Configure auto-startup programs in Ubuntu

There are 2 places to configure for auto-startup programs in Ubuntu.

The Services settings under the System > Administration menu is used to configure for daemons to be started every time when the system boot up, even before any user is login. Unless manually stopped by administrative user, the daemons will stay running until the system shutdown. Their startup/shutdown scripts can be found in /etc/init.d.

You need to key in your password to Unlock the panel, before you can change the activation status of the listed services.



The Sessions settings under the System > Preferences menu is used to configure for programs to be started every time after you login the system. This setting is personalized for each user. The program can be closed by you at any time, or they'll exit when you logout the system.



You can add new applications into the list. For example, if you want the Pidgin Instant Messenger to autorun whenever you login the system, click on the +Add button and key in the following information, then Save it:

Name: Pidgin
Command: /usr/bin/pidgin
Comment: Instant messenger

You will now be able to see Pigdin available in the Startup Programs list.

Installing OpenOffice.org 3 in Ubuntu 8.10

OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 is bundled in Ubuntu Linux 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and will be installed together with the system when the later is installed into the harddisk.

You can upgrade your OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 in Ubuntu 8.10 to OpenOffice.org 3.0 by using the relevant Canonical Personal Package Archives (PPA) repository source in LaunchPad server.

To do so, open the Synaptic Package Manager in Ubuntu 8.10, pull down the Settings menu and select Repositories. Click on the Third-Party Software tab, after that click on the +Add... button. Key in the following APT line:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/openoffice-pkgs/ubuntu intrepid main

Then, click the +Add Source button. You will need to Reload the package information to update Synaptic Package Manager about the change.

Once this is done, you will be able to upgrade OpenOffice.org to 3.0 with the Update Manager.

If you want to revert back to OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 later, just uninstall OpenOffice.org 3.0 and its components, remove the above line from the Third-Party Software repository source, and reinstall OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 from the main source.

Use WinSCP to securely transfer files between local and remote computer

I have been using WinSCP to securely transfer files between my Windows PC and remote Linux servers for years, and is still using this handy tools until today.

Based on the implementation of the SSH protocol from PuTTY and FTP protocol from FileZilla, WinSCP is developed by Martin Prikryl back from 2000 and was probably the first ever GUI file transfer client for SSH. This awards winning open source application is licensed under GPL with the project migration to SourceForge.net repository in 2003. The project is now hosted in TeamForge since 2005 while still made available in SourceForge.net at the same time.

With WinSCP, you can connect to and transfer files with an SSH (Secure Shell) server running SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) or SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) service. It can also connect to a normal FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server for unencrypted file transfer.



The main differences between SFTP and SCP are:

• File transfer with SCP is generally faster than SFTP.
• SFTP supports resume of incomplete file transfer while SCP doesn't.
• SFTP supports file transfer bigger than 4GB while SCP supports file transfer up to 4GB only.
• Recursive operations with directories (deletion, permissions change, etc.) is faster in SCP than SFTP.

Some interesting features of WinSCP includes:

• Translated into multilingual.
• Integration with Windows Explorer for drag&drop, URL detection, shortcut icons, etc.
• Supports for scripting and command line interface.
• Local and remote file manipulation such as create, copy, duplicate, move, delete, rename, compress, etc.
• Compare local and remote directories.
• Directory synchronization between local and remote folder.
• Remote editing of text files with integrated text editor.
• Portable version that doesn't need any installation is available.

WinSCP is also available as a plugin for file manager applications such as FAR and Altap Salamander.

Click here to go to the download page of WinSCP.