Open Skies

Good news for Linux users — Skype for Linux version 2 is now available. Aside from zillions of bug fixes and new language support, the most exciting feature of version 2 is the introduction of free video calls to Linux. This is a feature everyone’s been asking for, so we’re extra-happy to have made it happen.

If you’re a Linux user, head over to the download page and grab a copy — builds are available for Ubuntu, Debian Etch, Xandros, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Mandriva and Centros.

For more info, check out Ryan’s post on the Linux blog. He’s quite excited by it too

Skype for Linux - free video calls on Linux
Peter
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:00:53 GMT

I've finally got a fully working Linux instance running alongside XP on my laptop.  For some reason it would not even look at Gutsy, taking about 5 minutes to boot.  I've been messing about with Mepis off and on for a few months though, and its finally fallen into place.

Mepis is based on Ubuntu, with all the Linux goodness that that entails, and has a KDE front end (so more like Kubuntu really - Ubuntu uses Gnome).  Installation was fairly painless, wih the only fly in the ointment being (predictably) wireless.  Five minutes with ndiswrapper got this sorted and then I was able to start getting updates down.

Left: My Mepis desktop, tweaked to my liking - Menu bar at the bottom of the screen autohides a-la XP Mepis comes with Beryl and Emerald, which give all the wizzy effects like desktops-on-a-cube and Vista-like eyecandy.  These did work, but the Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics chipset on this laptop was not very happy with it, and the whole thing was a bit flakey.  Binning Beryl and Emerald and returning to the default screen manager fixed things nicely.  I like the eyecandy, but this is a fairly lowly laptop after all, not a swanky media centre.  I still get things like multi desktops, which is nice

As you'd expect Mepis comes with rucks of programs ready to go, and many more available for free download via Synaptic PackageManager.

One of the great things about Linux is how easy it is to virtualise other OS's.  VirtualBox is readily available, and this was my weapon of choice. I wanted a version of Windows running under Mepis, simply because its sometimes useful to have.  as you can see I have Windows 98 runnable as a virtual machine.  I chose 98 'cos its small, and I had a  spare licence knocking about....

...none of which explains why I also virtualised Beos. Beos is an OS from the 90's that never really went anywhere.  It also is of no earthly use to me, but I've always wanted to have a play.  But, there you are - Beos running under Mepis.  It doesn't like my graphics card for some reason, which explains why its monochrome, and probably the glacial speed (the GL Rotating Teapot is showing 3.4 (not 34) fps). If I had a floppy drive Windows 3.1 would be next ;)

Have you ever found yourself using someone elses PC, maybe at a cyber cafe, and found it just does not have the apps you want?  Do you use OpenOffice at home and find it frustrating that you can't get that opensource goodness at work?  Then PortableApps might just be for you...

First some background - a year or so ago I was messing about with Linux on a pendrive, and Firefox-on-a-stick.  OpenOffice-on-a-stick was also under development at that time (not by me, I hasten to add).

At the time I could install what I liked at work, and none of my home machines will boot from USB, so it was all a bit of a fun curiosity, so things went a bit quiet..

Then the other day I was recommended this site, PortableApps.com by a friend, and very impressed I am too.

You can think of PortableApps as a wrapper that allows you to install a range of apps to, and run from, a USB drive.  It comes in three variants.  Base, which lets you install your own choice of apps, Lite, which comes with a range of apps including Amiword, and Standard, which replaces Amiword with OpenOffice suite. 

Once installed on pretty much any USB mass storage device you run the PortableApps application from the pendrive and open the menu (left) from the icon that appears in your system tray.  Choose your app, or add new ones from here.

Obviously, running from USB things are a bit slower than from HD, but even using my combination of a dirt-cheap SD card reader and generic SD card its perfectly usable.  Installation of PortableApps was very slow however, so I suspect it really would justify the purchase of a decent device.

At time of writing 43 apps are available, including an AV package (useful!)and various backup solutions.  So far it seems to be Windows only.

