If I had to pick one horror story that I get messaged about the most, it would be the dreaded bootloader. "It's missing" or "I have a black screen of death.." and some people edit their grub.cfg without realizing it can disable you from booting at all, essentially turning your computer into a brick. Yay!
Most of you already know that when you power on your computer, the first software that runs is a bootloader that invokes the OS from the computer. GRUB, the GRand Unified Bootloader, is an important part of many Linux systems. Above are a few tips to help address the issues with Grub 2.
What are your horror stories?
We have a new site
If you've having trouble viewing this site, find yourself on a far better looking site and then back on this one, wonder where your comments have gone, fearing we've died - relax.
We have a new site but the DNS changeover is still slowly creeping out across the internet so some can see it, some can get there but find it looking rubbish and others, like me, are still blu-tacked to the old blogger version.
Hand in there!
We have a new site but the DNS changeover is still slowly creeping out across the internet so some can see it, some can get there but find it looking rubbish and others, like me, are still blu-tacked to the old blogger version.
Hand in there!
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OMG! 5! - Five ways to make Wine apps feel native in Ubuntu
Wine applications, love or loathe them, are a stable part of many users desktops.
By default programmes running via Wine don't look, behave or work like a native application. This is expected. The result, however, is a awkward co-existence that makes your workflow feel subject to some class-system hierarchy.
This needn’t be the case. There are several things you can do to limit the disjointed feeling of running Wine apps in Ubuntu, and here are five of our suggestions.
1. Theme it
First up - theme it. Nothing screams 'I am a hold over from your old OS' like the battleship grey of Windows 95 that apps are coated in by default.
Make them look part of your desktop by applying a theme to them. If you use the default Ubuntu theme then installing this Ambiance theme is a must.
Theming can sometimes result in performance issues with Wine applications however using the above theme I’ve noticed none so far.
2. Font Smoothing
Sadly Wine doesn’t allow you to specify a ‘default’ font for use in Wine applications so we need to make the best of what is there - lets add some sub-pixel smoothing to make things look a little more presentable: -
- Open a Terminal
- Paste the following two commands separately
- This command downloads the script needed.
- wget http://files.polosatus.ru/winefontssmoothing_en.sh
- This command runs the script.
- bash winefontssmoothing_en.sh
- You'll now see a screen with 4 options - you'll want to choose option 3.
3. Accessible icons
Nothing enhances the disjointed desktop feeling as the long trekk to the Wine sub-menu to launch an application. Doing so shouldn't be any different to your regular workflow. Sort it out by adding launchers for your Wine applications to the relevant menu's and/or on to your desktop, dock or other launcher.
4. Use Vineyard for better configuration
Best way to help wine feel native is for it to go native. Vineyard does this by providing tight integration between Wine and the GNOME desktop.
A GTK ‘Wine Preferences’ application is inserted in System > Preferences. It’s infinitely easier to use than the standard Wine tool, offers up many more options and, lets face it, looks nicer to boot! 
Right-clicking on a Wine application with Vineyard installed and heading to the properties menu also gives you quick access to configuration options - set the application to run under a different compatibility mode, virtual desktop & more.
5. Install Play On Linux - it’s like a Software Centre for Windows Apps
“PlayOnLinux is a piece of software which allows you to easily install and use numerous games and apps designed to run with Microsoft® Windows.” states the official blurb and it’s every bit as useful as it sounds.
Not only can you easily install application via it but uninstall them too!
Download @ http://www.playonlinux.com/en/download.html
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Inkscape 0.48 released - new airbrush tool, greatly improved text tool & multipath editing
Scalable Vector Graphic fans of the world rejoice - Open Source’s premier vector drawing application Inkscape has been bumped up to 0.48, adding lots of fixes and features for artists to get excited about in the process.
New & improved
The text tool in particular has received lots of attention and now has support for: -
- "Line Spacing:" Distance between baselines of adjacent lines
- "Letter Spacing:" Spacing between letters
- "Word Spacing:" Spacing between words
- "Horizontal kerning"
- "Vertical shift"
- "Character rotation"
The new multi-mode spray tool allows users to quickly ‘[create] effects that previously would take much longer to achieve’.
