Ubuntu Edge

Yesterday Canonical, the commercial entity which backs Ubuntu, launched their Indiegogo fixed funding campaign to raise $32m for the Ubuntu Edge project.

Shiny Ubuntu/Android smartphone. Want!

The Ubuntu Edge is going to be a dual boot smartphone running my favourite OSs Ubuntu and Android, with what looks like beautiful and powerful hardware. Initial specs are of a device with 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. The device will be able to be connected to a keyboard/mouse/monitor and run a full desktop environment as well as deliver a powerful smartphone experience.

The Indiegogo fixed funding campaign kicked off yesterday and a day in has already passed 10% of the total goal. I dilly dallied too long and seem to have missed out on the $600 option to get the device in May of next year for a discounted price. I will be making a token $20 contribution and will wait until the device is available through traditional commercial channels to get one.

The idea of a smartphone that acts as a more traditional computer when docked is not new, Ubuntu for Android has been pushing the idea for a while now. I like the idea, almost as much as the Chromebook/Chromebox one.

The smartphone/tablet/desktop computing world is going to be very different this time next year, lets see what Google, Mozilla, Samsung as well as Canonical get up to before then.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

Source:  Indiegogo

How to use torrent files

A friend asked me to explain how to use torrent files to download "stuff" from the internet. I use torrents a lot to download and then share Linux distros, so I thought I would write a quick "how to" here on Todoleo.com.

Torrent files are the files that enable you to download and share content using the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing system.The torrent file speaks to a client and tells it how to connect to other users just like yourself who are downloading or have downloaded the same content.

To use torrent files, you'll need to download a client, a programme that does the work of connecting to the peer-to-peer network. I use uTorrent and shall base this how to around that.

A quick disclaimer before I go any further: using torrent files is not illegal, but depending on the content itself you are downloading you may be breaching someone's copyright. I will not be held responsible for what you do with torrents and the internet. Mmmmmkay?

Right, first things first, you'll need to download uTorrent from uTorrent.com. Go for the free version, it is more than enough. Go ahead and install the programme, but beware not to get caught out by whatever bundled bloatware they try and give you with it. In my case there were a couple of things I had to opt out of, as in the screenshots below.

No thanks, don't want this...

...or this.

Once the installation is done, uTorrent should open itself and be ready to use. That means the client (uTorrent) is there.

This is more or less what uTorrent looks like once it is running.

Now you'll need to go and get a torrent file that allows you to get the content you want from the interwebs. I use a metasearch engine called Torrentz.eu. Torrentz.eu takes my search and submits it to lots of different torrent sites and search engines and puts all the results together. Think of Torrentz.eu as the Google of torrent files.

Torrentz.eu

Search for what you are looking for (in my case Ubuntu 13.04) and it will take you to a results page. The results page lists the files and content that match my search.

Torrentz.eu results page

I see that in my case the second result is the file appropriate for me (Ubuntu 13.04 desktop i386) so I click on the link. In the next page I will see a selection of sites where I can get the torrent file from.

Links to sites that have the torrent file I am looking for

It is important to note that some of these sites may be blocked by your internet service provider, due to copyright infringement issues and a lack of real freedom on the internet. [insert net neutrality rant here].
Select a provider of the torrent file (I usually use Monova.org), and go through to the website and download the .torrent file.

Monova.org

Once the .torrent file has downloaded (usually within a few seconds), you can double click on it and it should be opened in uTorrent. Confirm that you would like to add that torrent file and it will be added to your download list and the content will be on your computer after it has finished downloading.

Almost there!

It is important to note that as you are downloading the content, you are also uploading it to others. The more people are downloading or have downloaded the content and left their client running, the faster the download will be.

I hope this tutorial has been useful to you. If you need any more help or have any questions feel free to ask in the comments section below. Happy torrenting!

Nokia Lumia 710 And Ubuntu: They Speak To Each Other!

I've had a Nokia Lumia 710 for a while now.  This week I discovered I can use my Lumia 710 and manage media and content on it through my Ubuntu Linux machines, and I'm a very happy chappy as a result.

The Nokia Lumia 710 is one of Nokia's first Windows Phone 7 devices, the product of the Finnish company's leap of faith from a "burning platform" onto a lilly pad in the middle of a stormy ocean. Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft's smartphone operating system which it pitches as a competitor to Google's Android OS and iOS (which is shipped on Apple devices).

