Back on April 24th, we happily installed a clean version of the 64-bit Ubuntu Hardy Heron release. For a few days, life was sweet. Hardy had Firefox, and we very easily installed Flash from the Hardy repositories. It all seemed to work fine, at first glance.
The honeymoon ended really quickly. We started to notice that Firefox was doing exceedingly odd things when we tried to upload images to our blogging software. It would try its damnedest to upload, but there was just no love.
After much frustration and swearing, we were reminded of a neat little script put together by Kilz on the Ubuntu Forums. We had used FF3in1 previously, with great success. It was a slightly different situation that time (Flash wouldn't install), but all signs pointed to it being a 64-bit versus 32-bit issue this time around, as well.
FF3in1 conveniently installs the 32-bit version of your choice of browsers on your 64-bit Ubuntu system. It also installs various plugins. It's pretty simple. Enable universe and multiverse in your repositories, unzip and run FF3in1. It'll install the proper dependencies (though it did skip lib32nss-mdns on our system, which is necessary for the browser to see the internet connection). It even allows you to opt out of plugin installations.
FF3in1 gives the option for several browser installs -- Flock, Firefox 2, Swiftweasel and IceCat. The script works on Dapper, Edgy, Feisty, Gutsy and Hardy. It can also be used to install multiple browsers (for web developers, or maybe because you can never have too many?).
Best of all, it did indeed solve our problem. We'd definitely recommend giving FF3in1 a whirl to those 64-bit Ubuntu'ers out there that are having some odd glitches with the default install of Firefox.
Sharp may have abandoned its Zaurus line of PDA/microcomputers. But that hasn't discouraged hackers who continue to add new functionality to these tiny computers. While the Zaurus handhelds already run a stripped down version of Linux, that's not good enough for some folks, who have decided to port full desktop operating systems like Ubuntu and Fedora to run on the Zaurus.
The 0.1 release of Ubuntu for the Zaurus is based on Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, although the developer refers to it as Frisky Firedrake. The custom distro lacks some most of the bells and whistles you'd get with a full Ubuntu installation, but that's to be expected since the installer weighs in at just 80MB. But it does include an X server, allowing you to load a window manager like IceWM or Enlightment E17. Future releases will likely inclde more of the functionality of a full Ubuntu installation, but if you've got a Zaurus C3x00 series device and a sense of adventure, you can try Frisky Firedrake 0.1 and try adding packages and customizing your environment yourself.
The Audacity team has released an updated version of the popular opern source audio editing application. Audacity 1.3.5 beta packs a bunch of minor updates, including bug fixes better file handling, and some interface improvements. Here are some of the things that jumped out at us:
Hit Shift while clicking record to start a recording at the end of an existing track
Users should see fewer invalid sample rate problems under LInux
Updated versions of the Portaudio, Libogg, LIbvorbis, and other libraries
More informative dialogs when dealing with unsupported file formats
New keyboard shortcuts
Audacity is already one of the best free audio editing applications for Mac, Linux, and Windows, and the program just keeps getting better.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 is due out in September. But if you just can't wait that long, today the developers released a beta of the open source office suite. Back in March we took a look at a pre-beta version of OpenOffice.org, but the latest build is a bit more stable. And while we wouldn't recommend replacing the software you use to balance your companies books with a public beta, you can just check it out if you're an office suite geek looking for a rush. We won't judge.
So what's new under the hood? Here are some of the highlights:
OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the first version to run on Mac OS X (there are also Linux and Windows versions)
OpenOffice.org Start Center gives you a one stop shop for creating documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, databases, or templates
Support for collaborative spreadsheet editing
Improved Writer notes features
View multiple Writer pages while editing a document
Improved crop features in Draw and Impress
Support for ODF and MS Office 2007 formats
Keep in mind, this is beta software. So while it will probably work properly 99% of the time, don't blame us if it crashes your system or goes crazy and starts messing up the formatting of that manuscript you've been working on for the last 10 years. In other words, remember to backup your documents, and think twice about using OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta to create or edit really important files.
It's a weird phenomenon. Nearly every computer platform steals another one's look. Vista gets accused of trying to look too much like OS X. Linux desktops get accused of trying to look like Vista (except when they're accused of ripping off OS X).
Well, okay, we guess really what that proves is that there's at least something distinctive and cutting edge about OS X's look. Love it or hate it, everyone seems to think everyone else is ultimately copying it.
There's no denying, the first time we saw OS X, our hearts beat a little faster when we saw the dock.
Until now, though, the dock concept was really sort of a nuisance to get working effectively in Linux. There is the Avant Window Navigator, and though it does the trick quite nicely, many newbies (or extremely busy people) said the tweaking factor left them wanting something a little less involved.
We've been using Cairo-Dock of late, and we really like it. The beauty of it extends far beyond the physical appearance. There are source packages, and there are Debian binary packages. Installing isn't that difficult. We even installed it, quickly and with great success, on a 64 bit system (and yes, we'll show you how.)