All-in-all its an extremely elegant solution to the problem of locked down machines.

I pair it on my stick with Damn Small Linux, for its ability to run its desktop within a Windows  window, and the fact that it once managed to let me browse the web under Windows when no natively-running Windows browser could get at the web :)

I must admit that I've kind of looked at Media Centres from afar up till now.  The thought of building a PC suitable for keeping in the lounge and then nailing a copy of Windows Media Edition onto it has never really floated my boat (especially not I have my DVR up and running).  I'm assuming Apple has a Media Centre solution as well, but again, its not something I can pontificate on...

However, I came across a Linux Media Centre demo the other day and I must admit it's very, very impressive.  As I say, I'm not in a position to compare and contrast it to the Windows or Apple alternatives, but if you have the desire for a Media Centre I can only recommend at least having a look at a video of it in action here.

LinuxMCE runs on Kubuntu, and it free.  It also does home automation...maybe I really do need a new PC after all...

A handy util for your Ubuntu desktop....have a play.

Filed under: Utilities, Unix

Look, we know you can figure out how to do things like show the Home, Desktop, and Trash icons on your Ubuntu desktop, customize Compiz settings, or show advanced file permissions in the Nautilus file manager. But how hard do you really want to dig to find those settings?
Ubuntu Tweak makes it easy to customize your desktop environment and a handful of other settings like your startup session and power management settings. The utility runs on Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10 and could make life a lot easier on Linux/Ubuntu newbies.
[via Lifehacker]

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Tweak your Ubuntu desktop with Ubuntu Tweak
Brad Linder
Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Seeing as its New Year I thought I'd get a little light hearted and share a couple of my favourite free and very cheap games.  They all have a small enough footprint to run on my four year old laptop and are all Windows based....try as I might I've never been more than underwhelmed by the available Linux games :-(  (Mind you, I was bored by the Orange Box after four days, so maybe its just me...)

Q-Lat2

"Q-Lat2 is an arcade type game mixing features from pentaque, billiards, and flippers. The game objective in Q-Lat2 is to make all the balls explode, by turning them all to the same color. Q-Lat2 requires good aiming, fast reflexes, quick thinking, and a lot of plain good luck :) No blood and guns this time, just hectic hiscore hunting alone or with a friend."

Its not quite that simple though.  You control a ball which moves in a way reminicent of the ship in Asteroids.  Hitting another ball will cause your ball to take on its colour, and hitting a normal ball with another normal ball will cause the hitee to take the colour of the hitter.  So to turn all the balls one colour you have to use your ball as a cue ball to knock balls of the colour you want to work with into incorrectly coloured balls.  Add a great sound track and you have a frustrating, addictive feast.

Mono

"The aim of the game is to change the colour of the entire screen from black to white or white to black.  This is achieved by shooting the alien blobs that colour the background when destroyed.  There are 3 colours of blobs to shoot (red, green and blue) and the colour they leave behind changes the behaviour of any enemies that travel over it.  A sort of "player controlled difficulty curve" where the more of the screen you colour, the more the enemies behaviour changes"

Mono is nothing less than a very good Asteroids clone, with a few twists.  As with Q-Lat2 its a very simple game, with great graphics, nice background music and fantastic gameplay.

Bridge Construction Set

"Bridge Construction Set is about building a bridge that doesn't break, although watching your bridge creation break and plunge a train into the watery depths below can be half the fun. In Bridge Construction Set you design and build bridges and then stress test them to see how your creations hold up under pressure. When test vehicles pass over your bridge and make it safely across you know you've succeeded. If they plummet into the river you know you need to go back to the drawing board."

This is my favourite game, and has been for quite some time.  BCS employs realistic physics, a range of materials and hydraulics and a powerful landscape editor so you can design your own bridge challenges. This one is a bit of a cheat - its not freeware, but there is a free demo. It only costs $19.99 (about a tenner in proper money) and comes in Windows, Linux and Mac flavours.

