What is Evolution?

Evolution is an Personal Information Manager/email client for Gnome that is included in Gnome-based installations of many Linux distributions. It features such options as a personal contact manager, email, address book, and a task list.

Setting up Email in Evolution:

Lets take a look at setting up an email account in evolution.  To setup an email account in evolution, follow the instructions below(this setup is performed in Ubuntu 8.04 with Evolution 2.22.3.1, the look and feel of your setup may vary):

This Version of Evolution:

1.Launch Evolution:

A. Click on “Applications”

B. Point to “Internet”

C. Click on “Evolution Mail”

2. Click on “Edit” then click on “Preferences”:

3. You will be presented with the “Evolution Preferences” dialog box:

4. Click on the “Add” button:

5. You will be presented with the “Mail Configuration” box:

6.   Click on “Forward” to continue:

7. You will be presented with the “Identity” box:

8. Enter your account information:

9.  You will be presented with the “Receiving Email” box:

10. Select the type of email servers you will use to receive your emails ( This is typically a POP/POP3 server):

11.  After successfully entering your email settings, click on the “Forward” button:

12. You will be presented with the “Receiving Options” box:

13. Select the options you would like and click on the “Forward” button ( Depending on your situation, you may wish to leave the email on the server to act as a non-official backup for instance):

14. Select the type of server you will be using to send your mail: (typically SMTP)

15. If you need to confirm your identity/use a form of authentication to send your email, select your authentication type and click on “Forward”:

16. You will be presented with the “Account management” box:

17. Give your email account a descriptive name, this will help you if you have more than one account setup:

18. You will be presented with the “Done” box:

19. Click on “Apply” to complete the setup:

20. You should see your account setup in the “Evolution Preferences” Dialog box:

21. Here is the email account (inside the red box) for clarification:

22. Click on close, your email account should be functional at this point:

23. Here is a view of the inbox:

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What is DDWRT?

What is DD-WRT?  DD-WRT is a free Linux based Operating System for a fairly broad range of routers.  Basically what you’re looking at is: DD-WRT upgrades the performance / capabilities of your router.  Most standard, retail-class routers come with basic options that are suitable for end-consumer/home-user class applications.  Many more technically-minded individuals would like increased functionality from their hardware (with preferably, minimal expense).

Router Operating Systems

Your router is controlled by the OS (Operating System) / Software that tells that router what to do.  To increase the functionality of that router therefore, one may consider replacing or editing the existing Operating System with another operating system featuring more capabilities.  DD-WRT is one such operating system and may be an option for you if you have or purchase a router that is compatible with it.

Selecting Your Router’s Operating System

How do I upgrade or replace my router’s OS (Operating System)?  In most cases, you may not have the time or knowledge necessary to create an operating system for your router.  You may therefore wish to obtain such a resource from someone that specializes in that field of development.   One of the more popular operating systems that meet such requirements is the DD-WRT OS which is developed by the DD-WRTCommunity. To determine whether DD-WRT will work on your router, visit their website and browse their list of supported routers.

Installing DD-WRT on Your Router:

1. Download the version of the firmware/OS for your model of router.

2. Follow the specific instructions (based on your router and version of the firmware you are installing) to install your new OS.

Installing DD-WRT V24 SP1 on a Linksys WRTGL:

1. Download the DD-WRT V24-SP1 from the DD-WRT website here.

2. Plug in/power-on  your Linksys WRT54GL Router and connect to it via a LAN port with an ethernet cable.

3. Open a browser such as Firefox and access the web interface (typically by typing 192.168.1.1 into the address bar or whatever IP range your router is set to).

4. Click on the “Administration” tab:

5. Click on the “Firmware Upgrade” sub-tab:

 

6.Be sure you are connected to your router via ethernet and NOT via Wireless. Click on the “Browse” button and select the file that you downloaded and click on the “upgrade” button.

7.  You will be presented with the new interface once your router has rebooted (if you had any settings in your router, all your settings should remain in place):

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How to unzip a tar.gz file from the linux command line:

So you’ve downloaded a tar.gz file from some place or the other on the web, but you have an issue. You do not know how to uzip this file. Here is the procedure you need to follow to unzip it:

Unzipping the file:

To unzip a tar.gz file from the command line in linux, complete the following steps in the order presented:

1. Open a “Terminal Window” or “Command Console” or the command line. (in CentOS 4.5 click on “Applications” in the menu bar, point to “System Tools” and click on “Terminal”).

