Ubuntu Magazine issue 34 Check it Out

This month marks the 34th issue of Full Circle, along with the new and improved companion Full Circle Podcast! Now, along with your magazine, you've got an extra 40 minutes of auditory Full Circle goodness. Just click the podcast link on the site and take a listen.

In the magazine:
Command and Conquer.
How-To : Program in Python - Part 8, Digitally Retouching a Photo in GIMP, and The Perfect Server - Part 4.
My Story - a Linux User, and Powerpets.
Review - Acer UL30-A laptop.
MOTU Interview - Roderick Greening.
Top 5 - Reference Tools.
Ubuntu Women, Ubuntu Games, My Opinion, and all the usual goodness!

Download it here:
Grab the companion podcast:

Enjoy!

KDE 4.4 Really Awesome, look at it

First of all what is KDE?

KDE is an international team co-operating on development and distribution of Free, Open Source Software for desktop and portable computing. Our community has developed a wide variety of applications for communication, work, education and entertainment. We have a strong focus on finding innovative solutions to old and new problems, creating a vibrant, open atmosphere for experimentation.

What makes KDE so exciting?
The best thing about KDE is our amazing community! We are open to new members, offering help and allowing them to experiment, learn and grow. Our products are used by millions of home and office workers, and are being deployed in schools around the world - Brazil alone has over 50 million school children using KDE-based software to browse, learn and communicate!

What does KDE produce?

For users on Linux and Unix, KDE offers a full suite of user workspace applications which allow interaction with these operating systems in a modern, graphical user interface. This includes Plasma Desktop, KDE's innovative desktop interface. Other workspace applications are included to aid with system configuration, running programs, or interacting with hardware devices. While the fully integrated KDE Workspaces are only available on Linux and Unix, some of these features are available on other platforms.

In addition to the workspace, KDE produces a number of key applications such as the Konqueror web browser, Dolphin file manager and Kontact, the comprehensive personal information management suite. However, our list of applications includes many others, including those for education, multimedia, office productivity, networking, games and much more. Most applications are available on all platforms supported by the KDE Development.

KDE also brings to the forefront many innovations for application developers. An entire infrastructure has been designed and implemented to help programmers create robust and comprehensive applications in the most efficient manner, eliminating the complexity and tediousness of creating highly functional applications.

It is our hope and continued ambition that the KDE team will bring open, reliable, stable and monopoly-free computing to the everyday user.


for more info and videos on the new KDE 4.4 click here

GNU/Linux Advanced Administration Free book

GNU/Linux Advanced Administration

* Authors: Remo Suppi Boldrito, Josep Jorba Esteve
* Coordinator: Josep Jorba Esteve
* Licenses: GNU Free Documentation License, Creative Commons Attribute ShareAlike License
* Information: 545 Pages; 18.8 Mb


This what they write in there website:

The GNU/Linux systems have reached an important level of maturity, allowing to integrate them in almost any kind of work environment, from a desktop PC to the sever facilities of a big company.

In the module called "The GNU/Linux operating system", the main contents are related with system administration. This book is the main documentation for the module.

We will learn how to install and configure several computer services, and how to optimise and synchronise the resources.

The activities that will take place in this module cover the studied topics in a practical approach, applying these concepts in real GNU/Linux systems.

You can help us distribute this book if you download it via BitTorrent:

Click here to go to there website

10 Great Open Source Software

#1: Inkscape ( Vector Graphics Editor )


Fig.01: Inkscape is used by artist/illustrator/designer as vector graphics editor

Inkscape is a vector graphics editor. It is similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, and Xara X. This is perfect for object manipulation and styling objects. From the project home page:

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.

Download

#2: 7-Zip (Archiver)

Fig.02: 7-Zip is used as archiver

7-Zip is a file archiver and open source software. No need to use winzip or anything else. It does everything for you without paying a single penny:

1. Supports many formats:
* Packing / unpacking: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
* Unpacking only: ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MSI, NSIS,
RAR, RPM, UDF, WIM, XAR and Z.
2. Fast.
3. Free and open source.
4. High compression ratio.
5. Works best with Windows operating systems.
Download

#3: VLC ( Media Player ):

Fig.03: VLC is similar to QuickTime / Windows Media Player

Great media player which supports almost all formats (audio, video formats DVDs / VCDs, and various streaming protocols) and is stripped down to its most fundamental features (i.e. portable media player). A must have software for all anim and movie fans.
Download

#4: VirtualBox ( Virtualization )

Fig.04: VirtualBox is used for virtualization

Run Linux / MS-Windows or any other supported os directly without removing Windows, Linux, OpenSolaris or Macintosh (OS X) host operating systems. A professional class software that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). I recommend this software to all users to try out Linux or learn Perl / Shell scripting using UNIX development environment. VirtualBox is similar to VMware workstation.
Download

#5: Miro ( Internet TV )

Fig.05: Miro is used for Internet TV and as video player

Miro is a free, open source, video player and podcast client. The official site described it as:

Torrents made easy, RSS made beautiful, with tons of gorgeous HD video.

