So those of you who were eagerly waiting (like me ) for a GUI for adding Burg or Plymouth to Ubuntu ..Your Wait is Over…!!!
Presenting you the ultimate toolkit ( do I sound like Steve Jobs ) for customizing Ubuntu Bootloader  Super-Boot-Manager (or SBM you may call it in short)
SBM has an integrated

• BURG Manager - For Installing , customizing & configuring Burg
• PLYMOUTH Manager – For Installing , customizing & configuring Plymouth
• GRUB Manager - For Installing , customizing & configuring Grub

INSTALLATION

WARNING : Customizing BootLoader may render your Ubuntu system useless.You’ve been WARNED

Since the PPA is already there most of our job is already done.You need to install the buc before installing the Super-Boot-Manager(SBM).Fire up your terminal and type :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ingalex/super-boot-manager
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install buc

After installing buc you will be able to install the Super-Boot-Manager

sudo apt-get install super-boot-manager

After installation is done you can access it from Applications>System>Super Boot Manager

Note: Though some of the users are facing the installation issue with libc6 dependency error but on my Ubuntu 11.04 test machine we never got that error

FEATURES

SBM supports installation of burg and plymouth including many amazing themes with comprehensive restore/recovery options.The whole GUI is built providing great details so that even a novice user can install and customize bootloader within few clicks . There is a language support for around 15 languages with auto-update feature included in the GUI and the customized theme creator is cherry on the top.
We are leaving you with couple of screenshots to take a sneak-peek

For more information, please refer this link . Any queries regarding these or any other regarding Ubuntu or SBM  etc can be asked here.
Enjoyy..!!!

Another Twitter Client I was just checking and this one is really awesome (you heard me).Hotot as the name goes is gonna be really hot pretty soon that I predict . Amazing well built this Twitter client almost all the features a user intends to use in its sleek interface.It will be pretty early to judge since its not officially available at its official site Hotot.org but I’m already in love with it. While I’m to figure out how it got the name Hotot you can go ahead and install it.

The recent built was stable enough for daily use and I’ve not experienced any errors whatsoever till now.Impressions were alike using a Twitter app on a Touch device though I really hope they get better sounds for notification .Rest at every level I see Hotot a real winner .Here are few features you really wanna know about

• supports Ubuntu Indicator Applet Notifications with sound
• supports single click Retweet feature
• supports extension support for additional features like Translation,Image Upload,Video Preview,URL Shortener & much more.
• supports Threaded view of Tweet conversations
• support all other standard features like Mentions,Inbox/Outbox,Favourite,Profile Customization & Search

Note : Hotot right now supports only Ubuntu 10.04/10.10/11.04

Installation

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hotot-team

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install hotot

OUR RATING

Lubuntu is a derivative of Ubuntu with LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) as the default desktop environment instead of Gnome. It has been designed to be light, fast, less resource hungry and more power efficient and every small thing has been taken care of while choosing basic applications for this derivative. The latest version is Lubuntu 10.10 which is no doubt based on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat.

Download :-

Lubuntu 10.10 :-

• Torrent Download
• Direct Download

System Requirements :- We never go for the system requirements for any Linux OS because they require much less than their closed source counterparts but this time, we need to consider this because this is really mindblowing.

• RAM – 256MB (recommended)
• Processor – 800MHz (recommended)
• Min. GFx memory – 32MB (128 MB recommended)
• Hard Disk space – 3.2 GB (10GB recommended)

Well, Lubuntu can run at much lower specs in minimal mode so its one of the lightest Ubuntu derivatives out there. It can be tested in Virtual machine using KVM/ Qemu/ Virtual Box/ Xen etc. with ease.

