Hi!
Really brief update right now...
Basically, I've not been posting, or doing videos, much recently, and I'm ashamed of that fact. My blogs and stuff have all been just sitting here not doing very much. :(
However, it's coming up to the Easter Holidays, where I'll have 2 weeks to post and do videos, and I think when I start doing that in the holidays, I'll get back into the habit of doing things.
So yeah, I'll be back posting within at least 4 weeks. Sorry.
Yours,
Ratscallion
We have a logo!
We have a winning logo! Congratulations to Jordan who designed this brilliant logo!
Friday, 12 March 2010
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Ok.. So...
Right, then.
Ok, so I'm busy coding. Unless I can get something done during February half term (not the coming week, the one after) there may not be a video, or even a post, for a while.
Basically there's something that could be very big getting done at school that only a few select people know about, and I'm head of design and the website, and need to get it all done. However, there'll be nothing happening (likely) throughout half term, so I may get it done then.
That's just a quick note to why there's not been much action. Been working on a few sites that I administrate and that school thing. I'll update you when I can. Otherwise, expect to see a small pause. Sorry. :'(
Ratscallion
Ok, so I'm busy coding. Unless I can get something done during February half term (not the coming week, the one after) there may not be a video, or even a post, for a while.
Basically there's something that could be very big getting done at school that only a few select people know about, and I'm head of design and the website, and need to get it all done. However, there'll be nothing happening (likely) throughout half term, so I may get it done then.
That's just a quick note to why there's not been much action. Been working on a few sites that I administrate and that school thing. I'll update you when I can. Otherwise, expect to see a small pause. Sorry. :'(
Ratscallion
Saturday, 6 February 2010
formspring.me
your an idiot and your never gonna know who this is, :D
Hmm.. How many guesses do I have? :P
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Video: How to: Trim Audio In Audacity
I told you it wasn't going to be long, and I wasn't wrong about that!
The first in the 'Series' of How-To videos is below: How To: Trim Audio In Audacity.
I must state, though, to start with, that you don't need Audacity to be able to trim audio in this way. As you may know, there are a wide variety of different audio editing programs out there that are available, and, as far as I'm aware, they all work in a similar way when it comes to trimming audio.
Now I've got that off my chest, I can carry on!
Audacity is a free download from audacity.sourceforge.net and is, as I've said before in my look at Audacity and some of its features post and its respective video.
In this post, however, I'm telling you how you can actually dive in and get in with the editing of the audio itself.
First of all, you'll actually need some audio. In this example, I used Ke$ha's Tik Tok as it has a sound effect that I wanted to edit out. One thing I must say is that I advise that you make a copy of the audio before you edit it. If it goes wrong, then you won't have the original.
On with the actual editing now, then. First off, you need to select the audio that you want to delete. A common mistake here is that a user may edit the stuff they want to keep. Don't do this. Instead, as I just said, select what you want to delete. In audacity, this is done by going to the select tool on the top left of the screen (the icon that looks like an 'I'), clicking it, then going down and selecting your audio.
I went and selected everything before the stuff I wanted to keep, first, and then going to 'Edit' and then 'Delete'. However, you can be much quicker by just pressing the delete key on your keyboard. Note: You can neither select audio nor delete it when audio is playing or is part way through. Press the 'Stop' button (the square) and then the 'Go back to the beginning' button, the one that is like '|<<'. So, once you've deleted the parts before what you want to keep, go delete the bits after it. Finally, you'll want to zoom in (hold 'Ctrl' whilst scrolling, or press 'Ctrl' and '+') and delete the bits that you've no doubt missed before and after the audio, just tidying it all up. So, now, you have a nice bit of trimmed audio that you can play to your heart's content. Audacity will, by default, save as an audacity project. You can't play this in any other programs, so you want to go to 'File' -> 'Export' -> 'Export as Wav' or 'Export as MP3'. To do the latter, however, you'll need the 'LAME' extension for Audacity, and I'll be showing you how and where to get that in another video! :P
Hope you enjoy the video!
Latest Tech News: Unless you've been living under a rock on a desolate wasteland of a planet for the last god knows how long, you'll no doubt know that Apple have got one of their amazing keynotes coming up next Wednesday. There are many things that are rumored to be released during the event. However, the widely anticipated Apple tablet is supposed to be one of them, along with iPhone OS 4.0, and some further Mac updates and upgrades. To be honest, if Apple do end up releasing a tablet, I don't know what's going to be happening with it, I don't really get all the fuss around tablets, and I do know that I'm not alone with this. I guess we'll just find out on Wednesday!
In Other News: As I said in my previous post, I've got a ton of new videos coming in total, read that post to find out more!
