Presentation [Download MP4 Video]

Q&A [Download MP4 Video]

Presentation [Download MP4 Video]

Q&A [Download MP4 Video]

Presentation [Download MP4 Video]

Q&A [Download MP4 Video]

This is probably the most important guide to any Desktop Linux user who wants to work with and playback a variety of multimedia files on their system. As you know, most of the popular codecs/formats (i.e. MP3, AAC, DVD, H.264, Flash, etc.) are not included in Ubuntu or other Linux distributions because they’re proprietary and require licensing. Fortunately, however, the Ubuntu community has gone through great strides to make acquiring them a lot easier – although still technically illegal if you live in the United States (my 2-cents: playback codecs should be free to acquire for personal use, especially those that become industry standards). (more…)

For some reason Kdenlive has a major rendering bug when it comes to handling NTSC video (as confirmed buy other frustrated users in the Kdenlive forums here and here), which is really a shame because at the moment Kdenlive is probably the closet thing to Apple’s iMovie that’s a free open-source non-linear video editor under Linux. But as the saying goes, “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” And thankfully, yes, I have found a way around this issue. (more…)

Instructions:

1. Download Google Earth from http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html (you’ll be downloading a package called GoogleEarthLinux.bin)
2. Fire up your Terminal and cd (aka change directory) to your Desktop (or whichever folder you downloaded the package to)
3. From the command line type: sh GoogleEarthLinux.bin

Once you’ve completed all three steps, Google Earth will automatically install itself into a folder in your user directory called google-earth, which you have the option to change (see instructions below), and will create shortcut links on your desktop and in your home folder to launch the application. In case you don’t find the program useful, you can uninstall it by double-clicking the uninstall file in the google-earth directory.

[Advanced] Instructions for All User Access:

The instructions are the same as above except you need to use sudo (or root). (more…)

Scenario #1: X Windows is still up and running but a certain application/script has frozen or is slowing down your PC.

A. [Basic] If you’re Linux distribution is using GNOME, Go to System > Administration > System Monitor and click on the Processes tab. Once there, look to see which process is hogging up your CPU resources, click on the culprit, and then click End Process. Hopefully that should be enough to get everything back to normal.

B. [Advanced] If you prefer to use the Terminal, type top at the command prompt. This will give you a dynamic view all your running processes via a command line interface. Again, look for the culprit hogging up the CPU resources and note the PID (aka Process ID) number. Next, type k and you will be prompted to enter the PID to kill. Type the number and see if the command kills the process. If yes, use Ctrl+c to exit top. If no, read on. (more…)

Instructions:

1. Open Ekiga and go to Edit > Accounts

2. Now in the Account window click +Add

3. Enter the following settings into the Account Information pane:

Account Name: Gizmo
Registrar: proxy01.sipphone.com:5060
User: 1747169XXXX (your 11-digit SIP number — find it in Gizmo by clicking Account > My Profile)
Password: YOURPASSWORD
Authentication Login: 1747169XXXX (your 11-digit SIP number)
Registration Timeout: 3600

To make pc-to-phone calls, just enter the full phone number, (more…)

Instructions (the quick and easy way):

1. Install Windows on a separate hard drive (make sure that it’s setup as the PRIMARY using the drive’s jumpers) and leave the second drive unplugged.

2. After that’s done, connect the second hard drive and change the jumpers on the first hard drive (Windows) to SLAVE and make the Linux drive PRIMARY (both drives should be connected at point). Next, install Ubuntu.

3. What should happen: Ubuntu will automatically configure GRUB so that you can boot into Ubuntu by default (1st drive mounted as hd0) and Windows (2nd drive mounted as hd1) as an option. Note: when Ubuntu configures GRUB this way it will automatically trick Windows into thinking it’s the PRIMARY drive (the only way it will work) when it really is NOT.

Here’s a glimpse at what Ubuntu is doing to GRUB to make this magic work (more…)