Linux Mint

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Linux Mint is an extremely popular Ubuntu variant, and for good reason. Mint provides several desktop solutions including Gnome, KDE, Fluxbox and XFCE, and what they all have in common is a solid software base with several of Linux’s “trickier” packages already installed. This includes some non-free software so that you have support for MP3, DVD, and Flash right out of the box.

Saner Defaults Remix

This is a fairly new project, but it’s beginning to gain a following. The basic idea of the Ubuntu SDR is that the stock Ubuntu is great, but some of the decisions regarding included software may not be ideal. While that is of course subjective, it’s hard to argue with some of the enhancements found in SDR.

Some of the changes you’ll find include:

• Empathy IM replaced with Pidgin
• Min/Max/Close buttons moved back to the right
• Evolution mail replaced with Mozilla Thunderbird
• Simple clean blue (Clearlooks) theme
• Gufw firewall included and activated on install
• All Mono-based apps removed (includes GThumb for photos and Gnote for notes)
• Multimedia repos enabled by default

and more

Ubuntu Ultimate Edition

While some (including this author) find the intensity of the color scheme to be a bit jarring, Ultimate Edition does have a bit working for it, and one of those things is speed. Several of the existing applications have been removed in favor of smaller and faster alternatives. Additionally, UE gives you some help with a few of the more legally or technically complicated packages like Flash and DVD support, either by bundling in to the default system or providing install helpers.

Ultimate Edition is clearly the most “home made” of those on the list, but if you’re willing to tolerate or change the visual theme, it can quickly become a useful desktop.

Lubuntu

One common complaint about the normal Ubuntu release is that can sometimes be a bit slow, especially on older computers. Lubuntu aims to solve that by replacing the normal Gnome desktop with LXDE. Gnome apps like Nautilus and Gnome Terminal have been replaced with the liked of PCMan File manager and LXTerminal. The system is also designed to reduce power usage over the standard install, making Lubuntu and excellent choice for laptops.

There are certainly several other Ubuntu forks worth checking out, including Super OS, gOS, and wattOS. There’s certainly no shortage of high-quality Ubuntu variants out there, so if you’ve got any others to recommend, let us know in the comments!

Related Posts:

• Review of Qimo: Linux for Kids
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• Lubuntu Review: A Lightweight Ubuntu Variant
• The Kno Textbook Tablet Preview

One of the most interesting features of the Kno tablet is not the hardware or software but the way in which it is being developed. Anyone can go to the project’s website and join the advisory panel to offer their input on development. They are particularly looking for educators and other thinkers who could be eventual customers. Furthermore, the operating system of the Kno is Ubuntu Linux with a Webkit-based interface. This means that all apps for the Kno are written in HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

The Kno gives students the ability to take notes with an included pen, right on the screen, and even make notes and annotations directly on their textbooks, highlighting key words, dropping in sticky notes, or circling important items. It also supports video playback in a variety of formats, including Adobe Flash player.

Technical Specifications

Display:

• 14.1 inch single or dual color LCD backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch displays
• 1440×800 WXGA resolution
• 262,144 colors
• Anti-glare film screen with hard coat surface

Input:

• Fingers and Pen stylus (for note taking)

Processor:

• Nvidia Tegra T200 series CPU ( based on the Dual-core ARM Cortex -A9 MPCore) 1.0GHz

Memory:

• 512 MB RAM

Storage:

• 16 GB or 32 GB flash memory

OS:

• Ubuntu 9.10

Other Hardware:

• Micro USB
• 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack
• Microphone with active noise cancellation
• Accelerometer – 3 Axis +/- 1.5 g
• Ambient light sensor

Power:

• DC power connector
• 50.6 watt-hour lithium polymer battery (6 hours usage)

Wireless:

• IEEE 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR technology

Software Features:

• eReader
• Note-Taking with a pen
• PDF annotation – Web apps for Docs (Google Docs or Office Live)
• Virtual keyboard
• Built-in Webkit-based browser

Audo Playback:

• AAC-LC, MP3, WMA 10, PCM/WAV (Ogg Vorbis support interestingly not listed)

Video Playback:

• H.264 – 1080p, WMV9/VC-1 1080p, MPEG-4 – 1080p, JPEG up to 80 megapixel per second, HTML5 video, and Adobe Flash

Price:

• Single Screen 16GB: $599 –  32GB: $699
• Dual Screen 16GB $899 – 32GB: $999

Average cost of traditional textbooks:

• $121

Average cost of Kno textbooks:

• $63

Pre-orders of the Kno have just started shipping to select customers. It will eventually be something that schools can purchase in bulk, distribute to students, and even allow the students to take home and use whenever they need it. The company behind Kno sees itself as an innovator hoping to change education, the way people learn and the way knowledge is used. This is a lofty goal, but it is definitely one that warrants attention. One thing I do Kno for sure is that this tablet will likely change the landscape of the tablet market for the better.

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Kfilebox (formerly Kdropbox) is an easy-to-use utility that automatically downloads the latest Dropbox daemon and integrates Dropox with your KDE system.

Note: If you have previously installed Dropbox in Kubuntu, rename the .dropbox-dist folder to .dropbox-dist-backup in order for Kilfebox to download the latest version of the Dropbox daemon.

To install Kfilebox in Kubuntu:

1. Go to the project’s Sourceforge website

2. Click the latest version (currently Kfilebox-0.4.5)

3. Click Ubuntu 10.04 (even if you have 10.10)

4. Choose i386 (32 bit) or amd64 (64 bit), depending on your hardware

5. When it finishes downloading, click on the deb file to install and enter your password when prompted.

6. When the installation completes, find “Kfilebox” in your menu or press Alt-F2 and type kfilebox

*Kfilebox will then automatically start downloading the Dropbox daemon

7. When prompted check the appropriate button to tell Kfilebox whether you already have a Dropbox account or need to get a new one.

Once you finish the configuration, you can set Kfilebox to start when you login and tell it which folder to use for synchronization. For more information about Kfilebox, visit the project website.

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• How to Install KDE 4.5
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The Basics

As noted above, wget is most commonly used to quickly grab a file from somewhere on the web.

wget http://mydomain.com/file.zip

Which would simply grab the file and save it to the current directory.

