Ubuntu, another choice

Submitted by Drew I can't remember where I learned this but I use it whenever I need to reinstall Ubuntu on my machines, or when I am doing a fresh install on a new machine. What this does is very simple. The first step creates a text file with a list of installed programs and after reinstalling Ubuntu you will be able to apply that list and reinstall all of the programs without searching through endless amounts of packages trying to find out what programs you are missing. Pros: Very easy to do. Just three commands and you are back up and running. Not much interaction from the user.It just works. Cons: Requires some initial setup. Depending on the amount of applications you originally had installed, downloading and installing those packages may take some time. Prerequisites: Your 'home' folder must be on a separate partition. I will explain later in this article. Let's get started. The first step you will have to do is create a text file. Full article here: How to Setup...

linuxartist - a directory of resources for artists using Linux linuxartist a resource for artists using linux-

Teacher threatens to call the cops over Linux A teacher has thrown a student into detention and threatened to call the police for using Linux in her classroom. The teacher spotted one of her students giving a demonstration of the HeliOS distro to other students. In a somewhat over-the-top reaction, she confiscated the CDs, put the student on detention and whipped off a letter to the HeliOS Project threatening to report it to the police for distributing illegal software. "I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom," writes the teacher, identified only as Karen. "At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows. "I along with many others tried Linux during...

Open source hardware 2008 - The definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2008 What is open source hardware? Briefly, these are projects that creators have decided to completely publish all the source, schematics, firmware, software, bill of materials, parts list, drawings and "board" files to recreate the hardware - they also allow any use, including commercial. Similar to open source hardware like Linux, but hardware centric. This is one of the new and emerging trends we've seen really take off over the last few years. Each year we do a guide to all open source hardware and this year there are over 60 projects/kits - it's incredible! Many are familiar with Arduino (now shipping over 60,000 units) but there are many other projects just as exciting and filled with amazing communities - we think we've captured nearly all of them in this list. Some of these projects and kits are available from MAKE others from the makers themselves or other hardware m...

Dear Windows, It's over Dear Windows Professional Service Pack 2: I didn't want to tell you this in person, because I thought it might be too complicated, and might take too long. After all, we've been together for a long time, almost five years and running now. I know, i know. I know you so well; your control panel, your installation procedures, even when you get mad and go all blue screen on me; what can I say, you kinda grew on me. But to be honest, things have been going downhill for a long time now. What happened to that lean, fast OS that i first installed? You know, the one that ran Civ 4, Vice City, and even True Crimes without a problem? The one that burned DVD's, CD's, the one that shared music with my xbox without a problem? I don't know. It seems like you've let go of yourself, to be honest. You take over 20 minutes to boot up, you run Civ4 slowly, heck, you even freeze up on me now when i try to watch video. What happened windows? Did yo...

The gender inequality among developers and supporters of free software is stunning. Less than 2% of us are women, according to studies conducted for the European Commission. Why? The evidence says we’re driving them away. There are even some pretty good published guidelines on how not to drive them away. What’s missing is a practical implementation strategy: here I present ten relatively simple changes in how you run your project, to make it more attractive to would-be contributors—especially women. Read the rest here Ten easy ways to attract women to your free software project | LinuxChix

Ah, the command-line! Refuge for the scoundrel, proving ground for the true expert, tool of choice for the power-user. The following 10 tips explain how to do cool and interesting things at the command-line. They’re not specific to Ubuntu but they were written with Ubuntu in mind, and have not been tested on other distros. But all should work on most versions of Linux or even Unix. 10 fun and/or useful things to do at Ubuntu’s command-line — Ubuntu Kung Fu

OpenTTD is an open source clone of the Microprose game “Transport Tycoon Deluxe”, a popular game originally written by Chris Sawyer. It attempts to mimic the original game as closely as possible while extending it with new features. OpenTTD is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2.0. OpenTTD is modeled after the original Transport Tycoon game by Chris Sawyer and enhances the game experience dramatically. Many features were inspired by TTDPatch while others are original. review from http://www.ixibo.com/ OpenTTD

