Linux Resources

I’m sure there are a ton of places out there with Linux resources. However, since I’ve decided to look into them here’s my list. My interests are in better administration and possibly delving into Kernel development at a later stage.

Here’s what I’ve found so far:

• Thinking in Linux: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-roadmap1/index.html
• Hacking the Kernel: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/tutorials/l-kernelhack1/index.html
• Kernel Newbies: http://kernelnewbies.org/ 
• Kernel Source code: http://kernel.org
• Linux Docs /Guides: http://www.tldp.org/guides.html

In addition there are several pdf ebooks available from university sites, if you’re interested in delving into development.

To get the source code, use “git clone” to download it from kernel.org – you can do a quick online search on this term and the version of the kernel you want to work with to find the correct command parameters

Windows vs. Ubuntu Desktop for a home server

This is a tough comparison to make, but what I’d like to do is start by coming up with a set of points that will help me frame this issue properly.

What do I want in a home server? I’ll try and answer in no particular order:

• A backup desktop in case of crashes
• Storage space for
• Music & Videos (Media Server?)
• Photos
• Minimal fuss
• Secure
• Easy to use for a non-geek person

Let’s drill down some more into each of these points.

A backup desktop in case of crashes

I want to be able to browse, access my email, edit and view documents, images and download any software to fix issues on my other machines. I’d love to have some communication tool like Skype on it too. I may also want some diagnostic software to test hard drives which I may attach externally.

In effect, I want a browser, office suite, image viewing and editing apps, plus some storage space on a reasonably fast machine.

Storage space

Easily manage permissions for the storage space that I’m setting up, plus set up a server to serve media? Also some basic software to manage the media I’m serving.

Minimal fuss

Set up is a one time issue, so I’m ok with something which may not be too easy, but day to day management should be simple, plus minimal amount of reboots, if possible.

Secure

Antivirus, Firewall, and a strong system so I don’t have to keep taking it offline!

Easy to use for a non-geek person

My wife should be able to use it with minimal support from me. Also, this could be a machine our guests use – so perhaps options for privacy/profiles for guests.

I think this covers most ideas I have. Please let me know if I’m missing any.

Feature\OS	Windows 7	Ubuntu 11.10
Backup machine	Firefox/IE LibreOffice & MS Office Windows Live Image Gallery Scandisk & Chkdsk to scan attached HDs Skype for Windows	Firefox/others LibreOffice/MS Office (with WINE) Built-in viewers, plus others available from software sources Disk Utility and generally constant built-in monitoring Skype for Linux
Storage Space	Easy to add HDs, but software RAID available on the desktop OS is simple. Media Servers available – http://www.serviio.org/ looks good for both Linux and Windows.	Easy enough if you read some of the articles I’ve written. I think should be easy enough with Disk Utility and the software RAID can be as complex as you want it to be. Mediatomb Media Server is simple to install and manage, but very basic with features. Serviio looks interesting
Minimal Fuss	Windows 7 is easy to install. I’m annoyed by the constant restarts and compulsory restarts though.	Ubuntu was easy to install and managing updates means just restarting the app.
Secure	Security Essentials and Windows Firewall, plus minimize the number of externally used USB sticks etc. But I’m very happy with these for now. Having ADBlock Plus on Firefox is also a big plus.	Don’t use a firewall and don’t have an AV. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Antivirus
Easy to use	Yes	Yes

I’m enamored to several features in Linux; hassle free updates which never appear to require a system restart, free software packages available through a simple and easy UI, and a great ecosystem and variety of distributions and apps. However, Linux is raw in certain areas. For example, when my system disk was full, I had trouble booting and it took some time and know-how to restore my machine.

Final take: For me Linux started as an experiment. I never expected I’d have a system that was so easy to manage and play with and I’ve been surprised at how easy it has been to transition to Linux. I’d say that if you’re willing to take it on, Linux could give MS’ home machines a run for their money and sometimes even kick-ass ,e.g. with the RAID. If you plan to keep your tinkering (add/remove apps that you have no clue about) to a minimum, Ubuntu 11.10 takes my vote for a home machine.

