Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Updated: Ubuntu And Fedora Wallpaper Pack [Official Wallpapers]

| Date: December 30, 2010 | 21 Comments | Tags: fedora, ubuntu, wallpapers

Ankur has updated the wallpaper collection we've mentioned a while back that includes all the Ubuntu and Fedora official wallpapers in the 4:3 and 16:10 formats. The update includes the Fedora 14 and Ubuntu 10.10 wallpapers along with 10 extra wallpapers (from Linux Mint, Mandriva and the latest KDE 4.6 wallpaper):

Foobnix 0.2.3 Comes With UI Changes, Many Bug Fixes

| Date: December 30, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tags: foobnix, linux, music player, radio, ubuntu, web

Foobnix 0.2.3

Foobnix (click HERE for our initial Foobnix review) 0.2.3 has been released today, fixing a lot of the bugs in the previous versions, including some which caused display errors with most GTK themes. But that's not all that's new in the latest Foobnix 0.2.3 - changes in the latest version include:
  • Music folders in one or multiple tabs
  • Compact pull-down menu, the ability to display the menu as a panel
  • Improved CUE support
  • Customizable user themes (these are more like personas) - you can basically add any wallpaper / image as a background for Foobnix
  • Transparency of the main window
  • The tabs are now saved and restored when you start Foobnix
  • Actions on tabs (close, open, rename)
  • Improved performance and better startup speed
  • Many bugs fixed

Atolm: A New, Great Looking Dark Theme Created By The Orta Designer

| Date: December 29, 2010 | 31 Comments | Tags: atolm, equinox, linux, theme, ubuntu

Atolm GTK theme

Atolm is a new dark GTK theme created by SkiesOfAzel (who is also behind the very popular Orta GTK theme) in collaboration with MonkeyMagico who's mockups were the inspiration for this new theme.

Use Gnome Panel As A "Wingpanel" [Quick Tip]

| Date: December 29, 2010 | 65 Comments | Tags: gnome, linux, tips n tricks, ubuntu, wingpanel

Gnome Wingpanel

WebUpd8 reader Justin has sent us a really interesting tip for using the Gnome panel as "Wingpanel" instead of the actual Wingpanel or Avant Window Navigator.

The trick is to get a floating Gnome panel (the rest is pretty much obvious). Read on!


Integrate Thunderbird In The Ubuntu Messaging Menu [PPA]

| Date: December 28, 2010 | 23 Comments | Tags: appindicator, email, linux, messaging menu, thunderbird, ubuntu

Thunderbird messaging menu

So you're looking for a really easy way to integrate Thunderbird in the Ubuntu Messaging Menu? You can try a package I've recently came across (called "xul-ext-indicator") that is available in a PPA, which adds Thunderbird to the Messaging Menu and provides quick access to your contacts, compose a new mail and unread emails. Using this package, you'll also get NotifyOSD notifications when new mail arrives.

CloudSN (Cloud Services Notifications) Update Finally Brings Twitter OAuth Support

| Date: December 28, 2010 | 10 Comments | Tags: appindicator, cloudsn, linux, messaging menu, notifications, twitter, ubuntu

Cloudsn

CloudSN (Cloud Services Notifications) is an application you can use to display notifications when you have new emails (POP3 and IMAP), new Identi.ca messages, Google Reader unread items or it can watch any RSS feed for changes (which means you can use it for Facebook too). For a complete review, see our previous post on CloudSN.

AriOS: Light Interface And Heavy Application Base In A Ready To Use Ubuntu Remaster

| Date: December 28, 2010 | 33 Comments | Tags: arios, distro, linux, remaster, ubuntu

AriOS

AriOS is the successor of mFatOS, an Ubuntu remaster we talked about a while back. AriOS 2.0 was released today and it's based on Ubuntu 10.10 - the new version tries to replicate Unity but as opposed to Unity, it's customizable thanks to Avant Window Navigator. In AriOS, everything works out of the box and most popular applications are installed by default which I'm sure those with a limited Internet connection will appreciate.


First impressions / looks

The AriOS interface is inspired by Unity but instead of the Unity "dock" it uses Avant Window Navigator which is a lot more customizable, with DockBarX for the launcher / task manager. Using AWN, you get all the amazing applets that come with it and DockBarX offers window previews, fancy menus and more.

No, it's not Wingpanel on the top-right corner but another instance of Avant Window Navigator designed to replicate a floating appindicator, but unlike Wingpanel (and unlike Unity), there's also a notification area (systray) available. When maximizing a window, the top-right AWN appindicator/notification area nicely covers the application which gives both a slick look and more screen real-estate.

