Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

AWN Lucido Merged Into AWN Trunk Builds

This is a small update to let you know that AWN Lucido has been merged into AWN trunk, meaning you can now simply use the AWN testing PPA to install AWN Lucido.

If you've used our PPA (which we'll remove soon), simply either remove the packages and reinstall from the AWN PPA or wait until the AWN packages will superseed (will get a higher version number) than the currently installed packages - this should happen soon.

Fix Intel GMA500 "Poulsbo" Graphics In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx [PPA]

I recently came upon an Ubuntu 10.04 PPA with Intel GMA500 "Poulsbo" packages which you can use to get everything working. Well, almost everything as only 2D will work, 3D unfortunately is not supported.

This PPA aims to port the Mandriva patches for the psb driver to Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx in order to enable GMA500 support in Xorg 1.7.x.

Opera 10.60 Alpha 1 Released (Linux Builds Included)

opera 10.60 linux

There won't be any stable Opera 10.5x for Linux because Opera already reached version 10.60 alpha 1. But there is some good news for the Linux users: Opera 10.60 aims to synchronize across all desktop platforms meaning that when the Windows stable build will be released, we'll also have a stable version for Linux and of course the Linux version will benefit from all the improvements since 10.5x.

Download And Rename Photos/Videos From Digital Cameras Using Rapid Photo Downloader [Version 0.2.0 Released]

rapid photo downloader

Rapid Photo Downloader is an application for downloading photos from digital cameras, memory cards and portable storage devices. It can download from multiple devices in the same time so for example if your camera has two card slots, Rapid Photo Downloader can transfer the photos from both of them in the same time.

Microblog-Purple (Twitter In Pidgin Plugin) 0.3 Has Been Released [Linux, Windows]

twitter in pidgin

Microblog-Purple (MBPurple) is a Pidgin plugin for Windows and Linux which integrates Twitter, Identi.ca and Status.net server through the conversation windows.

Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat NotifyOSD Counter

maverick countdown

maverickm is a script which notifies you how many days there are until the release of Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. The script displays the number of days each time you log in and also in the release day, it will check for the release every 60 minutes.

New AWN Lucido Version Released And Ubuntu PPA Available [Avant Window Navigator]

avant window navigator lucido

Update: Lucido has been merged into AWN 0.4.1 so use THESE instructions to install it.

AWN Lucido is an amazing new style for Avant Window Navigator which you saw in action HERE.

A new version of AWN Lucido has been released:
  • refresh bugfixes
  • background caching for all styles for better performance (not only Lucido)
  • a smarter way to handle expanders (try to change bar align (position) to left or right position in expanded mode).

For example, in the AWN settings (Preferences tab), drag the "position on the screen" slider to the left or right and you'll get something like this:

awn lucido


Dragging it to the center you'll get something like this:

awn lucido


There's more good news for AWN Lucido fans: there's now an AWN Lucido PPA for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala and Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

LightSpark (OpenSource Flash Player) 0.4.0 Released!

LightSpark 0.4.0 - an open source Flash player implementation - has been released. This version focuses on stability so most crashes should be fixed. But unfortunately YouTube still doesn't work with LightSpark. However, YouTube is supposed to be supported in the next stable release - 0.5.0.

If you want to try LightSpark, there's an Ubuntu PPA available (Lucid only):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sssup/sssup-ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lightspark


More info on LightSpark 0.4.0 release, HERE.


Special thanks to Nguyễn Hồng Quân for the tip!

Install An Updated Light-Themes Version In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (Bonus: Extra Equinox Themes) [PPA]

ambiance theme

There is currently a lot of work going on to improve the Ubuntu light themes: Ambiance and Radiance. Unfortunately all these changes are not even available in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

But if you want to install the Ubuntu latest light themes, I've created a PPA with packages for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. Read on!

Last Week's Top Posts (Week 21, 2010)

Finally An Ubuntu PPA For Talika Gnome Panel Applet

talika

Talika is a GNOME panel applet that lets you switch between open windows using icons, similar to DockBar or DockBarX.

Talika .deb files are available, but not a PPA to stay up to date. Because I got lots of emails to create a PPA for Talika, here it is:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/talika && sudo apt-get update

Then install Talika with:
sudo apt-get install talika

And finally, add the Talika applet to a GNOME panel.


