Access Yhoo and other email accounts through Yahoo Zimbra in Ubuntu / Linux

All my efforts to access my yahoo (and gmail) accounts in all major mail client like Evolution and Thunderbird failed until i came across little known mail client stuff called zimbra. It is based on Mozilla Prism technology and said to be a next generation mail client. I have Installed it in my laptop recently. I found it much faster, and lighter than Evolution. It also comes with all other stuffs like calender and others which major mail client has to offer.

Important point is, you need not have to worry about incoming / outgoing server (particullarly for yahoo), port number and bhla bhla things... simply login by giving your username and password thats it...

Here is the link to download Yohoo Zimbra Desktop which is of 50Mb.

Read this page before installing and configuring Yahoo Zimbra Desktop.

Installation:

Once you downloaded YahooZimbra right click on it ---> Properties ---> click Permission tab ---> enable Allow executing file as a program then close it.

Now double click on the modified downloaded file ---> click Run in terminal tab and follow the simple instruction here after...

Enable More Compiz (3D) Effects... (Ubuntu 8.10)

I am always crazy about Compiz effects and enabled it by installing compiz-setting-manager from

Systems ---> Administration ---> Synoptic Packet Manager

After enabled all effects from Compiz setting manager which i found under System ---> Preferences ---> compiz setting manager, i could get only few effects like Desktop cube, fire on desktop, water effects, minimize effects and few more... after googling around quite some time on Internet i found out solution to enable more eye candy effects. you can also enable these effects by installing simple-ccsm from synoptic or simply typing command in the terminal.

sudo apt-get install simple-ccsm

(Terminal can be found under Application ---> Accessories). After installation you can find Simple-ccsm under

System ---> Preferences (as a Simple Compizconfig Setting Manager)

click on it and enable your preferred effects...

Here are some of the Keyboard Short cut keys for Compiz Effects

Note: The SUPER key is the Windows key (Near by Alt) on most keyboards.

SUPER+SHIFT+DRAG LEFT MOUSE = draw fire

SUPER+SHIFT+C = clear fire

CTRL+ALT+DRAG LEFT MOUSE = rotate cube

CTRL+ALT+LEFT ARROW = rotate cube

CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW = flat desktop

SHIFT+ALT+UP = initiate window picker

CTRL+ALT+DOWN = unfold cube

ALT+TAB = window switch

SUPER+TAB = flip switcher or ring switcher, depending on which is enabled.

ALT+F7 = initiate 'move windows'

SHIFT+F9 = water effect

SHIFT+F10 = slow animations

CTRL+ALT+D = show desktop

For Grouping and Tabbing:

SUPER+S = select single window

SUPER+T = tab group

SUPER+Left = change left tab

SUPER+Right = change right tab

SUPER+G = group windows

SUPER+U = ungroup windows

SUPER+R = remove group window

SUPER+C = close group

SUPER+X = ignore group

Hold the SUPER button then select the windows you want to group and then hit SUPER+G.

Find Hardware Details of your Personal Computer / Laptop

GNOME Device Manager helps you to find out harware details of your computer. You can install it using Synoptic Manager or type sudo apt-get install gnome-device-manager in the terminal

System --> Administration --> Synaptic Packet Manager --> gnome-device-manager

Once installed you’ll find it on the

Applications → System Tools menu

To significantly enhance its usability, click View → Device Properties in the Device Manager window. This adds a second Properties tab to the display that shows the technical details about each application. In some ways it’s an information overload but it can prove vital when problem solving. In most ways GNOME Device Manager is similar to its Windows counterpart. The main difference is that it’s purely an informational tool, with no ability to change drivers or configurations. The other difference is that, just because hardware appears in the list under GNOME Device Manager, that doesn’t mean it’s setup for use under Ubuntu. GNOME Device Manager’s list is produced by simply probing the hardware andreporting what it finds.

Download and update - faster

Every now and again the Ubuntu update servers become a little congested, particularly when there’s a new release of Ubuntu. If you find this happening, switch to an alternative server, preferably located near where your computer is located. there are many servers around the
world, all mirroring the same repositories.

Click System → Administration → Software Sources
Click the Download From drop-down list and then select Other
Click Select best server

You’ll need to reload the package lists from the server when prompted. Don’t worry about the possible security implications of signing up to a server you’ve never heard of. All Ubuntu software packages are digitally signed, so fakery is technically impossible.

Make UBUNTU to speak to you

Ubuntu includes a built-in speech synthesizer called espeak. It’s there to work in partnership with the Orca screen reader, which provides support for those who are partially-sighted, but it can also be called from the command-line, as follows:
open terminal: Application ---> Accessories ---> Terminal and type

espeak "ubuntu"

As you’ll be able to tell it’s not the most sophisticated speech synthesizer in the world (it has a feel of Speak & Spell about it), but it can be fun to play around with. By simply typing espeak, and then hitting Enter , whatever you type after this will be spoken. To quit, type Ctrl + d .

