Kokul’s World

I was recently browsing through the Kubuntu 8.04 beta release notes, and I came across Wubi.

So what is Wubi?

It’s basically an unofficial installer that allows you to install Linux on a Windows computer like how you install an application on Windows. Of course means all you guys out there who want to try Linux, but worry about screwing up your Windows OS, this is the solution for you.

Features:

• No need to modify partitions on your PC.
• No need to install separate boot loader such as Grub. You can use the default Windows boot loader.
• Easy uninstall of Kubuntu/Ubuntu. Uninstall like a Windows application.
• Easy

So it’s finally happened, the format wars are over and some camp has lost several billion dollars. The loser is HD DVD. They already were heading towards defeat when several studios switch to the other camp, but the largest and probably the fatal blow came when Walmart announced that they would be phasing out HD DVDs on their shelves to be completely replaced by Blu-Ray disks.

Toshiba, the backer of HD DVD, has announced it is discontinuing production of their HD DVD players. Microsoft and Toshiba just recently released a joint statement announcing that they are ceasing the production of HD… Continue reading

For the past four months now, I have been learning Java as part of my computer science curriculum in Grade 12 high school. While Java has given me a taste of multi-platform programming, it also has revealed what I have considered quite a big flaw. That is the lack of documentation.

For a beginner like I, this makes learning more advanced topics quite daunting. I’m not saying that this problem lies with just Java, I can say it also is a problem with learning the Win32 API, or learning how to do some of the more advanced things in Linux. There… Continue reading

Ubuntu Linux has been triumphed for its easy-to-use features for new beginners. While that may be true for most consumers, it becomes difficult to use when you want to get things tweaked and running more your way.

One instance of this is Samba. Despite having a GUI interface, I just can’t seem to make it work. Thankfully, thanks to online community support at the Ubuntu Forums, it is less stressful. However, no matter what, there is always some config file to edit or executing some command in terminal. It really does become a pain. For a new user who is new… Continue reading

Over the past few months, I have gotten active in web site design, particularly for the websites about my home village of Idaikkadu in Sri Lanka. After several emails being sent without a response, and a lack of motivation from the admins to even change their sites, I’ve decided to write a little guide that hopefully they will read, and hopefully others will read, so people don’t make mistakes in their web designs.

1. Do not use frames!!!!
   Frames were all good and fine back when the World Wide Web was still young. However now, it is the worst thing you can do

Amarok is probably one of Linux’s most popular music players, not just because it provides an easy-to-use and intuitive GUI, but also because it’s features blow away any other music player created for computers. Best of all it’s free!

Amarok 2.0 is scheduled to be released in the near future, with a version of the player that can run on Microsoft Windows. However, they need € 5,000 for server expenses including distribution costs. However the point of this post is not for that, but to give potential Windows users an insight into how great Amarok is, and how great free software… Continue reading

Just a few months ago, I would have been championing XviD as my favourite format to encode and view videos in. Why? Because it produced small file sizes with minimum loss of quality. However now I am championing a new codec as my favourite and that is the H264. Like XviD, it is cross-platform compliant.  However it does many things better than XviD and DivX codecs do.

H264 often compresses into the same or smaller file size than XviD or DivX with far less loss in quality. This means that H264 has far better quality. The difference is amazing. There are… Continue reading

Everyone has at-least once picked up a computer game or a console game. But it can get pretty lonely, when all you do is play single player mode. In today’s age, where everyone is connected through the Internet, it is sometimes nice to play games where you can interact with others at all stages. For those who want such games, MMORPGs and MMOGs are for you!

Where do you find them? Well I have created a list of sites that have reviews, screenshots, user ratings and many other things to help you choose one, or to point you in the right… Continue reading

One of the things I like about Google is that unlike most other big corporate companies, Google still has a sense of humour. Well shows one anyways. Anyone heard of the trick of typing into the Google search engine “the answer to life, the universe, and everything else” bringing up 42 from Google calculator? Google pulled that from the book a “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”

However best of all is Google’s April Fools pranks. They love creating fake products for April Fools and they take it seriously too. They fabricate whole pages, FAQs, press releases, and images just to make the… Continue reading

Youtube, a user-powered revolution. We’ve all heard about it in the news. CNN has done countless stories about it. Even TIME magazine featured it in their person of the year issue. The site makes antipiracy advocates uneasy because any user can get easy access to movies, TV shows, anime, etc.

It’s amazing how much of an influence Youtube is on people’s lives. It’s become a household name. Everyone I know has heard of it, and many have been on it. Many of my cousins and friends spend our free time on Youtube, watching user-created spoofs and parodies, or some… Continue reading