The Obama Effect of the IPad Gives Room for Google

As you already know, the ipad is real. And in terms of mind blowing features or industry revolutionary innovations, the ipad FAILS. Now why the failure or let’s just only say the “Obama Effect” ?

After looking at the videos, the ipad is a better itouch, thanks to its larger screen. About the software, the applications are more like their full desktop versions. It’s something between an itouch and a full fledge Mac. It will most probably fit beside the couch at home, because it can’t replace the itouch – it can’t really fit in your pocket- or a notebook – where are my keyboard and full desktop apps?-

Believe it or not, it’s a bigger itouch. In that sense, you could clearly see that there is no new mind blowing/revolutionary feature on the ipad. The iphone/itouch already got all the credit for revolutionizing the industry: new user experience, multi-touch, appstore… The new ibooks neither is new, it’s just an appstore/amazon style kind of thing.

Apple knew that there is nothing new about it, so in order to push sales, they have to cut the prices. People predicted the price to be at least $1000. The price of the ipad is almost the same as a normal smartphone out there even though it’s boosting a larger screen and possibly a better experience.

In today’s terms, what would be awesome on a device like that ? Photos. You want to sit on your couch, browse your last birthday party and show it to your family and friends. Now, out of the box, you can’t read your camera memory card on the ipad!!!, you have to fork out more money to buy some more cables!!!  and then through the cables you can now read your card. I mean who want to carry all those cables around.

Now back to the title, the ipad fails on new innovation and that’s what Google doesn’t like when it’s about pushing the web forward. And when they see that, they will get in your playground, launch a disruptive product to punish you, squeeze more innovation out of you. You will either innovate or let them take your playground. And that’s where it gets exciting for the end user.

So since Apple fails the end user for not brining new innovation this time around, expect Google to come up with its own “ipad” to get more innovation out of Apple. And before you ask, it will have some nifty features that will blew you away

Real Chrome OS Screenshot

With Google Holding Chrome OS Event Today to reveal the complete overview and launch plans, for those who can’t wait,

here is a REAL screenshot for your curious eyes, enjoy while zillions of people are waiting for the announcement

Google Chrome now has “Private Browsing” aka “Incognito Browsing”

In the latest development version of Google Chrome (4.0.237.0) and Chromium (4.0.241.0), a similar feature as Firefox Private Browsing has been enabled  : Incognito Browsing. Just go ahead and open your chromium or google chrome and hit Ctrl+Shift+N, you will be presented with this :

 

Chromium Incognito Browsing

 

 

So the next time you’re not on your computer and need to browse privately, just hit Ctrl+Shift+N .

Gravity = SAP + Google Wave, Enterprise 2.0 Business Process Modeling Tool

Last week at SAP TechEd 2009 Vienna, Lars Rasmussen (Google) was there to present Google Wave and Alexander Dreiling (SAP), the latest prototype from SAP embracing Entreprise 2.0, Gravity. They showed off a Demo that leverages the collaborating wonders of Google Wave and applies it to the current SAP Business Process Management. There was a roundtable held on a talk titled “Enterprise 2.0 – A Look into the Crystal Ball”. Below is a brief video of part of the talk. From the video, you can see how SAP is very serious about Enterprise 2.0

In the previous video, Gravity was briefly demoed , the next video shows in details from start to end how current old style SAP Business Processes can be upgraded to an Enterprise 2.0 style using a Google Wave Gravity extension. Enjoy

Eric Schmidt talks trends and enterprises at Gartner Symposium 2009

Gartner is the largest and most respected analyst firm in the world and each year they organize a symposium for  thousands of CIOs and IT Directors. Last week was Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Orlando 2009 . Google CEO Eric Schmidt was invited at the symposium to talk in a 45 mn interview to the CIOs about what google is doing for enterprises. The whole video long of 45mn is embedded at the bottom, but here is some interesting things Eric Schmidt has to say during the interview :

• 5 years from now, the Internet will be non-english, it will be CHINESE.
• 5 years from now, there will be no distinction between radios, tvs and videos.
• 5 years from now, content will move to videos, no more text.

• The barrier is becoming less and less between enterprises and consumers in applications terms.
• Seamless experience inside and outside the enterprise firewall.

• Will you be an early adopter or wait until this ecosystem is built out on something that can reduce by a factor of 5 your expenses.

• How to rank real time information for a particular keyword is quite technically challenging.
• The netbook model is a pure cloud model.

• Google always asks “how do I solve this problem and solve it for good” while everybody is trying to copy them.
• Google is trying to solve the broadest problem with the broadest flexibility.
• We’re not trying to design the future but we’re building it along the way.

• You earn trust and brand customer by customer.
• If the customer is not winning then there is something wrong with Capitalism.

• It’s Google’s interest to build the bridge between the old and the new.
• Google focuses on migration when pitching their new products to potential clients.

You could see that while people are talking about the fundamental shift towards user-generated information instead of  traditional sources, Google is already working on how to rank that in searches. Before we were talking about ranking old information, now we’re talking about ranking real time information, guess what will be the next:  Ranking Tomorrow’s Real Time Information Today.