The PPA currently maintains Talika for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, 10.04 Lucid Lynx and 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. Talika is also available in the WebUpd8 PPA - all the packages we maintain will also be available in the WebUpd8 PPA.

Script To Fix The Panel For All Themes At Once [Linux w/ GNOME]

gnome panel fixed

Like you saw in our last post, the GNOME panel looks very ugly for some themes if you try to increase its height, make it transparent or want a vertical panel.

WebUpd8 reader Whise wrote a Python script to fix the panel for all the GNOME themes you currently have installed - as long as they don't use a custom name for the panel background.

Fix Transparent, Vertical And Large Gnome Panel In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (For The Ambiance And Radiance Themes)

The new light themes in Ubuntu 10.04 don't like you changing the GNOME panel in any way. If you increase the panel size, want a vertical panel or try to make a panel transparent, it looks very ugly:

(large Gnome panel height)

(vertical Gnome panel)

(transparent Gnome panel)


You can fix this by using another theme, or fix the Ambiance and Radiance themes. Here is how to fix Ambiance and Radiance.

Wine 1.2 Release Candidate 2 Available For Download

Wine 1.2 release candidate 2 is out! There are no new features in RC2 obviously, since WINE is in code-freeze, however lots of bugs have been fixed.

Installation instructions for WINE 1.2 RC 2 (from the WINE PPA as well as for WINE with PulseAudio support) can be found in our WINE 1.2 RC1 post.

Handy Backup Pro License Giveaway Winners Announced

Automatically Import All Missing Launchpad PPA GPG Keys [Ubuntu .deb]

Almost a year ago, we posted a script created by an Ubuntuforums user (blackgr) which automatically imports Launchpad GPG keys in Ubuntu for all the PPAs you have added to your software sources.

We didn't talk about it much since then because meanwhile, the "add-apt-repository" was introduced in Ubuntu - a command which adds a PPA via command line and also imports the GPG key. But if you add a PPA when the Ubuntu keyserver is down, the key is not added. And if you add multiple PPAs when this happens, it can be quite annoying to search for and manually import the GPG keys for every PPA. For instance, when Ubuntu 10.04 was released, the Ubuntu Keyserver was down so a lot of people possibly have some missing GPG keys.

Guayadeque Music Player Accepted In Debian, Will Be Available In Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Repositories

guayadeque music player

Guayadeque, an amazing music player for Linux has just been accepted into Debian which means it will be available in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat official repositories. Finally!

Gnome Media Player 0.1.3 Released [Ubuntu PPA]

gnome media player

Gnome Media Player is a very young Linux application which although it doesn't come with many features, it's amazing under-the-hood as it supports the VLC, Xine and Gstreamer engines for playing media - you can either choose the engine manually or allow Gnome Media Player to automatically select the best one for the video you're trying to view.

Dropbox (Experimental) Finally Gets Selective Sync


The latest experimental Dropbox build finally adds selective sync support.

So what is selective sync?

Selective sync allows you to choose the folders you want synced to your computer. Selective Sync gives you the ability to have more control over what is synced to your devices through the Dropbox Desktop Application.

Here's an example: imagine your Dropbox folder is about 10 GB in size (you can get up to 10 GB for free only by referring people to use Dropbox) and you want to sync some files with your netbook where you only have 5 GB of space left on the HDD. Here's where selective sync kicks in: using the latest version of Dropbox (experimental) you can select which folders to sync for each computer where Dropbox is running. That means that you can choose to only sync a folder you need on your netbook, and not all the folders you have in your Dropbox. Obviously this feature is not just for when you don't have enough space, but for a lot more various reasons - that was just an example.

Poll Results: Best Linux Backup Tool / Software

The best Linux backup software poll is over. This is the first time since we started our weekly poll that a command line utility wins over all GUI alternatives.


Application Menu (Global Menu) For Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 Is Available For Testing

indicator applet appmenu ubuntu

The Global Menu for Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10 has just been uploaded to a PPA (it's still building, but should be ready in a few minutes). The new "global menu" is called "Application Menu" and it can be installed in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx already (both in GNOME and KDE). Here's how.

MeeGo 1.0 Hands On Review

meego 1.0


MeeGo 1.0 was released today so I decided to give it a try on my Asus EeePC 1005HA netbook. Here's a small review with some stuff I've noticed running it.