I love Miro and I use it for Internet TV and video player which comes with a library of more than 6,000 Internet streams and podcasts.
Download


#6: TrueCrypt ( Disk Encryption )

Fig:06: TrueCrypt is used for disk encryption (image credit official website)

Free open-source disk encryption (real-time on-the-fly encryption) software for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (for Linux I prefer native disk encryption). From the wikipedia:

It can create a virtual encrypted disk within a file or a device-hosted encrypted volume on either an individual partition or an entire storage device. It supports Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux (using FUSE) and encrypted volumes can be made portable. The version for Windows Vista or XP can encrypt the boot partition or entire boot drive and has the ability to create and run a hidden encrypted operating system whose existence is deniable.

Download


#7: Calibre ( eBook Converter and Reader )

Fig.07: Calibre is used for: ebook converter / reader

calibre is a free and open source e-book library management application. It supports the following features:

1. It manages your e-book collection for you. It can sort the books in your library by: Title, Author, Date added, Date published, Size, Rating, Series, etc.
2. Tags - a flexible system for categorizing your collection however you like
3. Comments - a long form entry that you can use for book description, notes, reviews, etc.
4. Search local ebooks or over the Internet using title/author or ISBN.
5. E-book conversion
6. Syncing to e-book reader devices
7. Downloading news from the web and converting it into e-book form (e.g., NYT, TOI, ESPN etc).

Without this software Sony or Amazon ebook reader is virtually useless for non-ebook format pdf reading.
Download


#8: GnuCash ( Financial Management )

Fig.08: GnuCash is used for financial management / accounting

GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Personally I like it because of its rich functionality and easy of use. GnuCash is similar to Microsoft Money and it is used by accountant, small business/home user etc. Features:

1. Double-entry bookkeeping
2. Scheduled Transactions
3. Mortgage and Loan Repayment Druid
4. Small Business Accounting Features
5. Transaction-Import Matching Support
6. Multi-Currency Transaction Handling
7. Stock/Mutual Fund Portfolios
8. Online Stock and Mutual Fund Quotes

Download


#9: GIMP ( Graphics / Simple Photo Editing )

From Blogger Pictures

Fig.09: GIMP quality photo retouching program

I'm not a professional artist/illustrator/designer/web designer (read as Photoshop expert), but gimp is used for simple photo editing of my personal work such as photo retouching, image composition, simple effects, image authoring, and much more.
Download

#10: Audacity ( Sound Editor / Recorder )

Fig.10: Audacity is used for audio / sound recorder & sound editor

Audacity is a free all in one audio editor and recorder like GoldWave software. You can use Audacity to record live audio, convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, and edit sound files or just create personal ringtons for mobile phones.
Download

OpenOffice.org 3.2.0 new release

OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose. for more info about it click here

this release didn't introduce major changes , it focus more on fixing bugs on the earlier version of open office so hurry up guys and upgrade to the new version.
you can download it through this link

Instruction on how to install included in the installation package after you extract it
Enjoy

How Linux See Your Hard Drive and Removable Devices

FSTAB and MTAB

These are some of those critical programs for your computer. Without these, your computer will not know where to find any of the partitions or drives on the computer. Goof this up and you can be dead in the water. Never make any changes without a good backup copy.

/etc/fstab

In this file there is a description of the various file systems. Commands like ¨fsck¨ and ¨mount¨ consult this file for the actions they take.
This looks like a complicated description of the files on your computer, but it is really simple if you break it down into the parts of each entry. Take a look below.
( OR :In order for certain programs to be able to determine where certain partitions are supposed to be mounted by default, the /etc/fstab file is used )

/dev/hdb1 / ext3 defaults 1 1

none /dev/pts devpts mode=0620 0 0

/dev/hdb6 /home ext3 defaults 1 2

none /mnt/cdrom supermount dev=/dev/hdc,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0
none /mnt/cdrom2 supermount dev=/dev

/scd0,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0
none /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev

/fd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0

/dev/hdb7 /usr ext3 defaults 1 2

/dev/hdb5 swap swap defaults 0 0

/dev/sda1 /mnt/memory_card auto user,iocharset=iso8859-1,kudzu,codepage=850,noauto,umask=0,exec 0 0

I will try to bring some clarity in there. Let´s only take the partitions, here for Linux : / and /home and swap. For Windows C:

< partition >< mount point >< file system >< mount options >< dump >< fsck order >
/dev/hdb1 . . . . / . . . . . . . . . . . . ext3 . . . . . . . . . defaults . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . 1
/dev/hdb6 . . . . /home. . . . . . . ext3 . . . . . . . . . defaults . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . 2
/dev/hdb5 . . . . swap . . . . . . . . swap . . . . . . . . defaults . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . 0
/dev/hda1 . . . . /mnt/win_c . . . . vfat . . . iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0



For the CD-ROM and floppy drive:

none . /mnt/cdrom . . supermount dev=/dev/hdc,fs=auto,ro,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

none . /mnt/floppy supermount dev=/dev/fd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,sync,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0


You can see the CD-ROM and floppy have the same codes as the Windows partition because they are not Linux default.



For the memory card reader:

/dev/sda1 /mnt/memory_card auto user,iocharset=iso8859-1,kudzu,codepage=850,noauto,umask=0,exec 0 0



Two additional entries are ¨devpts¨ and ¨/proc¨

The devpts file system provides an interface to pseudo-terminal (pty) devices. It is typically mounted at /dev/pts.

The /proc filesystem is to provide an easy way to view kernel and information about currently running processes.

If you build Linux from scratch, you will have to write your own /etc/fstab file.


/etc/mtab

This file handles the mounted devices and is automatically updated by the mount command.
And it looks a bit similar to fstab but not the 100% same ( notice rw and ro for read/write and read only ) And it does only lists the mounted devices !

/dev/hdb1 / ext3 rw 0 0

none /proc proc rw 0 0

none /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs rw 0 0

none /dev devfs rw 0 0

none /dev/pts devpts rw,mode=0620 0 0

/dev/hdb6 /home ext3 rw 0 0

none /mnt/cdrom supermount ro,dev=/dev/hdc,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

none /mnt/cdrom2 supermount ro,dev=/dev/scd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

none /mnt/floppy supermount rw,sync,dev=/dev/fd0,fs=auto,--,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

/dev/hda1 /mnt/windows vfat rw,iocharset=iso8859-1,codepage=850,umask=0 0 0

/dev/hdb7 /usr ext3 rw 0 0

/dev/sda1 /mnt/memory_card vfat rw,nosuid,nodev,iocharset=iso8859-15,codepage=850,umask=0,user=julia 0 0

Find ,Organize, Share and Discover Research Papers

Organize, share, and discover research papers! Mendeley is a research management tool for desktop & web. You can also explore research trends and connect to other academics in your discipline.
you can do all of this using one application called mendeley and open source application that enable you to make all the above. it is also available for mac and windows users.
to know more about this application and how to install & use it click on this link

Easy Way to Create Bootable Ubuntu USB Pendrive

Requirement
in order to make a Bootable ubuntu pen-drive you will need:
1-The USB Startup Disk creator tool. which is available in ubuntu(System>Administration>USB Startup Disk Creator).
2-A USB drive or memory card with minimum 700MB
3-Ubuntu cd or ISO image(downloadable from ubuntu website).

Procedures:
Launch the USB Startup Disk creator tool from System->Administration->Create a USB startup disk.



In first step (step no 1 in pic):
Either insert your Ubuntu CD, or click Other and browse to your ISO file. (If the application doesn’t recognize your CD, try clicking Other and then Cancel. This caused the CD to show up.)

In second step (step no 2 in pic):
Plug in your USB drive or card. The application should recognize the drive immediately and check that there is enough free space. If you have multiple USB drives, select the one you want to use from the list.

In third step step (step no 3 in pic):
if your USB flash was not free do format it.

In last step (step no 4 in pic):
Finally, you can choose whether you want your USB system to be persistent between boots, or static like a live CD (changes will stay or discarded). Adjust the slider to choose how much space Ubuntu will have on the disk to expand to, or select the Discarded on shut-down option(this will remove all changes you done on the ubuntu on your flash).

Click Make Startup Disk, and wait while the USB system is created. Now you can boot from this drive on any system which supports USB boots.

Booting from the USB drive is just like a CD; you’ll have to select Try Ubuntu from the boot menu to load the desktop. If you allocated space for a persistent system, anything you install or change on the system will persist the next time you boot.