While not every program that posses a threat to your PC will attempt to write changes to your Windows registry, an awful lot will. So one way to keep your computer healthy is to track any changes to your registry. RegRunner is a free utility that hangs out in your system tray until a registry change is made, and then it pops up to let you know that something's going on. In other words, if you install and uninstall software on regular basis, RegRunner could be just as annoying as the user account control pop-up in Windows Vista. But just like the UAC, RegRunner can also prevent you from doing anything too foolish.
RegRunner also has a couple of other useful features. It will show you a list of programs that load when Windows starts. Another tab shows running processes.
The program does not include an uninstaller. If you want to remove RegRunner from your system, you'll have to delete installation directory and the shortcuts from the Startup folder in your Windows start menu.
It's official - SourceForge.net has joined the OpenID bandwagon. SourceForge, the world's largest open source software development website, is a little late to the party but nonetheless, it's nice to see a leader of the open source community adopting OpenID and walking the walk.
OpenID is an open source, decentralized, digital identity user system which allows users to have one identity across the internet and alleviates the hassle of having multiple user names and passwords to log-in to different sites.
OpenID is gaining traction with big companies such as AOL, Sun, Microsoft, and Novell who are accepting and providing OpenIDs. Today it is estimated that there are over 160-million OpenID enabled URIs with nearly ten-thousand sites supporting OpenID logins. Thanks FF!
In the beginning, we talked a bit about the holy war that wages onward between KDE and GNOME. Some of you aptly pointed out that there is a third desktop environment out there. It was never our intention to slight this desktop (we actually use it regularly). Like a mouse dodging to avoid the crashing footsteps of the desktop environment giants, Xfce is often included in discussions as an afterthought.
So apologies if the fact our current discussion of Xfce supports the "afterthought" theory. It wasn't our intention, and hey, we offer the consolation that if it really is an afterthought, and least it's going to be detailed.
Xfce indeed, is the third major desktop environment. It's kind of like the fifth Beatle. People know it's there, but... What's it called again? What's it do?
That, friends, is totally unfair. Xfce is one of the fastest and easiest desktops out there. It balances pretty and functional without any extraneous annoyance getting in the way. It isn't most people's first Linux desktop environment. But it very well could be.
We can't deny some of us here at Download Squad love open source software. But there's not a damn fool here that will disagree with the statement: "Bill Gates is an extremely intelligent man." We won't disagree that he's done amazing things for technology as a whole. And yes, we even wish heartily we had the faith in ourselves to say if we had that much moolah, we'd be even half as charitable with it.
But right now we're all kind of standing around scratching our heads and saying, "Wha?"
Today Techdirt points out a nice little quote by the venerable Mr. Gates in a Wired article. It seems as though Gates says that open source created a licensing situation "so that nobody can ever improve the software." All right, now, that would be a self-defeating license, wouldn't it? What have the brain-sucking aliens done with the Bill Gates we all know and love whose intellect we respect greatly?
Of course, we're willing to throw poor Bill a bone. The Wired quote is not a complete quote. It very well could be out of context. They then quote him saying that pharmaceutical companies who invent drugs should be able to charge for them. Well, yeah. Duh. And people who develop open source applications can also charge for them.
Open source doesn't necessarily mean it's free as in beer. Conversely, just because the local brewery is giving away free lager, it doesn't mean you'll get anywhere asking for the recipe.
We're wondering if Wired slipped up, or if Bill Gates is truly puzzled about the distinctions between free software and open software? Has he read the GPL? There are quick versions on their site... so even those of us who aren't as smart as Gates can get the general idea.
Want to watch TV on your iPhone? Yesterday we would have said the best way to do this is to purchase TV shows from the iTunes store or transfer recordings (or downloads) from your computer to your iPhone the old fashioned way. But now Chris Carey has released a MythTV FrontEnd for the iPhone.
The application lets you browse recorded shows, check out program information, and stream videos from your Linux PC with MythTV BackEnd installed.
While Sling Media is considering developing a version of its SlingPlayer software for the iPhone that will let Slingbox owners stream content from their home TV or PVR to a handset, Carey's MythTV FrontEnd application is the first tool I'm aware of that actually lets you stream recorded TV to an iPhone.
You can check out a video of MythTV for the iPhone after the jump.
When we last left our favorite evil geniuses at Ulteo, they were diligently plugging away at making OpenOffice.org applications accessible through a browser. Now, they've taken their plans for global domination one step further with Ulteo Application System Beta 1 (codename "Sirius"). For those of you wondering what exactly an "Application System" is: Think operating system.
Yes, Ulteo's Sirius is a Linux distro designed to integrate nicely with the online applications they provide. For instance, saving a document to a specific folder "auto-syncs" with the Ulteo servers online. It's then accessible from other computers through your Ulteo web account.
