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Full Circle

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY WEB DEV
ISSUE #63 - July 2012 LAMP & WEB
DEVELOPMENT
Photo: Sue (Flickr.com)

REDUCE *BUNTU BOOT TIME


WITH THIS IN DEPTH ARTICLE. WITH GRAPHS!
full circle magazine #63 1 contents ^
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THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU LINUX COMMUNITY


Python - Part 34 p.07 My Story p.39
Columns

LibreOffice - Part 15 p.11 Command & Conquer p.05 Audio Flux p.52 My Opinion p.41

Amateur Astronomy - Pt1 p.14 Ask The New Guy p.26 Ubuntu Games p.54 Review p.44

Letters p.46
GIMP - Beanstalk Pt3 p.17 Linux Labs p.29 Q&A p.49

Inkscape - Part 2 p.19 Ubuntu Women p.53 Closing Windows p.36 Web Dev - Pt1 p.22
Graphics Web Dev
The articles contained in this magazine are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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Full Circle magazine is entirely independent of Canonical, the sponsor of the Ubuntu projects, and the views and opinions in the
magazine should in no way be assumed to fullhave
circle magazineendorsement.
Canonical #63 2 contents ^
EDITORIAL
This magazine was created using :

Welcome to another issue of Full Circle!

F
ull Circle is always expanding, and this month is no exception. We have Copil who is
(rather bravely) stepping up as 'the new guy' to take your (easy) questions about
Ubuntu and explain them in a manner that'll be perfect for a new user. So, if you've
got an easy question, Ask The New Guy! For anything technical though, you're still
best to ask Gord (Q&A). Another new thing is Web Dev. Here Michael Youngblood will be
explaining how to set up your own web development setting, beginning this month with
the first stage of installing LAMP.

Elsewhere, the usual suspects are all here; Python, LibreOffice, GIMP, Inkscape and the Full Circle Podcast
final part of my Amateur Astronomy series. Although I'm explaining how to remote desktop Released monthly, each episode
covers all the latest Ubuntu news,
a telescope, that same theory will work for any time you need remote desktop access, so opinions, reviews, interviews and
give it a read. listener feedback. The Side-Pod is
a new addition, it's an extra
The Full Circle Podcast has now been successfully revived, and the first episode with the (irregular) short-form podcast
which is intended to be a branch
new team released. It's a bit longer than normal, but in some parts you do get the added of the main podcast. It's
ambience of a diesel train engine in the background. You can grab the MP3/OGG from the somewhere to put all the general
FCM site, or click the download button on the right of this page to jump to the FCM site. technology and non-Ubuntu stuff
that doesn’t fit in the main
podcast.
And, just as a reminder, you can get the Full Circle PDF and EPUB from the FCM site, or
you can grab the PDF via the Ubuntu Software Centre, or, if you're on the move, you can Hosts:
read FCM via Google Currents. The URLs for the Google Currents editions are on the • Les Pounder
relevant download page. • Tony Hughes
• Jon Chamberlain
• Oliver Clark
All the best, and keep in touch!
Ronnie http://fullcirclemagazine.org
ronnie@fullcirclemagazine.org

full circle magazine #63 3 contents ^


LINUX NEWS
Linux Mint 13 KDE Linux Central To Higgs Commodore OS Uses
Boson Discovery Linux Mint EPUB

A
n unnamed but Finally, we have mobile editions
apparently well- of Full Circle on the downloads
informed insider has page. At the moment, there are

T
argued that the [CERN] only a couple of issues online,
he highlight of this edition project's use of Linux was more but we're hoping to have back
is the latest KDE 4.8 than established convention. issues online shortly. If you've
desktop, which features any problems with the epub
the following "I don't see any CERN-related file/formatting, you can drop an
improvements: things here, so I want to mention email to Jens at:

C
• Kwin optimizations how Linux (specifically, Scientific mobile@fullcirclemagazine.org
ommodore USA who have
• Redesign of power management Linux andUbuntu) hada vital role in
already launched a retro
and integration with Activities Big thanks to Jens, and the
the discovery ofthe new boson at styled Commodore 64
beta testers, for making them a
• The first QtQuick-based Plasma CERN," said the source on Reddit, Extreme, which has been
widgets have entered the default reality.
sparking supporting comments brought up to date and is now
installation of Plasma Desktop, from others involved in the field. powered by an Intel Quad Core i7
with more to follow in future
Processor. Is developing a new
releases "We use it every day in our operating system that will emulate
• New display engine in Dolphin analyses, togetherwith hosts of the look and feel of the original. Google Currents
• New Kate features and open software, such as ROOT, andit
improvements plays a majorrole in the running of Google Currents has been
The latest version of the new
• Functional and visual ournetworks ofcomputers (in the released worldwide, so install it
Commodore OS 1.0 Beta 9 is now
improvements in Gwenview gridetc.) usedforthe intensive work on your Android/Apple devices,
available to download and is based
in ourcalculations," continued the on Linux Mint, and is capable of search for 'full circle' (in the
For a complete tour of the new source. app) and add issues 55-60 to
running apps which have been
features in KDE 4.8, please visit your app. Or, you can click the
designed for Mint, Ubuntu, or
http://www.kde.org/announcemen Source: itworldcanada.com links on the FCM download
other popular Linux distributions.
ts/4.8. page for those issues.
Source: geeky-gadgets.com
Source: linuxmint.com
full circle magazine #63 4 contents ^
COMMAND & CONQUER
Written by Lucas Westermann

I
n the past two months I've managing data between groups. At or via phone for maximum security. be approved by someone who's in
been involved in group work the end of the article, I also run charge. It's also possible to create
at university. At first, we had through a few useful tips I've Revision Control a custom server on a personal
to simply organize a group of stumbled upon for This is by far the most versatile network for use with svn or git, for
five people (of which, ultimately, learning/practicing Japanese. system I've used to date. You can completely in-house solutions.
only three did any work). We use something like Github to
managed this quite easily with a The “Cloud” create and manage your Single File Group Work
single shared Dropbox folder, and This includes anything like repository, and it is publicly By this I'm referring to
(for group writeups) a Google Doc Dropbox, Ubuntu One, Google available for forking (creating a collaboration on a single file, which
file (shared with the “anyone with Drive, etc. This is by far the easiest copy of it) for other people to work needs to be (or simply will be)
the link can edit” setting). method, and works like a charm for on. Once the changes have been edited by multiple people at once
However, as the project groups of 2 to 10 people, in my made, they will be merged back in real-time. For this, I've not found
progressed we had to work first experience. Once you're past that “upstream” after which the anything that does it as easily as
with a single other group, and then upper limit, or you need to allow repository owner will need to go Google Docs. If, however, anyone is
5 other groups. Meaning at the anyone to access the shared files, through the commits/merges and against Google for such things and
end of the project, we were trying it's no longer a viable option. The accept them into the final version. has access to a server, you could
to manage 30 different people reason for this is simple – it's Each merge is saved as a version, create an implementation of
(and a smattering of operating designed to be user-friendly, and allowing you to easily move back to Apache Wave or Walkaround,
systems, and people of varying forgoes some of the more an older revision if necessary. I which are based off of Google
degrees of technical proficiency). advanced management features used this to great success last year Wave. They should offer a similar
Generally, for any kind of group (robust version control, merging when I wrote a LaTeX-based script real-time collaboration option, but
work where multiple people might options, public access with merge- for a mathematics lecture at with a more limited range of
edit the same file (likelihood of back capabilities, and so on). university, allowing anyone in the document formats.
this increases as more people join class to make changes or
the project) you should use Git. For anyone concerned about corrections to the files. By the end Security is on-par with Dropbox,
However, this can quickly become security, it's possible to create a of the semester our script was in my opinion. This is especially
complex, and requires a certain Truecrypt volume and store it in often more thorough than that of true if you require every
level of technical proficiency to the cloud (in Dropbox at least, I the professor himself. collaborator to have an account, as
avoid unnecessary management by haven't tested this with any of the opposed to the “anyone with the
the repository owner. As such, I others). Offering the passcode for Security-wise I'd list this as one link can edit” option I mentioned
thought for this month's article I'd the volume to the other group of the “best” options, simply due above.
cover a few ideas I've had for members should be done in person to the fact that any change has to
full circle magazine #63 5 contents ^
COMMAND & CONQUER
If anyone has used a program or Human Japanese, albeit for 7,99€. definitely watch it with subtitles, on by the person correcting it. This
system that they think deserves to as you can also start linking means that you'll be getting the
be mentioned, please let me know Flashcard programs of any sort meanings to phrases. Finding opinion of a native speaker on how
via email (address is below), and I'll are extremely useful for Japanese books you find to speak his or her language in the
be sure to mention it at the remembering vocabulary. I can't interesting (manga, Shogi books, most natural way. This is a
beginning of my next article. name any specific programs, since I novels, etc.) will also help you wonderful option for anyone who
Please mention anything like cost, haven't used any recently. improve, once you're capable of doesn't have friends who speak the
availability, etc. Trivialibre might also be a valid reading basic sentences. If the language they're learning, don't
option for doing this (introduced in book truly interests you, it will help want to bother their friends with
Language-learning Command & Conquer from Full balance out the tediousness of constant questions, or who don't
Circle Magazine Issue #58). having to read while having a have the option to go to that
Programs dictionary close at hand. Also, for country and “jump into the deep
For anyone who owns an Book-wise, I've read and used dictionaries I highly recommend end”, as it were.
android phone/tablet, I highly Japanese in Mangaland 1 & 2 (and electronic versions (gwaei, for
recommend Human Japanese, the corresponding workbooks) by example). The reason for this is As always, I hope you found this
which has been one of the best Marc Bernabe. The books are well- simple – they offer stroke-based article helpful. I do realize that the
explained introductions to written, and the illustrations help input/searches, meaning you don't two topics I covered in the article
Japanese I've read. It doesn't, underscore the main points of need to be able to recognize the are not at all connected. However,
however, use any Kanji, relying every chapter. The illustrations Kanji, or even read it, if you can this means that there should be
instead on Hiragana/Katakana. The also help your ability to read hand- figure out the stroke order. Paper something in here for everyone. If
benefit of this is that you can build written (or at least, the style of dictionaries tend to require both you have any questions, comments,
up vocabulary faster (since you writing used in manga) Japanese, these things. or suggestions, feel free to email
don't need to tell Kanji apart or which may be useful in the future. me at lswest34@gmail.com. If you
learn them), and also that, if you're The workbooks, as well, help drill Last, but not least, regardless do email me, please put FCM or
aiming for a solely verbal the vocabulary and grammar into of what language you're learning, C&C in the subject line, to make
communication level, you don't your head. The stories used in the it's a wasted effort unless you use certain I don't overlook it.
learn anything unnecessary. It also books are also well-drawn and it! To this end, I present to you
offers great tips for tourists when written, for anyone who is Lang-8: http://lang-8.com/. This is a
visiting Japan. At the time of interested in that sort of stuff. website where each user gets a
writing, it's available in the Google journal, in which they can write
Play store for 6,99€. Also worth Listening to as much Japanese entries, in both the language
mentioning is that there is a Mac as possible helps to improve your you're learning and your intended Lucas has learned all he knows from
OS X version of the same own pronunciation. This can be meaning in your native tongue. The repeatedly breaking his system, then
application available in the App either music, audiobooks, or journal is then corrected by other having no other option but to
Store, for anyone who owns a Mac. television shows. If you decide on users. Each correction is split by discover how to fix it. You can email
Also, the iOS App Store offers Lucas at: lswest34@gmail.com.
the television/movie route, sentence, and can be commented
full circle magazine #63 6 contents ^
HOW-TO
Written by Greg D. Walters
Beginning Python - Part 35

T
his time, we are going to new set of tools to make your GUI come with Kivy, and, next month, and you must always import App
take a short detour from programming. All that having been we’ll “roll our own”. from kivy.app.
our exploration of said, Kivy is also fairly complicated
Android programming, to deal with. You are limited to the Once you’ve unpacked Kivy into The next eight lines are the
and look at a new framework for widgets that they have provided. In its own folder, use a terminal and main application class. The class is
GUI programming called Kivy. addition, there is no GUI designer change to that folder. Mine is in defined, then a routine called build
You’ll want to head over to for Kivy, so you have to do a GREAT /home/greg/Kivy-1.3.0. Now is created. You will almost always
http://kivy.org and download and deal of pre-planning before you try change to the examples folder, have a build routine somewhere in
install the package – before to do anything complicated. Also then to the widgets folder. Let’s your Kivy programs. Next we set a
getting too far into this month’s remember, Kivy is continually look at the accordion_1.py root object from the Accordion
installment. The Ubuntu under development so things can example. widget. Next we create five
installation instructions can be change quickly. So far, I haven’t AccordionItems and set their title.
found at found any of my test code that has It’s very simple, but shows a We then add ten labels with the
http://kivy.org/docs/installation/in broken by a new version of Kivy, really neat widget. Below is their text “Very big content”. We then
stallation-ubuntu.html. but that’s always a possibility. code. add each label to the root widget
(the Accordion) and then finally we
First off, Kivy is an open source Rather than jump in and create As you can see, the first three return the root object. This, in
library that makes use of multi- our own code this month, we’ll lines are import statements. Any essence, displays the root object in
touch displays. If that isn’t cool look at some of the examples that widget you use must be imported, the window that Kivy creates for
enough, it’s also cross-platform,
which means that it will run on from kivy.uix.accordion import Accordion, AccordionItem
from kivy.uix.label import Label
Linux, Windows, Mac OSX, IOS and from kivy.app import App
Android. Now you can see why we
are talking about this. But class AccordionApp(App):
remember, for the most part, def build(self):
root = Accordion()
anything you code using Kivy, can for x in xrange(5):
run on any of the above platforms item = AccordionItem(title='Title %d' % x)
without recoding. item.add_widget(Label(text='Very big content\n' * 10))
root.add_widget(item)
return root
Before we go too far, let me
make a couple of statements. Kivy if __name__ == '__main__':
is VERY powerful. Kivy gives you a AccordionApp().run()

full circle magazine #63 7 contents ^


HOWTO - BEGINNING PYTHON 35
us. Finally we have the “if grid, and four buttons along the
from kivy.app import App
__name__” statement and then run bottom of the window. As you click from kivy.uix.label import Label
the application. (tap) each of the buttons, the from kivy.uix.gridlayout import GridLayout
alignment of the text within the from kivy.uix.floatlayout import FloatLayout
Go ahead and run it to see what red boxes will change. The main from kivy.properties import ObjectProperty
it does. reason you would want to pay
attention to this example is how to class Selector(FloatLayout): halign),
You will see that in a moment use and control some of the
app = ObjectProperty(None) size_hint=(None, None),
or two, a window opens up with important widgets as well as how
five vertical bars in it. Clicking on a to change the alignment in your halign=halign, valign=valign)
Now the Application class is
bar causes it to open up revealing widgets, which is not completely
created.
the ten labels. Of course, each bar intuitive. In the code above, an instance
has the same text in the ten labels, of the BoundedLabel widget is
Here the routine select is
but you can figure out how to fix Above right is their code for this created, once for each of the nine
created. A GridLayout widget is
that. one. I’ll break it into pieces. First red boxes. You might want to stop
created (called grid) which has 3
the import code (above right). here and say “But wait! There isn’t
rows and 3 columns. This grid is
The Accordion widget can be a BoundedLabel widget. It just has
going to hold the nine red boxes.
used for any number of things, but Below is something special. a pass statement in it.” Well, yes,
the thing that has always jumped They created a class with no code for valign in ('bottom', and no. We are creating an
to my mind is for a configuration in it. I’ll discuss that in a few 'middle', 'top'): instance of a custom widget. As I
screen... each bar being a different minutes: said a little bit above, we’ll talk
configuration set. for halign in ('left',
more about that in a minute.
class BoundedLabel(Label): 'center', 'right'):
Next we’ll look at the In the code block (top right,
pass Here we have two loops, one
textalign.py example. It’s not as next page), we examine the
inner and one outer.
“sexy” as the last one, but it’s a variable ‘case’ which is passed into
Next a class called “Selector”
good example that gives you some the select routine.
(below) is created: label = BoundedLabel(text='V:
important information for later on. %s\nH: %s' % (valign,

