Web Upd8 - Ubuntu / Linux blog

Linux Deepin 12.12 Released With New Desktop Environment, More [Video, Screenshots]

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:04:00 +0000

Linux Deepin is a Chinese Linux distribution (English ISO files are available as well) based on Ubuntu, that ships with its own desktop environment and some unique applications, which integrate with the overall Linux Deepin look and feel.

Linux Deepin 12.12, based on Ubuntu 13.04, has been released today and comes with a huge list of changes and improvements, including a new desktop environment: Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE). Previously, Linux Deepin has used a highly customized GNOME Shell as the default desktop environment.

The latest version, 12.12, was supposed to be released by the end of December 2012, but because its developers wanted to offer a stable, high quality Linux distribution and that couldn't be achieved in time, it was postponed until today, when the 12.12 version has finally been released.

Linux Deepin 12.12 video

(direct video link)

Deepin Desktop Environment

Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE) tries to continue with the same look and feel Linux Deepin had in the previous releases, but without using GNOME Shell. The menu will probably remind you of the GNOME Shell Activities Overview while the indicators on the bottom dock look more or less like those used in elementary OS Luna. But, unlike Pantheon and GNOME Shell, Deepin Desktop uses Compiz. I didn't look close into this, but it seems that the Compiz version in Linux Deepin comes with some DDE-specific patches.

Each desktop component has various useful features, such as:

- Application launcher: quickly create a desktop shortcut or add an application to the dock via right click; on the desktop, you can drag and drop an application on to another one to create an application group, useful to keep your desktop organized - you can easily rename the app group, ungroup the applications, delete it and so on:

- The dock displays live previews for open windows. You can use the previews to switch between windows or close them:

- Stylish notifications that come with a close button so they never get in your way:

Linux Deepin 12.12 ships with its own System Settings, this being the first release to include it. The new settings tool is designed to be easy to use and by default, it doesn't display advanced settings that regular users wouldn't understand. Using it, you can configure various system settings such as the sound, multiple monitors and so on as well as change the theme, the dock behavior and more:

Default applications

Linux Deepin ships with its own software center, music player, video player and screenshot tool, along with some applications, including proprietary software such as Skype.

Linux Deepin 12.12 includes Deepin Software Center 3.0, which comes with new features such as:

recommendations and download rank added to the home page;
various category improvements;
Users can now log in using their Linux Deepin forum account to comment and rate applications;
The preferred software sources mirrors can now be set via its preferences.

Also, Deepin Software Center comes with a completely reworked backend which should improve its performance.

The default Linux Deepin video player, DPlayer, has received new features too, including:

supports choosing and switching sound tracks and subtitles for multiple languages;
can be used to convert video files to various formats;
supports DVD/CD playback;
multiple instances support.

Another application especially designed for Linux Deepin is DMusic, the default music player. DMusic 2.0, which is included in Linux Deepin 12.12, has received addons support and includes DoubanFM and Internet Radio addons by default, along with some other features:

a new mini-mode has been added - you can easily toggle between the regular and mini interfaces from its preferences;
supports audio CD and lossless formats playback;
can convert between various audio formats;
comes with Mpris V2 support so it's integrated into the Linux Deepin sound menu (displayed on the bottom dock).

And finally, DSnapshot (previously Deepin Scrot - really), a screenshot tool that's available by default in Linux Deepin, has received support for sharing screenshots on Twitter and other social media websites along with other improvements and bug fixes.

Besides the applications mentioned above, Linux Deepin 12.12 ships with the following applications by default: Nautilus 3.8.1 (patch to display the gear menu on the left), Firefox 21, Google Chrome 27, Thunderbird 17.0.6, LibreOffice 4.0.2, Kingsoft Office (WPS Office) 9.1.0, GNOME Sound Recorder 3.4.0, Pidgin 2.10.7 and Skype 4.2.0.11, among others. Also, Linux Deepin comes with codecs and Adobe Flash Player installed by default, along with a proprietary Wireless Drivers setup tool.

Under the hood, Linux Deepin 12.12 uses GTK 3.8.2 - unlike Ubuntu 13.04 which ships with GTK 3.6 -, a patched Compiz 0.9.99+git, the Ubuntu Kernel 3.8.0, based on the upstream Linux Kernel 3.8.5, and Xorg server 1.13.3.

