Make Ubuntu/Linux Mint looks like Windows 8

Perhaps one of the best things in Linux is a high susceptibility to customize the system and make it anything you want.

You can now make Ubuntu or Linux Mint looks like Windows 8 easily, just follow these simple steps.

Run these commands, one by one :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/themes
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/icons
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install win-themes
sudo apt-get install win-icons

We can now change theme to win-theme and icons to win-icons using one of these tools : Ubuntu Tweak, gnome-tweak-tool, Unity Tweak Tool ...

Enjoy !

     

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Aptik, a great tool to restore your Favourite Apps, PPAs, Themes ... to your Ubuntu fresh install

Every time when I do a fresh install of Ubuntu or Mint, I install again my favourite apps, themes ...
It seems to be hard to reinstall applications, to re-add PPAs and to re-find themes and icon packs is akin to a ‘necessary chore'.

But there is a tool that can help simplify the entire process. It is called Aptik.
The app simply lets you create a Back up of your PPAs,Themes and icons, APT Cache, and your Favourites Software. So that can be easy  to restore again after a fresh install.

To install it run the following commands :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install aptik

Enjoy !

     

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Latest release of Skype for Linux

Skype, this week pushed out an update for Linux client.
Version 4.2.0.13 of the popular VoIP app has brought some enhancement of the performance and call quality on Linux.

According to Change log posted in their official website, you can look forward to the following  :

• Workaround for PulseAudio 3.x and 4.x audio noise.
• Bug fix for crash when opening a chat due to a non existent emoticon.
• Bug fix crash on Ubuntu/Debian 64-bit due to missing libasound2-plugins:i386 dependency.
• Bug fix for some dialpad's numbers did not work properly.

To download it, hit here

     

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CMPlayer : powerful media player

CMPlayer a media player that is strong and light, It is easy to use, It provides multiple features, attributes, and many of the powerful features.

CMPlayer have many advantages,  that can be explored on your own.

To install it in Ubuntu or Linux Mint, type the following commands :

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:canonical-qt5-edgers/qt5-beta-proper

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:darklin20/cmplayer-ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install cmplayer

Enjoy !

     

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Windows XP will die soon ! Change the look of Linux Mint/Ubuntu to Windows XP

Windows XP will end up dead and almost entirely in the month of April 2014, but if you want to keep It alive in the computer, there is a way to make Ubuntu or Linux Mint looks like Windows XP if you like their theme.

The goal of the design of this attribute, is to provide a similar interface for those who have just moved from Windows XP or wanting to move to It.

To install the feature of Windows XP on Ubuntu \ LinuxMint Open a new terminal window and paste the following five commands :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/icons

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/themes

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install win-xp-theme

sudo apt-get install win-icons

Enjoy !

     

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Ended support for Ubuntu 13.04, upgrade now

Today which is January 27, 2014, the support for Ubuntu 13.04 is ended, which was backed up for 9 months, and therefore Canonical will not provide any security updates or fixes for the problems nor software updates for this version of Ubuntu.

Canonical pushes users to upgrade to the newest version as soon as possible which is Ubuntu 13.10,

note : The instructions and caveats for the upgrade process is detailed on the following link :

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SaucyUpgrades

To download Ubuntu 13.10, Click Here

     

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QupZilla Web browser

QupZilla is modern web browser based on WebKit core and Qt Framework.  This version (1.6.1) came with many features enhancements and bug fixes.

It provides many options including enabling tab switching, using the mouse scroll wheel, URL completion in the address bar; and the ability to launch full-screen mode via the command line.

AdBlock and Speed Dial are Integrated in QupZilla browser.

Install QupZilla 1.6.1 in Ubuntu

open a new Terminal window and enter the following commands :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nowrep/qupzilla
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install qupzilla

After the Instalation you can launch Qupzilla.

     

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Speed up Linux

1 - Reduce Swappiness :

It is the operation of moving processes out of physical memory and onto the swap disk. Because disks are much slower than RAM, this can lead to slower response times for system and applications if processes are too aggressively moved out of memory.

