Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

CLI Companion Makes It Easier To Use The Terminal

| Date: September 30, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: cli, cli companion, gnome, linux, terminal, ubuntu

CLI Companion

CLI Companion is a tool aimed at making the terminal easier to use: it's a GUI that displays a list of commands and an embedded terminal under it. The application comes with a list of commonly used commands by default, each having a short description and if you want to find out more about a certain command, simply right click it and select "Help". This will display the "man" (manual) for the selected command.


You can of course add your own commands to CLI Companion: simply click the "Add" button, then enter your command, an argument (optional) and a description.

Ubuntu Font Will Be Default In 10.10

| Date: September 30, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, fonts, maverick meerkat, ubuntu

A recent update in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (it probably didn't reach the users yet) sets the Ubuntu font as the default Application, Window title, and Desktop font for Ubuntu 10.10:

ubuntu-artwork (53.7) maverick; urgency=low

* debian/gconf-defaults
- Set default Application, Window title, and Desktop fonts
to "Ubuntu"

The default font size will be set to 11 (instead of 10).


For now, the font has only been set as default for the Ubuntu Desktop edition; Kubuntu will not be getting the Ubuntu font by default and regarding the Ubuntu Netbook Edition (or the other Ubuntu flavors), no info is available at this time.


Update: you can now install the Ubuntu Font Family from a public PPA.

Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Release Candidate Is Out - See What's New!

| Date: September 30, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, linux, maverick meerkat, ubuntu

Ubuntu 10.10 screenshots

Ubuntu 10.10 Release Candidate has just been released. There aren't too many visual changes since the beta version (most of the visual changes happened before the beta so see THIS post), but there are a few things worth mentioning. Read on to see what's new in Ubuntu 10.10 Release Candidate (since Ubuntu 10.10 beta)!

AWN Radio Applet Is Available In The WebUpd8 PPA

| Date: September 30, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: applet, avant window navigator, dock, linux, radio, ubuntu

AWN Radio Applet

If you want to play a radio stream in the background without having to open a separate application for this, you can use AWN Radio, an unobtrusive AWN applet which sits in your Avant Window Navigator dock and can play a radio stream of your choice in just 2 clicks.

Download Faenza Icon Theme For KDE4

| Date: September 29, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: eyecandy, faenza, icons, kde, linux, ubuntu

Faenza icon theme KDE4

KDE4 users will be glad to know that the gorgeous Faenza icons theme has been ported to KDE4. Unfortunately since this pack is not supported by Thieum (the original Faenza icon theme author), the package is not available in the Equinox PPA - but that shouldn't be such a big issue since the icons are very easy to install.


Download Faenza Icon Theme for KDE 4

How To Add MPD To The Ubuntu Sound Menu

| Date: September 29, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, maverick meerkat, mpd, music player, sound menu, ubuntu

MPD Ubuntu SOund Menu

Music Player Daemon (MPD) is a server-side application for playing music. Through plugins and libraries it can play a variety of sound files while being controlled by its network protocol. There are many MPD clients and if you want all the features you can imagine in a music player and the lightest solution for this you should give MPD + GMPC a try.

Adding MPD (and thus any MPD client) to the Ubuntu Sound Menu is very easy thanks to Vsevolod Velichko who maintains a PPA for a package he created to add MPD to the Sound Menu.

AWN Window Manager (Tile) - New Avant Window Navigator Applet

| Date: September 29, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: applet, avant window navigator, linux, plugins, tile, ubuntu, window manager

AWN Window Manager tile applet

AWN Window Manager (also known as Tile Windows) is a new Avant Window Navigator applet which can be used to tile (side-by-side, staked or grid) or maximize all windows (as well as the usual minimize/maximize/close/show desktop actions) and comes with a preferences dialog where you can set the default left / middle click behavior.

Because I find it to be an extremely useful AWN applet, I've used Hadret's debianization of the DockBarX AWN applet for AWN Window Manager and uploaded it to the WebUpd8 PPA so you can easily install it in Ubuntu (9.10, 10.04 and 10.10). Before installing, please note that while in theory the applet should work with Avant Window Navigator 0.4, I've only tested it with Avant Window Manager 0.4.1+ from the AWN PPA (installation instructions HERE).

gThumb 2.12.0 (Stable) Has Been Released [Ubuntu PPA]

| Date: September 29, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: gthumb, linux, photo manager, ubuntu

gthumb 2.12.0
gThumb is an image viewer and browser utility for the GNOME environment.

Finally, after a long period of development, a new stable gThumb version has been released: 2.12.0. We've been following the gThumb development here at WebUpd8 so you should already be up to date with all the changes. To mention just a few new features since the last stable version (not development!): Facebook, Flickr, PicasaWeb and Photobucket export, import from Flickr and PicasaWeb, gThumb can now play videos and many many other new features and improvements which I'll not cover since we already talked about all of them throughout the gThumb 2.12 development posts (gThumb 2.11.x was the development branch for gThumb 2.12). You can read all about the gThumb 2.12.0 new features by browsing our gThumb posts.