Here are a few more Linux Deepin screenshots:

Lock screen

Download Linux Deepin 12.12

Download Linux Deepin

Linux Deepin 12.12 ships with a nice user manual (available on the desktop for easy access) so, even if you've used Linux Deepin before, take a look at the manual to find out some of the basics, like how to create application groups and so on:

Oracle Releases Java 7 Update 25 (7u25) With 40 Critical Security Updates, Ubuntu PPA Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:59:00 +0000

Quick update: Oracle has released Java 7 Update 25 and the new version is available in the WebUpd8 Oracle Java PPA, for Ubuntu and Debian users.

Oracle Java 7 Update 25 (7u25) comes with fixes for 40 security vulnerabilities, along with other non-security fixes. Since JDK 6 hasn't been updated with the latest security patches, if you're still using it, it's recommended you upgrade to JDK 7.

To install the latest Oracle JDK7 (7u25) in Ubuntu and derivatives (Linux Mint, etc.), use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

Debian users can find installation instructions HERE.

For more information, see: Install Oracle Java 7 in Ubuntu via PPA Repository.

Synapse Indicator: New Search AppIndicator Based On Synapse Launcher

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 17:07:00 +0000

Synapse Indicator is a new, unofficial search indicator created for elementary OS. The application should also work under Unity, the Ubuntu GNOME fallback session or in Cairo Dock.

Synapse Indicator in elementary OS Luna

Like the name suggests, this is a front-end for Synapse, a semantic launcher used to start applications and find relevant files using Zeitgeist, extensible through plugins. It's a great, lightweight alternative to the once very popular GNOME Do or, more or less, to Unity's Dash.

While the functionality is basically the same, there are some interface differences: with Synapse Indicator, there's no need to scroll to see all the search results, unlike the original Synapse. Moreover, using the AppIndicator, the results are nicely displayed under categories, so you can quickly distinguish between applications, files and so on.

Also, this is useful for those who don't want to use a keyboard shortcut to run Synapse. And of course, the AppIndicator integrates great with the elementary OS desktop, as you can see in the screenshot above.

According to Tom Beckmann, the Synapse Indicator developer, it is unlikely for this to become default in elementary OS. "If at all, it'd be it's [Slinghot's] search feature", says Tom on Google+. But if you want to use it, you can easily install it via PPA.

Synapse Indicator in Ubuntu 13.04

Before proceeding with the installation, please note that Synapse Indicator is in its infancy so you may encounter bugs. Since it uses the same code as Synapse, there shouldn't be any functionality issues, but the interface might have some glitches, especially if you're using Ubuntu, since this is aimed at elementary OS. For instance, in my test under Ubuntu, I've had to set the system font to 10 (default is 11) to get the "WolframAlpha" entry properly aligned in the indicator. Also, the indicator doesn't have any options for now.

Update: a version that supports accessing the indicator using a keyboard shortcut (ALT+SUPER+SPACE) is now available in the PPA, however, using the keyboard shortcut hasn't worked in my test.

Install Synapse Indicator

Thanks to Eduard Gotwig's PPA and Rico Tzschichholz's packaging, Synapse Indicator can be installed in Ubuntu / elementary OS by using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gotwig/weekly
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install indicator-synapse

Once installed, you need to restart the panel or log out and log back in.

In elementary OS, this should restart the panel:

killall wingpanel

In Unity, you can press ALT + F2 and enter "unity". Or simply log out and log back in and the new indicator should show up on the panel.

For other Linux distributions, you can get the Synapse Indicator code from BZR.

seen on atombit.es

How To Set Up A Wireless Hotspot (Access Point Mode) That Supports Android In Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:08:00 +0000

A wireless hotspot enables a computer to serve as a router over Wi-Fi. Ubuntu lets you easily create a wireless hotspot by using the Network Manager, but it uses an ad hoc network and most Android and Windows Phone devices can't connect to such networks.

For this reason, I've created (in collaboration with Satya) a script called AP-Hotspot that automatically creates an infrastructure (Access Point mode) wireless hotspot in Ubuntu that should work with Android and Windows Phone devices. The script uses hostapd and dnsmasq and it requires Access Point mode support for your wireless card - AP-Hotspot checks for this automatically and won't run if your wireless card doesn't support it.

So far, we've tested it in Ubuntu 13.04 with a Dell Inspiron 1545 (Wireless Card: Broadcom Corporation: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY) and a Dell XPS L702X (Wireless: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030) and the Android devices we've used have successfully connected to the Wi-Fi hotspot, unlike using the Ubuntu built-in hotspot feature. Because this depends on the hardware you're using, it isn't something easy to test and it may not work for everybody but hopefully it will work for most configurations.