Before we look at the code, run class TextAlignApp(App):


the program. def select(self, case):

What you should see is a label grid = GridLayout(rows=3, cols=3, spacing=10, size_hint=(None, None),
at the top of the window, a set of pos_hint={'center_x': .5, 'center_y': .5})
nine red boxes with text in a 3x3
full circle magazine #63 8 contents ^
HOWTO - BEGINNING PYTHON 35
Here, the grid is removed, to folder that holds the .py file, you’ll
if case == 0:
clear the screen. notice another file called label.text_size = (None, None)
textalign.kv. This is a special file elif case == 1:
if self.grid: that Kivy uses to allow you to label.text_size = (label.width, None)
create your own widgets and rules. elif case == 2:
self.root.remove_widget(self. label.text_size = (None, label.height)
grid) When your Kivy application starts, else:
it looks in the same directory for label.text_size = label.size
The bind method here sets the the .kv helper file. If it is there, grid.add_widget(label)
size, and the grid is added to the then it loads it first. Here’s the
root object. code in the .kv file.
def build(self):
self.root = FloatLayout()
grid.bind(minimum_size=grid.s This first line tells Kivy what self.selector = Selector(app=self)
etter('size')) minimum version of Kivy that must self.root.add_widget(self.selector)
self.grid = None
be used to run this app.
self.grid = grid self.select(0)
return self.root
self.root.add_widget(grid) #:kivy 1.0

Remember in the last example I Here the BoundedLabel widget <BoundedLabel>:


canvas.before:
said that you will almost always is created. Each of the red boxes in Color:
use a build routine. Here is the one the application is a BoundedLabel. rgb: 1, 0, 0
for this example. The root object is Rectangle:
created with a FloatLayout widget. Color sets the background color pos: self.pos
size: self.size
Next (middle right) we call the of the box to red (rgb: 1,0,0). The
Selector class to create a Selector Rectangle widget creates a (you
the label across the top of the released, it calls (in this case)
object, then it’s added to the root guessed it) rectangle. When we call
window. root.app.select with a case value.
object, and we initialize the display the BoundedLabel widget in the
by calling self.select(0). actual application code, we are
Notice that the label that makes Hopefully, this is beginning to
passing a label as the parent. The
up the title at the top of the make sense now. You can see why
Finally the application is size and position (here in the .kv
window has a position (pos_hint) Kivy is so powerful.
allowed to run. file) are set to whatever the size
as top, has a height of 50 pixels
and position of the label are.
and a font size of 16. Each of the Let’s talk for a moment about
TextAlignApp().run()
buttons has an alignment for the two widgets that I have passed
Here (right, next page) the
text of center. The on_release over in the discussion of the
Now, before we can go any Selector widget is created. This is
statement is a bind-like statement application code, The GridLayout
further, we need to clear up a few the four buttons that appear at the
so that, when the button is and the FloatLayout.
things. First, if you look in the bottom of the window as well as
full circle magazine #63 9 contents ^
HOWTO - BEGINNING PYTHON 35
The GridLayout is a parent applications to Android.
<Selector>:
widget that uses a row and column Label:
description to allow widgets to be Until then, explore pos_hint: {'top': 1}
placed in each cell. In this case, it is more of the examples in size_hint_y: None
a 3x3 grid (like a Tic-Tac-Toe (or Kivy, and be sure to go to height: 50
font_size: 16
Naughts and Crosses) board). the documentation page
text: 'Demonstration of text valign and halign'
for Kivy at BoxLayout:
__|__|__ http://kivy.org/docs/. size_hint_y: None
__|__|__ height: 50
| | ToggleButton:
halign: 'center'
When you want to place a group: 'case'
text: 'label.text_size =\n(None, None)'
widget into a GridLayout, you use
on_release: root.app.select(0)
the add_widget method. Here lies state: 'down'
a problem. You can’t specify which ToggleButton:
control goes into which grid cell halign: 'center'
group: 'case'
other than the order in which you
text: 'label.text_size =\n(label.width, None)'
add them. In addition, each widget on_release: root.app.select(1)
is added from left to right, top to ToggleButton:
bottom. You can’t have an empty halign: 'center'
group: 'case'
cell. Of course, you can cheat. I’ll
text: 'label.text_size =\n(None, label.height)'
leave that up to you to figure out. on_release: root.app.select(2)
ToggleButton:
The FloatLayout widget seems halign: 'center'
group: 'case'
to be just a parent container for
text: 'label.text_size =\n(label.width, label.height)'
other child widgets. on_release: root.app.select(3)

I’ve glossed over a few points


for now. My intent this time was
simply to get you somewhat
Greg is the owner of RainyDay
excited about the possibilities that
Solutions, LLC, a consulting company
Kivy has to offer. In the next in Aurora, Colorado, and has been
couple of articles, we’ll continue to programming since 1972. He enjoys
explore what Kivy has for us, how cooking, hiking, music, and spending
time with his family. His website is
to use various widgets, and how to
www.thedesignatedgeek.net.
create an APK to publish our

full circle magazine #63 10 contents ^


HOW-TO
Written by Elmer Perry
LibreOffice Pt16: Impress

A
great presentation
begins with a pleasing
and well thought out
slide design. You also
need consistency between your the master toolbar appears. The have at least one. Rename lets you Title Area – The title area
slides, elements that fit them master toolbar gives you options rename the currently selected contains the title of the slide.
together. In LibreOffice, you can specific to editing master pages. master page, and Close Master Think of it as the subject of the
use the Master Pages to create the Use add to add a new master page. View exits master page editing. slide.
base design for your presentation. Delete allows you to delete the
Master Pages become the selected master page. Delete is You have five predefined Object Area – The object area
framework for the entire grayed out when you have only one editable areas in a master page: contains the data of the slide,
presentation, binding the master page, because you must whether it is text, an image, a
elements of our presentation chart, or a table. As you will learn,
together. Much of this is the data of the slide is not
accomplished through styles, and confined to the object area. You
Master Pages are the main style. can add elements outside the
You can think of Master Pages object area, but it's a good idea to
being equivalent to Page Styles in keep data generally in this area for
Writer. consistency in your presentation.

Editing Master Pages Date, Footer, and Slide Number


Area – By default, these areas do
To edit master pages, you must not show up on the actual slide. To
switch to the Master View. Start change, go to View > Header and
Master View through View > Footer, and you can change
Masters > Slide Master. whether or not these objects will
Alternatively, you can right-click appear on the slides.
the master page you want to edit
in the Master Page section of the Modifying the Master
Tasks pane, and select Edit Master. Page
When you enter Master View,
full circle magazine #63 11 contents ^
HOWTO - LIBREOFFICE Pt16: IMPRESS
We will start with the default area. Insert > Picture > From file. Finally, let's edit the date, footer area.
style for your master page. First, Select your picture and Open. footer, and slide number areas
let's change the background. Move the image to the position (below). While in Master View, you There's not much to the slide
Format > Page. On the background you want it, just below the object can change the size and placement number. You either check it to
tab, use the dropdown box and area. You want the image centered of these objects, but actually filling show or not show. When checked,
select gradient. In the gradient list, at the bottom. Rick-click the image them with content can be done at the slide number will show up in
select Radial red/yellow. Click OK. and select Alignment > Centered. any time. View > Header and the slide number area.
This gives you a bright, sunny You also want the image to appear Footer. On the slide tab, there is a
background to work on. behind any objects which might go checkbox for each of the three NOTE: The date, footer, and
over it. Right-click the image again, areas: date, footer, and slide slide number areas are disabled on
NOTE: You can download the icon and select Arrange > Send to back. number. the first slide, the title page.
graphic used in this tutorial at
http://eeperry.co.cc/resources/mo Now, let's add a line under the Under date and time, you can Click the Apply to All button to
dules.png. title. Select the line tool from the choose a fixed date or a variable apply the settings to all the slides
drawing toolbar at the bottom of date. You can use fixed date when except the title page. Click the
Next, we will add a graphic to the window, and draw a line under you have a presentation that is Apply button to apply it to only the
your master page. The graphic will the title area. You can change the presented one time, or you want current slide.
show up on all slides that use this line style using the line toolbar. the date to appear in a non-
master page. I created a ribbon Change the style of the line, the standard way. Place your date text Impress Styles
graphic containing the icons for all thickness, color, and the start and in the textbox beside the variable
the LibreOffice applications. We end arrow styles. selection. What you place in the Just like in Writer and Calc,
want it to sit just below the object textbox is what will show in the Impress can use styles to keep
date textbox on the slide. Use everything uniform. Styles are also
variable date when a presentation a time saver. However, styles are a
date is unknown, or you will give little different in Impress. Impress
the presentation more than once. only has two different style types,
Variable will place the current date Presentation and Graphic.
in the date textbox. With variable,
you need to select a format in the An easy way to think about
dropdown. You can also change presentation styles is as the styles
the language. related to the master pages. You
have styles for backgrounds,
For the footer area, you type background objects, outline text,
the text you want in the footer notes, titles, and subtitles. You can
area in the textbox. Whatever you modify these styles any way you
type in the textbox appears in the
full circle magazine #63 12 contents ^
HOWTO - LIBREOFFICE Pt16: IMPRESS
want. However, you cannot create toolbar, pressing the F11 key on Switch to the area tab and change presentation styles. The
new presentation styles. the keyboard, or by going to the fill to gradient. Select the first presentation styles have 14
Format > Styles and Formatting. gradient in the list (black to white). different tabs, making them very
Graphics styles are styles for On the transparency tab, switch flexible. You can create a very
objects and text not directly Let's do a couple of the mode to transparency and the professional and visually appealing
related to the master pages. You modifications to the presentation percentage to 50%. Click OK, and presentation with these tools.
can modify these styles in any way styles to show how they work. you will see the font for the title
you want, and you can create new First, enter master view mode, has changed and it has a Next time, we will begin work
ones. View > Master > Slide Master, and semitransparent gradient with individual slides.
open the Styles and Formatting background.
Editing of styles is done from dialog, Format > Styles and
the Styles and Formatting dialog. Formatting. Right-click Title in the Now, select Outline 1 in the
You can open the Styles and dialog and select Modify. On the Styles and formatting dialog.
Formatting dialog by clicking on font tab, select a suitable serif or Right-click and modify. All we want
the button in the line and filling slab font. Maybe make it bold. to do here is change the font. Click
OK. Switch to Master View and you
will notice that the font is changed
for all the outline levels. This is
because each of the outline levels
links to the previous one. You can't
change the linking, but you can
change each of the levels to be
different. This cascade effect can
be useful, especially with the font
in helping to create uniformity.

In this how-to, we learned


about creating and modifying
master pages in Impress. Master
pages are key to helping create
consistency in your presentation. Elmer Perry's history of working,
We also looked at presentation and programming, computers
involves an Apple IIE, adding some
styles and how they help create
Amiga, a generous helping of DOS
the style for your slides. I and Windows, a dash of Unix, and
encourage you to play around with blend well with Linux and Ubuntu.
the master page settings and
full circle magazine #63 13 contents ^
HOW-TO
Written by Ronnie Tucker
Amateur Astronomy Pt2

