FullCircle Magazine Issue 13

8/14/2019 FullCircle Magazine Issue 13

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DEMO DAY AND NEPAL PARTY

LUCA FALAVIGNA

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU COMMUNITY

full circle

HARDY HERON RELEASED!

GIMP PART 2A TV FEAST FOR UBUNTUAUTOMATIC BACKUP VIA EMAILCREATE YOUR OWN SERVER 5

UBUNTU 8.04 - HARDY HERON8.04 READY FOR DOWN LOAD

PP AARRTTYY TTIIMMEE!!BBEEHHIINNDD TTHHEE SSCCEENNEESS OOFF AANN

UUBBUUNNTTUU DDEEMMOO DDAAYY AANNDD PP AARRTTYY


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p.04

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron p.06

Organise an Ubuntu Demo Day p.08Nepal Hardy Heron Party p.11Server Series - Part 5 p.14GIMP - Part 2 p.16

TV Feast For Ubuntu p.20Automatic Backup via Email p.22

: What is Web 2.0 p.27

:My Journey to Kubuntu p.29

: Luca Falavigna p.32

p.34

p.35

p.36

p.38

p.39

: Unusual Consoles p.40

p.42

PP ..44 00

P. 11P. 08

P. 32P. 16 PP ..22 00

full circle

The articles contained in this magazine are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0Unported license. This means you can adapt, copy, distribute and transmit the articles but only under the followingconditions: You must attribute the work to the original author in some way (at least a name, email or URL) and to this

magazine by name ('full circle magazine') and the URL www.fullcirclemagazine.org (but not attribute the article(s) in any way thatsuggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you must distribute theresulting work under the same, similar or a compatible license.

P.0 6

w w w . f u l l c i r c l e m a g a z i n e . o r g

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http://www.fullcirclemagazine.org/http://www.fullcirclemagazine.org/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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I'm sure that, by now, most of you will have upgraded to, or freshlyinstalled, Hardy Heron. And possibly loving it so much that you mayeven want to throw a party in its honor. Well, this month we havearticles on how a Demo Day is arranged, and what went on at theHardy Launch Party in Nepal. I hope this information will give you theknowledge to arrange your own Ubuntu Demo Day or party.

As well as the usual ongoing series 'Create Your Own Server' (andthe recently started 'Using GIMP' series), we have the next phase of your backup plan: 'Automatic Backup via Email'. And also a tutorial onwatching television on your PC!

Beginning next month, we're replacing ' ' with' ' - a section explaining, and giving examplesof, a console command. This is to try and show people that theconsole really isn't as scary as it may seem. The ' 'will still pop up now and then when there is a big release.

Enjoy the issue and keep in touch!

Editor, Full Circle [email protected]

EEDD IITT OO RR IIAA LL

This magazine was created using :

Ubuntu is a complete operatingsystem that is perfect for laptops,desktops and servers. Whether athome, school or work Ubuntucontains all the applications you'llever need including word processor,email application and web browser.

You do not pay anylicensing fees. You can download,use and share Ubuntu with yourfriends, family, school or businessfor absolutely nothing.

Once installed, your system is readyto use with a full set of productivity,internet, drawing and graphicsapplications, and games.
http://url.fullcirclemagazine.org/7e8944http://creativecommons.org/http://www.openoffice.org/http://www.gimp.org/http://www.scribus.net/mailto:[email protected]


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NN EEWW SS Feel free to email news storiesto: [email protected] include a source URL.

Meet The Hardy Heron: What's Newin Ubuntu 8.04

Brian DeLacey has written a very interestingand informative article about Hardy Heron(8.04) on the O'Reilly Linux Dev Centerwebsite:

You can read the full article (which mentions) at:

http://url.fullcirclemagazine.org/422ba3

ASUS EBOX

Asus is developing the Eee notebookPC s desktop version named as EBOX. The EBOX is being developed in Taipeiand will be launched next month.

According to the leaked features, theEBOX will be equipped with a 160GBhard drive, 2GB RAM and will run onLinux operating system.

When you see the EBOX (above), youwould be right to say that it looks just

like the Nintendo Wii gaming console.Apparently, the EBOX is expected torelease on June 3 and might carry aprice tag of around $300.

However, as of now there is no wordfrom Asus about the EBOX desktop PC.

www.TechShout.com

Low-cost Linux laptop targetsBritish schools

Elonex is taking orders for a sub-$200Linux-based laptop aimed at the Britisheducational market. Based on a300MHz processor, likely ARM-based,the Elonex One includes WiFi, Ethernet,Flash storage, USB, and a 7-inch, 800 x480 detachable touch display.

Only a week after DesktopLinuxsuggested that Bestlink's $250,400MHz Alpha 400 might be theworld's cheapest Linux laptop, Elonexappears to have set the new record.Elonex is billing its $200 laptop as away to help underprivileged kids gainaccess to the Internet and othereducational tools, somewhat similar tothe One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)project.

Elonex vows to donate one Elonex Oneto underprivileged children for everyhundred systems that are sold. Thecompany is associated with a groupcalled the National Laptop Initiativethat intends to provide access tolaptops to every child in the U.K.

DesktopLinux.com
http://www.techshout.com/http://www.desktoplinux.com/http://url.fullcirclemagazine.org/422ba3mailto:[email protected]


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KDE Community Announce FirstBeta Release of KDE 4.1

The KDE Project is proud to announce

the first beta release of KDE 4.1. Beta 1is aimed at testers, communitymembers and enthusiasts in order toidentify bugs and regressions, so that4.1 can fully replace KDE 3 for endusers. KDE 4.1 beta 1 is available asbinary packages for a wide range of platforms, and as source packages. KDE4.1 is due for final release in July 2008.

Greatly expanded desktop shellfunctionality and configurability KDE Personal InformationManagement suite ported to KDE 4 Many new and newly portedapplications

KDE.org

Ubuntu Developer Summit IntrepidIbex

At the beginning of a new developmentcycle, Ubuntu developers from around theworld gather to help shape and scope thenext release of Ubuntu. The summit is opento the public, but it is not a conference,exhibition or other audience-oriented event.Rather, it is an opportunity for Ubuntudevelopers -- who usually collaborate online-- to work together in person on specifictasks. This year you too can get a feel forwhat went on during the fast paced week of UDS by watching the 19 videos available on

YouTube. The link is your portal to whatdevelopers, including Mark Shuttleworth,have to say about the next Ubuntu release,Intrepid Ibex.

http://www.youtube.com/ubuntudevelopers

Ubuntu Weekly News(http://fridge.ubuntu.com )

OpenSSL/OpenSSHVulnerability

All Ubuntu users need to regeneratethe ssl and ssh keys because of asecurity vulnerability found in theupstream Debian packages. Thesecurity hole created predictable keyswhich can be used to attack remotehosts. The Ubuntu fix checks for thethe predictable keys generated by thedefault options of ssl and ssh andblacklists them. All Ubuntu andderivative users should regeneratekeys immediately.

If keys generated on Ubuntu havebeen copied to a computer using anyother distribution, those keys are stillvulnerable and should be immediatelyregenerated.

ISOs available already on ubuntu.com,mirrors, and shipit will not be updatedwith the new packages, but using theUpdate Manager to get securityupdates and will replace the impactedpackages. Users should thenregenerate new keys.

The 8.04.1 point release, expected in July, will include the updated packages.

Ubuntu Weekly News(http://fridge.ubuntu.com )
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/http://www.youtube.com/ubuntudevelopershttp://fridge.ubuntu.com/http://www.kde.org/


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FFLLAAVV OO RR OO FF TT HH EE MM OO NN TT HHWritten by Robert Clipsham

Ubuntu can now be installed

in a multitude of ways,including from withinWindows, using the Live CD, andfrom a separate installer -- themethod we will show you thismonth.

After burning an Ubuntu CD andrestarting with the disk in yourCD/DVD drive, you'll be given an

option to choose the language forthe installer.

After choosing your language,you need to choose the second

option, 'Install Ubuntu' (if you wantto try the LiveCD interface first,choose the top option, 'Try Ubuntuwithout any change to yourcomputer' and click the install iconon the desktop when you're ready).Installing this way still uses agraphical interface, but instead of loading a full desktop interface, justloads an installer.

