Prakash Advani's Blog

The recently acquired Instagram is powered by Ubuntu! Instagram was recently acquired by Facebook for $1 Billion. Its a 13 people company almost all of them in their 20s and just 2 years old.

It is not just Ubuntu, the site is completely built on Open Source: Apache Solr, PostgreSQL, Redis and Django.

Read more on the technology underneath.

Linux is today powering Android phones, TVs, set-top boxes, enterprise data centers, cloud and supercomputers. Here are some stats.

The Linux Foundation has released its  Annual Linux Development Report, here are the excerpts:

• More than 7,800 developers from almost 800 different companies have contributed to the Linux kernel since tracking began in 2005. Just since the last report, more than 1,000 developers representing nearly 200 companies have contributed to the kernel.

• Seventy-five percent of all kernel development is done by developers who are being paid for their work. Long believed to be a basement community of developers, the Linux community is a worldwide, professional network of the best software talent in the world. This army of developers together builds the foundation from which innovations such as Android, cloud computing, KVM, Xen, and more are born and succeed.

• The top 10 organizations sponsoring Linux kernel development since the last report (or Linux kernel 2.6.36) are Red Hat, Intel, Novell, IBM, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Nokia, Samsung, Oracle and Google.[1] Mobile and embedded companies have been increasing their participation in recent years, not only adding more hardware support to the kernel but also taking responsibility for the advancement of core kernel areas.

• For the first time, Microsoft appears on list of companies that are contributing to the Linux kernel. Ranking at number 17, the company that once called Linux a “cancer,” today is working within the collaborative development model to support its virtualization efforts and its customers. Because Linux has reached a state of ubiquity, in which both the enterprise and mobile computing markets are relying on the operating system, Microsoft is clearly working to adapt.

• The rate of change since the last report is high and increasing, with between 8,000 and 12,000 patches going into each recent kernel release every two to three months. That’s nearly 6 new patches per hour since the last release of this report.

Read the full report.

Android so far has been maintaining its separate kernel from the mainline Linux kernel.  The android kernel forked out of the mainline because of differences in accepting the changes which the android developers were working on.

The good news is now with Kernel 3.3 the android specific changes are accepted in the mainline kernel.

Ubuntu 12.04 scheduled to release next month, will be on Linux kernel 3.2, expect 12.10 to benefit from this.

Ubuntu Cloud Day is coming to Bangalore on April 4th 2012.

If you are interested you can register here. http://ubuntucloudday.in

Here is a discount code to get you 20 percent off. Have Fun 🙂

LNKD20

Epson L200 is a low cost multi-function device which is good for bulk printing. It offers Printing/Scanning and Copying. A similar model L100 is a stand along printer.

Update: Epson has finally released the official drivers for t the Epson L100/L200. The only major problem remaining is that the scanner is not working on a USB 3.0 port.

First this model works on Ubuntu 11.04 with these instructions. However on Ubuntu 11.10 you require some tweaking.

Instructions for 12.04 and later.

Go to Epson Linux Download Center.

These instructions work for L100 and L200.

Search for L100/L200,

Download the printer driver. For 32-bit systems the file is:

epson-inkjet-printer-l100l200_1.0.0-1lsb3.2_i386.deb

It will require some LSB files which it should download on its own.

Now reboot your system and plug on USB, your printer will get auto-detected and it will install the driver.

To install the scanner, This is for L200.

Now  go back to Epson Linux Download Center.

Now search for L200

The OS drop down below should show Linux.

Now accept and download these files for 32-bit systems

iscan_2.29.3-1~usb0.1.ltdl7_i386.deb

iscan-data_1.26.0-1_all.deb

Install them and now you can scan from Any application like SimpleScan or use the ImageScan application installed.

If you are not be able to print then you can follow this additional steps.

On your browser, type localhost:631  this will bring up cups front end where you need to change a few things.

Click on printers tab on the right, select L200 under Queue Name, you will see two drop down menus.

Select Maintenance in the first one and Modify Printer, Now select the printer and say continue.

It would show Make Generic and Current Driver Generic ESC/P Dot Matrix

Click on Select Another Make/Manufacturer

Select Epson and Click on Continue

Now Select Epson Stylus N10 N11 Series

Now click on the Link below that says Modify Printer

Now if you print a test page you should see it printed.

What works on Ubuntu and should work on any other Linux:

Printing

Scanning

What doesn’t work and requires Windows:

Best Photo quality.

To check the printer error messages.