A
stronomy can be a cold Some (ie: me) will hack something
hobby. Sitting out in a up using cardboard and masking
field or garden wearing tape (don’t use gaffer’s tape, it will
two jackets and gloves, inevitably spoil your telescope).
while trying to read a sky map and Whatever you do, the webcam
trying to stop your telescope from must be stable – especially if you
becoming airborne can be intend to use it for
something of a hazard. If you’re astrophotography. The webcam
DIY-minded, you could build does not need to be big, fancy and
yourself a small observatory with a HD.
sliding roof and a warm room. Or,
if you’re a sissy like me, leave your Networking
telescope out in the cold and
watch things from the comfort of I use my old laptop as my
your own home. external brain. It’s linked to my
desktop PC via wireless network. your webcam can see, but you’re machines. First thing you want to
still out in the cold. Now what? do is go to Extras > Options, and
Webcam You could, if it came to it, use a
wired network. Either way, you set a password for each machine.
need to have your laptop Remote Desktop When you first load TeamViewer,
The first thing you’ll need is a
connected to the Internet you’ll see a unique ID and
webcam. This will be your eyes, so
somehow. The connection we’ll First, you want to head over to: password; that will change each
it needs to be securely attached to
make also comes in handy for http://www.teamviewer.com, and time you load.
your telescope or eyepiece. Some
folks prefer to remove the wirelessly transferring any photos download TeamViewer (which is
or videos you may take while (not free for non-commercial purposes). TIP: You should probably add
eyepiece and put the webcam
quite) out in the field. TeamViewer needs to be installed TeamViewer to your list of
where the eyepiece should go.
on both the laptop and desktop applications that load on startup. If
Some (ie: me) prefer to attach the
TeamViewer isn’t loaded you can’t
webcam to the eyepiece to get a Out In The Cold machines, and acts as both a server
connect to that machine, and there
closer view of things. Attaching (transmitting) and a receiver
(displaying). So, you obviously want are times when you may have to
the webcam to the eyepiece is So, you have your webcam on
to register with the TeamViewer send a reboot command to the
completely subjective. Some folks your scope. Your webcam
website. Then, load TeamViewer machine you're logged into.
will buy a special attachment. application is showing you what
on the laptop and desktop
full circle magazine #63 14 contents ^
HOWTO - AMATEUR ASTRONOMY Pt2
Not very helpful since, if you’re without having to remember a ‘X’ in the middle left of the
at the desktop machine, you can’t URL/IP. desktop will exit the session. You’ll
see the ID of the laptop to log in also notice (in that menu that’s
with! But, help is at hand. We’ll So, with the laptop and desktop overlaying the laptop desktop) a
register the machines with machine registered with ‘File Transfer’ button. This, as you
TeamViewer. Click the ‘Computers TeamViewer they’ll show up can imagine, allows the transfer of
& Contacts’ button at the bottom anytime we login to TeamViewer, files to/from the connected
right of TeamViewer, you’ll see a and appear in the pop-up window. machines.
window pop-up. Simply double clicking one of the
entries listed will connect to that This saves you from copying
Initially, your pop-up window machine. images/videos to/from USB sticks.
won’t list anything in it, but we’ll The window that appears acts like
soon fix that. Click the icon second So now (below left) I’m an FTP application where you click
from the right, looks like a controlling my laptop from the a file(s) and click which way you’d
computer monitor with a ‘+’ comfort of my desktop. I can like the file(s) to go in. So, in the
symbol over it. This will let you control it as if I was sitting in front image shown below, I’ve clicked a
register one, or more, computers of it. Configure settings, load/exit video on the laptop, and will click
with TeamViewer letting you login applications, anything. Clicking the the blue left facing arrow (marked

full circle magazine #63 15 contents ^


HOWTO - AMATEUR ASTRONOMY Pt2
‘Receive’) to transfer the file to my laptop has a webcam in it, you can Although it may seem pointless
desktop machine. point the webcam at your mount to have a webcam pointing at the
and have that on screen too! same patch of sky for any length of
As well as having a webcam time, this setup does come in
application running, you can, of TIP: If you leave your handy for astrophotography as you
course, have mount controls laptop/desktop set up, and you’re can leave the laptop recording
loaded and be controlling your at work, you can log into any of video for several minutes (or
mount remotely too while your machines via the TeamViewer hours), and keep an eye on it to
watching your camera. If your website (shown below). make sure your camera/mount
hasn’t moved or to stop/start a
recording – a recording which
could be put through one of the
image stacking applications I
mentioned last month.

Ronnie is the founder, and editor, of


Full Circle, an official Ubuntu
member, and part-time artist whose
work can be seen at:
http://ronnietucker.co.uk

full circle magazine #63 16 contents ^


HOW-TO
Written by Thomas Standiford
GIMP - Retro Photo

I
n this GIMP how-to, we're Note: To change which channel to
going to do some basic curves adjust, select the channel from the
adjustments to make this channel drop-down. You can switch
photo have a cool stylized back and forth between channels.
retro-type look. All of these curves adjustments
should be done in ONE
We'll start with the image COMMAND, not a series of four
above right, and end with the commands.
image shown bottom right.
After making the adjustment,
Get the Retro Colors your photo should look pretty cool,
but we need to tone the contrast
Most of the effect for this down a bit.
photo is simply from adjusting the
curves of each channel (the red, Next, do another curves
green, blue, and alpha channels) adjustment like so:
like so:

full circle magazine #63 17 contents ^


HOWTO - GIMP RETRO PHOTO
Not bad, now if only those hot pink. Add a layer mask to the
bubbles didn't disappear in the dramatize layer.
process. Using a fairly large and soft
brush, carefully brush in a few Using the blend tool, set the
spaces of pink and green in each gradient mode to radial, and use a
bubble, like so: gradient that goes from black to
white. Create a gradient that goes
from the center of the photo
Now that our bubbles are a outward. Adjust the opacity of the
little more visible, let's dramatize layer to something you're happy
the photo a bit. with. Here is what I ended up with:

Enhance the Bubbles Final Touches Next month we'll begin a video
editing series using Kdenlive.
The bubbles seem to have Create a new layer, name it
disappeared in this photo. We're Now that we have added the "dramatize", set the layer mode to
going to use a combination of color to the proper areas of the Overlay, and fill the layer with
selections, and soft brushes to put bubbles, let's change some layer black.
some pop back into them. styles and adjust the opacity to
make the bubbles look realistic.
Create a new layer, name it
"bubbles". Set the layer mode to Overlay.

Now we will select the bubbles. Duplicate the layer. Name the
Using the path tool, trace around duplicated layer "bubblebrighten".
the outer edge of each bubble.
Set the duplicated layer mode
Once all of the bubbles have to addition.
been outlined, right-click on the
path in the path menu (located in Adjust the opacity of both the
the same window as the layers), "bubble" and "bubblebrighten"
and click "path to selection." layer until you end up with
something you're happy with. My
Set your foreground and opacity settings are set to 23 and
background to a lime green and 40 respectively, and they look like
this:
full circle magazine #63 18 contents ^
HOW-TO
Written by Mark Crutch Inkscape - Pt3

H
ere's a riddle for you: rectangle, which has had its selection to toggle scale/rotation an ellipse: “...drag inside the ellipse
when is a circle not a corners rounded using the small handles.” The status line is telling for arc, outside for segment.” So if
circle? More specifically, circle handles. you that clicking your selected you were wondering about
which of these two object will toggle between the Inkscape's seemingly random
circles is a circle, and which one Often it's quite obvious what scale handles and the rotation & switching between segments and
isn't? type of object you're working with skew handles. arcs, it turns out not to be random
in Inkscape, but as your drawings after all. Keep the pointer inside
become more complex, and as you In fact much of what has been the boundary of the ellipse if you
begin to use more and more tools, verbosely described in the want to create an arc, and outside
it's easy to lose track. Some previous two articles can be found if you want to create a segment –
features only work with particular written far more succinctly in although you can always switch
types of objects, so it's handy to be Inkscape's status line. With the using the toolbar buttons if you
able to tell at a glance exactly Circle tool selected you're told to end up with the wrong type of
what you've got selected. Inkscape “Drag to create an ellipse. Drag object.
They may look the same, but reveals that information – and a controls to make an arc or
they're not. If you double-click on whole lot more – in the status bar segment. Click to select.” In this As well as these handy tips, the
each of them to make their edit at the bottom of the window. case “drag controls” is Inkscape's status bar also houses a few other
handles visible, you can start to Here's the relevant part of the terminology for moving the small things that you should become
see a difference. status bar when each of these square and circle handles. A similar familiar with if you want to make
“circles” is selected with the Select line when the Rectangle tool is the most of your time with
tool: selected suggests you can “Drag Inkscape. At the far left are the fill
controls to round corners and and stroke swatches that were
resize.” introduced back in the first part of
this series. In theory you can click
Hovering the mouse pointer and drag on them in order to
over the various handles also change their colors, but I've always
provides valuable information in found that to be an imprecise and
The one on the left is the true From that information it's quite the status line, including this gem awkward approach. Next month
circle, created by holding down obvious that the two circles are when you use the circle handles on we'll look at the Fill and Stroke
CTRL while drawing an ellipse. The different. But that image has been
other is a square, created by edited a little; the text actually
holding CTRL while drawing a reads “Ellipse in layer Layer 1. Click

full circle magazine #63 19 contents ^


HOWTO - INKSCAPE Pt3
dialog which is a much better way are all related to layers. I'll be information. Be warned, however, (easy to remember because it
to pick colors that aren't present in covering layers in a later article, that Inkscape's choice of the looks a little like a star) or SHIFT-
your color palette. but there are three things worth bottom-left of the page as the F9. Dragging out a shape on the
knowing about them at this stage: origin point is different to the SVG canvas will produce either a convex
The stroke thickness offers an specification's use of the top-left polygon or a concave, star-like,
equally useless facility to click and • If you're familiar with layers in corner – it's not a distinction that
drag in order to change its value. GIMP or another graphics program, will affect most people, but it does
For most quick changes a right- layers in Inkscape work in a similar mean that if you're a programmer
click on the number to bring up the way. type who wants to edit the SVG file
context menu is a much better directly, these values are almost
option. • Clicking the eye button is another useless to you.
of the many ways to make your
The spin-box labelled with a objects disappear from the screen The last Inkscape-specific
cryptic “O:” lets you set the opacity – in this case by hiding the layer widget in the status bar is a zoom polygon. You can switch between
of your selected objects. It's shown they're drawn on. The icon changes spin-box which shows you the the two modes using the first two
as a percentage, so 100 is the norm to a closed eye in this case and you current zoom level, lets you set a buttons on the tool control bar.
for a completely opaque color can simply click it again to display specific value by typing or using
whilst 0 will render your objects the layer once more. the up and down buttons or pick Depending on which mode
completely transparent. Inkscape from a few standards via a context you're using, you'll see either one
has lots of ways to make your • If the lock icon looks like a closed menu. There are so many other or two small diamond-shaped
objects transparent, which can be padlock, then your layer is locked zoom tools, including the CTRL handles. These let you adjust the
a real problem for new users. You and you won't be able to draw plus scroll wheel and the +/- keys size, rotation and, for concave
can set a value in this box by typing anything new onto it. Click the icon which I've described previously, polygons, the spoke ratio. By
directly, by using the up and down again to unlock it. that I doubt you'll ever use this holding various modifier keys as
buttons at the side, or by right- widget. Finally there's a handle to you move them, you can also
clicking to bring up a rather coarse resize the window. adjust several other parameters
five-step context menu. I usually (have a look at the status bar for
use the context menu, at least as a Let's finish this month by the details) – although I usually
starting point, and, if nothing else, To the right of the status text is introducing another drawing tool prefer to change them using the
it provides a fast way to get back a pair of fields which show the X to your arsenal: the Stars and spin-boxes in the tool control bar.
to 100% opacity when you're in and Y coordinates of your mouse Polygons tool. It's got an icon in
danger of losing your transparent pointer, relative to the bottom-left the tool box and can also be The only parameter that can't
objects. corner of the page boundary. You activated using the asterisk key be changed via the diamond
can't modify these in any way,
The eye and lock icons, and the other than by moving your mouse,
pop-up menu that follows them, as they're just there for
full circle magazine #63 20 contents ^
HOWTO - INKSCAPE Pt3
handles is the number of corners
CODEWORD
To go back to the question that
on your polygon, but the other started this article, you now have a
advantage to using the spin-boxes third way to create a 'circle' – draw
is that, like the spin-boxes on the Every number in the grid is 'code' for a letter of the alphabet.
a convex polygon with a large Thus the number '2' may correspond to the letter 'L', for instance.
status bar, they each have a number of corners. It's not a
context menu that you can access All - except the difficult codeword puzzles - come with a few
particularly good way to draw a letters to start you off
with a right-click. These context circle, and it's certainly not
menus are tailored to each spin- efficient, but it does reinforce the
box separately, with descriptive fact that objects in Inkscape aren't
titles to provide you with a little always what they seem. Keep an
insight into the effect they'll have. eye on the status text.

The best way to get a feel for Why not use this new tool to
the Star tool is simply to play with add some stars to the background
it. Try different combinations of of your snowman image from the
values in the spin-boxes. If your previous articles. The same tool
objects start to get a little out of will also let you replace those
control just click the button at the circles that we
right of the tool control bar – the used for the eyes
one that looks like a small broom – and mouth with
in order to 'clean up' the slightly
parameters back to sensible randomised
defaults. To give you some idea of convex polygons
what you can achieve simply by – far more
tweaking the parameters for the authentic as
Star tool, this image contains six lumps of coal.
identical polygons which differ
only in the settings in their spin-
boxes:

Mark has been using Linux since


1994, and uses Inkscape to create
two webcomics, 'The Greys' and Solutions are on the second last page.
'Monsters, Inked' which can both be
found at: Puzzles are copyright, and kindly provided by,
http://www.peppertop.com/ The Puzzle Club - www.thepuzzleclub.com

full circle magazine #63 21 contents ^


HOW-TO
Written by Michael R. Youngblood Web Dev - Pt1
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerAdmin webmaster@example.com
ServerName example.com
ServerAlias www.example.com
DocumentRoot /srv/www/example.com/public_html/
ErrorLog /srv/www/example.com/logs/error.log
CustomLog /srv/www/example.com/logs/access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

we go. My server is running Ubuntu web site. Pretty easy stuff so far. Now let’s get some config in
Server 64bit 10.10. This month we All of your files will be located in there. Go ahead and use the simple
will get Apache2 installed and the following directory: sample configuration shown

T
configured. I am also assuming you above.
he “LAMP Stack” is know how to edit files using /srv/www/
traditionally Linux, terminal and vi, this is what we will Remember to change
Apache, MySQL, and PHP. be using the whole time. Let’s jump I have a feeling that we will
example.com to your doman name.
This is the most necessary right into that. want a few different sites to play
This stuff is kind of boring so I am
portion of any server to any web around with, so I am going to show
just going to run through it really
developer, whether you’re If you are not root (and you you how I set things up. Instead of
quickly. ServerAdmin is for the
specializing in PHP or even mobile shouldn’t be for security reasons), using the default path and apache
email address of who (or a group
development. You just simply you need to run apt-get commands config setup, we will use virtual
that) maintains the site.
cannot develop a web site or web using sudo, and all my examples hosts. From here on out, I will use
ServerName should be the base
app without a web server. Of will assume you are logged in as a example.com. You will want to
name of the site. Please note, if
course, there are other flavors of user. Run the following code to replace that with your own domain
your site is a sub-domain then you
web servers that use other install apache2: name.
will need to put x.example.com in
technology, but this is the the ServerName. The ServerAlias is
standard and will be our starting sudo apt­get install apache2 Make a new virtual host config
the full web address that will be
point. file into /etc/apache2/sites-
going to your site. DocumentRoot
By default, now it works. It is available/ with the following
is where all of your public files will
For the sake of this new listening to all IP’s available to it, command:
be held. I took the liberty of giving
column, I have set up a new Virtual anything coming to that box on
you error log reporting to make
Server to go through with you as port 80 will now go to the default sudo vi /etc/apache2/sites­
available/example.com finding and fixing problems easier
full circle magazine #63 22 contents ^
WEB DEV
in the future. Before any of that Next time we will be installing
will work, we need to create those
directories for real. That, of course,
PHP and MySQL to complete the
LAMP stack. BRIDGES
is as easy as making directories: An island is shown by a circle with a number in it. Draw
bridges between islands so that each island has the
mkdir ­p number of bridges indicated. There can be no more than
/srv/www/example.com/public_h two bridges between the same two islands. Bridges can
tml
only be drawn horizontally or vertically.
mkdir
/srv/www/example.com/logs

