DeMudi

Hi All,

Many of you might be knowing the Debian Multimedia repository. Ya I know - who would not know Christian Marillat??? If you really dont know how he is - do visit his repo - www.debian-multimedia.org.

Like wise to this multimedia repo - if you ever needed a Debian Distro similar to Ubuntu Ultimate Edition, dont forget to visit 64studio.com

Yes - an Angola project, also a previously - Debian Blend, 64studio OS is also called DeMudi - as long for Debian Multimedia Distribution.

The size of the ISO file is around 800Mb that fits into a DVD-R.

Try it and you will like it!!!!

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Linux For You - Digital Edition

Hi All,

The Linux For You magazine's Digital Edition is out. Visit LinuxForU.com for more info on this.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Slackware 13.0

Hi All,

If you all had observed - I already mentioned in my blog about the release of Slackware 13.0.

I am just excited to get the DVD version of it. If any one of you guys - the distributors- can help me get the dual layer dvd of Slackware in India, preferably in Bangalore - do mail me to my email address - ananth.gouri@gmail.com.

Even if I cant get the DVD right now - I wont lose hopes - since LFY - Linux For You magazine would be providing it in a month or 2.

But of all - the best that impressed me about this release was - Now Slackware 13.0 need not be configured for getting its display - a great improvement done. If you read my blog regularly - I have written a post that explains how to configure the X server in Slackware. I think that I can delete this post after I test 13 now!!!

The yet another important release feature is - now Slackware has a 64 bit OS[port], a feature that would make most of the 64bit processor used computer geeks - go crazy.

It also includes the latest stable release of KDE, the latest XFCE desktop and many more. Walk through these 2 links - Link-1, Link-2 provided by Volkerding.

The oldest Linux distributions man kind has ever seen - is still strong and is going fine in its journey of endurance to Linux success. Live long Slackware.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Promoting, spreading Linux For You magazine

Hi All,

Just waiting to grab my Septmeber Issue of Linux For You magazine - India's and Asia's first Magazine on Linux. Visit www.lfymag.com or www.linuxforu.com

Every month - LFY (acronym called with deep and dear love...) provides a free DVD with the latest Linux Distro available during that time. They see to it that - they wont miss a single important release. By an important release - I meant for Distros like Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Slackware, openSuSe, Mandriva et al.

Now dont ask me - "Are the other distros not important?" By terming it "important" [I meant] - just imagine how much can a magazine provide to its readers - when it provides the full magazine worth of great Linux related and OSS stuff, and also provides a good distro - for a minimal cost of Rs. 100???? !!!

It has to provide the best and the famous distros only - when the number of active Linux distributions in this world is more than 100+ [visit www.distrowatch.com for little info and http://lwn.net/Distributions/ for a list of distributions.]

[Please dont forget that a normal - tasty meal in the metros of India costs a family not less than Rs. 600 to Rs. 1000+ in a middle rated hotel.]

Its not just the DVD - LFY also provides a CD full of latest Linux packages along with the latest stable release of the Linux kernel.

I was excited to buy this month's issue - as LFY is providing its readers - Linux Gamers DVD edition.

For those of you all who don't know about Linux Gamers - please visit this site - www.linux-gamers.net

Happy gaming too this time.

Also if "you" are from India - reading this blog post today - do mind to buy a LFY magazine[available in most of the book stalls and Newspaper stalls.] You would never know how many "100s" of Rupees you waste on unwanted things daily.

Do buy LFY and spread a word or two about Linux and its use.

Happy reading and live long LFY....

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Belated B'Day

Hi All,

Belated birthday wishes.....

Ya my birthday was on Aug 14th... But I am not so foolish to wish myself!!!!!!

Belated birthday to Slackware. Ya Slackware 13.0 was released yesterday.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Debian Electronics - 3

Hi All,

Post #3....

Fresh with qucs - I wanted to do some more research and also was tweaking Debian sites for something specific that I needed.

Enter software: electric

1. Update your synaptic such that it handles sid too.
2. Search for "Electric" a package around 11Mb.

This seems to be a small software with big sets of features.

Visit this site: http://www.gnu.org/software/electric/electric.html

Thanks to Sun Microsystems and to Static free software for such a beautiful software.

Guys and Gals - why do you folks want to use proprietary Operating systems? And as if not to justify your first mistake - do you need a proprietary software too?????

Think twice.

Discuss these things with your colleges and universities, get more information about the softwares through debian forums, ircs and in fact through debian developers themselves and please incorporate free and open source.