Last 2 Weeks Top Posts (Weeks 50, 51 - 2010)

| Date: December 27, 2010 | Discuss | Tags: top posts

YaRock 0.0.41 Released With New Toolbar And IceCast / ShoutCast Radio Browser

| Date: December 27, 2010 | 5 Comments | Tags: linux, music player, radio, ubuntu, yarock

YaRock

YaRock is a new Qt4 music player designed to provide a nice overview of your music by allowing you to browse your music collection based on the album cover art. We love YaRock here at WebUpd8, especially for it's simplicity and the nice cover art overview it provides, as well as the ability to fetch albums cover art from Last.fm.

How To Test Ubuntu 11.04 With Unity In VirtualBox 4.0

| Date: December 25, 2010 | 93 Comments | Tags: 11.04, linux, Natty Narwhal, ubuntu, virtualbox

Ubuntu 11.04 virtualbox 4.0


Great news for those who want to try out the latest Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal with the Unity interface without booting a CD or Live USB - Unity now works in the latest VirtualBox 4.0. All you have to do to get Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity to work in VirtualBox 4.0 is to enable 3D Acceleration and obviously, install the VirtualBox Guest Additions. Read on!

DockBarX 0.42 Brings Improved Window Previews

| Date: December 25, 2010 | 26 Comments | Tags: applet, avant window navigator, dock, dockbarx, linux, ubuntu

DockBarX 0.42

After the great new features it got two weeks ago, a new DockBarX version (0.42) has been released today, bringing some tweaks and improvements to those new features:
  • It's now possible to scroll through windows (by using mouse or keyboard shortcuts) without raising all of them.
  • Opacify now fades in and out.
  • If the previews takes up too much space to fit the screen, a list without previews will be shown instead.
  • The size of previews are now set in such a way that the window is shrunk until it fits a in box with the same size aspect ratio as the monitor (the size you set from preference window is the height of this box). Previously it was fitted into a square (size*size). This makes the height of the previews more even.
  • Vertical panels now stacks the previews vertically. The placement of the window list is set according to the golden ratio instead of aligning the top of the button and the window list.
  • For those of you who doesn't like the new menu: The old gtk menu is back and you can choose to use it from preference window.

Install DockBarX 0.42 in Ubuntu

Fix The "Open With" Menu When Using MS Office Under Wine [Quick Tip]

| Date: December 25, 2010 | 11 Comments | Tags: linux, office, tips n tricks, ubuntu, wine

MS Office wine open with

This is a tip sent by WebUpd8 reader Bhaismachine. He writes:

On installing MS Office using Wine on Ubuntu, the "open with" menu produces more than one instance of the MS Office apps. I have been solving this issue since really long time on my each fresh install of Ubuntu by opening 'main menu' app and then removing all those entries from 'other' section of main menu.

Google Reader Indicator For Ubuntu

| Date: December 23, 2010 | 4 Comments | Tags: appindicator, google reader, linux, ubuntu, web

Google Reader Indicator Ubuntu

Lorenzo @ atareao.es has created yet another Ubuntu indicator: Google Reader Indicator, which you can use to take a quick look at your unread Google Reader items.

There is another indicator for displaying your Google Reader number of unread items - Cloudsn, but Google Reader Indicator does more than that: it displays the headlines with direct links to those articles (so clicking a headline in the Google Reader Indicator will open that article in your default browser); further more, Google Reader Indicator also displays NotifyOSD notification bubbles with the title and an excerpt of the articles as well as the number of unread items.

The time between the unread items checks as well as the time of the notifications can be configured from its settings.

Unified Me Menu And Messaging Menu Mockups; Ubuntu May Get A "Silent" Mode

| Date: December 23, 2010 | 41 Comments | Tags: 11.10, appindicator, linux, me menu, messaging menu, mockups, ubuntu

There is a discussion going on @ Ayatana mailing list regarding the merge of Me Menu (the applet that displays your name, used to set your status) and Messaging Menu (Chat, Email, etc.) and mockups have already started to be posted:


1. Unified Me Menu and Messaging Menu indicator by mockups by Saleel Velankar:

Unified Me Menu Messaging Menu mockups

Nautilus 3.0 Mockups: More Polish, Overlay Statusbar

| Date: December 23, 2010 | 31 Comments | Tags: gnome 3, linux, nautilus

A couple of new Nautilus 3.0 mockups were posted by Allan Day on his blog. Althouth they look a lot like some older mockups, they are more polished and make better use of space:

Window Applets 0.2.10, Released

| Date: December 23, 2010 | 39 Comments | Tags: applet, gnome panel, linux, ubuntu, window applets

Gnome Window Applets

Window Applets is a package that comes with two Gnome panel applets: Window Title and Window Buttons which are basically controls for windows that are placed on the Panel instead of the window. They provide a clever way to increase vertical screen space.


