Multimedia Options for Linux

November 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Some things that many people do on their personal, and maybe even their work computers, are listen to music, watch videos, or talk to friends or coworkers. No matter what operating system you are using, it is essential for many people to be able to do these things.

If you are looking to play some music, KPlayer is one of the multimedia players you may be interested in. You can play both audio and video files, as well as stream information from this platform. MPlayer and RealPlayer for Linux are also both great options. Many people will feel most comfortable with RealPlayer for Linux, simply because it is a program that they may recognize from when the used Windows.

Video players are also important to many. The vlc media player is a great program that works on many platforms. It handles discs, streaming, and other files. RealPlayer for Linux and other of the music players will also allow you to play video on them, as well.

There are many options if you want to talk to coworkers or friends. If you are playing a game, or just want to talk to someone vocally through your computer, TeamSpeak is a great application that allows people to speak to each other over the internet. Pidgin is a messaging service that works on many platforms. It actually supports many of the common messaging services, such as Yahoo, Google Talk, AIM, and more. Xchat is a chat client based on IRC. It is usable both in Windows and Linux, and allows file transfers, connection to multiple channels, and even private messaging.

No matter what type of program you are looking for when it comes to multimedia, you can find it all for your Linux computer. Multimedia is a large part of many people’s lives, and most feel that their computers would not be complete without the opportunity to talk to others, watch a video, or listen to some music.


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Technology in Our Lives

October 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Niche Affiliate Marketing System (NAMS) Workshop 3
Image by rogercarr via Flickr

Younger people have become so accustomed to technology in their lives that they usually don’t give it a second thought. When you consider that there is an entire generation of children living right now who have never known a world without computers and other technology, it can give you pause. This can be especially true for those who are old enough to remember when computers were only used in certain places and it sometimes took entire rooms to hold the operating system.

These people may find themselves feeling particularly nostalgic when they watch an older movie or television show in which the people are still using typewriters and other office machines, or they actually experience a form of “culture shock” when they see old-time scenes depicting the use of what was then considered the latest in technology. That’s when the advances in technology can really become apparent.

Technology and technological advances affect every portion of our lives, even consumer buying, as websites can now use affiliate programs to reach more people. Affiliate programs allow merchant websites to receive more traffic by entering into an agreement with an affiliate website. (This is a very brief explanation, there is quite a bit more involved, so do not consider this explanation to be all-inclusive.) Affiliate review sites help them make the best decisions in choosing which sites to enter into agreements with.

When you consider the fact that it seems as though childrennowadaysare born knowing how to operate a computer, and their parents are mostly likely more tech-savvy than the child’s grandparents, anyone who is in the business of selling anything will want to take advantage of as many of the technological advances that exist today as they can. By doing so, they can achieve better success in their business, no matter what it may be.

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Linux and Indie Games

October 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Kartoffelknülch - Linux Games for Children
Image by Udo Herzog via Flickr

Indie game creators often shy away from putting out versions of their games that support Linux platforms. Indie game creators make it easy for the Linux system users to obtain driver downloads. They do this because they do not realize how big the Linux market is. In fact, the Linux market is growing daily.

Windows has long been the top dog when it comes to operating systems and having game designers support their platform. Slowly but surely, more have begun supporting Apple as well. Linux, however, has been left behind until very recently. More game developers need to support Linux Operating Software.

First of all, while the Indie developers create the games for their enjoyment, many of them create them to make money. Because Linux is open source software, they assume that Linux users won’t pay for a game. Actually, Linux users are more likely to pay for games that they enjoy than young Windows users who are likely to attempt to obtain pirated software.

Also, for an Indie developer to make money, he has to make a name for himself. People have to know who he is to get a gaming review site to even glance at his games. Because so few developers give Linux games a second look, there are reviewers who focus on Linux alone. A game that gains only moderate popularity in Windows can become huge on Linux, thus exposing itself to people who use both platforms and actually promoting the games in Windows further. To put it in the words of the game developers from Wolfire, “A lot of people heard about and supported Lugaru simply because we had a Linux build”

Lastly, if you develop correctly, there is no extra cost or time involved in making your games Linux compatible. There are many frameworks that support Windows, Mac, and Linux at the same time. So choosing one that only supports one type of operating software doesn’t make sense. Pygame, Ogre3D, and Bullet are all examples of cross-platform frameworks.

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Linux and Anti-Viral Software

September 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
While it may be hard to believe to people who are new to the world of Linux applications and programming, special virus-protection software is not needed for for computers running only Linux. This is true even if the computers are connected to the internet.