From the beginning of my ownership of the Nokia Lumia 710 I encountered frustration with some of the basic management of Windows Phone 7. Adding and managing media could only be done (up to now) from a Windows or OS X machine running the Zune software. Zune performs similar functions to iTunes, just that it uses a simplistically shiny UI which fits in well on Windows 8, but looks out of place and unintuitive on Windows 7. I have been an avid Linux user for many moons now, and Microsoft Windows is an OS I only boot into rarely if there is some slightly more complicated in phone rooting/ROMming that requires running applications on Windows. Hence my frustration: I have to restart my computer into Windows (7 most of the time on my desktop, 8 on my laptop), wait for the slower startup (it's so much faster in Ubuntu or Lubuntu!), update the antivirus (not an issue on Ubuntu or Lubuntu!) and open up Zune.

Zune is "shiny". I like it. I like it in the same sort of way that I like Windows Phone 7's user interface, and in the same way in which I adore the WebOS user interface. It's all about the UI, its fluidity and how intuitive it is. That's probably why I like the Android 4.0.x UI too: Matias Duarte, formerly of Palm where he designed the WebOS UI, is now the Director of Android operating system User Experience at Google.

Shiny! Shinier with Rachel Stevens

At the beginning using the Zune software didn't work for me. Plugging the Nokia Lumia 710 into any USB port (either primary or secondary) was useless, it didn't show up in the device manager and Zune didn't know there was a Windows Phone 7 device connected to the computer. Only after I had reinstalled Windows 7 on my desktop did I manage to get the Lumia 710 and Zune to talk to each other. Finally I was able to synchronise music folders and podcasts with the device. This was a relief because I had been streaming podcasts over the interwebs through a browser, and this was severely affecting battery life. Once I had got used to the routine of synching the Lumia on a daily basis, things were fine.

When on holiday in Italy I was using my Nexus S as my main smartphone and the Lumia was relegated to being a wifi device when at home for Skype calls, mp3 player functions and playing a fantastic Xbox Live game called Flowers.

After having updated my Ubuntu and Lubuntu partitions on my laptop and desktop to the newest version of the distribution (12.04 Precise Pangolin), I stumbled across the fact that the Nokia Lumia 710 could be mounted as a media player. Once mounted, I could read and write the contents of the folders, manage photos, music and podcasts to the device. On Ubuntu, it even offered to manage the media player in Rythmbox, the media management application bundled with the pinky-orange Linux based OS.

Now that I don't have to boot into Windows so often I'm a happier Wobbles feeder. I can also reply to John C. Dvorak who was reiterating the fact that you HAVE to use Zune on TWiT last week: not any more! You can now live a Windows free life with your Windows Phone 7 smartphone. Until the next OS/firmware update that is... ;-)

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions. I also started a thread on the MoDaCo forums about this so feel free to join the chatter about this there too.

Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" Released!

Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" is now available to download! You can download it directly, or via torrent from here.

It was a pretty fast turnaround from Release Candidate status to final release. Well done to all involved in the development of the Linux Mint distribution.

I'll use Linux Mint 12 for a few weeks and then write a proper review of it.

Linux Mint 12 Is On The Way!

One of my favourite Linux distributions, Linux Mint, has just entered the release candidate phase.

The Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" Desktop (from LinuxMint.com)

Linux Mint 12 is much more revolutionary than Mint 11 was (I dare say that Mint 11 was evolutionary).

Mint 12 is revolutionary for Linux Mint because it comes with a brand new desktop, built with GNOME 3 and MGSE (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions). Essentially what the Mint team have done is take GNOME 3 and changed the pet hates many users in the Linux community had and get rid of the causes. The new Mint desktop uses GNOME 3 as its base, and then reverts certain tasks/activities back to something more similar to what people are used to and love from GNOME 2.x. As a result you get GNOME 3 with:

• A panel at the bottom of the desktop (as there was in classic Mint desktops)
• An application menu (a bit shinier, but just like in classic Mint desktops)
• A window list
• A task-centric desktop (you switch between windows, not applications. This will make many users very very happy)
• Visible system tray icons (I can hear GNOME 3 hater cheers...)

