Prerequisites:

• A POSIX (Unix) user account for joomla
• A database and credentials to the joomla user to manipulate the database
• Apache web server
• PHP5
• MySQL

If you install Joomla in a Ubuntu Server machine, then you’ll have to access the Web-Based installer from a client machine. Else take a web browser and give the installation path and hit enter.

http://localhsot/joomla

This will start the web-based installer.

After selecting the language of choice, the next screen will check whether the prerequisites are fulfilled.

Note: In this screenshot I’ve given root as the database user, but you can create any POSIX user and grant the database access to that user.

Eg:

# create user joomla

#mysql -u root -p

mysql>create database joomla;

mysql>grant all on joomla.* to joomla@localhost identified by ‘user_password’;

mysql>flush privileges;

You may have to create a FTP server account for file uploads for Joomla.

You can either have your own FTP server or some third party FTP server. But you need to create a user for joomla and assign it during the setup.

Then comes the Main Configuration window, where you have to enter;

• Site name
• Default email
• And install of sample data

Installing sample data will be important for some cases where it helps in restoring the site in case of crash.

If all goes smoothly, you can complete the installation and log in to your new Joomla installation by providing the admin username and password of the Joomla that you created.

After entering the username and password, you will be loged in to the Joomla Administrator panel. There you an create content, customize themes, install new themes, and do all the joomla administration.

Some Linux related posts :

• How to install a software in Ubuntu
• How to install Ubuntu 10.10
  
• How to automatically mount Windows partitions in Ubuntu
  
• How to install Windows software in Ubuntu
• How to install Google Talk in Ubuntu

You can run most of the Windows Native programs on Linux using Wine. (Applications, Utility programs, games, etc). Let’s  try to run a simple .exe file using Wine to get an idea of how it works. First of all, if you don’t have Wine installed in your Linux box, install it using one of your favorite package managers. Mine it’s always good old “apt”.

# apt-get --yes install wine

After you install Wine, to check whether it works smoothly, try opening the Notepad which comes with Wine. If it runs smoothly, mean your Wine installation is successful.

I downloaded the Putty.exe application which used by MS Windows computers to connect to a Unix,GNU/Linux system via SSH or Telnet.

You can right click on the Putty.exe file and open it using Wine. It should open the Putty application as it appears in the Windows system. You can run many applications like that but some times, few applications will not run smoothly as it’s only an Emulator and not the Windows OS.

Apart from this you can always have a virtual machine running on Complete Windows System and use all the Windows software in it and run as you normally runs on Windows.

• How to install a software in Ubuntu
• How to install Ubuntu 10.10
  
• How to automatically mount Windows partitions in Ubuntu
  
• How to install Windows software in Ubuntu
• How to install Google Talk in Ubuntu

$ axel http://www.website.com/yourdownloadfile.zip

You can limit the out put one line by specifying the option -a with axel command.

Some options you can use with axel to control your download.

Format: $ axel –[Options] [download file]

–max-speed=x, -s x
You  can  specify  a speed (bytes per second) here and Axel will try to keep the average speed around this speed. Useful  if  you
don’t want the program to suck up all of your bandwidth.

–num-connections=x, -n x
You can specify an alternative number of connections here.

–alternate, -a
This  will  show an alternate progress indicator. A bar displays the progress and status of the  different  threads,  along  with
current speed and an estimate for the remaining download time.

You can use this program in your shell scripts and run remotely in any computer. You don’t need to have a Remote Desktop facility, you can connect to any Unix, GNU/Linux Computer via SSH and perform downloads in command shell. And this is a very handy tool when your computer resources are very low.

Let’s use the terminal (command line) to do server level operations.

[1] Download the drupal files from the web site and extract the files to the web root (/var/www/)

$ wget http://ftp.drupal.org/files/projects/drupal-6.14.tar.gz && sudo cp drupal-6.14.tar.gz /var/www/
(you’ll have to provide the sudo password to copy the files to the web root)

$ cd /var/www/ && sudo tar xvvzf drupal-6.14.tar.gz

Now that you have placed the files in the web root. Let’s create a user and a database for drupal.

$ sudo useradd drupal (Give what ever the user name you want and the password)

Create a MySQL database.

$ mysql -u root -p

mysql> create database drupal;

mysql> grant all on drupal.* to drupal@localhost identified by ‘password’;

mysql> flush privileges;

Okay now we have the database and credentials for drupal user to manipulate that database.

For ease of use let’s rename to drupal-6.14 to just “drupal”.

$ sudo mv drupal-6.14 drupal

You need to do a small tweek before you begin the installation.

The Drupal installer requires that you create a settings file as part of the installation process.

1. Copy the ./sites/default/default.settings.php file to ./sites/default/settings.php.
2. Change file permissions so that it is writable by the web server.

Make the ./sites/default writable for the time being until the installation ends.

chmod 777 ./sites/default (Make sure you make it to 755 later)

Take the web browser and start the installer.

You need to fill out the database name, user, password to connect your drupal site to the MySQL database. And make the defaut directory write protected after installation.