RhythmArty: Browse Your Music Collection Via Album Art [Rhythmbox Plugin]

| Date: September 28, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: eyecandy, linux, music, plugins, rhythmarty, rhythmbox, ubuntu

Rhythmarty

RhythmArty is a Rhythmbox plugin that allows you to browse your music collection via album art. I didn't post about it until now because it initially (versions 0.1 and 0.2) crashed my Rhythmbox (you can see comments related to this here) and then when version 0.3 was released it did work but it was very slow with my ~30.000 files music collection.

But today, RhythmArty 0.4 was released which not only fixes the crashes but is also very fast and works great with large music collections. Besides the performance improvements, the new RhythmArty also got a new option to fetch the missing cover art (Tools > Get Covers).

Firefox Elementary (Theme) 2.0, Released

| Date: September 28, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: elementary, eyecandy, firefox, themes

Firefox Elementary 2.0

A new version of the Firefox Elementary theme has been released (2.0).

To use Firefox Elementary 2.0, download the installation script from DeviantArt, extract and double click the "Install.sh" script, then select "Run in terminal". When asked, select if you want to use it with tabs on top or on bottom.

For the menu, you can use an extension such as Personal Menu.


Unfortunately Firefox Elementary (either 1.0 or 2.0) does not support Firefox 4.0!




Thanks to Thomas for the tip!

The Ubuntu Font Family Is Now Available In Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (Officially)

| Date: September 28, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, fonts, linux, maverick meerkat, ubuntu

Ubuntu 10.10 font

The new Ubuntu font ("Ubuntu Font Family") has just been uploaded to the Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat official repositories and is now shipped with both Ubuntu desktop and netbook editions according to the Ubuntu meta and Netbook meta changelogs:

Refreshed dependencies
* Added ttf-ubuntu-font-family to desktop

Update: the font will be shipped with Kubuntu 10.10 too.

The font however is not used by default on any Ubuntu flavor! As bug 649616 points out, the decision on making this the default font for Ubuntu 10.10 has not been taken yet.

Licence

The Ubuntu Font Family has been released as a Libre font, licensed under the Ubuntu Font Licence 1.0:

Canonical are working with SFLC and SIL on a revision of the OFL with the intent of adopting that revision for a future version of the Ubuntu Font Family. This Ubuntu Font Licence serves as an interim licence until that is complete. Source

That's because the license still needs some clarifications.

Install Qwit 1.1 Pre 2 In Ubuntu, Now With OAuth Support [Identi.ca And Twitter Client]

| Date: September 27, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: gnome, identi.ca, kde, linux, qwit, twitter, ubuntu

Qwit Twitter Identi.ca client

Qwit is a cross-platform (works on Windows and Linux - any desktop environment) Twitter / Identi.ca client written in Qt4. The application was recently updated (currently version 1.1 pre 2) to support OAuth and comes with http-proxy support, customizable interface, Twitpic support, a lot of URL shorteners, multiple accounts support and other features.

40 Amazing Abstract Wallpapers

| Date: September 27, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: wallpapers

abstract wallpapers
(Only a few of the pr09studio wallpapers - using different colors)


The guys at pr09studio have an amazing abstract wallpaper collection which you can check out here. Some are Ubuntu / Linux / Gnome / KDE branded but there are also unbranded wallpapers (yes, I know, some of you don't like branded wallpapers).

If you don't like the default color for some wallpapers, you should download the archive anyway since some of them come in lots of different colors (like you can see in the screenshot above).



Thanks to Ubuntu Life for the link!

FolderView: Rhythmbox Plugin To Browse Your Music By Folders

| Date: September 27, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: folderview, music player, plugins, rhythmbox

Rhythmbox folderview plugin

I've recently discovered a new Rhythmbox plugin called FolderView. Like the name suggests, this plugin allows you to browse the music in Rhythmbox by folders.

Unfortunately the plugin doesn't work like I would have expected: it only allows you to browse the music already in the Rhythmbox database. So if you don't want to add your music to the Rhythmbox library, you can't use this plugin to simply browse the music by folders like it is with Exaile for instance.


Even so, the plugin is very useful if your music collection is well organized in case of folder structure (by artist / album / genre or whatever). For example, if your music is not tagged or badly tagged, Rhythmbox won't be of too much help in finding the music you want to play but with FolderView, you should easily be able to find any track you want to listen to (of course, you need a decent folder structure for that). Another use for FolderView is when you don't remember a song name but you know the folder it's in or simply want to listen for some music in a certain directory.