AP-Hotspot is based on THESE instructions (which by the way, you can use if you don't want to use our script), however, using the script should be a lot easier to set up an Access Point mode wireless hotspot because it automatically checks if all the requirements are met: the wireless card supports AP mode, if the WiFi is turned on but not connected to any network (without this, the hotspot doesn't work) and so on. Also, the script tries to configure everything automatically so in most cases, the configuration should take just a few seconds.

Another script feature is that it displays notifications: when the hotspot becomes active and when a device connects or disconnects from the hotspot.

Install AP-Hotspot in Ubuntu

To add the main WebUpd8 PPA (note: there are some other packages in the main WebUpd8 PPA which you can see HERE) and install AP-Hotspot in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

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

If you're not using Ubuntu or don't want to add the main WebUpd8 PPA, you can get the script from HERE (but it has only been tested in Ubuntu). If you're not using the deb, make sure you also install the following packages, required by the script: hostapd, dnsmasq and iw.

Usage

To start AP-Hotspot, use the following command:

sudo ap-hotspot start

The first time you run the script, it tries to automatically detect which network interface is connected to the Internet, the wireless network interface and so on, however, if the detection doesn't work correctly, you can enter these manually:

Then, you'll have to enter the desired hotspot Access Point name and password:

If later on you want to run the configuration again, use the following command:

sudo ap-hotspot configure

To stop the wireless hotspot, use:

sudo ap-hotspot stop

Or, if you want to restart it, use:

sudo ap-hotspot restart

To see all the supported commands, simply type the following in a terminal:

ap-hotspot

Try The New LibreOffice Flat Icon Set

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:57:00 +0000

It looks like LibreOffice will get a new set of flat icons, based on Gnome's symbolic icons. The icon set isn't completed yet, but you can try it already - below you'll find instructions on how to easily try the new icons.

Goran Rakić has posted (thanks!) instructions on how to test the new Libreoffice flat icon set, however, the instructions are not that easy to follow for regular users and the zip in that article is a bit old, so below you'll find easy instructions for how to try the latest flat icons.

Note: the icon theme is work in progress and there are missing icons. For this reason, some of the icons in this set are actually already existing default LibreOffice icons, converted to grayscale, so they integrate better with the new flat icons. The icon theme has been generated from the svg as of 2013-06-13.

Try the new flat icon set for LibreOffice in Ubuntu

1. Install LibreOffice flat icon set

If you're using LibreOffice from the official Ubuntu repositories or PPA:

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-style-crystal
cd /tmp && wget https://github.com/hotice/myfiles/raw/master/images_flat.zip
sudo cp images_flat.zip /usr/share/libreoffice/share/config/images_crystal.zip

The first command above install the LibreOffice Crystal icon set which we'll replace with the new flat icons, the second command downloads the flat icons and the last command replaces the Crystal icons with the new flat icon set.

If you're using the LibreOffice 4.0.x (for older LibreOffice versions you may have to adjust the path for the second command below) build downloaded from its website, use the following commands:

cd /tmp && wget https://github.com/hotice/myfiles/raw/master/images_flat.zip
sudo cp images_flat.zip /opt/libreoffice4.0/share/config/images_crystal.zip

2. Set LibreOffice to use the new flat icons

From the LibreOffice menu select Tools > Options, then under LibreOffice > View > Icon size and style, set the icon theme to "Crystal":

Later on if you want to go back to the original LibreOffice icons, from the same dialog, select "Human" or "Tango" for the icon style.

Other Linux distributions: since I'm not sure about the path used in other Linux distributions, you'll have to manually copy the icons to share/config/ (inside the LibreOffice shared directory) and replace one of the existing icon themes, then set the LibreOffice icon theme to the one you've replaced, from the LibreOffice options dialog (Tools > Options, then under LibreOffice > View > Icon size and style).

If you want to install the icons manually, without using the commands above, you can download the icon set (generated on 2013-06-13) from HERE.

For how to generate the flat icon set yourself, see Goran's article.

Thanks to Cláudio Novais @ Ubuntued for the tip!

Lubuntu 13.10 Changes: Firefox, zRAM Added By Default, LightDM Used For The Lock Screen

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:30:00 +0000

After an update today, Lubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, the LXDE Ubuntu flavour, has switched to Firefox as the default web browser, replacing Chromium, which is a bit of a surprise, considering that Ubuntu 13.10 may switch from Firefox to Chromium. Other Lubuntu 13.10 changes include the addition of zRAM by default and the removal of Xscreensaver, Lubuntu now using LightDM for the lock screen.

