Monthly Archives: August 2010

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Ubuntu 10.10 Ambiance Theme Gets An Update

Published by kyleabaker on August 9, 2010 in How-To, Linux, Multimedia, News, Open Source, Operating Systems, Picture and Ubuntu. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , .
Early screenshots of the new Ambiance theme.

You may be familiar with the Ambiance theme since its debut in Ubuntu 10.04, but the Canonical Design team has just confirmed changes to the theme that are due to be released with Ubuntu 10.10.

ambiance maverick preview update 300x187 Ubuntu 10.10 Ambiance Theme Gets An Update

Early screenshots of the new Ambiance theme.

Several things have been updated in this latest preview into the new Ambiance theme. Scrollbars, scrubbers, buttons, menus, window controls, title bars, GNOME panels and indicator menus…just to name a few. To read about these changes in more detail, you should head over to the article posted by Otto from the design team.

One thing that seems to not be mentioned about the screenshot is the background being used. If you look closely, you’ll notice that it resembles the background released with Ubuntu 10.04 very closely, but there are several subtle differences. Notice the two very orange flares as well as the hyper-white flare on the right. The gradients also appear to be much more refined.

I’ve been using this theme for a couple of days now since it was leaked and I’m in high approval of the changes. Especially those to the window control buttons, which now have a much more pleasant appearance and a better overall feel.

Radiance and Dark themes are also in the works, but (as noted by the design team) are not yet ready to be released. If you’d like to go ahead and test these themes in Lucid or Maverick, they’ve provided the packages at the following link:

http://people.ubuntu.com/~stefanor/light-themes/

Enjoy the new theme updates and let me know if you come across the new wallpaper anywhere!

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Rhythmbox Gets A Pause Button

Published by kyleabaker on August 7, 2010 in Applications, Linux, Multimedia, Music, News, Open Source, Operating Systems, Picture and Ubuntu. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , .
An actual pause button! Ouuuhh Ahhhh :P

Yet another small update I’ve noticed in Ubuntu 10.10 is the inclusion of an actual Pause button (icon and all).

ubuntu 10 10 rhtymbox pause button 300x169 Rhythmbox Gets A Pause Button

An actual pause button! Ouuuhh Ahhhh icon razz Rhythmbox Gets A Pause Button

I would imagine this bug from 2006 was finally fixed so that the sound menu play/pause buttons and Rhythmbox play/pause buttons are consistent.

Either way, its the polishing touches that can really make a product shine. icon biggrin Rhythmbox Gets A Pause Button

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Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 3 Released

Published by kyleabaker on August 6, 2010 in How-To, Linux, News, Open Source, Operating Systems, Picture and Ubuntu. 0 Comments Tags: , .
Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 3 Cluttered Dual Screen

If you missed the news yesterday, Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 3 was released. As of this stage, there are a significant amount of new features in 10.10 compared to 10.04. For an overview, you should look at the list that OMG! Ubuntu! has compiled.

ubuntu 10 10 alpha 3 cluttered dual screen 300x120 Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 3 Released

Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 3 Cluttered Dual Screen

If you’ve been anxiously waiting to test Ubuntu 10.10, but need a stable system then this is not the time to upgrade.

If you’re not worried about a problem here or there on occasion and what to give 10.10 a spin, I would suggest you download the Alpha 3 torrent to install rather than doing a system upgrade from 10.04 to 10.10 (at least until the final is released).

If you’re still longing to upgrade your Ubuntu 10.04 directly, you can do so by the following:

  1. Press Alt+F2 to launch the Run Application dialog.
  2. Type update-manager -d and press enter.
  3. When the Update Manager appears, it should alert you of an upgrade to 10.10. Do so at your own risk!

Also, as always, if you’re already running Ubuntu 10.10 whether its Alpha 1 or Alpha 2, applying all updates via Update Manager will give you all of the changes that are to be found in Alpha 3. Continuing this until the final is released will update you to a final version. There’s always confusion from some about this, but updating does indeed keep your system using the latest and greatest!

As of Alpha 3, we’ve still seen no signs of the Windicators that Mark has promised, but the indicator-applets for the GNOME panels are coming along very nicely and adding a great deal of ease and consistency.