If you want to save to a different filename or different location, you use the -O flag.

#Remember it's a capital "O" not zero or small "o"
wget http://download.maketecheasier.com/Firefox_shortcut_keys.pdf -O Documents/ffkeys.pdf

You may be downloading multiple files, in which case you may want to specify a location for all downloads. Just use the -P flag (or –directory-prefix=LOCATION) to specify where they go.

As you can see, that’s a lot of output. Let’s try the -q option to clean it up, making it more suitable for scripts.

wget -q http://mydomain.com/file.zip

Similarly, you can use the -nv option for just a little output, but not as much as the default.

Fancy stuff

What if your download failed, and you want to resume? What if the file already exists, and you don’t want to overwrite it? There are options to handle those as well as several other situations.

To resume a broken download, you’d use the -c flag (or –continue)

If you need to make sure your command (or script) doesn’t overwrite any existing files, use the -nc option (for no-clobber)

There are times when you can’t be certain if filenames will be case-sensitive on both ends, but the –ignore-case flag will negate that problem.

To limit the download rate, use the –limit-rate=RATE option, as demonstrated below.

wget --limit-rate=20000 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.7/amd64/iso-cd/debian-507-amd64-netinst.iso

FTP Options

As noted earlier, wget supports FTP as well. If you just specify a FTP site, like

wget ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.7/amd64/iso-cd/debian-507-amd64-netinst.iso

wget will assume you want an anonymous login. If that’s not the case, you can manually specify things like username and password with the following flags:

• –ftp-user=USER Specifies the username for login
• –ftp-password=PASS Specifies password
• –no-passive-ftp Disables passive transfer mode.

As well as a few others for advanced use cases.

Timeouts, Retries, and Failed Downloads

Finally, wget comes with several options relating to server connection problems and timeouts. Not all failures can be dealt with of course, but the following flags are all intended to help deal with server issues:

• –tries=NUMBER Specify number of times to retry download
• –retry-connrefused Retry download even if connection is refused by server.
• –continue Resumes an incomplete download, used as -c above
• –timeout=SECONDS Global setting – how long to wait before timeouts
• –wait=SECONDS How long to wait between successful downloads (if repeating)

Conclusion

For such a simple, basic, built-in utility, wget has a surprising amount to offer. Next time you find yourself writing an internet-aware shell script, or needing to get that missing driver file on your broken computer, give wget a shot. If you’ve got any interesting stories about how wget has got you out of a jam, let us know in the comments below.

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Many laptop owners often connect their machines to external displays, whether monitors, televisions, or projectors. For display chips that support XrandR, the setup is usually rather simple. For users with Nvidia chips, it is still easy but not quick. To switch to an external display, you either have to configure it in the xorg.conf file to automatically recognize it or use nvidia-settings and click through a series of options each time you want to use it.

With Disper, a free on-the-fly display switching utility, you can quickly and easily switch to an external display, clone your screens, extend a display, and choose from any of the supported resolutions. Disper is a command line utility, but after a few initial command entries, you can easily bind it to a shortcut key or run it from a single command by using a basic script.

Installation

The Disper website lists binary package archives for Ubuntu, ArchLinux, and OpenSUSE. Follow your distribution’s normal installation procedures to install. For all other distributions, Disper uses python and is easy to install from source. To install:

1. Download the latest version

2. Open a terminal window

3.. Extract the contents of the archive:

tar zxvf disper_0.2.3.tar.gz

4. Go to the src/ directory:

cd trunk/src

5. Type:

make install

Alternative, you can run the program without installing, directly from the src directory:

./cli.py

Initial Setup

Disper should recognize your VGA, DVI, or HDMI connection right away. The first thing to do with Disper is to identify your displays. Enter the following command:

disper --list

The output will look like this:

display DFP-0: HannStar Display Corp HSD121PHW1
resolutions: ...960x540, 832x624, 1024x768, 1366x768
display DFP-1: SONY TV
resolutions: ...1400x1050, 1600x1024, 1680x1050, 1280x720, 1920x1080

Note: I truncated the lower resolutions, but the full list will show all of them.

Usage

If you just want to clone your display, you can enter one command:

disper -c

Unfortunately, if your device has an odd maximum resolution like my netbook (1366×768), this will result in both screens switching to something like 1024×768. That may be fine for projectors, but if you want to play movies, TV shows, or games on your television, for example, you will want to use custom settings.

For example, if I wanted to display only on my television in 720p resolution, I would enter:

disper -S -r 1280x720

The uppercase “S” refers to the external display. To switch back to the default netbook display, I would enter:

disper -s

This will automatically detect the default resolution and return to it. (Notice the lowercase “s”).

At any time, you can have Disper display the current settings with:

disper -p

The output will look like:

backend: nvidia
associated displays: DFP-0
metamode: DFP-0: 1366x768 @1366x768 +0+0
scaling: aspect-scaled

Extending the displays takes advantage of Nvidia’s Twinview, all with a single command. For example, if I wanted two screens, with my TV screen above my laptop, I would type:

disper -e -r 1366x768,1920x1080 -t top

This would give me a normal laptop screen plus a 1080p full resolution TV screen.

Simplifying

While typing in disper commands may be simple for some, others may not see it as having much of an advantage over using nvidia-settings or a graphical frontend for XrandR. To truly make it simple, you need to create a script and/or menu shortcuts.

For switching to the Sony TV, as in the example above, the script could be as simple as:

#!/bin/sh
disper -S -r 1280x720

Make sure to make your script executable with:

chmod a+x script-name

You could also come up with something more complex that will automatically detect displays and switch back and forth. You could then bind the command to a shortcut using your desktop environment (For example, in KDE, use kmenuedit, where you can assign a keyboard shortcut to a command). You can also create a script for each setting and then easily switch to the one you need from the run command dialog (Alt+F2).

For more information about Disper and links to custom scripts to make switching displays easier, visit the project’s website.