The first step in the installer is tochoose the installation language,followed by a rather annoyinglocation selector (to set your timezone and download mirror). Afterspending several minutes trying toselect a tiny scrolling dot, Ieventually gave up and used the

drop down menu. I recommendyou do too, it saves a lot of time.

Following this, select yourkeyboard layout, then partitionyour disk. How you partition yourdisk depends on your setup - if you have another operatingsystem and want to multiboot,then you need to resize yourcurrent partition(s), however if

you're using a blank hard drivethen select 'Guided - use entiredisk'.

The next step will differ,depending on whether you havean existing Windows installation.If you do, the installer will offer

8.04


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full circlecome and visit

Ubuntu Forums@

http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=270

to copy your documents andsettings across, along with youruser accounts. If you do not, itsimply requires you to enter somedetails: name, username,password and computer name(for use on a network).

The installer will now show asummary of your installationoptions. Click "Install" to installwith the settings you havechosen, otherwise go back and

reconfigure them. Finally, restart andremove the disc when prompted.

If all goes well, you will now have aclean Ubuntu 8.04 installed, whichyou can customize as you like.

Starting next month, Robertstarts a new column called

whichwill take a console command,give a brief explanation of thecommand, and then show someexamples of how to use thecommand. Don't worry, I'm surehe'll start easy.

is a self confessed geek, whose hobbiesinclude: programming/scripting,chatting on IRC and not writinghis articles on time.
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=270


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HH OO WW -- TT OOWritten by Dianne Reuby

OO RR GG AA NN IISS EE AA NN UU BB UU NN TT UU DD EEMM OO DDAAYY

I'm an Ubuntu novice -- I started

using Ubuntu about 18 monthsago, and made the completeswitch just over a year ago. Forthe last four or five years, I'vebeen a volunteer at the Museumof Computing in Swindon(England), and three years ago Ibecame the Collections Manager.For most of that time I've beenpreparing for accreditation, whichsets the UK standards formuseums. We're losing ourpremises in July, so at themoment we're searching for anew home. You can find out moreabout the museum athttp://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk

We ran a games day beforeChristmas, to which I gave ageneral invite to my LocalCommunity (LoCo), Ubuntu-UK; amember suggested a "geekathon"and I decided to arrange acombination of social, geekathon,and demo day in the spring.

I had three objectives: to give LoCoand Linux User Group (LUG)members a chance to meet, to tellnon-users about Ubuntu, and topromote the museum.

This will ultimately decide thecontent of your event -- a stall in ashopping centre will have differentfacilities than a conference centre.

The date was decided by allowingabout three months for preparation,burning CDs, preparing literature,etc, and then choosing a date whenthe hall was available.

Once the date was set, Iannounced it to my LoCo (seehttps://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeams for a list) through the mailing list,

IRC, and the Ubuntu Forums. Isent out emails to my local LUG,and to any other LUGs withinreasonable traveling distance --http://www.lug.org is your friend!I included details of the event,and asked for the help I needed --experienced users to talk topotential users.

As I had access to a hall with alarge-screen projector, a DVDplayer, and plenty of furnitureand space, I decided todownload some of thescreencasts that would be mostuseful for non-users, and playthem from the DVD. In a smallerspace, they'd look fine on a TVor laptop.

I used to create theDVD. However, it didn't likeOGG. I'd add one small video(about 98k) and would
http://www.museum-of-computing.org.uk/http://www.lug.org/https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeams


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tell me that I'd used 500% of myDVD! After about two weeks of wrestling, I downloaded the Flashversions and had no more trouble.Very odd. I used subtitles becauseI didn't want the noise of thescreencasts interruptingconversations and, vice versa, Ididn't want noise from the rest of the hall drowning out the videos.

I use the forums daily, whichhave been a huge source of helpfrom even before I installedUbuntu, so I decided to havesections or tables similar to a

forum -- for absolute beginners,graphics, sound, and customizing.We created display boards foreach section with relevantinformation for beginners. Ithought about the questions I'dasked when I first started, andlooked through the forums andmailing list archives to see whichquestions came up most often.

I also created a board showinga Windows/Ubuntu glossary, plusone in "diary" format with newsitems from the Ubuntu newsletter.I tried to make this a mix of largeorganizations who'd switched,

individual users who had"converted" relatives, and quirkystuff like the driverless car. I wantedto make the point that Ubuntu canbe used by anyone, and also that it'snot a "one man in his sparebedroom" operation. I startedcollecting the information in January,

so by April I had plenty tochoose from. The last entry of course was our Ubuntu DemoDay.

Don't forget to include leafletsor posters for your LUG, becauseknowing that you can get help

two visitors on a demo machine with one of the Ubuntu Demo Day experts


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locally is a great selling point forUbuntu and other distros.

First you'll need to decide howmany demo machines to have.Again, this will be decided by yourvenue. If you're planning to giveout LiveCDs, send for some well inadvance. I didn't get as many as Ihoped for, but a friend from myLUG helped by burning some. Forthese I bought some plasticsleeves very cheaply on Ebay,and used to create sticky

labels with basic instructions andthe URL of the help site. I printedoff the "origami" CD holdercreated by the Ubuntu-Utah LoCo -- both letter and A4 versions areavailable athttps://wiki.ubuntu.com/DIYMarketing

If you're planning an indoor

event, have a Welcome table,with clear signs to the facilities.

You may want to ask wherepeople heard about the event, orask if they want to go on yourmailing list. I didn't keep a countof the number of visitors -- now I

wish I had. Get hold of a "clicker"(thumb operated number counter) if you can for this.

I created badges for the helpers,using the merge facility in .When visitors arrived we invitedthem to have a go on one of thedemo machines, and to ask any of the helpers for assistance. Twopeople brought machines, withproblems, which our experts solved --thanks guys!

Online publicity worked well, butI'd have liked to have had more localoffline publicity. Make posters apriority, especially if you don't have

much passing traffic. In the endwe had to design our own at thelast minute; another time I'll gothis route straight away so I canget them out much earlier. Thisis much less of a problem if you're holding it in a shoppingcentre or somewhere else withplenty of passing foot traffic.

Don't panic. Most of ourvisitors had never seen Ubuntubefore, so their questions wereusually within my ability toanswer. I passed more-advancedstuff on to the experts who'd

come along to help. A goodstarting point for talking tovisitors was simply to ask whatthey use their computers for,and then to show them what'savailable in Ubuntu for thosetasks.

Finally, I'll check release datesmore carefully. Hardy Heron wasreleased only two days beforeour event, which made it a madrush to install on our demomachines on the day before, andto get the CDs ready. I'll probablyallow at least a couple of weeksafter a release in future.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DIYMarketing


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HH OO WW -- TT OOWritten by Bibek Shrestha, Bikal KC, Jwalanta Shrestha

NN EEPPAA LL HH AA RR DDYY HH EERR OO NN RR EELLEEAA SS EE PPAA RRTT YY

We love Ubuntu. Hardy

Heron has been one of the most highlyanticipated releases to date. Thebeta and RC were fantastic andthe final release was even better.We felt that it's about time wespread the word about thisfantastic operating system.

FOSS Nepal is one of the morerecent communities of Free andOpen minded people in Nepal.

The primary objective of thecommunity is to promote anddiversify the usage of Free/OpenSource Software in Nepal. Theoriginal idea to form a LoCo teamfor Nepali users of Ubuntu was byBikal "nepbabu" KC. We soon got

the IRC channel #ubuntu-np onFreenode up and running, themailing list active at [email protected] wasofficially born as well i.e., with thehelp of Jono Bacon and numerousother folks at #ubuntu-locoteams .A big thank you to all!

With other LoCo teams preparingfor the release party,the ubuntu-np LoCoteam also wanted tohave our own littleparty. The basic ideasfor the party werediscussed in our veryfirst IRC meeting. Thedate and venue wereset as follows:

Date:Venue:

Time:

ZeroEnergy House at IOE waschosen because the building is self-sustained: it takes no energy fromoutside sources. Perfect for us in thisload shedding laden country!

Besides presentations and tutorials

in the program, we'd one very

important task - distribution of Ubuntu CDs and extra-packages

DVDs. The UbuntuCD wasn't a bigdeal, but we didhave to work onthe extra-packagesDVD. Basically thisDVD was anAPTonCD consistingof all the usefulpackages

(including restricted plugins). This was very important for us tolure people to use Ubuntu sincebandwidth is a big problem inNepal and most people are stillstuck with dial-up modemconnections.

