Commented on “Knowliz”

That’s a nice question. Actually most of the newbies in Linux world don’t know that Live CD and alternate CD are two different things because of the way the install the operating system.
Live CD is generally provides graphical user interface (GUI) and hence you don’t have to enter any UNIX command to run the applications.
Alternate CD files are different and while installation you don’t generally get the graphical interface. While installation you will see Blue and gray screens which receives only keyboard inputs. Your mouse won’t work. (At least I have seen that way).
So in short, you need to download a separate Ubuntu file. Search for “alternate” in the file name and then burn it on a CD/DVD and follow the instructions above.
Hope this information helps you understand the difference between Live and Alternate CD.
Thanks

Originally posted as a comment
by knowliz
on Knowliz using DISQUS.

Crossposting : Noise or Buzz

Cross posting is good when you want to broadcast something, so that all your friends on various networks get the news. For example, a link to your latest blog post or something like that.
But if everything is being cross-posted, then it creates noise.
That’s why while setting cross-posting features, one has to be really careful. You should be selective while cross-posting.
This is the reason, I use Friendfeed to update my Twitter status, Twitter to update my Facebook status, and so on. And I selectively update my FF status.
Posterous allows you to autopost, but in my opinion it creates noise on all the connected services as well as a threat of creating DUPLICATE content. If the content is being autoposted on your blog too. Isn’t it.
But people might have different opinion about it.
Let me know your views about it.

Originally posted as a comment
by knowliz
on Knowliz using DISQUS.

Newspaper Future doesn’t look bright

“One of her many lessons was “always be aware of what’s going on around you”. After homework and chores were done, it was time to sit down and read the paper.”
This all being aware is now changing with the use of Twitter and likes. People are getting news from Twitter and Facebook etc because it is Live and tells you what is happening NOW. Not the old news which you read in Newspaper.
In my opinion, “Newspaper is – what happend yesterday. Whereas Twitter etc. – what is happening now.”
That is technology innovation which has changed how people like to know about what is going on. Newspaper need to build upon on that so that when people get the news, it is not old.
Or may be they need to move away from News and become Editorial columns which people can read when they want to. However that place is also captured by Blogs.
So the future for Newspaper doesn’t really look bright, unless they innovate something different.

Hope you agree.
Cheers..

Originally posted as a comment by Anurag Bansal on Knowliz using Disqus.

10 Basic Linux Questions, Answered – The Easy Way

Almost all my friends use Windows or Mac. (not many of them are geek like me.) And when I talk to them about Ubuntu (sometimes) they ask various questions.
I am trying to answer some of these questions in this blog post thinking that other Windows users might also have similar questions.
What comes out of these interesting discussions from various people who use Windows or Mac that they are in fact a little afraid to give Linux a try. And many of them just use Windows because they don’t even know that there can be a computer without Windows on it.
So here are some of these questions and their answers:
[via Knowliz] 10 Basic Linux Questions, Answered – The Easy Way

Disqus Blogger Comment Sync

@DISQUS Blogger native comment sync is one of the many things which I think is stopping lot of potential users to use DISQUS. Almost everyone using DISQUS wants to have this feature badly. All of them have been requesting this feature for as long as you can go back in history of DISQUS.
I don’t know why they are not able to achieve it already or why is it taking so much time, considering the fact, that other company (JS-Kit) has achieved it long back.
Till now I have been happy with DISQUS and just waiting for some of these feature. But the only reason I am not yet moving to JS-Kit is because I somehow don’t like the way comments look on blog using JS-Kit. Otherwise JS-Kit is a feature rich service which no other service has achieved so far.
Also, there is no feature which JS-Kit doesn’t have but others do.
So for now, I guess, I am just giving DISQUS some time before making a final decision. Just wish, the company doesn’t test the limit of users patience.

Thanks for your inputs as well Hugh.

Originally posted as a comment by Anurag Bansal on Knowliz using Disqus.

100+ FREE iPhone Applications you gotta have on your iPhone/iPod Touch

Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr

Bought an iPhone or ipod touch and don’t know what to do.  Which applications to install.  Then check out 100+ FREE iPhone Applications you gotta have on your iPhone/iPod Touch to find out what all you can get for FREE on your iPhone.

Enjoy.

50 Firefox Add-on you should not miss to use

Though there are thousands of thousands of Firefox add-ons.  Everyone has their own personal favorites.  But I am sure some of them are everyone’s favorite.

I am trying to compile a list of best of the best Firefox add-ons and extensions which are useful for specific purpose so that I can quickly install them every time I install Firefox on any new machine.