Script To Manage A Lot Of Linux Servers Through SSH

| Date: September 27, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: bash, cli, script, server, ssh

sshdialog

It seems we're having a scripts week here, at WebUpd8. Remy sent us a script he wrote to easily manage a lot of servers through SSH. You can find the script and instructions on using it @ Raymii.org.

Nautilus Script To Easily Share Any File With Dropbox And Copy The Public Links To The Clipboard [Updated]

| Date: September 26, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: dropbox, linux, nautilus

Update: a new version of this script with folders support and NotifyOSD notifications is available. See: Share Any File Or Folder With Dropbox Via Right Click (Nautilus Script) - New Version.

Usually to share a file using Dropbox, you have to manually copy it into the Dropbox public folder, then when it's uploaded you have to right click it and select Dropbox > Copy Public Link. Here is a tiny Nautilus script which allows you to right click any file from your computer (so it doesn't have to be in your Dropbox public folder) and instantly get a Dropbox public link so you can easily share it.

What the script does is create a symbolic link to the file (or files - it works with multiple files at once too) you've selected and place that link into your Dropbox Public folder. Once the file has been uploaded to Dropbox, the public link is copied to your clipboard using xclip (a command line clipboard utility) so all you have to do is paste the link in an email, IM window or whatever.

Also, since it only creates a symbolic link to the file, you don't use the double amount of space for that file.


Sounds complicated? Well, it's not. Here's is a video with this script in action:

Determine The DNS Query Duration [Quick Linux Tip]

| Date: September 26, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: dns, google, opendns, tips n tricks, ubuntu

There are 2 applications you can use to see which DNS is the fastest for you (Namebench and Domain Name Speed Benchmark) but for a quick way to do this (without actually setting your computer to use new DNS), you can use the following command:

Last Week's Top Posts (Week 38, 2010)

| Date: September 26, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: top posts

How To Install Deluge 1.3.0 In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx [Repository]

| Date: September 26, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: bittorrent, deluge, linux, torrent, ubuntu

Deluge Torrent 1.3.0

Deluge is a Linux and Windows Bittorrent client which uses multiple interfaces: GTK+, web and console. Read more about it @ Deluge homepage.

Deluge 1.3.0 was released about a week ago bringing a lot of changes to the WebUI which now handles a large amount of torrents better (among other improvements). The GTKUI was also tweaked to handle a large number of torrents better by adding a client-side cache to reduce the RPC traffic. The Deluge developers say the GTKUI is now using 20% of the bandwith the 1.2 client was using.

Meet SparkleShare, An Open Source Dropbox Alternative [Ubuntu Installation Instructions]

| Date: September 26, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: git, linux, macosx, sparkleshare, sync, windows

SparkleShare

SparkleShare is a syncing tool similar to Dropbox but which allows you to use your own server (or some already existing servers). It uses GIT so if you delete/modify some files by accident, you can easily revert the changes.

Firefox 4.0 Removes The Statusbar But Adds A New Add-on Bar; New Stand-Alone Profile Manager On The Way

| Date: September 24, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: browsers, firefox, linux, ubuntu

Firefox 4 addon bar
(Notice the Add-on Bar at the bottom)



Add-on Bar vs Statusbar

Just when I though Firefox 4 is finally coming together, the latest Firefox 4 nightly brings a so called "Add-on bar" which is just like the old statusbar which Mozilla has been trying to deprecate with the recent changes (links and progress bar in the location bar), only bigger.

Fglrx Finally Works With Ubuntu 10.10 (Xorg 1.9, Kernel 2.6.35/36) [ATI]

| Date: September 24, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, ati, fglrx, graphics drivers, maverick meerkat, ubuntu

fglrx xorg 1.9 ubuntu 10.10 ati

fglrx is the name of the Linux display driver used for ATI Radeon and ATI FireGL family video adapters and stands for "FireGL and Radeon for X". It contains free open source as well as proprietary and closed source parts. - Wikipedia


Fglrx was updated yesterday in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and what's special about this is that it finally supports Xorg 1.9 and 2.6.35 kernel. Up until now, ATI users who've tried to install Fglrx or upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 would get a blank screen. So if you have an ATI graphics card and want to use Fglrx, you can finally install / upgrade to the latest Ubuntu 10.10.

Further more, another update to Fglrx came today, brining compatiblity with kernel 2.6.36 (not yet available in Maverick but it nice to already have it).


This tip was sent by WebUpd8 reader Tamás Nagy who's also tested the new Fglrx drivers in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and he says everything is working smoothly.


Thanks to Tamás Nagy for the tip and screenshot!

How To Reset The Gnome Panels, Compiz Settings And More

| Date: September 24, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: compiz, gnome panel, linux, reset, tips n tricks, ubuntu

Sometime things break. It can be Compiz, the Gnome panels and so on. And if you cannot access their options, you cannot remove the faulty settings so one way to solve this would be to completely reset their settings.

