Jezrin Technologies

#7 Cinnamon Desktop in Ubuntu 12.04


Cinnamon is an alternate desktop environment forked from gnome shell interface. This is developed by the Linux Mint team. It much looks and feels like Gnome 2 with all the new effects. If you are not comfortable with unity then you can easly install this

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable  sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install cinnamon

It has a good classic usefull bottom menu and the minimize taskbar.

Source : http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com , smashingweb.ge6.org, techhamlet.com

#6 Install Restricted Drivers (Graphics Drivers, Webcam Drivers and Wireless Drivers) in Ubuntu 12.04

For Graphics/Video card

If you are using any graphics/video card or sound card or webcam then you must install the appropriate drivers/softwares for that. Ubuntu 12.04 can automatically detect graphics card and a pop-up window may appear with the suggestion but you need to make sure that you’re installing the right driver for the device. In the snapshot (below) – you can see I need to install Nvidia proprietary drivers in order to enjoy the power of graphics card.

Install Nvidia Driver in Ubuntu 12.04

Sometimes even it won’t be detected automatically, in that case you can install manually (go to System Settings -> Additional Drivers).  You need to do the same thing for sound card, otherwise you may be facing some sort of performance problem or instability.

Open your Terminal – Ctrl+Alt+T, and paste these commands

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current
sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

Install ATI Catalyst Drivers in Ubuntu 12.04

If you have a ATi video card or built in ATi graphics chip you can go for ATi Driver.

sudo apt-get —purge remove fglrx* sudo apt-get install dh-make execstack dh-modaliases dkgcc1 libc6-i386ms lib32

this will install additional packages to install ati driver then

Go to amd.com and download your driver

cd ~/Downloads
sudo chmod +x ati-driver-installer-11-10-x86.x86_64.run
sudo sh ati-driver-installer-11-10-x86.x86_64.run —buildpkg Ubuntu/precise

this will build the packages from the scratch and install the ati driver

Source : sudobits.com, smashingweb.ge6.org

#5 My Unity in Ubuntu 12.04 – Tweak Unity Interface as you like

My Unity is a dedicated tool to configure the ubuntu unity interface as a user like. Change themes, icons, transparancy etc. It can change

Unity Launcher color, Unity Launcher transparency, Unity Launcher size,Unity Launcher backlight, Unity Launcher display mode, Unity Launcher behavior, Show mounted devices on the Unity Launcher, Display available and recent apps in Unity Dash, Change Unity Dash blur, Change Unity Dash size,  Change Unity Panel transparency etc…
In Ubuntu 12.04 you can install MyUnity 3.0 using the following command or search for myunity in the software center:

sudo apt-get install myunity

Source : http://unity.ubuntu.com/ , smashingweb.ge6.org

#4 Ubuntu Tweak  in Ubuntu 12.04 - Tools for Tweak Ubuntu

This is the tool for Ubuntu to tweak every system settings as you like. This make easy to change hidden system and desktop settings. Ubuntu Tweak is only for Unity Desktop Environment.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/next
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

This will install the great tool for ubuntu. It has a very good pre-configured list of repositories that can be installed with just a few mouse clicks.

Source : ubuntu-tweak.com , smashingweb.ge6.org

#3 For Playing Encrypted DVD

If you want to play encrypted DVD then you should also install CSS (Content Scramble System) decoder/unscrambler. The free software library libdvdcss2 is very popular for reading the encrypted DVDs.

To install libdvdcss2, execute the following command(s) -

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

Source: sudobits.com

#2. Install Proprietary stuffs (Plugins/Codecs/Libraries)

To install the most commonly required plugins and codecs/libraries, just install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package, because most popular codecs/plugins are bundled together in this meta package. It has

• Adobe Flash Plugin
• GStreamer ffmpeg video plugin
• Fluendo mp3 decoder
• unarchiver for .rar files

Execute the following command to install the proprietary stuffs (described above)

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Source: sudobits.com

#1. Update Your System

It’s the first thing to do, just after the installation, to update the repository cache and packages you have installed (by default or custom (if you did)). You can start the update manager (and click on ‘install update’)

To do this Just open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and type

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Source: sudobits.com

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the release’s key highlights.

1. A taste of HUD

As hinted by Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth in late January, Ubuntu’s new Head-Up Display, or HUD, interface makes its debut in this beta version. Dubbed by Canonical as “a new way to quickly search and access any desktop application’s and indicator’s menu,” HUD can be accessed by pressing the Alt key and typing in a description of what you want to do. The OS then returns a set of corresponding entries, including some fuzzy matching, the project team says. Over time, it also learns from your previous choices to make the search more and more accurate, they say.

2. Unity tweaks

Ubuntu’s Unity interface has been nothing if not controversial, but in this new release, the Appearance panel in the OS’s system settings lets you more easily configure some properties of Unity. For bookmark users, the Unity launcher now also includes Nautilus quicklist support.

3. Clickpad support

Ubuntu 12.04 includes support for clickpads, which are trackpads on which the physical button is integrated into the trackpad surface. Most Synaptics clickpads are recognized out of the box in this new release, as are Apple MacBook trackpads. Coming in Ubuntu’s next release will be support for Apple’s Magic Trackpads and more Synaptics-branded devices, the Ubuntu team says.

4. Power savings

For the aforementioned power savings, RC6 — the technology that allows GPUs to go into a very-low-power consumption state when the GPU is idle — is now enabled by default for Intel Sandy Bridge-chip-based systems. The result can be improvements of between 40 and 60 percent in power usage under idle loads, the developers say.

5. LibreOffice 3.5 and Rhythmbox

Among the default applications in Ubuntu 12.04 are the newly updated LibreOffice 3.5, as well as Rhythmbox as the default music player.

6. Better language support

When users install new software through the Ubuntu Software Center, the corresponding language support packages — including translations and spell check modules — are now installed automatically as well, thus eliminating the need to open Language Support after installing new software.

7. A fresh kernel

Finally, upgrading from the second alpha release of “Precise Pangolin,” this new beta version includes the 3.2.0-17.27 Ubuntu kernel, which is based on version 3.2.6 of the upstream stable Linux kernel.

Source : http://www.infoworld.com, http://www.zdnet.com

The next major release of Ubuntu-based operating system ‘elementary’ is to be based on Ubuntu 12.04 and not Ubuntu 11.10 as originally expected.

Disappointed? Don’t be. The shunt to the next Long-term support release of Ubuntu will provide elementary developers with an extended timeframe in which to polish, code and test the ‘Pantheon’ desktop shell, as well as provide Luna users with a more throughly-tested and stable base.

Amongst the applications and components expected to ship with Luna are the elementary-developed file browser ‘Marlin’, music application ‘Beatbox‘, application launcher ‘Slingshot’ and developer-friendly System Settings pane ‘Switchboard‘.

 Source : www.omgubuntu.co.uk