Ubuntu automatically starts playing audio or video discs when you put them into your computer. If you don’t want this behavior, you can easily turn this off.
Navigate to System \ Preferences \ Removable Drives and Media
Here you can just uncheck the box for the disc type you don’t want to autoplay.
You can also disable autoplaying of portable media players such as an iPod.
The default shell on most Linux operating systems is called Bash. There are a couple of important hotkeys that you should get familiar with if you plan to spend a lot of time at the command line. These shortcuts will save you a ton of time if you learn them.
| Ctrl + A | Go to the beginning of the line you are currently typing on |
| Ctrl + E | Go to the end of the line you are currently typing on |
| Ctrl + L | Clears the Screen, similar to the clear command |
| Ctrl + U | Clears the line before the cursor position. If you are at the end of the line, clears the entire line. |
| Ctrl + H | Same as backspace |
| Ctrl + R | Let’s you search through previously used commands |
| Ctrl + C | Kill whatever you are running |
| Ctrl + D | Exit the current shell |
| Ctrl + Z | Puts whatever you are running into a suspended background process. fg restores it. |
| Ctrl + W | Delete the word before the cursor |
| Ctrl + K | Clear the line after the cursor |
| Ctrl + T | Swap the last two characters before the cursor |
| Esc + T | Swap the last two words before the cursor |
| Alt + F | Move cursor forward one word on the current line |
| Alt + B | Move cursor backward one word on the current line |
| Tab | Auto-complete files and folder names |
Note that some of these commands may not work if you are accessing bash through a telnet/ssh session, or depending on how you have your keys mapped.
Update: Some readers from digg have pointed out that you can also switch bash to use vi style editing keys. This article covers the default bash keys, but I’ll write another one to cover vi style keys as well… great suggestions! Subscribe to the feed for updates.
Screen capture, or print screen is perhaps the most efficient way to share whatever appears on your desktop. They help tech users like us to share and communicate better with friends and peers. Major operating systems today comes with basic screen capture and print screen function, but if these can’t fulfill what you need from a screen capture then you are probably looking for a screen capturing tool.
Screen capturing tools do what the basic tool don’t. What these tools could do varies, including the ability to include sketches and text, instantly upload image online, audio capturing, dimension-specific capturing and more. Make your screen capture and sharing experience more interesting, here’s a showcase of 40+ Free Screen Capturing Tools and Related Techniques. Full list after jump.
We love cross platform tools. No more worries when you are all too familiar with one tool and needs to get the job done on a different operating system.
A project of Techsmith, Jing has the ability to do instance image and video capturing. Aside from that, you can also do sketches on the image and share them online. Speaking from functionality point of view, being free tool is definetely a steal. [Download: Windows, Mac]
Saying Evernote has cross platform supporting ability seems to be slightly inaccurate, instead it’s multi-platform. This awesome tool not only runs on Windows and Mac, it also supports iPhone, Windows Mobile and even websites. You’ve got to check out the video to see how great it is. [Download: Windows, Mac, more]
Capture web pages in whole or parts. And because it’s developed with Adobe AIR, you bet it’s cross-platform. It captures web screenshots, the only problem is – it’s not attached to the browser. [Download]
Yet another Adobe AIR application to take website snap shots. [Downloads]
By default, you can only do a full page and active window print screen on Windows. The following tools give you much more flexibility.
Open-source screen capture program that allows for region/window/full-screen screenshots. It can FTP screenshots and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke. It supports automatic custom naming conventions with variables. [Download]
Behave like most screen capture software. The most interesting part is – you can run it from a USB thumbdrive. Talking about print screen portability. [Download]
Cropper is a screen capture utility written in C# on the Microsoft .Net platform. [Download]
Capture is a quick-and-easy screen capture utility for Windows (and NT), which allows you to capture the entire screen, at any color depth and resolution, and save it into a Bitmap file for editing. [Download]
Small yet powerful Windows program for snapping (capturing) images from selected parts of the screen. [Download]
Free windows tool to print and/or capture to disk or clipboard, the full desktop, active window, predefined area, or user selected area of the screen. [Download]
Useful free tool to copy webpage screenshot for sharing purposes. Interesting thing is that, when you cutting out a portion of an Internet Explorer window, the URL will also be copied to the clipboard; this makes it very convenient to select something interesting on a Web site and send it out in an email message. [Download]
Screen capture utility that allows you to quickly and easily capture an image of any window on your desktop, or the entire desktop. [Download]
Screen Grab Pro features one-click grab of any screen for ease of use, Timer operation, Current window selection list and more. [Download]
Wisdom-Soft ScreenHunter is a free screen-capture tool for you to easily take screenshots. ScreenHunter can capture a full screen, an active window, the client window, or a rectangular area. [Download]
Capture screenshots with ease. [Download]
Light and powerful screen capture application with whole screen, object-selective and region screencapture ability. Save files in various formats, BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCX, PNG, TGA, TIFF and PDF. [Download]
Here are some of the most commonly used screen capturing tools for the Mac enthusiast.
