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Eight features you didn’t know about in Ubuntu

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Ubuntu has caused GNU/Linux based operating systems to have many reviews recently, most concentrating on the more flashy parts such as the infamous rotating cube or wobbly windows provided by compiz fusion, rather than the things that actually make it such a enjoyable operating system to use.

I tried to pick some features that I have not seen mentioned before – these are some of the things that change my everyday use of the computer, so I feel they are worth mentioning. Some of the below features are provided by Gnome, some by Compiz Fusion. All are not exclusive to Ubuntu, but as that’s what I have installed at the moment I’ll demo them on that.

1. Clicking on the date shows your calendar from Evolution. I have linked my google calendar, so that’s shown here. Although I love this feature, it’s really about the system wide integration that OSS seems to promote. Windows just tries to change the time when you click it’s clock.

calendar.png

2. Keep windows on top. I use this so often, whether it’s IM windows or when writing an assignment, it’s nice to have things kept on top. I often copy data from websites into a document using this technique.

ontop.png

3. Add emblems to files. Since using System 6 on the Mac and being able to label files I have missed this. There are loads of emblems that can be overlaid on file icons to remind you to do things. I often mark assignments as completed or work in progress using this.

emblemsth.png

4. The recently released Gnome Do. It’s awesome! This is new, but has a lot of potential. Try it!

gnomedo.png

5. Icons for removable media change to represent the media in question. I use this to easily distinguish between camera cards, iPods, and memory sticks. This is such a genius idea and makes things simpler when working quickly.

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6. The scale plug in for compiz fusion rearranges your windows and scales them down to fit the screen. Useful when working with loads of windows. They are still updated in real time as well, so videos still play etc. Again, simple but effective.

scaleplugin.png

7. Avant window navigator (AWN) provides a nice little dock that looks good and works well.

dockth.png

8. Representing virtual desktops as a wall seems more logical than a cube to me. Get this by pressing meta+E when running compiz fusion. Straightforward and easy to use.

desktopwall.png

So there you go, do you have any additions to this list? I’ve tried to link to tutorials or the pages for each corresponding bit of software where it’s not included in Ubuntu by default.

Pageflakes launches new portal for teachers

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Pageflakes is a customizable start page that allows you to add small widgets or flakes that can display custom content. They have recently launched a prepopulated page designed for teachers.

Teacher edition of Pageflakes

Default layout of the Teacher’s Pageflakes page

 

 The default items on the page include a teaching timetable, a calendar, email, online file storage, some educational bookmarks, photos tagged education, a todo list and a google search box.

 

The email can be linked with most major webmail services, and the calendar can import an iCal calendar, so that means it will sync with Google Calendar for instance.

 

Everything can be customized, and there are literally hundreds of other flakes you can add.

 

Downsides are that the timetable is only for a one week repeating schedule – schools I have worked at have a two week timetable, so I wouldn’t be able to use that aspect of it.

 

I already use firefox extensions for checking gmail, though a smaller look at my calendar would be useful.

 

All in all, a good idea, but not sure I would use it.  For people who don’t already use RSS feeds etc then it’s brilliant – very accessible for the average user.

Yahoo to place adverts in PDF files

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As reported by the BBC, Yahoo have reached a deal with Adobe that allows them to place adverts in a panel inside Adobe Reader. This is the first time that Adobe have allowed dynamic adverts inside their software.

Luckily, there is a myriad of alternatives now that the PDF format has been opened including:adobe-pdf.png

For Windows:

For Linux:

For Mac OS X

So, for the more computer literate of us, this won’t make a lot of difference anyway.

Installing NoMachine NX on any modern Linux including Ubuntu 7.10

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NX is a remote desktop type piece of software that lets you log in remotely to another linux computer. It is useful in that it lets you log in simultaneously with other users – that is, you can use it as well as another user as you log into a new session. It also works over SSH, so it’s secure. The data is compressed as well, so it’s pretty quick. In my experience, it’s much quicker than VNC, especially over the internet.