New features / changes in Window Applets 0.2.10:

Humble Indie Bundle #2 Adds More Games

| Date: December 22, 2010 | 11 Comments | Tags: games, linux, ubuntu

Humble Indie Bundle is a pay-what-you-want (any price whatsoever), DRM-free bundle of indie games.

Because of the huge success it had (it's close to $1.3M USD at the time I'm writing this post), all those who have purchased Humble Indie Bundle #2 will also get the 5 amazing games that were included in Humble Indie Bundle #1. However, if you haven't purchased Humble Indie Bundle #2, you'll have to pay at least $7.41 to get both bundles.

If you're interested in puchasing Humble Indie Bundle #2, head over to humblebundle.com. There are only 3 days left!

Install VirtualBox 4.0.x (Stable) In Ubuntu, Via Repository

| Date: December 22, 2010 | 54 Comments | Tags: linux, ubuntu, virtualbox

VirtualBox 4.0

VirtualBox 4.0 has been released today. We've already covered what's new in VirtualBox 4.0.x when the first beta came out so check out that post or the changelog for more info.

As you probably know, starting with VirtualBox 4.0.x some features are now available separately, in an extension pack. Here are the step-by-step instructions on installing both VirtualBox and the Extensions Pack in Ubuntu.

The Ubuntu Font Now Available For Any Website Through Google Font Directory

| Date: December 21, 2010 | 8 Comments | Tags: fonts, linux, ubuntu, web design

Ubuntu font

Google announced that the Ubuntu Font Family is now available in the Google Font Directory which makes it very easy to install for any website:

Easily Upload Images To Facebook Using Nautilus Facebook Uploader

| Date: December 21, 2010 | 8 Comments | Tags: facebook, internet, linux, nautilus, photos, ubuntu

nautilus facebook uploader

Nautilus Facebook Uploader is an application to upload pictures (it supports multiple pictures at once) to Facebook via Nautilus. Using this application, you'll be able to post photos to your wall, upload photos to an existing album or create a new album. Support for setting a profile picture should be coming soon.

PhotoFilmStrip 1.4.0 (Stable) Released With A New User Interface, Customizable Aspect Ratio, More

| Date: December 21, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tags: linux, movies, photofilmstrip, pictures, ubuntu, windows

PhotoFilmStrip

PhotoFilmStrip is an application for Windows and Linux that you can use to create a movie (slideshow) from images. It uses the "Ken Burns" effect for the pictures transitions and you can also add music and captions to your images. You can further customize the video by setting the duration time for each image, the transition and transition time and additionally, the effect (sepia or black and white). The video can be rendered in VCD, SVCD, DVD or FULL-HD (1920x1080).


Add Tabs To Skype For Linux Using SkypeTab

| Date: December 21, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tags: im, linux, skype, ubuntu

Skype tabs linux

SkypeTab is a tool that wraps Skype chat windows into a tabbed interface. Besides integrating the conversations, SkypeTab can also embed the Contact List into its wrapper.

Warsow 0.6 Released With 6 New Maps, "Capture The Flag" Gametype

| Date: December 20, 2010 | 7 Comments | Tags: fps, games, linux, ubuntu

Warsow 0.6

Yet another game got a new version just in time for the holidays: Warsow - a futuristic cartoon-like first-person shooter - 0.6 was released yesterday featuring 6 new maps and a new gametype: the well known "Capture the Flag".

Alien Arena 2011 Now Available At PlayDeb [Easily Install It In Ubuntu]

| Date: December 20, 2010 | 2 Comments | Tags: alien arena, fps, games, linux, ubuntu

Alien Arena 2011

This is just a quick update to let you know that Alien Arena 2011 (7.50) which was released last week is available for Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 users @ PlayDeb.

To install Alien Arena 2011, you'll have to download and install THIS .deb - it will automatically add the PlayDeb repository to your software sources. Then simply visit the Alien Arena page at PlayDeb and click the install button.

DockBarX Theme Pack For Avant Window Navigator / Faenza Users

| Date: December 19, 2010 | 8 Comments | Tags: applet, avant window navigator, dock, dockbarx, linux, ubuntu

DockBarX big dock

"DBX big dock" pack is a DockBarX theme package especially created for those that use DockBarX with Avant Window Navigator and comes with updated "Unite" themes (Unite_v and Unite_h) with new blink attenton effects as well as versions for these themes without backgrounds and bigger icons for Faenza icon theme users (the themes are called Faenza_Unite_v and Faenza_Unite_h). The pack also includes a mod of the DockBarX "dock" theme with nice colors and attention effects.