I will request all the visitors and readers to help me compile this list by suggesting their own favorites and what they find good about it.  I will keep updating this list based on your feedback and after I try it.

Below is the list of 50 of my favorite Firefox Add-ons.  I have categorized the list as per my convenience and based on purpose.  Check it out on Knowliz…

10 Gmail Firefox Extensions/add-ons you should not miss to try

It will not be wrong to assume that almost every one uses Gmail. And most of the user are happy the way it is. But…More is always better. Isn’t it?

Now if you use Firefox, the second best browser in the world, you are in luck. Because you can extend the capabilities of Gmail by using some of the following Firefox Add-ons specially made for Gmail.
Read about them on Knowliz.

Powered by ScribeFire.

50 Places to share Photo, Video and other files for FREE

I am sharing this article from my other blog – Knowliz, which provides you a resource of over 50 places to share photos, videos, music, documents and any other file.  Check it out.

http://www.knowliz.com/2008/09/photo-video-and-file-sharing-50-more.html

Posted using ShareThis

Over 100 Places to Share and Host Photos, Videos, Music, Documents and other Files for Free

Alright guys, here is the complete research result of my hard work over the previous week or so. I am providing the results in a series of 4 posts. (Believe me, it is a lot of work to compile the result and provide them in a easy to follow format.) This post is second in the series.

The first one was the consolidation if people find it easy to follow the excel file and all.
Below is a list of 30 places to share Photos, Video, Music, Documents and other files and hosting solution. Rest 30 or so will follow in a future post. Hope you find it useful.

Read more on Knowliz…

20 things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux

Generally, in any operating system when you first install it fresh, you don’t get all the goodies.  You have to install and download various applications and install them to make it suitable for your personal taste and requirement.  Same is the case with Ubuntu as well.  Unlike Windows, you have email client (Evolution) and an office suite (OpenOffice.org) by default loaded when you first install it.  (Microsoft wants you to buy them separately and install it.  But that’s a different debatable topic.)  Read more on Knowliz…

Posted using ShareThis

‘Technomania’ merges with ‘Knowliz.com’

I have been playing around with couple of blog platforms for some days, Blogger, WordPress, Livejournal & Vox etc.  Because of the complication of using WordPress.org, domain & webhosting and all and overall cost involved, I made up my mind.  Finally I have booked a domain for myself : www.knowliz.com.  I will be moving all my blogs to this address and kind of reduce some burden of maintaining different blogs containing almost same content i.e. Technology related whether it is Ubuntu, linux, Computers, Microsoft, Office, Vista, Web 2.0, Open Source, Blogging or anything related to computer and electronics.

It is hard to say because I kind of liked wordpress.com as well and it was really a tough decision to make between Blogger and WordPress.  But following are couple of concerns I found while using wordpress.com :

• I was not completely free to use and modify my blog the way I wanted, but I could do that with Blogger.
• I was not able to use ads or anything containing iframes and scripts…really felt bad about it.  It limits lot of possibilities for me.
• I can’t modify the default templates available to further customize it for my purpose.
• It was kind of forcing everyone to switch to wordpress.org if they wanted any customization and wanted to tweek a little bit here and there….
• In my personal opinion, if wordpress.com is free then let it be free like blogger, please don’t limit the possibilities.
• I was not able to write the paid reviews which might have helped me to host my blog going forward.
• I added one recommendation on this blog to use Ubuntu and some non-profit links in the sidebar, they were removed.  Sorry about it….I hate wordpress.com about this.

Though there were some good things about wordpress.com, it was really easy to set up, yet as long as someone tries to force the things on me, I feel bad.  And when there are other options available elsewhere it was very hard to be loyal with wordpress.  I had to take this decision

But that is my personal opinion and kind of constrain right now not to invest too much on web hosting and domain, so I am merging this blog with my own domain on www.knowliz.com.

See you all guys there on that page.  Knowliz.com will have everything you got on this blog related to Ubuntu and open source community as well as other technology updates.  I am sure you will really like it there.

So, don’t wait any longer, click on any of the links provided in this post and subscribe to the feed.

Thank you wordpress.com, but this is not the place I thought will be the best place to set up my blog on.

Edit: I just noticed that the Ubuntu recommendation links are back.  Thanks for that.

How to install Google Earth on Ubuntu/Linux?

