nielsen (1990). A usability expert will use these heuristics to help guide a formal evaluation of a product in order to discover usability issues.


When comparing heuristic evaluation to other usability evaluation methods, researchers have found that this method has clear benefits. Steves et al. (2001) found a heuristic evaluation found some of the same issues as a user-research method and provided complementary data to the data found in the user-research study. Ssemugabi and de Villiers (2007) found that a heuristic evaluation with four experts found nearly all of the issues a 61 participant end-user evaluation found, in addition to other critical usability issues.


However, it must be noted that heuristic evaluations are sensitive to the number of “experts” used to collect data and 3-5 experts seem to produce the best amount of data compared to the cost (Nielsen and Molich, 1990). Even with 3-5 experts, the method is still possibly low cost compared to the cost of a user study, which as previously stated, still will not provide as much usability data for analysis. This method is popular in industry because of its ease to conduct, value of data collected, and low cost Hollinsed and Novick (2007).


Hollingsed, T. and Novick, D. G. (2007). Usability Inspection Methods after 15 Years of Research and Practice. In proceedings of ACM SIGDOC 2007, 249-255.


Molich, R. and Nielsen, J. (1990). Improving a human-computer dialog: What designers know about traditional interface design. Communications of the ACM 33(3):338-348.


Nielsen, J. and Molich, R. (1990). Heuristic Evaluation of User Interfaces. In proceedings of ACM CHI 1990, 249-256.


Steves, M. P., Morse, E., Gutwin, C., and Greenberg, S. (2001). A Comparison of Usage Evaluation and Inspection Methods for Assessing Groupware Usability. In proceedings of ACM GROUP 2001, 125-134.


Ssemugabi, S. and de Villiers, R. (2007). A Comparative Study of Two Usability Evaluation Methods Using a Web-Based E-Learning Application. In proceedings of ACM SAICSIT 2007, 132-142.

"

Easet Eggs ?

Easter eggs in Ubuntu 9.10 (not in Kubuntu)

???????????


Enough, Microsoft. No One Is Endorsing Piracy. Obviously.

Enough, Microsoft. No One Is Endorsing Piracy. Obviously.: "

I love the self-righteous nature of this little Microsoft post, which quite clearly addresses the "hack" I published the other day without actually providing a link or naming names.

Unfortunately, it looks like it is time to have this conversation again though. Over the past several days there have been various posts, etc. across a variety of social media engines stating that some “hack” (be it a person or a procedure) shows that a Windows 7 Upgrade disc can perform a “clean” installation of Windows 7 on a blank drive from a technical perspective. Of course, from the posts I saw, they often forgot to mention a very basic, yet very important piece of information… “Technically possible” does not always mean legal.

Hey, Microsoft. Duh.

Let's be very clear about something here: I'm not endorsing piracy. Obviously. I'm just trying to support the millions of people that Microsoft fooled into pre-ordering Windows 7 by offering steep discounts, only to discover later that the Upgrade version they purchased unknowingly might not actually install properly. I've gotten hundreds of emails about this. I suspect Microsoft has gotten many times that number. So you know what? I'm going to continue supporting Windows users. Even as Microsoft throws them to the wind with this kind of baloney.

What really cracks me up is that this post quotes the most relevant EULA-based part of this argument. Which is this:

To use upgrade software, you must first be licensed for the software that is eligible for the upgrade.

Exactly. That's who I'm supporting. Millions and millions of people. Many of which are discovering that their Upgrade version of Windows 7 will not install properly on their existing, Windows-based PCs. The PCs that are supposed to support upgrades.

This should be obvious. Please stop suggesting it's not, or that I am doing something else.

And for the nth time, you could (and should) have clearly documented how this works months ago. Or allowed myself and others to do so. You chose to ignore this need. So this is a problem of your own making. It's that simple. You make it too hard. And then you complain when someone else tries to make it easy.

Brilliant.

"

Centrify: Ubuntu Server Edition 9.10 Meets Active Directory

Centrify: Ubuntu Server Edition 9.10 Meets Active Directory: "

When Canonical launched Ubuntu 9.10 earlier today, Centrify Corp. — maker of Microsoft Active Directory-related tools — raised its hand and vowed to support Ubuntu Server Edition 9.10. It was a small but significant announcement that could (potentially) help Ubuntu gain a stronger foothold within corporate Windows networks. Here’s why.


Centrify offers “Active Directory-based auditing, access control and identity management for Unix, Linux, Mac OS, Java and web platforms.”


