Tag Archives: Ubuntu

Latest Release Of Skype – Install Skype 4.0 in Ubuntu 12.04

If Skype is already installed then update is there for you in Update Manager. If you don’t have Skype then enabled Canonical Partners channel.

  • Visit Ubuntu Software Center
  • Then select Edit > Software Sources
  • Click  tab: ‘Other Software’
  • Check the boxes next to ‘Canonical Partners’

After updating open Software Center and search for and install ‘Skype’ package.

Adblock Plus For Annoyance-free Web Surfing

Adblock Plus is good if you need to block  undesirable website elements to appear on web pages while you are surfing the internet. Subscribe a free filter service and add undesirable website elements to the block list with just a single click.

Use sudo apt-get install xul-ext-adblock-plus command to install this app from your Linuc terminal.

Visit Firefox >> Tools >> Add-ons >> Get Add-ons >> Search All Add-ons >> AdBlock Plus to add Addblock extension to your Firefox web web browser.

Visit Adblock Plus Webiste

Ubuntu – Find Your IP Address

Sometimes you need IP address to solve some problems with your internet connection. May be you don’t know that you have two IP addresses:

  • First IP address is of computer on the internal network. and
  • Second IP address is of your computer on Internet.

Finding your internal IP address:

  1. Click the network menu on the top panel.
  2. Select Connection information.
  3. Note your internal IP address.

Finding your external internet IP address:

  1. Visit whatismyipaddress.com
  2. Note your external IP address

Browsing Files On Server Or Network Share In Ubuntu

For browsing files on a server you need to connect to that particular server/network share. After connecting to server/network share present on your local machine or in any external device you can easily download-upload and share different files with different users on your local network.

Browsing files over the network:

  • Open File Manager
  • Click Network in the side pane
  • Now File manager will find all machines on your local area network which are having ability to serve files.

If you are connecting to an Internet server or in-case the machine you are looking for is not visible then you can manually connect to a server. Follow these steps:

  • Open File Manager
  • click File
  • Connect to Server
  • Enter address of the server
  • select server type
  • enter other information if required
  • Click Connect

Details on server types are listed here:
Servers on internet usually use domain name
Computers on your local area network use the machine’s numeric IP address.
If any othe machine is running Ubuntu use machine’s internal IP address. Otherwise, check the help on that computer.

This will show you the files on the server.  Now you are free to browse those files and folders easily.

Dell Has Announced Its Re-entry In Linux Based Laptops

Today Dell announced its re-entry in Linux based laptops. These laptops would be coming  pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux and the good thing is that there is no dual boot of Windows which increases the speed of your machine and you work in the best operating system. If you require dual booting then you would have to buy Windows version laptop and install Linux manually. The configuration of XPS13 Laptop has 4GB of RAM with Intel Core i7 processor and 256GB solid state hard drive.

Kubuntu Office Suites

LibreOffice is GPL-licensed free and open source office suite , with Writer, Impress, Calc spreadsheet, Base relational database frontend
Install using sudo apt-get install libreoffice-kde

Open Office was installed by default in older versions of (K)Ubuntu. It has been replaced by LibreOffice (which is similar) and is no longer available in (K)Ubuntu.

KOffice suite is part of the KDE project and provides capabilities of OpenOffice suite without the licensing restrictions of OpenOffice. It can be used in any version of (K)Ubuntu. Install using: sudo apt-get install koffice

AbiWord is a fast, collaboration-enabled word processor. For the most current version see the AbiWord web site. For install from repositories: sudo apt-get install abiword

GoldenDict is multi-lingual dictionary and translator that supports Babylon and StarDict translation dictionary files and has multiple modular plugins. Install using: sudo apt-get install goldendict

Xournal is a free (GPL-licensed) GTK/Gnome-based application for notetaking, sketching, or keeping a journal using a stylus. Install using( Remember: universe repositories must be enabled): sudo apt-get install xournal

Ubuntu Linux System Backup Tools

Rsync

Rsync is the directory backup and transfer tool for Linux. Installed as default in Ubuntu. It can provide any type of backup, and options are extensive.

GRsync

GRsync is a GTK-based GUI  for Rsync. Install this by following command:

sudo apt-get install grsync

Bacula

Bacula is the most widely-used GTK-based open source (GPL-licensed) network backup utility that is used in both server and desktop installations. A catalogue of backups can be maintained using MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite. For more info see the Ubuntu documentation. Both text-based and GUI frontends are available. Install the MySQL version:

sudo apt-get install bacula

SBackup

SBackup is a common backup and restore utility for the GTK-desktop. Install using following command:

sudo apt-get install sbackup

Setting Up Linux Media Server And Sharing Files Between Multiple Linux Machines

You can connect your multiple machines for sharing multimedia files through a centralized web server. In this tutorial you will learn how to set up Firefly Media Server on Ubuntu Server.

