Solarization in GIMP - Howto

Introduction

GIMP Ver 2.6 as a standard build lacks a solarization filter, putting a lot of people off in the process.

Sharing a directory with other account users on the same computer using Ubuntu

 

Introduction

Ssh Remote Server Disconnection

Introduction

Ubuntu is a very stable and a very reliable operating system, however when remotely connecting to it form an equally Ubuntu Desktop variant using the ssh protocol it has a tendency to disconnect or lockup for no apparent reason. The reason it disconnects is to prevent you damaging the server computer by the use of commands that by mistake may be run due to the fact the "ssh" connect remains open. It is also a pain in the ass....

Recovering from an Upgrade Failure at Boot

Twice now upgrading from "Karmic Koala" to "Lucid Lynx" both are LTS versions the server have failed. I had each server fail to boot after upgrade and whilst I can not understand why, I can at least try to find a way around the failure and restore the system to working order. This article is my attempt to recover from such a disaster.

Hardware

Introduction.

It is not unusual, for new users wanting to try Linux for the first time to want to use an old discarded computer. This is quite a reasonable attitude, as these users have probably never seen a Linux operating system, let alone used one.

Fear plays a part in this, as computers remain a mystery to many thousands of people. They are content with switching them on and using them. What goes on "under the bonnet", is of no relevance.

They are used to Windows and that's it!

Interrogating Domain Names

Introduction

Console commands can be quite useful not least for which the immense power they provide given the size of the application, "nslookup" is one such command although by enlarge replaced by the "dig" command, both apparently perform the same or similar function. Both these commands perform the function of lookup for a given domain name returning a four or six digit sequence of decimal numbers separated by periods "." this number when returned gives numbered address assigned to that domain. This you might already know, what you might not know is that any given domain name can hold more than just one numbered address. What is the point of that I here you ask?

Video Ascii - ASCII Art

Introduction

ASCII stands for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange" it is one of the the most widely used examples of usable character standards currently in use. You probably don't even realise it but if you are using a computer to read this, then you are most likely using ASCII to access and read this very article. It is widely used as common printable characters a-z, A-Z and 0-9 along with the various punctuation marks and readily found on your screen and keyboard. Video Ascii is a form of Ascii Art this is the depiction of a readily distinguishable object, person or form that uses the tonal qualities within individual characters to display a recognisable picture. This type of art first came about with the early typewriter and with individual keyboard characters painstakingly manipulated to depict a person or object. This process was only made slightly quicker with the introduction of the electric typewriter, but not much. As computers came into the scene display outputs were extremely simple, both video and print but the production of Ascii Art was almost automated and much simplified. Now it is possible to produce video Ascii Art using common tools readily available from within standard Ubuntu repositories. ASCII code Table

Introduction

What is Compiz Fusion? Compiz Fusion is a compositing window manager. What does that mean? Previously, each program you run draws graphics directly onto the screen within its own window. Compositing puts a layer in between programs and the screen, changing the flow from programs, to the intermediate buffer, to the screen. What this allows for is that graphics from a running program can be manipulated before being drawn in various 2D and 3D ways, like this:

Upgrading Version 2 Thunderbird to Version 3

Introduction

If you have updated recently your version of Linux Distro in Ubuntu, Mint and others you might have hit on a couple of upgrade problems associated with the Thunderbird Version released with the distro. This howto covers the instructions needed to overcome these problems. At least one of the fixes is very simple the other is only slightly more complex.

Thunderbird Problem

Installing the latest OpenOffice Suite for Debian and Ubuntu Systems

Introduction

Most of the time you will want to use the installed package manager with the likes of (apt-get or Synaptic) to use for Open Office, using this method whilst it ensures an easy to install solution does not give you the latest version installation, the latest version is harder to install partly because it comes as a tarball and there are several individual Debian packages within it and apparently no setup script of obvious means of installation.