KDE 4.1 Final

This release is the second feature release of the KDE 4 series, sporting new applications and newly developed features on top of the Pillars of KDE4. KDE 4.1 is the first KDE4 release to contain the Personal Information Management suite KDE-PIM with its E-Mail client KMail, the planner KOrganizer, Akregator, the RSS feed reader, KNode, the newsgroup reader and many more components integrated into the Kontact shell. Furthermore, the new desktop shell Plasma, introduced in KDE 4.0, has matured to the point where it can replace the KDE 3 shell for most casual users. Like with our previous release much time has been devoted to improving the framework and underlying libraries on which KDE is built.

HomePage

andLinux : Linux on windows

andLinux is a complete Ubuntu Linux system running seamlessly in Windows 2000 based systems (2000, XP, 2003, Vista; 32-bit versions only). This project was started for Dynamism for the GP2X community, but its userbase far exceeds its original design. andLinux is free and will remain so, but donations are greatly needed.

andLinux uses coLinux as its core which is confusing for many people. coLinux is a port of the Linux kernel to Windows. Although this technology is a bit like running Linux in a virtual machine, coLinux differs itself by being more of a merger of Windows and the Linux kernel and not an emulated PC, making it more efficient. Xming is used as X server and PulseAudio as sound server.

andLinux is not just for development and runs almost all Linux applications without modification.

andLinux.org

Pidgin 2.4.3 released!

Newer pidgin is here now.It has mostly some fixes for crashing.Check the changelog for all changes.

version 2.4.3 (07/01/2008):

libpurple:
* Yahoo! Japan now uses UTF-8, matching the behavior of official clients
and restoring compatibility with the web messenger (Yusuke Odate)
* Setting your buddy icon once again works for Yahoo! accounts.
* Fixes in the Yahoo! protocol to prevent a double free, crashes on
aliases, and alias functionality
* Fix crashes in the bonjour protocol
* Always use UTF-8 for Yahoo! (#5973)
* Fix a crash when the given jabber id is invalid.
* Make the IRC "unknown message" debugging messages UTF-8 safe.
* Fix connecting to ICQ
* Fix a memleak when handling jabber xforms.

Pidgin:
* Include the send button plugin in the win32 build
* Various memory leak fixes

Pidgin Home| Download

Go-OO 2.4.1.5

Go-OO is a fork of OpenOffice that has quite a few impressive features which really ought to be in official OO, but for some reason or another aren't, such as support for OpenXML, better Microsoft Binary support, Excel VBA macros, Visio diagrams and Word Perfect Graphics support. It also boasts significantly better start times -- at least on our poorly equipped test machine.

- Better interoperability
Compared with up-stream OO.o, it has better Microsoft binary file support (with eg. fields support), and it will import WordPerfect graphics beautifully. If you are reliant on Excel VBA macros - then Go-oo offers the best macro fidelity too. If you expect your spreadsheets to calculate compatibly, or you get embedded Visio diagrams in your documents, you'll want Go-oo.

- Better functionality
Go-oo's user interface is more familiar, with lots of small pieces of polish. We have built-in (working) multimedia integration on Linux, a beautiful solver component, and your Chinese should look sane. We also integrate with your system better by default: eg. enabling native file-selectors on Linux.

- A Faster application
From first-time startup, where we sort I/O to reduce seek cost, to a highly optimised second start application and a systray quick-starter on Linux we are faster. We use less memory than up-stream, we link faster, use better system allocators, and don't waste so much time & memory in the registry. Go-oo performance is hard to beat.

Go-OO Home Page

Pidgin 2.4.2

This is it! Just yesterday sandy talked about it and they heard him i think :). Though not solved what we wished (broadcast and one logfile), but this is new release. Changelog is here which has not introduced any amazinf change or feature!.

They provided to set 'Escape' key to close IM window instead of 'Ctrl+W'. Which you can easily use even in older versions also by changing ctrl+w in 'accels' file in your application data dir.