The other thing is the Internet will be non-english, meaning if you’re designing that search engine, make sure when  I enter a keyword in the search text box, don’t search for that particular string, “internationalize it” and give me the response based on that.

Anyway, enjoy the full video for more

Soon To Be Released Youtube Flashy UI Design (View it Now)

Here is a typical youtube video link :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

and here its screenshot :

Now replace “watch” in the url by “warp.swf” . so our current link will become :

http://www.youtube.com/warp.swf?v=42E2fAWM6rA

and here is what you get , the next Youtube UI update :

The video being accessed and it’s related videos are shown in small circles. When you hover on one of the circles, it displays a play button and other circles of related videos of the selected appears magically.

When you clicked on one of the circles, a player is displayed at the center of the screen like this :

To Do List After installing Ubuntu 9.10 aka Karmic Koala

Yep it’s this time again, another awesome Ubuntu release from Canonical. But hands down, it’s the best Ubuntu release yet. The gifts as you probably have known as of now  includes  impressive installer, fast boot times, new artwork (new bootscreen, themes, wallpapers and icons) , more cloud integration, home directory encryption and…countless many more. As you would expect from any upgrade, the packages are a bit different, so this to do list will be a bit different from the previous ones :

1 – Expand the Software Repository List

First of all, lets make Ubuntu “see” more packages. Go to the terminal and edit your sources.list with :

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Here is the content of my sources.list which I think is quite complete to have all the necessary applications you could ever need. So delete the whole content of your sources list and replace it with the content of mine

Save it. Now import the necessary repositories keys to avoid “apt-get” crying about some missing keys, go to the terminal and type:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 2EBC26B60C5A2783 0DA7581859566E92 D739676F7613768D 43BB102C405A15CB 6AF0E1940624A220 2ED6BB6042C24D89 632D16BB0C713DA6 A6DCF7707EBC211F F9A2F76A9D1A0061 5A9BF3BB4E5E17B5 A040830F7FAC5991 FA3A1271 7FB8BEE0A1F196A8 0CC1223EE2314809 7889D725DA6DEEAA 28A8205077558DD0 2D79F61BE8D31A30 6E871C4A881574DE 66D5C734F6EFB904 DCF9F87B6DFBCBAE 2A8E3034D018A4CE F0876AC9 978228591BD3A65C 6298AD34413576CB FC6D7D9D009ED615 4FEC45DD06899068 2A423FD95416E75D

Get your system up to date with :

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Now all your programs will run on the last version.

2 – Anti-Virus

Windows equivalent : AVG AntiVirus, NAV, TrendMicro, F-Prot, Kaspersky, …

Ubuntu equivalent : ClamAV, Avast

ClamAV

sudo apt-get install clamav clamtk

Access it through System Tools  → Virus Scanner .

Avast

wget http://files.avast.com/files/linux/avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb && sudo dpkg -i avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb

Access it through Accessories → avast! Antivirus .

3 – Essential tools for compiling from sources

sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall cdbs devscripts dh-make fakeroot libxml-parser-perl check avahi-daemon

4 – Java runtime environment

Java is a very important thing to install, now that many programs like Azureus need it to run. So type:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin equivs

5 – Ubuntu Control Panel

Ubuntu Tweak

Ubuntu Tweak allows you to tweak your system settings, all in one place. You can install new applications, customize your desktop settings, configure your startup applications, changing the system filetype association and many more tweaks in this single application.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Then access it through Applications → System Tools → Ubuntu Tweak

App Runner

App Runner is a small open source utility that makes it very easy to run any type of program/executable/script on any distro/OS that uses the nautilus file manager: Debian/Ubuntu/Super OS/Fedora/etc

wget http://hacktolive.org/files/app_runner/App_Runner_0.2.deb && sudo dpkg -i App_Runner_0.2.deb

Then right-click the file -> Scripts -> Run This App or Run This App (root)

6 – Multimedia

Windows equivalent : windows media player, real player, vlc, mplayer

Ubuntu equivalent : vlc, mplayer, helix player

To have Ubuntu playing all kinds of stuff, you need to install many codecs. So on the Terminal, type:

* Installing vlc and mplayer (plays almost everything):

sudo apt-get install vlc mplayer

* Common packs

sudo apt-get install non-free-codecs libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 ffmpeg libmp4v2-0 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert mozilla-helix-player helix-player libmad0 libjpeg-progs libmpcdec3 libquicktime1 flac faac faad sox ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview flac libmpeg3-1 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-dev

* Gstreammer 0.10

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer0.10-gnonlin gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-sdl gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-schroedinger gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse totem-gstreamer

* More programs

sudo apt-get install gstreamer-dbus-media-service gstreamer-tools ubuntu-restricted-extras

* Enable dvd support

sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh

* Flash

sudo apt-get install gsfonts gsfonts-x11 flashplugin-nonfree

7. Tweak your eyecandy

Ubuntu 9.04 comes with compiz fusion effects OOTB but doesn’t offer a way to customize them.

In a terminal copy/paste this:

sudo apt-get install simple-ccsm

Now navigate to System → Preferences → Simple CompizConfig Settings Manager .

