25 HD & Cool Linux Wallpapers

More here: 25 HD & Cool Linux Wallpapers

Review: Linux on the Samsung Series 9

Nice article about installing Linux (Ubuntu) on a Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook.  Specs for the Ultrabook:

• 1.7GHz Intel i5 CPU
• Intel HD DR Graphics 4000
• 4GB RAM
• 128GB solid state drive

TL DR - turns out great.
 
More here: Linux on the Samsung Series 9

Linux home server admin panel

The admin panel you  dreamed about has  just arrived.  Numerous tools and plugins for server software.  It's fast & small and can run even on Wi-Fi access point with DD-WRT firmware.  Ajenti has a slick interface that puts focus on your tasks

More here: Linux home server admin panel from Ajenti

Enabling Compiz On Linux Mint 13 (MATE)

Enabling Compiz On Linux Mint 13 (MATE) can be a bit of a pain but after a bit of scratching around and testing I've found the following works:

1.  Install Compiz:

   sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-plugins
   compiz-plugins-main python-compizconfig compizconfig-settings-manager
   compiz-plugins-extra

2.  In a terminal type “mateconf-editor”, when the editor opens go to

   /desktop/mate/session/required_components/windowmanager

     and replace "marco" with "compiz".

3.  Open the Compiz Configuration Settings Manager in the Control Center
      and select what compiz-functions you want to activate eg: Window
      Decoration, Move Window & Wobbly Windows at a minimum.

4,  Force Compiz to replace existing composter:

   compiz --replace

Background Slideshow

Want to change those backgrounds automatically?  Install this handy background changer:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/gnome3-background-slideshow
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome3-background-slideshow

Acidrip

AcidRip is the gold standard for ripping DVD's to AVI in Linux.  I've used it on more than one occasion to backup DVD's and it works like a charm.  It's been mentioned in heaps of "Best Five ..." pages (e.g.:  This One).  You can install it from the Software Manager (LinuxMint) or at the command line:

sudo apt-get install acidrip

Loads of Handy Wallpapers

These are great wallpapers because they don't overwhelm your desktop with crowded graphics.  I've made links to a couple of my favs.

Photo Album of Handy Wallpapers

Sockets and connecters

Possibly the most valuable picture I have ever right-clicked-save-as'd.

How to Share a Symbolic Link in Samba

http://icesquare.com/wordpress/softlink-symbolic-link-doesnt-work-on-samba-solved/

Edit your samba configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add the following into the global section, i.e.,

[global]
...
follow symlinks = yes
wide links = yes
unix extensions = no
...

Save your file and restart Samba:

sudo stop smbd
sudo start smbd 

It should work now.

Adding Addtional Drives to a Zentyal Server

This page gives a handy guide to installing additional drives in a Zentyal server (which I've shamelessly copied and pasted ~ for easy usage).

Partition Disks

Open the Administrator Console from the Desktop


In console Type:

sudo fdisk –l

This will give a list of Disks attached to the system:

• sda contains the system and swap partitions
• sdb is the first disk
• sdc is the second disk
• sdd is the third disk

Open gparted and create a primary partition on each of the disks sdb, sdc & sdd. I created these with an ext4 file system. It is not necessary at this point to provide a volume label or mount point, as this will be done in the following steps.


Next, Open the PCMan File Manager
At the bottom left, click on the folder icon. This will provide a directory tree. Navigate to /media and click once on this folder in the directory tree. In the top menu, click on tools, and then open this folder as root. This will allow you to create folders and change permissions for those folders. The second screen shows the media folder opened in superuser mode.




Right click in the empty space to bring up the context menu and create folders in /media for the three disks. I used: Disk1, Disk2 and Parity.




I edited the permissions for these folders and changed the username to my username, changed the group to fuse, and gave full permissions to all. This may not be necessary. Right Click on each folder, select properties and then the permissions tab.




Close the media folder superuser window. Navigate in the directory tree to /etc and open this folder as root. Scroll down and find the file called fstab. Right click on the file and select open with leafpad.


This is the original fstab


Add the following lines to the end of fstab:

/dev/sdb /media/Disk1 ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/sdc /media/Disk2 ext4 defaults 0 2
/dev/sdd /media/Parity ext4 defaults 0 2

Save the fstab file and exit leafpad.

Virtualbox USB issues

After moving Virtualbox images to a new machine you'll probably have an issue with USB.  To solve it you'll need to add the current user to the "vboxusers" group.  Tricky, if you're using LinuxMint 12 and above.

You could add yourself to "vboxusers" (assuming the group already exists) by simply doing the following:

sudo gpasswd -a altair vboxusers

Or perhaps:
sudo apt-get install gnome-system-toolssudo gedit /etc/group
Then search for the "vboxusers" group and add your username to that line:
vboxusers:x:125:yourusername

Failing that you could always install the old "Users and Groups" utility:
sudo apt-get install gnome-system-tools
You'll find the utility in the "Administration" group menu.