Related Posts:

• How to Run Fullscreen Games In Linux With Dual Monitors
• How To Setup Dual Monitors With XRandR
• Synapse: A Useful Zeitgeist-based Application Launcher
• Configuring Places, Bookmarks, and Locations in KDE

In Windows/Mac, you just have to download the respective software and uninstall it in your system (Be sure to uninstall the older version first). In Ubuntu, if you have installed Dropbox via PPA or deb file, you will find that it your Dropbox does not get updated with the system upgrade.

1. To upgrade your Dropbox account to 1.0, first shutdown the current Dropbox service. You should be able to do it by clicking the Dropbox icon at the panel and select “Quit Dropbox”.

2. Next, open your Nautilus File Manager and go to the Home folder. Press “Ctrl +h” to display hidden files. Scroll down the list until you see the .dropbox-dist. Rename the folder as .dropbox-dist-backup.

3. Lastly, go to “Applications -> Internet -> Dropbox“. It will now prompt you to install the proprietary daemon. Click Ok to proceed. Once the download is completed, you will be running version 1.0 of Dropbox.

To configure the selective sync, click on the Dropbox icon at the top panel and select “Preferences”. Go to the “Advanced” tab. You should see the “Selective Sync” button. Click on it and you will be able to choose the folders to sync.

Related Posts:

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• How to Create a Share Folder in Dropbox
• How to Install and Use Dropbox in Kubuntu
• Configuring Places, Bookmarks, and Locations in KDE

MeMenu

I’m a creature of habit, and I’ve kept a GMail tab open at all times for the better part of the last 4 or 5 years. One of the newer features of the Ubuntu desktop is the MeMenu, which aims to combine chat, email, and social networking into the Gnome panel, thereby hoping to remove the need for a browser tab.

The concept is simple and clever. The applet monitors incoming notifications (such as IM chat), displays the text using the builtin notification system, and changes color to indicate a pending message.

As far as actual usage, I personally found it a bit lacking. Half the functionality is found in the applet shown in the first screenshot, while the rest is split to the Indicator Applet. Oddly, it’s the Indicator which actually holds all the setup for both.

Between the confusingly split application controls, and the fact that neither applet provides a quick and simple way to sign on and off, I’m forced to give the current MeMenu a completely subjective grade of C+. Great idea, but mediocre implementation.

Multimedia Applications

As I’ve shared before, I’m very picky about my multimedia applications. Since beginning this experiment a few weeks ago, a few of the applications have grown on me. One of those is Rhythmbox. Previous experiences never left me feeling very good, but after forcing myself to use it a bit more I’ve grown to appreciate some of its design.

With the built-in burning, flexible smart playlists, and fast media import, I’ve been rather impressed with Rhythmbox, at least much more than I was expecting to be. I’d give it a solid B.

I’ve got mixed feelings, however, about Brasero. It burns discs and all, it does the basic job, but in a way that’s the problem. For quick and common tasks, it’ll probably let you do what you want, quickly and easily. Once your tasks become more complex, and you begin to have preferences about how the job is done, Brasero might not meet your needs.

For example, I put a lot of effort into making compilation albums for my nephew. It takes me an entire year to put each one together, and each track is precisely cut, faded, and normalized to my liking. If I attempt to burn the CD with Brasero, it will automatically apply its own normalization to all tracks anyway, ruining the manual volume adjustments I had already made. I have yet to find a way to disable this. For having some great features but lacking in control, I’d give Brasero a C.

Finally, while a few applications surprised me (in a good way), the one I still can’t stand is Totem, the video player. It supports almost nothing out of the box, and to get even basic playback you’ve got to jump through codec install hoops. Even once everything’s up and running, Totem still lacks the feature set of more capable players like VLC.

I understand that Totem as an application is consistent with the Gnome look and feel, but I can’t help feel that it can’t be that hard to include a more capable player. Sadly, Totem gets a D.

Conclusion

While I can’t speak for anyone else, my experience with the stock OS was better than expected. The MeMenu has not yet fully replaced my GMail tab, and I still prefer Exaile to Rhythbox, but the stock Ubuntu isn’t really meant for me, it’s meant for the casual PC user. Other than perhaps Totem, the standard applications are well suited for that type of person. The stock setup may only get a “meh” from me, but it’s got more than one interested “oooohh” from my wife. With the Unity desktop taking over in future Ubuntu versions, we might begin to see a shift away from some of the Gnome-centric applications, perhaps to something new. So far, just about every Ubuntu release has improved upon the last, so I for one am looking forward to what comes next.

But for the record, I personally wish they’d stuck with Gnome Shell as originally planned.

Related Posts:

• How to Get Mac’s QuickLook Function In Ubuntu
• Ubuntu: Two Ways to Keep A Clean Desktop Without Affecting Your Efficiency
• Ubuntu Remixes: 4 Of The Best Alternatives to Ubuntu
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Synapse and Zeitgeist Engine

Some of you might not have heard of the Zeitgeist Engine. In short, it is a service that logs the users’s activities and events (files opened, websites visites, conversations hold with other people, etc.) and makes relevant information available to other applications. Applications can plug in to this engine to gain access to your recent activities and do wonder with it. Synapse is one such application. It allows you to search your recently opened files/folders/applications quickly and easily.

If you are using a new computer, a freshly installed Ubuntu or your distro doesn’t have zeitgeist pre-installed, the first time you use Synapse, you will find that it returns limited search result. This is because very few events have been logged by Zeitgeist yet. The good thing is, the longer you use your computer, the better Synapse will be.

To install in Ubuntu:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade #lucid only
sudo apt-get install synapse

Once installed, you can activate the application in Applications -> Accessories -> Synapse.

The usage is exactly the same as Gnome-Do. Press “Ctrl + Space” to activate the launcher. Type in the search term and press Enter to execute the commands.

You can also scroll left/right to define the nature of the search, such as Actions, Applications, Documents, Audio, Internet etc.

Pressing up/down button will show more results for the current search.

In the backend, you can change the keyboard activation shortcut and the theme.

Synapse also supports plugins. You can use Synapse to search for applications, play songs in Banshee/Rhythmbox, check words in dictionary, run terminal commands, lock screen etc. One thing though, there is no means for you to install new plugins at the moment.