2. Login as the root user (type su press enter and type in your password)

3. Go to the directory that the tar.gz file is located in. Use the command “cd” (the letter “c” followed by the letter “d” without quotation marks) followed by the directory you wish to go to. For instance if you are in the “home” directory and you wish to go to a directory/folder that is in the home directory called “testdirectory”, you would type the command “cd testdirectory” (without quotes) that will put you in the “testdirectory” directory. The point being that whatever commands you execute at the command line at this point will affect the files in that (”testdirectory” in this case) directory specifically unless you specify otherwise.

4. Type the command “tar -zxvf [filename]” (that is tar -zxvf followed by the name of the file you want to unzip). This will unzip the file and put it in a new directory (within the same directory) in the unzipped format.

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Thunderbird Calendar (Lightning)

Thunderbird has many functionalities, one of them is a calendar. Thunderbird calendar (known as Lightning) is a practical, easy-to-install, calendar that features a audible reminders and a number of other nice features. I will run through downloading and installing the calendar into Thunderbird.

Downloading The Calendar (Lightning)

To download Lightning, click here. Lightning is provided by Mozilla and can be added as an “Add-on” to your Thunderbird Email program.

1. After clicking on the link to download lightning, you will be presented with the Mozilla web-page where you can click on whichever version of the software you need to download (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Other Systems such as OS2 and Solaris).

2. After clicking on the link that represents your Operating System, you will be presented with a download (represented here in Firefox) :

3. Once you have selected your Operating System type, you will be presented with a download button for that OS type:

4. Click on the “Download Now” button to start your download. You may be presented with a dialog box indicating the download name, type, etc. :

5. Make sure you click on “Save to Disk” or such related option to save the file to your hard drive. Note where you tell this file to download to, you will need it shortly.

Installing the Calendar into Thunderbird

6. Once the download is complete, you may go ahead and launch Thunderbird. When Thunderbird is up and running, follow the instructions below to install the Calendar Add-on:

1. Click on “Tools” in the file menu.

2. Click on “Add-ons”

3. Click on “Install” (located at the bottom-left hand side of the “add-ons” dialog box:

4. Go to the location on you downloaded the file to and click on it to select it and click on “open” (depends on your OS). The name of the calendar add-on is: lightning-0.8-tb-win.xpi :

7. You will be presented with the “Install Add-on” Dialog box: You may click on “Install Now” to begin the installation.

8. Once the installation is complete, you will be presented with the Add-on dialog box, you may click on “Restart Thunderbird” at this point to complete the installation process and make the calendar available:

The calendar will be available in Thunderbird on the right-hand side. You may switch between full calendar view, tasks view, and email view by clicking on the respective buttons (”mail”, “calendar”, or “tasks”)  at the bottom of your inbox folders at the bottom left portion of Thunderbird:

Here is a quick peek at a calendar with an example event:

Adding an Event:

To add an event to the calendar, double-click the location on the calendar (such as the date/time) that you would like to schedule an event for, you will be presented with the following event dialog: (You can add the title for your event, the time you would like to schedule it for, and whether or not you should receive an audible reminder).

Once an event is added, it will appear in your calendar with the time of the event, followed by name of the event:

Enjoy!

Your TrueStar Technology Expert

Virtual Machines

What is a “virtual machine”? Virtual Machines are the new wave of future processing. Basically, what happens in the case of a virtual machine is, a super machine is created and divided into a number of machines managed via a core operating system. After the construction of the host system (system hosting the virtual machines) a master Operating System is installed which provides virtualization capabilities on which multiple standard Operating Systems can run.

Benefits of Virtualization

Virtualization is a technology that provides many benefits. Among them are speed, centralization, and economy. When considering the benefit of speed for instance, there is a tremendous benefit as communication between machines is now available at bus speed instead of ethernet or other means of “external” communication. Centralization puts management of multiple machines at a central interface. This allows you to minimize management time windows and concentrate on other issues that are more important than maintenance routine. Bordering on economy is the minimization of physical construction. This includes hardware that is necessary to power and construct multiple, independent machines, communication medium, UPSs and any other hardware necessary to support your specific requirements.

Redundancy

Another excellent benefit of virtualization is the minimal points of physical failure. Even though you are located on a single, central machine, redundancy is provided by the “redundancy structure configuration” of that hardware. In other words, to provide an adequate level of physical redundancy, the configuration of your host machine must match that of multiple external machines to an extent. This of course is provided by multiple instances of the hardware from which your host is constructed. Multiple instances of the hardware structure includes but is not limited to, RAID arrays, power supplies, CPUs, and external mediums of communication. At any rate, redundancy is critical and should be a well maintained priority of your System Structure.

