Free Python Interpreters, Compilers and Distributions !

Jython

Jython compiles your Python code to Java byte codes, allowing your Python program to run on any system that has a
Java runtime installed. It supports
both static and dynamic compilation. Your Python code can also extend any Java classes. Since this Python implementation is itself
written in Java, it runs on any platform supporting the Java virtual machine.

IronPython

IronPython implements the Python programming language on the Microsoft .NET framework. It supports dynamic compilation, has an
interactive console, and your Python scripts can interact with .NET objects. It is licensed under the Microsoft Public License.

Stackless Python

Stackless Python enhances the Python programming language to include support for threads, or specifically, microthreads. It
provides tasklets that can wrap functions that you wish to be launched as microthreads. Also available are channels that
allow bidirectional communications between your tasklets, a round-robin scheduling facility, and serialisation. Precompiled binaries
(executables) for Windows and Mac OS X
are available. If you use Linux
or some other Unix variant, you can simply download the source code and compile it yourself. This implementation of Python is apparently
used in some multiplayer online games (like EVE Online and Second Life).

Shed Skin – Optimizing Python to C++ Compiler

Shed Skin compiles your python code to C++. At the time this is written, Shed Skin requires that your Python code be statically typed,
that is, your variables should only have a single type. Moreover, not all standard library modules are supported (yet). The compiler
is released under the GNU GPL.

py2exe – Python to Windows EXE

py2exe converts your Python programs to standalone Windows executables that can run without your users needing to install Python.
Note that this is not a native code compiler – your code is still interpreted. py2exe merely provides all the necessary pieces so that
when your end users double-click on your executable, the Python interpreter will start up to interpret your code. py2exe is released
under the Mozilla Public License.

ActivePython

ActivePython is a Python distribution for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, HP-UX, AIX and Solaris.

Python

Python is an interpreted object-oriented programming language with many adherents on the Net.
To quote from the Python FAQ, “it incorporates modules, exceptions, dynamic typing,
very high level dynamic data types, and classes.” It supports numerous versions of Unices
(including, of course, Linux), Windows, Mac, OS/2 and even MSDOS.

Moovida – the free open source media player for and Linux

Moovida is much More than a media player…

Moovida is much more than a simple media player… it is a cutting edge media center bringing the best of the internet to your TV screen. Automatically creating your own digital library you can browse from your sofa with a remote control. The elegant and easy to use interface automatically displays artwork and fan art throughtout and gives you access to movie synopsis and artist info.

Check the Features section for full details on what’s on offer…

	Watch movies & TV shows Catalog your movies, tv shows and other videos with integrated online content. Moovida supports HD and almost all file formats like divX, mkv, flv, h264, mov, ogg and much more without need for additional codecs.
	Enjoy your pictures Visualize the photos of your latest trip either from your hard drive or your flickr account in a nicely animated slideshow.
	Manage your music Access all of your songs easily, enhance your library with online services and find new music to listen to.
	Get connected Flickr, Youtube, Yes.fm, SHOUTcast and much more – extend the functionality of Moovida with new content from top internet sites. Listen online to your favorite songs, share your media with your friends on your network or scan other devices like your iPod with Moovida.

Full features list…

Install Moovida in Ubuntu Jaunty

First you need to edit /etc/apt/sources.list file

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following lines

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/moovida-packagers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/moovida-packagers/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

Save and exit

Add the GPG key using the following command

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com e478bb3b6bcd9f67c5137df13135cd5c26c2e075

Update the source list

sudo apt-get update

Install moovida using the the following command

sudo apt-get install moovida

This will complete the installation

Using Moovida

Open Moovida from Applications—>Sound & Video—>Moovida Media Center

Moovida Media Center is loading in progress

Moovida Media Center main Menu

Music screen

Movie Screen

Picture Screen

TV Shows screen

Plugins Screen

Devices & Screen

You can download plugins from here

Format External Memory Media in Linux with Gnome Format

Gnome Format is a tool to easily format (erase and initialize) external memory media like USB sticks or SD/MMC flash cards for your PC. It is designed for Linux based operating systems using the GNOME desktop.

gparted is really good to format hard disks and make partitions and so on, but if I have a *non-formatted* usb stick and plug it into my system, the system usually does nothing at all! And thats the field for gnome-format! It’s easy to use, simple and small. For bigger tasks such as making partitions there is gparted!

You can download the source from here, or if you have Ubuntu, the gnome-format package is already in the universe repository (Jaunty), so all you have to do is:

sudo apt-get install gnome-format

Safely Remove External Media in Linux with Ejecter

Ejecter is a small but very useful utility to safely, easily remove external media. A simple menu that sits in the system notification area, providing you a quick way to unmount external peripherals such as usb pendrives, cd/dvd, external hard disks and so.

To install Ejecter in Ubuntu Jaunty, open a terminal and type:
sudo apt-get install ejecter

For Ubuntu Hardy and Intrepid, download it from here.

You can also install it in any other Linux distro by downloading the source files.

Use Twitter in Pidgin [Downloads for Windows, Ubuntu and Source Files]

We already covered one way to use Twitter in Pidgin but here’s another way.

Pidgin-Twitter is a Pidgin plugin which supports Twitter, Wassr, identi.ca and jisko.

Among it’s general features are: the display of the user’s image, translate sender’s name and @<username> to link to the user’s home, play sounds for specific senders/recipients, show letter counter on the format toolbar and filter messages from specified users.

