tutorial Archive

Install RSSOwl 2.0.1 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic
Posted on March 19, 2010 | No Comments
RSSOwl is a feature-rich RSS feed reader written in Java. To install the latest release in Ubuntu 9.10, follow the instructions below: RSSOwl 2.0.1 running in Ubuntu Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list: sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list And add the following line: deb http://packages.rssowl.org/ubuntu karmic main Save the file...
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10 Useful Linux Commands
Posted on March 16, 2010 | No Comments
Here’s a list of 10 commands which may come handy when using the command line in Linux: Search for all files modified in the last N days containing a specific text in their name find DIR -mtime -N -name "*TEXT*" For example: find ~ -mtime...
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Post to Twitter from Command-Line
Posted on March 16, 2010 | No Comments
Ever wondered how to tweet from your BASH prompt? No? Well, now you can even though you never thought about it!
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Change GRUB Splash Image (For GRUB Legacy)
Posted on March 15, 2010 | No Comments
Although GRUB 2 replaced the older GRUB 0.9x (currently known as 'GRUB Legacy'), the latter still is the default boot loader on some distributions, like Debian 5.0 for example.

The splash screen for GRUB Legacy is an XPM image which appears as a background when you select which OS to boot. For those who are tired of the default splash screen, here is a short tutorial on how to change it.

First, download some splash screens from here (or Google some). Each splash screen comes as an XPM image archived as a Gzip file. Once you downloaded the desired splash images, copy them inside the /boot/ directory, or create symbolic links in this directory which will point to the actual location of the files. For example, if you downloaded the file tenerife.xpm.gz inside your home directory, you can type as root (and replace USER with the actual username):

cp /home/USER/tenerife.xpm.gz /boot/

Or, to create a symbolic link to it:

ln -s /home/USER/tenerife.xpm.gz /boot/grub/tenerife.xpm.gz

In Ubuntu (pre-Karmic releases, since Karmic uses GRUB 2 by default), use one of those, with the user password:

sudo cp ~/tenerife.xpm.gz /boot/grub/

Or:

sudo ln -s ~/tenerife.xpm.gz /boot/grub/tenerife.xpm.gz

The next step is to edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file, and tell it to use the newly downloaded splash image. For this, add a line which looks like this inside the file mentioned earlier (don't forget to edit it with root privileges):

splashimage (hd0,0)/boot/tenerife.xpm.gz

This will tell GRUB to search for the file tenerife.xpm.gz on the first partition of the first hard drive. Save the file and restart the computer.
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Install Flash Player 10.1 Beta 2 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
Posted on January 18, 2010 | No Comments
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta 2 was released earlier this year, on December 17 at the Adobe MAX 2009. This release comes with several new features and numerous bug fixes.
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How-To: Install Exaile 3.0.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
Posted on September 11, 2009 | No Comments
Exaile 3.0.1 was released on 6 September and it is a bugfix for the stable 3.0 series. To get it in Ubuntu Jaunty, follow the steps below:

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following two lines (the second one is needed only if you want the sources too):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/exaile-devel/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/exaile-devel/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Make sure to save the file and add the trusted key:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 43CBFCC0

Next, update the source packages:

sudo apt-get update

To install Exaile 3.0.1, issue the following command in a terminal application:

sudo apt-get install exaile

This should be all. Run Exaile by typing Alt+F2 and entering exaile in the run box that appears.
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How-To: Install Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 from the Kubuntu Beta Backports
Posted on September 6, 2009 | No Comments

The first beta of Amarok 2.2, codenamed 'Crystal Clear', was released on September 4 and packages are available for Kubuntu 9.04 Jaunty from the Kubuntu Beta Backports.

Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 comes with a huge number of bug fixes and many improvements and new features. To list some of them:
- new videoclip applet
- new photo applet
- improved browser layout to the left
- widgets can now be arranged differently from default
- ratings
- support for audio CDs
- the playlist offers multi-level sorting now
Those are only the highlights though, to see the full announcement and changelog read this.

