What's new in Amarok 1.4? Oh baby! Amarok is the best - & I mean the best - music jukebox on Linux (too bad it doesn't run on Windows or Mac OS). It's already killer, but some new goodies are coming, like support for metadata in other file formats, support for scriptable lyrics, podcast support, statistics, & lots more. Can't wait! (Check out all of our posts on Amarok.) ...

I'm really pumped about this one, since I have very fond places in my heart for both KDE and Wikipedia - after all, I use both virtually every day! Basically, KDE and Wikipedia are going to integrate the fantastic wealth of info available at Wikipedia into more and more KDE apps, as seamlessly as possible. For instance: playing a tune in Amarok, the great music player. Now info about the artist & the album will appear, courtesy of Wikipedia. If there's nothin' there, then enter something! Other programs mentioned: KStars (of course!), Kalzium, Scribus, Screensaver, & more. This is so cool! Read about it at KDE.News and (duh) Wikipedia. (Check out all of my posts on KDE, Wikipedia, & Amarok.) ...

When it comes to digital music players on Linux, much as I love Amarok, I keep returning to XMMS, a (very) oldie but still very goodie. I especially love it because I can control it remotely, from another machine, by using ncxmms, an ncurses frontend for XMMS. To install it, just get the package from your favorite source, or, if you're using Debian, just do apt-get install ncxmms (you may need to add deb http://www.rarewares.org/debian/packages/unstable ./ to your sources.list file first). To use ncxmms, ssh to the machine running the program and start it. To control ncxmms, use tab to move between the directory list, the files list, & the play list. Use Enter to select a song. And use your normal xmms keyboard shortcuts to control playback (z goes back a song, x plays, c pauses, v stops playback, & b skips ahead to the next song. And best of all, it reccognizes - and displays! - ID3 tags. Sweet! PS: Other folks like xcplay, but I've never used it. Anyone got an opinion ...

Ubuntu Linux 5.04, also known as "Hoary Hedgehog", is now available for download as a 500 MB ISO in either install or Live CD editions (& you can download via FTP or HTTP, or, better yet, use BitTorrent). Software includes GNOME 2.10.1, Firefox 1.0.2, OpenOffice.org, and X.org 6.8.2. If you want to do some reading, check out the announcement or the release notes (and I strongly encourage you to read the release notes!). Ubuntu, as you probably know, is a GNOME-based distro; for the KDE fans (I'm one), there's Kubuntu, also newly released at 5.04. It's also available for download as a 572 MB ISO in either install or Live CD editions (FTP, HTTP, or BitTorrent). Software includes KDE 3.4, that very nice Ubuntu-powered hardware config, OpenOffice.org, Gwenview for images, amaroK for music, K3b CD or DVD burner, and Kaffeine for videos & music. Read the announcement. I've actually installed Kubuntu, & it was pretty good, & I've played with Ubuntu as a Live CD, and it ...

If SUSE continues down this path, they are screwing up in a big way. Red Hat/Fedora also does this - leaves MP3 support out of the install - but you can re-enable MP3 support by installing a single RPM. SUSE, however, according to a review of the forthcoming 9.3 release, has actually compiled GStreamer, Arts, & the KDE Multimedia packages WITHOUT SUPPORT FOR MP3. That means it's not just a matter of installing a single RPM & getting MP3 support back, oh no. Instead, you have to recompile all of those multimedia packages, which is a total PITA and, frankly, a load of bull. Oh … and the reviewer actually did the recompiles, and then guess what? An update broke 'em all again! Joy! OK, there is one package that does support MP3 playback: Real player. Wheeeeee! Now, I'm quite thrilled that the Real player isn't the stinking pile of poo that it used to be, but c'mon. It's no Amarok. Or Juk. Or XMMS. Or Rhythmbox. Ridiculous. Who the heck wants to use the Real player to manage all of ...