According to Julien Lavergne, lead developer, among the reasons behind the decision to replace Chromium with Firefox are: good behaviour on old hardware, PowerPC support, customization support and no "It's dead Jim" bug, which happens often on old hardware, this being Lubuntu's main target:

Good behaviour on old hardware: thanks to your tests, Firefox seems to behave well on old hardware. I also saw it on my own testing system. It's difficult to say if 1 is better than another one, but a 1 tab use of Firefox seems a bit better, and many users still use only 1 tab;

PowerPC support: Firefox support is still limited, but Firefox exists on powerpc. No need to advertise the fact that we have 2 different browsers;

Customization support: you can add bookmarks and other customization to Firefox. Chromium doesn't have it (yet ?). There is also (still ?) a module to install flash support;

No "It's dead Jim" bug. It may be fixed in the future, but I'm not sure it will be critical enough for Canonical to but a lot of effort to fix it. It mostly affects us only, not Ubuntu.

He also adds that "in a politic view, it's better to have a product managed by a foundation" because even though Chromium is open source, "it's still very close to Chrome and Google".

You can read Julien's complete email, HERE.

Another change that has landed in Lubuntu 13.10 today is the addition of zRam by default. zRam is useful for low-RAM machines - it increases the performance by creating a RAM based block device which acts as a swap disk, but is compressed and stored in RAM instead of swap disk (which is slow), allowing faster I/O and increasing the amount of memory available before the system starts swapping to disk. More about zRAM (including installation instructions).

Julien Lavergne says zRAM will be tested in the Lubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander cycle to see if it's useful or not. According to some messages on the Lubuntu mailing list, one of the main reasons for the zRAM addition is to prevent the installer from crashing during graphical installation on computers with very low RAM (256MB-512MB), which seems to have happened for some users.

And the third interesting change in Lubuntu is the removal of Xscreensaver. For the lock screen, Lubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander is currently using LightDM, a change that was announced for Ubuntu as well a while back, but didn't make it for now:

Lubuntu 13.10, just like the other Ubuntu flavours, will be released on October 17th. The complete release schedule can be found HERE.

Variety Wallpaper Changer 0.4.15 Released With Cinnamon 1.8 And MATE 1.6 Support

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 11:10:00 +0000

Variety is a wallpaper changer that automatically downloads wallpapers from sources such as Wallbase, Flickr, Wallpapers.net, Desktoppr, NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day as well as World Sunlight Map: a live Earth wallpaper which changes throughout the day. Using it, you can get a new, beautiful wallpaper automatically at the interval you set in the application preferences.

The application supports most desktop environments: Unity, GNOME Shell, KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Cinnamon, MATE and Pantheon.

Variety 0.4.15 has been released yesterday, bringing support for the latest Cinnamon 1.8 and MATE 1.6, which are used in the two main Linux Mint 15 editions.

The new version also brings better support for LightDM: in the Variety Preferences, on the "Customize" tab, check the box under "Login Screen Support" - this will make sure the wallpaper set by Variety will be used by LightDM login screen. LightDM automatically displays the wallpaper you set for your desktop, however, for this to work, some wallpaper permissions need to be changed; using this option, Variety does this automatically for you so the wallpaper it sets can be used by LightDM.

The latest Variety 0.4.15 also brings many bug fixes, including a fix for the problems with the folder choosers.

Install Variety Wallpaper Changer in Ubuntu

To add the Variety PPA and install the application in Ubuntu, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peterlevi/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install variety

Arch Linux users can install Variety Wallpaper Changer from AUR.

For other Linux distributions, the Variety source code can be downloaded via Launchpad.

Ezame: A New Menu Editor For Unity

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:35:00 +0000

Ezame is a new menu editor especially created for Unity, though it should work with other desktop environments as well.

The application lets you edit or create new menu items (application launchers), with all the options available in a .desktop file: set the icon, category and so on, as well as some advanced options like setting the setting the "OnlyShowIn" or "NotShowIn" options, which can be used to control if certain application should or shouldn't show up in some desktop environments.

If you're not using Unity, from the Ezame menu select Edit > Preferences and then set the desktop to "Classic" instead of "Ubuntu" - using this, the application should display a freedesktop menu instead. The latest Ezame version also comes with initial Cinnamon support.

Ezame doesn't allow you to create or edit categories yet, but this feature is on the todo list.

