How-To: Install Exaile 3.0.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

Exaile 3.0.1 was released on 6 September and it is a bugfix for the stable 3.0 series. To get it in Ubuntu Jaunty, follow the steps below:

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following two lines (the second one is needed only if you want the sources too):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/exaile-devel/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/exaile-devel/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Make sure to save the file and add the trusted key:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 43CBFCC0

Next, update the source packages:

sudo apt-get update

To install Exaile 3.0.1, issue the following command in a terminal application:

sudo apt-get install exaile

This should be all. Run Exaile by typing Alt+F2 and entering exaile in the run box that appears.


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Flagfox: Firefox Add-on to Show the Country of the Current Server

Flagfox is a small Firefox add-on which will display a flag of the country where the server of the current website is located. Flagfox will show the current server IP, the hostname, country, city, local time, postal code and even latitude and longitude of the location.

Flagfox 3.3.15

Flagfox can be configured to show the flag and additional information in the address bar or the status bar (left or right), open information in a new tab or window, and define a custom action for middle-clicking on the country flag icon.

Preferences

Middle-clicking on the flag icon will perform a whois, copy the IP address or open an additional tab with Wikipedia information about the selected country, depending on how you set this action in the Flagfox preferences window.

Custom actions are also supported, the default action (if enabled) will look for pages indexed by Google of the current website. For example, using the default action for this address will return these search results.

Install Flagfox from the Firefox add-ons page
Flagfox homepage


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How-To: Install Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 from the Kubuntu Beta Backports

The first beta of Amarok 2.2, codenamed 'Crystal Clear', was released on September 4 and packages are available for Kubuntu 9.04 Jaunty from the Kubuntu Beta Backports.

Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 comes with a huge number of bug fixes and many improvements and new features. To list some of them:
- new videoclip applet
- new photo applet
- improved browser layout to the left
- widgets can now be arranged differently from default
- ratings
- support for audio CDs
- the playlist offers multi-level sorting now
Those are only the highlights though, to see the full announcement and changelog read this.

To install Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 in Kubuntu/Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope just follow the instructions below:

First, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file with your favourite text editor, e.g.:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Or:

kdesudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list

Next, add the following two lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/beta/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/beta/ubuntu karmic main

Make sure to save the file and then add the trusted key for this repository:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 8AC93F7A

Now update your package lists:

sudo apt-get update

Eventually, remove your existing Amarok installation:

sudo apt-get remove --purge amarok
sudo apt-get autoremove --purge

And now install the latest Amarok:

sudo apt-get install amarok

This should be all. Run Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 by pressing Alt+F2 and typing amarok in KRunner.


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How-To: Install OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 was released a few days ago, bringing many bug fixes to the stable 3.1 series. One of the ways to get it on Jaunty is to use the Launchpad.net PPA for OpenOffice.org Scribblers which recently packaged it for Ubuntu Jaunty and included it in their repositories.

To install the latest release using command-line, just use the instructions below:

First, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file and enter your user password:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following two lines (the second one is not necessary, unless you want the sources to be available too):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Add the trusted key for these repositories:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 247D1CFF

Update the packages lists:

sudo apt-get update

You can eventually remove your existing OpenOffice installation by using the following two commands:

sudo apt-get remove --purge openoffice.org
sudo apt-get autoremove --purge

This will also remove system-wide configuration files.

Now, install OpenOffice.org 3.1.1:

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org

This should be all. You can run it by pressing Alt+F2 and typing openoffice in the run box.


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New Version of Skype Released with PulseAudio Support and Numerous Improvements

A new version of Skype for Linux was released the other day, bringing new features and a lot of improvements and bug fixes. Skype 2.1.0.47 comes packaged for distributions like Ubuntu (both 8.04 and 8.10), Debian Lenny, Fedora Core 9 and 10+ and openSUSE. Dynamically and statically linked binaries are also available from the official website.

Among the new features Skype 2.1.0.47 comes with are:
- PulseAudio support
- SILK audio codec
- SMS sending support
- high quality video support
- contact groups
- chat picture for group conversations
- contact labels and tags
- many bug fixes and improvements

To install Skype in Ubuntu or in Debian just follow the instructions in this article.


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7 Reasons to Use Debian

1. Stable
Any application needs time to be used and tested enough time in order to make it stable. One of the greatest goals of Debian is stability. It's released when it's ready and applications included in the repositories have enough time to be tested through.

2. Debian offers stable, old stable, testing, *and* sid
Why should this be an advantage? First, because there is a stable release, which will fit both desktops and servers. Since Debian stable releases happen rarely, software can get a little old. So any can get to choose 'testing', which is tagged that way because applications are tested more but they are still usable. Sid is bleeding edge, which means applications get in usually as soon as they are released, so you get the newest software only by installing a testing weekly snapshot and upgrading. Considering the stable and old stable offer software which has been tested and stripped for critical bugs, testing usually proves to be the perfect alternative for a user who wants to use up-to-date tools and applications, which include the latest features.

