This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have written some easy instructions to repair the flash plugin on Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty. In fact, after a brand new install on my Acer Aspire Athlon X2 I had big problems in visualizing Flash contents on Firefox 3. I tried to reinstall the plugin different times but the result did not change. Finally, reading a page in ubuntuforums.org I find the right solution for my problem. First of all you have to open Synaptic Package Manager (in System – Administration) and remove all the swfdec packages (in my case swfdec -mozilla and swfdec -gnome). Then, using the Terminal you have to type sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree. Now you restart Firefox and Flash contents will be available again. We believe that this solution is really fast and practical but if you know a better one which could permit us not to install non free code please let us know.

Category Archives: GNU/Linux
Pokerth: a good way to spend some hours of relax
It is vacation time and this week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we have posted some brief suggestion about playing Poker Texas Holdem just for fun with Pokerth. This version, optimized for Linux, has a nice graphics (e.g. you can select between different table) colors and is very intuitive to play. If you prefer, you can also play with other remote players clicking on the option you find in the below left menu. We played some good (bur not lucky) test games and the overall results were really positive. Unfortunately, tonight the pokerth.net server seems to be down… we hope tomorrow we will be lucky! Interesting.

New Mobile (and iPhone) version!
The vacations are ending and we are warming our engines and we hope to boost Computer Borders on next September. Yes, we confess that in the last months we were not very innovative with some of our posts but as you already have understood we fight with the few free time we have during the nigth. Anyway, starting today, we added a Mobile Friendly version of the blog: http://computerborders.mofuse.mobi/ (for iPhone we suggest the http://computerborders.mofuse.mobi/iphone/ link). We hope that this new features will increase the readability of our blog also when you are not in front of a PC. See you soon and enjoy this last part of Summer!

Ultamatix: the most powerful software to install new programs, themes and games on Ubuntu
This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we have added a post about Ultamatix which has been developed to be a valid substitute for Automatix. Ultamatix can be downloaded (in a practical .deb package) from its website and, with just few clicks, installed on your Ubuntu (now, also the jaunty 9.04 is fully supported). Ultamatix is very useful especially for the Linux beginners who have the possibility to add many programs, themes and icons in just with few clicks. We executed some different tests on Ubuntu 9.04 and the results were positive. Moreover, you can decide to uninstall the software directly from the Ultamatix menu at any time. This project is in continuous development and every new version contains new surprises. Anyway, even if we are not expert gamers but we were really satisfied from some titles we tested. Recommended!

How to listen online, legally free, music: Pandora.com
Today, in our Freeware Page we posted a review about Pandora.com: an online free website which offers free music listening based on your preferences. Once on Pandora.com you can decide to try it or to register for free (just an email and a new Pandora password are required). After this you can start creating new radio stations based on your favorite artists. In just few clicks, you can even listen your Pandora stations directly on your Blackberry, iPhone, PalmPre or Windows Mobile device. Using the QuickMix feature you can melt different stations in just an unique selection to share (if you want) with your friends. Pandora is legal and free but sometimes (not very often for my experience) some commercial ads are broadcasted. Anyway, in a couple of hours I was able to refine my new station options & variety and till now I am really satisfied by this service. Recommended!

How to recover your accounts and password on Windows using a Linux Live CD: Ophcrack
Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we posted a post about Ophcrack: a Linux Live CD which allows you to recover your Windows password when you forgot them. Sincerely, the described above situation is not common but it could really happen especially when you do not use a PC for some time or if you want to help a friend who is not so skilled with its own computer. Ophcrack is easy to use, sufficiently fast and effective. I tested it to recover some passwords on an old laptop and the results were very interesting; in fact I was able to recover password from accounts I totally forgot to own. Useful! This post has been written just for informative purpose! Please, remind that you are directly responsible for any law violation you commit in case of misuse of the information contained above.

How to create free different local telephone numbers linked to your Skype identity: Ring2Skype
This week, in our Linux Page (in Spanish), we posted a brief post about Ring2Skype. Ring2Skype is a new free service which allows you to create local telephone numbers linked to your Skype user-id. After filling in few datas you get a telephone number in 31 different countries. In your email you will find a welcome letter with a summary of all the data of your new Ring2Skype account, your new telephone number and an extension to share with your local contacts. In this way, a person located in a different country could call you spending just for a local call. On the other hand it is possible to create more local telephone numbers so all your contacts in different countries could be in contact with you as if you are living in their same city. Recommended if it will remain free also in the future!

Something to know before the release of Firefox 3.5: how to disable the geo-locating feature.
This week in our Freeware Page we we have written a quick post about disabling geo-locating feature in the upcoming Firefox 3.5. I have always been an enthusiastic supporter of Firefox because I think it is so flexible that I can find any add-on I need for any purpose. I am also sure that the new Firefox 3.5 will be the perfect tool for my everyday navigation but there is something I am a little bit annoyed. In fact, the Firefox 3.5 will contain a default feature (which can be triggered remotely by a website you are visiting) declaring your geo-location everytime you connect to a site. This feature (previously known as project Geode by Mozilla Labs) could be useful for people involved in social networking but it is a potential wasting time feature for all the others. In fact, you have to declare if you want to automatically display your geo-location each time a website triggers this feature. For this reason, if you are not a social network addict, my personal advice is to disable this geo-locating feature as soon as you install (or update to) Firefox 3.5… (it continues in the Freeware Page).

Mojopack 2.0: a software to create a portable Windows XP VS Damn Small Linux
Today, in our Freeware Page, we have posted a brief review about Mojopack a free (for 90 days, sic!) software which allows to bring your personal OS (with all the configurations) practically everywhere with you. To use Mojopac you need a working Windows XP OS, an USB portable disk or key and the Mojopac software. After the download, you can install it on your USB key in just few minutes. Mojopac works sufficiently silky on USB 2 connections but if you have time and are very patient you can use it with USB 1.1 ports. Last but not least, be sure to have administrator access privileges but some new versions, able to solve this problem, are in the plans. On the other hand we want to focus your attention on Damn Small Linux which is 100% free and can be intalled on CD, DVD, USB devices or simply embedded on your Windows XP computer. After some tests we really preferred this Linux solution because is completely free and very intuitive to use after just a couple of hours. Recommended!

Alien-GUI: an useful software tool to grafically convert deb and tar packages to RPM
Today, in our Linux Page (in Spanish) we added a brief news about Alien-GUI which is an interesting software developed to grafically (and automatically) convert tar, deb in RPM. As you already know, RPM is the package manager used to install software on different Linux system as (but not only) Mandriva, Fedora, Red Hat and Suse. Before installing Alien GUI, it is necessary to install Alien directly from Synaptics Package Manager (System – Administration). Alien GUi is very simple to use thanks to its intuitive graphic interface and it passed our test when we use it on a Mandriva. To sum up Alien Gui is a useful tool that sometimes could help all us to fastly solve some package compatibility problems in just few clicks. Recommended!

