Cairo Dock – An awesome dock for Ubuntu desktops has been released. As we have already discussed in our previsou post ‘Ultimate Docks for Ubuntu‘, Cairo GLX dock is a dock manager that uses Cairo / OpenGL to render graphics (many in correlation with Compiz) with full hardware acceleration. It’s fully configurable and fully customizable and can be used as a taskbar too. You can easily add applets in the dock or as a desklet. So, its a must have for eyecandy lovers.

Install

Open the terminal and type this -

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cairo-dock

and done. Now close the terminal and fireup Cairo dock from Applications>System Tools>Cairo Dock and enjoy.

What’s New

• A lot of new applets are available in our new repository! (Transmission, Deluge, MintMenu, Translator, Quote of the day, etc). You can install them for free in a single click!
• The new “Recent-Events” applet lets you browse your last activties (music, videos, documents, web pages, etc).
• The System-Monitor applet can now monitor CPU temperature and fan speed.
• The menus have a better layout.
• The Logout applet now warns you when the computer needs to be restarted.
• The Stack applet now displays the web page’s favicon.
• The Drop and Share applet now handles UbuntuOne.
• Better integration with Compiz and Kwin.
• Many bug-fixes.

Configuring Cairo

Right click and goto Cairo Dock>Configure to set the Cairo dock according to your need. To add Launchers, just click on Add-ons tab from the Cairo menu and click ‘apply’.

Cairo Dock Themes :- There are a lot of themes available in the list. Right-click Cairo-dock>Manage Themes and just select and click ‘apply’. It will be downloaded, installed and changed automatically. Additional themes can be downloaded from Gnome-Look. Here are a few -

1) Humanity Theme – Download

This theme aims to revolutionize the look of the Cairo-Dock for the integration with the theme of Humanity. Also attached the theme for the basket and the icons for the music player applet, the latter created by me on the basis of the icon\’s default music player in this original theme. Added the Clear CPU Applet themes

2) Graphite Theme – Download

The author have ported the skin graphite by ~deniartru and Icon theme by Asher to cairo-dock.
To install extract to:~/.cairo-dock/themes/ and done.

 

3)Handlegot Theme – Download

A theme for Cairo-dock based on DeviantDark’s Handelgot Iconset (BLACK version). For using it without svn version of cairo-dock, put the folder extracted from the tar.gz in ~/.config/cairo-dock/themes or in ~/.cairo-dock/themes (for older versions)

 

4) Mac-OSX Theme – Download

Extract the file you downloaded. Go to your home folder, make sure the “view hidden files” option is on. Go into the “.config” folder, then the “cairo-dock” folder. Go into the “themes” folder, and move the extracted file in there. From here you can apply the theme using Cairo Dock’s “Manage Themes” option. Make sure you have “Use The Themes New Launchers” and “Use The Themes New Behavior” checked!

 

5) Brown Spectre Theme – Download

Window Manager : Compiz Fusion, Window Decorator : Emerald, Emerald Theme : Reuben;
Gtk2 Engine: Pixmap e Mist, Gtk2 Theme : Reuben, Icon themes : Buuf, Dock : Cairo-Dock.

(Download the themes and install them right away and you are good to go)

For any queries regarding Cairo Dock or any other regarding Ubuntu, ask us here freely.

Njoy !

A good news for all Ubuntu users out there: The latest release of our favourite browser Mozilla Firefox 4.0 codename MineField i.e the Release Candidate has been released. Yes, its out and ready to roll. In this post, we will discuss how to install Firefox 4.0 RC without losing your preinstalled Firefox 3.6 or any of your bookmarks, addons etc.

Download

Firefox 4.0 RC-1 [Post Updated]

Installation

Basic Method

1) Simply extract the file, rename it to ‘Firefox RC-1′ and copy that folder. Now type :

sudo nautilus

2) In the Nautilus window, browse the Filesystem to /usr/lib. Paste the file there and close Nautilus.
3) Now, goto System > Preferences > Main Menu and link the directory /usr/lib/Firefox RC-1/firefox and add the link to Applications > Internet.
4) Its all done. Now you can enjoy your Firefox 4.0 RC without losing your bookmarks, your stable Firefox 3.6 or any of your data.

