Aug
10
The Fast, Simple Way to Save Streaming Website Video.
August 10, 2007 | By: UbuntuLinuxHelp | 2 Comments
Posted in How To
For some time I thought streamed online video (flv) could be downloaded easiest using one of the many Firefox Extensions and others such as VideoDownloader 2.0 from JaviMoya.com. In other words, I always thought I had to install something - Not so!
I was surprised that there are two even simpler ways anyone can save flv video files.
1) In your Firefox address bar, type:
about:cache
Then, under the title "Disk cache device" click "List Cache Entries". They may take time to list. After they are listed, save searching time by:
Pressing CTRL+F on your keyboard. When the little search window appears, simply type "flv" and press enter (on your keyboard). Now all flv videos will be available to you.
2) The second method is simply to surf to your /tmp folder in Ubuntu and again, all flv's will be available to you.
Why is this helpful? When I don't have an Internet connection, or the existing connection is too slow, I can still, view or show streamed videos!
Aug
10
UCP – Ubuntu Certified Professional Certification.
August 10, 2007 | By: UbuntuLinuxHelp | Leave a Comment
Posted in Editorials
The Ubuntu certification track is available and there is sure to be a demand!
This reminds me of my earlier days when I studied to obtain various certifications, MCSE among others. While later I did check the RHCE and associated certifications, I found (at that time) the costing to be somewhat excessive. In truth I was also somewhat jaded by my experiences with the MCSE certification. To be blunt, demand was very low for MCSE's after finally obtaining certification (at that time) and that lack left me leary (to invest time and money).
However, given the current marketing and business push by Mark Shuttleworth and Canonical to further entrench Ubuntu in the server and desktop industry, I can increasingly glimmer a more realistic demand for Ubuntu (and Linux in general), within the corporate (and consumer) arena. For many of us that is great news!
So with gusto, it was interesting to learn that Canonical and the Linux Professional Institute had teamed up to conduct the "Ubuntu Certified Professional" (UCP) certification track.
Currently, this is best leveraged by System Administrators (obviously the more experience the easier), who are looking not only to add a focus on Ubuntu, but also at the same time to obtain industry standard credentials. What does this mean? Well...
UCP requires that candidates successfully complete the following exams from the Linux Professional Institute (LPI):
LPI 101 - LPI Level 1, Common across all Linux distributions.
LPI 102 - LPI Level 1, Common across all Linux distributions.
LPI 199 - LPI Ubuntu
As you may see, this allows not only the Ubuntu certification, but automatically garners standard industry certifications.
More information about the certification specifics are found direct from Ubuntu at: www.ubuntu.com/partners/training/certificationcourses/professional
I phoned to obtain testing costs from Prometric and was told:
LPI 101 - $150 (USD)
LPI 102 - $150 (USD)
LPI 199 - $100 (USD)
If you're seriously entertaining the thought of obtaining UCP credentials, you may ask "Where do I take the exams?". As with any standard IT related technical certification, they are available at Prometric testing centres. In my opinion, the timing demonstrates a keen business savvy, the purpose of which is sure to further increase the adoption of Ubuntu server and desktop systems.
Personally, I'm VERY interested.
Aug
8
The Best 10 Minute, Effective Desktop Firewall Installation for Ubuntu Linux
August 8, 2007 | By: UbuntuLinuxHelp | Leave a Comment
Posted in Applications, Hands On, How To
I had an interesting conversation yesterday about keeping your computer safe on the Internet. One of the issues raised was that Ubuntu was not as safe as Windows, because there was no Firewall software like Zonealarm; and instead Linux Ubuntu users had to install a separate physical firewall. "That is just not true!" Although I don't think that's quite what I said at the time... <smiling>
While I do agree (very much) that it is safe to maintain a separate physical firewall; many of us do not necessarily have the resources or technical skill to so this. There are several firewall applications that Ubuntu users can install on their local computers. One of them is called Read more
Aug
7
10 Advantages of Ubuntu over Vista.
August 7, 2007 | By: UbuntuLinuxHelp | 12 Comments
Posted in Editorials
The good people over at thecomputingexpert.com wrote an insightful article, outlining the advantages of Ubuntu Linux. I must say that I agree with many of the points, however, I have to completely disagree with their perspective on networking. They say "...The other day I was amazed with how easy it was to connect my Ubuntu laptop to my Windows XP PC. I simply plugged in my laptop to the network hub and it immediately connected with no problems, I didn’t even have to configure it..."
Not in my case. I had to install a Samba server so that all computers could access the same resources, regardless of the platform used.