Programs & Features :- Besides LXDE components for desktop management, the following are the programs available for users by default :-

1) Applications and System Tools :-

• Login Manager : LXDM
• System monitor : LXTask
• Windows configuration : Obconf
• Networking : Network manager + nm-applet
• Software management : Synaptic

2) Graphics :-

• Image viewer: GPicView
• Paint : MTPaint

3) PDF reader :-

• Evince

4) Multimedia :-

• Music : Aqualung
• Videos : Gnome-mplayer
• Webcam : Cheese

5) Internet :-

• Browser : Chromium, the open-source version of Google Chrome
• Email : Sylpheed
• Instant Messages : Pidgin
• Bittorrent : Transmission
• IRC : XChat

6) Office Apps :-

• Spreadsheet : Gnumeric
• Wordprocessor : Abiword
• Notes : Xpad

7) Accessories :-

• Calculator : Galculator
• Notepad : Leafpad
• Screenshot : scrot
• CD burner : Xfburn
• Terminal : Lxterminal
• Archiver : Xarchiver
• Screensaver : Xscreensaver

8 ) Games :-

• Ace of penguins

Installing Lubuntu :-Installing Lubuntu 10.10 is same as that of Ubuntu 10.10 with a light change in the look and feel of ubiquity. There is no slideshow integrated with the installer(just for sake of making it lighter and making it less resource hungry) and rest is almost same. You can refer to our previous post for Installation details. Take a look at the screenshots !

A look at the LXDE :- LXDE – Lightweight X11 Desktop environment is one of the lightest of its kind making a room for normal users with low specs latops/desktops to enjoy Ubuntu with all its elegance, freedom, functionality and speeds on a less resource hungry platform.

LXDE Components includes GPicView, Leafpad, LXAppearance, LXDE Common, LXDM LXLauncher, LXPanel, LXRandr, LXSession, LXSession Edit, LXShortCut, LXTerminal, Menu-Cache, Openbox & PCManFM making your lightweight desktop a reality.

Take a look :

Any queries regarding Lubuntu/ Ubuntu can be asked at the forums.

Njoy Lubuntu !

Scribus is an Open Source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and other desktops with a combination of “press-ready” output and new approaches to page layout. Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, Spot Colors, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation.

It is powerful Desktop Publishing (DTP) software that helps you create great looking documents of all kinds. It also comes with a lot of support options to help you achieve the best results.

Get Scribus :- ‘Scribus 1.5.0 svn’ can be downloaded and installed using the Ubuntu PPA of Scribus-Trunk. Open the terminal and type :-

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:scribus/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install scribus-trunk

and done. Access Scribus from Applications>Graphics>Scribus(Trunk).

Scribus-Basics : Moving over to the basics, here we will be showing howto use Scribus for creating Documents like PDFs etc.

Creating and editing PDF files >

• Add document – Goto File>New to add a new document. It comes by default everytime you start Scribus.
• Import Text – Goto Insert>Insert Text frame and enter object size. After that, import text file, any document file (.csv, .odf , .html, .htm, .pdb, .txt etc.) already written by you whose pdf you want to create. Else you can write whole text yourself.
• Import Image – Goto Insert> Insert Image Frame and enter the object size. Right click the frame to select an image which you want to add. You can resize and move the frame on the page anywhere you want.
• Adding Pages – Goto Pages>Insert.. and give the no of pages to insert and press Enter.
• Besides Text & Images, you can also add Table, Shape, Polygon, Line etc.
• After adding everything, take a final look through the whole page carefully. Edit anything you want and then save the file as PDF.

Open the file using any PDF reader to view your own PDF eBook . This is just the 1% of the actual capabilities of Scribus we have covered here. Move on and start playing with it to know more about it.

You can read this Scribus manual for further details. You can also go for the Getting-Started page or the Scribus-Video tutorials. For even more details, head over to the Scribus wiki page.

For any queries regarding this post or any other query regarding Ubuntu, ask here.

Njoy!

GmailWatcher is a Gmail notifier specifically designed for the Ubuntu Operating System. A post on Mark Shuttleworth’s blog mentioned Owais Lone’s GmailWatcher app. It is under development for Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10. “Right now, my target is to make it stable/usable enough in time for Maverick. I’m planning to release the first stable version and getting it into Universe for Maverick” says Lone.