For now,
Yours,
The first in the 'Series' of How-To videos is below: How To: Trim Audio In Audacity.
I must state, though, to start with, that you don't need Audacity to be able to trim audio in this way. As you may know, there are a wide variety of different audio editing programs out there that are available, and, as far as I'm aware, they all work in a similar way when it comes to trimming audio.
Now I've got that off my chest, I can carry on!
Audacity is a free download from audacity.sourceforge.net and is, as I've said before in my look at Audacity and some of its features post and its respective video.
In this post, however, I'm telling you how you can actually dive in and get in with the editing of the audio itself.
First of all, you'll actually need some audio. In this example, I used Ke$ha's Tik Tok as it has a sound effect that I wanted to edit out. One thing I must say is that I advise that you make a copy of the audio before you edit it. If it goes wrong, then you won't have the original.
On with the actual editing now, then. First off, you need to select the audio that you want to delete. A common mistake here is that a user may edit the stuff they want to keep. Don't do this. Instead, as I just said, select what you want to delete. In audacity, this is done by going to the select tool on the top left of the screen (the icon that looks like an 'I'), clicking it, then going down and selecting your audio.
I went and selected everything before the stuff I wanted to keep, first, and then going to 'Edit' and then 'Delete'. However, you can be much quicker by just pressing the delete key on your keyboard. Note: You can neither select audio nor delete it when audio is playing or is part way through. Press the 'Stop' button (the square) and then the 'Go back to the beginning' button, the one that is like '|<<'. So, once you've deleted the parts before what you want to keep, go delete the bits after it. Finally, you'll want to zoom in (hold 'Ctrl' whilst scrolling, or press 'Ctrl' and '+') and delete the bits that you've no doubt missed before and after the audio, just tidying it all up. So, now, you have a nice bit of trimmed audio that you can play to your heart's content. Audacity will, by default, save as an audacity project. You can't play this in any other programs, so you want to go to 'File' -> 'Export' -> 'Export as Wav' or 'Export as MP3'. To do the latter, however, you'll need the 'LAME' extension for Audacity, and I'll be showing you how and where to get that in another video! :P
Hope you enjoy the video!
Latest Tech News: Unless you've been living under a rock on a desolate wasteland of a planet for the last god knows how long, you'll no doubt know that Apple have got one of their amazing keynotes coming up next Wednesday. There are many things that are rumored to be released during the event. However, the widely anticipated Apple tablet is supposed to be one of them, along with iPhone OS 4.0, and some further Mac updates and upgrades. To be honest, if Apple do end up releasing a tablet, I don't know what's going to be happening with it, I don't really get all the fuss around tablets, and I do know that I'm not alone with this. I guess we'll just find out on Wednesday!
In Other News: As I said in my previous post, I've got a ton of new videos coming in total, read that post to find out more!
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Thursday, 21 January 2010
So sorry...
*sigh*
This is the first post of 2010, the first post of the new decade, and it's 21 days into it.. I'm very annoyed at myself that I haven't actually posted this year yet, and the first month is almost out!
Don't worry, I'm not stopping my blogging altogether.. I've got 4 new videos in the pipeline, and I hope that I'll get at least one of them out before the end of this month. It's another Audacity-based one, and I've got another one after that one coming that's Audacity.
Latest Tech News: Here's something new that I think I'm gonna try and throw in at the end of every post, just before the other news part that I've had before. Something new for the new decade. Upon writing this post, I downloaded and installed (well, Ubuntu did, for me :D) Firefox 3.6. It's out today, a full version, stable. Several alphas, betas and release candidates later, it's here. Go and download it by clicking here. There's a ton of new features, but I'm not going to go through them here. That's for yet another video**.
This is the first post of 2010, the first post of the new decade, and it's 21 days into it.. I'm very annoyed at myself that I haven't actually posted this year yet, and the first month is almost out!
Don't worry, I'm not stopping my blogging altogether.. I've got 4 new videos in the pipeline, and I hope that I'll get at least one of them out before the end of this month. It's another Audacity-based one, and I've got another one after that one coming that's Audacity.
The other two are completely different, and unexpected. However, all 4 of these videos are in a sort of how-to series that I thought I'd base a few of my videos on. The aforementioned Audacity 2 are "How to in Audacity" and the other 2 are in the format of "How to (optional) in .
The main problem is just that I can't find the time to do the video editing and recording that's required, as my video editor is Windows only, and I can't get an Ubuntu screen recorder working. I guess I'll just have to find a way around it all.
Nevertheless, I'll continue working on this next video, don't you worry about that! So we'll get at least one video out before the month is out, that just needs the credits at the end, rendering and uploading, then it's done. Therefore, that one should be up by the weekend, as I've had a pretty homework-free week.