All the themes in the "DBX big dock" come with 2 versions: for horizontal and vertical dock.

DockBarX faenza
(DockBarX Faenza_Unite_H)

XBMC 10.0 "Dharma" Released With Built-In Addons System, VAAPI Support, Improved VDPAU, More

| Date: December 19, 2010 | 9 Comments | Tags: linux, macosx, media center, movie player, music player, ubuntu, windows, XBMC

XBMC 10.0

XBMC is a free and open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media for for Linux, OSX, Windows, and the original Xbox.

XBMC 10.0 "Dharma" has been released yesterday. Most of the work in the new version has been done to the addons framework. Until XBMC 10, you had to search for new skins and addons through the forums, manually download and install it and so on - starting with version 10, installing new skins and addons got a lot easier: in XBMC 10, installing a new skin or addon is done from the XBMC interface (the Addons section).

I must say I'm loving the Grooveshark addon! There was an issue with it not playing for some reason but after chaging the playback core to "DVDPlayer" under the Grooveshark plugin settings it finally worked.

XBMC 10 - grooveshark

Select-o-Magic 3000 Automatically Creates Playlists From Your Music Library Based On The Criteria You Select

| Date: December 19, 2010 | 22 Comments | Tags: linux, music, playlist, ubunu

Select-o-magic 3000

Select-o-Magic 3000 is a simple application that allows you to create a playlist from your music library based on the tags you select, such as genre, artist, year, album, mood or BPM. It supports mp3s, ogg and flac audio files.

CADuntu (2D CAD Drawing Tool) Becomes LibreCAD, Gets Ubuntu PPA

| Date: December 18, 2010 | 11 Comments | Tags: cad, librecad, linux, ubuntu

LibreCAD

CADuntu is a 2D CAD drawing tool based on the community edition of QCad ported to Qt4 and works natively on OSX, Windows and Linux.

Starting today, CADuntu has a new name: LibreCAD and it can easily be installed in Ubuntu, getting a PPA for Lucid, Maverick and Natty. Even though LibreCAD is quite new (and still in beta), it is already available in several languages and gives a real GPL solution to read/modify/create CAD files.


How To Compile The Kernel In Ubuntu, The Easy Way [Video]

| Date: December 18, 2010 | 79 Comments | Tags: kernel, kernelcheck, linux, ubuntu

So you want to compile and maybe even apply a patch to the kernel but you've always thought that's too difficult? Well, it isn't, thanks to KernelCheck, a program that automatically compiles and installs the latest Kernel for Debian based Linux distributions (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint, etc.).

To make it even easier, I've recorded a screencast on how to use KernelCheck to compile the kernel and how to apply a patch:


You can also watch it @ YouTube.



CPU Frequency Scaling Indicator For Ubuntu: Indicator Cpufreq [AppIndicator]

| Date: December 17, 2010 | 27 Comments | Tags: appindicator, applet, CPU, linux, ubuntu

Indicator CPUfreq

Yet another very useful Gnome applet got an Ubuntu indicator applet (AppIndicator): CPU frequency scaling applet. By using an appindicator, this tiny application will be able to run in Ubuntu 11.04 without using a Gnome panel (the Unity panel doesn't support the regular Gnome applets).

For now it still depends on gnome-applets, but this might change in the future.


It's nice to see that most applets are getting an indicator and will thus work on future Ubuntu versions, but it's a shame for all the good applets that will be lost in this transition. And it's not just Ubuntu - Gnome Shell won't support all these applets either.


Install Indicator Cpufreq in Ubuntu

Dropbox 1.0 Stable Released With Selective Sync, Huge Performance Enhancements, More [How To Upgrade To 1.0 In Ubuntu]

| Date: December 17, 2010 | 28 Comments | Tags: dropbox, linux, sync, ubuntu

Dropbox 1.0 Ubuntu

Dropbox 1.0 (actually 1.0.10) has finally been released! The new stable version finally brings selective sync, Ubuntu appindicator, huge performance enhancements and hundreds of bugs fixed. These features were already present in the Dropbox experimental builds for quite some time but only now they've "graduated" into the stable Dropbox 1.0 version.

