June 30, 2010

Install the Latest Firefox 3.6.6 in Ubuntu


By Brent W. Hopkins,June 29, 2010 07:42 PM ET, ComputerWorld

PC World - Firefox 3.6.6 with crash protection is now available, and according to Mozilla it "provides uninterrupted browsing for Windows and Linux users when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins. If a plugin crashes or freezes, it will not affect the rest of Firefox. You will be able to reload the page to restart the plugin and try again." By default, Ubuntu 10.04 uses Firefox 3.5 and updates have to wait (sometimes it's a long wait) until the Ubuntu team approves them. However, if you are anxious to try the newest version of Firefox there is a simple way to do it.

Just open up Terminal (Applications, Accessories, Terminal) and type or paste:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-security/ppa

Enter your Administrator password when prompted. Then, first making sure that Firefox is closed, type or paste:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade


This will update your package source list and install the newest version of Firefox. On my test machine, everything went smoothly, Firefox 3.6.6 is running and all my add-ons are working fine.
Depending on your installed add-ons, your mileage may vary.

You may also like:
Mozilla Patches 9 Firefox Bugs, Adds Plug-in Crash Protection - PCWorld
Firefox Update is Farmville-Friendly - PCWorld
How to Easily Install Ubuntu Linux on Any PC - PCWorld


Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178700/Install_the_Latest_Firefox_3.6.6_in_Ubuntu_Linux?source=rss_internet
.

June 27, 2010

How to listen to iTunes podcasts in Linux

Apple’s itunes store has a comprehensive list of popular audio and video podcasts which are ‘free’ to stream or download.Recently,I stumbled across a link to a great podcast leading to its itunes preview webpage.As a linux user I wasn’t able to subscribe to it with my favorite player as the podcasts only work with itunes.With a bit of Googling I found a simple workaround to download or stream them in Amarok and Rhythmbox ."Apple-converted-space"> and choose your favorite podcast.If the page asks permission to open rhythmbox or any other application just click cancel.After choosing the podcast,the itunes preview page for the podcast will be shown(see image below). Copy the URL of the current page.


Step 1 
First visit this 
link at the iTunes Store Podcasts section and choose your favorite podcast. Here is the url http://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/podcasts/id26 . If the page asks permission to open rhythmbox or any other application just click cancel.After choosing the podcast,the itunes preview page for the podcast will be shown(see image below).Copy the URL of the current page.







One of my favorite sections is the Software How To section here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/genre/podcasts-technology-software/id1480

itunes preview for Endgadget Podcast


Step 2
Go to this link which leads to a site called Feed Flipper.It’s a great online tool which converts itunes podcast feeds into RSS XML feeds.Insert the copied link(from Step 1) into the feedflipper site as shown below.
FeedFlipper
Choose the number of episodes to download and you’ll get a pretty lengthy link below(As shown in the screenshot).Now copy that URL.
Step 3
Open Amarok 2.x.Go to the Podcasts section and click on the ‘Add Podcast’ button.Paste the link from step 2 in the window that pops up and enjoy your podcasts.To watch video podcasts just switch to/add the video applet.To get more information about the podcast you may add the Info applet.For more information about Podcasts in Amarok 2.3 see this video.
Rhythmbox users can add the podcast(audio only) by opening Rhythmbox and pressing Ctrl + P then entering the URL.This works on other players too as the procedure remains more or less the same.

Linux Compatible USB Wireless Adapters

List: Linux Compatible USB Wireless Adapters
by VIVEK GITE- from the Nixcraft Linux Blog

A regular question from my mailbag:
I am in the process of up grading my computer. Where can I get a list of the WUSB for Linux?

Wireless USB adapters are pretty popular for desktop and laptop usage in home. It is capable of sending 480 Mbit/s at distances up to 3 meters and 110 Mbit/s at up to 10 meters. Newer N series can work at 270Mbit/s at up to 300 meters. However, 50-100 meters are acceptable ranges. Unfortunately, finding Linux compatible USB wireless adapter is a big challenge due to driver issues. Over a past few years, I've used and installed various USB wireless adapters and created my own small HCL for it. In this quick blog post I will list all working USB wireless adapter.

