Explore Ubuntu

Explore Ubuntu is now www.explore-ubuntu.blogspot.com

Arnab Das — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 00:10:34 +0000

To provide you with more options, a more user friendly interface and better articles, Explore Ubuntu has moved to a new location. All posts of the current blog here have been moved there as well. So you dont have to worry about missing the older articles. All new posts (including older ones) will be added to the new location. The current blog will not have any further posts.

The new location is here: www.explore-ubuntu.blogspot.com

I apologize for any inconvenience which this may have caused. Looking forward to your continued support.

(P.S. – Thie current blog will not be deleted. However as mentioned above no new posts will be added here.)

-Arnab Das.

Scribes Text Editor

Arnab Das — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:41:06 +0000

Tired of gedit? Although gedit is one of the most powerful text editors available, there are other sleerker ones as well. Scribes is one of them.

Its pretty much a really simple text editor. Its quite powerful though but the interface is what wins it for me. Simple and easy to use.

Here’s a screenshot:

How to install:

Scribes can be installed from the Ubuntu Software Center itself. Simple search for “Scribes” in the Ubuntu Software Center.

Alternate method: Go to Accessories > Terminal. Now type

sudo apt-get install scribes

Thats it. Pretty cool app. Worth a look.

Tribler file sharing client

Arnab Das — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:07:11 +0000

Tribler is an application which helps you find, share, download, search for pictures, music, videos and so on. In other words its more like a media player integrated within a torrent client. I have tried it out, and frankly, the search and download function is pretty good. The integrated search is quite exhaustive, eg. take a look at the results Tribler came up with when I searched for “Ubuntu” (pic in the screenshots below).

It has Windows, Mac and Linux versions of its software. Here are a few screenshots of the application:

How to install:

Go to System > Administration > Software Sources. From there go the Other Software tab and then Add the following line:

deb http://ubuntu.tribler.org/ karmic main

(If you need more and simpler information alongwith screenshots about how to add a repository, you should go through the details given here : http://exploreubuntu.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/adding-repositories/)

Now go to the Terminal (Applications > Terminal) and type the following:

sudo apt-get update

Next type the following in the Terminal:

sudo apt-get install tribler

Thats it. Tribler will be available in the Internet menu.

For experienced users seeking more information about Tribler:
Official page of Tribler: www.tribler.org
Launchpad page of Tribler: https://launchpad.net/tribler

BeeSeek

Arnab Das — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:17:49 +0000

Very often there are seriously awesome projects being undertaken which we know nothing of. BeeSeek is one such gem of a project.

BeeSeek is a project intended to build a free open-source search engine based on peer to peer (P2P) technology.

It intends to create an effective search engine which doesnt compromise on user’s privacy. At the moment none of the popular search engines are open source ones, BeeSeek intends to change that by creating a source code which will be accessible to everyone.

The developers are working on the project and the community seeks more of them, web editors, marketing experts etc. As of now there isnt a stable release of BeeSeek. But you can try out their beta search engine : www.beta.beeseek.org

To be frank, such a project deserves attention and all the help it can get.

To know more about BeeSeek and help the BeeSeek community, check out the links below:

Wiki: http://wiki.beeseek.org/
Home Page: http://www.beeseek.org/
Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/beeseek

VLMC – VideoLAN Movie Creator

Arnab Das — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 19:18:25 +0000

VLMC or VideoLAN Movie Creator comes from the same good folks who gave us the awesome VLC Media Player. VideoLAN Movie Creator is basically a video editor and creator running on Windows and Linux. Without a doubt this is one project which has caught the attention of many users of VLC softwares. Personally, I’m pretty excited as well. I know Ubuntu has loads of video editors in its repositories but when VLC makes one, well, it definitely catches the attention.

However, the project is very much in its infancy and VLMC is in testing phase as of now. They havent announced any specific installation guides/instructions for Ubuntu users. But fret not my friends, for you can use VLMC via Wine (yes, the all purpose Windows emulator). So, for Ubuntu users, download the Windows version and run it under Wine. It works perfectly.

Screenshot:

How to Download:

To download VLMC (testing) you need to go to their official site (and download the Windows version of the software): www.trac.videolan.org/vlmc/wiki/Downloads

Adding repositories

Arnab Das — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 20:28:03 +0000

This is a very basic guideline for installing repositories. Repository is a place where a particular software is kept or maintained. Ubuntu Software Center has loads of softwares for nearly every imaginable use. However you might still need to install additional ones. For those softwares you need to install/add repositories. Repositories are also installed to stay up to date with the very latest versions of softwares.

