Swiftfox is like Firefox, but hellishly optimized for your Linux build, you can get it from...

• Go here
• Then download the installer right for your build (if 64-bit, download Athlon 64)

Once downloaded, navigate to the download in Terminal and do,

sudo sh install-swiftfox.sh

Flash

Now to get Flash running first check the ~/.mozilla/plugins directory exists on your machine, if not create it...

mkdir ~/.mozilla/plugins

Adobe only provide it as a 32-bit library but with the necessary dependency you can support it so run...

sudo aptitude install nspluginwrapper

Once you've got that you should be capable of handling the 32-bit Flash player,

...grab Flash from here

Download the .tar.gz version, extract it to your desktop, then move the libflashplayer.so into the ~/.mozilla/plugins directory,

sudo mv ~/Desktop/install_flash_player_9_linux/libflashplayer.so  ~/.mozilla/plugins

And finally restart Swiftfox, navigate to a flash video here and enjoy faster browsing with Swiftfox + Flash!

First install the pre-requisites;

sudo aptitude install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential
sudo aptitude install xinetd

Download VMWare Server .tar.gz file from here.

Remember to signup for a Serial Number, you'll need that during the install

Download the latest vmware-any-any-update patch here,

Now extract VMWare Server and terminal into it's directory, run,

cd vmware-server-distrib
sudo perl vmware-install.pl

When asked Before running VMware Server for the first time, you need to configure it by invoking the following command: "/usr/bin/vmware-config.pl". Do you want this program to invoke the command for you now? [yes] enter *NO* and patch VMWare with that file.

Extract the files within that patch and Terminal into it's directory,

cd vmware-any-any-update115
sudo ./runme.pl

It should prompt you to run vmware-config.pl, this time say YES and continue with the install.

Afterwards start vmware with,

vmware

You might get a load of errors like this,If you get compile errors, do this;

/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_3.4' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libcairo.so.2)
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware: /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/libgcc_s.so.1: version `GCC_4.2.0' not found (required by /usr/lib32/libstdc++.so.6)

That's because one part of the vmware package was compiled with a different version of gcc than the one you're running now, to fix that do:

sudo cp /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libgcc_s.so.1/
sudo cp /usr/lib/libpng12.so.0 /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libpng12.so.0/

Now you should be able to start VMWare Server

(tested and working on Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 64-bit)

There's a tool called David's Batch Processor which allows you to batch process images within the free Graphic Image Manipulation Package (GIMP).

To install on Ubuntu Hardy, first...

sudo aptitude install libgimp2.0-dev

Now download David's Batch Processor from here

Extract the file and Terminal into the directory, now make & install the plugin...

sudo make
sudo make install

...if it still doesn't compile make sure you have build-essentials installed, which can be added via,

sudo aptitude install build-essentials

After all this open GIMP (Application / Graphics / GIMP), Click the Xtns tab (next to File) and you should see Batch Process..; click it and you'll open David's Batch Processor.

With all these problems, and the need to have the homegrown server running something stable I've decided on Debian Stable for the re-install. I'll be doing this with backports as that way I can at least grab the latest releases without damaging the core stable system; as it'll be sitting in colo I really don't want to drive down there every weekend to kick it back into gear.

Debian can be grabbed from here, note most people have never needed anything but the first dvd or first one or two cd iso's for a basic install so no need to grab everything.

Backports are available here, this at least gives the ability to keep up to date with more specific packages while not damaging the core system.

Fingers crossed this should be the final time I do a rebuild before it goes to colo.

[update]

server running a lot better, since I made the switch to Debian; won't be long now till it's taken down to colo.

To install Skype on an AMD-64 system, you'll need the 32-bit libraries (if you're distro is 32-bit, skip this bit),

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Now grab the qt4 libraries,

sudo apt-get install libqt4-gui libqt4-core

Download the appropriate Skype package from...

• Skype Linux

Firefox should download it to your desktop so...

cd Desktop
sudo dpkg --install --force-architecture --force-depends skype-debian_2.0.0.72-1_i386.deb

And you're done, with the Webcam driver installed and enabled you should now be able to make video calls too.

• Ubuntu Webcam Install