Install Nemo With Unity Patches (And Without Cinnamon Dependencies) In Ubuntu

As the default Gnome Nautilus file manager gets slimed down for tablets, the need for a traditional file manager is becoming more important. This is why Nemo was forked and developed.

Nemo, the default Cinnamon file manager, needs Cinnamon to be installed, even if you want to use it in some other desktop environment such as GNOME/Unity. That's not the only issue that makes using the latest Nemo under Unity difficult - Cinnamon 2.0 breaks Unity in Ubuntu 13.10, Nemo no longer draws the desktop icons and so on.

I wanted to use the latest Nemo under Unity, but without Cinnamon dependencies so I used the Nautilus Unity patches modified for Nemo by Jacob Zimmermann, which I updated to work with the latest Nemo 2.0.3, and I also added some extra patches to remove the Cinnamon dependencies (except for cinnamon-translations but that shouldn't be an issue), re-enable Nemo to handle the desktop icons and allow Nemo to use GNOME Control Center to change the desktop background or set a picture as wallpaper via context menu.

Since some of you might want to use this modified Nemo in Unity, I uploaded  it along with its extensions to a PPA, so you can easily install and use it under Unity (Ubuntu 14.04, 13.10, 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04).

With these changes, you can completely replace Nautilus with Nemo in Unity, without having to install Cinnamon. Why use Nemo? Well, Nemo comes with a huge number of features that no longer exist in Nautilus as well as some new ones:

• Extra Pane feature (can be enabled via View menu or using the F3 key) as well as an option to always start in split-pane mode;
• Unified, configurable toolbar: you can add/remove the following: up icon, refresh icon, toggle button for the location bar / path bar, home icon, computer icon and search icon;
• Treeview sidebar option;
• Detachable tabs;
• Re-worked statusbar with zoom controls as well as options to toggle displaying the places sidebar, treeview or completely hide the sidebar;
• The  main toolbar, menubar and statusbar can be hidden;
• Option to show the full path in the titlebar and tab bars;
• Displays an "elevated privileges" banner when running as root;
• Built in "Open as root" context menu item which uses pkexec instead of gksu;
• Built in "Open in terminal" context menu item;
• Added GTK bookmarks to the MoveTo/CopyTo context menus;
• Added "Set as Wallpaper" to the context menu;
• Switch view buttons on the toolbar (Grid, List and Compact views);
• Drag and drop support for the bookmarks in the sidebar;
• Sidebar: indicators under each drive, displaying the free/used space;
• Type-ahead find feature similar to the one removed from Nautilus starting with version 3.6;
• Collapsable sidebar categories;
• List view:
• columns are now re-orderable by drag and drop;
• you can now right-click a column heading to add or remove visible columns quickly;
• Improved the Open With dialog - you can now add custom mime-type handlers on the fly;
• Much more!

Nemo dual pane and an "elevated privileges" banner displayed when running Nemo as root

Toolbar options

Thanks to the changes mentioned above, you'll also get Unity integration similar to Nautilus: quicklists, Unity Launcher progress bar when copying files, etc.:

Nemo Unity integration

Nemo comes with quite a few extensions ported from Nautilus, such as: Fileroller (File Roller integration), Compare (context menu comparison extension), Dropbox (Dropbox integration for Nemo), Media Columns (displays PDF and audio - mp3, WAV and FLAC - tags as well as EXIF metadata to the Nemo list view), Pastebin (extension to send files to pastebin), RabbitVCS (extension for RabbitVCS integration, a tool that provides access to version control systems such as SVN), Seahorse (extension for Seahorse encryption in GNOME) and Share (extension to share folders using Samba).

Nemo Media Columns extension adds new audio and image tags to the List View

All these extensions are available in the Nemo WebUpd8 PPA. One extension is missing though: Sushi (a port of the GNOME Sushi extension to Nemo), because I didn't have time to remove its Cinnamon dependencies.

Install Nemo file manager in Ubuntu (Unity)

Warning: do not use this PPA if you're using Linux Mint or you've installed Cinnamon from the stable or nightly PPAs! Also, if you've added one of these two PPAs, remove it before using the WebUpd8 Nemo PPA even if you didn't install Cinnamon, or else the Nemo version in the WebUpd8 Nemo PPA might be overwritten.