I've tested Ezame in Unity and when editing an existing application launcher, the changes were visible almost immediately, however, new launchers may take a while to show up in Dash or you may even need to restart the system to get Dash to display the new application launchers you've created. This is a Unity limitation so it can't be fixed in Ezame.

Install Ezame menu editor in Ubuntu

To add its official PPA and install Ezame in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:caldas-lopes/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ezame

The source code is available on GitHub.

Thanks to João Lopes for the tip!

SimpleScreenRecorder: Powerful Screen Recording Software For Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:11:00 +0000

SimpleScreenRecorder is a Qt screen recorder for Linux which, despite its name, comes with more features than other similar tools. The application is very easy to use and the default settings should be enough for most cases, so usually you won't need to change any settings.

Using it, you can record the entire screen (with multi-monitor support), record a fixed rectangle, follow the cursor or record OpenGL applications (can be used to record games).

Launching the application, you'll notice a simple user interface that lets you select the video input, choose if you want to record the cursor or if you want to record the microphone and set the frame rate:

Clicking "Continue", you can select the container for your screencast (MP4, Matroska, WebM, OGG or "Other", which you can use to select any container supported by Libav), file name, video codec (H.264, VP8, Theora or, just like the container, select "Other" which allows you to use any codec supported by Libav), set the video quality or preset:

In the next screen, you can start the recording, enable recording hotkeys so you can pause / resume the recording via a keyboard shortcut and more:

SimpleScreenRecorder features:

records the entire screen or part of it, or records OpenGL applications directly (similar to Fraps on Windows);
synchronizes audio and video properly (a common issue with VLC and ffmpeg/avconv);
faster than VLC and ffmpeg/avconv;
reduces the video frame rate if your computer is too slow (rather than using up all your RAM like VLC does);
fully multithreaded: small delays in any of the components will never block the other components, resulting is smoother video and better performance on computers with multiple processors;
pause and resume recording at any time (either by clicking a button or by pressing a hotkey);
shows statistics during recording (file size, bit rate, total recording time, actual frame rate, ...);
can show a preview during recording, so you don't waste time recording something only to figure out afterwards that some setting was wrong;
more.

Please note that OpenGL support is currently experimental and it might be buggy for now or it may not even work at all for you. Furthermore, the application tries to capture the frames before they are displayed on the screen and this might be considered a hack in some games and you might be banned so check if you're allowed to record a game before using this feature.

Below you can watch a quick video I've recorded using SimpleScreenRecorder in Ubuntu 13.04:

(direct video link)

Install SimpleScreenRecorder

Ubuntu users can install SimpleScreenRecorder by using its official PPA. To add the PPA and install the application, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install simplescreenrecorder

Ubuntu 64bit: if you want to record 32bit games, make sure you also install simplescreenrecorder-lib:i386:

sudo apt-get install simplescreenrecorder-lib:i386

Arch Linux users can install SimpleScreenRecorder via AUR (64bit: just like in Ubuntu, make sure you also install the 32bit libs if you plan on recording 32bit OpenGL applications.

For other Linux distributions, get the source code via GitHub.

Install The Latest VLC In Ubuntu Via PPA [Quick Tip]

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 12:18:00 +0000

Quick tip: new VLC versions are released quite frequently and even though some don't introduce any new features, there are important bug fixes in each release (you can find the VLC changelogs HERE). If you want to always have the latest stable VLC version in Ubuntu, here are some PPAs you can use.

Ubuntu 13.04: you can install the latest VLC media player (2.0.7 at the time I'm writing this article) by using Nate Muench's VLC PPA which contains VLC backports from Debian Unstable / Experimental. To add the PPA and install the latest VLC in Ubuntu 13.04, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:n-muench/vlc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc

Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10: Nate Muench mantains another PPA with the latest VLC media player backported from Debian, for Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04. To add the PPA and install the latest stable VLC, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:n-muench/vlc2
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc

Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04: an alternative PPA you can use is the "VLC Daily build of stable branch" PPA. This PPA doesn't have the latest stable VLC version but it provides builds from the stable branch, so you may occasionaly find some small bugs but if that happens, they should be fixed quickly. The advantage of this PPA over the other two mentioned above is that it has packages for more Ubuntu versions and also, it's updated more frequently since it doesn't depend on the packages being available in Debian before uploading them to the PPA. To add this PPA and install the latest VLC in Ubuntu, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:videolan/stable-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc

Install OpenJDK Patched With Font Fixes [Ubuntu PPA]

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:58:00 +0000

While working on the Infinality article, I've noticed that "slow", who is behind the Infinality PPA for Ubuntu, maintains another PPA for OpenJDK7 which comes with a patch that improves the font rendering for Java / Swing applications in Linux.

