I rushed to the Synaptic Package Manager hoping to find a Twitter client app right away but very unfortunately none were listed there. Then I did a little research and found some good Twitter clients for Linux that work on Ubuntu.

1. Twitux (download)

Twitux is a Twitter client for the Gnome desktop. The program features include view public, friends and mine timeline, send message, automatic login, add friend and system tray icon.

2. gTwitter (download)

gTwitter a simple GTK+ based application for Linux, designed to interact with Twitter web service. Its written using Mono/C# and some of GNOME dependant libraries. GUI is inspired by Mac client Twitterrific.

3. Spaz (download)

Spaz is a Twitter client for users who value free, open-source software, attractive design, and customizability. It is built entirely in XHTML and Javascript and can be styled using a custom CSS styling file. It is built on the Adobe AIR framework so to install it all you need to have is Adobe AIR on Ubuntu (See the end of the post for this tutorial)

4. Twhirl (download)

Twhirl is a desktop twitter client, based on the Adobe AIR platform. It is one of my favorite Twitter clients as it really very easy to use. Scroll down to see how to get this app working using Adobe AIR on Ubuntu.

5. TwitterFox (download)

TwitterFox is a Firefox Extension that displays updates from your friends and lets you update your status. This extension adds a tiny icon on the status bar that notifies you when your friends update their tweets. Also it has a small text input field to update your tweets. As Ubuntu already comes preinstalled with Firefox so installing this Twitter app is as easy as a pie.

6. Twitter Deskbar (download)

Twitter Deskbar is a Twitter app that integrates with the Gnome Deskbar and lets you post status updates right from your desktop. The installation requires you to have Deskbar widget for Gnome. For detailed instructions please use the download link provided.

7. Twitter Terminal

This is basically a hack for posting to Twitter using the Linux Terminal. You will need cURL ( a client for getting files from servers) to post to Twitter through the Terminal which can be installed using the following command:
sudo apt-get install curl

With cURL installed, you can post to Twitter from the terminal window by using the following syntax:
curl -u yourusername:yourpassword -d status="Your Message Here" http://twitter.com/statuses/update.xml

You will receive a response containing the XML coding for your post which acts as a confirmation that your post was submitted.

8. Alert Thingy (download)

Alert Thingy is basically an Adobe AIR app for FriendFeed but also works for Twitter as well. You can get status updates from your friends and can also post live status updates yourself.

9. Mitter ( Download)

Among mitter features are :

• clean interface: simple and easy to use
• supports docking on systray
• nicely integrated with GNOME desktop
• has console client

Bonus for Ubuntu users : mitter is also available from GetDeb.net one-click-install portal

All of these apps work brilliantly on Ubuntu so you are good to go with any one of these.

//

I took this photo of a Kindle 2 hacked by Jesse Vincent at Foo Camp this past weekend. Apparently, aside from being a popular e-book reader, the Kindle is like Lego for Linux geeks. Here’s Jesse’s description of what we’re looking at:

What you see there is a Kindle 2 with the Ubuntu 9.04 port to ARM running in a chrooted environment. On the screen you see xdaliclock in front of an xterm with the remains of a “top” command and a few mildly embarrassing typos.To open up the Kindle, I used the USB networking debug mode Amazon left hanging around when they first shipped the Kindle 2, a statically linked telnetd and a cross-compiler to bootstrap myself. From there, I built a daemon that can convert DRM-free PDFs and ePubs into something Amazon’s reader on the Kindle can deal with.

After that, I started to get curious about what else might be possible. It only took a few evenings to get a moderately usable Ubuntu environment running.

Mostly, the Kindle is a lovely little Linux box. Getting X working took a bit of hacking, but everything else “just works” with very little configuration.

Don’t see what all the Windows 7 fuss is about and thinking of jumping ship to Linux?The experience of switching to Linux needn’t be a traumatic one.Here are 25 things you need to know that will make your transition to an open source OS easy.

Read the full artical

Old school games have always been fun, yet simple and easy to play. They may not have the best of the graphics but you can surely enjoy a trip down memory lane!

When it comes to emulators, Linux is right up there. It might not be able to run Crysis or World of Warcraft, however you can surely run various free old school games like Mario, Popeye, Contra, etc.