Download Kernel 2.6.36 .deb Compiled With The" 200 Lines Patch" For Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (32bit)

| Date: December 17, 2010 | 61 Comments | Tags: kernel, linux, performance, tips n tricks, ubuntu

WebUpd8 reader Mahdi has created Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat 32bit .deb packages for Linux Kernel 2.6.36 compiled with the 200 lines patch which he says it works great so he wanted to share it with our readers (download links below). The patched Kernel will be available as an optional install in his Ubuntu remaster called AriOS (previously known as mFatOS) which is due to be released this week.


id3fs Creates A Filesystem Of Your Music Which You Can Browse By ID3 Tags

| Date: December 17, 2010 | 17 Comments | Tags: filesystem, id3fs, linux, music, organize, ubuntu

If you have a lot of music that's proprely tagged but the directory structure is a mess, you can still browse it in a really smart way by using id3fs.

id3fs works with mp3, flac and ogg files and provides a browsable filesystem of your music files, organised into sub-directories by id3 tags (or flac/ogg comments).

Basically, this little command line tool will create symbolic links to your actual music which you can then browse by artist, audio type (mp3, flac, ogg), genre, year, decade, ratings and more. But not only that - you can also combine these as it supports operators such as "AND" and "OR". Example: Metal/AND/year/2005/OR/4-star.

Here is a screenshot to get a better idea on what id3fs actually does (although you must really try it to get the whole picture):

Alien Arena 2011 (7.50) Released In Time For The Holidays [Ubuntu Installation Instructions]

| Date: December 16, 2010 | 17 Comments | Tags: alien arena, games, linux, ubuntu, windows

Alien Arena 2011

Alien Arena is a free, stand-alone first-person shooter computer game based on source code released by id Software. Begun by COR Entertainment in 2004, the game combines a 1950s-era sci-fi atmosphere with gameplay similar to the Quake, Doom, and Unreal Tournament series (via Wikipedia).


Alien Arena 2011 (7.50) has been released today, just in time for those who have some free time during the holidays.

The new version includes new ragdoll physics using the Open Dynamics physics engine ("ragdoll physics are a type of procedural animation that is often used as a replacement for traditional static death animations"), revamped in-game IRC client, two new maps (Annihilation and Neptune), one revamped map, new music, true type font support, tweaks and much more. A complete changelog can be found here.

Opera 11 (Stable) Released With Extension Support, Tab Stacking, Visual Mouse Gestures And More

| Date: December 16, 2010 | 27 Comments | Tags: browsers, linux, macosx, opera, ubuntu, windows

Opera 11 Ubuntu

Opera 11 has finally been released! You probably already know what's new in the latest version of this amazing web browser, but let's recap the major new features:

Extension support: this was probably the only feature that Opera was missing for many of us (even though a lot of features for which you must use an extension on other browsers were there by default in Opera). The extensions work just like in Chromium: an icon is displayed next to the search bar (or no icon at all) and you also get an extensions page from where you can disable or uninstall the extensions (to reach this page you either have to right click any extension and select "Manage Extensions" or press Ctrl + Shift + E). You can check out the Opera extensions @ https://addons.opera.com/

Cardapio Gets An Avant Window Navigator Applet

| Date: December 16, 2010 | 14 Comments | Tags: applet, avant window navigator, cardapio, linux, main menu, ubuntu

Avant Window Navigator Cardapio

Cardapio is a simple menu for the GNOME desktop that comes with a lot of useful plugins. It can launch applications, run a command, pin items, search through your Firefox bookmarks or Ubuntu Software Center, includes a file search and full text search and more.

After getting a Docky helper two weeks ago, an update today brings a Cardapio Avant Window Navigator applet too so you can finally use Cardapio like any other AWN applet (it was previously possible to use Cardapio in AWN by using a small "hack").

Install Cardapio Avant Window Navigator applet:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cardapio-team/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cardapio cardapio-awn

If you've already had Cardapio installed, make sure to upgrade to the latest version before installing the AWN applet.


Thanks to Thiago for the tip!

'My Weather Indicator': A New Ubuntu Weather Appindicator

| Date: December 15, 2010 | 24 Comments | Tags: appindicator, applet, linux, ubuntu, weather

My Weather Indicator

The new indicator-datetime (clock indicator) which was released in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition (and will also be default in 11.04 Desktop edition too) doesn't provide any weather info like the old Gnome Clock applet.

A while back, a weather indicator was released, however its PPA is empty for a long time and it seems its development has stopped but luckily, Atareao @ atareao.es has started a new project called "My Weather Indicator" designed to bring back the weather conditions to your panel.


