Using/Installing skype on Ubuntu 10.10 interface...

Hey Folks,

Today; this tutorial will brief you on how to install Skype (Maverick Meerkat) for Ubuntu 10.10 using Ubuntu Software Center. Well, since ubuntu is new to the market and has a different interface, you will get confused. But, I would say; if you got use to it, this will be the best and the easiest ever to use. The same installation process will take place, but in a different manner. Now, we will see the process;

Getting started:

01. Before installing skype, you have to go to > Applications > Ubuntu Software Centre (see below screen;)

02. After the Ubuntu Software Center; select > Edit > Software Sources (below screen;)

Note: sometimes it asks you to enter the admin password for verification, so go with the password...

03. Afterwards; a dialog box will appear as below, then you have to select > Other Software and make sure the two taglines like below are checked with a mark... (further, see below screen;)

04. Well, if you don't see them; you must add those source codes, in order do that you have to click > Add then paste the code on the dialog box; after that click on Add Source (see the image below;)

deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner

deb-src http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner

05. After adding the source codes; close the dialog box and go back to Ubuntu Software Center and type "Skype" in the search box and it will appears as below... install it. (see the screen below;)

After the installation completes, it will be available at the Internet sector... (see the image below;)

That it!! enjoy the unlimited Voice over internet... catch you all with another cool post... ; )

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How to read Ext3/Ext4 linux partition from windows 7

The ext3 or third extended filesystem is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions.

The ext4 or fourth extended filesystem is a journaling file system for Linux, developed as the successor to ext3.

It was born as a series of backward compatible extensions to remove 64-bit storage limits and add other performance improvements to ext3.However, other Linux kernel developers opposed accepting extensions to ext3 for stability reasons and proposed to fork the source code of ext3, rename it as ext4, and do all the development there, without affecting the current ext3 users

Ext2Read is an explorer like utility to explore ext2/ext3/ext4 files. It now supports LVM2 and EXT4 extents. It can be used to view and copy files and folders. It can recursively copy entire folders. It can also be used to view and copy disk and file

You can download Ext2Read from here

Screenshot

Ext2Fsd is an ext2 file system driver for Windows 2000, XP, Vista. It’s a free software and everyone can distribute and modify it under GPL2.

Procedure o follow

Important Note:- When creating/formatting the ext4 filesystem, make sure to add “-O ^extent” which means disabling the “extent” feature bit. The following steps will not work if your ext4 filesystem still has “extent” feature enabled. ext2 and ext3 partitions should be fine.

First Download ext2fsd from here

Right-click the downloaded file and click Properties. Set the compatibility mode to “Windows Vista Service Pack 2? and check “Run as administrator”.

Run the ext2fsd installer. During install, we recommend you uncheck the “enable write access” feature to safeguard against losing data in your Linux partitions.

Restart your Windows 7 PC and run the Ext2 Volume Manager from Start Menu.

Important Note:- Use these tools with your own risk if you don’t use them properly it will remove your linux partition data

Source: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-read-ext3ext4-linux-partition-from-windows-7.html

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How to install ubuntu-tweak in Ubuntu 10.04(Lucid Lynx)

Ubuntu Tweak is an application designed to config Ubuntu easier for everyone. It provides many useful desktop and system options that the default desktop environment doesn’t provide. At present, it’s only designed for the Ubuntu GNOME Desktop, and always follows the newest Ubuntu distribution.
Features of Ubuntu Tweak

* View of Basic System Information(Distribution, Kernel, CPU, Memory, etc.)
* GNOME Session Control
* Auto Start Program Control
* Quick install popular applications
* A lot of third-party sources to keep applications up-to-date
* Clean unneeded packages or cache to free disk space
* Show/Hide and Change Splash screen
* Show/Hide desktop icons or Mounted Volumes
* Show/Hide/Rename Computer, Home, Trash or Network icon
* Tweak Metacity Window Manager’s style and behaviour
* Compiz Fusion settings, Screen Edge Settings, Window Effect Settings, Menu Effect Settings
* Set the Shortcuts to archive quicker access your favourite applications
* GNOME Panel Settings
* Nautilus Settings
* Advanced Power Management Settings
* System Security Settings
* And many other in process…

Install ubuntu-tweak in Ubuntu 10.04

Open the terminal and run the following commands

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Using Ubuntu Tweak

You can open from Applications--->System Tools--->Ubuntu Tweak

Ubuntu Tweak is loading

Login Settings screen

Source editor screen

GNOME Settings screen

Computer details screen

Nautilus Settings screen

Ubuntu tweak version details

Default folder location screen

Source: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-ubuntu-tweak-in-ubuntu-10-04lucid-lynx.html

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IPCop - Firewall / Content Filter / Block Porn / Web Proxy Cache - Copfilter / AdvProxy / URL Filter

http://pc-addicts.com - I set this up one morning to help block certain types of content from reaching any of the computers in the house. Also, the other reason I set this up, was for the web proxy caching capabilities. Not only does the sites that are routinely visited come up quicker, but it also limits the amount of bandwidth that we use.

