wolfb - feeds and RSS

Focus on Digg, forget the rest, that's the message after looking at this:




alexa website statistics by alexaholic








Well, OK, also focus on Slashdot if you have a friend that can you a story published .... :)

Labels: domain, seo

For the last few months I have moved most of my software needs to Open Source and freeware. I have always used windows (XP now) but I wanted to depend less in propietary and / or expensive software.

Now I am seriously considering moving to a linux distribution (Ubuntu), but first I need to find all the software that I use on regular basis, or good alternatives in linux for those programs. What you have here is not what a typical users needs, only what I need .. :)

I will try to install as many applications as possible using Ubuntu's Synaptic program, and the add/remove application, to make it as simple as possible, since I am not comfortable installing binaries or rpms (not comfortable here means I have no clue how to do it ... :). One tip, though, in Synaptic, add the repository Universe. Many more applications will show up there.

Let's start. The software I use on regular basis is:

• AVG Antivirus: My friends keep telling me that I don't need an antivirus ... AVG has a Linux version now, but it is in RPM format for Debian, and I was unable to install it .... Solved ??
• Audacity: An audio editor. There is a version for linux that I installed via Ubuntu's Synaptic program. Very easy. Solved.
  
• Azureus : Azureus is a bittorrent client with a lot of options. It has a linux version, that I've installed also via Synaptic, very easily. Solved.
  
• PSPad: An excellent PHP and text editor. But looking at the directories I found Screem in the add/remove directory, which seems very good too. I will try it. Solved.
  
• FileZilla - FTP: a nice FTP program. But in Ubuntu I foung gFTP. And to be honest, a FTP program is a FTP program ..... Solved.
  
• Firefox: This is an absolute must. And not only Firefox, but all the add-ons and extensions that I use regularly. Firefox comes by default. And the extensions I need are: Scrapbook, Blogger web comments, Screen Grab, TabmixPlus, StumbleUpon, Gmail Manager, Yahoo Toolbar, GooglePreview and Performancing. They all seem to work perfect. Solved.
  
• Folder Lock: the need for hiding or encrypting folders doens't really exist in linux, since I can create different accounts and different security levels on my system. Solved.
  
• Google Earth: I installed it from Google's web page, downloading a bin file that I extracted. I am not even sure how I did it but it worked ... Solved.
  
• Maritime software, distances: This is a very specific piece of software that I use for mapping and calculating marine distances. Nothing similar for Linux .... Not solved.
  
• Microsoft PowerToys: Obviosly no need for them now ... :) Solved.
  
• OpenOffice.org: Open Office is included in Ubuntu. No need to do anything, already installed. Fantastic. Solved.
  
• Skype: There is a linux version, but I was unable to install it .... unsolved.
• SyncBackSE V4, backups: Allows backups to directories or CDs, and I use it to backup my files in another computer of the net. I haven't found anything similar for Ubuntu, but I am sure there must be something similar.
  
• TED - Television episode downloader: Not that I would ever use a television downloader program .... but it exists in a linux version. I haven't been able to install it yet, but working on it. Half solved.
  
• Thunderbird - email reader: very easy to install via Add/remove program. Solved.
  
• VideoLAN VLC: To me, the best video player and recorder. It is available in Synaptic. Easy. Solved.
  
• Wink - screencasting: No linux version. I am still looking for a good screencasting program. Not solved.
  
• Yahoo! Messenger: Ubuntu comes with Gaim already installed, which can accept Yahoo accounts. Solved.
  
• Zinio.com - magazines reader: I know, this is a bit lame, but I really enjoy reading these magazines when I am in the plane. I am subscribed to 6 of them, and they are very good. No linux version of the reader and no easy way to read them in Ubuntu. Any suggestion ? (apart from "do not use it").
  
• ZipGenius: ZipGenius is an excellent archive application. But Ubuntu comes with Archive Manager installed already. Easily solved.
  
• Zone Alarm - firewall: Do I need a firewall ?  No ? Really ? Any suggestion ?

Conclusion: I am still sticking with Windows in an all Open Source mode, but I am getting closer to jump to Linux. No, not yet.

Labels: linux, software

I have been trying to learn Linux for a while, but I was always concerned about the partitions, and that it might not work in my laptop. I have also being playing with the idea of using the VMWare player, to run a Linux distribution "inside" my windows, but the appliances available were not exactly what I was looking for.

I had also tried some Live-CDs, but my laptop has no internal CD-Rom, and I hardly ever travel with it.

And with so many distributions, it was difficult to decide on which one to install.

But then I found Easyvmx, that allows you to create a VMWare appliance of your choice, with any Linux distribution that you like.

EasyVMX allows you to create an appliance from a Linux live-CD. But to create a Linux appliance that runs from the  hard drive without a need for creating a Live-CD, you simply have to create an appliance that has a CDROM #2 (Slave) pointing to "disk.iso"; then, download the Linux distribution of your choice, and rename it as disk.iso. Put all the files from Easyvmx and the disk.iso in the same directory, and run the appliance. But select as active the CDROM #2 and the CDROM #1 as inactive. Once the appliance starts loading, press ESC, and choose to boot from the CDROM, which will make the disk.iso file to load. Once it is loaded, you are inside the Live-CD. Click on install and install the Linux distro to your "virtual" Hard disk. Then reset the appliance, this time connecting again CDROM #1 and disconnecting CDROM #2. And there you are, you have a full Linux distro installed for you to play and evaluate.

I am happily trying Aurox, Slax, Ubuntu 6.06 and Kubuntu 6.06 right now .... :)

Labels: linux