Buffalo WLI-UC-G300N

Buffalo's Wireless-N WLI-UC-G300 compact USB 2.0 adapter is fully compatible with Linux. Currently I'm using this device with Ubuntu Linux 10.4 and it works out of box. No driver installation is required. Simply add your wireless WPA2 password and you will be hooked up to wireless network. (Driver Link for RT2870)

Asus USB-N13

Asus USB-N13 802.11n/g/b network adapter supports USB 2.0 wireless and speed up to 300Mbps Wireless data rates. I get superb connection speed upto 270Mbps and it was auto detected by Linux. (Driver Link for RT2870)

Belkin F5D8053 N Wireless USB Adapter (ver 3)

Belkin F5D8053 version 3 also works with Linux. It supports USB 2.0 wireless and speed up to 300Mbps at up to 300 meters. I've tested this one with Fedora Linux. (Driver Link for RT2870)

AboCom WU-5204

AboCom WU-5204 is another compact adapter which is fully compatible with Linux. It complies with IEEE 802.11n draft 3.0 and IEEE 802.11 b/g standards and works with USB 2.0/1.1. interface. This one worked and detected, however after some time it started to drop traffic for multimedia stuff. If possible avoid this one due to poor performance.

D-Link DWA-140

The D-Link RangeBooster NUSB Adapter (DWA-140) is a 802.11n compliant wireless client for your Linux desktop or notebook PC. I've tested this one with Fedora and Debian Linux. Like all other adapter it supports WPA and WPA2 security features. (Driver Link for RT2870)

EDIMAX EW-7718Un

EW-7718Un complies with 802.11n draft 2.0, the next generation wireless standard. With the advanced MIMO technology, it can support the data transmission rate up to 300Mbps. EW-7718Un stable wireless connection and high bandwidth enable you enjoying the network applications without any interruption with Linux based systems. (Driver Link for RT2870 #2 # 2 link)

TRENDNET TEW 664UB

TEW-664UB is 300Mbps dual band wireless N USB adapter. It is compliant with IEEE 802.11n standard and backwards compatible with IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11a devices. It supports both WPA and WPA2 security.

SMC WUSBS-N3

The EZ Connect N 150Mbps Wireless USB2.0 Adapter (SMCWUSBS-N3) enables wireless connectivity to your desktop or notebook computer and provides improved throughput and range while maintaining full backwards compatibility with the Wireless-G (802.11g) and Wireless-B (802.11b) standards.

ZyXEL NWD-211AN and NWD-270N

ZyXEL NWD-211AN and NWD-270N both works with Linux operating systems. It complies with 802.11n (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and backwards compatible with IEEE 802.11a/b/g. It supports wireless security transmission with WPA/WPA2 and 802.1x.

Sparklan WUBR-501

Sparklan WUBR-501 use USB 2.0 interface and speed up to 300Mbps. It support WPA and WPA2 security.

AirLink101 AWLL6090

AWLL6090 Wireless 300N USB Adapter delivers speeds up to 300Mbps. This USB adapter is fully backward compatible with 802.11b/g and RoHS compliant.

ConnectGear WU260N

ConnectGear WU260N Wireless N USB Adapter 802.11n/g/b supports speed upto 300Mbps with USB 2.0 or 1.1 ports. It's also backward compatible with the existing IEEE802.11g and 802.11b standards for existing wireless networks. Both WPA and WPA2 are supported by this device.

Notes

Most of the above devices are automatically installed. If not try updating your kernel version. I hope this post will save some time for readers while purchasing USB wireless adapter for Linux operating systems.

June 26, 2010

Firefox 4 Guns For Speed

Mozilla hopes to release Firefox 4 in October or November, a new version that has speed among its top goals. -from Zdnet.com

"Performance is a huge, huge, huge thing for us," said Mike Beltzner, vice president of engineering for Firefox, in a webcast on Tuesday about plans for the browser. "We created the performance story, and we've got to keep at it."

Among other features planned for Firefox 4 — and Mozilla emphatically cautions that plans can change — are support for high-speed graphics and text through Direct2D on Windows; a tidier user interface with more prominent and powerful tabs; support for several newer web technologies; 64-bit versions; and compatibility with multi-touch interfaces.

Performance means any number of things in a browser. Among them: the time it takes to launch the program or to load a web page, the responsiveness of the user interface to commands such as opening new tabs, and the speed with which web-based JavaScript programs execute. Firefox programmers also will work on more perceptual speed improvements, Beltzner said, such as changing the order that web page elements appear on the screen and the appearance of the page-loading progress bar.


Mozilla Firefox
















Mozilla's Firefox 4 design shows tabs above the address bar and a home-page button replaced by a home tab.
(Credit: Mozilla)

Speed is only one item on a long list of changes Mozilla has in mind for its five-year-old open-source Firefox browser. Improving Firefox is arguably a greater challenge now, though, for several reasons.