AMERICA’s ARMY America’s Army is one of the ten most popular PC action games played online. It provides players with the most authentic military experience available, from exploring the development of Soldiers in individual and collective training to their deployment in simulated missions in the War on Terror. In America’s Army: Special Forces , the follow-up to America’s Army: Operations which was released on July 4, 2002, players attempt to earn Green Beret status by completing individual and collective training missions drawn from the Special Forces Assignment and Selection (SFAS) process. Players who complete the SFAS process have the opportunity to take on elite Special Forces roles and are qualified to play in multiplayer missions with units ranging from the elite 82d Airborne Division to the 75th Ranger Regiment. Includes the complete game America’s Army: Operations . AMERICA'S ARMY: SPECIAL FORCES - HOME PAGE

Here are some tips for Ubuntu users who use notebook computers, including how to sync files effortlessly between a laptop and desktop, how to switch CPU speeds on the fly from the desktop, how to power-save your hard disk, and more. Only one or two are specific to notebooks so desktop users may find them interesting too. All are taken from my brand new book Ubuntu Kung Fu , which contains over 300 other fun and useful tips for Ubuntu. The book has been referred to as “a fantastic compendium of useful, uncommon Ubuntu knowledge” by Ubuntu expert Eric Hewitt. Ubuntu Kung Fu is available from all good bookstores or you can buy the PDF version for just $22 by clicking here . 9 tips for Ubuntu notebook users — Ubuntu Kung Fu

Racer is a free car simulation game, It is using real car physics to get a realistic feeling. Cars, tracks, scenes and such can be created with relative simplicity in mind (compared to other driving simulations). The 3D and other file formats are, or should be, documented. Editors and support programs are also available to get a very flexible and expandable simulator. It uses OpenGL for rendering. It attempts to do well at the physics section, trying to create life-like cars to emphasize car control and doesn’t cut back on realism in the interest of fun. If you’ve played Grand Prix Legends from Papyrus, you’ll know what I’m talking about. More Information on RACER Download RACER game Download

In theory, any computer running Linux can be custom-built and tweaked down to the very last bit. In reality, a first-time Linux user wants to grab an install CD, get a working desktop, and do their own thing from there. Lots of Linux distributions make claims about being easy to use, fast, or stable, but what does that mean for a non-programmer trying out a Linux system for the first time? Today we're taking a look at the real differences between three popular distributions of open-source software, and offering our readers their chance to weigh in on why they like their own particular open-source OS. Editor's note: The summaries below are by no means conclusive, and each is based on an installation of the default, GNOME-based desktop of each distribution by an editor trying to keep an open mind. As with most things Linux, your mileage will vary depending on hardware support, application preference, and limits of patience. Lifehacker Faceoff: Battle of the Linux Dis...

The next version of Ubuntu's free Linux operating system, dubbed "Intrepid Ibex," is due out Oct. 30, but the beta release is up for grabs . Although the desktop hasn't been reshaped, the features tweaked just a little bit, and most of the work focused on compatibility and usability (not that those are bad things, by any means), there are still some neat new tools and tweaks that are worth checking out. Read on for our picture-filled take on the new Ubuntu. Installation and boot-up The basics of putting a live CD in your drive, trying the desktop or installing the system are basically the same as with Hardy Heron , with a few welcome differences. The most confusing/imposing part of the process, the partition editor, shows you a graphical view of what you're doing, thereby explaining what each option does a lot better. Ibex also supports importing browser data, backgrounds, music and pictures from Windows XP and, new to this version, Vista. Onc...

Ubuntu 8.10, the next release of the Linux distro we looked at earlier this month , will have a much-requested "DarkRoom" theme available, though the lighter Human remains the default. A full screen of the DarkRoom desktop is below. [ via ] Ubuntu: Ubuntu 8.10 Gets Optional DarkRoom Theme

L I N U X N E W B I E A D M I N I S T R A T O R G U I D E ver. 0.201 2004-07-22 by Stan, Peter and Marie Klimas The latest version of this guide is available at http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk . Copyright (c) by Peter and Stan Klimas. Your feedback, comments, corrections, and improvements are appreciated. Send them to linux_nag@canada.com This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, v1.0, 8 or later http://opencontent.org/openpub/ with the modification noted in lnag_licence.html . (Click this icon to access the counter for this page) Intro. We are relative Linux newbies (with Linux since Summer 1998). We run mostly RedHat and Mandrake -> the solutions might not be directly applicable to other Linux distributions (although most of them probably will be). Hope this helps; we try to be as practical as possible. Of course, we provide ...