If you are looking for good performance to your Linux machine, you can change swappiness value between 0 and 100. A recommended setting for swappiness is 10.

To check your current used Swappiness, run this command:

cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

The default value is 60, to change it now :

sudo sysctl -w vm.swappiness=10

But changes will be just for this session.

To make changes permanent , edit this file:

sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

Search for this line (if not present, just add it):

vm.swappiness=10

Save your file and exit.

2 - Disabling Unnecessary Startup Applications :

There are many applications that starts with the system, and they are unneeded for that.
Starup Applications is used to unable and disable Startup applications.

3 - Replace some of your Favorited applications by lightweight ones :

LibreOffice : AbiWord and Gnumeric Spreadsheet 

Nautilus : Thunar or PCManFM 

Gnome-Panel : FBPanel

Gnome-Terminal : XTerm

4 - Disable some Tty :

Your system comes with 6 Tty, some of them are not necessary.

To disable then, type in the terminal :

sudo gedit /etc/securetty  

Then add # from tty2 to tty6

and save the changes.

5 - Preload :

Preload is a daemon that runs in the background that stores most used applications in cache so that they can be called quickly, which will result in quick system load time.

Note : Don't install it unless you have at least 1 Gb of RAM.

     

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Changing gtk themes via the Command Line

This list of commands which we are going to show later helps changing various theme-related settings in Gnome based desktop.

These commands work with Gnome 3, Unity, Cinnamon, Mate desktop, and also the old Gnome 2 desktop(if you still using it).

Why we need to type some commands to get it done instead of a Gui tool ?

This is important to ask in such situation. In Gnome 2(and Mate today) all the these settings can be easily changed using build-in Gui tool called Appearance Preferences. Unfortunately in modern desktops such as Unity Gnome 3 ... we have Gui tools that can do the same, like Gnome Tweak Tool, Ubuntu Tweak, or MyUnity, but with limitations. It means that "Appearance Preferences" (Gui tool to tweak Gnome 2 and Mate) is powerful than any other tweaking tool.

Since "Appearance Preferences" doesn't come with all desktops except Mate, The command line will be the only replacement.

1 - Change GTK Theme

Unity, Gnome 3 Shell/Classic, Cinnamon
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme "Mytheme"

Mate
mateconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/mate/interface/gtk_theme "Mytheme"

Gnome 2
gconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_theme "Mytheme"

2 - Change window theme (Metacity)

Unity, GNOME 3 Classic (Metacity), GNOME 3 Shell (Metacity > Mutter)
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences theme "Mytheme"

Cinnamon (Metacity > Muffin)
gconftool --type=string --set /desktop/cinnamon/windows/theme "Mytheme"

Gnome 2 (Metacity)
gconftool-2 --type=string --set /apps/metacity/general/theme "Mytheme"

Mate (Metacity > Marco)
mateconftool-2 --type=string --set /apps/marco/general/theme "Mytheme"

3 - Change Shell theme

Gnome Shell (user-theme extension must be enabled)
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.user-theme name "Mytheme"

Cinnamon
gsettings set org.cinnamon.theme name "Mytheme"

4 - Change GTK color scheme

Unity, GNOME 3 Shell/Classic, Cinnamon
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-color-scheme "bg_color:#e9efe9;fg_color:#444444;base_color:#ffffff;text_color:#333333;selected_bg_color:#6666cc;selected_fg_color:#eeeeee;tooltip_bg_color:#222222;tooltip_fg_color:#dfcfcf;link_color:#cc0099;"

• Reset color:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-color-scheme ""

Mate
mateconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/mate/interface/gtk_color_scheme "bg_color:#e9efe9;fg_color:#444444;base_color:#ffffff;text_color:#333333;selected_bg_color:#6666cc;selected_fg_color:#eeeeee;tooltip_bg_color:#222222;tooltip_fg_color:#dfcfcf;link_color:#cc0099;"

Gnome 2
gconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_color_scheme "bg_color:#e9efe9;fg_color:#444444;base_color:#ffffff;text_color:#333333;selected_bg_color:#6666cc;selected_fg_color:#eeeeee;tooltip_bg_color:#222222;tooltip_fg_color:#dfcfcf;link_color:#cc0099;"

• Reset color :

gconftool-2 --type=string --set /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_color_scheme ""


Note : You can also try to use some other tools like dconf-tool or gconf-editor

     

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Harmful Linux Commands

There is always the good and the bad wherever you go.
The same thing with Linux commands, there are good commands and bad commands as well.