Also I hope to get at least one extra video done in the February half-term, which is only 3 weeks away. So that's 5 videos coming up.
As well as all these videos, I'll hopefully be getting some more news and reviews posts up pretty soon, so look out for those.
Finally, I thank you thoroughly if you've been following this blog in the way that you do, and just keeping up and all that. I value each and every person who reads any of the material on the blog, or even just visits us, I really do. Thank you, and hopefully it won't be long before I speak again.
Latest Tech News: Here's something new that I think I'm gonna try and throw in at the end of every post, just before the other news part that I've had before. Something new for the new decade. Upon writing this post, I downloaded and installed (well, Ubuntu did, for me :D) Firefox 3.6. It's out today, a full version, stable. Several alphas, betas and release candidates later, it's here. Go and download it by clicking here. There's a ton of new features, but I'm not going to go through them here. That's for yet another video**.
In Other News: I've not just been sitting on my arse doing nothing whilst I haven't been posting here, don't worry. I've been working on my latest creation with a friend of mine, a new site. Web Development is one of my favourite things, by far, and I've utilised it here. We are SmartIdeas. Hope to see you on that corner of the Web soon! Don't worry, as I said, nothing is replacing Ratscallion's Hints, we'll always be here ;-).
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
*That's a clue for one of those 4 ;)
**6 now! Wow.
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Video: Noticeable Changes Between Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
Hi!
The first of these features is that all of the Ubuntu predecessors had Ubuntu Add/Remove programs, the main GUI (Graphical User Interface) to add or remove programs on the Ubuntu system. This has been replaced in this version and in all of the versions to come with Ubuntu Software Centre, and the interface for this has also been revamped.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Although I haven't posted for a while, I've been busy creating this video for you!
On the 29th October 2009 (although it was a while ago, it's still relevant as lots of people are still using the previous version), Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala was released. Despite the fact that most people have upgraded to this new version, there is still support for 9.04 until April 2010.
The first of these features is that all of the Ubuntu predecessors had Ubuntu Add/Remove programs, the main GUI (Graphical User Interface) to add or remove programs on the Ubuntu system. This has been replaced in this version and in all of the versions to come with Ubuntu Software Centre, and the interface for this has also been revamped.
Another of the changes is that a user's home folder has now got thumbnails on the folders that are created upon user creation.
As with the latest version of Windows, Windows 7, a load of new wallpapers have been introduced to the new version of Ubuntu.
Unfortunately, unlike the previous versions of Ubuntu, the login screen customising has gone. You can no longer change the background and positioning of the boxes of your login screen. There may be a patch/hack for this, and, if that is the case, do let me know :)
I told you I'd get 5 videos out before the end of the decade, and that was the fifth! This has, in just over a year, taken the total of my videos up to 20! 5 videos from 14th November to 29th December!
If I don't see you before the end of the decade,
Happy New Year and End of Decade! See you in decade 2 of 2000!
Ratscallion
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Video: BBC iPlayer Downloading and Features Walkthrough BBC iPlayer Desktop
Hello!
It may have been a while, but we're here nonetheless!
The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has a TV on Demand service: BBC iPlayer. Not only does the service allow you to stream video that is online and has been broadcast on the television or radio in the past 7 days, but it also allows you to download this programme. The service also has a feature that not many people are aware of: Downloading.
Underneath the Flash part of the page where the TV (radio programmes do not yet have this feature) programme is streaming, there is a download button. This button will launch, if not yet installed, BBC iPlayer Desktop. If the software is not installed, it will take you to the BBC iPlayer Desktop download page.
BBC iPlayer Desktop is an Adobe AIR application, and will, therefore, work on any Operating System: Windows, Mac or Linux. However if you have many computers – or one computer with multiple operating systems installed on it – there is no way of syncing this, or watching them from those other Operating Systems as yet. You may be able to try and change the repository setting, but I’ve not tried that way, yet.
Once the programme has downloaded, no matter how you downloaded it (see below), it’ll expire and become un-watchable after 30 days since the download has completed. Also, once you’ve watched the programme (actually once you’ve started playing it, even if only a second or two) you’ve got 7 days to finish watching it and then it will expire.
If you haven’t got BBC iPlayer Desktop (or have, and you don’t want to use it for a certain programme) you can click the ‘More Downloads’ button underneath the simple ‘Download’ button, you can download it in other formats. This feature is only available in certain programmes, though it is slowly becoming standard, like the ‘Download’ button.
This ‘More downloads’ button allows you to download the programme in a different format than the one that BBC iPlayer Desktop downloads it in, as this cannot be opened in any other application. This button allows you to download the programme in a Windows Media Player format so that you can watch it in that instead of BBC iPlayer Desktop.