Sources of Virtualization

Who provides resources for virtualization? There are quite a few sources for virtualization Operating Systems available and you may wish to consider different developers depending on the specific purpose or environment in which you plan to implementing your virtual system. Some of the major providers like Vmware and VirtualBox have multiple levels of virtualization available, ranking from a starting point such as desktop environments all the way up to an enterprise solution.

Virtualization Environments

Virtualization at this point is quite popular and is often implemented in ISP-like environments where the demand multiple servers to perform a specific task is high. Although not extremely popular on a more local or personal basis, even small businesses and home users may begin to see implementations of this technology. Virtualization for small businesses and home users will most likely be a prescription for Multimedia and other hardware intensive applications.

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Firefox is Very Versatile

Firefox, the browser by Mozilla, is indeed a very versatile creature. If you consider the multiple levels on which you can use Firefox it is quite amazing. Today I would like to cover a couple of the more popular features available. One of the features that I like and find extremely handy, is the “Forecast Fox” Add-on. This feature basically allows you to view the weather for a given location in a few moments by integrating a little weather station if you will, into any of a number of locations in Firefox.

Simple, Easy to Understand Layout

You are presented with a simple layout that features a radar button for an geographically expansive outlook at the weather, followed by the current state of the weather and the current temperature. This is followed by two other panels dictating tomorrow’s and the “day-after’s” forecasts (noted below).

How Do I Install ForecastFox

Adding Forecast Fox to your Mozilla Firefox browser is a simple matter. Follow the instructions below:

1. Visit the Mozilla Add-ons page here (you’ll download the Add-on here).

2. Do a search for “Forecast fox” by typing forecast fox into the search box noted below (I personally like the enhanced version of the software).

3. Click on the version that you like, it will take you to the page dedicated to that version specifically.

4. Click on the “install now” or thus related button.

5. You will be presented with the software installation dialog:

6. Clicking on “Install Now” will let you install the software into your browser:

7. Once the installation is complete, you will have to restart Firefox:

8. After the restart is complete, you will need to tell Firefox to make use of the addon. You may accomplish this by:

1. Clicking on “Tools” in the menu.

2. Next click on Add-ons.

3. Click on “Extensions”.

4. Click on “Enable” under the Forecast fox Add-on:

Installation and Initialization Complete

This should put the dock into your browser. It may be necessary to restart your browser once more. Once the doc is in place, you simply need to tell it where you would like to track the weather. You may accomplish this by right-clicking anywhere on the weather interface and selecting “options”. This will present you with the Options dialog box and allow you to type in your zip code (this allows Forecast fox to track the weather for your location) If you’re putting this on a laptop and you travel frequently to multiple locations, you can add another profile and switch to that profile when you are at that location to have Forecast Fox show the weather for that location specifically:

After you type in your zip code, click on “OK” to close the dialog box. Forecast fox should begin showing the current weather as well as the two-day forecast.

Easy Weather Access

From now on, whenever you want a quick peek at what the clouds overhead are doing, simply point your mouse over the little, green, radar symbol and it will pop-up a little weather map showing cloud conditions in your area.

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Skin? What’s this About Firefox Skin?

Firefox has a skin, believe it or not, Firefox is quite the dermatological agglomeration. When I say Firefox has a skin, I mean that the look and feel of Firefox can be changed to a look and feel with a completely different atmosphere. This can easily be accomplished as is made available to you by the community of Firefox interface developers.

A Plethora of Skins

The amount of skins and styles that are available for your Firefox browser is varied from the simple, cool, and professional, to skins that will make you go hmmm. Take a look here at the types of skins available, you can go simple, bright, large, cool, smooth, modern, old, have a Mac OS look… etc. etc.

How do I Get These Wonderful Skins?

Obtaining skins for Firefox is simple and free… just like the browser they are made for. If you do not have Firefox, you can download it here. If you would like skins for Firefox, you can download them here. Installation is a snap, they take the same path as do the installations that were performed above (the Forecast fox Add-on). Just follow the same instructions choosing instead, whichever skin you would like.

Backing up Your Valuable Information

One of the most important things you should do to your data is duplicating it. When I refer to duplicating… I refer to backing up your data. The entire idea of a backup is redundancy. Your data should be backed up on as regular a basis as possible.

