Windows – Adnan's Den

Can’t we get an easier & handy software installation process in Ubuntu?

After eying the title of this post, you must be astonished – why on earth I am saying that Ubuntu needs an ‘easier‘ and ‘handy‘ software installation process! Software Installation in Ubuntu is already a breeze. All one have to do is just heading to the Ubuntu Software Center, find/choose what software one needs and then hit the install button. Or one can download the .deb package and double click it to install the program. The installed program is ready for one in no time. Anyone have to admit that it is really pretty easy, even easier than Windows (where you have to click lots of ‘Next’ buttons during the installation process).

This whole procedure is easy if the computer is connected to the internet. What if the computer is in offline? You’re probably wondering who doesn’t have internet now a days! Actually there are a lots of them. Such as in my country Bangladesh, internet is not available to the majority of the computer users. Even though the minority gets the benefit of internet, they don’t have blazing fast speed. An average home user gets 10 kbps to 15 kbps download speed. Which is quite a low speed for downloading. And obviously majority users are using Windows. As there is a scarcity of internet and proper download speed, people download necessary software installer from some online computers and then use that downloaded installer to several other offline computers to install the program.

Now compare the scenario with an Ubuntu installed offline PC. Probably the easiest way to install a software in an offline Ubuntu computer is using the Keryx. It can keep track of the source ppa and dependencies, which is quite awesome. But still not easy enough to handle for a newbie. How? Well… firstly, using a third party software to install programs is a bit ‘scary‘. Secondly, if any one wants to share the downloaded file with others then it will be a problem. Suppose I have an offline Ubuntu computer and I want to install some program. So I take my flash drive (which have Keryx inside it) and connect it to a computer which has the internet connection. Then I download the desired program with the Keryx, and install it in my offline computer. It is easy. But what if I want to install that same downloaded program to another offline Ubuntu PC? There are sure chances that the dependencies in the second PC will be conflicted. Because it downloads the dependencies according to the first PC, so the second PC will suffer from dependency issues. And that is a nightmare for an average computer user. So as a result, previously mentioned “download with one computer and install in several different computers” theory does not work here smoothly.

To be frankly, the average users don’t give a damn about the dependencies. They don’t want to search the web to find out which libraries (and which versions) are required to install a specific program. They need the system to be ‘just worked’. I’ve seen many users who are very much afraid to use Ubuntu as they don’t have internet connection in there home. And they don’t want to jumble themselves with the dependency hell.

My point is to find out that whether it is possible to implement a more easier and handy software installation process for the offline computers (like MacOSX may be). All the dependencies will be packed in a single package for a certain program. (Please don’t be confused with the projects like portable linux apps. I am talking about a complete software installation.) The user just need to download that file and drag-n-drop that file (like MacOSX) to some places (may be in the Application lens) or double click the file (like the .deb files) for installation. Or may be we can figure out a smarter way to accomplish this. Thus it would be much more handy for the newbie users as well as the offline users.

I am not sure if I made my point clear. In recent days, Ubuntu emphasis on the looks-n-feels for the users. I think it is also important to simplify the software installation process for the newcomers as well as for all the offline users. To my view it is one of the important bottle neck. May be it is a dumb idea. Some of you may point your finger to the security issues. But I didn’t find any simpler idea than this for helping the offline users. Any thought on this? Any other idea?

It’s time for FireFoxFour!

Just installed the long awaited Firefox 4. Right now I am writing this post from FF4. I am a huge fan of FF for the last few years (from FF2 more precisely). With new look-n-feel and cool features, FF4 will sure rock your browsing experience.

To download Firefox go here. Ubuntu users can install FF4 via PPA. It has not been added to the Ubuntu official repository (yet), but why keep your Ubuntu awaiting! You can install FF4 in Lucid and Maverick following the process below:

Go to Applications > Ubuntu Software Center from the top panel.
Head to Edit > Software Sources and click the ‘Other Software’ tab.
Press ‘Add’ button and then paste the following line into the relevant field to add the PPA. [code]ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable[/code]
After adding the PPA you will be prompted to update your sources.
Once the update is done you can head to System > Administration > Update Manager to perform an upgrade.
Thus FF4 will be installed in the system.

You can do the above processes via the Terminal easily and quickly. For this:

From the top panel go to Applications > Terminal.
In the terminal just enter the following command and give your password when asked. This will add the PPA to your Ubuntu repository. [code]sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable[/code]
Now run the following command in the terminal
[code]sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade[/code]

So your Ubuntu is all set with FireFoxFour! To see what’s new in Firefox 4, check out the following video:

And there is a Firefox4 Twitter party going on HERE. You can join there and celebrate the party with other Firefox users! Happy FFFing!!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable

Now I am in Linux!

At last I’ve shifted to Linux! I’ve removed the Windows XP completely from my laptop and installed Ubuntu there. From now officially I am a Linux user. 🙂

My laptop is running like hell, I’ve not seen such speed for last several months. At first I was little bit worried whether I would able to connect to internet. But to my surprise, Ubuntu detected my LAN card and wireless port automatically! More over it automatically installed all the drivers of my Dell Inspiron!

At the first sight I fell in love with it. And now I am totally into it! I’ve no intention to move into Windows again (as I’ve gotten rid of my gaming addiction).

Long live Open Source!

A Guide to Unicode Bangla for Different Browsers

This article represents a quick-starter-guide for unicode Bangla environment in your browsers if you are using Windows. No matter which browser you use, just follow the separate instructions for separate browsers. This post covers mainly three major browsers: Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome.

For viewing Bangla fonts in different browsers click the following links:

For writing Bangla click the following link:

Phonetic Bangla writing with Avro Keyboard.

First experience of Windows Vista

I’ve just installed Windows Vista Ultimatum in my laptop. I got the copy from Minhaz Bhai. Then I took it just for test, as I’ve never experienced Vista before. When I first installed it, I was so much puzzled about the tools, because it was little bit difficult for me to find out where the necessary tools were as it seemed a bit hazy to me. It has a stunning visual. But I am sure who are using KDE of Linux or UBUNTU, will not be amazed by seeing the visual feature. I’ve been using UBUNTU for the last few years, and I believe that Windows Vista has nothing special or unique features which are not in Linux.

I like the gadgets that appear on the right side of the desktop. Specially the RSS Feed gadget which I think is very useful. Start menu becomes more clumsy as the sub-menus open within the main menu. The main drawback that I’ve noticed is that the driver’s scarcity. My laptop’s blue-tooth functionality couldn’t be installed for some dumb security reason! Every time I wanted to install the device from the original CD provided by DELL with my laptop, it shows the security center message, which in turns terminate the whole installation process.

Windows Vista requires more than 9 GB memory space and minimum 1 GB of RAM. It’s a high requirement. UBUNTU with the same facilities requires only 2 GB memory space with a RAM of 256 MB. I don’t know whether other software will run in Vista or they will also be blocked for so called security systems. But in the first glimpse it could not win my heart which had done by Windows XP. My suggestion is that, if you’re buying new PC’s with Vista installed in it then it is ok, otherwise the unavailability of the drivers will be troublesome. So if you’re using Windows XP, I don’t think you should upgrade your PC only just for Vista.