An Application Menu! (from LinuxMint.com)

These are just a few of the GNOME 3 improvements that MGSE brings. There are many other smaller and less visible improvements that in my opinion make the Mint 12 experience much more enjoyable than Ubuntu 11.10 (with Unity).

As usual with a new release of Mint, there is new artwork and theme tweaks. Shininess is always good in my opinion.

The default search engine in Linux Mint 12 will be Duck Duck Go. (I'm still waiting for Leo Laporte to start a new show on the TWiT Network called This Week in Duck Duck Go...).

You can read about all the new features of Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" here.

You can download the release candidate of Linux Mint 12 "Lisa" here.

Thanks to everyone involved in bringing us the Linux Mint distribution. It is probably the best Linux distribution for Linux newbies, and still one of the shiniest and most easy to use out of the box/liveDVD/liveUSB!

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below and let me know how you get on with Linux Mint if you give it a go.

Don's Golf Drive at 50 fps [Photo]

Here's a slideshow of 50 photos I took with my Panasonic TZ20 in "Burst Mode".


I took the pictures in High Dynamic Mode (Artistic Setting) and in Burst Mode (50 fps).


The album was uploaded from my Ubuntu Linux laptop to Picasa Web Albums using Shotwell Photo Manager. The slideshow for this blog post was created using the Picasa Web Albums "Share As Slideshow" option.

Ka-Chink!

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below. Please also Google +1 the article too.

Ubuntu 11.10 Starts To Be Shinier

I've been testing the Alpha version of Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot for a few weeks now. The updates have been pretty meaty (150+MB a pop), but the improvements have been regular and substantial.
Last night before going to bed I updated Ubuntu 11.10 on my laptop and then went to sleep. This morning when I booted up I noticed quite a few UI improvements and overhauls.

My Ubuntu 11.10 Desktop. Notice the new darker "Dash Home" icon/button in the top-left corner of the Unity Dock and the new "On/Off" settings icon in the top-right corner of the screenshot.

The biggest UI overhaul seems to have taken place in the Ubuntu Software Centre (the app store - Mac OSX and iOS - "inspiration"...). The new UI is shiny and just as intuitive and easy to use as it used to be. Below are some screenshots of the new Ubuntu Software Centre experience:

The Ubuntu Software Centre homescreen.

The Ubuntu Software Centre while installing an application.

The Ubuntu Software Centre while looking at application details.

The Ubuntu Software Centre while browsing applications.

As you can see the Ubuntu Software Centre has had quite a UI overhaul. I have enjoyed using it so far and haven't encountered any problems with it.

As for the rest of the Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot there have been quite a few improvements in terms of speed (especially at boot up/ shut down) and stability on my machine. You can find out more about Ubuntu at www.ubuntu.com

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions below. If you liked this article, please Google +1 it.

A New Jolicloud Later This Year

Last night a tweet popped up in my Twitter stream from the official Jolicloud account.

"A new Jolicloud is coming this fall, register for the beta: jolicloud.com"

Of course the first thing I did was head over to http://www.jolicloud.com/ and register. The Jolicloud homepage is now openly inviting users to register for the beta of the service.

I registered and updated the details of which platforms I use and will be using Jolicloud on, and that was it! Easy Peasy! (No pun towards the Ubuntu Netbook derivative intended...)

So as I continue to use Jolicloud through the web browser on my Desktop/Laptop machine, and as an OS on  a partition of my netbook, I'm looking forward to seeing what Tariq Krim and the rest of the clever people working on Jolicloud are going to come up with.

You can read more about Jolicloud 1.2 here. As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions at the end of this post. If you liked and/or found this post useful, please also Google +1 it. 

Joli OS' Teaser

I was browsing through my feeds in Joli OS earlier and I came across what to me seems like a teaser on the official Joli OS Blog.

In the blog post entitled "Some News About Joli OS" dated July 19th 2011 the opening is quite a teaser:

"It’s been a while since you’ve had an update from us but we’ve been working hard on something big. We will tell you a bit about that very soon! In the meantime, we have some updates for you on Joli OS."

The blog post then goes on to list the updates that are currently being pushed to the Joli OS local and web apps.

The post is then closed by another teaser:

Stay tuned… More coming soon!

