Web Upd8 - Ubuntu / Linux blog

Install Ambiance Theme Fixed For Classic GNOME Session [Ubuntu 12.04]

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 24 May 2012 16:40:00 +0000

Ambiance, the default Ubuntu theme, has some bugs when using the classic (fallback) GNOME session in Ubuntu 12.04 and a fix is available in a branch on Launchpad, but it hasn't been merged yet, so it's not available in the official Ubuntu 12.04 repositories.

To fix this theme issue for GNOME Classic session in Ubuntu 12.04, I've uploaded the fixed "light-themes" (Ambiance and Radiance) package to the WebUpd8 themes PPA. Add the PPA and upgrade to get the fixed light-themes package using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

The package comes with fixes for both Ambiance and Radiance themes.

After upgrading, either change to some other theme and then to Ambiance or Radiance, or log out and log back in.

Here's how the classic GNOME session looks like before the fix:

(Take a look at the panel text colour and window list entries; also, this re-adds the Ubuntu logo to the Applications menu).

And after:

Pinguy OS 12.04 Beta Available For Download

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:15:00 +0000

Pinguy OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that comes with many default applications and tweaks or fixes, trying to get everything to work out of the box.

Pinguy OS 12.04 beta, based on Ubuntu 12.04, is now available for download. Unlike the previous 11.10 release which never reached a stable state (because Pinguy didn't consider GNOME Shell 3.2 stable), Pinguy OS 12.04 will have a stable release.

The latest Pinguy OS 12.04 LTS beta uses GNOME Shell 3.4.1 as the default desktop environment with quite a few extensions installed by default, such as:

Weather Indicator
Cardapio Menu
Classic Systray
Native Window Placement
Workspace Indicator
GPaste
User Theme
System Monitor
Media Player Indicator
more

Like in the previous release, Pinguy OS 12.04 beta uses Cardapio, a cool, highly customizable application menu as the default menu, replacing the GNOME Shell Activities Overview. You can, however, disable Cardapio and re-enable the Activities Overview and Dash, by using GNOME Tweak Tool which is installed by default.

For the default theme, Pinguy OS 12.04 beta uses Zukitwo as the default GTK theme (with elementary window theme) instead of Zukitwo Resonance, which was used in the previous release.

Since Pinguy OS 12.04 beta doesn't come with too many changes compared to 11.10, check out our Pinguy OS 11.10 post for more info.

If you encounter bugs, report them @ Pinguy OS Forums.

Linux Mint 13 Released, 2 Editions Available: MATE And Cinnamon

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:51:00 +0000

Linux Mint 13 LTS "Maya", based on Ubuntu 12.04, has been released today and is available for download in two editions: one running the latest MATE 1.2 (GNOME 2.3.x fork) and another one using Cinnamon 1.4 (GNOME Shell fork).

Linux Mint 13 MATE edition:

Mint Menu now works with MATE Desktop

Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon edition:

Besides the desktop environments, another important change in the latest Linux Mint 13 is MDM (Mint Display Manager), a new display manager based on GDM 2.2 which comes with a graphical configuration tool and supports themes, that's available for both MATE and Cinnamon editions:

Also, the Mint-X theme has been improved and now supports GTK3.4 (Cinnamon edition):

For more information on the latest Linux Mint 13 LTS (long term release), check out the official release notes.

If you're using Linux Mint 13 Cinnamon edition and want to install some extra applets and themes, see: Cinnamon Themes, Applets And Extensions PPA Repository [Ubuntu, Linux Mint, LMDE]

Grive: Open Source Google Drive Client For Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 23 May 2012 15:58:00 +0000

The Google Drive client isn't yet available for Linux and the old Google Docs FS doesn't work too well with Google Drive, so besides the web interface, the best solution to get Google Drive on Linux right now is using Grive, an unofficial, open source, command line Linux client for Google Drive.

For now, the application is considered experimental and it lacks full sync, but it can upload and download new or changed files already (so you can access your files offline). What it can't do yet is: wait for changes and automatically sync the files or delete files (when a file is deleted locally, it's ignored and when it's deleted remotely, it's reuploaded if it exists locally).

Initially, Grive didn't support uploading new files and it could only upload changed files but the latest version from GIT (available in the WebUpd8 PPA) supports uploading new files too. However, in my test, this only works for one file at a time. Hopefully, this will be fixed soon.

Install Grive (CLI Google Drive Client) in Ubuntu

To make it easy to install, I've uploaded the latest Grive to the main WebUpd8 PPA, for Ubuntu 12.04 and 11.10 (it fails to build on older Ubuntu versions, sorry!) so to install it, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grive

Using Grive

1. Grive will download / upload new or changed files from the directory you run it so firstly, create a new folder, let's call it "grive", in your home directory:

mkdir -p ~/grive

2. Next, navigate using the terminal into the newly created "grive" folder:

cd ~/grive

3. The first time you run Grive, you must use the "-a" argument to grant it permission to access your Google Drive:

grive -a

After running the command above, an URL should be displayed in the terminal - copy this URL and paste it in a web browser. In the newly loaded page, you'll be asked to give Grive permission to access your Google Drive and after clicking "Allow access", an authentication code will be displayed - copy this code and paste it in the terminal where you ran Grive.

That's it. Now each time you want to sync Google Drive with your local "grive" folder, navigate to the "grive" folder (step 2) and run "grive" (this time without "-a" since you've already authenticated Grive with Google Drive).

Arch Linux users can install Grive via AUR.

For other Linux distributions, download Grive binaries from HERE (note: the binaries are pretty old at the time I'm writing this and some features might be missing, like uploading new files) or get the source.

Report any issues you may find @ GitHub.

Thanks to Micah Nordland for the tip!

Selene: A Cool, "Almost Dark" GTK3 Theme Based On elementary

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:05:00 +0000

Selene is an "almost dark" theme based on elementary GTK theme, inspired by the old Atolm GTK2 theme.

The pack comes with both GTK2 and GTK3 themes and optionally, a GNOME Shell theme. According to its author, the GTK2 theme isn't completely finished and you may find some minor bugs, but an improved version should be available soon.

Screenshots:

Selene GNOME Shell theme

Selene GTK3 theme: Unity

Before installing, please note that Selene should be used with GTK 3.4.x only.

To install Selene GTK2/3 in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, copy/paste the following commands in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tista/selene
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install selene-theme

To also install the Selene GNOME Shell theme, use the command below (after adding the PPA using the first two commands above):

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-theme-selene

Once installed, use GNOME Tweak Tool, Ubuntu Tweak, MyUnity, Unsettings or other such tools to apply the new theme. If after applying the new theme some applications look weird, log out and log back in.

Arch Linux users can install Selene via AUR.

For other Linux distributions, you can download the Selene theme source from the PPA.

via Quieta non movere