List of Download Managers Available in [Ubuntu] Linux

A download manager is a computer program designed to download files from the Internet,unlike a web browser, which is mainly intended to browse web pages on the World Wide Web (with file downloading being of secondary importance).

Download Manager Features

• Pausing the downloading of large files.
• Resuming broken or paused downloads (especially for very large files).
• Downloading files on poor connections.
• Downloading several files from a site automatically according to simple rules (file types,updated files, etc. - see also Offline Browser).
• Automatic recursive downloads (mirroring).
• Scheduled downloads (including, automatic hang-up and shutdown).
• Searching for mirror sites, and the handling of different connections to download the same
• file more quickly (Segmented downloading).

Wget

Wget is a network utility to retrieve files from the Web using http(s) and ftp, the two most widely used Internet protocols. It works non-interactively, so it will work in the background, after having logged off. The program supports recursive retrieval of web-authoring pages as well as ftp sites — you can use wget to make mirrors of archives and home pages or to travel the Web like a WWW robot.

Wget works particularly well with slow or unstable connections by continuing to retrieve a document until the document is fully downloaded. Re-getting files from where it left off works on servers (both http and ftp) that support it. Both http and ftp retrievals can be time stamped, so wget can see if the remote file has changed since the last retrieval and automatically retrieve the new version if it has.

Wget supports proxy servers; this can lighten the network load, speed up retrieval, and provide access behind firewalls.

Wget is a default download manager for Ubuntu . Therefore you do not need to install it again

Gwget

Gwget offers a GNOME front-end to the popular wget application, with enhanced features, such as systray icon, multiple downloads and a powerful preferences manager.

Install Gwget in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install gwget

Curl

Curl is a client to get files from servers using any of the supported protocols. The command is designed to work without user interaction or any kind of interactivity.

Curl offers a busload of useful tricks like proxy support, user authentication, ftp upload, HTTP post, file transfer resume and more.

Install curl in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install curl

Axel

Axel is a command-line downloader for unix-like operating systems. Unlike wget, axel includes download acceleration, whicThis program tries to accelerate the downloading process by using multiple connections for one file. Starting from version 0.97, the program can use multiple mirrors for one download as well. The program tries to be as light as possible (25-30k in binary form), so it might be useful as a wget clone on byte-critical systems.

Install axel in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install axel

Wxdownloadfast

wxDownload Fast (also known as wxDFast) is an open source download manager. It is multi-platform and builds on Windows(2k,XP), Linux and Mac OS X(binary still not available). Besides that, it is a multi-threaded download manager. This means that it can split a file into several pieces and download the pieces simultaneously.

Install Wxdownloadfast in Ubuntu

Download .deb package from here

Install .deb package using the following command

sudo dpkg -i packagename

Multiget

MultiGet is an easy-to-use GUI file downloader for Windows/Linux/BSDs/MacOs. It’s programmed in C++ and has a GUI based on wxWidgets. It supports HTTP/FTP protocols which covers the requirements of most users. It supports multi-task with multi-thread on multi-server. It supports resuming downloads if the Web server supports it, and if you like, you can reconfig the thread number without stopping the current task. It’s also support SOCKS 4,4a,5 proxy, ftp proxy, http proxy.

Install Multiget in Ubuntu

Download multiget .deb package from here

Install .deb package using the following command

sudo dpkg -i packagename

aria2

Aria2 is a command line download client with resuming and segmented downloading. Supported protocols are HTTP/HTTPS/FTP/BitTorrent and it also supports Metalink.

Install aria2 in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install aria2

Downloader for X (d4x)

Downloader for X is a powerful graphical download manager. It supports both HTTP(S) and FTP protocols and has nice graphical user interface, though some actions can also be performed using the command line.

Among others, its key features include proxy and SOCKS5 support, recursive downloading,wildcard matching, download scheduler, multiple download queues and more…

Install d4x in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install d4x

KDE KGET

KGET is a a download manager similar to GetRight or Go!zilla. It keeps all your downloads in one dialog and you can add and remove transfers. Transfers can be paused, resumed, queued or scheduled. Dialogs display info about status of transfers - progress, size, speed and remaining time. Program supports drag & drop from KDE applications and Netscape.

Install Kget in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install kget

This package is part of KDE, as a component of the KDE network module. Therefore you need to install another KDE packages to run KGET on your Ubuntu

Desktop Data Manager

Open-source app Desktop Data Manager is a clipboard manager, download manager, and advanced screenshot capturing app rolled into one. Desktop Data Manager actually installs three separate programs: DDM Screenshot, DDM Download, and Desktop Data Manager.