To install Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 in Kubuntu/Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope just follow the instructions below:

First, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file with your favourite text editor, e.g.:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Or:

kdesudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list

Next, add the following two lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/beta/ubuntu karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/beta/ubuntu karmic main

Make sure to save the file and then add the trusted key for this repository:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 8AC93F7A

Now update your package lists:

sudo apt-get update

Eventually, remove your existing Amarok installation:

sudo apt-get remove --purge amarok
sudo apt-get autoremove --purge

And now install the latest Amarok:

sudo apt-get install amarok

This should be all. Run Amarok 2.2 Beta 1 by pressing Alt+F2 and typing amarok in KRunner.
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How-To: Install OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope
Posted on September 5, 2009 | No Comments
OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 was released a few days ago, bringing many bug fixes to the stable 3.1 series. One of the ways to get it on Jaunty is to use the Launchpad.net PPA for OpenOffice.org Scribblers which recently packaged it for Ubuntu Jaunty and included it in their repositories.

To install the latest release using command-line, just use the instructions below:

First, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file and enter your user password:

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following two lines (the second one is not necessary, unless you want the sources to be available too):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Add the trusted key for these repositories:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 247D1CFF

Update the packages lists:

sudo apt-get update

You can eventually remove your existing OpenOffice installation by using the following two commands:

sudo apt-get remove --purge openoffice.org
sudo apt-get autoremove --purge

This will also remove system-wide configuration files.

Now, install OpenOffice.org 3.1.1:

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org

This should be all. You can run it by pressing Alt+F2 and typing openoffice in the run box.
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How-To: Install Pidgin 2.6.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty from a Launchpad PPA
Posted on August 24, 2009 | No Comments
Pidgin 2.6.0 was made available a few days ago, on August 19, 2009, and today Pidgin 2.6.1 was released as a bug fix version to the new stable 2.6 series. Among the features and improvements which come with 2.6.0 are:

- several changes and bug fixes in libpurple, the library used by Pidgin for its various chat protocols
- various DNS fixes
- AIM and ICQ fixes
- Gadu-Gadu fixes
- MSN new features, like support for receiving audio clips, support for receiving handwritten messages, many other fixes
- lots of XMPP fixes and improvements, like voice and video support with Jingle or the Service Discovery Browser plugin
- Yahoo! fixes and improvements
- Finch and the Pidgin GTK+ Theme control plugin also received improvements

To install Pidgin 2.6.1 in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope from the Pidgin developers PPA on Launchpad, just follow the instructions below:

First of all, edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file with your favourite text editor (e.g. sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list or gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list) and add the following two lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/pidgin-developers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Next, make sure to save the file (Ctrl+O followed by Ctrl+X in Nano) and add the trusted key for this repository:

gpg --keyserver http://keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys A1F196A8
gpg --export A1F196A8 | sudo apt-key add -

Now, update the packages lists:

sudo apt-get update

The next step is to uninstall your currently Pidgin installation:

sudo apt-get remove --purge pidgin

And the next step is just to install Pidgin 2.6.1 from the newly added repositories:

sudo apt-get install pidgin

This should be all.
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How-To: Install RSSOwl 2.0 in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic and 9.04 Jaunty
Posted on August 23, 2009 | 1 Comment
RSSOwl is a powerful feed reader application for Linux licensed under the Eclipse Public License and written in Java. To get it up and running in Ubuntu, all you have to do is follow the few steps below:

Install the unzip and sun-java6-bin packages:

sudo apt-get install unzip sun-java6-bin

With your user password. Next, download the .zip package from the official website (direct link here). Unzip it either graphically from Nautilus or issuing the command below in a terminal, making sure the current working directory is the one where you saved the rssowl-2.0-M9.linux.gtk.x86.zip file:

unzip rssowl-2.0-M9.linux.gtk.x86.zip

What you have now is an rssowl directory, which you can copy anywhere in your home directory.

To run RSSOwl, just run the script RSSOwl inside the rssowl directory:

./RSSOwl

Alternately, you can make a desktop shortcut to it. That's all.
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