Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Ubuntu and Epson Stylus R280 - Plug and Play
Another surprise today. I got a new free printer when I purchased a new camera. It's an Epson Stylus R280. After plugging the printer USB to my server and pressing the "ON" button, Ubuntu popped up a message "Epson Stylus R280 Printer added". Wow! Now that is what you call plug and play. What should I do now with the CD installation program that come with the printer?
Friday, May 23, 2008
Where to get apps from the Net?
It is recommended and is safer to get all your apps that you install on your Linux system from your Distro's repository. There are several ways to install things on Ubuntu: 1)Add/Remove from the Applications Menu 2) Synaptic Package Manager from Systems Admin Menu and of course 3) by the terminal using "sudo aptitude install .
There are times when some apps are not available in your distro's repository or an updated (unsupported) version is not available (yet), then you can get them from the web.
Be very careful where you download apps and make sure you know what you are doing :)
Two websites that I recommend to get some apps from are: www.getdeb.net and cnr.com
There are times when some apps are not available in your distro's repository or an updated (unsupported) version is not available (yet), then you can get them from the web.
Be very careful where you download apps and make sure you know what you are doing :)
Two websites that I recommend to get some apps from are: www.getdeb.net and cnr.com
Sunday, May 18, 2008
What Does Your Desktop Look Like? Gnome KDE Compared
When you are in MS Windows you already know that the default desktop has a start menu button on the left bottom of the screen, the files can be found using Explorer and your desktop is mostly like everyone else's. Linux is a different story. There is more than one Desktop Environment you can choose from. Two of the major DEs are GNOME and KDE. The first things that I always read when people try out Linux is what is better or what is the difference between GNOME and KDE . This blog about the comparison of GNOME and KDE (although a bit dated) is a good starting point.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Asus EEE 900 - Ultra Mini Laptop
This is my ideal laptop on the go. At 2 lbs, an 8.9 inch screen and a built-in wifi, this is a sufficient system to surf the web, watch movies or photos and check emails and chat on the go.
Smaller laptops are generally more expensive than their regular size counterparts, but at about $550 (more expensive in some stores right now because its out of stock) this is a really reasonably priced laptop. Other systems at this size cost in the $1000 mark and above. Some articles say to wait (if you can) till the new Intel Atom processors are out which maybe used on future releases on this system.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04 is Ready to Take on Windows
This is an article from eweek:
"Canonical has marshaled the best of what the open-source world has to offer in Ubuntu 8.04, a Linux-based operating system that's capable of mounting a serious challenge to Microsoft Windows on mainstream desktops and notebooks. During my tests of Ubuntu 8.04, both in its final form and in a series of test releases that led up to the official launch April 24, I've been impressed enough with the distribution to award it the eWEEK Labs Analyst's Choice designation." Read on...
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04 Feature of the Day - Panels
This time I am taking a close look at the panels (taskbars - in Windows). This series of posts is intended for people who have not tried or is curious about Ubuntu (and Linux in general).
Ubuntu has 2 panels - top and bottom. (The panels are actually part of GNOME, one of the more popular Linux Desktop Environments. Ubuntu comes with GNOME by default). These panels are customizable. You can delete the top panel, delete both panels. Add more than two panels, and even put panels on each side of your screen (more on this later).
Desktop screenshot. Look at the top and bottom panels.
To the right of the the top panel you have the Applications Menu with all the programs installed, Places, a dropdown list of shortcuts or bookmarks for locations in your computer, and the Systems menu for configuring the computer.
When ever you bookmark a place in Nautilus (window manager) it is automatically added to the Places Menu. It also automatically adds any mounted drives and storage.
This is where you customize your computer. The dropdown menu makes navigating in Ubuntu faster because it requires less "mouse clicks" than a pop-up window with all the configurations that you have to click twice to launch an item.
Synaptic Package Manager in where you search,
install and remove thousands of open-source programs available with just a few clicks. You will almost always find the program you need from here.
After the menus are the quick launch icons. This is where you place icons or shortcuts of programs you often use. It launches the program in one click. My list shows: firefox, thunderbird, the terminal window, trash bin, calculator and leafpad - note editor.
