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New to Ubuntu? You could start here.

vinay — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 18:04:29 +0000

With major hardware vendors shipping systems preinstalled with Ubuntu, and the extremely hassle free Ubuntu installer, more users have, if not started mainstream usage, atleast experimenting with this flavor of Linux. Here are some open source (read: free) stuff that will get you started with Ubuntu 7.04.

1. Amarok
Amarok is a unix/linux music player with a nice interface, playlist manager, 10 band equalizer and also automatically fetches your album cover art.

sudo apt-get install amarok

2. VLC
With your music needs sorted out with the above, now to your videos. You needn’t look any further than VLC, by far the best cross platform media player. You could also install the VLC plugins and use it as a streaming server.

sudo apt-get install vlc vlc-plugin-*

Rarely would one not be satisfied with VLC, in which case you could read about the restricted file formats here

3. Automatix2
You could install all your favorite software like picasa, google earth, skype and many more by visiting their respective sites. Alternatively Automatix2 has a collection of top rated software that can be installed almost instantaneously as you please. Read more about installing automatix2 here

4. If you have dual booted Ubuntu with Windows you probably would want your windows NTFS filesystem mounted with read/write functionality.

- Take a backup of your existing fstab
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak

- Install the ntfs-3g driver
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config

- Now launch ntfs-config under the system tools menu and enter a name for your mount point.
Read more here

5. Remove the annoying system beep.

- From the terminal execute the following command to disable the system beep for the session
sudo modprobe -r pcspkr

- If you want to take this into effect every time your system boots, Add the following at the bottom of /etc/rc.local file.
— /etc/rc.local —
modprobe -r pcspkr
exit 0
— X —

6. If you are running Ubuntu on you laptop, you probably would like to have your LCD turned off when the lid is closed. Ubuntu only blanks the screen with the backlight staying ON and contributing to unwanted heat generation. Read this guide and edit the /etc/acpi/actions/lm_lid.sh script.

7. Beagle
If you are a fan of google desktop, you might want to consider Beagle, a powerful data indexing tool

sudo apt-get install beagle

8. Beryl
For some out of the world eye candy, apart from Ubuntu desktop effects install Beryl. Beryl is an OpenGL accelerated desktop with underlying Compiz libraries that bring out some fantastic desktop effects like workspaces on a cube, window decorations and actions and many more screen effects. Read this guide to get Beryl setup on your computer.

9. This point is added just for kicks
But seriously, what this point would really signify is that, your journey in discovering the true potential of open source has just started and it is up to you to take it forward.

some OS please!!

vinay — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:00:34 +0000

The last month was a period of experiments with my computer, starting with the fact that I was running on a ‘going to break’ HDD and the DST short test was failing repeatedly. So before anything, I backed up all my data (which also includes my windows partition) after running openSUSE in recovery mode; and trust me it was quite a breeze, reinforcing my crush on Linux. Later that day I called DELL support and they promptly shipped me a replacement hard drive one working day later, but the OEM OS that id also asked them to ship was going to take a few days longer as the package which includes WinXP, device drivers, sonic, win backup and a few others were flying in from Netherlands. Nevertheless I was happy with their prompt and ‘no questions asked’ service, afterall I guess ive already paid them quite a sum when I took the 3 yr complete care support for my inspiron 6400.

A few months before this day I had installed the vista transformation pack just to see what the hype was all about. Must say, I was impressed by the freshness it gave to the aging, yet stable XP. So I decided to head to the nearest and dearest electronics shop to get the Vista Home Premium. I like the way it installed, M$soft finally decided to keep it simple and viola!! I also have my disk management utility inbuilt right into the installer, and without second thought retained 20gigs of free space for THE Linux. Two weeks passed and I liked the way vista felt, till I realized that I need more memory for what started to seem like a dying computer. I think I can quite easily point the finger at vista that required ~500 MB just to boot and get running. I ‘tried’ installing Halo for vista, and not to my surprise it didn’t quite go on well. You already get the picture, don’t you? Nevertheless 2Gigs of memory is on its way..

