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Posts Tagged ‘Linux’

Google Chrome OS!!!

July 9th, 2009

So Google’s going to release its own operating system. The company announced on Tuesday night, a move that threatens the very heart of Microsoft, long seen as Google’s biggest rival. Chrome OS, targeted at netbooks and those who spend most of their time on the Web.

Chrome OS is intended to be a very lightweight, quick-starting operating system whose central focus is supporting Google’s Chrome browser. Applications will run mostly inside the browser, making the web — not the desktop — into the computer’s default operating system. So in words the operating system would be good for people who live on the Internet. It would use software as services for users.

The OS is gonne be a Linux-based OS, whch would be the second for Google, following on Android, which is another open-source OS that intended for small devices such as mobile phones. Chrome OS will first be on netbooks — the popular lightweight and inexpensive notebook computers — in the second half of 2010, the company said in a blog post. Desktops will come later.

Google has already laid the ground work for a web OS by revolutionizing webmail with Gmail’s speed, features and capacity (now over 7GB). It followed that with free online word processing and spreadsheet software. Add in its online photo sharing services, and the myriad other online applications from Facebook to customized radio station Pandora, and most common uses of a computer can be done through a browser.

I agree that the concept of using the Internet to access applications is a great idea in developed countries, but in developing countries such as India and even continents like Africa it’s going to face more challenges as these places have have issues with regard to bandwidth and connectivity which would definitely limit the number of users opting to use Chrome OS.

If nothing else, Google has shaken up the operating system business quite a bit, with nothing more than an announcement of a future product. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next year or so, as they try to turn that announcement into a real tangible product.

Tags: Gooelg OS, Google, Linux
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Linux newbie guide to installation of LAMP on Ubuntu!!!

July 5th, 2009

The acronym LAMP refers to a set of free software programs commonly used together to run dynamic Web sites or servers Linux, the operating system; Apache, the Web server; MySQL, the database management system (or database server) and Perl, PHP, and/or Python, scripting languages. The LAMP stack is a very popular setup and many websites run on it. Best of all, all four of the tools in the stack are free and open source and really easy to get started with.

For this tutorial, I’m going to be showing you how to install LAMP on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), but the process is very similar for other Linux distributions too.

All the stuff you need is pre-loaded into Ubuntu’s software repositories, and it’s really simple to install everything you need. If you’re doing a new install, you may want to take a look at the server edition of Ubuntu as it allows for a pre-configured profile that you can pick at install time.

You need to install the following packages:

• apache2
• php5-mysql
• libapache2-mod-php5
• mysql-server

Apache

Install Apache

Testing HTTP Server by open a web browser and enter http://localhost

PHP

Install PHP5

Stop/Restart Apache

Test the installation

Insert this following line into testphp.php file.

Save this new file.
Open a web browser and enter http://localhost/testphp.php
Be sure to remove the file afterwards, as it may pose a security risk.

MySQL

Install MySQL Server

MySQL initially only allows connections from the localhost (127.0.0.1). We’ll need to remove that restriction if you wish to make it accessible to everyone on the internet. Open the file /etc/mysql/my.cnf

Find the line bind-address = 127.0.0.1 and comment it out then save the file.
MySQL comes with no root password as default. This is a huge security risk. You’ll need to set one. So that the local computer gets root access as well, you’ll need to set a password for that too. The local-machine-name is the name of the computer you’re working on.

MySQL Administrator

Install MySQL Administrator

Refresh Gnome Panel

Run MySQL Administrator
Applications -> System Tools -> MySQL Administrator

MySQL for Apache HTTP Server

To get PHP to work with MySQL, open the php.ini file

You’ll need to uncomment the “;extension=mysql.so” line so that it looks like this

Restart Apache

That’s pretty much all the configuration you need to do, so you can now grab any web applications you want and install them.

Cheers

Tags: LAMP, Linux, Ubuntu, Wordpress
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History of Compiz!!!

July 5th, 2009

As you know i’ve been using linux for a couple of years now. One of the most exciting things on linux is the 3D desktop (”compiz”) for me. Here is a little graphic which shows the chronology of the now so called “compiz” project.