8 – Missing Windows software?? Run Windows softwares in Linux!!!

Run Windows Applications such as 7zip, Google Sketchup, AutoCAD, Dreamwaver, Flash MX, Fireworks MX, IE6, IE7, Safari, Itunes, Windows Media Player and many more…

Play Windows Games in Linux like Age Of Empires, Call Of Duty, Diablo, Fear, Fallout, Far Cry, Grand Theft Auto, Half Life, Halo, Hitman, Max Payne, Need For Speed, Prince Of Persia, Sim City Star Wars, The Simsworld of warcraft , Tomb Raider, Warcraft, World Of Warcraft, Counterstrike and many other can be played.

Install Playonlinux. It’s based on wine. Wine is a compatibility layer for running Windows programs in Linux.

sudo apt-get install wine playonlinux

9 – Clipboard Management

By Default in ubuntu when u copy something from an application and closes the application u will not be able to access it from the clipboard. And also when u copy severals text in serial u only have the last on available to you in the clipboard. To solve that install either of the following but Glipper is better because it supports plugins.

Glipper

sudo apt-get install glipper

Then right click ur panel → Add to Panel then drag Clipboard Manager to ur panel

Parcellite

sudo apt-get install parcellite

10 – Archiver/ Packing software

Windows equivalent : winrar, zip, 7zip

Ubuntu equivalent : tar, unrar, p7zip, arj, unace

It’s bad when you don’t have Internet on your computer/notebook, but you have to pack/unpack something but the file format isn’t recognized by the system. To prevent from this bad situation, you can install a bunch of packing software by typing this on the terminal:

sudo apt-get install unace rar unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils aish uudeview mpack lha arj cabextract file-roller

11 – Graphical web browser

Windows equivalent : Internet explorer, firefox, opera

Ubuntu equivalent : Firefox, opera, chromium

Opera

sudo apt-get install opera

Firefox (installed by default intrepid)

sudo apt-get install firefox

Chromium (open source equivalent of Google Chrome)

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

12 – Download Manager

Windows equivalent : Free download manager

Ubuntu equivalent : Multiget

MultiGet is a http/ftp downloader with a nice GUI for linux desktop users. It can run on almost all desktops without any configuration. It has many powerful functions comparing to others.

sudo apt-get install multiget

Access it through Applications → Internet → MultiGet .

13 – Graphical Email client

Windows equivalent : Outlook

Ubuntu equivalent : Evolution, Thunderbird

Evolution (installed by default in intrepid)

sudo apt-get install evolution

Access it through Applications → Internet → Evolution Mail .

Thunderbird

sudo apt-get install thunderbird

Access it through Applications → Internet → Mozilla Thunderbird Mail/News .

14 – Instant Messanging protocal clients

Windows equivalent : MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger, QQ, AIM, Gtalk, ICQ,IRC

Ubuntu equivalent : Empathy, Pidgin, emesene

Empathy IM Client (installed by default)

sudo apt-get install empathy telepathy-mission-control-5 telepathy-gabble telepathy-butterfly telepathy-haze telepathy-idle telepathy-salut telepathy-sofiasip python-msn empathy-megaphone-applet libtelepathy-farsight0 python-tpfarsight galago-eds-feed python-galago python-galago-gtk msn-pecan

Access it through Applications → Internet → Empathy IM Client .

Pidgin

Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once. Supported chat networks: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo!, Zephyr

sudo apt-get install pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-lastfm pidgin-guifications msn-pecan pidgin-musictracker pidgin-plugin-pack pidgin-themes

Access it through Applications → Internet → Pidgin Internet Messenger .

Emesene only for MSN Messenger.

sudo apt-get install emesene

Access it through Applications → Internet → Emesene .

15 – VOIP

Windows equivalent : skype

Ubuntu equivalent : skype

Skype

sudo apt-get install skype

Access it through Applications → Internet → Skype.

16 – Viewing PDF files

Windows equivalent : Adobe Reader

Ubuntu equivalent : Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader

sudo apt-get install acroread acroread-fonts

Access it through Applications → Office → Adobe Reader.

17– Adobe Air

wget http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/lin/download/latest/AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
chmod +x ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Access it through Applications → Accessories → Adobe Air Application Installer.

18 – Music / MP3 / OGG Players

Windows equivalent : iTunes, Winamp

Ubuntu equivalent : Rhythmbox, Banshee, Amarok

Rhythmbox

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Rhythmbox Music Player.

Banshee

sudo apt-get install banshee banshee-extension-lyrics banshee-extension-mirage

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Banshee Media Player.

Amarok

sudo apt-get install amarok amarok-engine-xine amarok-engine-yauap amarok-engines amarok-common

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Amarok.

19– Hard Disk Partitions Manager

Windows equivalent : Symanted Partition Magic

Ubuntu equivalent : GParted

GParted

sudo apt-get install gparted ntfsprogs menu ntfs-config

Access it through System → Administration → Partition Editor.

20 – Vector Graphics Editor

Windows equivalent : Adobe Illustrator

Ubuntu equivalent : Inkscape

Inkscape

sudo apt-get install inkscape

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Inkscape Vector Graphics Editor.

