But the technology market is different, and in the last three years we’ve seen it take on a whole new dimension where Windows is no longer the obvious operating system choice, and where comparisons are increasingly being made with IBM.  On tablets, a market that Microsoft invented back around 2003 they’re going to have a real fight on their hands, and in computing generally it’s no longer clear what devices and form factors we’ll be using in even five or ten years time.  What is obvious however is that the traditional desktop PC is well and truly on its way out.  Lastly new operating systems such as iOS, Android and WebOS have blown away the notion that people will resist a learning curve on new devices.  So what would the world be like if Microsoft stopped making Windows desktop and server products?

First of all it’s not very likely, Microsoft would probably drop Windows products last of all with their expensive research and development centres and other products such as Xbox falling by the wayside first, so there’s no need to worry in the short term.  Windows 8 is a big gamble though and if it fails then Microsoft will either have to backtrack with Windows 9, pull an immensely impressive rabbit out of their hat or face the consequences of poor decision-making.

There has already been talk that Google would like to bring Android to the desktop.  HP said the same of WebOS, which they are still developing or at least maintaining, and could put extra resources back into quickly.  Ubuntu Linux is now at least as friendly as Windows XP was, only the lack of big name software for the platform is holding it back now and Apple’s OS X is becoming more like iOS with every release.  So it’s already clear that there’s plenty of choice.

We might also expect an open-source upstart operating system to appear too and it might even be a reinvigorated WebOS.  Companies such as the Mozilla Foundation might see an opportunity as their Firefox browser begins to fade in popularity, and this is just one of several places where a new operating system might emerge.

In the business space, some of the GNU/Linux companies including Red Hat, might jump in with versions that will run Windows programs on the desktop.  This isn’t new and has already been done with operating systems such as Lindows (later renamed Linspire).  This product still exists today and could prove popular with businesses if Windows 8 and Windows 9 fail to deliver the working experience that they need.

Again it’s very unlikely that Microsoft will cease development of Windows in the next twenty years at least.  If they’d have done it even five years ago there would have been almost no alternatives to choose from.  Should they do it now though businesses and consumers would probably just shrug their shoulders and quietly move on to the next big thing.

With a three button mouse, typically people keep the default settings. With a five button mouse, the extra two buttons often go unused. The default is that they typically are used to go back and forward in web browsers and file managers. This is not as handy in other programs. Other functions might be more useful; the user should decided what they need. For example, I would rather use the extra buttons to copy and paste text. Enter btnx.

Using Btnx

To install btnx, search for it in Ubuntu’s Software Center (found in the Application menu). Alternatively, you can install it from the command line.

sudo apt-get install btnx

Now you can access btnx from:

Applications > System Tools > btnx

This will bring up a GUI dialog box for you to configure you mouse. From here, click “Detect mouse & buttons” and follow the steps. It will have you test your mouse and label the buttons. Don’t forget to add your scroll wheel. It is an extra step compared to manufacturers’ software, but it only takes a minute or two. Next, click on the “Buttons” tab to configure what each button does. Usually, it is the extra mouse buttons that are the best to customize, but any can be changed.

In this case, I set the keycode on “Button-1″ (named by me) to “C” and the modifier to “Ctrl.” Since this is just a case of simulating “ctrl+c” to copy something, left or right control keys are irrelevant. Naturally, I set the “Button-2″ as “ctrl-v” for paste. Page Up & Page Down would also make sense. Options are not limited to key combinations. Programs and other buttons can be set as well. A wide array of functions are available for someone to choose from.

Make sure to click the “Enabled” check box. To apply the changes, restart btnx from the “Configurations” tab. If a change does not seem to be taking place, try restarting btnx or your computer.

Note: The homepage and the help files were not available. For clarification and program details, use the man pages from the Wayback Machine.

Problems and Issues

In tests, while the remapping worked, a curious side effect evolved: the buttons now work as both copy & paste and forward & back. This made them useless in websites. Further research lead to a fix: xinput. The program will let you swap or disable mouse buttons, among other things. It should come with Ubuntu and other types of Linux, but it can be installed from the terminal:

sudo apt-get install xinput

Once installed, you need to use it to list and show devices:

xinput list

You should see your pointing device listed. Look for your manufacturer’s name. If the name appears twice, then you need to use the “id” number in place of the name. Once you have found this information, you can disable the extra button functionality with the following line:

xinput set-button-map “Your mouse name” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 0 0

Now, your mouse should work as intended. Btnx will still know you are pressing the buttons, so the remap will still work. If you have problems, try running through “Detect mouse & buttons” again to make sure they were set correctly. Note: You may have to do this each time you customize the buttons.

Closing

It took some time to find the answers, but I now have perfectly functional copy & paste buttons on my trackball. These solutions where found in the forums at ubuntuforums and pinoygeek. With luck, you will not have the problems that I ran into. If you do, I hope this article saves you the trouble of having to research the solution. Please feel free to share how you remap your mouse in the comments.

The Acer laptop comes without optical drive, which means that I have to install Linux from an USB device. But how do you get the Linux installation files on the USB device and ensure that Linux can be booted and installed from the device?

I remembered that I have reviewed UNetBootin, the Universal Netboot Installer, in 2008. The program is still around and updated regularly to include popular Linux distributions.

A friend recommended a similar program called Universal USB Installer which offered a similar functionality. And since I have not reviewed that program yet, I made the decision to use that program to install Linux on my notebook.

Preparing the USB device

Universal USB Installer is a portable application for Microsoft Windows operating system. Just run it to open the configuration screen. Everything is handled on that screen. Make sure you plug in your USB stick before you start the program, as it will not be recognized by the program otherwise. The stick needs to have a size of at least 2 Gigabytes. It should also be reasonably fast as the copying and installation may take a long time or fail if it is to slow.

You start by selecting one of the available Linux distributions from the pulldown menu under Step 1. Available are the latest stable releases of Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, Open Suse and a couple dozen more.