I’m not positive if Centrify overlaps with such solutions as Likewise Software. But I was impressed to see Centrify front-and-center with Ubuntu-oriented news today.


Frankly, I wish more software development firms raised their hands and pledged to support Ubuntu Server Edition 9.10 — but I suspect most Canonical software partners are waiting for Ubuntu Server Edition 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), a Long Term Support (LTS) release scheduled for April 2010.


Centrify’s Offering


Centrify claims its software suite for Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition enables “an open source cloud computing environment that will be easily integrated with Microsoft Active Directory.”


David McNeely, director of product management at Centrify, offered this prepared statement:


“Centrify helps organizations deploying Ubuntu by enabling granular, role-based access controls and privilege management that goes well beyond access controls to ensure that their administrators have only the rights they need without giving them extended privileges that, if misused, could compromise systems and by extension the business.”


Centrify claims to turn a non-Microsoft system or hypervisor into an Active Directory client, enabling administrators to secure that system using the same authentication and Group Policy services currently deployed for their Windows systems.


Does Centrify work as advertised? I haven’t tested the software, which arrives for Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition (starting at $350 per server) in late December.


Interestingly, Centrify promotes its software through a growing channel partner program. As you likely know WorksWithU has two channel-focused sister sites (MSPmentor.net and TheVARguy.com). So we respect channel-friendly companies.


It’s good to see an ISV raising its hand and supporting Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition. Hopefully more ISVs will raise their hands during Ubuntu 10.04’s release cycle.


Follow WorksWithU via Identi.ca, Twitter and RSS (available now) and our newsletter (coming soon).


"

Firefox Nabs 30 Million Users in Eight Weeks

Firefox Nabs 30 Million Users in Eight Weeks: "The Register: 'Internet Explorer's dominance of the browser world continues to melt away at a steady but glacial pace — with Mozilla earnestly waving a hair dryer.'"

Is Your Windows 7 Install Illegal?

Is Your Windows 7 Install Illegal?: "If you're attempting to install Microsoft's new OS on a blank hard drive, you may be a pirate.

Add to digg
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"

Danny Piccirillo: Top things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala

Danny Piccirillo: Top things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala: "
So you've just installed Ubuntu 9.10, the cute and cuddly Karmic Koala, but now you're confronted with a most pertinent question, 'What do i do now?" Ubuntu is a very complete and full-featured Linux distribution, but no operating system can come with everything you want. There's much more fun to be had in what comes after installing the OS on your machine: now you get to set it up with all the best software it didn't already come with! This list of the top things to do immediately after installing your newly acquired copy of Ubuntu doubles as a general list of great software to try out and use, complete with links to any special instructions on how to set them up, Terminal commands for those who prefer a command-line interface (CLI), and when available, personal package archives (PPA), repositories to keep the applications at their newest version, not just the security updates provided for you by default. Repositories can be added easily by clicking the "Add..." button in the "Other Software" tab of Software Sources and entering the provided APT Line. Feel free to pick and choose; enjoy!

Basic Stuff

Download Mirror & Updates


After every major Ubuntu release (beta, release candidate, and especially the final), the official servers will be unbearably sluggish. To select an alternative server, just launch Software Sources (System ⟶ Administration ⟶ Software Sources) and click the drop-down menu next to "Download from:" and select "Other..." at which point the Choose a Download Server window should pop up. If you know of a fast local server you may select it from the list, or you can try clicking the "Select Best Server" button to launch a tool that will test all the servers for the fastest connection and choose the best result.



Optionally, jump to the "Updates" tab. If you'll always be running the newest version of Ubuntu and are using third-party repos, which we will be, then leaving the defaults should be fine. "Unsupported Updates (karmic-backports)" gives you, as the name implies, unsupported versions of future packages which are still in development which you probably don't need or even want except in certain situations like having a newer-model Apple machine that requires bleeding edge updates. Packages may contain new features, introduce new interfaces, and not be sufficiently tested for inclusion in the 'proposed' repository. "Pre-released Updates (karmic-proposed)" is just the testing area for updates, recommended only to those interested in helping to test updates and provide feedback. Check that Ubuntu is scheduled to automatically find availably updates daily and to download all updates in the background to save yourself some time when it comes time to install them.

Before you go, head over to the 'Statistics' tab and check it if it isn't already. This anonymously sends the list of software you have installed and how often you use them to help collect statistics on which apps are the most popular.