Saroj (aka Surmandal) wasselected for this task. He worksat WorldLink ISP and has enoughbandwidth to create the ExtraPackages CD. The procedure tocreate the Extra Packages CDwas like this:


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Get an Ubuntu DVD ready.Install a fresh Ubuntu (either

from CD or DVD).Go to Synaptic, set the source

to Ubuntu DVD, select all thepackages and download them tolocal repository. This woulddownload all the packages in theDVD (minus packages in UbuntuCD) to the hard disk.

Now download other usefulpackages (listed at ExtraPackages CD page).

After the download, the localrepo contains a DVD worth of Packages. Write them to a DVD

using APTonCD.Prepare the DVD and CDCovers.

During the short period of timebetween the actual Hardy Heronrelease and our release party, wemanaged to get a sponsor for theevent.agreed to sponsor us by donating4000NPR (~$60) for burning theCDs and DVDs. We called up theCD replicating guys. Their ratewas 15NPR (~$0.25) per CD and25NPR (~$0.35) per DVD. So theplan was to replicate 100 CDs and100 DVDs. The hall for the event

was gracefully sponsored by ZeroEnergy House, Pulchowk Campus,Institute of Engineering.

The program started right on time.We were to do the following:

1. Introduction to Ubuntu and FOSS2. Ubuntu Demo3. Wubi Demo4. Tutorial on Getting Ubuntu moreuseful5. Participating in ubuntu-np

The first presentation was a basicintroduction of Ubuntu, GNU/Linux,and FOSS by Shishir Jha (above). Itwas targeted at people who did not

have any understanding of Linux. There were a few blankfaces since the presentation wasall theory. Still, Shishir did agreat job explaining Linux ingeneral, and the ins and outs of Ubuntu.

It was soon followed byAnkur's demonstration of different applications of Ubuntuand the brand new Wubi(above). Those with blank facesduring the first presentationquickly lit up upon seeing howeasy it was to install Ubuntu inWindows. We had a brief sessionon OpenOffice, Compiz Fusioneffects, Avant Window Manager,virtual desktops and so on.Ankur explained there is nothingexceptionally different in Ubuntu


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- all the applications were rightthere except, of course, themalware and viruses.

The finalpresentation wasmade by Jwalanta onhow to get involvedin Ubuntu-NP LoCoteam. He explainedhow to use IRC,mailing lists and our Ubuntu-NPwebsite.

Advertising for the event waslimited to mailing lists, so we did

not expect many participants, butto our amazement, we actuallyhad over forty participants, andwe could see more peoplegrabbing chairs from anotherroom to join in! It was more thanwe had expected. The programwas short, sweet and, moreimportantly, to the point. Nobodywas seen yawning during theevent and everyone looked veryenthusiastic. And we need to keepthat morale up for coming events.

After the program, we had abrief CD sales session. The CDswere priced at 15NPR to recover

the cost. Most participants boughtthe CD too. Lets hope they'll follow

the spirit of Ubuntu:"Pass it on". Lightrefreshments followed:tea and cookies. Thisalso gave us time tomingle with each otherand find out the realperson behind the IRCalias. Everyone was

saying, "that's you?" followed bylaughter.

The day was well spent andeveryone went home

happy with their Ubuntudistro.

We have somefunding left that waspreviously allocated toburning DVDs. We'vedecided to use it to burn some more

CDs and distribute them at FOSSStall in LOCUS Tech Fest. It's a hugeevent and we hope we'll reach morepeople during the event.

You can read more cool stuff aboutUbuntu-NP LoCo at

http://wiki.ubuntu.org.np andhttp://wiki.ubuntu.com/NepalTeamPlus our FOSS Nepal website is athttp://wiki.fossnepal.org

We hope to have regularmeetings via IRC (every first andthird Friday of each month on#ubuntu-np and you are allwelcome). We plan to set Ubuntuas the premier Gnu/Linuxdistribution in Nepal and let newusers learn this wonderful littleOS. Our plans also include topresent Ubuntu to the Nepalese

enthusiasts through

advertisements onthe radio, postersand word-of-mouth.

We take thischance to thank

. and .We would also like

to give a big thank you to all thefolks who attended the HardyHeron release party, for withoutyou, Hardy Heron would be justanother distribution. It's you folkswho make it happen.
http://wiki.fossnepal.org/http://wiki.ubuntu.com/NepalTeamhttp://wiki.ubuntu.org.np/


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backup' and 'Command to runafter backup', add any requiredcommands.

You should now set up a backupschedule (shown below). To do so,select 'Enabled, at times chosenbelow'. To have yourself (orsomeone else) informed whenbackup is running, insert a validemail address into 'Emailscheduled output to'. A simpleapproach is to select 'Simpleschedule', choose 'Daily, atmidnight', and click 'Create'.

We now have an automaticallyscheduled daily backup to saveyour most important data andfiles.

We will now install Postfix (emailserver) and Dovecot (IMAP and POP3server). We must drop to thecommand line, and type:

sudo apt-get install postfixdovecot-common dovecot-imapd

Answer the questions as follows:

Internet Site

NONE

server1.example.com

server1.example.com,

example.com,localhost.example.com,localhost

No

127.0.0.0/8

Yes

0

+

all

You now have Postfixand Dovecot installed --

with IMAP.

I would suggest you now setup an MX record pointing to yourIP address, and change yourrouter to forward SMTP (port 25)traffic, through your router, toyour server IP address. This willallow us to use postfix to collectand deliver email directly viaSMTP.

owns and runsand is based in

Perth, Scotland. He is alsoinvolved in a number of opensource projects such as

,and .

He is also a committed LeedsUnited fan.


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HH OO WW -- TT OO UU SS IINN GG GG IIMM PP -- PP aa rr tt 22Written by Ronnie Tucker

Color correction (oradjustment in some cases)is probably more associatedwith photography than anythingelse -- so, let's take a photograph,

and correct any color problems itmay have.

Above is the original photo.First, we will use GIMP toautomatically correct the image;

This month, we will focus primarily on colors, but first let me say that GIMP (like Photoshop) has many ways of achieving the same result.So, although I may show you one way of accomplishing a task, you can be sure there are several other ways of getting that same result.

then we will change it manually. Toopen an image file, we go to File >Open, and choose the image wewant to manipulate. So, now that wehave our photo open in GIMP, we go

to the menu and choose Colors >Levels.

This window(right) allowsus to do manycomplicatedthings, but now we'll just click the'Auto' button. Voil! One color-corrected photo (right).

Satisfactory corrections arenot always so easily achieved. If an item in the photo is toobright, for example, GIMP maythink it should be white. So,GIMP makes it white, adjusts therest of the photo accordingly,and presents an awful result.

Yet, in most cases the Autofeature gives a satisfactoryresult. When it doesn't, then


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manual corrections should beapplied.

Before you make manualcorrections, you need to knowhow images are colored. Inpainting, the three primary colorsare the red, blue, and yellowpigments. From these, any othercolor can be created. Digitalimages, however, are made(essentially) from light, and theirthree primary colors are the red,green and blue wavelengths,commonly referred to as RGB.Don't believe me? Click (or

display) the Channels dialog, andyou'll see three items -- one red,one green and one blue.

These three 'channels' make upthe colors in your image. Tryclicking the little eye icon beside

each layer, and you'll see what thephoto looks like without one (ormore) basic colors. So, in essence, abadly colored photo will have acombination of too much (or notenough) red, green or blue.

Click (or display) the Dialogs >Colors tab, then click the Trianglebutton:

Above is the digital equivalent of the artist's color wheel (circle with atriangle inside) with the threeprimary colors being at each point of

the triangle, blending in to oneanother around the circle -- withdark to light being representedby the triangle. Click a color onthe 'wheel', and the triangle willpoint to it. Now, click inside thetriangle to get a lighter or darkerversion of that color. Play withthis for a while to becomefamiliar with where the colorsare and how to get the ones youwant -- we will be using this laterwhen we need to create or picka color.

Let's look through some of the

color options in GIMP to see howthey can affect our image. Go tothe Colors menu, and chooseColor Balance (below).