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KVM vs. VMware: A Case Study

By Christopher Tozzi

After a month of debate and experimentation, my employer has made the decision to use the open-source KVM virtualization infrastructure for migrating IT resources to a virtualized environment. Below, I discuss why we chose KVM over its (mostly proprietary) alternatives.

Until a couple years ago, the open-source community offered no real contender in the virtualization market. True, the qemu project has been around for a while, but qemu remains too inefficient for most production environments. Xen has also existed since 2003, but for a long time it only supported a limited set of guest operating systems, which did not include Windows until late 2005. As a result, proprietary virtualization products like VMware enjoyed a near-monopoly in the enterprise market until quite recently.

The rapid maturation of KVM, or ‘kernel-based virtual machine’, over the course of the last couple of years constituted the first open-source challenge to VMware. Integrated into the Linux kernel, KVM provides feature-rich and highly efficient virtualization.

My colleagues and I tested KVM (running on an Ubuntu 8.04 host) and ‘barebones’ VMware ESX server over the last several weeks. Ultimately, we decided KVM was a better fit for our needs based on the following considerations:

1. Cost. Although our virtualization requirements are minimal–we need to run only two guest servers on a single host machine–VMware would have cost an astonishing amount of money. With features like VMware motion factored in, we were looking at a huge hit to the budget–and it didn’t help that VMware charges per CPU, not machine, regardless of whether all CPUs will actually be dedicated to virtualization. KVM is totally free, in both senses of the word, and offers functionality equivalent to VMware motion.
2. Ease of deployment. Installing KVM on Ubuntu 8.04 is as simple as an apt-get. ESX server is also easy enough to install, but having to deal with licensing adds another layer of complication that we’d prefer not to face. KVM, of course, requires no license.
3. Speed. Although I don’t have hard numbers, KVM-based virtual machines definitely ‘felt’ more responsive than those running on VMware. Our experience seemed to confirm Red Hat’s claim last fall that KVM can support five VMs for every three running on VMware on the same piece of hardware. It was also troubling that ESX server wasted upwards of 500 megabytes of memory–without any VMs running–on system overhead, while an Ubuntu server is a considerably more efficient host.
4. Management. Apparently it never occured to VMware that systems administrators might be running Linux on their workstations. As a result, Windows is the only platform on which VMware’s graphical management infrastructure is supported. A Linux CLI client is available, but I’d like more options than that. KVM, in contrast, can be managed via the command line, via graphical interfaces (running either on the local machine or forwarded over ssh to a remote workstation) or through the Enomaly web interface.

Perhaps the single major downside of KVM is that it requires a bit more technical know-how than VMware to deploy effectively, since some features can only be configured via manual hacking of XML files. But as KVM and related tools continue to mature, expect that to change.

For IT staff interested in zero-cost, Linux-friendly, feature-rich and resource-efficient virtualization, KVM has become the way to go. If VMware wants to compete, it needs to rise from the laurels of its crumbling monopoly by innovating and lowering costs.

Source: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/04/27/kvm-vs-vmware-a-case-study/

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youtube-dl: download youtube videos in Ubuntu using command line

If you use Ubuntu (or other Linux distribution) and you wish to download some video from youtube.com into .flv file you can try using youtube-dl command line utility. It just downloads videos without any online applications, converters or etc. Type the following command in terminal to get it installed:

sudo apt-get install youtube-dl
Let’s imagine you would like to download the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2leg8mUE9rs (this is part of Military Parade at Red Square in Russia at 9th of May 2010). Just run youtube-dl download utility as follows:

youtube-dl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2leg8mUE9rs

and in a few minutes you will get 2leg8mUE9rs.flv file that could be viewed using almost any video player like my favorite one VLC.

Source: http://www.linuxscrew.com/2010/05/19/youtube-dl-download-youtube-videos-in-ubuntu-using-command-line/

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Cheese webcam software for ubuntu 10.04

After installing Ubuntu 10.04 LTS(Lucid Lynx), Are you wondering for the drivers or software for your webcam? Don’t worry! I will tell you about an excellent software for your webcam and then you can record photos and videos along with a lot of fun effects. Not only this, you can also share your photos very easily by using an excellent photo manager, ”F-Spot” which came as default application in Ubuntu 10.04 release.

Cheese : For your webcam

The software that you can use very easily for taking photos and videos is “cheese”. Actually it was written in 2007 as a part of Google Summer of code. Cheese can also create some fancy effect in photos and videos by using Gstreamer.

Requirements for Using Cheese :
*GNOME 2.28
*GStreamer 0.10
*webcam

How to install Cheese in Ubuntu 10.04?

It is very simple ..it will take two steps and few minutes to install.

step1: Go to Ubuntu Software Center or Synaptic Package Manager and search for cheese.
step2: Click to install.
step3: Thats it, You can go to Applications> Sound and Video > Cheese Webcam Booth

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