Haguichi: Nice Hamachi GUI That Integrates Into The GNOME Desktop

haguichi screenshot

A few days ago we posted an update to the script that installs Hamachi and 2 alternative GUIs in Linux, but the graphical user interfaces in that script don't integrate too well into the GNOME desktop.


But I've just discovered Haguichi and I recommend you give it a try. The first public release was launched just a few days ago but it's already very usable.

Before using it, make sure you have Hamachi installed (try our script which does everything automatically!).


Download Haguichi (Ubuntu .deb download included)

Giveaway: 3 Handy Backup Professional Licenses For WebUpd8 Readers


handy backup pro

A while back we offered 3 Handy Backup Pro licenses to WebUpd8 readers. Well, it's time to do it again! Read on!

GetDeb, PlayDeb Mirrors: GetDeb, PlayDeb Repositories Down - What To Do? Use This Mirror!

GetDeb is a website which comes with a repository for easily installing lots of Ubuntu applications which are not available in the official Ubuntu repositories (mostly updates). PlayDeb is the same as GetDeb, but for games.

Both the GetDeb.net and PlayDeb.net websites are currently down but if you want to use the repositories, there is a mirror you can use instead of the original GetDeb / PlayDeb repository.

MeeGo 1.0 (Moblin + Maemo) - Linux Based OS By Intel And Nokia - Has Been Released!

meego 1.0 screenshot

MeeGo is an open source, Linux operating system based on Moblin (by Intel) and Maemo (by Nokia). MeeGo 1.0 targets mainly netbooks and supports most Intel Atom-based netbooks but MeeGo v1.0 Core also supports ARM-based Nokia N900 and Intel Atom-based in-vehicle - see the update at the end of the post regarding Nokia N900. MeeGo doesn't work on netbooks with GMA-500, Nvidia or ATI Graphics chipsets.


The following netbooks are listed as supported on MeeGo's webpage: Asus EeePC 901, 1000H, 1005HA, 1008HA, EeePC 1005PE, Eeetop ET1602, Dell mini10v, Inspiron Mini 1012, Acer Aspire One D250, AO532-21S, Revo GN40, Aspire 5740-6025, Lenovo S10, MSI U130, AE1900, HP mini 210-1044, Toshiba NB302 but those are not the only ones supported.


MeeGo for netbooks comes in two versions: one with Google Chrome (closed source) and one with Chromium (open source). For a media player, MeeGo comes with Banshee 1.0 for MeeGo (which has just been released):

GNOME Shell 2.31.2 Released [Screenshots]

GNOME Shell 2.31.2 was released yesterday, bringing some exiting new features such as support for inline chatting in the IM notifications which now use Telepathy, an initial application menu in the top panel (for the moment it only holds a "Quit" option), restyle user status menu to match application menu and many others.

DockBarX Adds Zeitgeist Integration [Ubuntu .deb Download]

dockbarx

DockBarX 0.39 was just released, bringing a great new feature: it now shows a list of most used / recently used files when right clicking a running application / group, using Zeitgeist (make sure you install Zeitgeist first!). For instance, open a text editor, right click its icon in DockBarX and you should see 2 new items: Recent and Most Used:

Network Menu + Connection Manager (ConnMan) Now Available For Testing [PPA]

ConnMan is a project to get the Network Menu and Connection Manager to Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10. The project is in its very early stages, but there is already a PPA for testing (for Lucid and Maverick):

Ubuntu will integrate ConnectionManager (a.k.a. ConnMan), with a human interface — a settings window and a network menu — designed to cover networking in general, including network setup, proxy, and firewall settings.


There is a lot of work to do. For now, this is how it looks like:

Battery Status 0.1.1 Fixes Lots Of Issues With The First Release

battery status screenshot ubuntu

Battery Status is a GNOME panel applet that shows information about laptop battery state - but has a lot of extra features compared to GNOME's Power Manager icon.

Battery Status 0.1.1 was just released, fixing lots of bugs in the initial release (which we just talked about last week). If when you first tried Battery Status it didn't work, you should really give it another shot as it's an amazing application.


