I've just installed Gutsy together with the latest updates as well as the del.icio.us bookmark add-on for firefox.
I noticed that the bookmark synching starts but then hangs. I have a list of bookmark folders in my Firefox del.icio.us menu tab, but no bookmarks. Uninstalling and reinstalling the add-on didn't help.
The solution may lie in one of these two suggestions I found in Ubuntu forums:
1. mv .mozilla old_mozilla
synaptics>reinstall firefox
this deleted all my personal firefox info and let me start from scratch... i can now easily access my bookmarks again
2. Just delete the extensions.* files from your profile directory. Firefox will recreate them when it starts up and then the extension should be working again.
I'll try tonight - in /usr/share/firefox/defaults/profile . Hmm, but what about usr/lib/firefox/extensions and etc/firefox ? Well, there's a file called 'firefox.list' in var/lib/dpkg/info which lists among other files: usr/lib/firefox/extensions - that might be the place to start.
That was sweet timing. I was just seconds away from deleting .mozilla (whatever that is) and reinstalling Firefox, when I looked down and noticed that the bookmark synching was finally happening. There was orange in the progress bar! It's completed successfully now. So, just give it a chance.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
mounting a windows drive at bootup
I reinstalled Gutsy today, for a few reasons, not least of which was the fact that I botched GRUB and made both Windows and Ubuntu unbootable. After the reinstallation I formatted a new larger ntfs drive for my documents and windows programs. When I booted back into Ubuntu, I noticed that this drive no longer mounted on bootup. On the other hand, my Dell Utility drive which I had no interest in and certainly didn't want to display on the desktop, did mount automatically on bootup. So I decided to swap the permissions of the two drives.
It was time to edit fstab.
First, I made a backup:
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_backup
then:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
But I couldn't see any difference between the entries for the 2 drives in fstab, so I searched in the forums for an answer, and found it:
"I think you need to edit fstab to match the reformatted and renamed partition. [In a console type this code:]
blkid
I expect that the drive that's missing will have a different UUID in your fstab, Check it out and change it."
That user was absolutely right. Problem solved!
It was time to edit fstab.
First, I made a backup:
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_backup
then:
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
But I couldn't see any difference between the entries for the 2 drives in fstab, so I searched in the forums for an answer, and found it:
"I think you need to edit fstab to match the reformatted and renamed partition. [In a console type this code:]
blkid
I expect that the drive that's missing will have a different UUID in your fstab, Check it out and change it."
That user was absolutely right. Problem solved!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Gmail in Evolution
I was excited to learn recently that Gmail can now be accessed via IMAP in mail clients. It had long been accessible via POP but since that virtually tied you to a single machine, and also nixed the wonderful online storage, labelling and organisation that Gmail offers, I passed that up in favour of web access.
But a new day has dawned. Feverishly, I applied the online configuration instructions for IMAP access in Thunderbird to Evolution and voila - had no trouble receiving mail. But I couldn't send mail via Gmail's SMTP server. After some forum trawling and a little trial and error, I found a configuration that worked:
Server: smtp.gmail.com:587
Server requires authentication: tick
Use Secure Connection: TLS encryption
Authentication type: plain
Username: userName@gmail.com
Remember password: tick
Oh happy day! I like email clients and IMAP.
But a new day has dawned. Feverishly, I applied the online configuration instructions for IMAP access in Thunderbird to Evolution and voila - had no trouble receiving mail. But I couldn't send mail via Gmail's SMTP server. After some forum trawling and a little trial and error, I found a configuration that worked:
Server: smtp.gmail.com:587
Server requires authentication: tick
Use Secure Connection: TLS encryption
Authentication type: plain
Username: userName@gmail.com
Remember password: tick
Oh happy day! I like email clients and IMAP.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
the dawn of AWN
The Avant Window Navigator (AWN) is a dock for program launchers. It sits at the bottom of your screen and contains a row of program and location icons approximately 36px high. It's possible to tailor a Gnome panel so that it resembles AWN to a degree - uncheck the 'expand' option, increase size to 36px, set the background as a transparent colour (or image), and of course - add some program launchers. But AWN is prettier, with a slicker 3D background. and it has effects on hover. The best are 'squish' and 3D twirl. For a full list, see:
http://njpatel.blogspot.com/ (Sunday, 7 October 2007)
How to install it? Here are the instructions, taken from:
http://wiki.awn-project.org/index.php?title=DistributionGuides
Reacocard's Ubuntu Gutsy Repository
Add these lines to the bottom of your /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
Then do this in a terminal:
wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/reacocard.asc
sudo apt-key add reacocard.asc
rm reacocard.asc
sudo apt-get update
Now to install AWN, use Synaptic or enter this in a terminal:
sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr awn-core-applets-bzr
The applets are useful because they include a trash bin, media controls and a workspace indicator.
With AWN installed, you can do away with the shortcut icons from your top panel, delete your bottom panel completely and add a window list to the top panel. You can also auto-hide the dock, but I prefer to have it showing, since there's plenty of room on a 1900x1200 resolution screen.
One difficulty I had to surmount was adding location launchers - i.e. links to my home folder and to other drives. You can create these launchers through the the AWN manager (under system menu), but NB - the launchers will not display until you close down (right click top left of dock - close) and restart AWN (under the Applications/Accessories menu).
http://njpatel.blogspot.com/ (Sunday, 7 October 2007)
How to install it? Here are the instructions, taken from:
http://wiki.awn-project.org/index.php?title=DistributionGuides
Reacocard's Ubuntu Gutsy Repository
Add these lines to the bottom of your /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
Then do this in a terminal:
wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/reacocard.asc
sudo apt-key add reacocard.asc
rm reacocard.asc
sudo apt-get update
Now to install AWN, use Synaptic or enter this in a terminal:
sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr awn-core-applets-bzr
The applets are useful because they include a trash bin, media controls and a workspace indicator.
With AWN installed, you can do away with the shortcut icons from your top panel, delete your bottom panel completely and add a window list to the top panel. You can also auto-hide the dock, but I prefer to have it showing, since there's plenty of room on a 1900x1200 resolution screen.
One difficulty I had to surmount was adding location launchers - i.e. links to my home folder and to other drives. You can create these launchers through the the AWN manager (under system menu), but NB - the launchers will not display until you close down (right click top left of dock - close) and restart AWN (under the Applications/Accessories menu).
Monday, October 22, 2007
that 'Mark all upgrades' icon
Do you know the one - in Synaptic? It's a shocker. And whats more it's been an object of complaint for some time. Lauri Tamila first posted a replacement icon on his website - 'http://www.taimila.com/?q=node/3 when Dapper was fresh.
The issue is raised again and again in Ubuntu forums. At least two people have raised an associated bug with the Ubuntu development team, and yet here we are three releases later with the same ugly icon in Gutsy Gibbon.
Actually, Lauri's method for replacing the icon hasn't worked for me. But a couple of forum members have posted suggested solutions:
1. "here is the icon, to use it in Ubuntu just move it to
sudo mv system-upgrade.png /usr/share/icons/Human/24x24/apps/
and update the icon cache...looks great!
http://librarian.launchpad.net/7887874/system-upgrade.png"
2. "The way you can find it (the icon) is with this command:
locate synaptic |grep png
If you've never used locate, you need to update its database first (this takes a couple of minutes to complete):
sudo updatedb
After doing this myself, I discovered that there isn't a single image for the "mark all upgrades". It is part of a larger image for the whole toolbar. There are a few copies of this image, but one is located at:
/usr/share/synaptic/html/figures/synaptic-toolbar.png"
It appears that the lack of action on this icon may be due to an impasse revolving around a wider issue - functionality of synaptic. See:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/
+source/synaptic/+bug/40583
I'll investigate this further tonight.
And success! I sifted and combined the advice above and came up with these steps:
1. in terminal: sudo updatedb
2. in terminal: locate system-upgrade.png
3. that gave me a list of 3 locations; the crucial one is /usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/actions/, so -
4. in terminal: cd /home/ado (asuming that's where I saved the replacement image)
5. in terminal: sudo cp system-upgrade.png /usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/actions/
6. gtk-update-icon-cache
There's still a smaller version of the icon in the sister 16x16 folder. It's day will come.
The issue is raised again and again in Ubuntu forums. At least two people have raised an associated bug with the Ubuntu development team, and yet here we are three releases later with the same ugly icon in Gutsy Gibbon.
