Jaunty Review

I received my free 9.04 CD by mail today. I am excited about checking out the content, but due to unavailability of a proper working system, I am being forced to control my curiosity.

But in the mean time, here is a detailed review of Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope from Lifehacker.

Cheat code: Short commands

We all use the same commands in quick succession very often. Right? For example, in UNIX lab, I can't tell you how irritating it is to keep compiling and executing the same file over and over again.
$gcc file.c
$./a.out

After typing this once, if we type
$!g
$!.
the shell executes the previously said set of command.

What happens is that if we write "!" followed by a letter, the shell searches your history and executes the last command starting with the letter.

Secure Your Box

Security is a very important feature of Linux. Virus or worms can't install themselves on Linux. But are there any trojans for Linux? Here is a myth-buster for you: THERE ARE.

Trojan is a malware which rely totally on social engineering to work. Remember the trojan horse legend of the Greeks. It was trickery and social engineering. A trojan fools you into thinking that it is something useful and you end up installing it. Any 12 years old kid can create a trojan. It doesn't take much of programming mastery. Creating virus or worm is much more complex.

A virus affects other file or program and replicate itself without user intervention. A worm doesn't require another file. It exists as stand-alone file and can replicate itself, once again, without user intervention.

No software can install itself on Linux and hence there can be no virus or worm for it. But since trojans rely upon user intervention, there exists trojans for Linux. Following are some tips (and they are not limited to Linux users) to secure up your PC:

-> Don't login as root, unless it is absolutely necessary.
-> Don't install any package if you are not sure about its origin. Check if the packages are digitally signed.
-> Keep all network-related packages up-to-date and regularly update the OS.
-> Turn off any network feature you don't require. It is not necessary to connect your laptop to any network if you are not using the network.
-> Create backups. It protects you from your own mistakes. I learnt the lesson the hard way when I accidently deleted 20 GB of priceless pictures of family and friends.
-> Use firewall to enhance the security features provided by tcpd.
-> The most powerful antivirus software ever created is your common sense. Use it.

muLinux, a tiny distribution

I met a guy on IRC who wanted to install Xubuntu on his unusually obsolete system. In order to help him (keeping in tune with the Linux community's helpfulness), I began searching the net for an ultra-lightweight distribution. And I stumbled upon muLinux.

muLinux was created by Michele Andreoli, an Italian mathematics and physics professor, to run on old and obsolete computers. It can run from a floopy drive (Yups... a floopy drive). Based on Linux kernel version 2.0.36, the main drawback of the distribution is that it has very limited features and some of the codes and packages dates back to 1998. It can run with 8 MB RAM (4 MB, if installed on HDD), 20 MB HDD and an Intel 80386 (or later) processor. The last stable version was 14r0 and it was released on 2004-02-10.

I should warn you that it doesn't have a GUI (but you can install X11 in it). And you have to install packages like TCL, GCC, Perl, etc. in order to use them. Anyone who is new to Linux should stay away from it as it would be too complex and might give you a wrong impression about the user-friendliness and ease of using Linux.

Because of it being very small, I am thinking of downloading it's source code and modifying it to the extent that I can. I will keep updating about my progress of the project on this blog. Anyone interested in helping me should mail me.

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"Linux is only free if your time has no value" - Jamie Zawinski.

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Update: I downloaded the tgz files and browsed through the packages. I poked into the source code too, but didn't screw around too much.

Ubuntu 9.04 [Jaunty Jackalope] Alpha 5 - Download, use and report

The Alpha 5 version of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jauntu Jackalope) is up for download.


To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10
1. Press Alt+F2
2. Type update-manager -d
3. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

Download it, test it and report any bug you encounter to http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu

ISOs and torrents can be downloaded from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/jaunty/alpha-5/

More information available on the Ubuntu website.

One of the incoming logo for the project

Go Live

What if you are scared of getting out of your comfort zone of using Windows, but still want to try Ubuntu? What if you don't have enough spare space in your HDD and don't want to lose valuable data by installing Ubuntu (or any other distro, for that matter)? In other words, what if you want to use Ubuntu without actually installing it?