1. Install Nemo

The WebUpd8 Nemo PPA is available for Ubuntu 14.04, 13.10, 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04. Add the PPA and install the latest Nemo (version 2.0.3 at the time I'm writing this post) with Unity tweaks/fixes by using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/nemo
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nemo nemo-fileroller

To launch Nemo, search for "Nemo" in Dash - no application called "Nemo" will show up but instead an application called files should be displayed - that's the app you need to launch. Don't search for "Files" because that will also find Nautilus (which is also called "Files").

2. Optional: install Nemo extensions

To install all the Nemo extensions (remove the extensions you don't want to use from the command below!) use the following command:

sudo apt-get install nemo-compare nemo-dropbox nemo-media-columns nemo-pastebin nemo-seahorse nemo-share

If you're having a problem installing nemo-dropbox, see THIS fix.

For RabbitVCS Nemo integration, install the following package (requires the RabbitVCS PPA):

sudo apt-get install nemo-rabbitvcs

Nemo Terminal extension

You can also install Nemo Terminal, an extension new, unreleased extension ported from Nautilus-Terminal that embeds a terminal into the Nautilus window:

sudo apt-get install nemo-terminal

Tip: the embedded Nemo terminal can be hidden using F4. You can disable it on Nemo startup and change various settings via Dconf Editor ("sudo apt-get install dconf-tools"), under org > nemo > extensions > nemo-terminal.

If you want an embedded terminal for Nautilus, see: Nautilus Terminal 1.0 Released With Support For Nautilus 3.x

After installing the extensions, I suggest restarting Nemo using the commands below (instead of "nemo -q" which prevented Nemo-Dropbox from working properly in my test for instance):

killall nemo
nemo

3. Fix issue with python-nemo (required by some extensions such as Nemo Terminal, Nemo Media Columns, Nemo RabbitVCS, etc.)

There's an issue in Ubuntu (Raring and newer only I believe) that prevents python-nemo from working. Fix it by using the following command:

- 32bit:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libpython2.7.so.1 /usr/lib/libpython2.7.so.1
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libpython2.7.so.1 /usr/lib/libpython2.7.so.1.0

- 64bit:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpython2.7.so.1 /usr/lib/libpython2.7.so.1
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libpython2.7.so.1 /usr/lib/libpython2.7.so.1.0

Optional: Set Nemo as the default file manager

1. To prevent Nautilus from handling the desktop icons (and use Nemo instead), use the commands below:

- install dconf-tools:

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

- disable Nautilus from drawing the desktop icons:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons false

(Nemo is enabled by default to draw the desktop icons so there's no need to change anything else)
Then, start Nemo and it should draw the desktop icons instead of Nautilus.

If you change your mind and want to use Nautilus for drawing the desktop icons instead of Nemo, use the commands below:

gsettings set org.nemo.desktop show-desktop-icons false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true

(the first command disables Nemo from showing desktop icons and the second re-enables Nautilus)

2. Set Nemo as the default file manager (replacing Nautilus) by running the following command:

xdg-mime default nemo.desktop inode/directory application/x-gnome-saved-search

Revert the changes

If you want to revert the changes and set Nautilus back as the default file manager, firstly let Nautilus draw the desktop icons:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.background show-desktop-icons true

Then, set Nautilus as the default file manager:

xdg-mime default nautilus.desktop inode/directory application/x-gnome-saved-search

Next, remove Nemo (including all the installed Nemo extensions) and the WebUpd8 Nemo PPA:

sudo apt-get remove nemo nemo-*
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/webupd8team-nemo-*.list

Source: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/10/install-nemo-with-unity-patches-and.html

Australis UI Lands In Firefox Nightly, Install It In Ubuntu (PPA) (webupd8.org)

Australis, a new Firefox user interface, has finally landed in Firefox Nightly.

The first thing you'll notice when using Australis is its curved tabs and the clear distinction between foreground and background tabs.

But that's not all. The bookmarks bar was separated from the location bar and merged with the bookmarks menu, the forward button only appears when there's somewhere to go forward to and the Firefox menu was moved on the right, at the end of the toolbar:

Also, the menu has a new touch optimized design as you can see in the screenshot below:

By clicking "Customize" in the menu, you can enter the new Firefox Australis customization mode which is used to customize the toolbar and menu panel but in the future it should also include theme and addon customization:

Unfortunately, some customizations were removed with the introduction of Australis: you can no longer hide the toolbar, the addon bar has been removed, there's no longer an option to use small icons and text+icons mode in Firefox and the option to create a custom toolbar was removed.

