Category: Linux

Five Essential Packages for Ubuntu/Kubuntu!

Paul

Why do I need these packages?

There is no right or wrong answer but when I say it is needed, it is because us as a community should be ready. I know I already talked about people getting a Virus on Linux, and that some people think you can’t get a Virus. In all aspects, the Linux community is in a holding when it comes to security and viruses. I will not discuss this enough but for today we will discuss what packages you should have already installed when you first start using Linux. Even the Ubuntu developers have talked about viruses on their main website, so it isn’t something that I am not a little worried about when people start to use Linux.

The Packages I have installed!

While there is no right or wrong package for your Linux system, I thought I would at least recommend the ones that I did install not just for security but also for convenience. It will be your decision on which ones you will be install and which ones you think you’ll need. This list is for those who are serious about security and want to avoid any chances of being compromised.

  • VLC Media Player — Although this has nothing to do with security it is something that will prevent those nasty attempts, claiming your don’t have the right Codex to play this streaming Video. At least, if you have this installed you are one step closer to and knowing that this is a fake because I have found to be very affective having all the codex I will ever need.
  • AVG Antivirus — I have personally installed means I am a little more safer but not out of the woods just yet. Although, I am much safer having installed there is a long way to go before there is a good enough Antivirus program for linux and that I hope that changes in the future.
  • Firewall — Although this is your choice, I picked arno-iptables-firewall, which seems to be what I need right now. It however is something of a personal choice and probably even an OS choice.
  • Password Manager — Yes you heard it right, if you have a good Password manager then you are less likely to give out your password to sites that look like the real thing, which is called phishing attacks. With a good Password manager, you can go to right the right site with a click of the manager. I personally recommend Lastpass, but it is all up to your which one you want to use. I really don’t know if there are more linux based password manager but I am sure you can find them.
  • VPN — Although this isn’t really a package per say, but one that talked about in the past. How to get a VPN on Ubuntu/Kubuntu. I am sure there are others out on the internet. I just don’t want to make it to complicated for beginners, so I did make my own tutorial on getting a free VPN. You really don’t want anyone listening in while at a public hotspot do you?

Your one step closer!

As you can see these are what I call essential because of most of these will make you a little more security conscience and that in turn will make you a better Linux user. for the most part your be more ready than a lot of Linux user but that doesn’t mean your invulnerable, just more educated the rest. If you have a recommendation, I encourage you to leave a comment and let others know, but for the time being these are just what I have installed on my Kubuntu 11.04 right now and I’m really happy.

See you on the Flip Side

Paul Sylvester

Get Thunderbird to launch Firefox/Chrome browsers in Linux!

Paul

This isn’t like Windows!

If your like me you probably clicked a link in Thunderbird and thought you would be taken to your favorite browser but that isn’t the case with Linux. The pop up screen asking you which application to launch is quite similar to Windows but there is a problem. If you have had no experience with Linux then you might ask yourself “Where’s the program files?” It seems that Windows and Linux differs from each other in that aspect. I did have to do some things to get Thunderbird to get it to launch a browser. This quick tutorial will help those new to Linux to do what they have always done on Windows. I will warn people that clicking on links in your emails is the first way to get a virus or a credit card stolen but that is for another topic and discussion!

Some Preparations are in order!

For some of use this is something that should already be included, but it seems that Mozilla didn’t add some important config scripts into the Thunderbird application for Linux. Thanks to Google, I found the answers and I thought I would also share them with people so it would be much easier for others to enable launching the browser in Thunderbird.

You will need to add these strings in Thunderbird:

In Thunderbird: edit > Preferences > Advanced > Config Editor

Right click anywhere in the list and click ADD > String. Then add these strings with values!

  • String: network.protocol-handler.app.http Value: x-www-browser

  • String: network.protocol-handler.app.https Value: x-www-browser

  • String: network.protocol-handler.app.ftps Value: x-www-browser

Once that is done, your ready for the next step of the process.

Where Do I find these files?