Actually, Lauri's method for replacing the icon hasn't worked for me. But a couple of forum members have posted suggested solutions:
1. "here is the icon, to use it in Ubuntu just move it to
sudo mv system-upgrade.png /usr/share/icons/Human/24x24/apps/
and update the icon cache...looks great!
http://librarian.launchpad.net/7887874/system-upgrade.png"
2. "The way you can find it (the icon) is with this command:
locate synaptic |grep png
If you've never used locate, you need to update its database first (this takes a couple of minutes to complete):
sudo updatedb
After doing this myself, I discovered that there isn't a single image for the "mark all upgrades". It is part of a larger image for the whole toolbar. There are a few copies of this image, but one is located at:
/usr/share/synaptic/html/figures/synaptic-toolbar.png"
It appears that the lack of action on this icon may be due to an impasse revolving around a wider issue - functionality of synaptic. See:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/
+source/synaptic/+bug/40583
I'll investigate this further tonight.
And success! I sifted and combined the advice above and came up with these steps:
1. in terminal: sudo updatedb
2. in terminal: locate system-upgrade.png
3. that gave me a list of 3 locations; the crucial one is /usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/actions/, so -
4. in terminal: cd /home/ado (asuming that's where I saved the replacement image)
5. in terminal: sudo cp system-upgrade.png /usr/share/icons/hicolor/24x24/actions/
6. gtk-update-icon-cache
There's still a smaller version of the icon in the sister 16x16 folder. It's day will come.
taming Nautilus
It has long frustrated me that a search for system files - which I know exist, always returns zero results in Nautilus.
I think I've found the solution in the Ubuntu forums, at
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=532196&highlight=
can%27t+search+system+folders+nautilus&page=3 :
"...by default it searches in your home folder only.... the problem stems from the fact that the designed behavior of nautilus is to let us find files that we're supposed to find -- if you know what I mean. But, if you start nautilus with sudo, and the double-click on File System in the left pane of nautilus before clicking on the search option, then it will find all the non-user files. At least that's the way it works for me."
In a follow-up post: "I have to double-click File System in the left-hand pane of nautilus so that the full list of folders under the file system shows before I click the Search function on the toolbar to make it work properly. I presume one also has to set nautilus to view hidden files, if the target happens to be a hidden file."
A different poster: "The index is automatically updated only for the user's home. To search a file in the File System you first need to do: sudo updatedb".
And another: "The solution is in your first post: sudo gnome-search-tool .
Select Other... for the Look in folder, and type / . You can now open all files in root mode."
As it turns out, Nautilus still refuses to do anything useful with system files even when started in a terminal as outlined above. It just churns over incessantly, wiggling it's little Gnome toes, delivering not a skerrick. But the last of the suggestions above is a bottler. This opens a search app which is more compact than Nautilus, but performs splendidly. Note however that after selecting' other', you then have to click the pad and pen icon, in order to type '/'. The Gnome search tool found all instances of 'system-upgrade.png' in a flash.
I think I've found the solution in the Ubuntu forums, at
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=532196&highlight=
can%27t+search+system+folders+nautilus&page=3 :
"...by default it searches in your home folder only.... the problem stems from the fact that the designed behavior of nautilus is to let us find files that we're supposed to find -- if you know what I mean. But, if you start nautilus with sudo, and the double-click on File System in the left pane of nautilus before clicking on the search option, then it will find all the non-user files. At least that's the way it works for me."
In a follow-up post: "I have to double-click File System in the left-hand pane of nautilus so that the full list of folders under the file system shows before I click the Search function on the toolbar to make it work properly. I presume one also has to set nautilus to view hidden files, if the target happens to be a hidden file."
A different poster: "The index is automatically updated only for the user's home. To search a file in the File System you first need to do: sudo updatedb".
And another: "The solution is in your first post: sudo gnome-search-tool .
Select Other... for the Look in folder, and type / . You can now open all files in root mode."
As it turns out, Nautilus still refuses to do anything useful with system files even when started in a terminal as outlined above. It just churns over incessantly, wiggling it's little Gnome toes, delivering not a skerrick. But the last of the suggestions above is a bottler. This opens a search app which is more compact than Nautilus, but performs splendidly. Note however that after selecting' other', you then have to click the pad and pen icon, in order to type '/'. The Gnome search tool found all instances of 'system-upgrade.png' in a flash.
Emerald?
Emerald themes and the emerald theme manager do not come pre-installed with Gutsy Gibbon. As I mentioned earlier, it is possible to set transparency for Metacity window borders. And one or two of my favourite Emerald themes have a Metacity equivalent. But many don't. So the question arises - do I install Emerald? Or do I settle for a selection of the best Metacity themes (window borders).
I succumbed last night. If you go to Synaptic, you'll find 'Emerald'. It installs without problem. But I've since uninstalled it. Why? Because there was no package of themes included. And I didn't fancy having to look for, download and import each of the best themes individually. I did try to import themes en masse using the 'import GPL'ed themes' button in the Emerald theme manager. But that required the installation of 'subversion' which I rashly went ahead with. And it was useless. It didn't manage to import anything. Fortunately, I discovered the history tab in Synaptic which listed for me all the dependency packages that I installed along with subversion. That enabled me to get back to a clean slate.
So what now? Well apparently a few other Ubuntu forum members have the same dilemma.
Someone suggested: "If you have already installed Emerald then do this:
sudo apt-get install emerald emerald-themes
Or fetch a package of emerald themes from Trevino's site:
http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/dists/feisty/eyecandy/index.html
There are some interesting notes on Compiz-fusion and emerald at Forlong's blog.
I note however at:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/x11/emerald
that there is no package of emerald themes available for gutsy
But in response to the question:
"Is there anyway that i can use compiz fusion themes or do they even exist?"
someone replied: "There is emerald-themes (windows decorator) for compiz fusion.
... search for emerald-themes at http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/x11/emerald-themes (it works for gutsy)."
That enthused me for a moment. Then I reconsidered. I'm quite happy with the quality of Metacity window borders - Ater 5, Orange glow, Scaled Black, Humanoid, Zune, system G - the list goes on. And I like being able to set or adjust all my appearance preferences in a single applet. That wouldn't be the case if I were to switch to emerald as my windows manager. I also find that I rarely, if ever, feel a yen to revisit Gconf to adjust the transparency of windows borders. So I'm sticking with Metacity.
I've read here and there in the forum that "There is no such thing as a Compiz theme", but I notice that gnome-look.org still lists Compiz themes. Intent on getting to the bottom of that mystery, I searched the Ubuntu forums and found:
"Compiz themes do exist, these are themes for the previous compiz decorator that evolved into emerald. Some of them still work with emerald." OK - mystery explained.
I succumbed last night. If you go to Synaptic, you'll find 'Emerald'. It installs without problem. But I've since uninstalled it. Why? Because there was no package of themes included. And I didn't fancy having to look for, download and import each of the best themes individually. I did try to import themes en masse using the 'import GPL'ed themes' button in the Emerald theme manager. But that required the installation of 'subversion' which I rashly went ahead with. And it was useless. It didn't manage to import anything. Fortunately, I discovered the history tab in Synaptic which listed for me all the dependency packages that I installed along with subversion. That enabled me to get back to a clean slate.
So what now? Well apparently a few other Ubuntu forum members have the same dilemma.
Someone suggested: "If you have already installed Emerald then do this:
sudo apt-get install emerald emerald-themes
Or fetch a package of emerald themes from Trevino's site:
http://3v1n0.tuxfamily.org/dists/feisty/eyecandy/index.html
There are some interesting notes on Compiz-fusion and emerald at Forlong's blog.
I note however at:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/gutsy/x11/emerald
that there is no package of emerald themes available for gutsy
But in response to the question:
"Is there anyway that i can use compiz fusion themes or do they even exist?"
someone replied: "There is emerald-themes (windows decorator) for compiz fusion.
... search for emerald-themes at http://packages.ubuntu.com/feisty/x11/emerald-themes (it works for gutsy)."
That enthused me for a moment. Then I reconsidered. I'm quite happy with the quality of Metacity window borders - Ater 5, Orange glow, Scaled Black, Humanoid, Zune, system G - the list goes on. And I like being able to set or adjust all my appearance preferences in a single applet. That wouldn't be the case if I were to switch to emerald as my windows manager. I also find that I rarely, if ever, feel a yen to revisit Gconf to adjust the transparency of windows borders. So I'm sticking with Metacity.
I've read here and there in the forum that "There is no such thing as a Compiz theme", but I notice that gnome-look.org still lists Compiz themes. Intent on getting to the bottom of that mystery, I searched the Ubuntu forums and found:
"Compiz themes do exist, these are themes for the previous compiz decorator that evolved into emerald. Some of them still work with emerald." OK - mystery explained.
