How To Ubuntu » Internet

How to display the title bar in Google Chrome

Eli — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:54:35 +0000

When I first installed Google’s Chrome browser, I noticed something odd the first time I ran the application. It’s window had no title bar. I thought that was strange, but I didn’t really mind its absence too much, so I used it like it was. If however, you do miss that title bar at the top of its window, you can enable it.

Simply open Chrome, then click on the wrench to the right of the address bar. Then go to Options, and then the Personal Stuff tab. You’ll see the setting to change at the bottom of that window. Simply click the circle next to Use system title bar and borders.

Now hit the Close button, and enjoy having your title bars with Chrome.

How to install Google Chrome (beta) for linux

Eli — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:21:48 +0000

Google Chrome Beta is now available for linux. You can go here and download the .deb file for 32 or 64 bit systems. Select the version you’d like to download, and then you can simply click on Open from the box that comes up to download and install the package. It can then be found in the Applications > Internet menu. The install went smoothly for me on Hardy 8.04.3.

My initial observation is a good one. This browser let’s me switch between open tabs by using the scroll wheel, much like Epiphany and others. This is something that hugely increases productivity and makes my browsing experience smoother. Simply place the mouse over any of the tab names, and scroll, and you’ll be going through your open tabs. Simply an awesome feature.

It has other features that I’m anxious to try out. People have been raving about Chrome since it’s release, and it has taken a sizable chunk of the browser market relative to it’s age. We’ll see if it can compete with my current browser of choice, Opera.

Blocking websites using the hosts file

Eli — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 03:11:32 +0000

Let’s say you want to block certain websites. Maybe to keep your kids off of myspace, for security reasons, or to block advertising from being loaded. You can do this by means of your hosts file. By modifying that little file, you can keep certain websites from being accessed from your computer. Here’s how to do it…

First of all, you must be logged in as a user with administrative privileges.

Then you need to open a text editor with administrative rights. Here’s a simple way to do it.

Hit ALT+F2 to open a ‘Run Application’ dialog box.

Type in… gksudo gedit /etc/hosts

Press Enter, & type in your password, and the file will open.

Add one line to the end of the file for each site you want to block, like this…

0.0.0.0 www.example.com

Note that there is a space between the 0.0.0.0 & the web site address. This will tell you computer to look for www.example.com at the ip address of 0.0.0.0. It won’t be there of course, and they won’t be able to get to the website. This can be done with any site, and with any number of sites. Just keep adding lines to that file. Once you’re finished modifying the file, click the Save button. The changes will take effect upon your next boot up, and the changes will affect every user on the computer. You can even find pre-made hosts file online that will block a lot of advertising that pops up while online.

Here’s what the file should look like if you want to block MySpace & Worldcat…

If you type a line that begins with a “#”, the computer will ignore that line, like my line “# Blocked web sites by How To Ubuntu”

Full Circle Magazine

Eli — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:53:45 +0000

Full Circle Magazine is a monthly online publication about Ubuntu. It features articles on all kinds of things having to do with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu. It has regular features on the command line, and How To’s that will come in very handy. It covers things technical and creative. Magazines are available for download in pdf format. This is a very fine publication, which is put together with open source tools, just like we like it. Check it out here.

Share your Ubuntu experience & read others

Eli — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:17:53 +0000

If you haven’t checked out Ubuntu Story, do so now. If you’re interested in Ubuntu, and what it’s doing for people, you’ll like this site. Aside from being one of the coolest looking sites you’ll find, it’s a great way to introduce someone to Ubuntu because you can read real life experiences of regular (non-geeky) people who are using Ubuntu. You can also share your own Ubuntu experience for others to enjoy. Maybe you’ll even find mine.

How to Access MS Internet Explorer-only websites in Ubuntu

Eli — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:58:36 +0000

Problem is that you get to a website, or a page of a site and you’re told that you need to be using Internet Explorer to view this page. Great, now what do you do? Try the User Agent Switcher, a Firefox add-on. Here’s how to do it…

Open Firefox, go to Tools, then Add-ons. Under the Get Add-ons tab, enter user agent switcher into the search box. There you go, install it, & restart Firefox. Now, as you approach a web site or page that requires Internet Explorer, just go to Tools, then User Agent Switcher, & select Internet Explorer. That’s it!

You’ve probably just save yourself the headache of installing Internet Explorer onto your otherwise MS-free box.

How to set up Dial Up internet on Ubuntu 7.10 & 8.04 linux

Eli — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:35:47 +0000

This stumped me for a LONG time. I had Ubuntu for a month or so before I got DSL service. I was too much of a noob to compile a driver for my old internal dial up modem. Here’s how I finally made dial up work.

1. Get a true external modem.

I used… TRENDnet TFM-560X 56Kbps serial port modem.

2. Get Gnome PPP – Applications > Add/Remove > Gnome PPP

Configure it as you would any dial up connection. Enter your ISP’s phone #, your username, and password. That’s it. All you need to do now is connect.

This method has worked for both me & my mom, running Ubuntu Feisty 7.04, Gutsy 7.10, and now Hardy 8.04 LTS. This is by far the easiest solution to dial up internet problems with linux. This works nicely with Firefox, which is configured by default for use with dial up service. Opera, however, is the best choice for a dial up browser.