;(gtk_accel_path "

/Conversation/Close" "w")

Change the above line to,

(gtk_accel_path "

/Conversation/Close" "Escape")

libpurple

o In MySpaceIM, messages from spambots are discarded (Justin Williams)
o Strip mIRC formatting codes from quit and part messages.
o IRC now displays ban lists in-channel for joined channels.
o Fixed a bug where the list of loaded plugins would get removed when switching between different operating systems.
o Fix reception of IRC PART without a part message on Undernet (fixes a problem with litter in the channel user list).
o IRC no longer crashes on /list on servers which erroneously omit RPL_LISTSTART.
o Update the NetworkManager support to use D-Bus directly, instead of libnm-glib. Hopefully it's stable now. It will now compile by default if you have D-Bus support and NetworkManager.h. (Elliott Sales de Andrade)
o MSN buddy list synchronization is now more forgiving, only asking about buddies who have disappeared completely from the server list and not those that have simply moved groups.
o IRC will now try to append 1-9 to your nick if it is in use, instead of substituting the last character with 1-9 where possible.
o Bonjour buddies will be saved persistently if they're moved out of the "Bonjour" group. (Eion Robb)

Pidgin

o The typing notification in the conversation history can be disabled or customized (font, color etc.) in .gtkrc-2.0.
o Added a plugin (not installed by default) which adds a Send button back to the conversation window. People without physical keyboards have a hard time with the lack of the button.
o Clicking on the buddyicon in the conversation window toggles the size of the icon between small and large.
o The settings of a chat (e.g. Handle in an XMPP chat, or Exchange in an AIM chat) can be edited from its context menu in the buddy list.
o Add a "Present conversation window" preference to the Message Notification plugin; the "Raise conversation window" option does not unminimize windows or draw attention to them when they are on other workspaces--the "Present" option should.
o Add a preference to set Escape as the keyboard shortcut for closing the conversation window.
o Add an option in the context menu to disable smileys in the selected text in the conversation history/log viewer. This should help people who regularly paste code in conversations.
o Add a preference to choose the minimum size of the text input area in lines.
o Moved the "Local alias" field in the Modify Account dialog to be below the "User Options" heading on the "Basic" tab.
o Number of room occupants is now shown in chat tooltips where possible

eneral

o The configure script now dies on more absent dependencies. The --disable-xxx arguments to configure can be used to bypass unneeded dependencies. This will also cause the configure script to die if an --enable-xxx option is used and the dependencies it requires are missing.
o The Evolution integration plugin must now be explicitly enabled. Use the --enable-gevolution argument to configure to enable it.
o The Contact Availability Prediction plugin must now be explicitly enabled. Use the --enable-cap argument to configure to enable it.

Finch

o New default binding ctrl+x to open context menus.
o Menu triggers and other bindings will no longer conflict.
o Middle click pastes the internal clipboard (when mouse support is enabled).

Download: Pidgin 2.4.2

Discuss It: Linux is faster then windows...

I was just surfing net and i found this long but cool article which talks about speeds of Linux and windows.

It talks about how Linux is optimized that it can run on even lower configurations also which win XP can't. Windows applications are good and fast on Linux compared to windows itself! Isn't its strange? Yeah and also windows based games runs faster with wine on Linux. It shows some benchmarks also for results of comparisons.

Main reasons which can be the main cause of windows slowness are,

-Linux use preemptive multitasking which means 'processes are forced to share CPU rather they want to or not'. And windows use Cooperative Multitasking which means 'process currently controlling the CPU must offer control to other processes'.

-windows is based on registry so while booting, it will load registry in memory. This is not the case with Linux.

-Windows has only one desktop which uses more resources and on the other side, Linux has many desktops which are configurable and many new are coming for different distributions.

The best lines said on source,

So, it seems to me the primary reason why Linux runs faster than Windows is because it is better designed to work with hardware, in the context that it handles operations in a more efficient manner than Windows.

In my opinion, I also get the perception, that perhaps the development of Linux is guided by people who seek to maximize performance. It does not appear to be developed predominantly by those who seek to maximize profits.

Full article @ ubuntuLinuxHelp

Debian and Ubuntu flaw - private SSL/SSH keys guessable

The Debian Security Advisory posted up DSA-1571-1 openssl -- predictable random number generator issue today and strongly advised its users to take steps to avoid possible compromising of any systems running on Debian, such as Ubuntu.

The researcher Luciano Bello discovered a security flaw in Debian's random number generator that allows to predict a random generated number. This is caused by an incorrect Debian change to the openssl package. As a result, cryptographic key material may be guessable.

This problem not only affects Debian, but also all its derivatives, such as Ubuntu.

It is strongly recommended that all cryptographic key material which has been generated by OpenSSL versions starting with 0.9.8c-1 on affected systems is recreated from scratch. Furthermore, all DSA keys ever used on affected systems for signing or authentication purposes should be considered compromised.

Via: debian.org

Who should use Ubuntu?

Since the the release of Ubuntu 8.04 a couple of weeks ago there has been a number of reviews done to show what is good or bad about Ubuntu. Reviews certainly have their place and we all like to know what is going to work and what we will have to tweak. However, I thought that perhaps a better question to asked is who should be using Ubuntu?