Australis, announced back in 2012, was initially supposed to land in Firefox 24 but was delayed quite a few times. However, since it landed in the latest Firefox Nightly, it will most probably be available with Firefox 28 which will launch March 4, 2014.

Install Firefox Nightly with Australis in Ubuntu

Australis has just landed in the Firefox daily PPA so if you use Ubuntu, you can easily install it using the commands below.

At the time I'm writing this article, the PPA provides Firefox Nightly with Australis only for Ubuntu 13.10 and 13.04. For Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04, the builds are a bit older and don't include Australis yet, but they should be updated soon!

It's important to note that installing Firefox Nightly from the Firefox daily PPA doesn't overwrite your current Firefox installation, so you can have both Firefox stable (or beta) and nightly installed in the same time.

Add the PPA and install Firefox Nightly in Ubuntu using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox-trunk

Once installed, you should find a new shortcut in your menu / Dash called "Nightly Web Browser" (not Firefox!).

If you're not using Ubuntu 13.10 or 13.04 or you're using a different Linux distribution, Windows or Mac, grab Firefox Nightly from HERE.

Source: http://www.webupd8.org/2013/11/australis-ui-lands-in-firefox-nightly.html

Tiny Tiny RSS Ubuntu PPA (Google Reader Alternative)

Posted: 27 May 2013 10:16 AM PDT

A while back we wrote about installing and configuring Tiny Tiny RSS in Ubuntu, a Google Reader (which will be closing in July) alternative that you can host on your computer / server, but the version available in the Ubuntu repositories is pretty old, so I've uploaded the latest Tiny Tiny RSS version to a PPA, which should make it a lot easier to install in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 or 12.04.

At the time I'm writing this article, our PPA has Tiny Tiny RSS version 1.7.9, while Ubuntu 13.04 has version 1.6.2. 

Since version 1.6.2, there have been many changes, like interface and typography improvements, error logging, new plugin system that includes plugins such as importing starred/shared.json files from Google Reader takeout or emulate Google Reader keyboard shortcuts and others, improved feed update speed, implemented basic password recovery and many other new features, tweaks and bug fixes.

Plugins available in Tiny Tiny RSS 1.7.9

Install (and configure) the latest Tiny Tiny RSS in Ubuntu via PPA

The PPA packages are the work of Sebastian Reichel, who is maintaining Tiny Tiny RSS for Debian. I've just tweaked the package to work with the latest Tiny Tiny RSS 1.7.9 (Debian has 1.7.8 for now) and uploaded it to the PPA.

1. Before proceeding with the Tiny Tiny RSS installation, let's install MySQL and Apache:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client apache2 libapache2-mod-php5

2. To add our Tiny Tiny RSS PPA and install the latest TT-RSS in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 or 12.04, use the following commands in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/tt-rss
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tt-rss

If you're upgrading from an older Tiny Tiny RSS version (I've tested it with Tiny Tiny RSS 1.6.2 from the Ubuntu repositories and then upgraded to the latest 1.7.9), you'll be prompted to select some options:

• you'll need enter the full URL of you tt-rss installation (for instance "http://localhost/tt-rss/" for a local install);
• replace the configuration file: select to replace the original configuration file or else you'll get some errors (when you reach see "config.php (Y/I/N/O/D/Z) [default=N]" in the terminal, type "Y" (without the quotes), then press Enter);
• perform upgrade on database for tt-rss : select "yes".

If this is a fresh installation, you'll be prompted to:

• choose the database type: select MySQL;
• choose the web server - select Apache2;
• you'll need enter the full URL of you tt-rss installation (for instance "http://localhost/tt-rss/" for a local install).

If later on you want to reconfigure tt-rss, you can run the following command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure tt-rss

3. The next step is to enter your server address under /etc/tt-rss/config.php so open that file with a text editor as root - I'll use nano for the command below:

sudo nano /etc/tt-rss/config.php

and in this file, scroll down to "define('SELF_URL_PATH', 'http://yourserver/tt-rss/');" and replace "yourserver" with your server address, or use "localhost" if you only plan on using it locally. Then save the file and exit (to save and exit in Nano text editor, press: CTRL + o, ENTER then CTRL + x).