Here is how you can play those old, free games on your Linux machine. There are various emulators available for Linux, let us look at them one by one.

DOSBox

Simply put, DOSBox is a DOS-emulator and lets you re-visit the good old days when DOS used to rule the roost. Using DOSBox you can play all those DOS games that you loved.

Just install DOSBox, download the game you want to play, run DOSBox from the terminal and execute the game you just downloaded for a trip back in time! The best way to download your favorite game is to Google it.

Check your distributions package manager, Ubuntu users can sudo apt-get install dosbox.

ZSNES

ZSNES emulates the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (NES/SNES). You can thus play almost all of the popular games that made their way onto the NES.

You can install ZNES using your package manager. Once installed you would need to download some of those old, free games. These are generally called SNES ROMs. These are freely available across the Internet and specially on various p2p networks.

PLEASE NOTE that downloading ROMs may be illegal, so you might want to re-consider your decision before you go in for the download.

Fire up ZSNES emulator and you can play the game you just downloaded by loading it via the Game > Load option within the ZSNES emulator.

gnuboy

gnuboy emulates the GameBoy console. So if you are interested in playing some of your favorite GameBoy games on the PC, give gnuboy a spin. It has great compatibility with almost every free old school game you might want to play.

As with other platforms, you can find games floating around on the Internet, you just need to put your head down and search!  You need to install gnuboy-sdl or gnuboy-svga or gnuboy-x depending upon which libraries you want to support. Again, as above, gnuboy is generally available through the package manager.

Where to get the free old games

The games are generally a Google search away, however you can also check out various p2p networks to find ROMs for your emulator. Abandonia and PDRoms are great for finding such games as well.

Are you still into old school games? Tell us about the emulators you use and your favorite games in the comments section!

Old school games have always been fun, yet simple and easy to play. They may not have the best of the graphics but you can surely enjoy a trip down memory lane!

When it comes to emulators, Linux is right up there. It might not be able to run Crysis or World of Warcraft, however you can surely run various free old school games like Mario, Popeye, Contra, etc.

Here is how you can play those old, free games on your Linux machine. There are various emulators available for Linux, let us look at them one by one.

DOSBox

Simply put, DOSBox is a DOS-emulator and lets you re-visit the good old days when DOS used to rule the roost. Using DOSBox you can play all those DOS games that you loved.

Just install DOSBox, download the game you want to play, run DOSBox from the terminal and execute the game you just downloaded for a trip back in time! The best way to download your favorite game is to Google it.

Check your distributions package manager, Ubuntu users can sudo apt-get install dosbox.

ZSNES

ZSNES emulates the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (NES/SNES). You can thus play almost all of the popular games that made their way onto the NES.

You can install ZNES using your package manager. Once installed you would need to download some of those old, free games. These are generally called SNES ROMs. These are freely available across the Internet and specially on various p2p networks.

PLEASE NOTE that downloading ROMs may be illegal, so you might want to re-consider your decision before you go in for the download.

Fire up ZSNES emulator and you can play the game you just downloaded by loading it via the Game > Load option within the ZSNES emulator.

gnuboy

gnuboy emulates the GameBoy console. So if you are interested in playing some of your favorite GameBoy games on the PC, give gnuboy a spin. It has great compatibility with almost every free old school game you might want to play.

As with other platforms, you can find games floating around on the Internet, you just need to put your head down and search!  You need to install gnuboy-sdl or gnuboy-svga or gnuboy-x depending upon which libraries you want to support. Again, as above, gnuboy is generally available through the package manager.

Where to get the free old games

The games are generally a Google search away, however you can also check out various p2p networks to find ROMs for your emulator. Abandonia and PDRoms are great for finding such games as well.

Are you still into old school games? Tell us about the emulators you use and your favorite games in the comments section!

This tutorial covers the process of installing Ubuntu 8.04.1 (Hardy Heron) to an external USB Hard drive. It is possible to install Ubuntu 8.04.2 to a 4GB+ flash drive using this method as we did, however, due to the additional read/write cycles that occur on a full blown install, the life of your flash drive may be slightly reduced. This simple tutorial utilizes the Install script that is included with Ubuntu 8.04.1 making it easy to run and test the latest offering of Ubuntu without installing to a fixed internal system disk.

