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Top 10 Tips and Tricks for Ubuntu 11.04Ubuntu 11.04 – Natty Narwhal is out now!, After fresh installation of Ubuntu 11.04, you need to install somebasic application and packages to make your system usable, although some nice Apps are installed bydefault. In this post, you will get some basic and cool tips and tricks, for Ubuntu 11.04, and I assume that ‘itwill be helpful for beginner, who has just installed the Ubuntu and wondering – what should I do now? how willI do that in Ubuntu?’, Relax.. everything is simple . if you have any problem/question or you want torecommend something then reply through comments.

Ubuntu 11.04 is a free and open source – Linux Based Distribution, developed for common desktop users.I’ve more than two years of experience with Ubuntu (Since version 9.04). Few days before I’d installed thefresh stable version of Ubuntu 11.04, and finally prepared a list of few tips ‘n’ tricks that may help you inunderstanding, exploring and customizing Ubuntu as you wanted. Here is my favorite – and probably the bestTips ‘n’ tricks for a novice Ubuntu 11.04 users -

Top 10 collection of cool Tips ‘n’ Tricks for Ubuntu 11.04 users :

#1 : Remove Hard Drive Partition/Volume Icons from DesktopOpen Configuration Editor – hit ALT+F2 , then type gconf-editor and hit Enter. Then go to apps -> nautilus -> desktop and simply uncheck (select the row by double clicking on it) the box that says ‘Volumes Visible’.That’s all you will notice the instant effect, Then just close the window and Enjoy! Your Desktop looks muchbetter now, due to removal of cluttered – drive icons.

#2 : Mount Drives automatically when your computer startsIf you are using Ubuntu along with Windows in dual boot mode, then you may need to access NTFS partitionfrequently, so it’s not a bad idea to enable auto-mount of hard drive at system startup. PySDM is a simple‘storage device manager’ application (based on PyGTK) that allows full customization of hard drive mountpoints. To install you can search for ‘pysdm’ in synaptic package manager or Type the following command(s)given below – at Terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) :

sudo apt-get install pysdm

Then open it from Applications -> System -> Storage Device Manager or simply search for it. Now you areready to customize it – just select the drive or partitions and click on mount or any other options that youwant to configure. Be careful, while tempering with your hard drive, a silly mistake might piss you off.

#3 : Aero Glass Effect in Window Border

You just need to enable metacity opacity (by default opacity value is equal to one, Make it translucent bydecreasing its value, less than .7 to get effective level of translucency) settings from the configurationsettings. Again, open gconf-editor (hit ALT+F2 , type gconf-editor and press Enter) and go to Apps ->gwdand double click on metacity_theme_opacity row, then change its value (1) to .7 or .5 (something less than1).

#4 : Try Gnome 3 / Gnome ShellGnome 3 (The Next Generation of Desktop) is available through PPA (Personal Package Archive), althoughif you will install Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 11.04 – Natty Narwhal , then your Unity would break and this process isirreversible , so think once! before you do that.

#5 : Switch to classic Gnome 2.3 desktopProbably, Many of us do not like Unity Desktop, don’t worry, you can use your favorite classic desktop –‘Gnome 2.3′ on Ubuntu 11.04 without any problem, it is installed by default. You just need to select theclassic desktop option at login prompt, to run Gnome Desktop.

#6 : Install Cool Faenza IconsDon’t you like cool icons on your desktop, I think so (with the Assumption that you are a Human! ).Install Faenza icons from the command line – Then select it from Theme customize options(Appearance -> Themes, then customize any theme to use Faenza Icons and save the theme).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinoxsudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install faenza-icon-theme

#7 : Unlock Root in GUI modeAlthough it’s not required because you can do the administrative task using sudo command, but – just forfun! if you want to enjoy root power in GUI mode then there is a simple trick to unlock root in Ubuntu 11.04.But you have to be – very careful while using Ubuntu as root, because a small mistake may break thesystem.

#8 : Tweak Ubuntu 11.04 settings as you wantUbuntu is a free and open source OS, so it’s 100% customizable. If you want to tweak ubuntu settings thenuse some tools/utility like Ubuntu Tweak for customizing Ubuntu 11.04. Ubuntu Tweak (a free and opensource application) will allow you to configure Ubuntu in easy way.

#9 : Configure Boot options –GrubInstall a simple utility - StartUp Manager,to customize the GRUB and splashscreens, in GUI mode. The command is -

sudo apt-get install startupmanager

#10 : Move the Windows buttons to Right CornerIf you have the habit of usingMaximize, Minimize and Closebuttons in Right Corner, thenyou should change defaultwindows button layout ofUbuntu 11.04. Open gconf-editor (hit ALT+F2 and enter‘gconf-editor’) and go to apps -> Metacity -> General andselect button layout field(Double click on the row) and change the default value to -

menu:maximize,minimize,close

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