PPA Method

For Ubuntu 10.04 and 10.10 -> Open the terminal and type this PPA :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firefox-4.0

and its done.

New Features of the Minefield RC

Besides the general stability, performance, and compatibility improvements, there are a lot of new features & updates:

• The default homepage design has been refreshed.
• WebGL is enabled on all platforms, but, like for other hardware acceleration features, many buggy drivers or driver versions are blocked.
• Overhaul of the bookmarks and history code, enabling faster bookmarking and startup performance.
• Additional polish for the Firefox Add-ons Manager.
• Crash protection for Linux when there is a crash in the Adobe Flash, Apple Quicktime or Microsoft Silverlight plugins.
• New HTML5 parser & support for more HTML5 form controls.
• HTML5 Forms API makes web based forms easier to implement and validate.
• Firefox now supports the HTML5 video “buffered” property.

For more details on this release, see Release Notes.

Njoy Minefield !

Gnome2 Global-Menu is the globally-shared menu bar of all applications launched in your desktop session. As we all know that Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 2 and Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition comes with a Global menu, we are here to discuss the installation of Gnome2 Global Menu for GTK Applications in Ubuntu Gnome . Gnome2 Global Menu has a PPA to make the installation easy for Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04 and 10.10.

Download :->

Gnome2 Global Menu

Installation :->

Method I -> Open the terminal and type :-

For Ubuntu 10.10 :-

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-globalmenu

For Ubuntu 9.10 & 10.04 LTS :-

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:globalmenu-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-globalmenu

and done. Relogin to your account to get it working.

Method II -> This method will work on Ubuntu 9.10 to 11.04 alpha 2. What you need to do is; download the above file, just extract it and

cd ~/Desktop/gnome-globalmenu-0.7.10/

Access this directory via Nautilus and open gedit and add these lines to the file and save it as ‘autogen.sh’.

#!/bin/sh
#NOCONFIGURE=yes
#if which gnome-autogen.sh > /dev/null; then
#USE_GNOME2_MACROS=1 USE_COMMON_DOC_BUILD=yes . gnome-autogen.sh
#else
#libtoolize –force
intltoolize –force
#aclocal -I autotools
#automake –add-missing
#autoheader
#autoconf
env ACLOCAL=”aclocal -I autotools” autoreconf -vi
./configure –enable-maintainer-mode $*
#fi

And now, install the following packages :-

sudo apt-get install intltool libtool libgtk2.0-dev libwnck* libgnome-menu* libpanelapplet-* libnotify* xfce4-panel*

Now run ‘aclocal’ :

sudo aclocal

Start the compilation process :

./autogen.sh –prefix=/usr –sysconfdir=/etc –disable-tests –without-xfce4-panel
make
export GTK_MODULES=globalmenu-gnome
sudo make install

and done.  Logout and log back in.

After the installation, simply click ‘Add to panel’ and select ‘Gnome2 Global Menu’. Take a look :

Njoy !

Thanks to Webupd8 and Ubuntu-forums.

It’s been a while since we posted about LibreOffice’s development (beta release). Since then, LibreOffice has gone through rigorous development and now here we have the first stable release of LibreOffice with a lot of updates and bug-fixes. LibO as we know it now has the PPA so its easy for us to download it and keep it up-to-date. The Document Foundation has announced the release of LibreOffice 3.3.0 Final, all set for production machines. This release is fully stable and ready to use.

Download

LibreOffice 3.3.0 – Direct link

• Download x32 .deb (Download Torrent)
• Download x64 .deb (Downlaod Torrent)

Installation

PPA Method :-> Installing Libreoffice is now really easy because PPA is here. Just type in these lines in the terminal :-

sudo apt-get remove libreoffice*.* openoffice*.* && sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-gnome

For KDE  >_

sudo apt-get install libreoffice-kde

Note:- If you choose PPA method for installing LibO 3.3, then there is no need to download anything at all.