It relies heavily on Ubuntu specific packages like MeMenu, Notifications, DesktopCouch but Owais is also concentrating on a stock Gnome version also so that people on Fedora, Suse and other distributions can use it too. It may be added to the universe repository of Ubuntu 10.10.

Features :-

• Multiple Accounts support
• Google Apps support
• Secure password storage facility using Gnome-Keyring
• Themable unread emails page
• Preferences sync using UI

Download & Install :- To install it, open the terminal and type the following :-

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:loneowais/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gmailwatcher

Now, goto Internet>GmailWatcher and add your gmail account to it and start Gmailing

Take a look at lp:gmailwatcher-themes-extra for adding custom themes to it.

Any queries regarding this post or any other can be  asked here.

For further details on this app, see here.

Njoy !!!

Ubuntu Netbook Edition (UNE) is a ‘remix’ of the standard Ubuntu Desktop release, enabling you to work better on devices with small screens, such as netbooks and sub-notebooks. You have access to all the same applications any Ubuntu user has, plus some enhancements to the user interface. It has been optimized to perform its best on netbooks and computer with Intel Atom processor. It has been around since Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron and comes preinstalled in Dell, Toshiba, Asus and Acer Netbooks.

System Requirements :-

• Processor – 1.6GHz Intel Atom.
• RAM- 512 MB recommended.
• Space – 4 GiB (minimum)

Download:-

1. Ubuntu Netbook Edition[UNE] :-
   • Torrent Link
   • Direct Download
2. Kubuntu Netbook Edition[KNE] :-
   • Torrent Link
   • Direct Download

Installation :- The installation is same as that of Ubuntu Desktop Edition.

For details on How to install Ubuntu – See our previous post.

Ubuntu Netbook Edition is the Gnome flavour of UNE and has got this whole new interface that is easy to use and works really. They have optimized it to be light weight, to boot and run faster.

Take a look :

Kubuntu Netbook Edition is KDE flavour of UNE for all those KDE fans out there. Kubuntu Netbook Edition uses the Plasma Netbook shell. This features two desktop activities, one for launching applications and one for using Plasma Widgets.

Take a look :

Njoy !!

Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia editing/creation derivative of Ubuntu. It is built for audio, video and graphic enthusiasts or professionals. But as it is free and open-source, everyone is free to use. It is an officially recognized derivative of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, which is explicitly modified for general multimedia production. The latest version is Ubuntu Studio 10.04 – Lucid Lynx. We have already discussed in detail about Ubuntu Studio 9.10 in our previous post.

Download Ubuntu Studio 10.04 [ 1.7GB DVD image] :-

Torrent:- i386 or amd64

Direct :- i386 or amd64

For details see the Official Download Page.

What’s New :-

Ubuntu Studio is undergoing heavy development. This time also, numerous improvements have been implemented. Here are some of the more prominent ones :-

Audio :

• Aeolus 0.8.2 from 0.8.1
• Alsa-tools-gui (echomixer, eny24 control, HDSPcontrol, DPSPmixer, RME digicontrol) 1.0.22 from 1.0.20
• Ardour 2.8.6 from 2.8.2
• Audacity 1.3.11 from 1.3.9
• Freqtweak 0.7.2 from 0.7.0
• GNE Denemo 0.8.10 from 0.8.6
• Hydrogen 0.9.4
• Jackbeat 0.7.4 from 0.7.2
• Mixxx 1.7.2 from 1.6.1
• Muse 1.0.1 from 0.8.1a
• Puredata 0.42.5 from 0.41.4
• Qsynth 0.3.4 from 0.2.5
• SooperLooper 1.6.14 from 1.0.8c
• SoundRecorder (gnome-media) 2.29.91 from 2.28.1
• Virtual Midi Keyboard (vkeybd) 0.1.18d from 0.1.17b
• Zynaddsubfx 2.4.0 from 2.2.1

Graphics:

• Blender 2.49.2 from 2.49a
• FontForge 0.0.20090923 from 0.0.20090622
• FontMatrix 0.6.0 from 0.4.2
• F-Spot 0.61.5 from 0.61.3
• Gimp 2.6.8 from 2.6.7
• Hugin Patch Processor 2009.2.0 from 0.8.0
• Hugin Panorama Creator 2009.2.0 from 0.8.0
• Inkscape 0.47.0 from 0.47~pre4

Video:

• Kino 1.3.4 from 1.3.3

New Applications:

• Rakarrack 0.3.0
• MuseScore 0.9.6
• Subtitleeditor 0.30.0

Removed Application:

• Creox

Applications Moved Into the Main Repository to allow for better integration:

• libffado
• JACK

JACK support for applications:

• Pulseaudio
• Portaudio
• Xine

Pulse Audio/JACK integration:

• Pulse Audio built against Jack is available (but qjackctl still disables Pulse Audio via pasuspender on start)

Note : Further integration between Pulse Audio and JACK should occur in Maverick most likely via DBus

Installation :- Download the ISO image & burn it into a DVD or make a bootable USB using UNetBootin and proceed with the installation.

As we have already discussed, Ubuntu Studio can be installed by 2 Methods :-

1) Upgrade Install – Synaptic Package Manager based installation. [requires Ubuntu 10.04 already installed]

2) Dedicated Install – Making a separate partition and installing Ubuntu Studio afresh. [requires a separate empty space, atleast 10gb]

For Detailed Installation Process & Screenshots Please Refer Our Previous Post.

Njoy !!!

For Software Developers/Providers

Personal Package Archive (PPA) service is provided for Ubuntu by Launchpad via which you can distribute software and updates directly to Ubuntu users. Create your source package, upload it and Launchpad will build binaries and then host them in your own apt repository.
Refer this link for more on how to create your own PPA to distribute software.

For Users (Like Us)

PPA (https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas) can be easily used to add new sources for software not available in Software Centre.PPAs work like normal Ubuntu archives. You can install software in the usual way — for example, through apt-get or synaptic — and whenever there’s an update Ubuntu will prompt you to install it. Both the x86 & x64 architectures are supported by PPA.

Here is an example, to add the repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa: user/ppa-name

So pop up your Terminal and try adding few of them from below

Open Office : sudo add-apt-repository  ppa:openoffice-pkgs/ppa

Google Chrome Browser Beta : sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chromium-daily/beta

ClamAv Antivirus : sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-clamav/ppa

Remember to run sudo apt-get update after you are done with above

Here is a look at a successfull addition via PPA

If you still feel you are bit of a Linoob just try using Ubuntu Tweak

Transmission is a leading BitTorrent client in for Unix-Like Operating system(including Ubuntu and MacOSX) powered by GTK+ and Qt GUI that supports features like

• Magnet Links
• DHT
• Encrypted Sessions
• Remote UI
• PeerCaching
• BlockLists and much more

Recent v2  supports Local Peer Discovery which was a much awaited feature making your downloads much faster with improved GUI.

INSTALLATION

sudo  add-apt-repository ppa:transmissionbt/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install transmission

For newbies who don’t know about torrents please refer these
A Beginner Guide to BitTorrent

• An Ubuntu Installation Disk/USB PenDrive (Refer Here For How to Boot Ubuntu From PenDrive)
• A bit of telephonic conversation with the support guy (me in this case) and a good Internet Connection

• Just pop your CD into your CD/DVD Drive and boot through it to the Live environment.
• Now go to the Network Manager Applet (top right) and configure your internet connection from there so that you may be able to connect to the “The Support Guy”
  (For Connecting to Internet Refer this Forum Post)
• Done with connecting to internet, now is the time to Download TeamViewer
• Run the deb package you downloaded and click “Install Package”
• Go To Applications -> Internet – >TeamViewer
  An ID and Password will be generated on the left automatically.
• Just provide the ID and the Password to “The Support Guy” and leave the rest on him. (Refer This For Installing Ubuntu)

Note: This procedure has been tested for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx and may or maynot work with older versions of Ubuntu