How to Install Emulators on Ubuntu

Remember the good ol’ days when you would stay up all night trying to get to that next level.. when nothing else mattered but that extra life or one more point to beat that high score? Those were the days… but those days don’t have to leave you know. There is hope, and that hope is found in an SNES emulator by the name of ZSNES. If you do not have Ubuntu, you can still use ZSNES but you will have to build it from source which you should all know because it will come into play many times while using linux/unix.

The installation process of ZSNES is actually quite simple. Almost no work is required and it can all be done graphically through Synaptic if one wishes to do so but here we will simple use the terminal to save time. First off, let us update synaptic.

sudo apt-get update

Now it is time to install ZSNES which is found in the Ubuntu Repositories, if you do not have Ubuntu or would like to build from source, you can get the source code here.

sudo apt-get install zsnes

Now look in your menu and you should see under games, ZSNES. That is all there is to it! Now you have the emulator installed, it is basically just like the console. I have found that I have experienced some glitches with sound though and I would recommend going into ZSNES then Config >> Sound then setting the sampling rate to 8000HZ only if you experience sound lag. Also, you may have to install these files and I have read that you could try this command:

sudo aptitude install libsdl1.2debian-alsa

Do not forget to install your USB-based gamepad to get the most out of your gaming!

Now you can play all of your favorite games or public domain games. Keep in mind the legality of this varies from country to country and this tutorial is a demonstration and for educational use only. This program is distributed in the hope that it will useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. The ZSNES Team is not connected or affiliated with any mentioned company in any way. Companies and all products pertaining to that company are trademarks of that company. Please contact that company for trademark and copyright information. Along with that note, Linux Gaming Today is not connected or affiliated with any mentioned company in anyway and we hold no responsibility for any damage of any form and/or illegal activities conducted through use of this tutorial. This HOWTO comes with no explicit or implicit warranty whatsoever. Use at your own risk!

Free Computer To Phone Calls with Google Voice and Gizmo5!

VoIPStunt is a VoIP service which lets you make cheap phone calls to normal PSTN (your regular landline phone) or mobile phones. I’m a huge fan of this service as it allows me to make free phone calls to lot of countries and I just have to charge it for a small amount but I get to make lot of free calls to various countries and make use of each and every penny I invest in this service or rather much more than that.

So, while I shifted to Linux, I noticed that VoIPStunt didn’t have Linux version and that did dishearten me. However, luckily they support SIP protocol (the protocol behind Google Talk) and that allowed me to configure VoIPStunt and use it on my Ubuntu!

Here’s what I did to ensure that I could use the dirt cheap services of VoIP Stunt :

1. Open Ekiga softphone (Applications->Internet->Ekiga Softphone)
2. Follow the wizard of setting up the softphone and put these settings, when required :

Account : VoIPStunt
Registrar : sip.voipstunt.com
Username : your voipstunt username
password : your voipstunt password

That’s all is really required and it worked like a charm, like this you can configure any SIP based VoIP services. You just need the Registrar information and in some cases, you may need to change the port too, but you’ll get that information from the service provider.

I am so happy Google Voice is out, and it got released in perfect timing, cell phone rates are high, home phone rates are high and people are getting broke quicker, including myself(already broke) Google voice also has the ability to send/recieve free texts!, and you may be able to get free calls by adding your number to your service if you are allowed to call certain favorite people for free :) Now I'll explain how to make free calls with Gizmo5 and Google Voice to save you some money!

Google voice also had the ability to send/recieve free texts!

Ok First and foremost you need to have a Grandcentral account as of this moment for migrate over to Google Voice.

If your an existing Grandcentral user you will need to login here and click upgrade to google voice

Or create an account at Google.com/voice if it lets you yet, because Google Voice will be rolled out slowely all over the united states.

Once you got a Google Voice account all set up, grab Gizmo5 from Here(There is also other os versions at that link as well!)

Grab the debian .deb

Double click it to install, click Accessories->Internet->Gizmo5

Follow the directions to create a gizmo5 account.