Conclusion

Synapse uses Zeitgeist which is a completely different approach from Gnome-Do. It will take some time, especially Gnome-do lovers, to get used to it. The functionality is also quite limited at the moment, but taking into account the amount of data that zeitgeist logs and the different permutations of tips/tricks that can be done with it, given time, I am sure Synapse will become a very useful and powerful tool. This is provided the developer of Synapse continues to grow the product. What do you think?

Synapse @ Launchpad | Synapse homepage

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Locations

The most traditional way of accessing files in KDE is to go directly to the location of the file. The most obvious approach for direct location access is to use the file manager – Dolphin. By clicking on the breadcrumb location bar anywhere after the last letter, Dolphin will give you the option to edit the location manually by typing it into the location bar. You can also do this in all KDE file dialogs.

All KDE location bars support traditional Unix paths, including “~” for the home folder. By using the “.”, it is also an easy way to access hidden folders. If you type in the full path of a file, KDE will open the file with the appropriate helper application.

KDE’s kio-slave protocols are also accepted in the location bar. For example, if you type, “remote:/” you will see the available networks and network folders you have created. If you type “programs:/”, you will see the categories for all applications in your menu.

Places

“Places” in KDE are a set of shortcuts to folders and removable media on your computer. By default, the Places panel is found on the left-hand side of Dolphin. You can add folders to Places by dragging them over to the panel or by right clicking and then clicking “Add Entry”.

In addition to Dolphin, KDE file dialogs also use the same Places, making it easy to access the files you want to open or save. The Kickoff and Lancelot menus also display the same places, and the shelf widget can be configured to show them as well.

Like the rest of KDE, Places support shortcuts to kio-slaves. Therefore, you can have quick access to network folders, the trash, Nepomuk searches, and much more.

Bookmarks

One of the file access features that is not immediately apparent in KDE is the “bookmark” tool. With it, you can easily create additional shortcuts to locations you frequently use in addition to those listed in Places.

Bookmarks is primarily available in KDE file dialogs, allowing you to configure quick access bookmark folders for specific applications. Like a web browser, you can bookmark any location in the KDE file dialog by clicking the star icon and “Add Bookmark”, or by pressing Ctrl+B. From then on, anytime you want to quickly access a frequently used location not listed in Places, you can click on the star and bring up your list of bookmarks.

Just as Locations and Places can make use of kio-slaves, Bookmarks can use them too. This means you can quickly save to remote network locations, something particularly useful for using applications like Kate to edit remote scripts and websites.

Other Tools

With the breadcrumbs feature enabled in Dolphin, you can drag and drop files into any one of the breadcrumb spots to easily copy or move files. If you drag and drop into a text editor, it will display the full path to the location in text form.

Another helpful way to easily copy files is to right click on any file and move your mouse pointer to “Copy to”. This will open a sub-menu, giving you the ability to choose the location you want. When you find the folder you want, click “Copy Here”. If this feature is not enabled by default, simply open the Dolphin preferences, click “General”, choose the “Context Menu” tab, and then tick the “Show ‘Copy To’…” checkbox.

With any location, you can access it with Krunner by pressing Alt+F2 and then typing in the location. This includes remote network locations and even website URLs.

KDE supports dragging and dropping of files, folders, and even remote locations across its own applications and even works with some non-KDE applications. With full control over how you access your files and folders, you should be able to use KDE exactly the way you want.

Related Posts:

• Easy Organization with KDE’s Plasma Shelf Widget
• How to Install KDE in Windows
• How to Use ‘remote:/’ KIO and KNetAttach
• A Quick and Easy Guide to KDE KIO slaves

1. Plasma Themes

The plasma theme engine is quite straightforward. It controls the look and feel of the KDE panel, the widgets/applets, the Krunner command interface, and any pop-ups from the panel or widgets. To change the theme:

1. Open System Settings (systemsettings)
2. Click Workspace Appearance
3. Click “Desktop Theme”

You can then select the theme you want. To download other themes from KDE-Look.org, just click “Get New Themes…”

Best of all, with Plasma, you can mix and match any themes you want, add your own components, or create your own new themes. To do so, click the “Details” tab. Each theme item will have an associated source. In the drop-down menu, select the theme source or select “File” to choose one you have created. Finally, tick the “More” box to save your new theme or even export it to share with others.

2. KWin Themes and Desktop Effects

With your new sexy looking desktop widgets and panel, you now need to match your window decorations. KDE’s window manager, KWin, has a number of themes you can choose. While still in “Workspace Appearance”, click the “Window Decorations” button on the left side. From there you can choose the decoration you want, customize the buttons, configure shadows (for some decorations), or click “Get New Decorations…” to find user-created gems.

KWin also has a plethora of desktop effects you can use, depending on your video card. In System Settings, click “Desktop Effects” and choose the effects you desire.

TIP: If you ever need to suspend desktop effects, simply press Alt+Shift+F12.

3. Wallpapers, Slideshows, and Viruses

A wallpaper can make or break a desktop. With KDE, you can choose a simple color, patterns, images, an entire slideshow, or other desktop effects, such as the “virus” or “globe” options. To choose the wallpaper you want, right click on the desktop and click “Desktop Settings”. If you have your own wallpaper you want to add, click “Open…” You can also click “Get New…” to find more wallpapers.

TIP: Make sure you choose the right positioning for your wallpaper. If it already has the right aspect ratio but not the right size, choose “Scaled”. If it has neither, choose “Scaled and Cropped.”

4. Icon Sets

Manually changing an entire icon set can be tricky in KDE, but it is easy to download one from KDE-Look.org and install it. Just follow these steps:

1. Download the icon set from KDE-Look.org
2. Open System Settings
3. Click “Application Appearance”
4. Click “Icons”
5. Click “Install Theme File…”

You can also download a set from within the dialog by clicking on “Get New Themes…”

5. Widgets

Plasma has built-in support for desktop and panel widgets. In addition to native Plasma widgets (plasmoids), it also supports Google Gadgets and many other widget types. To place new widgets, right click on the desktop or panel and click “Add Widgets…”

6. The Art of the Panel

You have full control over the KDE panel. You can resize it, move it, hide it, and more. To modify it, make sure your widgets are unlocked and click the little cashew at the end of the panel. This will open a configuration pop-up.