3. The DFSG
Maybe this doesn't say much just when you see it, but Debian has been around since 1993 and it still is as it was. Although the social contract changed a little over the years, it still retained it's originality. It's open, it's free, it follows the GPL entirely, it respects the community needs.

4. Debian is one of the oldest distributions
Although this doesn't necessarily make you wise, take a look at Debian: it's been up for over 15 years and there are a lot of distributions out there who take and eventually expand Debian's work, take Ubuntu or DSL for example.

5. Very rich documenation
Except for the official documentation, there are hundreds of respectable websites which provide Debian tutorials and general documentation. There is usually no problem which can't be solved in Debian or at least which hasn't somewhere an answer.

6. Many distributions are based on Debian
Debian offers a solid base and a powerful system of managing software. Distributions like Ubuntu and DSL use the APT packaging system, which was invented by Debian for easier management of installed software. In turn, everything user-friendly or useful from Ubuntu will get eventually into Debian.

7. Great community
Being one of the oldest distributions out there, Debian has a strong community. Take the IRC channels, both on Freenode and OFTC, take all the Debian-dedicated forums or the mailing lists, consider that there are gurus out there who worked with Debian for years and they will usually offer support and share knowledge.


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ChatZilla: Powerful IRC Client for Firefox

ChatZilla is an IRC client built as a Firefox add-on and providing enough features to use it just like any other standalone IRC client. ChatZilla will fit best as an IRC client when you don't want to use a separate application for getting on IRC.

ChatZilla 0.9.85

The interface resembles the classic user list and chat window appearance, making it intuitive and using the usual Firefox shortcuts for common tasks like switching tabs or closing the current chat window.

The first time it starts, ChatZilla will offer the basic information to start using it, like the needed commands to get help, links to get started with IRC, a FAQ and links to connect directly to one of the many popular networks like Freenode, QuakeNet, EFNet, IRCNet, Dalnet or Undernet.

ChatZilla provides direct support to essential IRC commands for talking with the IRC server and it comes with detailed help for each and every command. Aliases are also supported in ChatZilla so you can define your own shortcut for any command and ease common tasks like a login command or sending a specific message to a channel or a private conversation. DCC is also supported and file transfers are possible in ChatZilla just like in any other IRC client.

Regarding configurability, ChatZilla offers all the friendly-client options, like automatic reconnecting, rejoin when kicked, character encoding, quit message, proxy type, enabled automatically by Firefox, away message, default usermode when connecting, logs. Except for specific IRC settings, ChatZilla also allows to configure appearance settings like fonts or showing a header, add custom aliases, automatically load any custom created Java scripts, text formatting and support for mIRC colours.

ChatZilla preferences

Considering most of the time we're using a web browser, using ChatZilla over some other IRC client should be OK, especially if you don't want to open some additional application. Although not by far as powerful as standalone clients like Irssi or XChat, ChatZilla will make the perfect choice for getting and using IRC, especially when working with Firefox all the time is needed.
ChatZilla homepage
Install ChatZilla from the Firefox add-ons page

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Top 7 Xfce Applications

Over the years Xfce gained a reputation of being a lightweight alternative for the two major desktop environments on Linux, KDE and GNOME. This comes from the fact that Xfce usually uses less resources, comes with applications which offer basic functionality and clean, simple interfaces, and the general performance of Xfce is better, at least when it comes to memory cost, than both KDE or GNOME. Xubuntu uses Xfce and very often it is recommended for older hardware which can't handle the latest releases of Ubuntu or Kubuntu.

Xfce 4.6.1 desktop environment

In this article I will overview 7 essential applications for the Xfce desktop environment, including screenshots, most popular features, strong and weak points.

1. File manager: Thunar (full review here)
Thunar is the default file manager in Xfce. It comes with a simple interface (just like any other Xfce application), side panel, configurable location selector (if you want the typical location bar to appear in the toolbar), possibility to sort items, zoom in/out, three view modes (icons, detailed list, compact list), and image previews. Thunar is simpler than Nautilus, but in turn it will consume less resources. It offers basic configuration options but it will get the job done, especially if you only need to do basic file browsing and management.

Thunar 1.0.1

2. Web browser: Midori
I think trying Midori for the first time will give the exact same feeling as trying Epiphany. It features the usual interface of simple browser, offering enough options to make it a simple, yet useful web browser. Midori uses the powerful WebKit rendering engine, so it will successfully support any web page out there that WebKit supports. Midori comes with extension support, bookmarks, history, encodings, zooming web pages in or out, source viewer and fullscreen mode. It also supports tabs (a must have) and it includes a speed dial page by default when opening a new tab for fast access to your favourite web pages.

