December 29, 2014

Set Nemo as Default File Manager in Ubuntu

Nemo is a file manager application developed by Linux Mint team. It is a fork of Nautilus, the GNOME's file manager. In the beginning, Nemo was just Nautilus 3.4 (Nautilus version which is forked to become Nemo) with different name.

With rapid development and improvement, Nemo now become a full-featured file manager with lots of features, more customizable, and looks beter (in my opinion) than its original (Nautilus).


Nemo is the default file manager in Linux Mint, to handle folder and also handle the desktop. You can also easily install Nemo in Ubuntu if you want which is just apt-get away using a PPA (read more: How to install Nemo in Ubuntu),

When you install Nemo in Ubuntu, it doesn't set itself as the default file manager, Nautilus remains as the default one. If you want to integrate Nemo into Ubuntu system (as the default folder handler), you have to do it manually.

Here I want to share simple command to set Nemo as the default file manager in Ubuntu.

We will invoke the xdg-mime command from freedesktop.org, which is standard command and installed by default in most Linux distribution including Ubuntu. It can be use to set an application (*.desktop file) as the default file opening a certain file type(s) (mime-type). You can also use it to find out what application on your system to handle type(s) of file.

You can run this command in Terminal to show the default app for folder:
xdg-mime query default inode/directory
By default, the output of the command in Ubuntu should be nautilus.desktop.


Set Nemo As Default File Manager


If you have Nemo installed on your system and want to set Nemo as the default file manager, run this command in Terminal:
xdg-mime default nemo.desktop inode/directory application/x-gnome-saved-search

Now Nemo (nemo.desktop app launcher to be exact) should be the default file manager (folder handler). To test the result, run this command:
xdg-open $HOME

That command should launch Nemo showing your home directory.

The xdg-mime command should be available and can be used in most Linux distribution, not only in Ubuntu. If you want to know more about the xdg-mime command, simply run this command in Terminal: xdg-mime --help or man xdg-mime.

***

Set Nemo To Handle Desktop


In Ubuntu, Nautilus is set to handle desktop by default (to manage desktop icons, menu, etc), and if you have Nemo installed, there will be a conflict, both will be automatically loaded every time you logging in, to take control of the desktop.

If you want to stop Nautilus from handling the desktop and want to set Nemo instead, you can do the followings:

  1. Disable desktop handling by Nautilus
    Run this command in Terminal:
    gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons false
    .
  2. Make sure Nemo is set to handle desktop
    Run this command:
    gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons true
    .

Thanks to Cursor (see comment below) for pointing this out.

Source: http://www.fandigital.com/2013/01/set-nemo-default-file-manager-ubuntu.html#more

December 15, 2014

Create a live system ISO for your Ubuntu-based Linux machines using Systemback

Jack Wallen introduces you to an easy way to create live ISO images of your currently running Linux system with Systemback.
Systemback
You have that Linux desktop or server precisely how you want it and are interested in either creating a spot-on backup or a live ISO that you can then install on other (similar) hardware. How do you do it? You could go through the process of learning a number of commands to take care of the process, or you could install and use a handy tool called Systemback.
The Systemback tool allows you to create restore points, backups, and live images of a running system. Currently, it only works for Ubuntu derivatives based on 14.04, 14.10, and 15.04. It does, however, work like a champ (and does so quite easily).
I want to show you how to install and quickly make a live image of your current Linux system.

Installation

You won't find Systemback in the standard repositories, so you must first add the repo with the command:
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:nemh/systemback
Now, update apt with the command:
sudo apt-get update
Finally, install Systemback with the command:
sudo apt-get install systemback
You'll have to okay the dependencies before the install will begin. The dependencies will vary, based on what you have installed.
At this point, you should be able to start Systemback from the Unity Dash or your desktop start menu. You can also start Systemback from the command line with:
sudo systemback
You are now ready to create a live ISO.

Usage

Using Systemback is quite easy. From the main window (Figure A), select the location to house the ISO image (by clicking the ... button under Storage Location).
Figure A
Figure A
The Systemback main window.
Click the Live system create button and, in the new window (Figure B), give the live system a name, change the storage location (this location will need to have more than 4 GB of available space), and click Create new. You can optionally include user data files by checking the associated box.
Figure B
Figure B
Creating the live ISO image.
Note: If your .sblive file is larger than 4 GB, the conversion to a ISO is not possible. This is a file system limitation.
Depending on the size of your installation, the process will take some time to complete, so grab a cup of coffee or administer a server or two. After it's installed, you should find an .sblive image in the defined storage location ready to convert to ISO. This image can either be written to a USB device or used to create a live ISO image. From the Created Live images window, select the image you want to convert, and then click Convert to ISO. When this process is completed, you'll find the .iso file in the storage location ready to be written to disk. With that disk, you can then install the live image on other machines.
The best time to use Systemback is on a close-to-newly installed system. This is simply because of the file system size limitation. If you've installed too many applications on the system, the size will reach beyond 4 GB, and you won't be able to convert it. You can, however, still create restore points for a system. To create a restore point, first make sure you've selected a Storage directory, and then click the Create New button.
Once you've created a restore point, you can then go back to that restore point by simply selecting it from the left side of the window (Figure C) and then clicking System Restore on the right side.
Figure C
Figure C
Restoring from a restore point.
In the resulting window (Figure D), select the type of restore you want to do, if you want to include user configuration files, and click Next. This will begin the restore process.
Figure D
Figure D
Restore point options.
Systemback is a great way to create live images based on a pre-existing system and restore points in case you need to roll a Linux machine backward.
Do you administer or use Linux machines? If so, what do you use for your Linux backup/restore systems? Share your experience in the discussion thread below.

Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/create-a-live-system-iso-for-your-ubuntu-based-linux-machines-using-systemback/