Getting to grips with Compiz-Fusion
Here's what I posted from my work PC to Ubuntu Forums in the Desktop Effects & Customization section:
"I'm a little confused, and was hoping someone could enlighten me.
According to http://www.opencompositing.org/, Beryl is now deprecated and replaced by Compiz-Fusion.
And Compiz-Fusion is installed by default with Gutsy Gibbon.
Have I got that right so far? If not, don't hesitate to set me right.
So, I'm a little disappointed. You see, I installed Beryl under Feisty and had not only a whole new set of Emerald themes (slick window borders and controls) but also a slew of effects with tabs and tabs of customisation. For example, I could set windows to go up in flames when I closed them and shrink like a genie into a lamp when I minimised them.
I don't seem to have that in Gutsy with Compiz-Fusion. There are no new themes beyond the few run-of-the-mill Metacity ones that Ubuntu installs by default. To make transparent window borders I had to search through this forum to find out how to manually tweak the gconf editor. And even after installing the compizconfig-settings-manager applet (via Synaptic) I've yet to find either certain effects such as the 'magic lamp' and 'flames' or a way of applying these effects to particular window events (closing, minimsing etc).
Maybe I'm missing something, and someone can quickly set me on the right track. Then again, perhaps I've done as much as I can and there are a few similarly disappointed users of Gutsy Gibbon out there. I'd be grateful for any comments or advice."
Within minutes I had a reply:
"In CCSM (compizconfig-settings-manager) go to "animations" then the "minimize animation" tab. Magic Lamp and Burn are both in there. I have the burning fire set as mine (un)minimize animation. Plus - Emerald is in the repositories, just not installed by default."
It was nice to get a reply so quickly and to sense that there was hope. But I was still scratching my head. I'd looked for an animation tab when I first installed CCSM, but couldn't find one. As soon as I got home, I opened the applet again and looked. Nuh - nothing but a list of effects, each with a checkbox - no tabs for customisation. By chance I happened to flick my mouse across the animation label and noticed that on hover, it became a tab. Eureka! The solution was right under my nose all the time! I had no idea I could click on each of the Desktop Effects settings inside CCSM. I thought they were just labels for the checkboxes and that my only option was to enable or disable. So I clicked on 'animation' (on hover it became a tab) and found all its customisation options! Bewdy. Now I've got the magic lamp!
There are some interesting notes on the Compiz configuration and settings manager at Forlong's blog. In a second article, he steps the reader through the process of selecting and setting some of the most popular desktop effects.
"I'm a little confused, and was hoping someone could enlighten me.
According to http://www.opencompositing.org/, Beryl is now deprecated and replaced by Compiz-Fusion.
And Compiz-Fusion is installed by default with Gutsy Gibbon.
Have I got that right so far? If not, don't hesitate to set me right.
So, I'm a little disappointed. You see, I installed Beryl under Feisty and had not only a whole new set of Emerald themes (slick window borders and controls) but also a slew of effects with tabs and tabs of customisation. For example, I could set windows to go up in flames when I closed them and shrink like a genie into a lamp when I minimised them.
I don't seem to have that in Gutsy with Compiz-Fusion. There are no new themes beyond the few run-of-the-mill Metacity ones that Ubuntu installs by default. To make transparent window borders I had to search through this forum to find out how to manually tweak the gconf editor. And even after installing the compizconfig-settings-manager applet (via Synaptic) I've yet to find either certain effects such as the 'magic lamp' and 'flames' or a way of applying these effects to particular window events (closing, minimsing etc).
Maybe I'm missing something, and someone can quickly set me on the right track. Then again, perhaps I've done as much as I can and there are a few similarly disappointed users of Gutsy Gibbon out there. I'd be grateful for any comments or advice."
Within minutes I had a reply:
"In CCSM (compizconfig-settings-manager) go to "animations" then the "minimize animation" tab. Magic Lamp and Burn are both in there. I have the burning fire set as mine (un)minimize animation. Plus - Emerald is in the repositories, just not installed by default."
It was nice to get a reply so quickly and to sense that there was hope. But I was still scratching my head. I'd looked for an animation tab when I first installed CCSM, but couldn't find one. As soon as I got home, I opened the applet again and looked. Nuh - nothing but a list of effects, each with a checkbox - no tabs for customisation. By chance I happened to flick my mouse across the animation label and noticed that on hover, it became a tab. Eureka! The solution was right under my nose all the time! I had no idea I could click on each of the Desktop Effects settings inside CCSM. I thought they were just labels for the checkboxes and that my only option was to enable or disable. So I clicked on 'animation' (on hover it became a tab) and found all its customisation options! Bewdy. Now I've got the magic lamp!
There are some interesting notes on the Compiz configuration and settings manager at Forlong's blog. In a second article, he steps the reader through the process of selecting and setting some of the most popular desktop effects.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Unmounting volumes & Cairo clock
It annoyed me seeing icons for the mounted volumes 'Dell Utility' and 'Memory' on my desktop. So I looked for a way to rid myself of them. I found it at:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/hide-removable-drive-icons-from-your-ubuntu-desktop/
Disabling the automounting of these volumes is a little more complex. I found some ideas at:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=468733&highlight=hide+volumes+desktop
but thus far haven't implemented any of them.
On a different note: I love that Cairo clock. Just search for cairo clock in synaptic then install it. You'll find the launcher under Applications/accessories. To make sure it starts up when you log in, go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions -> Startup Programs, and add 'cairo-clock' in the 'Command' field. (I'd advise entering a name and comment as well.)
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/hide-removable-drive-icons-from-your-ubuntu-desktop/
Disabling the automounting of these volumes is a little more complex. I found some ideas at:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=468733&highlight=hide+volumes+desktop
but thus far haven't implemented any of them.
On a different note: I love that Cairo clock. Just search for cairo clock in synaptic then install it. You'll find the launcher under Applications/accessories. To make sure it starts up when you log in, go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions -> Startup Programs, and add 'cairo-clock' in the 'Command' field. (I'd advise entering a name and comment as well.)
Themes
I found the subject of themes in Gutsy Gibbon confusing at first. Summoning up the /system/preferences/appearance applet from the menu presented no issue. And I had no trouble finding sites like http://www.gnome-look.org and http://www.compiz-themes.org. But it wasn't immediately apparent what I was supposed to do in order to install the additional theme packages I found at those sites. To compound the problem, I wasn't sure whether 'metacity' or 'compiz' was the appropriate category for me, now that I had installed Compiz desktop effects.
So I turned to Help. I found the topic 'Theme Preferences' and then section 8.2.4.2. To Install a New Theme
You can add a theme to the list of available themes. The new theme must be an archive file that is tarred and zipped. That is, the new theme must be a .tar.gz file.
To install a new theme, perform the following steps:
1. Start the Theme preference tool.
2. Click on the Install Theme button. A Theme Installation dialog is displayed.
3. Enter the location of the theme archive file in the drop-down combination box. Alternatively, to browse for the file, click on the Browse button. When you have selected the file, click OK.
4. Click on the Install button to install the new theme.
The mistake I made first time around was to extract the tar file. The 'Appearance Preferences' applet didn't seem to recognise the theme once I'd extracted it. Then I wondered why the theme wouldn't appear as one of the theme options in the 'Appearance Preferences'. I did discover after some trial and error that if I chose to set the freshly installed Metacity package as the current theme, it would appear as a custom theme in the 'Appearance Preferences' applet. Then I was able to rename it. The crux of the matter is that what I had installed was not a theme, but rather one element of a theme. Those Metacity packages are in fact merely window border styles. Later I discovered that even if I don't elect to apply a freshly installed Metacity package to the current theme, it is nevertheless installed, and can be accessed and implemented via the customisation tab of any existing theme.
The other point to note is that 'Metacity' is the category I needed for window border styles. The window border opacity settings that I set for the default Human theme (see previous blog post) apply to all Metacity window border styles, it seems.
The next thing I wanted to try was changing icons. I couldn't find anything pertinent in the Ubuntu Help file, so I did a search on "icons install" in the Ubuntu form at http://ubuntuforums.org and found the following:
"If you're using Gutsy you can go System>Preferences>Appearance and drag and drop the archive right into the theme manager."
This forum poster was true to his/her word. This worked even when the archive had been extracted. I dragged a folder of glass icons on to the current theme and lo and behold the icons were installed. A custom theme was created, which I renamed by combining the names of the theme and the icon set.