If you want to run an application, just hit Alt + F2 and then type the name of the program. If it needs to run with root privileges, just type gksu beforehand. For example, to run GNOME Terminal, you would type terminal . To run Gedit, type gedit . If the program is command line, check the Run In Terminal box (use the Tab key to move from field to field in the dialog box and hit the Space to select a field). This will then open a terminal window and run the command, but be aware that the terminal window will then close as soon as the command has finished, so you won’t be able to inspect the output. Want to browse to a file system location, but too lazy to grab the mouse and click the Places menu? Hit the forward slash (/), and then type the path into the dialog box that appears. Want to rename a file but don’t want to use the mouse? Just ensure the file is highlighted (use the cursor keys to highlight it if necessary) and hit F2. Then type the new filename. To change the fil...

Linux.com writes up a helpful guide to creating your own custom system recovery boot disc using an Ubuntu 8.04 CD image, a little command line work, and a few recommended emergency tools, including the partition format/restore tool GParted , e2undel , a file recovery tool, and anything else you might need if your hard drive, RAM, or anything else on your system suddenly decides it doesn't want to work. The guide requires a good bit of command line work, but it also lets you add whatever programs you'd like to have when you come back from the brink, and helps you strip out programs you don't to boot faster. For a similar (but pre-compiled) hard drive-fixing tool, check out Gina's guide to using the System Rescue CD . How To: Create Your Own Linux Recovery Disc

FlightGear is an open-source project. This means as long as you abide by the terms of the GPL license you may freely download and copy FlightGear. Anyway can have easy and open access to the latest development source code. Being an open-source project, we have made our file formats open and easily accessible. We support standard 3D model formats and much of the simulator configuration is controlled through XML based ASCII files. Writing 3rd party extensions for FlightGear (or even directly modifying the FlightGear source code) is straightforward and doesn’t require a large amount of reverse engineering. This makes FlightGear an attractive option for use in private, commercial, research, or hobby projects. FlightGear is known to run on Windows, Linux, Mac OS-X, FreeBSD, Solaris, and IRIX platforms allowing the user run on their platform of preference. Extensive and Accurate World Scenery Data Base Over 20,000 real world airports included in the full scenery set. Correct runway mark...

When logging into Ubuntu or most any GNOME-based Linux system, users see a blank one-color screen until the actual desktop is loaded—which can make one feel like something's broken, or at least make your boot experience less fluid. One intrepid Ubuntu hacker, however, shows how to banish the blank screen and have GNOME display your chosen background image or color right away. The tutorial requires installing an "xloadimage" package in Ubuntu, but the open-source package is available in many distributions. How To: Load Desktop Backgrounds Immediately in Linux

The Tombuntu blog points out a seriously helpful package available in Ubuntu's extended repositories that make creating super-efficient 7-Zip archives simple and fast, whether you're right-clicking or working with a command line. Run this command to install it: sudo apt-get install p7zip Users of other Linux distros should find a similar package in their own sources. Once installed, creating compressed archives for storing or emailing is as simple as selecting the files, right-clicking, and choosing "Create Archive," and de-compressing just as simple. Linux Tip: p7zip Adds Built-In 7-Zip Tools to Ubuntu

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth (who we interviewed last year ) announced that he's out to make Linux a better-looking operating system than Mac OS X—within two years. An ambitious goal! At O'Reilly's OSCON conference this week, Shuttleworth said: "I think the great task in front of us in the next two years is to lift the experience of the Linux desktop from something stable and usable and not pretty, to something that's art," Shuttleworth said. "Think of the way the iPhone uses a pure software experience, it abstracts away all the hardware," he said. "You can paint anything on the screen because it's all software." Everyone loves eye candy on their desktop—Apple's record-setting Mac sales can attest to that—but is looks is the main hurdle for Linux adoption amongst Normals? Seems like the inability to run Windows and Mac-only software like Microsoft Office or Outlook/Entourage natively, and niggly problems like Wi-Fi and video ...

