How to enable voice and video in pidgin (linux only :D)

Finally we have voice and video support in pidgin. It had always been so hard to understand why it is taking them so much time to implement it. Better late than never.

The new pidgin (version 2.6.1) has been released with media support in linux only at the moment. It was done by someone as summer of code project. You can find the list of new features and the whole story about it on their site.

Now coming to the real point. As soon as found out about this release it soon tried installing. Now the issue is that it had been released as source and though it works perfectly on most distros, it wasn't working on ubuntu 9.04 (working with earlier versions) . The problem was that jaunty isn't having the right versions of libraries needed to compile it and so the debs available on the net didn't install pidgin with voice and video support.

But things move fast in the open source world ... someone managed to compile it successfully on jaunty and has added it to ppa.

So here are the instructions:

To add the sources, go to the main menu, click System, then Administration, then Software Sources. Click on the Third-Party Software tab, then click the Add button.

Paste Code:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kalon33/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Click Add Source, then click the Add button again and add the PPA:
Code:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/korin43/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Close that window then open up a terminal and put this in:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install pidgin

This is it. It should work now :)

HOW TO set different wallpapers on each workspace in Ubuntu

I always wondered if it is possible to have different wallpapers on different workspaces in Ubuntu using GNOME just as it is possible using KDE. In tried out many tips given on different forums like installing a separate package called wallpapoz to do it or fiddling around with nautilus which often resulted in giving black screens... but the best method to have different wallpapers on different workspaces i found is the following ...best because it is really easy to follow and also as easy to revert back if u don't like it... so it goes like this...

A few things to note before we start:

• You have Ubuntu 8.04 running. (Though it should work with earlier versions as well. But I haven’t tried it.)

• You have installed Compiz Config Settings Manager. Check under System ->Preferences if Advanced Desktop Effect Setting/Compiz Config Settings Manager is there.
• It would be better if you have Avant Window Navigator and screenlets/desklets installed. (that would virtually eliminate the need for icons which u wont be able have after making the following changes.. PS: desktop looks better without icons and with these widgets n all)
  

Now just follow the following steps:

1. Go under System> Preferences> Advanced Desktop Settings/Compiz Config Settings Manager
2. 
3. Select Desktop Cube >Appearance> Background images or Wallpaper in the latest version earlier versionlatest version
   
4. Click New under background images and add all the images you want as background.
5. Alt + F2 to launch the Run Terminal.
6. Type in gconf-editor and press enter..
7. Go under apps > nautilus > preferences
8. Deselect ‘Show Desktop’.

yoyo..That’s it. Now just check out all the workspaces.

Important:
You will notice that you can’t right-click on the desktop and all the desktop shortcuts are no more there. But don’t worry they are not gone. You will have to go under Places > Desktop to see all the things you had on d original desktop. This is one thing you will have to sacrifice if you want to have different wallpapers on each workspace but as i pointed out earlier that if you have enabled Avant Window Navigator and screenlets, u will not miss them....

\m/ Enjoy different wallpapers on all your workspaces. \m/

If you have followed this post do write in your comments and send in screenshots of your desktops with different wallpapers..

HOW TO make a GSM data card (like Airtel, Vodafone data cards) work in linux

It all started when one of my friends Prakhar who has an Airtel data card wanted to shift entirely from windows to linux... but the only problem was that the data card wasn't working... we tried to make it work , tried googling to figure out on how to make it work but it was of no use..we could not get all d useful info in one place where the whole process was given to install it on linux.. then we went to our champ friend LYNUS (something is there in the same i guess)for help... he worked for around 2-3 hrs and figured out everything and made it to work.... :)

LYNUS at work- click here to download one of his projects

The process:

plugin the datacard and type : ls /dev/ttyUSB*
check if the following files are listed
/dev/ttyUSB0 /dev/ttyUSB1 /dev/ttyUSB2 /dev/ttyUSB3
if not then

Download the file : huaweiAktBbo.c
(http://www.kanoistika.sk/bobovsky/archiv/umts/huaweiAktBbo.c)
type lsusb and check the output ...

It should b something like this:

rishi@rishi-laptop:/proc$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 12d1:1001 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E620 USB Modem
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

line number 5 shows the vendor ID is 0x12d1 and product ID is 0x1001

now open the c file and search for
vendor = 0x12d1;
product = 0x1003;
and replace dem with your values...
vendor = 0x12d1;
product = 0x1001;
in my case

The libusb-dev package is required to compile the c file..
to install it Ubuntu or Debian users Type:
sudo apt-get install libusb-dev

Compile:
gcc huaweiAktBbo.c -o huaweiAktBbo -lusb
Run:
sudo huaweiAktBbo

Download the GUI from betavine:
https://forge.betavine.net/frs/?group_id=12&release_id=116
pick your choice from the list whichever is applicable for you and download the software..

chmod +x vodafone-mobile-connect-card-driver-for-linux-2.0.beta2-ubuntu-installer.run
./vodafone-mobile-connect-card-driver-for-linux-2.0.beta2-ubuntu-installer.run
On running the setup it might get stuck for a while downloading dependencies ... so get a cup of coffee and get back...if it is still not done then wait ..if dere is a message Installation complete den everthing is fyn..

once the software is installed then run it from the applications--> internet --> vodafone ...
a windows will pop up listing the devices found ..press ok if your device is listed ....den make a new profile ...

give a profile name... username and password (if it is not to authenticate your account den give some random values)...choose your connection type and authentication mode and den give the APN... for example , for airtel india users it is airtelgprs.com... check it with your service provider...
its done.. now connect and enjoy....


yoyo...happy surfing... :)

VLC media player 0.9.2 is out !!!!

VLC media player today is one of the most widely used media players...few of the main reasons for it being so popular are d facts that it is a free cross-platform media player which can play almost all formats for u without the need of downloading and installing additional codecs from here and there and can also be used as a streaming server, with extended features (video on demand, on the fly transcoding, ...) .... other features can b chkd out on its site...

After more than 2 years of development & 100,000,000 VLC media player 0.8.6 downloads, the VideoLAN team has released of VLC media player 0.9.2, codename "Grishenko"..

one of the areas where vlc was behind other media players was definitely its UI... it has improved it a lot in this release... some of the most notable changes in this release are: metadata support, new media library, album art support , fullscreen controller, better playlist management, last.fm support, new filters, decoders, etc...etc... for a comprehensive list of new features click here ...

Installation Guidelines for hardy users :

add the following in your software sources: "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/c-korn/ubuntu hardy main"

then start the synaptic packet manager and update your apt cache by reloading...

then first remove the old version by searching for vlc and select completely remove option for vlc and vlc-nox

and then install the new version by selecting vlc and vlc-nox and apply the changes...
You should also install vlc-plugin-esd, mozilla-plugin-vlc and libdvdcss2.

for people using other OSes --> first uninstall the previous version of vlc installed on your comp and nly den install the newer version...