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16 Sep 2011

Using The Old .deb Installer (gdebi) Instead of Software Centre in Ubuntu

The new Ubuntu Software Centre is really great, and I often explore it to find the awesome packages that are available to install. One thing that bugs the hell out of me, however, is that in recent versions of Ubuntu .deb files (ie when you download a deb package and manually install it) open in the Ubuntu Software Centre and the process is incredibly SLOW.

I have dealt with this and just accepted it, instead using the command line (dpkg) instead to avoid using the Ubuntu Software Centre, but I occasionaly forget and just double click the deb file to launch it. Today I decided to solve this problem for myself, so here is how I did it.

Tip: How to give the old deb installer it's place back in newer versions of Ubuntu (instructions are assuming use of pcmanfm, if you are using nautilus, you should start using pcmanfm, it's better - otherwise the process is much the same in nautilus)

First

sudo apt-get install gedbi

This will get gdebi installed. Next find a .deb file you wish to install with your file manager, right click it then select "Open with..."

In the "Custom Command Line" tab enter the following

gdebi-gtk %f

Click the checkbox next to "Set selected application as default...blah" and finally click "Ok".

The deb should load up with gdebi and double-clicking .deb files in the future should fire up gdebi instead of Ubuntu Software Centre.

Again, Ubuntu Software Centre is great for discovering and installing software that is available in the Ubuntu repos but I just think it should be keep out of the loop if I found the software else where.

13 Feb 2011

Mouse vs Keyboard - What is happening with the modern desktop environment

I love and use Gnome but have been thinking a lot about how we use computers recently; with Unity coming to the desktop and other similar desktops already in use like iOS on ipad and Windows 7, this has raised thoughts about what desktops environments are.

Reducing it down to a very abstract idea, Gnome for me is a series of text boxes I write in. I'll be writing here in my web browser to Posterous, then I'll hit <Alt><Tab> and write to my friend in Empathy then I'll hit F12 to open a terminal with Guake and manage code with Git then hit F12 to go back to my friend on Empathy then <Alt><Tab> twice and I'll be editing code in gedit, then I'll hit <Alt><Tab> twice again and I'll return to writing to Posterous. I am more than aware that there is plenty to click about with in Gnome but ultimately, most the time I use it I am writing and Alt-Tabbing.

These newer ideas about what a desktop should be require a lot of clicking. Whilst I am very anxious to see Unity at it's completion and running perfectly on the desktop, this new way of getting stuff done is making me feel old an scared. I know that Unity will still have such keyboard shortcuts but will people like me be able to make the most of these new desktops?

I know that it is going to be great for my girlfriend, but what about us folk who hate reaching for the mouse?

31 Dec 2010

Why I use (and love) Ubuntu

Since my inspiration to write has been rather dry the past couple of months, mostly due to work and work, I thought it would be cool to re-ignite my writing by sharing some reasons why I use (and love) Ubuntu. So here goes. There are many reasons why my partner, my son and I use Ubuntu but here is just a few.

Ubuntu and Gnome get out of your way

This is a big deal for me as I have a demanding job that means I need my system to just work and not bother me with configuration and complaints. Ubuntu and the Gnome desktop together work really well, the defaults are great and I know everything will just work so that I also may just work.

Compatibility with hardware

I am yet to come across any compatibility issues with hardware whilst using Ubuntu. This is great when I see colleagues and friends using Windows constantly hunting for compatible drivers for the right architecture and version of Windows whilst I know I can install Ubuntu on (almost) any machine and it will just work.

Discovering free software and choice

Free software is always good to have but the Ubuntu Software Centre just keeps getting better and better making it easier to discover new applications and utilities to make your Ubuntu experience better. This has become my primary platform for finding new software during the last two iterations of Ubuntu that have included many an update to the software centre. Although Ubuntu is shipped with a default set of software the choice is always there to use another media player, such as Banshee or another photo manager. The ability to remove components (even big ones like the desktop) is just as valuable as the ability to add them, choice is an advantage to any Linux desktop.

Media playback I don't have to worry about file formats, codecs, containers. Ubuntu will manage all this for me, it doesn't matter what sort of video or audio I am trying to play, it just works.