To summarise, the way that you create new themes is to download and install new theme element packages - Metacity, GTK, icons etc and then mix and match them by choosing an existing theme and customising that. Using this method I was able to set up several themes combining the imported window borders 'Gilouche Express', 'Scaled Black' and ''Simply elegance' with the imported icon sets 'Dropline Neu', 'Nuove XT' (1 & 2) and 'Glass'. Further refinement of the resulting themes was possible by clicking the customisation tab and selecting a different set of controls.
So I turned to Help. I found the topic 'Theme Preferences' and then section 8.2.4.2. To Install a New Theme
You can add a theme to the list of available themes. The new theme must be an archive file that is tarred and zipped. That is, the new theme must be a .tar.gz file.
To install a new theme, perform the following steps:
1. Start the Theme preference tool.
2. Click on the Install Theme button. A Theme Installation dialog is displayed.
3. Enter the location of the theme archive file in the drop-down combination box. Alternatively, to browse for the file, click on the Browse button. When you have selected the file, click OK.
4. Click on the Install button to install the new theme.
The mistake I made first time around was to extract the tar file. The 'Appearance Preferences' applet didn't seem to recognise the theme once I'd extracted it. Then I wondered why the theme wouldn't appear as one of the theme options in the 'Appearance Preferences'. I did discover after some trial and error that if I chose to set the freshly installed Metacity package as the current theme, it would appear as a custom theme in the 'Appearance Preferences' applet. Then I was able to rename it. The crux of the matter is that what I had installed was not a theme, but rather one element of a theme. Those Metacity packages are in fact merely window border styles. Later I discovered that even if I don't elect to apply a freshly installed Metacity package to the current theme, it is nevertheless installed, and can be accessed and implemented via the customisation tab of any existing theme.
The other point to note is that 'Metacity' is the category I needed for window border styles. The window border opacity settings that I set for the default Human theme (see previous blog post) apply to all Metacity window border styles, it seems.
The next thing I wanted to try was changing icons. I couldn't find anything pertinent in the Ubuntu Help file, so I did a search on "icons install" in the Ubuntu form at http://ubuntuforums.org and found the following:
"If you're using Gutsy you can go System>Preferences>Appearance and drag and drop the archive right into the theme manager."
This forum poster was true to his/her word. This worked even when the archive had been extracted. I dragged a folder of glass icons on to the current theme and lo and behold the icons were installed. A custom theme was created, which I renamed by combining the names of the theme and the icon set.
To summarise, the way that you create new themes is to download and install new theme element packages - Metacity, GTK, icons etc and then mix and match them by choosing an existing theme and customising that. Using this method I was able to set up several themes combining the imported window borders 'Gilouche Express', 'Scaled Black' and ''Simply elegance' with the imported icon sets 'Dropline Neu', 'Nuove XT' (1 & 2) and 'Glass'. Further refinement of the resulting themes was possible by clicking the customisation tab and selecting a different set of controls.
editing GRUB
Two gripes before I get to the point of this post: firstly I can't believe the art/design team hasn't replaced that ugly 'Mark All Upgrades' icon in synaptic. This was first pointed out when Dapper was released, by Lauri Taumila who posted a much more attractive replacement icon at http://www.taimila.com/?q=node/3. Secondly - wake from suspend still doesn't work, at least not after the proprietary nVidia driver is installed.
OK, on to GRUB. I thought I'd do myself a favour by installing GrubED. It purported to make the process of editing GRUB nuch easier. For the tar file and instructions, go to http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=228104. As recommended, I chose the backup option first. Then I reduced the number of kernels. Then I changed the default OS to Windows XP. Unfortunately, while the first two changes were recorded, the change of OS didn't take. Instead of changing 'default 0' to 'default 4', GrubEd changed the '0' to '-1' (note the hyphen). Any subsequent attempt to reset the default OS only added an additional hyphen. So I reset the default OS maually. See http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_change_the_timeout_seconds_for_GRUB_menu_on_boot-up
First I opened the boot menu list by entering the following in a console:
sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Then I found the line:
default 0
and changed it to:
default 4
Now the boot menu works as I intended. Note - I may have to adjust the default number to '3' if one of the current kernels drops off the list. I'll watch for that.
Here's the full list of instructions if you're using a console for the lot:
How to change the timeout seconds for GRUB menu on boot-up
sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
* Find this line
timeout 10
* Replace it with the following line, where X_seconds is a number representing the number of seconds before the menu should timeout.
timeout X_seconds
* Save the edited file
How to change default Operating System boot-up for GRUB menu
* Find this line
default 0
* Replace with the following line, where X_sequence is a number representing the number of the Grub menu item you want to be the default operating system.
default X_sequence
To figure out which number corresponds to the desired operating system, scroll to the bottom of the menu.lst file in gedit and look for lines that begin with the word title. The first "title" is 0, the second is 1, etc. Count "title" entries to find the number of the desired operating system and enter that number in place of X_sequence in the line above.
How to display only one kernel on GRUB menu
* Find this line
# howmany=all
* Replace with the following line
# howmany=1
Where 1 means to keep the last kernel, 2 to keep the last 2 kernels, etc. Do not delete the # symbol. The menu will be updated once a new kernel will be updated by the system, not before.
* Save the edited file
* Update /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo update-grub
OK, on to GRUB. I thought I'd do myself a favour by installing GrubED. It purported to make the process of editing GRUB nuch easier. For the tar file and instructions, go to http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=228104. As recommended, I chose the backup option first. Then I reduced the number of kernels. Then I changed the default OS to Windows XP. Unfortunately, while the first two changes were recorded, the change of OS didn't take. Instead of changing 'default 0' to 'default 4', GrubEd changed the '0' to '-1' (note the hyphen). Any subsequent attempt to reset the default OS only added an additional hyphen. So I reset the default OS maually. See http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_change_the_timeout_seconds_for_GRUB_menu_on_boot-up
First I opened the boot menu list by entering the following in a console:
sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
Then I found the line:
default 0
and changed it to:
default 4
Now the boot menu works as I intended. Note - I may have to adjust the default number to '3' if one of the current kernels drops off the list. I'll watch for that.
Here's the full list of instructions if you're using a console for the lot:
How to change the timeout seconds for GRUB menu on boot-up
sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup
gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
* Find this line
timeout 10
* Replace it with the following line, where X_seconds is a number representing the number of seconds before the menu should timeout.
timeout X_seconds
* Save the edited file
How to change default Operating System boot-up for GRUB menu
* Find this line
default 0
* Replace with the following line, where X_sequence is a number representing the number of the Grub menu item you want to be the default operating system.
default X_sequence
To figure out which number corresponds to the desired operating system, scroll to the bottom of the menu.lst file in gedit and look for lines that begin with the word title. The first "title" is 0, the second is 1, etc. Count "title" entries to find the number of the desired operating system and enter that number in place of X_sequence in the line above.
How to display only one kernel on GRUB menu
* Find this line
# howmany=all
* Replace with the following line
# howmany=1
Where 1 means to keep the last kernel, 2 to keep the last 2 kernels, etc. Do not delete the # symbol. The menu will be updated once a new kernel will be updated by the system, not before.
* Save the edited file
* Update /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo update-grub
Go Gutsy Gibbon
On the day Ubuntu 7.10, aka Gutsy Gibbon was released, I decided to install it.
Immediately, a couple of changes from the previous version, were evident. Installing the proprietary nVidia driver, needed to support desktop effects, was much more straightforward. And the software required to write to an NTFS partition was already installed.
A further cause for celebration was being able to dispense with the somewhat complicated procedure that enabled me to bypass a keyring password every time I logged in and a wireless network connection was made. That keyring password prompt no longer bothers me.
Especially enheartening was the fact that Compiz was pre-installed. The rigmarole I went through to install either Beryl or Compiz in Feisty, was behind me. The first time I had to click the help icon was to look for a way to enable certain desktop effects that weren't enabled by default, like the rotating cube. I quickly found what I needed and through Synaptic Package Manager, installed compizconfig-settings-manager. Once that was up and running, I checked the boxes beside 'rotating cube' and 'cube cap' (the image that appears on top of the cube). I then right clicked on the current workspace indicator and increased the number of workspaces to 4. Hey presto - rotating cube.
That said, the transparency problem remained. That is - the title bars of my application windows weren't see-through, something which was available under Beryl from the word go. So I returned to the steps I followed with Compiz under Feisty:
In 'System/Preferences/Main Menu' I clicked on 'System Tools' under 'Applications', ticked 'Configuration Editor' and closed that window. I was now able to choose 'Configuration Editor' from the 'Applications' menu. I clicked 'apps' then 'gwd' then right clicked on 'metacity_theme_active_opacity' and changed it's value to .7, then adjusted the 'metacity_theme_opacity' to .5. Immediately, the transparency of the editor's title bar was evident.