You can select to download the ISO from the project homepage, or select an existing ISO image from the local hard drive. Downloads were processed in Microsoft Internet Explorer, even though that was not the default web browser on my computer system.

You select the usb flash drive letter under step 3. Only removable drives are displayed by default. You can override that option to display all drives but that is usually not recommended as installation on a local hard drive may break the installed operating system on those drives.

It is recommended to format the drive which will erase all contents stored on it before the Linux distribution is copied to it. Persistent file size is only necessary if you plan to run the Linux system from USB stick. Since my intention was to install it on the notebook, I did not need to configure that storage.

Installation of the Linux distribution on the device takes time, especially if the device is not that fast. A progress bar indicates the remaining time and the current state of the copying process.

Using the Linux distribution on USB

Now that Linux has been installed on the USB device, you can make use of it in two different ways. You can plug it into any computer to run Linux directly from the device, or use it to install Linux on that computer. One thing that you probably need to do is to enter the BIOS setup to change the boot order. The notebook’s hard drive is usually the first boot device, and you need to change that so that your USB device comes first and the hard drive second.

The loader of the selected Linux distribution is displayed once you have made the boot order change. It is then just a matter of selecting to Install the Linux distribution on the hard drive, or run it from USB device.

Verdict

The process of copying Linux to an USB device has been pleasant. It took less than five minutes to download and copy all relevant files on the USB device. The first USB stick that I tried caused a problem during installation, probably because it was not fast enough. The second USB stick that I tried was faster and installation commenced without further problems.

Users who want to install Linux on a netbook without optical device can use the Universal USB Installer to do that comfortably. The program is constantly updated with new Linux releases. A download is provided at the developer website. that has been linked above in the article.

I want to walk you through the upgrade process for Banshee 2.0 on Ubuntu. You don’t have to be using the most recent beta release of 11.04, but you really can’t go back any further than Ubuntu 10.04. With that in mind, let’s see what Banshee 2.0 will bring you and how you can get it installed.

New Features

Here is a list of the new features offered in 2.0.

Artist/Album Browser Track Actions: Finally you can right-click on an artist or album and select an action to act upon the selection. From that list you can Add to play queue, Play after, Add to play list, write to CD, edit track information, and more.

‘Play After’ Queue Options: From the Play After menu option you can insert a track or an entire album after the currently playing track. This makes listening to must on the fly very easy.

User Interface Improvements: Several changes have been made with a goal of having a clearner and user-friendly UI. These changes include:

• Removal of active source titlebar.
• Search now beside volume button.
• Smaller icons.
• Hidden counts for libraries.
• Name group-separators..
• Seek slider and search area can be resized.
• Podcast episodes now shown in grid and include descriptive lines.

Ubuntu One: The Ubuntu One Music Store is no longer an extension, but a part of the core Banshee application. No more enabling this feature. SoundMenu extension also enjoys this same change.

Subtitles: Support has been added for embedded and external subtitles.

Enhancements

There have been a ton of enhancements that are now available in Banshee 2.0. Some of these enhancements include:

• Support Amazon Cloud Player browsing and downloading
• Remember sources’ column configuration
• ‘Shuffle by’ respects user-selected artist/album
• MultimediaKeys: Support Pause, FastForward, Rewind, Repeat and Shuffle
• Album grid has tooltips for ellipsized text
• MusicBrainz cover art search supports CDBaby and Jamendo
• Allow to clear the play queue while in Populate mode
• Add a new ‘Recently Played’ default smart playlist
• Blank track editor spin buttons when 0
• Remove Home and Photo folder import sources
• Improved write-metadata-to-file performance
• Many improvements and fixes to the F1 user guide
• Add support for handling u1ms:// links
• AmazonMp3.Store: amazon.ca support
• Daap: Keep a list of recently used remote servers
• Windows build (alpha-quality) now available
• Mac build (beta-quality) has been updated

Installation

The installation of Banshee 2.0 is actually quite simple, if you follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo apt-add-repository ppa:banshee-team/banshee-daily
3. Issue the command sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

You will notice, during the installation process, the Ubuntu One extension will be removed, this is normal and must be done, since this service is now rolled into the core.

Once the above commands are run open up Banshee and you should now see a much-improved interface as well as a far better performing player.

Yes, we’ve all heard the constant condemnation and kudos to Canonical for making such a bold move. I myself have even said the makers of one of the most user-friendly distributions are making a mistake. But the reality of it is — it’s just a user interface and it’s one that works well. It’s not perfect. It’s not flexible. It’s not remotely the norm. But it’s what Ubuntu is going with and there you have it. Ubuntu Unity will also not make or break Ubuntu. Why? Because users can choose from Unity or Classic GNOME. Or…users can opt for Kubuntu, or any other distribution based on Ubuntu.

And, truth be told, when you see the version of Unity that should be shipped with the full release, you might start seeing it in a bit of a different light. Even though Unity has had little time for real polishing, it has a fairly sleek look and feel. It’s solid and it works exactly as you would expect.

What is new to Unity? Here’s a list:

• Unity is now the default Ubuntu Desktop session.
• Drag and drop re-ordering of launcher icons.
• Full keyboard navigation support.
• Launch apps from keyboard shortcuts.er activation through keyboard shortcuts
• Right-click context menu quick-list support.
• Ability to switch between running applications
• Icons can be dragged and dropped from the Dash to the launcher.
• Three session types in GDM: Ubuntu (Unity, requires 3D support), Ubuntu Classic (Classic GNOME), Ubuntu Classic No Effects (Classic GNOME with visual effects turned off).
• Classic GNOME panel applets not supported in Unity.

But beyond Unity, what are we getting with 11.04 beta? Let’s dig in.

kernel

The beta release will bring little new functionality. What was in the final alpha will most like be seen in the beta. The kernel release is 2.6.38-7.39 which is based on the mainline 2.6.38 kernel. One change is that vesafb has be re-enabled as a module to help prevent GPU hangs and screen corruption on boot.