To check the ink levels, but you can see it on the side.

When you refill the cartridge, you have to put in some codes (what a pain), there are some hacks for this but that also requires Windows.

Whats pending:

The scanner is still not working on USB 3.0, perhaps won’t work on Windows too, haven’t tried.

“Good artists borrow, great artists steal!” — Pablo Picasso said it. So did T.S. Eliot. And, more recently, Steve Jobs. Let’s face it: If something makes sense and succeeds, it gets imitated.

Though Windows 8 and Linux distributions differ greatly from each other in design, ideology and — last but not least — their primary audience, they’re all built on the same basic principles of OS design so there’s bound to be some overlap. And while Microsoft has long been accused of stealing from the open source community, according to some Linux fans, it’s getting to the point where Microsoft simply appropriates good Linux features.

I have noticed many features in Windows, which came into Linux first and Windows users don’t even know them..

Read more.

Chef Yash Amin, is our guest blogger today. He is greatest chef I have known and has moved to Ubuntu, here is his experience.

Why i made the move from being a slave to windows to open source and Linux.

For years since I’ve been using computers, windows has been the mainstay of things and although I had heard about Linux, was hesistant to try it because for a non-technical person like me. I dabble a lot with computers, but at the end of the day I’m a chef and the maximum that I’m able to do with a laptop is add more RAM. (in terms of hardware). The biggest reason, not to change was quite simple really, noone likes too much of a change in lifestyle / clothes or even their OS.
But with the hundreds upon hundreds of security patches, updates, slow working systems being tied down to paying for new software, was gettting to be too much. After i have switched to Ubuntu/Linux working on the laptop just seems easier, it boots ups faster, the updates are seamless and take a few minutes at the most. it has a  graphic user interface (GUI) so theres easy to click on icons for everything to do and best of all, my favourite open source game nethack is now made for Linux too, so I can play with it as much as I can.
even though 12 years after first starting to play nethack, have still to crack the game and ascend as a demi god!!
Switch to Linux, now and save yourselves endless frustration, virus updates, security patches upon more and more and all in one package. Just download and your good to go.

after so much tech or not so much tech talk, i need to talk something about food.

The art of making a great tasting chocolate mousse

This assumes a few things and is not a DIY for dummies chocolate mousse recipe, but rather aimed at a few people who are passionate about dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is a sinful thing almost and most people will enjoy it as a guilty pleasure. A well made mousse takes that to even more dizzying heights and can be really delicious and smooth and creamy. Enough talking, now lets walk the talk.

For a family sized portion or if you are particularly greedy this is how much you would need.

Dark chocolate broken into small pieces- 200 gms(if you can get one with 50 percent+ cocoa solids then even better). Even Cadbury’s make one called old gold. If not then use Cadbury’s dairy milk and add about 30 gms of the darkest cocoa powder that you can find.

• Butter – 30 gms
• Eggs – 3 numbers
• Sugar- between 60-100 gms (if you want it more or less sweet)
• Cream – 250 ml
• Alcohol-(rum/ whisky/ or a liqueur (baileys, kahlua, cointreau or similar)- optional, but adds another hint of wickedness to the final product.- about 20 ml

Process

• Beat the eggs and sugar over a double boiler (pot with hot water over a low heat). The water should not touch the eggs but just be lightly simmering otherwise you will get sweet scrambled eggs. The consistency to try and achieve is very very fluffy and creamy and when stirred leaves a trail or when poured is ribbony.
• Melt the chocolate and butter together, just melted about 40 seconds in a microwave is generally enough. This should be done while the eggs are getting beaten. If you are using milk chocolate then add cocoa after the mix is well melted. Add in the alcohol if you like and mix well.
• Whisk the cream till its almost double in volume and forms soft peaks. Keep chilled. Do not over beat otherwise will split and turn into butter.
• Mix in the chocolate mixture gently into the eggs and sugar mix.
• Take of the heat and allow to cool down slightly.
• Fold in the whipped cream. ie. gently mix it in trying not to lose all the air which has been incorporated while whisking. Taste the mix by dipping in finger and licking clean. Yes this essential quality control measure 😉
• Put into individual glass bowls and refrigerate until set – about 2-3 hours. It can even be frozen quite successfully and eaten frozen like a rich ice cream or used a filling for a cake/ tart.
• Enjoy your chocolate mousse and Linux with family and friends[amazon_link id=”B0000SXEN2″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link].

For more recipes see Yash Amin’s blog.