There are several ways of adding and removing these icons. The easiest that I know is just by dragging the icons to the to the tool bar. From the menu list of programs, click and hold on the icon and just drag it to the group. Deleting them is as easy as a right-click, remove-from-panel. You can also add a quicklaunch icon by right-click, add-to-panel, application launcher.
How to add or remove more panels or add panel applets? Just right click on the bar and click on the choice you want.
And lastly, below is a screenshot of the window for adding applets to the panel.
Ubuntu has 2 panels - top and bottom. (The panels are actually part of GNOME, one of the more popular Linux Desktop Environments. Ubuntu comes with GNOME by default). These panels are customizable. You can delete the top panel, delete both panels. Add more than two panels, and even put panels on each side of your screen (more on this later).
Desktop screenshot. Look at the top and bottom panels.To the right of the the top panel you have the Applications Menu with all the programs installed, Places, a dropdown list of shortcuts or bookmarks for locations in your computer, and the Systems menu for configuring the computer.
When ever you bookmark a place in Nautilus (window manager) it is automatically added to the Places Menu. It also automatically adds any mounted drives and storage.
This is where you customize your computer. The dropdown menu makes navigating in Ubuntu faster because it requires less "mouse clicks" than a pop-up window with all the configurations that you have to click twice to launch an item.Synaptic Package Manager in where you search,
install and remove thousands of open-source programs available with just a few clicks. You will almost always find the program you need from here.After the menus are the quick launch icons. This is where you place icons or shortcuts of programs you often use. It launches the program in one click. My list shows: firefox, thunderbird, the terminal window, trash bin, calculator and leafpad - note editor.
There are several ways of adding and removing these icons. The easiest that I know is just by dragging the icons to the to the tool bar. From the menu list of programs, click and hold on the icon and just drag it to the group. Deleting them is as easy as a right-click, remove-from-panel. You can also add a quicklaunch icon by right-click, add-to-panel, application launcher.
How to add or remove more panels or add panel applets? Just right click on the bar and click on the choice you want.
And lastly, below is a screenshot of the window for adding applets to the panel.
Friday, May 09, 2008
Running your Business on Desktop Linux
Here is an article from DesktopLinux.com. This paper surveys Linux's suitability for use by owners of very small businesses and the self-employed. It was written by Howard Fosdick, a self-employed database consultant who finds Linux fairly well-suited to his needs, and reckons it has saved him thousands of dollars in recent years.
The verdict: From a sole proprietor's perspective, here's how I'd rate Ubuntu Linux:
The verdict: From a sole proprietor's perspective, here's how I'd rate Ubuntu Linux:
| Criteria: | Rating: |
| Ease of use | Competitive |
| Help is available | Competitive |
| Reliable | Superior |
| Run office applications | Competitive |
| Compatible | Minimally acceptable |
| Run business-specific applications | Competitive |
| Manage business finances | Competitive |
| Inexpensive | Superior |
| Performance | Superior |
Ubuntu 8.04 Feature of the Day - Applications Menu
Ok, the panels or "taskbars" you see on top and at the bottom of your screen is how we navigate around the computer: browse menu of programs or locations, see minimized programs, look at the time and click on quick start shortcuts.
Actually, the panels are part of GNOME desktop environment and Ubuntu comes with GNOME by default. What you have to understand is that Linux has several desktop environments like GNOME, KDE, XFCE and many more. So if you prefer something different for whatever reasons, you have a choice. You can visit their sites to see what they look like and how they are different.
A screenshot of my desktop. Look at the top and bottom panels.
Back on topic. The programs or applications menu is located at the top left corner. It is a dropdown menu which lists programs in categories. Here are the screenshots:
When you install a program, it automatically goes to its group. Sometimes after installing a program, it doesn't show up immediately in the menu. You can refresh the panel by entering this in the terminal: "killall gnome-panel"
The names of the programs are mostly self-explanatory. Leafpad is not installed by default. I replaced gedit (like Notepad but more advanced) with this because its lighter and simpler.
The usual list of time-waster games you need. There are more games (or programs) you can install from the Add/Remove menu at the bottom of the list (more on that later). My favorite is Mines (like WinMine).
F-Spot is a photo manager that can automatically catalog your photos when you attach your digital cameras, add tags, organize, etc. GIMP is like Photoshop. The other two programs I don't use and know it only by their name.
