Enable Samba File-sharing

Quickest way to enable samba file sharing without much of hassles:

Open Terminal and follow the steps:

$ su -
# smbpasswd -a -L <user>
# smbpasswd -e -L <user>

Replace <user> with the username of the account you want to enable Samba access, then

# mkdir /usr/local/samba/lib/usershares
# chgrp sambashares /usr/local/samba/lib/usershares
# chmod 1770 /usr/local/samba/lib/usershares

Then open your /etc/smb.conf file:

# gedit /etc/smb.conf

Find [global] and below it add:

usershare owner only = False
usershare path = /usr/local/samba/lib/usershares
usershare max shares = 10

You can change the value of usershare max shares as per your need

Thats it, now restart the computer or the Samba service and share everything you got :)

Gtalk in Linux

Generally we use pidgin for Google IM service (read more) but since the jabber and all other protocols (other than http) are blocked in our college, we will have to use web based gtalk engines :

• Google Talk Gadget
• Meebo
• and lot others, Google for them
  

Well here is a short tutorial to create a handy desktop icon for Web-Based Gtalk in GNOME environment :

• Open any text editor and paste this :

  [Desktop Entry]
  Version=1.0
  Encoding=UTF-8
  Name=Google Talks
  Type=Application
  Icon=/path/to/gtalk.png
  Exec="/usr/bin/firefox" 'http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/popout'
  GenericName[en_IN]=
  

  Replace the Icon path with your icon file location. Download the gtalk icon from here.


• Save the file with .desktop extension and copy the file to desktop. Double click on it and you are done.

Download the ready made Shortcut.

Porting DC++ for GNU/Linux

Particularly in colleges where media sharing is very popular among students (like in ours) DC++ can be used to inter-connect different hostels and enable fast file-sharing. DC++ is a free and open-source, peer-to-peer file-sharing client that can be used to connect to the Direct Connect network. With the gaining popularity of this file sharing application more and more users are showing there activity in DC++ rather than the traditional Windows Network file sharing. It has private messaging features or one can globally chat in a Hub Room, it also indexes files, so you just search for a file with specified characteristics plus many other handy features more you try to explore more you know but alas its not native to Linux platform. So we have LinuxDC++ (package name linuxdcpp), whose interface is rewritten in GTK+ toolkit but the core code is that of DC++ and it works/behave exactly in the same manner.

Getting started :

Install it on Ubuntu :

# apt-get install linuxdcpp

Or similar for Fedora(yum) or Mandriva(urpmi)

Some very initial steps you should follow to trigger your DC++ engine :

1. Open LinuxDC++
2. Navigate to File > Preferences > Personal. There fill the form ( 'Nick' field is compulsory )
3. Navigate to File > Preferences > Sharing. There add the folders you want to share.
NOTE: In DC++ each hub has its minimum sharing limit below which a user cannot join it, so create your share accordingly
4. Navigate to File > Quick Connect and enter the hub's IP address.

One minus point we cannot preview a file, its like download and use. But it hardly matters when you are in a local hub and have ample disk space. Happy Sharing!!