Web Upd8 - Ubuntu / Linux blog

How To Install Emerald In Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 Or 12.04 [PPA]

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:18:00 +0000

Emerald Window Decorator development may have stopped and the package is no longer available in the Ubuntu repositories for a few releases, but there are users who want to continue using it, so to make it easier to install, I uploaded Emerald to the main WebUpd8 PPA, for Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04.

Emerald is a window decorator for Compiz that allows full composite window decorations. There are many themes out there that come with frames, titlebars, buttons and so on that you won't see in other window decorators, this being the main reason why Emerald was so popular a while back. Emerald is also highly customizable.

Because it requires Compiz, Emerald doesn't work in GNOME Shell, but it should work with Unity (3D), GNOME Classic with Compiz or Xfce with Compiz for instance.

Here are a few of the many Emerald themes available on Gnome-Look, DeviantArt and so on:

HalfTime Emerald theme

Divergence IV "A New Hope" Emerald theme

Radial Emerald theme

LittleGlass Emerald theme

Dark glass with Ambiance buttons Emerald theme

Ordinary Emerald theme

The themes can be tweaked using Emerald Theme Manager, which allows you to change the borders size, shadows, titlebar font and alignment and so on. For instance, the LittleGlass theme above has some pretty large shadows so I've used the Emerald Theme Manager to change them - under Edit Themes > Frame/Shadows tab. You can also move the window buttons from/to left/right, as long as the theme aspect allows it - more about this, HERE.

Install Emerald Window Decorator in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 or 12.04

Emerald is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA, which is a general PPA with some other packages as well. If you don't like that, you can compile Emerald from source or add the PPA, install Emerald, then remove the PPA.

Also, please keep in mind that Emerald Window Decorator is no longer developed / supported and while I've tested it for about two days in Ubuntu 13.04 (as well as some brief testing under Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04 in VirtualBox) and I didn't encounter any issues, there might be bugs or it may not work at all.

That said, let's proceed with the Emerald installation:

1. To add the main WebUpd8 PPA and install Emerald Window Decorator in Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 or 13.04, use the following commands:

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

2. Once installed, get some Emerald themes via Gnome Look, DeviantArt and so on and install them using Emerald Theme Manager: either select "Import" and browse for the .emerald file or simply double click an .emerald theme file and Emerald Theme Manager should install the theme. There are no Emerald themes installed by default so make sure you've installed at least one before proceeding with the next step.

3. Start Emerald (this will replace your current window decorations) by pressing ALT + F2 and entering: "emerald --replace" (without the quotes).

4. To continue using Emerald after a logout / restart, install CompizConfig Settings Manager:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Then open CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM), click the "Window Decoration" plugin and under "Command", enter: "emerald" (without the quotes):

That's it!

Reverting the changes

If you want to go back to the default window decorator, open CompizConfig Settings Manager, click the "Window Decoration" plugin again and next to "Command", click the reset button on the right:

Then log out and log back in. You can also remove Emerald if you want, but make sure you don't remove it before you reset the CCSM Window Decoration command as explained above:

sudo apt-get remove emerald

Pinguy OS 13.04 (Final, Yet Beta) Released With GNOME 3.8

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 24 May 2013 11:41:00 +0000

Pinguy OS 13.04 (based on Ubuntu 13.04) beta has been released recently, this being basically the final 13.04 version because Pinguy has decided to keep the 6 month releases as betas and only the LTS will be considered stable.

The non-LTS releases will be using bleeding edge software, like XBMC 13.0 alpha or GNOME 3.8 / GNOME Shell 3.8 that's included in Pinguy OS 13.04, which isn't included by default in Ubuntu 13.04 and so, it isn't considered fully stable in Ubuntu. According to a recent Pinguy OS blog post, the 6 month releases are usable, but they might not include features that will be available in the LTS:

"The 6 month Pinguy OS releases will be missing features that will be in the final LTS, but the release will be very usable. It just won’t be at a stage where I am happy to call it stable due to missing features or things not quite working as they should. The goal of the 6 month releases is to help give users insight and influence on where Pinguy OS is heading and help shape the LTS release"

Pinguy OS

For those not familiar with Pinguy OS, this is an Ubuntu remaster with lots of applications installed by default as well as tweaks that you won't find in any other distro, at least by default.

Pinguy OS 13.04 beta uses GNOME Shell 3.8 by default and the first things you'll notice when you log in are a Docky instance displayed at the bottom, used as a taskbar / app launcher, and a simple but stylish Conky setup displayed at the top, under the GNOME Shell panel. There's another Docky instance on the left, used for quickly accessing various folders, but it uses autohide so you may not notice it at first.

For the GTK theme, Pinguy OS uses a modified elementary theme and for the icons, it uses the beautiful Faience Azur icon theme, but more GTK / icon themes are available by default so you can easily change them if you don't like the defaults.

As usual, Pinguy OS comes with many little things that make your life easier as well as under-the-hood optimizations and tweaks such as ZRam and Preload installed by default, aimed at providing a better default experience.

GNOME 3.8

GNOME Control Center 3.8

Even though Ubuntu 13.04 has GNOME 3.6, Pinguy OS uses GNOME 3.8 with GNOME Shell by default, customized with quite a few extensions as usual. For 13.04, Pinguy uses Gno-menu extension by default instead of Cardapio (which is no longer being developed and is looking for new maintainers), but you can also use Slingshot App Launcher or the GNOME appmenu extensions instead, both being installed (but not used) by default.