.deb Method :-> Simply download the files and extract it from the archive and install i like the old times

cd $home/Downloads
tar xvzf LibO_3.3.0_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-US.tar.gz
cd LibO_3.3.0rc4_Linux_x86_install-deb_en-US/DEBS
sudo dpkg -i *.deb
cd desktop-integration
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

New Features & Updates

• 1 million rows in a spreadsheet in Calc
• Improved slide layout handling in Impress
• Useful bundled extensions, such as the Presenter View in Impress
• Lotus Word Pro import filter
• Import SVG pictures into Draw and edit them interactively
• New easy-to-use dialog box for title pages
• Navigator lets you unfold one heading as usual in a tree view
• “Easy-to-find “new sheet” tab button
• MS Works import filter and more…

For details, see this page.

Preview

Here are a few screenshots of LibO 3.3 in Ubuntu 10.10, take a look :

Any queries regarding LibreOffice or any other regarding Ubuntu can be asked here.

Njoy LibreOffice!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:awn-testing/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-trunk avant-window-navigator-data-trunk python-awn-trunk awn-settings-trunk awn-applets-c-core-trunk awn-applets-c-extras-trunk awn-applets-python-core-trunk python-awn-extras-trunk awn-applets-python-extras-trunk

Make sure you donot have any previous version installed from the Ubuntu repository. If yes, then remove it via Synaptic.

AWN Styles :- To give AWN a whole new look, just goto “AWN>Dock Preferences” and select “Lucido”in the ‘Style’ section of ‘Preferences’ tab. You can add multiple Docks to your desktop to make it more usable and more awesome at looks.

AWN Themes :- To add more style to AWN, you can set “Lucido theme” to it inorder to make it look good. Just goto AWN>Dock Preferences>Themes & select ‘Lucido’ theme. You can download ‘Radiance & Ambiance Lucido themes’ from here. Just unzip the file and from the ‘themes’ tab of AWN preferences, install the themes an enjoy the new AWN.

Configuring AWN :- To get a really cool look, add “separator” where you want ‘curved edges’. To add ‘more launchers’ to your AWN, just add ‘Simple Launcher’ from ‘utilities’ in the ‘applets’ tab & then drag and drop the Application icon from Ubuntu main menu to AWN to add its launcher. Simple and workable. Take a look at this :

Docky

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:docky-core/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install docky

Configuring Docky :- Working with Docky is a lot of fun. To add more launchers, just drag and drop Application from Panel menu and to remove, just Drag ‘em out of docky . To add style to your Docky, click Docky>Settings>Themes. To get a 3D look in your dock, just tick ’3D background’ in docky settings.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cairo-dock-team/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install cairo-dock

VirtualBox is a powerful,free and easy-to-use x86 and AMD64/Intel64 Hypervisor/Virtualization solution. It is an extremely feature rich, high performance product for Enterprise, it is also the only Professional software that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). We are glad to announce that VirtualBox 4.0 final has been released for Ubuntu and is available in the repository as well.

Download :-

Ubuntu 10.10 32 Bit / 64 Bit.

Ubuntu 10.04 32 Bit / 64 Bit.

Ubuntu 9.10 32 Bit /64 Bit.

Install:-

Installing Virtual Box 4.0 is fairly simple. There are basically two best methods available.

1) Direct Install – The direct install is simply using the .deb file to install Virtualbox via Ubuntu-Software-Center or Gdebi-package-installer. Just a Double-click and installation will start. Those who had been testing Virtualbox 4.0 beta, they can directly upgrade to the newest version in the same way.

2) Terminal install :- Open the terminal and type :-

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add this line and save the file :

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian maverick contrib

For Ubuntu 10.04 and 9.10, please replace ‘maverick’ from above line to ‘lucid’ & ‘karmic’ respectively.

Now add the key-file and continue with the installation.

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.0

and its done. Now you have VirtualBox 4.0 on your Ubuntu system.