What is Firefly Media Server?

Firefly Media Server (formerly mt-daapd) is an free and open-source media server or daemon for the Roku SoundBridge and iTunes. It serves media files using Roku Server Protocol (RSP) and Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP).

Features of Firefly Media Server

  • Support for running on Unix/POSIX platforms
  • Support for running on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X
  • Support for running on the Apple Inc. iPhone and iPod touch
  • Support for MP3, AAC, Ogg, FLAC, and WMA
  • Support for Roku SoundBridge via RSP
  • Support for on-the-fly transcoding of Ogg, FLAC, ALAC, and WMA
  • On Windows platforms, on-the-fly transcoding of WMA Lossless, WMA Pro and WMA Voice.
  • Web-based configuration
  • Support for user-created smart playlists
  • Integration with iTunes library including reading playlists
  • Supports serving streaming radio stations

Installing Firefly Media Server

Since we are installing on a Ubuntu Server, the installation is simple:

  • Open Linux terminal
  • Run the command sudo apt-get install mt-daap
  • Enter the user password

Configuration

Open configuration file and look for this line:

mp3_dir = /home/media/music

In this line you need to change to reflect the directory from where you will serve your media.

Here I created a new sub-directory in /opt called music.  Perform this action by this command:

sudo mkdir /opt/media

Now make that directory DAAP server readable by using this command:

sudo chmod ug+r -R /opt/media

Other than this there are many more options available in the configuration file like server name, password protection, port, extensions, codec types and many more. Few options are described below:

  • Servername: Name your DAAP server will broadcast. Default is Firefly RELEASE_NUMBER HOSTNAME.
  • Password Protection: Limit access of users to the DAAP server.
  • Port: You may use a port other than the default (3689).
  • Extensions: The file types to be served by DAAP server.
  • Valid Codectypes: Configurations for the format conversion.

Starting Daemon

Complete configuration file, go ahead and move your media files into the directory and start the server using this command:

sudo /etc/init.d/mt-daap start

With this running server you can fire up a DAAP enabled client, just like iTunes or Songbird. DAAP server installation is good for small internal network where you can share multimedia files. It requires a running Linux server.

Network Monitoring With Etherape

EtherApe is a graphical utility that allows you to see in real-time where connections are being made on your network, or between your network or computer and the Internet. If you are experiencing unexpected network activity on your computer or LAN and wish to see where the activity is occurring. Both “local” user and “root user” installations are created; in general you must use the root user installation to see all your network traffic.

sudo apt-get install etherape

Features:

  • Network traffic is displayed graphically. The more “talkative” a node is, the bigger its representation.
  • Node and link color shows the most used protocol.
  • User may select what level of the protocol stack to concentrate on.
  • You may either look at traffic within your network, end to end IP, or even port to port TCP.
  • Data can be captured “off the wire” from a live network connection, or read from a tcpdump capture file.
  • Live data can be read from ethernet, FDDI, PPP, SLIP and WLAN interfaces, plus several other incapsulated formats (e.g. Linux cooked, PPI).
  • The following frame and packet types are currently supported: ETH_II, 802.2, 803.3, IP, IPv6, ARP, X25L3, REVARP, ATALK, AARP, IPX, VINES, TRAIN, LOOP, VLAN, ICMP, IGMP, GGP, IPIP, TCP, EGP, PUP, UDP, IDP, TP, ROUTING, RSVP, GRE, ESP, AH, EON, VINES, EIGRP, OSPF, ENCAP, PIM, IPCOMP, VRRP; and most TCP and UDP services, like TELNET, FTP, HTTP, POP3, NNTP, NETBIOS, IRC, DOMAIN, SNMP, etc.
  • Data display can be refined using a network filter using pcap syntax.
  • Display averaging and node persistence times are fully configurable.
  • Name resolution is done using standard libc functions, thus supporting DNS, hosts file, etc.
  • Clicking on a node/link opens a detail dialog showing protocol breakdown and other traffic statistics.
  • Protocol summary dialog shows global traffic statistics by protocol.
  • Node summary dialog shows traffic statistics by node.
  • Node statistics export to XML file.
  • Scrollkeeper/rarian-compatible manual integrated with yelp.

Ubuntu Linux: CD-Record Has No Permission To Open Device

If you are receiving common Linux error: cdrecord has no permission to open the device:

  • Open Terminal
  • Type: sudo chmod 777 /dev/scd0
  • Replace “/dev/scd0” with your device

Remember: chmod 777  grants full permission to a folder. The 777 mask indicates that read, write, and execute permission given to all users.