Below is  an early screen shot of Firefox 4 for Windows 7 showing the tabs above the address bar:



















And with the bookmarks bar"








Below is Firefox 4 with tabs below the address bar under Windows 7:



















And with the bookmarks toolbar shown:







First, there's new energy in competitors including Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 and Chrome from web powerhouse Google. Second, making abrupt changes is harder without ruffling feathers among its large user base — Firefox accounts for roughly a quarter of the browser usage worldwide. Third, Firefox is expanding from PCs to mobile phones and tablets with very different hardware requirements. Last, a long list of new technologies are profoundly transforming browsers into a foundation for web applications, but many of those advancements are far from settled. Beltzner recognises the challenges.

"We are in it to win it," Beltzner said. "It's no longer the case where it's all easy wins. There's hard work to be done here. We have to make sure we're the ones leading the charge in keeping the web open for users."

Scheduling

Mozilla established a Firefox 3.6, 3.7 and 4.0 release plan in 2009, but the organisation warned early this year that the browser schedule was changing. Tuesday's webcast offered a new schedule with no Firefox 3.7.

One key feature of 3.7 called out-of-process plug-ins, which moves plug-ins such as Adobe Systems' Flash Player to their own separate memory area for better stability, was advanced to Firefox 3.6.4, code-named Lorentz and in beta testing right now. Meanwhile, Mozilla concluded it needed more time for a planned user-interface overhaul and to be liberated by a "rebooted" plan for a new extensions foundation called Jetpack.

"I think we need to get to a first beta by the end of June", before the Mozilla Summit in early July, he said. Releasing that version "puts us in a position where we can ship [the final version] somewhere in October or November".

Mozilla Firefox


Mozilla's new schedule for releasing Firefox 4 — if all goes well....November 2010.
(Credit: Mozilla)

Given past experience, this deadline may not be met. Firefox 3.6 had been due in that time frame in 2009 and slipped into early 2010. "This is an aggressive schedule to be sure. We have to focus the efforts of projects already under way so it can come together to be a really great Firefox 4," Beltzner said. And programmers will have to prove the merit of any new projects very soon if they want them included.

So what else is new?

Beltzner grouped the Firefox 4 plan into three broad areas of interest: features for browser users, features for web developers, and underlying platform features.

Tabs are one area of change for users. Tabs will be above the address bar, as is the case with Chrome, and a home tab replaces the home button. In addition, narrower application tabs can be dedicated to various web apps. Instead of a menu bar across the top, there's a single Firefox button with a drop-down menu. Typing in the address bar can be used to switch to other tabs.

One change that had been bandied about, though — a unification of the address bar and the search bar, a la Chrome — didn't appear in Beltzner's designs.

Mozilla hopes to change some dialog boxes to make them more effective. Two examples are the option for Firefox to remember a website's password and to permit a website to use the browser user's physical location.

Mozilla Firefox 
Planned for Firefox 4 will be a more elaborate mechanism to see what privileges a person has granted to various websites.
(Credit: Mozilla)

Mozilla has always been motivated by the idea of giving the user control, and it's hoping the new Firefox will go further with a revamped control panel for managing passwords, cookies, pop-up blocking, geolocation, local data storage, and related details. Users could see what permissions have been granted to websites for each category, or alternatively, see which various permissions a specific site has.

Below is an early screen shot of Firefox 4 running on Linux with a brown theme:
















Significant changes to the user interface can lead to confusion, but in the long run, the pain can be worthwhile, Beltzner said. Sometimes, he said, "we're going to have to do the uncomfortable thing."

For developers, Mozilla also has a number of features planned for Firefox 4.
For web applications, the Firefox 4 plan includes support for WebSockets, a mechanism for easier communication between the browser and a web server. And as for dealing with the new class of touch-enabled devices, which often don't have a keyboard or mouse, Firefox should be able to let web developers build pages controlled with a multi-touch interface.

The heart of web programming is Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and Mozilla is building into Firefox a new HTML5 "parser", the part of the browser that interprets the web page code. The new parser can handle Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and mathematical equations interleaved with the rest of a web page, runs as a separate computing process to improve browser responsiveness, and fixes "dozens" of long-standing bugs on the previous parser, Mozilla said.

