Making the rm command interactive so that you dont delete files by mistake

The rm command by default does not prompt you before deleting files, most people prefer it this way, you can however have rm prompt you by using the i option. To avoid using the i option each time you delete a file make changes to the .bashrc file.

To have rm ask you:

rm: remove regular empty file `fine_name’?

each time, append the following line to you ~/.bashrc file:

alias rm=’rm -i’

Open up a terminal window(Applications>Accessories>terminal on Gnome) andtry deleting any file, from now on rm will check with you before deleting

Installing Eclipse and Netbeans IDEs on BOSS Linux

Eclipse

Eclipse can be installed from the BOSS Linux repositories (click to view post on setting up BOSS Linux repositories and using synaptic), or you may choose to download Eclipse directly from the project’s website (click here). I would suggest using the project’s download page if you don’t mind downloading and installing the IDE manually, with Synaptic the process is pretty much automated. If you do choose to download from the Eclipse project’s download site be sure to choose the correct platform.

Netbeans

You can either use the repositories or the NetBeans IDE project’s download page(click to view). If you don’t already have JDK installed you can download the NetBeans IDE bundled with the JDK from here(click to view).

Both the IDEs need the Java Development Kit(JDK) to work. Also, there exist various various versions of both these IDEs for different progamming languages, so you can choose the version specific to the language you intend to program in.

Re-installing GRUB after installing Windows

This post lists out the steps for reinstalling GRUB. You might have lost it by reinstalling Windows (Windows put its bootloader into MBR), or due to any other reason.
This is written for BOSS Linux and should work on most other distributions.

You’ll need to boot using the Live CD or DVD.

Once you are at the desktop open up the terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal)

In the terminal type: sudo grub

This will get you to a grub> prompt.

Now type find /boot/grub/stage1

This will return a location, on my system it returns (hd0,3), now based on this location type: root (hd0,3) remember to replace 0 and three with the information specific to your system.

Then type setup (hd0).

Note the space between root and (hd0,3), setup and (hd0). (thanks to tckb for pointing it out)

We’re done, now type exit and reboot. If all goes well you should be looking at the GRUB menu upon reboot.

Show Desktop Windows+d equivalent in BOSS Linux GNOME Desktop

Many windows users are used to using Windows+d shortcut to bring up the desktop, heres the equivalent in GNOME ctrl+alt+d

Keying in ctrl+alt+d again brings the application you were running back up on the screen.

Opera Web Browser for BOSS Linux – enjoy faster browsing speeds

For those of you who love using the opera web browser on Windows, theres good news Opera works on BOSS Linux (and many other distributions) too. You can download the Opera web browser from here. On the downloads page select Debian from the Select distribution and vendor drop down list, and select Debian 4.0 (this will work for both BOSS 2.0 Anant and BOSS 3.0 Tejas) and start the download. Once you’ve completed the download you can install it by right clicking the .deb package and installing using GDebi package installer, alternatively you can also use the command line dpkg command.

I’ve found Opera to be faster than Firefox on BOSS linux (both browsers running with default settings). Opera comes with a handy built in bit torrent client. For those of you who love firefox’s plug-ins (add-ons), Opera uses widgets, they are not the same as add-ons but which one you like is largely a matter of personal preference. Try it and if you don’t like it, theres always firefox to fall back on .

BOSS Linux version 3 Tejas CD-ROM images now available for download

You can now download CD-ROM iso images for BOSS Linux version 3, Tejas from here.You’ll also find the Live CD iso image and the DVD image at the site. Theres also an iso for the Utility CD available.

Download BOSS Linux v 3.0

You can now download BOSS Linux 3.0 from bosslinux.in, click here to go to to the main downloads page. or here to go directly to the BOSS Linux 3.0 Tejas iso download page.

Its a DVD image (2.59GB), they don’t have a CD image, but just about everyone has a DVD drive these days, so that should  not be a problem. CD ISOs have been added, click here to view the related post. Besides, there are lots of packages that can now be a part of the standard install now that its a DVD image.

Tejas is an interesting name, DRDO’s LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) has also been named Tejas.

BOSS Linux v3 Screenshots

BOSS Linux v 3.0 was released on September 4th at NIC in Delhi. Here are a few screenshots of the latest release of the BOSS Linux Operating System.

BOSS Linux v3.0 KDE Desktop Screenshot

BOSS Linux v3.0 KDE Desktop Screenshot

BOSS Linux Konqueror Web Browser

BOSS Linux Konqueror Web Browser

BOSS Linux v3.0 KDE Control Center

BOSS Linux v3.0 KDE Control Center

BOSS Linux Gnome Desktop – About Gnome

BOSS Linux v3 Gnome Desktop Screenshot

Speeding up OpenOffice load / start up time

Ever wondered if you could speed up OpenOffice’s start up time? Heres a nifty little trick to reduce the time OpenOffice takes from the point of clicking the icon to the OpenOffice application getting loaded.

Start any of the applications from the OpenOffice suite (Writer, Impress, Base, Calc etc).

On the menubar click Tools and then Options

OpenOffice.org calc example screenshot

now under Options under the OpenOffice.org menu Click Java

OpenOffice.org calc screenshot

and under Java options uncheck the checkbox titled Use a Java Runtime Environment. Click OK.

OpenOffice.org Calc screenshot

With this done OpenOffice will load in significantly less time than before. Most users dont need the Java Runtime environment so you can safely disable it, it can always be enabled in case some required functionality becomes unavailable.

(The screenshots are taken on BOSS Linux running the Mac4Lin theme.)

BOSS Linux Version 3 to released soon!

The third version of BOSS Linux  will probably be released this month or the next. The BOSS Linux website has some screen shots and features mentioned here. BOSS is a relatively new distribution, when you compare it with other popular distributions such as Ubuntu which has already had 8 releases with the 9th one now now under active development. Heres my wishlist for the new version:
-Kernel 2.6.25 (Ubuntu 8.04 has 2.6.24, the latest stable version of the Linux kernel is 2.6.26)
-Gnome 2.22.x
-KDE 4.1.x
-Xfce 4.4.x    (for those with slower hardware)
These are just a few of the things i would like to see in BOSS Linux version 3.0, apart from this I would like to see lots of open source applications with Indian developers being made a part of the default installation. Anjuta IDE is one such project(http://anjuta.sourceforge.net). We can have BOSS Linux act as a platform for Open Source projects in India. This will encourage more and more Indian developers to take up open source developement. Naba Kumar from Manipur founded the project and is it’s lead developer with a host of other developers from around the world contributing to the project. Anjuta is already a part of the BOSS Linux version 2.0 ‘Anant’ repository.

The BOSS Linux website says the kernel will be 2.6.22, thats a bit of a dissapointment. To be honest I am not expecting the latest versions of KDE or GNOME either, but hey wishful thinkings tax free Most users will be happy as long as its a stable system with newer packages. I am keeping my fingers crossed, lets hope this version attracts lots and lots of new users and BOSS v3 becomes a common name in the Linux desktop (& server) space in India.