Full Circle Magazine: Issue 16

8/14/2019 Full Circle Magazine: Issue 16

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JAMIE STRANDBOGE

THE INDEPENDENT MAGAZINE FOR THE UBUNTU COMMUNITY

full circle

CREATE YOUR UBUNTU

GIMP PART 5GNOME-LOOK GUIDECREATE YOUR OWN UBUNTUCREATE YOUR OWN SERVER 8

CREATE AND MOVE FILES

CREATE A PERFECT INSTALL AND BURN IT TO CD.

MMMM?? DDPPII??SSIIZZEE IISS EEVVEERRYYTTHHIINNGG

IINN:: UUSSIINNGG GGIIMMPP PPAARRTT 55


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p.04

Creating And Moving Files p.06

Create Your Own Ubuntu p.08Server Series - Part 8 p.12

GIMP - Part 5 p.15GNOME-Look Guide p.18

Out With The New... p.24

Ubuntu And Kubuntu Themes p.26

: Jamie Strandboge p.27

p.29

p.30

p.32

p.33

: Twitter Clients p.35

p.37

PP..3355

P.12P.08

P.27P.15 PP..1188

full circle

The articles contained in this magazine are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0Unported license. This means you can adapt, copy, distribute and transmit the articles but only under the followingconditions: You must attribute the work to the original author in some way (at least a name, email or URL) and to this

magazine by name ('full circle magazine') and the URL www.fullcirclemagazine.org (but not attribute the article(s) in any way thatsuggests that they endorse you or your use of the work). If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you must distribute theresulting work under the same, similar or a compatible license.

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This month, we have an in depth article looking at the variouspieces that make up GNOME themes. Once you've got your desktoplooking pretty, we give you details on how you can create your ownperfect Ubuntu install CD from that installation. We also have the nextinstallment of , and the final installment of

. Do you, the readers, have anything you want Daniel todiscuss next? If so, email him at:: [email protected]

After last year's 'Christmas' edition furor, as an artist and art lover, Ijust want to say that this issue's cover - a painting depicting creation -

is appropriate for an issue with an article on creating your ownUbuntu. It's an illustration. So, please, no emails on religion! They willbe ignored.

No articles means no magazine. Feel free to send us some articles.See the news pages for more info. You don't have to be a skilledwriter. An article's content is what is most important.

Although we have many translators bringing to theirnative tongue, we could use more. So, if you would like to translate,please contact us. If there's an active group in your language, we'll

put you in touch with them. If not, you can start a group. Don't worry,we're here to provide help, raw text and Scribus files.

Editor, Full Circle [email protected]

EEDDIITTOORRIIAALL

This magazine was created using :

Ubuntu is a complete operating

system that is perfect for laptops,desktops and servers. Whether athome, school or work Ubuntucontains all the applications you'llever need including word processor,email application and web browser.

You do not pay anylicensing fees. You can download,use and share Ubuntu with yourfriends, family, school or businessfor absolutely nothing.

Once installed, your system is readyto use with a full set of productivity,internet, drawing and graphicsapplications, and games.
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NNEEWWSS Feel free to email news storiesto: [email protected] include a source URL.

A magazine isn't a magazinewithout articles and Full Circleis no exception. We need your

, and. We also need

(games, apps &hardware), articles(on any K/X/Ubuntu subject)and any questions, orsuggestions, you may have.

Ubuntu-Maker Canonical Joins

Linux Foundation

Ubuntu distributorCanonical has joined theLinux Foundation,

bringing more of a desktopconsumer point of view to theenterprise Linux-dominatedorganization.

Ubuntu has taken on anincreasingly important role withits focus on desktops, Windowscompatibility, and ease ofinstallation. Mark Shuttleworthfounded the Ubuntu project in2004 to get Linux establishedas a low-cost education systemin South Africa, then built

Canonical to support it. He stillserves on its technical board.

The Linux Foundation is thevendor-neutral employer ofLinus Torvalds, Linux originatorand lead developer. The

foundation also supervises the

Linux Standard Base, a set ofstandards and specifications forthe Linux kernel that is followed bythe Linux distributors.

"We look forward toworking with them tocontinue the march of

Linux in all areas of computing,"Canonical CTO Matt Zimmerman

said in a foundation statement.Zimmerman noted that Ubuntucommunity members are alreadyparticipants in foundationworkgroups, such as the oneadding to the Linux Standard Baseand one for porting device driversthat have just become availablefor Linux back into the olderversions of the operating systemalready in use. Ubuntu work ondrivers has been critical toUbuntu's ease of installation onmany Windows machines.

Intrepid Ibex Alpha-4 released

Alpha 4 is thefourth in aseries ofmilestone CDimages that willbe releasedthroughout the

Intrepid development cycle. The Alphaimages are known to be reasonablyfree of showstopper CD build orinstaller bugs, while representing avery recent snapshot of Intrepid.

:
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NNEEWWSSThe Space Cube Runs Linux

Its one of the smallest PCs in theworld, with each side measuringaround 2 inches square.

In the flesh its even more impressivethan in pictures, inspiring awe andprovoking disbelieving reactions acrossthe PC Pro office. Its actually quitedifficult to comprehend just how smallthe PC is.

So, weve established that itsincredibly, impossibly small. But whatsinside? Theres a surprisingly capableCPU packed away in the tiny chassis

with a top clock speed of 300MHz. Itsarrived with us clocked at a slightlymore modest 200MHz,but a simple

jumper built in to the case enable theprocessor to be clocked up to either250MHz or the full 300MHz that itscapable of.

: PCPro.co.uk

Linux server market exceeds

13%

Linux has always beenbetter received in theserver market than thedesktop market, whereit's compatibility withUNIX and POSIX-

compliance has made it a great fit forcompanies who aren't about to shell

out for UNIX licensing. The past yearalong has seen significant Linux servergrowth, which now accounts for over13% of the market.

They share this with many top players,including Microsoft, who has more thana third of the total market. While UNIX-like operating systems still make up thelion's share of all servers active in theworld, vendors who support and sellLinux will likely have to find new ways

to erode Microsoft market share ratherthan others, or they risk stalling growth.

IBM remains the number one vendor forselling servers, selling significantlymore than HP, Sun, Dell and others.

: TechSpot.com

SCO fined in Germany over Linux

claimsSCO Group has beenordered to pay a10,000 (7,900) fine inGermany for making

claims that Linux includes intellectualproperty from Unix.

SCO has repeatedly claimed that Linuxis an unlawful derivative of Unix, but hadagreed not to make this claim anymore

in Germany, following a lawsuit in 2003.

The current case found that the claimswere still present in US materialavailable on the site of SCO GroupGmbH, the group's German subsidiary.As well as paying the fine, SCO will haveto monitor its German presence.

"Patent-threat scare tacticsagainst free software arefrequently used, but have

never been backed up," said MarkTaylor, president of the Open SourceConsortium, a UK open-source advocacygroup. "Germany's approach is thesensible and traditional 'innocent untilproven guilty' and puts the onus on themud-slingers."

