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There is literally no dearth for music player applications in Ubuntu. Banshee, which is the new default music player for Ubuntu 11.04, is among the best you can get. Alternatives include Clementine, Rhythmbox, Amarok, DeadBeef among others. But MPD(Music Player Daemon) and NCMPC(an MPD client) combination opens up a whole new genre of music players for Ubuntu power users. Folks who like tools like Twidge Twitter Client are gonna adore this.

Linux Mint Debian Edition has proven to be a popular release for the Linux Mint developers. It’s certainly at the top of my list of favorite distros. Linux Mint Debian edition uses the GNOME desktop and, as good as it is, it’s just not right for some folks (especially those on older or slower computers). Enter Linux Mint 201104 Xfce version. Now you can get the benefits of a rolling Debian distro and the virtues of the lightweight Xfce desktop environment. Linux Mint Xfce runs on top of a Debian Testing base and makes use of the same repositories as regular Linux Mint Debian Edition.

This week's links look at disaster recovery in the cloud, Flash is still alive and well in training and programming skills you need to make more money.

This tutorial will cover how to install the well-known CUPS printing system, and optionally tell you how to have your Canon printer work. There are extra details about where to find Canon drivers and how to install the "Print to PDF" feature.

Sometimes in the world of free software, you have to make the best of what’s available. Sometimes what’s available isn’t all that great. When I suddenly lost some critical data as a result of a corrupted drive, I thought I’d have to shell out some potentially serious cash for a high-quality recovery utility. In my research to find the right program, I came across mention of TestDisk, an amazingly handy free utility which has saved me from the loss of a lot of data (not to mention a rather angry spouse). It’s a command line tool so there’s no fancy GUI, but the menu-driven interface makes the recovery process quite simple, and it can handle FAT, NTFS, ext2-4, and more.

LXer Feature: 20-May-2011

In recent years, Ubuntu Linux has become increasingly popular as a replacement for Windows. Ubuntu is an operating system which features a number of advantages that make it an appealing alternative for everyday users. Here are 10 reasons why Ubuntu beats Windows hands down.

All in all, "between Android/Linux, the rise of thin clients and Chrome OS, M$ is surrounded by competitive solutions it cannot mess with as it did with the 'PC,'" blogger Robert Pogson said. Microsoft, in fact, "will eventually become just another IT provider. After this year, the monopoly will be gone."

One of the mailing list messages making the rounds on the Internet today is concerning the GNOME project and whether they should no longer concern themselves with supporting non-Linux operating systems.

As expected, Red Hat has released its latest server business operating system: Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.1. This is the first major update to the platform since RHEL 6 shipped in November 2010. RHEL 6.1 features optimized KVM virtualization, new hardware support, improved operational efficiency, and high availability (HA) improvements. It also includes improved development and monitoring tools such as an updated Eclipse development environment includes enhanced breakpoint and code generation for C/C++ and Java.

The latest Linux kernel offers drivers for AMD's current high-end graphics chips and ipsets that simplify firewall implementation and maintenance. The Ext4 file system and the block layer are now said to work faster and offer improved scalability. Hundreds of new or improved drivers enhance the kernel's hardware support.

Since Groklaw last visited Paul Allen's patent attack on Google and the World, the court has agreed to sever the omnibus complaint into eleven separate ones 229 [PDF]. There is really no great surprise here. The nature of the asserted infringements in the first amended complaint were so unrelated to each other that the court had little choice but to sever.

Is Gnome going to become a new Linux Distributions? here a summary of other articles about this topic, that are running around the web, trying to figure out what is going to happen.

Commercial Linux distributor Red Hat has moved the 6.1 release of its Enterprise Linux from beta to prime time. RHEL 6.1 is an update to the flagship Linux operating system from Red Hat, which came out in its 6.0 version back in November 2010. The 6.0 version was a major upgrade to the company's Linux OS, with nearly twice as many packages in the stack riding atop of the Linux 2.6.32 kernel, at 2,058 programs; that 6.0 version also had 1,821 feature requests from partners and customers and more than 3,900 enhancements to the Linux kernel contributed by Red Hat software engineers.

I have just started using Kubuntu a week ago. Being a new user of the KDE desktop, I admit that I am have difficulty getting used to its terms. One of the thing I am always confuse is the difference between plasmoids and widgets. The two terms are used interchangeably and it took some googling to discover that plasmoids are actually widgets. That is only one part. The next issue is the installing of new plasmoids. I downloaded some plasmoids from kde-apps.org and I have completely no ideas how to install it (I am still a newbie in KDE). I double click on it. It doesn’t work. I drag it to the widget section. It doesn’t work either. Once again, I have to google for help.

With the very latest open-source Linux driver code for the AMD Fusion E-350, the support is finally stable and comparable to that of other recent Radeon HD graphics processors with the open-source driver stack.

I had naively believed for years that Microsoft was balancing between the demands of shareholders and OEM relationships and its user base. Somehow the balance teetered one way or another, but in the end I assumed I would benefit from purchasing their expensive licenses. Using my laptop which was running Vista, I finally got around to taking my DVD minidisc movie of our summer vacation and trying to properly burn it as a DVD movie we could watch on our big screen.

Red Hat, Inc. today announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1, the first update to the platform since the delivery of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 in November 2010. In addition to performance improvements, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 also provides numerous technology updates, including: additional configuration options for advanced storage configurations with improvements in FCoE, Datacenter Bridging and iSCSI offload; enhancements in virtualization, file systems, scheduler, resource management and high availability; new technologies that enable smoother enterprise deployments and tighter integration with heterogeneous systems. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 Screenshot Tour

Its time for some extensive customization of Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal's look and feel through a bunch of cool looking themes. Following is a collection of some of my favorite GTK themes for Ubuntu 11.04/GNOME 2.0 based desktops.

Building your own Python web applications provides you with the opportunity to have great functionality, with no restrictions. However, creating web applications with Python is not straightforward. Coupled with learning a new skill of developing web applications, you would normally have to learn how to work with a framework as well.

I should have been more patient last time, and this time after reading feedback I was able to get SimplyMEPIS 11.0 to work! Honestly, though, it isn't really anything special.