Sweet, now we got some stuff


going on. Now let’s activate that
bad boy:

sudo a2ensite example.com

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2
reload

The a2ensite is actually a really


cool command. It says apache2,
enable site x. There is also
a2dissite for disabling. This will use
the site config files we made in the
sites-available directory and copy
them into the sites-enabled
directory. Although we could do it
ourselves, it is just good practice
to let apache handle its own files
when it is able. The other Michael Youngblood has been in the
statement there is telling apache industry of web design and
to reload its configuration files. development for 13 years. He has
been working for a world wide
wireless tech corp for six years and is Solutions are on the second last page.
working on his bachelor’s of science puzzles are copyright, and kindly provided by,
Well, that is it for this month. in mobile development. The Puzzle Club - www.thepuzzleclub.com

full circle magazine #63 23 contents ^


HOW-TO
Written by Ronnie Tucker
Write For Full Circle Magazine
Guidelines If you are writing a review, REVIEWS

T
please follow these guidelines :
he single rule for an Games/Applications
article is that it must For a more detailed list of the When reviewing games/applications please state clearly:
somehow be linked to style rules and common pitfalls
Ubuntu or one of the please refer to: • title of the game
many derivatives of Ubuntu https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuM • who makes the game
(Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc). agazine/Style - in short: US • is it free, or a paid download?
spelling, no l33t speak and no • where to get it from (give download/homepage URL)
Write your article in whichever smilies. • is it Linux native, or did you use Wine?
software you choose. I would • your marks out of five
recommend LibreOffice, but When you are ready to submit • a summary with positive and negative points
PLEASE SPELL AND GRAMMAR your article please email it to:
CHECK IT! articles@fullcirclemagazine.org
Hardware
When reviewing hardware please state clearly:
Writing If you can't write articles, but
hang out in Ubuntu Forums, send
• make and model of the hardware
There is no word limit for us interesting forum threads that
• what category would you put this hardware into?
articles, but be advised that long we could print.
• any glitches that you may have had while using the hardware?
articles may be split across several • easy to get the hardware working in Linux?
issues. In your article, please place Non-English Writers • did you have to use Windows drivers?
where you would like a particular • marks out of five
image to be. Please do not use any If your native language isn't • a summary with positive and negative points
formatting in your document. English, don't worry. Write your
article, and the proof-readers will
Images read it for you and correct any
grammatical or spelling errors. Not You don't need to be an expert to write an
Images should be no wider than only are you helping the magazine
and the community, but we'll help
article - write about the games, applications
800 pixels, in JPG format, and use
low compression. you with your English! and hardware that you use every day.

full circle magazine #63 24 contents ^


https://spideroak.com
Get 25% off any SpiderOak package
with the code: FullcirclemagFans
full circle magazine #63 25 contents ^
A S K T H E NE W G U Y
Written by Copil Yáňez

M
y high school had a most important bull in the nerd BACK, YOU GUYS!!1@!!! LINUTZ
I don’t tell you this story to bore
computer club that herd. Why? SUKZZZZZZ!!!
you. Although if it did, hey, Mission
competed in the Accomplished! No, I bring it up to
annual Computer I was the typist. But just as I played a crucial role
illustrate a pattern that has been
Olympiad. It was a lot like the in the Computer Olympiad, and
with me since grade school and
Olympics – only without the Someone had to enter the much as a canary was once
informs my experience with Linux.
medals, interviews, lucrative string of geek-speak being spouted considered a key component in the
endorsement deals, doping by my teammates and I happened coal mining process, I feel I have
See, I have always enjoyed the
allegations or fans. Actually, it to have mad typing skills (which been placed on this earth to play a
trappings of tech-geekery without
wasn’t anything like the Olympics. totally killed it with the ladies, by very special role with regards to
the underlying comprehension.
Except for the insane amount of the way). Linux.
I know, I know, I’m every
sweating. enthusiast’s worst nightmare. I’m
Intellectually, on the other I’d like you to think of me, not
the guy who blithely clicks
On the designated day, teams hand, I was in over my head. I could as the fashion-challenged “before”
CONTINUE at the bottom of every
of brainy teenagers huddled in a get my name to scroll diagonally image in a weight-loss
screen during an OS install and
hot cafeteria and worked against a across the screen (again, catnip for advertisement, but as an augur for
then runs around the forums cross-
time limit to carry out a given the ladies), but, compared to my Linux’s arrival.
posting in all-caps: “LINUTS JUST
programming task. Completed buddies, I was a pre-op Charlie ATE MY FILES WHERE IS TEH
programs were then judged on from Flowers for Algernon. Let me explain.
WINDOWS NOW?!!!?! GET IT
relevance, brevity and elegance
(no, dressing up your TRS-80 in top The first non-Microsoft, non-
hat and tails will NOT get you extra Apple operating system I ever tried
points – I tried). was a sexy little number named
OS/2. Yes, I know this was initially
Our team usually did well. Not developed by Microsoft but I didn’t
because we were smarter than the hear about it until the Warp era, by
other teams but because we had which time it was wholly owned by
something no other team had. IBM so GET OFF MY BACK!

Me. OS/2 Warp was pretty advanced


for the time and competitive with
That’s right, I was clearly the Windows 95 (arguably much

full circle magazine #63 26 contents ^


ASK THE NEW GUY
better). Later versions included market. Which was, like, me and dizzy chasing my cursor around the
Java, speech recognition, 32-bit three other people. screen, trying desperately to guess
windowing, Internet-compatible where I should click on one side of
networking and *yaaaawn* look at So I tried OS/2 Warp on a laptop the screen in order to select
the time, it’s getting late. and promptly borked the damn something on the other side. I
thing so badly I actually had to would have tried to fix the
No, the real genius of OS/2 RMA the machine. I also returned problem but there’s only so much
Warp was that it treated operating the OS/2 Warp package and effort I’m willing to put into this
systems the way Atari treats promptly invested the proceeds in sort of thing. So, after about eight
dragons. When Atari released AOL. minutes, my experiment in
Adventure for the Atari 2600, they alternate operating systems was
had this graphic on the box: And that should have been the over. Again.
end of it.
I demanded my money back
But then, about twelve years from XandrosBoob98 and promptly
ago, I started reading about Linux invested it in Enron.
and the wonders of open source
(seriously, no one has ever noted And that should have been the
how much that sounds like “open end of it.
In marketing, you sell the sizzle, sores?”). There was something
not the steak. Atari did it with familiar about the breathy But I could still hear the siren
Adventure and IBM did with OS/2 promises and cult-like devotion, call and, over the next few years, I
Warp. something I couldn’t quite place. started playing with other Linux
Whatever, I bought a copy of flavors. I became an open source
OS/2 promised: Xandros on eBay and loaded it. slut, willing to have a go with any
• BREAKNECK BOOT UPS! Yeah, I bought it. Erm, let’s just say flirty distro that made eyes at me. I
• MULTITASKING MADNESS! I hadn’t read all of the open source invited them all over to make out
• NUTTY NETWORKING! manifestos that carefully. on the couch: Suse, Debian, Red
Hat, Mint, Damn Small, and even a
With such breathy promises of Much like my last date with my totally nasty one called #! that
operating system sexiness, it’s no first girlfriend, things started well wanted to do stuff I had never
wonder that OS/2 Warp cornered enough. And then my mouse even heard of.
But when you popped that baby the enthusiasts with few practical started acting hinky (a technical
into the cartridge slot, this is how computing skills but a fondness for term referring to an inanimate Each one had its own quirks, its
the dragon rendered: being misleadby marketing copy object that becomes possessed by own way of not working, and I
the ghost of a paint mixer). I got remained unwilling to make a
full circle magazine #63 27 contents ^
ASK THE NEW GUY
lasting commitment to any of but wouldn’t scan documents. virtualization, automation and
them. I uninstalled each before personalization. I’ll look at these
they started leaving their stuff It. Just. Worked! things from the perspective of a
overnight and cluttering up my user who knows what’s cool about
home (folder). It was the equivalent of Linux but doesn’t always
popping in the Adventure cartridge understand why. The Ubuntu Podcast covers all
I finally realized I had a problem and having my eyebrows singed off the latest news and issues facing
when a friend caught me by the dragon’s fiery breath! Think of me as the jerk down Ubuntu Linux users and Free
downloading a BSD .iso. I had gone the road with a brand new Ferarri Software fans in general. The
too far. And I needed help. This is how I know Linux has who doesn’t even know how to show appeals to the newest user
arrived. If a guy like me, who wants drive a stick shift. It’s time to look and the oldest coder. Our
That’s when I discovered all the flash of a pretty new under the hood. discussions cover the
Ubuntu. operating system but can’t be development of Ubuntu but
bothered to learn what ‘ls’ at the Am I alone? Anyone else out aren’t overly technical. We are
At first, the breathiness turned prompt does, can find happiness, there know how to summon the lucky enough to have some
me off. This distro would change then so will most people, most of command line but fear its voodoo? great guests on the show, telling
things forever! It could be loaded whom aren’t nearly as criminally Or maybe you get tired of us first hand about the latest
on a toaster, ran on air and made lazy as I am. answering the same questions over exciting developments they are
you irresistible to the opposite sex. and over for new users. If so, working on, in a way that we can
Fast forward to today. I’ve contact me at all understand! We also talk
It was the sizzle again, and I was finally settled down with Ubuntu copil.yanez@gmail.com. I’ll try to about the Ubuntu community
wary of buying the steak. But I had and we’ve had several laptops and answer simple questions or point and what it gets up to.
hit rock bottom and the next step one desktop together. It’s a happy out helpful beginner advice from
was to sit around waiting for Hurd. home and I love my life partner the perspective of someone who The show is presented by
I just couldn’t do it. even though the state of Virginia loves Linux and Ubuntu but doesn’t members of the UK’s Ubuntu
doesn’t see our union as legal. speak source code. Linux community. Because it is
I downloaded the Ubuntu .iso covered by the Ubuntu Code of
and ran it as a LiveCD. And the And now I think it’s time to give Conduct it is suitable for all.
most amazing thing happened. It back to the community. I owe it to
just worked! Ubuntu after everything it’s given The show is broadcast live every
Copil came to Linux via his lifelong
me. interest in penguin-on-penguin fortnight on a Tuesday evening
I don’t mean it ran my mouse Here’s my plan: I’m going to erotica. His quest for the perfect fart (British time) and is available for
but wouldn’t print from PDFs. I figure out some things, learn why joke is chronicled at download the following day.
yaconfidential.blogspot.com. You
don’t mean it saw my video card some people swear by the
can also follow his stream of
but wouldn’t run Skype. I don’t command line, explore some of the consciousness on Twitter (@copil). podcast.ubuntu-uk.org
mean it connected to the network available options and tools like
full circle magazine #63 28 contents ^
LINUX LAB
Written by Alan Ward
Making *buntu 12.04 Boot Faster
Me: Which operating system are you As you can imagine, the end positive factor. But I think we can
TWEET SCREEN FOLKS: Don’t running? result of all this is a rising number all agree not all *buntu
worry, your half-finished project of happy campers users. However, distributions can get the same
hasn’t been abandoned. Charles Teacher: (whatever) it has forced me to take some time speed out of lightweight
will return next month to finish off to think out the choice of hardware.
the Tweet Screen. Me: Hmmm... that won't be easy. distribution to install on their
Care to try Linux instead? machines. Being recent converts, So I wanted to look at some
hard data before coming out with

T
they themselves usually had no
he basic idea for this little Teacher: Will I be able to continue preconceived preferences, but a public recommendation – my
piece actually came from using Office documents? were happy to have me choose. professional reputation being at
a real-world situation I Any version of Ubuntu seemed stake, so to speak. Evaluating
found myself in this last Me: Why yeah, sure. No problems suitable - mostly for ease of available possibilities meant
school year. An increasing number with virus, either. installation and maintenance, finding answers for the following
of fellow teachers are buying though the availability of Catalan questions, a process that I would
netbooks to use in class and at Teacher: Suits me! language translations was also a like to share with you here:
home. Their rationale includes, A. Is there really a difference in
above all, the ease of speed between the various
transportation of these desktop managers? Is this a real
lightweight computers, though difference, as opposed to merely a
lower prices compared to regular perceived difference?
laptops certainly do no harm. B. What about the processor and
However, their initial enthusiasm motherboard? What influence do
tends to diminish slightly over time they really have on computer
because of the lower speeds speeds?
netbooks offer - which is when C. Notebook hard drives do not
they come to me for advice. The have a good reputation. Is it
dialogue usually goes this way: important to take this factor into
account? Could it be worth the
Teacher: I'm very happy with this time and money to upgrade the
new computer, but is there some hard drive?
way we couldget a tadmore speed
out ofit? To reply to all these questions, I