Head Over Heels

"Head Over Heels was released, um, a while ago. Around about 1987 if I recall correctly and it was immediately praised in the press as being quite the bestest thing ever. Not only was it a huge game for it's time, it also had great graphics and was very addictive - if somewhat punishing in its difficulty level.  Even today it still stands as a brilliantly designed title and has never really been bettered in the isometric adventure genre."

One of the best games every created for the Spectrum, re-created and improved for the PC. And its free...what more could you want. The nice people at Retrospec have also re-done some other speccy classics.  Some are fabulous, and improvements on the original (like Jetset Willy)..some are, well, less successful (Harrier Attack for one).  I'm gradually working my way through them, and there are some real winners...

Thats me for 2007 - Happy New Year to all my readers and I'll be back in 2008!

There are many sources of software on the web, and most of them offer freeware (and Open Source), but today I thought I'd have a quick look at one of my favorites (SourceForge) and a newbie that seems very impressive (Open Source Living).

Interestingly, they seem to me to be at two ends of the spectrum as regards range of software they link to, and the methods they use to help you find said software.

Open Source Living is a pretty new player in the game.  I came across it on Digg the other day, and I must admit Im impressed by the range of software they cover.  The categories make it easy to find a relevant application, and the tight, limited selection means that you're not overwhelmed.  A range of platforms are covered.  OSL has a nice, clean look, and I can see it becoming a favorite of mine.

Sourceforge has been around for years.  It has over 165,000 different projects on its books, ranging from fully developed and polished application suites to apps that are, frankly, still in alpha, and that you may well need to compile yourself.  Some projects are highly active, others may have been moribund for years.  Pretty much any application need yo may have stands a very good chance of being covered, in some for or another, and for some platform, within SourceForge.

Imagine a world where if you want to produce a document at home you can write it out longhand or type it, on a typewriter.  Where if you want a copy of a photo you go to Boots.  And if your accountant wants a hard-copy of your figures you reach for you hard-back accounts ledger...

That's basically where we were maybe 15-20 years ago.  PCs were rare in the home, and more importantly  for the point I'm making, printers were even cheaper.  If you DID have a printer odds are it would be a dot matrix - great for listings, bad for anything else...

Printers are now ubiquitous and life is much easier.  jobs that would once have meant a trip to the printshop can now easily be done at your desk. 

And where am I going with this?  To the something that I reckon will be the next big thing.  3d printers.

Currently used in industry to create prototype parts and 3d models of designs units like the 3D Systems InVision XT 3-D Modeler are big, heavy and very, very expensive. Not the sort of thing you're likely to find on your desktop any time soon. For all that they're capable of creating very complex parts very accurately and in a variety of materials.

So far, so good...but if you're never going to find that on desktop then what's the relevance?  Well, as you'd expect with technology, prices are dropping and things are getting smaller.

Desktop Factory now produce the gadget to the left.  Approximately $5000, weighing 90lbs and measuring 20" X 20" X 25" it can produce anything that will fit inside a 5" cube. If that sounds big and expensive bear in mind that 10 years ago a colour laser printer would cost about that much and be about as big.  It would also be soundly thrashed by a current model costing about £250....

Another five years and I expect 3d-printers to be making an impact in the home.  Imagine breaking the dial on your tumble dryer, being able to download a pattern and print out a new one!  In ten years I'd expect multi-format printers to be fairly common - print out a bluetooth headset using metallic inks and multiple types of resins (well, maybe not, but simple electronics using ready-made chips, like remote controls could well be do-able).  The possibilities are endless...

Thats enough blue-skying I guess...this is supposed to be OpenSkies, and so far there's been no OpenSource perspective.

So....how about a 3D Prototyping Machine that you can build at home and is fuelled by sugar?  One that can make things like this:

It should also work with chocolate :-)

If you want to know more go here....

EvilMadScientist Candyfab.

I've finally taken the plunge into the world of DVR (Digital Video Recorders).  Being naturally mean I've held off splashing out until I saw this little beauty at Maplin. The NIKKAI A52HF.