There are two ways of adding repositories. The graphic (GUI) way and the terminal (CLI) way. I’ll discuss both here one after the other.

GUI (Graphic user interface aka graphic method):

Go to System > Administration > Software Sources

Click on the Other Software tab and then click Add.

Then simply type or copy paste the repository you want to add and thats it.

CLI (Command line interface aka terminal method):

Open the Terminal (Accessories > Terminal) and then type the following:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

A new window will open up and there simple copy paste the repository you want to add. Remember that you need to enter the repository name in a separate line or a new line. Hence press Enter from your keyboard before pasting/adding the repository.

Remember to save the file before you exit.

There’s another CLI method as well, its a more direct approach.

Go to the Terminal and type out the direct command to add the repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:name of repository

eg. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pcf/miro-releases (installs the official repository for the software Miro)

Tip: Always make sure you update your repositories after adding them. To update your repositories, go to System > Administration > Update Manager and click on Check.

Alternatively, you can go to the Terminal and type sudo apt-get update

Thereafter you can install the software from the Ubuntu Software Center itself or from the Terminal as the case may be (read instructions for that particular software in its documentation or FAQ section).

Thats was all about adding repositories in Ubuntu.

Equalizer for Pulse Audio

Arnab Das — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:57:52 +0000

There’s a really cool equalizer for Pulse Audio which can be installed by adding a repository. Its a system wide equalizer hence no matter what media player you use, you will be able to utilise this setting.

The image below is a screenshot of the same:

How to install:

Open the Terminal (Accessories > Terminal) and type in the following:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:psyke83/ppa

Next type the following in the Terminal:

sudo apt-get update

Finally, type the following (in the Terminal of course)

sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-equalizer

Thats it. You can access the Pulse Audio Equalizer from the Sounds & Video menu.

Update: The creator of this Equalizer has added a new .deb file for both 32 and 64 bit versions of Ubuntu 10.10, simply click on the following link and install: Download Link

Flush Torrent Client

Arnab Das — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:37:35 +0000

Thanks to OMG Ubuntu‘s article on Flush, I gave the torrent client a try.

Flush is a decent torrent client built in the likes of Deluge, and is very user friendly. It will remind Windows users of uTorrent, however the similarity with Deluge is far more evident. Its built for GNOME and runs pretty smoothly.

How to install:

Go to System > Administration > Software Sources > Other Software and Add the following line (repository):

ppa:konishchevdmitry/flush

Now go to the terminal (Accessories > Terminal) and type the following:

sudo apt-get update

Next type the following:

sudo apt-get install flush

Now you will have Flush torrent client installed under the Internet menu.

Equalizer for Rhythmbox

Arnab Das — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:54:11 +0000

Thanks to Ubuntuforums I came to know of a really cool plugin which enables a 10 band equalizer in Rhyhtmbox.

To add this equalizer, simply copy paste the following code in the terminal (Accessories > Terminal):

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/rhythmbox/plugins && wget http://www.lirmm.fr/~morandat/pub/upload/Main/rb-equalizer.tar.bz2 -O – | tar xvjf – -C ~/.local/share/rhythmbox/plugins

To activate this plugin, launch Rhythmbox, go to Edit > Plugins and the check Equalizer. The equalizer’s 10 band setting is available from the Plugins menu.

Try it out. Its a really cool feature.

(Source : – http://www.lirmm.fr/~morandat/index.php/Main/Tools)

Install Bisigi themes

Arnab Das — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:23:55 +0000

The themes of the Bisigi project are generally rated as some of the best Ubuntu themes available. There are quite a few themes from the project available for installation.

To install these themes, you need to add the following repositories.

First up type the following in the Terminal (Accessories > Terminal) :

gpg –keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:11371 –recv-key 881574DE && gpg -a –export 881574DE | sudo apt-key add -

Now type the following in the Terminal :

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

In the window which opens, add the following lines:

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

Now save the file and type the following in the Terminal:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install bisigi-themes

Thats it. After the installation process go to the Appearance option (System > Preferences > Appearance) and check out the new themes. The following themes will be installed – AquaDreams, Ubuntu Sunrise, Bamboo-Zen, Step into Freedom, Tropical, Exotic, Balanzan, Wild Shine, Infinity, Showtime, Orange, Ellanna, AirLines.