In Other News: As promised, I'm going go try and get another video done before the end of the decade, which should be really good. And maybe a Christmassy one, but how I'm going to top last year's one, I don't know! :P
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Video: Happy 1st birthday, Ratscallion's Hints!
Happy Birthday, Ratscallion's hints!
It's been a whole year since the first post was made on this blog, and around that since the first video was uploaded to the YouTube Channel. To celebrate, I made a video, a birthday video.
Happy Birthday, Ratscallion's Hints (the video's above).
Also, conveniently timed, I set a competition for a logo for this blog, and, here it is, the winning logo:
It's been a whole year since the first post was made on this blog, and around that since the first video was uploaded to the YouTube Channel. To celebrate, I made a video, a birthday video.
Happy Birthday, Ratscallion's Hints (the video's above).
Also, conveniently timed, I set a competition for a logo for this blog, and, here it is, the winning logo:
The logo's going to stay in the widget thingy at the top of the blog for a few weeks, then it'll move to the side.
In Other News: We've got at least 2 videos left before the end of the decade, and I think I've decided on what they're going to be. Like this one was, it's going to be photo/screenshot + narration based, but also VERY informative.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Saturday, 21 November 2009
Video: How to use an Ubuntu Live CD
Woo! In this video, I show you how to use and set up your computer to be able to use an Ubuntu Live CD:
Once you've got your Live CD, boot up your computer and put it in the tray. Shut down your machine, and then boot again with it in the tray (or drive if you don't have a tray like a Mac). If it doesn't boot, you've got 2 options: Enter and configurate your BIOS to boot from CD first, then the Hard Drive (shown in the video), or press F12 (only if your BIOS supports it), and select the "boot from CD/DVD" option.
Now you've booted. Select the language that you want to use in the Live CD, this can be changed both in the Live CD and when you install the system. Unless you want to go for the straight install, you're going to want the "Try Ubuntu with no change to your computer" option. Select it with the arrow keys and press enter.
The Live CD will now load, and it'll take quite a while to boot, though it'll be way quicker if you install the system, as it's running from the CD.
Once it's finished loading, you'll be logged in as the "Live CD User" automatically, and then you can begin playing around with the system and seeing if it all works with your hardware. If you've got any problems with hardware (the most common ones are graphics, sound and wi-fi) you can either ask me in the comments, or have a look in the Ubuntu Forums for answers.
In Other news: The birthday/logo video/post will be up later today. :-)
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Once you've got your Live CD, boot up your computer and put it in the tray. Shut down your machine, and then boot again with it in the tray (or drive if you don't have a tray like a Mac). If it doesn't boot, you've got 2 options: Enter and configurate your BIOS to boot from CD first, then the Hard Drive (shown in the video), or press F12 (only if your BIOS supports it), and select the "boot from CD/DVD" option.
Now you've booted. Select the language that you want to use in the Live CD, this can be changed both in the Live CD and when you install the system. Unless you want to go for the straight install, you're going to want the "Try Ubuntu with no change to your computer" option. Select it with the arrow keys and press enter.
The Live CD will now load, and it'll take quite a while to boot, though it'll be way quicker if you install the system, as it's running from the CD.
Once it's finished loading, you'll be logged in as the "Live CD User" automatically, and then you can begin playing around with the system and seeing if it all works with your hardware. If you've got any problems with hardware (the most common ones are graphics, sound and wi-fi) you can either ask me in the comments, or have a look in the Ubuntu Forums for answers.
In Other news: The birthday/logo video/post will be up later today. :-)
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Many Apologies
Apologies in advance for what is about to be said:
Unfortunately, I've been on Linux today, and have not been able of doing it.. Hopefully, however, I should have it done by Saturday and, if it comes to that, we'll be getting TWO videos then!
Wow.. Two.
In Other News: Competition entry will come inside the birthday video post.
For now,
Yours,
Unfortunately, I've been on Linux today, and have not been able of doing it.. Hopefully, however, I should have it done by Saturday and, if it comes to that, we'll be getting TWO videos then!
Wow.. Two.
In Other News: Competition entry will come inside the birthday video post.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Almost Birthday time!
Afternoon!
As you may have realised, there's no birthday video yet.. I still need to do that.. Should hopefully be doing that once I've done this report I need to do.. Eugh.
If it's not done, however, which may be the case, then I apologise in advance and it, along with the next instalment of Ubuntu Live CD will be put onto the channel on Saturday at the VERY LATEST.
Apologies for any inconvience caused.
In other news: We have a logo! Just check the poll at the top of the blog for the winning logo, I'll be doing a dedicated post for it in the Birthday Post!
For now,
Yours,
As you may have realised, there's no birthday video yet.. I still need to do that.. Should hopefully be doing that once I've done this report I need to do.. Eugh.