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WTF Should I Watch?

Published by kyleabaker on August 5, 2010 in Entertainment, Multimedia, News, Picture, Video, Web and Web Design. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .
Screenshot of the WTFSIW page in action..

Just for laughs I threw together this quick page that gives you a new movie or show suggestion in a humorous way each time you load the page.

why dont you watch some fucking friends 300x272 WTF Should I Watch?

Screenshot of the WTFSIW page in action..

The idea for this type of site is not my own and was inspired by site like What The F*** Should I Make For Dinner, F***ing Movie Reviews, The F***ing Weather and others.

The page works off of three very short files and the code is minimal, so if anyone’s wanting to make something similar just let me know if you’re curious about my implementation of this.

Hopefully you find this both useful as well as funny! Comments, retweets and other shares are always appreciated!

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Linux: Ubuntu’s Gwibber App Gets Threaded.. or so it Seems

Published by kyleabaker on August 4, 2010 in Applications, Linux, Multimedia, News, Open Source, Picture and Ubuntu. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .
Thread me not..

Another discovery of mine has led to the exposure an unmentioned feature in Gwibber that will help you follow your friends’ conversation more closely (or so I assume).

ubuntu 10 10 gwibber threaded conversation development 01 300x240 Linux: Ubuntus Gwibber App Gets Threaded.. or so it Seems

Thread me not..

If you’re the ultimate stalker, like my girlfriend, then you’ll most likely find this feature to be very useful. Others may only use it on rare occasions.

New in Gwibber is the ability to expand conversations you’ve directed towards Twitter. With an expand button (currently the somewhat large green plus icon), you’re able to view a conversation you’ve posted to Twitter and (assumingly) the follow up posts from your friends.

At the moment Gwibber only seems to expand your own personal tweets, but it appears to be a feature that will (as a speculated example) help you find out exactly why your friend Kathy agrees with your tweet on the recently hot weather in Raleigh.

Understand that my speculations are just that, speculations, and nothing more. This feature could easily evolve into anything more than I’ve imagined. In the meantime, share your ideas, thoughts and opinions! I’m always excited to hear new speculation and ideas!

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How-To: Ubuntu Font Private Beta Testing

Published by kyleabaker on August 2, 2010 in How-To, Linux, News, Open Source, Operating Systems, Picture and Ubuntu. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , .
ubuntu-font-private-beta-testing

With so many people talking about the new Ubuntu Font that’s soon to be released to the public for beta testing, I thought I would take the opportunity to post a quick and easy guide to testing these fonts before everyone else does!

ubuntu font private beta testing 300x240 How To: Ubuntu Font Private Beta Testing

Preview of the new Ubuntu Font in action..

If you’d like to test these fonts, then you need to follow these instructions exactly (since the ppa is “private”). I found other site instructions a bit confusing, so if you follow my directions you should have these installed effortlessly and pain free in no time.

Install

  1. With your LaunchPad.net account, go to the following “Kubuntu Users” link and Join their team:
    https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-users
  2. Now open a new tab and navigate to the following link. Once there, you should see the PPA listed as “ppa (ppa:ubuntu-font-beta-testing/ppa)” in your list and it may be the only one. There should be a link labeled “View” to the far right of it, click it.
    http://launchpad.net/people/+me/+archivesubscriptions
  3. The link that you just opened when clicking view should list software sources for this PPA that are unique to you. Open your software sources list file and copy these two source lines to the bottom, save and close (using the following command to open the sources).
    sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
  4. Add the PPA key so the package is authenticated properly when you install:
    sudo apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys 42F834EC
  5. Update your software sources. Your new access to the private PPA may take between 5-15 minutes before its processed, so if you see errors for this software source in the terminal, be patient and try updating again in a few minutes.:
    sudo apt-get update
  6. Install the font:
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-private-fonts
  7. Now that the fonts are install, apply them by right clicking on your Desktop -> Change Desktop Background -> Fonts (tab):
ubuntu font private beta testing fonts tab 300x267 How To: Ubuntu Font Private Beta Testing

Applying the new font..

You should now have the new font installed. Good luck and enjoy!

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