Heard of spellcheck?

Spot the error yet? It’s true and it happened.

The URL Paster

Finally, I’ve hit upon a killer idea for a plugin, that if written will make me incredibly famous and pave the way for world domination!

You can decide on the worth of the plugin and it’s potential when you read my idea. Here it is!

I find myself pasting a whole lot of stuff (esp. URLs) into emails. And often the process goes as follows:

• Open browser
• Search for a few keywords
• Locate a few results that seem to match
• Open results in tabs
• Review info in tabs, and then
• copy paste these urls with some text into my mail

How about a plugin that would just allow me to select the urls currently being browsed and paste one or more into an email or blog post with the site’s description!

I’d get it in a jiffy. So, that makes for a cool project for me to work on before someone else makes use of it… now to pull out my books on C++!

Screengrabbers for Windows

Best Free Screen Capture Utility

As an alternative to the utilities that come with the OS, the freeware products in this review cover most of the following useful features and functions which users may find they need.

• Capture full screen or freely selected screen areas.
• Auto detect windows and control objects such as button, box, toolbar, tab, etc.
• Snap scrolling windows, allow delayed captures.
• Re-size screen shots or create thumbnails and other extra features.

Just read this cool review and remembered to install ScribeFire on my Windows machine too!

Syncing Google Tasks in Thunderbird Lightning

Issue 36 – google-caldav-issues – Support VTODO / Tasks – A place to track issues for Google Calendar’s CalDAV server. – Google Project Hosting

[Vote for this issue and get email change notifications] Your vote has been recorded.

No, this is not possible at this time with Lightning and the Google Calendar Provider. If you want to have a chance of getting this working in the near future, without working on the code yourself, then vote for this issue.

To vote, click on the link above and head to the bottom of the page where it says, “Add a star” and click on the star next to it. Do this, and ask everyone you know, who uses Thunderbird with Gmail, to do the same. Hopefully, our votes will bring this much needed feature to fruition.

Shutter + ScribeFire

Shutter – Feature-rich Screenshot Tool

Shutter is a feature-rich screenshot program. You can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website – apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all within one window.

Additionally, the time-delay capture is awesome; I need no longer worry about keystrokes.

I noticed that when posting with ScribeFire, the screenshots I was pasting from my clipboard weren’t being uploaded. While Windows Live Writer does it better, with ScribeFire, if you use Shutter, any clips you take are automatically saved as files so it’s a matter of uploading the image:

Discovering my music with Banshee…

Banshee

Simple enough to enjoy. Powerful enough to thrill. Open source through and through.

And I agree – well, I can’t say I love it totally, since my ID tags are all over the place, but otherwise by placing a few songs in the play queue, I’ve been enjoying some cool songs that I’ve not listened to in a while with the following selection:

Blogging with ScribeFire

I think ScribeFire may be the blogging tool for me on Linux. My key needs (off the top of my head) when blogging are the following:

• Formatting – bullets, tables, hyperlinks, and strike-through
• Images – screenshots that I insert into my blogs or just plain images
• Categories & Tags – key because they help me organize the entries on my blog
• Access to archives – to link back to previous posts

ScribeFire has formatting and cool shortcuts:

And image insertion. I can’t find a way to manage the picture formatting (text flow) like in Windows Live Writer (WLW). 

Categories and Tags are easily entered via the tabs on the right.

And the Entries tab shows you some of the previous posts.

So, for now, I can rest satisfied. I’ll need to find a better screenshot tool than the default one Ubuntu has to offer, but that can rest for now.

Adding Personal Package Archives

Packaging/PPA/InstallingSoftware – Launchpad Help

Step 1: Visit the PPA’s overview page in Launchpad and look for the heading that reads Adding this PPA to your system. Make a note of the PPA’s location, which looks like:

ppa:gwibber-daily/ppa

Step 2: Open a terminal and enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:user/ppa-name