Flexible screen capture and recording utility for Mac OS X which features a floating capture window, several saving options, and resize ability. [Download]
Simple utility to fill your screen with a giant blank window. Fill the window with a solid color or a custom image, your choice so you can take clean nice printscreen. [Download]
Skitch is not solely a screen capture tool. It allows you to capture screen shots of any application, chat moments and the ability to sketch on the screen shots. You can then upload it to share with friends. A printscreen tool injected with some fun. [Download]
InstantShot! offers classical screenshot functionality for capturing the whole screen, a portion of it or a window and also the option to make timed screenshots or to make delayed captures over time. It offers a wide range of preferences and options to fit everyone’s needs. [Download]
Written in Objective-C and the WebKit framework, this small utility is suitable for those who wants to do simple screen shots in their Mac. [Download]
Screenshot Helper shows a full screen window with a solid color or a desktop picture so that you can take clean screenshots without having irrelevant windows and desktop icons in the background. [Download]
SnapNDrag lets you take a screenshot by just clicking a button and dragging the resulting screenshot off, perhaps one of the simplest and easiet to use Mac printscreen tool we’ve seen. [Download]
A light screen capturing tool that runs in background until you kill the process (in Terminal) or logout. [Download]
Mac application for speed screenshot taking and video capturing (no audio). It’s also a virtual photo gallery. [Download]
Screen capturing tools for Linux users.
XscreenCapture allows you to capture an X11 dump from any Linux client with X11 port open. It will also convert and save automatically the result picture in the desidered compress format (default PNG). [Download]
Screen capture enabling you to capture videos off your X-Window desktop for illustration or documentation purposes. [Download]
These web tools go beyond screen capturing of your desktop. It allows you to print screen any website, all the way from header to footer.
Free web service that shows you how your website looks like in different browser of different version. A must tool for web developers on a browser compatibility check.
Similar to Browsershots, this free web services is for those who understand Japanese.
Simple web service for those who wants quick print screens. No compatibility check of different browser or versions available.
Clip2Net allows you to capture, sketch and share screencaptures online instantly. Good tool to communicate ideas with peers. [Download]
As the name suggest, it snaps thumbnail screenshot of any webites. All you need to do is enter the URL and hit capture. Comes with plugins you to facilitate blogging and web publishing.
Yet another online web thumbnail generator. Comes with API.
Test the compatibility of your design with Mac OS X browsers. Free web screenshot tool build on Mac OSX Leopard.
Screen capturing plugin for Firefox browser. They prints the lower fold screens you don’t see.
Firefox plugin with the ability to printscreen entire upper-fold and lower-fold of any browsing websites. Instead of saving the screenshot to a file, you can copy it to clipboard. [Install]
Firefox extension that creates screenshots of web pages. Comes with sets of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations and graphical annotations. Somehow it’s nota available for Firefox on Mac OSX [Install]
Ubuntu is arguably the most popular Linux distribution available. It's solid, stable, and well packaged. On top of that, the developers have made some 
There's a lot of software for Ubuntu (and other Linux distributions). A lot of it's good, some of it's OK, and there are a few duds. But the five applications that this TechTip covers are great additions to anyone's installation of Ubuntu.
Note: Some of the software discussed in this TechTip can also be installed on other Linux distributions.
Ubuntu Tweak, as its name implies, lets you change the configuration of an Ubuntu system right from a single user interface. With Ubuntu Tweak, you can install a number of popular or third-party applications, change the look and behavior of your window manager, set up shortcuts, and more.