full circle magazine #63 29 contents ^


LINUX LAB - MAKING *BUNTU BOOT FASTER
needed a basic experimental class-10 SDHC card and its adapter. responsive system, you may need desktop managers in the following
protocol that could compare some relatively serious power order (from slowest to fastest):
different distributions and Though the article is aimed under the hood, specifically in the 1. Kubuntu, with the KDE plasma
computers, but that at the same mostly at laptop users, specifically graphics card department, desktop manager.
time represented real-world user as regards getting the best user otherwise you may need to 2. The Gnome 3 desktop manager.
experience. Just measuring pure experience possible with netbooks deactivate some of the more funky It is not, for the time being,
CPU speed or hard drive I/O and not-quite-bleeding-edge types desktop effects. This may be a installed by default by any of the
performance, as most benchmarks of hardware, I hope it gives the show-stopper for the more *buntu distributions (though it is
do, was not good enough. But, on reader some practical ideas that he impatient, who move on to other the main desktop for some
the other hand, what different or she can try out in other areas as less beautiful but more speedy versions of Linux Mint).
people do with their computers well. Enjoy! desktop managers – been there, 3. Ubuntu, with the new Unity
can vary quite a bit. done that. On the other hand, manager.
The Desktop Manager Lubuntu is often touted as a more 4. Xubuntu, with XFCE 4.
This is why I chose to measure streamlined desktop, suitable for 5. Lubuntu, with LXDE, also a
something we all do: boot-up the Though Ubuntu and its older or less powerful hardware. relative newcomer to the
machine. That is to say, I measured derivatives have a reputation of playground.
in each case the wall-clock time going easy on system resources, The general perception I get –
between the moment the BIOS this may vary across versions. For from reading around and my own So, what truth is there in these
starts loading the kernel, up to the example, Kubuntu users' practical experience – is that we could user perceptions? I needed some
moment in which the user can use experience is that to get a probably classify the better-known hard data to base my decision on.
the mouse to navigate through
menus and get some actual work The first step was to perform a
done. standard installation of Ubuntu
12.04 for i386, update it to the
Most of my “experimentation” latest versions of all software
has been done with an early Acer packets, and then add the other
Aspire One 10" (1GB RAM, Atom various desktops:
1.6GHz CPU), though I made some
comparisons with other hardware sudo aptitude install
kubuntu­desktop
when needed.
It may be interesting to note
The equipment used for testing
that the finished system occupied
(previous page): a somewhat aging
just above 5GB, not that much
Acer Aspire, with (left to right) its
more than the standard single
own internal SATA-1 hard drive, a
desktop installation of 3GB.
USB 2.0 pen-drive, and an 8GB
full circle magazine #63 30 contents ^
LINUX LAB - MAKING *BUNTU BOOT FASTER
I could then start measuring dentical in all cases, and add up to tweaking for performance, while The Processor And
about 20-21 seconds on my test KDE - with standard effects
boot-up times. Perhaps it should
hardware. So differences in total activated - is not a fast mover, Motherboard
be noted that these times are a
combination of: boot times are due only to the needing 22s or 73% more time
actual window manager. Total boot than Lubuntu to get to the same It seemed reasonable not to
- the time it takes the kernel (a give much importance to our CPU
vanilla 3.2.0) to load, load initrd, times are shown below left. point of being able to do some
actual work. and motherboard, since we cannot
and switch roots; easily change them on a laptop: we
- the time is takes the init process As can be seen, the short
answer is: yes, the choice of Please note that these are in general stuck with whatever
to set up shop (go multiuser, load we have. However, since we do
daemons, etc); desktop manager is definitely differences are further
important as regards speed. accentuated on a memory-starved have some say in the matter when
- the time for the Xorg windowing buying a new computer, let's take a
system to detect graphics Basically, I obtained the same type computer. I would not recommend
of results as have many others, less than 1 GB of RAM for either quick look at the effect these
hardware and switch screen mode elements can have on our speed.
and resolution; with Lubuntu and Xubuntu variants Gnome or KDE . Boot-up times can
- finally, the time needed for the of Ubuntu giving rather good easily double with 512 MB of RAM,
results, though with a slight edge and the machine is not at all I took the same internal SATA
desktop manager to load its own drive from the Aspire, and used it
libraries and display the user's GUI for Lubuntu. The standard Unity responsive during use. Things are
desktop was a nice surprise, perhaps not quite as dire for to boot a series of computers with
environment. increasingly powerful processors.
coming in third with a small 6s lag Lubuntu or Xubuntu, though the
compared to Lubuntu. Gnome 3 difference is still noticeable. The first two were laptops, and the
The first three steps are last a desktop unit. Boot times are
i still seems to need a bit of
shown below right.

full circle magazine #63 31 contents ^


LINUX LAB - MAKING *BUNTU BOOT FASTER
As could be expected, a faster computing (browsing the Internet, Since we found that the CPU bus speed (i.e. its connection with
CPU does seem to help boot faster. or working with office programs). and motherboard are not that the motherboard), the signaling
However, all other variables (hard But they cannot be taken as a valid important for our purposes, our speed the drive and motherboard
drive and RAM) being equal, boot benchmark for more CPU-intensive third and final step was to see agree upon, and finally whatever
times are not that much faster tasks such as scientific number- what effects the physical drive speed the drive itself is physically
between a single-core mobile crunching or gaming – areas where could have. Since GNU/Linux is a capable of. Just to complicate
Atom processor and the - in theory CPU speed does make the modular operating system, it is in things, this later number can vary.
- more potent desktop dual-core. difference. fact rather easy to boot from For example, flash-based drives are
Based on pure CPU computing various media. Basically, if your always way faster reading data
power, we should be looking at The Boot Medium And BIOS can boot it, GNU/Linux can than writing it to disk. This is
speed increases to the tune of probably use it. For a bit of variety, inherent to the NAND or NOR flash
Partition I used: chip technology they use.
110% for the Centrino and 260%
for the Dual-core, which is quite - the original internal hard drive, a
visibly not the case. SATA 1 unit; This is why the 1.5 Gb/s (about
- an external 2.0 USB pendrive; 150 MB/s) transfer speed of the
This is in fact an interesting - an SD memory card. SATA hard disk is merely
development, since it gives us the theoretical. This is a bus speed,
idea that our boot process is Before continuing, that most current spinning-platter
limited more by the speed of our perhaps we need to examine laptop hard disks are incapable of
disk drive than by that of our CPU. further what these are using up completely (solid state
Using the language of high- capable of. The actual speed disk are another matter). All the
performance computing circles, we a hard drive is capable of more so in our case, when the
would say that our process is “I/O giving us is a combination of Acer's motherboard and the hard
bound” (as opposed to “CPU- drive agreed on using the ATA-8
bound”). From this we can tell that signal protocol, or UDMA/100. This
it may be more interesting for means we are down to, at most,
netbook or mobile users to invest 100 MB/s with this disk. As to
in hard drives, rather than in top- physical speed, I have tested the
spec CPUs. disk at about 83 MB/s, which is not
too bad for a 5400rpm unit.
As a side-note, perhaps we
should remind ourselves that we On the other hand, the SD card
have just been measuring boot-up uses the appropriate reader
times. Our results may or may not hardware, which is connected to
be extensible to normal light the internal USB bus in a similar
way to the keyboard and touchpad.
full circle magazine #63 32 contents ^
LINUX LAB - MAKING *BUNTU BOOT FASTER
But not all SD cards are equal in That being said, it is also clear that extended partition may require can hope to double our read
speed. This was a class-10 unit, even using the slower SD card (or two seek operations each time a speed. This should definitely help
guaranteed to give at least 10 equivalent USB pen-drive), read is requested by the system: shorten our boot times.
MB/s in write speed. Since it has a lightweight desktops such as LXDE one to access the primary partition
theoretical USB 2.0 speed limit of can still boot within reasonable it is hosted in, and the second to Additional hard drive caddies
about 60 MB/s, we can hypothesize times. actually access data. This is are appearing for many laptops
that its read speed is about that definitely something to bear in (they replace the CD/DVD combo),
figure. To all intents and purposes, What is more interesting is the mind when we partition our drive. and most desktops have space to
this format is equivalent to the difference in performance fit in an extra hard drive or three.
more classical USB 2.0 external between primary and extended OK, so if having a fast drive and But this is not an option for
pendrive. In fact, my USB pendrive partitions on the internal hard a fast connection between drive netbooks, so I had to get back to
has a slower write rating, so I drive. We can see that using an and motherboard is good, what the desktop Dual-core machine for
concentrated on the SD and left extended partition on the internal could be better? It seemed this step. I used a single internal
the pendrive out of the equation. hard drive is not a Good Idea (TM), reasonable to try using two drives, 3.5” SATA-1 hard drive for one set
since boot speeds of the internal on two different connections, at of tests, and two identical drives
To my mind, the internal hard drive actually drop below those of the same time. If both drives hold with the root partitions configured
drive and the SD card represent the SD card. This came as a bit of a the same information at all times – as a software RAID-1 array for the
just about the respective best and surprise, and (I think) can be a technique variously known as second.
worst physical speeds available for explained only by the fact that the mirroring or RAID level1 – then we
our test computer. This is in fact a rather funky
setup where you need:
At the same time, I also wanted - a small non-RAID boot partition
to know if using a primary hard (let's say /dev/sda1) to contain the
drive partition (/dev/sda1) or an /boot directory for the GRUB boot-
extended partition (/dev/sda5) had loader to read kernel and inirtd file
any effect at all. What I got is from;
shown right. - a larger RAID-1 partition that
combines a physical partition from
The basic hierarchy between each hard drive (for example,
desktop managers seems to be /dev/sda2 and /dev/sdb1), that will
respected in all cases. However, it be mounted as the filesystem root
is clear that using a faster drive will / directory.
help all desktops boot faster. The
gain in speed is not quite If you are interested in this
proportional to theoretical line technique, it is probably something
speed, but it is there nonetheless. you should play with a bit on a not-
full circle magazine #63 33 contents ^
LINUX LAB - MAKING *BUNTU BOOT FASTER
so-important computer before Unity is in fact not a bad choice for C. The key factor in speeding up Internal spinning-platter hard
setting up a production machine. a lowly netbook, though if we boot times is simply the hard drive, drives may have difficulties in
Anyhow, I got the results shown really need more speed, Lubuntu or rather (and not so simply) the doing this. To take an example of a
below right. or Xubuntu are the way to go. combination of hard drive, its bus typical modern high-end laptop
connection to the motherboard, drive, the WD Scorpio Blue 1 TB
As expected, we can now B. The processor and motherboard and partitioning. (model number WD10JPVT ) has a
confirm that faster hard drives are not quite as important for 3 Gb/s interface, but manages to
make for shorter boot times. This normal user experience. This is not My takeaway from all this is sustain only 144 MB/s transfer
is even more noticeable for the to say we should skimp on either, that it may be worthwhile to take a rate. This is much the same for
more heavyweight desktop but rather that the difference in hard look at your hard drive (no most spinning-platter drives. On
managers, that seem to need more price between an entry-range pun intended!), and try to optimize the other hand, SSD drives have
disk activity to set up. System processor and a faster chip may its speed. Are we booting from a higher effective transfer rates, but
responsiveness is also nice and not be noticeable if all we do is primary partition? Which version of still cost a little more. Price
crisp during use, so this looks like boot the computer, navigate on SATA does the computer support: differences are decreasing since
an interesting path to follow on the Web and do presentations. is it a SATA-1 at 1.5 Gb/s (about spinning-platter hard drives went
computers that can contain the Otherwise, things may be very 150 MB/s), or a SATA-2 at 3 Gb/s up over the last few months,
extra hard drive we need to do different ... and perhaps you could (about 300 MB/s)? Try to find an however, and it might be possible
RAID. do some experimentation of your internal hard drive that can really to find a small (32 to 64 GB) SSD
own before choosing your next sustain this speed. hard drive at a competitive price –
Conclusion laptop. though whether it is worthwhile to
upgrade a lowly $200 netbook
After making my poor old with an $80+ hard drive is a choice
computers jump though these that may or may not work out for
loops, I am beginning to get a you.
clearer picture about what is really
important to speed up *buntu For laptops with an optical
desktop boot times. To sum it up: drive, hard drive caddies that
replace the CD/DVD with space for
A. Yes, the choice of desktop a second hard disk are becoming
manager does make a difference. more common, with prices in the
There is less of a gap between the $40 - $60 range. So RAID-1 on your
ultra-lite LXDE and XFCE desktops laptop may be a choice, especially
and Unity than I expected, which if you already have a spare hard
go to show that Canonical's efforts drive lying around.
in this sense have not been in vain.

full circle magazine #63 34 contents ^


LINUX LAB - MAKING *BUNTU BOOT FASTER

Quick Review: Taskwarrior.


by Calogero Bonasia

There are numerous programs to manage time and "things to do". When
working in team, it is not always easy to coordinate the work of
everyone, especially if this work should be done on many servers and by
different people at different times of the day/week.

Taskwarrior maintains a list of tasks that you want to do, allowing you to
add/remove, and otherwise manipulate them. It has a rich list of
subcommands that allow you to do sophisticated things. You'll find it
has customizable reports, charts, GTD features, Lua extensions, device
synching and more. The program can even interact with vim and pcal (to
generate calendars), allows sub-projects, jobs and more!

In the last release, attention has also been paid to performance, and file
Finally, USB 3 ports with their 5 LXDE at 30s). However, with its I/O, filtering, sorting, formatting, and rendering are all faster. The result
Gb/s (about 500 MB/s) line speed distinctly "geeky" feeling, it may is a more consistent, capable and speedy Taskwarrior.
are also becoming more common not appeal to all tastes.
nowadays - even on netbooks - and The home page is http://taskwarrior.org/projects/taskwarrior, and on
allow an external hard drive to the web site you will find many external scripts, distributed separately,
boot up a computer at practically because they are not necessarily tied to Taskwarrior releases.
the same speed as an internal
drive. So it may be worthwhile to How to install Taskwarrior on Ubuntu:
choose your next netbook with sudo add­apt­repository ppa:ultrafredde/ppa
one of these, in the interests of sudo apt­get update
future expansion. sudo apt­get install task

To end on a more personal Alan teaches computer science at You can download and install Taskwarrior on Linux, Mac OS X or Cygwin.
Escola Andorrana de Batxillerat
note, allow me to present my
(high-school). He has given
personal desktop. Using the I'm using Taskwarrior as a great example of a product that works, does
GNU/Linux courses at the University
perhaps ancient - but still beautiful of Andorra, and currently teaches what it does well, and works great with many various user types: ninja
to my eyes - FVWM Crystal desktop GNU/Linux systems administration at sysadmin, windows guys who only know "the cool things," and people
the Open University of Catalunya who are almost completely PC illiterate but somehow managed
manager, it makes the Acer boot
(UOC).
up at a fast-ish 26s (compare to programmer jobs.

full circle magazine #63 35 contents ^


CLOSING WINDOWS File/Folder Sharing
though, Ubuntu has made folder
Written by: sharing just as easy, but that can
Ronnie Tucker (KDE) also depend on which desktop you
Jan Mussche (Gnome) use.
Elizabeth Krumbach (XFCE)
Mark Boyajian (LXDE) Kubuntu
David Tigue (Unity)
Almost identical to Windows XP
in that you right click a folder,
choose properties, then click the
‘Share’ tab to gain access to folder
sharing.