Could this be a teaser to Jolicloud 1.3? Or maybe even a shift in platform from the older Ubuntu Netbook base to a Chromium OS base? Tariq has never been shy of praising Chrome and the Chromium and Jolicloud is available as a web app in the Chrome Web Store. This is pure conjecture on my part. I am excited, and  look forward to seeing what happens "soon"!

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal - Unity

On April 28th 2011 the latest version of my most used Linux distribution was released. Version 11.04 of Ubuntu, also known as Natty Narwhal, has brought some major changes to how the main Ubuntu distribution works and in the forms it is available in.

We bid farewell to Ubuntu Netbook Edition. There is now simply Ubuntu (available in 32bit and 64bit versions) and Ubuntu Server (available in 32bit and 64bit vesions). In a way I am sad to see the Netbook Edition cease to be. Ever since the early days of netbooks I had been running Ubuntu Netbook Remixes on a first generation Acer Aspire One and on my trusty EEE PC 900A. As time went by both the interface and the features evolved as a branch of the Ubuntu Desktop Edition, experimenting with new user interfaces and optimisations for smaller screens. Interestingly many of the developments that were experimented with in Ubuntu Netbook Remixes and Editions are now features of the unified Ubuntu.

In Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal the Unity Interface (first used in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition) is the default one. Unity is powerful desktop and netbook environment that brings consistency and elegance to the Ubuntu experience.

Unity is designed for netbooks and related touch-based devices. It includes a new panel and application launcher that makes it fast and easy to access preferred applications, such as the browser, while removing screen elements that are rarely used in mobile and netbook computing.

Unity has a vertical task management panel on the left-hand side and a menu panel at the top of the screen. Using a sidebar for task management conserves vertical screen space, which is much more valuable on a widescreen netbook. The task panel displays icons for commonly-used applications and programs that are currently running. Clicking on an icon will give the target application focus if it is already running or launch it if it is not already running. If you click the icon of an application that already has focus, Unity will activate an Expose-style view of all the open windows associated with that application.

I really am enjoying using Ubuntu with the Unity interface. I must admit that from October last year I was quite skeptical about the shift from a Gnome interface, but now that I am used to the sidebar, the instant search services and notifications I am won over. As well as the UI changes Ubuntu 11.04 brings the usual boatload of bug fixes, more hardware support and faster boot times.

You can download and try out Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal from http://www.ubuntu.com/ for free.

Feel free to leave any comments and/or questions.

What is Google Chrome OS?

Google Chrome OS is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google to work exclusively with web applications. This means that when you turn it on you don't boot into a traditional operating system like Microsoft Windows or Ubuntu, you boot into Chrome OS.

The best way to explain this is how Google have done so in this video:

Even on a three year old netbook Chrome OS boots up in less than 15 seconds. It's fantastic.

Feel free to leave comments and/or questions, any feedback is appreciated.

Three MiFi - Freedom Is Easy

Last week I travelled from Edinburgh to Prestwick Airport by means of public transport. Along the way I took my trusty Asus EEE PC 900A netbook a Three UK MiFi as well as the rest of the luggage I was taking to Italy for my spring holiday.

On a train, using my netbbok and MiFi

My netbook is currently running a beta release of Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. This version of Ubuntu has drivers built in to use all the most popular mobile broadband dongles and usually there is no need to load additional software to use them. I have tested my netbook with my Three UK mobile broadband dongle and with my T-Mobile one (both are made by ZTE but run on different chipsets).

For this trip, I was not going to be taking any dongles to connect to mobile broadband though. Recently I won a competition organised by Three UK and was sent a Three MiFi device. The MiFi is a portable WiFi hotspot, that lets up to five WiFi devices connect to mobile broadband through it.

The MiFi is great if you are travelling and using a netbook on the go. Rather than have a dongle sticking out of the side of your netbook, you can have the MiFi in a pocket and use WiFi to connect to the internet through it. I can think of three main advantages of this:

• Not having a dongle sticking out of the side of your netbook reduces the risk of accidentally damaging both your netbook and/or dongle. Think about it - if your netbook were to slip/fall or lean on the dongle, leverage could damage both the dongle and the netbook's usb port. (I have had this happen to me once... RIP Acer Aspire One ZG5)
• Using a MiFi your netbook's bettery life should be better. This is because your netbook is not powering the USB device that is connecting to the mobile broadband, you are just using WiFi. The MiFi is powered by its own internal battery, and recharges using a standard Micro-USB connector. This is useful to me because both my mobile phones use the same charger format, so when away (as I am now) I only need to take one charger with me for three devices.
• You can connect up to five devices to the MiFi at once. I did connect more than one device while sitting in the Costa coffee bar in Glasgow Central Station. Both my netbook and my HTC Desire were using the MiFi while I was using Gwibber and downloading a podcast to listen to on my flight. I didn't really perceive any slower network connection while doing so.