The root cause is branding. “Linux” (the brand) is muddy, confusing, and unfriendly to the mainstream computer user: those on the other side of the chasm. They are the exact people that we need to embrace Ubuntu and they don’t *get* “Linux”. They don’t know what it is. They get a negative connotation when they hear the word. Don’t believe me? Ask your non-techie friend or loved one. (I just asked the person beside me and the response I got was less than flattering.)

Read more on Randall’s blog.

As per PC World, Desktop Linux gains market share of more than 1 percent.

After dipping to 0.97 percent in July, Linux rose to 1.07 percent in August, 1.11 percent in September, 1.19 percent in October, and 1.31 percent in November, Net Applications reports, followed by the new high of 1.41 percent last month.

W3Counter, for instance, puts non-Android Linux at 1.64 percent in December.

Wikimedia’s Traffic Analysis Report for last October pegged Linux at 3.48 percent, while news site The H-online which also reported on the new Net Applications data–noted that Linux users now account for 25.36 percent of its own traffic.

Our own stats shows 34 percent of users coming to Cityblogger are using Linux. I am glad people are finally realising the benefits of Linux on the Desktop.

If you want to test drive your own private cloud, try Ubuntu Cloud Live. It’s a 600 MB image, just download, burn to USB drive, boot your system with it and you have a cloud setup.

Download the image from here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-cloud-live/releases/11.10/ubuntu-11.10-cloud-live-amd64.img

Note: This is a 64-bit mage.

Recommended to have atleast a 4GB pen drive.

Use the ‘dd’ command to copy the image over to your USB drive. For example, if your USB drive is connected to /dev/sdb,  then run `dd if=ubuntu-11.10-cloud-live-amd64.img of=/dev/sdb`. WARNING: THIS COMMAND WILL ERASE ALL DATA PREVIOUSLY STORED ON THE TARGET DEVICE. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT DEVICE WHEN FLASHING.

Have fun 🙂

Ubuntu 11.10, code named Oneiric Ocelot,  is now available. It has loads of new functions, which puts other operating systems to shame! Here are a few cool features of this new release.

Touch support

The new Unity interface works well with mouse, keyboard and even touch. The dash allows you to quickly search for files, music, applications and everything in your computer. The launcher allows you to quickly launch your commonly used applications. The ‘must-have’ feature for music lovers is the Music Lens, which allows you to browse and find your music on your computer quickly and easily. You can sort music in folders by author, album or song wise. Similarly any new lenses or filters can be developed to have a multidimensional view of your data.

Mozilla Thunderbird is now the default email application, which happens to also be my favourite. Thunderbird supports all email standards and can manage thousands of emails in a breeze. It also has very good filters to quickly search through your emails.

Firefox 7 is the default browser. Firefox has seen vast improvements over its earlier versions and is now faster and has a much lower memory footprint. For people who prefer other browsers such as Chrome/Chromium, they can easily install those from the Ubuntu Software Centre. Skype, Flash, Acrobat and other popular applications can also be installed from there too.

The Ubuntu Software Centre is your place to install new applications, both free and paid for. With this release it also has application ratings, which makes it easy for you to decide which application to install. The Software Centre has a large collection of applications from education, games, science to development tools and more.

Ubuntu goes social

Ubuntu’s best kept secret is social networking. The Empathy IM client allows you to chat with your Facebook friends as well as integrates the usual suspects such as Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live (MSN), Jabber, ICQ and many others. The Gwibber social networking client collates all of your social messages from Facebook and Twitter. This is integrated with your desktop, so you can see your updates. You can also post your own updates straight from Gwibber.

With Shotwell, you can easily manage your photos, crop them, edit them and publish them on Flickr, Picasa or Facebook. OpenShot Video Editor makes it easy to edit, clip and resize your videos. It supports many effects and file formats. 3D has attracted the attention of OpenShot developers and they have enabled the functionality to add 3D animated titles to your videos.

Data backup

Data back up is also a key feature in Ubuntu 11.10, and you realise how important it is when you don’t back up and lose data! To make your backup activity easy, Ubuntu bundles Ubuntu One which can automatically backup all the files to the cloud. If you need external backup, you have Déjà Dup, which means you can backup to external media.

