MAC4LIN Theme v1.0 Released

The authors of the famous MAC4LIN theme package have released version 1.0. This is the closest you will get to a MAC Leopard Theme for Linux. Below are my desktop screenshots with this wonderful theme along with a link where to get it. The theme also includes a Firefox MACOSX special theme. You can get the MAC4LIN GTK Gnome theme here: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Mac4Lin?content=108478
















Anyone interested in watching some Harry Potter with the excellent VLC movie player?

Dust Theme

With Ubuntu v9.04 the Dust theme and its variations were added. Here is where you can add it to your existing builds from the Ubuntu forums: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Artwork/Incoming/DustTheme
What an improvement over the standard pale brown. Enjoy.

Another Windows 7 Theme with Beryl Title Bar

From Gnome-art.org shown is the Win-7 Basic GTK theme along with the Vista Q Beryl title bar theme. The wallpaper is part of the genuine Windows 7 offering. Songbird default feather/skin is also shown. Enjoy.

Linux Windows 7 Theme

I came across a few Windows 7 Themes on Gnome-Art.org and gave them a try. Below is the Distant Light GTK theme, Gnome Win menu, and Songbird WMP skin. Below is the link to find it.
http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Distant+Light+(Vista+Inspired)?content=107673

July Desktop - the return of Linux Vista

Linux Music Players

I've been exploring the available music players to find out which one works best. I'm interested in Internet Radio stations, playing my ripped CDs, and playing my general MP3 library. I have tried Audacious, Rhythmbox, Banshee, and Songbird. It's kind of mixed bag of sorts. For the best sound, the plugins in Audacious are tops. For the best music library management Songbird excels. Songbird also has some excellent skins, called feathers. Rhythmbox and Banshee are similar, with a slight edge to Banshee for support for various MP3 VBR variable bit rates. So right now, Songbird seems to fill the bill. Below are screeshots of:
1) Rhythmbox
2) Banshee
3) Songbird and a few skins



Rhythmbox-



Banshee-



Songbird Aero-


Songbird Default Grey-



Songbird Dark-



Songbird Aero Blue-



Songbird WMP-



Songbird NABS white silver-

FrostWire Gnutella Client for Linux

The OpenSource successor to LimeWire is FrostWire. It was built with free components. This Gnutella client has just been also released for Linux. There are other clones of FrostWire available such as MellonWire and others, which offer different feature sets. FrostWire is a very fast Gnutella client getting great search results. It has no spyware or viruses. It asks to install the Ask Search Bar, but that is all. It is a great program and my new favorite Gnutella client. Below is my current desktop and a screenshot of FrostWire for Linux running and a link where to get it. The lines between Windows and Linux are seeing some overlap. This is a good thing.

Softpedia has a review and the download link:
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Communications/Filesharing/FrostWire-6084.shtml

Linux gOS Earth Theme with System Monitor

I added a new PC for May, with dual-core processor. The old gDesklets did not show both processor cores. So I'm now using the System Monitor available in the Screenlets library. It is a much cleaner and less resource hungry alternative.

Black Vista Theme for Linux

With all the interest in the upcoming Windows Seven release, I wanted to give my Linux desktop a more black Vista appearance. Below are my efforts along with the Vista Start Menu add-in, gdesklets, and Nimbus Vistalook GTK theme for Gnome. The last photo is the Simple Black GDM login screen.

Dvorak Likes Linux

03.09.09

Almost all the newest hardware coming out has Linux support. The critical mass has been reached, and it's time everyone tried Ubuntu.

Total posts: 69

by John C. Dvorak

Buzz up!on Yahoo!

Every so often I take a stab at Linux, to see exactly what I like and do not like about the OS. Many of its problems, for me, stem from its inability to run on my overloaded hardware, or the occasional driver that makes the OS impossible to use without hand-tweaking something or other. That said, I seriously like the Ubuntu 8.10 implementation and will now install it permanently on my latest machines. It's a winner.

This OS has a lot of nice features, and it's quick. It's freely downloadable all over the net as a ISO disk image, too. Go to the official Web site for a download link. Ubuntu is particularly cool because the install version is also a "live" version, meaning that you can boot it and run it from a CD without installing the OS at all. More important, it's a fully functional live CD, meaning that it can save and load files from drive C: or a NAS.

When I encountered a glitch, I changed to a safe graphics mode that limited my screen to 1,280-by-1,024 rather than 1,600-by-1,200—but this was no big deal.

While your PC is running Ubuntu as a live install, the CD is doing all the work for the OS, and even so, it's at least as snappy as Windows. Install it onto the hard disk as the OS for the system and the thing really flies. I'm not sure how many legacy old clunkers can run this operating system, but it's the perfect reinstall for older machines that bog down under Windows. The live feature is what it makes it so cool; no need to install the OS before thoroughly testing it.