New Wave Lock-Dialog Theme For Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala And Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

Last week we presented New Wave 0.90 beta 1. Well, here is also a lock-dialog theme to go with New Wave which works for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala and Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx:

new wave lock dialog theme ubuntu

Yasst Cross-Platform Twitter Client Gets Many Improvements [Linux, Windows, MacOS X]

yasst twitter client screenshot

Yasst is an amazing cross-platform (runs on Linux, MacOS X and Windows) Twitter client coded in Qt (don't worry - it looks great in GNOME!) which we initially covered HERE (including a video).

Yasst features multiple tabs with columns, multiple Twitter accounts, saved searches, lists, themes and many more.

Nautilus Script To Compress PDF Files

Ricardo Ferreira (who sent us quite a few tips before) wrote a nice Nautilus script which comes with a GUI (Zenity) to compress and optimize PDF files called Compress PDF.

The script currently comes in multiple languages: English, Spanish*, French*, Czech* and Portuguese (but you can translate it into your language if you want - there are only 10 short lines to translate) and you can choose between 5 different compression levels: Screen-view only, Low Quality, Hight Quality, High Quality (Color Preserving) and Default:

compress pdf script

Nautilus Elementary Re-Adds Undo / Redo Functionality

nautilus elementary undo redo patch

The Nautilus Elementary version for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala had a patch for undo / redo functionality but this wasn't added to the Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx version.

Until today that is - because Nautilus Elementary 2.31 (for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) re-adds the undo / redo functionality.

Script To Install Hamachi With GUI In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Or Older

install hamachi script ubuntu


Hamachi is a zero-configuration virtual private network (VPN) shareware application capable of establishing direct links between computers that are behind NAT firewalls without requiring reconfiguration (in most cases); in other words, it establishes a connection over the Internet that emulates the connection that would exist if the computers were connected over a local area network.

Update: a much easier way to do this is to use Haguichi, a GUI for Hamachi and Hamachi2 for Linux (includes a PPA).


A while back we translated a script which installs Hamachi in Ubuntu and also allows you to chose between two different graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for Hamachi. The script only worked for Ubuntu Hardy, Gutsy, Intrepid, Jaunty and Karmic but today I updated it to support Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

Usually you'd have to compile Hamachi yourself, download and install a GUI for it and so on but using this script, everything is done automatically.

Google Finally Releases A Stable Google Chrome Version For Linux And Mac

google chrome

A lot of Linux users (38% according to our poll) already use Google Chrome or its open-source version: Chromium, but there wasn't a stable Linux version up until today.

You can read the full announcement HERE.

The Default Nautilus Will Soon Look A Lot Like Nautilus Elementary

There was an IRC meeting yesterday regarding the Nautilus UI and a lot of design as well as functionality changes were proposed. Some of these are already confirmed as TO DO such as:


Look:
  • editable toolbar
  • new default toolbar layout (Back (icon only), Forward (icon only), View Selector (icon-based), <spring>, Search Box)
  • replace search button with a search box
  • combined stop/refresh button and place this button next to the pathbar
  • improve the appearance of GtkPathBar - Nautilus will get a GTK breadcrumb widget just like Nautilus Elementary
  • new file selection visuals
  • refine the status bar
  • more!


Cairo Dock (GLX-Dock) To Get A Panel Mode

If you want to replace your Gnome panel with a dock, Avant Window Navigator (Docky also has a panel mode but only a few applets so it cannot fully replace a Gnome Panel) is no longer the only option as Cairo Dock 2.2.0 beta added a panel mode as well:


Fancy Is A Nice GNOME Theme (Uses The Murrine Engine)

Zandre Bran, the author of a really nice GNOME theme called Fancy sent us a tip regarding his theme.

Here's how he describes it:

I use three colors, one that is predominantly a more pastel blue for color menu windows and buttons. The second color is orange (taken in tooltip background) selection of items and progressbar. The third color is black for decorating the windows and panels gnome. The background color of the screens is neutral, light gray. What differentiates this from other theme is the two colors used (blue and orange) and their tonal variations between selection, pre-screening and active. Thus giving a very informal and visual clean.


Skype In Ubuntu Partner Repository Gets Some Fixes [Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx]

This is a quick post to let you know that Skype (which has been added to the Ubuntu partner official repository a few days ago - Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx only!) package in the Ubuntu Partner repository got some fixes which were previously available for the Medibuntu package (Skype is no longer available in the Medibuntu repository for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx) so if you didn't enable this repository, now it's a good time to do so.