Voila. Its possible. Use a live CD. Download the iso of the live CD from the Ubuntu website. A live CD loads the kernel into the computer's memory, without affecting the HDD, and runs itself by utilizing the memory and the CD drive.

I don't know much about how Linux live CDs (although I've used Ubuntu live CD on several occassions) work, but I am trying to gather info (thanks to the very large and helpful Linux community available online) about it and I'll post more on it as soon as possible.


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"Software is like sex. It's better when it's free." - Linus Trovalds, creator of Linux.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Xubuntu? Part One.

KDE or GNOME? That's the question almost every Linux newbie asks. In Ubuntu lingo, that question translates into: Ubuntu or Kubuntu?

Ubuntu uses GNOME desktop while Kubuntu comes with KDE by default. And both of them are equally good, as both have their own areas of niche. So the choice is totally yours. You should use the environment in which you are comfortable.

The college in which I am studying uses Fedora with KDE. KDE's interface is lot more like Windows' than GNOME's. So anyone who has migrated recently from Windows would be at ease with KDE, but also remember that KDE uses more resources than GNOME and if your system has less than 256 MB of RAM, you should stick to the latter (or better still use Xfce. More on that later).

Each desktop environment comes with its own applications. GNOME has Nautilus (a file browser) and f-spot (a photo management software) among others, while KDE comes with Konquerer (a very good web browser) among others. But applications should not be a problem because GNOME applications can run on KDE and vice-versa.

If you use a really screwed up system with very poor resources, I'd suggest XFCE for you. It is small and lightweight (15 MB size as compared to GNOME's 180 MB or KDE's 250 MB). It doesn't come with bundled applications (which is actually a good thing as you can use any KDE or GNOME applications in it.)

So, should you use Ubuntu, Kubuntu or Xubuntu? That's really your call. Choose the one you like working in. I opt for GNOME because of its ease, look and stability.


All these nonsense about looks and beauty reminded me of an article I read somewhere which said that we should never get attracted to a girl only because of her looks. The whole point being that we should never judge a book by its covers. But the question is... Who wants to bang a book?

Codecs! Codecs! And CODECS!

Don't we all wish there were something like k-lite media pack for Linux? Don't we? Tell me, don't we? Yes, we do. And actually there is something in that line. And it was created just for us by the community which created Mplayer. And above all, downloading and installing it is all child's play.

Follow the steps and you should be done in a few minutes.
1. Log in as root or use 'su' to check whether the directories /usr/local/lib/codecs and /usr/lib/win32 exists. If they don't, create them. (And please don't forget that Linux is case-sensitive. Double check the spelling.)
2. Download the .tar.bz2 file from http://tinyurl.com/lincodecs
3. Unpack the file using 'tar' command and copy and paste the unpacked files to the two directories.
4. You can now watch the porn videos you downloaded.

The file contains codecs to play mpeg and variants, DivX, Real Formats, Windows formats, Cinepak and Intel formats, Ogg formats and Quick time formats for audio and video playback.

But if you are still not satisfied and want something exactly like k-lite codec pack, then download it (Yes, it is available for Linux too. But saying that earlier would have killed all the fun.) from http://tinyurl.com/klitelinux. Download it tar file, unpack it and place the unpacked files in the two folders.

P.S. If the links fail for any reason, Google it. And while googling it, don't forget to thank Sergey Brin and Larry Page. And if you don't know who they are, just google them. :D

Codec unavailability? I have VLC media player.

I am a music freak and I needed something in which I could play music files and videos after installing Ubuntu. Of course, Kaffeine and Mplayer exists by default (in almost all Linux distros I know), but the mp3, avi and other propriety codecs are not provided (This is the reason you hate Linux, right?). And I didn't want to download just the codecs. So I downloaded the Open Source player that I have been using for the last 2 years on my Windows system. VLC media player is small, useful and incredibly sexy.
I downloaded the source code and compiled it myself. This because I had to install the software on another system running Fedora. (This is a huge advantage about downloading source tarballs. You can use the same source code files to install a software in different OSes. Also I like reading the humorous cookie file which comes with the VLC source code files in its source tarball.) But if you want to install it only in Ubuntu, then use 'apt-get' or download the .deb package from http://www.videolan.org/vlc (Details about installation and use are provided in the documentation in the website.)