Packages

I was quite happy to find out that LibreOffice 3.3.2 is included with the beta release. If you are not familiar with LibreOffice, it is the fork of OpenOffice created after Oracle took over the reigns and starting upturning the open source community.

Also included are:

• Gcc 4.5
• Python 2.7
• dpkg 1.16.0-pre
• Upstart 0.9

Of the above list, the major update is upstart which has a number of new features (such as being chroot-aware and support for basic job/event visualization.

Overall impressions

My first impression with the 11.04 desktop was surprisingly positive. I was very much prepared to be underwhelmed, but found quite the opposite to be the case. The Unity desktop ran smooth and was very efficient. After playing with the desktop for a while it becomes quite clear the ultimate goal is that of touch screens. But even being touch-screen-centric, the desktop still works well under the current norm of mouse and keyboard.

I was also pleased to see how quickly the startup and shutdown process was. 11.04 might well be the fastest I have ever experienced.

Ultimately the decision to use Ubuntu 11.04 is going to boil down to how much you like the desktop. But even if you do not like Unity, there is always another desktop you can use instead. That is one of the best features of Linux, after all — flexibility.

I believe Ubuntu 11.04 is going to continue the tradition Ubuntu started long ago, which means 11.04 will still be one of the most user-friendly Linux distributions available. If you want to give 11.04 beta a try, download it here.

Out of the box, some might say the E17 desktop on Bodhi is a bit lacking in the effects and eye candy department. Although that was my initial reaction, I knew my new desktop was but a few clicks away from having enough pizzazz to bring my desktop to life. So, I thought I would share those configurations.

Invisible shelves

Figure 1

By default, your E17 on Bodhi will have a solid shelf (panel) across the top (at least the Laptop configuration will). That shelf reminds me too much of a variation on the GNOME desktop, so I like to change it up (this is E17 after all, which is all about options.) Figure 1 illustrates what I am talking about. As you can see, the top shelf has been made “invisible” so the various applets appear to just sit on the desktop.

In order to make the “panel” portion of panels invisible do the following:

Figure 2

1. Right click one of the applets on the shelf and select Shelf NAME > Settings (Where NAME is the name of the name of the shelf in question.).
2. In the resulting window (see Figure 2) move to the Style tab.
3. Select Invisible.
4. Click OK.
5. The Shelf should now resemble what you saw in Figure 1.

Compositing

One of the best eye-candy features of E17 is the compositing. Not every video card will work with compositing, but if yours does, it’s worth turning on. In order to do this follow these steps:

1. Left-click on the desktop to open the main menu.
2. Select Settings > Modules.
3. In the resulting window move to the Look tab.
4. Click Composite and then Load.
5. Click Close.

Now you should be experiencing visual effects made possible by the built in compositor.

Themes

Figure 3

Of course you are going to want to theme your new installation and E17 won’t disappoint. You will find plenty of themes to download from the E17-Stuff. After you download a swell theme for your desktop, left-click on the desktop to bring up the main menu and click Settings > Theme. From the new window (see Figure 3). From within the theme window click the Import button, locate your theme, and add it to the Personal section. You can now select and apply your theme to see how it looks.

If you click on the Advanced button you can really fine tune the look of your theme by mixing and matching pieces of themes to other themes. Say, for instance, you like to borders of Theme A but all other elements of Theme B, you can use Theme B and then go to the Advanced properties and select the borders of Theme A and apply them.

Final thoughts

E17 is an outstanding desktop. Couple that with Ubuntu and you get a really nice, lightweight Linux distribution called Bodhi Linux. Although it might seem a bit plain out of the box, you can configure it to have as much eye candy as your heart desires.

Update

It has been brought to my attention, by one of the GNOME contributers, that Ubuntu 11.04 will now offer a classic GNOME option in the log in menu. This will not be the default option, but it will allow new users to select the traditional GNOME desktop. Hopefully this will be enough for users who do not appreciate the changes Unity brings.

Distributions

Probably the biggest knee-jerk reaction will be users migrating to other distributions. Ubuntu Linux is probably going to see the largest amount of users jumping ship. Why? Ubuntu Unity. Although users will be able to install an alternative desktop, many users who choose Ubuntu aren’t at that level of ability. Remember, Ubuntu is the Linux of choice for most new users. And when a new user is greeted with the completely different (and less effective) desktop of Unity, they will abandon the distribution in favor of, say, Kubuntu, Linux Mint or PCLinuxOS. My guess is another option will make itself available soon after the initial release of 11.04. Someone is going to create a spin of Ubuntu with the traditional GNOME desktop.

This will, however, be prime time for other distributions to sway new users. I fully plan on offering up more Linux content geared toward those distributions as this happens.

Desktops

There is one particular desktop that will probably see more gain as a result of the migration to the new GNOME 3 and Unity desktops. That desktop is KDE. Remember, KDE went through it’s major evolution quite some time ago and has now settled into a very stable, reliable desktop that is as polished as anything GNOME has ever released. KDE will gain serious ground with the new GNOME.

Other desktops that stand to gain new users are Xfce and Enlightenment. Although Enlightenment does vary quite a bit from the standard desktop, it can be configured to look and behave in similar fashion. Xfce enjoys the same ability. Both heavily rely on panels and menus similar to the traditional desktop. Both are also very light weight and are deeply rooted in Linux’ past.

Growing pains

I don’t want to come across as being against the new desktop metaphors. I embrace change. I think GNOME 3 has a lot of potential to be something the desktop has yet to be. And when touchscreens are the standard, a new desktop aligned with the changes GNOME is bringing to the table, will be a must. Remember when KDE 4.0 first hit the desktop it was a disaster. The main reason for that was KDE 4.0 was an entire rewrite of the code base. When it was first released it was nothing but a bug hunt in the making. GNOME 3 will not suffer this same fate. The jury is still out on how Unity will fare upon first release, but it will not be on par with GNOME 3.