 Although it says NIKKAI on the front it does say Maplin on the back...is Nikkai an own-brand?  Anyway, at £49.99 without HD, but with twin tuner its an absolute bargain if you have an old IDE hard drive knocking around. 

After I bought the unit I started having a look round the web, and my heart sank when I came across this thread but all I can think is that there has been a firmware update as I'm chuffed with mine.  As I was unsure whether or not Maplin would be having it back I threw an old WD 40Gb (which should be good for approx 20hrs TV) in for test purposes...I'll be getting a 250Gb one shortly...probably from Stafford IT Services, who have some good deals.

Ok, here's the unboxing and setup for your delectation...

	Here it is...as it comes from Maplin.
The beast itself...
	2 Co-ax in and 2 out..more of that in a minute.  All the normal stuff including an RS-232 under the power lead...for updating.  RS-232?  You might as well have specified punch cards for all the good that is to me Maplin....
OK, now we see why there are 4 co-ax sockets...so you have somewhere to put that weird little link cable.... I have not a clue why they chose not to do this internally.
	HD goes under here..
In that grey plastic tray...
	Player is about 3/4 the width of a standard VCR and pretty thin.  The front panel, BTW, glows amber. The remote is pretty small as well
Channel scan went smoothly, as did drive format.  Then you can access the main menu.  Which was designed by a nine year old. In 1988...yack..  Creepy old man is optional.
	Things get better - the poor picture is my TV, not the box.  Picture quality actually seems better than my cheapo Asda digibox.

There it is.  The remote is basic, too small, badly laid out and not very user friendly, and some of the operation is distinctly odd.  For example, when Booking a program for recording you're told to press OK to store.  Pressing OK does not store a booking.  First of all you have to press OK on the Booking On/Off field and turn it on.  Its a minor annoyance, but nothing I personally can't live with.  I've yet to see how the timed recording goes, and the 7-day EPG only shows today so far (apparently this updates at 3.00am - we shall see...)

Its no Bang Olufsen, but the price is great.  Its not opensource either, but with a HD you can choose yourself its at least part of the way there.

Two epic pieces of hardware have come to my attention this week...one of them is a complete shoe-in for this blog being open source, the other appeals to my love of ruggedised hardware (due to my innate clumsiness and ability to break pretty much anything...)

First on the list is courtesy of Firebox - video available on that link.  An IR or Wirless controlled (slightly cross looking) Tux to roam your desktop reading our news feeds etc has to be a winner in anyone's book.

Second is this Sonim XP1 ruggedised mobile, available in black, grey or this rather fetching yellow.  Its a bit feature poor - no mp3, no camera, no java, and a bit expensive (around £210.00 unlocked), but it is very rugged.  It also comes in JCB flavour. It kind of coordinates with the Tux-bot as well, which is nice...

Filed under: Linux, Google, Freeware

Google has released a new beta version of Picasa for Linux. Like earlier Linux releases, Picasa 2.7 Beta requires WINE to run, which would indicate that this isn't a 100% native Linux port of Google's popular photo organizing tool. But it does work well with your Linux desktop, seeking out all the photos stored on your PC and allowing you to sort them by albums or folders.
Here are a few of the new features in Picasa 2.7 for Linux:

• Upload to Picasa Web Albums using the "Web Albums" button.
• Save edits to disk
• Browse folders using a hierarchy view
• Import photos to an existing folder
• Better RAW image support
• Larger thumbnails
• Better caption editing
• Starred Photos album

You can download Picasa 2.7 for Linux by adding Google's testing repository to your source list or by downloading the deb or rpm files directly.
[via Google Operating System]

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Google releases Picasa 2.7 Beta for Linux
Brad Linder
Sun, 09 Dec 2007 12:00:00 GMT