The server only works on computers running an X server, but the client works on any OS, so you can connect securely from Windows PCs to your home Linux box. This is really useful in public libraries, or when you are at a friends house, as you can use your own PC at almost native speed without any hassle.

img4small.gif

Diagram showing how NX works. (Copyright NoMachine)

This only works to a normal X11 server, so Compiz Fusion or Beryl (or any other compositing window manager) doesn’t work over the connection, it’s only for standard window managers such as metacity, Kwin etc are fine.

Right then, let’s get going!

On your Linux pc (this tutorial is for Xandros, Debian and Ubuntu, though there are packages for Red Hat, Mandriva and Fedora as well), open a terminal and run:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

To install the ssh server. This allows you to connect remotely using a normal shell. For more info on this, check the Ubuntu community page.

mkdir ~/nxdownloads
cd ~/nxdownloads

to make a directory to store the relevant packages.

wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.0.0/Linux/nxclient_3.0.0-84_i386.deb
wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.0.0/Linux/nxnode_3.0.0-93_i386.deb
wget http://64.34.161.181/download/3.0.0/Linux/FE/nxserver_3.0.0-79_i386.deb

to download the files.

run

sudo dpkg -i nxclient_3.0.0-84_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxnode_3.0.0-93_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i nxserver_3.0.0-79_i386.deb

to install the packages.

run

sudo /usr/NX/bin/nxserver --start

to start the server, changing start to status will let you know if it’s running or not.

On your Windows computer, download nxclient for Windows and install it. Notice how much more complex it is to download and install Windows software!

Once it’s installed, run it, and enter the IP address of your Linux computer to connect, give it a session name for your own reference, and choose your connection speed.

2007-11-28_195157.png

The next screen lets you choose what window manager to log in to, default is KDE – for Ubuntu, change that to Gnome.

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Next, put in your username and password on your Linux computer – this is just your usual username and password.

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The first time it will ask you if you trust the fingerprint of your computer. Say Yes – in future if you get this something has changed, so you might want to double check things. You should in theory only see this once.

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Wait a few seconds for it to log in, and you will get something like this:

2007-11-28_215651.png

Brilliant!

I use this on my old laptop to make a poor mans thin client, I boot it up, then connect to my real computer to get the most out of it.

If you want to use this over the internet, remember to forward port 22 on your router to your Linux computer. You might want to use DynDNS.org to set up an alias for your dynamic IP address if you have one to make things easier.

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Solutions to ‘Man in the browser’ online banking security threat

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As reported by Computer World UK malware is shifting towards intercepting traffic inside the browser – a kind of man in the middle attack, rather than keystroke logging or phishing. This style of malware would intercept the password entered on the webpage using exploits in the browser. How about this solution to combat this?

Banks should offer their own applications to use for online banking – for instance, a virtual machine that saves it’s state running something like damn small linux + a web browser. This could be packaged with qemu.

You’d boot the virtual machine, use your banking, then when you closed it off, the virtual machine wouldn’t save changes, so it would always be the same.

This could be distributed on read only flash memory, or even plain old CDs to avoid malware modifying the image.

So: how do you do this?

1. Download DSL Embedded edition

2. Unzip it, and click dsl-base.bat

3. Up comes DSL linux, it boots using QEMU in a matter of seconds

4. Use your online banking as you wish (Ctrl – Alt releases the window so you can get back to your other applications)

5. That’s it…

The protection of using both Linux and a virtual machine in windows in 5 steps!

Now, if only banks would redistribute this, you can imagine how easy it would be to rebrand DSL, and to auto open firefox on the correct page.

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New kid on the block – Mixx to overthrow Digg?

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After reading TechCrunch’s thoughts on unhappy Diggers leaving for Mixx, I tried it out myself – it’s definitely an improvement on Digg…  It’s got a much nicer look and feel to the site, it’s quicker, has a pictures section, and allows other users to tag and categorise existing stories. Overall – it seems much more usable than Digg, though it’s RSS feeds don’t seem as precise – not sure if you can have a custom feed of only stories that interest you, it seems that you have to have a feed of all of Tech, or all of Science, rather than a mixture of subcategories. Looking forward to getting to use the site more though!

mixx.com