Life without Windows or OS X

GNU/Linux is quite possibly the most important free software achievement since the original Space War, or, more recently, Emacs. It has developed into an operating system for business, education, and personal productivity. GNU/Linux is no longer only for UNIX wizards who sit for hours in front of a glowing console. Are you thinking about switching to Linux and want to learn how to use it? Have you been using GNU/Linux for some time and want to learn even more? This is the place for you.

Friday, June 24, 2011

March of the Digital Rights terrorist




Capcom, the makers of street fighter, placed the DRM on Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. This is nothing new. French video game maker Ubisoft demanded a constant Internet connection in order to play Assassin's Creed II. Days after that their servers used to authenticate the game went down. People who legally paid for their game could not even play it . For a while only the pirated versions were the only working copies of the game.

First Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition game will require a Games For Windows account. I don't understand that. Why must I have have an account for a game that is played offline?

Next you must have always-on Internet connection while playing the game. Why must I be online for a game that is played offline?

Capcom's latest approach to DRM is simply stupid . To make people have constant instant connections at all times makes no since. If there is a break in the connection, the game will wait until the end of your current fight and ask you to log back in to your Windows account. If the player is unable to sign back in, players will only be able to select from 15 of the included 39 characters in the game.

See once again “Digital Rights Terrorism” hurt the little person. People who pirate games will find a way to circumvent the restrictions. People who legitimately pay for the games will have to suffer the restrictions. They may even turn to piracy to avoid them.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Unlimited data service at 2.5G speeds for $50 a mouth..


Ever hear of Simple Mobile?

Don t worry most have not. Simple Mobile is what’s called a mobile virtual network operator, MVNO for short, that uses T-Mobile’s network. Simple, which runs on a bring-your-own-phone model, rents out a national GSM network for its service. Simple Mobile's business model, customers can add the MVNO's service to any unlocked GSM phone. Customers can call Simple Mobile's customer care--which the firm outsources--to get help activating their service. Unlike some cellular programs which limit your choices to just a select group of phones, they support more than 180 different handsets; the iPhone 4, Samsung Google Nexus S, Nokia E72, and G2X to name a few.

Note: Currently Blackberry Instant Messaging, BlackBerry Internet Service, and Social Network services are not supported. Blackberry OS 6 devices are not supported. Blackberry is only Web accessed via Opera Mini browser and Gmail via the Gmail application.

SIMPLE Mobile’s existing $50 prepaid plan has been rebranded to $50 Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text & Web plan. Previously, this plan included 100MB’s of data, which wasn’t enough for a lot of people. The new plan has unlimited data service at 2.5G speeds, which is adequate for IM, MMS, Web browsing , Email social networks and looking up maps. Need more speed? The $60 plan includes unlimited data at up to 4G speeds. However only phones that support T-Mobile's HSPA+ network technology would qualify as supporting 3G or 4G speeds. In other words, for 3G to work, make sure your phone supports the 1700Mhz band. If you use AT&T branded phone like the iPhone 4 or Samsung Infuse you will only get 2G speeds. If you are usually close to a wifi hot spot there is no need to play for date plan. For $40 you get unlimited voice and texting.


SIMPLE Mobile does not have a 1GB limit. I hear that a lot... How ever, they do have Terms & Conditions which will explain prohibited usage on their network. This includes tethering, live streaming, and keeping an open connection over a long period of time.



Tuesday, June 14, 2011

How to install the restricted formats in Ubuntu/ Kubuntu?

The Ubuntu installer lets you check an option during install that adds at least some of these missing codecs to your system.If you didn’t check the ‘Install 3rd party codecs/restricted drivers’ during the installation of Ubuntu 11.04 then these steps are important for enabling all of the “not-shipped-ware” that provides you with a comfortable, stress-free time in Ubuntu.

1. Issue the following command at the terminal -

sudo apt-get update

2. After the package list has been updated, issue the following command at the terminal -

sudo apt-get upgrade

3. After the packages have been upgraded, issue the following command at the terminal -

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Enter ‘y’ when prompted.

4. After the packages have been downloaded, you’ll need to accept the license agreement for installation of Microsoft Core Fonts

Due to legal reasons, Ubuntu can’t ship things like patent-encumbered codecs for playing back things like MP3s, .WMV videos or encrypted DVDs.

In Ubuntu 11.04, you have to install and configure Samba Share to share folders with other computers in your network.

To easily install Samba share, you can search and download from the software market. Or you can open the Terminal and execute the below command :

sudo apt-get install samba