Ultimately the immediate reaction will be for new users to jump ship. But I would ask that new to Linux users give these desktops a chance before they do. And, after a trial period, you do not like what you see, install a new desktop on your system and try that out. That’s the beauty of Linux – there are so many options available to you. If you don’t like Unity, try GNOME 3. If you don’t like GNOME 3, try KDE 4.6. If you don’t like KDE 4.6, try Enlightenment. Eventually you will find that desktop that really speaks to you.

For most users, vi offers too much with too little help. To that end, tools like Gvim were created. Gvim is a strange amalgamation of a standard text-based file editor and a graphical file editor. Its half vi half gedit. Let’s take a look at how this editor can help you out.

Installation

The installation of Gvim is simple. I will demonstrate in Ubuntu. Since Gvim is found in the standard repositories, you can follow these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo apt-get install gvim.
3. Type your sudo password and hit Enter.
4. Allow the installation to complete.

You can find Gvim in the Ubuntu Software Center (or the Add/Remove Software tool for your distribution), but since Gvim is a text-based editor, why not install from command line?

After the installation is complete, you will be surprise to not find a menu entry for Gvim. So to start up Gvim hit Alt-F2 and enter the command gvim in the run dialog. When the application starts, you will see a nice hybrid tool that will make using vi much easier.

Usage

Figure 1

As you can see, in Figure 1, Gvim has the standard editing window, but with a few editions. The most obvious edition is the tool bar. Add to that tool bar a menu bar, and you have the makings for an actual user-friendly vi experience.

If you’ve never used vi, let me give you the gist of how you type and save a file…step by step.

1. Open up vi.
2. Hit the “i” key to switch vi to “insert” mode.
3. Type your file.
4. Hit “Escape” to get out of “insert” mode.
5. Hit the Shift “:” to get to the command mode.
6. Type “wq” (no quotes) to save the file and exit.

Quite a few steps just to save a text file right? Now, with Gvim, the same task looks like this:

1. Open Gvim.
2. Hit the “i” key to go into “insert” mode.
3. Type your text.
4. Hit the Save button.
5. Give your file a name.

That’s it. Although only one step shorter, but a heck of a lot user-friendlier.

But don’t Gvim only aids the simple tasks. Gvim also brings to the user some of the more challenging tasks such as:

• Spell checking.
• Jump to tags.
• Automatic syntax.
• Color testing.
• Window splitting.

And much more…all from handy drop-down menus and tool-bar icons.  The developers of Gvim even thought to include a handy print button!

Final thoughts

If you have been wanting to give the vi editor a go, you can breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy a helpful hybrid version of vi that will have you editing like a power user.

Has it improved?

Yes. From the last time I installed Unity I have to say it has improved quite a bit. Gone are windows always opening maximized. Gone are the rampant memory leaks I found in the last release I had installed on my desktop machine. It’s smoother, it’s more refined, and it’s finally usable.

But…

What are the problems?

Although this desktop will seem very straight-forward to first-time users of GNOME and first-time users of Linux, once you get beyond “getting to know” you will find this desktop riddled with problems that will have users scrambling to either another distribution or another desktop.

No run dialog. I run a lot of programs by hitting Alt-F2 and then typing the command. That no longer works. With Ubuntu Unity there is no run dialog. You would have to have the gnome-panel running in order to get it back (you can do this if you like, but it will not be the default behavior). This strikes me as odd, because the run dialog has been a part of GNOME (and most desktops) for years. Why would this not be included?

Another HUGE problem (at least from my perspective) is the lack of “Connect To Server”. In GNOME as we know it, if you click Places you will see the Connect To Server link. That will open the tool to help you connect to a remote machine. Guess what? No Connect To Server. You can even open up Nautilus, check in the Go menu and not find the ability to connect to a server. This is bad…especially for power users.

Speaking of menus…

It looks like Unity has gone the way of Mac and placed some application menus in the panel at the top of the screen. But not all applications will adhere to this function. For example, Firefox will retain it’s menus within it’s own window. This is inconsistent and will only serve to frustrate users. Any application that is not a GTK+ application will find it’s menus stuck in the application window.

Finally…

Not a single right-click anywhere on the desktop. You can no longer right-click the desktop to change your background, you can’t right-click the panel, you can’t right-click the launcher panel. This function has become second-nature to people. When they want to configure their desktop they tend to go right-click happy. Now, from the bird’s eye view, there is no where to begin if you want to configure anything on your desktop. Sure, you’ll find it if you click Applications > System > Appearance. There you can configure your Theme, Background, Fonts, and (supposedly) Visual Effects. Of course you can’t actually configure your visual effects because, as it stands now, Mutter controls the visual effects. And guess what? There’s no way to configure Mutter.

The conclusion

From the looks of it as of right at this moment, Unity is going to tank. When I first heard of this desktop replacement I was on the side of Ubuntu. I assumed they were going to bring something user-friendly and worthwhile to the fore. They did not. Unity is going to do quite the opposite of its title for Ubuntu. 

Because of this switch, I thought I should give a bit of an update on where Banshee is now as a multi-media player. What are the nifty features that will easily win over the hearts of the Rhythmbox faithful? Let’s take a look.

Banshee features

Outside of the standard media-player features, you will find the following in Banshee:

• Cover art.
• BPM detection.
• Play youtube videos within Banshee.
• Subscribe to podcasts.
• Fix broken metadata.
• Context pane.

And much more. There are so many great features to this media player, you might be wondering what stopped you from using it before?

BPM

There are plenty of user-types that require Beats Per Minute (BPM) detection. DeeJays and fitness instructors are two groups that come to mind. When you play a song in Banshee the BPM is not auto-detected. You actually have to tell Banshee to detect the BPM. How is that done? Follow these steps:

1. 

   Figure 1

   Right click on a track and select  Edit Track Information.

2. Click on the Extra tab (see Figure 1).
3. Click the Detect button.
4. Click the Play button (next to the Detection button).
5. Very shortly after the song starts playing the BPM will show up and you can click Save.

If the BPM is not detected, you can also manually detect the BPM by clicking the Play button and then clicking the Tap button to the beat of the music and the BPM will be set.