21 – Image Editor

Windows equivalent : Adobe Photoshop

Ubuntu equivalent : GIMP

GIMP

sudo apt-get install gimp gimp-data gimp-plugin-registry

Access it through Applications → Graphics → GIMP Image Editor.

22 – 3D Graphics Applications

Windows equivalent : 3D Studio MAX

Ubuntu equivalent : Blender

Blender

sudo apt-get install blender

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Blender (windowed).

23 – Simple Yet Advanced Text Editor

Windows equivalent : Notepad ++

Ubuntu equivalent : GEdit

GEdit

sudo apt-get install gedit gedit-plugins

Access it through Applications → Accessories → Text Editor.

24 – Office Applications

Windows equivalent : Microsoft Office

Ubuntu equivalent : OpenOffice

OpenOffice

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org

Access it through Applications → Office

25 – Microsoft Visio

Windows equivalent : Microsoft Visio

Ubuntu equivalent : Dia

Dia

sudo apt-get install dia

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Dia Diagram Editor

26 – Microsoft Project

Windows equivalent : Microsoft Project

Ubuntu equivalent : OpenProj

OpenProj

wget http://nchc.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/openproj/openproj_1.4-2.deb && sudo dpkg -i openproj_1.4-2.deb

Access it through Applications → Office → OpenProj

27 – Development IDE

Windows equivalent : Dreamweaver

Ubuntu equivalent : Quanta, Kompozer, NetBeans

Quanta

sudo apt-get install quanta

Access it through Applications → Programming → Quanta Plus

Komposer

sudo apt-get install kompozer nvu

Access it through Applications → Internet → Kompozer

NetBeans

sudo apt-get install netbeans

Access it through Applications → Programming → NetBeans IDE

28 – Source Control Management

Windows equivalent : TortoiseSVN

Ubuntu equivalent : RabbitVCS

RabbitVCS

wget http://rabbitvcs.googlecode.com/files/rabbitvcs_0.12-1~karmic_all.deb && sudo dpkg -i rabbitvcs_0.12-1~karmic_all.deb

Right Click on any folder or file and access the RabbitVCS submenu

29 – Graphical FTP clients

Windows equivalent : CuteFTP, SmartFTP

Ubuntu equivalent : FileZilla

FileZilla

This is great FTP program, very complete, in my opinion, the best one for linux.

On the terminal type:

sudo apt-get install filezilla filezilla-common

Access it through Applications → Internet → FileZilla FTP Client.

30 – P2P Clients / Servers, File Sharing

Windows equivalent : utorrent, azureus, emule

Ubuntu equivalent : Deluge, azureus, amule

Bittorent clients

Deluge (written in python)

sudo apt-get install deluge-torrent

Access it through Applications → Internet → Deluge Torrent.

Azureus: Uses Java to run, very complete but a bit heavy

sudo apt-get install azureus

Access it through Applications → Internet → Azureus.

Emule Donkey Clients

Amule

sudo apt-get install amule

Access it through Applications → Internet → aMule.

31 – Programs for CD burning with GUI

Windows equivalent : Nero, Roxio Easy CD Creator

Ubuntu equivalent : K3b, Brasero

K3b

Nero is available for linux,but its not free.A trial is available for 1 month usage and later it asks or activation code.But K3B is as good as Nero.Have a good feature set as Nero.

sudo apt-get install k3b k3b-data k3b-i18n libk3b3

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → K3B.

Brasero (installed by default in Intrepid)

sudo apt-get install brasero

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Brasero Disc Burning .

32 – Mountings ISO files

Windows equivalent : Alcohol

Ubuntu equivalent : acetoneiso

Acetoneiso

The best one for linux ACETONEISO, which is similar to ALCOHOL in windows

its supports almost all formats. AcetoneISO is CD/DVD image manipulator for Linux.Using this tool it is very easy to Mount and Unmount ISO,MDF,NRG Images . I dont think its available in ubuntu repository.

sudo apt-get install libksba8 libenca0 libtwolame0 fuseiso kommander p7zip-full gnupg-agent gnupg2 pinentry-qt mencoder cdrdao && wget http://darkstar.ist.utl.pt/getdeb/ubuntu/jaunty/ac/acetoneiso_2.1.1-1~getdeb1_i386.deb && sudo dpkg -i acetoneiso_2.1.1-1~getdeb1_i386.deb

33 – Install Vista like gadgets.

Windows equivalent : Vista Sidebar

Ubuntu equivalent : google-gadgets

Google gadgets

wget http://neacm.fe.up.pt/pub/getdeb/ubuntu/jaunty/go/google-gadgets_0.11.1-1~getdeb1_i386.deb && sudo dpkg -i google-gadgets_0.11.1-1~getdeb1_i386.deb

This will complete the installation.

Now press Alt+F2, and type “ggl-gtk” to start them. You should see a small icon show up in your system tray, and a sidebar. Right click on any of them and select ‘Add Gadgets’ to show a menu. If you’d like to have Google Gadgets start automatically, go to System – Preferences – Session, click ‘Add’, paste ‘Google Gadgets’ for the name and ‘ggl-gtk’ for the command. Click OK and Close, and you’re good to go.