When It comes to bad commands, we find that, the most Linux users who have executed them are newbies who was given wrong directions as help.


Note : don't try to run those commands in your real machine, use Virtualbox if you love testing things.

I'm sure there are other commands which can be used against us.

These commands which I'm going to show are mostly found in forums where a lot of newbies are seeking for help and other online websites targeted at Linux users.


mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda
The command above will delete and erase all Data from the hard disk and format it to ext3.

mv ~ /dev/null
Delete and erase all Data from your root directory by moving them to an invalid directory.

rm -fr /
It is well known command and simplest too. It recursively remove all files from the root.

mv /home/* /dev/null
Moves all home directories to unknown location /dev/null, which means, the home directories with all Its content will be erased.

chmod -R 777 /
This will not cause a physical harm, but It will drive to low security by granting read, write and execute rights on every file to every user on that system.

     

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Pinguy OS rerview

Pinguy OS is an Ubuntu-based distribution, which aims to be more easy and user-friendly for new comers to Linux, It comes with lot of enhancement features in order to target numerous beginners.

Once It is installed, out-of-the-box supports  multimedia codecs and browser plugins, and It comes with a good selection of common applications with tweaked Gnome user interface with enhanced menus, panels and dockbars.

Website : http://pinguyos.com
Download : http://pinguyos.com/download

Applications that Pinguy OS comes with :

- Gno-Menu :
Menu that appears on the top panel.
There are other extensions as well apart from Gno-Menu.

- TLP :
It is useful for the battery consumption which helps to prolong Its life.

- Zram-config :
To speed the system.

- Pipelight :
Allows direct broadcast services such as Netflix which needs Silverlight.

- Variety :
Simple app for autochanging wallpapers.

- With a use of Pipelight and Wine, Firefox, the default browser comes with a windows flash. I guess that will solve most flash problems with Linux users.

- Nemo :
A complete fork of Nautilus.

- VLC, Skype, XBMC 13 alpha, Steam, LibreOffice ...

Review video  :

Screenshots :

     

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Protect a file or a directory with Chattr command

Chattr prevents changes to both, files and directories.

chattr +i <file>
It makes even root unable to make changes to the file and unable to delete It.

chattr +i <dir>
It make even root unable to change the content of the directory and unable to delete It.

chattr -R +i <dir>
It does the same as the previous one, but It applies to sub directories as well.

To make a file editable again, and a directory changeable :
sudo chattr -i <file that cannot be modified>

Example : 

I have a problem with Pacman. so I have edited /etc/resolv.conf, but my changes won't last long, because after disconnecting and connecting again, the file changes to Its default settings.

In my case I did some changes to the file and executed this command :
chattr +i /etc/resolv.conf

     

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Record the Desktop with Vokoscreen

Vokoscreen is one of the best App for recording the desktop, built on the top of  FFMPEG.
This is a Gui application for Screencasting that works with almost Desktops such as Unity, Gnome Shell, Cinnamon, Mate ...

Some advantages of Vokoscreen :

- Record in full-screen or a window,or record a specific area in the screen.
- The possibility of zooming.
- Record the video directly from the webcam.
- The Format of the video will be either mkv or avi depending on your choice.
- Record the audio in the Format MP3.
- The possibility to choose between displaying the cursor or hiding it.

To install vokoscreen on Ubuntu, add this ppa :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vokoscreen-dev/vokoscreen

Do an update.

sudo apt-get update

And you can now install it.

sudo apt-get install vokoscreen

Enjoy !!

     

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