In industry shorthand, HTML5 often stands for many new technologies that aren't part of the actual HTML5 specification or even the broader HTML renovation effort.
Firefox 4 will support some of those, too, but two important ones are only tentative at this stage: the newer Indexed DB effort designed to improve how information from a website is stored locally on a computer, and the WebGL effort to build hardware-accelerated 3D graphics into the web. Required driver support for graphics chips complicates WebGL, and the Indexed DB specification isn't likely to be finished in time, Beltzner said.

For the movement to sidestep Flash with web technologies, Firefox 4 has a few features planned. Some newer aspects of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), used for formatting, are set to be supported, including transitions that can animate the transformation of one web element into another. Firefox 4 also is expected to support more of the newer CSS3 specification.

Mozilla Firefox Areas of Firefox that Mozilla is hoping to improve
(Credit: Mozilla)

Also stepping on Flash's toes will be support for SMIL, the Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language that can be used for some animation chores, and faster performance with the 2D drawing interface called Canvas.

Under the hood

Performance improvements to Firefox will come through improvements to the underlying software. One significant change coming is JaegerMonkey, which combines Firefox's current JavaScript engine with elements of those used in Chrome and Safari browsers.
"JaegerMonkey has reached a halfway point: we've closed about half the performance gap between our baseline performance and the competition," JaegerMonkey programmer David Mandelin said in a blog post on Monday. However, he added, "you can build a browser with JM [JaegerMonkey] today, but you probably won't get too far before crashing. Fixing that is next on my list."

Also on the Firefox 4 plan is support for 64-bit processors. Operating systems have now made the jump in earnest, but not all software has followed suit.
Other hardware changes planned for Firefox 4 include support for Direct2D on Windows, a feature that lets the browser tap into the engine for hardware-accelerated graphics and text. That support exists on Windows 7 and the latest service pack of Vista, but here again, "driver hell" is a risk.

Support for Windows 7 interface features including Aero peek, jump lists, and icons with progress bars are also on the to-do list for Firefox 4.
Support for cameras and microphones is only a tentative goal, as is tighter integration with Mac OS X.

Below are some early Mac OSX Firefox 4 design screen shots with tabs below:














And with the bookmarks bar:








Firefox 4 will offer tabs at the top of the address bar seen below:















And with the bookmarks bar:







 Deeper under the covers, for security and stability reasons, Mozilla is splitting Firefox into separate memory areas with a project called Electrolysis. Its first element, out-of-process plug-ins (OOPP), is the chief feature of Firefox 3.6.4, but more is planned for Firefox 4. The new Jetpack interface moves add-ons to a separate memory area, too. Firefox 4, though, won't get the broader sandboxing design in Google's Chrome, in which browser tabs are separated from one other.

These plumbing details might sound arcane, but they're important as browsers become a foundation for ever-increasing amounts of computing chores. A Monday blog post from Firefox programmer Vladimir Vukicevic captured the essence of the matter.

"Today's web browser is in many ways acting like a miniature full operating system," Vukicevic said.

Source: http://www.zdnet.com.au/firefox-4-guns-for-speed-339303057.htm

June 19, 2010

Linux Music Players vs iTunes

Ubuntu v iTunes: the music playoff for Apple phobes

Rhythmbox, Banshee, Daemon unleashed

Best of Linux With Ubuntu 10.04, Canonical delivered a good-looking Linux distro that just works. Mark Shuttleworth's outfit has put together an impressive user interface to solve its famous bug number one [1] - luring people away from Windows.

But good looks and great hardware support are just the beginning. If Ubuntu really wants to help people escape Windows, it's going to need to offer the whole package - great Linux applications to replace and improve on the apps Windows users are accustomed to using.

Unfortunately, the best apps aren't always the defaults that ship with Ubuntu - or any other distro, for that matter.
This article is the first in a series that looks at Linux applications – those on

Ubuntu in particular – and how they compare to what's available on Windows and OS X, which have been out there longer, are more polished, and have a larger number of users.

The focus will be on multimedia apps in particular – audio, video and photo – along with back-up services.
I'll be focusing on Ubuntu because Canonical is specifically hoping to lure Windows and OS X users away.

To kick things off, I look at one area where Linux has an embarrassment of riches – music players. Whether you're looking for a player with features that puts Apple's iTunes to shame or just a bare-bones play/pause button, there's something that will work for everyone.

First, some parameters. I'll be ignoring things like audio codecs because, sorry to say, codecs are a subject that simply doesn't matter to the ordinary consumer. Also, if a music player doesn't support MP3s, then it's just not a music player for the ordinary PC users.