So after some serious thought, here is my list of 5 types of users that should be using Ubuntu.

1) The Basic Home Users
These are those people who do nothing more than turn on their computers, open their internet browsers and check email, surf the internet, listen to music and maybe balance the checkbook.

2) The SOHO Users
The Small Office Home Office crowd is really a perfect fit for Ubuntu. This user group generally needs a stable, easy to use, low cost solution to computing.

3) The Cost Conscious User
Let’s face it the economy isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders right now. For those that are looking to save a few bucks, Windows is not going to be your best friend.

4) The Socialist Users
This group can be defined a number of ways, but I like to think of them as the people who are interested in advancing society through common works. These are the people that realize the world can be better if we work together for that purpose.

5) The Blogger/Webmaster Users
This group of users is pretty strait forward. These are users that have a website or blog that is not hosted by WordPress, Blogger or TypePad (or other lesser known hosts). If you are in this group then you probably like to try out changes to your site before you actually go live.

OpenOffice 3.0 beta

The OpenOffice.org Community is pleased to announce that the public beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is now available. This beta release is made available to allow a broad user base to test and evaluate the next major version of OpenOffice.org, but is not recommended for production use at this stage.

The most immediately visible change to OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the new "Start Centre", new fresh-looking icons, and a new zoom control in the status bar. A closer look shows that 3.0 has a myriad of new features. Notable Calc improvements include a new solver component; support for spreadsheet collaboration through workbook sharing; and an increase to 1024 columns per sheet. Writer has an improved notes feature and displays of multiple pages while editing. There are numerous Chart enhancements, and an improved crop feature in Draw and Impress.

OpenOffice.org 3.0 will support the upcoming OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 standard, and is capable of opening files created with MS-Office 2007 or MS-Office 2008 for Mac OS X (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.).

OpenOffice.org 3.0 will be the first version to run on Mac OS X without X11, with the look and feel of any other Aqua application. It introduces partial VBA support to this platform. In addition, OpenOffice.org 3.0 integrates well with the Mac OS X accessibility APIs, and thus offers better accessibility support than many other Mac OS X applications.

Linux Filesystem Basics...

This article shows basics of linux file system with some commands to roam into it.Image attached here lists the folder names for linux FS.

More @ linuxConfig.org

want easy linux? try Ubuntu...

I know this is not the first one to use but i am a newbie to Ubuntu and also installing Linux after about 4 to 5 years.I like you to use Linux and forget windows because Linux is free,open,simple,learning station.It doesn't hides anything from you.

Are you a windows user like me who dont qwant troubles of installing linux?Reason can be any but its a trouble i know.

We need to format the disk, remove windows ,install linux with great care and then again install windows over it becasue you can't leave without it.

Actually i want to get rid of windows and want to move on linux.But its not easy as my development and aother things are to be set on linux.

Then i seen site of wubi, the installer which installs linux on windows like any other software you do.i found it too easy.I just downloaded the latest ubuntu 8.04 LTS (long term service) ISO file from internet.When i loaded it into virtual drive, wubi popped up.

And your task done. Just give it a Drive having 8 to 10 GB space, give 8 to 10 GB space for installation,choose your username & pass. and click 'install'! simple!

It will install ubuntu in the drive,backup the ISO file,and asks for reboot.When you reboot, it will show you 'ubuntu' with windows XP in windows MBR!its great.And after choosing ubuntu from the OS choice menu, it will install it in 15 minutes.

Loing and enjoy linux of you know it.Learn new things,try to used to terminal!And you can simply unistall it from windows' add/remove menu.Isn't its great?

best thing about latest Ubuntu 8.04 is,

-easy install/unistall from windows.
-network configuration for internet is autodetect in most cases.
-easily you can add/remove programs from system.It will download new packages from internet to install.
-includes most needed programs pre-installed.(Firefox,pidgin etc.)

And i suggest you to get below listed packages from add/remove first to get your multimedia on,

-restricted media formats
-VLC

suggest me if you know better things about ubuntu as i am also newbie to it. :)

Pencil - open source animation/drawing software

Pencil is an animation/drawing software for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics. Pencil is free and open source.

Pencil Homepage

wxFormBuilder v3.0

wxFormBuilder is an open source WYSIWYG GUI design tool for wxWidgets. See the Features page for a small list of what wxFormBuilder has to offer. This is a large release that has many updates, added features, and bug fixes. The change log is huge so read it at your leisure. Thanks to all who helped test wxFormBuilder, we really appreciate it. This program is available for Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, along with Linux and MacOSX.

