.:Lir3nt’s Hack:.

Linux isn’t very popular on the desktop. It’s a far third behind OS X, which is a very far second behind Windows. Most people cite pre-installed operating systems as the reason. But as a student of psychology, I see something most people don’t. There’s one big factor in why Linux isn’t popular on the desktop. Linux is free. I know this sounds like complete dog’s bollocks, but hear me out before judging my sanity.
We can all remember the story of Tom Sawyer. At one point, Tom had to whitewash a fence. When one of his friends happened along, Tom tried to persuade and bribe the friend to help him. Needless to say, it didn’t work.
A few moments later, as Tom was unhappily whitewashing the fence, another friend stumbled along to jeer at Tom’s misfortune. This time Tom decided on a cunning plan. He ignored the friend, and seemed very absorbed in the whitewashing. Soon the friend became intrigued, because what could be more interesting than talking to a friend? Shortly thereafter, he started begging Tom to let him whitewash a bit of the fence. Tom wouldn’t give in.
The friend offered Tom some of his most valuable possessions if Tom would just let him whitewash a little bit. Tom reluctantly agreed, secretly jumping with joy on the inside. More friends happened along, coming to laugh at Tom for having to whitewash a fence. Tom simply did his act, and they all stayed to help whitewash, and paid for the privilege!
The above story illustrates a basic human nature. We don’t value things we can get easily. Yet we’d climb mountains, cross rivers and travel across deserts just to reach something we can’t easily get our hands on.

The computer world

The same thing applies in the world of computers. Humans are naturally suspicious of that which comes too easily. Imagine you were promoting an expensive brand of champagne. If you were running around forcing free samples into people’s hands, they would be very wary. But if you set up a stand where you would offer small samples for $10 each (”Special promotional price! Normally costs three times as much!”), people would see your champagne as posh and valuable.
It’s still the same champagne. Yet your presentation radically changes people’s perception of it.
Which brings me to Linux. There’s one problem with Linux getting to new users. It’s free.
That’s right. Linux being free is a problem in reaching new customers.

Read more.. post by anamazingmind.com

Share This

Thanks for visiting! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my Rss Feed. This blog posts regular Internet news, updates for apps, security, ideas, hacks, quick fixes and everything about hi-tech. Go ahead, subscribe to our feed!

Read full text

Share This

The KDE Release Team has decided to release KDE 4.0 this coming January. The release was originally planned for mid-December. The KDE developers want to solve a couple of essential issues before releasing. Having solved some of those issues, among which were glitches in the visual appearance, and in Konqueror, the KDE community hopes to have a KDE 4.0 that will live up to the high expectations for it. Read on for more details.

Meanwhile, the progress towards KDE 4.0 is astonishing. Most parts, such as the KDE Development Platform and a lot of applications are considered stable and well-usable.

Some parts of the desktop experience do not yet meet the KDE community’s quality standards and expectations for a stable release. There are also some issues which need to be addressed upstream, for example a bug in certain codecs of xine that cut off audio fragments prematurely. The developers are confident to be able to release a more polished and better working KDE 4.0 desktop in January. The changed plans involve releasing on January 11th, 2008.

At the same time, the release team’s call for participation is repeated. To make KDE 4.0 a success, your effort is needed. An overview of current showstoppers can be found on Techbase, KDE’s knowledge platform.

This is also a call to the wider Free Software community, and also to companies working with KDE. If you have the resources to contribute, assistance in fixing the remaining bugs is most welcome.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

You can optionally install a firewall to protect your computer against unauthorized access by people on the Internet or your network. Firewalls block connections to your computer from unknown sources, which helps to prevent security breaches.

1. Install the firestarter package from the “Universe” repository (see Add Applications).

2. To start Firestarter, choose System → Administration → Firestarter, and enter your administrator password when prompted.

3. The Firewall Wizard should run. If it does not, press Firewall → Run Wizard.

4. Follow the steps in the Firewall Wizard. After completing all of the steps, the firewall should be configured and running.

