Install the Customized GNOME 3 Adwaita Improved Shell Theme

Although not everyone is fond of it, yet Gnome 3 certainly looks gorgeous (at least :P). The black panel, the blue background + the new theme which is called "Adwaita" which is especially designed for the Gnome3 GTK3 desktop... they look all good except that fat panels and stuff. Have you ever wondered a way to reduce the default tool bar in Nautilus called "breadcrumb" which obviously looks bigger...

Well, no worries, you don't have to edit any files (the hard way) and our extremely creative artist called half-leaf has done just that for all of us who are annoyed by this "Adwaita" GTK3 theme.

Not only he has reduced the size of those toolbars but other improvements such as blending the sidebar with the theme in General, reducing scroll-bar size and enhanced button padding are also "fixed". All you gotta do is first download the zipped package from here. Then extract the content and the copy that extracted folder to your "./themes" folder in the "Home" of your GNU/Linux PC/Laptop.

Yep... that's pretty much it... again, thank you half-leaf, for this :).

Read More

Blogger Launched the "+1 Button" Feature!, How To Add it To Your Blog?

Would you trust a total stranger's opinions or the one from your friends??, it's usually friends, right?. I think it was Matt Cutts who said something that means exactly that, but from a search engine's point of view:- "search results aren't just about relevancy they're also about preference" when Google first launched their "+1 button" feature few months ago.

What basically happens is that, whenever you search for something in Google (more and more in the future), say about "Ubuntu Tablet" :) then unlike in the past, if one or few of your Google buddies have already recommended it using this "+1 button" feature, then the big G will change their search results listings for you and may/will include the most recommend link using information gathered using the "+1 button which resembles the preference of your friends.

Although Google only has the authority over user preference "gatherings" within their services such as Gmail chat-buddies, etc yet other anonymous "votes" will also be used. They said that they'll be implementing the "+1 button" slowly... as a result, it took almost three months to the blogger team to finally enable it in posts in Blogger platform. 

The "Button" in action!... :)

The "+1 button" is automatically integrated into the usual "Share Buttons" in Blogger posts (usually at the end of your posts, if you haven't manually changed the location). So if you want to make sure it's added by default, then make sure you've enabled the "Share Buttons" in Blogger.

To do that,

1. Log-in to your Blogger Account.

2. Go to your Blog and click "Design".

3. Find your "Blog Post" widget (as shown below), click on the "Edit" button and make sure you've "checked" the "Show Share Buttons". That's how you add 1+ button in Blogger!.

Oh, btw, while you're logged in, when you browse your own posts, the "+1 button" is automatically hidden form you, obviously :).

Read More

How to Install Ostinato Network Traffic Analyzer in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal/10.10?

As a GNU/Linux system administrator or as an experienced user "knowing" advanced information about your network/traffic, etc is one of the most important things concerning security. Although there are various tools which fall into that "category" in GNU/Linux but today I'm going to introduce (well most know about this great little app actually) a utility called Ostinato.

It's written in Qt toolkit and can also be used in Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX as well.


Main features...

*. Supports common network protocols such as - Ethernet/802.3/LLC SNAP, VLAN (with QinQ), IP, ARP, TCP, UDP and ICMP.

*. Configure stream rates/ no of packets, etc.

*. Create and configure multiple streams easily.

*. Add new protocol builders using its framework.

*. Supports any text based protocols.

*. Shows real-time/live network status - packet status, sent/receive, etc.

If you use Ubuntu 11.04, then you can install Ostinato by entering the below command in your Terminal.

sudo sh -c ‘echo deb http://widehat.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/pstavirs:/ostinato/xUbuntu_11.04/ ./ > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/obs-ostinato.sources.list’
wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/pstavirs:/ostinato/xUbuntu_11.04/Release.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ostinato

For Ubuntu 10.10 users, please use the below command instead.

sudo sh -c ‘echo deb http://widehat.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/pstavirs:/ostinato/xUbuntu_10.10/ ./ > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/obs-ostinato.sources.list’
wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/pstavirs:/ostinato/xUbuntu_10.10/Release.key -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ostinato

For MS Windows and Mac users, please visit this Ostinato home page for downloading. 