Having a hot chocolate, using the MiFi and netbook as well as my HTC Desire.

When I got my first broadband dongle and was using it on Linux (at the time Ubuntu 9.04 and Mint) I had to add drivers and go through a long set up process to make it work properly. This was usually quite a hassle, but was made  relatively easy for me thanks to posts by Liam Green-Hughes on his blog. Those days seem to be gone with Ubuntu 11.04 as dongle support is much better. To tell the truth I wish that back in the day I had had a MiFi. Messing around in terminal windows and adding repositories was fun, but a MiFi would have made life so much easier.

MiFi

I used the MiFi for most of the trip while I was in the UK (on buses, trains, in stations and airports) and had no problems with reception along the way.  I was happily able to use my netbook and still had enough battery life to watch a couple of episodes of Mostly Photo on the flight.


I'm currently in Italy enjoying the spring weather and time with my family.

Just a quick disclosure at the end of the post: I did not pay for my Three UK MiFi device or the mobile broadband sim card with 12 Gb of data on it. This was my competition prize and I was not remunerated by Three UK or any other entity for writing this post. Hopefully this disclaimer avoids any Mike Arrington incidents...

Please feel free to leave questions/comments. Any feedback is appreciated!

Todoleo.com Exclusive Interview With Bill Gates [Updated]

Bill Gates is currently the non-executive part-time Chairman of Microsoft, the American software company he co-founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked amongst the world's wealthiest people, and has also pursued a number of philanthropic endeavours, donating large amounts of money to various charitable organizations and scientific research programs through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000.

To celebrate the move of the Todoleo Tech Blog to http://www.todoleo.com/ Bill has agreed to an exclusive interview in which we'll touch on subjects related to the technology and consumer electronics industry.

On Windows

Microsoft Windows is globally the most used operating system on personal computers. Since 1985, in its first incarnation as an add-on for MS-DOS, Microsoft has come to dominate the world's PC market. Microsoft now has versions of Windows that run on PCs, servers and smartphones.

Naturally the first subject I touched on was Windows, which Bill is still really enthusiastic about.

"When Microsoft first started out with Windows the market was totally different, computers were not connected through the internet and software was distributed  in boxes on tapes or disks. I remember playing Leisure Suit Larry and thinking man, look what we've achieved and what I could do if I left the office one night."

"Making computers easier and safer to use through the years, and kickstarting the PC revolution was great. Now Windows is the best way to run iTunes and sync an iPod. You can even install Chrome and Google things. The internet has really changed things. On Chrome I can even go into incognito mode and buy my wife a gift. By the way, Windows 7 was my idea."

On XBOX

I'm personally an XBOX 360 owner and spend far too much time playing games on it. Microsoft has a great product and the media capabilities are useful in the living room, even for non gamers. So I asked Bill what this living room computer is to him.

"The XBOX is a wonderful educational tool. I would recommend it for the character formation of every individual on the planet. There is so much you can learn. If you are getting ready to move to a big city, just play GTA IV for a while and you'll gain all the social skills you'll need. One of the best ways to do your history homework is on the XBOX: play Red Dead Redeption, Assassin's Creed or Command & Conquer Red Alert and you'll know what history was all about."

"At Microsoft we still have a lot of work to do on the XBOX though. I've been buying some games like Gran Turismo and Little Big Planet and still can't get them to work."

"When my wife is not at home I can even use the XBOX as  a media centre and play back some specialist movies I downloaded using Chrome in incognito mode. Man, that is so awesome!"

On The UK

Bill Gates was Gates was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005. He is often in the UK, as he is today, so I asked him what his favourite thing is over here.

"To tell the truth, I really come here for the Tesco Finest Heather Honey & Stem Ginger Yogurt. It's really tasty and it has lots of bits of Honeycomb in it. Mmmm, honeycomb...!"