34 – Google Desktop

Google Desktop allows one to full text search of a user’s e-mail, computer files, music, photos, chat, and Web pages viewed,OpenOffice documents , PDF files and more .

Now similar tools already existed on Linux like beagle (supported by novell ) , meta tracker etc . However Google Desktop search is not based on any of these tools and uses its proprietary algorithms to search for files on the computer ,also being 1.0 release and more stable then these products it could be preferred over tools like beagle .

To install Google Desktop Search type the following command in the terminal window : -

sudo apt-get install google-desktop-linux

Access it through Applications → Google Desktop → Google Desktop

Now after choosing appropriate option through Applications → Google Desktop → Google Desktop Preferences, you would find Google Desktop icon in the bar at the top of the screen , now it would automatically scan and index files on computer and store it in local database which could be searched using web browser .

35 – Photo Management

Google Picasa

Google Picasa is an extremely professional good looking photo management application available on Windows ,Linux and Mac OS (??) . Now Google Picasa has a number of features that many photo management software on Linux dont have further Google Picasa looks very user friendly as compared to similar open source application available on linux . Now Google Picasa for Linux is not a native linux application but runs on Linux thru application layer called wine which allows many windows application to run flawlessly on Linux.

Now to install Google – Picasa type the following command in the terminal window

sudo apt-get install picasa

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Picasa → Picasa

36 – Map Viewing and Management

Google Earth

To install Google Earth type the following command in the Terminal Window.

sudo aptitude install googleearth

After downloading is over you will get a screen like this press ¨Yes¨ to accept the license agreement and complete software installation.

Now you can launch Google Earth from Application → Internet → Google Earth

37 – Gmail Notification

Checkgmail

If you would like to get notified when you have a new mail in your google mail account, checkgmail is for you. To install Checkgmail type the following command in the Terminal Window.

sudo apt-get install checkgmail

Now you can launch it from Application → Internet → CheckGmail

38 – Configure Firewall
If you are concern about your security, then it is pertinent that you activate the firewall and prevent any unauthorized access to your computer.

UFW is installed by default, but if you need a graphical interface, install GUFW.

sudo apt-get install gufw

39– Gnome Do

Gnome Do is a small application that allows you to search and do things faster and more efficiently in your Ubuntu machine. It is similar to QuickSilver in Mac and Launchy in Windows. For those who have not tried Gnome Do before, it might take some time for you to get used to it. But once you’re hooked to it, there will be no turning back for you.Gnome Do also comes with a dock interface that you can use it like any other docks.

sudo apt-get install gnome-do

Now you can launch it from Application → Accessories → Gnome Do

Richard Stallman talks Copyleft in Beijing

Yesterday I attended a talk where Richard Stallman was talking about Free Software Movement, The Copyleft and the problems of the current Patent System. Even Though lately i don’t agree with some of his thoughts, I totally agreed with him about his talks on the current Patent System which hopefully in the short term we could find a real solution. Watching him talking, you could easily see how he disagrees with “Open Source” compared to “Free Software”. Anyway here are some pictures for you :

Balanzan Theme, Nice Ubuntu Theme

Ubuntu comes originally with the Human-theme, but since Ubuntu is using the Gnome desktop environment it is possible to change the theme to any other Gnome theme to enhance your Ubuntu experience. I have found a really nice theme for my Ubuntu desktop. It retains the brownish coloring of Ubuntu and it looks really nice and light.

Now How to install it ?

add the following lines at the end of your sources.list if it’s not already in it :

##Themes du ZgegBlog: Project Bisigi

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Then open a terminal and do:

sudo apt-get update  && sudo apt-get install balanzan-theme

To Do List After installing Ubuntu 9.04 aka Jaunty Jackalope

This post is a follow up of this. In Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope , as you would expect from any upgrade, the packages are a bit different, so i decided to write the Jaunty’s To Do List on its own. So here you go :

1 – Expand the Software Repository List

First of all, lets make Ubuntu “see” more packages. Go to the terminal and edit your sources.list with :

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Here is the content of my sources.list which I think is quite complete to have all the necessary applications you could ever need. So delete the whole content of your sources list and replace it with the content of mine

Save it. Go to the Terminal and type:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Now all your programs will run on the last version.

2 – Anti-Virus

Windows equivalent : AVG AntiVirus, NAV, TrendMicro, F-Prot, Kaspersky, …

Ubuntu equivalent : Avast

Avast

wget http://files.avast.com/files/linux/avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb && sudo dpkg -i avast4workstation_1.3.0-2_i386.deb

Access it through Accessories → avast! Antivirus .