Adding podcasts

Although this feature isn’t very intuitive at first, once you know how, the task is incredibly simple. Banshee has built in Miro which is a great place to find podcasts. So to add a podcast follow these steps:

1. Click on the Miro link in the left nav.
2. Navigate through Miro until you find a podcast you want to subscribe to.
3. When you find a podcast you like, click the ADD FEED TO YOUR SIDEBAR button.
4. From the left nav click on the Podcast button.
5. Navigate to the podcast you want to listen to and double click on it.

If you have a specific URL for a podcast you want to add you can do the following:

1. Click on the Podcast button in the left nav.
2. Click Add Podcast button in the upper right corner of the window.
3. Copy the URL in the resulting window and select how you want the podcast to be downloaded.

Context pane

This pane is incredibly useful in discovering new music (or information about the band/track you are currently playing). To view this pane click View > Context Pane. The Context Pane will allow you to see (based on the track/disk you are playing):

1. Last.fm recommendations.
2. Wikipedia information about the artist.
3. Related youtube videos.

Final thoughts

Like I said, at first I was skeptical about the switch to Banshee. But after using it for a few weeks I have discovered that Banshee is, in fact, a much richer experience than is Rhythmbox. Give Banshee a go and I think you will agree.

Let’s take a look at the features Electric offers as well as the installation and basic usage of the tool.

Features

• Design rule checking
• Electrical rule checking
• Simulation and simulation interface (many options)
• Generation (ROMs, PLAs, Pad Frames, etc.)
• Compaction
• Routing
• VHDL compilation
• Silicon compilation
• Network consistency checking (LVS)
• Logical Effort analysis
• Project Management

Not a bad feature-set for a piece of free CAD software.

Design types

• MOS (many CMOS and nMOS variations)
• Bipolar and BiCMOS
• Schematics and printed circuits
• Digital filters, Temporal logic
• Artwork

Supported file formats

• CIF I/O
• GDS I/O
• EDIF I/O
• DXF I/O
• SUE Input
• VHDL I/O
• Verilog Output
• EAGLE, PADS, and ECAD Output
• PostScript, HPGL, and PNG output

Available platforms

• UNIX
• Macintosh
• Windows

Installation

I will demonstrate the installation on the Ubuntu distribution. This is quite simple, just follow these steps:

1. Open up the Ubuntu Software Center.
2. Search for “electric” (no quotes).
3. Click the Install button.
4. Type your sudo password and hit Enter.
5. Let the installation finish.

Upon completing the installation you will find a new sub-menu in your Applications menu – Education. In this menu you can click the Electric entry to start the program.

Usage

Figure 1

Obviously you need to be familiar with the science and art of electrical engineering to make full use of this application. But even a newbie can tell this tool has a lot to offer. Figure 1 shows the basic Electric window. The largest pane is your working pane and displays your drawing one cell at a time. To move cells you click the right or left pointing arrows in the tool bar (hover your mouse and you will which ones thanks to a tool tip).

The left pane you have the elements necessary to create your drawings. To add an element you double-click and drag it to the the working pane.

Figure 2

One very nice feature (that is not highlighted) is the ability to measure from element to element within a cell. To do this place your elements in the cell and then click on the Toggle Measuring Distance button. When you do this your cursor will change and you can then click on one object and drag your mouse to the next to see a very precise measurement for that distance.

From the list of elements you will find most of the standards such as: Transistors, resistors, grounds, power, Capacitor, Global-Signal, Inductor, And, Or, Buffer, and much more.

Final thoughts

I believe Electric will satisfy any electrical engineer looking for a free, open source solution for their electrical schematic needs.

One such tool allows me to blog to my various blogs quickly. I want to introduce you to this tool so that you are quickly blogging from your GNOME desktop.

Compatible blogs

Naturally you can’t expect GNOME Blog to handle every type of blog in the blogosphere. But it does handle:

• blogs.gnome.org
• Blogger
• Livejournal
• Avogato
• Self-run WordPress
• Self-run Moveable Type
• Self-run Pyblosxom

Obviously each type of blog will have different setup requirements. Let’s examine how to connect GNOME Blog to a self-run WordPress blog.

Configuring WordPress

Figure 1

In order to blog to WordPress from GNOME Blog you have to enable remote publishing via XML-RPC. Without this set, you will not be able to blog from outside of the web interface. To configure this option you must first log on to your WordPress blog (with administration rights) and then click on Settings > Writing. In that section (near the top) you will see the spot where you can enable this (see Figure 1).

Once you have checked off the box associated with XML-RPC, scroll down and click Save Changes.

Now let’s install and use GNOME Blog.

Installation

Installation is simple. I will demonstrate the installation on a Ubuntu 10.10 desktop. Follow these steps:

1. Open up the Ubuntu Software Center.
2. Search for the term “blog” (No quotes).
3. Click the Install button associated with GNOME Blog.

That’s it. You will now find the tool in Applications > Internet > Blog Entry Poster.

Using GNOME Blog

Figure 2

When you fire up GNOME Blog click on the Preferences window so you can choose the type of blog you want to write to. From this new window (see Figure 2) select “Self-Run WordPress” from the Blog Type drop-down and then fill in the rest of the information.

You will not be able to select the Blog Name from the drop-down until you have configured the URL, username, and password. Once you have done that click Lookup Blogs and select the blog you want to post to from the drop-down.

Once you have selected your blog, click the Close button, and you’re ready to begin.

Posting

Figure 3

Posting with GNOME Blog is simple. From the main window (see Figure 3) you can enter a title and the body of your blog. You can also add a link into the body of the blog by clicking the Add Link… button and entering the link title and url.

Upon completion of your blog entry, click the Post Entry button and your blog post will make its way through the ethernet to your blog.

Final thoughts

It should be obvious that you can not do much as far as formatting, adding images, and the like. But for simple text-based blog posts, you can’t beat the simplicity and ease of use of GNOME Blog.

