Mint and openSUSE: My take on four Linux release candidates

I spent the weekend looking at the release candidates for four — or two, depending on how you count them — upcoming Linux distributions. Perhaps it is a good commentary on the state of Linux distributions that the most important thing to say about all four is that they just work.
From installation to hardware detection and driver support, and the full range of packages and applications included, everything just works with no huge drama.

Rest here

Install The DownVerter YouTube Downloader and Converter From PPA On Ubuntu 12.04/Linux Mint 13

DownVerter is a desktop application compatible with the Gnome environment that allows via a simple user interface to download and convert YouTuble videos to your computer local hard drive or any other media storage device in various media formats. DownVerter is a multi-platform application that supports many languages, but in this tutorial we will only show you how to install it under Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or any other Debian-based system.

The latest version of Downverter is 2.0 which can be installed from our custom PPA under Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin), Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), or Linux Mint 13 (Maya). For other Debian systems, you can install manually using instructions given below.

DownVerter 2.0 Installation

Open the terminal and install DownVerter 2.0 in Ubuntu 12.04/11.10/Linux Mint 13 with these commands for i386 platforms::

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/multimedia
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install downverter

For amd64 platforms:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:upubuntu-com/multimedia
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install downverter-64

For other Ubuntu versions or any other Debian-based system, you can install with these commands:

- 32-bit systems:

cd /tmp && wget -O downverter_32-bit.deb http://goo.gl/73lXG


sudo dpkg -i downverter_32-bit.deb

- 64-bit systems:

cd /tmp && wget -O downverter_64-bit.deb http://goo.gl/e85Mf


sudo dpkg -i downverter_64-bit.deb

Downverter Home Page

Kororaa 17 Is Now Available for Download

Chris Smart proudly announced earlier today, July 16th, the immediate availability for download of the final and stable release of the Kororaa 17 Linux operating system.

Dubbed Bubbles, the Kororaa 17 distribution is based on the Fedora 17 (Beefy Miracle) operating system, and comes distributed as separate editions with the GNOME 3.4 desktop environment and KDE Software Compilation 4.8.

Kororaa 17 includes features like Linux kernel 3.3, VLC Media Player as default media player, Mozilla Firefox as default web browser, Adobe Flash Player, Empathy and Choqok microblogging clients, Kdenlive and OpenShot video editors, SELinux enabled by default, as well as out-of-the-box multimedia support.

Kororaa 17 is distributed as Live DVD ISO images  separate GNOME/Cinnamon and KDE editions, for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.

Download Kororaa 17

Use the Magic SysRq Key on Linux to Fix Frozen X Servers, Cleanly Reboot, and Run Other Low-Level Commands

On Linux, the magic SysRq key can send commands directly to the Linux kernel. You can use it to recover from freezes or cleanly restart your system, even if nothing appears to be responding.
The magic SysRq key is implemented as part of Linux’s keyboard driver – it will work as long as the Linux kernel is still running. Only a kernel panic should disable this key combination.

Using the Magic SysRq Key

The SysRq key is located near the Scroll Lock key on your keyboard – the Sys Rq key is generally the same as your Print Screen key. The “magic” SysRq combination is Alt+SysRq.
To use this key combination, your Linux kernel must have been compiled with the CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ compile option – most Linux distributions will have this enabled by default. Assuming it’s compiled into your kernel, it can be enabled or disabled on a running system by changing the value of /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq. To check if it’s enabled, run the following command:

cat /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq

If you see a “1”, the magic SysRq key is enabled.

If you see a “0”, you’ll have to enable it yourself by running the following command as root:

echo “1” > /proc/sys/kernel/sysrq

Dealing With a Frozen X Server

If your X server (the program that runs your graphical desktop) freezes, you may find yourself unable to use your system. There are a few magic SysRq commands that can help:

• Alt + SysRq + r – Takes the keyboard out of raw mode, taking control away from the X server. After running this combination, you should be able to use the Ctrl + Alt + F1 (and other F-key) keyboard shortcuts to switch to another console and restart X.
• Alt + SysRq + k – Kills all programs on the current virtual console, including X. You can also enable the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace keyboard shortcut in Ubuntu’s keyboard preferences to restart your X server – however, this shortcut is implemented by the X server and may not always work.