If it's not done, however, which may be the case, then I apologise in advance and it, along with the next instalment of Ubuntu Live CD will be put onto the channel on Saturday at the VERY LATEST.
Apologies for any inconvience caused.
In other news: We have a logo! Just check the poll at the top of the blog for the winning logo, I'll be doing a dedicated post for it in the Birthday Post!
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Saturday, 14 November 2009
Video: Ubuntu Live CD Unboxing
Although a little later than I wanted it to be, this video is here and you can watch it below.
It, like some of the other videos, have a HD button on the embedded player, though this is just due to the dimensions of the intro (and the fact I set it this way :P). Unfortunately, the camera I used was a stills one and isn't optimised for video. This explains both the rubbish audio (I should have post-edited that in.. :/) and the rubbish video... Ouch. So the main of it isn't HD, but the intro is, so you don't need to worry about pressing that button :P
There it is, and here's the details:
To get more information on Ubuntu and order the CD for yourself, just go to:
http://ubuntu.com
I think that this is one of the best things I've got in the post for AGES and enjoy using Ubuntu at all times. If you have any queries, just contact me by either using the comments, going to my Twitter and replying me or going to the contact page.
In Other News: This time next week we'll be seeing the next instalment of this series of videos. Remind me if I've not done it by Thursday!
For now,
Yours,
It, like some of the other videos, have a HD button on the embedded player, though this is just due to the dimensions of the intro (and the fact I set it this way :P). Unfortunately, the camera I used was a stills one and isn't optimised for video. This explains both the rubbish audio (I should have post-edited that in.. :/) and the rubbish video... Ouch. So the main of it isn't HD, but the intro is, so you don't need to worry about pressing that button :P
There it is, and here's the details:
To get more information on Ubuntu and order the CD for yourself, just go to:
http://ubuntu.com
I think that this is one of the best things I've got in the post for AGES and enjoy using Ubuntu at all times. If you have any queries, just contact me by either using the comments, going to my Twitter and replying me or going to the contact page.
In Other News: This time next week we'll be seeing the next instalment of this series of videos. Remind me if I've not done it by Thursday!
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
5 Videos before the end of the decade!
I've got an announcement!
This announcement is as follows:
I have 5, yup, that's right, 5, videos coming up before the year ends. Which, seeing on the progress so far, it's been one video a month on average and there's around a month and a half until 2010.
I think I'll only tell you a portion of that list of 5 videos, the rest, however, will be left to be revealed at a later date.
The first three of those videos are as follows:
For now,
Yours,
This announcement is as follows:
I have 5, yup, that's right, 5, videos coming up before the year ends. Which, seeing on the progress so far, it's been one video a month on average and there's around a month and a half until 2010.
I think I'll only tell you a portion of that list of 5 videos, the rest, however, will be left to be revealed at a later date.
The first three of those videos are as follows:
- Ubuntu 9.04 Live CD unboxing
- Ubuntu Live CD walkthrough (basically, how to use a Live CD)
- The two together. I'll do the two on their own, then one with the two combined.
That's all I'm saying... For now...
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Friday, 30 October 2009
Ubuntu Karmic!
It's here! The much anticipated 9.10 release of Ubuntu has hit the Internet by storm. Ubuntu Karmic Koala is here.
It, as with all Ubuntu releases, contains the latest version of both the Linux Kernel and GNOME, the desktop environment used on the default Ubuntu release.
There are a few differences between this version of Ubuntu and its predecessors, though. The first of which is probably the Instant Messaging client. It is not, like in previous releases, the much loved Pidgin. It is, instead, Empathy. This may be a good thing for some people, but for many, it is not. Although Pidgin cannot meet up to the many features that other messaging clients offer, it is still a very good one, and Empathy, I must say (in my opinion), is not. You may like it, if you don't however, go into the Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type the following:
sudo apt-get install pidgin
That command installs pidgin on your system for you. Enjoy.
Another new feature is that of the login screen. I cannot find a way to change the login screen as seen in the other versions. In this version, it's a simple dialog, and I cannot find a way to use new or existing login themes with it, even once it's unlocked. If you do know, let me know in the comments, share your info :)
Now, the next new feature is quite possibly something that Canonical (the people that make Ubuntu) put in to compete with Windows 7 and OS X Snow Leopard, who, if you remember, were all launched recently. This feature is not really a feature, but more an improvement. It is wallpapers. As you may or may not know, Windows 7 came with LOADS of wallpapers that were all really good and artistic. Snow Leopard may have had a similar improvement. Ubuntu isn't one to go with the trends, but it's still gone and done it. There's about a dozen (possibly more) pre-included wallpapers which makes a change from the less-than-4 that have been seen in other versions.