But I've actually wrote this post for something trivial: because I receive A LOT of emails asking how to restore the sound icon (part of Indicator Applet) or some other Gnome Panel applets / indicators to their original state. Well, here it is:


Feed Issues

| Date: September 24, 2010 | View Comments

The WebUpd8 RSS feed experienced some issues yesterday which might have resulted in you getting the latest posts multiple times. Hopefully everything is now back to normal (starting with this post).

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Spotify-Notify Brings NotifyOSD Notifications For Spotify Running Under Wine

| Date: September 23, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: linux, music, music player, notifyosd, Spotify, ubuntu, wine

Spotify NotifyOSD

Spotify is great for the music it brings to its users but it lacks a lot of features. There are some native Linux Spotify clients (including an official one), but they don't support free accounts so those using the Windows version of Spotify under Wine (that's the only way to use Spotify with a free account in Linux) must use tweaks to make it a bit more functional, like the "fix" to make it play local mp3 files we wrote about a while back.

Here is yet another such 'tweak' to get the Windows version of Spotify (under Wine) to display NotifyOSD notifications for Ubuntu users. For this, you'll have to download Spotify-notify, a tiny application written in Python which displays notifications for Spotify on every song change. The script uses last.fm in order to fetch album cover and data.

Synchronize Your OpenOffice Documents With Google Docs, Zoho And WebDAV Servers Using Ooo2gd

| Date: September 23, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: google docs, internet, linux, office, openoffice, sync, ubuntu, web, zoho

Ooo2gd is an OpenOffice addon which you can use to keep your documents synchronized with Google Docs, Zoho and WebDAV servers. You can either manually select to upload a file to Google Docs / Zoho when you're done editing it or you can select to automatically synchronize it.

Hotot: A New Lightweight Twitter Client For Linux

| Date: September 23, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: hotot, internet, linux, twitter, ubuntu

Hotot twitter client

Hotot is a new lightweight Twitter client for Linux (though I see there's also a Windows package available too) which although still in Alpha, it already looks very interesting! It doesn't come with many features by default for now (other than the basic features you would expect to find in a Twitter client, including search), but it's extensible through add-ons.

The version I've tested comes with 3 preinstalled addons: Gmap (geolocation information of tweets), image uploader and image preview. Also, Hotot comes with native notification system for both Gnome and KDE (and NotifyOSD for Ubuntu users).

Emerald: Move Minimize, Maximize And Close Buttons To The Left [Quick Tip]

| Date: September 22, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: emerald, eyecandy, linux, themes, tips n tricks, ubuntu

Emerald - buttons on the left

If you gave the buttons on the left a chance, you are now probably used to having them there and most Emerald themes come with the minimize, maximize and close buttons on the right. 

Here's a quick tip for moving the minimize, maximize and close buttons on the left for an Emerald theme:

OpenShot 1.2.2 (Video Editor) Released With 3D Animated Titles, DVD Export

| Date: September 22, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: linux, openshot, ubuntu, video, video editor

openshot 1.2.2

OpenShot is a non-linear video editor for Linux (GNOME) with an amazing set of features: you can resize, trim or cut video, it comes with video transitions with real-time previews, image overlays, title templates, video encoding, digital zooming, audio mixing and editing, digital video effects and well, most of the features you can think of.


OpenShot video editor 1.2.2

OpenShot has been teasing us with the new features for a long time now and today, the new OpenShot 1.2.2 was finally released (1.2.0 and 1.2.1 were actually skipped). This version comes with 3D animated titles powered by Blender 2.5, custom transitions, new audio and video effects, DVD export, netbook friendly theme and lots of other improvements. The OpenShot 1.2.2 release announcement is very complete so check it out for a complete list of new features and more info.

Dropbox Monochrome Icons As A .deb Or PPA

| Date: September 22, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: eyecandy, icons, linux, monochrome, ubuntu

Dropbox mono icons

T. Scott Barnes maintains a package in his PPA called "monochrome-icons-extra" which comes with monochrome Ubuntu-mono, Humanity, and Elementary icons for Dropbox, along with a few other mono icons.

Ubuntu Light Themes 0.1.8 Update In Maverick Brings Fixes, Improves Menu Speed

| Date: September 22, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, artwork, eyecandy, light themes, maverick meerkat, themes, ubuntu

The Ubuntu Light Themes - version 0.1.8 was released today (with a bit of a delay - these fixes were announced  a week ago on the Canonical Design blog)  and while it doesn't bring major changes, it improves the menu slowness (it seems the fix only improves the situation but does not completely solves it - see the comments on this post) and fixes bad contrast between text and background.