Cleanly Restarting Your System

Used in sequence, some of these actions can be used to cleanly end processes, flush data to disk, unmount all file systems, and restart your computer. To perform this process, press and hold the Alt + SysRq key combination and – while holding the Alt and SysRq keys down — type the following keys in order, pausing for several seconds in between each key:

reisub

The mnemonic “Raising Elephants Is So Utterly Boring” is often used to remember this sequence. Here’s what each key does:

• r – Puts the keyboard into raw mode, taking control of it away from the X server.
• e – Sends the terminate signal to all processes, asking them to end gracefully.
• i – Sends the kill signal to all processes, forcing them to end immediately.
• s – Flushes data from your cache to disk.
• u – Remounts all file systems read-only.
• b – Reboots your computer.

More Commands

Here are some other actions you can perform with the magic SysRq key. To perform an action, press and hold the Alt + SysRq keys while typing the letter:

• n – Resets the nice level (priority) of all high and realtime priority processes.
• f – Calls oom_kill, which will kill a memory-hogging process.
• o – Shuts off the computer.

There are other actions, but they may be more useful to developers than the average Linux geek. For more information on the magic SysRq key – and a full list of actions you can perform – consult the sysrq.txt file included with the Linux kernel.

Pear Linux 5 Officially Released

David Tavares, the developer of Pear Linux, has announced today, July 16th, that the fifth iteration of the Pear Linux operating system is now available for download.

Pear Linux 5 (previously known as Pear OS and Comice OS) comes with thousands of free applications and it is designed to do everything you need it to.

"Pear Linux 5 is a fast, stable, and powerful operating system for everyday use. It's completely free to use, study, and share," David Tavares said in the official release announcement.

Pear Linux 5 is built on top of the GNOME 3 interface, powered by Pear Linux Shell, which is a modification of GNOME Shell to look like a Mac OS desktop. It also includes a Launchpad viewer, which creates pages for all your apps, allowing you to switch between them using your trackpad.

One of the most highlighted apps of Pear Linux 5 is the Pear Appstore, which features parallel downloading, resuming of downloads, updates notifier, cache cleaner, and one-click installation.

"Software Repository gives you a handy way to choose and install desired applications by one click. With powerful mufti-threaded download back-end, they are available to you in a shortest time limited only by your network connection," said David Tavares, Pear Linux developer.

Above you can enjoy some screenshots of the Pear Linux 5 distribution, provided by David Tavares. The following system requirements are recommended for a fresh Pear Linux 5 installation:

· Intel Pentium III 500 MHz or higher CPU;
· At least 512 GB of RAM (1 GB recommended);
· At least 8 GB HDD free space;
· Supported graphics card capable of 800x600 or 1024x768 resolution: Nvidia, ATI/AMD, Intel, SiS, Matrox, VIA (3D desktop effects require a video card with 3D acceleration).

Pear Linux 5 is distributed as Live DVD ISO images supporting both the 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.


Download Pear Linux 5

4MLinux Game Edition 3.3 Has DOSBox 0.74

4MLinux Game Edition, a special Linux distribution based on Busybox, Dropbear, OpenSSH and PuTTY, is now at version 3.3.

According to the developers, 4MLinux Game Edition 3.3 is just an updated version of 4MLinux 3.2 Game Edition using 4MLinux 3.3 as the core system.

Highlights of 4MLinux Game Edition 3.3:

· Added classic first person games such as Abuse, Doom, Heretic, Quake;
· Added Lincity, a construction and management simulation game similar to SimCity;
· Michael Speck's Lgames, using SDL libraries;
· DOSBox 0.74 with some freeware DOS games;
· ec64, a Commodore C64 emulator has been added.

4MLinux is a mini Linux distro focusing on the following "4M": Maintenance (system rescue Live CD), Multimedia (e.g., playing video DVDs), Miniserver (using the inetd daemon), and Mystery (Linux games).

 Download 4MLinux Game Edition 3.3