There's a ton of other features which I'll hopefully be looking at in a video soon. I'll be taking some screenshots of 9.04 (which I'm still using) and then comparing them with 9.10 which I'll hopefully upgrade to this afternoon.
To upgrade your Ubuntu version, go to System -> Administration -> Update Manager. At the top you should see a bar similar to the one you see below...
Just click update and then it'll connect to the update server, download the iso (could be some time as the servers are completely full with the amount of people getting on and downloading) and then it will install on your computer. It'll then install this new update, keeping all your applications and documents etc. However, it is a good idea to backup just in case.
If you haven't got Ubuntu currently installed, use the usual instalation method which is detailed on the website
If you're downloading, remember to use Bittorrent as this keeps the loads off the Ubuntu servers for those upgrading.
That's some of Ubuntu Karmic's new features.
In Other news: The poll is still open for the logo competition. See the previous post for details and use the poll at the top of the blog.
For now,
Yours,
It, as with all Ubuntu releases, contains the latest version of both the Linux Kernel and GNOME, the desktop environment used on the default Ubuntu release.
There are a few differences between this version of Ubuntu and its predecessors, though. The first of which is probably the Instant Messaging client. It is not, like in previous releases, the much loved Pidgin. It is, instead, Empathy. This may be a good thing for some people, but for many, it is not. Although Pidgin cannot meet up to the many features that other messaging clients offer, it is still a very good one, and Empathy, I must say (in my opinion), is not. You may like it, if you don't however, go into the Terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type the following:
sudo apt-get install pidgin
That command installs pidgin on your system for you. Enjoy.
Another new feature is that of the login screen. I cannot find a way to change the login screen as seen in the other versions. In this version, it's a simple dialog, and I cannot find a way to use new or existing login themes with it, even once it's unlocked. If you do know, let me know in the comments, share your info :)
Now, the next new feature is quite possibly something that Canonical (the people that make Ubuntu) put in to compete with Windows 7 and OS X Snow Leopard, who, if you remember, were all launched recently. This feature is not really a feature, but more an improvement. It is wallpapers. As you may or may not know, Windows 7 came with LOADS of wallpapers that were all really good and artistic. Snow Leopard may have had a similar improvement. Ubuntu isn't one to go with the trends, but it's still gone and done it. There's about a dozen (possibly more) pre-included wallpapers which makes a change from the less-than-4 that have been seen in other versions.
There's a ton of other features which I'll hopefully be looking at in a video soon. I'll be taking some screenshots of 9.04 (which I'm still using) and then comparing them with 9.10 which I'll hopefully upgrade to this afternoon.
To upgrade your Ubuntu version, go to System -> Administration -> Update Manager. At the top you should see a bar similar to the one you see below...
Just click update and then it'll connect to the update server, download the iso (could be some time as the servers are completely full with the amount of people getting on and downloading) and then it will install on your computer. It'll then install this new update, keeping all your applications and documents etc. However, it is a good idea to backup just in case.
If you haven't got Ubuntu currently installed, use the usual instalation method which is detailed on the website
If you're downloading, remember to use Bittorrent as this keeps the loads off the Ubuntu servers for those upgrading.
That's some of Ubuntu Karmic's new features.
In Other news: The poll is still open for the logo competition. See the previous post for details and use the poll at the top of the blog.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Thursday, 22 October 2009
A Wave and Competition Update
Hi!
Those of you on Google wave (and have been on it recently) will know that there's now a green dot on at least your own avatars.
Well, it used to be on the Dev Preview Sandbox thingy, but it was removed from a bug, but, according to Lars Rasmussen (creator of Wave, yes I had a conversation with him) said (quoting from a Wave):
"Folks, we turned back presence today, but there is still an issue to be ironed out I'm afraid. We originally turned it off because we accidentally were leaking presence to people merely in your "suggested contacts" because you had mailed with them once in a blue moon. Now we only show you presence of a user if that user has you in their "my contacts" group. Unfortunately, we have mistakenly been putting users you add to your contacts from within wave in the "all contacts" group so some presence will still be missing. We are working hard to fix it!
Happy waving..."
Meaning, hopefully, it'll be all sorted soon, so it'll be back like it was in the Sandbox!
If you want to see that Wave, you can just go here
In Other News: I've got an update for the competition for ya! As I mentioned in my previous post, we have 3 logos to vote for. You can either go to this Wave (opens Wave in a new window again, as before), or vote on the poll at the top of the blog. We're keeping the poll and voting open until 10th November 2009, giving me enough time to be able to get it sorted and whatnot (got some surprises in store) for the Blog's 1st Birthday. So get voting. On the closing date, the total votes from all the places will be totalled up and then we will have a winner. If there's a draw, the one with the next vote gets the win.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Those of you on Google wave (and have been on it recently) will know that there's now a green dot on at least your own avatars.