Immediately, a couple of changes from the previous version, were evident. Installing the proprietary nVidia driver, needed to support desktop effects, was much more straightforward. And the software required to write to an NTFS partition was already installed.
A further cause for celebration was being able to dispense with the somewhat complicated procedure that enabled me to bypass a keyring password every time I logged in and a wireless network connection was made. That keyring password prompt no longer bothers me.
Especially enheartening was the fact that Compiz was pre-installed. The rigmarole I went through to install either Beryl or Compiz in Feisty, was behind me. The first time I had to click the help icon was to look for a way to enable certain desktop effects that weren't enabled by default, like the rotating cube. I quickly found what I needed and through Synaptic Package Manager, installed compizconfig-settings-manager. Once that was up and running, I checked the boxes beside 'rotating cube' and 'cube cap' (the image that appears on top of the cube). I then right clicked on the current workspace indicator and increased the number of workspaces to 4. Hey presto - rotating cube.
That said, the transparency problem remained. That is - the title bars of my application windows weren't see-through, something which was available under Beryl from the word go. So I returned to the steps I followed with Compiz under Feisty:
In 'System/Preferences/Main Menu' I clicked on 'System Tools' under 'Applications', ticked 'Configuration Editor' and closed that window. I was now able to choose 'Configuration Editor' from the 'Applications' menu. I clicked 'apps' then 'gwd' then right clicked on 'metacity_theme_active_opacity' and changed it's value to .7, then adjusted the 'metacity_theme_opacity' to .5. Immediately, the transparency of the editor's title bar was evident.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Friday 8 June 2007 - power management in Kubuntu and other musings
I stay away from Kubuntu now. That galloping fan unnerves me. Every time I log in I wait patiently, thinking - this will be the time that 'speedstep' kicks in and relaxes the CPU to a gentle whisper, as Ubuntu and win XP do. But it never happens.
I've trawled the web looking for a solution. One kind forum member suggested:
"Check out http://www.ubuntuguide.org And look at the CPUFreq section, perhaps there's something about the Frequency scaling in your KDE...."
I went to that section and followed all the directions for setting 'ondemand' power management. Unfortunately it didn't make any difference. There seems to be something about Kubuntu that prevents anything but maximum perfomance mode on a pentium M laptop with speedstep. I think I'll stick with Ubuntu on one partition and maybe try openSuse with KDE instead of Kubuntu on the other.
I've trawled the web looking for a solution. One kind forum member suggested:
"Check out http://www.ubuntuguide.org And look at the CPUFreq section, perhaps there's something about the Frequency scaling in your KDE...."
I went to that section and followed all the directions for setting 'ondemand' power management. Unfortunately it didn't make any difference. There seems to be something about Kubuntu that prevents anything but maximum perfomance mode on a pentium M laptop with speedstep. I think I'll stick with Ubuntu on one partition and maybe try openSuse with KDE instead of Kubuntu on the other.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Thursday June 7 2007 - enabling write access to NTFS drives
Another success to follow my crash and burn two days ago. I was put on this scent by yet another useful snippet in the trusty unofficial Feisty guide at: ubuntuguide.org
The particular section in question is entitled '1.17.5 How to mount Windows partitions (NTFS) on boot-up, and allow users read and write access'.
In a nutshell:
* Enable universe repository in Synaptic
* In Synpatic search for 'NTFS', you should find 'NTFS-config', the NTFS Configuration Tool - install it.
* Find 'NTFS Configuration Tool' in the Applications menu under System Tools - open it and check 'Enable Write Support';
That's it. It worked. And now I can save any file I'm working on to the 'My Documents' I'd set up on an NTFS drive for WinXP.
The particular section in question is entitled '1.17.5 How to mount Windows partitions (NTFS) on boot-up, and allow users read and write access'.
In a nutshell:
* Enable universe repository in Synaptic
* In Synpatic search for 'NTFS', you should find 'NTFS-config', the NTFS Configuration Tool - install it.
* Find 'NTFS Configuration Tool' in the Applications menu under System Tools - open it and check 'Enable Write Support';
That's it. It worked. And now I can save any file I'm working on to the 'My Documents' I'd set up on an NTFS drive for WinXP.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Wednesday June 6 2007 - Lights Camera Action!
I couldn't believe how easy it was to play both mp3 and wma sound files. I just clicked on the files and was prompted to install the appropriate codecs. The whole process was automatic. And it worked.
NB - first you have to add some extra repositories to Synaptic. There are guidelines at:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_add_extra_repositories
Enabling DVD playback was only marginally more difficult. Following the instructions at:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_install_Multimedia_Codecs
I entered the following in a terminal:
sudo aptitude install ubuntu-restricted-extras libxine-extracodecs gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-pitfdll
and pressed enter
(Note: The "ubuntu-restricted-extras" is a meta-package that installs : flashplugin-nonfree, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse, msttcorefonts, sun-java6-jre and sun-java6-plugin)
Then I entered:
sudo aptitude install w32codecs
and pressed enter
To install DVD playback capability, I entered the following in a terminal, pressing enter after each:
sudo aptitude install libdvdread3
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh
sudo aptitude install totem-xine
sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2
I popped "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" into the tray and hey presto - DVD playback in 'Totem'!
NB - first you have to add some extra repositories to Synaptic. There are guidelines at:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_add_extra_repositories
Enabling DVD playback was only marginally more difficult. Following the instructions at:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty#How_to_install_Multimedia_Codecs
I entered the following in a terminal:
sudo aptitude install ubuntu-restricted-extras libxine-extracodecs gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-pitfdll
and pressed enter
(Note: The "ubuntu-restricted-extras" is a meta-package that installs : flashplugin-nonfree, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse, msttcorefonts, sun-java6-jre and sun-java6-plugin)
Then I entered:
sudo aptitude install w32codecs
and pressed enter
To install DVD playback capability, I entered the following in a terminal, pressing enter after each:
sudo aptitude install libdvdread3
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh
sudo aptitude install totem-xine
sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2
I popped "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" into the tray and hey presto - DVD playback in 'Totem'!
Tue Jun 5 2007 - adding Kubuntu desktop, then Kubuntu
I was keen to try the KDE look and compare it to Ubuntu's Gnome interface. At first I intended to create a fresh installation of Kubuntu in a separate partition. But then I came across a couple of sites which pointed out that I'd be using a lot less space on my hard drive for essentially the same result if I simply installed the Kubuntu desktop in Ubuntu. That way I could log into either Gnome or KDE.
Here are a couple of useful links. You don't need them to follow in my footsteps however:
http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2006/01/13/ubuntu-to-kubuntu-keeping-the-menus-clean/
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9369
So I opened Synaptic, searched for 'kubuntu-desktop' and when it was found, checked it, ignored the warning and then hit 'reply'. Whoooh - nearly 200MB of download later, it was installed. Only one point worth mentioning - you'll be asked which desktop you want set as default. I chose 'gdm' - Gnome. 'kdm' refers to KDE.
Before I exited from Ubuntu, I noticed that many (if not all) of the KDE apps were already listed in the 'Applications' menu. If you google right, you'll find ways of avoiding this 'application crossover' - through both scripts and downloadable applets. I didn't mind. Anyway, my intention was to just uncheck the KDE apps I didn't want to see in my Ubuntu desktop in the main menu editor (system/preferences). (BTW, would those unchecked apps also be excluded from the Kubuntu menu? I tested that by unchecking 'Gwenview'. Turns out it still showed up in Kubuntu.)
So now I could log into either a KDE or Gnome session at login. I rebooted, and at login chose KDE. Hmmm - what would I see? Uh oh - that was Kubuntu alright. But the fonts were way too big. Come to think of it - so was the font on the login and password entry fields. Maybe they were related. I went hunting.
At http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-332101.html I found 2 separate pieces of advice. I tried the 2nd first - changing the entry font size in my theme settings. In a terminal I typed:
cd /usr/share/gdm/themes/Human
and then:
sudo gedit Human.xml
I changed the font size from 12 to 8 in this bit:
<item type="entry" id="user-pw-entry">
<normal color="#000000" font="Sans 8"/>
<pos y="2" x="2" width="-4" height="-4" anchor="nw"/>
</item>
That worked. But the KDE and session option fonts were still whopping. So I tried the 1st suggestion and added the suggested lines:
Options "UseEdidDpi" "False"
Options "DPI" "96x96"
into my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in the screen section just under 'Defaultdepth 24'.
