Review of Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy) new features and changes

Startup and shutdown screens won’t blink any more, so no more watching of a boring black screen even for a second. Desktop theme received some minor updates: some pixels changed at the mouse cursors to make them more eye pleasant. Evolution is now displaying popup at the tray in case of a message arrival. In the file manager an image thumbnails will be automatically rotated if they were taken with a camera. Buttons of the ‘windows list’ applet in Ubuntu 7.10 will stay they original size despite a change of a window title, for example in case of web browser tab change. The very impressive Deskbar applet is initially activated. Microsoft ntfs file system support should be available for reading and writing by default (by ntfs-3g driver using FUSE). Additional set of utilities for manipulation with ntfs partitions such as format, resize, undelete and etc. is accessible via ‘ntfsprogs’ package. Read more >>

[ Source: Tolero’s tech notes ]

OSX 10.4.9 / Vista dual boot on your Windows machine

This guide tells you how to install OSX 10.4.9 on your Intel or AMD Windows machine, dual booting with Vista. This guide is for information purposes only.

[ Source: Profit42 ]

Mozilla drops $3m on new company to develop Thunderbird

Mozilla announced plans this week to sink $3 million into a new Mozilla Foundation project designed to enhance the Thunderbird mail client. Early reports indicate that the as-yet-unnamed newly formed company will focus on positioning Thunderbird for use in Internet communications, including Web-based email, IM, and SMS.

The new organization, code-named MailCo, will be headed up by longtime Mozilla community member and CTO of ActiveState, David Ascher. Along with Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker, he will lead a new development team that is “dedicated to developing, innovating, and improving Internet mail and communication software,” using Thunderbird as a starting point. Ascher acknowledges that such a project is a massive undertaking but says he is dedicated to “making email better.”

On her Mozillazine blog, Baker writes that the initial seed money will be primarily spent on building a small team for the project but additional funding is expected. The company already has a preliminary plan, however, and Baker says they center around four goals:

• Take care of Thunderbird users.
• Move Thunderbird forward to provide better, deeper email solutions.
• Create a better user experience for a range of Internet communications — how does or how should email work with IM, RSS, VoIP, SMS, site-specific email, etc.
• Spark the types of community involvement and innovation that the project has seen around Web browsing and Firefox.

[ Source: Linux.com ]

Easily Install Bleeding Edge Apps with the Source-O-Matic

Install bleeding edge applications easily with Source-O-Matic, a web application that dynamically creates the file that manages what repositories you can install packages from sources.list. Besides the typical Ubuntu repositories, you can add additional repositories that make it a snap to install the newest versions of KDE, Koffice, amaroK and Wine.

[ Source: Ubuntu sources.list generator ]

Wubi – The easiest way to Linux (Ubuntu)

Wubi is an unofficial Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other application. If you heard about Linux and Ubuntu, if you wanted to try them but you were afraid, this is for you.

Wubi is Safe
It does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader.

Wubi is Simple
Just run the installer, no need to burn a CD.

Wubi is Discrete
Wubi keeps most of the files in one folder, and If you do not like, you can simply uninstall it.

Wubi is Free
Wubi (like Ubuntu) is free as in beer and as in freedom. You will get this part later on, the important thing now is that it cost absolutely nothing, it is our gift to you…

Links: Wubi, Ubuntu, How to install Wubi

Fix a Frozen System with the Magic SysRq Keys

You finally got your Linux environment to crash. Ctrl+Alt+Backspace does nothing, nor do the F-keys. You know you shouldn’t have installed that bad driver, but you did it anyway.

So you reach for the power button.

Stop.

Mashing in the power button to reboot could cause a problem if your hard drive is still being written to, and usually causes more problems than it solves. The Linux kernel includes a secret method of restarting your PC should it ever stop doing its job.

1. Hold down the Alt and SysRq (Print Screen) keys.
2. While holding those down, type the following in order. Nothing will appear to happen until the last letter is pressed: REISUB
3. Watch your computer reboot magically.

What the individual keys do in that sequence are not as important as what it does as a whole: stops all programs, unmounts all drives, and reboots. A lot safer than just cutting the power.

Here it is again: REISUB. Remember that, as it will save you a lot of time when you are configuring a system and something gets messed up. Need a mnemonic? Try Raising Elephants Is So Utterly Boring.

As an aside, don’t try this if you just want to reboot. A normal reboot, if it can be done, should always be used instead of the REISUB keys.

R-E-I-S-U-B

Microsoft Unveils New Linux Hate Site

Microsoft has finally killed off it’s old anti-Linux “Get the facts” website that had been spreading lies about Linux for years. However, don’t think that anything has changed, the site is being replaced with another, more insidious site called “Windows Server Compare.”

Windows Server Compare [ Source: ZDNet Blogs ]

Linux: Mac, it’s ok, we are friends.

Linux runs in both PC and Mac. Advertisement video by Novell.

OpenOffice.org 2.2 released

The OpenOffice.org Community announce the release of OpenOffice.org 2.2, the latest version of the leading open-source office suite. With upgrades to its word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, and database software, the free software package provides a real alternative to Microsoft’s recently-released Office 2007 product – and an easier upgrade path for existing Microsoft Office users. OpenOffice.org 2.2 also protects users from newly discovered vulnerabilities, where users’ PCs could be open to attack if they opened documents from, or accessed web sites set up by, malicious individuals.

[ Source ]

Windows Applications in Ubuntu with a Seamless Desktop

A step by step tutorial on how to set up Windows applications to work seamlessly with the new Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn.

[ Source ]