Desktop Data Manager: Promising, but not there yet

Being mainly a GNOME user on the desktop, I have been waiting for two main utilities I can find in KDE: a font installer comparable to the one in the KDE Control Center, and a multiple item clipboard comparable to Klipper. I’m still waiting for the font installer, but Desktop Data Manager (DDM) may eventually be a Klipper replacement. In fact, DDM is more than that, since it also includes a screen capture program and provisions for other plugins, but a lack of stability and one or two key features makes it very much a work in progress.

Linux.com | More..

KXDocker: More than a task manager

The basic idea behind Mac OS X’s Dock is that when you need an application, you click on its icon on an on-screen bar, and the application is launched (if it has not been yet) or switched to (if it has). Stefano Zingarini has borrowed this concept for KXDocker, a KDE variation of OS X’s Dock (which is also usable with GNOME and other desktop environments).

Linux.com | More..

Automatic wordcorrection for XChat2 (a ready to use replace.conf)

I tend to typo my heart out on IRC, but after I installed the latest available Gaim for my Ubuntu-EdgyI noticed a plugin for autocorrecting typos;

In Gaim go to: Tools> Plugins> Text replacement.

So I Grabbed the words with the replacements from /usr/lib/gaim/spellchk.so and converted the plugin to a replace.conf for Xchat2.
If you want to try it, download it  (save link as) and

‘cp replace.conf.txt .xchat2/replace.conf’ (without the ‘)

If you would like to add more words in XChat, go to :

Settings > Advanced > Auto-replace

to add more words and their corrections

I would like to thank pmjdebruijn for hinting me to sed for editing the autoreplace file

Happy IRCing y’all !

Opinion: Linux Desktop 2006: better than ever

I recently read a story that asked, “Has the Desktop Linux Bubble Burst?” Burst!? No, I don’t think so. Actually, it still isn’t even half as big as it will be when it’s full.

Spread the word:
digg this story
The author goes on to explain that he feels this way because GNOME “lacks any form of a vision,” while KDE4 is full of wonderful ideas, but not enough money and effort behind turning concepts into code.

DesktopLinux.com  | More..

Screenshots of GNOME 2.17.4

A set of screenshots indeed, what else can I say

Direct link to the screenshots -> [Phoronix] GNOME 2.17.4

Comments on the screenshots from Newsforge

The ugliest icons on my gnome-panel. (ubuntu-human-theme)

The ugliest icons in Gnome are the icons of Pan, the binary downloader for Usenet, Rhythmbox, my preferred music-player and the icon of Nautilus, the file-manager.
I use the Human theme of Ubuntu-edgy and I often click the wrong icon, Nautilus looks like a musicplayer, Rhythmbox looks like a filebrowser and Pan… well is just plain ugly.

As a Gnome-user I demand some nice, non-confusing, icons of these very good and often used apps.

Tuxicity.

Genealogy with GRAMPS

Genealogy is a burgeoning hobby and to help the home genealogist, a whole range of software is available. Much of it is commercial but here I’ll look at one of the most popular free software options—GRAMPS. Charting your family history needn’t mean compromising on licensing.

Free Software Magazine | More…

Has the Desktop Linux Bubble Burst?

In 2002, both KDE and GNOME released their last major revisions; KDE released KDE 3.0 on 3rd April, while GNOME followed shortly after with GNOME 2.0 on 27th June. For the Linux desktop, therefore, 2002 was an important year. Since then, we have continiously been fed point releases which added bits of functionaility and speed improvements, but no major revision has yet seen the light of day. What’s going on?

OSNews.com | More..

My preferred musicplayer on Ubuntu Edgy : Rhythmbox.

Never had a player I really preferred, used beep-media-player, amarok, xmms and some others, there was not a player that “did it for me”.
Now however I mostly use rhythmbox to play my music with.
After installing the needed codecs:

Its easy to configure (never truly figured out amarok).
It does not overwhelm me with confusing bling bling.
It look does not stare me in the (Desktop) face.
The music library setup is plain and easy to understand
It plays mp3, ogg, and flac.
It can handle art display
It can handle steaming music (ogg and mp3)
It can handle podcasts.
It can show the lyrics.
It can submit to last.fm

some other features (I don’t use):

A recently added section
A recently played section
You can rate your music
You can set up your remote (LIRC)

Rhythmbox might work for you too

A read about Exaile musicplayer can be found Here.

Glipper will make GNOME much more usable

One key feature GNOME has lacked, in comparison to KDE, is a clipboard manager like KDE’s Klipper. That’s now about to change, thanks to the efforts of a project called “Glipper.”

DesktopLinux.com | more..

Ubuntu users who want to try it without using the barely-alpha Feisty Fawn can do so by downloading it from the Universe file repositories. (bottom of the page)