Basic information on Partitioning Of Hard Disks

When you buy a new hard drive, it usually comes in an unformatted state. There are no partitions or file systems on it and it is ready for partitioning and formatting. It usually comes with a disk with a formatting tool on it which will create one or more partitions on this hard drive based on Microsoft's FAT file system, but partition creation and formatting can be done with any partitioning tool, though there are certain issues when dealing with Windows on multi-boot systems, and with using Linux partition tools like GParted to modify Windows partitions). Upon launching GPartEd from the Ubuntu Live CD (selecting "System/Administration/Partition Editor" from the Launch Bar at top) and (if necessary) selecting the hard drive, the drive will look like this:



Notice that the entire drive is marked "Unallocated" and is called "Free Space." The drive is ready to create partitions on. I will start with the types of partitions that can be created and their purposes. Drives which have already been partitioned and formatted will follow these conventions, so in order to successfully and efficiently repartition them requires knowledge of these conventions.

There are three types of partitions with which you will be dealing; Primary, Extended, and Logical partitions.

Partitioning Conventions

In "Partitioning Basics", I mentioned the "Unallocated Free Space" on a new drive. All partitions created in this Free Space are created under "Primary partition" rules and conventions.

Primary Partition Rules and Conventions

You can only create four Primary partitions on any single physical hard drive. This partition limit extends to the Linux Swap partition as well as for any Operating System installation or extra special purpose partitions, such as separate /root, /home, /boot, etc., that you might want to create.

If you attempt to create more than four Primary Partitions, you will see warning

Notice that when I tried to create a fifth partition, GPartEd gave me a message warning that this could not be accomplished. How do we circumvent this limitation and create more partitions? With an Extended Partition.

Extended Partitions

While in most circumstances, such as a "Guided Install" from the Live CD on a new Windows computer, four partitions are enough, there are circumstances in which you might need to create more than four partitions. This is the reason for an Extended partition.

An Extended partition is a special type of partition that contains "Free Space" in which more than the four Primary partitions can be created. Partitions created within the Extended partition are called Logical partitions, and any number of Logical partitions can be created within an Extended partition. The following conventions apply to Extended partitions:

1. When you create an Extended partition, it occupies one of the four Primary partition spots. When an Extended partition exists on a hard drive, only three Primary partitions may co-exist with it. (See Primary Partitions Rules and Conventions) If there are four Primary partitions already on a hard drive and you wish to create an Extended partition in which to create more, one of the Primary partitions must be deleted in order to create it.

2. Only one extended partition may be created on a hard drive (though you can have one extended partition on each of the hard drives connected to your system). The partition editor will not allow it, and it would serve no purpose at any rate. If you need the extra Extended partition space, you only need expand the one you have.

3. An Extended partition cannot be formatted with a filesystem, such as ext3, FAT, or NTFS, nor can it directly hold data. That is the function of the Logical Drives which are created within it.

Logical Partitions

A partition created within an Extended partition is called a Logical partition. Any number of Logical partitions may be created within an Extended partition, and they may be formatted with any filesystem.

All Operating Systems that I am aware of are able to access any Logical partition that is formatted to a compatible filesystem. For instance, while Windows will not recognize a Linux ext2 partition without a third-party driver, it will be able to access any partition formatted with FAT or NTFS, depending on the version of Windows. Linux, of course, will access all of these.

Overview On Partitioning Your Disks to Install Ubuntu

1-Single boot - Ubuntu only

If you do not intend to keep your copy of Windows installed on the computer, and you have made a backup of all of your important files, choose the Erase entire disk option from the Prepare disk space screen and then press Forward. The installer will automatically partition your hard disk in a suitable manner.
[Note]

You're probably used to how Windows represents disks. Your first hard drive is usually drive c. However Windows can change drive letters, Linux doesn't.

Devices are named differently too:

*The first Master IDE hard disk is called hda.
*SCSI, SATA and USB are referred to as sd.
*Each primary partition is numbered 1 to 4.
*Each logical partition is numbered from 5 upwards.

Hence the first logical partition on the master IDE drive will be hda5.

Partitioning does not occur until you finalize the installation, so you can decide to abort the installation at the very last minute if you require. After finalizing the installation, however, the hard disk will be re-partitioned and all existing data stored on it will be lost. Ensure that you have made and tested a backup copy of all important data.

For more complicated partitioning requirements, select Manually edit partition table from the Prepare disk space screen, and then press Forward. This will start a partitioning tool which you can use to partition your disk yourself.