Gno-menu extension

Messaging Menu extension

Besides Gno-menu, Pinguy OS 13.04 includes quite a few GNOME Shell 3.8 extensions by default, such as:

Activities Configurator: lets you configure the Activities button (text, padding, hide text or icon, hot corner sensivity, etc.);
Alternatetab: ALT-Tab replacement that allows you to cycle between windows and doesn't group by application;
Alternative status menu: replaces the GNOME Shell Status menu with one that displays Suspend / Hibernate and Power Off as separate items;
AppIndicator Support: the extension we wrote about a while back that adds Ubuntu AppIndicator support to GNOME Shell, though you need to set the indicators placement in panel from its settings (via GNOME Tweak Tool) for it to work;
Default minimize and maximize: displays minimize and maximize buttons on windows, which isn't available by default in GNOME Shell;
Frippery move clock: the clock is moved to the right;
Media player indicator: Ubuntu Unity-like sound indicator;
Messaging Menu: Unity-like messaging menu;
Move-free Message Tray: Returns the Message Tray to pre-3.6 behavior where your whole screen doesn't move;
more.

Just like in the previous releases, because it uses a custom menu, the Activities button isn't available by default but you can enable it if you want, by using GNOME Tweak Tool, which is included by default in Pinguy OS (or simply use the Super key to access the Activities Overview).

Default applications

Besides some new GNOME Shell extensions, Pinguy OS 13.04 beta comes with Netflix Desktop by default, along with its usual default packages such as XBMC, codecs, Adobe Flash, G-talk plugin and so on.

Also, the Spotify and Google Chrome repositories are added by default so it's very simple to install either of these applications.

Pinguy OS 13.04 beta ships with the following default packages: Firefox 21, Nautilus 3.8.1, LibreOffice 4.0.2, Empathy 3.8.2, GNOME Control Center 3.8.2, Deluge 3.6, Docky 2.2.1, Friends 0.1.3daily13.04.17.1, Skype 4.1.0 (but an update to 4.2 is already available through the Update Manager), TeamViewer 7, Thunderbird 17.0.6, Pinta 1.4, Shotwell 0.14.1, Rapid Photo Downloader 0.4.5, Xchat 2.8.8, Arista Transcoder 0.9.7, Cheese 3.8.1, Clementine 1.1.1, GNOME Mplayer 1.0.8, OpenShot Video Editor 1.4.3, DeVeDe 3.23, VLC 2.0.6, XBMC Media Center 2.13.0 alpha, Gloobus Preview 0.4.5, Boot Repair 3.199, Gedit 3.8.2, Gparted 0.16.1, Ubuntu One, GNOME Tweak Tool 3.8.0+git, Wine 1.5.30, PlayOnLinux 4.1.1, Synaptic 0.80, Y PPA Manager 0.0.9.8, Shutter 0.90, Ubuntu Software Center 5.6.0 and more, all on top of GNOME 3.8.

Like Ubuntu 13.04, Pinguy OS 13.04 beta uses the 3.8.0 Ubuntu Linux kernel, based on the upstream 3.8.8 Linux kernel, comes with MTP support by default and so on.

Download Pinguy OS 13.04 beta

Download Pinguy OS 13.04 beta

For support, visit the Pinguy OS forums.

Unity Tomboy Lens Available For Ubuntu 13.04, Supports Dash Previews

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:27:00 +0000

Unity Tomboy Lens has been updated to work with the latest Unity available in Ubuntu 13.04. Also, the lens now supports Dash previews so you can quickly take a look at your note contents by right clicking the note in Dash.

The lens allows you to search and open notes via Unity Dash and the notes show up both in the Tomboy lens as well as in the home lens.

Despite its name, Unity Tomboy Lens also supports Gnote. Important note about this though: if both Gnote and Tomboy are installed, only Gnote notes will show up in Dash so if you want to use it with Tomboy, make sure Gnote is not installed (if Gnote was installed, log out and log back in after removing it - a simple Unity restart wasn't enough in my test).

Unity Tomboy Lens - Dash preview

For those not familiar with Tomboy and Gnote, these are note-taking applications that allow linking between notes, support note synchronization, are extensible through plugins and more.

Install Unity Tomboy Lens in Ubuntu 13.04 or 13.10

To install Unity Tomboy Lens in Ubuntu 13.04 or 13.10 Saucy Salamander by using its official PPA, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:remi.rerolle/unity-lens-tomboy
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-lens-tomboy

Once installed, log out and log back in and the new lens should show up in Dash. When opening Dash, the Tomboy indicator will be launched if it's not already running - that's because the lens needs Tomboy to be running.

If you encounter bugs, report them @ GitHub.

Sikuli (Atomation Tool Using Images) 1.0.0 Released

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:04:00 +0000

Sikuli is a tool available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X which automates tasks using images: you take a screenshot of what you want to click, right click, hover, drag and drop and so on and Sikuli performs those actions automatically, when you need it, either by using the GUI or running it via command line.

It can be useful for running repetitive tasks automatically, running some actions remotely via the command line and so on.