Design Ubuntu was very...brown when I started using it and it was not the prettiest looking desktop (by default) for a long time, but in the last two releases the design has come a long way with a new default theme that is almost a crime to change and a new font that looks amazing. It is only going to get better with the new Unity desktop that will be the default shell in Ubuntu 11.04.

Security Ubuntu and Linux is not targeted like Windows for malware and various other bad stuff. You will not have to constantly scan update and clean your system, you get security just by using it.

It's fresh With a new release every six months Ubuntu is always fresh and new and never goes stale. Updates are regular meaning your system is always secure and you are getting the new good stuff from the packages on your system. -- There are a ton of other reasons, such as the great dev tools, the ease with which you can set up a server, the super useful live USB and the massive community and plethora of ways you can get support.

The above are reasons why I love Ubuntu, based on my well established opinions. They may well be the reason why you don't.

21 Sep 2010

Things to do after installing Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat (10.10)

The new release of Ubuntu is not long off so today I decided to try out the beta on my laptop. Seeing as I am going to have to do a similar installation on a number of desktops that I use, I thought that I would write a quick bash script to automate things I want executing once I have installed the new Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat release next month. So here it is:

#!/bin/bash

# To Begin
sudo apt-get -y install ttf-droid ttf-inconsolata
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily/beta
sudo apt-get -y update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade

# Gnome tweaks
gconftool-2 -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/interface/menus_have_icons true
gconftool-2 -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/interface/buttons_have_icons true

# Desktop fonts
gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/gnome/interface/document_font_name "Droid Sans 9"
gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/gnome/interface/font_name "Droid Sans 9"
gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/gnome/interface/monospace_font_name "Droid Sans Mono 9"
gconftool-2 -s -t string /apps/metacity/general/titlebar_font "Droid Sans Bold 9"
gconftool-2 -s -t string /apps/nautilus/preferences/desktop_font "Droid Sans 9"

# Remove the fail
sudo apt-get -y autoremove mono-runtime
sudo apt-get -y autoremove openoffice-*
sudo apt-get -y autoremove gnome-games-common
sudo apt-get -y autoremove evolution-common evolution-data-server evolution-plugins evolution-webcal evolution-indicator
sudo apt-get -y autoremove gwibber-service
sudo apt-get -y autoremove simple-scan
sudo apt-get -y autoremove pitivi

# Install the win
sudo apt-get -y install chromium-browser
sudo apt-get -y install hamster-applet imageshack-uploader shutter xchat gm-notify
sudo apt-get -y install git-core bzr sqlite3
sudo apt-get -y install build-essential python-dev libjpeg62 libjpeg62-dev zlib1g zlib1g-dev

# Plugins for mp3 playback and other media
sudo apt-get -y install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugl
sudo apt-get -y install flashplugin-nonfree

# Python stuff
sudo apt-get -y install python-setuptools
sudo easy_install pip
sudo pip install virtualenv virtualenvwrapper
echo "source /usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh" >> ~/.bashrc
mkdir $HOME/.virtualenvs

# Cleanup
sudo apt-get autoremove && sudo apt-get clean all && sudo apt-get autoclean all

# Reminders
echo "***********************************************************************"
echo "Go and download Dropbox from https://www.dropbox.com/downloading "
echo "Go and install Wing IDE from http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide/4.0 "
echo "***********************************************************************"

As you can see, I am not in opposition to using a little bit of beta software. Hope you find this useful.

16 Jun 2010

Quick Tip for Gnome: Taking Back the Location Entry in Nautilus

I have seen this question come up a couple of times on IRC channels and now on twitter (warning: passionate language) so I thought I would explain how to retrieve the location bar that has seemingly been replaced altogether by the 'windowsy' location browser since 2.30. Just in-case you do not know what I am talking about here is a screenshot of what we generally do not want:

And here is a screenshot of what we generally do want:

It's not a difficult fix. All you need to do is open a terminal window and enter the following:

gconftool-2 -s -t bool /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_location_entry true

and to switch back:

gconftool-2 -s -t bool /apps/nautilus/preferences/always_use_location_entry false

Done.

