World Of Nubcraft

Archive for the ‘Ubuntu’ Category

Change The Default Plymouth Ubuntu Theme Background Color

Well, I am now very pleased with the way my Plymouth Ubuntu theme looks. It is now more consistent throughout the entire boot process.

In line with what I mentioned in my previous article about looking for a minimalist Plymouth theme with a dark/black color scheme, apparently I did not have to look any further. The default Plymouth theme for Ubuntu is already perfect. It is is simple, yet elegant enough, and does not break whenever a disk check happens on every nth boot.

Make Plymouth Start Earlier In The Boot Process

Starting Ubuntu 11.04 I have observed that Plymouth starts late in the boot process. Often you can only catch a glimpse of it before GDM/LightDM pops up. The same is true for Ubuntu 11.10. After a quick search on the Internet, I found out that Ubuntu 11.x versions appear to have gone away from the framebuffer technique that was used in earlier versions. Accessing the video memory directly through the framebuffer is an old technique.  The newer way, supposedly, is to have Kernel Mode Setting (KMS) handle  the graphics card and setup the display resolution early in the boot process to allow  Plymouth to display correctly. One other reason for moving into KMS is to minimize screen flicker that is often observed when using the framebuffer technique.

Change Guake Width Permanently

Guake has this annoying thing when used on Unity. It does not adjust its width to compensate for the Unity Launcher when it (Launcher) is set to Never hide. The result is part of it is outside the screen, particularly the right side where the scrollbar is located, and the Add A New Tab button is also hidden as a result. I have mentioned this in a previous post – Use Quake-like Terminals.

What Ubuntu Version Do You Have?

10.04 Lucid Lynx and 10.10 Maverick Meerkat are almost identical in the looks department – both used the old boring (no kidding) Gnome interface. They even have the same cat-sounding names. If you don’t know your Ubuntu very well you won’t spot the difference easily. (clue: wallpaper)

11.04 Natty Narwhal and 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot are both using the new Unity shell and are easier to identify through not-too-subtle differences.

Happy 7th Birthday Ubuntu

It was 7 years ago today -  Oct 20 (2004) – when the first ever Ubuntu was released into the wild. Dubbed as “The Warty Warthog Release”.

=== Announcing Ubuntu 4.10 “The Warty Warthog Release” ===

The warm-hearted Warthogs of the Warty Team are proud to present the
very first release of Ubuntu!

.xlsx Files Do Not Open On Ubuntu 11.10?

Are you getting this error message on Ubuntu 11.10 when trying to open .xlsx files by double-clicking?

Dragging the said file to Launcher where Calc sits, the file is opened without a problem. Opening it from LibreOffice itself is not a problem too. So why do you get an error when you double-click the file from Nautilus?

How To Try Ubuntu The Safest Way

Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot was released the other day and with it comes a plethora of new things. I am not going to walk you through all the new changes you will find in this release. No. That would be boring and you might fall asleep if I post an 8-page blog entry just to list down all the cool stuff. Instead, you should do the discovering yourself. Because seeing is believing and I for one am very satisfied with the way Oneiric Ocelot has turned out to be – it is damned faster than Natty Narwhal by far! I should know.. . I’ve been a Natty user for 6 months.

Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot Released Today – Meow!

Meow! Meow! Oneiric Ocelot pounces on the virtual streets today as the 11.10th iteration of awesome Ubuntu in its bi-annual release schedule.

This release sports a new and much improved Unity interface with a sleeker Dash menu. If you are an Ubuntu user and you have not tried it yet, well, where have you been hiding all these months? Unity is a rockin desktop shell, and a fresh and welcome face in the staleness and monotony that abounds the Linux desktop environment.

Firefox 7 Finally Hits Ubuntu 11.04

A big surprise today when I clicked on Update Manager to check what new and interesting updates are available, when lo and behold, Firefox 7 is in the list! Hurray! I’ve been waiting eagerly for this update for a time now.

Swansong By Josh Woodward

DO NOT DELETE!

What is it? This song is featured on Ubuntu starting with version 10.10 codenamed Maverick Meerkat. It is included on install and is found on /home/USER/Music* by default. This track is still available on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal in case you missed it on Maverick. It has become part of my music collection – the few I have because I find it too 1990s to keep such a large collection on my computer. I have a dedicated portable music player in case you are wondering. No it is not an iPod but my Android phone plugged to external speakers. Boohoo!