Free & Open Source… single and multi player 1st person shooter game with some satisfying fast old school game play. A large variety of game play modes from classic SP to fast one on one Multi player and objective based team play. The engine, though designed for simplicity and elegance as opposed to feature & eye candy checklists, still competes nicely. Game Features Game Play is very similar to Doom 2 / Quake 1 Many multi player game play modes, most in team play variants as well: death match, efficiency, tactics, capture (domination/battlefield style), CTF (capture the flag) etc. Master server & in game server browser. Lag-free game play experience. Two single player modes: DMSP (fight a monster invasion on any DM map), classic SP (progression driven SP like other games) 7 weapons tuned for maximum satisfaction: double barrel shotgun, rocket launcher, machine gun, rifle, grenade launcher, pistol, fist. Weapons and Goodies No. Weapon Damage Reload Dam/sec ...

Word Processing Forget about Word and enjoy these word processors that range from simple to full-featured. J2E : Just 2 Easy is a great word processor for students, offering free accounts and a unique URL for sharing documents. Buzzword : This word processor has a really slick interface. Solodox : Solodox makes it easy for you to write, edit, and collaborate on documents online. Writeboard : Writeboard is a full-featured word processor, with great features like collaboration capability and versioning. GreenDoc : GreenDoc offers an incredibly simple way to write online. FCKeditor : Use this HTML editor to enjoy the power of MS Word online. Nevercode Docs : You can use Nevercode online, then download and store your files on their servers to access them later. Writer : With this tool from BigHugeLabs, you can write simple documents and save them online. TheOpenDoc : TheOpenDoc is great for collaboration, offering word processing with change tracking. iNetWord : With this word p...

Mozilla is an open source project and organization to develop a cross-platform Internet client software. Since it is open source, the source code is available to everyone - although you have to follow the licenses as defined in the respective source files (a mixture of MPL, NPL, GPL, LGPL). mozilla.org is the name of an organization that provides an infrastructure to help developers in the project. mozilla.org is also the address of the central web site for the Mozilla project. If you find errors in this document, or if you want to contribute updated or additional sections, please contact Kai Engert . Contents What is Mozilla? Motivation Audience Scope of this document What does Netscape have to do with this? C++ and JavaScript NSPR - Netscape portable runtime Threads Object oriented programming & Modularity Interfaces XPCOM / nsISupports / nsCOMPtr Exceptions / nsresult Strings in C++ Graphical User Interface / XUL Build System and Tree Application Startup I...

Clive is Command-line and fullscreen console program that extracts videos from YouTube, Google Video and other video sites. It supports embedded video extraction, and can be used with an external encoder (e.g. ffmpeg) to re-encode the extracted videos to different video formats (e.g. avi, mpeg, flv). Features Multi-platform; POSIX (BSD/Linux/UNIX-like) Supports: Youtube GoogleVideo Dailymotion Guba Metacafe Sevenload Myvideo Bandwidth throttle Multi-URL (batch) support Compatible with UNIX pipes Configuration file support Integration with X clipboard (xclip) Chain with a 3rd party player software for playing Chain with ffmpeg for subsequent re-encoding Proxy support; option and http_proxy environment setting Further more: High/low-quality support where applicable (e.g. Youtube) URL caching; re-fetch video page only if necessary Cache browsing Parse and extract videos from RSS/Atom feeds Scan and extract embedded videos (Youtube, GoogleVideo) Recall last URL ba...