Tags: Compiz, Linux
Posted in Assorted Gyaan | Comments (0)

Reasons to put Linux/Ubuntu on your netbook!!!

June 10th, 2009

Microsoft pounded itself on the chest in April saying over 96% of netbooks now use Windows. This made me somewhat sad, because I was hoping these little computers could be the break Linux had been waiting for.

The first couple of netbooks all had Linux pre-installed. Unfortunately, Asus chose to go with a custom Linux distribution for which it has yet to release its first update. No Firefox 3, no Flash 10 and no easy way to get additional software. Except for the easy to use interface, they came up with the worst example of what Linux can be. But if there’s one thing Linux offers its choice. It is my opinion that Ubuntu is the most user-friendly Linux distro out there, and I highly recommend giving it a go on your netbook.

Here are some reasons why you should use linux(Ubuntu) on netbooks instead of windows…

1. It does everything what netbooks should do…

There’s no Adobe Photoshop for Linux, and the same goes for many other professional applications. There are alternatives, but that’s not the point here. Running Photoshop on an Atom processor is no fun. That’s the kind of thing you do on a desktop PC or a high-end laptop. Ubuntu comes with everything installed that you need to surf the web, chat, download (a bittorrent client!) and email. Oh, and OpenOffice too.

2. It’s extremely configurable

If you’re even slightly geekish (like me ), you’ll probably like tinkering with a new Operating System. Ubuntu, like any Linux distribution is extremely configurable. Lots of options to play with, tons of new software to get to know. But even if you’re not into all that, you’ll find Ubuntu to be incredibly easy to operate and very stable.

3. It’s got fast boot time

Ubuntu 9.04 version of Linux has proven that it doesn’t need to take minutes to boot into a fully operational OS. Intel’s Moblin also boots in seconds, even on slower hardware. Because of the nature of open source software, Linux would always have an edge over windows in this field.

4. F for Free and Freedom

When you use Windows XP on netbooks, it takes a long time to boot and then you have to wait for the updates to finish. Firewall, virus definitions, Windows Updates. Not fun at all. And once all that was done you’d be looking at XP’s ugly (and ancient) user interface. It’s like working on your PC, just a lot slower.

With Ubuntu, using your netbook has becomes a little adventurous, because everything normally don’t work out of the box you’ll occasionally need to figure out how to do something, and that’s when you come across Linux’ best feature. Its user community is full of helpful people. I’ve never not been able to do something I wanted, and even the most challenging issues took no longer than minutes to fix.

Talk about Microsoft Statistics..

Most netbooks might be sold with Windows on them, but the only reason you didn’t get one with Linux was because those weren’t actually available. Very few Linux models are, so everyone wanting to run Linux on them will still need to buy a Windows version. That will definitely skew the statistics.

But I don’t want to be a poor sport here… It’s upto people to decide what they like or dislike. Some people like Windows because they are familiar to it.. Others like to be adventurous and wanna go off the track.. for them there’s Linux..

Cheers

Tags: Dell XPS, Linux, netbooks, Ubuntu, Windows
Posted in Assorted Gyaan | Comments (0)

OLPC Operating System Sugar On a Stick!!!

June 4th, 2009

Sugar is the desktop environment originally developed for the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) computer/education project and as of May 2008 being developed under the umbrella of Sugar Labs. Sugar is used on the OLPC XO-1 laptop computer and is also available as a session option on Ubuntu and Fedora. Unlike more traditional desktop environments, it does not use a “desktop” metaphor and only focuses on one task at a time. It is written in the interpreted Python programming language, whereas most other environments are written in a compiled language such as C. Sugar is also referred to as the OLPC Python Environment. It is composed of the Python language, GTK GUI and Gecko HTML engine.

One of the goal is to bring the Sugar OS to any computer, not just the OLPC XO Laptop. And as step one, the team released Sugar on a Stick a while back. Basically, what Sugar on a Stick lets you do is download and install the Sugar OS onto a USB flash disk with 1GB of storage space or more. The end result is a USB stick that you can insert into pretty much any x86 based computer to boot into the Sugar environment.