In this tab you can check the box If you don’t see a ‘Share’ tab (and login/password to your network
(if required) to share with you’re not asked to do so) you may (and I think you should) this is set
Windows, give the share a name, need to install SAMBA using your in K > System Settings > Sharing >
allow/disallow guests and whether package manager.
to allow full control, read only To connect to a Windows
control or deny on a per user basis. Should you need to assign a machine you open Dolphin (the
KDE file manager) and click
Network (in the left panel), then
Samba Shares, finally Workgroup,
and you should now see a list of

F
older sharing in Windows available machines to connect to.
XP is relatively simple. It’s Double click the machine and you’ll
done by right clicking on a see the list of shared folders on
folder to get its that machine.
properties then, in the sharing
tab, give it a share name and (if Note that above the folders you
needed) a comment. see smb:xxxxxxxxxx - that smb
Unfortunately it’s not always that means SAMBA and reminds me
simple in Linux. In recent years that I’m browsing the network.
full circle magazine #63 36 contents ^
CLOSING WINDOWS
Gnome-Shell and Unity Installing is easy, just follow the
wizard that guides you through the
The Gnome-Shell variant also installation process.
uses Samba to connect to other
network components. This means Installing Samba has one
when you want to share files downside: you need to reboot
and/or folders over your network afterwards so the program can
you need to have Samba installed. read the config file and knows
what to do and how to do it.
When you right-click a folder
(which you want to share) in the Once Samba is installed and the
file manager, a drop-down menu computer has rebooted you can
appears and one of the possible return to the file-manager and
decide if other users have the right manager, which currently does not
choices is Sharing Options. When right-click the folder you want to
to create and delete files in the offer direct access to manipulating
you choose this item and Samba is share. Click Sharing Options again,
share and if non-registered users the sharing properties of files and
not installed, you receive a tick the tickbox “Share this Folder”,
have access. Finish with the button folders. There is currently a thunar-
message you need to install it. choose a good name for the share,
Modify Share. shares-plugin project, but it is not
packaged for Xubuntu at this time
Now it should be possible to so has to be installed from source
open Network in the left column of and manually configured, the
the file-manager, choose author has not tested it.
workgroup and see which
computers are online and which Instead, you can install samba
folders they have shared. manually and configure it to serve
the folders you wish to share.
Once shared, the icon of the Alternatively, you can install a file
shared folder shows a double manager from Gnome, called
arrow indicating data can flow Nautilus, with sharing -- by
both ways to and from the folder. installing the nautilus, nautilus-
share and samba packages. You
Xfce can then launch Nautilus and
navigate to “Sharing Options” for
The Xubuntu desktop with Xfce the folder you wish to share, just
comes with Thunar as a file like you would in Gnome-Shell.

full circle magazine #63 37 contents ^


CLOSING WINDOWS
LXDE
Once again, in keeping with the
“light-weight" nature of Lubuntu,
the default installation does not
include the software to facilitate
file sharing; however, as with all
other “optional" applications in
Lubuntu, all the software required
to share files (e.g. NFS support,
Giver, Samba, etc.) between
multiple Linux boxes and/or Linux
and other OS’s (e.g. MS Windows,
OSX, etc.) is readily available from
the repositories. Also, the
lightweight file manager that
comes standard with LXDE - small and simple Lubuntu Control most other “lightweight” distros) is begin with, you wouldn’t have
PCManFM - has no default Center (LCC) application which, “It can change to meet your chosen a “lightweight” distro in the
integrated capabilities to allow you among other things, provides a needs”. If you are looking for a first place. But it is important to
to configure the sharing of files or very simple and fast utility to “lightweight” distro, then you know that as your needs change
folders; however, if Samba is create/manage shared folders. should expect to have a “stripped and you require functionality that
installed, then you can access and down model” [of Linux]. That’s is not available in Lubuntu by
navigate Samba shares directly You can certainly install LCC why you chose a lightweight distro default, it is immediately available
from within PCManFM by typing even without file sharing installed in the first place, right? (The to you via the repositories. This
the IP address of the target Samba so that you can benefit from its answer is “Yes”.) But because most “malleability” of Linux is one of its
share into the address field in other features; however, if you of these distros (like Lubuntu) greatest strengths and accounts
PCManFM. click on the Share icon in the LCC, were made “light” by eliminating for the myriad “shapes and sizes”
then a dialog box will pop up lots of “software overhead” and by of Linux distros available. And let’s
Also note that if you choose to notifying you that you do not have using utilitarian equivalents to not forget that none of this would
install Samba and/or NFS support, file sharing services installed and it basic (and indispensable) be possible without the open
then not only can you manage will offer to install one or more applications like file managers and source development model.
file/folder sharing with those services for you. web browsers, you are free to
packages’ respective management “fatten them up” to your heart’s
tools (and from the command line, It should be obvious by now content from the repositories. Of
of course), you can install the very that the “tag line” for Lubuntu (and course, if you wanted “fat” to

full circle magazine #63 38 contents ^


MY STORY
Written by Fredrik Johansson

I
’ve been a computer user for
most of my life. Being born in
the latter half of the 80’s, that
is to be expected. The
computer was solely for
entertainment, and for playing
games in particular. In the late 90’s,
we got access to broadband
Internet, we had dial-up for years
before but, due to the cost, I rarely
got to use it (and, when I did, I
used it to look up gaming guides
and cheats). Broadband access
changed how I used the computer
drastically, napster helped with specifically the synth and tracker thought the first desktop and laptop.
that too. I didn’t care that my driven music. I had occasionally few tracks were ok, then track #5,
computer was too slow to run the stumbled across a demo or two, Marian, begun playing and So what does Linux, the demo
newest games any more (I bought cracktros and so forth, but I never completely blew me away. I still scene, and music have in common?
a video game console to satisfy my thought much about it. Music has refer to The Sisters of Mercy as my For me it’s Subsonic. When I lost
gaming needs), because I could always been a big part of my life, favourite band. my music collection (except for the
explore this whole other world and and I do consider myself as Sisters of Mercy albums which I
interact with people in a way that someone who doesn't care about But something else also actually own), I started
wasn’t possible for me before. I the genres as long as it sounds happened in 2010. One of my hard downloading all the amazing free
was still using Windows however – great (you’ll probably argue with drives gave up, and with it went my demo scene music, and it soon led
it took me a long time to get rid of me about that if you have a look at music collection. On the bright me into the wonderful world of
it actually. I’ve been running Linux- my collection, though). In the early side, I finally decided that I was net-labels. To this day, I still can’t
based operating systems for two years of high school, I was very into done with Windows and I’ve been believe how much incredible
years now, and I don’t see myself metal, and I thought that Iron running Linux ever since. I stuck brilliant and wonderful music
ever going back. Maiden was the greatest, but, as I with Ubuntu until 11.10, I thought there’s out on the Internet, for
matured, so did my musical taste. Unity was awful and switched to free! This is where Subsonic comes
In 2010 I fell in love. I fell in love One day I found this album called mint 12, and now I’m running mint in. As my music collection grew
with the demo scene, and more First and Last and Always. I 13 64-bit MATE on both my exponentially in size, and the wide

full circle magazine #63 39 contents ^


MY STORY
range of different audio formats with it, I felt as if everything I did

16x16 SUDOKU
made it impossible to carry with could be done just as easily (and in
me everywhere, I had to find a some cases easier) in a Windows
solution. With Subsonic, it doesn’t environment, and the terminal
matter if the file is an .xm .mp3 scared me. I had picked up some Numbers 0 to 9 and letters A to F are to be filled into the
.flac or .aac – it’ll transcode (into a basic terminal commands back in 16x16 grid so that every row, every column, and every
bit-rate of my choosing) it all into school (cd .., ls, cat, nano, man, etc), 4x4 box contains 0 to 9 and A - F.
something that my Android device and little by little I began exploring
can play when I’m out and about. and tweaking config files to my
When I’m at home, I use the web liking. My current Subsonic server
interface to access all my music, I is running on Ubuntu Server 12.04,
have not yet been able to get the a couple of old hard drives in an old
right equipment to set something computer running in RAID 5. I have
up for the jukebox function. Which sshfs (SSH Filesystem) running on
means that the computer running it, so I can use it as my own
the Subsonic server is outputting personal cloud storage, and adding
the music through its audio ports more music is a breeze.
and the playlists are controlled by
an external player. So, what do I want to say with
all of this? If you’re having trouble
Subsonic is free, but with getting into Ubuntu (or Linux in
additional features unlocked if you general), think about what really
donate, such as being able to play drives you, what’s your passion?
your files on an Android device, Chances are someone has written
and video support. The installation neat software that will make your
process is pretty straightforward, life – and the exercising of that
it’s distributed in a .deb package, passion – a lot easier. Don’t be
and that makes it easy to install. afraid to use Google or the man
And, if you need additional help, command, they’ll be your best
then take a look at the forums, a friends. Be prepared to read a lot,
lot of great tutorials there. most guides I’ve come across have
a good description of what every Solutions are on the second last page.
Installing Subsonic as a linux single command and parameter
newbie taught me a lot. The first does when they’re executed, that’s Puzzles are copyright, and kindly provided by,
few weeks of using Ubuntu, I how you’ll learn. The Puzzle Club - www.thepuzzleclub.com
wasn’t sure I was going to stick
full circle magazine #63 40 contents ^
MY OPINION
Written by Eric Porter

Windows XP. found most frustrating, however, than once. I finally settled on
was how much it seemed to coddle Ubuntu. It was the highest rated,
XP was missing a few of the the user. It looked and felt like it most download, best reviewed,
features I liked from '98. It had was designed for toddlers. It and most intuitive distro I found.
some new quirks I had to get used forced features on me that I didn't After bouncing around between
to. And, until they came out with even want, and those features that the three main desktops (Gnome,
“service pack 2” it was rather I did want were gone. Even most of KDE and XFCE) for about a month I
unreliable. A few years go by and the desktop customizing tools that finally committed to Gnome
they finally get done shaking all I was used to using were now a because it was the most
(well most...) of the bugs out of XP ghost of the past. comfortable for me coming from a
just in time to release a new Windows OS background.
version called Vista. It was Three short months later it
supposed to be faster, stronger, crashed. Hard. Total meltdown. It My first full install was Ubuntu
and just better in every possible was inevitable, I suppose. It was 7.04 LTS with the Gnome desktop.
way. They even beta tested the Windows, after all. So, like a good It was freedom, Baby. I could
thing so it had to be good. Right? little MS drone, I set about the all finally make my computer look

W
So, naturally, I ran right out and too familiar task of reinstalling the how I wanted, and act how I
indows 3.0 was
bought myself a new desktop, set OS. 30 minutes later I get this wanted. I must have completely
released in May of
it up and hit the power button. I lovely blue screen that read, rebuilt my personal desktop 1000
1990, just one
didn't know it at the time, but that “We're sorry, this computer is not times in the last 5 years. My wife is
month before I
was the beginning of the end. compatible with Windows Vista.” terribly grateful for her own Login,
graduated from high school.
Say what now? IT CAME WITH I'm sure, as I am constantly fiddling
Previous to this, my experience
I could bore you with all the VISTA! Several unsuccessful tries and tweaking and revamping. It's
with computers was limited to DOS
details about the massive amount later I had had it. I installed XP, so in tune with my artistic nature,
operating systems and good old
of software incompatibilities, the fired up Explorer, made my way to and the possibilities are seemingly
fashioned Tandy Basic, with a
BlackICE Defender program that Google, and typed “Windows endless. It's been everything to me
smattering of machine code here
constantly questioned everything I Alternatives.” that an OS should be. It's intuitive,
and there. Needless to say, for me
did, the glitches, jams and responsive, logical, and, mostly, it
Windows was a godsend, and I
downright frustration of it all. But, Thus began my exploration of gets out of the way and lets me do
remained a faithful little fan-boy
I am sure that many of you have this strange new world of Linux. I what I want.
all the way up through Windows
experienced them for yourself, so must have tried out 20 different
98, where for financial reasons I
there's no real need. I think what I distros and flavors. Some more I've since installed every LTS
stayed until the release of
full circle magazine #63 41 contents ^
MY OPINION
version of Ubuntu that came out. themselves from new converts them. Gnome accomplished this.
Which naturally includes Ubuntu who are used to a Windows style Unity does not. I find it insanely
12.04. I have to say, that it came as interface which has been around ironic that a desktop environment
a bit of a shock to me when I saw for 20 years. If we want to attract which causes so much confusion, IT HAS ARRIVED!
the Unity desktop come up instead new users, we have to make that disharmony, and division is named
of Gnome. At first, I thought I had conversion easy and natural for “Unity.” The Full Circle
accidentally downloaded the
wrong ISO. I hadn't. So, I gave this Photo: Flickr.com - Pitel
Podcast Returns!
new desktop a trial run. After all,
It may be a new team of
there's nothing wrong with
podcasters, but the format
change, if it's for the better.
will be the same.
Unfortunately, this wasn't. It was
cumbersome, counter intuitive,
We'll be talking about Full
and slow. I think what I found most
Circle Magazine, news,
frustrating, however, was how
reviews and interviews.
much it seemed to coddle the user.
It looked and felt like it was
Your new team is:
designed for toddlers. It forced
• Les Pounder
features on me that I didn't even
• Tony Hughes
want, and those features that I did
• Jon Chamberlain
want were gone. Even most of the
• Oliver Clark
desktop customizing tools that I
was used to using were now a
All are members of the
ghost of the past... Now, where
Blackpool (UK) LUG
have I heard this before?
http://blackpool.lug.org.uk
Don't misunderstand. I'm not
Debut episode is
kicking Ubuntu to the curb just yet.
available from the
I've found a desktop that works
FCM homepage.
o.k. for me (Gnome classic... with
quite a few tweaks added). But, I
cannot help but question the
wisdom behind the move to Unity.
By swapping to Unity, they not
only alienate their current fan
base, but potentially alienate
full circle magazine #63 42 contents ^
full circle magazine #63 43 contents ^
REVIEW
Written by Tushar Bhargava gPodder