When you click close, you will likely be prompted to reload the list of available software. Click reload. If you're prompted with available updates when it finished reloading, follow the instructions to install them. If not, you can always manually check for and install updates via Update Manager (System ⟶ Administration ⟶ Update Manager). You should always keep your computer up-to-date.


Folder and Printer Sharing


If you want to be able to share files, folders, and printers with Windows machines, you'll need the samba package. You can set this up graphically by right clicking on any folder and selecting 'Properties' and going straight to the 'Share' tab. Check off 'Share this folder' and you should be prompted to install the Windows networks sharing service. After that's installed, you'll need to restart and you can click 'Create Share' to be able to view the folder and it's contents from other machines through the network.


Like any package, you may also install samba via Synaptic Package Manager (System ⟶ Administration ⟶ Synaptic Package Manager) or command-line (Applications ⟶ Accessories ⟶ Terminal).

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install samba

Time Synchronization


Ubuntu can keep your computer's time accurate by syncing up with atomic clocks through tiers of servers while factoring out communication delays, and adjusting the time in a way that does not upset all the other processes that are running. The protocol for this is called Network Time Protocol (NTP). To set up NTP time synchronization graphically, launch Time & Date, also available through (System ⟶ Administration ⟶ Time & Date). Click the keys to unlock settings. Now, you can select your time zone, and configure it to 'Keep synchronized with Internet servers', at which point it will prompt you to Install NTP support. After that, click 'Select Servers' and check off the server closest to you.





Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install ntp

Restricted Essentials

DVD Playback


Most commercial DVDs are encrypted with Content Scrambling System (CSS), which attempts to restrict the software that can play a DVD. You'll need to install libdvdcss if you want to play them. You can do so by first installing the libdvdread4 package via Synaptic Package Manager or Terminal.

libdvdread4 to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install libdvdread4

Then, within a Terminal window, enter:
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Restricted Extras


The ubuntu-restricted-extras package includes a bunch of things Ubuntu isn't legally allowed to ship with, namely unrar for unarchiving .rar files, Microsoft TrueType core fonts, Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE), restricted codecs, and finally Adobe Flash Player. Like the rest of the packages and applications in this list unless noted otherwise, it's available in the new Ubuntu Software Center (Applications ⟶ Ubuntu Software Center).


Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

I also recommend you at least give a fair chance to Gnash, an open source flash player on the list of high priority Free software projects. To install, you'll first have to make sure you don't have Adobe's flash player installed via Synaptic or Terminal.

Command:
sudo apt-get purge flashplugin-installer nspluginwrapper

Finally, you can install the Gnash plugin via Synaptic of Terminal.

APT Line: ppa:gnash/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install mozilla-plugin-gnash

Eye Candy

GNOME Shell

The upcoming version 3.0 of the GNOME desktop environment which i can't describe concisely other than that it is a new interface for interacting with your desktop. Some people think it looks pretty slick, but i won't weigh in on the issue. If you'd like to try it, there is a version in the Ubuntu repos, but you'll probably want something more up to date. You can build it yourself without too much difficulty, but hopefully there will be a PPA available soon.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell



Advanced Desktop Effects Settings


If you want a Custom option in Visual Effects settings in Appearance (System ⟶ Preferences ⟶ Appearance) for some fancier features to play around with and show off, you'll need Simple CompizConfig Settings Manager, or if you're feeling more ambitious, Advanced Desktop Effects Settings.

APT Line: ppa:compiz/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install simple-ccsm

Replace 'simple-ccsm' with 'compizconfig-settings-manager' for the Advanced Desktop Effects Settings Manager.


Basic Compositing

Some of you may not need or want such superfluous visual effects; perhaps you lack the hardware or restricted drivers for accelerated graphics necessary for Compiz; maybe you just don't want to use something that isn't standards compliant, but still want basic compositing which some applications depend on. In that case, Metacity, the default window manager for GNOME, works great! You can enable it graphically, or with a simple command, but make sure to disable Compiz effects in Appearance.


For GUI lovers, hit Alt+F2 to open the Run Applicatoin dialog and enter gconf-editor to launch the GNOME Configuration Editor. In the left-hand sidebar, navigate to Apps ⟶ metacity ⟶ general and back in the main box check off compositing_manager, and Metacity will immediately start compositing, a much smoother transition than to Compiz. If you're a CLI guy (relax ladies, i did it for the rhyme), you can run a quick command in Terminal.