Lightspark- Linux Flash Player Replacement

Lightspark is a Flash player and browser plugin that runs on Linux. It aims to support Adobe's newer Flash formats and AVM2 virtual machine.   Lightspark currently supports YouTube well enough for daily use.  Still requires some development but it can potentially replace Adobe's product (esp. since Adobe has discontinued development of a Flash player for Linux).

More here: Lightspark

How To Use Apple’s AirTunes in Linux

After masses of frustration with iTunes I decided to see if I could make AirTunes work under Linux.  Too easy!  Here's the instructions:

1. Install two packages: “pulseaudio-module-raop paprefs” and “paprefs”. The former allows Ubuntu to use the remote audio output protocol (raop); the latter to configure Ubuntu to enable it.

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-raop paprefs

2. Run "paprefs" in Terminal and you'll see the following dialogue box:

Click the “Make Discoverable Apple AirTunes sound devices available locally” checkbox and you’ve enabled roap.

3. To switch audio output to your AirTune speakers, click the “Volume” icon in your tray, then click “Preferences”, as seen here:

Click the “Output” tab and you should see your Apple AirTunes device listed

More info here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/apples-airtunes-ubuntulinux/

How to Set the Panel Fully Transparent

1. Go to Mint Menu > Control Center > CompizConfig Settings Manager, and check the "Opacity, brightness and saturation" plug-in, located in the "Accessibility" section. this will activate the plug-in.

2. Now click the plug-in itself and its configuration window will open.

3. In the "Opacity" tab, under "Specific Window settings", click on "New". A small window will appear. In the window line paste the following code (minus the quotation marks):

"(class=Gnome-panel) & !(type=Menu | PopupMenu | Dialog | DropdownMenu)"

this code will apply the transparency to the panel and specific items within it, but will not apply transparency to the mint-menu or any of the applet menus.

4. below the windows line is a slider titled Window Values. Slide that to the desired level of transparency.

More here:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=72191
http://www.webupd8.org/2009/12/true-transparency-for-gnome-panel.html

xPUD

xPUD is a simple, small (64MB!), kiosk based distro that should be ideal for netbooks & touch screen based systems.

More here: xPUD - Shortest Path to the Cloud

Raspberry Pi Now on Sale

The Raspberry Pi will finally be available, as element14 plans to start taking consumer credit card orders on the morning of 28th March.  Good luck and may the force be with you!

Ubuntu Ur Doin' It Wrong..

Fabian Scherschel argues that Canonical is moving in the wrong direction with Ubuntu.

More here: http://dehype.org/2012/ubuntu-design/

Raspberry Pi Pricing

This thing is really taking off, 200,000 registered expressions of interest (10 new registrations per minute).  Other god news: the Raspberry will cost AU$55 delivered to your door.

Raspberry Pi Pricing Clarification

10 Free VPN Services

10 Free VPN Services that can assist in watching or listening to hard to get content.

Four Awesome Toolkits

 

Four Linux distro's that should form part of every geeks toolkit.
Two of the distro's are bootable Utility CD images (or USB images) that can be used to repair, backup, clone test and even reset Windows passwords.  Utilities disks are godsends and can be used on a range of systems.
Two other distro's handle security (Backtrack) or can act as a Router Firewall (pfSense).  The last distro is a Small Business Server that can be setup with DNS, DHCP, Email, Users, LDAP, shared folders, Intrusion detection and more. 

Utilities
(Repair, Backup, clone test and reset Windows passwords etc.)
Parted Magic: http://partedmagic.com/doku.php
Trinity Rescue: http://trinityhome.org/ 

Security tools
Backtrack (Network Security): http://www.backtrack-linux.org/
pfSense (BSD Router Firewall): http://www.pfsense.org/ 

Small Business Server
Zentyal: http://www.zentyal.org/

More here: projectz.me - Blog - Linux Tools for the Sysadmins Toolkit.

Android on A Netbook

Interesting article about installing Android on Netbooks using the Android-x86 project.  The project's download page listed releases of Android 2.2 and 2.3 and an RC for Ice Cream Sandwich.  No idea how stable this is but it's certainly worth a look.

Read about it here: Free Software Magazine.

Read about one persons experience of installing on a Samsung N110 netbook

Linux on the Mac

Got an old Macbook or iBook that needs to be revitalized?  Yup, Linux to the rescue.

Mac » penguinppc.org

Linux USB Builder for Mac

The nice people over at Penguintosh have created a Linux USB Creator.  Allows you to select a linux distribution (either from a list or browse for a Local ISO file) and then installs it to a USB device (complete with Bootloader).

Only works with OSX Lion (at this stage).

Download here & more information available here:

Launcher Tools for Linux

Two very usable and handy launcher tools for Linux.  Both are Skinable, configurable, have plugins and are easy to use:

Launchy - cross platform (Mac, Windows and Linux).  Linux support seems to be limited to Ubuntu only.

Do - Linux only but supports all the major distros (Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch Linux, Gentoo and Source)

Nice Background

Best Free Software for Linux

Here's another page full of suggestions for the best free software for Linux.  It pretty much covers off on all the major categories of software and even offers some alternatives to Windozware.

20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know

New to Linux or just looking to sharpen up your skills?  This is a handy page on the 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know.