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This window will let you fine-tune the colors in your photo. Itcan alter the colors in each of thethree main levels: shadow,midtone and highlight. SelectShadows, Midtones or Highlights,and move the sliders to see how itaffects your photo.

If you don't see the photo colorschange, check to make sure thebox beside 'Preview' is ticked. If you don't want to keep thosecolor changes, simply click'Cancel', and your image willreturn to normal. You can also usethe Edit > Undo feature.

Colors > Colorize will allow you

to tint the entire photo with aparticular color. This is most oftenused to give a photo a 'sepia tint' --which makes the image look old anddegraded. Rather than give you ared, green and blue slider, thiswindow gives you a 'Hue' slider --which goes from red, through togreen, to blue, and back to red.

Tinker with the sliders until you get anice orangey-brown color, and you'llsee what I mean about the sepia tint.

Colors > Brightness Contrast willlet you simply brighten or darken theimage. This can come in handy forsimple effects. If I brighten the image

quite a bit, and slide the contrastup, I can make the dull originalimage look like it was taken on ascorching sunny day (which itdefinitely wasn't!).

We've already looked atLevels, but let's look into it a bitmore. Click Colors > Levels, andyou'll see that familiar window --yes, it's the one with the magic'Auto' button -- but this time let'sfocus on the sliders below thegraph. The black, grey and whitesliders can move left to right,and represent the shadows,midtones and highlights,respectively. They allow you to


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is Editor of magazine, a proud Kubuntu

user, and part-time artist whosegallery of work can be seen atwww.RonnieTucker.co.uk .

manually color-correct the image. The 'Output Levels' is almost likea brightness control, but withthree sliders for the shadow,midtone and highlights. At the topof the window is a dropdownmenu which says 'Value' -- youcan click that and select one of your red, green or blue channelsto fine-tune. This is quite apowerful window, so play aroundin there and get familiar with it.And remember: if you don't seeyour image updating as you movea slider, tick the 'Preview'checkbox.

Colors > Curves is similar to theLevels window (which we justlooked at), but uses curves,plotted on a graph, to give morecontrol over your colors. Again, at

the top of the window is thedropdown menu, which lets you alterthe image as a whole, or just alterone of the color channels. To edit thecurves, you click on the curve (tocreate a point), then move the pointup, down, left, or right, to alter thecolors. The most basic colorcorrection in the curves window isthe 'S-curve' -- where you make an'S' shape with the curve. Again, thisgives pretty much the same result asthe Color > Levels 'Auto' button.

Color > Desaturate will remove allcolor from your photo, leaving youwith a black and white image. Youhave three options before it removesthe color, each giving you slightlydifferent results, so it's best to tryeach to see which you prefer. Asever, try an option; if you don't like it,

use Edit >Undo torevert backto theoriginal.

Color >Invert willgive you thenegative of the photo,

just like you'dget with traditional camera film.Clicking Color > Invert again willreturn the image to normal.

There are many other items inthe Color menu, but the ones Ihave mentioned are the mostimportant ones, and probablythe most used.
http://www.ronnietucker.co.uk/


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HH OO WW -- TT OOWritten by Jonny McCullagh

TT VV FFEEAA SS TT FFOO RR UU BB UU NN TT UU

December 2007 was a goodtime for Ubuntu/Linuxusers in the UK interested

in online TV services. Televisionon Ubuntu has never been soeasy and doesn't even requirespecial TV-tuner hardware.

The BBC is funded by acompulsory license fee for ownersof television sets in the UK. Earlierlast year, the BBC Trustannounced support for onlyMicrosoft Windows in its 'WatchAgain' online service. Thissparked outrage amongadvocates of free software,

including the Green Party and theOpen Source Consortium.

Subsequently, in late December2007, the BBC opened this service toLinux and Mac users,

Theservice is reliant on the Adobe Flashplayer and, due to DRM restrictions,it is not possible to download videocontent for viewing offline.Nevertheless, there is a wideselection of high-quality televisionprograms, in multiple categories,with an interface my 8-year-old hadno trouble mastering.

OnDecember19th, 2007,Zattooannouncedtheavailabilityof its online

TV service for UK users; theservice was previously availablefor countries such as USA,Germany, France, Spain andDenmark. The service iscurrently in Beta, but it is matureand highly usable. Zattoopromises smooth, TV-qualityvideo delivery, and, if you havethe internet connection tosupport it, you will not bedisappointed. Followingregistration, Ubuntu users havea pain-free installation --accomplished with adownloadable .deb installationfile. When you click on the link,choose 'Open with ... GDebiPackage Installer', and, when

GDebi opens, click the 'Install'button.

After installation, Zattoo isavailable from Applications >Sound & Video > Zattoo Player,and it opens with a list of available channels. Clicking on a


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channel name displays thatchannel -- channel surfing hasnever been so easy!

This beta service offered byZattoo is very promising, butcurrently lacks features such asparental control, subtitles, teletextand a television guide.

Armed with suitable TV Guidesoftware, Zattoo becomes evenmore manageable. Ubuntu, being

what it is, makes installingFreeGuide easy. Open yourpackage manager, and search for

. If you cannot findFreeGuide, you may need to havethe multiverse repository enabled.

FreeGuide is a Java application(which feels a little out of place onthe Gnome desktop), but has theadvantage of being very easy to use.Within a few minutes, I had TVlistings for hundreds of channels.

For countries beyond the scope of the BBC iPlayer and Zattoo, there isalways Miro. Miro, previously knownas Democracy Player, allows you todownload and watch videos fromRSS feeds (including podcasts, videoblogs, and BitTorrent feeds). That

explanation may sound a littlecomplicated but do not be afraid!Miro is very easy to use.

To get Miro, use your packagemanager to install the package.

Miro opens with the 'MiroGuide', a homepage about thevideo channels available forsubscription. Miro is structuredvery much like an RSS Readerwith subscribed channels, butwith videos in the place of written news stories. Clicking onthe 'Add Channel' button willsubscribe you to that particularchannel.

Miro is aiming to be a TVService, Media Player, and RSSaggregator rolled into one -- it'sa promising online service, but

lacks parental control features.

The live TV available fromZattoo, and catch-up servicesavailable from the BBC iPlayerwebsite, offer Ubuntu users easyaccess to online digital televisionservices, thereby "making the

unmissable, unmissable". Whencoupled with the futuristic Mirovideo subscription model, TVmakes compelling viewing onUbuntu.


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HH OO WW -- TT OOWritten by Stephen Bant

AA UU TT OO MM AATT IICC BB AA CC KK UU PP VV IIAA EEMM AA IILL

Good back-up programs,such as , arefreely available to you with

Ubuntu, but you can also createsolid and reliable back-up routinesusing simple, easy-to-managescripts. These are quick and easyto set up, run automatically, andcan back up your files remotely --provided they are not too large --by sending them to you as an

email attachment. Sounds likewhat you are looking for? Then,follow these easy steps, and you'llnever be caught out, in despair,saying, "if only ..."!

For demonstration purposes,let s look at a scenario where wewant a backup routine that runsautomatically every day, will backup specific SQL databases thenzips and emails them. We ll makea script that creates some SQL filedumps, and moves them into acommon folder.

It will then compress that folder

and also copy it to another directoryon the hard disk as a further back upprecaution. Finally, it will use theMutt email client to send off thecompressed folder as a fileattachment, so that it can be storedremotely in an email account. Forthis to work, you need to have a mailservice running, so you may have toinstall Postfix on your system (seep.15, col.2 ).

Before anything else, let s installthe Mutt client for sending emails viaour script:

sudo apt-get install mutt

You should now configure Mutt so

that it does not create an evergrowing "sent" file in your home orroot directory -- a file that willeventually fill your partition. So,create a .muttrc configuration file inyour /home/user directory.

sudo gedit ~/.muttrc

In that, put something like the

following, altered to suit yourrequirements:

set realname="Ubuntu Geek"set from="[email protected]"set use_envelope_from=yesset mbox_type=maildirset mbox="~/muttmail/inbox/"set spoolfile="~/muttmail/inbox/"set folder="~/muttmail/"set record="~/muttmail/sent/"

set postpone=ask-yes recall=nopostponed= ~/muttmail/postponed/

Save the file, and copy it to/root. The script will be rununder root, so Mutt will look for/root/.muttrc. But, when testing,you could just run the scriptunder your user account, inwhich case Mutt will look for~/.muttrc. Either way, with.muttrc in both locations, all of Mutt s sent mail will go to theone folder you nominate.

