Few days ago the final version of Firefox 4 come to life.

With this guide I will show you how to install Firefox 4 on Ubuntu and its variants with the official repositories.

Open a terminal and add the Firefox’s repository:

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

Than update the package manager’s . . . → Read More: Install Firefox on Ubuntu with official repository]]>

Few days ago the final version of Firefox 4 come to life.

With this guide I will show you how to install Firefox 4 on Ubuntu and its variants with the official repositories.

Open a terminal and add the Firefox’s repository:

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

Than update the package manager’s database:

sudo apt-get update

If you already have Firefox, you can just give the upgrade command:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Otherwhise you can install Firefox 4 with the following command:

sudo apt-get install firefox

Here it is a guide on how to keep Mplayer updated on Ubuntu.

First you need to add the dedicated Mplayer repository; open a terminal and run;

sudo . . . → Read More: Update Mplayer on Ubuntu]]> Since Ubuntu is not a rolling-release distribution, programs like Mplayer do not receive any major update, beside bug-fixes, until each new release of the distribution itself.

Here it is a guide on how to keep Mplayer updated on Ubuntu.

First you need to add the dedicated Mplayer repository; open a terminal and run;

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:motumedia/mplayer-daily

The update the package manager’s database:

sudo apt-get update

Than you if you have Mplayer already installed, you can get the update by:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Or, if you don’t have Mplayer installed yet:

sudo apt-get install mplayer

Here it is a guide on how to keep VLC updated on Ubuntu.

First you need to add the dedicated VLC repository; open a terminal and run;

Few days ago the final version of LibreOffice 3.3, the spin-off of OpenOffice born after the the issues between Document Foundation and Oracle, come to life.

With this guide I will show you how to install LibreOffice 3.3 on Ubuntu and its variants with the official repositories.

Open a . . . → Read More: Install LibreOffice on Ubuntu using the official repository]]>

Few days ago the final version of LibreOffice 3.3, the spin-off of OpenOffice born after the the issues between Document Foundation and Oracle, come to life.

With this guide I will show you how to install LibreOffice 3.3 on Ubuntu and its variants with the official repositories.

Open a terminal and add the LibreOffice’s repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

Than update the pacakge manager’s database:

sudo apt-get update

If you have OpenOffice, it is best to uninstall it to avoid conflicts:

sudo apt-get purge openoffice* && sudo apt-get autoremove && sudo apt-get autoclean && sudo apt-get clean

And finally install LibreOffice:

sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-gnome

Of course if you have Kubuntu, instead of libreoffice-gnome, install libreoffice-kde.

First you need to enable the Kubuntu’s backports repository, open a terminal and run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

Once you have done that, to download and install KDE 4.6 run:

sudo . . . → Read More: How to install KDE 4.6 on Kubuntu]]> KDE team just released the 4.6 version of the famous Desktop Enviroment. Here it is a guide on how to install it on Kubuntu.

First you need to enable the Kubuntu’s backports repository, open a terminal and run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

Once you have done that, to download and install KDE 4.6 run:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

An annoying issue about those pre-built virtual machines is that often they . . . → Read More: How to Convert VMware files to VirtualBox Vdi format]]> If you use virtualization software like Vmware or VirtualBox, you know that around the web there are many pre-built virtual machines available to download and use for free (often from the OS vendors in case of testing versions for new releases their OS).

An annoying issue about those pre-built virtual machines is that often they are built just for Vmware since it is more popular than VirtualBox, and if you are a user of the later you are sitting duck.

But fortunately there is a solution.

First, open a terminal or the command prompt if you are under Windows; in the later case move to “C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox”.

Then run the command

VBoxManage clonehd source.vmdk output.vdi –format VDI

Where for “source.vmdk” you should input the file name (and eventually the path) of the original VMware file and for “output.vdi” the name (and eventually the path) of the VirtualBox file.

Easy, isn’t it?

We need a program called pdftk. Install it with your package manager (for example on Debian/Ubuntu, run “sudo apt-get install pdftk”), and then from the terminal run . . . → Read More: Password lock PDF files with pdftk]]> If you need to lock a PDF file with a password on Linux, there is an easy way to do it even if it requires a terminal.

We need a program called pdftk. Install it with your package manager (for example on Debian/Ubuntu, run “sudo apt-get install pdftk”), and then from the terminal run the following command:

pdftk source.pdf output destination.pdf user_pw password

Of course instead of source.pdf you should input the name of the original pdf file (and eventually the full path if it isn’t on the local directory where the terminal is), for destination.pdf you should write the name of the password protected PDF file (it has to be a different name from the original), and obviously for destination.pdf you should write the password you want to use.

First we need to install some dependencies that, fortunately, are available on the repositories:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk

Than we need to download the “Dynamic Static” version of Skype . . . → Read More: Install Skype on Debian Squeeze/Sid AMD64]]> Skype is not available on the official repositories of Debian Squeeze/Sid AMD64, so here it is a guide on how to manually install it.

First we need to install some dependencies that, fortunately, are available on the repositories:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk

Than we need to download the “Dynamic Static” version of Skype from the download page. Once you have done it, you have to install it with the following commands from a terminal:

tar xjvf skype-2.1.0.81.tar.bz2
sudo mv skype-2.1.0.81 /opt/skype

Than you can create the launcher in /usr/bin:

sudo vim/usr/bin/skype

And inside it you should write (or just copy and paste):

#!/bin/bash
cd /opt/skype
./skype

Than make it executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/skype

Then to update the applications menu use the following commands from the terminal:

sudo cp /opt/skype/skype.desktop /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop
sudo vim /usr/share/applications/skype.desktop

And change the following line:

Icon=skype.png

with:

Icon=/opt/skype/icons/SkypeBlue_48x48.png

And so you should have a functional Skype on Debian Squeeze/Sid AMD64.