wally in unity

For automatic, timed wallpaper changes in Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty), I found that Wally Wallpaper Changer works, with a few tweaks.

First, I installed wally via Synaptic. Then, I followed the instructions regarding Unity from this web page: http://ubuntuincident.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/wallpaper-changer/

Update (20110509) [Unity patch]

Wally exists in the system tray. However, Ubuntu 11.04 introduced Unity that comes with a new top panel and applications are not allowed to be there by default. You need to enable explications explicitly. If you want to continue using wally, here is what to do:

First, get your current settings for systray-whitelist:

gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist

Then, add your application to the above list with this command:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "[ your_previous_list_here, 'wally']"


Next, I set up Wally to start at log-in by going to System Settings > Startup Applications and adding an entry for Wally there. Then I logged out and back in to make sure Wally started up and showed up on the panel at the top of the screen.

I set up a directory in my home directory and filled it with wallpapers. To make Wally pull from this list of Wallpapers, I right-clicked on the Wally icon on the panel and selected the "Folders" module. Then I added my wallpapers directory:

From the "Settings" module, I set Wally to change every 10 minutes, set the position to "Centered Maxpect," and put check marks in the boxes next to "Choose in random order," "Switch background on play," and "Play automatically on application start." At the bottom of the window, I made sure that the only active modules are "Folders" and "Files."

I raided interfacelift.com for a bunch of cool wallpapers to add to my collection, then kicked back to enjoy!

rekonq

I'm testing out the Rekonq web browser in KDE 4.6.3, in Fedora 15. The version is Rekonq 0.6.1.

Looks like a nice little browser. The tabs are placed below the bookmark bar instead of up at the top like in Chromium. Rekonq has a nice feature where, when the cursor hovers over a tab, a thumnail pops up showing the web page that's open in that tab.

Rekonq is supposed to be getting support for Chrome extensions, but it looks like that hasn't happened yet, so that's a minus. It does come with an ad-blocker, but the ad-blocker doesn't block the texts ads here in Gmail. Seems to work fine otherwise, though.

One extension that I really miss having is Xmarks, but I was able to import my bookmarks from Firefox into Rekonq, and that worked out well.

Rekonq seems to be a bit halting at first when opening up web pages, but then fairly speedy when it finally opens them up. Scrolling up and down in web pages with the mouse's scroll wheel seems a lot smoother than in Chromium.

You can set the new tab page to open up to "Bookmarks," which I find useful.

Then, when you open a new tab, you'll see something like this:

Overall, Rekonq is a nice web browser, but it still needs some work.

desktop stuff

Good 'ol Dedoimedo. He wasn't exactly complimentary in his Xubuntu 11.04 review, but he calls 'em like he sees 'em. He admits that he's no Xfce fan, and he clearly doesn't like Thunar (well, I'm not crazy about Thunar, either), but I found it interesting to read about the issues he had with Xubuntu.

I've used Xfce in Mint, from the Ubuntu repos, and that was fine. But everything I've read makes me think that Xubuntu is not such a good Xfce distro, and the things Dedoimedo says about it don't make it sound any better.

Mint's Xfce version, by the way, is now based on Debian Testing, and I'm getting the impression that it's looking nice and would be a better choice than Xubuntu. Myself, I like Xfce in SalineOS, just seems like a very nice implementation.

A weird thing about Xfce in Fedora 15, the other day I was using it and then logged out of the session and into a KDE session, and the KDE menu was replaced by the Xfce menu! Okay, that wasn't cool. But when I rebooted and went back into KDE, everything was back to normal. I'm thinking that it has something to do with menu Xfce uses now, but maybe it's just a Fedora bug.

Speaking of bugs, there was one in KDE4 around version 4.6.1 where the application launcher in the desktop right-click menu wasn't working. I first saw that in PCLOS, then in Fedora. That got fixed, but then another one popped up that I'm seeing in 4.6.3 in Fedora 14 and 15, the same application launcher starts up two instances of any application you open up. It only happens from the desktop right-click menu. I found the bug report and saw that Aaron Seigo has pushed the patch through, so that bug shouldn't be there when Fedora brings in the next KDE4 version (which should be soon; PCLOS has version 4.6.5 now, and Fedora seems bring them in not too far behind PCLOS).

So, even a KDE4 fanboy like me has to admit to still seeing a few bugs creeping up here and there in KDE4! Fortunately, both of these were in the same area, and didn't bother me much because the application launcher in the panel's main menu wasn't affected. But it adds fuel to the fire for those of you who don't like hearing that "the next version of KDE4 is the best!" :)

I'm enjoying playing around with Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 ("Natty"); it's a lot nicer than I though it would be. Quite a bit more configurable than I expected, too, but I found that I had to add a couple of tools to enhance the configurability, and my feeling is that those tools should be included by default. But isn't that the GNOME way of doing things (although, I guess techinically Unity is a separate thing from GNOME proper)?