For lightweight work, the install disk comes with Firefox for Linux and AbiWord, a credible open-source substitute for MS Word. In fact, there is probably a Linux program that will substitute for just about any Windows programs with as much or more functionality—with the exception of Adobe Photoshop. That said, there are plenty of photo editors for Linux. The popular GIMP app comes to mind.

While the various Linux desktops generally aren't as polished as Vista, they are functional and easily as slick as Windows 2000, the OS most observers think was the best Microsoft ever did. In many instances the complexity of Linux turns out to be smoothed over by the Ubuntu architecture. It's so good that I'm a little annoyed with myself for not getting to it sooner. And I sure don't want to hear "I told you so!" from all the Linux mavens.

I'm in the process of putting together a new Atom-based mini-ITX machine (with an Intel D945GCLF2 motherboard) for use as a Web browser in the kitchen. This OS would be ideal if for no other reason than the fact that I won't have to worry about anyone in the family fooling around online and getting the little machine clogged with viruses and Trojan horses.

I seriously appreciate the fact that Linux is mostly immune from malware, in much the same way as the Macintosh. I had a small machine in the kitchen running Windows, and every time I ran a scan on the thing I kept discovering too many problems. I know that if Linux becomes too popular, the malware will come. But for now it's rare—a good thing as far as I am concerned.

I'm tired of dealing with Windows malware, patch Tuesday, and the never-ending deterioration of the OS as it clogs up like a drain in a greasy-spoon restaurant. I can't take it anymore.

And there's something else that always bugs me about Windows. I have an iMac that I use at the office, and a few times every month Apple has some patch that it sends out. With few exceptions, each time a patch is installed with the Mac OS, the performance of the machine improves. With Windows, the performance always declines.

I don't think Microsoft has ever sent out a patch that improved the performance of the machine. Ever.

And of course, the biggest differences between Ubuntu and Windows are the cost and the subsequent headaches, because Microsoft is constantly fretting over bootleg copies. The company monitors machines to make sure they are running legal copies of software. There have already been instances of computers shut down by Microsoft HQ because of some glitch in the cloud. This is simply unacceptable. I don't want to rely on a system like that.

I cannot wean myself off Windows altogether because, well, I write about Windows. But for ancillary machines that I put together where I need reliability and low price, I'm always going to see whether Ubuntu works. And if it does, that's what gets installed.

If I had a small or mid-size company, I'd probably use only Linux and open-source software, just to stay out of the way of the software police and their onerous "audits"—another abhorrent situation that, to me, is intolerable.

You should also note that almost all of the newest hardware coming out has Linux support. The critical mass has been reached. Go download Ubuntu 8.10 and see for yourself what the fuss is about. You won't regret it.

Article link at PC Magazine: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2342703,00.asp

Simdock is an Application Launcher for Older PC's

You can find Simdock in the Ubuntu Synaptic library. It does not require the Compiz effects manager. See two examples below.

February Desktop

This month I am supplying the Weather Screenlet link shown. You will have to look up your location on www.weather.com, tweak the size, theme, and lock the screenlet to your screen in order to see it on every desktop. See below.





Weather Screenlet download link: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Weather+Screenlet?content=99586

01-2009 Text Messaging with Pidgin

For January I've grown tired of the Beatles wallpaper, switched to something simpler and colorful for our dismal cold Winter weather upon us. Still using the same Tigris GTK Theme, gDesklets, and Avant Launcher. Also included is a weather gadget called Screenlets.

This month I setup text messaging using Pidgin. Using your AOL instant messenger User ID, just add your friends and family's text address as buddies. You can send and receive text messages right from within Pidgin. Below is the link how to do this:

http://features.engadget.com/2004/07/13/how-to-use-aol-instant-messenger-to-send-a-text-message-to-a/

Ubuntu 8.1 and a Beatles-MAC Theme

I've tried the latest offering of Ubuntu v8.10 "Intrepid Ibex" and had some stability problems. For very little new in the way of features, I've taken it off and returned to v8.041 LTS. I had video rendering problems with nVidia video cards. I'll wait for the v8.10 LTS (long term support) version.

This month I customized my desktop with the following tweaks:

- Beatles wallpaper
- Simdock
- gDesklets
- Tigris theme from gnome-look.org
- MAC4Lin icons and window title bar
- Audacious media player
- K3B CD/DVD burning software
- iFox Metal Firefox skin
- Thunderbird Email client
- Wine: running uTorrent and Picasa graphic viewer

Until next time...