The interface is similar to its Windows version. The only difference in the interface which I noticed was that instead of 'File' menu there is 'Media'. All said about the interface. If you have used VLC in Windows can use it in Ubuntu. (Actually, anybody who has ever touched a computer can operate VLC. It is that simple... :) )
However, it doesn't run as smoothly here as it does on Windows, as the Linux version still lacks a few codecs. You can also install the Windows version using Wine. (No, I am not asking you to get drunk. Wine is a software with which you can run Windows applications inside Linux. More on that later.)
That is all for now. I am dying to watch a few music videos. S.O.A.D is awesome. They should regroup and release more albums.

Python Is Awesome

Is Python simple? Following is a programmes (Yes, complete programme) to find sum of two numbers and to print the string "Hello, world". Read the 5 lines and you be the judge.


a=10
b=20
c=a+b
print c
print "Hello, world"




Why learn Python? Read on:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2004-January/244050.html

My Programming Histroy

print [Hello World]

This simple statement is used to print the most famous string of programming world in LOGO. And it is significant for me because it is one of the first programming instruction I ever learnt. LOGO, inspired by LISP, is the first programming language which we were taught in the 2nd standard in school. I know its a simple language, but what else do you expect 8 years old to learn? I fell in love with computers the first time I saw one (And that might be because the cutest girl in out class sat in the next to me in the computer lab). The LOGO programmes were small and simple. And hence we had lots of extra time in the lab. Being the introvert I once was, I started experimenting with the damn machines. And gradually stated writing some totally useless codes. (Of course, I was punished for not sticking to the curriculum, but the joy of doing something new is much more than the pain of being punished. The introvert felt humiliated, but the programmer rejoiced). And with that began my thryst with codes and programmes.

After LOGO, we were taught BASIC. It was more complex than LOGO and hence more interesting. Now I began doing crappier and more useless stuffs with BASIC. Learning BASIC had another advantage though. It made C/C++ easy (which I am learning now at college. I also learnt a little bit of Perl last year.)



BASIC was followed by LOTUS 1-2-3, a spreadsheet program, which I never liked because there were better softwares (ahem... MS Excel...) out there, which were easier and colourful (I was 14 at that time. Kids like colours.)

This was followed by DOS, Windows 95/98 and ya... of course... MS Paint. An aunt in the neighbourhood (Was she crazy?) taught me basic HTML and Javascript.

After High School, I started using Fedora 3 and Red Hat 9. (Just to appear cool and geeky.) That started my love for Linux and OSS. And the love is the reason this blog exists.

P.S. Apart from the C/C++, which we are being taught at college, I am also trying to learn Perl and Python by myself. We will be taught JAVA in the 7th semester, I think.

Cheat Code : vi Spell Check

We all love the spell-check feature of MS Word, don't we? And we certainly won't be complaining if we come across any such feature on vi. Try the following command out in the command-mode in vi:

: w !spell -b

It would list the misspelt words, if any.

10 Reasons Why You Should Not Switch To Linux

Now here is an interesting article. We, the Linux community, completely understand if you don't want to use Linux and are completely at ease with using Windows. As a matter of fact, here are 10 reasons why you should not switch over to Windows.

Why Should I Use Linux???

This is probably the most asked question in the world of Open Source.
I came across an interesting article. Follow the link:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/whats-this-linux-thing-and-why-should-i-try-it/

Downloading Complete

Finally downloaded and burned the ISO. Currently using the Live CD.

Sometimes the GUI looks better than Windows or even, Mac. I have been using Fedora 9 in the past. So I am still adjusting.

Ubuntu - Linux For Human Beings

I am still downloading the ISO.

I haven't used Ubuntu in the past. So I wish to document my day-to-day experience with the OS on this blog.