TIP: Want windows to cover your panel but do not want to hide it all the time? Click “More Settings” and choose “Windows can cover”. A maximized window will hide the panel, but moving your mouse to the edge of the screen will raise it, just like a hidden panel.

7. Folder View and Shelf

Clutter is something that has always plagued Windows, Mac, and Linux desktops. The desktop is probably better described as a workspace, and people want drag images, files, and other items onto it. Over time, however, it gets very messy. With Folder View, you can still have items on your desktop, but you can keep them organized in boxes and categories. With Shelf, you can have launchable icons for anything, organized in nice rows on your workspace.

Experiment and Create

KDE can be anything you want it to be. That freedom is what makes free and open source software so great. Try out new looks. Impress your friends, and share your creations.

Related Posts:

• How to customize your KDE desktop with KDE-Look.org
• How to Integrate Google Gadgets With Plasma in Kubuntu
• Easy Organization with KDE’s Plasma Shelf Widget
• How to Create Your Own Windows7 Theme

Getting XFCE

Most distributions with online repositories will have XFCE available. Ubuntu users can fetch it with the Ubuntu Software Center, or from the command line with

sudo apt-get install xfce4

If your distribution does not have XFCE in repositories, you can fetch the packages or source code manually from here.

When finished with your install, log out of your current desktop environment and choose XFCE Session from your login menu.

We will be using the current stable release – XFCE 4.6.

Optional Bonus Pack – Some distributions, Ubuntu included, offer a separate package of extras like panel applets. To install it, check your distro for a package with a name like xfce4-goodies.

Basic Desktop

The example screenshots here are all based on the xfce4 package from Ubuntu’s repositories. If you used a different installation source, your desktop likely looks a bit different.

This setup is very similar to what you’d find in a Windows or KDE desktop, with your application menu in the lower left, as part of a panel with a few basic applets. Other XFCE desktops may be set up in a more Mac-like fashion, and many users like to replicate the Gnome look. XFCE is flexible enough to allow any visual approach you’d prefer.

Panel Applets

Much like Gnome, you can right-click any blank space on the panel to access its properties or to add new panel applets.

If you installed the xfce4-goodies package, you should have a fair amount of applets to choose from. If this is not enough, you have the option of installing xfapplet, which allows you to run gnome-panel applets in XFCE.

Configuration

Each config section is its own module, which can be access individually from from the application menu under Settings. Optionally, you can use the Settings Manager found in the same section.

There are a few oddities in the configuration (such as most of the keyboard config being found in the Window Manager module) but overall it’s a fairly comprehensive and useful set of tools.

Theming

While the basic desktop is nice, users always make things a little more interesting. The following are some user-made screenshots to demonstrate some of the flexibility XFCE provides.

Image from labor-liber.org

Image by Leo Scherer

image by stargazer

Built-In Compositing

If you want the benefits of graphics compositing (translucency, hardware rendering) without the bells & whistles of Compiz, XFCE has you covered here as well. To enable the built-in compositing feature, open Window Manager Tweaks from the “Settings Manager” or menu. You’ll find the Compositor tab on the right, where you can enable and configure your graphics settings.

Conclusion

XFCE is flexible enough to look any way you wish, fast enough to run on most any machine, and powerful enough to keep you satisfied. It may not have all Gnome’s features, but it’s not supposed to. XFCE promises to be lean and mean, and it’s this author’s opinion that it delivers on both counts.

If you are looking for a desktop manager with even smaller footprint, check out LXDE/Lubuntu

Related Posts:

• Midori – The Little Browser that Just Might Surprise You
• A Look at KDE Desktop Effects
• How to Easily Create a Custom Lightweight Desktop Environment
• Preview of KDE 4.5

Installation

Banshee is included in Ubuntu repository, so you can easily install it via the Ubuntu Software Center, or if you prefer the commandline:

sudo apt-get install banshee

One thing though, the package in the repository is not updated. To get the latest version, use the following PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install banshee

On the first run, it scanned my hard disk for all music and video files and added them to its library. While it has done a good job identifying the meta tags of the songs and classify them accordingly, there are several instances where it incorrectly dumps the songs to the unknown artist/unknown album folder (even though the songs are well-tagged).

As a media player, there is nothing to complain though. It plays all my mp3, ogg, avi and mp4 file properly. It even comes with an Audiobook, Podcast and Radio functions.

Features in Banshee

The default installation of Banshee comes with support for Amazon MP3 store, Miro Guide, Internet Archive and Last.fm. Rhythmbox doesn’t come with Amazon MP3, Miro Guide and Internet Archive, but it supports Jamendo and Magnatune, which Banshee doesn’t. Banshee still has an edge here since Jamendo and Magnatune can be extended via plugins..

Smart playlist

This is one small feature that makes sorting your music library a breeze. With the smart playlist, you can create a new playlist based on a set of rule. For example, you can create a smart playlist to include all songs with the jazz genre. In the future when you add new songs to your library, it will automatically add the song to the playlist.

Extensions

The best part about Banshee is the availability of extensions to further its functionality. The default installation of Banshee comes with extensions like BPM (Beats per minute) detection, DAAP Sharing, Importers for Amarok, Rhythmbox and iTunes, Library Watcher etc. If that is not enough, you can install the banshee-community-extensions. This will give you even more extensions created by the community (and not curated by the Banshee developers).

The Banshee community extensions include features like:

• Alarm Clock – use Banshee to wake up or go to sleep to a selection of your own music.
• AppIndicator – Use the new application indicator area available in Ubuntu.

• Awn – Sets the current album cover as banshee icon in awn.
• ClutterFlow – A CoverFlow clone that allows you to browse your album collection.
• Cover Wallpaper – Sets the current playing album cover as the GNOME desktop wallpaper.
• LCD – Display track info on a LCD using LCDproc.
• Lirc – Control Banshee via a normal (infrared) remote control. Requires LIRC.
• Live Radio – Another way to discover internet radio stations.
• Lyrics – Fetches and displays lyrics for the current song.
• Magnatune – Listen to streamed music from Magnatune.com.
• Mirage – Adds playback shuffle-by-similar and Auto DJ fill-by-similar modes, based on songs’ acoustic similarity.
• Radio Station Fetcher – Fetch radio stations from shoutcast.com and xiph.org.
• Stream Recorder – Record internet-radio streams.
• Telepathy – Browse your IM friends’ music library, download or stream their tracks and share what you’re listening to.
• Ubuntu One Music Store – Browse, preview and download songs from the Ubuntu One Music Store.