We don't need to configureanything else -- because we areonly using Mutt for backup


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purposes here. Actually, if you putin other configuration settingsthey will be ignored, becauserunning Mutt from a script isequivalent to running it from thecommand line, which Mutt seemsto ignore. I learned that the hardway after much trial and error.

The basic stuff here (nominatingthe directories) is enough, andwill work.

Then, create the directoriesthat you nominated in .muttrc;and in each of these createdirectories called "cur", "tmp" and

"new", like this, for example:sudo mkdir~/muttmail/sent/cur

sudo mkdir~/muttmail/sent/new

sudo mkdir~/muttmail/sent/tmp

Actually, if you don't create asent folder, Mutt willautomatically create one for youwhen it sends its first email. Butyou must create the "muttmail"directory, or whatever you wantto call it.

If you already have email set up --for instance, if you have Courierinstalled -- you could nominate yourexisting mail directories in .muttrc,and not have to create any newones. Another option (which you llneed to find information onelsewhere) is to configure Mutt touse IMAP and POP folders on aremote server.

If you decide to use existing emaildirectories in your home directory,be aware that "sent" items createdfrom a cron job will have restrictiveroot permissions, and this may mess

up the webmail program you areusing -- by rendering sent itemsinvisible. It did that to me whenusing Roundcube. I fixed that byincluding the following command (atthe end of the script) to change thepermissions in my "sent" directory:

chmod 777 -R/home/user/Maildir/.Sent

However, you may not even careto have a record of sent items. Afterall, these will accumulate day afterday, and might have largeattachments. In that case, get rid of the set record . . . line in .muttrc

and replace it with the following:

unset record

Before we move on to themain script, we can first run alittle test script to see if

everything is working with Mutt.Modify it for your email address,and copy this little script into afile:

#!/bin/sh# Mutt Test#EMAIL="[email protected]"MESSAGE='Hey, your mutt test hasbeen run!'echo $MESSAGEecho $MESSAGE | mutt $EMAIL -s"Mutt Test"

Save the file under any nameyou like -- it doesn't have tohave a "sh" extension. Thenmake it executable with chmod,and, assuming we called the filesh, run it from the command line

to test it:sudo sh filename

or:

sh filename


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The first will send an email fromroot, and the second from user.Check your email account to seethat your Mutt test got through. If you send it to Gmail, it ll looksomething like the image above.

If it came through, it s time toconfigure your backup script.

Now, copy the following SQLBackUp Script into a file. Modifythe variables, databases anddirectory names to suit. Of course, you ll need your databasedetails handy.

#!/bin/sh# SQL Back Up Script## Backs up your SQL databases andemails them to you#

##DBUSER=usernameDBPASS=passwordDBNAME1=joomlaDBNAME2=drupalDBNAME3=wordpressEMAIL="[email protected]"DATE=`date +%Y%m%d`

mysqldump --opt -u $DBUSER -p$DBPASS$DBNAME1 > $DBNAME1.sql



mv *.sql /home/user/database_backups

tar cvzf /home/user/databases-$DATE.tgz/home/user/database_backups

echo 'Hey, see attached for your databases'| mutt -a /home/user/databases-$DATE.tgz$EMAIL -s 'Your database back up has beenrun'

mv /home/user/databases-$DATE.tgz/var/local/backups

As with the little test scriptearlier, save and name the scriptfile whatever you like, then testit from the command line. Youshould see output like this:

The steps in this script arestraightforward. SQL dumps arecreated and moved to a backup

folder in your home directory. The whole folder is then zippedup (using the format: "tar -cvzf

"). Next, the tgz file,with the current date in the filename, is emailed to the emailaddress you nominate at EMAIL.Lastly, the tgz file is moved toanother location on your harddisk as a further backup.

So, altogether, this scriptactually creates 3 backups, twolocal and one remote. That sbecause, apart from the tgz fileyou copy and send, you are leftwith the SQL files in your


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database_backups folder. Thesewill be overwritten with newversions the next time the scriptis run.

Here's a tip for getting rid of oldtgz backups from your hard diskautomatically. In the script above,add the following line below theDATE variable line:

EARLIER=`date -d "-2 day" +m%d`

You don't have to call itEARLIER. Call it whatever youwant, as long as you areconsistent throughout. Now, after

the last line, add the followingline (or its equivalent to suit yoursetup):

rm /var/local/backups/databases-$EARLIER.tgz

This line will ensure that thebackup file created 2 days earlieris deleted. You can change it to 3or 4 days, or a couple of weeksearlier, if you want, depending onhow far back you want to keepthings.

Webmail programs like Google sGmail have filters, so it s possibleto archive backups as soon as

they arrive. In Gmail, you can createa filter that labels and puts yourbackups in the Archives folder. Youdon t have to worry about them.Speaking of Google, here ssomething you might want to try,although it doesn t seem of anypractical use to me: it is possible toconfigure a script to emaildocuments of the appropriate type toGoogle Docs or Zoho Writer, wherethey can be automatically convertedto online documents, on a regularbasis.

The beauty of this script isthat you can change thevariables at the top, or easilyadd databases (remembering toalso add correspondingmysqldump lines), andeverything will work fine.

After running your script,check your email, and youshould see something like Fig.1.Check that your databases areattached. In Gmail, it will looklike Fig.2 when opened.


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Once your script is doingeverything you want, copy it intoyour /etc/cron.daily directory.Make sure it has executablepermissions.

sudo chmod 755 scriptname

That s it. Your back-up is set togo.

A program called Anacronhandles the running of the scriptsin the /etc/cron.* directories. Eachtime scripts are run, if there isany output, Anacron sends anemail with details about it to root.If no output, no email. With ourscript, there is basic output forsome processes, so an email issent to root and ends up in themain user account. This is

because, by default, the /etc/aliasesfile contains a redirection thatensures any system mail to root goesto the main user s account. But,Anacron s emails can be stopped orredirected.

The easiest way is probably to editthe /etc/anacrontab file. Open up thisfile, and at the top of it, under PATH,add a mail to direction with youremail address, like this:

[email protected].

All Anacron emails will then go tothat email address. Thus, it ispossible to email your backups toone address, and receive an alertabout it at another. Here s how theAnacron alert appears whenredirected to Gmail (below).

If you want to stop all Anacron

emails, I ve found thatredirecting output to /dev/nullworks best for me. In your/etc/anacrontab file, leave outany reference to MAILTO, andinstead put >&/dev/null afterthe cron.daily line .

If you want to redirect not justAnacron s but all of root s email,then ignore /etc/anacrontab and

just create a /root/.forward filewith your preferred emailaddress specified in that.

What you can do is up to you.Using the example script as abase, you can configure a wholerange of backup routines to workwith Anacron and the cron.daily,cron.weekly and cron.monthlydirectories. Alternatively, if youknow how to set up individualcron jobs, you can also ensure

that your scripts are run atprecise times. Ultimately, youcan have everything covered,and all your data safely backedup, so that in the event of somefailure, what might have beendisastrous is little more than aminor inconvenience.


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MM YY OO PP IINN IIOO NNWritten by Robin Catling

WW HH AATT IISS WW EEBB 22 .. 00 ??

Some of you might bethinking that it's a little lateto ask this question. Web

2.0 has been around as a conceptsince the dot-com bust around2001 and as a practical reality forabout two years. It's been hyped,dismissed, delivered, condemned,rejected, re-launched, branded,marketed and abused in all themedia -- several times over.

Now you're thinking, "What afool. It's far longer/less than that."So which Web 2.0 are we talkingabout using and developing? Canwe agree on a definition? Is itworking? Is it worth it?

The question assumes therewas a Web 1.0 to begin with. Idon't remember buying a versionnumber. I'm sure that Tim Berners-Lee, who created HTML onArpanet, and by extension theWorld Wide Web, didn't stick a 1.0

badge on his creation.

As far back as 2001, Tim O'Reilly[1] called Web 2.0

mainly because thetechnology didn't exist except as ademonstrator. He emphasized termssuch as ,

and. I had to

read the rest of it. The trouble is thatWeb 2.0 isn't one technology. In it, oron it, or through it:

the web becomes a platform; you control your own, or shared data; and you belong to communities thatcollectively distribute, enrich and re-purpose data.