Rhythm-e - Elementary Rhythmbox Is On Its Way!

| Date: September 21, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: elementary, linux, music player, rhythmbox, ubuntu

Today, a new project has been registered on Launchpad, called Rhythm-e. The project was registered by Ammonky - who's also behind Nautilus Elementary. No code has been published yet (update: the code can be found HERE), but you can get an idea on how it will look:

Rhythm-e

Bricscad: .dwg Based CAD Software Available For Linux

| Date: September 21, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: bricscad, cad, dwg, linux, ubuntu

Bricscad CAD Linux dwg

Bricscad V10 stable for Linux was released some 2 weeks ago but we somehow missed the news. Well, better late then never... (thanks to Reddit).

Bricscad V10 for Linux was released earlier this month (the stable version) and is the first .dwg based CAD software available for Linux - according to its website, although VariCAD also has .dwg support (I'm not sure about the difference between "support" and "based" in this case though). Though Bricscad is not free (and closed source), this is still great news for all those who previously needed to use Windows just because they've needed an .dwg based CAD application.

Make Ubuntu Look Like Mac OSX In Seconds Using Macbuntu

| Date: September 21, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: eyecandy, macbuntu, macosx, themes, ubuntu

Ubuntu macosx

Although I am not a fan of copying an entire OS look (even though Ubuntu does some of it by default), I'm sure some of you want to get the entire Mac OSX look in Ubuntu. For that, you can use a script called Macbuntu which is very easy to use and can make your Ubuntu desktop look like Mac OSX in seconds.

Macbuntu is available as a stable version (2.2) for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx but there's also an alpha version (2.3) for Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

If you've used Macbuntu before, you should upgrade (run the upgrade script) as the latest version which was released today comes with new Plymouth themes: Paw-OSX (default), Paw-Ubuntu, you can select the distributor logo instead of Mac OSX, backup before applying the changes as well as bug fixes.


What does Macbuntu install?

GLX Dock (Cairo Dock) 2.2 Released With A Panel Mode, Multiple Instances Support, MeMenu, Messaging Menu And Lots More

| Date: September 20, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: cairo dock, dock, eyecandy, linux, ubuntu

Cairo Dock / GLX Dock 2.2 screenshot

Cairo Dock - also known as GLX Dock - version 2.2 has finally been released! We already posted about most of the new stuff in GLX Dock 2.2 when we wrote about the beta version, but here's a small recap:
  • panel mode
  • 2 new autohide modes (hide whenever the dock overlaps the active window" and "hide whenever the dock overlaps any window")
  • icons can be displayed when the dock is hidden
  • integration of the Me Menu and Messaging Menu applets
  • run multiple instances of Glx Dock
  • better support for old graphic cards
  • new default theme to match the Ubuntu Ambiance / Radiance themes and new wallpaper
  • other small enhancements: all the themes have been polished, you can now manage tasks in the Clock's calendar, use tiny URLs in the Drop-and-Share applet, the Dustbin applet handles all the drives and many more.

Firefox 4 For Linux Video / Screenshots Preview (Beta 7 Pre)

| Date: September 20, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: browsers, firefox, linux, ubuntu

Firefox 4 won't have the menu it has on Windows - according to THIS bug report, but it does have the other new features.

Because there have been many changes to the Firefox UI for Linux lately (last week or so), I made a video showing these new features:

"Sent From Ubuntu" Removed From Evolution In An Update Today [Ubuntu 10.10]

| Date: September 20, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, evolution, signature, ubuntu

Well that was quick. The "Sent from Ubuntu" default email signature for Evolution in Ubuntu 10.10 has been removed - as you can see in the latest Evolution package changelog.

The update should land in the Ubuntu 10.10 repositories in a couple of hours.

Download 20 Great Linux Books For Free

| Date: September 20, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: books, gimp, linux, openoffice, ubuntu

best 20 free linux books

LinuxLinks has a nice article called "20 of the Best Free Linux Books" which provides info and (free) download links for 20 great Linux books, available in PDF and/or HTML format.

The books range from specialized books like the "Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference, "Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3.x" or "Grokking the GIMP" to books on the history and cultural significance of Free Software.


There are also lots of books on getting started / using Linux such as "The Linux Starter Pack" or "Bash Guide for Beginners". And of course, advanced users will find something to read too: "Advanced Linux Programming", "Linux 101 & 102 Modular Training Notes" or "Linux Network Administrator's Guide - 2nd Edition".


Head over to LinuxLinks and download 20 of the best free Linux books.


Thanks to I-75 @ Ubuntuforums for the link!

Clementine 0.5, Released [Install Via New Ubuntu PPA]

| Date: September 20, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: clementine, linux, macosx, music player, ubuntu, windows

Clementine 0.5
Clementine is an Amarok 1.4 Qt4 port

A small update: Clementine 0.5 has been released. There are no new features since 0.5 release candidate, just bug fixes - so check out or Clementine 0.5 RC post for what's new.