A download manager is a computer program designed to download files from the Internet,unlike a web browser, which is mainly intended to browse web pages on the World Wide Web (with file downloading being of secondary importance). Download Manager Features Pausing the downloading of large files. Resuming broken or paused downloads (especially for very large files). Downloading files on poor connections. Downloading several files from a site automatically according to simple rules (file types,updated files, etc. - see also Offline Browser). Automatic recursive downloads (mirroring). Scheduled downloads (including, automatic hang-up and shutdown). Searching for mirror sites, and the handling of different connections to download the same file more quickly (Segmented downloading). Ubuntu Geek--Ubuntu Linux Tips,Howtos&Tutorials|Edgy,Feisty,Gutsy,Hardy

Ubuntu users now have direct access to Zimbra’s next generation email and calendaring solution Sunnyvale, Calif., August 7, 2008 – Zimbra has announced that Canonical, sponsors of Ubuntu, the fastest growing Linux distribution, will give users direct access to Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop, which provides a centralized hub to manage multiple e-mail accounts and calendars online and offline, through the Ubuntu Partner Repository. Zimbra, a Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) company, is a leader in open source, next-generation messaging and collaboration software. “Since we first announced general availability of Zimbra for Ubuntu last year, we have seen incredible adoption within the Ubuntu community,” said Andy Pflaum, senior director of business management, Zimbra Business Unit, Yahoo!. “We are eager to offer our world-class collaboration experience, Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop, to the vibrant community of Ubuntu users worldwide.” The inclusion of Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop in the Ubuntu Partner Repository pr...

Bonfire is an application to burn CD/DVD for the gnome desktop. It is designed to be as simple as possible and has some unique features to enable users to create their discs easily and quickly. Features include: burn / copy / erase data and audio discs, allows full editing of data discs (remove/move/rename files inside a directory, ...) as well as audio discs, handle all audio files if Gstreamer supports them, with a customisable GUI. In Windows, there is one of the most popular Nero Burning ROM to burn your files onto CD or DVD. It goes that the KDE and Gnome deskops in Linux have their own popular burning software application. According to this article, it seems that k3b (the commonly used CD/DVD burner in Linux) is about to be dethroned by Bonfire, the fast upcoming application Currently, Bonfire is just another application to burn CD/DVD for the Gnome desktop. It is designed to be as simple as possible and has some unique features to enable users to create their discs easily...

No, you won't actually have a Mac at the end of this transformation tutorial and, yes, it's just a tad bit, well, excessive. But if you're going to go through the effort of turning your Linux desktop into a Leopard clone, you may as well give it the full ride. Going beyond previously-posted guides , Make Tech Easier tackles how to transform your menu bar, add a dock and retractable widgets, create a floating stack over your places menu—even your boot-up screen is given the cold-steel apple and a minimalist progress bar. If you've got the time, it's at least worth the confused faces on your friends' and co-workers' faces. Turn Your Ubuntu Hardy to Mac OSX Leopard [Make Tech Easier] Weekend Project: Give Your Ubuntu Desktop the Complete Mac Look

Want to take Linux for a spin? Forget partitions, dual-boot setups and live CDs: The new Ubuntu Windows installer lets you run the Linux distro while keeping the rest of your system intact. In other words, it's like a live CD without the CD. Just run the installer, which in turn downloads a disk image of Ubuntu (actually, your choice of four Ubuntu distros), and then reboot your PC. Choose the desired boot option from the menu that appears, and presto: You're running Linux. This is a working prototype, not a finished product, so user beware. It didn't work on my Vista box (I discovered after the fact that Vista isn't supported yet), but it ran like a gem on an XP system. Great way to run Ubuntu without the hassles of partitioning or burning a live CD! — Rick Broida Ubuntu: Install and run Ubuntu without disturbing Windows

If you've ever asked for help with your Windows computer that won't boot anymore, you've probably been told to "Backup all your data and then reinstall"… but if you can't boot, how can you get to your data? That's the question we'll be answering today. One of the easiest methods to access your data is to simply boot off an Ubuntu Live CD… and it's completely free (except for the cost of a blank cd). Burn an Ubuntu Live CD If you have another computer, you can download and burn the Ubuntu Live CD using a very simple application called ImgBurn . Otherwise, you can bug one of your friends to help you burn a copy. Just open up ImgBurn, and click the icon to "Write image file to disc" Then click on the icon next to "Source", pick the downloaded ISO file, stick a recordable CD into the drive, and click burn.   Now that you have the boot cd (which you should keep in a safe place, as it's very useful), just stick it...