Besides the info available in the appindicator (temperature, termic sensation, wind velocity, humidity and so on), 'My Weather Indicator' also displays NotifyOSD notifications on conditions change and you can get an extended weather forecast by clicking the "Forecast" option in its menu:

My weather indicator notifyosd

Do You Have Limited Internet Plan? Use NTM (Network Traffic Monitor)!

| Date: December 15, 2010 | 11 Comments | Tags: internet, linux, mobile, network traffic monitor, ubuntu

Network traffic monitor

NTM (Network Traffic Monitor) is a great application for those who have a limited internet plan. It can monitor the inbound, outbound and total traffic, the time spent online and various other very useful features for limited / mobile internet connections. Futher more, it can automatically disconnect your computer when the limit is reached (for cases when exceeding the limit is very expensive).

NTM also allows you to set the period you want to monitor and get a daily traffic report as well as daily averages.


More info and download (includes Ubuntu .deb)



Thanks to Vlad for the tip!

Avant Window Navigator Gets Live Window Previews

| Date: December 15, 2010 | 17 Comments | Tags: avant window navigator, dock, launcher, linux, ubuntu, window previews

Avant Window Navigator live window previews

You could already get live window previews in Avant Window Navigator thanks to DockBarX, bu the latest Avant Window Navigator from the AWN Trunk PPA got window previews for the AWN taskmanager so it's no longer required to install additional packages to get this feature in AWN.

The live window previews feature in Avant Window Navigator doesn't work like in DockBarX: you need to click and hold for the previews to show up. Also, the previews are kind of rough for the moment: there is no option to change their size and the "Launch" button is quite big, but hopefully some customization for the window previews will come soon.


Clientside: Gedit Plugin To Format, Minify And Validate CSS / Javascript

| Date: December 14, 2010 | 12 Comments | Tags: css, gedit, JavaScript, linux, plugins, ubuntu, web design

Gedit Clientside plugin

Clientside is a Gedit plugin for those who work with CSS and Javascrip which can be used to minify and format/beautify Javascript and CSS. Further more, the plugin also includes jsLint and an option to Gzip the current file.

Humble Indie Bundle 2: Pay What You Want For 5 Excellent Cross-Platform Games

| Date: December 14, 2010 | 4 Comments | Tags: games, linux, macosx, ubuntu, windows



The Humble Indie Bundle is back! Just like last year, Wildfire is offering a pay-what-you-want (any price whatsoever), DRM-free bundle of 5 excellent indie games.

Gnome Shell Might Not Be Available In The Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Official Repositories

| Date: December 14, 2010 | 24 Comments | Tags: 11.04, gnome shell, linux, Natty Narwhal, ubuntu

Gnome Shell

A bug submitted @ Launchpad points out that Gnome Shell might not be available in the official Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal repositories.

Create A Bootable ISO With Multiple Linux Distributions Using MultiCD [Version 6.2, Released]

| Date: December 14, 2010 | 8 Comments | Tags: distro, linux, multiboot, ubuntu, usb

MultiCD

MultiCD is a shell script designed to build a multiboot ISO containing multiple Linux distributions and/or utilities, which you can then burn on a DVD or use it to create a live USB memory stick. As an example, you can use it to create DVD ISO with Gparted, Clonezilla, Ubuntu and Kubuntu. There are a lot of supported live CDs - a complete list if available @ MultiCD website.


MultiCD 6.2 was released a couple of days ago with support for archiso-live, AVG, 64-bit fedora and opensuse network installers. Further more, MultiCD now supports all Ubuntu versions.

How to use MultiCD

Change Avant Window Navigator Applets Icon By Using Drag-and-Drop [Quick AWN Tip]

| Date: December 14, 2010 | 6 Comments | Tags: applet, avant window navigator, linux, tips n tricks, ubuntu

AWN change applet icon

Here's a quick AWN tip which I for one didn't know of: Avant Window Navigator lets you change the icon for an applet by simply dragging and dropping an icon onto the applet. This only works with single-icon applets (like YAML, File Browser Launcher, Show Desktop and so on).

To reset it, simply remove the applet from the dock and then re-add it.


Thanks to Mahdi for the tip!

Synapse 0.2.2 Gets Relevancy Service, Three Plugins And More

| Date: December 13, 2010 | 29 Comments | Tags: launcher, linux, quicklauncher, synapse, ubuntu

Synapse 0.2.2

Synapse, the new awesome looking quick-launcher for Linux reached version 0.2.2 today, getting some of the features many of you have requested:
  • Most importantly, Synapse got a relevancy service - the applications you use the most will be on top of the search results (Zeitgeist is used for this).
  • Support for basic transliteration when searching for applications - therefore you shouldn't need to type accents (if your language has them)
  • 3 new plugins: Open Search (search the web - it currently supports Google search and Google Maps), Locate (find files on your filesystem) and Gnome Screensaver (this was already available in the version in the PPA for some time).