ChangeLog:

* FS#349 - “RC8 menu editor still generate incorect menu item code”
* FS#345 - “Crash on Mac OS X when loading plugins”
* Fixed crash on close when showing a propgrid from the wxAdditions plugin
in the Designer window.
* FS#351 - “Can’t edit choices if the ‘\’ is used”

wxformbuilder

Ubuntu studio - multimedia flavor of Ubuntu

Ubuntu Studio is aimed at the GNU/Linux audio, video and graphic enthusiast as well as professional.

A suite of the best open-source applications available for multimedia creation. Completely free to use, modify and redistribute. Your only limitation is your imagination.

UbuntuStudio.org

HP Releases its First Linux-powered Laptop

At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the University of Texas Supercomputing Center April 8, Hewlett-Packard announced the release of its first Linux-powered computer to be sold in the United States, the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC running Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 Service Pack 1.

HP was expected to offer a Linux desktop, and now it has finally done so. It’s not, however, the Linux desktop that many users expected. Instead of being a general-purpose consumer system or business PC, the Mini-Note is meant for the education market.

TechaChino

Customized Linux PC for MySpacers

PC vendor Everex and gOS (Good OS), the Linux distribution based around Google applications, is taking the next step in online-based computing by introducing a limited edition MySpace PC.

The companies hope that the white-cased, two-pound MyMiniPC will attract what Everex officials claim is some of the more than 100 million MySpace users. As such, it’s the first PC, using any operating system, designed expressly to use with a social network.

More @ TechaChino

Pidgin 2.4.1 released...

New version of pidgin released on 31st March,2008.Below is the changelog.

Changelog:

* libpurple

o Treat AIM Unicode messages as UTF-16 rather than UCS-2; this should have no functional effect, other than continued support on systems which have dropped UCS-2 conversions.
o Add support for setting buddy icons on Gadu-Gadu (Tomasz Salacinski)
o Fix a crash when clearing the buddy icon for an account on XMPP
o Fix a crash during login for some ICQ accounts
o Prefer more available resources on XMPP when priorities are equal
o Fix incorrectly marking some Yahoo! contacts as blocked
o Improved handling of UTF-8 group names on ICQ (beret)
o Fix a crash when starting if you have a Zephyr account
o Increase XMPP ping timeout to 120 seconds, to prevent poor network connections from timing out unnecessarily.
o Don't crash on XMPP forms with empty default values.
o Fix issues with CHAP authentication for SOCKS5 proxies.

* Pidgin

o Remove a workaround for older versions gstreamer that was causing crashes on some non-Linux systems such as HPUX
o Fix some cases of the conversation input entry area being 1 pixel high
o Fix for displaying channel & buddy names in conversation window when they have '&' in them
o Some memory leak fixes, especially in the Text Replacement plugin
o Rectangular but non-square buddy icons have rounded corners in the buddy list

* Finch

o Fix compiling with Glib older than 2.6
o Ensure existing conversations selected from the 'Send IM' dialog are given focus
o Move the tooltip on the left of the buddylist if there's not enough room on the right to show it.

Pidgin Home

Inkscape 0.46 - open source vector graphics editor

Inkscape is an open source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more.

Note: Officially Inkscape 0.46 has been released on March 24, 2008. Package for the Windows platform, has become available just now.

Release Notes

OpenOffice.org 2.4

OpenOffice.org is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.

Feature List | Download OpenOffice

Recover deleted files on an ext3 file system

It happens to everyone sooner or later: a split second after you hit Enter you realize your mistake, but it's too late; you just deleted a valuable file or directory for which no backup exists. Or maybe you have a backup, but it's a month old... and in shock you see the past month flash before your eyes as you realize in pain what you'll have to do all over again...

Fortunately, you remember that files are never really deleted, at most overwritten by new content. So, you remount the disk read-only as fast as possible. But now?

The most frequently quoted passage comes from the ext3 FAQ itself:

Q: How can I recover (undelete) deleted files from my ext3 partition?

Actually, you can't! This is what one of the developers, Andreas Dilger, said about it:

In order to ensure that ext3 can safely resume an unlink after a crash, it actually zeros out the block pointers in the inode, whereas ext2 just marks these blocks as unused in the block bitmaps and marks the inode as "deleted" and leaves the block pointers alone.

Your only hope is to "grep" for parts of your files that have been deleted and hope for the best.

All information is still there, also the block pointers. It is just slightly less likely that those are still there (than on ext2), since they have to be recovered from the journal. On top of that, the meta data is less coherently related to the real data so that heuristic algorithms are needed to find things back.

Read full article to get deleted data from ext3 @ xs4all.nl