There are two versions of Sugar on a Stick available at the moment. One is based on Fedora 10, while the other is based on Ubuntu 8.10. I tried out the Fedora version, which also makes it easy to create persistent storage space on the flash drive, which means you can save any changes to the USB stick. In other words, while Sugar on a Stick boots like a LiveUSB, since you can save changes you can treat it like a portable operating system. You can carry it with you and plug it into any computer to pull up your operating environment. I used Sugar USB pen drive on my Dell XPS M1530.

Sugar OS is designed primarily as an educational tool for children, and includes a number of games, and other tools including utilities kids can use to write their own programs. But if you want to see what the buzz is about without buying your own XO Laptop, Sugar on a Stick is the way to go.

For more Screenshots visit my Flickr Photostream..

Tags: Dell XPS, Fedora, FOSS, Linux, olpc, Sugar, Ubuntu
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Linux Ebooks!!!

June 2nd, 2009

No matter how experienced you are with Linux systems, there is always something new you can learn from a good book that focuses on specific aspects of a Linux system. For couple of years now when ever I want to go through specific aspects of a Linux system, whether it be commands, bash scripts etc.. i refer to these books for help…
Note : Not all of these books are in pdf format, so for some books you may need internet connection to view them..

1. Introduction to Linux – A Hands on Guide

     Author: Machtelt Garrels 
     Format: HTML

 

 

2. Bash Guide for Beginners

     Author: Machtelt Garrels 
     Format: HTML

 

 

3. Rute User’s Tutorial and Exposition

     Author: Paul Sheer 
     Format: HTML

 

 

4. The Linux Starter Pack

     Author: Paul Hudson 
     Format: PDF

 

 

5. FLOSS Manuals

     Author: FSF 
     Format: HTML & PDF

 

 

6. The Easiest Linux Guide You’ll Ever Read

     Author: Scott Morris 
     Format: PDF

 

 

7. Linux Knowledge Base and Tutorial

     Author: James Mohr 
     Format: PDF

 

 

8. Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference

     Author: Keir Thomas 
     Format: PDF

 

 

9. Linux Newbie Administrator Guide

     Author: Peter and Stan Klimas 
     Format: HTML

 

 

10. Slackware Linux Basics

     Author: Daniël de Kok 
     Format: HTML

If you know anyother Linux ebooks please feel free to contribute to the post..
cheers..

Tags: ebooks, Linux, pdf, Ubuntu
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Dell XPS M1530 fingerprint reader on Ubuntu 9.04!!!

May 11th, 2009

Ubuntu 9.04 has got to be the best Ubuntu version so far for the Dell XPS M1530 as all the hardware works out of the box. Here are the steps for getting the fingerprint reader to work :

Installation

---

Add the key by typing in the terminal:

Now add the PPA repositories to your source.list (/etc/apt/source.list):

Update installer:

install thinkfinger:

Test the Driver

---

Now the driver is installed and should be working.

To acquire your fingerprint use:

To verify your fingerprint use:

Try it as root if it doesn’t work.

Configuring PAM to use ThinkFinger

---

You don’t need to edit anything on Ubuntu 9.04, just type in the terminal:

Now we are ready to add users to thinkfinger. You can add a fingerprint for a user with:

If you would like to use thinkfinger for su, you have to enroll the fingerprint for root user with:

I haven’t got my fingerprint reader to work for unlock of screen when it is locked by screensaver. I’ll update this post when i get it to work.

Tags: Dell XPS, Linux, thinkfinger, Ubuntu
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Virtualbox – A bridge between Windows and Linux!!!

May 11th, 2009

This post is not for someone who has a fair amount of experience. It’s for someone who is either looking to convert to Linux and is stuck with Windows or someone new to Linux but not quite familiar with it yet. VirtualBox is a virtualization software. In layman’s language if you’re running an operating system, you can run another operating system independently and at the same time as the host operating system.

For example: If i’m running Ubuntu 8.0. I needed to run Microsoft Publisher. Now Scribus is an alternative but maybe not be quite as smoothly as I’d like. So what to do?

