Monday, January 14, 2013

Install Angry IP Scanner from PPA in Ubuntu/Linux Mint


In this article, we will see a useful tool that allows network administrators or any simple user of Linux-based systems to analyze and scan network machines. The tool is called Angry IP Scanner which is a TCP/IP network scanner that allows users to easily scan IP addresses within any range of your choice via a user-friendly interface.

Once Angry IP Scanner detects an active IP address, it will then resolve its MAC address, hostname, and port. The gathered data can be then saved as TXT, CSV, XML or IP-Port list files. For more information about Angry IP Scanner, go here.

The PPA below is available for these Ubuntu/Linux Mint distributions:


  • Ubuntu 13.04/12.10/12.04/11.10
  • Linux Mint 14/13/12
Angry IP Scanner Installation

 To install Angry IP Scanner in Ubuntu/Linux Mint, open the terminal and enter these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/network 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install ipscan

You can start the application from the Unity Dash:


Or from the terminal using this command:

ipscan

Angry IP Scanner Removal

To uninstall Angry IP Scanner from your system, enter these commands:

sudo apt-get remove ipscan 
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:upubuntu-com/network 
sudo apt-get update

Pear Linux 6.1




David Tavares has announced the release of Pear Linux 6.1, an Ubuntu remix with a simple but beautiful user interface (a customised GNOME 3) and out-of-the-box support for many popular multimedia codecs: "I am pleased to announce the release of Pear Linux 6.1. Pear Linux 6.1 builds on top of our popular previous release of Pear Linux 6 with newly updated software. As Pear Linux 6.1 is based on Ubuntu 12.04.1 it is an LTS (Long-Term Support) release, provided with 5 years of security updates. New software: Pear PPA Manager, Pear Cleaner; software updated, kernel updated. Users who already have Pear Linux 6 installed do not need to get Pear Linux 6.1. All the aforementioned updates and improvements in 6.1 will be applied by installing the latest updates from the Update Manager available this week." Here is the brief release announcement. Download the Pear Linux 6.1 live DVD image from SourceForge: pearlinux-6.1-x64.iso (899MB, MD5).

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Galaxy S3 vs. Xperia Z




Slackel 1.0 "Openbox"




Dimitris Tzemos has announced the release of Slackel 1.0 "Openbox" edition, a lightweight desktop Linux distribution based on Slackware's "Current" branch: "Slackel Openbox 1.0 has been released. A collection of two Openbox ISO images are immediately available, including 32-bit and 64-bit installation images. Slackel Openbox 1.0 includes the 'Current' tree of Slackware and Openbox 3.5.0 accompanied by a very rich collection of software. Linux kernel is 3.7.1. The Midori 0.4.7 web browser, Claws-Mail 3.8.1 and Transmission are the main networking applications included in this release. SpaceFM is the file manager. It comes also with OpenJDK 7u9, Rhino, IcedTea-Web, Pidgin and gFTP. Wicd is used for setting up your wired or wireless networking connections. In the multimedia section Whaaw! Media Player is the default movie player, Exaile 3.3.0 is the application to use for managing your music collection and more." The release announcement. Download: slackel64-openbox-current-1.0.iso (607MB, MD5).

Elive 2.1.23 (Unstable)




After nearly three years without a release, the Elive project, which develops a Debian-based distribution an live CD featuring the latest Enlightenment 0.17 desktop, has suddenly spirung to life with an early development release: "The Elive team is proud to announce the release of development version 2.1.23. We are very excited to announce this first development version of Elive and there are many reasons why we are excited. First, we want to remind you that the reason why nothing has been published yet about Elive is that there were a few things to be rewritten to ensure an overall stable system, which will make other programs more compatible and ensures this version works well. New ISO images can be built everyday. Secondly, we have amazing new features coming, compared to the last version of Elive, 2.0 'Topaz'." Read the rest of the release announcement to find out more. Download: elive_2.1.23_alpha.iso (1,197MB, MD5).

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Gaming on Linux - 2012 in Review


The year 2012 is over now and it's time to take a look back on it, and summarize the main events and games of the year.
The year started with an exciting and technically sophisticated title - Oil Rush. Unigine, a Russian software company behind the game, has been a big supporter of the Linux platform for a long time now. With Oil Rush the company has published the first game based on its own cross-platform engine. Originally, the company was specialized in complex 3D benchmark software. Maybe the most comprehensive Unigine's benchmark is Heaven - a beautiful and very demanding graphics benchmark that supports OpenGL 4.0.
In March, Gabe Newell sent us an e-mail telling that Valve is urgently seeking Linux developers and is in the process of improving graphics card drivers for Linux in cooperation with the graphics card manufacturers.
In April, one of the most successful game titles of the year, Trine 2, was released for Linux. The new game has not disappointed. It has been implemented with a lot of attention to the details: a beautiful graphics, great music and exciting story made it very popular among Linux gamers.
In June and September, new Humble Indie Bundle collections surprised us again with great new titles. To the highlights of HIB belonged the winners of different video game awards, Bastion and Torchlight. Torchlight is a very successful counterpart to Blizzard's Diablo and Bastion is a very atmospheric RPG.
In summer, Valve has repeatedly demonstrated, that it is taking development of Steam for Linux very seriously and has hired a prominent Linux game developer Sam Lantinga and has even started a Linux blog.
At the end of the year, it has finally happened what Linux gamers were waiting for years for: in November Steam for Linux has been started in a closed beta. Many bestseller games such as Team Fortress 2, Killing Floor or Serious Sam 3 were released for Linux at the same time. And, in time for Christmas, Valve has made the Linux community happy releasing Steam beta for everyone.
All in all, the year 2012 was much influenced by Steam for Linux, Humble Indie Bundle and Linux games funding on Kickstarter.com. Humble Indie Bundle has long been a driving force for the development of Linux games and has proved Linux as a viable gaming platform. In addition to the games being ported to Linux as a part of HIB, even more important, there were different game engines ported to Linux, like Unreal Engine 3 in Dungeon Defenders. Another common game engine, Unity was released for Linux this year. Porting of graphics game engines is probably the most important milestone on the way to releasing games for Linux.
The year 2012 was undoubtedly a phenomenal year for Linux gamers, and 2013 has good foundations to become the year of Linux gaming.