- wlug - University of Waikato Mail Lists

Growing the Linux Community
by Peter Reutemann 11 Feb '14

11 Feb '14

"An unfortunate truth of the Linux community is that sometimes the most enthusiastic proponents of desktop Linux are the biggest hindrance to adoption on a wider scale. Nothing illustrates this point clearer than reading through the comments of posts that are either suggesting change or are simply disparaging the concept. Two such articles were recently published, David Gewirtz, writing for ZDNet lists five reasons he would rather run Windows 8 than Linux at the end of January, and Jack Wallen suggests talking about Linux in a language we can all understand on TechRepublic, also a ZDNet site. Neither article is that interesting in itself, but the comment stream of each reveals much about the state of the community." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/growing-the-linux-community Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Kingsoft Office For GNU/Linux Looks As Good As MS Office, Performs Even Better!
by Danial Jose 09 Feb '14

09 Feb '14

Hi All, I installed Kingsoft Office on my Ubuntu powered laptop and found it pretty good. There are three applications in the suite as below - - Kingsoft Writer – MS Word alternative - Kingsoft Spreadsheet – MS Excel alternative - Kingsoft Presentation – MS PowerPoint alternative Kingsoft Office is very much compatible with new versions of MS Office. I tried to open many .docx and .xlsx files in Kingsoft Office, and I can say that compatibility is around 95% even for the complex documents. Best part is that the user interface of Kingsoft Office is very similar to MS Office including the Ribbon interface. In fact, you can think of Kingsoft Office almost a clone of MS Office. This will reduce the learning curve for the new users who have recently migrated from Windows to GNU/Linux. One more useful feature is that multiple documents can be opened in Tabs so there is no need of switching between multiple windows. Don't believe me? Try out the Kingsoft Office yourself! http://wps-community.org/download.html "If you like our product, tell your friends, if you don't, please tell us! > (^_^)" http://wps-community.org/forum/ http://goo.gl/LwaMwe http://goo.gl/dyisOc http://goo.gl/hfMGHG Cheers, Danial José

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Adobe Flash Remote Code Execution Flaw Exploited In the Wild
by Peter Reutemann 09 Feb '14

09 Feb '14

"Adobe has released an emergency patch for a critical vulnerability affecting Flash Player for Windows, Linux, and OS X, the exploitation of which can result in an attacker gaining remote control of the victims' systems. The flaw is being actively exploited in the wild, but apart from crediting its discovery to researchers Alexander Polyakov and Anton Ivanov of Kaspersky Labs, no details about the ongoing attack has been shared." -- source: http://it-beta.slashdot.org/story/14/02/05/1421229 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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bmon: Real-time Network Traffic Monitor (Console) for Ubuntu Linux
by Peter Reutemann 07 Feb '14

07 Feb '14

Was looking for a "graphical" network traffic monitor (of live traffic) for the console today and came across "bmon". More info and screenshot in the following blog post: http://www.hecticgeek.com/2012/03/bmon-real-time-network-traffic-ubuntu-lin… What is your favorite tool? Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Ubuntu Could Get a New File Manager as Development Model Shifts
by Peter Reutemann 04 Feb '14

04 Feb '14

"For some time now, the folks at Canonical, and particularly Mark Shuttleworth, have been discussing delivering Ubuntu with a development model that keeps the OS converged for use on desktop, mobile and server devices. We've been waiting to see granular evidence of how this kind of unified development might work, and a new discussion forum post titled Default File Manager with Unity8 in Future Desktops provides an example. It lays out requirements for a new file manager to be developed for Unity 8 for desktops and laptops. This would actually be the Ubuntu Touch file manager, now in development." -- source: http://ostatic.com/blog/ubuntu-could-get-a-new-file-manager-as-development-… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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LibreOffice 4.2 Busts Out GPU Mantle Support and Corporate IT Integration
by Peter Reutemann 30 Jan '14

30 Jan '14

"In catching up with MS Office, the new LibreOffice 4.2 now has full Windows 7/8 integration including Aero peek, thumbnails, jumplists, and recent documents all from the taskbar. In addition, one weak area for LibreOffice has been enterprise network support and the lack of active directory tools: LibreOffice now has GPO and active directory support for system administrators to deploy and manage LibreOffice over corporate networks. LibreOffice also includes an expert configuration Window to assist power users and system administrators when deploying to hundreds of workstation at a time." -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/01/30/1654234 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Re: [wlug] wlug Digest, Vol 271, Issue 17
by Mark H. Jones 30 Jan '14

30 Jan '14

> Actually, it is documented in xkeyboard-config(7). The following should > work: > > setxkbmap -options shift:both_capslock > > The Colemak layout can be obtained with: > > setxkbmap -layout 'us(colemak)' > > I would put the above into /etc/default/keyboard (if on a Debian like > system) as > > XKBLAYOUT="us" > XKBVARIANT="colemak" > XKBOPTIONS="shift:both_capslock" > > (untested but that is what I gather from the man file). > > Cheers > Michael. Perfect - now it takes effect before GDM starts. No more switching layouts to enter my login password after a reboot. Thanks Michael.

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Re: [wlug] How to Kill the Caps Lock on your Linux Desktop
by Mark H. Jones 29 Jan '14

29 Jan '14

A while ago I switched to the Colemak keyboard layout which replaces the Caps Lock key with an additional backspace. Most of the time not having Caps Lock was fine but occasionally I find myself having to write whole words in capitals (esp. when programming) which was a pain. If you're using the Gnome desktop environment (or if you load gnome-settings in the background for those using a tiling window manager) you can set the Caps Lock to be toggled by pressing both Shift keys simultaneously. For me this was a huge productivity booster. To do this via Gnome: open the system settings -> Keyboard -> Layout Settings -> Options -> Miscellaneous compatibility options and tick "Both Shift-Keys together toggle Caps Lock" If anyone knows how to achieve this via command line, without gnome-settings, please share.

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How to Kill the Caps Lock on your Linux Desktop
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jan '14

28 Jan '14

"I really liked being free of the intrusive Caps Lock, since I'm not a very good typist; I look down at the keys a lot, and if I've hit the lock by mistake it can be half a line or more before I notice. Anyway, with Disable suddenly unavailable I did some searching and found that the function of the Caps Lock key could be replaced by adding a script to xmodmap." -- source: http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/758968 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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Does Anyone Make a Photo De-Duplicator For Linux? Something That Reads EXIF?
by Peter Reutemann 24 Jan '14

24 Jan '14

"Imagine having thousands of images on disparate machines. many are dupes, even among the disparate machines. It's impossible to delete all the dupes manually and create a singular, accurate photo image base? Is there an app out there that can scan a file system, perhaps a target sub-folder system, and suck in the images-- WITHOUT creating duplicates? Perhaps by reading EXIF info or hashes? I have eleven file systems saved, and the task of eliminating dupes seems impossible." -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/14/01/23/2227241 Worthwhile reading the comments, mentioning various tools. Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174

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