Note:- Please Remove the older version of VirtualBox 3.2 in case you have it installed via Synaptic package manager. You may also need to install the extension packs. It can be done by running VBox 4.0 and selecting ‘Extensions’ tab from ‘Preferences’ in the ‘main menu’ .

Features :- VirtualBox 4.0 has come up after long time with a lot of new features, updates and bug-fixes.

1) Major changes to the GUI which is now called “VirtualBox Manager” :

• Redesigned user interface with guest window previews.
• New “scale” display mode with scaled guest display for better testing.
• The VM list is now sortable.
• Machines can now be deleted easily without a trace including snapshots and saved states, and optionally including attached disk images. A nice feature indeed.
• Desktop file shortcuts-support to start VMs in a double click. (#wow)

2) 32 Bit Memory support :- Support for more than 1.5/2 GB guest RAM on 32-bit hosts has been added.

3) Virtual Hardware :-

• Intel ICH9 chipset with three PCI buses, PCI Express and Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI),“Motherboard” tab.
• Intel HD Audio, for better support of modern guest operating systems.

4) Virtual Disks :- Imported disks can have formats other than VMDK. Bandwidth limitation for Disk images has also been added. Shared folders are now auto-mounted on Guest VMs.

5) Resource Allocation & Control :- Support for limiting a VM’s CPU time and IO bandwidth has been added.

6) Multiple Display :- This one is exclusively for Linux. Support for multiple virtual screens in Linux and Solaris guests using X.Org server 1.3 has been added.

7) Most prominent Bug-fixes :-

• Fixed Unity/Compiz crashes on Natty.
• Fixed OpenGL support for libMesa 7.9.
• Combined 32-bit and 64-bit additions into one file.
• GUI warnings don’t stop the VM output anymore.

With all these and many other new things coming in for Linux, we can say that VirtualBox 4.0 is the best VMM to be kept for testing/previewing OS inside Ubuntu machines.

Testing Lubuntu 10.10 with VirtualBox 4.0 :- Run VirtualBox 4.0 from Application>System Tools>Oracle VM Virtualbox.

1) Click “New”  from the menu to start ‘Virtual-machine-manager’ and click next.
2) Select VM name and OS-type.
3) Allocate Memory : You can allocate as much as you want but 512 MB is recommended.
4) Virtual Hard-disk : Select ‘dynamically expanding’ disk or ‘fixed-size’ disk according to your need. Now, allocate disk space where Lubuntu will be installed.(3.2 GB is min. but 5 GB is recommended).
5) Click finish and insert bootable CD of Lubuntu in the drive, a wizard will open and ask for ‘installation media’, select it and start testing.

Lubuntu 10.10 installation instruction can be found in our previous post.

For any queries regarding Virtual Box or any regarding Ubuntu can be asked here at the Forums.

Njoy !!

So this idea struck up in my mind when I saw a recent post about what actually is the original market share of Linux.The post gives great insights into how the market share is being computed and frankly IMHO there are significant amount of discrepancies in calculating that for couple of reasons, major one of them being that many people pay for it & many get paid .

We use open source softwares daily in our life the fact is we just don’t know about it. Most of the people using Android on there smart-phones out their don’t even know its open source. People tend to buy sh!+ (sorry had to put this) for few bucks rather then trying FOSS(Free open source software) just cause it hurts their standards & corporate world has taught them that nothing comes for free.

Not going deep into that never ending debate, the question arises, well we are some way or another attached to FOSS then what actually is the real value of FOSS we are using. Another reason for this post was that I was really wanted to figure out what if all these OSS were paid.

For starters

• Java (Programming Language)
• Apache (Web-Server used in more than 50% Websites Worldwide)
• Mozilla Firefox (Most popular Browser Worldwide)
• Almost all Linux OS ( including Ubuntu)
• Bittorrent (File Sharing Technology)
• And an unending list for softwares

are all open source and yes I’m not kidding..!!!