Ubuntu 10.10 To Add A "Sent From Ubuntu" Signature By Default To Evolution

| Date: September 19, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, evolution, maverick meerkat, signature, ubuntu

Sent from Ubuntu

Reading the Ubuntu Planet today, I came across a post which mentions a new "feature" that is going to be in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat: Evolution, the default Ubuntu email client will automatically add a "Sent from Ubuntu" signature to the emails you send.

"Sent from my iPhone", "Sent via BlackBerry", "Sent from Ubuntu"

Last Week's Top Posts (Week 37, 2010)

| Date: September 19, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: top posts

Download Pulseaudio System-Wide Equalizer Fixed .deb For Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

| Date: September 19, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, equalizer, linux, maverick meerkat, pulseaudio, ubuntu

Linux system-wide Pulseaudio Equalizer

Back in February we had a post on a system-wide Pulseaudio equalizer which still works great in Ubuntu Karmic and Lucid, but doesn't start in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

The official Pulseaudio System-Wide Equalizer PPA does not provide Maverick packages but in theory you could download and install the Lucid package and run it in Maverick just fine. However, that's not the case because of an icon (yes, just an icon!) which has been renamed in Ubuntu 10.10 which causes the equalizer not to start in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and you'll get this error:

GmailWatcher: A Gmail Notifier Especially Designed For Ubuntu

| Date: September 19, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: email, gmail, gmail notifier, internet, linux, ubuntu, web

GmailWatcher

I've been wanting to post this since I've read about it on Mark Shuttleworth's blog but a few bugs delayed it.


GmailWatcher is an Gmail notifier especially designed for Ubuntu: it uses the Messaging Menu, NotifyOSD notifications and preferences sync through UbuntuOne.


GmailWatcher comes with all the features required for such an application:

Minitube 1.2 Beta Released, Adds Video Downloads, Gnome Multimedia Keys Support

| Date: September 18, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: linux, minitube, ubuntu, youtube

Minitube 1.2

Minitube is an application for watching YouTube without Flash.


Minitube 1.2 beta was just released, bringing a much requested feature: Gnome multimedia keys support as well as YouTube video downloads.


Minitube 1.2
(Downloading a video - Minitube 1.2 beta)

The videos are downloaded into your ~/Videos folder, but you can change the location once you start downloading your first video (see the above screenshot).


Minitube 1.2 is almost ready and you can help by translating it into your languange. Details @ Flavio's blog.


Install Minitube 1.2 beta in Ubuntu

Download F-Spot 0.8.0 Ubuntu .deb (With Improved Duplicate Detection, 300 Bugs Fixed, More)

| Date: September 17, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: f-spot, linux, mono, photo manager, ubuntu

F-Spot 0.8.0

F-Spot was the default photo manager for Ubuntu until 10.10 when it will be replaced with Shotwell.


F-Spot 0.8.0 was released 2 days ago with a complete new import system, improved duplicate detection, photo panning using the mouse as well as other features which you can see by reading the official F-Spot 0.8.0 release announcement. Further more, the new version also fixes almost 300 bugs!

Ofris Gets An AppIndicator: Gofris (Deep Freeze Like App For Ubuntu)

| Date: September 17, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: deep freeze, gofris, linux, ofris, ubuntu

Gofris deep freeze Linux

Damar Riyadi sent us an email about an application he's been working on: Gofris, a graphical interface for the command line application called Ofris.

Adobe Flash Player "Square" (10.2.x) 64bit Ubuntu PPA

| Date: September 16, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 64bit, adobe, flash player, linux, ubuntu

The Sevenmachines Adobe Flash Player 64bit PPA for Ubuntu has just been updated with the latest Adobe Flash Player "Square" 10.2.161.22 (64bit obviously) for Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04 and 10.10 so now it's even easier to install it!

Important: Adobe Flash Player "Square" is a development preview version! Use at your own risk.

How To Install TOR In Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat [Repository]

| Date: September 16, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, anonymity, internet, linux, maverick meerkat, proxy, tor, ubuntu, web

Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis.

The Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat final release is very close (23 days) yet so many repositories are not ready for it: GetDeb, Medibuntu and many others. So we must find alternatives to install some applications.

TOR was available in a PPA for Ubuntu (sevenmachines) which has been deleted. There is also an official TOR Ubuntu repository which unfortunately has also not been updated for Maverick, just like the repositories I mentioned above. But the Lucid packages work just fine - I'm running it on Maverick for a month now and everything works. So here is how to add this repository in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat and install TOR:

Adobe Finally Releases A New Adobe Flash Player 64bit - Yes, For Linux Too!

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 64bit, adobe, flash player, linux, ubuntu

If a while back Adobe wasn't very interested in its 64bit Linux users and discontinued Adobe Flash Player 10.1 for 64bit, the new Adobe Flash Player 10.2 codename "Square" developer preview released by Adobe today is also available for 64bit Linux systems (and obviously, 32bit too).

