A few days back I had VLC player version 0.9 on my Ubuntu OS. One thing I didn’t like about it is that it had 2 separate windows which is the video output and the control window. I have VLC on my XP and both of these windows are integrated as one where the video output is placed at the top and the controls at the bottom. It was quite frustrating at first when I have to keep looking for the control window to navigate through a video I was watching on the VLC player.
So I googled a bit and found that that version of VLC 0.9 had problem’s working on one window on GNOME desktop. The users can however change the settings so that it works on one window but the player seems crash all the time if done so.
So the only solution I found was to upgrade the VLC player to 1.0 RC which is not in the Ubuntu repositories yet. I had to add the repositories myself. Below are the repositories:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kow/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kow/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
The repositories needs to be added though the software sources (System > Administration > Software Sources), thanks to Andrew
Categories: How to
Tagged: ubuntu, vlc
The wireless LAN or wifi provides us an alternative way to connect to the Internet provided that your wireless device is in range of a wireless network. More people are utilizing this method to connect to the Internet since it is really easy to use. Wifi is so popular that no only Starbucks but coffee shops are providing wifi for their customer to use. But what most people are not aware of is the security wifi provides that would cause harm to their devices connected to the wifi or worst get charged for network criminal activities.
That is why it is important to encrypt their wireless routers with passwords. There are some wireless encryption standards that can be used which are WEP, WPA, WPA2. WEP has been shown to be easily breakable when correctly configured. WPA and WPA2 are much more stronger encryption than WEP. Most people would use WEP since most wireless routers default password encryption is WEP and they probably wouldn’t know the difference between those encryption standards anyway. WEP is so easy to break that some are using their neighbors wifi to connect to the Internet.
I wanted to know how to break the WEP encryption to see how easy it was. So I started googleing and I found that I don’t need to write actual codes to break it. There are programs on the Internet that helps you to do this. One that works is Aircrack-ng. It can be done on most operating systems but it works better on a Linux distribution. Here are few of the links that are useful:
I’m not encouraging to break into someone wifi and use their Internet access. Let’s put it this way, I want the world to know that WEP is not secure. So use WPA2 instead 
Happy cracking…
(In the end I did not managed to crack the WEP encryption because my wireless adapter is Intel)
Categories: Security
Tagged: aircrack-ng, wifi
I am currently working on my Python project as a requirement of my final year project. The project is a small application that works on the panel applet of the Ubuntu OS. It monitors network traffic by different application layer protocols for example http, ftp, smtp and telnet and displays any network activity for that particular protocol in a graphical view.
I have always wanted to build an application with Python since its widely used in open source operating systems. This will give me an opportunity to work in an open source environment. Python by the way is an open source programming language.
I am a big fan of the Ubuntu operating system ever since I installed it on my computer for the first time in 2007. My first Ubuntu distribution was 7.04: Feisty Fawn and I was captivated by its beauty and it opened my eyes to the world of open source. And that is the reason why I wanted to work in an open source environment.
My project is still in its initial stages and I hope that the prototype will be up and running somewhere around August this year. Will be submitting my project on sourceforge.net so that I could get some feedbacks from the community. Well, I hope that this project will go well as planed.
Categories: Projects
Tagged: python, ubuntu
I have installed Linux: Ubuntu a month back on my laptop and to my astonishment, the open source operating system is astounding. It is something I have been wanting to do for the past decade but never had the guts to do so. I am a person who is constantly haunted by the hunger to try something new which most of the time ends up in a terrible disaster. I get bored easily and that is why I always need to seek something fresh to fulfill my satisfaction. So I got confident enough to take it one step further into the typical dual-boot setup.
Installing Linux on my system was a breeze. I’ve downloaded the Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn ISO file and burned it on a CD. It took around 40 minutes for Ubuntu to be fully installed but I am guessing that it would take even less if it was installed on a faster computer. Ubuntu 7.04 starts up with a login screen which I am required to insert my username and password. After getting through the login screen, I am presented with the GNOME desktop environment. GNOME is the graphical user interface which sits on top of a computer operating system. Most of Linux distribution are based on the GNOME.
The user interface is pretty similar to the one of Window’s, not that I know of any other operating systems other than Windows. Like Microsoft Windows, GNOME also have horizontal menu bars. But instead of just one horizontal bar at the bottom, GNOME has two. One at the top and one at the bottom of the desktop. The top menu bar shows the different application and function that you can interact with just like Microsoft Windows Start button. The date and time is also displayed on the top right menu bar. The bottom menu bar shows currently active programs which when clicked will maximize onto the desktop. The trash can is also displayed on the bottom right corner of the menu bar. I find It rather easy to navigate through the applications from the menu.
Although at first I had some difficulties with connecting to the internet, I still managed to solve the problem with a little bit of googling and configuring. I even managed to install the latest driver for my ATI graphic card by using Envy. Envy is an application that detects the model of your graphic card (only ATI and Nvidia cards are supported) and install the appropriate driver. After successfully installing the driver, I am able to add extra visual effects to my working environment using Compiz Fusion. The extra visual effects gives a wobble effect to windows when they are dragged. A really slick effect for a desktop environment I would say. I can actually have more effects on Ubuntu desktop by installing the Advance Desktop Effect such as the Desktop Cube, Viewport Switcher, ADD Helper and Motion Blur.
To play my mp3s I need to use the Rhythmbox Music Player. I had to install the appropriate codex package first so that I can play most of the common music formats. With the default installation of Ubuntu, I would not be able to play music with .mp3 file extension or play movies with .avi file extension because they are restricted formats. So I need to install the w32codecs package to play them.
Updating Ubuntu is also very easy as I can do it over the network. All I need to do is go to Systems -> Administration -> Update Manager and click install update. I can also Upgrade to the latest version of Ubuntu. For example I want to upgrade my Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn to Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. All of that can be done in Update Manager.
Ubuntu is a new experience for me but I am starting to love every part of it. For a Ubuntu beginner, I would say that I am very pleased with it. Very easy installation and updates and user friendly. And the best part of all Ubuntu is FREE.
Categories: OS
Tagged: ubuntu