Then I rebooted. Whoops - that was a mistake. Disaster. I've cruelled my xconf.
DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT plonk those lines where I did.
Somewhere no doubt, someone has written a step-by-step guide to recovery from X-configuration failure. Unfortunately, I haven't found it... yet. After a few fruitless attempts at rebooting and issuing 'hope-for-the-best' commands at the prompt which resulted from each X-crash, I decided it would be better to cut my losses and just install Kubuntu in a new partition beside Ubuntu.
Sure enough, that went painlessly, and the outcome was a Kubuntu with the correct font size. Whatsmore I didn't have any overlap of KDE apps listed in Gnome menus and vice versa.
Of course, if I had been sensible and had backed up my xorg.conf file, it would have been a very simple procedure to replace the new error-laden file with the old one at a command prompt. But that was not to be...
So now I have Kubuntu as well. Shame about the lack of a desktop effects applet. Apparently you have to get your hands dirty with the console and commands to get that going. Another day maybe. And I noticed a rather noisy hum while using Kubuntu that never abated. I wonder what the story is there.
Here are a couple of useful links. You don't need them to follow in my footsteps however:
http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2006/01/13/ubuntu-to-kubuntu-keeping-the-menus-clean/
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9369
So I opened Synaptic, searched for 'kubuntu-desktop' and when it was found, checked it, ignored the warning and then hit 'reply'. Whoooh - nearly 200MB of download later, it was installed. Only one point worth mentioning - you'll be asked which desktop you want set as default. I chose 'gdm' - Gnome. 'kdm' refers to KDE.
Before I exited from Ubuntu, I noticed that many (if not all) of the KDE apps were already listed in the 'Applications' menu. If you google right, you'll find ways of avoiding this 'application crossover' - through both scripts and downloadable applets. I didn't mind. Anyway, my intention was to just uncheck the KDE apps I didn't want to see in my Ubuntu desktop in the main menu editor (system/preferences). (BTW, would those unchecked apps also be excluded from the Kubuntu menu? I tested that by unchecking 'Gwenview'. Turns out it still showed up in Kubuntu.)
So now I could log into either a KDE or Gnome session at login. I rebooted, and at login chose KDE. Hmmm - what would I see? Uh oh - that was Kubuntu alright. But the fonts were way too big. Come to think of it - so was the font on the login and password entry fields. Maybe they were related. I went hunting.
At http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-332101.html I found 2 separate pieces of advice. I tried the 2nd first - changing the entry font size in my theme settings. In a terminal I typed:
cd /usr/share/gdm/themes/Human
and then:
sudo gedit Human.xml
I changed the font size from 12 to 8 in this bit:
<item type="entry" id="user-pw-entry">
<normal color="#000000" font="Sans 8"/>
<pos y="2" x="2" width="-4" height="-4" anchor="nw"/>
</item>
That worked. But the KDE and session option fonts were still whopping. So I tried the 1st suggestion and added the suggested lines:
Options "UseEdidDpi" "False"
Options "DPI" "96x96"
into my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in the screen section just under 'Defaultdepth 24'.
Then I rebooted. Whoops - that was a mistake. Disaster. I've cruelled my xconf.
DO NOT - I repeat DO NOT plonk those lines where I did.
Somewhere no doubt, someone has written a step-by-step guide to recovery from X-configuration failure. Unfortunately, I haven't found it... yet. After a few fruitless attempts at rebooting and issuing 'hope-for-the-best' commands at the prompt which resulted from each X-crash, I decided it would be better to cut my losses and just install Kubuntu in a new partition beside Ubuntu.
Sure enough, that went painlessly, and the outcome was a Kubuntu with the correct font size. Whatsmore I didn't have any overlap of KDE apps listed in Gnome menus and vice versa.
Of course, if I had been sensible and had backed up my xorg.conf file, it would have been a very simple procedure to replace the new error-laden file with the old one at a command prompt. But that was not to be...
So now I have Kubuntu as well. Shame about the lack of a desktop effects applet. Apparently you have to get your hands dirty with the console and commands to get that going. Another day maybe. And I noticed a rather noisy hum while using Kubuntu that never abated. I wonder what the story is there.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Mon Jun 4 2007 - trying Kiba-Dock
I'd read here and there mixed reviews of something called Kiba-Dock. But I made up my mind to road test it when I saw a video demonstration at http://ubuntu1501.blogspot.com/search/label/eyecandy that looked sensational. Flying, sliding, springing, bouncing, pulsing, billiard-ball collisions - the list goes on. At http://www.kiba-dock.org/ there was mention of packages for feisty and a URL. So I lobbed over to http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb/dists/feisty/eyecandy/index.html.
I grabbed the repository details: 'deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy' from the top of the page and added that to Synaptic under Settings/Repositories. Then I searched for kiba-dock in Synaptic and selected 'kiba-dock' from the resulting list. Synaptic enforced the installation of 2 dependent packages. Fine. I clicked apply and installed all 3.
In the main menu under 'Applications' I now found 'kiba-dock'. I clicked it. Nothing happened. So I clicked 'kiba settings' (also under 'Applications') and enabled one of the plugins in the left hand pane called g-menu (Gnome menu). I clicked 'kiba-dock' again and at last, a dock showed. But contrary to the FAQs at http://www.kiba-dock.org/, I wasn't able to drag any launchers from my applications menu onto it. I'd half expected this. A couple of posters to the Kiba-dock site's forum had this very complaint.
Also I noticed that when I enabled 'akamaru' in kiba settings, the PC slowed to a crawl. CPU usage was mammoth. So there went all the nifty physics tricks and widgetry with the icons. Quite frankly, what I had was a dud. No launchers, no bouncing. But what about that demo site. Why did the dock work for others? I decided to find out.
I returned to that bosker demo page at http://ubuntu1501.blogspot.com/search/label/eyecandy
Some way down the page I found step-by-step instructions for installing kiba-dock, and noticed they bore little resemblance to the Synaptic path I had taken. This was command-line stuff. Ok, I thought nervously, I'll give it a burl. Unfortunately, the first time I tried it, I got a core dump error in the terminal window.
So I sought out all my kiba-dock folders (hidden and visible) and deleted them all, or in one case where I couldn't delete the folder - removed the 2 files within.
Then I tried again, and lo and behold - a nascent blue-striped kiba-dock. And I could drag launchers onto it! And akamaru was enabled by default and all those icon gymnastics came to life, just like in the video demo. Hey presto - kiba-dock in all its glory!
The only slight issue was that if the 'pulse' or 'zoom' effects were enabled on mouseover, a white square flashed briefly over the adjacent icon. This wasn't evident with the first installation via synaptic. But I prefer the dock without zoom - it makes clicking icons a little easier, so the issue hasn't been a show-stopper.
I grabbed the repository details: 'deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb feisty eyecandy' from the top of the page and added that to Synaptic under Settings/Repositories. Then I searched for kiba-dock in Synaptic and selected 'kiba-dock' from the resulting list. Synaptic enforced the installation of 2 dependent packages. Fine. I clicked apply and installed all 3.
In the main menu under 'Applications' I now found 'kiba-dock'. I clicked it. Nothing happened. So I clicked 'kiba settings' (also under 'Applications') and enabled one of the plugins in the left hand pane called g-menu (Gnome menu). I clicked 'kiba-dock' again and at last, a dock showed. But contrary to the FAQs at http://www.kiba-dock.org/, I wasn't able to drag any launchers from my applications menu onto it. I'd half expected this. A couple of posters to the Kiba-dock site's forum had this very complaint.
Also I noticed that when I enabled 'akamaru' in kiba settings, the PC slowed to a crawl. CPU usage was mammoth. So there went all the nifty physics tricks and widgetry with the icons. Quite frankly, what I had was a dud. No launchers, no bouncing. But what about that demo site. Why did the dock work for others? I decided to find out.
I returned to that bosker demo page at http://ubuntu1501.blogspot.com/search/label/eyecandy
Some way down the page I found step-by-step instructions for installing kiba-dock, and noticed they bore little resemblance to the Synaptic path I had taken. This was command-line stuff. Ok, I thought nervously, I'll give it a burl. Unfortunately, the first time I tried it, I got a core dump error in the terminal window.
So I sought out all my kiba-dock folders (hidden and visible) and deleted them all, or in one case where I couldn't delete the folder - removed the 2 files within.