Meaning what, exactly?

Services, not packaged software:Web 2.0 isn't software, exactly. Itrelies on Web services and Web

components, ideally ones youcan bolt together and re-useacross domains, sites anddevices. As O'Reilly described it:

The Right to Remix: "SomeRights Reserved". Who wouldhave thought that 'hack-ability'would become an accepted

(even desirable) attribute of anysoftware system? Look atFacebook today, compared withtwo years ago. With the newtools available, we're all softwaredevelopers now; you can pullyour favorite Facebookapplications into your profilepage, customize them, writeyour own, and maybe evencreate the next Scrabulous -- aslong as the makers of Scrabbledon't sue.

Collections of technologies:Given the current crop of Web-enabled tools -- Ajax, Silverlight


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MM YY SS TT OO RRYY MM YY JJ OO UU RR NN EEYY TT OO KK UU BB UU NN TT UUWritten by David Self

Ihave used the Windowsoperating system for as long asI can remember, and have

even been Microsoft Certificatedin the past. I knew there wereother operating systems but, likethe vast majority of people, Iignored them -- by listening to the"fear, uncertainty and doubt."

You have to bear in mind three

things when reading this narrative:1. My state of mind fragile.2. I've never had internet accessat home.3. I was in the process of settingup a new home, and a broadbandaccount.

On one fateful day in October

2007, I left the marital home andset up on my own. A very intenseand tearful time for me. I had twocomputers at the time: a Dell withXP installed and an NEC with anempty hard drive. It became veryclear to me that I would have to

upgrade both computers if I wantedto use Vista, even at its most basiclevel.

So I started looking at otheroptions for my operating systems.

In WHSmith one day, while lookingat magazines, I saw a copy of Computeractive (one of theirspecials) with Kubuntu 6.06 LTSattached to the front. I had a quicklook at the contents of the magazineand bought it. My first dance withLinux had begun. I read themagazine all the way through beforeeven attempting to load Linux on myspare system.

The next day, I took a deep breath,loaded up the Kubuntu live disk, and

discovered that it found all myhardware straight out of the box --although, to be honest, there isnothing out of the ordinary in my boxexcept a DVD writer. So, I clicked theinstall button and made my waythrough the installation screens.

Since I had previously installedWindows 98 & XP from scratch,there was nothing to scare me atthis stage. Installation took notime at all (compared withWindows), and I found that I hada fully working system with moresoftware than I could shake astick at. None of this COAnumber entering, and finding thedisks for all my other software

and doing COA numbering allover again. To say I was happyat this point would be anunderstatement. My lastthoughts of the day werenervousness, as I realized I knewnothing about this operatingsystem; and I also saw that whatI knew about Windows, thoughnot totally irrelevant, would beconsigned to the bin.

Day three brought about myfirst problem -- my Internetconnection. It had not beenplugged in during theinstallation. It hadn't even been


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switched on at that point. BT(British Telecom) delivered myhomehub on day three. I read theinstructions, and in three hours Ihad a working broadbandconnection -- according to thelights (I hadn't plugged it in to thecomputer yet, as perinstructions). After another deepbreath, I plugged in the homehuband nothing happened. Mycomputer did not see the hub atall. Panic!

Again, three things you have toremember at this point:

1. A new operating system.2. A computer which I had neverused prior to this.3. I've never had a broadbandconnection or set one up.

I sat down andread all the FAQs inthe homehub

magazine to see if there were anyobvious problems. I workedthrough all the solutions, butnothing worked. Kubuntu refusedto see my homehub. Panic, again!I went away for an hour and had

something to eat, hoping inspirationwould help me with the next step.

I went back tobasics andchecked my BIOS --did I feel like an

idiot when I foundthe NIC card wasswitched off inthere. So, one re-boot later I had aworking internetconnection. I couldhave cried, and probably did, as Iwas now back to where I left

Windows. (Well, almost).For the rest of the day, I just

checked out Kubuntu by reading thetutorials in the magazine. I wasimpressed with what I saw.

Day four saw an800+MB update. This wasnew, sort of. I know

Windows installs updatesoften for patches, etc, but800 MB? So, I accessed the updatescreens, and, after inputting mypassword, the downloads began. Iwatched all the way through it andwas fascinated by the names as they

went past. They were all Linuxpackages that meant nothing tome. So I just took notes. Time for

a Google laterto see what thedownloadswere.

Anotherreboot facedme withproblem two: Iwas unable toget back into

Kubuntu. It would not accept mypassword. Panic! After about four

hours of reading and tryingthings, I realized I had twoproblems:

1.My keyboard had a fault(specifically in the F-keys)2.Something in the repositorieswas changing my password set-up and I needed to press F2 toget past it -- see point one.

I powered down my computerand decided to get a newkeyboard the next day.

Day five bought me some newhardware: one new keyboard,

I was impressedwith what I saw


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and another stick of RAM to keepmy spirits up for the next steps. Ichanged the keyboard, and, whilemy computer was powered down,installed the RAM. With fingerscrossed I powered up and saw thenow familiar install screen of Kubuntu.

Everything went fine until I hitthe password screen. I typed inmy password, hit F2 to get pastthe error, didwhat I had todo, and,bingo, one

working, fullyupdatedKubuntuoperatingsystem. Forthe rest of the day, I justresignedmyself toplaying and customizing the lookof the GUIs/desktop, etc.

Day six saw me hit the Kubuntuforum to, hopefully, get someinformation about software Ineeded to install: Thunderbird,Firefox, Scorched 3D, and

numerous libraries for gettingAmarok, K3b and various other bitsof audio software to workwith MP3s.

The rest, as they say, ishistory. It's not been aneasy journey, and I wouldnot recommend anybody taking onLinux in this cold-turkey fashion. Iforgot to say that day seven saw me

junking Windows/Microsoft in all of its forms onmy systems.But I wouldrecommend

getting a livedisk off thefront of one of the variousspecials thatpop upregularly, andwork with itfor a week, or

a month or two, and open up yourmind to a whole new world of computing.

The future for me and Kubuntu islooking good. I'm looking forward toinstalling 8.04 LTS (the nextgeneration) when it is released in

April, although I didn't install anyof the three versions that

appeared after 6.06LTS, because Iwanted to stick witha rock-steady systemfor the manyprojects I have on

the go at any one time. I knowKubuntu is rock steady as it is,but, like all OSes, when youupgrade, there are gripesregarding stuff being donedifferently (I'm not a Luddite)and the new versions beingslightly different. (I'm from

Windows and using each newversion of Word brings threemonths of frustration due tomenu changes and other stuff like that.) So, for now, 6.06 is myOS, and, after a year, I am veryhappy with Linux and where I'mat with my knowledge. I don'tthink I'll ever be as good atLinux as I was with Windows,because I learned Windowswhen I was much younger, but,as long as it works well and I cando all the things that I did withWindows, welcome one newconvert.

I'm lookingforward toinstalling 8.04


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documents inhttp://www.debian.org/devel , Istarted to understand packaginglogic and began to give mycontribution.

I learned packaging by readingtechnical documentation(Ubuntu Packaging Guide,www.debian.org/devel) andfollowing my sponsors advice. Ifound it very useful to look atsome debdiffs already publishedin Ubuntu too, they help a lot if you are unsure about a fix.

Being aware your work isimportant for many people.

MM OO TT UU IINN TT EERRVV IIEEWW LLUU CC AA FFAA LLAAVV IIGG NN AA Taken from

Behind MOTU is a site which features interviews with those who are known as 'Masters of the Universe' (MOTU). They are the volunteerarmy of package maintainers that look after the Universe and Multiverse software repositories.

24

Guastalla, a smallcity in northernItaly

DktrKranz

I started using GNU/Linux in 2000with Mandrake, soon replaced byDebian, which [was] my O.S. untillate 2005.

Since 2005, after installing BreezyBadger.

My first package was merge of nttcpin March 2007, during late Feistydevelopment cycle. I just discoveredhttp://merges.ubuntu.com and Iwanted to help out. After readingUbuntu Packaging Guide and some
http://behindmotu.wordpress.com/


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Solve problems and makingUbuntu rock for all is a great goal,every little step is importantbecause a minimal fix can beimportant for someone, and I amhappy to give my contributionwhere I am able to.