Command: gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool true

Extra Themes

There aren't a whole lot of themes that come with Ubuntu, so if you crave more, there are several packages containing additional themes. Hopefully many of these packages can be merged in the future and have a more refined selection. They all must be installed via Synaptic or the terminal but only the themes from the Bisigi Project provided by the zgegblob-themes package requires the PPA. You can download individual themes from various websites like GNOME-Look.


APT Line: ppa:bisigi/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install arc-colors community-themes gdm-themes gnome-backgrounds gnome-colors gnome-themes gnome-themes-extras gnome-themes-more metacity-themes shiki-colors zgegblog-themes




Electric Sheep Screensaver

Fractal frames can look pretty sweet. Electric Sheep does a number of cool things with them. Primarily, it displays them as a screensaver, but on top of that and arguably just as cool, it downloads new popular ones through a distributed computing network so that the "gene pool" of animations, or "sheep" as they're called, is constantly evolving. You can download a starter pack from http://www.archive.org/details/electricsheep-packs-244 and just extract them into ~/.electricsheep

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install electricsheep



Desktop Functionality

Application Launcher

For a beautiful application launcher, complete with plugins and a dock, you can try GNOME + Do.

APT Line: ppa:do-core/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install gnome-do



Universal Applets

After the death of Screenlets and gDesklets, a new widget framework called Universal Applets is being developed with the goal of producing applets that can be dynamically "plugged" into any application. While GNOME Do is definitely superior at the moment, Universal Applets is a promising concept for the future. It's only available in a third party repository since it isn't yet included in the Ubuntu repos and as such isn't listed in the Software Center. It hasn't even been packaged for karmic, but the Jaunty packages, though bug-ridden, work for me.

APT line: deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/some-guy:/screenlets/xUbuntu_9.04/ ./
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install universal-applets



Clipboard Manager

There is an annoying bug from 2004 in which copy/paste doesn't work if the source is closed before the paste. Parcellite is a clipboard manager that works around that problem along with providing some other useful features.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install parcellite

Audio/Video Creation & Editing

Video Editing

PiTiVi is an intuitive and featureful movie editor that was actually designed with the user interface in mind instead of just slopping on one feature after another. It is able to import and export video files in any format supported by the powerful GStreamer framework.

APT Line: ppa:gstreamer-developers/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install pitivi



Video Screen Capture

If you want to make screencasts to show off your awesome desktop, Instanbul is a great desktop recording tool which, unlike gtk-recordMyDesktop, uses GStreamer. You can install it through Synaptic or Terminal.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install istanbul

Audio Recording & Editing

Jokosher is a simple yet powerful non-linear, multi-track audio editor. The interface, which was designed from the ground up, provides an integrated environment to create and record music, podcasts and more.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install jokosher



Webcam

If you have a webcam, you need Cheese. It's a Photobooth-inspired application for taking pictures and videos from a webcam also based on the GStreamer back-end.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install cheese



Multimedia Playback

Media Center

Moovida, formerly Elisa, is a beautiful media center which is perfect for setting up a Home Theater PC (HTPC) or TVPC like the Neuros Link and it uses the GStreamer multimedia framework to support playing almost any kind of file.

APT Line: ppa:moovida-packagers/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install moovida



Video Feeds

Miro, previously known as Democracy Player, is an Internet television application developed by a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization called the Participatory Culture Foundation whose mission is to 'enable and support independent, non-corporate creativity and political engagement.'

APT Line: deb http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/pculture.org/miro/linux/repositories/ubuntu karmic/
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install miro




Media Player

I don't feel strongly about this, but for those of you who are unsatisfied by Rythmbox, the default music manager for Ubuntu, you may want to try Banshee. It's a media player and library for music and videos which has a number of cool features.

APT Line: ppa:banshee-team/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install banshee


Web Browsing

Google Chrome

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 brings some major improvements like HTML 5 support, but we all hate how bloated it is. If you want something faster and more standards-compliant, WebKit browsers are the way to go. Webkit is the layout engine that Epiphany and Google Chrome use to render pages faster than Gecko which is used by Firefox. Chromium is only available through the a PPA and must be installed through Synaptic or Terminal.

APT Line: ppa:chromium-daily/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser



Epiphany

If you prefer something that integrates more with GNOME, and is in fact the default web browser for it, try Epiphany. You may also add the Epiphany and WebKit PPAs to keep them up-to-date.

