Raspberry Pi Bundle- Preloaded XMBC

Put these two products together and you have a fully functioning XBMC media server for next to nothing:

Raspberry Pi Model B (512MB)
Pre-Programmed 4GB SD Card, Clear Case, USB Mains Plug AU
Features: Credit card size video computer, HDMI, Ethernet & 2 USB ports, Linux's Debian software, 512MB RAM
Clock Frequency Max: 700MHz
 

XBMC Raspberry Pi Bundle
For Use With: Raspberry Pi
Kit Contents: Mini Keyboard, Preloaded XMBC SD Card, HDMI Cable, CAT5E Cable

MintBox 2 Linux Mint Computer

The MintBox 2 is a mini-computer which connects to TVs or computer monitors via HDMI or DisplayPort. It comes with 8 USB ports as well as in/out audio jacks, eSATA, Ethernet, Wifi and Bluetooth so you can connect it easily to any network or device.  It’s small, about the size of a router, so it fits behind your keyboard, your TV and it’s easy to bring with you anywhere you go.  It’s extremely sturdy and completely silent. There is no plastic, the case is entirely made of solid die-cast aluminum and acts as a heat sink, so there are no fans inside of it.


More here: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2441

List of Rescue CD/Live/Bootable Disks With Utilities

GParted Live on USB
GParted is a free partition editor for graphically managing your disk partitions.  With GParted you can resize, copy, and move partitions without data loss, enabling you to: grow or shrink your C: drive, create space for new operating systems & attempt data rescue from lost partitions

SystemRescueCd
SystemRescueCd is a Linux system rescue disk for administrating or repairing your system and data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the hard disk partitions. It comes with linux software such as system tools (parted, partimage, fstools, ...) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It can be used for both Linux and windows computers, and on desktops as well as servers. It supports all important file systems (ext2/ext3/ext4, reiserfs, btrfs, xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs), as well as network filesystems (samba and nfs).

YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator (Windows Only)
YUMI (Your Universal Multiboot Installer) can be used to create a Multiboot USB Flash Drive containing multiple operating systems, antivirus utilities, disc cloning, diagnostic tools, and more.  YUMI uses syslinux to boot extracted distributions stored on the USB device, and reverts to using grub to Boot Multiple ISO files from USB, if necessary.  Aside from a few distributions, all files are stored within the Multiboot folder, making for a nicely organized Multiboot Drive that can still be used for other storage purposes.

MultiSystem – Create a MultiBoot USB from Linux
Multisystem is an awesome tool created by LiveUSB.info and was created for use within Linux. It also uses Grub2 instead of Grub Legacy, and can be run from within Ubuntu Linux to create a Custom Multiboot UFD containing your favourite Bootable Live Linux Distributions.



More here:/r/Linux, what is your favorite rescue CD/Live/Bootable disk with utilities? I just downloaded Rescatux, but I remember there being MANY. So what are the most useful? I will download the highest recommended ones!

Ardour

"..Import a single video and optionally extract the soundtrack from it. Display a frame-by-frame (thumbnail) timeline of the video. Use a Video-monitor window, or full-screen display, of the imported video in sync with any of the available ardour timecode sources. Export the video, cut start/end, add blank frames and/or mux it with the soundtrack of the current-session.."

http://ardour.org/

Raspberry Pi: the Perfect Home Server

Ever since the announcement of the Raspberry Pi, sites all across the Internet have offered lots of interesting and challenging uses for this exciting device. Although all of those ideas are great, the most obvious and perhaps least glamorous use for the Raspberry Pi (RPi) is creating your perfect home server.

Read the rest here: http://m.linuxjournal.com/content/raspberry-pi-perfect-home-server

great-linux-operating-systems-for Netbooks

One of the most common questions asked on the Linux based sub-reddits at Reddit.com is "Which Linux distribution would be the best for a netbook?".  The following distributions have either been installed on a netbook or should run perfectly well on an netbook. There links to the original reviews so that you can see any issues that were found.

http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2013/10/12-great-linux-operating-systems-for.html

Anti Virus Solution for Linux

If you've been asked by someone to investigate why their Windows machine is running slow.. run.  If, by some chance, you are unable to escape try using Clam Antivirus.  It's in the Software Center and you just need to run:
sudo freshclam
before you perform a  Recursive Scan so that the virus definitions are up to date.

But really: run.  Don't look back, run.

Thanks to: Makeuseof.com for their informative tutorial.

