News and How to Ubuntu: Gnome-shell

Gnome 3.4 released Install through PPA

12:14 PM

The GNOME Release Team has announced the availability of GNOME 3.4. This latest version comes six months after the last GNOME release and includes major new features, significant updates to a host of GNOME applications, and a huge number smaller fixes and refinements.

GNOME 3.4 introduces a range of new features. A new document search facility allows quick access to content stored both on your device and online. Smooth scrolling means that moving through content is slick and graceful. New application menus, which are located on the top bar, provide a useful way to access application options and actions.

Full details of the changes found in GNOME 3.4 can be seen in the release notes.

Installing Gnome 3.4 via PPA

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/testing

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

$ sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

Enjoy!

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Give Cinnamon a New Look with Minty Theme

2:56 PM

On my past two posts, we've talked about what Cinnamon is and how to install it on Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, and openSUSE. If you have not heard yet about Cinnamon please click here. Lazy to read whole post? Here's a brief description:

Cinnamon is a fork of GNOME Shell developed by Linux Mint Team that brings innovative features of GNOME Shell and simple layout of GNOME 2.

Cinnamon is a good innovation which is trying to combine the hi-tech GNOME Shell and simplicity of GNOME 2. Unfortunately, Cinnamon can not use usual GNOME Shell themes, if you force it, there will be something messy on "Application Launcher". So today, I'd like to share s new theme created for Cinnamon called "Minty".

As you can see at the picture above, this theme have a "minty" green highlight color and a clean look interface.It's suitable for you who are looking for latest GNOME version with simple and lightning fast interface.

Install Minty theme on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot
Ubuntu Oneiric users can install Minty theme easily by typing the following command:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:satyajit-happy/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon-theme-minty

Although, Cinnamon is usable by now, it's in early development stage. You might encounter some bugs, errors or another annoying stuff. Please use with your own risk!

Regards.

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Cinnamon: Bring GNOME2-Like Layout on GNOME Shell

10:34 PM

Cinnamon is a fork of GNOME Shell developed by Linux Mint Team that brings innovative features of GNOME Shell and simple layout of GNOME 2. Before we jump into the rest of article, please take a look at the figure below.

As you can see, Cinnamon comes with single panel contains "menu" button on the left, followed by "quick launch" icons and window list. Indicator applet and another notification icon is positioned on the right of panel. Pretty simple, huh? Application launcher is simplified too, with single large box containing installed applications shortcut, favorite applications, and session control to logout, etc.

Installing on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot
Although Cinnamon is developed and intended for Linux Mint, it can be installed on Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot. First thing first, install GNOME Shell by typing the following command:

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

Once installed correctly, please download the Cinnamon installer here. Download both "cinnamon" and "cinnamon-session" packages and install them:

sudo dpkg -i cinnamon_1.1.2_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i cinnamon-session_1.0.0_all.deb

Now, you may logout and select "Cinnamon" on session choices when login.
Cinnamon is in early development, so use with your own risk!

Good luck!

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Autohide GNOME Shell Top Panel Bar - GNOME Shell Extension

8:41 AM

Autohide Top Panel is GNOME Shell Extension that lets you hide GNOME Shell top panel bar, Autohide Top Panel extension initially created by fpmurphy, this extension now available in GNOME Shell Extension website. See following video to see how it's works

Download Autohide Top Panel Extension
You can install Autohide Extension via GNOME Shell extension here, or download the extension through following links.

Autohide Top Panel Extension

If you're not using Ubuntu, download the extension from here, extract it and place it under /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions (or ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions).

After finished downloading, install extension using GNOME Tweak Tool then activate it by switch toggle on/off , once installed, refresh your desktop (log off the computer) to see it works.

Activate Autohide Extension in GNOME Tweak Tool

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GNOME Shell Extensions Website Has Been Launched

6:03 AM

For those who are using GNOME Shell must be excited with this news. GNOME shell extension website has been launched yesterday as public alpha stage. You must use Firefox with an extension - which is installed by default on GNOME 3.2 - to get an easy one-click install from the website. There is also an "on-off" button shown if you are running GNOME Shell when visiting the website.

As an alpha stage, there are some bugs and problems:

There are some bugs that currently cause the browser plugin to not work correctly in WebKit-based browsers like Epiphany or Chrome. We will fix these bugs in subsequent releases of GNOME Shell, but for now using Firefox to access extensions.gnome.org is advised.
Extensions that use GSettings to store user settings cannot be currently installed as a user; this limitation will be fixed for GNOME 3.4. In the mean time, extension authors should avoid the use of GSettings if they want to make their extension available via extensions.gnome.org.
Due to a bug in GNOME Shell 3.2.1 code, the uninstall button will not work for some extensions. Disabling extensions still works, but if you want to remove an extension entirely, you'll need to manually delete it from ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions.