A jobless Sunday afternoon, and what more could I do when I find the ubuntu feisty fawn media lying around, 10GB of free space and a geeky mind. No prizes for guessing right, im now happily ubutun’d with a fresh and functional desktop. And here is a trailer of what could be done with Ubuntu and Beryl

Tell me that you still aren’t impresses by just the eye candy, then here is more from a functionality p.o.v. The ubuntu installation is completed with a couple of user inputs that loads off a Live CD making life much easier, then comes the best part, the apt-get feature provided by Debian (the platform over which ubuntu is build) is used to install any application from the command prompt, all u need to know is the name of the application, and a simple `apt-get app_name` will look for the application online, download it, resolve dependencies and install the app. Ive got two words, “luvin it”

Next adventure would be tweaking and compiling the G15 drivers to get my Logitech Z10 working, and then Vmware to get virtual servers running. More later …

Like a few wise men have said …

Live free, or die.
Linux!!

If you are obsessed with the Mac and yet reading this, i thank you for your Patience. Peace

Rate Sony Cybershot DSC-T100

admin — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 11:59:14 +0000

The DSC-T100 comes with an array of great features all cased in a slim form. It’s loaded with an 8.1 megapixel carl zeis, 5x optical zoom lens and a 3 inches “Clear Photo LCD LCD Plus™” screen for snapping and sharing photos.

The Cybershot T100 also comes with technologies like the Face Detection, in-camera retouching, D-range optimization, HD output and the Sony Double Anti-Blur Solution that lets you shoot in low light. Check out the specifications below and submit your reviews and ratings.

Specifications

LCD
3.0″ (230K Pixels) Clear Photo LCD^TM plus screen

Lens Type
Carl Zeiss® Vario-Tessar®

Recording Media
31MB internal Flash Memory, optional Memory Stick® DUO Media, optional Memory Stick DUO PRO™ Media

Megapixel
8.1 MP

Total Zoom
10X

Optical Zoom
5X

Focal Length
5.8 – 29mm

35mm Equivalent
35 – 175 mm

ISO
Auto, 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200

Shutter Speed
1/4-1/1000 sec. (Auto), 1″-1/1000 sec. (Program Auto)

Aperture Range
f3.5-5.6(W), f4.4-10.0(T)
Face Detection
Yes
Burst Mode
100 shots at 2.1 fps (all resolutions)

Media/Battery Indicator
Yes/Yes
Memory Stick PRO™ Media Compatibility
Tested to support up to 8GB Memory Stick DUO PRO^TM media capacity¹; does not support Access Control security function.
Color Mode(s)
Black & White, Natural, Sepia, Vivid

White Balance
Automatic, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Incandescent, Flash
Movie Mode(s)
MPEG VX Fine with Audio (640×480 at 30fps) (MPEG VX Fine requires Memory Stick DUO PRO™ media), MPEG VX Standard with Audio (640×480 at 16fps), Presentation Mode (320 x 240 at 8.3fps).
Scene Mode(s)
Beach, Fireworks, High Speed Shutter, High Sensitivity, Landscape, Snow, Soft Snap, Twilight, Twilight Portrait
AF Illuminator Light
Yes
PictBridge Compatible
Yes
SteadyShot® Image Stabilization
Yes
In-Camera Editing
Red-eye reduction, soft edge filter, cross filter, partial color filter, fish-eye filter
Flash Effective Range
ISO Auto: 5/16” to 12′ 1″ (0.1-3.7m)(W), ISO 3200: 5/16″ to 25′-4″ (0.1-7.7m)(T)
Battery Capacity
3.6V, 960 mAh
Operating System Compatibility
Microsoft® 2000 Professional, Me, XP Home and Professional; Macintosh® OS 9.1/9.2/OS X (10.0-10.4)
Supplied Software
Windows: Picture Motion Browser Vers 2.0 + USB Driver