14 Jun 2010

An Alternative to Dropbox using Bazaar

Ubuntu One is great in theory, but I have not been able to get it working in a way that I can rely on. I am constantly experiencing connection issues and finding it randomly crashes, so until that becomes more stable it remains shelved as I need something reliable and don't have the time to keep an eye on it. I recently read about SparkleShare which looks like a very easy to use take on version control (it's built aroung Git). But its not actually officially released yet, so I'll be keeping an eye on that one. I've been using Dropbox in the mean time, which is really great, for a lot of reasons. Problem is that it's not free and the version control side things seems to be very limited and I can't host my own files, I use it and enjoy it's ease of use but I never really wanted to use it. When I saw this post on the sync box (a non-dropbox solution to syncing files across different computers using Mercurial) I was inspired to do something similar and re-usable with Bazaar. The company I work for has a dedicated server with loads of space and bandwidth so I started by initializing a project in my home directory there. I then branched that project on my desktop and added a sync directory inside it with the following scripts: server

#!/bin/bash
bzr update

client

#!/bin/bash
bzr add
bzr remove
bzr commit -m "Update"
bzr push
bzr pull

sync

#!/bin/bash
cd $HOME/notdropbox
sync/client

I also added a README file to remind myself because I could be forgetful. I copied the file named sync to my home directory then pushed the project back to the server. Now the project has a stored push and pull location and should push and pull quietly. I set up a cron job to run the sync script every so often. I then went back to the server and set up a cron job to run the server script at regular intervals to update the project with pushed revisions. After that its just a case of branching the project on other computers I use and setting up a cron job, if I want a cron job. Another advantage to using Bazaar is that if I want to quickly get my files on a colleagues computer there is no configuration or sharing folders, I can simply just branch the project get what I need then discard it, if you know what I mean? So thanks to Paul Bissex at e-scribe.com for inspiring this one.

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8 Jun 2010

Update on Playing HD Video With an Acer Revo

This is an update of an earlier post where explained how to easily get set up to play video with the Nvidia ION chip that comes inside this tiny little Revo box. As of 30th May 2010, version 1.0 rc3 of Mplayer is shipped with support for VDPAU output and is available in Ubuntu's multiverse repositories. More information at Mplayer's website here.

30 Mar 2010

Quick Tip For Ubuntu: Web apps pretending to be desktop apps

One of the things I do like about Google Chrome is that you can select any web application and create a short cut to in on your desktop that will run the application in it's own window, but I don't particularly like Chrome because it is still marked as BETA and I have experience some unexpected behavior whilst using it. Enter Prism, there is no use me trying to describe it to you so this is taken from Ubuntu Software Centre:

"Prism, previously called WebRunner, is a simple XULRunner based browser that hosts web applications without the normal web browser user interface. It is based on a concept called Site Specific Browsers (SSB)."

Basically, it will allow you to create shortcuts on your desktop for your favorite web applications to run in their own windows and (sort of) appear as a desktop application. A good web application makes most, if not all, of the browsers user interface redundant. So why waste precious screen real estate stuff you don't need? So to get started, install Prism:

sudo apt-get install prism

This will install Prism, you probably already knew that. Next start Prism from the menu Applications>Internet>Prism Enter the URL of the application (for example http://mail.google.com) and under Create Shortcuts check Desktop. Click OK and you will have a shortcut ready to start on your web browser. That's it really. I am running Google Mail, Facebook, Hootsuite and they are all running brilliantly. If you want an easier, Google Chrome like way of adding Prism shortcuts you can install the Firefox plugin. This is not necessarily limited to being an Ubuntu tip, it is just my primary operating system.

23 Mar 2010

Quick Tip for Ubuntu: Shade/Rollup Window with Mouse wheel

This one was driving me nuts. For some reason this was already active on my desktop running Karmic Koala at work, but I just could not remember if or how I activated it. I don't think I did. It must have already been turned on when I installed Karmic Koala back in November. Anyway.

Run gconf-editor (Alt+F2 and enter 'gconf-editor' and Run) Use the tree on the left to browse to /apps/gwd/ Select the key mouse_wheel_action and change it to 'shade'

Hope this helps somebody!