Sikuli supports the following actions:

find: find, findAll, wait, waitVanish, exists;
mouse actions: click, doucle click, right click, hover, drag and drop;
keyboard actions: type text, click on component to gain focus and type text, paste, click on component to gain focus and then paste;
event observation: on appear, on vanish, on change and observe.

See the documentation for how to create automated tasks using Sikuli.

Sikuli 1.0.0

After more than a year, Sikuli 1.0.0 has been released - here are the most important changes:

revised the main window;
new options: no command bar, vertical split (left code, right messages), no HTML creation, do not delete unused images, image path for IDE to store images;
improved Preview (displayed when clicking on a screenshot);
improved dirty-handling (when the script is edited but not saved): Sikuli is now aware of changes in Preview, there's an option to autosave before run, etc.;
the auto update feature is now be aware of beta versions;
better error handling;
totally revised the debug interface;
revised the command line usage to allow running Sikuli scripts;
command line: totally revised the ImagePath feature and the usage of ImageLocator;
other changes and many bug fixes.

Below you can watch a quick video I've recorded, demoing the latest Sikuli 1.0.0 in Ubuntu 13.04:

(direct video link)

In Unity, when using Sikuli to take a screenshot, the launcher and panel show up twice, that's a known issue and there's no fix for it yet. Also, since Sikuli may sometimes have issues when trying to take delayed screenshots which you might need for things like opening Dash or the GNOME Shell Activities and so on, I suggest taking screenshots using an external tool such as Shutter and then simply insert them into Sikuli ("Insert image" button on the toolbar).

There's another known issue for version 1.0.0 which has just been discovered: for new, "untitled" projects, the images are not saved to disk so you must firstly save the project and then insert/take screenshots. This will probably be fixed soon though.

How run Sikuli in Ubuntu

1. To use Sikuli on Linux, you need to install the following dependencies: libopencv-core 2.4, libopencv-highgui 2.4, libopencv-imgproc 2.4, libpng15 (though libpng12 seems to work too), tesseract 3 and liblept. You can install these in Ubuntu 13.04 or 13.10 using the following command:

sudo apt-get install libopencv-highgui2.4 libopencv-imgproc2.4 libopencv-core2.4 libpng12-0 libtesseract3 liblept3

Ubuntu 12.10 and possibly 12.04 too, 32bit only: The Sikuli dependencies (OpenCV 2.4, etc.) aren't available for older Ubuntu versions but for Ubuntu 12.10 32bit (according to the Sikuli wiki, they are built for Ubuntu 12.10 but may work on older Ubuntu versions), you can download the required .so files from HERE (look for the download link at the bottom), extract and copy them into /usr/local/lib/

2. You'll also need Java: install either OpenJDK7 using Ubuntu Software Center or see our installation guides for Oracle Java 7 or Java 6.

3. Once you've completed the steps above, download Sikuli from Launchpad - you'll need to download Sikuli-IDE:

"Sikuli-IDE-1.0.0-Lnx64.zip" for 64bit
"Sikuli-IDE-1.0.0-Lnx32.zip" for 32bit

4. Then, extract it and make the two scrips inside the extracted folder executable: sikuli-ide (the user interface) and sikuli-script (which can be used to run Sikuli scripts via command line). You can make these scripts executable via the file manager - for instance, in Nautilus, right click them, select "Propreties" and on the "Permissions" tab, check the "Allow executing file as program" box -, or via the command line (assuming you've extracted Sikuli in your home folder):

chmod +x ~/Sikuli-IDE*/{sikuli-ide,sikuli-script}

5. And finally, run Sikuli by double clicking the "sikuli-ide" file and selecting "Run", or from a terminal (once again, assuming you've extracted Sikuli in your home directory):

~/Sikuli-IDE*/sikuli-ide

If you want to run a Sikuli project from the command line, use:

~/Sikuli-IDE*/sikuli-script -r /path/to/project.sikuli

Download Sikuli for Linux, Windows or Mac OS X.

If you encounter bugs, report them @ Launchpad.

Skype 4.2 For Linux Released With Minor Improvements And Bug Fixes

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:11:00 +0000

Skype 4.2 for Linux has been released today and it includes various bug fixes, increased stability when using a Microsoft Account, optimized Voice messaging as well as some minor new features.

Changes in the latest Skype 4.2 for Linux:

add subscription status and link to the account brief view in the main window;
increased the stability when logging in from a Microsoft Account;
add a button to enable voice message from the options dialog;
you no longer have to re-type your password when entering via "My Account" if you are already logged-in with the client;
when sharing the screen in a multiple monitor setup, share the one where the call window is at the moment;
add Messenger predefined group when logged-in with your MSA account;
create an entry point to hold a conference call from the conversations view;
new sizes for the Skype icon.

Among the bugs fixed in this release are:

artifacts in the contact list after changing topic or picture in a multichat;
searching in the chat window when ‘Ignore poster names’ is set might lead to client crash;
Skype crashes on attempting to stop sharing selection being in a call on hold
disabling Birthday notification doesn’t work;
clicking on certain contact request notifications lead always to the wrong contact request against ‘live’ contact;
call hold overlay icon goes away giving the idea the call is resumed when is not;
do not show the login window if autologin plus start Skype minimized are enabled;
do not allow more than 256-length conversation’s topic;
more.

