Xorg-Edgers Repository

I added this ppa repo to my sources.list, upgraded and my glx gears went from ~2870 to ~4880. This repo was recommended on the Ubuntu Forums for possible performance improvements. It’s Xorg, so beware. (I’ve used it before with 9.04 and never had problems, Nvidia Quadro that time)

## Bleeding Edge Xorg
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/xorg-edgers/ppa/ubuntu/ karmic main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/xorg-edgers/ppa/ubuntu/ karmic main

the key:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 8844C542

I’m using Karmic 9.10 x64 on this Dell Vostro 1220 with an Intel x4500HD graphics card.

HowTo: Kernel Upgrade (2.6.30-020630) for Ubuntu 9.04 amd64

The linux kernel 2.6.30 DEB files can be found at the following website:
Kernels
You have to install 3 files in the ORDER listed:

Code:

linux-headers-2.6.30-020630_2.6.30-020630_all.deb
linux-headers-2.6.30-020630-generic_2.6.30-020630_amd64.deb
linux-image-2.6.30-020630-generic_2.6.30-020630_amd64.deb

When clicking the files you get a choice to install them using gdebi or to save them. Choose install.
There is just one thing: the order in which you install them is important. Don’t panic: when choosing the wrong file first in gdebi it will tell you it is missing some dependences. The right order is the one written above.
When done simply re-boot and you’ll see the new kernel mentioned at the top of the Grub list.

On Ubuntu forums the kernel listed above was recommended as STABLE. I’ve done this myself. You’ll have to recompile the VirtualBox Kernel Module, and VBox will give you the sudo command to do this when you try to launch your VM…..easy. Nvidia will be taken care of automagically.

HowTo: Install Ubuntu System Panel

ubuntu-system-panel is a simple launcher for the GNOME desktop, providing easy access to Places, Applications and common configuration items for your computer. This guide shows how to install and configure it on an Ubuntu 9.04 desktop.

I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

1 Installing ubuntu-system-panel

Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal):

Install Subversion…

sudo apt-get install subversion

… and download the ubuntu-system-panel sources:

mkdir -p ~/Downloads/SVN
cd ~/Downloads/SVN
svn checkout http://ubuntu-system-panel.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ ubuntu-system-panel

Afterwards you can install ubuntu-system-panel as follows:

cd ubuntu-system-panel
./usp_update install fresh

—-

For Ubuntu 9.04, the lined out portion below apparently isn’t necessary.

If you are on an x86_64 system (only then), you also need to run the following command:

sudo cp /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/usp/plugins/_keybind64.so _keybinder.so

—-

Finally run

killall gnome-panel

This will make the panels disappear for a few moments – nothing to worry about.

ubuntu-system-panel is now installed and ready to be used.

—-

Here are some additional commands that you might need:

To update ubuntu-system-panel:

cd ~/Downloads/SVN/ubuntu-system-panel
./usp_update update

To uninstall ubuntu-system-panel:

cd ~/Downloads/SVN/ubuntu-system-panel
./usp_update uninstall

To completely remove it from your system (including the ubuntu-system-panel settings):

cd ~/Downloads/SVN/ubuntu-system-panel
./usp_update uninstall complete

—-

2 Using ubuntu-system-panel

Right-click on an empty area on your panel and select Add to Panel…:

Select Ubuntu System Panel from the Add to Panel window and click on Close:

Afterwards you find a new item on your panel called System. Click on it, and you’ll see the Ubuntu System Panel in its full beauty:

If you decide to use the Ubuntu System Panel instead of the normal Applications – Places – System menu, you can remove the normal menu by right-clicking on it and selecting Remove From Panel:

To move the Ubuntu System Panel to the top left spot on the panel, we must unlock the remaining icons that are left of it (right-click and uncheck Lock To Panel)…

… and move it (right-click > Move) to the top left spot…

… then lock it (right-click > Lock To Panel):

Here’s how it looks:

2.1 Adding Places

You might have noticed that the Places section is missing in the Ubuntu System Panel. To add it, right-click on System and select Preferences:

On the Main tab, there’s a window called Plugins. Click on the Add button…

… and fill in places as the plugin name:

You should now see the places plugin at the end of the plugins list. You can now move it up or down using the Move Up/Move Down buttons.