Script To Notify You When Someone Logs In To Your Computer [Using NotifyOSD Or Email Notifications]

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: bash, cli, email, linux, notifyosd, scripts, ubuntu

notifyosd

WebUpd8 Reader Jim Bauwens sent us a small but very interesting script. The script uses NotifyOSD and displays a message (see the screenshot) when someone logs in to your computer (remotely or local), or when a terminal session is started.

The script can also notify you by email using sendmail. You'll of course need to set that up but we have a post on that - for using it with Gmail (it's quite easy - just make sure you create a new Gmail address just for this task because the password will be saved in plain text): Use Gmail To Send Emails From A Terminal (Shell)

Using the script


Latest Opera 10.70 Development Build Gets A New Bookmarks Bar

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: browsers, linux, macosx, opera, ubuntu, windows

Opera 10.70 bookmarks bar

The latest Opera 10.70 development build comes with a new bookmarks toolbar which replaces the old personal bar and is located below the address bar.


Enable it by going to the Opera menu > Toolbars > Bookmarks bar.


Download Opera 10.70 development build (includes Ubuntu .deb files)

Fundamental Round Gnome Theme 2.1 Adds 6 Color Schemes

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: eyecandy, gnome, linux, themes, ubuntu

Fundamental Round 2.1

Johan has updated his beautiful Fundamental Round 2 theme which we featured in our "5 Beautiful Elementary-ish Gnome Themes" post. The new version - 2.1 - comes with 6 color schemes, each with and without Nautilus breadcrumbs.

Here is a screenshot using the purple color scheme and Nautilus Elementary breadcrumbs:

gThumb 2.11.92 Fixes Export To Facebook [Ubuntu PPA]

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: gthumb, photo manager, ppa, ubuntu

gThumb 2.11.92

We're always updating the packages in the WebUpd8 PPAs but only sometimes post the news on WebUpd8 - just this week we've updated: Jupiter, Zaz, GIMP Plugin Registry, MintMenu and others (and of course VLMC which comes in a daily builds PPA). See all the packages we maintain in the WebUpd8 PPAs, here.

This time I though I should let you know that the latest gThumb 2.11.92 comes with a fix for the Facebook export which was broken for a while now. A complete changelog can be found here.

gThumb 2.11.92 is not available in the official Ubuntu 10.10 repositories. But you can install it in both Maverick and Lucid using our gThumb PPA or the main WebUpd8 PPA.

Ubuntu 10.10 Nautilus Elementary PPA Updated, Comes With ClutterView, Embedded Terminal By Default

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, embedded terminal, maverick meerkat, nautilus elementary, terminal, ubuntu

Nautilus Elementary Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat

The Nautilus Elementary version in the PPA was too old so you couldn't install it in Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat. Those who wanted to use Nautilus Elementary had to manually download .deb files or compile it themselves.

But the PPA has just been updated today and Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat users can finally install Nautilus Elementary from the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:am-monkeyd/nautilus-elementary-ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
nautilus -q

So what's new in the latest Nautilus Elementary package in the PPA?


The embedded terminal I was telling you about yesterday (enable it using the "F7" key):

New Way To Get The New Official Ubuntu Font Family

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, artwork, design, fonts, maverick meerkat, ubuntu

In case you don't know, the new Ubuntu font which is supposed to be shipped with Ubuntu 10.10 is only available in a private PPA for now.

A while back we posted about getting the official Ubuntu font by joining the Kubuntu-users group. There were way too many people joining this group so it was revoked access to the private PPA. In a discussion with Paul Sladen, he pointed to a new way regular users can get access to the Ubuntu Font Family private PPA: go to https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-typeface-interest and click "Join this team" (you'll of course need a Launchpad account). You should receive an email when you have been accepted to this team (it will take a while - I'm not sure how long). When this happens, do not install the deb! Add the PPA so you can stay up to date with the latest versions of the font!

Nautilus Elementary Gets An Embedded Terminal Of Its Own

| Date: September 15, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: embedded terminal, linux, nautilus elementary, terminal, ubuntu

Nautilus Elementary Embedded Terminal

The Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Nautilus Elementary branch just got an embedded terminal of it's own (eterm).

So what's different from the Nautilus Terminal extension we posted a few days ago? Well, in Nautilus Elementary you can completely disable it - something you can't do in Nautilus Terminal (there is still a visible toolbar once you turn it off).

How To Import LastPass Passwords Into KeePassX

| Date: September 14, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: keepass, lastpass, linux, password manager, python, scripts, ubuntu

WebUpd8 reader Kice sent us a really cool tip (and complete how-to) on importing the LastPass passwords into KeePassX. He writes:

I use KeepassX, but started using LastPass under the impression that I could easily export to KeepassX. Well that is not the case. I came across this thread http://forums.lastpass.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1409 the 2nd post from someone on the LastPass team had some discouraging words. Nazariuskappertaal posted a brilliant python script. I can't be the only one looking for a solution like this, so I decided to send it your way.