Using this patched OpenJDK, the font rendering for Java / Swing applications should look almost native - take a look at these IntelliJ IDEA screenshots (make sure you check out the images in full size - 100% zoom -, or else they will look blurry):

Before installing the patched OpenJDK

After installing the patched OpenJDK

And another set of screenshots which use a dark background and different font (taken from the PPA description):

Before

After

Note: since this is for OpenJDK 7, it obviously doesn't have any effect if you use Oracle Java or OpenJDK 6, so make sure your applications use OpenJDK 7 when trying this.

Install OpenJDK7 with font fixes in Ubuntu

Ubuntu 13.04 and 12.04 users can install this patched OpenJDK by using slow's PPA. To add the PPA and upgrade to the patched OpenJDK / OpenJRE, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:no1wantdthisname/openjdk-fontfix
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Arch Linux users can install this via AUR.

For other Linux distributions, you can get the patch from HERE (altough that might be an older version of the patch - see THIS Infinality forum post for more info).

Revert the changes

To revert the changes and install the unpatched OpenJDK back in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:no1wantdthisname/openjdk-fontfix

once again, thanks to "slow" for the PPA!

Unity Smart Scopes Feature Lands In Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander [Video]

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:06:00 +0000

The Unity Smart Scopes (also known as "100 scopes") feature has landed in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander today. This feature tries to provide a smarter Dash search experience by returning results relevant to the search query.

The project is also known as "100 Scopes" and it was initially supposed to land in Ubuntu 13.04 but it wasn't completely ready so it was postponed for 13.10. There aren't 100 scopes yet, but there are already quite a few useful scopes, such as:

Amazon
Audacious
Banshee
Calculator
Chromium bookmarks
Clementine
Colour Lovers
Commands
DevHelp
DeviantArt
Dictionary
DuckDuckGo Related
Facebook
Firefox bookmarks
Flickr
Gallica
GitHub
gMusicBrowser
Google Drive
Google News
Gourmet
Guayadeque
Manpages
Ubuntu One Music Store
Ubuntu One Music Search
Musique
OpenClipArt
OpenWeatherMap
Picasa
Remote Videos
Rhythmbox
Shotwell
Skimlinks
SoundCloud
TexDoc
Tomboy
VirtualBox
Yahoo Finance
Yelp
Zotero
Wikipedia

"The Dash now gets and contributes information from a central server on which scopes are best able to answer Dash queries, in order to make the Dash home scope maximally useful through community-contributed scopes and usage data. As before, the Dash can be restricted from including any online content or contribution in the Privacy system settings."

via https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SmartScopes1304Spec

Here's how the Unity Smart Scopes feature works: when searching for something on the home lens, Dash tries to guess which search categories should be selected by using the information it has about it in its central server. For instance, if you search for "Pantera", Dash selects "Music", "References" and some other categories. The categories selected automatically by Dash can be changed so you can manually select or unselect some categories:

Each category has multiple sources (scopes) and for example, selecting the "Reference" category will select the "Wikipedia", "Dictionary" and "Zotero" sources. Just like the categories, the sources can also be selected / deselected manually.

Furthermore, most of the scopes come with Dash Previews, allowing you to take a quick look at a Wikipedia article for instance, see the detailed weather forecast for a city and so on:

The Dash Previews for the new scopes still need some polish - as you can see above, the Wikipedia icon doesn't look too good in the preview -, but they work pretty great already.

The scopes can be individually enabled or disabled from the Applications Lens, by selecting "Search plugins" and then opening the preview for the plugin/scope you want to enable or disable:

Video: Unity Smart Scopes in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander

Below you can watch a quick Unity Smart Scopes demo video which I've recorded in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander today:

(direct video link)

Besides this feature, there have been many changes in the Unity package uploaded today in the Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander repositories, like support for payment previews that will allow users to buy music from within the Dash and many fixes, including a fix for the bug we wrote about a while back that caused the panel shadow to show up on top of full-screen windows. You can see the complete changelog for today's Unity update in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, HERE.

Also, in my test today, left clicking an application in Dash opens its Dash Preview instead of launching it, but I'm guessing this is a bug.