While all Linux programming experts will agree that a virus is relatively simple to create, running it and destroying a large number of computers would be very difficult. There are several reasons why.

First, because Linux is a full multi-user system, it is almost impossible to infect the entire computer with a virus, worm, or trojan. The infected program would have to be run under the root user. Most Linux users are aware of where their software and programs are originating. If the software’s source is not 100% trustworthy, it simply needs to be run on a non-root user.

Also, Linux systems support a huge variety of different types of computers, software, and configurations. So, a virus created to infect one computer would be completely harmless on another as the programming would likely become confused by the different set-up of the computer.

Is there a possibility of the user running dangerous software as the root and crashing their Linux run computer? Absolutely. However, administrative users with access to the root user, have been bombarded with the message that the root user account is dangerous and any changes on it could affect the entire computer. Thus, they either work regularly from a non-root account, or they crash their system again and again making mistakes until they learn the importance of the root account.

One example would be the new user who types in some variation of the command to remove all files from the computer while logged in as the root user. If the main user of the computer doesn’t understand the different accounts, he or she will most likely cause a problem with some other issue long before they load a virus onto their computer.

Educating new users and learning from experience are much more effective in the Linux world than superfluous and costly programs.

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Linux Compatable Video Editing Software

September 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
For Linux users, finding the best compatible software for your specific needs can be difficult. It can be hard to tell whether or program is useful or not based on how it looks online. Different people have different needs when it comes to video editing software.

Avidemux is available on the internet for free. It can be used for cutting, encoding, and filtering video. If you look for and find the corresponding codecs, the Avidemux program will support AVI, MPEG, MP4, and even ASF project files. Avidemux also has great capabilities for scripting.

A second video editing program available on Linux is called Cinelerra. It is one of the most complex Linux programs available for video. It supports high-fidelity video and audio both. Due to the fact that it is dependant on frame rate and resolution, Cinelerra can support any size or speed of video. It is certainly not a program for a beginner. Cinelerra is one of the most sophisticated software editors across any platform.

Another professional-quality video editing program that is compatible with Linux is called LiVES. This is not only a video editing program, but also a comes with professional grade VJ tool capabilities. Because it does all of the work for you while you edit, there is no worrying about framerates or formats. This program allows the user to mix clips right at the keyboard. It allows trimming and editing of clips and includes many realtime effects. The user can even record a performance in real time and come back and play it later or mix it further.

With all of the choices available, the best way to know that the program you have downloaded will work for you is to play around with it a little bit. Find a friend who has them already or download a free trial where available.

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More Great Linux Compatible Open Source Software

September 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Finding great Linux compatible open source software can be difficult. With a large number of novice programmers trying their hands at something new and posting it on the internet, including occasional viruses, it is best to use software that has been used, tested and reviewed by other Linux users. Below are a few of those programs. All are free, open source programs that are compatible with Linux.

The VLC Media Player is a simple, yet very useful media player program that supports nearly all audio, video, streaming, DVD, and VCD formats. In fact, the web site for this program lists 29 compatible audio formats and 26 video formats. It even has additional programming available to watch region locked DVDs.

Miro is another program that many have never heard of, but will love the second they give it a try. Miro is a video player as well as a podcast client. It comes with an already compiled library of podcasts and internet streams. At this time, there are more than 6000 channels. Miro describes themselves as a place that makes torrents easy, RSS beautiful, and offers gorgeous HD video.

For anyone who has a large collection of ebooks or enjoys reading ebooks checked out from their local libraries, Calibre is a management application that comes with many features. It will sort the user’s ebook collection by title, author, date, reader rating and more. It also allows tagging books to create the user’s own sorting methods. The software includes a place for writing notes while the user is reading. This is a great feature for students or someone who writes book reviews. It syncs with ebook readers including the Amzon Kindle and the Sony Reader. This software even downloads news from the web and converts it to ebook format.

If you don’t have this software for your Linux computers yet, go find it and download it now!

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Linux Gives Old Hardware New Life

September 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The majority of computer users have a need for only a few basic abilities. They want their computers to access the internet. They need office type programs. They need a place to store photos. And, they need to be able to watch and store home videos.

Any computer user that had a Windows based computer would groan at the thought of trying to do any of those things on computers that are five years old. They would laugh if it was suggested that they use a computer that was ten or twelve years old.

That is one of the amazing things about Linux. The programming has such a small footprint on the hard drive and takes very little RAM to run properly. Many people claim that running Linux on old computers actually creates a better running and faster machine than running the newer versions of Windows on machines that are a couple of years old.