4. To get Tiny Tiny RSS to update the feeds, you need to edit the /etc/default/tt-rss file as root with a text editor - I'll use nano command line text editor in the command below:

sudo nano /etc/default/tt-rss

and in this file, change "DISABLED" from "1" to "0", then save the file and exit (to save an exit in Nano, press CTRL + o, ENTER then CTRL + x).

And finally, start the Tiny Tiny RSS service:

sudo service tt-rss start

You only need to run this command once, the tt-rss daemon should start automatically on each system startup.

5. Now navigate to your server address (which you've set up under step 3 - e.g.: http://localhost/tt-rss/) and use the following to log in:

• username: admin
• password: password

Then, change the password (!) and start importing your Google Reader feeds or add some feeds manually.

---

Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

8 Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander)

Posted: 17 Oct 2013 11:13 AM PDT

Ubuntu 13.10 was released today and for those of you who plan on doing a clean install, here are 8 useful things to do after the installation.

1. Install some extra AppIndicators (applets)

System Load Indicator is a port of the popular System Monitor GNOME Panel applet and it can display CPU, memory, network usage, hard disk I/O and more on the panel. Install it from the Ubuntu Software Center by clicking the button below:

Or, to install it via command line, use:

sudo apt-get install indicator-multiload

Cpufreq Indicator is the equivalent of the old GNOME CPU frequency scaling applet which can be used for changing the CPU frequency on-the-fly. Install it in Ubuntu by clicking the button below:

Or install it from the command line:

sudo apt-get install indicator-cpufreq

My Weather Indicator is an appindicator that displays the current weather on the Unity panel. The appindicator can also display a 5-day forecast, a desktop widget and supports four weather services: OpenWeatherMap, Yahoo, Wunderground and World Weather Online.

To install it in Ubuntu 13.10, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install my-weather-indicator

Variety is an application that comes with an AppIndicator but since you basically only have to configure it once and after that you'll only need to use the AppIndicator, I'll list it here. Variety is a cool wallpaper changer that automatically downloads and changes your wallpaper on a given interval. Using it, you'll get cool, fresh wallpapers each day. From the AppIndicator you can quickly switch to the next (random) wallpaper or copy the wallpaper to favourites, for later use.

To install Variety in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peterlevi/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install variety

You'll probably also want a clipboard manager. I recommend Diodon which is lightweight, supports files, image sections and more. To install it in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, click the button below:

Or open a terminal and copy/paste the following command to install it:

sudo apt-get install diodon diodon-plugins

More AppIndicators on WebUpd8 and on AskUbuntu.

2. Tweak Unity

Unity Tweak Tool allows users to change various Unity settings such as auto-hide bahavior, window snapping and hot corners, tweak Dash, the Unity Launcher or HUD, change the GTK or icon theme, change the font face or size, move the window controls to the right and much more.

To install Unity Tweak Tool from the Ubuntu Software Center, click the button below:

Or, install it in Ubuntu 13.10 via command line:

sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

3. Privacy tweaks

As you probably know, by default Dash shows all the recently accessed files as well as other files found on your filesystem. By selecting Security & Privacy from System Settings, you can choose what file types can show up in Dash, exclude various applications or folders/partitions from showing up in Dash and there's also an option to clear usage data.

Furthermore, on the Search tab, you can disable online search results from being displayed in Dash. However, this option disables all the online search results so if for instance you only want to disable the shopping suggestions, you can run the following command:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Lenses disabled-scopes "['more_suggestions-amazon.scope', 'more_suggestions-u1ms.scope', 'more_suggestions-populartracks.scope', 'music-musicstore.scope', 'more_suggestions-ebay.scope', 'more_suggestions-ubuntushop.scope', 'more_suggestions-skimlinks.scope']"

More on disabling Dash (search) plugins, HERE.

Another way to deal with privacy in Ubuntu 13.10 is to use the Privacy Indicator, a tool hat lets you quickly enable/disable Zeitgeist (activity logging) or online search results from showing up in Dash, clear the Zeitgeist log or recent files (which show up in the Nautilus "Recent" sidebar item for instance).

Download Privacy Indicator (there's a deb available at the bottom of the page)

4. Enable the discrete card on systems with Hybrid graphics

The Ubuntu developers have worked to support Hybrid graphics in Ubuntu 13.10 (and 12.04 LTS). Below you'll find instructions on how to set this up.

