Using Visual Effects on Ubuntu Gutsy ? Get Avant Window Navigator !

Avant Window Navigator (Awn) is a dock-like bar which sits at the bottom of the screen tracking open windows.

And, as a Gnome user, it looks very nice indeed, if you are into Visual Effects this is, in my opinion, a must have, especially for users of Alltray, which does not work with visual effects activated, this could be an attractive replacement.

You can download and install the Gutsy Gibbon (or an older Feisty Fawn) package from Getdeb.net.

Tuxicity.

Resources: Getdeb.net  and Avant window Navigator homepage.

My preferred theme on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon (Gnome, No Compiz)

I like the default theme of Ubuntu, but I like another theme better;

Clearlooks,with Clearlooks-gperfection2 controls and Gartoon icons.

To set this up you need :

sudo apt-get install gnome-themes-extras gnome-icon-theme-gartoon

Go to: system – Preferences – Appearance,

Select Clearlooks and click the customize.. Button (at the bottom),
Select Clearlooks-gperfection2 (my preferred look, choose anything you might like)
Select Icons button (on top) and choose Gartoon (or any other iconset you like of course)
Done.

And man o man why does theming crash so often in Gutsy! or is it just me ?

Tuxicity

Howto : Install the Flock Browser on (K,X)Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon

“Flock is an amazing new web browser that makes it easier to share media and connect to other people online. Share photos, automatically stay up-to-date with new content from your favorite sites, and search the Web with the most advanced Search Toolbar available today.”

Well, this is not my text, but a quote from getdeb.net, where you can download The Flock browser for Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon.

Installing it is very easy in Gutsy Gibbon: If you have a Java and flash installed in Firefox its very much a no brainer.

Simply get the package from Getdeb.net and let gdebi install it or download it and install it with sudo dpkg -i <package>

After install, Java, Flash, and al the other plugins of Firefox need to be set up in Flock with symlinking the plugin folder of Firefox (Mozilla) to the pluginfolder of Flock:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/* /usr/share/flock/plugins/

Thats it, should work about the same in other versions of Ubuntu, just make sure to use a .deb matching your release.

Tuxicity

Resources: Flock homepage and Getdeb.net.

Howto: Install the latest Opera Browser on Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon

Opera 9.24 came out recently and here are the install procedures for Ubuntu 7.10 ( Gutsy Gibbon).

First go to the download area for the .deb package.

Same package is now also available in the “partner repository” (Thanks Kevin). The static version however, for Gnome and XFCE4 users who want no KDE components, a manual download, as described below, is still needed

KDE users can safely go tho the Shared folder to download the opera_9.24-20071015.5-shared-qt_en_i386.deb package.

Gnome and XFCE4 users, should get opera-static_9.24-20071015.1-qt_en_i386.deb. in the Static folder

Click the download link and let Gdebi install the package.

Opera is installed now and assuming you have ubuntu-restricted-extras (and/or kubuntu-restricted-extras, xubuntu-restricted-extras) , Opera works with flash automagically.

All there is left to do is to set up Java, here is how:

Open the Opera Browser, Select tools, then Preferences, in Preferences select the Advanced tab, in advanced select “content”.

Now Flag “Enable Java” and click the Java options button, a pop-up appears asking for Java path:

the correct path would be in this case: /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.03/jre/lib/i386 Click validate Java path to check if it is being detected.

Thats it , Java should be fully functional now, Opera is ready for usage.

Tuxicity.

about ubuntu-restricted-extras:
This package depends on some commonly used packages in the Ubuntu multiverse repository.
Installing this package will pull in support for MP3 playback and decoding,
support for various other audio formats (gstreamer plugins), Microsoft fonts,
Java runtime environment, Flash plugin, LAME (to create compressed audio files),
and DVD playback.

Ubuntu Gutsy and Compiz Fusion? No thanks.

I recently installed Ubuntu-7.10rc and and since I have a NVidia card I opted for setting up the visual effects, a nice feature in Ubuntu-7.10.

I used it for a while but, tho its nice, its not my thing , the bling distracts me too much and honestly, I think this is more for KDE users.

I expect that many Gnome users will turn off this feature after having tried it for a while; On average Gnome users are not into bling.

For me visual effects in Ubuntu is comparable with having to work with a pretty lady with a deep cleavage, very nice but too distracting.

Tuxicity.

New in Ubuntu gutsy Gibbon: Bullet Proof-X

A new feature will be implemented in Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, Bullet Proof-X;

If Xorg fails to start, the failsafe mode will initiate with minimalistic settings, low resolution, and a limited number of colors. The failsafe mode also automatically runs Ubuntu’s new GTK-based display configuration utility so that users can easily test various display settings and choose a configuration that will work properly with their hardware.

some explanation can be found here and some screenshots here.

Resources:
Ubuntu Weekly
Ars Technica
Bryce Harrington’s Blog

How to create a custom DVD using DeVeDe

This guide describes how to create a dvd with a menu using DeVeDe. It allows you to create DVDs and CDs (VCD, sVCD or VCD). It supports any of the formats supported by mplayer such as mpeg, avi, asf, wmv, wma, quicktime, mov, realtime, ogg, and matroska.

read more | digg story

DeVeDe is available for Debian in this repository.

Propensity for Ubuntu – feedback wanted.

Installer for programs that don’t come stock with Ubuntu, like Opera, Geany, and Miro.
Includes a screenshot and some explanation.
Try it and send some feedback to improve this application.

read more | digg story

Give Me A Roll Back Tool to Undo The Last Update!

In the Debian forums is a discussion about auto-updating.

In most Linux systems, you can use a warning system telling you updates are available.

Which is good, and in my opinion, also the best way. No auto-updating for me thank you very much; I would like to know what updates are available.

However, there is something I do need; A roll back tool to undo the last update!

So if anyone knows how to make a tool to undo updates, please make one, accidents happen, and I would like to be able to fix this without too much hassle.

Tuxicity.

Usplash on Debian (Lenny)

One of the the great things of Debian is its Community.

This time I went to Debian User Forums to get usplash running on boot.

I was spoiled with the Ubuntu usplash and of course its important for an ex Ubuntu user to feel proud of his Debian box and show off his new Distro.

The only problem I had, was after installing the packages:

apt-get install usplash usplash-theme-debian

I had to run

apt-get -f install

To get the packages installed properly.
The rest the howto went without any issues and the end result putted a on my face.

And if you would like to know whats hidden behind this wonderful bootsplash ?
Open a terminal and key in:

dmesg | less

Tuxicity.