Install Desktop Data Manager in Ubuntu

Download .deb package from here and install using the following command

sudo dpkg -i packagename

Jigdo

This is a BETA version of the jigdo GTK+ download manager. In particular, it is NOT yet capable of processing .jigdo files - use jigdo-lite from the jigdo-file package for that!.This download manager features FTP and HTTP 1.1 support, pausing, continuing and resuming of downloads, and automatic guessing of your proxy configuration.

Install Jigdo in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install jigdo

Aria

Aria is a download manager.The transfer can be paused, resumed, queued and saved. It has a very user friendly GTK based GUI, and useful log consoles. Program supports CRC checking, HTTP proxy server, cut-and-paste, drag-and-drop, and can define specific file retrieving procedure for particular web servers.

Install aria in Ubuntu

sudo aptitude install aria

Firefox Support

Firefox is a default web browser for Ubuntu .There are so many download extension for Firefox.I am giving best of them as follows.

DownThemAll!

The first and only download manager/accelerator built inside Firefox!

Download from here

FlashGot

Download one link, selected links or all the links of a page together at the maximum speed with a single click, using the most popular, lightweight and reliable external download managers.

Download from here

Force-erasing a DVD+RW

Actually, rather than calling it "force-erase" it's better off being called as trickery.

From the Wikipedia article about DVD+RW,

DVD+RW supports random write access, which means that data can be added and removed without erasing the whole disc and starting over (up to about 1000 times).

While that 'add and remove without erasing the whole disc' thing sounds great, what if you want to erase the disc securely?

Try erasing it with say, K3B, and it'll bail out saying erasing will be done in the background; meaning that if you have 4.4GB of stuff on the disc and you overwrite it with a smaller amount, the old data is still there - Old data which you want to get rid of for some reason (security is a good excuse).


The simplest way of totally erasing a DVD+RW is by writing a 4.4GB ISO which has nothing but 0's in it.

So, from a terminal create the above mentioned disc image using dd.

dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/BlankISO.iso bs=1000000 count=4700

Now you just have to burn this ISO file onto your DVD+RW and you have a completely empty disc.

P.S : Blanking a DVD+RW actually defeats the purpose of using a DVD+RW but sometimes you just can't help it.

Recording The Soundcard Output

I have been looking for a couple of days for a way to record the output of my speakers directly to a file i.e. record what I hear. An easy good quality solution was one I found here. Since I modified it slightly to suit my own system, I thought I'd document it both for myself and others.

I am using an Ubuntu Itrepid based system which has been modified to use ALSA as the sound architecture. This is in fact the pre-release Beta of Linux Mint Fluxbox CE.

This is what I did:

1) Edit /etc/asound.conf and added the following at the end. This creates a device which copies another.

# copy device for output recording
pcm.copy {
type plug
slave {
pcm hw
}
route_policy copy
}

2) Restart ASLA with:

sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils restart

3) Get the 'numid' of the 'Capture Source' and the Item number of the 'Mix' device (you will have to go through the long output)

amixer contents

The part you are looking for looks something like this:

numid=22,iface=MIXER,name='Capture Source'
; type=ENUMERATED,access=rw------,values=2,items=8
; Item #0 'Mic'
; Item #1 'CD'
; Item #2 'Video'
; Item #3 'Aux'
; Item #4 'Line'
; Item #5 'Mix'
; Item #6 'Mix Mono'
; Item #7 'Phone'

4)Then set the copy device to copy the 'Mix' device (5) by running this:

amixer cset numid=22,iface=MIXER 5

That's it!

When you are ready to record run this in the terminal

arecord -c 2 -f S16_LE -r 44100 -t wav -D copy foobar.wav

The output file will be a large wav file.

To encode it to a good quality mp3, run:

lame -V - foobar.wav

Enjoy!

Creating a Good Password

In the latest Linux Mint Newsletter, Husse linked to an article which suggests that the weakest link in online security is weak passwords. I have seen this myself in the passwords my friends use. But it is possible to create a strong password that is also easy to remember. Here is how I generally go about it.

Pick your root words

This is what will make your password easy to remember for you. Choose two short words that you won't forget - two words because two words are harder to guess than one for a cracker. Example:
'dogs' and 'linux'.

Swap in some numbers

Now swap some letters for numbers that look like the letters. For example: 1 = I, 3 = E, 4 = A, 5 = S, 7 = T, 8 = B, 0 = O. You can use whatever substitutions you like as long as you remember them. Now our root words are:
'd0g5' and 'l1nux'

Mix up the words

Alternate the letters of the root words but you can mix them up in a way that suits you. Now we have:
dl01gn5ux

Use uppercase letters

Using at least one uppercase letter immediately increases the strength of the password because the cracker must now account for 26 more characters. Let us make the first and last letters uppercase:
Dl01gn5uX

Add a special character

To increase the number of characters in the mix, add a special character if it is allowed. These can be punctuation marks or symbols. Just keep it easy to remember
Dl01gn5uX!