Midori 0.1.9

Regarding configurability, Midori is pretty rich in options: except for the usual ones like homepage or start-up routine, it allows spell-checking, enabling/disabling showing images, scripts, interface, external applications, proxy, privacy and even appearance settings.

3. CD/DVD burner: Xfburn
The burning application in Xfce offers quite the usual features basic GNOME burners have. It provides a drag and drop interface using a tree file viewer and a file browser, it supports burning CDs, DVDs, ISO images, creation of audio CDs and that's all there is to it. Very simple and easy-to-use, without any additional options. Xfburn is very well suited if you're looking for a minimal, less resource-hungry application for burning discs.

Xfburn 0.4.2

4. Audio & video player: Xfmedia
Xfmedia is the default media player which comes with Xfce, based on the Xine engine and capable of playing any audio or video format that Xine supports. Xfmedia offers a basic interface which is best fit for playing audio files, but Xine makes it possible to play videos and movies too.

5. Image viewer: Ristretto
Ristretto comes with one of the most simple interfaces an image viewer could have, dividing the interface into two places: a widget showing the image (in full size or zoomed in or out) and a thumbnail preview bar, which can be relocated or hidden on demand via the View -> Thumbnail Viewer menu entry. Preferences window allows the user to customise the slideshow options, image cache size, background colour and scaling. Fullscreen mode and rotating images is also available.

Ristretto 0.0.22

6. Text editor: Mousepad
In the same fashion as the other Xfce applications, Mousepad offers a basic text editor, stripped from advanced features like syntax highlighting, spell-checking or any of the features advanced text editors have. Mousepad, as the name suggests, is just a simple text editor, fast to edit configuration files or any other text file. The features it provides are font selection, line number, auto-indent and word wrap.

Mousepad 0.2.16

7. Terminal application: Xfce Terminal
Since any productive Linux user will need the terminal for making things faster, the Xfce Terminal will prove a good replacement for applications like xterm, Konsole or GNOME Terminal, especially if you strive for simplicity. The Xfce4 Terminal allows you to configure its appearance, background image, font, colours, shortcuts. It even supports tabs, which is very useful when you need more than one instance opened.

Xfce4 Terminal 0.4.0

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How-To: Install Pidgin 2.6.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty from a Launchpad PPA

Pidgin 2.6.0 was made available a few days ago, on August 19, 2009, and today Pidgin 2.6.1 was released as a bug fix version to the new stable 2.6 series. Among the features and improvements which come with 2.6.0 are:

- several changes and bug fixes in libpurple, the library used by Pidgin for its various chat protocols
- various DNS fixes
- AIM and ICQ fixes
- Gadu-Gadu fixes
- MSN new features, like support for receiving audio clips, support for receiving handwritten messages, many other fixes
- lots of XMPP fixes and improvements, like voice and video support with Jingle or the Service Discovery Browser plugin
- Yahoo! fixes and improvements
- Finch and the Pidgin GTK+ Theme control plugin also received improvements

To install Pidgin 2.6.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope from the Pidgin developers PPA on Launchpad, just follow the instructions below:

First of all, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file with your favourite text editor (e.g. sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list or gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list) and add the following two lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Next, make sure to save the file (Ctrl+O followed by Ctrl+X in Nano) and add the trusted key for this repository:

gpg --keyserver http://keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys A1F196A8
gpg --export A1F196A8 | sudo apt-key add -

Now, update the packages lists:

sudo apt-get update

The next step is to uninstall your currently Pidgin installation:

sudo apt-get remove --purge pidgin

And the next step is just to install Pidgin 2.6.1 from the newly added repositories:

sudo apt-get install pidgin

This should be all.


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How-To: Install RSSOwl 2.0 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic and 9.04 Jaunty

RSSOwl is a powerful feed reader application for Linux licensed under the Eclipse Public License and written in Java. To get it up and running in Ubuntu, all you have to do is follow the few steps below:


Install the unzip and sun-java6-bin packages:

sudo apt-get install unzip sun-java6-bin

With your user password. Next, download the .zip package from the official website (direct link here). Unzip it either graphically from Nautilus or issuing the command below in a terminal, making sure the current working directory is the one where you saved the rssowl-2.0-M9.linux.gtk.x86.zip file:

unzip rssowl-2.0-M9.linux.gtk.x86.zip

What you have now is an rssowl directory, which you can copy anywhere in your home directory.

