How to fix Movie problems (blinking)

This is a very simple solution/workaround, if you experience blinking during movies playback or movies appearing plain blue.

Compiz some times interferes with OpenGL applications/games (like Blender) and movies, so try disabling it before you play a movie. You can disable it from System->Preferences->Appearance on the Visual Effects tab.

A better way is to install fusion-icon. Fusion-Icon is available in Ubuntu and other distributions' repositories, so it is very easy to install it.
sudo apt-get install fusion-icon
Or you can use Synaptic or Adept package managers.

After it is installed you can find it in Applications->System Tools. When you run it, an icon will appear on the upper system bar on the right side.Select window manager->metacity and the effects are disabled. Select window manager->compiz and it is enabled again.

To have it starting at boot, go to System->Preferences->Sessions click add and in the command field put
fusion-icon --no-start


For those that liked my theme and icons, it is the Wilibex Theme and the Buyf Deuce Icons.

What happened to Tuxmachines??

I 've been trying for the last day and more to get to Tuxmachines and it keeps telling me that

The server at www.tuxmachines.org is taking too long to respond.
The requested site did not respond to a connection request and the browser has stopped waiting for a reply.

.
If you go to http://67.33.45.3/, then Tuxmachines appears, but it takes more than a minute in ADSL2 line.
I guess (and hope...) that it has something to do with its hosting company and that it will be up and running in the next few days. It would be a real shame if the best Linux news site closes...And a real blow on getting new information about what's going on with Linux.

EDIT: TUXMACHINES IS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN TODAY 01 FEB 09!!

Installing Songbird on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex or Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron

This is a tutorial on installing Songbird 1.0 on Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 LTS i386 32 bit. Installer also works for Ubuntu 8.10 32 bit Intrepid Ibex Also.As a
Side note, Songbird is also available for Windows users also and I highly recommend installing it. You won't regret it.

I first went to this site here at Ubuntu
http://unter-hund.com/2008/12/03/songbird-1-final-linux-installer/

Another trusted download site for this Deb package can be found here also
http://www.getdeb.net/search.php?keywords=songbird

I selected

Songbird 1.0.0 Linux Installer Download Link #3 (FASTEST DOWNLOAD: PROVIDED BY DANI’S BLOG)

When Firefox download dialog box opened up I selected open file with gdebi package installer. After download finished, I closed my Firefox browser and proceeded to the open Window of Gdebi Package installer.


I then clicked on the install package button to let Gdebi install Songbird. You will be able to launch Songbird from Applications>Sound and Video>Songbird.

I launched Songbird and am first greeted with a EULA page. I agree to the terms and then click foward. Next are APPS that can be included in Songbird or removed depending on your tastes. I went ahead and let it install them all. That pretty much finished configuring Songbird.

Songbird opened up and looks like my top screenshot from my install. Enjoy Songbird. Details on it can be found at http://getsongbird.com/ for Windows users to find the download for it. 64 Bit versions are also available for Linux.