Synapse google search
(Synapse 0.2.2 - Google Search plugin)

GPG Key Issues Due To Blocked Port Should Finally Be Fixed In Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal

| Date: December 13, 2010 | Discuss | Tags: 11.04, gpg, launchpad, Natty Narwhal, ppa

When adding a PPA in Ubuntu, the GPG key is imported using port 11371. If this port is blocked (by your ISP, Firewall) the GPG key import fails so you'll get lots of errors when running an update and also, the Update Manager doesn't install any available updates. But this will finally be fixed starting with Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal - an update to software-propreties notes that port 80 will be used by default instead of 11371 for getting the GPG keys.

Hopefully this "software-properties" feature will be backported to older Ubuntu versions; meanwhile you can use Launchpad Getkeys to fix the missing GPG keys.

Get Video Acceleration For Adobe Flash Flayer (With Stage Video) In Ubuntu [VDPAU Only]

| Date: December 13, 2010 | 23 Comments | Tags: flash, hardware acceleration, linux, nvidia, ubuntu, video

The latest Adobe Flash Player 10.2 beta (not Flash Player Square!) uses Stage Video, a new API that enables hardware accelerated video playback across platforms (currently only works with VDPAU - so for Nvidia with proprietary graphics drivers only):

Developers will be able to take advantage of this new model to deliver improved playback quality while reducing processor usage by up to 85 percent. This enhanced performance will build on the benefits of H.264 hardware accelerated decoding introduced in Flash Player 10.1.


Using it, the processor usage for 1080p YouTube videos dropped from ~90% to around 20-30% on my computer. It's not as good as say Mplayer with VDPAU, but it's definitely an improvement.

I've recorded a video in which you can see the CPU usage with and without Stage Video:

Jupiter 0.0.46 Released With SATA Link Power Management And USB Autosuspend Support

| Date: December 12, 2010 | 9 Comments | Tags: eeepc, gnome panel, jupiter, linux, netbook, super hybrid engine, ubuntu

Update: Jupiter has been discontinued. I suggest trying TLP instead.

Jupiter 0.0.46

Jupiter is a Gnome applet you can use on your netbook or laptop to switch between maximum, high performance and power saving mode, change the resolution and orientation of the screen, enable or disable the bluetooth, touchpad, WiFi. Jupiter also comes with Eeepc SHE (Super Hybrid Engine) support.

Haguichi 1.0.3 (Hamachi GUI) Has Been Released

| Date: December 12, 2010 | 19 Comments | Tags: haguichi, hamachi, linux, p2p, ppa, ubuntu, vpn

Haguichi
(New Haguichi icon for Elementary Dark panel)

Haguichi is a Hamachi and Hamachi2 GUI for Gnome.

"Hamachi establishes a connection over the Internet that emulates the connection that would exist if the computers were connected over a local area network." So it's like a LAN over the internet which you can use to browse shares or play games that only work on LAN (among others). We've covered Haguichi quite a few times so read our previous posts for more info.

A new Haguichi version (1.0.3) has been released today which adds theme specific panel icons for Humanity, Ambiance, Radiance, Elementary and Elementary Dark.


Here's the complete Haguichi 1.0.3 changelog:

Last Week's Top Posts (Week 49, 2010)

| Date: December 12, 2010 | 1 Comment | Tags: top posts

Get Your Favourite Gnome Panel Applets And ALT + F2 Run Dialog Back In Ubuntu 11.04 (Unity)

| Date: December 12, 2010 | 28 Comments | Tags: 11.04, gnome, gnome panel, linux, Natty Narwhal, ubuntu, unity

Ubuntu 11.04 gnome panel applets

As you probably know, the Ubuntu 11.04 panel doesn't let you add applets - it's not that panel is locked like it was in Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition, it simply doesn't support applets (it doesn't have such a feature) as the top Unity panel is not a Gnome panel.

Clementine 0.6 Stable Has Been Released

| Date: December 12, 2010 | 7 Comments | Tags: clementine, linux, music player, qt, ubuntu

Clementine 0.6

We've already covered all the new features in Clementine 0.6 (release candidate at the time) so this post is just a small update to let you know that Clementine 0.6 stable has been released. There are no new features since the RC, only bug fixes.

You can download Clementine binaries (.deb, .rpm, .exe and .dmg) via its Google Code page.