Things to do After Installing Linux Mint 15

 
Edit the Mint Menu

• Change menu icon
• Resize icons
• Set to always start in "Favourites" pane (under "Options")

Run  Updates

Configure Firefox

• Change start page
• Remove bookmarks and Menu toolbars
• Install  "Add to Search Bar" Firefox add-on
• After restarting Firefox add your favourite Search Engine to Search Bar

Set Bottom Panel Fully Transparent

1. Click Menu and select Terminal.
2. Enter sudo cp -R /usr/share/themes/Mint-X ~/.themes/
3. Enter sudo pluma ~/.themes/Mint-X/gtk-2.0/Apps/panel.rc to open the file with the default text editor.
4. Search for two instances of "Panel/panelbg.png"
5. Comment out the two lines by placing a # at the beginning of the lines, for example: #   bg_pixma [NORMAL] = ...
6. Save the file.
7. Log out and log back in to the system.

Configure Terminal

• Set colours to black background with yellow text
• Set background to 80% transparent

Enable Compositing Manager

• Open "Control Center" | "Desktop Settings"
• Ensure "Use Compositing" is ticked under "Windows".

Set XScreensaver as Default Screen Saver

• Uninstall default Mate screensaver: sudo apt-get remove mate-screensaver
• Install XScreensaver: sudo apt-get install xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra xscreensaver-data-extra xscreensaver-screensaver-bsod electricsheep 
• Change the properties of the Screensaver item under "Startup Aplications" in "Control Centre" so that it reads: xscreensaver -no-splash

Optional:
Install Teamviewer

Evolution of Unix and Unix-like systems

Click on picture above to expand.

How Mint became one of the most popular Linux distros

TechRadar have published a very positive article about Linux Mint:

How Mighty Mint became one of the most popular Linux distros | TechRadar

ClipGrab - Video Downloader

ClipGrab is an efficient and free video downloader for YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, MyVideo, MySpass, Sevenload, Tudou, Clipfish and many other online video sites. You can enter keywords in the box to search videos on YouTube or paste the URL to a video, then select the format and quality of the video you need, click "Grab this clip!" and the app does the rest for you.

You can also configure how the app behaves when a downloadable video is discovered in your clipboard, and whether you want to keep metadata (ID3 tags) when you download and convert videos to mp3 files.

How to install:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:clipgrab-team/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install clipgrab

Dirhelp helps you understand the Filesystem Hierarchy

Dirhelp is a command line tool to give information about the linux directory structures (FHS).

More here: Open source CLI tool helps users understand the Filesystem Hierarchy

6 Good-Looking Music Players for Linux

Six funky looking Linux music players chosen explictly because they're "good looking".

More here: 6 Most Good-Looking Music Players for Linux | Tech Drive-in

Good Advice on Choosing Linux Distros

There are lots of versions (Distributions, "Distros") of linux. Each one has it's own purpose, ranging from ease of use to total control, from long term stability to bleeding edge updates, and nearly every other idea anyone came up with.
There are a few steps you should take:

• Try a bunch of different distros. Download the "live" .iso files and either use a tool like Unetbootin (or better yet: LiLi) to install to a flash drive or use virtual machine software such as Virtualbox. Then you can boot from the flash drive or run the virtual machine and test the distro without changing anything else on your computer.
• Try several different ones to get a feel for what you like. Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, and Mint are all popular. Also pay attention to which desktop environments you like. GNOME and KDE are the two most prevalent, but there are many others, including Xfce, LXDE, Cinnamon, and MATE. Some distros have several desktop environments installed which can be chosen at the login screen, while others have a separate fork for each environment. For example: Ubuntu uses GNOME as default, while Kubuntu uses KDE, Xubuntu uses Xfce, and Lubuntu uses LXDE, while all of those install the same basic system. LXDE is my current favorite DE.
• Once you find one you like, get a dual-boot set up. Part of your hard drive will be Windows, and part will be Linux. You can choose which one to boot when you start your computer. Windows probably won't be able to read your Linux partition, but the Linux system should be able to read your Windows partition, so it is probably best to leave most of your data in Windows until you learn a bit more about Linux. Dual boot systems can work together happily with no issues, but back everything up regularly, because accidents happen.
• Then to really start learning about Linux, just keep using it.

And please don't be scared off by everyone's expertly contradicting advice. And don't be scared off by the terrible capitalization, and the recursive acronyms, and the collective desire to split any project into 5 competing projects.

Source

Ultimate Guide to Android Rooting, Custom Roms & Apps

Do you have any questions about the rooting process, custom roms, tweaks or apps?  Or maybe you want to share other great apps that aren't available through the usual routes?   Check out this Guide to Android Rooting, Custom ROMs & Apps.

Ultimate Guide to Android Rooting, Custom Roms & Apps

HP Launch Ubuntu All-In-One PC for £349 | OMG! Ubuntu!