Well, it used to be on the Dev Preview Sandbox thingy, but it was removed from a bug, but, according to Lars Rasmussen (creator of Wave, yes I had a conversation with him) said (quoting from a Wave):
"Folks, we turned back presence today, but there is still an issue to be ironed out I'm afraid. We originally turned it off because we accidentally were leaking presence to people merely in your "suggested contacts" because you had mailed with them once in a blue moon. Now we only show you presence of a user if that user has you in their "my contacts" group. Unfortunately, we have mistakenly been putting users you add to your contacts from within wave in the "all contacts" group so some presence will still be missing. We are working hard to fix it!
Happy waving..."
Meaning, hopefully, it'll be all sorted soon, so it'll be back like it was in the Sandbox!
If you want to see that Wave, you can just go here
In Other News: I've got an update for the competition for ya! As I mentioned in my previous post, we have 3 logos to vote for. You can either go to this Wave (opens Wave in a new window again, as before), or vote on the poll at the top of the blog. We're keeping the poll and voting open until 10th November 2009, giving me enough time to be able to get it sorted and whatnot (got some surprises in store) for the Blog's 1st Birthday. So get voting. On the closing date, the total votes from all the places will be totalled up and then we will have a winner. If there's a draw, the one with the next vote gets the win.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Saturday, 17 October 2009
I'm back!
Oh hi there!
I've returned to the Interwebs, with 10 meg fibre optic broadband.. Just thought I'd say I'm back and pretty much online on everything. This same post is being rippled through to all my blogs, so don't worry if you see a re-post on something!
In Other News: I May be getting an external hard drive this afternoon.. If so, I'll be posting about it.
For now,
Yours,
I've returned to the Interwebs, with 10 meg fibre optic broadband.. Just thought I'd say I'm back and pretty much online on everything. This same post is being rippled through to all my blogs, so don't worry if you see a re-post on something!
In Other News: I May be getting an external hard drive this afternoon.. If so, I'll be posting about it.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Monday, 12 October 2009
Next two Videos
First of all, as you may have realised, the embedded Wave in the last post didn't really go as planned.. I'm still looking into and playing with the Google Wave Embed APIs as much as I can to try and get it working, as soon as I do, I'll make a post with one in. If you've not a Wave account, you get, instead, an iFrame of the Google Accounts log-in page.
Right then, on with the main post. I've got the next two of my videos sorted and planned out. Firstly, there's the Ubuntu unboxing one I discussed previously, which will likely be split into a two-parter. I'll be shooting this on the 19th, though the narration for it (which may have to be done separately, may be done at another point). Then, we'll be revisiting DropBox. Now, it has an iPod Touch/iPhone app which I do think is amazing. Therefore, I'll be looking at that, and covering it along with it working with the desktop app.
Just a brief post to keep you updated, oh, and if you missed the first DropBox video, it's embedded below. By the way, here's some pointless trivia and a bit of a "did-you-know" for you: that DropBox video was my first video in HD!
Here it is:
In Other News: I'll be offline for most of Saturday morning, we're getting new Internet and while it's being installed I'll be completely disconnected. To fill the time, I'll be doing a load of C++ and podcast catching upping.
For now,
Yours,
Right then, on with the main post. I've got the next two of my videos sorted and planned out. Firstly, there's the Ubuntu unboxing one I discussed previously, which will likely be split into a two-parter. I'll be shooting this on the 19th, though the narration for it (which may have to be done separately, may be done at another point). Then, we'll be revisiting DropBox. Now, it has an iPod Touch/iPhone app which I do think is amazing. Therefore, I'll be looking at that, and covering it along with it working with the desktop app.
Just a brief post to keep you updated, oh, and if you missed the first DropBox video, it's embedded below. By the way, here's some pointless trivia and a bit of a "did-you-know" for you: that DropBox video was my first video in HD!
Here it is:
In Other News: I'll be offline for most of Saturday morning, we're getting new Internet and while it's being installed I'll be completely disconnected. To fill the time, I'll be doing a load of C++ and podcast catching upping.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Let's try something...
So, like I said in my last post, Wave is now open to lots of people. Which is why I'm going to try something.
Google has some Embed APIs for Wave, which I'm playing around with, and I thought I could try something. Anyone who has Wave, feel free to play around with what I'm going to do, anyone who doesn't, use the official comments, or the Contact Page to comment.
