Category: Open Source

Free and Open Source Software Listing

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gnome-osd: Handy On-Screen Display for XChat and Evolution

I just want to share with you about gnome-osd, a GNOME desktop add-on that I find handy when working on my computer’s desktop.

This add-on provide informational on-screen display when triggered by certain events such as new email, somebody mentions your nick over the irc and when the music player changes the song.

Personally, I use gnome-osd with Xchat IRC client, when I’m in a mood for online chatting with friends.

To use gnome-osd, you need to install ‘gnome-osd’ package and configure it by accessing System->OSD Notifications. You can enable certain triggers by checking the appropriate box on the dialog box as shown here :

osd2.png

Here’s an example of gnome-osd in action:

gnome-osd-papit3.jpg

From the screenshot, you can see that I’ve tweak the settings a little bit to display the messages on the lower right corner of my screen. The OSD is triggered whenever anybody mentions my nick on the IRC.

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How to make pidgin display Instant Messenger protocol ID

I heard some people complained that pidgin does not show the messenger protocol for the buddies associated with your account. Actually this feature was indeed incorporated in Pidgin, only it is not enabled by default.

To enable the it, you only need to go to Buddies->Show, and select Protocol Icons option. Pidgin should display messenger protocol icon on your buddies list.

Here’s a screenshot which explains the step

pidgin1.jpg

pidgin2.jpg

From the screenshot you can easily spot which buddies are from jabber protocol and Yahoo Messenger protocol. I hope this particular tip would be useful to you!

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Hugin: Software To Create Panoramic Photograph in Ubuntu Linux

I’ve always wanted to try and take panoramic photographs using my dad’s Nikon Coolpix 5200. That day finally arrived when I finally have the free time to do so last week when I’ve to accompany my dad traveling to the countryside of my hometown.

separate.jpg

Using a tripod, I took 4 sets of photographs with the help of Nikon built-in panorama helper function. I was excited and about to use a Windows computer to stitch those photograph using software supplied with the camera when suddenly I thought of searching for a similar application on my trusty Ubuntu box.

To my delight I found Hugin! An open source panorama maker software which I use without hesitation to create a my first ever panoramic photos.

Hugin Panorama Maker

The interface was simple enough to use even for a first time use like me. What you need to do is to load all images into Hugin using the “Load Images” button, and it will start to process your images immediately.

After finished processing the photos, Hugin lets you fine tune the result using a dialog similar like below.

panorama2.png

After retouching and minor adjustment, I’ve ended with this panoramic photo!

p/s: Well the photo is not perfect in detail, but hey its my first try!

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Howto Send and Recieve files over Bluetooth with Ubuntu Linux

With advancement of wireless technology, bluetooth has become a de facto standard for transferring files (and synchronizing data) between mobile devices (PDA, smartphone) and personal computer.

In this post I’m going to show you how to send and receive files over bluetooth using obexftp and obexpushd package from OpenOBEX project.

Send files to mobile device
First install obexftp and obexpushd

sudo apt-get install obexftp obexpushd

Insert a bluetooth dongle and activate bluetooth on your mobile phone. Do a scan of nearby bluetooth device (your mobile phone) by executing :

obexftp -b

obexftp then will display the scan result on your screen, like this :

Scanning ...
Using  00:15:A0:53:6F:85   Nokia 6680
Browsing 00:15:A0:53:6F:85 ...
Channel: 10

Pick a file, and try sending it over bluetooth by executing :

obexftp -b 00:15:A0:53:6F:85 -p example.txt

obexftp will then send the file to your bluetooth device (address : 00:15:A0:53:6F:85 – taken from previous command). Make sure that you set the mobile device to accept the file.

How to receive files over bluetooth
Insert bluetooth dongle and turn it into discoverable mode

hciconfig hci0 piscan

Continue reading “Howto Send and Recieve files over Bluetooth with Ubuntu Linux”

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How to Burn and Normalize MP3 to Audio CD in Ubuntu Linux

The most usual (and popular!) way to create a “mixed-tape” Audio CD is to burn it from a collection of MP3 song taken of several sources.

However as these mp3 are ripped from several sources, there would be inconsistencies of the volume loudness which would create an annoyance if one had to readjust the CD player volume from song-to-song.

A “Normalization” process would automatically fixed the audio so that all song would have the same amount of volume, but sadly the default Serpentine Audio CD creator that comes with Ubuntu does not support normalization.

How to Normalize MP3 song
First of all open a terminal and install normalize-audio package :

sudo apt-get install normalize-audio

Then change directory to your mp3 collections to be burned and execute:

normalize-audio -m -v  *.mp3

normalize-audio will then compute the files level one-by-one and then will apply normalization on all mp3 files.

You can then use your favorite CD burner application (like Serpentine) to burn the normalized MP3 files to make an audio CD.

normalize-audio also supports ogg files for normalization.

Happy burning!

[tags]mp3,audiocd,burning,cd burn,audio cd,ogg,vorbis,opensource,open source,gutsy,gutsy gibbon,ubuntu[/tags]