Most cases you will find these files in only one place and that is almost like a C: Drive. In order to find the right program, you first need to go:

  1. /usr/bin/firefox.sh (shell script)

  2. /usr/bin/chromium-browser.sh (shell script)

  3. /usr/bin/rekonq.ex (Executable)

These are the two files you will need to tell Thunderbird to launch the right application when you click on a link. You should only need to do this once for each type of link from http, https, and the last one is the file transfer protocol but if you do this, I see no reason why you would be able to launch your favorite browser. Depending on which browser you have installed, it should be easily found in the the bin directory and you should be able to launch your browser even if it is not a well known browser. .

Let’s Rock Linux

Paul Sylvester

Living with Linux offline and blogging about it!

Paul

No time to be offline!

Hey Let’s face it, I am more and more wanting to blog. It is however quite hard to do that while traveling or when I have family. So I been curious as to how to do that. As you know I’ve been using Linux more and more. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The only problem sometimes is I didn’t have a internet connection and I know myself, that can be quite hard to write blog post. So I went searching around to see if I can blog offline. I found some great little programs that will do it easily in Linux.

Blogging Offline, Didn’t know you could do that?

If your like me, you probably think you have to be online all the time. I am just glad that I found a program that will do me everything that I wanted to do with blogging and publishing my posts. I hate those times when I do not have access to an internet connection and I have something that I want to write. I didn’t know you could blog offline either, but as I was wanting to delve more and more into Linux, I am steadily making Kubuntu my home away from Windows. I’ve always been fascinated with writing and Linux in general so that is why I am leaning more and more on teaching others about the Operating System.

Some programs that you should check out:

  • Blogilo — This is the one that I am using with WordPress right now and it seems to work really well. I’m really impressed with the software and I think they are making some great strides with offline blogging.
  • blogGtk — Looks good but have not actually tested this one out. I will install it later on but the screen shots don’t look anything like Blogilo and even then It looks somewhat the same. I guess I could live with any blogging software but right now I am loving Blogilo.
  • Gnome blog editor — This one looks to be for Gnome projects but does look promising even though I am using KDE. I don’t know anything more than that, I might also try that one out just for kicks.

As you can see these are just a Few of blogging tools that the Open source community has created to better fasciliate and make blogging just that much easier!

How do I add links?

There are definately several ways to add links. I will give you a few ideas and let you come up with your own way to help you blog offline.

  • Automatic Seo Links plugin — Great little plugin for the simplest of things. The little plugin will allow you to automatically associate any keyword with an URL. So if I were to tell you about Linux, it would automatically link to a website. This is quite handy and have it used it in the past. You should look into it if you have a wordpress blog.
  • Blogilo — Download you most recent blog post and you will already have links available to keep your readers on your site longer and encourage them to stay on your site.
  • Put the links in when your online — This is also something that is very useful because if your like me, you sometimes can’t think of the links but know that if you had internet access you could easily find them. So before you post with Blogilo, just go through the post and put those link in there when your ready.

I hope these help you create even better blog and allow yourself time to be offline. I really am enjoying Linux and how open the community is. Hope to see you soon!!

Keep It Real!

Paul Sylvester

Backing up in Linux is so easy!

Paul

Why Do I need to back up in Linux?

This is something near and dear to my heart because of just how important it is to back up you important data.  I’ve already talked about backup before but I never really thought about back up for Linux until recently.  Let’s face it when you came to Linux, you probably didn’t think you would need to back but you really do.   I learned the hard way on this.   My Story so others can learn from my mistake, I have been working on a big database for to keep track of who comes in and what they usually order but I had a problem today, and thought I had backed up my database before I re-installed the Linux distro.   In reality, I didn’t actually.   I wasn’t happy when I found out that the Database wasn’t their after I had wiped the drive and re-installed.

Are you ready for a Disaster?