You can install the banshee community extensions via the Ubuntu Software Center, or via

sudo apt-get install banshee-community-extensions

Music store

In the current version of Ubuntu, the UbuntuOne Music store is tightly integrated with Rhythmbox so you can buy music within the media player and get it synced to your Ubuntu One account. In Banshee, you can purchase music via the Amazon MP3 store. The UbuntuOne Music store is only available if you install the community-extensions and activate it in the Extension section. If Banshee is to become the default media player in Ubuntu, I am sure the UbuntuOne Music store will be integrated to the core in future version rather than having to extend by extensions.

Sync with mobile device

As smartphones like Android and iPhone are getting more and more popular, it is also important for media players to be able to facilitate the transfer of music to/from the mobile device. It is a good thing that Banshee can detect mobile devices like Android, iPod, iPhone etc. out of the box and sync your music and videos to/from them. Files are transcoded on the fly (if required), so you don’t have to worry about any format compatibility issue. You can also choose to sync your entire library, or just one playlist.

Conclusion

Back to the question: Is Banshee good enough to be the next default player in Ubuntu? My answer is Yes. Personally I don’t like using Rhythmbox because it is terrible at organizing my music library. Banshee sure does it better. And with a huge community supporting it, it can only get better.

What do you think?

Related Posts:

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• Exaile – The First Linux Media Player I Don’t Hate
• Sync your iPhone Music Libary With Rhythmbox in Ubuntu Karmic (No Jailbreaking Required)
• Ubuntu Remixes: 4 Of The Best Alternatives to Ubuntu

1. Grappling Hook

License: Commercial
Price: $14.95

A highly addictive game, Grappling Hook has you taken prisoner by some sort of “big brother” alien organization that likes to study humans like rats in a maze. Along the same lines as the hit game Portal, Grappling Hook is probably best described as a puzzle platform game. Each level requires you to simply find a way to the end while avoiding obstacles that will lead to your untimely demise. One of the unique tools at your disposal is the grappling hook itself. If attached to a green wall, the hook can pull you across a room, lift you over a dangerous pit, or even save you from a dangerous fall in mid air.

Grappling Hook is a commercial game available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. You can download the demo for free, which is just enough to get you hooked. Add in a level creation tool, and Grappling Hook is sure to distract you from work for hours.

2. What Makes You Tick: A Stitch in Time

License: Commercial
Price: $15.00

A sequel to the point and click adventure, What Makes You Tick?, A Stitch in Time is filled with puzzles, mini games, and a text-based story that develops as you progress. Players will be impressed by the artwork of this game and will be reminded of the many great point and click adventures of the past.

With clues to find, puzzles to solve, inventory items to use, and multiple characters to engage, A Stitch in Time offers hours upon hours of game play and is sure to pull you away from work and maybe even keep you up at night. It includes 7,500 lines of story dialogue, so you had better get out your reading glasses.

In the story, you play a young man named Nigel Trelawney, summoned to Ravenhollow to settle his deceased father’s estate. Nigel soon learns, however, that not all is well in Ravenhollow, and the adventure begins.

A Stitch in Time is an Adobe AIR game that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

3. Caster

License: Commercial
Price: $4.99

A fast-paced third-person shooter, Caster throws you into wide-open dangerous terrain, sometimes requiring you to blast your way through, while other times requiring a little more strategy. Each triumph earns you money that you can use to get new power-ups that give you really cool abilities, including ultra high speed, cannons that can raise or lower the ground, a shield generator, and much more.

Looking like he might be Mega Man’s younger brother, the protagonist in Caster is as adorable as he is deadly. Once you build up your abilities and can speed through levels, blasting anything in sight, you will surely be addicted. The price is dynamite for Caster, and includes free updates. It is available for Linux, Mac, Windows, iPad, and iPhone.

4. Vera Blanc

License: Commercial
Price: $14.56

With comic style art, text-based dialog, and an intriguing mystery to solve, Vera Blanc: Full Moon and Vera Blanc: Ghost in the Castle, are games that will remind you of your childhood and Carmen Sandiego days. And just like those bygone adventures, you will find yourself quickly engrossed in the storyline, successfully avoiding the work sitting on your desk.

Vera Blanc is the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in the world, and after a surgery that cures her of brain cancer, she gains mental abilities, both an exception memory and the ability to read minds. The mind-reading involves a hangman-like mini game, adding challenge to the clue-finding and general sleuthing. Other mini games are scattered throughout the story, giving you well-timed breaks from the reading and clicking. One misstep can truly result in your demise, just like any good text-based adventure would.

The Vera Blanc games are available for Linux, Mac, Windows, iPhone, and iPad.

Not enough?

If the above are not enough for you, check out the following:

4 Linux Games You Probably Have Not Played

Free Mega Games Pack For Linux

5 More Linux Games You Probably Haven’t Played

Linux Game Review: Sun Blast

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• Linux Game Review: Sun Blast
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• 5 More Linux Games You Probably Haven’t Played

Using DoudouLinux

To get it working, you have to download the LiveCD (.iso file) or the USB key image (.img file) and burn it into a CD/USB drive. Once that is done, all you need to do is to boot your PC from the CD/USB drive.

On starting up, you will see two choices on the screen: “Start DoudouLinux” and “Start DoudouLinux without persistence“. With or without persistence will determine whether the configuration, settings and data are saved during shutdown.

In the usual login screen, you will see a list of games that the kid can quickly access (While there is a login field at the bottom of the screen, you don’t really have to login at all).

Gamine is a small game to teach the kids to discover the mouse. It is a plain drawing board where a color trail will appear when the kid moves the mouse. A left or right click will paste a star to the board.

