TestDisk is a great tool for recovering files from a broken disk. My wife's hard drive crashed yesterday and it turned out to be a corrupt boot sector. I booted to a Kubuntu Live USB and was able to use TestDisk to recover the MBR from the backup (it was NTFS which keeps a backup at a different part of the drive) and copy the files I needed to a USB key.

It has a command line interface, but you simply run "sudo testdisk" and there is a guided menu based approach after that.

If you are having any hard drive issues it's a good first place to start.

A few long overdue updates to the Linux App Finder database are in process. I finally added support for the GetDeb apps and games repositories. These are some very useful repositories because you can often find deb files for apps in them that aren't yet in Debian or Ubuntu. They also could be used to get more recent versions of some programs than you might find elsewhere. All of the apps in GetDeb are not yet in Linux App Finder, but at least those that are will be reflected in the available files.

Debian Squeeze will be the next Debian release and is the current testing version. All of the official Debian squeeze repos will be updated. I also included the squeeze section of the Opera repository.

I have preschool aged kids who like to play games so I'm always looking around to try new ones. One game we've been playing for a while is SuperTux. SuperTux is styled after the classic Super Mario Bros games and features their classic sidescrolling action.

In place of Mario the star character is Tux, the Linux penguin mascot. There are 26 playable levels in the main game and some additional bonus levels for additional fun. SuperTux even has a level editor that you can use to create your own.

I decided to start a new series to highlight interesting Linux apps. The idea is to call out some fun and useful apps that some of you might like as well. Enjoy.

LiVES Video Editing System is the first up. The Linux Journal posted an article about it last week and I thought I'd spread the word.

LiVES functions as a non-linear video editor and a real-time VJ app. It's a great option for personal or professional use. If you'd like to give it a try it won't be found in the Ubuntu or Debian repositories, but it can be found in Marillat (Debian Multimedia).

Ubuntu's Karmic Koala repositories have now been added. I haven't run a complete database update because it takes ages, but any new or updated apps will have the latest links. Install Now will work regardless of what is shown on the screen because it looks for what is in your local repositories.

Medibuntu's Karmic repositories have also been added.

I just saw a post at Linux Magazine that talks about a new Linux tool for BlackBerrys. It's called Pocketmac (Linux Edition), so you can see where it started. The program is in beta now and you can sign up here to test it.

Pocketmac Linux Edition should provide a nice alternative to Barry for those of you who prefer a GUI to the command line. Barry does provide a lot of capability, but doesn't appear to be the easiest to use app.

Some long overdue repositories were finally added. They include Ubuntu hardy-backports, Ubuntu hardy-partner, Medibuntu hardy, and OpenSuse 11.0. A complete database update has not been run, but as new versions of apps get released all of the repositories will be synced.

I'll be adding the Ubuntu intrepid repositories in the near future and looking at some others as well.

I recently installed the KDE4 version of Kubuntu on my laptop using the Wubi installer and was able to start using KWin's desktop effects on my laptop for the first time. I wasn't able to do so in the past because I didn't have a native install and VMware Player doesn't support hardware acceleration.

The Wubi installer was a great solution because it allowed me to install Kubuntu without disrupting my existing OS and also allows access to any existing files on the local hard drive.

After installing KDE4.1 beta 1 I started to get curious about battery life. I had heard that Vista's 3D desktop decreased battery life and wondered if KWin did the same.

A reader just sent in a link about Open CourseWare for Linux that is available from the College@Home site. It starts off with an Introduction section with various tutorials about Linux to get you started and then follows up with some more specific content.

The Use section covers some specific applications, a couple distro guides, and how to use Linux in some different categories like Office and Scientific fields. That is followed up by sections for Administrators, Business, Novell, Concepts, and Development. In all there are currently 54 different courses that have been posted.

I added new filter options so you can only view apps with specific toolkits. These new options are sub-entries to the overall Show Graphical Apps option. It must be checked for the others to matter. The available toolkit options are Gtk, Qt, Tk, wxW, and other. Ncurses already had a separate callout.

Hopefully this will help those KDE and Gnome users who prefer Qt and Gtk apps over alternatives.

Thanks to Oliver for the suggestion.