Many people are not comfortablewith development because theyfeel strong programming skills arerequired. Sometimes it is not sohard, and everyone s help isappreciated by fixing easy issues.I have the pleasure [of working]with some Italian contributorswho show interest in the project:even if they are not programmers,they contribute actively and someof them have uploaded more than40 packages so far! Being curiousis the key: join #ubuntu-motu, askquestions about development

processes, and start to work on abug you feel important, whenyour efforts lead to a packageupload, you will know why we areall so [enthusiastic] to contributeto MOTU activities.

I do not havea limited setof packagesto look at([except] theones Imaintain inDebian), so Iwould like tohelp wherethere is a

need,basically byfixing un-metdependanciesand FTBFS,reviewingpatches, and additional QA efforts.

Plans to make Universe usable byeveryone are very important, and theMOTU community started withenthusiasm to gather some tools tohelp in this way (seehttp://qa.ubuntuwire.com ). These

activities will improve overallquality of the Universepackages, and our users willsurely benefit [from] this. I hopenew contributors will pursue this

targettoo,Universeis hugeand thereis a lot of work todo!

A. De Gasperi

I like playing basketball, I usuallytake shots on playgrounds whenI have time to. I like food too,Italy is a great place to pursuethis kind of interest.
http://qa.ubuntuwire.com/


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UU BB UU NN TT UU WW OO MM EENNWritten by Emma Jane Hogbin

It often feels like the most time-consuming part of a project isthe last 10%. In a juggling act,this is the moment when all of theballs are in the air. The success of

the juggler

s performancedepends on each of the ballsfalling neatly into the juggler shands without them having tolurch to catch a stray one.Keeping a close eye on yourproject will allow you to neatly

complete all of yourtasks and to reach yourgoal.

Last month, Iencouraged you to setshort deadlines foryourself and yourteammates. In additionto this, you should alsohave regular meetings,

or a space for people toreport on their tasks.Set a schedule, andmake your report public.

If you are meeting in real time ,make sure your meeting has anagenda, and that you keep themeeting as short as possible. Seeingyour progress reported will help you

judge how far away you are fromachieving your goal.

But what if no one signs up fortasks? Or perhaps people havesigned up for tasks, but nothing isgetting done? If either of these applyto your group, it might be time to

take a step back and evaluateyour original goals. Do yourpersonal goals for the projectmatch the personal goals of theother participants? Take a closelook and ask yourself: does thiscommunity need a gentle pushto get it started, or is there afundamental difference betweenwhat I want to accomplish andwhat the rest of the group wants

to achieve?Next month, in the final

installment of this series, welook at the trickiest question of all: once you have them, how doyou keep the best volunteersactively working towards yourgoal?

builds andsupports on-line communitiesusing open source software. Shelives in rural Canada andchronicles her adventures atwww.emmajane.net .
http://www.emmajane.net/


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UU BB UU NN TT UU YYOO UU TT HHWritten by Andrew Harris

The future of open source is in the young people of today; that'swhy this corner of the magazine is for young people or simplythose who are young at heart.

So you have just installed or

upgraded to Hardy. Now thatyou've rebooted, retrievedwhat you had backed up andworked out whatever kinks theremay be, you might wonder, Nowwhat? .

The first thing I always do isreinstall all the software I alreadyhad (as I prefer to just totally

reinstall each time a new releaseof Ubuntu is out) and then seewhat's new. In this article, I amgoing to go over some of the new(free!) software that can be usefulor entertaining to teens.

First, here is a good calculator.It's especially for those inadvanced math classes. Thedefault calculators that come withthe *buntus are nice, butsometimes you need more.Although there are greatcalculator programs for alldesktops, including the commandline, check out Qalculate! It's

amazing. It has dozens and dozensof built-in functions, from areas of various polygons to physicsconversions, and even a date toUNIX timestamp conversion! It cando everything I can think of andmore, but saying this doesn't do

justice to a fraction of whatQalculate! can do. There arepackages for GTK, KDE, and thecommand line in the repositories.

Now I noticed something not quiteright about Hardy: it doesn't comewith any games -- not even littletime-waster games! If you run KDE,then just grab the kdegamespackage and that should last youthrough World War III and beyond.But for everyone else, I have someother suggestions.

Breakout is a classic. Everybodyeverywhere loves a good game of breakout. I suggest lbreakout2. It isan excellent game with greatgraphics and sound effects. It comeswith many levels made mostly by the

creator of the game, MichaelSpeck. I also suggest pysol, avery hackable Solitaire gamewritten in Python, and knetwalk,a KDE game in which youconnect terminals to a server.It's more fun than it sounds.

The rest is up to you. I reallycan't speak for all teens on whatyou should install. Personally, I

like to install several IDE's forlanguages that I'm not evengoing to use -- but that's just me.

The nice thing about apt-get isthat it will keep on apt-get'ing!

There is no limit on what you caninstall besides the size of yourhard drive.

is, in anutshell, a geek. He enjoys Linux,Open Source, the fine arts, andprogramming. If you follow hisadvice then you too will beaddicted to knetwalk. Andrew willbe speaking at this year's Ubuntulive and hopes to see you there.


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LLEETT TT EERR SS Every month we like to publish some of the emails we receive. If you would like tosubmit a letter for publication, compliment or complaint, please email it to:[email protected] . PLEASE NOTE: some letters may be edited for space reasons.

LETTER OF THE MONTH Writer of Letter of the Month winstwo metal Ubuntu case badges!

First of all, I want to thankAndrew Min for the article oncreating .deb files (FCM #12)

- it is the first I've read that is areally good and quick introductionto creating simple .deb packages.Much appreciated!

Furthermore I wanted to replyto Blaise Alleyne's comment onmy article "You use Ubuntu, notLinux". First, I want to apologizefor using the word "crazy". It wasindeed too harsh and if I offendedanyone, that was not my intentionand I hereby apologize.

Then I want to confirm that myuse of the word "operatingsystem" was wrong indeed.

However, that does not invalidatemy argument, which, moreappropriately worded, was topromote the use of a certainsoftware package (in Ubuntu'scase, a Linux distribution).

So yes, I'm now convinced thatGNU/Linux might be a moreappropriate (albeit cumbersome)name for the "operating system"(being just that part of the softwareon your computer that gets it tooperate). Still, the actual point I was

trying to make still stands: mostpeople use the term "Linux"when they actually mean"Ubuntu" or whatever.

I want to describe a beautiful experiencewith Ubuntu Gutsy on my friend's laptop.

The laptop is a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo. Wehave an internet subscription with anitalian Internet provider and in our housewe have a wireless router. With WindowsXP SP2 the wireless connectionsometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Inaddition, if we plug in a USB device andthen remove this device, Windows alsoremoves the wireless card (the card isinternal)! It always does this and I haveno idea why! So I decided to make a dualboot on this laptop with Ubuntu Gutsyand, guess what? Gutsy automaticallyrecognizes the wireless card and theconnection works flawlessly! The

problem with the USB doesn't existanymore! It's fantastic!

Now my friend regularly usesUbuntu and he's very pleased with it.
mailto:[email protected]


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Regarding the How-To on usingan iPod Classic with Amarok (FCM#11), I was in the same boat,having received the gift of a newiPod Classic, I though it would justwork with Amarok, as previousversions have. The article showsclearly that it does not. I wentthrough a lot of the same workyour writer did, only to end upwith unsatisfactory results.

Then I found Floola (right)(http://www.floola.com ). Itactually works really well andrequires almost no configurationout of the box. Floola is availableat no cost, but is not open source.While it is not a full featuredmedia player, like Amarok, it doeswhat I need it to do - namely loadvideos and music on my iPod. Sowhile I still use Amarok to playmedia on my Ubuntu install, I'vebeen recommending Floola toanyone with a current-gen iPod.

Ed:,

I'm writing to you to let you knowabout an Ubuntu promotionalwebsite I've made -www.ubuntustory.com .

The idea is that people fromaround the world share their Linuxexperience. If it's possible can youmention this website in yourmagazine? I hope more stories canmake the difference for newbies - itwill show them that Ubuntu really isLinux for Human Beings.

Ed:

Ijust want to thank you for

another wonderful issue of Full Circle Magazine. I love theseries on installing a fullfeatured server.