For now, there are a few extensions available for download such as Alternative Status Menu, Frippery Application Menu, Dock, Exaile DoubanFM Control, etc. So, please take a closer look to GNOME Shell Website and grab what you like :)

GNOME Shell Extension Website

Enjoy :)

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Ubuntu 11.10 Unity Keyboard Shortcut

9:28 AM

Ubuntu 11.10 comes with Unity as default interface, although Unity run on top of Gnome 3, the appearance and functionality between Unity and Gnome-Shell was different. In this post, I will show you some of keyboard shortcut of Unity you should know, knowing some keyboard shortcut of course will speed up your work.

Here some list of Unity keyboard shortcut you should know :

Launcher

Hold Super – Show launcher.
Hold Super, then 1 or 2 or 3 and so on until 0 – Opens or puts focus to an application. The number actually corresponds to the location of the icon on the launcher from top to bottom.
Adding Shift will open a new instance of the application if it’s already open.
Super+T – Opens the trash can.
Alt+F1 – Put keyboard focus on the Launcher, use arrow keys to navigate, Enter launches an application, Right arrow exposes the quick lists if an application has them.
Ctrl+Alt+T – Launch a terminal window.

Dash

Tap Super(Press, don’t hold) – Opens the Dash.
Super+A opens the Dash in Applications Len
Tab - Move to the next lens (When the dash is open)
Shift+Tab – 11.10+ only – Move to the previous lens (when the dash is open)
Alt+F2 – Invokes the Dash in a “special mode” to run a command. Typing in a Folder Name will find that folder in Nautilus, you can also use ~ as a shortcut in the field. Typing an application name will show different settings of that application with that application itself.

Panel

F10 – Open the first menu on the panel, use the arrows keys to move along to the end of that list or to the last menu, which is ‘Session’ by default.
Press Esc to close the menus without choosing anything.

Window Management

Super+W – Spread mode, zoom out on all windows in all workspaces.

Spread Mode

Super+D – Minimize or restore all windows; (Show Desktop.)
Alt+Tab – Switch to other applications, you can hold Alt down and then hit tab to switch to the next application.
Alt-` (The key to the left of 1 on US layouts, by default Unity will take it as any key above the Tab key.)- Switch between an application’s windows. Hitting this combo when you’re already focused on an application will automatically switch only between the windows for that application.

Window Placement
Cycling through the same key Unity will cycle through different placement widths, so experiment by hitting the NUM key multiple times, for example Ctrl-Alt-numpad 5 5 5:

Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 7 – Place window in top left corner of screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 8 – Place window in top half of screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 9 – Place window in top right corner of screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 4 – Place window on the left side of the screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 5 – Center/Maximize the window in the middle of the screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 6 – Place window on the right side of the screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 1 – Place window in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 2 – Place window in the bottom half of the screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 3 – Place window in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Ctrl+Alt+Numpad 0 – Maximize window.
Alt + F7 with Arrow keys – Moves the current window on the screen in the current workspace. Use Arrow keys to change its position fast, and use Arrow keys (on NUMpad when NumLock is off) to change it slowly.

Workspace Management

Super+S – Expo mode (for everything), zooms out on all the workspaces and lets you manage windows.
Shift+Alt+↑ – Expo mode for all windows in the current workspace only.
Ctrl+Alt+← / → / ↑ / ↓ – Change to a new workspace.
Ctrl+Alt+Shift-← / → / ↑ / ↓ – Place window to a new workspace.
Alt + F10 to resize current window between normal size and/or maximize.
Ctrl+Alt+L - Lock the screen.

Screenshots

Above three shortcuts will work after you press Super + S – Take a screenshot of the current workspace.
Alt+PrtScn – Take a screenshot of the current window.

Feel something is missing ?, you can find it or even created through ubuntu keyboard shortcut setting, go ubuntu System Setting (top right corner of your desktop) > Keyboard, and then go to tab Shortcut .


Ubuntu 11.10 keyboard shortcut setting

Credit to webscopia

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Ubuntu Desktop Screen Recording Tool (Gnome Shell Features)

11:30 PM

Except of using screenshot (using an image), sometimes needed to capture desktop screen using video to show the way of to do something or take some demo or and illustration. there's a good news for Gnome Shell (Gnome 3) user, because they don't need to install any additional application to record their desktop activity using video.

There is build in desktop video recording tool/screen recording tool inside of Gnome shell, you can easily capture desktop activity by pressing shortcut ctrl+shift+alt+r , after pressing ctrl+shift+alt+r you will see such notification in the bottom right corner of your desktop, when you see the notification, Gnome will start record your desktop, see following screenshot.