Then I tried again, and lo and behold - a nascent blue-striped kiba-dock. And I could drag launchers onto it! And akamaru was enabled by default and all those icon gymnastics came to life, just like in the video demo. Hey presto - kiba-dock in all its glory!
The only slight issue was that if the 'pulse' or 'zoom' effects were enabled on mouseover, a white square flashed briefly over the adjacent icon. This wasn't evident with the first installation via synaptic. But I prefer the dock without zoom - it makes clicking icons a little easier, so the issue hasn't been a show-stopper.
Sun Jun 3 2007 - Desktop Effects
Did I mention that Ubuntu found all my Windows partitions (and the DELL utility one!) and placed an icon for each on my desktop? That was impressive. I can see NTFS drives and peruse their contents. But I can't save files there. Not yet anyway. (But that will come)
Then I clicked the blue question mark icon in the top panel and read the help file, to familiarise myself a little more with the Linux world. I also went looking for the equivalent of Windows' 'add/install programs' and I found it in the 'Applications' menu (top panel left).
My goal for today was to get Compiz desktop effects. I had read about them online and was intrigued - wobbling windows, a rotating cube of the four workspaces and transparent window borders. This I had to see.
First some more background reading. I found the compiz.org site and also a very useful unofficial Feisty Fawn 'how-to' guide at http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty. I should mention at this point that my video card is an nvidia (GeForce), and this guide has a brief section on installing Compiz with nvidia. But I also had the benefit of some advice from a friend. "Install the nvidia driver first", he said. "Save yourself some pain. Use 'Synaptic' - look for nvidia-glx." And so I did. Under 'System/Administration', I found 'Synaptic package Manager'. I opened it and in the search box typed 'nvidia'. In the resulting list, I selected 'nvidia-glx' and clicked apply. Installation was straightforward. I didn't get a prompt to restart. But since this seemed like a major system change, I did. (Did I need to?)
Back in Ubuntu I chose 'Desktop Effects' from the 'System/Preferences' menu and ticked both options. A warning prompt later (they're a little racy and unsupported, you know), I had both window wobble (grab the title bar and shake) and workspaces on a cube (press ctrl-alt and the drag with your mouse on the desktop). Snodger!
I couldn't see any evidence of transparent window borders though. I was expecting something like Vista's aero glass, but they seemed unchanged from the Ubuntu 'Human' theme default. After an hour or so of googling and forum trawling, I discovered that in fact the 'Compiz' themes listed at gnome-look.org as well as some application called 'Compiz themer' belong to a former era (prior to the split with Beryl?) and no longer work in Compiz. Bottom line - the latest stable version of Compiz (the one which comes with Ubuntu) has no separate category of themes and has no system tray applet or program listed in the menu options, for configuring its effects. But you can make window borders transparent, fairly simply. Here's how:
The only configuration tool available with my current setup is the gnome configurator, called gconf. But it's hidden by default in Ubuntu. So I went to 'System/Preferences/Main Menu' then clicked on 'System Tools' under 'Applications', ticked 'Configuration Editor' and closed that window. I was now able to choose 'Configuration Editor' from the 'Applications' menu. Following the instructions I found in a forum entry I've since lost, I clicked 'apps' then 'gwd' then right clicked on 'metacity_theme_active_opacity' and changed it's value to .7 (ends up as .69 ?!) I also adjusted the 'metacity_theme_opacity' to .5. Then I opened a couple of windows and by sliding one across the other could clearly see the content of the lower pane through the title bar of the upper. Whacko - transparency!
So what's the story with themes? Quite simply, you use Metacity themes. These are the standard ones - the type included with Ubuntu and listed under 'Preferences/Themes'. There are also reams of others you can download from gnome-look.org. And then you adjust the opacity of 'gwd' (what is that short for?) in gconf (see above). I imagine there's a Metacity theme somewhere that looks a little like Vista and which, with an opacity of .3 or so, would look rather 'aero glass'. But I'm sticking with the default 'Human' theme for the moment.
Next question: What are Compiz extras? The Compiz site suggested installing them, so I located them in synaptic (see above) and installed. But what to do with them? What effects were offered and how do i configure them?
http://www.compiz.org/Plugins describes briefly all the plugins. And http://www.compiz.org/Gconf-Editor gives an overview of gconf
I discovered in gconf under apps/compiz/general/allscreens/options that I had the following active plugins i.a.: gconf, png, svg, decoration, wobbly, fade, minimize, cube, rotate, zoom, move, resize, switcher, annotate, screenshot, scale, place, inotify, dbus, keybinding. The ones that interested me most were: fade, minimize, zoom, switcher, scale.
Note - there are a few dead-ends on the compiz site. The 'compiz-settings' app for example, has been abandoned. So ignore that avenue. It's down to gconf (see above) for adjusting Compiz effects. Generally speaking, key combinations enable them. On key combinations, http://computerbits.wordpress.com/tag/compiz/ was useful, but had me scratching my head in a few places. And this page has a good overview of the various effects - http://gentoo-wiki.com/Compiz, as well as key combinations.
Fade - this affects menus on opening and closing. I slowed this in gconf from 5 to 10.
Minimise - slowed this gliding effect (on minimising windows) from 1.5 to 1. Sweet.
Zoom-in = Super-key (windows logo) + wheel mouse up - yeah
Zoom-out = Super-key + wheel mouse down - bewdy
Switcher - ctrl-alt + tab - bonzer, got that working.
Scale - I could see what this would do at http://www.compiz.org/Plugins - tile all my open windows so that each was visible. But how to enable it? what was the key combination? I couldn't find a forum post that made sense to me. Finally I found the answer in gconf itself under compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options - the initiate key is ctrl-alt + up (arrow at bottom right of keyboard). Snodger - it's cookin'.
NB - by default, the Ubuntu (or Gnome) setup gives you 4 workspaces. And you need all 4 to work the rotating cube. Sometimes, inexplicably, the workspaces contract to a single one, which disables the cube. You need to then reinstate the 4 workspaces by right-clicking on the workspace icon and resetting to 4 in preferences. Then deselect and reselect the cube effect under 'System/Desktop Effects' from the main menu.
Then I clicked the blue question mark icon in the top panel and read the help file, to familiarise myself a little more with the Linux world. I also went looking for the equivalent of Windows' 'add/install programs' and I found it in the 'Applications' menu (top panel left).
My goal for today was to get Compiz desktop effects. I had read about them online and was intrigued - wobbling windows, a rotating cube of the four workspaces and transparent window borders. This I had to see.
First some more background reading. I found the compiz.org site and also a very useful unofficial Feisty Fawn 'how-to' guide at http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty. I should mention at this point that my video card is an nvidia (GeForce), and this guide has a brief section on installing Compiz with nvidia. But I also had the benefit of some advice from a friend. "Install the nvidia driver first", he said. "Save yourself some pain. Use 'Synaptic' - look for nvidia-glx." And so I did. Under 'System/Administration', I found 'Synaptic package Manager'. I opened it and in the search box typed 'nvidia'. In the resulting list, I selected 'nvidia-glx' and clicked apply. Installation was straightforward. I didn't get a prompt to restart. But since this seemed like a major system change, I did. (Did I need to?)
Back in Ubuntu I chose 'Desktop Effects' from the 'System/Preferences' menu and ticked both options. A warning prompt later (they're a little racy and unsupported, you know), I had both window wobble (grab the title bar and shake) and workspaces on a cube (press ctrl-alt and the drag with your mouse on the desktop). Snodger!
I couldn't see any evidence of transparent window borders though. I was expecting something like Vista's aero glass, but they seemed unchanged from the Ubuntu 'Human' theme default. After an hour or so of googling and forum trawling, I discovered that in fact the 'Compiz' themes listed at gnome-look.org as well as some application called 'Compiz themer' belong to a former era (prior to the split with Beryl?) and no longer work in Compiz. Bottom line - the latest stable version of Compiz (the one which comes with Ubuntu) has no separate category of themes and has no system tray applet or program listed in the menu options, for configuring its effects. But you can make window borders transparent, fairly simply. Here's how:
The only configuration tool available with my current setup is the gnome configurator, called gconf. But it's hidden by default in Ubuntu. So I went to 'System/Preferences/Main Menu' then clicked on 'System Tools' under 'Applications', ticked 'Configuration Editor' and closed that window. I was now able to choose 'Configuration Editor' from the 'Applications' menu. Following the instructions I found in a forum entry I've since lost, I clicked 'apps' then 'gwd' then right clicked on 'metacity_theme_active_opacity' and changed it's value to .7 (ends up as .69 ?!) I also adjusted the 'metacity_theme_opacity' to .5. Then I opened a couple of windows and by sliding one across the other could clearly see the content of the lower pane through the title bar of the upper. Whacko - transparency!