One example comes from a popular Youtube video of someone who loaded Linux onto their old computer. The computer was a Pentium 3 800. It had only 128 MB RAM. The video shows the user watching a basketball game online, opening and closing windows with ease, and even changing workstations in a way that one would expect to see in a Windows commercial.

Because Linux comes with Open Office and a web browser, users have the ability to do anything they need right away, with out waiting to upload more programs. While storing videos and digital photos may not work well on an older computer, anyone can hook up an inexpensive external hard drive to store those types of things.

With all of these features, it is clear that Linux isn’t just for computer nerds to have a strong understanding of computer programming. Linux is for everyone. If you need to find a way to do it, Linux can help.

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Linux Means Learning Something New

September 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One problem that many users have with Linux is that they only know how to think in terms of windows. They have used windows for so long that they don’t know how to use anything else. Humans do not like change.

Even Microsoft found this out when they came out with Windows Vista. People rushed out to buy it because it was the latest and greatest operating software. Unfortunately, it required them to learn to do things a new way. So many people gave up quickly and put XP back on their computers.

Often the people who download Linux are doing it for the wrong reasons. They heard it was cheap. They heard it from a friend that it was good. They think it would be neat to try. While all of these things are true, unless you know what you’re doing and where to get the support you need, these are not good reasons to try Linux.

Downloading Linux is for those not only want to try something completely new and different, but also are willing to learn and practice. There are several web sites on the Internet that will teach you to use Linux. You can even test it out without ever downloading it onto your computer.

If you have questions about Linux and its programs there are many Linux message boards online. There you will find users who have experience and can answer your questions well. The last thing you want is to ask a question and get advice from someone who has no idea what they are really doing.

It is hard to get yourself out of the Windows mindset and into a Linux mindset. Many people try to configure their desktops in Linux to look like the Windows desktop. If you are already planning on doing that, then you should know Linux is probably not right for you.

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Linux and the PS3

September 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment
When the Playstation 3 was created, Sony made it clear that they intended it to have the option to use other operating software. They advertised this as one of the functions of the device. However, in March of 2010, Sony annouced that it would no longer allow the Playstation 3 to support the Linux operating system.

Many users were angry and an attempt at a class action suit was filed in California in April. The claim made called the changes were “unfair and deceptive” as well as a “breach of good faith”. People bought the machines because of the fact that Linux could be used on them. People in several other states have also filed lawsuits based on the same issues.

Due to laws in other countries, some overseas buyers have already received refunds without filing any type of suit as Sony was required to pay based on lessoning the capabilities of the Playstation 3.

Recently, a new device that connects to the Plastation 3 like a thumb drive is reportedly becoming available. The technical term for the device is a “dongle”. Named the PS Jailbreak, it will turn the PS3 into a machine that is compatible with Linux again.

The dongle allows regular online play and is also fully updatable. All regions are supported. The dongle also keeps the user from having to buy an expensive blue ray player or disks as the games can be backed up to an external hard drive through a USB device, and the games can be directly booted from the GUI.

What the outcome will be is yet to be decided. Sony had announced at one time that they would create a fix to restore the OtherOS option. However, the first one that they supposedly released turned out to be a hoax. Most users have given up waiting on the fix.

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Linux Gaming Mad Skills Motocross

September 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Compared to the graphics of today’s newer games, this one doesn’t even compare. But if you want to be taken back to the days of the NES and work on mastering a game that you would have enjoyed as a child, this one is for you. In fact, you can share it with your children as well. Tell them that this is what video games used to look like.

In all actuality, the graphics are slightly better than the old NES games, with more realistic colors and enough shading to give things a 3D look, but the concept is still the same. Make it around the track without a spectacular crash in a time that is faster than you have ever made it before.

Mad Skills Motocross is a dirt track motor biking competition with 52 increasingly difficult tracks. You work to keep your balance on the bike as you fly through mud holes and over hills, doing stunts that would likely have disastrous results in real life.

Mad Skills Motocross does have a free trial download available. Once you are hooked on the game though, you will have no problem laying out the $19.95 for the full version.

This version of the game is definitely child and family friendly. There is no violence or inappropriate humor. Everyone will also love the fact that once you have successfully completed a certain number of tracks, you can begin creating and racing on tracks that you design and build yourself.

Mad Skills Motocross creators are working on upgrades at the moment as well. They hope to be launching a multi-player version in the near future. This will allow head to head competition between players. It is unknown if players of the new version will be able to share the tracks that they have created themselves with friends.

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