Digital Information is Physical Information

There is one thing that Computer/Digital Data cannot survive, that is physical destruction. If your hard drive or other storage media suffers an actual physical demise, there is virtually no way that the data that existed on the media (while it was viable media), can be recovered. Obviously this refers to complete destruction, say as in a fire or other catastrophe in which the physical media is reduced to a clump of metal/charcoal or some form of shredded metal or storage media. Although possible, data recovery may be extremely difficult even if conditions are more favorable. The point is, you may save yourself an extreme amount of headache by simply synchronizing your data with a location remote to the primary physical area of your information.

Location, Location

The area you synchronize your data to, should be as far away from the primary location (the location the data is generated) as possible. This will aid in a situation in which a destructive force is generated that covers a large geographical area. If your primary residence (point of data generation) is in Tampa Florida and Tampa is destroyed by hurricane “charlie”, the last thing you want is for your backed up data to be stored elsewhere in Tampa, or even elswhere in Florida.

A More Ideal Backup

A more Ideal situation would be to have your backup in an area that is not subject to the same destructive forces as your area is, perhaps somewhere more to the top/center of the map (in the case of Tampa). This may provide a better location as these areas are less subject to forces generated or governed by a close proximity to large bodies of water, or plate techtonics (variables Tampa is also subject to). Of course there are many other variables to consider, and the more distinctly, remote locations your data is replicated to, the better.

Backups for Immediate Reconstruction

The other backup system you should have at your disposal, is a backup I refer to as the Immediate Turnover Backup System. An Immediate Turnover System is no mis-nomer… it’s name is the definition of it’s functionality. What an Immediate Turnover System does for you is, save time. Although backing up your data to remote locations is the best option as far as data security and effective redundancy, creating backups and restoring backups at remote locations can be very time consuming. An Immediate Turnover grants you your data Immediately upon the occurence of a local failure. For instance, if your local hard drive in your desktop machine fails and you have properly configured a local backup, you will have the data that was on your desktop’s hard drive, on a hard drive or other media ready and at your disposal. Of course (as before mentioned) this should not be your only backup as it would provide little redundancy in a local catastrophe such as a fire etc.

Where Time Machine Comes In

You know that local backup I was refering to a few moments ago? Well, that is where Time Machine comes in. In the case where you need a local backup (as does most everyone) an application such as Time Machine is ideal for the job. Configuring Time Machine is a snap. If you wish for a secure backup with minimal configuration, plugging in your external drive and saying yes is pretty much all that’s required.

Time Machine… Under the Hood

When attaching an external drive to your Mac, you may use virtually any HFS formatted drive. Other options that you have include: another Mac with Leopard installed and personal file sharing, a Xsan storage device, or a Leopard Server. Time Machine is sort of a specialty type of a backup. Time Machine basically allows you to go back to any day in the past (given that you had your backup installed and configured on or before that date), and view your system exactly as it was at that point. This is a leap above typical backup software that simply creates a copy of your files but provides no feel for the state of your system at that time. It also features intelligent backup scheduling such as during a system shutdown. Your Backup will pause and resume it’s work when your Mac becomes active again.

Restoring is a Snap

When the time comes for you to do a restore on your Mac, using Time Machine is a snap. Simply select the date and time you would like to recover to, and your machine will be restored to the exact state it was on that given day and time, even on your new Mac.

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Linux Desktops Making a Splash

Linux personal desktop computers are making a splash in the home-user and end-user markets. Ubuntu, a distribution of Linux (a computer operating system), has many end-users considering the benefits of the open-source communities’ software packages. Ubuntu has pumped a lot of development into their latest Operating System (Version 7.10). Some of the many benefits included with the Open-Source Operating System are, the ability to perform word processing, create presentations, manage databases, create spread-sheets, browse the internet, and send and receive emails to name a few. Among many other assets that lend excellent functionality at ZERO (0) cost to the user, is the ability to connect to wireless networks, play DVD movies and music, connect picture devices (cameras etc.), and configure and provide advanced services. When compared to the functionality of Microsoft’s new Operating System (Windows Vista), it is an excellent choice, especially since Microsoft has reduced the functionality of many of it’s home-user versions of the operating system, requiring users to purchase a more costly license for additional functionality.

All these benefits, coupled with a comprehensive, yet simple and intuitive interface, makes Ubuntu an excellent choice for end-consumers. Especially those looking for maximum functionality on a budget.

Dell has made the Operating System available on their website for customers interested in the product. If you are technically inclined however, You may also wish to download it from Ubuntu’s website and perform an install for yourself. It is Absolutely Free!

Your TrueStar Technology Expert.