Section: Linux

Howto Download videos from youtube in Ubuntu

July 30, 2008 by Jason

youtube-dl is a small command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com.

Install youtube-dl in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install youtube-dl

This will complete the installation.

Using youtube-dl

Usage instructions are easy. Use youtube-dl followed by a video URL or identifier.

youtube-dl Example

youtube-dl “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foobar”

The video will be saved to the file foobar.flv in that example. As YouTube.com videos are in Flash Video format, their extension should be flv.Check this simple guide to convert .flv files to .mpg
Read More»

Firefox 3.1 Shiretoko Alpha 1 Available for Download

July 28, 2008 by Jason

Firefox 3.1 codename Shiretoko Alpha 1 is available for download. The fully-fledged Alpha development milestone of the next version of Mozilla’s open source browser went live at the end of the past week. In this context, Mozilla managed to slip just a tad from its initial plans to make Alpha 1 available in mid-July. Firefox 3.1 only entered the code-freeze stage on Monday July 21, with the first build up for grabs on July 26. Still, Mozilla is moving full steam ahead to deliver the successor of Firefox 3.0 launched on June 17, downloaded over 8 million times just in the first 24 hours.

According to Mozilla’s own release criteria, Firefox 3.1 is meant to be nothing more than “generally usable for testing websites and features”. Developed under the codename Shiretoko, version 3.1 of Firefox has not, as of yet, officially been made available for download. Still, the Firefox 3.1 Alpha 1 bits were published to Mozilla’s FTP servers over the past weekend. Read More»

How to Use ISO Files in Windows XP

July 24, 2008 by Jason

If you are running Windows XP, there is no standard support for ISO files. These files however are quite common as an alternative to installation CDs or DVDs. An ISO file is basically an image of a CD or DVD. You can use CD Burning software to create a CD from the ISO file.

But in many cases you might not want to write a CD-ROM or DVD from the ISO file, you simply want to access the contents while the ISO file resides on your hard disk. There are software solutions available for this, which create a virtual CD or DVD drive. You can then mount the ISO file as a drive and access the contents of the ISO file.

Most of these software solutions however are commercial software, which means you need to pay for them. If you do not need the fancy user interface, you can also use a virtual cd-rom tool created by Microsoft. Read More»

Top 10 Download Managers Available in Ubuntu

July 21, 2008 by Jason

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). Read More»

Firefox 3.0 Final

June 17, 2008 by Jason

This is it! The wait is now over! Firefox 3.0 Final is available for download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Mozilla announced since last week, following the release of the Release Candidate 3 Build, that the gold bits for Firefox 3.0 would be made available on June 17, 2008, and managed to meet the deadline. Although the official release of Firefox 3.0 is still a few hours away, the downloads for the next iteration of the Firefox open source browser are live. So, make sure that you grab your copy; the links for the English binaries of Firefox 3.0 Final for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux are also at the bottom of this article.

The Gecko 1.9 web rendering platform is the foundation for Firefox 3.0. Mozilla spent the last 34 months hammering away at Gecko 1.9. With the next version of Firefox, Mozilla will in fact move onward with the evolution of Gecko. But for now, Firefox 3.0 users will be able to enjoy the benefits of in excess of 15,000 updates introduced to the rendering engine. In this context, Firefox 3.0 delivers “improved performance, stability, rendering correctness, and code simplification and sustainability,” according to Mozilla. Read More»

Run Native Linux Applications in Windows Vista

May 25, 2008 by Jason

Binaries tailored specifically to the open source Linux operating system can coexist on the same desktop with Windows Vista and Windows XP programs via Ulteo Virtual Desktop. Essentially, the promise of the Ulteo Virtual Desktop is to deliver Linux applications on Windows via the Ulteo panel. The virtualized environment will permit end users to run native Linux solutions right on the Windows Vista desktop, and integration complete down to the level of sharing the Windows Aero graphical user interface.

“At the moment, you will find a selection of applications that include: Firefox web browser enabled with Flash & Java, the full OpenOffice.org office suite that can deal with your MS Office documents KPdf to deal with your PDF documents, Kopete: the multi-Instant Messaging software that supports MSN and other protocols, Skype, Thunderbird + Enigmail, Gimp and Digikam to manage your pictures and Inkscape and Scribus to create great graphics and newspapers,” reads a fragment of Ulteo’s description. Read More»

Microsoft Silverlight for Linux

May 15, 2008 by Jason

The equivalent of Microsoft’s Silverlight but for Linux operating systems is available for download as of May 13, 2008, under the label Moonlight. According to the official description of the technology, Moonlight is nothing more than the open source implementation of Silverlight, tailored for UNIX systems. With this latest step in the evolution of Silverlight, Microsoft can finally claim that the technology is truly cross-platform, because ahead of the May 13 public release of Moonlight, support was available exclusively for Windows and Mac OS X operating systems.

Moonlight is a project developed in parallel with Microsoft Silverlight, but not by the Redmond company. In fact, Microsoft partnered with Mono, an open source project backed by Novell, in order to port Silverlight to Linux. At this point in time Moonlight is still in development, and as such comes with the inherent problems associated with any Beta. Read More»

How to install Ubuntu Linux from USB Stick

April 23, 2008 by Jason

This tutorial describes how to install Ubuntu by copying the contents of the installation CD to an USB memory stick (aka flash drive) and making the stick bootable. This is handy for machines like ultra portable notebooks that do not have a CD drive but can boot from USB media.

In short here’s what you do:

Prepare the USB flash drive

Boot the computer from your USB flash drive.

Install Ubuntu as you would from a normal boot CD Read More»

Howto Sync Wireless iPhone with Amarok

April 23, 2008 by Jason

The following guide allows you to wirelessly sync an iPhone with Amarok in Ubuntu 7.10, including adding, editing and playing songs and playlists.

Note :- it requires a jailbroken iPhone.

Step1 :- Set up the iPhone

On your iPhone:

Click Settings → General and set Auto-lock to Never. This will ensure the iPhone keeps the WiFi connection open.

Click Settings → WiFi and select your WiFi network. Click the Static button and change the IP Address to something outside the dynamically assigned range of your network. For example, if your wireless router normally assigns 192.168.1.1 – 192.168.1.5, try 192.168.1.10. This will ensure your iPhone is always contactable at the same address for syncing. Read More»

XP SP3 and Vista SP1 Will Own Linux-Free Desktops until Windows 7

April 18, 2008 by Jason

Even though with the advent of Windows Vista the open source community saw the ripe moment for Linux to strengthen its grip over consumer PCs, the fact of the matter is that Windows still holds a firm grip over the vast majority of desktops worldwide. And there is no change visible on the horizon, especially as the two largest vendors of Linux operating systems have no plans to go against Microsoft. Neither Novell nor Red Hat feel that Linux has sufficient driving force behind it in order to go against Windows, which until Windows 7 will largely be represented by Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Vista SP1.

Novell President and CEO Ronald Hovsepian, revealed to InformationWorld that SUSE Linux will fail to become popular until Windows 7, and even beyond. The immediate reason for this is the slow pace at which the Linux consumer market is growing. “The market for the desktop for the next three to five years is mainly enterprise-related,” Hovsepian explained. As a direct consequence, Novell is focusing the bulk of its efforts on winning over corporate desktops and technology enthusiasts. Read More»