Let your mind and heart free with freedom through open source. May god bless you.

Finally Happy Circuit Creation.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Debian Electronics - 2

Hi All,

Post #2....

Enter scene: Mr. BNK Sir. The scene from yesterday was completely changed when I discussed my assembler problems with my NIE college lecturer, BNK.

My sir started with something new. A new terminology altogether: ISE Webpack 10[Again google it out....].

Thank god that my sir gave me some good news [though got to confirm physically still.]. Check out xilinx.com[use google please]. This site - when a version 10 is released - it makes 9 free!!!..

And my research did not end here. I continued and found out something new - qucs.

Use synaptic and install qucs - which stands for Quite Universal Circuit Simulator.

Visit qucs.sourceforge.net for more details and also dont forget to check out that qucs has a pdf file which tells how to integrate vhdl programming to qucs.

All the best with your vhdl programming.

Read post - 3 before you close my site :)

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Debian Electronics - 1

Hi All,

As the saying goes - "Necessity is the mother of invention"....though I did not invent anything beyond the mother - Debian, here are some of the things. Make sure that you read all the 3 posts on Debian Electronics. This is #1.

The age of my electronics degree days were completely satisfied with real time electronic boards and circuits to the electronic work bench[EWB] software.

I had installed EWB using wine long time back. Any how thanks to National Instruments who still provide some support for EWB through their Academic Users.

All these started when my assembler Ananth Ram wanted me to find some tools in Linux through which people could work VHDL(Google it out if you dont know about it!!).

Here are my findings - I will post it in all these 3 posts now.

1. FreeHDL - use synaptic and search for vhdl and install this tool.

Do visit their site to know more how-tos to get yourself started on vhdl using freehdl. [Sorry dont ask me more info on this - as I really dont have enough time to work on these all. I am pretty busy with my J2EE work in office.]

2. ghdl - Use synaptic to install this too. Visit4More

I think that my assembler was not satisfied with this.

Go to post #2.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

rdesktop command line options

Hi All,

On the last saturday I cleared a very big hurdle - by using rdesktop.

Every time I connected to the terminal server located in London using grdesktop / tsclient - I faced a lot of bandwidth problems.

One of the most irritating problem was that I used to get an error each time I logged out of TS using grdesktop.

The TS supported only 16 colors and grdesktop though had an option of selecting colors, did not allow me to come down from its fixed 24 True colors.

I had found some temporary relief when I had started using tsclient - but I still faced bandwidth problems.

But when I connected the same using a XP-ed machine or when using a virtual boxed XP - I did not face any problem. Also the problem was better when I used Ubuntu 9.04.

Finally I googled a lot and I came to know that Debian Stable uses Xorg 7.3 server and this version had some problems.

I found out many smaller solutions but not a permanent one until I gave this below command of rdesktop. Check it out...

rdesktop -d domain -u ananth -p password -k en-us -a 8 -z -g 1024x768 -5 -P server_address

The options used in the above command are:
-d domain
-u user name
-p password
-k keyboard type stating english us
-a color depth set as 8
-z compress the RDP datastream
-g graphical resolution of 1024x768
-5 to tell it RDPv5
-P for persistent bitmap caching

There are many more options available. After you install rdesktop - use "man" to view more.

But of all the above options - the bolded option of "-a 8" did the trick to me, as I told rdesktop to use only 256 colors or 2^8 colors. This saved me the bandwidth a lot and the other options too worked.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

tsclient, rdesktop, grdesktop and your terminal server

Hi All,

This post explains how to connect to your TS [Terminal Servers] using rdesktop, grdesktop and tsclient tools in Debian.

A terminal server is one which is located remotely in some other part of the world. Most of the companies like how now make use of Cloud Computing - similarly make use of TS too.

One common use is in creating multiple users on a single server for doing development work. This is the same analogy you can think - when a System Admin in Unix/Linux creates multiple login accounts to different people, a very common scene in colleges, universities and etc.

Right now - if you have a TS located in US, and its server address being something like you.ftp.ac.in or any other IP, you may use these tools.

1. TSClient - Terminal Server Client

Installation is pretty simple - use synaptic and install it.

Then go to a konsole or terminal and issue the command "tsclient"

Then input all the details : username, ipaddress/server address, password, domain name, computer/host name.

And say connect - thats it you will be connected.

2. GRDesktop / rdesktop - Gnome Remote Desktop / remote Desktop

GRDesktop is the front end on Gnome for rdesktop.