APT Line: ppa:webkit-team/epiphany
APT Line: ppa:webkit-team/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install epiphany-browser





Learning

Flash Cards

Digital flash cards are even more effective because they can accurately use spaced repetition to help you more efficiently retain information. There are actually two great programs i recommend you try and choose for yourself, Mnemosyne and Anki.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install mnemosyne anki

Brainwave Entrainment

You read that correctly. You can synchronize your brainwaves to that of an external stimulus like sound, light, and even electromagnetic radiation in order to easily induce brain states like sleep for example. Think of it as assisted meditation which is effective at treating conditions like ADD, insomnia, and much more. Gnaural is brainwave entrainment software which generates binaural beats. It is no longer in the repositories and it doesn't have a PPA, but 32-bit users can download and install the .deb from the website while 64-bit users like myself are forced to compile.

http://gnaural.sourceforge.net/download/



Brain Training

If you like puzzles, logic, and brain teasers, you'll enjoy keeping your mind in shape with gbrainy.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install gbrainy



Games

PlayDeb

What good are games when you're stuck with the same versions for 6 months? PlayDeb is a repository of games which provides you with the latest and greatest that are either not at their newest version in the Ubuntu repos, or not included at all! Installing games is extremely convenient by searching through the PlayDeb.net website and installing games with just a click. You can add it to your sources automatically by installing the playdeb package, or manually.

APT Line: deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu karmic-getdeb games
wget -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -



Yo Frankie!

This is a beautiful and important Free game that is, Free software and Free content which was created to show off what can be produced using Free software. It was made using Blender, mentioned above, as part of the Blender Institute's first Open Game Project, and based off of the film, Big Buck Bunny, which was the foundation's second Open Movie Project. Sadly, it isn't included in the Ubuntu repos, but you can get it with PlayDeb.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install yofrankie





Nexuiz

For those of you who prefer fast-paced first-person shooters, Nexuiz is a very decent Free game every Linux gamer should try at least once. GameStop even held a Nexuiz "PC gaming challenge" in which interactive kiosks were set up in 10 different stores in 8 US cities and users were given 2 minutes to earn the high score for a $100 gift card by doing the most damage possible to their AI opponents.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install nexuiz



Donating CPU Power

Distributed Computing


You can volunteer to participate in grid computing to donate your computer's spare CPU power to charitable projects like protein folding. Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is a great way to use your computer to give.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install boinc-manager


Images and Publishing

Photo Management

Although Ubuntu does come with F-Spot, it does leave many users unsatisfied. If you find yourself among them, you may want to try a young competitor named Solang, which gained popularity during the mono wars (hopefully mostly over?) as being a mono-free alternative.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install solang

Vector Graphics

Inkscape is a vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X. It's an excellent tool for publishing materials in the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

APT Line: ppa:inkscape.testers/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install inkscape



3D Graphics

Not exclusive to still imagery, Blender is an amazing 3D imagery creation suite that has already been used to create films as part of the Open Movie Project.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install blender

Desktop Publishing

Scribus is a desktop publishing (DTP) application designed for flexible layout and typesetting and the ability to prepare files for professional quality image setting equipment like writing small newspapers, brochures, newsletters, posters and books.

APT Line: ppa:scribus/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install scribus

Filesharing

Secured P2P

Gnunet framework for decentralized, secure, peer-to-peer networking for anonymous, censorship-resistant file-sharing. You may have heard of Freenet, but you probably haven't seen how they compare.

APT Line: ppa:teamgnunet/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install gnunet-gtk




Direct Connect

A great way to share files for students in college networks is using direct connect; sadly, there is no DC client designed for GNOME, nor is there an available port of Shakespeer from Mac, so it seems like the best option is DC++

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install linuxdcpp

Usenet

Although it isn't free, Usenet downloads are crazy-fast and files show up there first. Possibly even more noteworthy, however, is that for whatever reason it remains unregulated by pirate hunters. Read this guide for more info, but install LottaNZB for your client instead— they're working to replace HellaNZB with SABnzbd for their back-end.

APT Line: ppa:lottanzb/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install lottanzb


BitTorrent

Although Miro can already handle torrent files, you probably want a dedicated BitTorrent client, and although Transmission can do the job, you might want something a little more comprehensive. I'm sure you'll find that Deluge is a feature complete yet lightweight application.