Of course, that isn't all of Ulteo's new tricks. Allegedly all upgrades, patches and bugfixes for installed applications will be automatically downloaded and installed on your system. You know, without any human intervention. We'll be the first to admit that it's our all-too-human intervention that mucks up a lot of our software, but not always. Somehow, we're just a little uneasy not knowing exactly what our machine is plotting against us with each new update.
Still, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially for people who use their computers for dedicated office work fewer than twenty-seven hours a day and don't want to bother learning Linux (or Windows, or Mac, for that matter). It'll be nice to see this project unfold and emerge from beta.
The openSUSE team has released the first beta of their popular but controversial Linux distribution, and it has some spiffy features that make it worth checking out.
The most exciting improvements are in the area of speed, as this is one OS that is often ridiculed by reviewers, mainly for its historically sluggish boot times and sloth-like package system. In contrast, openSUSE now uses an improved version of "zipper", which, long story short, makes incredibly quick package installation possible, much faster than Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS. Not only that, the system installation has been trimmed to 60%, meaning that it only takes about 24 minutes on typical hardware, which is damn fast for Suse.
There are still way too many bugs for you distro-shufflers to start revving your DVD burners, but if you would like to help with testing, check out the download page.
Ah, Flickr. How we love you. We loved the idyllic pre-Yahoo! days, and held back our tears with the Yahoo! phase of growth. But even when things seem so good, we wonder what the future holds. Microsoft? AOL? An undead uprising?
Now couple our fears with our stupidity. All those photos we uploaded over the past year or two? The ones housed safely on our hard drive? Yeah, right... the hard drive we, in our infinite wisdom, managed to reformat during a routine upgrade?
Flickr, you are our only hope. You hold our memories safe and secure on a server bank. Somewhere. And it's not that we don't trust you. It's Microsoft, AOL, and zombies we have problems with. Sure, some of us could do a mass download from your servers on to our machines. But for others, there's that Microsoft thing again.
We use Linux, and but for one word, we'd be horribly out of luck.
Do you forget stuff? Do you wonder where the heck you put the keys when they're in your right hand? Do you get in the shower with your socks still on? Do you ever get to the bus stop, and realize you can't recall if you've put on pants? We're the only ones? Really? Damn.
We're willing to bet you can still benefit from Tasque, even if you just need reminders about the things normal people put on their to-do lists.
There are a few other to-do list applications in Linux, but most lack the finesse that Tasque is already bringing to the table. Tasque is a newcomer (it got its start at last year's Hackweek), and seems well on its way to becoming a big player.
Tasque (pronounced "Task") is a unified frontend for a number of backends. Honest to god, we don't mean anything obscene by that. What we mean is, it's a very standard graphical interface that works with a number of to-do and database types to make your to-do list dynamic.
Deluge is an up-and-coming BitTorrent client for Mac, Windows, and Linux that looks strong enough to compete with the likes of Azureus, uTorrent, and Transmission.
Deluge supports the most common P2P features, including encryption, UPnP and NAT-PMP, Mainline DHT, proxy support, and more. The main strengths of Deluge, however, come from its design:
The program has a clean interface and is easy to look at, which makes for simple and unobtrusive torrent downloading.
The program was built to be extensible, with a rich plugin collection (many plugins are included in the software already)
The progam was designed to be lightweight; it doesn't tax your system like other BitTorrent clients.
Best of all, like previously stated, Deluge will run on Mac, Windows, and Linux. If you're willing to give Deluge the old college try, you can download it here – and be sure to report back what you like and don't like about it.
Back on April 24th, we happily installed a clean version of the 64-bit Ubuntu Hardy Heron release. For a few days, life was sweet. Hardy had Firefox, and we very easily installed Flash from the Hardy repositories. It all seemed to work fine, at first glance.
It's a weird phenomenon. Nearly every computer platform steals another one's look. Vista gets accused of trying to look too much like OS X. Linux desktops get accused of trying to look like Vista (except when they're accused of ripping off OS X). 
In the beginning, we talked a bit about the holy war that wages onward between
We can't deny some of us here at Download Squad love open source software. But there's not a damn fool here that will disagree with the statement: "Bill Gates is an extremely intelligent man." We won't disagree that he's done amazing things for technology as a whole. And yes, we even wish heartily we had the faith in ourselves to say if we had that much moolah, we'd be
When we 
The openSUSE team has
Ah, Flickr. How we love you. We loved the idyllic pre-Yahoo! days, and held back our tears with the Yahoo! phase of growth. But even when things seem so good, we wonder what the future holds. Microsoft? AOL? An undead uprising?
Do you forget stuff? Do you wonder where the heck you put the keys when they're in your right hand? Do you get in the shower with your socks still on? Do you ever get to the bus stop, and realize you can't recall if you've put on pants? We're the only ones? Really? Damn.