Here's what else they had to say:
"I converted from Vista to Ubuntu a little over 2 months ago and am soooooo happy with it, best decision of my life. I am going to tell you my top 10 advantages of it over Windows Vista. Please remember these are my own opinions, if you have more advantages and indeed any disadvantages (if you can find any) then please post them as comments.
1) Eye Candy
If I am completely honest, the biggest reason why I converted was the eye candy. Sure Windows Vista comes with lots of it, but it just isn’t as good. Ubuntu 7.04 comes with just a few of the effects seen a lot nowadays, these effects include the rotating cube desktop and wobbly windows, it just makes it much nicer to use. I have installed Beryl on my computer to give much more eye candy. I base a lot of my judgments on looks first, features later.
2) Easy to Install Applications
Installing new programs in Ubuntu is a doddle, far easier than in Windows, because there is one program that basically gives you access to most applications available to Ubuntu, simply click the program you want and it will install, you don’t need to accept agreements because its all open source so there is no need to click Next 20 times before the program is installed. Simply select the program and click OK, wallah! done.
3) Secure
In Windows Vista, to change a setting requires a ridiculous amount of dialog boxes and passwords, in Ubuntu, you are never logged in as an administrator (root), you are logged in as a simple user, you can change options that are only applicable to your user area but for changing options that affect the system you are required to input the administrator password, one dialog and you’re in, simple and secure. There is also the added bonus that there are very few viruses for Linux, I haven’t ever come across one yet so you can feel safe, imagine not having any virus protection software installed in Windows, there is no need for it in Linux, freedom from the threat of losing all your data.
4) Easy to change options
Ubuntu comes with a control panel but also comes with a menu next to the Applications menu where you simply select the thing you want to change, be it the Desktop background or the network settings. Everything on the windows that appear is simple and there are just the options you need so it is easy to change the options.
5) Community
The community behind Linux, especially Ubuntu is what attracts many people to the operating system. People in the Linux community are mainly ex-Windows users so they know what it feels like to be new to an operating system, so they are happy to help. Whenever I had and have a problem with Ubuntu I simply post on the Ubuntu forum and within minutes there are answers to the problems. I never got put on hold or had to phone up customer service and wait for hours if I had any problems.
6) Free
Everything about Ubuntu is free, the operating system (you can even have them send you a free copy of the operating system, they even pay the postage charges), the software installed is free (including all the software you can download) any help and support is free. The whole experience is 100% free, because it is open source. Open source means that you can distribute and even edit the code behind the program."
Read the remaining four advantages and comments from their web site: thecomputingexpert.com/start/?p=261
Aug
4
My Hard Drive Failed! – Easy, Fast, Simple Ubuntu Package Recovery.
August 4, 2007 | By: UbuntuLinuxHelp | Leave a Comment
Posted in How To
A couple of days ago I turned my PC on and the BIOS failed to auto-detect my hard drive. Assuming it was just a boot-up mistake, I rebooted the system - I got the same result. Suffice it to say, it did not take to long to realize that my hard drive had failed!
I even tried using the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) tool from ultimatebootcd.com. UBCD is a great free diagnostic CD with lots of troubleshooting tools, I've used this tool often and highly recommend it.
The bad news, the degree of hard drive failure was not worth the excessive time to reclaim any data.
The good news, I had backups and could get my system back up and running in minutes!
How you ask? First install Ubuntu, as of the writing of this article, part one of my article "How to Install the Perfect Ubuntu Based Computer - Introduction" is available on this web site. I had previously made backups of my settings, package installations as well as email, and other important data.
Backing up important data is relatively easy! - Just burn it to a CD or DVD. That's what I did to save email messages, documents, my home folder, fonts, etc.
What I needed was to preserve the installation packages installed (which I'd never remember and prefer not to write down). That would actually have taken me too long to figure out and I'd probably not have found them all!
Here's how to ensure you get all your packages and applications back...
Run the command
sudo dpkg --get-selections > /backup/applist.txt
What this does is create a simple text listing of all the packages and applications installed on my system and stores it in my "backup" directory (which I created earlier). I can email that list, burn it to CD or do whatever I wish, so as to have a safe copy of it.
Restoring is a simple matter, install Ubuntu and copy your "applist.txt" file to "/backup", then restore the packages using that backed up package list (applist.txt) like this:
cat /backup/applist.txt | sudo dpkg --set-selections
next:
sudo apt-get -y update
then:
sudo apt-get dselect-upgrade
Now your packages will be restored. Now I'm free to copy any data I wanted to save that was in my home directory; documents, images, audio files, etc.
Why is this so good to do? It saves a lot of time searching for the packages you need or want as well as keeping a listing of the ones I probably forgot I had installed and at most I may have lost a day or two of file changes. A real time-saver!