: news.zdnet.co.uk


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the directory, but you can do so,if you like to be sure what'sgoing on. You need to be carefulwhen using mv and cp, as theywill overwrite any existing filesyou may have. This is not anissue with our practice files, butwhen you do it with real files, itcould cause problems. Youshould back up beforeinteracting with any files usingthe command line if you areworried about losing things. Ifyou would like to be notifiedwhen your command calls for anoverwrite, use the -i switch. For

example:

$ cp -i foo bar/

If you did 'mv foo2 bar/foo'before, you will be prompted tomake sure you want to overwritethe file. There are several otheroptions that you might finduseful which can be found in the

man pages. One you may wantis -v, which will show all files asthey are copied or moved. Youcan use wildcards to copy ormove multiple files.

I'm not going to tell you what it is!).Now that we have a file and directoryto practice with, it's time to dosomething with them. The first thingI'll show you is how to make a copyof a file or directory.

$ cp foo foo2

This will copy the file 'foo' (whichwe created earlier) to 'foo2'. Nowlet's move our new file 'foo2' to the

'bar' directory, and at the same timerename it to 'foo'. To do this, we usethe mv tool.

$ mv foo2 bar/foo

Notice how you can use the mvtool to rename files, as well as movethem. If you just wanted to move'foo2' to the 'bar' directory without

renaming it, you could do either ofthe following:

$ mv foo2 bar/$ mv foo2 bar/foo2

As you are not renaming it, youdon't need to append the filename to

CCOOMMMMAANNDD AANNDD CCOONNQQUUEERRWritten by Robert Clipsham

Now that you know how to

navigate a command line,find out where you are, andhow to list the files in your currentdirectory, we'll show you how tomanage your files using a shell. Tobegin with, open up a terminaland do the following:

$ touch foo$ mkdir bar

The first of these commandswill create an empty file called'foo'. This is often useful if you runa web server along with webapplications, and are asked tocreate a file with the given nameto prove you have permission toinstall the application. The secondcommand is used to make

directories, and here makes adirectory called 'bar'. If you wantto make sure these commandsworked, you can use thecommand you learned last issueto see a list of files/directorieswithin your working directory (No,


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$ mkdir new-directory/$ mv bar/* new-directory/

This will move everything frombar/ to new-directory/. If youwould rather move the fulldirectory, and not just the files

and directories within it, use thesame command, but without the'*'.

Finally, let's remove all theexample files using the rmcommand.

$ rm -rf bar/$ rm -rf new-directory/$ rm foo

Using rm with -rf causes rm toremove files and directoriesrecursively, and to force removal

without prompting. This is normallyused for removing folders and alltheir contents. Be very careful thatyou enter the right file or directorywhen using rm; if you hit tab anddon't look at what it has completedto, you could end up removingsomething you didn't want to! Make

is a selfconfessed geek, whose hobbiesinclude: programming/scripting,chatting on IRC and not writinghis articles on time.

sure that if anyone is giving yousupport and tells you to use rm,you know what you're removing,especially if it has sudo in frontof it. Don't forget to backup anyimportant files, even if you thinkyou aren't going near them!

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HHOOWW--TTOOWritten by Laszlo Noficzer

CCRREEAATTEE YYOOUURROOWWNN UUBBUUNNTTUU

There are many articles on

the Web about how tocustomize a Windows OS or

a Linux distribution. On theWindows platform, you can usenLite for Windows XP or vLite forWindows Vista. There are similarprograms for Linux that are ableto create distributable live CDsbased on your present system.The disadvantage of installing anoriginal Ubuntu, or one of itsderivatives, is that it includes alot of applications and files whichI never use. Therefore, I decidedto build my own version of Ubuntu.

Some weeks ago, I found anarticle about building acustomized Kubuntu atwww.howtoforge.com. Theauthor's method is simple; use anUbuntu server version instead ofa desktop system because theformer doesn't have a graphicalinterface. My problem is that youthen have to change the kernel.This could result in a lot of

possible errors. Furthermore, it is a

Kubuntu system, which I don't like,so I changed KDE and KDM packagesto GDM and to GNOME. The resultwas not exactly up to myexpectations because I couldn't useX. User fromwww.prohardver.hu suggested thesolution: I have to install the xfonts-base package separately (strange: Icould bypass this step using KDE).Another recommendation, from

, also onwww.prohardver.hu, changed mythinking.

While reading 'srecommendation, I learned thatthere is an Ubuntu minimal release. Ifound it athttps://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD, anddownloaded the x86 platform 32 bitversion.

Then, I made a virtual machine(see Luca De Marini's guide in

Issue 5 for using virtual

machines) and booted the ISO.

The Ubuntu bootscreen was alittle bit strange for me:

As you can see in the picture,

if I wanted a normal installationall I had to do was press ENTER.However, my target was toinstall a base system without

GUI, so after the boot: prompt, Ityped:

cli

This way, only the basesystem will be installed withcommand line interface. That
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way, I can choose what packagesto install later. Also, I don't haveto change the kernel. Best of all,the installed packages will all bethe most up-to-date versions. Ofcourse, for this type ofinstallation, you should have abroadband Internet connection.

The installation is very similarto the normal "alternate"installation, so I won't explain ithere. If you're interested in thistopic, you can read it in Issue #3.After the base installation hadbeen finished, I rebooted and

began to build up my owncustomized system.

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg gdm gnome-core xfonts-base xterm pmount gnome-mount synaptic -y

xserver-xorg, gdm, gnome-core,xfonts-base, xterm, gnome-mountand synaptic are the parts of the

GUI and the package managerwhile pmount is for mountingremovable devices as a simpleuser. I used the -y option wheninstalling, which means that allthe confirmation dialogs will beanswered with 'yes'.

Before rebooting, it is often a goodidea to have the build-essentialpackage. If it is missing, you can bein trouble if you're trying to compilefrom source.

sudo apt-get install build-

essential

It is not absolutely necessary, but Iusually reboot at this point.

sudo shutdown -r now

After the first login, I saw this:

You can answer 'Delete' as we willsolve this manually with the following

command:

sudo apt-get install fast-user-switch-applet

Okay, let's see the next error:

This means that the HumanGDM theme is missing:

ls /usr/share/gdm/themes

total 12drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 40962008-07-20 15:05 circlesdrwxr-xr-x 2 root root 40962008-07-20 15:05 happygnome

drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 40962008-07-20 15:05 happygnome-list

There are a lot of possiblesolutions. You can install theHuman theme, a different one,or use the default theme thechoice is yours. I recommendinstalling a new theme because

(I think) the basic GUI is ugly.As you can see above, there

are three icons next to the

System menu. The twoapplication launchers are emptyand Help is available from themenu, so I deleted these.


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Okay, now you have a basesystem with a GUI but noapplications. The choice of whatto install is yours, though Irecommend using only freesoftware as non-free can havelegal complications. Only make a"clean" system, then let the userinstall all the additional programs,codecs and so on. I installed theones I usually use with thefollowing command:

sudo apt-get install firefox-3.0 thunderbirdopenoffice.org flashplugin-

nonfree sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin xpdf

This installs Firefox, Flash, Javafor web browsing, Thunderbird foremail, OpenOffice.org fordocuments, and Xpdf for viewingPDF files.

