Category: Ubuntu/Debian

Stuff about Ubuntu and Debian GNU/Linux

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Linux Mint 2.1 – Bea has been released

Linux Mint project has made its latest release, 2.1 ‘Bea’ available right before Christmas.

Linux Mint is a distribution based on the latest release of Ubuntu Linux with extra non-free component such as multimedia codecs (for playing real,quicktime, mp3, windows media videos and flash plugins).

The latest release includes OpenOffice 2.1 and new artwork, replacing the one taken from Ubuntu Edgy Eft.

Additionally, Linux Mint also includes mintWifi, which help users connect to wireless network for the first time without having to rely on initial internet connection (to download drivers/howto/cabextract/etc).

Who Should use Linux Mint?

Linux Mint is ideal for those who want to use an easy Linux desktop operating system that can play proprietary multimedia files out from the box (aac,mp3,real media, 3gp, quicktime) without much hassle.

The current release Linux Mint is derived from Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft and is compatible with Edgy Eft repositories.

[tags]ubuntu,edgy eft,linux,debian,mint,open source[/tags]

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Winefish – GTK+ based LaTeX Editor for Linux

Winefish is a GTK+ LaTeX editor intended for experienced users. Unlike Lyx, Winefish emphasis on preparing documents using purely LaTeX input without bloated features offered by competing applications. Winefish is also useful to those who are just started to learn LaTeX command.

In keeping with LaTeX theme of wanting users to concentrate on writing the actual document instead of their looks, Winefish has no preview or WYSIWYG feature.

LaTeX is handy for preparing professionally written documents, it features autocompletion support, autotext, syntax highlighting, custom search and replace pattern support, shortcuts and function reference browser for LaTeX packages. Additionally LaTeX also feature spell checker and template support for quick template generators.

All these features make Winefish is preferable for newbies and experience users in preparing professionally looking documents using LaTeX.

Where can I get Winefish
Winefish is available from Ubuntu, Fedora Core and OpenSUSE repositories or it can be downloaded from its project website : http://winefish.berlios.de/

[tags]latex,tex,winefish,lyx,linux,ubuntu[/tags]

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Howto Install VMWare tools on Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft

One of my friend has prepared a howto on how to install VMware tools on Ubuntu Edgy Eft. I find it interesting because he has never use Ubuntu or any debian-based distro before, yet he has published a quick way to install VMware tools on Edgy Eft.

Considering the fact that I have never use debian before, and this in my first experience on a debian based distro, i did some googling and using the trial and error method, I’ve come to the conclusion that the step below is the best way to install vmware tools 5.5.2 on Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft..

Read his complete post here : Installing VMware Tools 5.5.2 on Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft

[tags]vmware,ubuntu,edgy eft, ubuntu 6.10, linux, debian[/tags]

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Burn CD images in Linux command line

This tip will be brief, it concerns about writing bootable linux iso images to CDROM. What you need is cdrecord, cd-writer drive, blank cd-r and iso image (and maybe mkisofs).

Howto burn ISO images to CD
Insert the blank CD-R, and run

cdrecord -v speed=4 dev=/dev/cdrom ubuntu-6.10-desktop-i386.iso

and you’re done.

Howto burn (backup) files to Data CD
You’ll need mkisofs and cdrecord to burn your data files to a CD,

Run,

mkisofs -r -J -o yourbackup.iso /home/path_to/your_files

cdrecord -v dev=/dev/cdrom  -data  yourbackup.iso

and that’s the easiest way to burn cds on command-line linux.

[tags]linux,cdrom,iso9660,joliet,ubuntu,cdrecord,mkisofs,debian[/tags]

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Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper) vs Ubuntu Edgy Eft

One of my blog readers ask me personally about which Ubuntu distribution that he should use, whether its Ubuntu 6.06 LTS or the latest release, Edgy Eft. As for my personal opinion, it depends on your own use.

Dapper Drake is a Long Term Support (LTS) release, supported by Canonical and Ubuntu Community for at least 5 years.? This means that Dapper Drake would receive more frequent security updates than Edgy Eft.

Edgy Eft on the other hand focussed more on providing the latest and bleeding edge software on your computer, it also have software and security updates as Dapper Drake, but it is only guaranteed for at least within the six month of Ubuntu release cycle.

After that you have to either upgrade it to the latest release or you have to patch/update the system by yourself. If you can see the differences, LTS emphasis more on stability and long term? support while the normal release emphasis on providing the latest release of software but with limited time support.

To sumarise it, LTS is suitable for those who like having a stable operating system with minimal maintenance effort, while the normal release is for those who like to keep updated with the latest software release, despite having to upgrade them each time a new release is announced to keep updated with security patches.

[tags]ubuntu,dapper drake,dapper,edgy eft,edgy[/tags]

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Iceweasel – a completely free alternative to Mozilla Firefox


Iceweasel is a fork of one of the popular browser, Mozilla Firefox with the main aim to provide a completely free browser alternative to the latter.

You might wonder why we need to fork Firefox since it is already free and open source?

The answer is a bit complicated.

Although Mozilla Firefox has been release by the Mozilla Foundation as an open source browser, part of the software is non-free such as the talkback crash reporting system, the artwork, the icons and the name of the browser.

To add to the problem, Mozilla didn’t give permission to use their trademarked name Firefox to be used on unofficial builds. Due to this complication of having proprietary component in foss application, IceWeasal was forked from Firefox code base.

IceWeasel is functionality is essentially the same with Mozilla Firefox but without the proprietary component. Debian is one of the first distro to use IceWeasal as its default browser starting by Debian Etch.

The current IceWeasel release are based on Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.7, and each of it will be syncronised with the latest release of Firefox.

You can get Iceweasel from it’s project website (currenly available as source and GNU/Linux binaries only)

[tags]mozilla,firefox,mozilla firefox,iceweasel,debian,opensource,freesoftware[/tags]