9 Mar 2010

Getting started with Ubuntu: Ideas for new users

It occurred to me that, although I encourage people to switch to a free operating system I do not really provide them with a proper introduction. Reason being that they do not really need one, switching from Microsoft Windows to Ubuntu should be pretty smooth, the user interface is intuitive enough to be self explanatory and the over all user experience is built upon pretty solid ideas about how to make things easy to use. A friend recently took an interest in installing Ubuntu Karmic Koala at home on an old machine but didn't really have any direction for beginning to use the operating system once it was installed. So here are some things I thought of that would be good to exercise a person completely new to Ubuntu.

1. Switching Empathy for Pidgin

Since 9.10 Ubuntu has been bundled with Empathy, which is a good IM client but I find that at current, it lacks the stability and richness that Pidgin provides. The switch can be achieved by using Ubuntu's new app-store-like 'Software Centre'. Click Applications -> Ubuntu Software Centre Select 'Installed Software' from the menu on the left. Search for 'Empathy' Select the item named 'Empathy' in the search listing and click the arrow to the right. The next page provides you with some information on Empathy. Click the 'Remove' button and enter your password to remove Empathy. Now select 'Get Free Software' from the menu on the left. Select 'Internet' from the main menu and search for Pidgin. Select the item named 'Pidgin Instant Messenger' from the search listing and click the arrow to the right. The next page provides you with some information on Pidgin a long with a rather unimpressive screenshot. Click the 'Install' button and enter your password and wait whilst Pidgin is installed. Once installed Pidgin will be made available in the Applications menu as well as the notifications area by the clock.

I would like to note here that this is in no way a ploy to get people to switch to Pidgin from Empathy. Honestly I use Empathy at work and Pidgin at home, I don't know why. I guess I don't really have an opinion on IM clients.

2. Installing Gwibber and posting a message on Facebook.com

Gwibber is something that I consider to be a productivity tool. I rarely use my computer for anything other than work and believe visiting social websites is a real waste of my time at the keyboard, however, I like to keep in touch and have never ruled the use of social networking out. Gwibber brings all the social noise you have together on your desktop, notifying you of other's updates as well as empowering you to update and reply using a few keystrokes without disrupting your focus. You can install Gwibber in a similar way to how installing Pidgin is described above or use the command line as follows. Hit Alt+F2, enter 'gnome-terminal', hit RETURN. Enter the following commands.

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install gwibber

You will need to enter your password. Once the instructions are completed by your system Gwibber should be available in the Applications menu along with the notification area by the clock. When you start Gwibber you will be prompted to add an account. Once you have added your accounts to Gwibber click the menu item Gwibber > Preferences. Under the Messages Tab in the preferences window you select the option 'Automatically shorten pasted URLs'. This will save you a lot of time when posting a link.

3. Setting up your music library in Rhythmbox

There are a lot of great alternatives to Rhythmbox, like Listen (https://www.listen-project.org/), however I have never had the calling to try another on Ubuntu since Rhythmbox is great. Open Rhythmbox by selecting it from the Application menu. Once Rhythmbox is open, Mac users might notice the layout is similar to iTunes. Select the menu item Edit > Preferences. Select the 'Music' tab and check the option 'Watch my library for new files'

Minimise Rhythmbox and select 'Places' next to the Applications menu and from the list select 'Music'. A new file browser window will open. Place your music collection here and Rhythmbox will automatically add it to your library ready for searching and playback.

4. Turning on 'funky' compiz desktop effects.

This one requires an ok-ish graphics card. I have on board Intel chipset graphics built into my laptop and this seems to work quite well. This could possibly add a productivity bonus to your desktop but I am yet to see it as anything more than a bit of fun. From the 'System' menu select Preferences > Appearance. Select the 'Visual Effects' tab. Three simple options are provided here None, Normal and Extra. Select Extra and have some fun dragging your windows around, switching workspaces/windows. If you are feeling a little more confident install CompizConfig Settings Manager. From a terminal window enter:

$ sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

You may need to enter your password again. Once the instructions are complete, a new item should be listed in the System > Preferences menu titled 'CompizConfig Settings Manager' and tweak the options to balance your personal preference against the performance you get from your computer. Hints can appear whilst your mouse hovers over options, these help a lot when using the settings manager for the first time.

more...

There are a lot more ways to start enjoying using Ubuntu. Using it day to day I take a lot for granted which made this entry quite difficult to write. I will add more items here as I think of more interesting ways to get started with using Ubuntu.