Although the official announcement doesn't mention this, I've also noticed in my test that the new version comes with a fix (or at least on my system, tested with Bumblebee/Nvidia Optimus) for the bug that caused it not to start in Ubuntu 13.04 with some proprietary graphics drivers. The version available in the Ubuntu 13.04 repositories has received a workaround for this, but a real fix is should now be available with Skype 4.2.

Download Skype 4.2 for Linux

Download Skype 4.2 for Linux

Ubuntu: if you've installed Skype from the official Ubuntu repositories, you'll firstly have to remove it:

sudo apt-get remove skype skype-bin

Then install the Skype deb downloaded from its website, either using Ubuntu Software Center, Gdebi or via command line (assuming you've copied the deb in your home folder):

cd
sudo dpkg -i skype*.deb

If the tray / appindicator Skype icon is missing, make sure sni-qt is installed:

- 32bit:

sudo apt-get install sni-qt

- 64bit:

sudo apt-get install sni-qt sni-qt:i386

Also, on Debian / Ubuntu 64bit, if you experience audio instability issues, also install the following package:

sudo apt-get install libasound2-plugins:i386

Gnome Encfs Manager: Cryptkeeper Alternative With Ubuntu AppIndicator Support

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:37:00 +0000

Gnome Encfs Manager (GencfsM) is a tool to manage EncFS filesystems. The tool is a great alternative to Cryptkeeper (but with some extra features), which can't be used in Ubuntu 13.04 unless you install a patched Unity to support the old systray whitelist.

EncFS provides an encrypted filesystem in user-space and the files are encrypted using a volume key stored encrypted in the source directory. This can be used, for instance, to encrypt a folder with confidential data in your Dropbox (because for instance, Dropbox doesn't encrypt the data on your computer) - more about this, HERE.

Gnome Encfs Manager can be used to create, mount and unmount EncFS folders and comes with GNOME Keyring and Ubuntu AppIndicator support. Also, the applications can mount EncFs folders at startup, useful if you use EncFS with cloud sync / storage services such as Dropbox or Ubuntu One.

Other Gnome Encfs Manager features include: allow other users to access the stash, unmount after a certain number of idle minutes, as well as some advanced options like post mount or pre mount commands, set the encfs config file and more.

Install GNOME Encfs Manager in Ubuntu

To add the official GNOME Encfs Manager PPA and install the application in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gencfsm/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-encfs-manager

To download the source code, report bugs and so on, see the Gnome Encfs Manager Launchpad page.

Video Transcoder `HandBrake` 0.9.9 Released With Blu-ray Subtitle Support, More

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 20 May 2013 09:02:00 +0000

Handbrake, a free, open source video transcoder for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X, has been updated to version 0.9.9 recently, getting Blu-ray (PGS) subtitle support, better audio remix support, updated built-in presets, additional video framerates and more.

The application comes with built-in presets and, besides common multimedia formats, it support DVDs or Bluray-like sources that aren't copy-protected, chapter makers, subtitles and more.

Changes in the latest HandBrake 0.9.9:

Blu-ray (PGS) subtitle support that works with Foreign Audio Search, can be Burned-In and can be passed through to MKV (but not MP4);
additional video framerates: 30, 50, 59.94, 60 fps;
use some system libraries rather than bundling: fontconfig, freetype, libxml2, libass, libogg, libvorbis, libtheora and libsamplerate;
double framerate ("bob") mode for the deinterlace and decomb filters;
better audio remix support;
allow the selection of higher audio bitrates where appropriate;
allow the selection of lower audio samplerates where appropriate: 8, 11.025, 12, 16 kHz;
audio dithering (TPDF) when converting to 16-bit FLAC;
support for x264's preset, tune and profile options;
updated built-in presets;
improved Retina-resolution icons within the application.

Install HandBrake in Ubuntu

To install the latest HandBrake in Ubuntu, you can use its official PPA. To add the PPA and install HandBrake, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

If you want to install the command line interface, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install handbrake-cli

For source files, Windows or Mac OS X binaries, see the HandBrake downloads page.

Desktop Search Tool `Recoll` Updated With Significant Improvements

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:14:00 +0000

Recoll is a full text search tool for Linux that comes with a Qt GUI, an Ubuntu Unity Lens and it can also be used via command line. The application can find keywords inside documents as well as file names.

This featureful desktop search tool can index a huge number of file types. Besides text, html, maildir and mailbox (Thunderbird, Evolution), Gaim and Purple log files, Scribus files, man pages and Dia diagrams which it supports natively, Recoll can also index by using external helpers: Abiword, Microsoft Offic XML, LibreOffice, SVG and Gnumeric files, Okular annotation files, PDFs, MSWord, PowerPoint and Excel files, CHM, EPUB, archives like tar, zip and rar, ics, postscript, RTF, TeX, dvi, djvu, audio and image file tags and more. For more info, see the Recoll features page.

Recoll 1.19 advanced search filters and user interface preferences

Recoll supports wildcards (*, ?, []) as well as advanced searches such as:

"OR", "AND" operators
search for autor, e.g.: author:"george orwell"
search by size, date, mime or format
search inside a folder, e.g.: dir:/home/andrei/Dropbox
more

To use these advanced searches in the Recoll UI, select "Query language" next to the search term. For the Unity Lens, simply type the query in the lens search field. You can use the Advanced Search dialog (Tools > Advanced Search) to use such filters without having to manually enter them in the search field.