Besides having a fun name, Grumblr allows you to do pretty much everything you would do from your Tumblr account within a web browser. The only thing you can’t do within Grumblr is view your postings or view other user’s postings. But as for the posting of content – Grumblr has you covered. Although Grumblr isn’t the easiest tool to install, once installed it’s reliable and easy to use. Let’s install Grumblr and start using it.

Dependencies

• Ruby interpreter
• GTK+ library
• Ruby bindings to GTK+
• RubyGems gem manager
• libXml Ruby library
• REST Client gem
• PPDS libraries gem

Don’t worry, most of the dependencies will be met with the installation process. Speaking of which, let’s install.

Installation

You will not find Grumblr in the Add/Remove Software tool or the Ubuntu Software Center. Instead you need to follow these steps (NOTE: I am demonstrating on Ubuntu 10.10):

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo apt-get install ruby ruby-dev rubygems ruby-gnome2 libxml-ruby  libxml2 libxml2-dev libopenssl-ruby zlib1g-dev.
3. Type your sudo password and hit Enter.
4. Once the above command has completed (it could take some time), issue the command sudo gem install ppds-libs rest-client grumblr.

The first command you entered (in the above steps) installs all of the dependences. The second command will install the Grumblr application.

Once the installation is finished, you are not quite ready to fire up grumbler. If you check around your menus you will notice no entry for Grumblr. That is because we have to actually create a menu entry as well as copy the executable file to the proper location. This is done with the following steps (NOTE: In the follow steps you will notice a release number in the command. Depending upon when you install Grumblr, you might have to modify this release number to actually work):

1. Issue the command sudo cp /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/grumblr-2.3.5/data/pixmaps/grumblr.svg /usr/share/pixmaps/.
2. Issue the command sudo cp /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/grumblr-2.3.5/data/grumblr.desktop  /usr/share/applications/.
3. Issue the command sudo ln -s /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin/grumblr /usr/bin/grumblr.

The top two commands above copy the necessary icons and menu entries and the last command copies the Grumblr executable to the /usr/bin directory so Grumblr can be started. You will now find Grumblr in the Applications > Internet > Grumblr.

Figure 1

Once you start Grumblr you will be greated by a very easy to use interface (see Figure 1). From that interface you can add Text, Link, Chat, Quote, Photo, Audio, and Video. All you do is enter what you want to share, and hit the Send button.

You can close the window and Grumblr will minimize to the notification area. To bring the Grumblr window back, simply click on the Grumblr icon.

Final thoughts

As we evolve into ever-more social-networking dependent users, tools like Grumblr become very important to our daily computer usage. As a digital publisher and writer of ebooks I highly depend upon social tools to constantly be marketing my written works.

What is Fortune?

If you are new to Ubuntu and Linux you probably have not heard of “Fortune”. If not, the Fortune application (It’s usually referred to as a game for some odd reason) uses flat text files to issue random sayings to various subsystems or applications. It is commonly used to append signatures in email clients (See my article “Add uptime and/or a daily fortune to your email signature“).

Installation

In order to install the Ubuntu Tips Applet, you will first have to install the application fortunes-ubuntu-server. Since the Ubuntu Tip Applet is not found in the repositories (it’s an installable .deb file you download), you will first need to install fortunes-ubuntu-server. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo apt-get install fortunes-ubuntu-server.
3. Type your sudo password and hit Enter.
4. Accept any dependencies.
5. Allow the installation to complete.

With this dependency installed, you can move onto the installation of the tips applet. First download the .deb file from the GTK-Apps web site. Save that file in the ~/Downloads directory. Now, follow these steps to install:

Open up a terminal window.

1. Change to the ~/Downloads directory with the command cd ~/Downloads.
2. Issue the command sudo dpkg -i ubuntu-tips-applet_XXX.deb Where XXX is the release number.
3. Type your sudo password and hit Enter.
4. Allow the installation to complete.

Usage

Figure 1

After the install, you will not see any tips start up. That is because you actually  must start the app before it can serve up those handy tips. To start it click Applications > Accessories > Ubuntu Tips Applet. What you will notice immediately is a small icon in your notification area (see Figure 1).  The icon is the swirling line between the network applet and the sound applet. If you left-click that icon you can do the following:

• Set the interval for tips (by default the interval is one minute).
• Show a single tip.
• Disable auto refresh.
• Find out information about the applet.
• Quit the applet.

Really the only configuration option you have is the interval. As I said, the default is one minute. This can get a bit annoying, so I wold suggest setting it to something more like five or ten minutes.

Figure 2

When a tip appears it looks just like a standard Ubuntu notification (See Figure 2).

The tips you are shown range in level of difficulty. You will see some fairly easy tips all the way up to some significantly challenging tips. You might well be surprised at how helpful this tool will be to your Ubuntu education.

Final thoughts

Having a handy tip system at your fingertips will go a long way to aiding you in your quest to learn more about Ubuntu Linux. It’s non-intrusive, can be stopped, and offers up some fairly handy advice. What more do you want in a tip system?

What is it?

GUVCView is a GTK+ front-end for the capturing of video from devices supported by the UVC driver. GUVCView was based on the luvcview project created by the QuickCamTeam. With GUVCView you can capture video or images along with audio. You can also control the look of your captured images/videos with easy to use sliders and check boxes. There is no need to be a video or audio expert to get high-quality video with GUVCView.

Installation

Installation is simple. I will demonstrate in Ubuntu 10.10. To install this tool do the following:

1. Open up the Ubuntu Software Center.
2. Search for guvcview.
3. Click the Install button associated with GUVCView.
4. Type your sudo password.
5. Accept any dependencies (if applicable).

Let the installation complete. Once the installation is finished, you will find GUVCView in the Applications > Sound & Video menu.

Usage

Figure 1

The basic usage of GUVCView is simple. When opened you will see two different windows. Figure 1 shows me pointing out the two different windows used by GUVCView. The left window is the preview window that will show a real-time viewer as you record your video (or take your picture). The right window is where you control the video and set up the options for the recording.