Two of my favorite features of Ubuntu Tweak are the third-party software installer and the package cleaner. While you can install a lot of software using Synaptic Package Manager (the default software installation tool for Ubuntu), there's a lot of interesting software that you can't get through Synaptic. The third-party installer lists some of these – like VirtualBox and the Chromium browser – and installs any additional software or libraries that they require.
The package cleaner frees up space on your hard drive. Whenever you install a new piece of software using Synaptic, Ubuntu saves a copy of the installer (called a package) and information about that package on the drive. The thing is, though, that you don't need those packages. With Ubuntu Tweak, you can clear all of that out easily.
Firefox is the default Web browser for Ubuntu. It's a great application that has some nifty features. But the problem with Firefox is that it's fairly large and can be quite slow. If you want to speed up your Web browsing, then Epiphany is for you.
Whereas Firefox is plodding, Epiphany is lean, fast, and mean. In fact, it's almost spartan. The browser window contains a set of menus, a button bar, and an area in which to type Web addresses. That's it. No search box and no other eye candy. If you want to do a search, just type the term that you want 
What you'll notice, though, is that Epiphany can do everything that Firefox can do. Only faster. From clearly rendering Web pages to logging into secure sites, Epiphany does it all.
While Firefox comes with a massive array of add-ons (which extend the features and functions of the browser), the pickings for Epiphany are pretty slim. There's an ad blocker, one that lets you subscribe to an RSS feed, and one that lets you look up text that you select with a bookmark.
Epiphany's not everyone's cup of tea. Some people who try it are frustrated by its lack of features. But if you want to see how fast Web browsing can be then give Epiphany a look.
Sharing files between computers can be a chore. Emailing files or copying them to a USB flash drive gets really tedious really quickly. A more efficient way is to share your files online. Shortly after the release of Ubuntu 9.04 in April, 2009 Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) opened a service called Ubuntu One to users by invitation only.
On the Web site, you can specify which folders to share and with whom. At the moment, service is in beta testing which means there may be a few problems. But it looks like it will be quite useful. And you get 2 GB of free storage, which isn't too shabby.
Note: An upcoming TechTip will look at online storage and file sharing services.
Inspired by a Mac utility called Quicksilver, GNOME Do is a very powerful utility that lets you start applications, search for items on your computer and on the Web, and a whole lot more. Once you've given GNOME Do a shot, you'll find it indispensable.
While GNOME DO is a powerful tool, it gets a lot more power and flexibility from its array of plugins. There are dozens of them – some you can download with GNOME Do itself, and others which have been created by enthusiastic users. These plugins do a lot of things, like allowing you to access your files in Google Docs, microblogging, searching for files on your computer, shortening URLs, and looking up words in a dictionary.
GNOME Do can do a lot. And it's fun exploring the application's capabilities.
One persistent myth about Linux is that it's all command line (also called the terminal). Or, at least, you need to use the command line as much as the graphical user interface. Nothing can be further from the truth. I know several Linux users who've never gone to the command line.
That said, using the command line can enhance your experience with Ubuntu (or any other Linux distribution). For an interesting perspective on why you should learn the command line, read this article.
To get to the command line in Ubuntu, you'd normally select Applications > Accessories > Terminal. That's a lot of work. I like to have the command line at my fingertips. Literally. Which is why I love Guake. Whenever I need it, I just press a hot key (in my case, F9) and Guake literally drops down from the top of my screen. I do whatever I need to do, and then press F9 again to make the Guake window disappear.
You can tweak Guake in a number of different ways. You can change the size of the window to best suit your LCD monitor, set the transparency and background of the window, change the font, and modify the keyboard shortcut to call Guake. You can even configure the behavior of tabs. Yes, you can have multiple terminals in a single Guake window.
Ubuntu really shows the flexibility and potential of the Linux desktop. And the various applications – like the five discussed in this TechTip – add to that flexibility.
Are you an Ubuntu user? If so, what are some of your favorite applications? Leave a comment and share your favorites.
DivX playback, Totem player, Windowed.
One of my new years resolutions for 2007 was to use an open source operating system. I don’t mean try it out and forget about it - rather, I want to learn how to use it for day to day work (which I would normally do on an XP powered PC).