APT Line: ppa:deluge-team/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install deluge




Time Managment

Alarm Clock

If you keep your computer on at all times and want to toss out your boring alarm clock, or even if not, Alarm Clock provides a lot of nifty scheduling and alert options.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install alarm-clock



Time Tracking

The Hamster Time Tracker applet helps you track and analyze how much time you spend on different tasks and activities with a graphical overview to make you feel bad for all that time you waste. It can only be installed through Synaptic or Terminal.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install hamster-applet

Communication

Empathy Instant Messenger

Horray! Empathy is now included with Ubuntu, but if you want the latest version with additional features like geolocation, you'll need to add the Telepathy PPA to your software sources.

APT Line: ppa:telepathy/ppa

Microblogging

Gwibber is a cute little microblogging client for those of you who frequently use sites like Twitter, Identi.ca, Jaiku, Facebook, Digg, and more.

APT Line: ppa:gwibber-team/ppa
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install gwibber



Security & Privacy

On-The-Fly Encryption

Many people use TrueCrypt believing that it's FOSS, but although the source code is available, it's development is kept secret and it isn't considered Free Software by the FSF nor Open Source by the OSI. ScramDisk for Linux (SD4L) is a great OTFE alternative that also supports TrueCrypt containers. Unfortunately, it is not yet included in the default repos, and there isn't a PPA either, but you can download a .deb to install from their website.

http://sd4l.sourceforge.net/

VPN Access

If you'd like to make sure all of your internet traffic is encrypted and anonymous, you can pass it through a proxy by using a Virtual Private Network service like IPREDator. We can't kill the music and movie industries if they can make money just by suing all of us!

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install network-manager-pptp

Onion Routing

If you don't wan't to pay $5 a month for a VPN like IPREDator but still want to be able to use the web anonymously, you can try The Onion Router, more commonly referred to as TOR, but it is significantly slower and requires additional setup. Although it was in the Ubuntu repos, the version in there was dangerously out-of-date it's just been removed, so you need to use their repository.

APT Line: deb http://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org karmic main
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install tor tor-geoipdb

Firewall

If you feel the need to have a firewall, Firewall configuration is a graphical front-end for Uncomplicated firewall (ufw).

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install gufw



Antivirus

You generally don't need antivirus with Linux, but if you'd like to play it safe, you can install the ClamTK Virus Scanner, a graphical front-end to ClamAV.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install clamtk




System Utilities

LiveUSB Creator

Optical storage disks like CD's are inconvenient and get scratched up, so why put your installer on a USB instead? UNetbootin allows you to do just that, using any Linux or BSD distribution.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install unetbootin



Backup

I don't have any strong feelings as to which backup utility you should use, but i have learned the hard way that you should always have a backup. Back In Time should do everything you need.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install backintime-gnome



Partition Editor

You can partition you other storage drives, your external hard drive, you USB drive, your iPod, and basically any other writable storage drive you can plug into your computer using the GNOME Partition Editor. It does the trick on Ubuntu installation disks, and it can sure do the trick elsewhere.

Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install gparted



Virtual Machine

If you want to be a good user and get testing on the next version of Ubuntu, that's 10.04 LTS, the Lucid Lynx, but you want to do it safely, get VirtualBox. There's version that is fully open source (vboxgtk), but you'll likely want the proprietary features too. It's installable via Synaptic or Terminal.

APT Line: deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic non-free
Click here to install or use the following command:
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-3.0



64-bit Specific

Flash Player

The 32-bit flash player runs terribly on 64-bit systems, and if you don't want to use Gnash, Adobe has released the only 64-bit version of Flash Player 10 for Linux! It currently isn't in the repositories because it's still in alpha, but it's so much more stable than even the final 32-bit version. To install it, download the .tar.gz file at the bottom of this page:

http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html

Next, extract the file to your home folder; then just enter this into a terminal window:

sudo cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

Windows Media Audio 9

I've looked and looked, and without the Fluendo GStreamer plugin there is no way for 64-bit Ubuntu to play WMA 9 files, and video files that use it will have no sound. You can purchase a copy from the Canonical Store, or download it illegally from The Pirate Bay:

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4900791

Explore, Customize, Personalize!

Now it's time to play around with all the new apps you have and make your desktop, well, yours. You can try experimenting with a cool panel-less desktop; you can experiment with all your new apps; you can try different themes and modify them in Appearance; you can set your preferred applications and explore all your system preferences. My desktop background comes is by David Revoy of Durian, now called Sintel, the Blender Foundation's latest Open Movie Project.



Don't for get to show off your shiny new Ubuntu installation to your friends, spread Ubuntu, and donate to your favorite projects!
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