Patrick Micka

Adobe AIR, the runtime environment I’ve written about before, has moved out of Alpha and into Beta. Expect apps to run more consistently with Windows and Mac.

Be sure to uninstall any previous releases of Adobe AIR before moving forward. This can be done in a number of ways depending on how it was initially installed.

Enter these commands to get the newest version (currently 1.1):

cd ~/Desktop

wget http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/air/linux/adobeair_linux_b1_091508.bin

Give the .bin file execution rights:

sudo chmod +x adobeair_linux_b1_091508.bin

Run the bin file to install/upgrade AIR:

sudo ./adobeair_linux_b1_091508.bin

Instead of keeping your browser pointed towards the Facebook web page, Pidgin users should take advantage of an open-source plugin which enables Facebook chat via the XMPP/Jabber protocol. Users can then chat with friends, view the online status of their friends, and set their status through the third party chat program.

To install the plugin follow these steps:

cd ~/Desktop

Download the .deb and .zip to your Desktop (one line):

wget http://pidgin-facebookchat.googlecode.com/files/pidgin-facebookchat-1.37.deb http://pidgin-facebookchat.googlecode.com/files/facebook_icons.zip

Extract the .deb file containing the plugin:

dpkg -x pidgin-facebookchat-1.37.deb ~/Desktop

You should notice a folder named usr on your desktop now. It contains a few .so files, however, you only need one for the plugin to function. Depending on what your system is running determines which of the three you need:

32-bit Linux users enter the following command to install the plugin:

sudo cp ~/Desktop/usr/lib/purple-2/libfacebook.so /usr/lib/purple-2/libfacebook.so

64-bit Linux users:

sudo cp ~/Desktop/usr/lib64/purple-2/libfacebook64.so /usr/lib64/purple-2/libfacebook64.so

Now, before starting Pidgin, you’ll need to install a few icons. Enter the following two commands to place the icons in the correct location:

cd /usr/share/pixmaps/pidgin/protocols

sudo unzip ~/Desktop/facebook_icons.zip

Fire up Pidgin and head to the Accounts window to enable your Facebook account. Enjoy.

Earlier this month Google released its web browser, Chrome. Unfortunately for Mac OS X and Linux users, the beta release is only available for Windows. Within a short period time intrepid Linux users had already gotten it up and running under Wine. Better yet, the nice folks over at CodeWeavers took it one step further and ported the browser to Mac OS X and Linux before Google could. However, it should be noted that the developers do not recommend using Chromium as your full time browser.

Also, the stock icon isn’t very big. Here’s a larger version I made up if you’re using Avant Window Navigator or another dock type program.

As a relatively new Linux/Ubuntu user I’ve had my fair share of complications trying to figure things out. Despite the wide variety of wonderful graphical user interface (GUI) tools available to us as Linux users, getting things done through a command line interface (CLI) in the terminal is sometimes the only option to. On one hand, it can be a very rewarding accomplishment, on the other, it can also be a very frustrating roadblock to getting anything done if you are not comfortable interacting with your computer in the mystic realm of text based commands.

If you’ve been using Ubuntu/Linux for any time at all you’ve probably noticed that most tutorials, including the one I posted a little while ago, are usually only composed of terminal commands. You may find yourself avoiding the terminal if you don’t have much experience with it. Unfortunately, your Ubuntu/Linux experience will inevitably suffer as you avoid trying new things. Understanding that the CLI is a powerful working environment in Linux, although not the only one, is important and will help you to get the most out of your experience. That is not to say that you should mercilessly abandon the intuitive visualization that GUIs provide, but rather, nurture your understanding of both environments.

To help get over any insecurities you may have using the terminal, aside from jumping in head-first, I suggest installing a fun little program called DOSBox. DOSBox is an open source MS-DOS emulator used for older computer games and should provide you with a fun and easy way to become more comfortable with text-based commands. On the other hand, if you’re just looking for an easy way to play DOS games, this program is available for Windows and Mac as well.

To install DOSBox enter the following command in the terminal window:

sudo apt-get install -y dosbox

However, if you’re really not comfortable at all with the terminal, the same program can be installed through the Synaptic Package Manager located in the Administration menu (Settings > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager). Just do a search for dosbox and mark it for installation.

After you’ve installed DOSBox you’re going to need a directory to store all of your DOS games. Create it by running the following command in the terminal:

mkdir ~/DOS/

Move any DOS game files/folders you have to that directory and then start DOSBox by typing dosbox in the terminal. Now you’re almost ready to ford that river!

Next, to make the directory your created earlier accessible to DOSBox type the following command in the DOSBox CLI:

mount c ~/DOS/

You can move to the C drive, which you’ve just mounted, by running:

C:

Finally, to launch a game you have to navigate to the executable file which corresponds to that game by entering:

\somedirectory\somegame.exe

Remember, the Windows naming convention uses a backslash to separate directory and filenames as opposed to regular slashes, or forward-slashes, as you will use in Linux.

If you don’t have any DOS games at hand, they can usually be found around the net by practicing a little google-fu. Lastly, don’t be afraid of trying new things, there are plenty of cheat sheets floating around to help you figure out what that command you just entered should have done.