I’m not a developer, i’m a decent sys admin, i can code websites and do basic php, so i would of thought, what the heck can i do for the community.  Well that’s quite simple, i can advocate.  If anyone wants to know about alternatives to MS i can show them Ubuntu, if anyone complains about viruses i can show them Ubuntu.  If i talk to my mates or family and they complain all the time about how crap <insert os here> is, i can show them Ubuntu.  there are a probably a thousand ways to promote Ubuntu to your community, how you want to do it is up to you.  If you’re wanting to give away Ubuntu cd’s to family or friends, then go here, you could even just download the ISO and make a copy on request.

But what if i want to talk to like minded individuals?  This is easy to, in the UK, the ubuntu-uk community has a number of ways to communicate with each other.  Here are a few [please note that there are hundreds of what are called Loco teams around the world, so if you're not in the UK, then go here and see if there is one in your area]

IRC

Internet Relay Chat is a real time way of talking to people, you install an application and you basically chat, about anything really, there is a Code Of Conduct you should abide to but all in all it’s pretty relaxed and if anything does go wrong you can allways #blamepopey [don't ask]

irc.freenode.net #ubuntu-uk    that’s the UK community on the freenode network, if you want to say hello my nickname is MooDoo

Mailing Lists

Another simple one, subscribe to the mailing lists and join in the conversation, it’s not real time you just receive emails and reply to the ones you want to – https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk

ok that’s just two, there are a few more such as the forums, but i’ll leave you to go check them out, you should travel your own path yourself :p

I mentioned earlier the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, you might want to read it, ”It’s our bible for collaboration and helps define the way we all work together.”

That was a brief intro into the Ubuntu Community, to be honest i’ve not even broken the surface, it’s a ride that i think you should all take if you want to get more involved in it.

Tomorrow……the community you don’t see [launchpad/wiki/user pages]

Tomorrow…….Community

Music

Playing music is something i do quite often, it’s nice to listen to some tunes while surfing or working and my music player of choice is Rhythmbox, you’ll find it in the menu as it’s one of the apps that’s installed by default.  It’s looks loosely resemble itunes, but that’s where the similarity ends.  **One thing that i will mention is that, if you’ve not already installed the ubuntu-restricted-extras, rhythmbox will prompt you to install codecs to play your media**

Surfing

The default web broweser is Firefox, works fine, but a few people i know have suggested i try Google Chrome As i’m running a 32bit version of Lucid i downloaded the 32bit Deb, there are multiple ways to install a .deb [a packaged file] but i simply used sudo dpkg -i filename.deb and yes it does seem faster

Photos

The new default photo manager with Ubuntu is now a app called Shotwell, i love this app, it’s clean, simple to use and does actually work [for all my needs]  Looking at the Shotwell page the version that is supplied with ubuntu is not the latest version, not a problem as i’m sure it will upgraded, but i want it now as it has a better support for RAW files which some of my photos are.  Right so how to i get the latest version?  I’ve read about PPA’s on the internet so was wondering if Shotwell has one, hell yeah baby

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install shotwell

I also like to use certain apps that arn’t installed by default, i wondered why apps weren’t installed and it basically all comes down to the fact that on the Live cd [i'll come to that in a bit] there isn’t enough space.  But it’s simple enough to install, from command line

sudo apt-get install miro vlc leafpad gftp <insert anything else you want here>

That was just a very brief intro to apps, there are hundreds if not thousands more…..now it your time to go play and take a look at what’s available.

Tomorrow i’m going to step away from the laptop and find out a little more about the company that produces ubuntu, Canonical

“Calling all keen photographers! Countryfile is launching its eleventh annual Photographic Competition. The theme for this year is ‘A Moment of Magic’. So if you think you can take an inspiring image with the countryside or natural world at their heart, now is the time to get snapping.

Last year the competition was more popular than ever, with more than 30,000 entries. The best went into the Countryfile Calendar, sold in aid of Children In Need, and raised £779,226 for the charity. This year, the programme’s hoping for even more appealing images.”

Let’s see what happens eh!

Ok so the situation is, i’ve installed it over 10 times, while i’ve been playing, the key i have doesn’t work so i need to contact Microsoft. Hang on a minute, there is a 64bit cd in this box, ooooo i need to install that. hmmm i don’t have 64bit vista to upgrade it from……now then here is where it gets interesting, remembering somewhere that it’s possible to install a full setup from upgrade media, i decided to give it a go….here’s the link to the article if you’re interested.

It’s simple really, put the upgrade disk in the machine, boot from it and install windows as normal. when it asks you for the license key/activate when you’re online, uncheck the box and ignore this by pressing next. Install as normal. Once installed you have 30 days to activate the system. Upgrade the machine using the windows update tool, you’ll probably need to reboot a couple of times.

ok so now you have a completely, setup windows 7 machine, albeit unactivated. ok time to activate. There are a few steps we need to do first though. (this next bit involves regedit, so unless you know what you’re doing, don’t play, i’m not responsible for hosing your machine if you click the wrong thing)

Open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

Change MediaBootInstall from “1″ to “0″. (Double-click it and then enter 0 in the dialog that appears.)

Close RegEdit.

Open the Start Menu again and type cmd in Start Menu search to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose “Run as administrator.” Handle the UAC prompt.

In the command line window, type: slmgr /rearm

Then tap ENTER and wait for the “Command completed successfully” dialog.

At this point you’ll need to reboot your machine, When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility just type activate in the run box, type in your product key and activate windows.

It will either work and you’ll have a 64bit machine, or in my case, it won’t. I had to use the MS automated system to type in a load of digits to get an activation key, which then activated my machine. Windows 7 64bit…..huzzah!

So what do i need from you? Well if you go to the site and register [top right of the page] you can submit an article. Do you have an event? Do you use linux and want to review a piece of hardware/software? Do you as a business in the UK use linux? Why not tell people?

It is currently a work in progress but the more people that submit articles, the bigger it can get and become a good resource for us linux users/developers in the UK.

Have fun

Yesterdays #project365 photo. i work near a marina and thought i’d go check it out. I cross this bridge in my car everyday going to and from work, but have never walked underneath it. I have now.

My latest photo for my project, it was a pretty lazy day so it’s nothing special.

Bigger version here