This is a full installation of Ubuntu and will act just like an installation to a internal hard drive. All changes are saved in real time and the system can be fully updated and edited.

Basic essentials for installing Ubuntu 8.04.2 to USB:

• Ubuntu 8.04.2 ISO
• CD Reader/Burner
• 4GB+ USB Device
  

How to install Ubuntu 8.04.2 to a USB Hard Drive:

1. First, Backup any data you wish to save from your USB device
2. Download Ubuntu 8.04.2 and burn the ISO to a CD
3. Important: Physically disconnect ALL internal hard drives before booting from the CD and performing the install. this will eliminate the possibility of installing to the wrong device and overwriting your MBR. Reattach the drives after completing this tutorial.
4. Restart your PC, and proceed to boot from the Ubuntu CD
5. From the Boot Menu, select the option to Install Ubuntu:



6. Once Ubuntu has booted, you should be presented with an installation menu:



7. Proceed forward answering all questions until you reach the Prepare disk space section. (1) Click the Guided – use entire disk radio option and then (2) Click the Forward button:



8. On the next Who are you? page, create your user profile, then Click the Forward button:



9. On the Ready to install page, Click the (1) Advanced button and (2) select your device from the dropdown list. Example: /dev/sda, then (3) Click Install:



10. The installer will now proceed to install Ubuntu on the USB device. Once it has finished, Click the option to Restart now:



11. Remove the CD when prompted and proceed to reboot. Don’t forget to change your System Boot Menu or BIOS to boot from the USB device.

This artical was firsst posted on pendrivelinux

The Linux Foundation has made some analyzation the past two years into just how much code is being added to the project and who is doing that contribution. This year’s report is out, and the results are actually quite smile-worthy if you’re a Linux advocate: the increase in code contributions is phenomenal, the rate at which these contributions are being submitted is faster, and there are more individual developers than previously.

Eight Years of Linux Kernel Vulnerable

It’s the end of the world. Again. According to some Linux developers and security researchers, a bug in the Linux kernel has just been uncovered that makes just about every distribution utilizing kernel 2.4 and 2.6 on just about all architectures since May of 2001 vulnerable to a certain kind of attack.

Dell: Linux Netbook High Return Rate ‘Non-Issue’

I think we can finally put a certain myth to rest that’s been circling around the web for a while now. Microsoft often claimed that netbooks running Linux saw higher return rates than those running Windows, but according to Dell, this is utter nonsense.

1. Log Into a Linux Machine Without Knowing the Username or Password

If you come across a Linux machine that you need to gain access to but you don’t know the username or password, you can gain access by following these steps:

Restart the system and press ‘e’ or F2 to enter GRUB menu. Choose ‘ROOT’ in the options. In the command line that appears, type ‘tail /etc/passwd’ and locate the username in the text that appears. Now that you have that username, type ‘passwd USERNAME’ and enter a new password. Once finished, type EXIT, select OK to exit recovery mode, and then login with the username and new password.

2. Combining TXT files

If you have two text files with lines that are identified as below, you can join them with the following three commands. Be sure the lines match, however, and put them in the order you want the files combined.

$ cat animals.txt

100 Dogs

200 Cats

300 Lions

$ cat actions.txt

100 bark

200 meow

300 roar

$ join animals.txt actions.txt

100 Dogs bark

200 Cats meow

300 Lions roar

3. Check Out How Many Hours a Computer Has Been On

Find a system’s up-time with this piece of code. The numbers given will be listed as hours. So, for example, if it says 9.32, the system has been up for 9 hours and 32 minutes.

$ ac –d

4. View All Running Processes

Linux doesn’t have a task manager like you find in Windows. While you can download various types online, the best way to view the current running processes on your system is to open the terminal and run:

$ ps aux | more

5. Check On Total Disc Space Usage of A Directory+ Its Subs

If you’re low on disc space and you want to find out which of your directories are taking up the most space, then you can use the following command. Replace the home symbol ( ~ ) with whatever directory you want to check. For example, du -sh /etc.