Nvidia Optimus: unfortunately, the Nvidia Linux graphics drivers don't yet fully support Optimus - more on this subject, HERE.

Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander) ships with a new package called "nvidia-prime" which enables the Nvidia graphics card on Optimus systems (which by default use the integrated Intel graphics chip). By using the instructions below, the Nvidia card will always be in use, so there's no way to switch it off to save power. Because of this, the laptop will consume more power and possibly overheat - in my case, the laptop gets really hot and for this reason I'm not using this solution but things may work better for your laptop (and if not, you can easily revert the changes).

Unfortunately, that's not the only issue. You may also experience screen tearing and hotplug won't work so if you want to use multiple monitors, you'll have to manually set them up in xorg.conf. The advantages are that you'll be able to play games that aren't supported by the Intel graphics, use VDPAU-enabled media players, etc.

That said, if you want to give this a try in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, make sure you're using LightDM (the default Ubuntu display manager) and not some other display manager like GDM. Also, if you've installed Bumblebee, you'll need to purge it:

sudo apt-get purge bumblebee* bbswitch-dkms

Then, install the latest Nvidia drivers and "nvidia-prime":

sudo apt-get install nvidia-319 nvidia-settings-319 nvidia-prime

And finally, reboot (restarting X isn't enough).

If you want to revert this change, simply remove the installed packages:

sudo apt-get remove nvidia-319 nvidia-settings-319 nvidia-prime

And reboot.

AMD Hybrid graphics: I didn't test this because I don't have a system with AMD graphics, but according to the HybridGraphics Ubuntu wiki page, there aren't any known issues, so I assume that everything works properly (again, I'm not sure since I can't test it!).

To get proper AMD Hybrid graphics support in Ubuntu 13.10, all you have to do is install the latest fglrx driver and fglrx-pxpress from the repositories:

sudo apt-get install fglrx fglrx-pxpress

And then reboot the system (restarting X isn't enough).

5. Improve battery life

There are two tools you can use to improve your laptop's battery life: laptop-mode-tools or TLP. Both try to achieve the same thing, but from what I've read, TLP seems to save a bit more power. However, TLP is only available in a PPA so if you don't like adding PPAs, install laptop-mode-tools.

Important note: don't install both laptop-mode-tools and TLP!

To install laptop-mode-tools, click the button below:

Or install it from the command line:

sudo apt-get install laptop-mode-tools

Or, to install TLP, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw
sudo tlp start

No configuration is needed for either TLP or laptop-mode-tools.

Another way to save power and prevent your laptop from overheating (the tool also allows running apps or games on the discrete graphics card on demand, using the "optirun" command - see below) is Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a tool for laptops that use Nvidia Optimus, that disables the Nvidia card when not in use.

Note: if you plan on using the hybrid graphics solution under step 4 for Nvidia Optimus, don't install Bumblebee!

To install Bumblebee, click the button below:

Or install it via command line:

sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia

Then reboot.

Currently there's a bug in Ubuntu 13.10 that prevents "optirun" from working. To fix it, use the following command:

- 32bit:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libturbojpeg.so.0 /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libturbojpeg.so

- 64bit:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libturbojpeg.so.0 /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libturbojpeg.so

When you want to use the Nvidia graphics card for an application, run:

optirun APP-EXECUTABLE

replacing "APP-EXECUTABLE" with the application (or game) executable.

6. Install codecs, Java and encrypted DVD playback

To be able to play most audio and video formats, install Ubuntu Restricted Extras by clicking the button below:

Or install it using the following command:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

I suggest to also install the unrestricted versions of libavformat and libavcodec so you don't encounter issues with missing codecs when trying to use some video editors or transcoders - install them by clicking the button below:

Or by using the following command:

sudo apt-get install libavformat-extra-53 libavcodec-extra-53

You may also need Java, but you must figure out what you need. Most users will only need OpenJRE and the Java browser plugin which you can install by clicking the button below:

Or by using the following command:

sudo apt-get install icedtea-7-plugin openjdk-7-jre

For development, you'll also want OpenJDK which you can install by using the button below:

Or by using the following command:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

If for various reasons, you need Oracle Java (the package includes JDK, JRE and the browser plugin), you can install Oracle Java 7 by using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

Encrypted DVD playback: the Medibuntu repository no longer exists and while most packages in the archive are obsolete or unnecessary because most are now in the official Ubuntu repository or have better equivalents, livdvdcss is still required for playing encrypted DVDs. 