I am sure Google Earth will be among the first few things you will want to install on your Ubuntu machine. The installer which you get online is not a regular installer which Ubuntu default installation will be happy with. You can’t just double-click to install it.
That’s why I thought of providing the steps to install Google Earth on your Ubuntu or any other linux machine for that matter. Steps are as follows:

1. Download Google Earth to your desktop.
2. Go to Applications > Accessories > Terminal.
3. Type in cd ~/Desktop
4. Type in sh GoogleEarthLinux.bin
5. Follow the on screen prompts to complete the installation.
6. You will see Google Earth icon on your desktop after the installation is complete.
7. At the same time it will also give you an option to launch it for the first time after the installation is complete.
8. Google Earth should have been installed in the default location “/usr/local/Google/Google-earth“.
9. That’s it. Enjoy the cool Google Earth features.

TIP: By the way, you might have already guessed the trick. To install any software on Ubuntu with a *.bin extension you can do the same to install it. Just browse to the directory, at the terminal type sh *.bin. Your software should be installed properly.

Keep reading Technomania for more tips and tricks on Ubuntu, Linux and Open source community updates. You can subscribe to the feed or receive email as and when I update anything on this blog.
Cheers…
Anurag Bansal

How to get different wallpapers on each workspace in Ubuntu?

I am sure you have always used to think if it is possible to have different wallpapers on different workspaces in Ubuntu using GNOME. Isn’t it? Don’t worry I have a tip for you, and it is very simple too.
Assumptions:

• You have Ubuntu 8.04 running. (Though it should work with 7.10 as well. But I haven’t tried it.)
• You have installed CCSM. Check under System ->Preferences if Advanced Desktop Effect Setting is there.
• For better results you have Avant Window Navigator installed. (Else you won’t be able to use any shortcut on your desktop.)

If you have set up all that then it should be pretty easy for you. Just follow the following steps:

1. Go under System> Preferences > Advanced Desktop Settings
2. Select Desktop Cube >Appearance > Background images
3. 
4. Click New under background images and add all the images you want as background.
5. 
6. Alt + F2 to launch the Run Terminal.
7. Enter gconf-editor and hit Run.
8. 
9. Go under apps > nautilus > preference
10. 
11. Deselect ‘Show Desktop’.

That’s it. You are all set. Check all the workspaces. You should have the images you selected as wallpapers on these. Cool…

Note:
You will notice that you can’t right-click on the desktop and all your existing desktop shortcuts are gone. But don’t worry they are not gone. You will have to go under Places > Desktop to see all the thing you kept on original desktop. Going forward if you save something on desktop they will also appear on that location only. This is one thing you will have to sacrifice if you want to have different wallpapers on each workspace.

But hold on…there is a good news for you if you enabled Avant Window Navigator, then all your shortcuts should be there.  Enjoy different wallpapers on all your workspaces. Did you like it?

I would like to see your screenshot with all the workspaces as I have shown here. Or if any other customization you did to achieve better results, drop a comment here so that others also can learn from you.

Keep reading Technomania for more tips and tricks on Ubuntu, Linux and Open source community updates. You can subscribe to the feed or receive email as and when I update anything on this blog.
Cheers…
Anurag Bansal

What is Compiz, Beryl, Metacity & Emerald etc. in Ubuntu?

You might have been hearing lots of terms for desktop managers in Ubuntu or any other distro. I was also confused initially but I collected some information which I wanted to share with you.
Compiz is a Desktop manager which is enabled by default in Ubuntu 8.04. It controls how all the windows appear on the screen, like the title bar, colors, icons, cursors and borders etc. Ubuntu already has one which is called Metacity which is very basic. The advantage of using Compiz is that it has lots of cool effects. Which can make you windows transparent, enable Desktop cube, many customized effects while minimizing, maximizing, opening, closing & moving windows as well as many eye candy effects.
Compiz-fusion was originally called Compiz and had some limited effects. Another window manager Beryl had some other effects and some common effects as Compiz. Eventually Compiz and Beryl combined resulting in Compiz-Fusion.
Emerald is another desktop manager which helps you modify the settings further and help you cutomize the entire theme itself. But you can enable either one of Compiz or Emerald. This is a short explanation of the terms.

There are some other plugins like cairo dock and AWN also which provides you the ability to get a Mac OS X like dock. There are definitely lot of things you can do to get better look than Vista.

Now how to enable those effects:

1. Ubuntu 8.04 by default has Compiz enabled.
2. To enable advanced features :
   Go to System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects and select the last option ‘Extra’.
3. Restart the computer.
4. Search for ‘Compiz’ in Synaptic Package Manager or Add/Remove software and install ‘Advanced Desktop Effect Settings’
5. Once installed, play around to get the required effects.

Keep reading Technomania for more tips and tricks on Ubuntu, Linux and Open source community updates. You can subscribe to the feed or receive email as and when I update anything on this blog.

Cheers…

Anurag Bansal