For more info, see the Recoll user manual (chapter "3.5. The query language").

Recoll 1.19

Recoll 1.19 has been released a few days ago (and now updated to 1.19.2 due to some bugs found in the initial 1.19.0 release), with many new features and improvements, such as:

indexing can now use multiple threads which should bring a major performance boost for multiprocessor machines with big indexes;
it's now possible to use "OR" with "dir:" and wildcards have been enabled
the advanced search panel now has a history feature. Use the up/down arrows to walk the search history list;
new results popup menu to display sub-documents for a given document, useful to display email attachments;
new GUI configuration options to enable "search as you type" and to disable Qt auto-completition in the simple search string which was confusing at times;
better video files support;
new web browser interface that uses the Bottle Python Web framework for the server side and the Recoll Python module and it can be self-contained so you don't have to run apache or another web server to use it. Please note that for me, the new web interface didn't work in Ubuntu 13.04 (bug reported);
new filter to index and retrieve Lotues Notes messages;
the first indexing ran after a new Recoll installation will now firstly index data that is more likely to be searched, so you can start searching before the indexing is completed;
implemented cache for last file uncompressed. This will much improve usage, e.g. for people fetching successive messages from a compressed mail folder;
there is a new recursive explicit reindex option available for the command line indexer;
improved handling of filters during indexing resulting in less subprocesses;
extended file attributes are now indexed by default. As a side effect, Recoll now uses st_ctime, not st_mtime to detect file changes;
more!

Install Recoll in Ubuntu

Ubuntu users can install the latest Recoll by using its official PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:recoll-backports/recoll-1.15-on
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install recoll

To also install the Recoll Unity Lens, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install recoll-lens

After installing Recoll Lens, log out and log back in or restart Unity by pressing ALT + F2 and entering "unity".

The Recoll Lens doesn't support Dash Previews yet and in Ubuntu 13.04 on which I've tested the latest version on, the icons that show up in the lens have an ugly black background - hopefully this will be fixed soon.

Next, you need to start the Recoll GUI - the first time you run it, it will automatically start indexing the files in your home folder. If you want to configure the partitions / folders Recoll should index, from the Recoll menu select Preferences > Indexing configuration. Also check out the Indexing schedule in the same Preferences menu for configuring how often Recoll should index the new or changed files.

For other Linux distributions, see the Recoll downloads page.

Get Better Linux Desktop Performance And More With pf-kernel

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:31:00 +0000

pf-kernel is a custom Linux Kernel that comes with some popular patches not merged into the mainline Kernel, such as:

-ck patchset with BFS CPU scheduler: Con Kolivas' ck1 patchset which includes the BFS scheduler that brings better desktop interactivity and responsiveness;
BFQ I/O scheduler : using this patch, the disk should be virtually as responsive as if it was idle, no matter what the load is (this is available by default in Sabayon and CyanogenMod);
TuxOnIce: an alternative suspend / hibernate framework that uses image compression, supports any number of swap partitions and/or files, has the ability to cancel hibernating or restoring the image by pressing escape key and more;
UKSM: Memory De-Duplication;
EnhanceIO: a driver based on EhanceIO SSD caching software derived from Facebook's open source Flashcache project that's useful for using SSDs as cache devices for traditional HDDs.

As an example, below you can watch a video recorded by Paolo Valente, who is behind BFQ, demoing the performance of the BFQ disk I/O scheduler on a hard disk:

(direct video link)

Warning: Some things such as graphics drivers may not be compatible with pf-kernel since it may be a lot newer than the Linux Kernel used by default on your Linux distribution so be careful and only install it if you know what you are doing. Also, options (like Zram) available in your Linux distribution Kernel may not be enabled in pf-kernel. I've tested this in Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) with and I didn't encounter any issues (Bumblebee works with proprietary Nvidia drivers, etc.) but this may not be the case for you since it depends on your hardware and Ubuntu version.

Install pf-kernel in Ubuntu / Debian

Download the latest pf-kernel version for Ubuntu / Debian from HERE.

You'll need to download two files: linux-image and linux-headers which have the same version (e.g.: 3.9.2), for your architecture. For instance, on 64bit, you'll need "linux-image-3.9.2-pf_1_amd64.deb" and "linux-headers-3.9.2-pf_1_amd64.deb" (3.9.2 is the latest version at the time I'm writing this) and put the downloaded files in some folder, let's say a "kernel" folder in your home directory.

Then, to install it, use the following commands (assuming you've placed the deb files in a folder called "kernel" in your home directory):

cd ~/kernel
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Optional: for TuxOnIce to work, firstly enable hibernate since it's disabled in Ubuntu by default. Then, download the tuxonice-userui deb for your Ubuntu version / architecture from HERE and install it, then run the following command to get the TuxOnIce text user interface to work:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/tuxonice-userui/tuxoniceui /usr/local/sbin/tuxoniceui_text

That's all you need to do for TuxOnIce to work (if hibernate is working on your machine, obviously).

And finally, restart your computer.

If later on you want to remove pf-kernel and go back to the Linux Kernel you were using before, remove the installed packages using Synaptic (linux-image-*-pf and linux-headers-*-pf) or, to do this automatically via the command line, use the following commands:

pfkernel=$(dpkg --get-selections | grep linux-.*pf | sed -e 's/-pf.*/-pf/g')
sudo apt-get remove $pfkernel

And then restart the computer.