You can enable encrypted DVD playback in Ubuntu 13.10 by using the following commands:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

7. Get the latest Rhythmbox and VLC

Two popular applications: Rhythmbox and VLC, haven't been updated to the latest version in Ubuntu 13.10. If you want to install the latest version for these apps, you can use PPAs.

Please note that by upgrading Rhythmbox, the plugins in the Rhythmbox third-party plugins PPA will stop working. The plugins Rhythmbox ships with will obviously work.

Rhythmbox (version in Ubuntu 13.10: 2.99.1, version in PPA: 3.0.1):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jacob/media
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox

VLC (version in Ubuntu 13.10: 2.0.8, version in the PPA: 2.1.0):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:videolan/stable-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc

8. Tweak Nautilus: disable recursive search and install a quick file previewer

The type-ahead find feature was remove from Nautilus starting with version 3.6. Later versions perform a search in the current directory and all its subdirectories when you start typing a file name. And this makes it unusable at times so if you find this behavior annoying, you can install Nautilus patched to allow disabling recursive search (you can easily enable it back if you want).

To upgrade Nautilus to the patched version that allows disabling recursive search, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dr3mro/personal
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
nautilus -q

Then, disable recursive search using the following command:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences enable-recursive-search false

If later on you want to re-enable recursive search, use the command below:

gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences enable-recursive-search true

GNOME Sushi is a quick file previewer for Nautilus. To install it, click the button below (this will install gnome-sushi and unoconv, required to be able to preview some files such as documents):

or install it via command line:

sudo apt-get install gnome-sushi unoconv

To use it, select a file (picture, text or document, sound file and so on) and press the SPACE key to preview that file. You can close the preview either by clicking the SPACE key again or clicking the window close button.

Now it's your turn. What are the first things you install or tweak after a fresh Ubuntu installation?

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Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Video Transcoder `HandBrake` 0.9.9 Released With Blu-ray Subtitle Support, More

Posted: 20 May 2013 02:02 AM PDT

Handbrake, a free, open source video transcoder for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X, has been updated to version 0.9.9 recently, getting Blu-ray (PGS) subtitle support, better audio remix support, updated built-in presets, additional video framerates and more.

The application comes with built-in presets and, besides common multimedia formats, it support DVDs or Bluray-like sources that aren't copy-protected, chapter makers, subtitles and more.

Changes in the latest HandBrake 0.9.9:

• Blu-ray (PGS) subtitle support that works with Foreign Audio Search, can be Burned-In and can be passed through to MKV (but not MP4);
• additional video framerates: 30, 50, 59.94, 60 fps;
• use some system libraries rather than bundling: fontconfig, freetype, libxml2, libass, libogg, libvorbis, libtheora and libsamplerate;
• double framerate ("bob") mode for the deinterlace and decomb filters;
• better audio remix support;
• allow the selection of higher audio bitrates where appropriate;
• allow the selection of lower audio samplerates where appropriate: 8, 11.025, 12, 16 kHz;
• audio dithering (TPDF) when converting to 16-bit FLAC;
• support for x264's preset, tune and profile options;
• updated built-in presets;
• improved Retina-resolution icons within the application.

Install HandBrake in Ubuntu

To install the latest HandBrake in Ubuntu, you can use its official PPA. To add the PPA and install HandBrake, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install handbrake-gtk

If you want to install the command line interface, use the following command:

sudo apt-get install handbrake-cli

For source files, Windows or Mac OS X binaries, see the HandBrake downloads page.

---

Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

How To Set Up Compiz In Xubuntu 12.10 Or 12.04

Posted: 01 Nov 2012 07:54 AM PDT

This article shows how to set up Compiz in Xubuntu (w/ Xfce) 12.10 or 12.04. I've tested the instructions below on Xubuntu 12.10, but they should work on Xubuntu 12.04 as well - there are some minor differences which I've explained below.

Before proceeding, please note that to be able to use Compiz, you'll obviously need a 3D capable graphics card and drivers.

Let's get started!

How to use Compiz in Xubuntu (w/ Xfce) 12.10 or 12.04

1. Install Compiz, the main Compiz plugins and CompizConfig Settings Manager:

sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-plugins compizconfig-settings-manager

2. You'll also need a tool to change the window titlebar theme (since Metacity will be used). I suggest Unsettings since it has a nice UI and doesn't depend on GNOME packages like GNOME Tweak Tool, but you can also do this with dconf-editor in Ubuntu 12.10 (or gconf-editor in Ubuntu 12.04).