HP have just announced that they're going to be selling a 20" all in one PC running Ubuntu.  The hardware isn't anything to write home about but it's perfectly suited to the average user and of course it's much cheaper than the same model running Windows 8.  It's not rocket science...

HP Launch Ubuntu All-In-One PC for £349 | OMG! Ubuntu!

Grsync: Great Alternative to Robocopy

Grsync is a great alternative to Robocopy on a Linux system.  You could also use Rsync at the command line.  Regardless of which version you use don't forget that Direcotories need a trailing "/".

Rsync Switches
To see all the available options, type rsync --help at the command line. Here are a few of the options:

• -r, --recursive - recurse into directories
• -u, --update - skip files that are newer on the receiver
• -n, --dry-run - show what would have been transferred
• --existing - only update files that already exist on receiver
• --delete - delete files that don't exist on the sending side
• -z, --compress - compress file data during the transfer
• --exclude=PATTERN - exclude files matching PATTERN

You can find even more examples of switches here.

How to Upgrade to Libre Office 4.0 on Linux Mint

 Handy guide to on how to: download, remove existing version, install latest version and configure Libre Office 4.0.


http://www.libre-software.net/how-to-install-libreoffice-on-ubuntu-linux-mint

How to Automatically Mount USB Drives in Ubuntu Server 12.04

Automatically mount and unmount USB mass storage devices.  USBMount automatically mounts USB mass storage devices (typically USB pens) when they are plugged in, and unmounts them when they are removed.   The mountpoints (/media/usb[0-7] by default), filesystem types to consider, and mount options are configurable.  When multiple devices are plugged in, the first available mountpoint is automatically selected. If the device provides a model name, a symbolic link /var/run/usbmount/MODELNAME pointing to the mountpoint is automatically created.

To install usbmount:

sudo apt-get install usbmount

When using automount, it will mount the storage devices at /media/usb[0-7] (there is no dialog).  Printers/scanners are not "mounted" and would be configured differently.

How to Setup a Ubuntu Home Server

Damn comprehensive guide on how to setup a Ubuntu Home Server: http://linuxhomeserverguide.com/

PC-in-a-Keyboard

Could be the future of desktop computing... if they ever put decent hardware into it.

More here: PC-in-a-Keyboard Comes with Ubuntu Linux Preloaded | PCWorld

Bedrock Linux

               __          __             __
               \ \_________\ \____________\ \___
                \  _ \  _\ _  \  _\ __ \ __\   /
                 \___/\__/\__/ \_\ \___/\__/\_\_\

Bedrock Linux is a Linux distribution created with the aim of making most of the (often seemingly mutually-exclusive) benefits of various other Linux distributions available simultaneously and transparently.  Installation is done by manually collecting and compiling the components, laying out the filesystem, adding the users, etc. Experienced Linux users - those who are comfortable compiling their own software, know the significance of the various parts of the filesystem directory layout, etc - should not have overly much trouble, but those new to Linux or those who don't want to get their hands dirty may wish to seek another Linux distribution for their needs.

GNU/Linux Inside stickers!

I've upgraded several cantankerous old laptops (which were at least three years old) with Linux (Linux Mint of course) this year and each and every one of them is now zippy little units with very satisfied owners.  One thing that gets up my nose is those revolting "Windows Inside" stickers.  The last thing I'd want to do is advertise the very thing that brought these poor laptops to their knees...

So I was delighted to find these "GNU/Linux Inside" stickers.  They're going on my next upgrade...

More here:GNU Press now selling GNU/Linux Inside stickers

Fuduntu. Punny Name, Serious Distro!

As the blurb on the front page says: "Fuduntu is a lighthearted and fun Linux distribution which provides an aesthetically pleasing user experience with up-to-date applications making it a great fit for your desktop, laptop, or netbook.
Fundutu features a classic desktop experience using GNOME 2, and provides many important software packages  such as Netflix and Steam."

http://www.fuduntu.org/

Fuduntu 2012.4 Announced

Not Really For Linux But What the Heck

How To Setup A USB Webcam With Cheese

Got a Linux box that doesn't have a webcam (like a Microsoft LifeCam VX-5000 Webcam)but want to use Skype?  The solution to this issue is to install and setup Cheese.  To do this use the following command in the Terminal:

sudo apt-get install cheese

Next, run Cheese. Cheese should automatically detect your webcam and display live video stream.

More info below:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Webcam
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SkypeWebCams
http://www.ehow.com/how_5610857_mount-usb-camera-ubuntu.html
http://askubuntu.com/questions/73357/how-do-i-install-the-driver-for-a-microsoft-lifecam-vx-3000

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