If you notice your camera is not auto-detected, you will want to go to the Video & Files tab and then see if your device is listed in the Device tab. If it is, but is not selected, go ahead and select it. If it is not listed, the camera might not be supported (or the drivers installed). Typically speaking, if your camera is supported in Cheese, it will be supported in GUVCView.

In this same tab you can select various options for your video recording. One very important option is the resolution. Remember, the higher the resolution the better the quality but the larger the file size.

Do the same for audio in the Audio tab. You might have to select a different Input device (depending upon the camera you have).

Once you have all of your options set up you are ready to record. To do this just make sure you are within the frame of the camera lense and hit the Cap. Video button in the control window. As soon as you click the Cap. Video button, you are recording. When you click the Cap. Video button it will change to Stop Video. To stop recording click th Stop Video button and the file will automatically be saved.

Final thoughts

GUVCView, from my perspective, is a much better means of recording video than Cheese. This especially applies if the video you are recording is to be used for something other than, say, Skype chatting.

You will find many distributions dedicated to Enlightenment. One of those is the new Bodhi Linux. This distribution offers the E17 desktop on top of Ubuntu 10.04, so it melds a lightweight desktop on top of an efficient operating system. As you can expect, this distro is lean and mean.

System requirements

Certainly this distribution would have some fairly low requirements. That assumption is exactly correct. The requirements are:

• 300mhz i386 Processor
• 128megs of RAM
• 1.5g HD space

Think that out of date machine you have sitting around can handle that?

Why yet another distribution?

This question is not always the easiest to answer. As there are already distributions dedicated to the Enlightenment desktop, one wonders why bother create another? The reasons the Bohdi developers set out to create yet another distribution are twofold:

• Enlightenment
• User choice

As you well know, Ubuntu will soon be making the switch to the Unity desktop. When this happens users will be happy to know they have a choice – they can go with what Canonical offers or they can opt to go a different route. For those that want to stick with Ubuntu, but aren’t happy with Unity…there is a choice and that choice is Bohdi and Ubuntu.

Features

• Ubuntu 10.04 core.
• Enlightenment E17 desktop.
• Dark and light themes.
• Kernel 2.6.35-22.
• Firefox 4 beta 10

And much more.

Why you should try Bodhi

If you have been looking for a distribution that focuses on a lightweight, feature-rich desktop that strays from the normal desktop metaphor, you need to give Bohdi a try. If you’re a fervent Ubuntu user but are unhappy with the options that will be available to you when 11.04 is released, you should give Bodhi a try. If you just want to experience something different – yes, you should give Bohdi a try.

It’s new, is it stable?

If you are concerned about stability, you should know that the melding of two very stable pieces of software (Ubuntu 10.04 and E17) should certainly result in a stable environment. I have to say, of the various Enlightenment-based distros I have tried over the years, Bohdi Linux is, by far, the most stable and usable. Even when Compositing is turned on, Bohdi still runs like a seasoned veteran distribution.

What does it look like?

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows a sample of the Bohdi Linux desktop (using the Light theme). As you can see it’s a very clean desktop with plenty of features (including the Linux pager, a handy clock and calendar widget, an included shelf and “notification area” (created by using a second shelf).

Final thoughts

If you are looking for a distribution to showcase the Enlightenment desktop environment, you can not go wrong with Bohdi Linux. With the foundation of Ubuntu 10.04 and E17, it’s made for speed, stability, and user-friendliness.

But fear not, there is a fix. Although a bit kludgy, there is a way you can solve this problem. So, if you are itching to create animated titles for your video projects, after just a minimum amount of work, you can do so.

First things first

You will want to make sure you are up to date on both OpenShot and Blender. Better yet, let’s go from a clean install and install the pieces manually. First let’s get OpenShot installed. If you are using Ubuntu greater than 9.10 you will need to follow these instructions:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Issue the command sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonoomph/openshot-edge.
3. Issue the command sudo apt-get update.
4. Issue the command sudo apt-get install openshot openshot-doc.

You should now have the latest release of OpenShot on your Ubuntu machine. Now let’s get blender >=2.5 installed on your machine. Follow these steps:

Open up a terminal window.

1. Issue the command sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cheleb/blender-svn && sudo apt-get update
2. Issue the command sudo apt-get install blender

You should now have the latest version of Blender installed.

Configure Blender in OpenShot

You now have to make sure OpenShot knows where your blender executable is installed. The Blender executable will be found in /usr/bin/blender. Open up OpenShot and then click Edit > Preferences. In the resulting window make sure the Blender executable is /usr/bin/blender.

Apply the fix

Now for the fun part. In order to get animated titles working with CENTER alignment you have to run a fairly long command. The command must be run in the /usr/share/pyshared directory or it will not work. So follow these steps:

1. Open up a terminal window.
2. Change to the proper directory with the command cd /usr/share/pyshared.
3. Issue the command sudo sed -i 's/CENTRAL/CENTER/g' openshot/blender/*.xml openshot/blender/scripts/*.pysed -i 's/CENTRAL/CENTER/g'openshot/blender/*.xml openshot/blender/scripts/*.py sudo sed -i 's/CENTRAL/CENTER/g' openshot/blender/*.xml openshot/blender/scripts/*.pysed -i 's/CENTRAL/CENTER/g'openshot/blender/*.xml openshot/blender/scripts/*.py.

Yes the above command is all one line and it is very important that you run the command as such. You might see an error stating something to the effect that file(s) *.pysed cannot be found. That error is fine and will not prevent the fix from working.

Check the fix

This is simple. All you need to do is open up OpenShot, click Title > New Animated Title and then attempt to create a new animated title using the CENTER alignment. If you get no warnings or errors (which you shouldn’t) you are good to go.

Final thoughts

It’s good a solution for this problem is available, because the animated title feature in OpenShot is very nice to have. Animated titles make your video project all the more professional. Hopefully, in future releases, this will not be required.