Search for rdesktop and grdesktop in your synaptic and install it. Input all the details and thats it you are connected.

Note that you may want to use vncviewer / vncclient / tiger vnc to connect to a TS. But it would not work whenever you have to enter a Domain name. This is my observation - if you have a change, intimate me.

Note: If you use ultra vnc - then you do have an option of giving domain name too.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Secure FTP in Linux

Hi All,

After posting a list of 4 posts on "Java - I will end my "to"day with a post on Linux.

This post explains how to use sftp.

1. sftp - is for Secure FTP.
2. No command available in Windows for sftp. [If someone knows a command line tool - let me know.]

In Linux:

1. Open a konsole or terminal.
2. To connect use this command - "user@host"
3. It would ask you for a password. Enter it to proceed further.

Example for connecting an user "you" to ftp.debian.org [If Debian folks did allow you ;) ]

#> sftp you@ftp.debian.org
Enter you password: ******

You are logged in!.

FTP commands:

cd - change directory.
ls - list files
put - upload a file to the server
get - download a file to your machine
bye - log out of the server.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Code for Basics

Hi All,

If you all could observe - I started posting on the Java Basics. Please give me some time so that I can post the relevant code in such places too.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Java Basics - 3

Hi All,

Continuing.....

1. Try to get the knowledge of different Java Operators.
2. Don't use the operators without knowing them. Please....

Advice:

1. Never use the '&' operator in cases where you have to do a logical comparison.
2. Please use the '&&' operator.
3. & is for Bitwise AND and && is for logical AND.

Read, understand the basics before you code.

Link-1

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Java Basics -2

Hi All,

Continuing from the last post -->

1. Many of you would know different types of variables.
2. By different variables - I mean - a static variable, a global variable, a local variable.

My advice:

1. Dont use a local variable and try to get its value outside its scope.
2. If you want to get the value of a variable any where in the program - use a global variable.

Note for Java Beginners: For those of you who dont know what is a local, global, static and other kinds of variables - please do google it out.

Note for Advance Java-ers: I know that by using the term global, local and et al for a variable and calling itself a variable - I am doing a mistake here. But since these posts are for beginners - I have called them like that. Actually I mean that it is the variable scope rather than the variable. Thanks for judging me dumb!!!

Note: Would be posting in depth on variable scope sometime later.

Link-1
Link-2

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Java Basics - 1

Hi All,

This post [and future posts] tries to teach you some of the basics of Java programming Language. I would not suggest any one to personally visit my blog for these basics - that are available everywhere right from Online resources till the latest books and my best choice for all - the Sun documentations and how to guides.

Please feel free to buy good books like Head First Java, or any other good book that would provide you more information of these and also in detail.

To start : ---->

1. Many of you would know a try - catch block.
2. If you dont know - google it out or read it in the above books or resources.

My advice:

1. Never try to create and initialize a variable inside this try - catch block and try to access it from outside of it.

You would never be able to get the results you were expecting if you do so.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Installing Pidgin-sipe in Debian Lenny

Hi All,

This gives more information of how to install pidgin-sipe latest 1.6.x series to your Debian Lenny.

I: If you did not have Pidgin installed onto your Lenny:

1. Please do not use the debian repos. I checked in Sid branch also to find out that debian did not add the latest 1.6.x or not even the stable 1.5.0.

2. Hit your browser to pidgin.im/download/ubuntu/

3. Copy the apt-key and PPA setup commands.

4. Become the root and issue these commands.

5. Now open synaptic[reload repos] or issue apt-get update command.

6. Search for Pidgin. You will find pidgin 2.4 if you have all the debian repos. Dont worry. Press Ctrl + E and chose [force] the version of pidgin to 2.5.8 or what ever given by Ubuntu.
You will able to see the version with the "Ubuntu" keyword in it. Use that.

7. Similarly - you need to force the following packages too: 1. pidgin-data, libpurple0, and some of the other dependencies that synaptic puts forward.

[If you face any problems with step 7, mail me]

8. You may be asked to install a package called liblaunchpad*. If you dont find this in the ubuntu repos thro synaptic, dont worry, google it out and download the file - size in Kbs and install it using dpkg -i command.

9. Last step would be to install pidgin-sipe, if required force this package too. It has to show 1.6.3 as of today.

From here on, follow the "pidgin-sipe" post information to add an OCS/LCS account.