M
ost people prefer to separate 'Downloads' tab. You can MTP, file system or bluetooth gPodder supports a wide
use their default set various limits on the download based device. These options cover variety of formats including RSS,
music player for speed and number of simultaneous virtually all the devices you might Atom, YouTube, Soundcloud,
managing their downloads. On clicking the 'Play' own. This feature, though much Vimeo and XSPF feeds. It allows
podcasts. However, gPodder is a button gPodder opens your loved by gPodder users, is missing you to add podcasts from a URL or
standalone podcast manager that default music player to play the in version 3x and it is for this to import them from an OPML file.
might offer a much better podcast podcast. You can choose which reason that the version in the It enables you to export your own
experience. gPodder is an Open media player gPodder calls in the Ubuntu Software Center has not OPML file which makes it relatively
Source (GPL Version 3 or higher) 'Preferences' entry of the main been updated. If you want the easy for you to share your podcasts
podcast client made by Thomas menu. gPodder also allows you device sync feature stick to the with others or set up a podcast
Perl, an Austrian programmer. transfer your podcasts to an iPod, older 2.x version. client on another computer.
gPodder was created in 2005 with
the modest aim of downloading Despite its simple and easy to
and managing podcasts. It was use interface gPodder has its fair
earlier written in Java using the share of advanced features that
Gtk UI but has since been ported to can be found under the
Python. It currently uses the PyGtk 'Preferences' entry in the
and Gtk2 UI which gives it a nice 'Podcasts' menu. gPodder allows
Ubuntu look and feel. Global Menu you to set an 'update interval' to
support gives it an almost perfect check for new podcasts. It allows
Ubuntu integration. However, you to set limits on the number of
Unity integration is still missing. podcasts per subscription. It also
offers various actions to perform if
The graphical user interface is a new episode is found. In addition
simple and intuitive. The main to this, gPodder allows you to set
features are visible at a quick your own rules for 'clean-up' –
glance. gPodder offers you the which podcasts to delete
options to download, play or automatically (if at all) and which
transfer your podcasts. When you to keep. Lastly, gPodder offers
choose to download a podcast fairly comprehensive features to
gPodder carries out the download sync your device with it. It allows
quickly and unobtrusively in a you to select which episodes to
full circle magazine #63 44 contents ^
REVIEW
sync and which episodes to remove
from the device automatically.

gPodder has one final ace up its


sleeve – its seamless integration
with gPodder.net. gPodder.net is a
podcast web service that not only
allows you to discover new
podcasts but also share your
favorite ones. It allows you to
remotely manage your gPodder
subscriptions and provides a place
to backup your subscriptions. It
also makes it very easy to set up
gPodder on another computer.

gPodder is widely considered as


one of the best podcast clients. It
has received mainly positive user
reviews and has a 4.5 star rating in
the Ubuntu Software Center (at The Good player
the time of writing). It was also • Extremely easy to use with a • No Unity integration
listed by Lifehacker as one of the simple and clean GUI • No system for rating episodes
'Five Best Podcast Managers '. • Lightweight and fully native to
Ubuntu NOTE: gPodder also works
gPodder is a cross-platform • Powerful advanced features for flawlessly in KDE (shown above).
application that is available for power users
Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, Mac OS • Device sync (not available in Don’t forget to add the Full
X and mobile devices like the Nokia version 3.x) Circle Podcast, whichever
N810, N900 and N9 (which run • gPodder.net integration makes podcasting client you use:
Maemo or MeeGo). An managing and finding podcasts MP3:
experimental version for Android easier http://fullcirclemagazine.org/ Tushar Bhargava is a 16-year-old
is also available. Get gPodder at category/podcast/feed Indian who loves Ubuntu and FOSS.
OGG: He likes to program in Java and C++
http://gpodder.org/. Happy The Bad http://fullcirclemagazine.org/ and enjoys writing. Contact him at
podcasting ! • Lack of built-in music and video tushar1995@gmail.com.
category/podcast/feed/atom
full circle magazine #63 45 contents ^
LETTERS
Every month we like to publish some of the emails we receive. If you would like to
submit a letter for publication, compliment or complaint, please email it to:
letters@fullcirclemagazine.org. PLEASE NOTE: some letters may be edited for space.

You Want Game Lulu address for the book is: system as the one installed to the
Join us on:
HDD. With 4 GB RAM, some 1.7 GB
Reviews? http://www.lulu.com/author/conte
to 1.9 GB additional free space

J
nt_revise.php?fCID=12986866
could be made available. goo.gl/FRTMl
ust thought I'd inform you
of a book/presentation I Art Schreckengost
This way, I can run tests without facebook.com/fullcircle
have been working on for any risk of leaving any waste on my magazine
the past couple of years as installed system since, after
a side hobby. It covers roughly 400 twitter.com/#!/fullcirclemag
rebooting with the Live DVD, I
games found in USC and Synaptic have a clean system again. Based linkedin.com/company/full-
PM (none of the fatties, just the Quick DVD Backup on the results of the tests, I can circle-magazine

M
usual suspects). then be confident that the tested
ay I suggest a trick ubuntuforums.org/forum
programs will also install and run
Couldn't publish it as an epub that delivers a display.php?f=270
correctly on the HDD system.
because it didn't fit formatting properly installed
rules (over 800 pages and in PDF and clean Ubuntu – Using this approach, I can installed on my Ubuntu operating
instead of docx or odf), so I packed otherwise it could contain a lot of successfully try some Amateur system (and refreshing its
it off to lulu.com as a cheap $1.50 waste after repeated program Radio programs, both .deb database from the Internet).
book. In addition, due to included installs and uninstalls. extension Linux and .exe extension
screenshots, it came in at over Windows ones (among them SSTV, I was using an older computer
15MB. After installing an Ubuntu PSK31, etc.). without a built-in HDD, and the
distribution with all necessary computer was used exclusively
There are about 550 games in components and cleaning the Moreover, I can surf the with a Ubuntu Live-CD and with a
USC, but some don't work or are surplus ones, I use the remastersys Internet without any risk of broadband internet connection.
actually old hangers on that have program to make a system backup infection since the DVD is write This was the less expensive
been given new names and posted ISO file, and burn it to a rewritable protected and the RAM memory computer I had!
elsewhere. I hit maybe about 60% disk to make a Live DVD with will be empty after shutting down
of the games out there. Oh, and I username and password, but the computer. If I download any András Szabó
should clarify that I did it via without personal data. file then it can be saved directly to
LibreOffice Impress, so it's one a pen-drive or to an external HDD
page containing a screenshot and This Live DVD could be used for after checking it with the "Clamav"
one page with the URL, general experimental program anti-virus program already
info, and USC rating, if any. installations, while using the same
full circle magazine #63 46 contents ^
LETTERS
My Bad! Sort Of... with the latest Intel architecture. installed Mint on two other high the tablet is not going to last in the

I
Meanwhile, I will get started on spec laptops and... so far so good. market.
have to apologize for not those reviews I promised.
sending in those reviews I Now on to the Unity-Windows 8- Allan Hambidge
promised, here’s the reason Dougn Redhammer Tablet debacle, so clearly
why. After I built my new pc described in the FCM60 article by
system – moving from an AMD cpu Art Schreckengost. I can
to an Intel Ivy Bridge – I then understand why Canonical is going
installed 12.04 LTS, and, long story the Unity route as this is the way
short, it was a complete disaster. Unity, Mint and Tablets. Windows 8 is heading. It is aimed
Robin reported 12.04 instabilities at tablets, touch-screen computers
on his blog a few weeks ago, at the
Oh my! and TVs. I have an HTC Android

I
time I was on a AMD 64-bit build
have been using Linux Ubuntu
mobile phone, which is great and My Sad Inbox
and had no problems. The moment very convenient, with its touch
for about 4 years and do not screen, but I cannot see myself
I switched to an Intel system it was My inbox is looking rather
use a Windows dual boot. I do swiping the screen of a laptop. On
problems galore with random empty again folks. Surely you
have a Windows machine for a several trips to computer and
freezes, crashes, etc from nautilus have something on your mind
couple of programs, but have mobile phone shops, I have
to firefox, chrome, gwibber – even that you want to say. Doesn't
“almost” managed to eliminate this checked out the non-Apple tablets
the software center would crash! need to be just about Ubuntu.
necessity with Wine. on the market. The tablets on sale
You can read more about it here It can be about any of the
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubunt are very confusing as some have a other *buntu's, in fact, it can
I was using Ubuntu up to USB port, some don't. Some have
u/+source/xserver-xorg-video- be about anything Linux.
version 11.10 with the Classic Bluetooth and some don't. They all
intel/+bug/993187). So, for a few
login. The Classic login works on have a reduced storage capacity
weeks I could do nothing more Whether you've written an
Laptops/Desktops, but you are and memory. Some are cheap but
than browse the web trying to app, need help with
stuck with Unity if you have a net- in general they are very expensive.
figure out what was wrong before something, have a quick (non-
book. I have an Asus Netbook with As someone who is somewhat of a
the system went crazy – and I had technical) question, or just
2GB RAM and a 250GB hard disk. I gadget freak, the tablet is one
already given away the AMD want to show us something
use this a lot while on the move, piece of technology that I have not
system. Please post the solution to you've done, this is the place
and got enticed to Linux Mint 12 rushed out to buy. Why buy a
this for it.
from articles in other Linux tablet, with reduced
(https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubunt
magazines. I installed Mint on my characteristics, when you can get a
u/+source/xserver-xorg-video- Send it to:
netbook and it even recognized high spec netbook at a better
intel/+bug/993187/comments/91) letters@fullcirclemagazine.org
the extra touch-pad button to turn price. My netbook does all that my
for people who may be
it on and off. Ubuntu did not laptops do, with the addition of an
experiencing the same problems
recognize this button. I also external DVD drive. In my opinion
full circle magazine #63 47 contents ^
Register Now & Save 20% with code FULLCIR

full circle magazine #63 48 contents ^


Q&A
Compiled by Gord Campbell
If you have Ubuntu-related questions, email them to:
questions@fullcirclemagazine.org, and Gord will answer them in a future
issue. Please include as much information as you can about your problem.

Q A Q
When I tried to install keep going though the HDMI Have a look at this How can you remove a
Sopcast in Mint 13, the devices. (HDMI/Display Port 4 from page: program and all the files?
repository was not Sound Settings -> Output was http://www.openshot.or I did:
found. what worked for this laptop.) g/ppa/

A Q
Run this command:

Q
sudo apt­get purge remove
I have just installed I have a 4 page PDF, I quassel

A
Ubuntu 12.04 on a Dell need to delete pages 2,
Latitude 2100. I installed (Thanks to papibe in the
3, and 4.
the Broadcomm driver Ubuntu Forums)
'remove' conflicts with

A
gksudo gedit and configured my hidden wireless
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/ferra network. All is well. However, if I Try PDF Shuffler. You 'purge'. You need to use
mroberto­sopcast­maya.list
run the netbook on battery the just the 'purge' option.
can get it from the
wireless network speed decreases Ubuntu Software
In the first line, replace "maya"

Q
drastically. Center.
with "precise". Save and exit. In

A
Will UEFI kill Linux?
Synaptic, reload the sources.
(Thanks to taylorkh in

Q
the Ubuntu Forums) The Thanks for your help, but

Q
solution was the second my network has a WEP

A
I have a Samsung R580
suggestion on this web key, do you have to write
laptop running Ubuntu UEFI is OK. Secure Boot
page: something different if
12.04. When I plug in my is one of its features,
http://askubuntu.com/questions/8 you have a WEP key?
HDMI cable to connect it and it may become a

A
5214/how-can-i-prevent-iwconfig-
to the TV, I can't get the sound problem for some Linux
power-management-from-being- (Thanks to Chili555 in
through the TV. distros. Have a look at:
turned-on the Ubuntu Forums) Yes:

A
http://blog.canonical.com/2012/06
you log on to your
From the volume /22/an-update-on-ubuntu-and-

Q
router and change it to
control in your panel, secure-boot/
How can I install the WPA2. WEP is about as secure as
run Sound Settings.
latest version of the putting your credit card in a
Select the Hardware or Secure Boot might even be
Openshot video editor? shoebox on the front porch.
Output tab. Select one of the beneficial, if it reduces the number
HDMI devices. If that doesn't work, of "here today, gone tomorrow,"

full circle magazine #63 49 contents ^


Q&A

A A
Linux distros. Open a terminal and (Thanks to Coffeecat in what those are,
enter this command: the Ubuntu Forums) - there's a driver issue, and
everything Billy knows about

Q
Upgrade to 10.04, and
How can I turn off the grads is in the drivers no longer applies.
overlay scrollbars in repositories.
Ubuntu 12.04? gksudo gedit I have a good friend who knows
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa­ a lot about computers; over three

A
base.conf
decades, he has used them, sold
This web page tells all: them, written about them. When I
Add the following line at the
http://www.liberiangeek suggested that he would need to
.net/2012/03/disable-
end: Tips and Techniques go into the BIOS settings and
ubuntu-overlay- "change the boot order," so his
options snd­hda­intel Why Can't Billy Install Ubuntu?
scrollbars-in-ubuntu-12-04-precise- model=dell­m4­1 computer could boot from CD or
pangolin/ flash drive, that was the end of any
I respectfully suggest that this
then reboot. talk of trying Linux. He's not sure
is an education issue, and
how to do it, and he has been

Q
technology can only solve a bit of
How can I have multiple warned that he could really mess

Q
it.
VPN connections at the I installed a game in up his computer by changing BIOS
same time? Wine, and it put about 30 settings. It's true, too. Stroke a
Here are my top three reasons
icons on my desktop. bunch of random keys and select
Billy can't install Ubuntu, or any

A
"save," and you might need to take
other version of Linux:

A
See this page: the computer back to the dealer,
- the computer is set to boot from
https://www.facebook.c Move the installer just to get it to run.
the hard drive, and Billy can't or
om/pages/Ubuntu- program from Desktop won't change this,
Problems/18184928189 to another folder before If someone asks me how to
- installation requires changes to
5067 you run it. change the BIOS settings, I can't
"partitions," and Billy has no idea
Downloads/nameofgame is a good

Q
choice.
In Ubuntu 12.04, after
upgrading to the 3.2.0-

Q
25-generic kernel, I no I have a webserver which
longer have any sound. is running Linux Ubuntu
Hp pavilion dv6. 8.04.4. I would like to
install the grads service.