To run RSSOwl, just run the script RSSOwl inside the rssowl directory:

./RSSOwl

Alternately, you can make a desktop shortcut to it. That's all.


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Install Hive Rise in Ubuntu - Free RTS Game for Linux

I recently bumped into a cool RTS (real time strategy) game for Linux called Hive Rise. Although the game is not open-source, it offers a free Linux download as a RUN file which can easily be installed on your Ubuntu box.


To install it in Ubuntu, you only need to follow these steps:

First, download the .run file from the official website (direct link here). After the download is finished, open the terminal, make sure the current working directory is the one where you saved the installhiverise.run file and make it executable:

chmod 755 installhiverise.run # or chmod +x installhiverise.run

Alternately, in Nautilus you can right-click on it, go to Properties, then the Permissions tab and tick the Allow executing file as program checkbox. Now, install it (either double-click the installhiverise.run file or from terminal issue):

./installhiverise.run

Accept the license agreement:


Select a destination for the installation. I used here /home/embryo/apps/hiverise, but you can choose any other directory you have access to (the default /home/USER/hiverise should be fine too).


After the installation is over, go to the directory where you installed Hive Rise and run the hiverise script:

This should be all.


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How-To: Compile and Install Wine 1.1.28 in Debian Lenny

Wine 1.1.28 was released on August 21 and it comes with new features and improvements like support for IRDA protocol, faster wineprefix creation, more image formats in WindowsCodecs and various other bug fixes.

To get Wine 1.1.28 in Debian Lenny, follow the next steps:

1. Enable the sources repositories
Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list file as root and make sure you have a line which starts with deb-src, like in the example below:

deb-src ftp://ftp.fi.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

If not, add it, replacing the TLD (top level domain) with your own country TLD (in the example above the TLD is ftp.fi.debian.org - Finland).

2. Update the package lists
As root, type:

apt-get update

3. Install the needed dependencies
As root, type the following commands in a terminal window:

apt-get install build-essential
apt-get build-dep wine

The first command will get build-essential (which is a meta package including tools needed for the compilation, like gcc) and the second will fetch the Wine development libraries.

3. Get the source tarball
Download the source tarball from here (direct link here) and uncompress it:

tar -xjf wine-1.1.28.tar.bz2

4. Compile and install Wine
Make sure the current working directory is wine-1.1.28 and type the following commands:

./configure
make depend && make
make install

The last command (make install) with root privileges. Alternately, you can install Wine as normal user by specifying a prefix:

./configure --prefix=/home/USER/usr/
make depend && make
make install

In which case you don't need to run make install as root, but as normal user only.

After the installation is complete, run:

winecfg

And that's it. Wine should be now properly installed. Run any Windows application using:

wine executable_file.exe


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World of Padman: Open-Source First-Person Shooter Game for Linux

World of Padman is an open-source, cartoon-style first-person shooter game available for Linux too, besides Windows and Mac. It is a wonderful standalone game based upon the Quake 3 engine.


World of Padman (or WoP for short) features a cartoon-style approach, with maps, characters, weapons and sounds all based upon the Padman animation series. For example, the weapons include Punchy, a funny puppet used for close combat (which will also allow you to move faster), the Bubble G, which shoots bubble gums, or the Splasher, a sniper-equivalent from other games. World of Padman also includes four different player models, each with several other colour customisations.

One of the drawback is that currently (as of patch 1.2) single player mode hasn't been implemented yet, instead WoP servers are usually crowded and you can get playing online in seconds.

The gameplay is somewhat similar to the one of Quake 3, and there are well-known mods like TDM (team deathmatch) or FFA (free for all) available.

Regarding graphics, the visual detail is awesome for a game based on Quake 3, maps featuring colorful, visually-appealing textures.


The official website offers downloads for Linux, Windows and Mac. For Linux, all you have to do is download the (currently) files worldofpadman.run and wop_patch_1_2.run, make them executables:

chmod 755 worldofpadman.run
chmod 755 wop_patch_1_2.run

Then run them to install the game. First run worldofpadman.run to install:

./worldofpadman.run

And next, install the 1.2 patch too:

./wop_patch_1_2.run

WoP can be installed as normal user or as root. Notice that the configuration directory is ~/.WoPadman (W is uppercase), where ~ is your home directory.


One of the few drawbacks (well, except lack of single player) was the fact that when running or bunny-hopping, pressing the right/left keys won't make the character dodge in that direction, so controlling your character may be a little different than in other Quake 3 based games and may need a little time to adjust. I don't know if there is a reason for this (so maybe it's meant this way) or not.

World of Padman can be really addictive and I can warmly recommend it to any Linux gamers who like FPS games and are looking for something new.
Homepage
Download World of Padman
Forum


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