On Mobile

Bill's mention of Honeycomb brought us nicely onto the subject of mobile:

"The future of communication and computers is Mobile. I recently got this amazing phone called a Nexus One. It has a really good touchscreen, I can check my email, Google stuff and even download podcasts on the go. I really like the Outlaws Podcast where they have a segment about Microsoft called Microwatch. The German guy and the Liverpudlian are so informative and entertaining!"

"Anyway, I had better get going. I have to submit a bug in Launchpad on an OS project my friend in London called Mark is working on. It's something to do with DirectX not working properly."

Thanks to Bill for taking time to help launch Todoleo.com. You can carry on following the Todoleo Tech Blog at its new address: http://www.todoleo.com/


Update


Yes, this was an April's Fools thing. I see Bill's search engine, Bing took it well though.

Thanks for all the feedback on this!

Feel free to leave comments/questions!

Joli OS 1.2

During the last week Tariq Krim announced the changes happening with Jolicloud, the Ubuntu-based Linux operating system.

The Jolicloud OS has now been renamed Joli OS, and has been updated to version 1.2. Joli OS 1.2 has a newer user interface with various tweaks, the facility to create your own web application launchers and seamless Dropbox integration in the OS. You can read about the changes in Joli OS 1.2 in the blog post here.

I was prompted to update my system this morning and did so. The update ran in the background while I continued using my trusty Asus EEE PC 900A for my usual web browsing, social networking (using Seesmic Web) and news reading (using Google Reader).

After the update finished, I restarted my netbook and I was in Joli OS 1.2. The login page is slightly different, there are a few new wallpapers and it generally feels shinier.

Well done to Tariq and the rest of the Jolicloud / Joli OS team! I'm enjoying Joli OS 1.2!

You can download Joli OS 1.2 from here. Enjoy!

Please feel free to post comments/questions on this article.

How To Install SopCast Player on Ubuntu

SopCast is a simple, free way to broadcast video and audio or watch the video and listen to radio on the Internet.

If you would like to set up the SopCast Player in Ubuntu to watch live streams, the instructions on how to do so are as follows:

Step One

Make sure your Ubuntu machine is switched on, connected to the Internet and that you have the administrative password (and rights) to the computer. [This may sound stupid, but it always helps to avoid comments that get classed as spam on the post]

Open a Terminal window. This can usually be found in "Accessories"

Step Two

Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jason-scheunemann/ppa

You will be prompted to enter your administrator password, do so and the repository will be added.

Step Three

Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

sudo apt-get update

This will update the source list. You may be prompted to enter your administrator password again, if so do it.


Step Four


Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

wget http://sopcast-player.googlecode.com/files/sp-auth_3.0.1_i386.deb

This will download sp-auth, a package the SopCast Player needs to work.


Step Five


Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.


sudo dpkg -i sp-auth_3.0.1_i386.deb


This will install sp-auth, the package the SopCast Player needs to work. Again, if your are prompted for your administrator password, enter it.

Step Six

Copy and paste (or type) the following command into the terminal prompt, and then press enter.

sudo apt-get install sopcast-player

This should install the SopCast Player. If you are prompted to enter your administrator password do so. If you are prompted to confirm the download and install do so.

Step Seven

Reboot your computer and then look for the SopCast Player in the Multimedia menu. It all should be ready to use.

Thanks to SopCast, Jason Scheunemann and everyone using SopCast.


Please leave comments and let me know how you get on.

Tweaking Chrome in Ubuntu

There are a couple of tweaks I usually carry out on a fresh Ubuntu install and always forget about until the next install. I'm blogging about these tweaks as a way to make it easy on myself (and others) in the event of  a new Ubuntu install.


Tweak 1: Optimise Screen Real Estate By Hiding System Title Bar


One of the great things about the Google Chrome web browser is how it often maximises the use of screen real estate. Tabs use the space usually occupied by system title bars leaving more space for what it does best: web browsing. 


In Ubuntu the default setting is to have your system title bar visible. I prefer to have it hidden. Here's how to hide the system title bar in two easy steps:

• Click on the spanner icon at the top right of your chrome window next to the address bar in Chrome (as in the image above). Select Preferences and a new, smaller window should open (as in the image below).