Once created Click Home->Edit Profile

Now Copy your Sip #

1. Sign in to Google Voice.
2. Go to the Settings link at the top right of the page.
3. Click the Add/Edit Number link right above your phones, to the right of the page.
4. Click the Phones tab.
5. Click Add a new number.
6. Select Gizmo in the Phone Type drop-down menu.
7. Enter your SIP number without 1.
8. Enter a name for that phone, if you want.
9. Click Save.

Woohoo ok now we are all done setting it up, now lets get to calling :)

You will need to place all your calls with your Google Voice account, you click Call, Enter the number you want to call, select Gizmo with the dropdown list of phones you want to ring, then select Place Call.

Gizmo will ring and connect you to any United States phone number for Free.

Also if you have a Android Based G1, in a few days Evan will have an app released for the G1 to make calls with Google Voice More Info Here

Ubuntu Maintenance Guide

If you’ve used Windows for any period of time, you’re likely familiar with several maintenance “biggies”: virus and spyware scans, defragmenting, and freeing up space. When you first use a Linux distribution, you may wonder how to perform these maintenance tasks in your new operating system. Let’s take a look at these basic maintenance operations in Ubuntu.

Virus and spyware scans
Viruses and spyware are quite rare in Linux. In fact, they’re so rare that many users don’t even bother to run an antivirus program, and I’ve yet to encounter an antispyware program for Linux. However, viruses are a point of contention in the Linux community; some believe that one can never be safe enough when dealing with viruses, and others figure that the risk is, more or less, negligible. That said, the choice to run an antivirus program, such as the popular ClamAV, is entirely up to you and how much risk you’re willing to take. The risk is small, but present. ClamAV can be installed from the Synaptic Package Manager.

A firewall is always a good idea, and Firestarter — which also can be installed from the Synaptic Package Manager — does the job well.

Defragmenting
If you’re using Ubuntu, your days of defragmenting are over. Ubuntu uses a different filesystem (ext3 by default) than Windows — one that doesn’t really need to be defragmented.

Freeing up space
You can do several things to free up space in Ubuntu. Perhaps most obviously, you can uninstall programs in much the same way you installed them. Just open up the Synaptic Package Manager, search for the file you’d like to remove, click on the box next to it, then choose “Mark for Complete Removal”, and apply the changes. Of course, you’ll want to be careful, as another program may rely on your deletion candidate to function properly.

If you’d like to see a visual representation of your hard disk usage, you can download and install Filelight from the Synaptic Package Manager.

Fig. 1: Filelight in action

If you’ve installed a lot of programs from Synaptic, you may want to get rid of their installation packages. To delete the installation packages, or .debs, open up a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal) and enter the following:

sudo rm -f /var/cache/apt/archives/*.deb

And finally, if you’re really itching for more space you can visit this handy post in the Ubuntu Forums, which documents how to free up a few more megabytes (or hey, maybe more). Please do take into consideration the disclaimer given by the author of the post, however. Removing things can, and sometimes does, cause problems — particularly if you aren’t quite sure what you’re doing.

Oh, and this doesn’t exactly relate to freeing up space, but Ubuntu will automatically check your disk for errors after 30 boots, which largely negates the need for you to remember to do it yourself!

Maintenance  

GetDeb/PlayDeb: Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Repository Available Now

Getdeb is an Ubuntu software portal with ready-to-install applications in Ubuntu’s default .deb package format. getdeb.net was created to make it easy for Ubuntu users to install the latest versions of Free/Open Source applications quickly and easily
How to add getdeb repository in to  ubuntu 10.04

Go to System-Administration-Software Sources, Third-Party Software tab, Add:

deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu lucid-getdeb apps

Add the repository GPG key, open a terminal window and type:

wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Click the “Install this now” button below the screenshot of the desired application.

Playdeb, the repository of games for Ubuntu has been launched in 1st september 2008.who package recent games and applications for Ubuntu. With Playdeb, games are easy to install and will be updated when new versions are available.Playdeb includes an APT software repository, and a games list that can be used to install games simply by clicking an install link.

How to add playdeb repository in to ubuntu 10.04

Go to System-Administration-Software Sources, Third-Party Software tab, Add:

deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu lucid-getdeb games

Add the repository GPG key, open a terminal window and type:

wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Click the “Install this now” button below the screenshot of the desired application.