3 – Essential tools for compiling from sources

sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall cdbs devscripts dh-make fakeroot libxml-parser-perl check avahi-daemon

4 – Java runtime environment

Java is a very important thing to install, now that many programs like Azureus need it to run. So type:

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin equivs ttf-sazanami-gothic ttf-sazanami-mincho

5 – More Fonts

Here you will find a bunch of fonts you can install on your system, but remember that you don’t need to install all of them

sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1 && sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts && sudo apt-get install ttf-larabie-straight ttf-larabie-deco mplayer-fonts xfonts-terminus-dos xfonts-terminus xfonts-terminus-oblique xfonts-mona tv-fonts ttf-tuffy ttf-sjfonts ttf-sil-padauk ttf-sil-ezra ttf-paktype ttf-georgewilliams ttf-fifthhorseman-dkg-handwriting ttf-farsiweb ttf-essays1743 ttf-opensymbol ttf-nafees ttf-mgopen ttf-gentium ttf-freefont ttf-dustin ttf-devanagari-fonts ttf-dejavu-extra ttf-dejavu-core ttf-dejavu ttf-bpg-georgian-fonts ttf-bitstream-vera ttf-alee

6 – Ubuntu Control Panel

Ubuntu Tweak

Ubuntu Tweak allows you to tweak your system settings, all in one place. You can install new applications, customize your desktop settings, configure your startup applications, changing the system filetype association and many more tweaks in this single application.

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Then access it through Applications → System Tools → Ubuntu Tweak

7 – Nice Right Click Sub-Menus

For some useful right click menus in nautilus

sudo apt-get install nautilus-actions nautilus-gksu nautilus-image-converter nautilus-open-terminal nautilus-script-audio-convert nautilus-script-collection-svn nautilus-script-manager nautilus-sendto nautilus-share nautilus-wallpaper

App Runner

App Runner is a small open source utility that makes it very easy to run any type of program/executable/script on any distro/OS that uses the nautilus file manager: Debian/Ubuntu/Super OS/Fedora/etc

wget http://hacktolive.org/files/app_runner/App_Runner_0.2.deb && sudo dpkg -i App_Runner_0.2.deb

Then right-click the file -> Scripts -> Run This App or Run This App (root)

8 – Multimedia

Windows equivalent : windows media player, real player, vlc, mplayer

Ubuntu equivalent : vlc, mplayer, helix player

To have Ubuntu playing all kinds of stuff, you need to install many codecs. So on the Terminal, type:

* Installing vlc and mplayer (plays almost everything):

sudo apt-get install vlc mplayer

* Common packs

sudo apt-get install non-free-codecs libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 ffmpeg toolame libmp4v2-0 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert mozilla-helix-player helix-player libmad0 libjpeg-progs libmpcdec3 libquicktime1 flac faac faad sox toolame ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview flac libmpeg3-1 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-dev

* Gstreammer 0.10

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mpegdemux gstreamer0.10-gnonlin gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-sdl gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-schroedinger gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse totem-gstreamer

* More programs

sudo apt-get install gstreamer-dbus-media-service gstreamer-tools ubuntu-restricted-extras

* Enable dvd support

sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh

* Flash

sudo apt-get install gsfonts gsfonts-x11 flashplugin-nonfree

9. Tweak your eyecandy

Ubuntu 9.04 comes with compiz fusion effects OOTB but doesn’t offer a way to customize them.

In a terminal copy/paste this:

sudo apt-get install simple-ccsm

Now navigate to System → Preferences → Simple CompizConfig Settings Manager .

10 – Missing Windows software?? Run Windows softwares in Linux!!!

Wine

Wine is a compatibility layer for running Windows programs in Linux.

sudo apt-get install wine

Then just double click .exe file.

Note: Not all windows software can run.A list is available in the website.

11 – Play Windows Games in Linux

Install PlayonLinux.Games like world of warcraft ,counterstrike and many other can be played.Playonlinux is based on wine.

Click here for list of games available

sudo apt-get install playonlinux

12 – Clipboard Management

By Default in ubuntu when u copy something from an application and closes the application u will not be able to access it from the clipboard. And also when u copy severals text in serial u only have the last on available to you in the clipboard. To solve that install either of the following but Glipper is better because it supports plugins.

Glipper

sudo apt-get install glipper

Then right click ur panel → Add to Panel then drag Clipboard Manager to ur panel

Parcellite

sudo apt-get install parcellite

13 – Archiver/ Packing software

Windows equivalent : winrar, zip, 7zip

Ubuntu equivalent : tar, unrar, p7zip, arj, unace

It’s bad when you don’t have Internet on your computer/notebook, but you have to pack/unpack something but the file format isn’t recognized by the system. To codevent from this bad situation, you can install a bunch of packing software by typing this on the terminal:

sudo apt-get install unace rar unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils aish uudeview mpack lha arj cabextract file-roller

14 – Graphical web browser

Windows equivalent : Internet explorer, firefox, opera

Ubuntu equivalent : Firefox, opera

Opera

sudo apt-get install opera

Firefox (installed by default intrepid)

sudo apt-get install firefox

15 – Download Manager

Windows equivalent : Free download manager

Ubuntu equivalent : Multiget

MultiGet is a http/ftp downloader with a nice GUI for linux desktop users. It can run on almost all desktops without any configuration. It has many powerful functions comparing to others.

sudo apt-get install multiget

Access it through Applications → Internet → MultiGet .