Ubuntu Desktop Screen Recording Tool (see the red mark in the bottom right corner)

We can say that video which produced by gnome is having good quality, in the video that I recorded, I get following data :

Video Format : webm (playable in VLC and Mplayer).
Resolution : 1366 x 768
Framerate : 15 Frames per sec
1 Minute = 3MB
Codec vp8 Video

Following video is produce by Gnome Shell screen recording tools:

This is one of great feature which is owned by the Gnome Shell, but one notable thing you should know is, you can't record any voice using this, you will get silent video, to add any voice and sound you need video editor software like audacity and Openshot.

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Tweaking Gnome Shell : 5 Step to Make your Gnome Shell Looks Great

12:56 PM

After installing the ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric, may some people feel not so satisfied with the performance or appearances (Unity), Although this situation has occurred since Ubuntu 11.04 some of ubuntu user seems still unsatisfied although Unity now runs on top of Gnome 3 platform (GTK3). Some advice to who are less satisfied with some Ubuntu change, "come on guys, all people do the change, let's change!", don't say that Gnome 2 is better ever.

If you feel not satisfied with Unity we have a choice to choose a Gnome-Shell, i think many blog/website has write about it, you can go to Ubuntu Software Center and seach a application by keywords 'Gnome Shell'.

this article will show us how to tweaking a Gnome shell so its looks great and bring a good functionality, through this, we will prove that you can do much with Gnome shell. Here 5 step to make you Gnome looks great.

Install Gnome Tweak Tool
Gnome-tweak-tools is GUI tools that help you tweaking a Gnome Shell (but you can also use it for unity). Like Unity have, in default mode Gnome Shell has less configuration tools to do simple setting like change the font, icon, and themes. Gnome Tweak Tools now available on default Ubuntu 11.10 repository, install Gnome Tweak Tools using following command.

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

Gnome Tweak Tool Screenshot

Change Gnome Shell Theme
You can pimp your Gnome appearance by changing its theme. By default you only have three choice that is "radiance, Adwaita, and Ambiance" and there are several good looking Gnome Shell themes you can download from gnome-look.org or deviant art. Here some `Beautiful` Gnome shell themes you can choose.

Browse Best Gnome Shell Themes Selection

To use the icon, you can install using Gnome Tweak Tool, and choose it as default theme for your desktop.

Change Default Icon Theme Pack
If you think that Ubuntu 11.10 icons looks dark and old, we agree with you. As we have done previously we also can replace with 'modern and fresh' icons. Some alternative you can choose is Faenza Icon Theme Pack, in our opinion Faenza still the best icon, updated, and available in various shapes. Download the latest Faenza icons pack though following links.

Faenza Icon Theme Pack

Download Latest Faenza Icon Pack

After downloading the Icon pack, add the icon you've download into your system through Gnome Tweak Tools.

Gnome Shell tweak tools choosing icon pack

Other ways you can Install Faenza Icons Pack via following PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install faenza-icon-theme

Install Gnome Shell Extension
to improve Gnome Shell fuctionality such as window management and application launching you can add Gnome Shell extentision in you desktop, add following PPA to install default Gnome Shell Extension in ubuntu:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ferramroberto/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions-common

after doing some action above, open you Ubuntu Software Center and search application by keywords 'Gnome Extension' then you will find many stuff to install.

Other ways, besides of the way above you can also download the extension separately and install it using Gnome Tweak Tools. Download Gnome Shell Extension through following links

Gnome Shell Wheather Extension

Download Gnome Shell Extension

Add Desktop Widget/Goodies
To add its appearance and performance you can add some Desktop Goodies/Widget on your desktop. There some desktop application which usually fill Linux Desktop that is Screenlets, Conky, Super Karamba, Cairo-Dock, and Docky. All application that i mention above can improve your desktop appearance besides add functionality.

Install Screenlets in Ubuntu 11.10
Here's following command to install Screenlets on your desktop

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:screenlets/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install screenlets && sudo apt-get install screenlets-pack-all

Screenlets screenshot

Install Conky in Ubuntu 11.10
Conky is available by default in Ubuntu 11.10 Default repository, you can install by following command :

sudo apt-get install conky

Docky Screenshot

Install Cairo Dock in Ubuntu 11.10
Cairo Dock is customizable application launcher for Linux which comes desktop widget, customizable themes and plugins, use following command to install Cairo Dock in Ubuntu 11.10 :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cairo-dock cairo-dock-plug-ins

Cairo Dock Screenshot

Some desktop goodies that you can try besides we mention above is : Covergloobus, Docky, Avant Window and Super Karamba.

Download Some Good Wallpapers
For additional tips besides 5 step above is make your desktop feels `good` by changing its wallpapers. Ubuntu 11.10 provided 15 new wallpapers which 14 of them is taking of community that submit by user. Feel unsatisfied with the existing wallpapers collection, no need to worry, why not change it ? Here some great wallpapers collection you can choose from gnome-shell deviantART channel .