If you don't know how to enable the Ubuntu Partner repository, see THIS post.

Gnome Shell Login Screen And Lock Screen Mockups

With the release of GDM 2 (2.22+), we lost the ability to theme (well, it's still possible but only to a small extent) the GDM login screen but with the arrival of Gnome Shell it should be very easy to theme everything Gnome Shell can be "skinned" with some basic CSS knowledge.

Browsing the Gnome Shell wiki @ live.gnome.org, I stumbled upon some great login screen and lock screen mockups which you can view below:


Login screen - select user:

gnome shell login screen screenshot


Download Window Applets Ambiance Theme

window applets

Window Applets (which we've covered before) are 2 separate applets for displaying the maximized window titlebar text and buttons to the Gnome Panel, thus gaining a lot of vertical space, which is especially useful on netbooks but not only.

Chrome / Chromium: Full-Screen Button For HTML5 Videos [Extension]

YouTube, Dailymotion and other websites already allow you to view HTML5 videos, but they don't come with a full-screen button.

For Google Chrome / Chromium, there's an extension which easily fixes this by adding a button where the old full-screen button used to be on YouTube:

youtube html5 fullscreen button
(full-screen button added in the bottom right corner)


Install Lugaru HD Game In Ubuntu (Now Free, Open Source)

Lugaru HD was a part of the Humble Indie Bundle which allowed users to pay whatever the want for some great cross-platform games. They said they will open-source the games if they reach 1,000,000 - which they did, so all the games are about to be released as open source.


Lugaru HD is a third-person action game available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. The main character, Turner, is an anthropomorphic rebel bunny rabbit with impressive combat skills. In his quest to find those responsible for slaughtering his village, he uncovers a far-reaching conspiracy involving the corrupt leaders of the rabbit republic and the starving wolves from a nearby den. Turner takes it upon himself to fight against their plot and save his fellow rabbits from slavery.


Rekonq Web Browser Getting Extension Support

rekonq web browser screenshot

Rekonq is a webkit browser for KDE which will become default in Kubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

Soon, Rekonq will get extensions support through Chrome's extension API which means you'll be able to install Chrome extensions in Rekonq.

Ubuntu's 10.04 repositories currently hold version 0.4.0 but you can install daily builds via a PPA (which are a lot more recent).


Rekonq 0.5 first beta will be released on May 25 with the stable 0.5 release following on June 30 and finally, Rekonq 1.0 should be released on September 12 (with a beta on August 20) which makes the release right in time for Kubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.



Sikuli 10.1 Released - Easily Automate Tasks Using Screenshots In Linux, Windows and MacOS X

sikuli screenshot ubuntu

Some time ago we told you about Sikuli, an application which allows you to automate tasks using screenshots (like recording macros for any application) for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. Since we last wrote about Sikuli, 2 versions were released: it's now a lot faster and even easier to use - all the available commands are displayed in the left panel -, Sikuli now comes with 64bit support and many other new features which you can see HERE.


Here is a video I've just recorded with Sikuli 10.1 in action on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (the code used is the one in the above screenshot):

Install Linux SopCast Player 0.4.0 In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

sopcast player ubuntu

SopCast Player is a Linux GUI front-end for the p2p streaming technology developed by SopCast. SopCast can play various TV channels (watch football games, HBO, AXN Movie and so on) for free, using the internet.

gThumb 2.11.x Development Build Adds Photobucket Exporting Capabilities [New PPA]

gthumb 2.11.3 ubuntu screenshot

I'm a bit sad gThumb 2.11.x (photo manager) was removed from the Ubuntu 10.04 official repositories because the 2.11.x development branch is amazing! gThumb 2.11.x can now export your photos to PicasaWeb, Facebook, Flickr and a few days ago it also added Photobucket to the list. gThumb 2.11.x can also import from PicasaWeb and Flikr and it comes with a lot more new features which we've talked about lots of times. If only it would add face recognition like digiKam will...


Because gThumb 2.11.x is not available in the Ubuntu 10.04 repositories, we've maintained it in the WebUpd8 PPA, but starting today, we'll also mantain a separate gThumb PPA for those who don't want all the upgrades which come with the WebUpd8 PPA and only want to install gThumb 2.11.x. Both the package in the WebUpd8 PPA and WebUpd8 gThumb PPA come with the new Photobucket export feature.