Now, for the core of the article:remastering your own distro. A

user named Tony Brijeski (alsoknown as Fragadelic) created theRemastersys program, which isable to backup an Ubuntu-basedsystem or to make a distributablelive CD. Unfortunately,Remastersys cannot be found in

the official repositories, so you haveto add its repository to/etc/apt/sources.list with vi, Nano,Gedit or Kate:

## Remastersysdeb

http://www.remastersys.klikit-linux.com/repository/remastersys/

Now refresh the packagemanager's known repositories andinstall Remastersys:

sudo apt-get update && sudoapt-get install remastersys

After installation, Remastersys isfound in the System menu, not theApplication menu. If you try to start itfrom the menu, nothing happens.The reason is obvious if you start itfrom the terminal now you have theerror:

sudo remastersys-guiCannot find either zenity orkdialog

The package enablescommunication for shell scripts overthe GUI. If you do not want the GUI,you can start Remastersys from thecommand line without '-gui'. You will

then get a little help about theusage of Remastersys. To usethe GUI, I installed Zenity:

sudo apt-get install zenity

and started Remastersys from

the GUI.

First, I always select the Modifyoption. This lets you specifysome parameters, like the nameof the ISO file or the description.After doing this, do not start tomake your distribution yet, assome preliminary steps areneeded. You do not want to put

the installation packages of theprograms you already installedon your ISO; this can causeoversizing (remember, you onlyhave 700MB to work with).Therefore, run the followingcommand:


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sudo apt-get clean

Okay, now that you havecleared your system, startRemastersys again and select theDist option. Remastersys will thenbegin to copy the files and folders

and create the ISO. During thiswork, you can take a cup of coffeeor have a lunch, as it will take along time if you have installed lotsof applications. Do not open anywindows or run any programswhile Remastersys is working.

Once the ISO file had beencreated, it is recommended to

test it in another virtual machinebefore burning it and

redistributing it.

If everything is OK, you should seesomething like the following duringboot-up:

If you can see something likethe screen shown left, you haveyour own Ubuntu distribution.

was introduced to the worldof computers in the Commodore 64era. He learned programming insecondary school and, followingthat, began working at a large ITcompany. He likes soccer (favouriteclub: AC Milan), reading Sci-Fi,playing video games and enjoyshelping people who have ITproblems.

Sometimes Remastersys will tell you the cdfs filesystem is missing. The first time, installing the build-essential package fixed theproblem. The second time, only the reinstallation of Remastersys worked. It's possible there could be an easier solution, but I didn'tfind anything about this at the support forum.

If you start Remastersys from the command line, you will sometimes see this message:Recovery file "squashfs_recovery_filesystem.squashfs_12544" writtenIf Mksquashfs aborts abnormally (i.e. power failure), run mksquashfs dummy

/home/remastersys/remastersys/ISOTMP/casper/filesystem.squashfs -recover squashfs_recover_filesystem.squashfs_12544 torestore filesystem

To prevent future problems, record the command. It cannot be found in the Remastersys log, so I strongly recommended that yourecord it or, if you started the program from the command line, redirect the standard output to a file. If you experience problems,you will have to use the command to restore it and you won't have to start the build again from nothing.

Sometimes, even though I set up a background image to my desktop, it didn't become part of the remastered system. I can onlyimagine that the problem was the picture was not in the system's place for background images.


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HHOOWW--TTOOWritten by Daniel Lamb

CCRREEAATTEE YYOOUURR OOWWNNSSEERRVVEERR -- PPaarrtt 88

We are now going to add

users to eGroupware andgive them permissions to

various items.

To add a user, log into youreGroupware install with the adminuser you created before. Browseto Admin, click on Admin, and fillin the boxes as you wish, Isuggest putting a tick in the box

"Never Expires". You can also givethe users different permissions.You may want some to be able toview only emails, whereas youmay wish to give full control toothers. After adding a user,remember to click "Add".

You now want to add a group.You can use the default group for

everyone, or use the Admin groupif you wish.

You will see under Admin alarge number of optionsdepending on what you want todo. Go through the differentoptions there, although the

defaults should be fine for anyone to

use. There are also preferences forwhich any users can set themselves.Again, the defaults are fine, but youmight choose to change themdepending on the use you haveplanned for them.

A request I received from PhilippHohn was how to connect

and to

eGroupwares ical server. To get a listof calendars (below), go to the URL:

http://servername/egroupware/icalsrv.php/username/list.html

Ensure the user has

permissions to use the icalserver. You can do this via theUser Accounts tab from theAdmin menu, then click on theuser you wish to havepermissions for this, or do it viathe groups menu. My user iscalled manager, so if I type in:

http://server/egroupware/icalsrv.p

hp/manager/list.html

I get a number of calendarsshowing up. I want to use themain-events calendar, so in

, under the calendaroption (as long as you havelightening installed, there areloads of guides how to do this onthe Web), I would simply right

click and select New Calendar,choose 'On The Network' thenenter the URL:

http://10.0.165.15/egroupware/icalsrv.php/manager/events.ics

Click 'Next' then choose your


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preferred name for the calendar.When prompted, enter theusername and password for theaccount.

We are now going to install

. Some of you may not useit, but in a business environmentit is invaluable.

To do this we are going to dropto the command line again andenter the following command todownload it.

wgethttp://www.quotero.com/downloads/doc_download.html

As it is automaticallydownloaded as an HTML file weneed to rename it to a zip file andextract it. To do this, we type inthe following commands:

mv doc_download.htmldoc_download.zip

apt-get install unzip

unzip doc_download.zip

You will now have a new folder

called Quotero_Bundle_0.6. We wantto move that file to/usr/share/Quotero. To do this, usethis command:

mv Quotero_Bundle_0.6//usr/share/Quotero -r

As Quotero uses sh files you needto make them executable. Again, to

do this for all the files type in thefollowing commands:

chmod +x/usr/share/Quotero/quotero_tomcat/bin/startup.sh

chmod +x/usr/share/Quotero/Quotero.sh

chmod +x

/usr/share/Quotero/quotero_tomcat/bin/catalina.sh

chmod +x/usr/share/Quotero/quotero_tomcat/bin/setclasspath.sh

Quotero uses Tomcat Apache to

run which depends on java so weneed to install java and set it sotomcat knows its the defaultjava environment. Do this bytyping:

apt-get install sun-java6-

bin

update-java-alternatives -sjava-6-sun

Now you can start Quoterowith this command:

Sudo./usr/share/Quotero/Quotero.sh

Now browse to the URL forQuotero to continue the install:

http://servername:8080/QuoteroDeploy

All the default settings are fineexcept for changing theDatabase type to HSQL, leavethe default Database Username,Password and Name as it is. Fillin the SMTP username andpassword. Then click Validate. Itwill now carry out the install foryou. Once it has come up withthe message 'Enjoy, click onLets go Quotero...'


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owns and runsand is based in

Perth, Scotland. He is alsoinvolved in a number of opensource projects such as

,and .

He is also a committed LeedsUnited fan.

You can now log in using theURL:

http://servername:8080/QuoteroClient/login.jsp

and the username "admin" and

password "admin". To add users,click on Administration, expanddomains, then HQUOTERO, clickon users. You can add new usershere using the button Add. UnderSpecial Roles you can add varioususers with different permissionsfor different tasks.

Under Quotero Server v0.6,

click on this button and chooseNew workspace, name it whateveryou wish and add permissions for

the various users you have created.By clicking on the button you canadd a new folder by clicking on Newfolder, and call it what you wish, andadd relevant permissions. You cannow upload documents by clicking onthe button next to the folder nameand select Import Document. TheDocument will now be in the folder.You can now check out thisdocument, open it just to view it orstart a workflow involving thedocument (as well as a number ofother options) or any others you add.You can check out a document thencheck it back in again, which will

mean only one person can use it at atime. This is very powerful softwareand can save businesses a lot of time.