View all of a digital photo’s technical information

Most pictures taken by digital cameras are saved in EXIF JPEG format. This means that they record technical details about the shot along with the actual image data. The information includes the exposure time, the aperture used, whether the flash was active, and so on. In Ubuntu you can view this information by right-clicking any image, clicking Properties, and then looking at the Image tab. To view even more information, double-click the image so it opens in Eye of GNOME (the default Ubuntu image viewer) and then click File → Properties. Then click the Metadata tab and click the Details fold-down. Remember that even dialog boxes within Ubuntu can be enlarged by clicking and dragging the corners—this can really help view all the available information. To view the information at the command-line, use Synaptic to installthe exif package. Then, to view the EXIF information, simply type exif photo.jpg, replacing photo.jpg with the name of the file.

465 Open Sourse Fonts

All credit to Brian Kent (http://www.aenigmafonts.com) who’s not only an excellent font designer but is also committed to the ideals of open source software and has made 465 of his font creations available to Ubuntu users. To install the fonts, you’ll need to add a new software repository:

click System → Administration → Software Sources, then the Third-Party Software tab, and click the Add button.

Then type the following into the dialog box that appears:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu hardy main

Click the Add Sources button, then the Close button, and, when prompted, agree to reload the package lists.

Then use Synaptic to search for and install the ttf-aenigma package.

Once installed the fonts will be available for use straight away in all applications.

Installing Off Line Dictionary and Threasure in UBUNTU

Finally i have succeeded installing good dictionary and treasure in my UBUNTU 8.10. But i think it should work in all other UBUNTU version too. I recommend Method I which is simplest and easiest way...

METHOD I

Fire up the synoptic packet manager and search for stardict. Mark for installation and apply changes. It takes few seconds to download and install.Now go to this page and download desired dictionary. For example if you want oxford then download oxford advanced learner's dictionary. You should download tarball format not an rpm package. After downloading right click the package and select extract here. This extrated folder need to be moved to /usr/share/stardict/dic. To do that there are many method. I used GUI (Graphical User Interface). Before executing this command copy the extrated folder. Open Terminal from application --> Accossaries --> Terminal. Type the folloing comand gksudo nautilus and hit enter.You need to give your admin password after this command. Once the command been executed new window will open. Open File system --> usr --> share --> stardict --> dic
Paste the already copied extracted folder here. Now close the window go to Application --> accosseries --> click stardict and type some words to check. You can install as many as dictionary on that dic folder.

METHOD II

You should have following packages installed to follow this method.

1. dict-gcide
2. wordnet
3. dict-moby-thesaurus
4 dict-jargon
5. dict-vera
and
6. Lexica (No installation required)

Install above packages 1- 5 from Synoptic Package Manager (System --> Administration --> Synoptic Package Manager)

The sixth package Lexica can be downloaded from here.

Copy Lexica to your home folder and extract it by right clicking and selecting an option "Extract Here"

Right click Application menu and select Edit Menus.

In the new window select Office from left side and click +New Items on the right side.

Again click Browse button and navigate through home folder ---> Lexica ---> select lexica. You can give name and comments as per your wish. Now click OK and close all window.

You can find Dictionary (Lexica) GUI from Application ---> Office ---> Lexica(Name provided by you)

Note: You can also access this dictionary by using following command in your terminal.

dict 'word'

Method III

Inbuilt Gnome dictionary which comes with Ubuntu CD is an online dictionary. In this method we are going it to modify to be used for offline purpose. Now open synoptic packet manager and install following packages dictcd, dict-wn and dict-gcide.

Once packages are installed open Gnome dictionary (Application-->Accessories-->Dictionary) and go to edit --> preferences then add new dictionary. In the new window type localhost insted of dict.org in the host name and click add. Now you can see the adtional dictionary in the sourse tab. Enable it and close. Now onwards you shoul be able to use it even while not connected to the internet.

How to install Microsoft Fonts in Linux OS (Gnome and Kde)

This is simple trick to use Microsoft fonts in your Linux operating system.

Copy Fonts from Microsoft windows:
Open C:\ --> windows --> fonts

Here you will find different files along with font files. Copy only font files that is files ending with .ttf or .TTF....

For Gnome user:
Open Home folder --> click view --> show hidden files

Check for .fonts folder. If there is no such folder fine make one. Now open .fonts folder and paste all font files which you have already copied from windows font folder. Now all fonts are ready to use. You can check new fonts from Open Office.org writer....

For Kde users:
Open Konqueror file manager.
Type fonts:/ and hit enter. Now you can find two files 1. personal 2. system. Open one of the folder(preferably personal if there is only one user) and paste fonts which you have already copied from window. As usual you can check new fonts from OpenOffice.org writer...

The Perfect Desktops (Linux)

Here are some of the use full guides which may help you to make your Linux operating system as a perfect desktop. This guide may be very useful for Linux newbies and first time users. These articles explain how to install major Linux distribution, update and installing new softwares which we use day to day life.

Note: All these articles are downloaded from www.howtoforge.com and converted as pdf document for user convenience. Enjoy...

Click here for ---->> UBUNTU 8.10

Click here for ---->> LINUX MINT 6

Click here for ---->> OPEN SUSE 11.1 (Gnome)

Click here for ---->> MANDRIVA 2009 ONE (Gnome)

Connecting Internet without using sudo

If you are not able to connect to Internet without using sudo before wvdial then follow the simple steps...

1. Go to Systems --> Administration --> Users and Groups

New window will open.

2. Unlock by giving your password.

3. Select the user --> Properties

4. Click User Privileges Tab and enable connect to Internet by using a modem

That's it. Now onwards you should be able to connect to Internet just by typing wvdial.