II. If you had Pidgin already installed:

1. I could not get the upgrade feature through synaptic - since I had installed the latest 2.5.8 through backports site.

2. I advise you to uninstall pidgin completely, if needed just logout and relogin.

3. Then follow the steps mentioned in I.

4. Note that if a logout does not work, just restart your machine - and force your versions properly.

Once again, thanking Pier11 for advising me that 1.5.0 was the stable version and 1.6.x was the latest version.

Thanks All,
Ananth Gouri

Comment on "pidgin-sipe" post

Hi All,

A reader of my blog - pier11 has commented and also advised me to use 1.6.x version of sipe.

Actually read the next blog post to know what I did. But thank you Pier.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Pidgin-sipe

Hi All,

I am really happy to write this blog. Read through yourself to find out the reason.

Steps:
1. Go to sipe.sourceforge.net and download the latest sipe plugin for pidgin - version 1.5.0

2. Install it using the normal steps - ./configure, make and sudo make install

3. Or if you are using Debian or Ubuntu, do add this repository to your sources.list file
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/aavelar/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
and reload your repos.

4. Then either use synaptic or apt-get to install pidgin-sipe package.

Inside Pidgin:

1. Add a Microsoft OCS/LCS account. That is to be selected in the protocol drop down list.

2. Give your details like Username, Domain details and dont finally forget to give your proxy info also.

3. You may be asked to download one or 2 certificates. Just say Allow.

4. You are done.

CONCLUSION:

Folks you are connected to a Microsoft server - I meant that you can throw your MS Communicator to trash and use this free sourced tool.

If this communicator was stopping you these days from using Linux - please stop that thought and go ahead now.

Pros:

1. This version of 1.5.0 is the latest stable version of the sipe plugin.
2. All kinds of bugs like - A message would be sent twice in the earlier sipe plugins, some messages would not be delivered at all.

All these kinds of bugs are now fixed in this latest issue.

Hope you all liked this post.

Enjoy your ending Monday Blues..........

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Wait.....

Hi All,

Wait till you install KDE 4.3.

I would suggest at least let it come to testing / squeeze branch before you install it to your lenny.

But if you are ready to take risks and manage all the difficulties yourself - by installing Sid, go ahead.

Do mail me for any problems you face. Also mail me if you find any success.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

KDE 4.3

Hi All,

Any one would love the latest software installed to their systems. Even I do!! So why wait, do it...

KDE 4.3

Installation procedure:

1. Add a sid branch address to your sources.list file.
2. Do a search for KDE, and install KDE-base. Thats it.

This is not so simple. You may get a lot of dependencies. But I did not get one. If you do get, mail me.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Screenlets / Widgets

Hi All,

This post tells you as to how to install screenlets - so called widgets for Debian Lenny.

Right what is a widget? I am just reading it now and trying to copy the same from wikipedia - "They are a set of independently developed widgets and they are run by a widgets-engine". I add - a screenlet manager allows to manage screenlets.

Installation:

1. You dont need any additional repos.
2. Just use your lenny main branch, add it to synaptic.
3. Search for screenlets.
4. Install it.

Finally go to accessories and click on screenlets. This opens the screenlets manager. Select the applications you want and enjoy.

By applications - there are aplenty. Ex: System monitors, IP monitors, mail check-ers, calendars,
clocks, sensors, rulers, converters, gmail check-er, a flower plant, a trash bin, volume monitors, post it(s) and many more.

If you may want to install more screenlets, go to this link - http://www.screenlets.org/index.php/Category:UserScreenlets.

I have added a screenshot of screenlets for your clarity.

Lemme know if you have any doubts or if you may want more info on this.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

RealPlayer and LSB problem - acroread

Hi All,

Lemme first make a note for you all. I want to blog a lot today. :)

Write, back to the problem.....

The recent post that I wrote of installing Real Player - had some issues. If you guys had read it, I had told you folks that you need to install LSB 3.2 before installing realplay.

My lecturer who tried doing the same recently faced a problem. As soon as he was ready to install LSB, synaptic warned that it would remove Adobe Reader he had installed.

Folks dont worry, go ahead and let it uninstall Adobe Reader.

Then go to adobe reader site and download the latest 9.1.2 and it gets installed flawlessly.

If you download the deb file - use "dpkg -i filname.deb" command and if you downloaded the bin file, use "chmod u+x filename.bin" and then "./filename.bin"

Issue the above commands in a konsole or terminal and without quotes.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

Pidgin & Yahoo Messenger

Hi All,

This is only an info post.