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HHOOWW--TTOO UUSSIINNGG GGIIMMPP -- PPaarrtt 55Written by Ronnie Tucker

This month, we will focus on

sizes. GIMP can use severaltypes of measurements for

images. Create a new image byclicking File > New and let'sexamine some of themeasurement types.

If you can't see the X and Y

resolution section, click theAdvanced Options text below theImage Size and orientation.

Beside Image Size, you see widthand height values. To the right of theheight value you see a drop-downmenu. In my case it is showing'pixels'. Put simply, pixels are thesmall dots that make up your display.

So in this case the image would be640 pixels (or 'display dots') wide.Click the drop-down menu to see theother available options. Now, tryclicking on inches.

See thevalues change?It is now only8.889 wide.

Why? Becausewe are now ininches. 8.889inches wide isthe same as 640pixels wide.

Why have these different

measurements? If you wereworking on a banner which wasto be used on a web site, forexample, then you would needto create your image in pixels,say 400 wide by 50 high. But forprint work, your image may needto be 8 inches wide by 12 incheshigh. Switch betweenmeasurement types as needed.

Just below the AdvancedOptions text is the X and Yresolution. This is, by default, setat 72 pixels per inch, also knownas dots per inch (DPI), and issufficient for most computerdisplay and web work. Think ofDPI as being detail. The moredots per inch, the more detailyou can put in the image. Beaware, however, that a high DPIcan slow some PCs down and willresult in much larger file sizes.For print work it should be set toabout 300, but check withwhoever is printing the image


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beforehand. If in doubt, use 300DPI.

So, with our new image (below),let's move on to rulers.

You'll notice that, at the top andthe left side of the new image,there are rulers displaying thecurrent measurement type, inchesin my case. This allows for precisemeasuring and placement ofitems within the image. If I need acircle to start one inch down the

page and one inch from the left,imagine how much trial and errorit would take to get it absolutelyright. It'd be almost impossible!But with rulers, we can be muchmore precise. Click on the top(horizontal) ruler and drag downonto the image.

You'll see a horizontal line (or ruler)appear on your image (above). Thisruler does not damage your image inany way, it is merely a guideline andcan be moved by clicking and

dragging on it with the movementtool. Drag it back to where it camefrom to remove it completely. You'llnotice in the information line belowthe image tells you exactly where theruler is on the page (vertically in thiscase). Drag from the left (vertical)ruler on to the page to get anotherruler one inch from the left (below).

Where thosetwo rulersconverge is whereyou would startdragging yourcircle out from(inset).

I trust GIMP, I really do. Butlet's play Devil's Advocate anddouble check, using a differenttool, to make sure there really isone inch between the ruler onthe page and the edge of theimage. For this, we need theMeasurement Tool (below left).

This tool is like a tapemeasure. You click tocreate a start point, andclick to create an end

point (below). Between the twopoints, a red line is drawn. In theinformation bar (again, belowthe image) you'll see somenumbers. These represent thelength of the line, the angle ofthe line, the width of the line(from start point to end point)and the width of the line (againfrom start to end).


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is Editor ofmagazine, a proud Kubuntu user, andpart-time artist whose gallery of work canbe seen at www.RonnieTucker.co.uk.

And from my measurement lineI can see that the ruler is indeedone inch out. Good job GIMP!Clicking any other tool willremove the measuring tape fromthe screen.

One last tool to coverin this section is thecrop tool (left), whichcomes in handy for

keeping a single, rectangular,piece of an image.

Select the crop tool, then clickand drag a box around the areayou wish to keep (below).

This area can be moved byclicking and dragging inside the

box, or resized by clicking anddragging on one of the inside edgesof the box. Notice how the areaoutside the box darkens to focusyour attention inside the box. Usethe crop tool to remove uninterestingareas around photographs. Clickinside the box area to crop the image.

See how cropping the image hasforced you, the viewer, to focus onthe patio step. Previously, you mayhave been focusing on the pavingstones. If something is unnecessaryin a photo, crop it out.

Help keep thebugs at bay.

Join Launchpad.net
http://launchpad.net/http://www.ronnietucker.co.uk/


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HHOOWW--TTOOWritten by David D Lowe

GGNNOOMMEE--LLOOOOKK GGUUIIDDEE

When I first joined the

Ubuntu community, Iwas extremely

impressed with the amount ofcustomization Ubuntu had tooffer. People posted impressivescreenshots, and mentioned thethemes they were using. Theysoon led me to gnome-look.org,the number one place for GNOMEvisual customization. Thescreenshots there looked just asimpressive, but I was veryconfused as to what the headingson the sidebar meant, and I hadno idea how to use the files Idownloaded. Hopefully, this guidewill help you learn what I foundout the slow way.

This should be self explanatory.Wallpapers are what you decoratethe background of your desktopwith. Click on a wallpaper, andthen click on the download link,and save the image to the

harddisk, say, ~/Pictures/Wallpapers.

You may have noticed that gnome-look.org separates wallpapers intodifferent categories, according to thesize of the wallpaper in pixels. Forthe best quality, you want this tomatch your screen resolution. If youdon't know what your screenresolution is, click System >Preferences > Screen Resolution.

However, Ubuntu stretcheswallpapers quite nicely if you pickedthe wrong size, so you needn't fretabout it.

SVG is a special image format thatdoesn't use pixels; it uses shapescalled vectors, which means you canmake it as big as you want withoutlosing quality. Don't hesitate to use

these.

After you've finished downloadingthe wallpaper, simply open it in theimage viewer, and click Image > Setas wallpaper.

You can also set your wallpaper by

right-clicking on your desktop

and selecting the appropriatebutton (you know which one!).

Don't let acronyms intimidateyou; you don't have to knowwhat the letters stand for toknow what it is. Basically, GTK isthe system GNOME uses todisplay things like buttons andcontrols. GNOME is Ubuntu'sdefault desktop environment. Iwill only be dealing with GNOMEcustomization here--sorryKubuntu and Xubuntu folks!

Gnome-look.org distinguishesbetween two versions of GTK:1.x and 2.x (x stands for anynumber). Ubuntu Hardy Heroncan use both kinds, but Irecommend GTK 2.x, as Ubuntuprefers this upgraded version.

Before we continue, let memake an important distinctionbetween GTK themes and GTK
http://gnome-look.org/


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engines. Unfortunately, gnome-look.org categorizes both of themas theme/style, but you'll see whyin a minute. GTK engines extenddefault GTK-theme functionality.They are like programs and areinstalled like programs: do a

search for gtk-engines in synapticand see for yourself. GTK themesstyle your controls; they usuallydepend on an engine. One enginecan have lots of themes, and onetheme can be re-done for severalengines and made into severalthemes.

The reason why gnome-look.orglists both as theme/style isbecause an engine usually comeswith a default theme named afterthe engine. Clearlooks, forexample, is the name of both anengine and a theme.

All of the most popular enginesare already installed by default inUbuntu, so unless a theme'sdescription specifically says itneeds a specific engine, you don'tneed to worry about it. So pick aGTK theme and download to yourhard disk. Then install by clickingSystem > Preferences >

Appearance > Install. ClickCustomize and your new themeshould be listed under the Controlstab.

GTK themes are usuallycompressed with the .tar.gz filename

extension.