I found out that if the places plugin is in certain positions, the Ubuntu System Panel won’t work anymore. If you experience the same problem, just go to Preferences again and change the position of the places plugin. I’ve put it in the fourth position (below newpane, uspuser, and system_management, and it’s working for me):

Click on Apply and Close to leave the Preferences window.

This is how the Ubuntu System Panel looks with the Places section:

HowTo: Install Gnome-Shell !

By Ian McGregor,  and reposted here for your convenience:

First of all, I don’t run Compiz because I see it as no more than a resource-wasting annoyance. Sure, it looks cool, but it doesn’t help me with productivity in any way.

Secondly, I keep multiple windows open at all times, so I rarely see my desktop and it was good to see that GNOME shell includes a window switcher which can be accessed with the traditional Alt+Tab hotkeys.

Finally, my system isn’t a high-end system. I build my computers because it allows me to pick and choose hardware that I already know works with GNU/Linux. GNU/Linux, if you know what you’re doing, doesn’t need the latest and greatest hardware.

My system is, for the purpose of this review, as follows:

• CPU: AMD Sempron 2800+
• RAM: 1 GB
• Video: nVidia GeForce 6200
• Build date: June 2006
• Operating system: Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope)

Installing GNOME Shell
It’s important to note that GNOME Shell is still in fairly early development, more informatioin about GNOME Shell can be found here. I closed all applications except for a single GNOME terminal. I installed jhbuild with the command:

sudo apt-get install jhbuild

I then grabbed the GNOME Shell build script with the command:

wget http://git.gnome.org/cgit/gnome-shell/plain/tools/build/gnome-shell-build-setup.sh

I ran the setup script with the command:

bash gnome-shell-build-setup.sh

The setup script seems to check for dependencies because I was presented with a message listing some dependencies I needed to install and then told to run the setup script again. I used apt-get to install the dependencies and ran the setup script a second time which was successful.

I then built and installed GNOME Shell with the command:

jhbuild build

Building and installing took 18 minutes on my AMD Sempron 2800+ system and succeeded. I didn’t expect it to succeed because I hadn’t compiled anything in years and didn’t have anything in the way of a “build environment” installed, but it succeeded.

I then replaced the default GNOME window manager (Metacity) with GNOME Shell with the command:

~/gnome-shell/source/gnome-shell/src/gnome-shell –replace

Using GNOME Shell
GNOME Shell seems to be a compositing window manager and includes some special effects but not too many. You won’t find any desktop cube or wobbly windows (things that I feel are useless anyway), but you will find a very nice user interface. The usual panels were replaced with a single panel at the top of the screen which displays an Activities applet, the focused window icon and name, the date and time. the notification area (system tray) applet and a user applet which displays the name of the user. See the screenshots at the end of this article.

Clicking the Activities applet causes the desktop to zoom out, showing each of the running application windows as a thumbnail, and displaying the Activities panel. Clicking the Activities applet a second time restores the desktop to its normal state. The Activities panel contains a Find text box for searching, an Applications menu with Browse button, icons for the currently open applications, a Places menu and a Recent Documents menu with Browse button.

What was missing was the System menu. I played around a bit and found that clicking the user applet at the far right of the panel displays a menu containing a menu item for System Preferences. Clicking on this menu item opens the GNOME Control Center and that solved the missing System menu problem because GNOME Control Center displays all items in the System menu anyway, at least on my system. The user applet also has menu items for Lock Screen, Log Out, Shut Down and a Sidebar – which doesn’t seem to be implemented yet.

While the desktop is zoomed out (clicking on the Activities applet), there is a large “+” sign at the bottom right of the screen. This icon allows users to add workspaces. I only use one workspace but the icon functions fine.

Again, it’s important to note that GNOME Shell is still in fairly early development. However, the only thing that didn’t quite work was the pop-out sidebar, it pops out but it was empty. I’m not sure what its purpose is but I feel confident that it will be implemented in time.

Screenshots
Here are a couple of screenshots of GNOME Shell running on my Ubuntu 9.04 system (click each image for a larger view):

My normal GNOME desktop environment. Notice that there is only one item at the far left edge of the panel. The Activities applet takes the place of the menu bar (Applications, Places, System).