Filed under: OS Updates, Linux

Sure, that expensive Playstation3 video game console in your living room can play DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, downloaded videos, and video games with killer graphics. But haven't you always wanted to install some old-school Nintendo and Atari games on there? OK, we're seriously hoping that's not the only thing you do if you decide to load Linux onto your PS3, but it's one of the many possibilities once you have a fully functional computer operating system on your game system.
The folks over at SoftPedia have put together step by step instructions for installing Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon on a PS3. The best thing is, you can install Ubuntu without removing your PS3's native operating system, meaning you'll be able to choose between playing video games and using your game console as a multimedia-friendly computer.
You'll need a USB flash drive (or hard drive), a USB keyboard, and an installer CD. Oh yeah, and a lot of time on your hands. Installation takes about 4 times longer on a PS3 than on a typical PC. You'll also probably want an HDTV if you plan on using your PS3 to do any serious computing. Otherwise you'll be stuck with an extraordinarily low screen resolution that makes it hard to fit more than one window on your screen.
[via Digg]

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Install Ubuntu 7.10 on a PS3 so you can play Super Mario 2
Brad Linder
Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:00:00 GMT

Filed under: Security, Linux

Ever wish there was an easy way to backup your Ubuntu files and settings to a disc? How about a way to create a LiveCD that features all of the programs you've added to your Ubuntu installation? Remastersys is a handy command line utility that lets you create a LiveCD backup of your Ubuntu or Mint Linux system.
The HowToForge has step by step instructions for installing Remastersys from the Mint repository, and running it to create a backup of your system. You'll want to make sure you have your Ubuntu or Mint installation disc handy, as Remastersys will likely ask you to insert it during the backup process.
One quick warning: Depending on the size of your setup, the process could take a long time, and will likely use up a lot of space with temporary files. Make sure to run the command "sudo remastersys clean" when you're done.
[via Lifehacker]

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How to create an Ubuntu backup LiveCD
Brad Linder
Sun, 09 Dec 2007 16:00:00 GMT

Audacity 

On top of that its easy to use, and very powerful.  And pretty compact as well, so even if you don't do a lot of audio editing its worth the HD space.

Videolan VLC Media Player.  It does what it says on the tin.  It plays media - pretty much any media you choose to throw at it actually...and it'll do it cross platform (Windows, Mac OS X, BeOS, and more flavours of Unix than you can shake a stick at.

Sweepi The first thing I run on any machine...Sweepi has three modules.  One to remove erronious shortcuts from your machine, one to securely delete files and Sweepi BootManager.  BootManager lets you kill all those annoying, resource hogging pieces of bloatware the PC manufacturers and the likes of various fruit-inspired computer manufacturers believe really, really need running in you system tray all the time.  Personally it has never let me down, and its the app I'd least like to give up.

On a Linux-ey note Ubuntu have announced the release of HardyHeron/Alpha1.  The final release version (the replacement for the current Gutsy Gibbon) is due in April 2008.  Read more about it here...

HardyHeron/Alpha1 - Ubuntu Wiki

First the biggies - OpenOffice and Firefox.   I love them both and neither really need any introduction.

SiSoftware Sandra Lite.  This is another pretty common one - but not something you'll use every day.  It gives a fairly detailed rundown of the spec of you machine, and the components therein - great if you're not sure what processor or memory you have. It also gives performance boosting tips, details on software installed and a whole host of other useful bits and bobs including burn-in tests and the like. The Lite (free version) is missing some functionality available i you stump up the cash, but all-in-all its a must-have, especially when working on machines of uncertain parentage.

Trillian.  This is a fairly well known IM client, and while, as no particular fan of IM I'm not the best person to judge, its my client of choice when I do partake.  Its fairly light, it talks to Yahoo, MSN, AIM and ICQ and puts each conversation into a tab (like Firefox) which is nice (I'm a miser for screen real-estate) and its free...my only gripe is that the chat window if fairly wide and (on my lappy at least) will not squeeze down as far as I'd like.  Maybe I need to buy a better laptop :)

  Another piece of software I've found that absolutely fascinates me is this Paperback.  To quote the site...

I must admit I've had limited (ie no) success in scanning a backup in again, so I suspect I'll not be trusting my tax records to it just yet, but I love the concept.