Download the latest version:

-source files
-Windows binaries
-Ubuntu .DEB file (unfortunately, the latest version does not have a .DEB file)

10 Useful Linux / Unix Commands

1. Show installed but unused linux headers, image, or modules:

dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d'

If you would also like to purge them too:

dpkg -l 'linux-*' | sed '/^ii/!d;/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\(.*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/d;s/^[^ ]* [^ ]* \([^ ]*\).*/\1/;/[0-9]/!d' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

2. Rip audio from a video file:

mplayer -ao pcm -vo null -vc dummy -dumpaudio -dumpfile <output-file> <input-file>

You can also extract the sound from a flv and make an mp3 with:

ffmpeg -i input.flv -f mp3 -vn -acodec copy ouput.mp3

3. Stream YouTube URL directly to mplayer:

mplayer -fs $(echo "http://youtube.com/get_video.php?$(curl -s $youtube_url | sed -n "/watch_fullscreen/s;.*\(video_id.\+\)&title.*;\1;p")")

(Replace $youtube_url with any youtube URL)

4. Download all images from a site:

wget -r -l1 --no-parent -nH -nd -P/tmp -A".gif,.jpg" http://example.com/images

5. Create a nifty overview of the hardware in your computer:

lshw -html > hardware.html

(then open hardware.html in a web browser).

6. Cut a part of a video:

ffmpeg -vcodec copy -acodec copy -i orginalfile -ss 00:01:30 -t 0:0:20 newfile

Where 00:01:30 is the start time (replace with your own) and 0:0:20 is the length of the video you want to cut out (replace with the length you desire).

7. Purge configuration files of removed packages on debian based systems:

sudo aptitude purge `dpkg --get-selections | grep deinstall | awk '{print $1}'`

8. Play high-res video files on a slow processor:

mplayer -framedrop -vfm ffmpeg -lavdopts lowres=1:fast:skiploopfilter=all

9. Convert images to a multi-page pdf:

convert -adjoin -page A4 *.jpeg multipage.pdf

10. Find the 20 biggest directories on the current filesystem:

du -xk | sort -n | tail -20

Multi-Platform Local and Friend-Based Remote Backups with CrashPlan

CrashPlan is a freeware handy backup tool that facilitates local and friend-based remote backups which is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

CrashPlan can back up to multiple locations including local disks, networked disks, remote server space you have access to, your friends’ remote computers, and similar to Mozy and Carbonite, to CrashPlan’s remote backup servers if you subscribe to their service.

Assuming you have a remote location (a personal web server, friend’s computer, or work computer) you can use as your backup location you’ll be in business. Your remote data is encrypted so you don’t have to worry about your friend discovering something you may want to keep confidential.

The setup and user interface for CrashPlan are straight forward, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting things up and running. Most people won’t find that they need the additional perks that come with an upgrade to the premium service, which makes CrashPlan an appealingly free option for personal backup.

Linux, the First OS to Support USB 3.0 ! wow

Linux is the first operating system to offer support for USB 3.0 devices, as can be read on The Geekess blog. If all goes according to plan, Linux will support USB 3.0 in September 2009. The development of this driver has taken a year and a half and the source is available on this page.

USB 3.0, whose specifications were published about seven months ago, promises, among other features: transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps and a new interface called xHCI developed by Intel.

Mac4Lin 1.0 Final Available for Download

Mac4Lin is a complete UI for GTK based desktops that uses a script which takes care of absolutely everything needed to make Gnome or Xfce look like Mac. The dock, the GTK theme, Emerald theme (window borders), new icons, new wallpapers, taskbar image, GDM themes, cursors, themes for Pidgin, Firefox, several players and even the system sounds will seem to be like running a Mac.

I persoally don’t really understand the need for this as Linux is Linux… not Mac, but anyway, some people might be interested in this so here you go:

Download Mac4Lin 1.0 final

Full list of changes:

* Fully supports GNOME 2.26 and backwards compatible
* Improved support for GlobalMenu, support integrated in the default GTK theme
* Better native Xfce support
* Icon additions
* Statusbar is now fixed
* New progress bars
* New tabs
* Improved installation and uninstallation scripts
* Integrates well with Globus
* Finer UI refinements
* Metacity theme now supports different button sizes
* Firefox 3 themes are now updated
* Songbird plugins included
* Pidgin AWN 64bit plugin now included
* Fonts are now consolidated
* Transparent top panel
* GDM theme is now in-line with Mac OS X login window
* Cairo dock is the default recommended dock

Project blog

Review of the Last.fm Open-Source Client for Linux !!

Last.fm is an open-source application licensed under the GPL, allowing you to listen to Last.fm radio stations and submit the songs in the same time. For those of you unfamiliar with Last.fm, it’s a great social music community, allowing you to submit songs you currently listen to, statistics, forums for bands or music styles (or even more: Amarok has a group, most major distributions also, and you can start your own group about anything, match people and discuss), together with information for each artist, open for anyone to edit, just like the Wikipedia style.

The application is also included in Debian’s repositories (and probably most other distributions), and it can be downloaded alternately from the Tools page on Last.fm. What I liked is that they also offer an online Debian repository for it here, although I recommend using the official package in Debian’s repositories. But if you want the latest version, the repositories they provide are fine.

Main interface after logging in

The client is built using the Qt 4.3.4 libraries since April 2, 2008, so the integration with KDE 4.x should be just fine. You will also need a Last.fm account in order to use it.

Features
The left tab contains most of the important links for the Last.fm radio, like recently played, loved or banned songs, tags, friends, neighbours or history. You can love, ban or skip songs (but unfortunately I couldn’t find any ‘pause’ button). You can also start your own radio station and add favourite songs there.

Listening to radio

It integrates with the system tray, and it’s available in several languages, like English, French or Italian.

It also offers several configuration options, like the audio engine or the icon in the system tray.

Configuration

As a conclusion, the Last.fm client can prove very useful for persons who like to listen to internet radio a lot, unless you prefer to do it in your own audio player of choice. Overall, another nice free application for our delight, and these projects should really be encouraged and supported.