# du -sh ~

6. View Active Network Connections with PID

Take a peek to see what connections are currently active on the network with this handy command.

# netstat -tap

7. Find All Files on a System Larger than X MB/GB

Say you just downloaded a 1GB+ ISO onto your system, you know it is around somewhere, but you just can’t figure out where it was saved. This little bit of code is a nifty solution for locating the file.

# find / -type f -size +1000M

8. Locate and Identify Recently Altered Files

Do you want a nice list of files that have recently been altered on any given system? If so, enter this tidbit into the terminal:

# find . –mtime -2

9. Find a Past Date

Say you need to find out rather quickly what the date was 49 days ago. To find out, type:

$ date –date=’49 days ago’

10. Find a Future Date

In the same vein as the previous example, say you need to find out what the date will be in 49. To find that out, type:

$ date –date=’3 seconds’

Note that it’s the same as the last bit, only without the word ‘ago’ added.

11. Locate Files with Specific Words in the Name

If you need to find a file on a system that has a specific name, such as ‘passwords’ or ‘taxes’, then you can search a directory with the following code:

# find ~ -name “*passwords*”

12. View Processes Run By Different Users

If you want to see what processes are running for different users that the one logged in, run this:

$ ps U oracle

13. View Items Inside Compressed (Archive) Folder

Have you ever downloaded an archive, only to discover junk inside it? The following command will reveal what is inside a zip folder before you open it.

# unzip -l var-name.zip

14: Eject Removable Media

Where it’s an iPod or an SD card, you can eject onboard media by simply typing:

EJECT

15: Save the Active Window as a JPEG

If you need to save the active window on your desktop as a JPEG but don’t want to download any special software or use PrntScrn and a photo editor, use this command:

import -window root MyTest.jpg

16: Bump User Off Network

Whether they’re doing something that is going to contaminate the network, they’re hogging resources, or you simply don’t like them, you can log a user off their computer with this handy piece of code:

skill -kill -u username

17. Block a Computer’s Access to Specific Websites

Say you’re running a business that uses Linux machines, you notice that your employees are spending a ridiculous amount of time checking the weather. You can block their ability to access those sites by opening /etc/hosts with your text editor (sudo gedit /etc/hosts) and adding:

127.0.0.1 website.com

18. Schedule Midnight Downloads

This code is incredibly handy; it allows you to schedule the time for a download to happen–say, at 3PM while you’re at work or midnight while you’re sleeping.

echo ‘wget website.com’ | at 012:00

19. Using the Terminal As Root

Using the Terminal as root is sort of like right-clicking on an application in Vista and choosing ‘run as Administrator’. It gives you the ability to do things you otherwise couldn’t do (namely, run dangerous code). To use the terminal as root, type:

sudo su

20. Disabling Password Prompt When Using Sudo

Whenever you use the ‘sudo’ command in Linux, you’re prompted to enter the user password before the command will go through. This gets annoying. The solution? Disable it. To do so, use the Terminal and type:

gedit sudo visudo

scroll down to the line that says: username ALL=(ALL) ALL

and change it to say: username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL

21. Change the Default Conky

If you’re using a distro that includes Conky by default, such as Crunchbang, you might wander how you can edit its settings. To do this, enter this in the Terminal:

sudo gedit ~/.conkyrc

Of course, replace ‘gedit’ with the text editor of your choice, and sudo is Ubuntu specific.

22. Put a LiveCD on a USB

Say there’s a machine you want to gain access to and copy files from, but you don’t have access to the computer’s login info. You can gain access with it using a LiveCD. The easiest way to do this is by using a USB thumb drive. You can do this by downloading a liveCD iso and then downloading UNETbootin.

Plug in your USB drive, run UNETbootin, and install the ISO with that.

23. Safely Restart Linux

Lets say you’re duped into running a fork bomb, or you download a file that promises to be one thing, only to turn out to be a massive tarbomb. How do you safely restart the frozen system? By doing the following:

Press ALT + PrntScrn and then, while holding those, type the following letters in order: REISUB.

24. View All Files (Including the Hidden Ones)

If you need to view all the files within whatever directory you’re in, including ones that are hidden, use the following bit of code:

ls -al