So what's the story with themes? Quite simply, you use Metacity themes. These are the standard ones - the type included with Ubuntu and listed under 'Preferences/Themes'. There are also reams of others you can download from gnome-look.org. And then you adjust the opacity of 'gwd' (what is that short for?) in gconf (see above). I imagine there's a Metacity theme somewhere that looks a little like Vista and which, with an opacity of .3 or so, would look rather 'aero glass'. But I'm sticking with the default 'Human' theme for the moment.
Next question: What are Compiz extras? The Compiz site suggested installing them, so I located them in synaptic (see above) and installed. But what to do with them? What effects were offered and how do i configure them?
http://www.compiz.org/Plugins describes briefly all the plugins. And http://www.compiz.org/Gconf-Editor gives an overview of gconf
I discovered in gconf under apps/compiz/general/allscreens/options that I had the following active plugins i.a.: gconf, png, svg, decoration, wobbly, fade, minimize, cube, rotate, zoom, move, resize, switcher, annotate, screenshot, scale, place, inotify, dbus, keybinding. The ones that interested me most were: fade, minimize, zoom, switcher, scale.
Note - there are a few dead-ends on the compiz site. The 'compiz-settings' app for example, has been abandoned. So ignore that avenue. It's down to gconf (see above) for adjusting Compiz effects. Generally speaking, key combinations enable them. On key combinations, http://computerbits.wordpress.com/tag/compiz/ was useful, but had me scratching my head in a few places. And this page has a good overview of the various effects - http://gentoo-wiki.com/Compiz, as well as key combinations.
Fade - this affects menus on opening and closing. I slowed this in gconf from 5 to 10.
Minimise - slowed this gliding effect (on minimising windows) from 1.5 to 1. Sweet.
Zoom-in = Super-key (windows logo) + wheel mouse up - yeah
Zoom-out = Super-key + wheel mouse down - bewdy
Switcher - ctrl-alt + tab - bonzer, got that working.
Scale - I could see what this would do at http://www.compiz.org/Plugins - tile all my open windows so that each was visible. But how to enable it? what was the key combination? I couldn't find a forum post that made sense to me. Finally I found the answer in gconf itself under compiz/plugins/scale/allscreens/options - the initiate key is ctrl-alt + up (arrow at bottom right of keyboard). Snodger - it's cookin'.
NB - by default, the Ubuntu (or Gnome) setup gives you 4 workspaces. And you need all 4 to work the rotating cube. Sometimes, inexplicably, the workspaces contract to a single one, which disables the cube. You need to then reinstate the 4 workspaces by right-clicking on the workspace icon and resetting to 4 in preferences. Then deselect and reselect the cube effect under 'System/Desktop Effects' from the main menu.
Sat Jun 2 2007 - Installation & Wireless Connection
The road to Ubuntu begins. I am a Windows user and have been since windows 3.1. I've used them all -95, 98, NT, ME, and nothing but. Now however I'm feeling the tug. The word is spreading and the allure is too great. I must try this Ubuntu for myself.
My Inspiron 8600 laptop hardware is unchanged from the day I bought it, bar a memory upgrade to 1.25 GB. But my original 512MB would have sufficed. I also went for the top of the line graphics option at the time, which gives me a 1900x1200 resolution. That'll be interesting. Will Ubuntu detect it? I begin:
I downloaded the .iso image for Feisty Fawn from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download. From the local mirror it only took ten minutes or so. Then I burnt it to a single CD using ImgBurn - a free Windows program which burns iso images. Then I labelled the CD, put it in the tray and restarted. As soon as the DELL logo came up, I hit F12 and then chose to boot from the CD ROM drive. Ubuntu logo - I'm away. After a couple of minutes Ubuntu was running from the CD. I didn't tarry long here because I'd already decided to 'keep the thing'. But I did note it had found my resolution OK. I clicked the 'install' icon and then followed all the prompts. It was the usual OS installation stuff - time zones, keyboards layouts, user names etc. The only part worth mentioning here is the disk partition. Most users should simply elect for Ubuntu to do this unguided. Relax - your Windows partition will be resized unscathed and a new partition of sensible size will be created for Ubuntu. I chose to do a manual partition because I wanted to keep it small for apps only. My intention was to store all my music, images and documents on an existing NTFS partition which would be shared with Windows (more on that later). I ended up with a 7GB partition for root (/) and a 2GB (twice your physical memory - is that still the rule?) for swap. I got a little anxious about removing the CD at the end of the install process, but I didn't need to because it ejected the disk automatically when it was ready. I hit enter and the laptop rebooted.
The GRUB boot loader looked a little 'terminal window' and confusing, but I simply waited for Ubuntu to load automatically and it did. I logged in and was soon presented with the caramel 'human' face of Ubuntu. I like it. The computing world has enough blues.
First thing I wanted to do was set up my wireless connection to our home's router. I saw a network connection icon in the top right system tray and clicked it. Bonzer - it had found mine and my neighbour's wireless networks. I selected mine and in the ensuing dialogue box entered my WEP key. There was some confusion here - was my key 'passphrase' or '40/104-bit hex'? Trial and error taught me it was the latter in my case. I was in! A tooltip notification told me I was connected. Yay. Now for the lesson I then learned - don't cancel the request by the 'key-ring' prompt to record a password to use with you wireless connection. I know. It seemed strange to me too. I've just entered my connection's WEP key. Why does Ubuntu want another password? But enter one - anything, even 'boo' will do, because if you don't, you'll have to find your WEP key and enter it again next time you log on. That's what I found out.
And then I tweaked Firefox - small icons, no bookmarks toolbar, add tab icon. And I read some news online. My first day with Ubuntu was done.
My Inspiron 8600 laptop hardware is unchanged from the day I bought it, bar a memory upgrade to 1.25 GB. But my original 512MB would have sufficed. I also went for the top of the line graphics option at the time, which gives me a 1900x1200 resolution. That'll be interesting. Will Ubuntu detect it? I begin:
I downloaded the .iso image for Feisty Fawn from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download. From the local mirror it only took ten minutes or so. Then I burnt it to a single CD using ImgBurn - a free Windows program which burns iso images. Then I labelled the CD, put it in the tray and restarted. As soon as the DELL logo came up, I hit F12 and then chose to boot from the CD ROM drive. Ubuntu logo - I'm away. After a couple of minutes Ubuntu was running from the CD. I didn't tarry long here because I'd already decided to 'keep the thing'. But I did note it had found my resolution OK. I clicked the 'install' icon and then followed all the prompts. It was the usual OS installation stuff - time zones, keyboards layouts, user names etc. The only part worth mentioning here is the disk partition. Most users should simply elect for Ubuntu to do this unguided. Relax - your Windows partition will be resized unscathed and a new partition of sensible size will be created for Ubuntu. I chose to do a manual partition because I wanted to keep it small for apps only. My intention was to store all my music, images and documents on an existing NTFS partition which would be shared with Windows (more on that later). I ended up with a 7GB partition for root (/) and a 2GB (twice your physical memory - is that still the rule?) for swap. I got a little anxious about removing the CD at the end of the install process, but I didn't need to because it ejected the disk automatically when it was ready. I hit enter and the laptop rebooted.
The GRUB boot loader looked a little 'terminal window' and confusing, but I simply waited for Ubuntu to load automatically and it did. I logged in and was soon presented with the caramel 'human' face of Ubuntu. I like it. The computing world has enough blues.
First thing I wanted to do was set up my wireless connection to our home's router. I saw a network connection icon in the top right system tray and clicked it. Bonzer - it had found mine and my neighbour's wireless networks. I selected mine and in the ensuing dialogue box entered my WEP key. There was some confusion here - was my key 'passphrase' or '40/104-bit hex'? Trial and error taught me it was the latter in my case. I was in! A tooltip notification told me I was connected. Yay. Now for the lesson I then learned - don't cancel the request by the 'key-ring' prompt to record a password to use with you wireless connection. I know. It seemed strange to me too. I've just entered my connection's WEP key. Why does Ubuntu want another password? But enter one - anything, even 'boo' will do, because if you don't, you'll have to find your WEP key and enter it again next time you log on. That's what I found out.
And then I tweaked Firefox - small icons, no bookmarks toolbar, add tab icon. And I read some news online. My first day with Ubuntu was done.
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