16 – Graphical Email client

Windows equivalent : Outlook

Ubuntu equivalent : Evolution, Thunderbird

Evolution (installed by default in intrepid)

sudo apt-get install evolution

Access it through Applications → Internet → Evolution Mail .

Thunderbird

sudo apt-get install thunderbird

Access it through Applications → Internet → Mozilla Thunderbird Mail/News .

17 – Instant Messanging protocal clients

Windows equivalent : MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger, QQ, AIM, Gtalk, ICQ,IRC

Ubuntu equivalent : Pidgin, emesene

Pidgin (installed by default in intrepid)

Pidgin is an easy to use and free chat client used by millions. Connect to AIM, MSN, Yahoo, and more chat networks all at once. Supported chat networks: AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo!, Zephyr

sudo apt-get install pidgin pidgin-data pidgin-lastfm pidgin-guifications msn-pecan pidgin-musictracker pidgin-plugin-pack pidgin-themes

Access it through Applications → Internet → Pidgin Internet Messenger .

Emesene only for MSN Messenger.

sudo apt-get install emesene

Access it through Applications → Internet → Emesene .

18 – VOIP

Windows equivalent : skype

Ubuntu equivalent : skype, ekiga

Skype

sudo apt-get install skype

Access it through Applications → Internet → Skype.

Ekiga (installed by default in intrepid)

sudo apt-get install ekiga

Access it through Applications → Internet → Ekiga SoftPhone.

19 – Viewing PDF files

Windows equivalent : Adobe Reader

Ubuntu equivalent : Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader

sudo apt-get install acroread acroread-fonts

Access it through Applications → Office → Adobe Reader.

20– Adobe Air

wget http://airdownload.adobe.com/air/lin/download/latest/AdobeAIRInstaller.bin


chmod +x . /AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Access it through Applications → Accessories → Adobe Air Application Installer.

21 – Music / MP3 / OGG Players

Windows equivalent : iTunes, Winamp

Ubuntu equivalent : Rhythmbox, Amarok

Rhythmbox

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Rhythmbox Music Player.

Amarok

sudo apt-get install amarok amarok-common

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Amarok.

22 – Hard Disk Partitions Manager

Windows equivalent : Symanted Partition Magic

Ubuntu equivalent : GParted, Disk-Manager

GParted

sudo apt-get install gparted ntfsprogs

Access it through System → Administration → Partition Editor.

23 – Vector Graphics Editor

Windows equivalent : Adobe Illustrator

Ubuntu equivalent : Inkscape

Inkscape

sudo apt-get install inkscape

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Inkscape Vector Graphics Editor.

24 – Image Editor

Windows equivalent : Adobe Photoshop

Ubuntu equivalent : GIMP

GIMP

sudo apt-get install gimp gimp-data gimp-plugin-registry

Access it through Applications → Graphics → GIMP Image Editor.

25 – 3D Graphics Applications

Windows equivalent : 3D Studio MAX

Ubuntu equivalent : Blender

Blender

sudo apt-get install blender

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Blender (windowed).

26 – Simple Yet Advanced Text Editor

Windows equivalent : Notepad ++

Ubuntu equivalent : GEdit

GEdit

sudo apt-get install gedit gedit-plugins

Access it through Applications → Accessories → Text Editor.

27 – Office Applications

Windows equivalent : Microsoft Office

Ubuntu equivalent : OpenOffice

OpenOffice

sudo apt-get install openoffice.org

Access it through Applications → Office

28 – Microsoft Visio

Windows equivalent : Microsoft Visio

Ubuntu equivalent : Dia

Dia

sudo apt-get install dia

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Dia Diagram Editor

29 – Microsoft Project

Windows equivalent : Microsoft Project

Ubuntu equivalent : OpenProj

OpenProj

wget http://nchc.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/openproj/openproj_1.4-2.deb && sudo dpkg -i openproj_1.4-2.deb

Access it through Applications → Office → OpenProj

30 – Development IDE

Windows equivalent : Dreamweaver

Ubuntu equivalent : Quanta, Kompozer, NetBeans

Quanta

sudo apt-get install quanta

Access it through Applications → Programming → Quanta Plus

Komposer

sudo apt-get install kompozer nvu

Access it through Applications → Internet → Kompozer

NetBeans

sudo apt-get install netbeans

Access it through Applications → Programming → NetBeans IDE

31 – Graphical FTP clients

Windows equivalent : CuteFTP, SmartFTP

Ubuntu equivalent : FileZilla

FileZilla

This is great FTP program, very complete, in my opinion, the best one for linux.

On the terminal type:

sudo apt-get install filezilla filezilla-common

Access it through Applications → Internet → FileZilla FTP Client.

32 – P2P Clients / Servers, File Sharing

Windows equivalent : utorrent, azureus, emule

Ubuntu equivalent : Deluge, azureus, amule

Bittorent clients

Deluge (written in python)

sudo apt-get install deluge-torrent

Access it through Applications → Internet → Deluge Torrent.

Azureus: Uses Java to run, very complete but a bit heavy

sudo apt-get install azureus

Access it through Applications → Internet → Azureus.

