LINUX ON DESKTOP

smartctl is a tool that comes with smartmontools package and enables one to control and monitor storage systems using the Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology System (SMART) built into most modern ATA and SCSI hard-disks. This allows one to access the state of hard disk , it's level of degradation and monitor other parameters of hard disk, in addition to this it allows one to perform test to acertain this information. GSmartControl is a GUI frontend of this tool and allows one to find this information in a simplified way.


Since GSmartControl is only a front end to smartctl , we need to install first the smartmontools package, which can be easily done by issuing the following command in the terminal window(Application -> Accessories -> Terminal ):


sudo apt-get install smartmontools


To check whether smartmontools and inparticular smartctl has been installed properly , issue the following command in the terminal window :
sudo smartctl -i /dev/sda1Note : Replace sda1…

I had reviewed Songbird close to two years back , and at that time Songbird was impressive but was bug ridden, lacked important features and certain degree of polishing which was expected from an application intended to be used on Desktops. Songbird 1.0 is an entirely different story altogether, Songbird 1.0 is mature, has slick interface and most importantly is stable enough to be used by newbiess.

Here in this article I try reviewing some of the important features of Songbird.

Installing Songbird on Ubuntu

It is relatively simple to install Songbird on Ubuntu , open terminal window(Application -> Accessories -> Terminal) and issue the following command to install Songbird :


wget http://neacm.fe.up.pt/pub/getdeb/ubuntu/intrepid/so/songbird_1.0.0-0~getdeb1_i386.deb

and

sudo dpkg -i songbird_1.0.0-0~getdeb1_i386.deb
Or if you want you can download packages from here.

Songbird is cross-platform media player, and is available for Linux , Windows and Mac OS X owing to it being based on so…