To get the Unity Smart Scopes feature you need to either use Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, currently under development (I don't recommend installing it yet, it's pre-alpha) or use the Unity Smart Scopes PPA in Ubuntu 13.04.

Video Showing The Current Ubuntu Phone State

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:01:00 +0000

Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community Manager, has posted a video today in which he shows the current state of Ubuntu Phone OS running on a Galaxy Nexus.

In the video you can see some of the core functionality like receiving a phone call and text, multitasking, as well as some apps like the weather app, web browser, Friends (the social networking application) and more. The phone lags at times and Jono says that's because "there hasn't been any performance management that's been done yet, the team has been working on just getting the core functionality working".

You can watch the Ubuntu Phone demo video below:

(direct video link)

Xfce Theme Manager: A Single GUI To Change Any Xfce Theme (With Previews)

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 15:16:00 +0000

Xfce uses multiple settings GUIs for setting the window border, controls, icons, mouse cursor theme and so on and it doesn't include any thumbnails. However, if you customize your Xfce desktop frequently, you can use a tool called Xfce Theme Manager which allows you to change the themes from a single GUI and it also includes thumbnails so you can see how the theme looks like before applying it.

Xfce Theme Manager allows settings the following:

complete Xfce theme (window border, controls)
window borders only
controls only
icon theme
cursor theme
change the wallpaper

Also, under "Advanced" (screenshot above), you can adjust various settings like backdrop brightness and saturation, window button layout, window title position, change the fonts and the cursor size.

Other features included in Xfce Theme Manager:

customizable theme preview size: you can choose between huge, large, medium and small previews;
save the current theme (in case you use the window border from one theme and the controls from another theme for instance) which includes the wallpaper, font and so on;
install themes using drag'n'drop (the themes must be tar.gz archives);
reset the theme.

I did find one annoyance with Xfce Theme Manager though: when installing new themes, you must click the "Rebuild DB" (rebuild the themes database) under "Advanced" or else the newly installed themes won't show up or at least not immediately.

Here are a few more Xfce Theme Manager screenshots:

Install Xfce Theme Manager in Xubuntu

Xubuntu users can install Xfce Theme Manager from a PPA. The packages in the PPA below require Xfce 4.10, which is available by default in Xubuntu 12.10 and 13.04, but it's not available in Xubuntu 12.04 so for it, you'll also need to add the Xfce 4.10 Xubuntu 12.04 PPA! Alternatively, you can also build it from source (download link at the bottom of the post).

That said, let's add the PPA and install Xfce Theme Manager in Xubuntu:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rebuntu16/other-stuff 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xfce-theme-manager

Once installed, the application should show up in the Xfce Settings Manager.

If you're not using Xubuntu, you can download Xfce Theme Manager from xfce-look.org.

Better Font Rendering In Linux With Infinality

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 14:14:00 +0000

Many of you have probably already heard of Infinality, but I've decided to write a post about it anyway, for those who aren't familiar with it yet, because it greatly improves the font rendering on Linux.

Infinality is a set of Freetype patches that try to provide an improved font rendering for Linux and also, to allow easy customization so the users can adjust the settings to their taste. Using it, you can easily set the font style to emulate OSX, OSX2, Windows 98, WIndows XP or Windows 7 or you can use the "Linux" or "Infinality" (default) styles.

While Infinality is very useful for most Linux distributions, the Ubuntu font rendering is pretty good already, but even so, there are quite a few Ubuntu users who install Infinality, like Miroslav Hadzhiev (Мирослав Хаджиев), the Ubuntu Bulgarian Translators admin, who says that: "[...] this [Infinality] project has brought me back to Linux. I work with documents all day long so the fonts are VERY important to me". He adds that using Infinality, the fonts are sharper and more vivid on large screens - here's a screenshot from Miroslav's Ubuntu computer (on the left: Ubuntu default; on the right: Infinality with "Linux" style).

Using Infinality in Ubuntu, the fonts are easier on the eyes and while you may not notice a major or even any difference at all in the screenshot below, you should see the difference after you've used Infinality for a while on your computer:

On the left: Infinality (using the Linux style); on the right: the default Ubuntu font configuration

Click HERE to zoom in so you can better see the details.

The screenshot above uses the Linux Infinality style, but there are many other style you can choose from, as I was saying above.

The differences in the above screenshot are not very clear because like I was saying, the fonts in Ubuntu look good already, but you should notice a big difference between the default Debian font rendering and Infinality, in the screenshot below:

If you want to use or just try out Infinality, here's how to install it in Ubuntu and Debian (with links to installation instructions for other Linux distributions) and set it up.