Ubuntu One gives you 5GB of free online storage, it can synchronise your data between Ubuntu PCs as well as Windows. It also has clients for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android so you can access your files on the go. Ubuntu One mobile client also gives you an option to backup your photos automatically. For example if you take a photo on your mobile, it would get backed up automatically to the cloud. It also allows you to stream your music to your mobile device. If you have tons of music and don’t want to carry all of it with you, you can keep it on Ubuntu One and stream it to your mobile phone when you want to listen to them.

This article was first published on Digit.

Here is a short video about Canonical’s cloud offering. This was recorded at Intel Cloud Summit 2011.

Ubuntu 11.10 is here, The 64-bit version offers multi-arch support, so you can install 32-bit applications and libraries on 64-bit systems.

Other Links:

CD images + Alternative CD.

Ubuntu Core – Just 34 MB ISO of pure Ubuntu.

Have fun 🙂

Ubuntu has received coverage on CNBC TV18 and CNN-IBN.

Ubuntu review

In June this year, Eclipse, a popular IDE, published the results of a global survey of its community, which aims to show how people are using Eclipse and other open source software (OSS), and participating in open source communities. The purpose was to create a  profile of how open source developers interact with the community. Incidentally, the Eclipse developer survey had the fourth highest number of respondents from India.

The results showed that 28 percent of developers use Linux as their primary developer workstation and Ubuntu was the most popular among them. Linux was also the most popular deployment platform with almost 42 percent deploying their applications on Linux.

The findings support the fact that Ubuntu is being increasingly used by many developers in the high tech industry. It is also popular amongst the mobile developer community. The android SDK, for example, can be easily installed on Ubuntu. Web developers also find Ubuntu very powerful as it has all the tools that they need to develop and test applications using the latest web development standards such as HTML5.

Being open source in nature means developers  get access to millions of lines of code, which can be used in any developer’s application.  However, the licensing of the application needs to be checked, as some of them may require the application to be open source  as well. Developers can also look at the source code to understand some of the applications.

So what makes Ubuntu popular among developers?

Easy to get developer tools

With Ubuntu it’s easy to get development tools, IDEs, debuggers, libraries, sources and more.  The Ubuntu Software Center or apt-get, offers a whole range of developer applications and tools with ease. Apt-get also works very well in resolving dependencies, for example if Eclipse is installed, it will install all the Java libraries, plugins and documentation required by the application automatically.

Powerful editors

Ubuntu has powerful editors which are developer friendly, offer code beautifications and syntax highlighting and code to make it easy for for developers to  read t their code. Ubuntu has easy to use editors apart from Vi and Emacs for hardcore developers.

Easy scripting

Linux has powerful scripting capabilities such as Bash, this makes it easy to automate tasks. It is very useful for  developers, because it helps save a lot of time by writing simple scripts for repetitive tasks.

Ubuntu has built-in virtualisation

Ubuntu has KVM built-in and VirtualBox, VMWare can be installed with ease. Virtualisation is a developer’s friend because it allows them to test their application on different versions of different operating systems on their workstations.

Easy integration with revision control 

Ubuntu has easy integration with code version control systems such as CVS, sub-version and Bazaar.

Ubuntu is secure and stable

Ubuntu is secure and doesn’t suffer from virus problems, this protects the developer from security worries, so they can focus on developing. Once  Ubuntu is installed, it just works.

Ubuntu is free

Users don’t need to pay any license fees for using Ubuntu, and  all the development tools on Ubuntu are also free.  These include popular ones such as Java, GCC, Python, Perl and Ruby. This saves a lot of money for the organisation. The savings are even more evident when there are lots of developers.

Eclipse a popular IDE, today is very actively developed with over 1,000 active developers, 170 companies and 200 open source projects. What started as a Java IDE, it has now become a full fledged development platform with plugins for several popular languages such as Perl, Python, C, C++ and many others.

This article was first published on Digit.

Nice video created by Linux Foundation to celebrate 20 years of Linux.

20 Years of Linux

After KDE announced that they will support Wayland in 2012, Google Crome browser will also support Wayland, which means you could run Google Crome directly on Wayland without X? Sounds like fun.

2012 looks exciting if the world doesn’t come to an end 🙂

Image by Linux Foundation

During my interview with Hindu Business Line, they also took a video about Ubuntu.

At times I am not able to print, on typing lpq it gives and error message “Printer not ready”.

I don’t know why this happens, but created a simple script which just resets the print and then its ready to print.

This is what the script looks like:

sudo sed -i -e ‘/StateMessage .*lpd failed/d’ -e ‘s/State Stopped/State Idle/’ /etc/cups/printers.conf

service cups restart

Happy printing !