For other Linux distributions or if you want to compile your own Kernel, see the pf-kernel homepage for download links.

seen on lffl.org, image via wikipedia

Fix: Shadow Displayed On Top Of Full-Screen Videos / Windows In Ubuntu 13.04

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:15:00 +0000

In Ubuntu 13.04, the top Unity panel shadow is displayed on top of full-screen videos / windows. The bug has been fixed a while back but it hasn't landed in Ubuntu 13.04 yet so here are two fixes / workarounds you can use until then.

Shadow displayed on top of full-screen video

The first workaround is very simple but it's only useful for videos (the window is unfocused so if you need to type something inside the full-screen app, it won't work, thus it's not very useful for Firefox, text editors, etc.): when playing a video in full-screen, press the Super (Windows logo) key or the Alt key and the shadow displayed at the top of the video should disappear. That's all you have to do, however, remember that you must do this each time you play a full-screen video until this is fixed in Unity.

The second workaround removes the panel shadow (even when there are no full-screen windows) and it works with any full-screen window. To apply this work-around, use the following command in a terminal:

sudo dpkg-divert --local --rename --divert /usr/share/unity/6/panel-shadow.png_disabled --add /usr/share/unity/6/panel-shadow.png

Then, you need to restart Unity so either press ALT + F2 and enter: "unity" or log out and log back in.

Workaround thanks to bwat47.

If later on you want to revert this change and get the Unity panel shadow back, use the following command:

sudo dpkg-divert --local --rename --remove /usr/share/unity/6/panel-shadow.png

And once again, restart Unity by pressing ALT + F2 and entering "unity" or log out.

Free DJ Software `Mixxx` Sees New Release

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:11:00 +0000

After more than a year of work, Mixxx 1.11.0 has been released recently, featuring a new beat detector, colored 3-band waveforms and many other new features as well as various bug fixes and performance improvements.

Mixxx is an advanced free / open source DJ software for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. Among its main features are: parallel or split scratchable waveform displays, spinning vinyl widgets, MP3, OGG, WAVE, M4A / AAC, and FLAC playback with support for extra formats through plugins, Shoutcast and Icecast broadcasting, microphone support, automatic crossfading with Auto DJ, crates and playlists, reads iTunes, Traktor, and Rhythmbox libraries, pitch-independent time stretch, vinyl emulation, BPM detection and estimation and much more.

Despite having many advanced features, Mixxx isn't that hard to use, although its interface may seem a bit confusing at first. Also, Mixxx comes with various skins, each optimized for multiple screen resolutions.

New features in the latest Mixxx 1.11.0:

colored, 3-band Waveforms;
brand New Beat Detector;
HID and Bulk Controller Support, with HID presets for: EKS Otus, Traktor Kontrol F1, Hercules DJ Console Mk1, Mk2 and MP3 e2, Nintendo Wiimote, Pioneer CDJ 850/900/2000 and Sony SixxAxis;
session history;
new effect, "Beatloop Rolls", that works just like a beatloop except when you release the button the deck jumps to where it would have been if you hadn't started the loop;
Preview Deck: preview tracks in your headphones without having to load them into a main deck;
advanced search, e.g.: find all tracks between 100 and 120 BMP with a rating greater than 4 using "bpm:100-120 rating:>4". More about this in the Mixxx manual;
improved AutoDJ;
point-and-click MIDI mapping;
new Sample Grid skin;
time widgets;
Sample Deck Improvements;
improved user manual;
new controller support: Mixxx certified: Allen & Heath Xone K2, EKS Otus, Keith McMillen Instruments QuNeo and Vestax VCI-400 but there's also community support for Akai LPD8, American Audio VMS2, Hercules DJ Console Mk1, Hercules DJ Control AIR, Nintendo Wiimote, Traktor Kontrol F1 and mano thers;
more.

For a complete list of changes and new features in Mixxx 1.11.0, see its official changelog.

Install Mixxx in Ubuntu

Ubuntu users can install the latest Mixxx DJ software by using its official PPA. Add the PPA and install it using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mixxx/mixxx
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mixxx libportaudio2

If you don't want to use a PPA or don't need the latest version, you can try the older version available in the official Ubuntu repositories / Ubuntu Software Center:

Download Mixxx (available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X)

Possible Changes In Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander [UDS]

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:23:00 +0000

Ubuntu Developer Summit is a meeting where software developers gather to discuss the next Ubuntu version changes and features.

The Ubuntu Developer Summit (uds-1305) will start tomorrow, will last for 3 days and some major possible changes will be discussed, like "click packages", Chromium replacing Firefox as the default web browser, Unity 8 with Mir being available for testing on the desktop and more.

So here are the possible changes in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander (remember, possible, they may or may not happen) desktop as well as Lubuntu and Xubuntu 13.10.

The discussions start tomorrow and you can watch all the UDS sessions live (Google+ Hangouts) or recorded. See http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-1305/ for a complete UDS-1305 schedule.

Ubuntu / Unity changes

In Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, Unity 7 should get the 100 scopes / smart scopes feature that was supposed to land in Ubuntu 13.04, but was postponed, along with an in-dash payment system. Further more, Compiz will probably be updated to version 0.9.10 (trunk) with the performance improvement branches merged, so users should see an even faster Unity / desktop in the upcoming Ubuntu release.