Metacity is the program thatdisplays window borders, basicallythe title-bar including the minimize,maximize and close buttons (above).Window borders are also calledwindow decorations. Metacity is usedby default in Ubuntu for all the

window borders. Alternatives includeEmerald, which I'll cover later.

Metacity themes are pretty simple,for once :) . Just choose one,download it, and install it by clickingSystem > Preferences > Appearance

> Install, and find it by clickingCustomize > Window Border.That's it!

Metacity themes have the.tar.gz filename extension.

Compiz Fusion is what's usedwhen you enable visual effects.It has an insane number ofoptions, which you can accessby installing the compizconfig-settings-manager package fromthe repositories. All sorts ofcustomizations for Compiz are

shared on gnome-look.org in justone category, but I'll separatethe main ones here:

likemetacity, Emerald is a windowdecorator (above). However, ithas more effects then Metacity,such as transparent title-bars. Itrequires Compiz and is not


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installed by default. To use it,simply install the 'emerald'package from the repositories,press alt-F2, and type 'compiz - -replace' (that's two dashes). Ifyou want to use this windowdecorator by default, launchAdvanced Desktop EffectsSettings (System, Preferences),click on the window decorationsplugin, and change command to'compiz - -replace'.

download it,click System > Preferences >Emerald Theme Manager, click'Import' and open yourdownloaded file. Click on a themeto apply it. Emerald themes havea .emerald extension.

Skydomes arebackground images for Compiz'scube plugin. Setting up the cubeis beyond the scope of this guide

but skydomes aren't. Simplydownload the skydome, clickSystem > Preferences >Advanced Desktop EffectsSettings > Desktop Cube >Appearance > Skydome and tickthe 'Skydome' checkbox. Click on

the open button to load yourskydome.

If your skydome doesn't load, don'tworry, try another one. Compiz mayrefuse your skydome because itdoesn't fit your screen, or because it

is too big for your memory (I think!).Skydomes are image files so theyhave .jpg or .png file extension.

Beryl used to be a competingproject to Compiz, but now they'vemerged into Compiz Fusion, whichUbuntu uses by default, so I'll skip

this section.

Gnome-look.org divides the iconcategory into two sub-categories:

Icons: these are just simple,single icons. You can find theGNOME logo here, for example.Icon themes: these interest usmore. Each icon theme tries tocustomize a maximum numberof icons on your system, so don't

be surprised if your applicationlogos your file type icons andyour commonly used action iconschange. Installing them issimple: just download an icontheme (or icon set), click System> Preferences > Appearancethen Install and open yourdownloaded file. You can find

your icon theme by clickingCustomize > Icons.

Icon themes are the biggestfiles on gnome-look.org, andthey have the .tar.gz extension.

GDM is the login screen

system that comes installed bydefault in Ubuntu. If you're tiredof the brown default one, or youwant one with a face browser(shows a list of users), you caninstall other ones. Simplydownload one to your liking, click


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System > Administration > LoginWindow > Local > Add, and openyour file. There are other options,such as randomly selecting adifferent login screen everysession, which I'll let you explore.

By the way, did you notice thatthe login preferences windowdidn't have the same theme asthe one you have on yourdesktop? That's because you ranit as root, and root has its ownpreferences for its themes.

GDM themes usually have the.tar.gz extension.

Unfortunately, gnome-look.orgdoesn't distinguish betweendifferent types of splash screens(above), and incorrectlycategorizes them all as GNOME

splash screens, but I won't.

if you havemore than two systems installed, sayUbuntu and Windows, and are dual-booting, then on every boot you areshown a list to choose from. By

default, Ubuntu uses grub, with amenu that is black and white andugly. However, you can add abackground image to the grubbootmenu so you can feel good fromthe first few seconds after you turnthe computer on.

afteryou select Ubuntu from the grub

menu, Ubuntu will proceed to load,while displaying the Ubuntu logo anda simple progress bar. You canreplace this with another splashscreen of your choosing.

some ofyou may remember the days whenthis was enabled by default. A smallwindow would appear after logging

in, showing the icons of programsbeing loaded. If you want, you canbring it back.

First, make sure you have gnome-splashscreen-manager installed fromthe repositories. Select a GNOME

splash screen and download it.Click System > Preferences >Splash Screen, click 'Install' andopen your downloaded file. Makesure 'Show splash screen onstartup' is ticked, and you'redone!

GNOME splash screens areimages, and have .jpg or .pngextensions.

If you have installed gdeskletsfrom the repositories, then you

might be looking for moredesklets than the ones thatcame by default. You can findthem here. Installation is assimple as downloading the file,and then clicking File > InstallPackage from the gdesklets


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manager. Gdesklets are simpledesktop widgets that provide lotsof different functionality.

Gdesklets generally have the.tar.gz extension.

Screenlets is a more up-to-datewidget system for Linux andcompetes with Vista gadgets, aswell as gdesklets. Screenlets isavailable in the Hardy Heronrepositories. Download a screenletfrom gnome-look.org, and install itusing the 'Install Screenlet' buttonin the screenlets manager. Youshould be getting used to this bynow!

Screenlets have the .tar.gzextension.

XMMS is a media player forLinux, and it has its own theme

system. You can download somecustom themes for it from gnome-look.org.

A place where people haveuploaded screenshots of theirdesktops to show them off. We are,of course, impressed.

Fonts are also called typesets.They determine what text looks like.Popular fonts you might have heardof are Times New Roman and ComicSans MS. Both of these are Microsoft

fonts and can be installed on yoursystem with the msttcorefontspackage from the Multiverserepository. Gnome-look.org has lotsof truetype fonts to choose from.There are several ways to installthem, the simplest being to justdownload a compressed archive offonts and extract it to ~/.fonts

(remember, that's a hidden folder).That should be enough for most

systems. If you find that the fontsdon't show up in any applications,run this command in a terminal, andrestart the applications.

fc-cache -f -v ~/.fonts

Truetype fonts have a .ttfextension, and usually come in acompressed archive like .tar.gz.

This contains clipart forGNU/Linux and other opensource projects. See if you findanything that interests you here.

These are collections ofsystem sounds. Unfortunately,they're usually just a bunch of

sound files, and you have tomanually select each type ofsystem sound for eachcorresponding file. To do so, clickSystem > Preferences > Soundthen the Sounds tab.

The sound files are usually oggfiles. Ogg Vorbis is a free-as-in-freedom alternative to restricted

MP3.

Mouse themeschange your mousecursors, also calledpointers. Download a


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pack, and install it using System> Preferences > Appearance >Install. You can find your mousethemes under Customize >Pointers.

If you're running Compiz Fusion,

you'll always want to tell it to usethe same mouse theme. ClickSystem > Preferences >Advanced Desktop EffectsSettings > General Options, andchange the value of the cursortheme field to the exact name ofyour theme. Make sure yourespect case.

Qt apps (KDE apps) use KDE'smouse theme. You can customizeit by installing and runningkcontrol. Mouse themes have the.tar.gz extension.

This is almost likebrainstorm.ubuntu.com, except

it's for GNOME. Plus it includesconceptual art. You can post yourideas and design documents here.

Cairo clock is a

small clock widget that can beinstalled from the repositories. Itspackage name is cairo-clock. Itbasically transforms the look of youranalog clock. Download one fromgnome-look.org, open it and extractit to ~/.cairo-clock/themes . You willneed to make that directory yourself.To do so, make sure you haveenabled viewing of hidden files.