We are taking as a reference model our own Ubuntu Desktop OS and will calculate the total net-worth of all the softwares being used by people not to mention for free.Remember I’m taking worst case scenario here taking into consideration the least possible value of each software that comes bundled with Ubuntu.Please bear with me if you find that the estimated worth of software is very low.

OS : Ubuntu
Estimated Worth : Priceless
License : Full & Unlimited + Server Too
Upgrade : Free

Office Suite : OpenOffice.org
Estimated Worth :  $50-200
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Graphics : GIMP
Estimated Worth :  $100-250
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Management : Inbuilt/Ubuntu-Tweak/Ailurus
Estimated Worth :  $25-50
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Desktop Enhancement : Compiz
Estimated Worth  : Priceless (An innovation  of its own kind)
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Virtualization : KVM/VirtualBox
Estimated Worth : $100-200
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Backup Tool : BackInTime
Estimated Worth : $50-100
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

CD/DVD Burning : K3B/Bresaro
Estimated Worth : $50-100
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Desktop Publishing : Scribus
Estimated Worth : $200
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Compression Software : Inbuilt
License : Full & Unlimited
Upgrade : Free

Here are other few things you always wanted to know about Ubuntu :

• Much lesser hardware requirements compared to any other OS (saving much on processor and memory requirements)
• Highly customizable and far superior to any other OS in terms of features ( +Regular release schedule helps in fixing bugs and security holes properly)
• Comes free with no Starter Edition , Home Premium, Home Basic, Pro , Enterprise, Ultimate License (Just download it,use it live or install it & distribute it the way you like)
• Ubuntu provides free upgrade to later versions so need to pay everytime a new version comes up
• No Antivirus Required (Linux System Has Least Amount of Virus Infections adding another few bucks to your savings)
• Ubuntu comes with a 2Gb storage on the cloud via UbuntuOne (Just a Cheery on The Top)
• Ext4 Filesystem provides you with a defragment-free environment ( saving another couple of bucks on Registry Cleaners)
• Supports all major browser like Opera,Mozilla Firefox & Google Chrome.
• Comes Inbuilt With Thousand of other Softwares that are paid for other OS.
• Comes with Inbuilt Support for almost all drivers (no need to search for them everytime)

Those who still insist on the fact that Linux are buggy I’ll rather say that you give it another try let me assure you that mentioned above are all quality software used by millions around the world and plus even if you face any problem communities like Ubuntu are soo(stressing ) helpful. Don’t let yourself fall for paid alternatives cause “Everything that glitters isn’t Gold”.

Still have questions about Ubuntu then do fire them up…!!!

Enjoy

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!

Shutter is a free & open-source feature-rich screenshot program which has been licensed under GPL v3. It allows user to capture almost everything. It can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website – apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all in one window. Isn’t it awesome ?

Lets take a look at the Features :-

1)Capturing the Desktop :-

1. Capture a Specific Area:  Select any region of the screen and capture only those parts you really need.
2. Capture a Window: Simply use your mouse to select the window you want to capture.
3. Capture the Desktop: It does not only capture all the contents of your desktop, it also supports Multi-monitor settings.
4. Capture a Website: Shutter uses gnome-web-photo to capture a website without opening a browser window.
5. Capture a Menu or Tooltip: Capturing menus or tooltips is very easy with Shutter. You select one of the options and a (user-defined) countdown starts. During this time you can open the desired menu or let a specific tooltip come up. Shutter will recognize and capture it. This one is my favourite

2)Editing the Screenshots :-

1. Add Text, Arrows, Rectangles, Ellipses: The built-in editor allows you to add primitives (e.g. rectangles, lines etc.), arrows or text to your screenshot.
2. Cropping: The built-in editor also includes a tool to crop your screenshot.
3. Auto-Increment Shape:  Shutter offers a specific auto-increment shape that can be added to the screenshot.
4. Censor/Pixelize to Hide Private Data: Shutter gives you simple but effective tools to hide this data like IP or e-Mail addresses.

3)Share your Creativity :-

1. Share it: Shutter has a built-in function to upload your screenshot with nice link-formatting so you can post the generated link directly in the forum, website, wiki etc.
2. The Ubuntu Cloud: The latest version of Shutter supports Ubuntu One as well.