Read More

How to Install Dexter in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal (10.10/10.04)?

As said before, Elementary OS team has created  few applications of their own. From an audio player to mail-client, GTK theme (:P), file manager... they are some pretty impressive dudes. If you want an easy to use. beautiful looking address book application for your GNU/Linux Laptop from the Elementary team, then Dexter is the one to go for.

This was created by Allen Lowe (+ his cute little kid) and Dan Rabbit who's behind the meet-box music player design. As said this is already a part of their Elementary OS which was released few months ago but since Elementary was actually a Launchpad project, you can use it in Ubuntu as well.

It's still at its early stage so few features such as Google Sync, Postler integration and D-bus support, etc are on their way. 

Main features...

*. Add/Edit and view your contacts - Insert first/middle names, organization, e-mail addresses, birthday, pictures, etc.

*. Search easily within the app.

*. Import and Exporting.

*. Some contact info could become link (Google map integration with an address for instance).

It's so good that, Lord Vader hates it ... :P

So if you want to install Dexter in Ubuntu 11.04/10.10 or 10.04, then open your Terminal as usual and use the below command.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementaryart/elementary-dev
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dexter

Read More

Install Boot-Repair in Ubuntu 11.04 (Reinstalling GRUB in Ubuntu Made Easy!)

The Boot loader is one of the most important aspects/programs of all operating systems. Whether its GNU/Linux, MS Window or Mac OS, etc it must be present!. And it is also a very fragile one as well. That's why having a recovery disk is also very important otherwise, say you're a bit new to all these "stuff", then you might easily end up losing data on your hard disk drive for instance.

Anyhow, there are primarily two main boot loaders can be seen in computers, one type is called the primary boot loader which represents a small piece of code/instructions that lets you computer to boot or load the most primary software contents without problems (that are closely related to the actual hardware, such as sending display signals to the Monitor screen or checking your RAM for errors for instance). This is usually stored in a ROM (read only memory) or EEPROM chip. The best example for such a Boot loader is the BIOS on your computer's motherboard.

Although the functions of a primary boot loader can be quite limited because those ROM chips usually have smaller capacity + since every operating system has a way of its own doing things, it's almost impossible to add all the details into the ROM. Even if we put our OS boot information into it, yet it can be quite hard to update it whenever the OS developers want since updating a BIOS chip has is "risks".

As an answer to all these issues they came up with another kind of boot loaders that run after the BIOS|primary boot loader is executed called secondary boot loaders. They're usually stored in your HDD/USB, etc, a place called MBR (master boot record). Now, these type of boot loaders are OS specific (not always true because they do have the ability to boot into other OS boot loaders. Multi OS boot for instance) and are behind the perfect execution of your operating system into your RAM.

Although there are several types... yet in GNU/Linux there are primarily two main BL can be identified. One is called Lilo and the other is called GRUB. GRUB is the primary one (if I'm not mistaken) these days which is an official part of the GNU project as well.

There can be many occasions a boot loader can be "corrupted"... say due to a virus attack or while trying to install/reinstall a boot loader or can occur after using a disk repair app in GNU/Linux (yes, it's possible) . When it comes to GRUB, in GNU/Linux you can install/reinstall GRUB loader without any GUI, even if your GNU/Linux PC Laptop is un-bootable, as long as you have the Live CD, etc you can use a command called "grub-install".

But then again, when you have an excellent grub installer GUI, why the heck u wanna do that! :). Sorry to drag you along with all these "related" details (just kinda felt like writing em)... if you want to easily control your GRUB boot loader in Ubuntu, then there is an excellent, GTK written GUI called "Boot-Repair".

This "window" is not available for those of us who use the original, official Ubuntu LiveCD... thus once installed and run we should be prompted by the below one instead...

Main features...

*. Recover or Repair your Grub code in MBR when you can't even boot your OS.

*. Repair it within the OS (you know, even if you removed your boot loader, as long as you don't reboot your PC, you're gonna be fine, for a while :P)

*. Reinstall the loader.

*. Change the location of the GRUB installation (you know, installing it into an another HDD, etc).

*. Restore the original boot sector.