Cairo clock themes are generallydownloaded inside a compressedarchive with the .tar.gz extension.

You should know what these are.Ubuntu comes with a lot of them bydefault. Just load System >Preferences > Screensaver to selectone.

Screensavers are actuallyprograms, which means there arelots of different ways to install them.Just follow the instructions in the

description and you should be fine.Lock dialogs are also under this

category. A lock dialog is the windowyou see after you lock the screen,and you want to return to yoursession. You can customize this aswell. Follow the instructions in each

lock dialog's description. If itasks you to edit a gconf key, justrun and use gconf-editor.

Nautilus is the default fileexplorer that comes with GNOMEand Ubuntu. When you click onPlaces > Home Folder, you'reusing Nautilus.

You can extend Nautilus'functionality using scripts; thinkof them as extensions, if youlike. Simply download one fromgnome-look.org and extract thearchive into ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts (remember to enableviewing hidden folders). That's it!

Scripts don't have extensions,but they're usually containedinside a compressed archive:either .tar.gz or .tar.bz2.

Enjoy your new powers ofcustomization! If you're stillhungry for more, I'd like tomention art.gnome.org, ubuntu-art.org, docks like AWN, cairo-dock and Kiba dock, and my still-in-development project complete-look hosted on launchpad.net.
http://launchpad.net/http://ubuntu-art.org/http://ubuntu-art.org/http://art.gnome.org/http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/


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MMYY SSTTOORRYY OOUUTT WWIITTHH TTHHEE NNEEWW,,IINN WWIITTHH TTHHEE OOLLDDWritten by Irv Risch

We live in a world wherejust about everything

costs money. Fuel pricesare skyrocketing; food prices aregoing through the roof. I think youknow what I mean. And wait untilthis winter when fuel prices hitour pocketbooks! Anyone whoowns a computer knows theexpense of owning one: the costof hardware, software, Internet

access and so on. The Linux worldis a breath of fresh air. Well, Ihave my feet in two differentcomputer worlds and I am findingout I like one much better thanthe other. Let me explain.

I had a laptop that died on me,so I went out an bought a newone (above right). My old laptop

was not running Windows butUbuntu Linux. However, my newlaptop came with Windows Vista.Luckily, after some repairs, myold laptop is now running fine.Therefore, when I say I have myfeet in two different worlds, I

mean I am using two differentcomputer operating systems. Now,any Windows system costs money torun. Almost every time you buy orupgrade software or have tosubscribe to anti-virus software forprotection, it costs money. It's notthat way with my Linux system.Everything is free, and I meaneverything. The operating system isfree, all the software is free, and Ifind I have no need to have virus

protection because it is sosecure. I have found only one

problem: Linux sometimes doesnot like new hardware. My oldlaptop runs just fine with Linux,but my new one doesn't. Butthere is an interesting thing Ifound out: my new computerwith Vista runs much slowerthen my old Ubuntu laptop,despite the hardware having

lower specs (less memory and aslower processor).

I know that many computerusers are afraid of trying Linuxbecause they don't want to learnhow to do things all over again.Let me tell you I find enjoymentin learning and using new things,and that Linux was very easy for

me to learn. Now that I havebeen using Linux for many yearsI dislike Windows, but I am afraidI am stuck with using Microsoft'sOS because of my newhardware. I am torn betweentwo systems. Do I keep using the


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one I don't like or do I go back tothe old system that I do like(right)? I would love to be able touse my new laptop with Ubuntubut I have so many issues. Thelaptop I have is a Dell Inspiron1521. I don't know if there is any

one place I can go to find all theLinux drivers for this hardware orif upcoming releases of Ubuntuwill address these issues with thishardware. I have trouble with thesound, Wifi card, video, built-inwebcam, etc. My old laptop,which is a no-name, runs perfectwith no need for third-party

drivers. I wish hardwaremanufacturers would realize thatthere is more that just Windows inthe world.

I did some Googling and foundsome stuff on the Southend LinuxWiki Site, but the news was notgood for this laptop. Just a shortquote from this site said,

Regrettably the Dell Inspiron1521cannot (sic) run Ubuntu orLinuxMint Eyecandy althoughrestricted drivers are installed andthe hardware should support theextended features both Ubuntuand LinuxMint are capable of, for

some reason none of the extendedfeatures on offer are available. Thismeans despite the hi (sic) end

graphics this laptop supports no coolcubes or wobbly windows quite ashame really.

My biggest issue was the wirelesscard. I did get it to work, but when Iwas on the road, I really hadproblems with roaming and findingan Internet connection. It was hit andmiss.

Well, in the end, I removed Ubuntuand went back to Vista on the newlaptop. However, I am still usingUbuntu on the old one; for the timebeing, it will stay that way.

GetDeb extends the existingsoftware options for Ubuntu (andderived) Linux distributions byproviding major updates andsoftware not yet available on theofficial Ubuntu repositories.

www.getdeb.net
http://www.getdeb.net/


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MMYY OOPPIINNIIOONN UUBBUUNNTTUU AANNDDKKUUBBUUNNTTUU TTHHEEMMEESSWritten by Lance Arnold

Ihave been using Ubuntu andKubuntu for over a year now. I

love it! I've been toying aroundwith Linux since Mandrake 5, andit has taken me a long time tofinally convert. I kept waiting forEnlightenment to really take off,but it never really hit a stage ofcompleteness that I was lookingfor, so I have temporarily given upon it. Now to my point: I have

some issues with themes on bothGNOME and KDE 3. It is achallenge to get KDE themed ifyou don't know what to get, and ittook me several days of huntingto find what needs to be installedin order to fully theme Linux/KDE.Here is what I have found thatneeds some work.

1. In order to theme the loginmanager you have to installKControl. Why is this not alreadyavailable in the Look and Feel?

2. The GRUB boot loader can be

themed, but again, it's not an optionby default in KControl. Why does it

require an application to be installed?

3. After downloading a theme,there is nowhere to apply it unlessyou know that it can be dragged anddropped on top of the settingswindow, or that you can go to thecommand line and use KControl.

4. I also had to install Ksplash to

change and theme the splash screenjust after login, but before you hit thedesktop.

1. This one is a real challenge forme. First, I don't care for the dualbars, so it takes some time to get itconfigured to one.

2. GNOME themes are a real choreto get installed and applied. I did getone to work, but it took me foreverand is not a part of GNOME itselffrom what I can tell.

3. Once I got my bars all setup I

made it too small and now can'tseem to find a way to click in an

open space in the bar to makechanges.

4. I wanted to set thewallpaper as none and just use acolor. However, this was not anoption by default in Ubuntu 8.04.Was this intentionally removed?

5. I could find no way to theme

the splash screen after login butbefore you hit the desktop.

There are other issues withthemes but I would like to seemore attention given tocustomizing the desktop, bootscreen, login managers, splashscreens, icons, window bordersand menu. In my opinion it

seems clunky, all the options arenot in one location, some appsare hidden, or you need to installother apps to get things done. Idid find that everything I neededis in the repositories. It just tooksome time to find out what Ineeded to install, and do.


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and ask someone if somethingisnt clear.

Easy the people. It is verysatisfying working with peoplewho share the same passionsand want to make Ubuntu evenbetter!

Start doing the work, askquestions and most importantly,dont be afraid to admit whenyou dont know something or

made a mistake. This gets backto learning how Ubuntu teamsworkthere is a lot to learn butone of the strengths of ourcommunity is that we have atremendous collectiveknowledge base.