4)Plugins :-

Shutter ships with a great variety of plugins that allow you to add impressive effects to your screenshots. Take a look here.

Download :- Shutter 0.86.4

Installation :-

1. Add a PPA to your system – Open a terminal and type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:shutter/ppa

2. Update the System Package list so that it loads all the packages all over again including the Shutter PPA:

sudo apt-get update

3. Install Shutter now :

sudo apt-get install shutter

It’s done. Access Shutter from Application>Accessories>Shutter.

Now, capturing anything on your computer is just a matter of few clicks. Let your creativity fly!

Shutter at Work :- Take a look at a few screenshots taken using Shutter.

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

Njoy !!!

Conky is a free, lightweight system monitor for GNU/Linux/BSD, that displays any information on your desktop i.e Cpu usage, Disk usage, Download/Upload speeds, CPU/Hard Disk temperatures, list of programs with pid (taking max cpu) etc . Originally a fork of Torsmo, Conky’s torsmo-based code is BSD licensed. New code in Conky has been licensed under the GPL 3.0.

Over the years, Conky has changed significantly from its predecessor, while maintaining simplicity and configurability. Conky can display just about anything, either on your root desktop or in its own window. Not only does Conky have many built-in objects, it can also display just about any piece of information by using scripts and other external programs.

Features : It has more than 300 built-in objects including support for :

• A big list of OS stats (username, uptime, CPU usage, memory usage, download, upload, disk usage, “top” like process stats, and network monitoring, just to name a few)
• Built in IMAP and POP3 support
• Built in support for many popular music players (MPD, XMMS2, BMPx, Audacious)
• Can be extended using built in Lua support, or any of your own scripts and programs.
• Built in Imlib2 and Cairo bindings for arbitrary drawing with Lua.

and much much more….

Conky can display this info either as text, or using simple progress bars and graph widgets, with different fonts and colors.

Download :- Conky 1.8.0

Install :- You can directly install conky using the terminal, just type in :

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install conky

OR

You can also install it from the source itself. Just download the Conky from above link and place the downloaded file in /home/user directory and typein

$tar zxf conky-1.8.0.tar.gz

$cd /home/user/conky-1.8.0

$ ./configure –prefix=/usr –enable-x11 –enable-mpd

$ make

$ make install

Note: You’ll need the X11 development libraries, version 6.8.2 or later. package name is probably libx11-dev on Ubuntu, as well as the development libraries for any additional features and do make sure you have “build-essential” package before trying to install from sources

Getting it to Work :

Launch Conky by typing in

sudo /usr/bin/conky

Type in the root password and press enter & you will see conky running on your Desktop.

Styling it up : Conky by default gives a very gloomy dark look but you can edit to look awesome and display content according to your choice. The Conkyrc file resides in /home/user directory and you can edit it. All you need to do is to edit your .conkyrc. Use

sudo vi /home/user/.conkyrc

and edit it accordingly.

Here are 10 really good conky scripts that will make your desktop look great. The download & instructions are on the respective pages :

1) Ubuntu Lucid – Gnome

2) Ubuntu Blue -KDE

3) WoW Light Worldwide

4) Conky Flavors

5) The Perfect Conky Setup

6) Conky blue by vsv

7) ConkyTransmission

8 ) Ubuntu simplified

9) Mi – Ubuntu

10) New Dark Desktop

Just download these (extract the files if any). Locate conky script and open it with any text editor (say gedit) and copy all the content and then type :

sudo gedit /home/user/.conkyrc

Repalce the old content with the new code from the downloaded file, save it & exit. Now type

sudo /usr/bin/conky

and enjoy all new conky !

You can also add Conky to your startup. You can get more conky scripts from Gnome-look.org. Just go there in the search box type “Conky” and done. Download and install awesome scripts from there and give a new look to your Desktop.

Note: ‘/user’ must be replaced by your own username.

Any questions regarding the post can be asked here.

Njoy Conky !