2- Dual booting Windows and Ubuntu

[Note]
You must choose the Manually edit partition table option.

There are a couple of extra steps involved partitioning for dual boot.

1. Resizing existing the Windows partition.
2. Creating the swap partition.
3. Creating the root partition.
4. Creating a seperate home partition.

After you've selected the Manually edit partition table option, you'll see the Partition Editor screen.

Partitioning does not occur until you finalize the installation, so you can decide to abort the installation at the very last minute if you require. After finalizing the installation, however, the hard disk will be re-partitioned and all existing data stored on it will be lost. Ensure that you have made and tested a backup copy of all important data.
Resizing

At the moment your hard drive space is all allocated to Windows. This space needs to be reduced to create space for Ubuntu.

You don't need a huge amount of space for Ubuntu. You will need enough space for the following:

1. Root partition - where Ubuntu is installed. This should be at least 4GB.
2. Home partition - where your files are kept.
3. Swap partition - this need only be twice the size of your memory.

[Warning]
A hard disk can only have 4 primary partitions.

However you can create a logical partition instead. This allows another 2 extended partitions to be created within it.

Right click on the Windows partiton - it'll either be NTFS or Fat32. Select resize. You can now type in the new size or move the slider.

Swap space
Create a partiton to use as swap space. Swap space is used by the kernel as extra memory. You will need to make it double the size of your installed memory.
Click on the free space and select Create new partition. Select Logical, Swap and set the size to double your system memory.

Creating the root partition
The root partition is akin to the "C" drive in Windows. You will need at least 4GB, double if possible. This will allow you more space to install programs.
Select the remaining space (unless you want a home partition). Click Create new partition. Select Logical, Ext3 and set it to use the remaining space. Lastly enter the mount point as /.

Creating the home partition
This step is not necessary but will allow you to keep your settings and files in the event you reinstall Ubuntu. Set it up as you would the home partition but choose /home as the mount point.

Finalising
Now its all configured, review your settings. Make sure you've a root and swap partition and that your windows partition has a mount point so you can access it.

How To Install Webmin On ubuntu

Webmin is a web-based interface for system administration for Unix. Using any modern web browser, you can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and much more. Webmin removes the need to manually edit Unix configuration files like /etc/passwd, and lets you manage a system from the console or remotely.

Webmin consists of a simple web server, and a number of CGI programs which directly update system files like /etc/inetd.conf and /etc/passwd. The web server and all CGI programs are written in Perl version 5, and use no non-standard Perl modules.

Installing Webmin in Ubuntu

First you need to download webmin from there website for the final one

Prerequisites

Perl 5 interpreter and libnet-ssleay-perl to get it type in terminal:

sudo apt-get install perl5 libnet-ssleay-perl

Now you need to download the latest webmin from this link

Download ‘webmin-1.500.tar.gz’ (at the time of writing) to some location in your machine ex:- /usr/local/src local is hidden folder hold ctrl + h to see it

then in the terminal

cd /usr/local/src
sudo tar xzvf webmin-1.500.tar.gz

cd webmin-1.500

sudo sh setup.sh

This will start the installation and now it will prompt for several questions answer them as follows:

Config file directory [/etc/webmin]:
Leave as default, or change as you wish

Log file directory [/var/webmin]:
Leave as default, or change as you wish

Full path to perl (default /usr/bin/perl):
Leave as default, or change as you wish

Operating system:
Enter ‘6′

Version:
Enter ‘6′

Web server port (default 10000):

This is where you can start to make webmin more secure then the standard install you get with apt-get, Synaptic, or RPM. Leave as default or change it to what ever port you want.

Login name (default admin):

It is ‘admin’, so you can leave it as that, or put in any name that you like.

Login password:

By creating the user above and giving it a password, you have now made it so you will not need to log into webmin with root.

Password again:

enter your password again

Hint
If you did not install ‘libnet-ssleay-perl’ you will get the following message:

‘The Perl SSLeay library is not installed. SSL not available.’ You can continue with the install, but it would be more secure if you install sslrelay.

Use SSL (y/n):y
Choose yes here

Start Webmin at boot time (y/n):y
select here y

At this point it is going to configure things, install things, and create things…

It will then tell you that you can log in to https://hostipaddress:10000 and to accept the certificate.

Webmin User Password Change

If you want to change root password in webmin use this included Perl script:

sudo /usr/share/webmin/changepass.pl /etc/webmin root

If you want to install any standard modules you can download from here

If you want to install third party modules you can download from here