MMOOTTUU IINNTTEERRVVIIEEWW JJAAMMIIEE SSTTRRAANNDDBBOOGGEETaken from

Behind MOTU is a site featuring interviews with those known as 'Masters of the Universe' (MOTU). They are the volunteer army ofpackage maintainers who look after the and software repositories.

36

Rochester, NY USA

jdstrand

I was introduced to Linux in 1997,and installed Redhat 5.0 on myhome system in 1998. I startedusing Debian not too long afterthat.

Since Breezy.

I became a MOTU in December 2007

and I got involved by reviewinguniverse security updates forsponsorship.

I learned most of what I know aboutpackaging through my work on the

Gnome 2.2 backport for DebianWoody from several years ago. I ama big fan of Debian Policy andpackage nearly everything I want toput on more than one computer. Asfar as learning how teams work, if Idont know something, I read the wiki
http://behindmotu.wordpress.com/


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My priority is always securityupdates, but I am also working on

the soon-to-be-uploaded ufw,ubuntu-cve-tracker, apparmorprofiles, and networkauthentication (among otherthings).

As an LTS release, Hardy willprovide polish and manyimprovements for all users. I amparticularly excited about UbuntuServer, as there is a greatcommunity surrounding it and lotsof new features since Gutsy andespecially Dapper.

Ill give the first two that popped

into my head:

Leviticus 19:18

Yoda from The Empire StrikesBack

Words to live (and work on Ubuntu)by.

Hmm, spare time. Well, Wikipediasays: Leisure or free time, is aperiod of time spent out of work andessential domestic activity. I find the

idea ofspare time intriguingand would like to explore it more.

Seriously though, when not atthe computer I spend time withmy family, greyhounds, andplaying music.


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UUBBUUNNTTUU WWOOMMEENNWritten by Elizabeth Bevilacqua

One of the most commonlyasked questions frompeople interested in the

Ubuntu Women project is: "Howdo I get my girlfriend/sister/wife/mother to use Ubuntu?"

Many answers to this questionhave been proposed over the

years, ranging from creating adistribution of Linux for women, tocreating more pink themes andwallpapers, to writing moreapplications targeted at women.In general, these suggestionswere not successful in drawing

vast numbers of women to the Linuxworld.

The real answer is simply, "Just likeyou'd get anyone else interested!"Ask the woman in your life that youwant to switch what applications sheuses. Take out your laptop and showher the options available in Ubuntu.

Does she want to be able to customizethe colors in GNOME to satisfy her love forthe color green? From the System menu,

select Preferences > Appearance, then clickon a theme and click the Customize buttonand go to the Colors tab and make changes.Voila, custom green theme!

Does she want to play a great first personshooter? Show her how to use Add/Removeto browse games and install Open Arena.While you're at it, explain how she can dothis for thousands of software packages, allfor free.

Does she want a recipe manager? A quickGoogle search brings up the GourmetRecipe Manager, which I highly recommend.

The download page even has a .debpackage that easily installs on Ubuntu.

Does she really get into musicorganization via iTunes? Have her give

Amarok or Rhythmbox a spin.

Does she just want word processing,email, instant messaging and webbrowsing? Give her a quick tour of thedefault applications in a vanilla UbuntuDesktop install and send her on herway.

Keep in mind that throughoutthis process you want to keepher as engaged as possible.Show her how to install software,

don't take the keyboard awaywhen she gets stuck, and makeher feel comfortable so she willbe successful once you walkaway. Women are humans tooand Ubuntu was made for all ofus.

is a

Systems Administrator inPennsylvania. She has been usingUbuntu since 2005 and became amember of the Ubuntu project in2007. She currently leads thePhiladelphia Linux Users Group(PLUG) and the PhiladelphiaChapter of LinuxChix (PhillyChix).


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LLEETTTTEERRSS Every month we like to publish some of the emails we receive. If you would like tosubmit a letter for publication, compliment or complaint, please email it to:[email protected]. PLEASE NOTE: some letters may be edited for space reasons.

LETTER OF THE MONTH Writer of Letter of the Month winstwo metal Ubuntu case badges!

J

ust stumbled upon your link inUbuntuForums.org. I have been

looking for something like thisfor a while now. The forums havenews and other good content, butyou have to look through pagesand pages of threads to really getsomething good. It would be niceto have it all consolidated intoone, convenient, PDF.

I like the "My Desktop" section

and want to try out new themesbut still haven't figured it all out.Like what Metacity, Emerald, GTKand all that stuff means, and howto change it. I need to lookthrough some of the old issues,but if you haven't had a how-to onthemes, it would be a big help, asI haven't found a thread on the

forums for complete beginners,and it is something that I couldsee many beginners strugglingwith. Keep up the good work!

Ed: '

A few years ago, while at University, afriend introduced me to Linux andexplained what it was all about and mostimportantly at the timethe fact that it was allfree! I looked into it butmy computer skills werelacking at the time anddidn't fancy messing withsomething I didn't understand. Laterafter finishing Uni a good friend of mine

introduced me to Linux again, but thistime it was Ubuntu. By this time mycomputer skills had developed a lot andthe whole Windows, virus, firewall,updates, insecurity, costly thing justannoyed the life out of me. So Irepartitioned and installed Edgy andinstantly I was amazed and couldn'tbelieve how great it was.

Then more recently (I became a teacher)the school I work for informed us(although seemingly inappropriate to themajority of staff) that the school wouldbe losing some funding so wouldn't haveas much money in the future. Uponhearing this, I spoke to a good friend ofmine who is the school Web architect

and admin Network Administratorabout doing a trial of Ubuntu

machines on thenetwork. SinceApril of this yearwe have beentrialing with justone machine

getting it on to the network andworking as a viable client. We are not

there yet, and seeing as it is thesummer holidays at the moment, it'son hold for now, we are stillsoldiering on. We hope to roll this outto the whole school in three or fouryears time, which ultimately meansthe school will save thousands onlicenses for software, particularly theoffice stuff. So I decided to send inthis letter, to show my appreciationof what the Open Source community

and Ubuntu have done for me, andare doing for the school and foreveryone who uses Ubuntu directly orindirectly. Keep soldiering on andfighting the good fight.

...the school will

save thousandson licenses...
http://ubuntuforums.org/mailto:[email protected]


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Ihave lost countof the number oftimes that I have

helped new usersinstall HP printerson UbuntuForums.org.

For some unknown reason, theUbuntu developers do not includethe Python QT3 bindings whenUbuntu is installed, even though aHP printer is detected and HPLIPis automatically installed.

In many instances, the standardPrinter installer will detect andinstall the correct driver, but youcannot use HPLIP's toolbox utilityto check for ink levels and forprint head cleaning, becauseHPLIP requires the Python QT3bindings to function.

Here is a simple way to install HPprinters the RIGHT way.

1. Install the Python QT3 bindings.This can either be done using theSynaptic Package manager, but it

is much quicker to just open aterminal and type in this command:

sudo apt-get install python-qt3

2. Before going anyfurther, use theSynaptic packagemanager to ensurethat HPLIP isinstalled. Just

search for hplip and make sure thatthere are green ticks next to ,

and .

: If you installed Ubuntu withyour HP printer plugged-in theyshould already be installed.