After you log in to Administrator panel, you can customize the theme, add new modules, manipulate the site and do many more things.

Here are some of the features of F-Spot:

Simple and easy to use interface. It has a basic menu set which caters all the photo organizing tasks.

You can import your photos from the digital camera or from a folder in your computer. And you can organize them, tag them, rename and prepare a photo album from it.

You can edit photos using F-Spot. You can crop, resize, color balance, brightness/contrast/sharpness controls and many other things.

You can create photo CDs using F-Spot. There photo CDs can be viewed in DVD players, Computers, and even modern HDTV with DVD-ROM.

Finally you can share your photos across the Internet by uploading those to a web photo gallery like Picasa or Flickr. You can access your web photo gallery by entering the use name and password in to the F-Spot. You can create a new album in the web gallery without actually opening the photo gallery in the web browser.

This is one of the easiest tool that you can use for importing, organizing, exporting and uploading your photos. So hope you all use this tool to get your basic photo organizing task done.

Connect your mobile device to the PC via the USB. The Mobile Partner Icon will appear in the Desktop.

how to connect wifi and 3g in ubuntu

Mobile broadband applet will appear automatically. It’ll show your connected device too. Select your device and click forward. Then you’ll be prompt to select the country you located. I select Sri Lanka and click forward.

Luckily all the service providers are listed in the box and I only have to select my mobile service provider. As at now, I have a Mobitel Broadband connection and I’m going to select Mobitel from the list.

Next you’ll have to put settings for your connection like apn, user name, password, etc. But I’m leaving those to Ubuntu Mobile broadband applet. If you have custom settings you can enter them here.

Finally, You need to confirm the details. The applet will show you a summery of your connection. If you need to alter any thing, just click Back and go back to previous screens.

Again there is a option to manually enter details to your just created connection. But if you are okay with the settings just hit Apply and you are done.

In the main Ubuntu Main Menu Bar you can click on the network icon and select your Mobile connection. In couple of seconds, you’ll be connected and the signal bars will be shown in the Menu bar. Some times, you’ll not get a DNS IP at once, so just disconnect and reconnect couple of times till you get name servers.

If every thing is fine, You have an IP address issued to you, DNS IP also issued, you can browse the Internet and experience the Fast Mobile Broadband facility with Ubuntu. The most convenient thing in Ubuntu is you don’t have to install any driver for the Mobile Device. It’ll be detected automatically and work out of the box.

Here’s how to setup it in Empathy that runs in Ubuntu 9.10.

You can select all the listed protocols here. We’ll use Google Talk this time.

Make sure to put the server in “Override Server settings” as talk.google.com. Other details you can leave as default.

After you configure the google account, you can talk to your friends using voice and even video. You can even call using the number pad available in Empathy in some countries. That depends on the Telecom operators in your country.

Ubuntu is the most popular GNU/Linux Distribution available in today’s FOSS world. And today I’ll show you couple of methods you can use to install software in an Ubuntu System.

1. Using apt.

Apt (Advanced Packaging Tool) is the most favourite method of software installation in Debian based systems. You have so many repositories where you can download more than 60,000 software. This repositories are referred in the sources list at /etc/apt/sources.list.

Eg: Install VLC player
#apt-get install vlc

2. Using Synaptic Package Manager

Synaptic Package Manager will allow you to install software by searching the repositories. It’s a GUI based package manager. You can view the software by category and by clicking on Apply button you can easily install the software.

3. Downloading Deb packages.

You can download .deb packages and install them using command line and also using GDebi GUI tool.

Eg: Install Skype
#dpkg -i skype-ubuntu-intrepid_2.1.0.47-1_i386.deb

In GDebi, you can just right click on the .deb package and open it in GDebi, then you can install it from there.

These are the three main ways to install software in Ubuntu. But you can still use the traditional source installation too, but the life has being lot more easier with Ubuntu these days.

What is this FOSS?

Free and Open Source Software is a software category that offers many freedoms to the computer user. The term “Free” is referred to “Freedom” not “Zero cost”. If some one want to make money from FOSS there is a business model for that too. Mr. Richard M. Stallman is the initiator of Free Software movement and he founded the Free Software foundation to keep the software freedom going on so that the future generation also can benefit from it.

The essential 4 freedoms in FOSS.

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

This concept is being accepted by many people around the world and there are hundreds of thousands of users and Developers which contribute to FOSS in many ways. I would like to list down couple of famous FOSS applications that are used by today’s world.

• GNU/Linux Operating system
• Apache web server
• Postfix mail server
• Open Office, office suite
• Firefox Web browser
• Mozilla Thunderbird Mail Client
• GIMP image manipulation system
• Empathy instant messenger

There are over 60,000 software available for you to use in the category of FOSS. You can use, study, customize, share the software and that gives the real freedom to the computer user where they have the transparency and control over the software. FOSS is secure as it’s open. Most of the software is being developed according to the standards. Since the community input is very high, identifying and patching the software bugs is being done more often. Most of the free software developers are volunteers and they do it because they love it. We’ll go deeper in to the FOSS world with future articles on this topic.