So, here it is, there's a Wave embedded in this entry, and, if all goes well, I'm going to use it for comments on the posts. Seeing as the Wave will be made public (so that you don't need to be added to it to be able to see and/or post to it), it'll be accessible from within Wave itself, by simply searching for "with:public", so I'll be posting a link to the post inside it.
In other news: Don't think I've forgotten about the video and/or competition.. I'm going to be doing a judging competition for the logo soon, and we'll get a new logo in time for the blog's first birthday!
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Google has some Embed APIs for Wave, which I'm playing around with, and I thought I could try something. Anyone who has Wave, feel free to play around with what I'm going to do, anyone who doesn't, use the official comments, or the Contact Page to comment.
So, here it is, there's a Wave embedded in this entry, and, if all goes well, I'm going to use it for comments on the posts. Seeing as the Wave will be made public (so that you don't need to be added to it to be able to see and/or post to it), it'll be accessible from within Wave itself, by simply searching for "with:public", so I'll be posting a link to the post inside it.
In other news: Don't think I've forgotten about the video and/or competition.. I'm going to be doing a judging competition for the logo soon, and we'll get a new logo in time for the blog's first birthday!
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Google Wave and a delivery!
Hi!
I lie... Google Wave didn't really open its doors today, just to 100 thousand more people... There's simply a new redesigned wave.google.com which looks rather fancy.
As you may know, I'm on the Wave Sandbox at the moment, and am currently waiting to be migrated to the new service, the 100k one. However, as many people have said, they haven't yet got their invite, only a select few, and, as Mashable stated, there's still thousands that have not yet got the invite. Once I get migrated, I get around 5-10 invitations to invite other people to Wave. The aforementioned statement is one of the reasons why I am not using my invites yet, the other is that I'm not migrated :P.
I got a special delivery today... Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Official CD from Canonical! Ordered it a few weeks ago, came far earlier than expected! You may think that it's pointless getting Jaunty, as Karmic (the next version, which I will also order) is coming soon. However, that was the reason I did so! I have the 8.10 version (the previous version) and I thought I might as well get this one to make sure I've got them! I should be getting a broadband switch the Saturday before Karmic comes out (from 0.9 to 10 megabits per second) so I'll also download it.
Yes, there is a reason I included that in this post: It's my next video! I'm doing a very geeky thing and doing an unboxing for this. It may not be a gadget as such, but it's tech and geek based so it's allowed :P. Yup, next video will be of me unwrapping the Ubuntu Jaunty disc. You'll also see me doing my first run of it (basically putting it in and booting from it). Though there will be two: Simply that of the unboxing, and that of the unboxing and putting in. There may be a third, of just the putting in, but I'll have to think about that one.
Yes, I have NOT unwrapped the disc yet, I made a tiny tear in the paper just before I decided I was going to do an unboxing, it's only about an inch long (2-3cms) so it doesn't make much difference.
In Other News: There may also be a video going up about Google Wave soon (one of my own, as opposed to the one I planned, but decided not to, earlier this year of a clipping of the IO Keynote) and a brief overview of some of the features that are now enabled.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
As you may know, I'm on the Wave Sandbox at the moment, and am currently waiting to be migrated to the new service, the 100k one. However, as many people have said, they haven't yet got their invite, only a select few, and, as Mashable stated, there's still thousands that have not yet got the invite. Once I get migrated, I get around 5-10 invitations to invite other people to Wave. The aforementioned statement is one of the reasons why I am not using my invites yet, the other is that I'm not migrated :P.
I got a special delivery today... Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Official CD from Canonical! Ordered it a few weeks ago, came far earlier than expected! You may think that it's pointless getting Jaunty, as Karmic (the next version, which I will also order) is coming soon. However, that was the reason I did so! I have the 8.10 version (the previous version) and I thought I might as well get this one to make sure I've got them! I should be getting a broadband switch the Saturday before Karmic comes out (from 0.9 to 10 megabits per second) so I'll also download it.
Yes, there is a reason I included that in this post: It's my next video! I'm doing a very geeky thing and doing an unboxing for this. It may not be a gadget as such, but it's tech and geek based so it's allowed :P. Yup, next video will be of me unwrapping the Ubuntu Jaunty disc. You'll also see me doing my first run of it (basically putting it in and booting from it). Though there will be two: Simply that of the unboxing, and that of the unboxing and putting in. There may be a third, of just the putting in, but I'll have to think about that one.
Yes, I have NOT unwrapped the disc yet, I made a tiny tear in the paper just before I decided I was going to do an unboxing, it's only about an inch long (2-3cms) so it doesn't make much difference.
In Other News: There may also be a video going up about Google Wave soon (one of my own, as opposed to the one I planned, but decided not to, earlier this year of a clipping of the IO Keynote) and a brief overview of some of the features that are now enabled.
For now,
Yours,
Ratscallion
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