Also, I just downloadedWormux (below), I wonder if I'llbe able to run it under UbuntuGutsy on a Pentium III 450 MHzwith only 320 megs of ram?

Ed:
http://www.ubuntustory.com/http://www.floola.com/


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QQ && AAWritten by Robert Clipsham

If you have Ubuntu-related questions, email them to:[email protected] , and Robert will answer them in a future issue.

Q

AThis is caused by a newfeature in Hardy - the GFSfuse daemon. This iseffectively a mirror of your filesystem, which causes the diskusage analyzer to show doubleyour disk size. To hide it, go toEdit->Preferences, then deselectthe .gfs folder in your homedirectory.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=748778

Q

AInstalling within Windows is asafer option, as it does notedit your disk's partition table

or edit your boot loader. RunningUbuntu from within Windows willslightly slow down disk access, andhibernation isn't supported. It alsoallows you to install and uninstallUbuntu from within Windows, andyou are able to transfer to a

dedicated partition later if youdecide you want the extraperformance. Another downside isthat the filesystem used is morevulnerable to power failures, so youshouldn't save important data on thefile system.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=788346

Q

ADownload the Linuxtarball(http://url.fullcirclemagazi

ne.org/16457e ) from Adobe'swebsite, and copylibflashplayer.so to/usr/lib/browser-plugins or.mozilla/plugins in your homedirectory. You could also useGnash

(http://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/ ), a free alternative to flash.

Q

APress Alt+F2, and in thedialog box, type

. Navigate to/apps/nautilus/preferences,then make sure that

is notchecked.
http://url.fullcirclemagazine.org/16457ehttp://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=788346http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=748778mailto:[email protected]


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MM YY DD EESS KKTT OO PP

I have been using Linux for about four years, and just last yearfound Ubuntu and fell in love with it. I use 7.10 with Linux Mintrepositories. Mint has some extras that I like. I have customisedmy system using Compiz Fusion, CairoClock, gDesklets, andAvant. The Emerald theme I use was made by me, (GlassyMint), as was the AWN theme (Curved Glassy Mint AWN), the

wallpaper (called Visiting Tux), and the Cairo-Clock theme(Debian Mint) -- all can be found at http://gnome-look.org. Iused the side-candy gDesklets themes for my desklets. Thetheme I use is called MidnightBlackPlastic, and the icons are theGnomeProject icons, again found at gnome-look.I run an Acer

TravelMate 8104WLmi laptop, with a Pentium M 2GHZ, 1GB of RAM with an ATI x700 mobility video card with the resolution setto 1600x1050.

Your chance to show the world your desktop or PC. Email your screenshots andphotos to: [email protected] and include a brief paragraph about yourdesktop, your PC's specs and any other interesting tidbits about your setup.

My Ubuntu box is a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro 3205. I'm using theEmerald theme Aero, and the Avant Window Manager with thetransparent dock theme. My desktop is a customized theme, amix of Tango and Mist.
mailto:[email protected]


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TT OO PP 55 UU NN UU SS UU AA LL CC OO NN SS OO LLEESSWritten by Andrew Min

Homepage: http://tilda.sourceforge.net

An oldie butgoodie, Tilda wascreated by TristanSloughter (akakungfooguru) inDecember 2004.Named after the

tilde (~), thispowerful terminalis modeled afterthe gamingterminals found in Quake and many of itsderivatives. With a simple key combination, Tilda willgracefully slide down from the top of the screen, andpresent a full terminal. Hit the combination again,and the terminal quickly slides out of view, waiting inthe background for another order. It even provides amulti-tabbed interface, so you can have multipleterminals running at the same time.

To install Tilda, grab the package from theuniverse repository. After installing it, run toconfigure it.

Your monthly list of Linux games or applicationsfrom the depths of the Internet. If you have an ideafor a list, please email: [email protected]

Homepage: http://yakuake.uv.ro/

As you may havefigured out, Tildareally only playsnice on GTK-powered distros likeUbuntu or Xubuntu.If you're a Kubuntu

user, and feelingslightly left out, give YaKuake a spin.Based on the nowdead Kuake ( http://freshmeat.net/projects/kuake/ ),

YaKuake is a Konsole-powered terminal that, like Tilda, slides down from the top of the screenwhenever you hit the hotkey. It also has some nicefeatures like skins, resizing, and multiple tabs.

While the YaKuake homepage indicates that therehasn't been much activity recently, there haveactually been a lot of builds released. To install it, justuse the package in the universerepositories. Or, if you're a KDE 4 user, try

.
http://freshmeat.net/projects/kuake/http://yakuake.uv.ro/http://tilda.sourceforge.net/title=http://tilda.sourceforge.net/mailto:[email protected]


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Homepage:http://phrat.de/yeahtools.html

If you're not an Ubuntu or Kubuntu user,

and/or believe that lighter = better, YeahConsole is for you. Weighing in atonly 81.9 KB, YeahConsole is a reallynice drop down console, based on

, and similar to and .What sets YeahConsole apart is thatthere are basically no special "features",which means that the developers didn'tthink they needed the tabs or the skinsor the other tools that are in YaKuakeand Tilda.

To install YeahConsole, install thepackage in the universe

repositories.

Homepage:http://hotwire-shell.org/

Hotwire is another "different" type of

terminal. Designed for systemsprogramming, this "hyper-shell" mergesthe old UNIX shell with a nice Gnome-based GUI. You can simply type in one of its many pre-built commands and view theoutput in the GUI. You can also script itwith Python, Ruby, and sh. And, for thosetimes when you just need a normalterminal, you can run the command termto open up Hotwire's built-in console.

To install Hotwire, get thepackage in the universe repositories. Youcan also get a newer package(http://www.getdeb.net/app/Hotwire ) fromGetDeb.net (note that this was for an olderUbuntu and may not work).

Homepage:https://launchpad.net/terminator

Finally, here is a rather simple

terminal tool. You may have noticedthat most modern terminals likeGnome-Terminal, Konsole, and theones listed above, have support fortabs. However, this means that youcan't see two terminals at the sametime without opening two separateinstances. Terminator rectifies thisproblem. Opening it provides a verysimple terminal. Just right click on theterminal and hit Split Horizontal or

Split Vertical, and Terminator spawnsanother terminal. You can do this foras many terminals as you want.

To install Terminator, use thepackage in the universe

repositories.has been a Linux addict

since he first installed openSuSE inVMWare. Learn more about him athttp://www.andrewmin.com/

Full Circle Team
https://launchpad.net/terminatorhttp://www.getdeb.net/app/Hotwirehttp://hotwire-shell.org/http://phrat.de/yeahtools.htmlhttp://www.andrewmin.com/


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We are always looking for new articles to include in Full Circle. For article guidelines,ideas, and for issue translation, please see our wiki:

http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMagazinePlease email your articles to: [email protected]

- Ronnie [email protected]

- Rob [email protected]

- Robert [email protected]

Samuel Barratt Robert ClipshamDaniel Cohen Philipp HhnAndrew Min Vid Ayer

Andrew MinMike KennedyGord CampbellRobert OrsinoRob KerfiaRobin J. Banfield

James BarklowMatt JaneskiDavid WaldropMatthew HolderDavid SuttonDavid Haas

And our thanks go out to, the

and the many translationteams around the world.

If you would like to submit news, email it to:[email protected]

Send your comments or Linux experiences to:[email protected]

Hardware/software reviews should be sent to:[email protected]

Questions for future interviews should go to:[email protected]

Lists and desktop/PC photos should beemailed to:[email protected]

If you have questions, you can visit our forum:

www.fullcirclemagazine.org

Sunday 08th June.

Friday 27th June.

HAVE YOUR SAY

If you want to have your say on howFull Circle Magazine develops, pleaseattend our monthly IRC meeting.

You can find our next Agenda at:

http://url.fullcirclemagazine.org/f2ba08

We want input from you, the reader, tohelp us make decisions that affect themagazine.

Next general meeting (all welcome):at .

Meetings take place in the IRC channel, which is on the

irc.freenode.net server. Or you can useour webIRC page which is athttp://irc.fullcirclemagazine.org and itwill allow you to interact with our IRCchannel from within your web browser.
http://irc.fullcirclemagazine.org/mailto:[email protected]://url.fullcirclemagazine.org/f2ba08mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=270http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMagazine

Documents

FullCircle Magazine Issue 13