Linux Community Magazine

If like me, you have thought of an excellent board or card game and played it with family and friends, you will want to produce something more aesthetically pleasing than cut out cards from a scrap book. You do have the option of having a designer do all the work for you, however generally the cost is prohibitive when you start out.

In many communities there are free or very inexpensive computer classes for beginners. The instructors will be able to advise you of the best computer to suit your needs. The price of new PC's (personal computers) has reduced dramatically and even the cheapest laptop purchased would be fast enough to handle Board Game Design.

Having the correct software is essential in the design, quality and finish of your game. Imagine if you could achieve all required tasks using FREE Software.

Windows users would normally use Adobe Photo-shop to design the artwork needed to improve the appearance of the game. They would then use Microsoft Word to add this artwork to the Instructions, Cards and Outer Box. And then use Adobe Writer to convert the Word Document into a PDF Document required by the printers to manufacture the playing cards. These are the most basic programs needed and they all cost money.I prefer to use free software and I would like to share with you how I do this. The following are equivalent quality programs available for free download that will replace all of the above programs and more. The following guide is included to help those that choose to use Free Software. If you enjoy spending money, feel free to skip this article.

1. Install Ubuntu to Replace Microsoft: For an operating system use "Linux-Ubuntu" on your PC. I am not a Microsoft person. I run my entire business, have created my own board games and use Ubuntu to create and maintain my own website completely without Microsoft. I am writing this article using OpenOffice.org in Ubuntu and I will upload it to my blog in Firefox.Try Before You Buy. No Try Before you Download for Free.If you decide to install Ubuntu, you can keep Windows on your PC also. First BACKUP EVERYTHING!! Copy your personal files you cannot afford to lose onto a portable hard drive, DVD or CD. You don't need to backup programs that you have the original disc to reinstall. Just your photos, music and stuff.

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the outcome of you following this article. This is only a guide. If everything important is backed up then you shouldn't have anything to lose. Type Ubuntu Beginner into your browser's search engine and read through some tutorials very thoroughly first to familiarise yourself with the process before you begin.

(Tip: Microsoft needs to be installed on the PC first. If you put Linux Ubuntu on first and then try to add Microsoft; Microsoft will not recognise Linux and will probably format over the top of it.)

To get your free copy of Ubuntu, type Ubuntu Download into your browser's search engine to go to ubuntu.com. Download or FTP it to your hard drive. It will take long time to download, so let it download overnight and install it in the morning. Usually the downloaded file will be an ISO Image. Use Nero or something similar to burn the image to disc. The CD you have created will start automatically when your computer is restarted, unless you place the ISO image inside a folder on the CD.

When you have created the Ubuntu disc, put it back into the CD drive and restart the PC. The setup will begin and will ask if you want to install Ubuntu beside Windows on a separate partition or install it instead of Windows. Put it beside Windows for now until you find you no longer need Windows.

You will need to give Ubuntu at least 5 gig of hard drive, but more would be better if you have it. You will need a fast PC suitable to run XP. Ie 1 GB CPU with 512MB Ram.Unless you have previously installed Windows yourself, I suggest you read the Ubuntu site thoroughly first. Ubuntu setup is much the same as Windows setup and asks the usual questions.

What country is your location?What is the current Timezone?Do you use a US Keyboard?Create a Username and Password etc.

After install has finished, your PC will restart. You will be prompted to choose which operating system to start. Use the up down arrows to select Ubuntu.If you try to play mp3's, WMA, WMV etc. You will be prompted to download and install restricted extras. The legalities depend on your country.

2. OpenOffice.org is included in the Ubuntu operating system and will automatically replace Adobe Writer, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You can open documents you have created in Microsoft Office and you can save documents, OpenOffice.org has created, as Microsoft Word Documents. You can export a document as a PDF document.(I prefer not to use Microsoft, but I will mention you can download and install OpenOffice.org on your Windows operating system)

3. KolourPaint will replace Microsoft Paint to save and edit images. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for KolourPaint and install.

4. GIMP will replace Adobe Photo-shop. GIMP (Graphics Image Manipulation Program) is capable of completing every task achieved by Photo-shop. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for GIMP and install.(I prefer not to use Microsoft, but I will mention you can download and install GIMP on your Windows operating system. To get your free copy of GIMP, type GIMP Download into your browser's search engine).