And each day I use this new OS, I’m amazed by how easy it is to use. The purpose of this little article is to give Windows XP users a rough idea on how easy it is to use Ubuntu, and see how Ubuntu compares with Windows XP
Pre installation FAQ
The Ubuntu Experience
To give you an idea of what it’s like to use Ubuntu
I was amazed at how many applications are included with Ubuntu - right out of the box, this OS seems to include everything I could think of - office software, DVD/CD Writing software, Email and Internet browser, graphics, etc, all included, fully functional, and ready to use.
The Desktop
I’ve tweaked the menu to start from below (like XP) because I’m used to that 
As you can see, it’s a lot like XP - you have your “Computer”, and a taskbar which shows Tabs for windows, a clock, and a menu to launch programs, accessories, etc. Yup, just like XP - so nothing to relearn here as such!
Included Software:
Unlike Windows, Ubuntu includes a range of popular Linux applications for various tasks such as Graphics, Wordprocessing, etc. Most of these software packages are equivalent to (or better than) similar commercial Windows applications
Graphics Software:
GIMP is a professional graphics software, similar to Photoshop.
Office software:
Ubuntu includes Open Office which is similar to Microsoft Office - it includes applications for Spreadsheet, Word processing, database, and presentation.
Games:
Ubuntu includes a large collection of preinstalled games
Security:
One big plus point of Ubuntu is, as with most Linux distros, it is very secure. Virus and spyware generally are not much of a threat (compared to Windows environment) as most attacks are directed against Windows.
Also, users aren’t automatically set up as administrators - and most admin operations require a password, so it’s harder for a malicious application to attack the system.
Also, as Ubuntu is open source, the code is regularly checked by thousands of people worldwide, and bugs are quickly fixed.
Summary
Ubuntu is professional operating system, it’s simple to use, includes freeware versions of most Windows software, and, did I forget to mention, happnens to be FREE?
Over the next few days I will write more articles on my Ubuntu experience.
PS: Hi to everyone at http://www.groklaw.net/
1. Customise the panel (taskbar)
It’s the classic Windows XP desktop - In Ubuntu!!
Ubuntu includes the Gnome panel - this allows you to add or remove menu items in various ways to panels - they can be located on the top/bottom/left/right of screen, like XP’s taskbar - Unlike XP, you can have more than one taskbar in Ubuntu.
I like Windows XP’s menu system, so I’ve configured my system to be similar (single panel at bottom like XP taskbar). Here’s how I did that:
2. Add the computer to your desktop
Not that you need to, but if you miss it, you can add it by dragging it off the places menu
3. Adding shortcuts
Ubuntu allows you to set up keyboard shortcuts - in this case I will show how to set up a shortcut for Terminal (some Ubuntu tasks need you to access the terminal). You can make a hotkey to it easily by going to System - Preferences - Keyboard Shortcuts, then select Run a terminal, and press the shortcut combination you want - e.g. alt+t, and click close.
4. Enable media playback
By default, Ubuntu does not enable playback of non open source media formats via its movie player. To re-enable this feature so you can play DivX, etc, by following the instructions here: (do whats described in the “how to make things work in a hurry” section.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats
5. Install Wine (Enables you to run Windows software under Ubuntu Linux!!)
Microsoft Word under Wine - not really necessary as open office is already installed - but I did this to test the installation process on Wine - it works!
After you instal wine, you can run a program by clicking Alt F2 (run) and then type wine /path/to/application e.g. wine /media/cdrom0/setup.exe
You can now install many Windows applications on your Ubuntu PC, and even create shortcuts to them.
6. Reconfigure Screen (if it doesnt work properly)
Sometimes Ubuntu’s default installation won’t detect your monitor properly (e.g. you can’t select all the resolutions you had under XP), also if you change your monitor (e.g. from a CRT to LCD) or change graphic cards, you might find that ubuntu no longer loads properly.
You can fix this by reconfiguring the graphics setup by logging to terminal on startup (press esc when Grub loads and follow the prompts) then type:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
7. Pronounce the name right
For some strange reason, some people pronounce Ubuntu as U-BAN-tu. This is wrong. Ubuntu is pronounced as oo-BOON-tu, and if you don’t believe me, just watch the video about Ubuntu which features Nelson Mandela (included on the installation disk).
So, what are your favorite Ubuntu tricks? Please add them as comments
Need more tips and tricks? Check out the Ubuntu forum here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=100