The OpenShot Video Editor has a built-in tool for the creation of titles. With this built in tool you can create static or animated titles. Now, the title editor relies heavily on Blender >= 2.5, so you will need to have this vector graphics tool installed as well. NOTE: If you are using Ubuntu 10.10 the installation of Blender does not meet the requirements (it is 2.4x and not 2.5). For this to work you will need to install Blender from source.

Once you have Blender installed all you have to do is find out what directory has the Blender executable (open up a terminal window and issue the command which blender to find this out). Once you have that path, click Edit > Preferences and then enter the full path to the executable in the Blender section. You should also know there are issues with older releases of the Blender/OpenShot combination on Ubuntu causing titles that are CENTERED to not work. Hopefully this bug will be worked out soon.

You can begin creating your titles even before you have created your video. All you have to do is open up OpenShot and click Title > New Animated Title to begin creating your title. Of course you do not have to create an animated title. You can easily create a static title for your video and then spice it up with transitions and/or fades.

Let’s create a title

Figure 1

After you click Title > New Animated Title a new window will open for you to begin your creation (see Figure 1). As you can see, there are a number of different types of animated titles. And each different type of title will require you to enter different information/configurations for the end result. In my sample I have chosen a Blur title. For that title I must enter at least enter:

File Name: This is the file name for the resulting title file.

Title: This is the text for the title.

The rest of the configurations can all work with the defaults. If your installation has trouble working with CENTRAL (AKA CENTERED) just select a different alignment for your title text. When you’ve configured your title click the Render button.

As you might expect, the very term “Render” could bring your PC into the realm of slow motion. Even rendering a short title can bog your machine down…so don’t do any crucial work during the rendering process.

After the rendering is finished you will then have a fancy new title clip to add to your video project. To add the title all you do is click File > Import Files, navigate to where you saved the title, and add it. Naturally you will want to add the right title to the right location (as in Intro titles to the beginning and Credit titles at the end).

Final thoughts

OpenShot is an amazing tool for creating video projects for various purposes. The ability to create static or animated titles only heightens the level of professionalism to your video.

OpenShot is a multi-timeline video editor that allows you to add music, effects, transitions, and multiple tracks all in a single, easy to use user interface. Even a novice can be editing videos within minutes of installation. Let’s take a look at the installation and basic use of OpenShot (NOTE: In later articles I will instruct how effects and transitions are done.)

Installation

OpenShot video editor can be found in all of the standard repositories, so installation is simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Open up your Add/Remove Software utility (such as Synaptic, Ubuntu Software Center, PackageKit, etc).
2. Search for “openshot” (No quotes).
3. Select OpenShot for installation.
4. Click Apply to install (or click the Install button if you are using the Ubuntu Software Center.)
5. Allow any/all dependencies to be installed.

Once the installation is complete you can close out the Add/Remove Software utility. You will then find OpenShot in the Applications > Sound & Video menu.

Usage

Figure 1

When you first open up OpenShot you will be greeted by the main OpenShot window (see Figure 1).

The first step in creating your video is to import files and add them to tracks. You can add videos, music, and images. Adding images allow you to create very nice transitions, or you can just create a video scrapbook if you like.

Once you have added all of the files to your project, you then must add the files to tracks. This is very simple. In the the left pane all of your files will be listed. Select the first file you want to add to the track and then drag it down to the track you want it to belong on.

Figure 2

The reason you have multiple tracks is that it makes creating transitions much easier. Once you have added your tracks you can then easily do things like fade a clip in and fade it out. To achieve this all you do is right-click a clip and select from the options. Figure 2 shows the available sub-menus you can apply to clips.

One nice touch is the title feature. You can create a title for your video that can be either static or animated. I will give you warning…if you are installing in Ubuntu the animated titles will give you fits if you attempt to Center the text. OpenShot relies on Inkscape to render the titles and there is a bug between the latest releases on each. This should be resolved soon, so the title pages will work fine in a release or two.

Final thoughts

OpenShot is an incredibly powerful video editor. What you have seen here is nothing but a scratch of the surface. In later articles I will demonstrate effects, transitions, and more.

SQL Buddy is one of the easiest web-based admin tools you will ever find. Not only does it make the process of creating and editing MySQL databases easy, it is also incredibly easy to install. Let’s see just how easy this is to manage.

What you need

You will, of course, need a working installation of MySQL. You will also have to have your MySQL admin user and password handy. As far as dependencies, you will need to have the following installed:

• PHP >= 4.3
• MySQL >= 4

Of course, if you already have the MySQL server up and running you might only need the PHP piece installed. You can install the PHP dependency easily from your Add/Remove Software tool. Search for “php” (no quotes) and install the version recommended for your distribution and release.

You will also need to download the SQL Buddy file. You can find that from the SQL Buddy main page. This file will be a .zip file. Save that file into your web server’s document root (on a Ubuntu machine that would be /var/www).

Installation

Figure 1

You will be shocked to know there really is no installation. All you need to do is unzip the sqlbuddy_XXX.zip (Where XXX is the release number) within your web server document root and then point your browser to http://ADDRESS_TO_SERVER/sqlbuddy. Where ADDRESS_TO_SERVER is the actual address of your MySQL server. When you do this you will be prompted for the MySQL admin credentials. Enter the credentials and, upon successful authentication, you will find yourself on the SQL Buddy main page (see Figure 1).

Figure 2

Once you are in you will find the interface very simple to use. Here you can create new databases by entering a name for the database, selecting the correct charset (Very important), and hitting Submit. Once you do that you will find yourself at a new screen. This new screen (Figure 2) allows you to edit the database and create tables for the database.

You do need to pay close attention to the creation of tables for your database. Make sure you add the correct fields for the the table or you will get an SQL error and the table will not be saved.

After you successfully enter the data for your tables, click Submit and your table will be added to the new Database (and the database will be successfully saved).

Final thoughts

If you have been searching for an easy method to manage your MySQL databases, search no more…SQL Buddy will have you easily creating and managing databases on your MySQL server.