How To Upgrade To Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

ubuntu 10.10 maverick meerkat


To upgrade to Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, all you have to do is press Alt + F2 and enter: "update-manager -d", then follow the instructions on the screen.








[old instructions for when Ubuntu 10.10 was in the first weeks of development]
The steps below are only for when upgrading before even Alpha 1 was released (that's when this post was written) so use the command above now!!!




Right now (Alpha 1 wasn't even released yet!), you'll have to tweak some things to be able to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.10. For now there isn't even an ISO available with Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.



Warning: only upgrade for testing purposes! Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat is in very early development stages so a lot of things might not work! You have been warned!

Last Week's Top Posts (Week 20, 2010)

Install Linux Mint Main Menu (MintMenu) In Ubuntu From A PPA

mintmenu screenshot ubuntu

MintMenu (which is a fork of Slab) is one of the best Linux main menu's I've seen. We already reviewed it HERE (click for a lot more info and screenshots).

We've decided to pack MintMenu and upload it to its own Launchpad PPA (there are no other packages in the PPA except MintMenu) which you can add using the following command:

Wine 1.2 RC1 Released

Wine 1.2 final will be released in June with 64 bit support. But the first Wine 1.2 release candidate is already out and it doesn't bring 64bit support just yet, but it does come with lots of improvements:

Cairo Dock (GLX-Dock) 2.2.0 Beta Gets Multiple Instances Support

Cairo Dock (also known as GLX-Dock) 2.2.0 will be a truly amazing release. After announcing a new autohide option, a new systray and the MeMenu applet, a new video with a feature to be released in Cairo Dock 2.2.0 was published on YouTube by the Cairo Dock developers: multiple Cairo Dock instances, each with its own settings:

First Nautilus File Selection Mockups [For Use With Single Click To Open Files / Folders]

The single-click to open files and folders discussion on the Ayatana mailing list continues. However there is still nothing official about defaulting to single click in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

The biggest challenge for using single click in Nautilus file manager is selecting multiple files/folders. Here are the very first mockups regarding this behavior.


In the first mockup below you'll notice there's a checkbox for selecting multiple files or folders - like in Dolphin (KDE file manager). Also, a checkbox accompanies the object on hover and a dismiss action is displayed in a Chrome-like statusbar (in the first mockup) - because as you probably know, Ubuntu is ditching the statusbar in favor of Windicators - or on top (in the second mockup):

nautilus single click file selection mockup screenshot ubuntu 10.04

Install Skype From The Official Ubuntu 10.04 Repositories (Skype Added To The Ubuntu 10.04 Partner Repository)

skype ubuntu

Skype has just been uploaded to the "partner" official Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx repository - correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is the first time Skype is uploaded to an official Ubuntu repository (other than Medibuntu obviously - which by the way doesn't include Skype anymore).

New NotifyOSDConfiguration Version (GUI To Configure NotifyOSD In Ubuntu); Now Available In A PPA

notifyosd configuration

Last week we told you about a patched NotifyOSD which supports configuration and shortly after, the first GUI to configure NotifyOSD was released by Amandeep.

Well, a new version of NotifyOSD Configuration (the GUI to configure NotifyOSD) has been released, getting tabs as I initially suggested as well as an Ubuntu PPA which you can add using the following command (Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:amandeepgrewal/notifyosdconfig


Then install NotifyOSD Config using the following command:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install notifyosdconfig


Remember to add the patched NotifyOSD PPA too, otherwise NotifyOSD Config will be useless!

Ubuntu Software Center Gets A History Tab (Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Development)

Here we go again: just like we did with Ubuntu 10.04, we'll be providing news regarding important changes in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat as soon as they are released.

An update in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat today (which didn't even hit the first Alpha yet) brings a new "History" tab in the Ubuntu Software Center where the users are able to see all installed and removed packages - this info is grouped by day:

ubuntu software center 10.10 maverick meerkat


A very useful feature, especially if you install a package that breaks things - having a history of recently installed software can be used to identify the faulty package and remove it.


This new version of Ubuntu Software Center also brings animations for pathbar elements and many other changes which you can see HERE.