The Final Ubuntu 10.10 Default Wallpaper, Released! [Download]

| Date: September 14, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: 10.10, artwork, maverick meerkat, ubuntu, wallpaper

Like you all know, the community wasn't too happy with the wallpaper chosen to be default for Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat (so unhappy that a bug was submitted) so a new one was to be created. And here it is, the final Ubuntu 10.10 default wallpaper:

Ubuntu 10.10 default wallpaper

Download it from HERE (1920x1280). Or download all the Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat wallpapers (including the new default wallpaper) from Launchpad.



This is how the Ubuntu 10.10 default (but now replaced by the new wallpaper above) wallpaper which got so much criticism looked:

Ubuntu 10.10 temporarely default wallpaper


Besides the new default wallpaper, the Maverick update today also brings a bundle of all the community wallpapers as an animated wallpaper. The package is currently building on Launchpad so give it about an hour or two and it should be available for everyone using Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

You Can Now Use The Official Ubuntu 10.10 Countdown Banners On Your Website

| Date: September 14, 2010 | View Comments

ubuntu 10.10 countdown

A message on the Ubuntu Art mailing list announces that the new Ubuntu 10.10 countdown banners are now available to use in your website or blog.

The message also states that now the banners are no longer using JavaScript, but a simple img tag so you can use them everywhere like on Facebook, a wordpress.com blog and so on.


Get the official Ubuntu 10.10 countdown banners from here (turn off Adblock to be able to see the banners).


For more, unofficial banners (like the cool one we have on WebUpd8 above the tabbed menu on the right), see the Ubuntu 10.10 countdown banners page @ Ubuntu Wiki.

Videoporama: Create Cool Video Slideshows From Your Pictures [Windows, Linux]

| Date: September 14, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: linux, pictures, video, videoporama, web, windows

Videoporama

In a comment on our Make A Movie Out Of Photos In Ubuntu Using PhotoFilmStrip, someone suggested a similar application called Videoporama so I though I'd review it.


Videoporama (available for Windows and Linux) is an application you can use to create videos (or slideshows - call it what you like) from images.

It comes with a lot of nice transition effects which you can manually set or use them randomly for all the photos in your project. You can also apply text to each image (in 3 modes: overlay, background and fixed) which can then be tweaked in many ways such as color, transparency and so on. And of course, you can add a sound file to your new video too.

Computer Detecting User Presence Video Mockup [Ubuntu]

| Date: September 14, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: linux, mockups, ubuntu, videos

Here is a very interesting concept: what if your computer could detect your presence and:
  • a window playing a video would automatically go fullscreen when you move further from the screen
  • the notifications are displayed fullscreen when the user is not in front of the monitor so they can be read from a different location
And these are just a few ideas but this can go even further.


This concept is described by Christian Giordano @ Canonical Design blog. Christian also posted a video mockup of this concept, in which he uses "computer-vision", a face recognition library:

Install Gnome Activity Journal 0.5.0 In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

| Date: September 14, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: file browser, gnome activity journal, linux, ubuntu, zeitgeist

Gnome Activity Journal 0.5.0

GNOME Activity Journal (GAJ) is a tool for easily browsing and finding files on your computer. It keeps a chronological journal of all file activity and supports tagging and establishing relationships between groups of files.

Gnome Activity Journal 0.5.0 was just uploaded to Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat official repositories and since the Zeitgeist PPA still provides Gnome Activity Journal 0.3.4.1, I've built the Maverick GAJ 0.5 for Ubuntu 10.04 so you can use it in Lucid already.

Customize Your Icons With icoGEN [Gnome]

| Date: September 14, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: gnome, icogen, icons, linux, ubuntu

icoGEN

If you're looking for a way to change your icons color to match your theme, try icoGEN. It can only recolor the 7 icon themes it comes with (including Ubuntu Mono Dark and Light, Elementary), but this should be enough for most people.


Using icoGEN

Foobnix: A Very Interesting New Local And Online Music Player For Linux

| Date: September 13, 2010 | View Comments | Tags: foobnix, linux, music player, online, ubuntu

Foobnix

Foobnix is a brand new Linux music player designed to be minimal and for both local and online music.

What I instantly liked about it is the online music search feature - Foobnix downloads and plays music from Vkontakte (a Russian website, I for one never heard of it) and in my tests it was able to find any band I could think of (this includes some Romanian bands such as E.m.i.l. which I was sure it wouldn't find - but it did). Also, this service uses port 80 so if you have some ports blocked, it will still work. I'm not sure how legal this is, but it's an amazing feature!

Besides this online music search feature, Foobnix also comes with a lot of radio stations integrated by default (around 3500), Last.fm support, lyrics and a few other minor features.

The interface is also very interesting: the player controls and song progress bar are displayed next to the menu which give a touch of minimalism, uniqueness and appealing visuals to this new audio player.

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