Everybody knows Firefox (this is 3.0 Beta) and Thunderbird (I replaced Evolution, the MS Outlook counterpart, since it is too big and have features I don't use). Transmission is a really good Bittorrent Client.
Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice productivity suite - word processor, spreadsheet, presentation. No need to buy or install a separate MS Office suite. Evolution is part of the Office menu but as mentioned above, I removed it and replaced it with Thunderbird. Gnumeric is a lightweight spreadsheet program. I installed it since it loads faster than OpenOffice Calc (Spreadsheet) and has the basic features I need.
The sound and video menu names are self-explanatory. In addition, I installed Audacious and Audacity. Audacious is like WinAmp but better for playing MP3s etc. Audacity is for editing, encoding, etc. audio files. Rhythmbox is like iTunes.
The bottom of the list is the Add/Remove menu where you can find a menu with hundreds of programs ready to install with one click. You can install or uninstall several programs at a time. Just check which ones you want to install and uncheck the ones you want to remove and let the program do its thing. This is a good thing that is missing in Windows.
Really! It's that simple. You don't need to search the web and download programs (are you sure they don't have adware?) or pop-in CDs (make sure you know the CD Key or Serial Number). No need to install one program at a time and reboot. Forget all about that. This is how it is supposed to be done.
You can filter by Category, by Popularity, or by support type and search by name.
That's it for now.
Actually, the panels are part of GNOME desktop environment and Ubuntu comes with GNOME by default. What you have to understand is that Linux has several desktop environments like GNOME, KDE, XFCE and many more. So if you prefer something different for whatever reasons, you have a choice. You can visit their sites to see what they look like and how they are different.
A screenshot of my desktop. Look at the top and bottom panels.Back on topic. The programs or applications menu is located at the top left corner. It is a dropdown menu which lists programs in categories. Here are the screenshots:
When you install a program, it automatically goes to its group. Sometimes after installing a program, it doesn't show up immediately in the menu. You can refresh the panel by entering this in the terminal: "killall gnome-panel"
The names of the programs are mostly self-explanatory. Leafpad is not installed by default. I replaced gedit (like Notepad but more advanced) with this because its lighter and simpler.
The usual list of time-waster games you need. There are more games (or programs) you can install from the Add/Remove menu at the bottom of the list (more on that later). My favorite is Mines (like WinMine).
F-Spot is a photo manager that can automatically catalog your photos when you attach your digital cameras, add tags, organize, etc. GIMP is like Photoshop. The other two programs I don't use and know it only by their name.
Everybody knows Firefox (this is 3.0 Beta) and Thunderbird (I replaced Evolution, the MS Outlook counterpart, since it is too big and have features I don't use). Transmission is a really good Bittorrent Client.
Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice productivity suite - word processor, spreadsheet, presentation. No need to buy or install a separate MS Office suite. Evolution is part of the Office menu but as mentioned above, I removed it and replaced it with Thunderbird. Gnumeric is a lightweight spreadsheet program. I installed it since it loads faster than OpenOffice Calc (Spreadsheet) and has the basic features I need.
The sound and video menu names are self-explanatory. In addition, I installed Audacious and Audacity. Audacious is like WinAmp but better for playing MP3s etc. Audacity is for editing, encoding, etc. audio files. Rhythmbox is like iTunes.
The bottom of the list is the Add/Remove menu where you can find a menu with hundreds of programs ready to install with one click. You can install or uninstall several programs at a time. Just check which ones you want to install and uncheck the ones you want to remove and let the program do its thing. This is a good thing that is missing in Windows.
Really! It's that simple. You don't need to search the web and download programs (are you sure they don't have adware?) or pop-in CDs (make sure you know the CD Key or Serial Number). No need to install one program at a time and reboot. Forget all about that. This is how it is supposed to be done.
You can filter by Category, by Popularity, or by support type and search by name.
That's it for now.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Word, Excel, Powerpoint and more for Free Download
Sorry but the answer is NO. You cannot legally download Word, Excel, Powerpoint, or the complete MS Office for free from www.mininova.org or any download sites for that matter. But if you want to get a free copy that does the same things and more, then you can get the alternative - Open Office 2.4.