I ask that because I know I wasn’t ready and I know most of you are probably the same way.   You probably didn’t even think about backing up in Linux.   I am not really worried about backing up the distro but to back up the important data.   I wanted to share some of them with you and so you can update yours accordingly.   So here are a few good Ubuntu/Kubuntu back programs:

  • KBackup — This is the one that I am using right now but will be looking for a way to do offline back up in the cloud. (apt-get install KBackup)

  • Simple Backup Solutions — Another one that I have found that will be playing with later on this month.  (apt-get install simplebackup)

  • fwbackups — This is one of the more easier backup programs, that can do single and scheduled backups.   This might be the one for me but only time will tell.  (apt-get install fwbackups)

  • Amanda — If your have several different clients who need to have offsite backups this would be one way to do.   Allows you to have mulitple backups to a single server.   This might be good for my clients, will have to look into this one.

  • And more . . . . . .

There are even more out there but these are the ones that interest me and I thought they would interest your also.    I will look online for some cloud storage later on this week.   You should always have more than one backup plan.   I always like the Rule of 3’s when it comes to backup:

  1. In the Home

  2. A pen drive

  3. Off site

It’s time to change

If you haven’t already started a backup plan for your Linux machine, it is always time to change.   You probably have something you want to keep and not lose.   You could have Pictures, documents, and client information that you need later on.   So what are you waiting for?

I’m backing up Now!!

Paul Sylvester

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With Linux, All you Really need is Google!

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Linux can keep you sane!

I don’t say that lightly because today, I was going to use Linux and all of the sudden I couldn’t get past the Kubuntu splash screen.   It would just hang their not doing anything else.   I didn’t know what was going on, if you have seen the look on my face you would of know I was scratching my head.   The obvious question though is what happened, that I was asking myself.   This isn’t something that I am new at, but it was something I’ve never dealt with because when I was using Linux in the past it was always for leisure and not something that I used regularly.   Now that being said, I have begun to use KDE and Ubuntu more and more.   I find the open source community really intriguing and I am wanting to learn.

Keywords are the key!

When you have a problem with Linux, all you really need to put the right description of the problem into Google,  and you’ll find the answer eventually.  Now I won’t say this hasn’t been a learning experience, because recently I bought a book to better help me to learn more about Kubuntu and Ubuntu called “Beginning Ubuntu Linux“, So I will be reading up on how to handle the operating system more and more and being able in the future to help others with the same problem.   If you haven’t gotten a book, I’d start there like I am.   I will do a review of the book later on when I get done reading it from cover to cover but for right now it will be a handy tool.

Solution to my Problem!

This solution that I will be talking about might not work with you but at least it will point you in the right if doesn’t work.  I first searched several different forums, the Ubuntu Forum and the Kubuntu Forums for the answer using Google I might say.  After much searching I found a topic about updating and Graphics stop working and talking about the xorg not starting.  Which in turns lead me into the other topic Just Updated, Graphics have stopped working and thus lead me it how to fix my problem without having to wait till I could get a Pendrive from my house to fix the problem.  If you are looking for the solution here it is:

Go into Recover Mode

Go into the Terminal — I couldn’t even boot into the GUI safe mode
apt-get remove xorg-driver-fglrx

That wasn’t all I did, I also did

apt-get autoremove

This was just in case I missed something.

I was messing around with fixing the KDE4D bug where it would freeze up everytime I would disconnect from the VPN and so I edited the

sudo nano /usr/share/kde4/services/kded/networkstatus.desktop

I then changed the true to the false

X-KDE-Kded-autoload=false
X-KDE-Kded-load-on-demand=false

I thought that might also be the problem so I changed that back to true.   Any ways, after I did all that, I got my Kubuntu to come back to life.   I don’t know necessary understand what happened but I did fix it.   I did however find a good work around for that bug for the time being.   Just install KNetworkManager and it will automatically remove the plasma-widget-networkmanagement. So Now I don’t have to worry about the system locking up and not being able to do anything.   I do hope they fix the Plasma problem in the coming updates but I will just have to wait see.

Go Linux

Paul Sylvester

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