5. To check that your firewall is working correctly, make use of an online firewall testing service such as ShieldsUP.

For help and advice on the advanced configuration of Firestarter, see the Firestarter Online Manual.

Share This

There are some days that Fedora 8 was released, below you have a rapid upgrade without downloading fedora dvd and after burning etc etc. We recommend to make a backup before you start and make sure that you have all the updates for fedora 7.

First Step: Open Terminal windows and write:

[sourcecode language='c'] rpm -Uhv http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/fedora/linux/releases/8/Fedora/i386/os/Packages/fedora-release-8-3.noarch.rpm http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/fedora/linux/releases/8/Fedora/i386/os/Packages/fedora-release-notes-8.0.0-3.noarch.rpm[/sourcecode]

Second Step: Run on Terminal

yum -y update

It make take about one hour to download and install, after you need it to reboot and enjoy the new Fedora 8.

That’s all.

Share This

[hacking ubuntu book preview]

Although TV cards are cool, they are not as common as digital cameras, scanners, and web- cams. Unfortunately, this is where hardware support really becomes hit-and-miss. My eight- year-old SCSI scanner is supported, whereas my newer USB scanner is not. And although both of my digital cameras can work as webcams under Windows, neither can work as webcams under Linux.

Note

Not every camera provides the same compatibility. If your camera does not support a capture mode, then you cannot use the computer to take pictures with it and you cannot use it as a high- resolution webcam.

A tool that you may want to consider installing is gphoto2. This program provides support for over 700 different camera models. It enables you to scan for compatibility with the camera and query supported functionality.

Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

I’m wearing a very special hat today to celebrate the official release of Fedora 8, the latest version of the community-driven Linux distribution sponsored by Red Hat. Codenamed Werewolf, this release serves up some very impressive new features and includes a new visual style.

One of the most impressive new features included in Fedora 8 is the PulseAudio sound daemon, which will allow users to set the volume for each application individually, move streams between devices, redirect audio streams to other computers on the local network, and much more. When we looked at PulseAudio last month when it was officially proposed for inclusion in GNOME 2.22, we said that it would bring a next-generation audio experience the Linux desktop. Fedora 8 is one of the first distribution to use PulseAudio by default. One might say that it’s a sound investment.

The Fedora development community has traditionally declined to include codecs for proprietary encumbered multimedia formats in the distribution for legal and ideological reasons, encouraging users to adopt open formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora instead. That hasn’t changed in Fedora 8, but the new Codeina utility (don’t call it Codec Buddy) will now make it possible for users to legally purchase support for proprietary formats directly from Fluendo. This is different from Ubuntu’s codec installation tool, which will allow the user to install infringing open-source codecs for free that may not be legal to use in certain countries. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

A great time is upon us. A time of change. A time of revolution.

In the past, we have struggled in a world of glass panes and fruits. Forbidden from seeing the world around us. Denied the possibility of showing who we are. But today, our eyes open. We’re not afraid to see, and we’re not afraid to show ourselves.

This is a time of excitement. And a time to share our happiness, our sadness, our anger and our love. For video has arrived to Skype for Linux.

This release is not just a revolution for us in Linux, but a revolution for the Skype world at large. No longer are we, the people of Linux, prevented from socialising in the same way as our peers.

Dwonload it now

Share This

Over the years, Red Hat’s Fedora has made a name for itself as a version of Linux for enthusiasts, developers, and those who want to try the latest thing in open-source software. But a curious feature of the new version 8, released Thursday, is the ability to strip out the Fedora identity altogether.

The reason: Red Hat wants Fedora to be a foundation for those who want to build their own Linux products on a Fedora foundation. With Fedora 8, that’s easier, because all the Fedora-specific elements are wrapped up into one neatly optional package, said project leader Max Spevack.

Red Hat is releasing Fedora 8 Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This