Unity 8 which will be running on top of Mir might be available as an alternative session on the desktop in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, for testing purposes. If this will happen, Unity 8 will be able to run in parallel with Unity 7 (the main shell used by default in Ubuntu 13.10). The expected minimal capabilities include accessing local content, working networking, using some phone core apps on the desktop and a good experience navigating the shell with a non-touch device such as a touchpad or mouse. There will be no desktop features added so this will only be a reflection of what already exists for the phone.

As for the default applications, it looks like there's only one change proposal, but a pretty major one: Chromium might be used as the default web browser in Ubuntu 13.10, replacing Firefox. According to the blueprint, "Chromium has matured to being as good or better than Firefox. It will be the foundation of a lot of Ubuntu Touch code and webapps code", this probably leading to considering it as the default browser on the desktop too.

A new feature that might be added to Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander is "click packages", a simplified package format and installer - we've already covered that so take a look at our initial article for details: Ubuntu Might Get A New Simplified Packaging Format And App Installer.

Update: locally integrated menus was initially in the Desktop Unity Polish for 13.10 blueprint, but was later removed, so it seems this feature won't make it in Ubuntu 13.10 either (it was firstly supposed to land in Ubuntu 12.04).

Other changes that might make it into Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander include:

support by default the latest Nvidia drivers that come with initial Optimus support (the patches are already available, there's little work required);
there might be some new indicators (e.g.: for Keyboard);
Saucy will probably ship with xserver 1.14 or even 1.15, mesa 9.2.x and Linux Kernel 3.10 or 3.11;
prime support, Radeon UVD support, proper radeonsi support as well as proper touch screen support for X.Org.

Possible Lubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander changes

Some interesting changes are expected to happen in Lubuntu too, the LXDE Ubuntu flavor. While Ubuntu might switch from Firefox to Chromium, Lubuntu considers the opposite: it might ship with Firefox by default instead of Chromium as the default web browser because Chromium uses too much memory for Lubuntu, which is supposed to be a lightweight Linux distribution.

Other possible changes in Lubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander include:

remove lxkeymap in favor of the keyboard applet of lxpanel;
Lubuntu Software Center might be replaced with something else;
Xscreensaver might be removed and replaced with the LightDM locking system;
Ubuntu One might be integrated by default;
better file manager that includes support for ssh/ftp;
FreeCiv or another game might be added by default;
artwork changes.

Xubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander

No Xubuntu session shows up in the UDS session list, but there are some sessions registered on Launchpad, though they don't give too much info about Xubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander. So far, it looks like Xubuntu 13.10 might get apt-offline by default and also, there's going to be a study to see if it's feasible to integrate HUD into Xubuntu. Xubuntu Saucy might also get a new keyboard shortcuts overlay, kind of like the one available in Ubuntu and some other minor tweaks, at least according to the current blueprints.

Also, since Xfce 4.12 was supposed to be released in March, but wasn't, it's still unsure if Xubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander will ship with Xfce 4.12 or continue with 4.10 like in Xubuntu Quantal.

There's little or no information for now about Kubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME or the other Ubuntu flavors, that's why I didn't add any info about them.

info via summit.ubuntu.com/uds-1305/

Get Weather Or System Info On Your Desktop With These 2 Conky Configurations

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:29:00 +0000

There are two Conky configurations I've been wanting to write about for a while, but I didn't have the time to do it, until today, so here it is: the first one has been created by Satya, it's called Conky Google Now and is very easy to set up while the second one, created by Pressian, is more advanced and requires some experience with Conky to set it up.

Conky is a lightweight, highly configurable system monitor tool which can display the information on your desktop, in different shapes and forms.

Before proceeding, make sure you've firstly installed Conky. In Ubuntu, install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install conky-all

Conky Google Now

Download Conky Google Now

Conky Google Now is a Conky configuration created by Satya which tries to imitate Google Now. This should be very easy to use as there isn't much to configure: you only need to get the Yahoo Weather ID for your city and enter it in the Conky configuration file.

This Conky config displays the current weather, a forecast for the next two days, wind speed as well as the network up / down speed and total sent / received data.

To use Conky Google Now, download the configuration files from Deviant Art (link above) - there's a download link on the right.

Now, install the Open Sans (Light) font which is used by Conky Google Now. Download the font from HERE, extract the archive and place the font(s) under ~/.fonts (if the folder doesn't exist, create it), then update the font cache using the following command:

sudo fc-cache -fv

The next step is to extract the downloaded archive, then press CTRL + H inside the extracted folder to be able to see all the files (all are hidden except the README) and copy the ".weathericons" and ".conkyrc" in your home folder. If you want to use the dark Conky Google Now, copy ".conkyrc-dark" in your home folder instead and rename it to ".conkyrc".

Conky Google Now dark

Now go to weather.yahoo.com, search for your city (under "Enter city or zip code"), and once you reach your city weather page, note down the numbers (this is the WOEID) from the end of the URL, e.g., in my case, the URL is: "http://weather.yahoo.com/romania/bucuresti/bucharest-868274/" so the WOEID is "868274". Now open the ~/.conkyrc file, search for "2294941" (without the quotes) and replace it with your WOEID, then save the file.