DamnVid - A GUI Video downloader/converter

DamnVid is a cross-platform application to download and convert videos from your hard drive or from dozens of video sharing websites like YouTube, Dailymotion, Veoh, Metacafe, etc. Basically, it’s a video downloader and converter that sucks less.

What is DamnVid?

* A video converter, first and foremost. It makes use of the wonderful FFmpeg library, used in other software like VLC Media Player or GoogleChrome.
* A video downloader. While DamnVid can convert local video files just fine, it can also download video streams from most video sharing websites. But what gives it the edge over other video downloaders and converters is that not only it does both the downloading and the converting, but it does them at the same time: it converts as it downloads, making the whole process much faster.
* A cross-platform software that sucks less.

What isn’t DamnVid?

* A video editor. While it can do basic things like change the resolution, aspect ratio, or volume of the video, DamnVid is by no means a video editor.
* A video player. DamnVid never plays anything.
* A media library. DamnVid organizes its videos into customizable folders, but it stops there.
* A DVD ripper.
* A stable program. Seriously. It just sucks less. Everything is relative.

Install Damnvid in Ubuntu

First you need to download latest version of .deb from here now you need to install this .deb package by double clicking or using the following command from your terminal

sudo dpkg -i  damnvid_1.5-1_i386.deb

Screenshot

Install ATI Radeon HD 2600 drivers in Ubuntu

This tutorial will explain how to install ATI Radeon HD 2600 in Ubuntu

First of all, open a terminal window (Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal) and run the following command

lspci

You will see a big output, mine was near the bottom, find:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV630 [Radeon HD 2600 Series]
01:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RV630/M76 audio device [Radeon HD 2600 Series]

This means you have an ATI Radeon 2600.

Now we need to download ATI card drivers from AMD home page

On the right, under Download Drivers:

Component Category = Graphics
Operating System: Linux x86 (if you have a 64bit system select the 64bit one)
Product Line: Radeon
Product Model: ATI Radeon 2xxx series

Click View Results

There was only 1 result for me, click Download, save it to your downloads folder.

When fully downloaded, go back to the terminal window and type in:

cd /home/username/Downloads

then type:

sudo sh ati-driver-installer-10-3-x86.x86_64.run

Note:-if the filename is different, then change the name.

You will be asked for your password, enter it, it will take a few seconds then launch an installer.

Select the first option, then click next, then use all the reccomended options. When finished, restart your computer.

To get sound working right click on the sound icon on the top right, click sound preferences.

Go to Output and select the RV630 or whichever your one is.

If the sound still doesnt work, go into a terminal window again and type:

killall pulseaudio

Then type:

sudo alsa force-reload

Enter your password, press enter. Sound should work

Dont forget to enable desktop effects, its well worth it:

Right click on the Desktop
Click Change Desktop Background
Click Visual Effects tab

Select Extra, it can take a while and the screen goes weird while it makes changes.

Gammu - Cellular manager for various mobile phones/modems

Gammu (formerly known as MyGnokii2) is a cellular manager for various mobile phones/modems. It supports a wide variety of Nokia, Symbian, and AT devices (Siemens, Alcatel, Falcom, WaveCom, IPAQ, Samsung, SE, and others) over cables, infrared, or BlueTooth. It contains libraries with functions for ringtones, phonebook, SMS, logos, WAP, date/time, alarm, calls, and more (used by external applications like Wammu). It also includes a command line utility that can make many things (including backups) and an SMS gateway with full MySQL and PostgreSQL support from the PHP interface. Generally following features are supported:

* Call listing, initiating and handling
* SMS retrieval, backup and sending
* MMS retrieval
* Phonebook listing, export and import (also from standard formats such as vCard)
* Calendar and tasks listing, export and import (also from standard formats such as vCalendar or iCalendar)
* Retrieval of phone and network information
* Access to phone file system (note that some phones work also as USB storage devices and those are not accessible through Gammu)

Install Gammu in Ubuntu

For Ubuntu Lucid and Karmic users open the terminal and run the following command

sudo aptitude install tucan