Add site specific changes

It is not a good idea to use the same password on multiple sites because if one is cracked, they all are. And this is more important with more and more of our personal information going online. But still nobody likes remembering a different password for every site, if that is even possible. What we can do is make site specific changes (that are easy to remember) to our already strong password. For example, add the first letter of the site on which this password will be used. If it is on gmail, our password is now:
Dl01gn5uX!g

Shhh!

Now we have an awesome password that will take even the fastest brute force attack a long time to crack! And yet it is easy to work through the steps from our ultra-easy-to-remember root words to our awesome password should you forget it. After a while, this complex sequence becomes second nature even with site specific modifications.

But the weakest link still remains. And that is you! It goes without saying... do not tell anyone, do not write it down, do not save it in a file, etc. There really is no need to if your root words are easy to remember. And even if someone who knows you well can guess the root words, it will still be hard to guess your password.

Take the above process, change it to what suits you best, make your own rules, and most importantly, use it!

You can check the strength of your password at http://www.passwordmeter.com/. Our password here rates as 'Very Strong'!

HowTo Use GPG

1. Key Generation

gpg # Initialize GPG for this user (e.g. create ~/.gnupg). Only have to run once.
gpg --gen-key # Start key generation process. Follow prompts.

2. Viewing Keys

gpg --list-keys # View public keys
gpg --list-secret-keys # View private keys

3. Exporting Public Keys

gpg --export # Exports key in binary format
gpg --export --armor # Export in a usable, ASCII format

4. Importing Public Keys

gpg --import /path/to/public/key/file

5. Encrypting a Message

gpg --encrypt --armor --recipient message_file # Creates encrypted message in an ASCII format

6. Decrypting a Message

gpg encrypted_message_file

You will be prompted for the filename to use for the output of the decryption process.
7. Encrypting with a Symmetric Key

gpg --symmetric --armor message_file

8. Signing and Encrypting a Message

gpg --sign --encrypt --armor --recipient message_file

9. Creating a Detached Signature

gpg --detach-sign --armor message_file # Sender
gpg --verify message_file.asc message_file # Recipient

10. Signing Another's Public Key

A is going to sign B's key.

# First, A must do:
gpg --sign-key B
gpg --export --armor B > B.key

# Then, B must do:
gpg --import B.key

cool websites 7 Free Open Source Video Editors For Linux

In Windows, you have the Windows Movie Maker that makes video editing a breeze. In Linux, while there is no default or inbuilt video editor applications, there are plenty of open source video editing tools that one can consider for their video project.

In case you are searching for a good video editor for linux, here are some of the good options that you can use in your Linux machine. Some of them are available for Windows and Mac as well. Do check them out even if you are not using Linux.

1. Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor used mainly for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It is often dubbed as the VirtualDub for Linux as it can do many things that VirtualDub can do. It supports many files types, including avi, DVD compatible mpeg files, mp4, asf and even the not-so-common ogm and matroska format.

Some of the useful features of Avidemux include a simple WYSIWYG interface, easy conversion from one format to another, plenty of filtering effects and a built-in subtitles processing capabilities.

2. Cinelerra

Cinelerra is a powerhouse video editing software used by many professionals for high quality video production. Cinelerra does mainly three things: capturing, compositing, and editing. It has a great support for very high-fidelity audio. In addition, it is resolution and frame rate-independent.

What this means is that it can handle all sorts of video resolution, regardless of whether it is standard or high definition (HD), without any issue.

If you are using a high-end graphics card, Cinelerra allows you to preview your edited video in real time without any rendering required. This makes your video editing much more faster, easier and intuitive.

Cinelerra is not updated very frequently. If you are looking for an updated version with more features, you should install the Cinelerra-CV community version instead.

3. FFmpeg

Unknown to many, FFmpeg is the most widely used application in Linux. FFmped is a command line tool that is composed of a collection of open-source libraries. With these sets of libraries, one can easily record, convert and stream digital audio/video in numerous formats. It does not come with a GUI, but it is used by many video players/converters as the backend application.

4. Jashaka

Jahshaka is a software that has not been updated since November 2006. Nevertheless, it is still a powerful video editing application that can turn you into a professional. There are plenty of useful features in Jahshaka. Functions include adding effects in real time, adding animations with unlimited features, paint and design on moving video and working in any video format at any resolution makes it a very versatile and sturdy video editor.

Jahshaka makes use of the OpenLibraries as its backend support. The Openlibraries are a powerful set of C++ libraries that provides its users tools to edit, compose, play media, encode and image process.

Jahshaka is cross platform and available for Linux, Mac and Windows.