Emule Donkey Clients

Amule

sudo apt-get install amule

Access it through Applications → Internet → aMule.

33 – Programs for CD burning with GUI

Windows equivalent : Nero, Roxio Easy CD Creator

Ubuntu equivalent : K3b, Brasero

K3b

Nero is available for linux,but its not free.A trial is available for 1 month usage and later it asks or activation code.But K3B is as good as Nero.Have a good feature set as Nero.

sudo apt-get install k3b k3b-data k3b-i18n libk3b3

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → K3B.

Brasero (installed by default in Intrepid)

sudo apt-get install brasero

Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Brasero Disc Burning .

34 – Mountings ISO files

Windows equivalent : Alcohol

Ubuntu equivalent : acetoneiso

Acetoneiso

The best one for linux ACETONEISO,which is similar to ALCOHOL in windows

its supports almost all formats. AcetoneISO is CD/DVD image manipulator for Linux.Using this tool it is very easy to Mount and Unmount ISO,MDF,NRG Images . I dont think its available in ubuntu repository.

sudo apt-get install libksba8 libenca0 libtwolame0 fuseiso kommander p7zip-full gnupg-agent gnupg2 pinentry-qt mencoder cdrdao libqt4-webkit libphonon4 phonon phonon-backend-gstreamer


wget http://darkstar.ist.utl.pt/getdeb/ubuntu/jaunty/ac/acetoneiso_2.0.3.1-1~getdeb1_i386.deb && sudo dpkg -i acetoneiso_2.0.3.1-1~getdeb1_i386.deb

Access it via Sound & Videos -> AcetoneISO

35 – Install Vista like gadgets.

Windows equivalent : Vista Sidebar

Ubuntu equivalent : google-gadgets

Google gadgets

wget http://neacm.fe.up.pt/pub/getdeb/ubuntu/intrepid/go/google-gadgets_0.10.5-1~getdeb2_i386.deb && sudo dpkg -i google-gadgets_0.10.5-1~getdeb2_i386.deb

This will complete the installation.

Now press Alt+F2, and type “ggl-gtk” to start them. You should see a small icon show up in your system tray, and a sidebar. Right click on any of them and select ‘Add Gadgets’ to show a menu. If you’d like to have Google Gadgets start automatically, go to System – Preferences – Session, click ‘Add’, paste ‘Google Gadgets’ for the name and ‘ggl-gtk’ for the command. Click OK and Close, and you’re good to go.

36 – Google Desktop

Google Desktop allows one to full text search of a user’s e-mail, computer files, music, photos, chat, and Web pages viewed,OpenOffice documents , PDF files and more .

Now similar tools already existed on Linux like beagle (supported by novell ) , meta tracker etc . However Google Desktop search is not based on any of these tools and uses its proprietary algorithms to search for files on the computer ,also being 1.0 release and more stable then these products it could be preferred over tools like beagle .

To install Google Desktop Search type the following command in the terminal window : -

sudo apt-get install google-desktop-linux

Access it through Applications → Google Desktop → Google Desktop

Now after choosing appropriate option through Applications → Google Desktop → Google Desktop Preferences, you would find Google Desktop icon in the bar at the top of the screen , now it would automatically scan and index files on computer and store it in local database which could be searched using web browser .

37 – Photo Management

Google Picasa

Google Picasa is an extremely professional good looking photo management application available on Windows ,Linux and Mac OS (??) . Now Google Picasa has a number of features that many photo management software on Linux dont have further Google Picasa looks very user friendly as compared to similar open source application available on linux . Now Google Picasa for Linux is not a native linux application but runs on Linux thru application layer called wine which allows many windows application to run flawlessly on Linux.

Now to install Google – Picasa type the following command in the terminal window

sudo apt-get install picasa

Access it through Applications → Graphics → Picasa → Picasa

38 – Map Viewing and Management

Google Earth

To install Google Earth type the following command in the Terminal Window.

sudo aptitude install googleearth

After downloading is over you will get a screen like this press ¨Yes¨ to accept the license agreement and complete software installation.

Now you can launch Google Earth from Application → Internet → Google Earth

39 – Gmail Notification

Checkgmail

If you would like to get notified when you have a new mail in your google mail account, checkgmail is for you. To install Checkgmail type the following command in the Terminal Window.

sudo apt-get install checkgmail

Now you can launch it from Application → Internet → CheckGmail

40 – Configure Firewall

If you are concern about your security, then it is pertinent that you activate the firewall and prevent any unauthorized access to your computer.

UFW is installed by default, but if you need a graphical interface, install GUFW.

sudo apt-get install gufw

41 – Gnome Do

Gnome Do is a small application that allows you to search and do things faster and more efficiently in your Ubuntu machine. It is similar to QuickSilver in Mac and Launchy in Windows. For those who have not tried Gnome Do before, it might take some time for you to get used to it. But once you’re hooked to it, there will be no turning back for you.Gnome Do also comes with a dock interface that you can use it like any other docks.

sudo apt-get install gnome-do

Now you can launch it from Application → Accessories → Gnome Do