Recently I was not able connect to my yahoo mail a/c using Pidgin messenger.

I tried umpteen ways but for all in vain.

Finally I logged into the irc channel of pidgin - #pidgin and got this info. Please read this link for more detail info - http://tinyurl.com/pidgin-yahoo

It seems that yahoo folks did some changes in their server settings that prevented Pidgin to connect to the yahoo servers.

This has been fixed with the latest pidgin.

By default, Lenny ports with Pidgin 2.4 version. Please use backports.org and upgrade your pidgin to anything higher than 2.5.6 for a fix.

I will post some day -- installation of Pidgin 2.5.8.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

You are jar-ed...

Hi All,

Some Java crap post after ages......

This post explains how to run a jar application in your Linux Distro.

1. Download the latest Java Development Kit along with JRE through the Sun Site.
2. If you want an open-source java kit, go to openjdk.java.net
3. Installation is pretty simple. Use "chmod u+x filename" thro a konsole and run "./filename"
4. For an easier way, give proper repositories to your synaptic in Debian or Ubuntu and leave the rest to Synaptic by selecting the required JDK in the search bar.
5. Or use "update-java-alternatives -s 'your_synaptic_filename'" as root. Dont forget to update your Sources in Synaptic before giving this command.
6. Use export JAVA_HOME="your_jdk_path"
7. Also edit /etc/jvm to your jvm path.
8. Finally check for your java installation by "java -version" command and the output should be your JDK details.

PS: If you want a permanent fix to your Java path [see step 6 above] problems - please use the bashrc profile file or the /etc/profile file

Installing any Jar-ed app:

1. Use this command "java -jar 'filename.jar'"

Thats it....

Hope you all agree that I know some Java too.... :)

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri

AVG Linux Offline Update

Hi All,

This post explains as to how to update avg antivirus for linux. By update - I mean update the antivirus virus definitions.

Follow these steps:

1. Download the updates from this link - http://www.avg.com/download-update.
2. Download the non-windows updates from the above site.
3. Open gnome-terminal and type su - and then your root password.
4. Save it to say - Desktop.
5. Finally run this command in your terminal - "avgupdate -f /home/ananth/Desktop"

Note:
1. Where -f is for offline, the next option is the path of the downloaded files [bin files]
2. Replace /home/ananth - with /home/your_account_name

Thats it. Enjoy maadi.....

Take care and GN,
Ananth Gouri

Realplayer 11 GOLD

Hi All,

Today I got the latest Transformers Film in rmvb format. Though I new that MPlayer would play this file, I wanted to play this file in RealPlayer only.

How to play rmvb files in Lenny using RealPlayer

1. Go to this link Download RealPlayer for Linux here...
2. If you observe properly the opened webpage shows Deb and Rpm files. Download the deb file.
3. Use the command dpkg -i filename.deb [Replace the filename with the downloaded file]
4. Probably a dependency would be thrown asking for LSB support not available.
5. Use synaptic and install LSB. By default Lenny comes with LSB [Linux Standard Base 3.2]
6. Finally your real player is installed automatically.

Play the file now happily......

Take care All,
Ananth Gouri

Thunderbird/Icedove Mailbox Restore....

Hi All,

This post explains as to how to restore your mails in your Thunderbird or in your Icedove during an upgrade or reinstall of Linux.

Please follow these steps:

I. Before the installation of Linux [Steps to follow if you are already using these clients and have a lot of mails in your Local Folders]

1. Open Account Settings by going to Edit.
2. Note the path that is given in the Local Folders path text box.
3. Browse to that path in Nautilus [Before that type Ctrl + H ]
4. Copy paste all the files in that folder and store it somewhere.

II. After the installation of Linux / After Upgradation

1. Install Icedove / Thunderbird. [Icedove if it is Debian 5]
2. After setting up back your a/c, go to Account Settings and browse to the path mentioned in the text box - using Nautilus.
3. Note that - Do not change the path mentioned in this new install. The path will be completely different, but never mind.
4. Close Icedove / Thunderbird.
5. Paste all the files stored (before install) to this folder.
6. Start Icedove again to get back all of your mails and your local folders intact.

Note:

1. Dont forget to copy all the files or at least the MSF and Dat files. I suggest to backup all.
2. Nautilus is the Gnome File Manager. This changes if you are using KDE / XFCE.

Hope this post helped you all.

Thanks,
Ananth Gouri