Tuesday, July 31, 2012

[HOW TO] Install Conky in Xubuntu

Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any information on your desktop.

Conky running in Xubuntu 12.04
Conky running in Xubuntu 12.04 and using conky2 by ~dinozaur1982 as configuration file.

Install

Open a terminal window and run:

sudo apt-get install conky -y

Usage

Conky can be accessed by typing the following command: conky. You can use the -c | --config= FILE option to load a configuration file instead of $HOME/.conkyrc.

My suggestion is to have a folder with some Conky configuration files and add Conky to session startup[1] typing conky -c path_to_conky_rc as the command. Please don't forget to adjust the configuration file path.

Where to get examples

Great examples can be found at deviantArt.com. There's also examples at gnome-look.org under the "Other Gnome Stuff" section, but it's easier to just search for "conky". After downloading a Conky configuration file you may have to edit it to make everything work.

Footnotes

[1] See this to learn how to add a program to Xfce session startup.

References

Conky | sourceforge.net

Friday, July 27, 2012

[NEWS] Xubuntu 12.10 alpha 3 released

Xubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal Alpha 3 has been released. More info can be found on the references.

References

xubuntu.org

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

[SOLVED] Native look-and-feel for Google Earth in Xubuntu

Updated: 17/02/13

On this post we'll make Google Earth look like any other application on Xubuntu.

Important: This method doesn't work for the 7.x version.

Google Earth running on Xubuntu 12.04 with native look-and-feel.
Google Earth running on Xubuntu 12.04 with native look-and-feel.

Fix

Copy and paste the line bellow on a terminal window.

cd /opt/google/earth/free && sudo rm libcurl.so.4 libGLU.so.1 libnss_mdns4_minimal.so.2 libQtCore.so.4 libQtGui.so.4 libQtNetwork.so.4 libQtWebKit.so.4 && sudo wget -q http://goo.gl/hl6Gq -O libfreeimage.so.3 && if [ `uname -m` == "x86_64" ]; then sudo wget -q http://goo.gl/52m1f -O libphonon.so.4; fi && sudo wget -q http://goo.gl/gKAZJ -O googleearth && cd - && sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev libqtwebkit4 -y

References

[How To] Make Google Earth 6.2 Look ‘Native’ in Ubuntu

[HOW TO] Install Google Earth in Xubuntu

Google Earth is a virtual globe. Here's how to install it in Xubuntu.

Google Earth running on Xubuntu 12.04
Google Earth running on Xubuntu 12.04

Install

Copy and paste the line bellow on a terminal window.

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add - && sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list' && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install google-earth-stable -y

Usage

Google Earth can be accessed via Applications Menu > Internet > Google Earth or typing the following command: googleearth.

References

3rd Party Repository: Google Earth

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

[HOW TO] Install Mint menu in Xubuntu

UPDATED: 25/07/12

Here's the instructions for adding the Linux Mint Menu to Xubuntu.

Linux Mint Menu running on Xubuntu 12.04

Install Mint Menu

NOTE: Before proceeding please confirm that you have Xfce 4.10 installed (Applications Menu > About Xfce), because xfce4-xfapplet-plugin depends on libxfce4util6 >= 4.9.0 and xfce4-panel >= 4.9.2 and those versions are available in the Xfce 4.10 Dev PPA. You can learn on how to install Xfce 4.10 here.

 

Copy and paste the line below on a terminal window. This line adds the Linux Mint repository and its key and then installs mintmenu and xfce4-xfapplet-plugin packages.

echo 'deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ maya main upstream import' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/linuxmint.list && key=3EE67F3D0FF405B2 && gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys $key && gpg --armor --export $key | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install mintmenu xfce4-xfapplet-plugin

Add Mint Menu to Xfce Panel

  1. Right-click on Xfce panel and add a new item.

  2. Add XfApplet.

  3. Right-click on Xfce panel again and open panel preferences.

  4. Move XfApplet to the top of the list. You may also remove the "Applications Menu" item.

  5. Edit XfApplet item and add mintMenu applet.

References

Update Missing GPG Keys
How to Fix GPG No Public Key NO_PUBKEY Error During apt-get Update

Monday, July 23, 2012

[HOW TO] Add a new user account in Xubuntu

Here's the steps for creating a new user in Xubuntu:

  1. Open Applications Menu > System > Users and Groups.

  2. On the following "User Settings" dialog click on the add button.

  3. Now it's time to write the user's name. The dialog will suggest some usernames based on the user's name, but another one can be used as long as the rules presented are followed.

  4. Now a password for the new user must be selected. The password can be automatically generated (don't forget to memorize it).

  5. The new user is now available for login.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

[HOW TO] Install HandBrake in Xubuntu 12.04/12.10 (ppa)

Updated 26/10/12: These instructions are also valid for Quantal (12.10).

On a previous article I wrote about installing HandBrake in Xubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, however, at that moment there weren't packages built for Precise, so we had to install the packages for Oneiric manually. Now packages for Precise are available. Bellow instructions are provided for adding the PPA and install HandBrake.

Install

Open a terminal window and run (you can choose to install command line HandBrake and/or HandBrake with GUI):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases -y
sudo apt-get update
# Run to install HandBrake with command line interface
sudo apt-get install handbrake-cli -y
# Run to install HandBrake with graphical interface
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk -y

Usage

HandBrake can be accessed via Applications Menu > Multimedia > HandBrake or typing the command HandBrakeCli for command line HandBrake and typing the command ghb for HandBrake with GUI.

References

HandBrake Releases PPA