You can also add the Clementine stable PPA (which doesn't include Clementine 0.6 yet) to stay up to date with future versions:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:me-davidsansome/clementine
sudo apt-get update

Fuduntu Continues To Improve, Reaches Version 14.7

| Date: December 12, 2010 | 4 Comments | Tags: distro, fedora, fuduntu, linux

Fuduntu, a Fedora 14 Remix optimized for netbooks and laptops (but works on desktops too) has reached version 14.7, getting some further improvements which make it stand out, like Firefox cache moved to /tmp to improve flash performance out of the box (Fuduntu already had /tmp and /var/log moved to RAM disk). The new version also comes with Adobe Flash, ntfs support and Fluendo MP3 codec installed by default along with other tweaks.

Firefox And Thunderbird Application Menu (Global Menu) On The Way For Ubuntu 11.04

| Date: December 11, 2010 | 19 Comments | Tags: 11.04, firefox, global menu, linux, Natty Narwhal, thunderbird, ubuntu

Firefox appmenu

In Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, Firefox and Thunderbird will finally get an AppMenu (global menu). The above screenshot shows the initial work on this done by Chris Coulson.

Get iOS4 Mount/Sync Working In Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

| Date: December 11, 2010 | 30 Comments | Tags: gtkpod, iPhone, ipod, linux, rhythmbox, ubuntu

iPod Touch 4G Rhythmbox

If you've recently upgraded to iOS4 (now 4.2) and use Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, you can see your photos in Nautilus, but you have no access to your music using Rhythmbox or GTKPod (the device shows up but quickly disappears). However, you can easily get it to work using the instructions below.


Important: WebUpd8 reader rkv reports that the below instructions work with iPhone 3GS (using iOS 4.2) and the music he transfers shows up on his iPhone, while a friend who has tested this on an iPod Touch 4G says the device now shows up in Rhythmbox but the files he transfers don't show up on his iPod, so it seems this doesn't work for iPhone / iPod Touch 4G!


PPA Updates: Minitube, gThumb, Launchpad Getkeys, Dropbox Share

| Date: December 10, 2010 | 24 Comments | Tags: dropbox, dropbox share, gpg, gthumb, launchpad, linux, minitube, photo manager, ubuntu, video player, youtube

This post is just a short summary of some updated packages in the WebUpd8 PPAs.


Minitube


Minitube

Minitube stopped working yesterday due to some changes to the YouTube website. The update broke all applications for playing / downloading YouTube videos, but luckily Minitube has been updated (version 1.3) to include a fix. The new version also comes with a new icon and is available as always in the main WebUpd8 PPA, for Ubuntu Lucid and Maverick:

'Colors' Is An Impressive Dark Gnome Theme With 12 Color Variations

| Date: December 10, 2010 | 31 Comments | Tags: colors, eyecandy, gnome, linux, themes, ubuntu

Colors GTK Theme

'Colors' is an amazing - dare I say the best (or at least in top 3) - dark GNOME theme. I've found out about it from Nick, the Orta theme author who posted a link to 'Colors' in a comment on our last Orta post and even though I was a bit skeptic as I don't like dark themes, after trying it out I must say I am truly impressed. Sure, it's a matter of taste so you may not like it, but give it a try anyway because you can't really get the real "feeling" by just looking at the screenshots.

Launchpad PPA Download Stats Using A Python Script

| Date: December 09, 2010 | 17 Comments | Tags: launchpad, linux, ppa, ubuntu

The Launchpad API was updated yesterday, finally bringing PPA statistics. For now, the stats can only be accessed by using a Python script, but they will probably be implemented on the actual website soon, especially since Mark Shuttleworth is also interested in these stats. He actually posted a comment on Launchpad, asking for a "heat" metric for PPAs:

5 flames: top 1% PPA in the past 6 months
4 flames: top 10%
3 flames: top 25%
2 flames: top 50%
1 flame: top 75%
damp squib: less.

Just count all downloads across all archs and releases equally, but only count them for the latest version of any package in there, so you can't fudge it by rapid-fire publishing.


'Directory Cleaner And Files Organizer' Updated With Command Line Version

| Date: December 09, 2010 | Discuss | Tags: bash, desktop, linux, organize, script, ubuntu

A while back we've posted about a script called "Directory Cleaner And Files Organizer" that helps you keep various folders clean (such as your Desktop) by automatically moving the files by extension into folders such as Pictures, Documents and so on.

If you remember, I've mentioned it would be nice if it had a command line version so you could automatically run it at startup or in a cron job. Well, an update today brings a command line version of the Directory Cleaner And Files Organizer script.

PAC Manager: Easily Manage SSH/Telnet Connections

| Date: December 09, 2010 | 10 Comments | Tags: linux, pac manager, ssh, ubuntu

PAC Manager

PAC Manager is an application (GUI) for easy configuring and managing SSH/Telnet connections. It supports macros, cluster connections, RDP and VNC, pre/post connections local executsions and much more.

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