5. Firefox Web Browser is automatically included in Ubuntu and will be used to replace Internet Explorer. You may use Ubuntu Software Centre to search for and install other browsers such as Google Chrome if you prefer.

6. Evolution Mail is automatically included in Ubuntu and will be used to send and receive email as a replacement to Outlook Express. You may use Ubuntu Software Centre to search for and install Mozilla Thunderbird or another email program if you prefer.

7. KompoZer is a program used to create a website as a HTML or CSS Editor. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for KompoZer and install.

8. GnomeBaker is a program used to burn CD's & DVD's. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for GnomeBaker and install.

9. Rhythmbox is automatically included in Ubuntu and will be used to play music on your PC or add music to an iPod or MP3 player.

10. AcidRip to rip DVD's and Asunder to rip audio CD's. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for AcidRip or Asunder and install.

11. Wine (Windows for Linux) to run some Windows programs. Not all software written for Microsoft will run using Wine, but some will, i.e. Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Paint, Microsoft Notepad. There is no need to use Wine because Linux Ubuntu has programs to do all Windows tasks, I have just included Wine for you to play around with. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for Wine and install.

12. KlamAV for virus protection. (Ubuntu is not vulnerable to virus's and therefore does not need virus protection. However if you Internet Bank you still need virus protection to satisfy the banks requirements). To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for KlamAV and install.

13. KTorrent for torrent downloads. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for KTorrent and install.

14. XSane to operate your scanner. XSane is automatically included in Ubuntu.

15. KGet is an excellent download manager. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for KGet and install.

16. Totem Movie Player is automatically included with Ubuntu and will play the same music and videos as Windows Media Player. VLC will play the videos that Totem cannot. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for VLC and install.

17. FileZilla to send files via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). This is needed to send the artwork to the manufacturer/printer. To add some programs that were not included with the Ubuntu install. Click on Applications and then Ubuntu Software Centre and Search for FileZilla and install.

18. Games are included in Ubuntu such as Mahjongg, Solitaire, Spider, Mines, Sudoku, Freecell and Klondike and if you like games there are many - many more that can be downloaded for free.

Now the fun part - Learn Linux!It will seem unfamiliar at first, but if you give Linux a chance you may get to like using free software. Like many others you may even leave the windows sheeple for good. This will be a day of celebration indeed.Ubuntu seems to run faster and more securely and you will notice the difference. If you need help or just want to read a tutorial, go to:/

Explore Play Have Fun

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Premium Multihomed Bandwidth:ServerPronto utilizes the Infolink network which maintains multiple redundant direct fiber-optic connections to Tier 1 Internet backbones. All ServerPronto bandwidth is dynamically routed to the fastest available carrier utilizing the latest BGP4 technology. Your server will be directly connected via a 100Mbps Full Duplex switched Ethernet Port. All of this means that you will have an extremely reliable, fast (100Mbps) direct connection to multiple Tier 1 Internet backbones. This type of Internet connection is used by most of the worlds largest websites including Yahoo, MSN, and CNN.

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An Ext2 file system contains a component named 'superblock' to save critical information about the file system. This component, if corrupted, gives an error at the time of mounting of the hard disk partition. The data saved in the hard disk partition becomes inaccessible after the superblock corruption error message pops up. An easy way to access the data post any such error message is by restoring it from an updated backup. However, if backup file is unreadable or incomplete, then the only option is to use a commercial Linux Data Recovery utility.

Consider a real-time scenario, wherein, you receive the underneath error message while trying to mount your hard drive volume:

":~$ sudo e2fsck -c /dev/sda1e2fsck 1.39 (29-May-2006)/dev/sda1: recovering journal/dev/sda1: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while reading block Z

JBD: Failed to read block at offset 22321JBD: IO error -5 recovering block 22321 in log/dev/sda1: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while reading block 23896

JBD: Failed to read block at offset 22328JBD: IO error -5 recovering block 22328 in log/dev/sda1: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while reading block 23895

JBD: Failed to read block at offset 22327JBD: IO error -5 recovering block 22327 in loge2fsck: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to re-open /dev/sda1e2fsck: io manager magic bad! "

After the above error message appears, the data saved in the hard drive volume becomes inaccessible.

Cause:

As stated in the error message, the superblock is corrupted.

Resolution:

Below guidelines help you to isolate the above error message, and to rectify it:

* Run e2fsck -b command to repair the corrupted superblock.

* If the message persists after running the above command, then run the same command using an alternative superblock.

