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Saturday, October 11, 2008

PCMAN File Manager


PCMAN is a very fast file manager for the GNOME desktop and can be used instead of Nautilus,which is the default file manager of GNOME.What works in favour of PCMAN is the tab support it provides.Moving files between different folders or windows becomes pretty simple by using the tabbed browsing feature of PCMAN.PCMAN is pretty fast and light weight.Large directories load quickly .With it you get to enjoy drag & drop support among tabs and windows.It also supports thumbnails.
Like Nautilus PCMAN allows you to view files and folders in either icon or list view format.
Other shortcuts are also same as those in Nautilus.Get the side pane by pressing 'F9' and view hidden files with 'CTRL+H'.
PCAMN allows to you to work in the super user mode.Under the 'Tools' menu you get to 'Open Current Folder As Root'.
Open a terminal window in any folder by pressing 'F4' or using the 'Tools' menu.Before using the terminal you need to choose the default terminal program from the'Preferences'section under the 'Edit' menu.


Add the PCMAN shortcut to a panel for quick access.
Feel the difference between PCMAN and NAUTILUS by opening your 'Home' folder.
Install this file manger from the 'Add/Remove' section.Search for 'PCMAN' and mark for installation.



Home Page:www.pcmanfm.sourceforge.net.
Authors:Hong Jen Yee(PCMan) from Taiwan

Friday, October 10, 2008

Real Player For 'Perfect Play' on Ubuntu


Real Player 11 is available for ubuntu and can be installed using a Debian package.With Real Player 11 you can play Real audio and video files.The Real format is a pretty popular web cast format and you would need Real Player installed to play Real Media from the web.So just fire in the URL in the 'File' menu and get your web cast.Besides RealAudio and RealVideo, it also supports MP3,WMV,WMA.Ogg Vorbis and Theora,H263,AAC and more.
Real Player for Linux is based on the open source Helix Player.
Play lists can be easily created and edited providing you a quick access to your favourite songs.
Check Out the 'Perfect Play' under the 'Playback' tab in the 'Preferences' section.'Perfect Play' allows you to take a break from a live stream by automatically buffering streaming content.So you get to pause ,rewind and fast- forward through live broadcast.'PlayNow' and'TrueLive' are two more features provided to enhance your web experience.'Play Now' is content dependent.


So 'Get ready for accelerated video, full screen playback, and a lot more to enjoy'.
Click here to downlaod the Real Player 11 Debian package.
Visit the Real Player for Linux web-page.

Google Picasa 3 (Beta) For Ubuntu.


The latest version of Google Picasa 3 (beta) is available for Linux and can be installed in ubuntu using this Debian package.Picasa for Linux is made to work using wine that comes as a part of the Debian package.Picasa is great image organizer by Google.The windows version has a very attractive interface.The Linux version has some problems with the interface as it works with the WINE emulator.Picasa looks for image files in every nook and corner of your system.You might get to see some forgotten pics.All the images imported in Picasa are organized according to their folders.With every folder,there are options to play slide show,create a photo collage and creating a movie presentation.
The collage creating feature now provides a lot more options and is more configurable as compared to the previous versions of Picasa.Picasa also provides the options of posting your photos to web albums and Blogger.
As far as photo editing is concerned,Picasa provides various options under the Basic Fixes,Tuning and Effects tabs.Various effects like sepia,soft glow and tint can be applied to photos.'Basic Fixes' include cropping ,straightening and removing red eye effects.Picasa 3 automatically removes red eye effects from photos.



The slider provided at the bottom right of the Picasa window can be used to increase the size of the thumbnails in the photo library and for zooming into images while editing.
There is a search bar provided at the top right to quickly look for a photo.
There are number of features that do not work in the Linux version.Music playback during slide shows doesn't work.Forget about playing movie files in Picasa Linux.You can read the complete list of known issues here.
Picasa is a great tool for sharing photos on the web using web albums and blogs and provides a basic set of editing features.



Click here to download the Debian package for an easy installation.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

VLC Media Player For Ubuntu


If you want ubuntu to play almost every possible media format the install the VLC Media Player right now.You do not need to worry about codecs.VLC will take care of them itself.VLC is a very popular open-source media player with great media playing capabilities.It plays almost every audio and video file format.The interface of VLC is very simple and different themes can also be downloaded and applied.Unlike other media players ,you get an inbuilt equalizer providing almost every possible pattern from Rock to Techno.

VLC is highly customizable.Preferences can also be set from the Settings menu.The options provided are really advanced.Normal music lovers may like away from these options.
Check out the Magnify feature under the Extended Gui while playing a video.This feature lets you zoom into a specific area of the video.The zoom factor can also be varied.Working with the Video Filters provided is a lot of fun.

VLC can be installed from the Synaptic Package Manager.Just search for "VLC" and mark for installation.
There is a VLC plugin for mozilla for media playback inside the browser itself.
To download VLC themes click here.

Keep your software repositories updated.



Keeping your repositories updated is important to get notified on crucial security updated.This is essential to remove errors from your system.This is also important to keep track of various third party packages available for installation in the Synaptic Package Manager.
The "Software Sources" section under the Administration menu allows to enable or disable software repositories.Under the Ubuntu Software tab,enable the main,universe,restricted and multiverse repositories.If you are not a developer then you may like to stay away from the source code.
Under the Third-Party Software tab,you can add apt URLs provided by software providers to install their software packages from within the Synaptic package Manager.Google also provide these Apt URLs for the image editor Picasa for Linux.

Make sure to enable the Important Security Updates section under the Updates tab.
To update you software database click on the Reload button in the Synaptic Package Manager.This notifies you about the latest updates available and also adds new packages.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Installing Gimp Scripts


Installing Gimp Scripts.
Gimp is installed by default in all ubuntu installations.It is a great open-source image editor.Gimp is also very expandable.Like Addons for Firefox,Gimp also provides the option of installing additional scripts.These scripts have the extension .scm and are submitted by Gimp users.Download Gimp scripts from here.Once you download these scripts,you need to install them.Installation of Gimp scripts just requires copying them into the scripts folder.This folder is hidden in the "Home" folder.Press Ctrl + h to view hidden files and folders.Locate the Gimp folder and inside it open the "scripts" folder.Copy the downloaded scripts in this folder.

Now open Gimp.Before using these scripts,you need to refresh the scripts from Xtns menu.Click on "Refresh Scripts" under "Scripts-Fu".View the screenshot for a reference.
Now the installed script may appear under various options.First of all check out the second "Scripts-Fu" entry under the Xtns menu.If you do not get to see your script listed here then look under the Filters menu.

Some of the scripts may not be compatible with a certain version of Gimp.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Group Your Favorite Applications.


Create a menu item of your favorite applications in the menu items for an easy and quick access to them.Simply right click on the main menu to edit the menu items.Now click on "New Menu" to create a new directory under the Applications menu.
Now highlight the new menu item created under the Applications section and add applications to it. Drag your favorite applications in this new item created.