full circle magazine #63 50 contents ^


Q&A
provide a good answer, unless I they are, but does your cousin?
have a computer identical to Billy says, "You want me to make
theirs. I've been lucky; turn on my three new partitions, but there's
computer and press Delete, and no space to make them in!" My
I'm into the BIOS settings on every friend knows about partitions, and
computer I have owned. On other he knows that they are called C:, D:
computers, you need to press ESC, and E:. At least, there is lots of
a function key, or something else. online information about
There is no industry standard! partitions, and even step-by-step
Many computers do not display instructions about how to deal
what key to press, nor does the with them -- but they're not
information appear in the manual. something Billy will understand in
the first hour.
Once you're into the BIOS
settings, you need to read what I've been "lucky," I don't have screen, again, and we're not used problem today.
appears on the screen to figure driver issues with my computers. to doing that. Then you type
out what to do next, and you often Well, "lucky" isn't quite accurate; I something which isn't a word, and And yes, technology could help
need to press the "down" key and bought hardware which would press the magic key... with network adapters. However,
read what appears, until you work in Linux. Billy might recognize the education part is to let Billy
discover the magic. Even the that he has a driver issue, and he Really? OK, technology could know that, instead of searching for
method to change the boot order, knows what the next step is: find help with this one. A lot. the driver CD, he should be getting
once you get to the correct screen, the CD which contains the drivers -- an exact identification of his
is not standardized. except when he's trying to install Finally, there's the network hardware, then firing up Google.
Linux, with one significant driver. Many (most?) wireless
If I had information about your exception. network adapters "just work," (I've I would really like to get your
computer, at a grotesque level of been "lucky.") Some will work after thoughts on this:
detail, I could write a program to The first driver issue which a bit of effort, some are really letters@fullcirclemagazine.org
make it boot from CD or flash might come up is the video driver -- horrible, (you need the driver CD!)
drive. However, I couldn't write a and often, it's because the video but they eventually work, and then
program to make every computer device is too new! There's a work- there are a few which are hopeless.
boot from CD or flash drive. There around, and it works every Tuesday Even wired Ethernet adapters can After a long career in the computer
are just too many of them, and when there is a full moon -- or be a problem, if they are brand industry, including a stint as editor of
new ones appear every day. that's what it feels like to Billy. You Computing Canada and Computer
new in the market. "It will work Dealer News, Gord is now more-or-
need to determine the perfect next year" isn't a wonderful less retired.
I'm not going to explain moment to press this key, and then solution to a person who has a
partitions here. You know what you have to read what is on the
full circle magazine #63 51 contents ^
AUDIO FLUX
Written by Nicola Cappellini

I
know all you loyal readers She’s real, by The Luddites feed your secret and insatiable and sure to get your party moving.
were waiting in titillated free download at: appetite for surf-rock. Remember One of those choruses that you
anticipation for my ardour http://tinyurl.com/d6x83w3 to clear your browser history if you want to scream along to while
tutorial, but unfortunately A spoken don’t want anyone else to know... pumping your index fingers into
because of poorly timed hardware word song the air.
failure (is there ever a good time?) describing a Sunshine, by Little Dragon
it won’t be this month. In the person at a listen at:
meantime here is some new ear club, you http://tinyurl.com/bn84hmc
candy for your listening know, THAT Great vocals
enjoyment: person. Funky bass and guitar riffs by Yukimi
layered under noisy brass and a Nagano over
Franklin’in Karsilamasi, by loud nostalgia for Frank Zappa, or a deceptively
Ansambl Mastika am I thinking of Mingus? Whatever. transparent
free download at: A great group that mixes styles. mix. Lots of
http://tinyurl.com/bopqa8p Very refreshing and never a dull interesting
Have you moment, as in: great bass clarinet sounds
ever sat in an solos (see “The Bronx”)! going on here. Just sit back and
armchair and prepare to get grooving. Band is so
wondered Ninguém segura os Beach tight, everything is placed just
what would Combers, by Os Beach Combers where it needs to be and nothing
happen if Free download at: more that shouldn’t be there.
the Grateful http://tinyurl.com/chb9rf6
Dead, slap The title Soul Killing, by The Ting Tings
bass, and the geopolitical region of track of the listen at:
Europe called “the Balkans” had a newest LP http://tinyurl.com/c64gzfq
child? Me too! Well, this is the (no, Makes you
answer. Great instrumental seriously, want to
interactions between the band they shake your
Nicola is a freelance musician,
members, how do they keep in released it on vinyl) from the Rio shoulders translator, and web-whiz. He can be
time? Great find. de Janeiro surf band Os Beach back and seen on the stage, behind the scenes,
Combers. Freaky, and flangey, forth. Lots of and in the zone - for whatever task is
perfect for listening by yourself to instruments at hand.

full circle magazine #63 52 contents ^


UBUNTU WOMEN
Written by Elizabeth Krumbach

Ubuntu community is a need for it depends on a lot of factors, read blogs of official Ubuntu
gaining new experience and mostly me. My current dreams are: members. What I mean to say is,
meeting new people. I mean, I have Work one day for Canonical, make that every Ubuntu member is
been in the Ubuntu world since education for pupils/students working on some project/part of
8.04. It is still my favourite edition much more interesting and fun (at Ubuntu, and every now and then
because I started with that distro – least in the area of Informatics they are asking for volunteers –
but not like an everyday user. I had since that is my profession). while offering to help them to get
a bachelor thesis "Characteristics involved. What more do you need?
of Ubuntu operating system". EK: Have you hit any barriers with
When I started I didn't have a clue getting involved, and what can you I even wondered where could I get
what I got myself into. As time recommend to newcomers? official mentorship from
went by, I became more No barriers really. You have been Canonical... Then I told myself: "Ask
Elizabeth Krumbach: Can you tell comfortable and I have loved so approachable and helpful. I official members of the Ubuntu
us a little about yourself? Ubuntu since then. I must add that thank you a zillion times for that. project where you want to get
Jasna Benčić: Hi to everyone. My all these years I've been watching yourself involved."
name is Jasna and I come from you guys on Youtube (UDS, etc..) I would recommend to newcomers:
Croatia. Currently I am a graduate and now I actually want to meet If you are in the Ubuntu world, and EK: What other things are you
student at Faculty of Organization you and work with you. you want to gain more experience, interested in outside of open
and Informatics, (still working on do not hesitate to ask official source and Ubuntu?
my master’s thesis). Recently I had EK: What are your roles within the members to join in. There are a lot Related to my profession:
a chance to join: Croatian Linux Ubuntu community, and what plans of projects to get yourself involved Informatics in education,
Users' Association as a vice do you have for the future? in. You never know what kind of education psychology and
president, Muktware Linux and JB: Currently I am working as a opportunities you might get. methodology.
Free Software Magazine team as summary writer/editor at Ubuntu
an editor/contributor, and Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. Plans :) There EK: Is there anything you feel the Everything else is a mixture really:
Weekly Newsletter team as a is a saying: "Don't talk about your Ubuntu project could improve on 3D (Blender), foreign languages,
summary writer/editor. plans because there is a possibility when it comes to new folks coming cooking, stand up comedy,
you won't accomplish them." to the project? education through whole life. To
EK: What inspired you to get JB: Nothing really. Maybe I am too conclude this answer, there are a
involved in the Ubuntu community? I'd say that I have dreams subjective but, ever since I started lot of things I'm interested in
JB: Well, I wouldn't call it an considering Ubuntu and everything with the Ubuntu Weekly because I have a curious
inspiration. What drove me to the else. Will those dreams come true, Newsletter, I’ve had a chance to personality.
full circle magazine #63 53 contents ^
UBUNTU GAMES
Written by Dougn Redhammer
NEWS

O
n video is Gabe Newell http://www.gameolith.com) is
about Steam on Linux moving to include Windows and
(http://bcove.me/g5ny Mac games in their catalog, as well
ak0b). Valve have as Linux.
posted news on this recently as
well as what game(s) that will be Croteam the studio behind the
released with the client. Left For Serious Sam FPS games has posted
Dead 2 in this case. The client will on their Facebook wall a
be released sometime this year, screenshot with the caption
and the first Linux test platform "Serious Sam 3: BFE- running on
for the client will be Ubuntu. For Linux!". Serious Sam 3 is the latest
more, see: game in the series that was
blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux. released about 5 months ago on
Windows using their new in house
And, just so you know, 3D game engine. No other
Gameolith (an online Linux game information has been released but perhaps producing games for Linux Linux since Serious Sam 3 is
store at it looks like another developer is that will be sold via Steam for essentially a steamworks game.

full circle magazine #63 54 contents ^


UBUNTU GAMES
Written by Jennifer Roger

M
cPixel is a point-and- There are six levels in each level in a row. But the warning at The first reaction to McPixel
click adventure game batch that you have to clear before the start of the game should not usually elicits a lot of WTF’s and
in which you have unlocking the next batch. If you fail be ignored - after a long session, it general confusion, but don’t let
twenty seconds to a level, you just move on to the can be really frustrating trying to the outrageous, juvenile style of
prevent things from blowing up. next one until you’ve beaten them figure out what to do next. So it’s a humor fool you - it is a very well
Sounds easy enough, right? But all. If you clear three levels in a good idea to take a break before polished game that’s extremely
wait - there’s pot smoking aliens, row, you unlock a special bonus it’s your mind that is about to enjoyable to play. You can try out
snakes on a plane, and many more level. You have just one chance to explode. the demo, or purchase the full
ridiculously funny things keeping figure out what to do before it DRM-free game plus the
you from saving the world! Since abruptly ends, bringing you back to The soundtrack is good, but I soundtrack for $9.99 from
its inception as a Ludum Dare 21 your trippy adventure. did find it to be a bit repetitive mcpixel.net.
submission, McPixel has really after playing for a while. The retro
blown up (pardon the pun) and Being a point and click, the style pixel graphics are crisp and Pros:
with good reason. It now boasts mechanics are simple and the smooth, and each level is quite • clever and hilarious levels with
100 levels, free DLC updates, and a gameplay is straightforward. But imaginative. In general, the nice retro style graphics
level creator for those who want to the silly humor and task of finding environments have enough to keep • plenty of levels and extras for the
make even more crazy levels. And all of the gags keeps you coming the gameplay fresh, and there’s quality and price
it’s very, very addictive. back for more. For those who want always something that will have
a real challenge, Endless Mode you giggling like a 13 year old boy. Cons:
McPixel has a penchant for allows you to play every single • it can be truly maddening after
kicking people in the crotch and playing for a long time
urinating on fires, but this quasi- • soundtrack can become
hero has to use unorthodox redundant
methods to solve each puzzle.
Thinking of dousing the bomb with
water? Nope! Maybe just throwing
it out the window will do? Wrong
again, pal. What seems like the
obvious solution is often a dead
Jennifer is a fine arts student from
end, leaving you charred and
the Chicagoland area. You can follow
moving on to the next round until @missjendie on Twitter or visit her
you complete them all. blog at missjendie.com.

full circle magazine #63 55 contents ^


MY DESKTOP Your chance to show the world your desktop or PC. Email your screenshots and
photos to: misc@fullcirclemagazine.org and include a brief paragraph about your
desktop, your PC's specs and any other interesting tidbits about your setup.

My computer is a rather old (in computer years) Dell Inspiron Attached is my Ubuntu 10.04 LTS desktop that I use for work
1200 running Lubuntu 11.04 (soon to be upgraded to 12.04). It and leisure. I run all three major operating systems (Linux,
has a 1.4 GHz Intel Celeron processor, a 40GB HD and 241 MB Mac & Windows) in various forms. I like Linux the best for two
memory. main reasons: 1) it's free, and 2) it has a low requirement for
hardware - even on this old Dell D630 laptop with 4GB of
At the beginning, the limited memory of this laptop wouldn't RAM, Linux runs circles around my MacBook Pro 8GB
let me install Ubuntu 10.04, hanging somewhere after setting RAM/2.66GHz laptop when it comes to operating system
up the keyboard during the installation process, so I installed responsiveness. I'm never left waiting with Linux.
Lubuntu 10.04 instead and later upgraded to newer versions.
Thanks Linux developers! Keep up the good work.
The wallpaper is from a picture taken by me or by my wife lying
on the sand at Maracas Bay beach, Trinidad and Tobago. Dan Juarez

Rainer Parrales

full circle magazine #63 56 contents ^


MY DESKTOP

Here is a screenshot of my desktop. The wallpaper is a fire


truck from the Austrian company Rosenbauer, and can be I 'm using Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit with 3D Unity on my laptop. As you
found at http://www.autogaleria.hu/kl.php?kid=68919- can see I have made many improvements with Ubuntu Tweak 0.7
Rosenbauer-Mercedes-Atego-918-Feuerwehr-2005
To make my monitor look bigger, I changed the size of the unity
I have an Acer Aspire 5742G with i5 480M, Nvidia Geforce icons to 32, and opacity to 0. I use Radiance Gtk theme along with
GT 420M, 500GB HDD and 4GB RAM. Currently, I use Faenza-Blue-Dark2 icons 'cause I think they are very COOL. The
Ubuntu 11.10. For the look I changed some values at the wallpaper is live photos of Earth every 1 minute with xPlanetFX.
ambiance theme at /usr/share/themes. Everyone familiar
with web-programing can do it too, because it´s just simple I also use three conkys: one for system monitoring, one for the
CSS and the name of the color says what it´s used for. For weather, and one for knowing who's celebrating every day.
activating the theme I used Ubuntu Tweak http://ubuntu-
tweak.com/ System specs
Dell Inspiron 1564, i3 CPU M330 2.13GHz
For those who want to use the theme I published it via RAM 4GB
Ubuntu One HDD 500GB
http://ubuntuone.com/7f6WQPM3VTbaJqQ96GP6S1 15.4 led monitor - 1366 x 762 resolution.
Hope you like it.
Theo
Sven

full circle magazine #63 57 contents ^


PUZZLE SOLUTIONS

BRIDGES

CODE WORD
SUDOKU

Codeword and 16x16 Suduko puzzles are


copyright, and kindly provided by, The Puzzle
Club - www.thepuzzleclub.com

full circle magazine #63 58 contents ^


Full Circle Team
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE Editor - Ronnie Tucker
ronnie@fullcirclemagazine.org
Webmaster - Rob Kerfia
We are always looking for new articles to include in Full Circle. For article admin@fullcirclemagazine.org
guidelines, ideas, and for issue translation, please see our wiki: Comms Mgr - Robert Clipsham
http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMagazine mrmonday@fullcirclemagazine.org
Please email your articles to: articles@fullcirclemagazine.org Podcast - Les Pounder & Co.
podcast@fullcirclemagazine.org

Editing & Proofreading


Mike Kennedy
If you would like to submit news , email it to: news@fullcirclemagazine.org
Lucas Westermann
Gord Campbell
Send your comments or Linux experiences to: letters@fullcirclemagazine.org
Robert Orsino
Josh Hertel
Hardware/software reviews should be sent to: reviews@fullcirclemagazine.org
Bert Jerred
Questions for Q&A should go to: questions@fullcirclemagazine.org Our thanks go to Canonical, the many
translation teams around the world
Desktop screens should be emailed to: misc@fullcirclemagazine.org and Thorsten Wilms for the FCM logo.
... or you can visit our forum via: www.fullcirclemagazine.org
Deadline for FCM#64:
Sunday 05th August 2012.

Release date for FCM#64:


Friday 31st August 2012.
FULL CIRCLE NEEDS YOU!
A magazine isn't a magazine without articles and Full Circle is no exception. We need
your Opinions, Desktops and Stories. We also need Reviews (games, apps &
hardware), How-To articles (on any K/X/Ubuntu subject) and any questions, or
suggestions, you may have.
Send them to: articles@fullcirclemagazine.org

full circle magazine #63 59 contents ^

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