You can install the magnificent :D Boot-Repair in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal, 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot, 12.04 Precise Pangolin, 10.10 and 10.04 by entering the below command in your Terminal.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install boot-repair

How the heck can I use it if I can't boot into my Ubuntu desktop Gayan!, you... nutcase?

Well my friend, use your Live CD or Live USB... boot into your desktop using those media and simply instal the Boot-Repair using the same command. Or I think you should be able to run it in the "/usr/bin" directory if no internet connection is available. In that sense, we can actually create a Linux recovery disk/LiveCD by using this app that should help to access/recover our data without even losing a single byte! :D. Good luck.

Oh, I should be thankful to this awesome Ubuntu forum thread for this app news as well :).

Update: You can get more information from this official Boot-Repair Ubuntu Help page too. Thanks "Yann" (the developer) for the update :).

Read More

How to Add Shutdown/Hibernate Menus in Gnome 3 (for Fedora Core 15)

Gnome developers haven't forgot to include the "Shutdown" button/option from their desktop menu (accessed through the right-side corner in your desktop as anyone knows)... in fact in the name of better control over your GNU/Linux PC-Laptop desktop, they've decided to remove it!.

So, by default when you click on that corner we only have the ability to log-out of the system or suspend it, no hibernate or Shutdown functions are available. Although you can press the "Alt" key on your keyboard while accessing that menu which should change the "suspend" menu to "shutdown" (finally) but still, as far as I know you can't get that "hibernate" option.

This is typical Gnome behavior... although they do "explain" it by saying its their "job" to let users have the ability to control their desktop at its best, yet in truth...

Here's an important quote from one of the most prestigious software developers called, Joel...

"To make people happy, you have to let them feel like they are in control of their environment. To do this, you need to correctly interpret their actions..." Via: Joel on software.

Now I may sound like an arrogant assho*$ but I'm not (okay, I do have a little pride me self as well :P). In fact, if you read that post you'll be amazed by the depths that Joel takes you which is hell of an article/insights.

But at the end (you'll understand this if you read it) nobody gives a damn about yours or mine's "freedom". But at the end, we are all driven by this primary need to control others using our own "means", even if it's visible in the most subtlest sense, one way or the other.

Okay, enough of this shit, let me get back to the topic (that actually rhymed :P)

So, if you're looking for a way to add both these functions into your Gnome3 or the shell (I'm using FC15 for this example), then we can use one of the plugins that comes as a part of the excellent Gnome shell extensions called "alternative status menu" which does exactly that.

Finally!...

You can easily install this alternative status menu shell extension in Fedora Core 15 by using the below command in your Terminal (note:- if you've already installed the Shell extension pack, then this should be automatically installed).

yum install gnome-shell-extensions-alternative-status-menu

That's it. Now you should have both Shutdown and Hibernate options in that menu. Enjoy (I know you will :P).

Read More

PowerAMP - A Powerful Music Player for Your Android OS!

Unlike many other mobile operating systems (especially iOS), Android for some reason ain't the best of its kind when it comes to dealing with multimedia files. From a fully featured, powerful OS to easy to use GUI... open-source framework, etc... it's all good, except for some of the issues while playing certain kinds of multimedia files.

But as the case with open-source or GNU software, there aren't any shortage of available applications nonetheless. So, if for some reason you don't like your current music player in your Android phone or Tablet, then go to the market place and search for "something" that suits your needs the most.

In that sense, if you're willing to spend few bucks ($5 actually) there is an excellent music player for Android called PowerAMP!. It comes with a simplified interface which is very easy "understand" and lot of other useful features such as ...

*. A 10-band Equalizer.

*. User friendly buttons.

*. Plays a number of audio formats by default such as:  mp3, mp4/m4a, alac, ogg, wma, flac, wav, ape, wv, and tta.

*. Adjust bass and treble separately (other than using the above mentioned Equalizer).

*. Automatic album art downloading.

*. Few different themes.

*. Tag editor.

*. Search for files with ease.

*. Android OS version must be 2.1 or higher.  

But the only drawback is, you cannot listen to any podcasts with it.

But the rest assured this is a pretty powerful player nonetheless. Although you don't have to purchase it first, they do let you download a trial which can be obtained from this market page. If you find it to be quite useful, then you can pay the "price" afterward :).

Read More