5. Kino

Kino is a video editing software mainly for Digital Video (DV). If you take a lot of video shots with your video cam, then Kino is the application that can make life very easy for you.

Kino is a non-linear DV editor for Linux. It is a simple software with some useful functions. You can edit, split, trim, add filters and even publish your video to blip.tv. It supports Firewire and IEEE-1394 and is able to capture video from a Firewire connected DV device.

One of its best features is that it supports a wide variety of video formats (DV over IEEE 1394, Raw DV, DV AVI, still frames, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4) and you can export your work to any of your preferred formats.

6. LiVES Video Editor

LiVES started off as a Linux Video Editing System, but it is now supported in the various OS’s.

The power of LiVES lies in its ability to mix realtime video performances and non-linear editing in one application. It supports multitrack timelines and enables you to import, edit and mix several video tracks at the same time.

There is a VJ mode that allows VJ to set multiple real time effects during playback. There are also plenty of effects that one can add to your videos.

Overall, LiVES is a simple to use, yet powerful and flexible video editing tool with plenty of customization options.

7) KDEnlive

KDEnlive stands for KDE Non-Linear Video Editor. Started as part of the KDE project, it is also available for various desktop managers in Linux.

At first use, I found KDEnlive surprisingly fast and easy to use. It integrates well with the desktop manager and has an simple interface. Most of the stuff (such as adding effects, adding clips) can be easily done by drag-and-drop action, which makes it very user-friendly.

It supports a wide variety of file formats, as well as a wide range of camcorders and cameras. Like LiVES, it allows multitrack editing of unlimited video and audio tracks. There are some nice effects with KDEnlive such as sepia, grayscale, gamma, inverse color and speed changes. One thing that I like is that the effect is rendered on the fly and you can immediately see the preview to checkout the video effect. This is surely one of the great pieces of software that I would recommend.

In conclusion, there are plenty of video editors out there and all have their own pros and cons. Choosing the best one for you depend on what features you need and the level of your technical skills. Some are good for expert users (Cinelerra) while some are designed for beginners (Kino, KDEnlive). Take your time to review each and every one of them and you will be able to find the best one for you.

Have I missed out any other video editors for Linux?

DirectX 10 Coming to Mac OS X and Linux :o

DirectX 10 continues to elude Windows XP, which is stuck at DirectX 9 level, but over two years after its introduction with the advent of Windows Vista, the technology is starting to make its way to Linux and Mac OS X. But not courtesy of Microsoft. Instead, Jeremy White, the founder and CEO of CodeWeavers, revealed that DirectX 10 support would come into focus as the company's CrossOver project moved onward into 2009. CodeWeavers develops and serves solutions designed to permit Linux and Mac OS X users to run Windows games.

Microsoft delivered DirectX 10 as an integral part of Windows Vista. Until this point in time, DirectX 10 has been Vista exclusive, with the software giant refusing to backport it to Windows XP. The upcoming Windows release, Windows 7, brings to the table the evolution of DirectX, namely version 11. The promise from the Redmond company is that DirectX 11 will be offered not only for Windows 7 but also for Windows Vista. However, Windows XP continues to be left out of the DirectX evolution equation.

How to setup Tor + Privoxy in Fedora to access blocked sites

If you are running Fedora 10 you just have to install TOR and Privoxy from the repository; and this is how I did it.

1. Start the Terminal and login as root:

$ su -

2. Install TOR and Privoxy using YUM:

# yum -y install tor privoxy

3. Configure Privoxy.
Open the Privoxy config file:

# gedit /etc/privoxy/config

Copy/paste the following sample config from the TOR wiki in the config file:

# Tor listens as a SOCKS4a proxy here:
forward-socks4a / 127.0.0.1:9050 .
confdir /etc/privoxy
logdir /var/log/privoxy
actionsfile standard # Internal purpose, recommended
actionsfile default # Main actions file
actionsfile user # User customizations
filterfile default.filter

# Don't log interesting things, only startup messages, warnings and errors
#logfile logfile
#jarfile jarfile
#debug 0 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
debug 4096 # Startup banner and warnings
debug 8192 # Errors - *we highly recommended enabling this*

user-manual /usr/share/doc/privoxy/user-manual
listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118
toggle 1
enable-remote-toggle 0
enable-edit-actions 0
enable-remote-http-toggle 0
buffer-limit 4096

Save and close the config file.

4. Start TOR and Privoxy by starting the Services application (System -> Administration -> Services).
Find TOR and Privoxy in the list; Enable and Start them both.

5. Install Torbutton for Firefox.

6. Click on the Torbutton and check that TOR is working.

Now you should have TOR running with Privoxy on your computer. If you want to highten your security even more with TOR, go the TOR project web site.