Now, to run conky, simply open a terminal or type ALT + F2 and enter: "conky".

Conky by Pressian

Download Conky by Pressian

The second Conky configuration has been created by WebUpd8 reader Pressian and take a bit more to set up than Conky Google Now, but it also displays more information. The configuration is especially created for laptops that come with Nvidia Optimus technology and 4 CPU cores so if you don't have this system configuration, you'll need to tweak this Conky setup which may need some experience with Conky.

Please note that this Conky configuration uses transparency, so it won't work properly in Unity (if you know a way to get it to display properly, without shadows, etc., let us know in the comments, but I've already tried basically everything and at least in Ubuntu 13.04, I can't get it to display properly in Unity, but it works great in GNOME Shell for instance).

Information displayed by this Conky configuration includes: system info (uptime, system load, battery status, processor and video card), top 5 processes, CPU stats (frequency, usage, temperature), optimized for 4 cores so if you have less or more, you'll need to tweak the configuration file, memory stats (RAM used and free, HDD used as well as the HDD temperature, network stats (up/down speed, local and public IP and Wifi bitrate and signal strength if available, as well as the GPU stats for laptops using the Optimus technology (Nvidia driver, Nvidia GPU state as well as the temperature and frequency but only when the Nvidia GPU is in use).

To use it, download the archive from HERE, extract it and then press CTRL + H to see the Conky configuration files (they are hidden by default). Then, copy the ".conky" and ".fonts" folders as well as the ".conkyrc" file into your home folder.

Then, you need to update the font cache:

sudo fc-cache -fv

Since this Conky configuration displays a lot of information, there are also some dependencies you need to install: lm-sensors, hddtemp, curl and bumblebee. In Ubuntu, install the first three using the following command:

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors hddtemp curl

Then, set up lm-sensors using the following command:

sudo sensors-detect

And answer "yes" to everything, then run the following command to load the sensors modules:

- Ubuntu 13.04 and newer:

sudo service kmod start

- Ubuntu versions older than 13.04:

sudo service module-init-tools start

For hddtemp, also run this command (might be required for some Linux distributions / Ubuntu versions):

sudo chmod u+s /usr/sbin/hddtemp

For how to install Bumblebee (specific for those with Optimus laptops, see THIS article.

Now, to run Conky, simply press ALT + F2 and enter: "conky".

Adding Conky to startup

If you want Conky to start automatically when you log in, you must add it to the startup applications and for this we'll need to use a script (we need to start it with a delay so it doesn't show up on top) so create a file somewhere, e.g.: in a folder called "scripts" in your home directory - let's call the file "start_conky". And in this file, paste this:

#! /bin/bash
sleep 20
conky

Then save the file and make it executable. If you've followed our exact instructions and the file is called "start_conky" and is located in the "scripts" folder in your home directory, you can make it executable using the following command:

chmod +x ~/scripts/start_conky

Now open the Startup Applications dialog, click "Add", under "Name" enter "Conky" and under "Command", select "Browse" and here, select the "start_conky" file, then click "Add" and you're done.

For more Conky configurations, browse our Conky tag.

How To Get The Systray Whitelist Back In Ubuntu 13.04

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:59:00 +0000

As you probably know, the Unity notification area (systray) whitelist is no longer available in Ubuntu 13.04 so you can't whitelist applications to be able to use the systray. If you can't live without an application that still uses the old notification area, here's how to get the Unity systray whitelist back in Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail).

Java and Wine applications have been hard-coded and continue to show up in the notification area but there are still some applications that don't have an AppIndicator and thus, can't use the systray. Some of the popular apps that can't use the systray anymore in Ubuntu 13.04 include: Truecrypt, Cryptkeeper, Blueproximity, Pidgin (if you don't want to use the Messaging Menu) and KeePassX (although KeePassX from the Ubuntu 13.04 repositories has the systray disabled in its settings and it can be enabled so for it you'll have to either use a PPA or build it from source).

How to re-enable the systray whitelist in Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail)

If you use such an application and want the systray whitelist back in Ubuntu 13.04, you can use a PPA that comes with Unity patched to re-enable the systray whitelist. To do this, open a terminal and run the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:timekiller/unity-systrayfix
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Then, restart Unity by pressing ALT + F2 and entering "unity" or by logging out. Then open Dconf Editor, navigate to com > canonical > unity > panel and the "systray-whitelist" should be displayed there so you can enable some apps to be able to use the systray.

If you don't already know how to whitelist applications to use the systray, see: How To Re-Enable The Ubuntu Notification Area (Systray).

After adding an application to the systray whitelist, remember to restart Unity or else it won't work.

Half-Life 2 Games Available For Linux (Steam)

noreply@blogger.com (Andrew) — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:25:00 +0000

Quick update: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, Half-Life 2: Episode Two and Half-Life 2: LostCoast are now available in Steam for Linux.

Like the other two titles Valve has made available for Linux last week: Left 4 Dead 2 and Portal, the Half-Life 2 games are in beta for now and they don't show up in the Linux section on Steam but if you didn't purchase them already, you can simply search for them in the All Items section and they should install on Linux. Or you can click the links below:

Remaining Source engine games that still need to be ported to Linux include popular titles like Portal 2, Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and of course, Dota 2.

via Steam, Reddit