* However, if the problem continues, then you will need to re-install the operating system. Though this step ensures 100% success in resolving the above error message, it also deletes the data from your hard drive volume. To recover the lost data, you will need to opt for a third-party Linux Recovery application.

Data Recovery Linux tools are readily available on the Internet and can be used by any non-technical user.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery recoups formatted files from Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, and FAT based hard drive volumes. The read only software supports almost all Linux distributions. The wizard-style interface of the Linux data Recovery tool makes the recovery process easy and simple. This tool supports recovery from IDE, EIDE, SATA, and other types of hard drives, and is compatible with a wide range of Linux distributions, like, SUSE, Ubuntu, Mandrake, Gentoo and SlackWare.

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What Distro Should I install and Why?

If you are just moving from the MS to the GNU World you might be asking yourself right now what distro should I install on my box?, along with a whole bunch of other questions like will Linux run on my box? Will it be hard? Will I find help online if I run into an issue, just to mention some of the questions that run into your mind right now.

This mini How-To tries to answer those and more questions starting from the most basic ones.

Will Linux run in my box?, the answer to this is yes, Linux runs on everything, If you have an old toaster with storage capabilities and memory you can install Linux on it!, How is this possible? Well, Linux is supported for most human known processors from i386 (old Intel), k7 (old AMD) to a64 (AMD 64), ppc, sparc, alpha, x86-64, and so on. As you can see the question is no longer will it run on my box, but, what kind of box do I have.

When selecting your Linux distro you need to have 2 things in mind, first what kind of computer you have, and what do you want to do on your Linux box.

So let's focus on some of the most known or popular ones:

Debian - One of my favorite tastes, Debian is becoming a standard Operating System and many other Linux distributions (well known ones) are based on it, why? Well, Debian runs in a long list of different architecture processors, you can see more info on /, the Debian community does a pretty good job making their own binaries of the most well known application available, and they have an amazing way to handle dependencies and packages, Just to mention 2 of the most well known Debian based operating systems I will mention 2 of them: Knoppix and Ubuntu.

Ubuntu - The Debian's younger cousin, what Ubuntu does or try to do is to bring debian's quality and characteristics on a very user-friendly way, this does not means that Debian is not user-friendly or anything like that, we could say that "user-friendly" is relative on its documentation available.

Red Hat / Fedora Core - Another classic, if you already are somewhat familiar with Linux you know rpm, well if that's the case and you want to take advantage of rpm then who is best then their creators.

Suse - Another popular one, owned and supported by Novell one of the Old School, big networking companies, their goal is to develop server solutions new technologies and interoperability between proprietary technologies and Open Source Technologies.

Gentoo - If getting the best out of your hardware is what you want then you need to go with Gentoo, what makes Gentoo slim and fast is the fact that it compiles everything in your computer so it is like its made for your computer (you can do this on any distro, but Gentoo deliver an easier way to do it).

And these are not the only Distros, I did not mention Slackware, but that does not mean I forgot about it.

There are about 386 known distros for different platforms, from all over the world, that's what makes hard choosing the taste for you.

But you should make this decision based on what you need or what you want to do with your Linux box.

Each of the previous Distros have a way to download and install upgrades and other software text based and fully graphical.

Debian based systems have Synaptic Package Manager (A lot better then Windows Update and Windows Add or Remove Programs together) and the apt software install tool, which is text based (A lot faster than graphics).

Red Hat based systems have graphical control panels that allow you to install, uninstall and upgrade software, and they also have a text based tool known as yum (Introduced by another Red Hat based distro Yellow Dog) that allows you to do the same as apt.

But this might still not be answering your question or resolving your issue, this might even leave you with more questions.

In the quest for what to install, you should hear that inner voice in your head asking: do I want to be desktop user, or an advanced user. Will I use my distro like a Media Center Box?

As I have learned, by my own experience and mistakes, the best way to learn if you don't want to be just another desktop user, is to sacrifice beauty or the ease of use over performance and that inner satisfaction of knowing that although you are having a hard time learning, but you are learning!.

If you want to go for performance and learning, my suggestion is to pick either Debian or Gentoo, because both of them assume you are the boss and you know what you are doing and they don't do anything for you, although for some this might not look like an advantage for an user that's trying hard to learn this will take him half the way into the learning process, and why is this? Simple, it wont do anything for you so you'll have to learn to do it on your own and how to do it, I'm not discouraging the work of other distros like Mandrake now Mandriva or Linspire, its good that they try to make the migration process as clear as possible for the end user not to notice this has happened.