3. Next, afterensuring that yourHP Printer isplugged into yourPC and powered-uptype this commandinto a terminal:

sudo hp-setup

After entering yourpassword, a windowwill open and guideyou through theinstallation. It willthen print a test

page.

4. Now, type this command intoa terminal:

hp-toolbox

A window will open (below),

giving you access to all sorts ofgoodies, such as ink levels, headcleaning, queueing, etc.

If HPLIP Toolbox is not in yourSystem>Administration menulist, you can add it by navigatingto System>Preferences>MainMenu and add it there.

Ubuntu developers do

not include thePython QT3 bindings...
http://ubuntuforums.org/


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QQ&&AAWritten by Tommy Alsemgeest

If you have Ubuntu-related questions, email them to:[email protected], and Tommy will answer them in a future issue.

Q

AAs long as you haveinstalled Qt 4, Qt 4 SQLite

module, and SQLite, youhave to compile, then install. Tofind out how to do this, have alook at the How-To in .

Q

AUnfortunately not. But for

your Novatel Merlin U740, thispage should be of help:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=253466

Q

AYes there is. First, start up theUbuntu Live CD, open aterminal and type

sudo grubfind /boot/grub/stage1root (hd*,*)

replacing the *'s with what you gotfrom the find command.

setup (hd0)

And you're done.

Q

Type: MPEG-4 videoSize: 39.3 MBDuration: 21 minutes

Codec: MPEG-4 AACChannels: StereoSample Rate: 44100 hz

AYou might want to giveAvidemux a go. It is

primarily a videoeditor/converter, but it can alsosave/convert just the audio, andshould be able to save the audioto MP3.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=253466http://fullcirclemagazine/issue-10mailto:[email protected]


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MMYY DDEESSKKTTOOPP

My computer is a 4-year-old Compaq Presario SR1265 mini-tower featuring an AMD Athlon XP 3200 processor, 1 GB of RAMand an ASUS motherboard with Via KM400A chipset. I'm using

the on-board S3G UniChrome video and AC97 audio. It has a160 GB hard drive, both CD-R/W and DVD-RW drives and a raftof front mounted I/O ports. It came with a nice Compaq 17" LCDwith a resolution up to 1280 X 1024. I'm dual booting theoriginal Windows XP with Ubuntu 8.04. Windows is booted oncea month or so to keep things up to date - some day I'll flush it orget another drive.

Your chance to show the world your desktop or PC. Email your screenshots andphotos to: [email protected] and include a brief paragraph about yourdesktop, your PC's specs and any other interesting tidbits about your setup.

I use Enlightenment DR17 with the BlackTheme, using thewallpapers: enrotacion, nixie, Zerg (by maidenjeanne) andBlack_wall. If that seems like a lot, it isn't. It's one theme andfour wallpapers, one for each desktop.
mailto:[email protected]


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My laptop is my best friend, and I've chosen Ubuntu as the bestoperating system for her. She is a Dell Inspiron 6400Vista/Ubuntu dual boot with Lintel video card and 1.5GB of RAM.

I've been using Ubuntu since Ubuntu 6.06 and now I have thefantastic Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. I've chosen all of the icons

myself from the Web, and I use the Ubuntu Studio theme withthe OS X border and black pointer. I use AWN and Screenlets tomake it more beautiful. I made the right panel to make it easyto access the Internet.

Window borders & menu colors are fromgnome-look.org. Wallpaper is . Icons are the standardUbuntu human icons.

Specs on my digital friend: Intel core 2 duo e 6300 @ 1.86 GHz,1GB ram, 512 MB GeForce 7 7500 LE 512 MB video card, 320GBhard disk, Ubuntu 8.04 (single-boot), 5.1 surround soundspeakers and a 20 inch widescreen monitor

It is good enough. It even runs andnicely, and - of course - and

, you name it...

MMYY DDEESSKKTTOOPP


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TTOOPP55TTWWIITTTTEERR CCLLIIEENNTTSSWritten by Andrew Min

Homepage: http://www.twhirl.org/

is one of the mostpopular Adobeapplications around. There's areason: it's got everythingexcept the kitchen sinkpacked into a little Twitterclient. Simply download thelatest release and get

started. works withmultiple accounts and evensupports other sites like ,

, and . It'llalso automatically shortenyour URLs with , or ; posts images;and search. I wasn't thrilled with the clutteredinterface or the lack of speed (though this is mainlythe fault of ), but it's a great replacement for the

web version. To install , you'll need the Adobe runtime,which you can get athttp://labs.adobe.com/downloads/air_linux.html.Then, download and then double click the installer.

Your monthly list of Linux games or applicationsfrom the depths of the Internet. If you have an ideafor a list, please email: [email protected]

Homepage: http://code.google.com/p/gtwitter/

If you've used Twitterfor a while, you'veprobably heard of

, the Mac-onlyclient that's so popularit costs $15. Haven'tyou ever wished thatthere was a Linux

version (that was free)?Well, there is. It's called

. Right now,'s in heavy

development, so it's not completely featured. Evenbasic features like Direct Messages are missing.However, it shows a lot of promise. Currently, myfavorite feature is the incredibly handy list view,which condenses screen space very effectively. So if

you don't need fancy bling but just want to checkyour Twitter with a GTK client, is your app.

To install , just grab the package inthe universe repositories.
http://code.google.com/p/gtwitter/http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/air_linux.htmlhttp://www.twhirl.org/mailto:[email protected]


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Homepage: http://engel.uk.to/twitkit/

If you're one of those Firefox-inclined peoplewho like Twitter in a browser, give awhirl. Just hit Ctrl-Shift-F (or the

button that you can add to your navigationbar), and the sidebar opens up witha list of your timeline. There are also handybuttons to reply to someone, view his or herprofile, and update your status. It doesn't,unfortunately, have a few vital features likedirect messaging or reading archives, but ifall you need is a simple Twitter client,

is for you. It's the Twitter client forme, anyway.

To install , you'll need (I'm not

sure about the version, but it worked for meon 3.0).

Homepage:http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Plasma/Plasmoids#Twitter_Microblog

is a KDE 4 widget that letsyou update, and receive updates, fromother users. It's not as fully featured assome of the others on this list, but if allyou need is a simple replacement forthe web version, give it a try. It showsa list of the last few messages and anoption to update your status. Thedownside is that it doesn't warn youwhen you go over 140 characters.Also, the applet was unstable.

Sometimes, text 'falls off' the widget,making it look unprofessional.

To install KDE Twitter, you'll need thepackage in the

universe repositories, then add it toyour desktop.

Homepage:http://live.gnome.org/DanielMorales/Twitux

A more simple Twitter client, is a

really clean GTK application that justworks beautifully. With an interface veryreminiscent of , focuses oncleanliness rather than power. However,it still has all the features that most

Twitter clients have, such as sendingmessages, posting statuses, and viewingeveryone else's statuses. It even comeswith a few extra surprises, like spellcheck. As a final bonus, it, like ,has an option to reside in the tray and,

unlike , display notifications ifyou're tweeted. But with all of this,still manages to keep a

wonderfully clean interface.

To install , use thepackage in the universe repositories.

has been a Linux addictsince he first installed openSuSE inVMWare. Learn more about him athttp://www.andrewmin.com/
http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Plasma/Plasmoids#Twitter_Microbloghttp://engel.uk.to/twitkit/http://live.gnome.org/DanielMorales/Twituxhttp://www.andrewmin.com/


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Full Circle Magazine: Issue 16