This is what the display looks like after clicking on the Activities panel applet at the far left edge of the panel.

My opinion of GNOME Shell
I love this thing! GNOME Shell seems to be working very well, I haven’t seen any problems, and is a very nice change from the traditional GNOME desktop. I love this thing! I’m very impressed with this shell especially given that it’s still in early development and seems to be fully functional. Did I mention that I love this thing?

Kudos to the GNOME developers for this beautiful and functional user interface. The only thing I need to do now is figure out how to run GNOME Shell as the default environment. If this is “early development”, I can hardly wait to see the finished product.

I wonder if Avant Window Navigator or wbar would work in this shell.

UPDATE: I already had GNOME Do installed and found that docky (a dock bar provided by GNOME Do) works quite well in GNOME Shell. More information about docky can be found here.

UPDATE2: Wbar works much better for me than docky. Wbar doesn’t have a lot of flashy eye candy, it just does its thing while staying out of your way. You can find a wbar tutorial here.

Updated screenshot showing wbar (at the bottom) and the new gKRELLM2 theme (far right) I made to match the Turrican GTK2 theme I’m using. By the way, the Turrican theme is one of four new themes you’ll see added to Ubuntu 9.10.

Sorry about the top left corner of the screenshots, the gnome screenshot tool doesn’t seem to like the Activites panel applet. Good thing I’m replacing it with Shutter

Communication Resources
Feel free to join any of the communication channels listed below:

• IRC: Join irc.gnome.org:#gnome-shell to participate in daily discussions or get help with running, developing, or designing for the GNOME Shell.
• Mailing List: Subscribe to the GNOME Shell mailing list to get updates about the latest features and participate in the development and design discussions. Feel free to use this list for mailing your design ideas to it.
• Bugzilla: Monitor “gnome-shell” product in GNOME Bugzilla and use it to submit bugs or feature requests. View all open bugs. You can add gnome-shell-maint@gnome.bugs to your “Users to watch” list in your email preferences for Gnome Bugzilla to get e-mail updates about changes.
• Commit Updates: Subscribe to the gnome-shell module code updates in your svn-commits-list subscription options. Commit log for the GNOME Shell can be viewed here

HowTo: Display more than 5 bookmarks in gnome-panel “Places” menu

From Ubuntu Forums:

1. Install apt-build

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-build

2b) Configure apt-build:

* Optimization level: Medium
* Add apt-build repository to sources.list: Yes
* Architecture:

3) Install files required to build gnome-panel from source and download the source

Code:

sudo aptitude build-dep gnome-panel
sudo apt-build source gnome-panel

4) Navigate to the downloaded gnome-panel source folder and open the menu items file
Code:

cd /var/cache/apt-build/build/gnome-panel-*
sudo gedit gnome-panel/panel-menu-items.c

5) Set the the maximum number of bookmarks to display
Code:

#define MAX_ITEMS_OR_SUBMENU 5

I changed it to 20.
Save.

6) Install the modified gnome-panel and restart it

(Sudo is necessary. Otherwise is does not work.
Code:

sudo ./configure
sudo make
sudo make install
killall gnome-panel

Ubuntu Jaunty Set up Guide….

recommended: (take note of swiftfox repo…this will give you 3.5.2)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1209904&highlight=set+beautiful+installation

Kubuntu 9.04 Beta. Stable and Fast

I find the Beta pretty darn stable for a first Beta. I’m looking forward to the final release. Here is my current desktop:

Kubuntu 9.04 Beta, customized Desktop

Conky System Monitor for Gnome and Xfce Installation

Conky is a  highly configurable system monitor for Linux.  For most people it can a little tricky at first to set up, but once it’s done, it’s a great highly flexbile system monitor for your Linux Desktop!  Let’s give it a try with Ubuntu shown below:

Install Conky in Ubuntu

sudo apt-get install conky

This will complete the installation

Configuring Conky

Make a configuration file in your home directory (Ex:-/home/ubuntuadmin)

vi /home/ubuntuadmin/.conkyrc

Paste the following code into the file and save / exit

# UBUNTU-CONKY
# A comprehensive conky script, configured for use on
# Ubuntu / Debian Gnome, without the need for any external scripts.
#
# Based on conky-jc and the default .conkyrc.
# INCLUDES:
# – tail of /var/log/messages
# – netstat connections to your computer
#
# — Pengo (conky@pengo.us)
#

# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)
own_window yes
own_window_type override
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)
double_buffer yes

# fiddle with window
use_spacer yes
use_xft no

# Update interval in seconds
update_interval 3.0

# Minimum size of text area
# minimum_size 250 5

# Draw shades?
draw_shades no

# Text stuff
draw_outline no # amplifies text if yes
draw_borders no
font arial
uppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase

# Stippled borders?
stippled_borders 3

# border margins
border_margin 9

# border width
border_width 10

# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5
default_color grey

own_window_colour brown
own_window_transparent yes

# Text alignment, other possible values are commented
#alignment top_left
alignment top_right
#alignment bottom_left
#alignment bottom_right

# Gap between borders of screen and text
gap_x 10
gap_y 10

# stuff after ‘TEXT’ will be formatted on screen

TEXT
$color
${color orange}SYSTEM ${hr 2}$color
$nodename $sysname $kernel on $machine

${color orange}CPU ${hr 2}$color
${freq}MHz Load: ${loadavg} Temp: ${acpitemp}
$cpubar
${cpugraph 000000 ffffff}
NAME PID CPU% MEM%
${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}
${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}
${top name 4} ${top pid 4} ${top cpu 4} ${top mem 4}

${color orange}MEMORY / DISK ${hr 2}$color
RAM: $memperc% ${membar 6}$color
Swap: $swapperc% ${swapbar 6}$color

Root: ${fs_free_perc /}% ${fs_bar 6 /}$color
hda1: ${fs_free_perc /media/hda1}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hda1}$color
hdb3: ${fs_free_perc /media/hdb3}% ${fs_bar 6 /media/hdb3}

${color orange}NETWORK (${addr eth0}) ${hr 2}$color
Down: $color${downspeed eth0} k/s ${alignr}Up: ${upspeed eth0} k/s
${downspeedgraph eth0 25,140 000000 ff0000} ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0
25,140 000000 00ff00}$color
Total: ${totaldown eth0} ${alignr}Total: ${totalup eth0}
Inbound: ${tcp_portmon 1 32767 count} Outbound: ${tcp_portmon 32768
61000 count}${alignr}Total: ${tcp_portmon 1 65535 count}

${color orange}LOGGING ${hr 2}$color
${execi 30 tail -n3 /var/log/messages | fold -w50}

${color orange}FORTUNE ${hr 2}$color
${execi 120 fortune -s | fold -w50}

You can also extract the sample file using the following command

zcat /usr/share/doc/conky/examples/conkyrc.sample.gz > ~/.conkyrc

If the network connections graph does not work, you will have to change all “eth0″ references to “ppp0″ (for modem) or “ath0″ (for other devices).

Add dbe module to /etc/X11/xorg.conf to reduce flickering.

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

find the section titled Section “Module”, and add the following line

Load “dbe”

Add conky to Startup programs

Go to System—>Preferences—>Sessions

Name:  Conky

Path:  usr/bin/conky

Here is what the result will look like: (check your .conkyrc file and experiment with different settings/outputs:

example of a conky configuration

HowTo: Faster booting in Linux

(6 seconds save!) Enable concurrent booting allows Ubuntu to take full advantage of dual-core processors, as well as processors that hyperthread or multithread.  These settings are located in your /etc/init.d/rc file:
sudo gedit /etc/init.d/rc
Look for CONCURRENCY=none and change it to:
CONCURRENCY=shell

NOTE: this possibly can cause issues with HAL for releases prior to Hardy (8.04), please see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s…al/+bug/149881

My Kubuntu 9.04 Alpha 6 Desktop

It’s pretty stable considering it’s still alpha….this one is fast, much faster than 8.10:

Kubuntu 9.04 Alpha

I’m still using Linux Mint 6 Xfce, but this one is going to be fast, fast and FAST.  Complete with Ext4!  Watch this one!