I google “download virtual box”. I download and gdebi it. Start it up. Put in an XP Pro disk/Windows Vista etc.. I start the virtual machine and I’m off. In about half an hour I’ve got a fully functioning XP installation running within my Linux install:

As you can see here I’ve got VirtualBox running which is loading Windows XP on Ubuntu 8.10. It’s not a very powerful machine either, any computer with at least 2 GB RAM and any 128MB higher graphics card can run it.

This is a great solution if you’re trying to bridge that gap between the two or if you just want to run some windows applications….

Tags: Linux, Ubuntu, Virutalbox, Windows
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Ubuntu 9.04 on Dell XPS M1530!!!

May 10th, 2009

I’ve installed Ubuntu 9.04 on my XPS M1530 (both 64 and 32 bit) and it worked, beautifully, right out of the box. I recommend every Dell XPS M1530 user to use Ubuntu 9.04 as everything works right out of the box.

The install time was insanely fast and easy. The boot time now is pretty less, around 25 seconds. I got the fingerprint reader to work, find it really useful that typing the password again and again (I’ll post how to make it to work really soon), the webcam worked great using Cheese (in the repository). The 64bit tended to drain the battery a bit too fast–understandable. I ended up reinstalling and going back to 32bit as there were a few applications which were needed and weren’t yet ported over to 64bit.

I used envy to get my Nvidia 8600GT to work. The best thing I find about Ubuntu 9.04 on Dell XPS M1530 is that there is no more need to tweak the mouse pad, the camera or anything else!

Tags: Dell XPS, Linux, Ubuntu
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Windows 7!!!

May 10th, 2009

The first question that strikes me is What is Windows 7?

Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is slated as the next release of Microsoft Windows. Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade with the goal of being fully compatible with existing device drivers, applications, and hardware. Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements. Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, most notably Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Photo Gallery, are no longer included with the operating system, they are instead offered separately as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite.

What does this mean to the general user? Well, probably the biggest fault in Vista was that it was released under the flag of “Vista Ready”. In the end, this wound up being a huge PR flop for Microsoft as many of the products being pushed weren’t ready or were ready with limited quality. Now Apple and the Linux world have both taken full advantage of this slip-up and have truly profited by it. So this could be a very big step, not only in terms of quality but market share. Ultimately though, MS has such stronghold on the market that it’s hard to imaging that there was any sort of a real dent made by either Apple or Linux. Will Apple and Linux take over? I don’t think so, not any time soon at least.

Review

When I heard that Windows 7 beta was “out in the wild”, I had to try it. Since I had no intentions of messing up my laptop with an install gone wrong, I created a new Virtual Machine (VM) to install it in. The “machine” I’ve installed it on has a 10GB “dynamic disk” (which starts small and grows as is needed), and is limited to 512MB of RAM. Apparently Win7 is supposed to run on Vista’s requirements, which state 512MB, a 1GHz processor, and 15GB HD for the Home basic version, and it seems to do pretty well.

A couple of other things I noticed: During the install, and even starting up normally, the VM experiences several “window resets”. I notice this because I run Compiz with the desktop cube plugin, and I normally have the VM loading on a side face of the cube, whenever it changes the “screen”, the window pops up on the active cube face. This happened several times during the install process (it even rebooted about halfway through, and finished the install from the files copied to the hard disk), and I believe it happens three times during bootup, though putting it into fullscreen mode keeps it from popping between cube faces.

Windows networking, for some reason or other, wouldn’t connect with \\vboxsvr (used for virtualbox shared folders). Audio does not work in the VM — I was unable to even “add new hardware” so as to install the driver form the Additions disc, as Windows insists on trying to auto-detect any new hardware. I especially like the new photo-realistic device icons, and the overhaul of the way Windows handles and ejects USB storage devices.

Overall and so far, it seems pretty nice, gives a signal that Microsoft has spent a lot of effort with Windows 7 on delivering a solid operating system.

Is Windows 7 enough to kill Linux on the desktop?

For the past three years I have been a Linux fan-boy using Ubuntu most of the time and Windows XP/Vista when I needed to play games. But my experience with Windows 7 was pretty good. If I am right Windows 7, would result in the move away from Voleware to Linux and OSX being stopped in in its tracks.

Personally, though, I am sticking to Linux.

Tags: Apple, Linux, Ubuntu, Virutalbox, Windows, Windows 7
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