• In the "Personal Stuff" tab in Google Chrome Preferences window, at the bottom select "Hide system title bar and use compact borders". Close your window and "Bingo Bango Bongo!" you've gained a few pixels for web browsing.

Tweak 2: Enable Backspace As Back/Forward

One of the things many Windows users have come to expect when web browsing is that the backspace button on the keyboard is a shortcut for going back a page in a web browser. Ubuntu has similar keyboard shortcuts which are "Alt + Left Arrow Key" (back) and "Alt + Right Arrow Key" (forward).

If you are uncomfortable with changing your evil brainwashed Windows ways, here's the easy way to enable the backspace key as a keyboard shortcut in Chrome: it's a Google Chrome Extension!

Backspace As Back/Forward for Linux by me@noctarius.com is an extension that does what it says on the extension webpage (because these things don't come in tins...). Click on the link at the beginning of this paragraph to get the extension.

After having done that, you should be back to your evil brainwashed ways in no time at all.

Please feel free to leave comments and/or questions below.

How To Get WiFi Working On A Dell Mini 1018 [Ubuntu]

I recently had a problem setting up a netbook with Ubuntu 10.10 Linux for a relative.

Installing Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Netbook Edition wasn't a problem, and everything worked fine except for wireless networking. Trawling through Dell and Ubuntu forums to find the solution was tough, but I eventually got to the bottom of it.

Before I go any further, I must underline a few details: 

• the Dell Mini 1018 netbook was purchased in the UK
• the wireless card uses Realtek drivers (not Broadcom ones)
• solving the problem involves a small amount of terminal use

I'll assume you have installed Ubuntu on your machine and have plugged it into a router to gain internet access. (Without internet access this tutorial won't work). 

Before starting please update Ubuntu using the Update Manager.

Step One: Open A Terminal Window

Open a Terminal window (usually found in "Accessories" or "Applications")

Step Two: 

Copy and paste the following text into the command prompt:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lexical/hwe-wireless

You will be prompted to enter your "root" or "administrator" password. Go ahead and wait for the terminal gobbledygook takes you back to a command prompt.

Step Three:

Copy and paste the following text into the command prompt:

sudo apt-get update

Again, you may be prompted to enter your "root" or "administrator" password. As in the previous step, go ahead and wait for the terminal gobbledygook takes you back to a command prompt.

Step Four:

Now, copy and paste this last bit of text into the command prompt:

sudo apt-get install rtl8192ce-dkms

Again, you may be prompted to enter your "root" or "administrator" password. As in the previous step, go ahead. You might be prompted to confirm that you want to install a file. enter "Y" on your keyboard and then hit "Enter" on your keyboard. Now wait for the terminal gobbledygook takes you back to a command prompt.

Last Step (Hopefully): Restart Ubuntu

Now all you have to do is restart your computer and Wireless Networking should be working fine.

Thanks go to Keng-Yü Lin who provided the repository and did all the hard work to make this possible in a relatively pain free manner (https://launchpad.net/~lexical), and the friendly people at the Ubuntu Forums.

Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Netbook Edition

On the 10th of October 2010 (10-10-10 Get it?) Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat was released for desktop, server and netbook.

Since this version of Ubuntu has been in Beta, I've been using it both on my desktop computer and on my netbook (an ASUS EEE PC 900A). The improvements since the Beta version have been noticeable to me, mainly in speed and stability of the user interface.

The new user interface on the Netbook Edition, called Unity, has a fixed dock and is completely different to the one from previous versions of Ubuntu Netbook Edition. After getting used to it, I find it more responsive and lighter on my netbook than the previous versions of Ubuntu Netbook Edition too.

As usual, you can download Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Netbook Edition for free from http://www.ubuntu.com/netbook. On the download page, there are also easy step by step instructions on how to set up a bootable USB flash drive. The bootable USB flash drive is particularly useful if you want to just try out Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition without installing it. If you then decide you would like to install it, there is also an option to do that.

The installation process has been simplified, and makes setting up a dual-boot system much easier. Setting up a dual-boot system is the best way to have both Windows and Ubuntu on the same machine, giving you the option to choose between operating systems when you turn the computer on.

Overall I think this is a great netbook operating system once you get used to it.

Feel free to comment and let me know your views on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.