(If you are wondering, the graffiti above is a failed attempt to draw the word “MAKETECHEASIER”)

Pysycache is a series of games that teach the kids how to use the mouse. It can be as simple as wiggling the mouse across the screen to reveal the underneath image or to drag an object and drop it at the correct place.

Childsplay, TuxPaint and Gcompris are popular educational software that need no further introduction here.

If you choose to login to the desktop session, you also have a choice of Tiny DoudouLinux or the Whole DoudouLinux. The Tiny DoudouLinux session is a streamlined version that includes more games and the ability to make some system adjustment like volume, sound and mouse settings.

The whole DoudouLinux session will include applications like browser, media player, terminal, file manager etc.

Conclusion

It is always interesting to see how Linux is used in various aspect of our life. DoudouLinux is definitely one of such interesting project that deserved to be commended. It is dead easy to use, so let your kids try it out and let us know if he/she likes it or not.

Related Posts:

• Review of Qimo: Linux for Kids
• 5 Best Linux Software Packages for Kids
• Testdrive Let You Test Ubuntu With A Single Click
• How to Configure Linux for Children

By itself, the update manager in Ubuntu has done a really good job in performing regular check with the repository and prompts you when there are update available. What it doesn’t do is to remove junk files and clean up your system. This is where 2ClickUpdate comes in. In addition to the regular system update, 2ClickUpdate also removes junk files, cleans used space and optimizes RAM memory.

The following is what 2ClickUpdate is capable of doing:

• ReApt: Updates your package list.
• SmartApt: Installs the latest updates for your applications and system components.
• AutoremApt: Removes packages that were automatically installed to satisfy dependencies for some package and that are no more needed.
• OrphanApt: Removes packages and configuration files which are not required by any other package upon your system.
• AutocleanApt: Removes all stored archives in your cache for packages that are no longer in the repositories or that have a newer version in the repositories.
• CleanApt: Deleting from cache the downloaded packages to free up some space.
• RamCleanApt: Optimizes RAM memory.

Usage

2ClickUpdate is dead simple to use.

1. Go to the 2ClickUpdate launchpad website and download the deb file (make sure you download the 2ClickUpdate_all.deb and not the 2click-update-core.deb).

2. Double click the deb file to install it in your system. Go to “Applications -> System Tools -> 2ClickUpdate”

That’s it. It will proceed to do everything by itself. No configuration, coding, bash command required.

Download 2ClickUpdate

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In Ubuntu, regardless which browsers or applications you are using, as long as it supports the “Print” function, you can quickly create a PDF, postscript or SVG file of the work you are doing (or the webpage that you have come across).

In the application (say Google Chrome), go to the “Print” option in your menu.

Select “Print to File” in the popup window. You will see an option for you to save the file as PDF, Postscript or SVG. Choose the option you want, set the filename and the save location. Lastly, click on the “Print” button.

That’s it. The PDF quality might not be the best, but the process is very fast and it just works.

Note: This trick was tested on Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10. It should work on other Ubuntu derivative distro as well. I have not tested it on older version of Ubuntu and all other distros. If you are using a distro other than Ubuntu, test it out and let me know if it works.

Thanks to @Carl Draper for the trick.

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Update: The latest version of Pidgin (2.7.7) has fixed this issue. For Windows users, uninstall your current version, download and install the latest version. For Ubuntu users, add the following PPA and update your system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pidgin-developers/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

If you are using Pidgin to connect to your MSN messenger, you will probably receive the SSL certificate error message. it’s kinda irritating and prevents you from connecting to your MSN account. Here’s the fix.

1. Go to https://omega.contacts.msn.com/

2. On the URL bar, click on the security lock (usually just in front of the URL). Click on the certificate information.

3. Go to the Detail tab and click the “Export” button. Save the file as “omega.contacts.msn.com” (without the quotes).

4. Copy and paste this file to
“/home/your-username/.purple/certificates/x509/tls_peers/omega.contacts.msn.com”. When prompted, select “Replace” to replace the existing file.

That’s it. Open your Pidgin and the SSL certificate error will be gone.

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There are many ways to find out the weather condition in your city. You can go to weather.com, use weather widget or even set it on your desktop with conky. Here is yet another way that you can obtain weather information quickly: display the weather condition as a wallpaper in your desktop.

WeatherPaper is a weather based desktop wallpaper changer for Windows and Linux. It fetches the weather condition at a regular interval and display the information on your desktop as a wallpaper. It is functionality similar to the weather applet in conky (both grab the weather condition from weather.com and display the information in your desktop) except that this WeatherPaper script displays the information in the form of a wallpaper and it is customizable and visually more pleasing.

Installation

1. Go to the WeatherPaper site and download the latest version of the weatherpaper script (the latest version as of this post is 0.2.2 and the file name is 0.2.2-linux.tar.gz)

2. Extract the content of the tar file to your home folder.

3. Open a terminal and type the following:

 cd 0.2.2-linux     #the folder name might change with newer version
sudo sh install.sh

Usage

Go to “Applications -> Accessories -> WeatherPaper“.

You should see that your desktop wallpaper is immediately changed to reflect the current weather condition.

To configure the weatherpaper script, go to “Applications -> Accessories -> WP Settings Editor”

Things that you can configure include:

Service

Here is where you can start/stop the weatherpaper service. You can also make it run on startup.

Location

Here is where you enter your location so it can fetch the correct weather condition for the place you are located. You will need to enter your US zip code (if you are located in the US) or your weather location ID.

To retrieve your location ID, go to weather.com, enter your city (or country) in the search field. On the URL, you will see your weather location ID.

Themes

The weatherpaper script comes with the default tango theme that shows the various weather condition. There is no gallery or image library where you can download new themes, but you can easily create one on your own.

General

The last tab is where you configure the interval for the script to check the weather condition and whether it should display the temperature in Celcius or Farenheit.

Uninstallation

There is no uninstallation script included in the package. You can, however, download this uninstall script (thanks to António PT for creating the script) here to uninstall weatherpaper.

1. Save the uninstall.sh script to your home folder.

2. Open a terminal and type the following:

sudo sh uninstall-weatherpaper.sh

That’s all. WeatherPaper should be uninstalled.