Battery Status 0.1 Released - Improved Battery Applet For The Gnome Desktop

battery status screenshot ubuntu

Battery Status is a project for GNOME, that shows information about laptop battery state. It comes with a lot of additional features, so usual icon of GNOME Power Manager can be removed from Notification/Indicator Area. Don't worry about the battery icon in Ubuntu being a part of the Indicator Applet, when you first add Battery Status to the panel, it will ask to remove the default battery icon (but will keep the Indicator Applet).


Best Linux Backup Tool / Software

WebUpd8 reader Phil sent us an email suggesting "best Linux backup software" for this week's poll, so here it is.

The contenders are: Back In Time, fwbackups, Deja Dup, rsync (command line), luckyBackup, Simple Backup Solution (sbackup).


Vote for the best Linux backup software:


Poll Results: Best Linux DVD Ripper

In our last week's poll, we asked you to vote for the best Linux DVD ripper.

New Wave Gnome Theme 0.90 Beta 1 Released

new wave gnome theme 0.90 screenshot

New Wave is a truly awesome Gnome theme available in Ubuntu's community-themes package for quite a few releases.


Nautilus Elementary PPA Updated With Revamped Nautilus Elementary Sidebar

This is just a quick post to let you know that the Nautilus Elementary PPA has been updated and it now includes the revamped sidebar for Nautilus Elementary we were telling you about a few days ago.

You can add the PPA (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx only) and install / upgrade Nautilus Elementary using the following command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:am-monkeyd/nautilus-elementary-ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Gmail Notifier 1.7.1 Adds Gmail Custom Domain Support

gmail notifier indicator applet

Gmail Notifier (which we've covered before) is a great way to integrate Gmail into the Ubuntu desktop as it makes use of libnotify and the indicator applet in Gnome.

The latest Gmail Notifier (1.7.1) was just released and it only comes with one new feature but which many have been waiting for: Gmail Notifier now supports Google Apps email accounts (Gmail for custom domains).


You can download Gmail Notifier 1.7.1 @ its website (Ubuntu .deb).

You can also use Desktop Webmail to set Gmail as your default mail application in Ubuntu.

Download Chromium, Firefox And Opera WebM (VP8) Enabled Builds

webm vp8 youtube video

Both Firefox and Opera already released WebM (VP8) capable nightly builds which you can download from here:

To run Opera in Ubuntu, download the archive, extract it and double click the "opera" file. Then try out this video which already uses WebM (with VP8) - but don't forget to enable HTML5 for YouTube before watching the video.

Ubuntu users: if you want a WebM capable Chromium, add the Chromium daily PPA - the latest builds (as of 20 May) already have WebM support. Install it with:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily/ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra
"chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra" is required by WebM it seems.


Note: Google Chrome (not Chromium) will be getting WebM support starting with May 24.

Google Open Sources VP8 Video Codec, Packs It Into WebM Project - Already Available On YouTube

As you probably know, a Google I/O conference was held today and a lot of blogs said they will announce big things. And big it was: Google officially announced the release of an open source, royalty-free video format called WebM which will be using the VP8 codec Google aquired from On2 as well as Vorbis audio.

digiKam Photo Manager To Get Face Recognition

Linux users really love Google Picasa even though it's not a native Linux application (unpack the .deb and you'll notice some wine.exe and other such files). Reading the comments from our "best linux photo manager / organizer" post, it seems face recognition is the feature that attracts people the most to Picasa.

Avidemux 2.5.3 Released (Available At GetDeb Ubuntu Repository)

avidemux screenshot ubuntu

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs. Tasks can be automated using projects, job queue and powerful scripting capabilities.

VirtualBox 3.2 Has Been Released!

virtualbox 3.2

VirtualBox 3.2 has just been released. Following the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle Corporation, "Sun Virtualbox" is now called "Oracle Virtualbox".



What's new in VirtualBox 3.2:

New Windicators (Window Indicators) Mockups [Ubuntu 10.10]

As you probably know, Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat will be getting "windicators" or window indicators. The initial mockups were only sketches but here are some new mockups designed by Dani Planas Armangue:

windicators mockup rhythmbox


Gnome Media Player Added To The Official Ubuntu 10.10 Repositories

gnome media player ubuntu screenshot

GNOME Media Player supports the VLC, Xine and Gstreamer engines for playing media. It also has the ability to switch between the engines, and an engine auto select mode which automatically selects the best engine for playing a particular type of file.