Install and configure Infinality for better font rendering in Linux

Ubuntu: Freetype with the Infinality patches can be installed in Ubuntu by using a PPA. To add the PPA and install the required packages in Ubuntu 12.04 or 13.04, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:no1wantdthisname/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install fontconfig-infinality

Once installed, log out and log back in.

Debian: the PPA works on Debian 7 too (that's actually how I've installed Infinality in the screenshot above - I've used "raring" for the version), but because I've only tested it for a few minutes, I can't say how stable it is. If you want to use it in Debian, follow the instructions below on your own risk. An alternative way of installing Infinality on Debian can be found HERE.

To add an unofficial Infinality PPA and install all the required packages in Debian (32bit and 64bit), use the following commands:

echo "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/no1wantdthisname/ppa/ubuntu raring main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/infinality.list
echo "deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/no1wantdthisname/ppa/ubuntu raring main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/infinality.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E985B27B

For another way of getting better fonts in Debian, see THIS article (it's in Spanish but you only need the commands).

Installing Infinality in other Linux distributions:

Fedora (official Infinality repository) and generic installation instructions
Arch Linux: the easy way | the generic way (AUR)
openSUSE repository
Debian installation instructions (build instructions and pre-built binaries)

Once you install Infinality, it's time to configure it. To set the style you want to use, run the following command:

sudo bash /etc/fonts/infinality/infctl.sh setstyle

And select the style you want to use. Available options are: debug, infinality, linux, osx, osx2, win7, win98 and winxp (I recommend using the "linux" style, obviously, but you can try any style, then remember to log out and log back in - you can easily select a different style later on by using the same command). To use the Windows or OSX style you'll also need to use the Windows or OSX fonts.

Optional: next, open /etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh with a text editor as root - I'll use Gedit below:

sudo -H gedit /etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh

And in this file, search for USE_STYLE (it should be USE_STYLE="DEFAULT" by default) and change it to one of the following styles (I recommend using "UBUNTU" here but you should also try the default to see which one you like better):

DEFAULT - A compromise that should please most people;
OSX - Simulate OSX rendering;
IPAD - Simulate iPad rendering;
UBUNTU - Simulate Ubuntu rendering;
LINUX - Generic "Linux" style - no snapping or certain other tweaks;
WINDOWS - Simulate Windows rendering;
WINDOWS7 - Simulate Windows rendering with normal glyphs;
WINDOWS7LIGHT- Simulate Windows 7 rendering with lighter glyphs;
WINDOWS - Simulate Windows rendering;
VANILLA - Just subpixel hinting;
CUSTOM - Your own choice;
Infinality styles:

CLASSIC - Infinality rendering circa 2010. No snapping;
NUDGE - CLASSIC with lightly stem snapping and tweaks;
PUSH - CLASSIC with medium stem snapping and tweaks;
SHOVE - Full stem snapping and tweaks without sharpening;
SHARPENED - Full stem snapping, tweaks, and Windows-style sharpening;
INFINALITY - Settings used by the Infinality developer;
DISABLED - Act as though running without the extra infinality enhancements (just subpixel hinting).

In this file you can change many other settings but if you don't know what they do, only change the style. Then, save the file, log out and log back in to see the changes.

For discussion, bug reports and so, visit the Infinality forums.

Update: for improved font rendering in Java / Swing applications (OpenJDK 7), see this article: Install OpenJDK Patched With Font Fixes [Ubuntu PPA]

Reverting the changes

For Ubuntu, to remove Infinality and revert all the changes made by using the instructions above, use the following commands:

sudo apt-get purge fontconfig-infinality
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:no1wantdthisname/ppa

Once the PPA is purge, log out and log back in.

For Debian, if you've added the PPA and want to revert the changes, use the following commands:

sudo apt-get purge fontconfig-infinality
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/infinality.list
sudo apt-get update

Then (still for Debian), downgrade the Freetype package using the following command, presuming you're using Debian stable:

- 32bit:

sudo apt-get install libfreetype6/stable

- 64bit:

sudo apt-get install libfreetype6/stable libfreetype6:i386/stable

Note: you also need to downgrade libfreetype6-dev if it's installed and also, libfreetype6:i386 may not be installed. You may want to check if those packages are installed by using "apt-cache policy" (example: "apt-cache policy libfreetype6-dev").

Thanks to Miroslav Hadzhiev for the tip and info and to "slow" for maintaining the PPA!