Unity is good to work with. It has good tools for getting around the desktop, and generally it has a good flow to it, especially after you get used to it. I've found a few things that I don't like about it, and each of those are things that folks are complaining about, so perhaps they'll be addressed fairly soon. But I also found some web pages that have some really nice tips for using Unity, and those were some great finds (for example, see http://www.techdrivein.com/search/label/Ubuntu%2011.04). I tweaked the launcher (the panel along the left side) to make it a lot less, um, annoying and gaudy, but I'm thinking that it would be a lot nicer if it could be placed elsewhere on the desktop -- like at the bottom of the screen, maybe.

I think Unity is going to be great for a lot of people, and I can see where a couple of tweaks here and there will make it a lot nicer, so I'm looking forward to installing Ubuntu 12.04 next year. I think I'll have fun with it. Still, the next time I logged into a KDE4 session, I was happy to be back to a more "traditional" desktop! ("Traditional" in the sense of having a panel and normal menus.)

I've only seen a couple of very minor bugs in Natty so far, but a friend of mine has been talking about a "white screen of death" issue that he's seeing. I'm thinking that it's some kind of graphics driver problem, perhaps, because I haven't encountered it. Natty also comes with an option to log into a traditional GNOME session; I've taken a quick look at it to make sure that it works, but quickly switched back to Unity because it's just more interesting to me right now.

notebook

I prefer using my big, old, clunky pc instead of a laptop, notebook, netbook, or whatever. But I needed a working, spare computer. I was going to just look for a used pc, or even a cheap new pc, but the convenience of a laptop eventually won the day.

The one I found? The HP Compaq Presario CQ56-219WM Notebook from Walmart. $278 bucks. 250 GB drive, 2 GB RAM, CD/DVD drive, 3 USB ports, 15 inch display, Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz.

I tried my Ubuntu Natty live CD on it. Then I tried Natty from a MultiSystem live flash drive (for info, see http://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/). Then I tried my Mepis 11 live DVD on it.

Then I used KDE Partition Manager from the Mepis 11 DVD and wiped out Windows from the hard drive. Deleted every partition that was there. Re-partitioned, then installed Mepis 11.

Looks beautiful, runs great.

Because the drives on my main pc are all filled up with other distros, I'm considering adding a Ubuntu Natty installation to the notebook, just to test things out, see how things go. Haven't decided yet; I'm just glad to have something else to get online with when I can use my main pc.

In the past, I was using an old Balance notebook as a spare. It originally came with Linspire, but I have Kubuntu Dapper sitting on it now. But I've been unable to get a broadband connection with it, and installing other distros on it has been, at times, problematic. It was time to retire it, quite simply. It served me well.

M.A.L. has a new MacBook Pro. I joke that I could have gotten 3 or 4 new computers for the price of that MacBook Pro. Actually, it's no joke, and I'm sure I'm as happy running Linux on my Presario as he is running OS-X on his MacBook Pro.

Hopefully, I won't end up regretting this purchase, but $278 wasn't much. Everything looks great so far.

unity ain't so bad

I finally got a chance to take a look at Unity, from the Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty) live CD.

I'm having no trouble getting around in there, and my feeling right now is that some people are getting all worked up over nothing. It's different from what people are used to, but it's just another look for Linux. It's still just Linux. Folks can choose to use it, or not.

With Ubuntu, I normally only install the LTS (Long-Term Support) versions, so I don't think I'll be installing Natty. I'll wait until Ubuntu 12.04 comes out next year. But I don't think I'll have any problem using Unity. I'll probably do what I always do, though, and add something like Xfce or Openbox.

Here are some screen shots of from the live CD, starting with a view of the workspace switcher:

My first thought about the workspace switcher was that it takes an extra click or two to do things, but I do like the design. It's easier to access than KDE4's desktop grid (see http://monksblog-malspa.blogspot.com/2011/06/kde4-desktop-grid.html) but otherwise it works about the same way.

A couple of Nautilus windows opened up:

The launcher along the left side kinda annoys me; too gaudy, too cartoon-ish. But it's easy enough to use. I installed CompizConfig Settings Manger and set the launcher to "auto-hide," but it also disappears when you maximize a window. Here's the terminal, maximized:

And the terminal, re-sized, with the launcher hidden:

The application menus show up in Unity's top panel instead of at the top of the application window:

A couple of different ways of accessing things in the menu:

Overall, I don't think I'll have any trouble getting used to Unity, but I don't think it'll become my favorite.

free throws from the heart

Allan Guei, formerly a star basketball player at Compton High School in Los Angeles, won $40,000 dollars in a free throw shooting contest.

Guei, who is heading to Cal-State Northridge on a full scholarship, gave the money to the contest's seven other finalists.

"I've already been blessed so much and I know we're living with a bad economy, so I know this money can really help my classmates," he said in a release from the school. "It was the right decision."

One of the greatest "sports stories" I've ever read. In sports, people talk about players having "heart," but this kid took that to a whole 'nuther level. Beautiful.

Here's a link to the story, from Rivals: http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1237085

fireworks

Considering all of the wildfires this year in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas, it doesn't seem like such a good idea for folks to be setting off fireworks, does it?

The kids aren't gonna be happy about it, but I'm kinda glad that I have a good excuse not to spend a bunch of money on that stuff this year!