Similarly the focus will be on GNOME apps. There's nothing wrong with other desktops and apps written for them, but Ubuntu ships with GNOME and KDE apps have a huge overhead before they'll run in GNOME.


Rhythmbox

You get the Rhythmbox music player is out of the box in Ubuntu and just about every other GNOME-based distro, so this is a good place to start.
Rhythmbox was inspired by Apple's iTunes app. But thanks to a robust plug-in system, Rhythmbox is actually capable of much more than Apple's jukebox software.

Rhythmbox is the default music app for most GNOME users for good reason – it has all of iTunes features such as smart playlists, iPod integration, and several online music stores. You can search for, buy and download music and sync it to your iPod with a few clicks of the mouse.

It's the Ubuntu Music Store feature in Rhythmbox that's gotten a lot of attention with the release of 10.04. Why? If you frequently buy digital music through iTunes you can pick up right where you left off with Rhythmbox.


rhymthmbox


Inspire by iTunes, enhanced by plug-ins - Rhythmbox
While the Ubuntu One store isn't quite as well-stocked as Apple's, it makes an acceptable replacement. Rhythmbox also supports the Magnatune and Jamendo services.

So it replaces iTunes. Is that it? Hardly. Rhythmbox has dozens of extras. It integrates with Last.fm. It can tune in to internet radio streams, grab song lyrics, update your IM status, and much more.

If you're coming from Windows and looking for something to replace iTunes, Rhythmbox is probably your best bet. Rhythmbox makes a good, all-around music player with all the features most users are likely to want wrapped in a fairly simple interface.

On the downside, Rhythmbox can be slow on older hardware, lacks customization options compared to other players, and might be more than some people need.



Banshee

If Rhythmbox leaves you wanting, you might like Banshee. In fact, there have been rumors Banshee may replace Rhythmbox as the default music player in the next version of Ubuntu. Whether or not that happens, Banshee is still a very capable music player and well worth checking out.

Banshee looks and acts a bit like Rhythmbox, and if you've used Rhythmbox, you can use Banshee.

In addition to features like smart playlists, built-in Last.fm support and the ability manage music on your portable players or phone – though the iPod support was buggy in our testing – Banshee offers Wikipedia access and can search for videos of your favorite artists.

banchee

Banshee: the kitchen sink of music players

Another thing Banshee has that you won't find in Rhythmbox is a video manager. Just like iTunes, Banshee can organize and play your video files. For some, that's moving beyond the music player genre and into bloat, but for others, it may prove a must-have feature.

Banshee is the kitchen sink of music players, if someone has thought of a feature, it's probably in Banshee or on the to do list and for those that want the kitchen sink, well, now you can have it.
The player's main downside is that it requires Mono, which means installing some extra software. It also may be overkill if you just want to listen to music without all the bells and whistles.


Music Player Daemon

For those that think iTunes is bloatware and have always preferred WinAmp or foobar2000 on Windows, meet the Music Player Daemon.
Music Player Daemon is what it sounds like: a bare-bones background application that plays music.

MPD, as it's often called, is popular with some Linux fans because it's a great example of doing one thing well – playing music.
But of course, you'll also want to control your music while it's playing. For that, you need another application, something like the venerable Sonata [2] or the Gnome Music Player Client [3], which offer the basics without all the "bloat."


Gnome music app

Gnome Music Player client in controls while you spin

If you're on an older system, or you just like to keep your apps lean and fast, Music Player Daemon is an easy way to do it – it's simple and no extra bells and whistles means you won't use half your RAM just to listen to a few songs.
Unfortunately, MPD and its accompanying control apps can be a bit awkward when it comes to managing a huge library of music.

 

Best of the rest

 

Still haven't heard of a player that's music to your ears? Well, there are literally dozens of Linux music players out there. Here are a few other options well worth investigating: Exaile [4], QuodLibet [5], Audacious [6], Songbird [7] (technically no longer developed, but still available) and, if you're will to install the necessary

KDE components, the ever-popular Amarok [8].
So which Linux music app is the best? Well, that's up to you. There is no such thing as the best piece of software, just the one that's most suited for your needs.

When it comes to music players, Linux doesn't just stack up well against the competition, it's actually well ahead of it, offering features you won't find on other platforms.

In this case, Ubuntu's default Rhythmbox offers everything those switching from Windows or OS X are likely to want, but as always there's an option to fit just about any need. ®