To keep things light and without the need to add any PPAs, we'll use dconf-editor / gconf-editor in the steps below.

For Ubuntu 12.10, install dconf-tools:

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Then press ALT + F2 and run: "dconf-editor", navigate to org > gnome > desktop > vm > preferences and change the "theme" value from "Adwaita" to "Greybird". Remember this because in the same place you can also change the window button layout, among others.

For Ubuntu 12.04, install gconf-editor:

sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

Then press ALT + F2 and run: "gconf-editor", navigate to apps > metacity > general and set the "theme" value to "Greybird" (assuming that Graybird theme is installed - and it should since it's the default theme).

Whenever you want to change the Xubuntu window theme, you'll have to use dconf-editor / gconf-editor like explained above.

3. Some Compiz plugins MUST be enabled before running Compiz:

Open CompizConfig Settings Manager via Xubuntu's Settings Manager and activate the following plugins (without these plugins enabled, Compiz won't work properly): Composite, Gnome Compatibility, OpenGL, Window Decoration, Move Window, Resize Window, Place Windows.

I also suggest enabling these plugins: Expo, Desktop Wall (or Cube), Application Switcher (or Static Application Switcher / Ring Swithcher), Grid and of course, enable any other plugins you like (don't enable the Unity plugin though!).

You can enable/disable more plugins later on, but the important part is to enable the plugins required for Compiz to work properly, which I've mentioned above, before running Compiz for the first time.

4. Let's start Compiz using the following command:

compiz --replace

5. Add Compiz to Xubuntu startup applications:

At this point, Compiz is up and running but it won't be used after a system restart. So if you're satisfied with it, add it start when you login to your Xubuntu session: open Settings Manager > Session and Startup and on the Application Autostart tab, click "Add", under "Name" enter "Compiz" and under "Command", enter "compiz --replace" (both without quotes). You can leave the description field empty.

This isn't the best way to start Compiz, but I couldn't figure out how to properly add it to the Xubuntu session. If you know how to do this, let us know in the comments.

If later on you don't want to use Compiz any more, simply remove Compiz from Settings Manager > Session and Startup > Applications Autostart tab, then log out and log back in.

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Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Install the Pantheon "Elementary" desktop on Ubuntu

Pantheon desktop environment

Pantheon is a new desktop environment that comes with elementary OS. It has a mac like look and feel and has been designed very well. It looks superb specially on laptops and can give you a cool looking desktop that you want to show off.

It can be installed on Ubuntu if you want to get the elementary OS like look and feel without changing the OS. In this example we are installing it on Ubuntu 13.04

 

 

Add the elementary ppa to ubuntu

The elementary ppa provides all the necessary packages to get the Pantheon desktop environment. Add it to ubuntu repositories like this. Also make sure to update.

# sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:elementary-os/daily
# sudo apt-get update

Now install the elementary desktop

# sudo apt-get install elementary-desktop

Thats it, now log out and on the login page, the Pantheon desktop should be visible in the list of desktop environments.

Fix the missing wallpaper issue

There seems to be a bug in the way Pantheon is installed which causes the wallpaper to go missing and a white desktop background displayed instead. To fix this run the following command in your terminal

# gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.background active true

Again logout and login back, and the wallpaper should display fine.

Install elementary tweaks

The next useful thing to install along with pantheon desktop is the elementary tweaks extension, which allows to tweak the pantheon desktop in some ways.

# sudo apt-add-repository ppa:versable/elementary-update
# sudo apt-get update

Now install

$ sudo apt-get install elementary-tweaks

Elementary tweaks will appear as an additional icon in System Settings dialog. Over there you can configure the plank, slingshot etc.
So have fun with your Pantheon desktop and njoy!!

Source: http://www.binarytides.com/install-pantheon-ubuntu/

November Desktop - Elementary OS Luna

I gave the Elementary Luna OS a try for November, which is based on Ubuntu 12.04. The Elemenatry OS distro uses the Pantheon desktop. It looks great, is extremely fast,  and used 450 MB of memory. It does not come with many applications, but my usual favorites are available in the Ubuntu Sofware Center for download.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can download the Elementary Luna OS here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/elementaryos/files/