Other changes include a handful of new extensions, improved exporting & select UI changes. More information can be found in the release notes.
Download
Source can found @ http://www.inkscape.org/download/?lang=en.
Alternatively the build is available for installation via the Inkscape Nightly PPA @ https://launchpad.net/~inkscape-nightly/+archive/ppa/+packages
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Gorgeous Elementary Firefox skin is coming soon
Elementary fans longing for a Firefox theme to match do not have much long to wait.
The skin is the work of a Thomas 'Seahorse Pip' and looks every bit as sumptuous as you'd expect. The 'home page' button in the tab bar is particularly inspired and the look of tabs themselves, whilst Safari-esque, are undoubtedly a vast improvement on the 'stock' Firefox look under Elementary normally.
As soon as Thomas is ready to release the theme for wider use you'll be the first to know.
For comparison here is Firefox under Elementary normally: -
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Choqok 1.0 Beta 3 released - adds OAuth support
KDE twitter client Choqok has rolled out a new beta release with timely OAuth support to ensure Choqok users are able to continue using Twitter - which switches off API requests for non-OAuth applications today.
Other improvements in the release include: -
- Better nick name detection.
- Better URL detection.
- Fetching Friends List problems fixed.
- UnTiny plugin can use untiny.com service instead of its generic way (Configurable)
- Using the Choqok way to show repeated dents/tweets made optional (Default is Twitter way)
- Confirm dialog for Re tweet
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C'mon Mozilla, show me my Firefox icon!
Small issues sometime grate the most and the following bug falls squarely into that category...
Mise en scène
So you've chosen to use a custom theme set - like the fabulous Faenza icon set - because, clearly, you dig the icon style.
You love the look of your new Firefox icon in your the menu and on your dock but, what's this, does Firefox has an icon-ego issue when it comes to other areas?
So, what's up?
Yi Sun-sin, who filed the bug report, explains: -
"The process icons are taken from the /usr/lib/firefox-3.6/chrome/icons/default directory, while the launcher icon is taken from the system icon theme, which is chosen by the user, and might provide a custom icon for Firefox.
This can create a lot visual inconsistencies, especially when using a dock that will use the launcher icon."
Sure, this isn't a humongous show-stopping bug, more of a paper-cut, but it's one that wouldn't take much effort to fix. If it narks you head over the bug report and let people know.
Mise en scène
So you've chosen to use a custom theme set - like the fabulous Faenza icon set - because, clearly, you dig the icon style.
 |
| The firefox icon my chosen theme uses |
 |
| Alt-switcher; Every app bar firefox adheres to system icon theme |
 |
| Same applies to system processes |
Yi Sun-sin, who filed the bug report, explains: -
"The process icons are taken from the /usr/lib/firefox-3.6/chrome/icons/default directory, while the launcher icon is taken from the system icon theme, which is chosen by the user, and might provide a custom icon for Firefox.
This can create a lot visual inconsistencies, especially when using a dock that will use the launcher icon."
Sure, this isn't a humongous show-stopping bug, more of a paper-cut, but it's one that wouldn't take much effort to fix. If it narks you head over the bug report and let people know.
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Ubuntu 10.10 Opera 10.70 skins - Opera has never felt this native!
We're mentioned Kyle Baker's superb Opera themes before so, and in light of sad news yesterday that PPC support for Opera will be discontinued, it's nice to see said skins have been updated for the new & improved default themes in Ubuntu 10.10.
Så bra!
Download
Pssssst!
Want to take the latest development snapshot of Opera for a spin? Links ahoy!
 |
| Screenshot of Opera 10.70 using updated theme |
Download
Pssssst!
Want to take the latest development snapshot of Opera for a spin? Links ahoy!
Thanks to Mr Meek ;)
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Unity adds improved launcher, dash icons
Ubuntu 10.10's Unity interface has gained some new icons in an update tonight.
Three new launcher icons - for applications, places and trash respectively - are joined by category icons in the dash over-view.
Also noticeable in recent updates are a refined set of 'hover' effects.
Three new launcher icons - for applications, places and trash respectively - are joined by category icons in the dash over-view.
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