I remember back in the days when I first met Linux, I learned with Red Hat 7.3, while other distros where auto-mounting drives, auto-configuring services, auto-starting service I had to learn how to do it on my own. While some other distros had GUI's for the most common or well known commands and applications I had to learn how to do everything on command line.

How did this affected me? Well I was able to use almost any distro or Unix-Based Operating System with no problem because I knew the basic commands to do it, and it became easy for me to jump from distro to distro or from operating system to operating system, and it gave me a better perspective on which operating system to choose and stay with.

Its actually good if you are not sure what to pick or where to stay to try around, most of the well known distros have a live version that you can try without having to install it. (i.e. Debian has Knoppix, although is not made by Debian it is Debian based, or Ubuntu itself).

Depending on the computer you have or the country you live in, has 50% of possibilities of determination on whether performance is important for you or not, and this is based on the fact of updates in technology available in your country at affordable prices, in this case we will focus on old i386 computers.

Based on this there are ways of tweaking you Linux box to be as slim and fast as if you had a cutting edge computer, some of this are using light Desktop Environments, disabling unneeded services, compiling your own kernel for your computer, using swap partitions and so on.

Putting performance and the learning hunger aside if you just want Linux to be your Desktop Operating System with media center and gaming capabilities, you can either go for Ubuntu which is Debian based, but with a more friendly environment (it obviously consumes more resources) and media center applications like MythTV which allows you to connect your Linux box to your TV, and use it as a media center, record in hard drive TV shows and movies, record them in to DVD's, scheduling recording hours and so on.

There are also some other cool implementations for graphics like XGL introduced by Novell, and AIGLX which is its open source cousin.

Two more comments before I finish, first one, there's an old myth running that says that Linux cant be pretty, this is not true, google or even youtube XGL you'll see by yourself, it looks far better and cooler than Vista and Mac OS together.

And the final comment, the best part of choosing a Linux distro is that you have with Linux what you don't have with Windows or Mac or any other proprietary solution, the freedom to pick the flavor that taste better for you.

Son don't be scared just staring or frozen like a deer in the head lights and just migrate, experience the joy of feeling like a kid in a big candy store.

DomainGurus

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No matter how much popular Windows is with home computers, it is Linux operating system that takes over the entire market, when it comes to the realm of web hosting services providers and webmasters. Its colossal compatibility with a whole multitude of programming platforms counting as PHP, XML, Perl, and MySQL and its affordability on account of being an open source, make it an indispensable choice in the professional world. Further, it also enables the flexibility of modification, expansion by any skilled developer. Linux is rendered to multiple users in a variety of distributions. Let us now gain information about these Linux distributions that are commonly used by web hosting services providers and SMEs.

Ubuntu: Ubuntu, the most frequently used distribution of Linux forms the base for multiple other Linux distributions. It has incorporated all essential tools and resources required to render competent, seamless web hosting services and server management, counting as Instant Messenger, integrated web browser and office suite. Also, it is blessed with numerous other improved application accesses which further helps in programming language translations. Plus, it is totally free and can be easily downloaded through the Linux official website. One may install it in two minutes with the help of installation wizard.

CentOS: Accredited on its attribute of being highly powerful and consistent version of Linux, CentOS is used in corporations and large businesses. There are many webmasters who believe that it is the coming of CentOS Linux operating system that actually led the development of other hosting control panels like cPanel. However, the most attractive feature available with CentOS is its online community of developers. These developers are always on board to improve this operating system and improve its functionality.

Debian: In Linux, debian is the most recent version. Its features are very similar to what Ubuntu and other Linux distributions have. Also, it is known to exhibit very similar functional and architectural components along with application menus and user interfaces. Like other distributions, Debian also breaks all records of compatibility. In fact this is one attribute that actually makes Debian a desirable version for many more years to come. Secondly, it enables less proficient web servers perform optimally with limited server resources. This is the reason why it is quite effortless to pick up affordable web hosting services plans that are running on the Debian version of Linux.

Kubuntu: From interfaces to functionality and features, it is difficult to raise differences between Ubuntu and kubuntu. Where Ubuntu is typically set for language translators, software experts and application developers, Kubuntu operating system is an ideal for small size businesses. Kbuntu is very basic and has no advanced features. Moreover, it is only when you are able to add certain modifications in the operating system, it enables you to run web hosting services.

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