Remember when you bought that new PC or inherited an old one? It only comes with MS Works or just the Wordpad, or nothing at all. What is a PC without an office suite? A gaming rig :) But we can always get a "copy" of MS Office from the office or a friend or someone in the mall that sells the whole suite on a CD for a small fraction of the actual price. Don't forget to ask about the CD key :)
Open Office is a free cross-platform office suite. It is an opensource program that is free to download, install on as many computers your like, use it for personal or commercial use, copy and distribute to anyone and you can even look at and edit the source code (if you know what you are doing). It has a version for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX, so you can use the same program if you work on different platforms.
Two features I like about OpenOffice are: 1) It has native save file as PDF and 2) it can open the newer MS Office 2007 formats. I don't know if the older MS Office versions can do the same right now(?)
There are minor differences and some minor trade-offs in using Open Office but its a very little price to pay to get a free and open source program.
Remember when you bought that new PC or inherited an old one? It only comes with MS Works or just the Wordpad, or nothing at all. What is a PC without an office suite? A gaming rig :) But we can always get a "copy" of MS Office from the office or a friend or someone in the mall that sells the whole suite on a CD for a small fraction of the actual price. Don't forget to ask about the CD key :)
Open Office is a free cross-platform office suite. It is an opensource program that is free to download, install on as many computers your like, use it for personal or commercial use, copy and distribute to anyone and you can even look at and edit the source code (if you know what you are doing). It has a version for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX, so you can use the same program if you work on different platforms.
Two features I like about OpenOffice are: 1) It has native save file as PDF and 2) it can open the newer MS Office 2007 formats. I don't know if the older MS Office versions can do the same right now(?)
There are minor differences and some minor trade-offs in using Open Office but its a very little price to pay to get a free and open source program.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Finding your Emails in Thunderbird
Thunderbird is a free email program that can be run on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. It is a lean program but its functionality can be extended by installing "add-ons" which can make it as feature-filled than MS Outlook and even more. So you only need to add what features you need and not be stuck with built in features you don't want.
What I like about thunderbird is how easy it is to find your emails. There are several features that are worth mentioning but these are the two I like the most:
1. Quick search as you type. On the upper right corner of the window is a search field that searches your whole inbox as you type. The default is to search by subject or sender. If you wanted to search for an email and don't remember the sender or subject but remember a word in the contents then you can do a "search of entire message" and it searches while you type. Just click on the drop-down arrow inside the search field to choose what kind of search to perform.
2. Another feature that helps you organize and find emails is by "tagging". In addition to built in tags, you can now add your own tags. So, you can tag emails about a project, emails about your vacation plans, or emails from friends for easy retrieving.
I got to try thunberbird because Outlook crashes on me and then it has to rebuild its database which takes up time since I have thousands of emails. Thunderbird solved that problem for me and have used it ever since.
What I like about thunderbird is how easy it is to find your emails. There are several features that are worth mentioning but these are the two I like the most:
1. Quick search as you type. On the upper right corner of the window is a search field that searches your whole inbox as you type. The default is to search by subject or sender. If you wanted to search for an email and don't remember the sender or subject but remember a word in the contents then you can do a "search of entire message" and it searches while you type. Just click on the drop-down arrow inside the search field to choose what kind of search to perform.
2. Another feature that helps you organize and find emails is by "tagging". In addition to built in tags, you can now add your own tags. So, you can tag emails about a project, emails about your vacation plans, or emails from friends for easy retrieving.
I got to try thunberbird because Outlook crashes on me and then it has to rebuild its database which takes up time since I have thousands of emails. Thunderbird solved that problem for me and have used it ever since.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Ubuntu Linux 8.04 - An Easier Alternative to Windows
The new version of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS has just been released. This is a long term support release (LTS) and is supported for 3 years on the desktop and 5 years on servers. This release has added some great apps and polish that will make it easier for migrating Windows users.
The two additions I like are the Transmission bittorrent client and Vinagre remote desktop viewer. Transmission is lighter and has a more user-friendly interface while Vinagre makes accessing remote desktops as easy as a click of a mouse.
There are several reviews already out in the short time of its release and although not everyone sings all praises, all of them say that it's getting closer to really becoming mainstream. For those looking for an alternative to Microsoft Windows, this maybe a good time to take another look at Ubuntu (Linux).
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