Overall, this is a simple yet functional wallpaper script for those who need to get hold of the weather condition regularly. I don’t use it as the default though since the place I am located is sunny throughout the year. The ability to create your own wallpaper pack is also a great feature in the script. If you have created a nice wallpaper pack, feel free to share it with us in the comments.

image credit: Mooganic

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PlayOnLinux

Of the multiple approaches to running Windows software on Linux, PlayOnLinux is without a doubt the best choice for Sims 3. This is not because it’s any more “capable’ of running the program, but because PlayOnLinux provides an install script specifically for this game which makes the process FAR simpler than it would be on Cedega or Wine alone.

I recommend that you do not use the PlayOnLinux package provided by your distribution. In testing for this article, I found the pre-packaged versions to be much less functional and reliable than those provided by the PlayOnLinux website. They have up-to-date packages for nearly every major distribution available here.

Beginning Installation

When ready, click the Install button at the top of the PlayOnLinux window. You’ll be given a list of known applications, and you’ll find The Sims 3 near the bottom on the Games section. When selected, you’ll get a bit of additional information about the game and its compatibility.

For the record, I believe they are incorrect about Shop Mode not working, as I had no trouble building and furnishing a house.

When ready to begin, click Apply.

A Note About Prefixes

PlayOnLinux uses prefixes to isolate game installations. When you install a game such as The Sims, you get the equivalent of a new instance of Windows for that game. If you then install a different game such as Spore, PlayOnLinux will create a NEW instance of Windows (a new prefix) for Spore to run. This prevents your files and settings for one game from interfering with another.

Dependencies

This is where PlayOnLinux really shines for Sims 3. On plain Wine or Cedega, you’d have to manually install several packages into your prefix before you can even begin the actual Sims install. Fortunately for us, PlayOnLinux takes care of all that. Before Sims begins, you’ll be prompted to install packages such as Gecko, the Microsoft C++ Runtime Library, and Mono. Allow each of these to complete before moving forward to the next step.

You’ll be given a choice as to whether you’d like to install through the DVD or the downloaded package. Either should work with PlayOnLinux, but the remainder of this guide will be using the DVD edition.

Sims Install

When the dependencies have completed, you’ll be asked to insert your media. CD/DVD drives should be detected automatically, but if you have trouble, you can specify a location by choosing Other. Pick the drive and move to the next step.

STOP. At this point it should have launched the Sims 3 Installer from your DVD. If that didn’t happen, go back and verify that you’ve selected the proper location of your installer.

If you DID get the Sims installer, then proceed exactly as you would in Windows.

If asked about the Download Manager, I’d recommend that you not install it. While it’s possible it may work on your setup, it has caused nothing but trouble on the tests I’ve done. Game patches can be applied manually (discussed in more detail at the end of this guide).

When the Sims 3 Installer window is finished and closed, proceed to the next PlayOnLinux screen. You’ll be asked a little bit of basic information about your video card and if you’d like to create shortcuts.

Important – Before You Play

In the opening paragraph, I hinted that one of the problems with getting Sims 3 to run was because of the copy protection. In order to work around this problem you’ve got to replace the “TS3.exe” file with one that does not contain this copy protection. Unfortunately MakeTechEasier cannot provide such “cracks” or even links to them. You should have no problem obtaining more information from big brother G.

For Sims 3 to run, you’ll have to find a modified TS3.exe on your own, and use it to replace the one in your Sims 3 installation. This will likely be found in “~/.PlayOnLinux/wineprefix/TheSims3/drive_c/Program Files/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/Game/Bin“.

Once that’s done, you’re ready to play!

Extra – Getting Updates

Earlier I recommended that you skip installing the EA Download Manager. This leaves us with no updates to the game, and Sims 3 is certainly not without its glitches. Fortunately PlayOnLinux has a Patches category which includes a script to install Sims 3 updates manually.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Much to my surprise, setting up Samba in KDE was a cinch, and Boxee, the media center application on my TV, recognized the shares immediately.

To get started with Samba, you need to install two packages: samba and kdenetwork-filesharing. In most distributions, all other necessary packages will be installed along with those.

To install in Kubuntu, use your graphical package installer of choice or type the following from within Konsole:

sudo apt-get install samba kdenetwork-filesharing

To configure Samba shares in KDE:

1. Right click on any folder
2. Select “Properties” from the menu
3. Choose the “Share” tab in the properties window
4. Click the “Configure File Sharing…” button
5. When prompted for your root password, enter it.

Alternatively you can quickly access the configuration module by pressing “Alt+F2″ and typing “kdesudo kcmshell4 fileshare“.

If all you need is basic read-only access on the client computer, leave “Simple Sharing” selected. If you want the client to be able to change, upload, and remove files, you will need to choose “Advanced Sharing”.

By default, Samba will have a share setup for any printers connected to your system. To add folders:

1. Click the “Add…” button
2. Type in the path to the folder or click the folder icon to browse for it
3. Check the “Share with Samba (Microsoft(R) Windows(R))” box
4. Optionally, change the name of the share to whatever you want
5. Click OK.

Next, configure the Samba server for easy browsing:

1. Press “Alt+F2″
2. Type kdesudo kcmshell4 sambaconf
3. For “Workgroup” enter the same name on both computers
4. For “NETBIOS name”, choose a name for your computer’s network identity
5. In “Security Level”, select “Share”, which will allow immediate read access
6. Click “OK”.

You should now be able to view your samba shares on the client computer. In KDE, you can check this by doing the following:

1. Start Dolphin
2. Click “Network”
3. Click “Samba Shares”.
4. You should then see your workgroup. Click it.
5. Select the machine you want to view
6. Choose the shared folder.

For other applications, such as Boxee, the Samba shares should be visible when you attempt to add sources. When playing media using Samba, the files will behave like local files, allowing you to rewind and fast forward with ease. You should also be able to view and play media on a Windows computer or a Samba-enabled Mac.

KDE offers an extensive list of configuration options for Samba, so you can tweak it to your heart’s content. If, however, all you need is basic sharing, the setup is quite easy and will only take a few minutes.

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