Get A Classic Style Menu In Unity With The Latest Drawers

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TSr4Ua345LE/UVIhA_To91I/AAAAAAAAOr0/S9aeIpLmUig/s1600/drawers-apps_1.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="AppMenu Drawers"><img alt="drawers stacks unity" border="0" height="246" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TSr4Ua345LE/UVIhA_To91I/AAAAAAAAOr0/S9aeIpLmUig/s320/drawers-apps_1.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Drawers, an application that lets you create drawers ("stacks") on the Unity Launcher for quick access (or just to unclutter / better organize the Unity Launcher) to various app shortcuts, files, links and so on, has been updated today with a much requested feature: <b>AppMenu Drawers</b>.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>AppMenu Drawers is a new type of drawer which tries to imitate the old GNOME2-style menu</b>, displaying applications grouped by category. These types of drawers can be created for any level of menu hierarchy and the subcategories can easily be accessed via quicklists:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yenrK1su3Yc/UVIhT82Pg1I/AAAAAAAAOr8/3bklEcLNsg8/s1600/drawers-apps-quicklists.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="AppMenu Drawer quicklists"><img border="0" height="252" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yenrK1su3Yc/UVIhT82Pg1I/AAAAAAAAOr8/3bklEcLNsg8/s320/drawers-apps-quicklists.png" width="320" /></a></div></div><br />Other changes in the latest Drawers 13.3.1 include:<br /><ul><li>icons can now be up to 128px;</li><li>drawer color updates with wallpaper changes.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Drawers comes with many useful features, allowing you to add any kind of file types, links and so on to a drawer and it also supports "<a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/02/unity-stacks-application-drawers.html">active drawers</a>" in which the content of a folder is added to a drawer and is constantly monitored for changes so when you add files to that folder, the drawer is updated automatically.</div><br /><br /><h2>Install Drawers</h2><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_sv12kptAxg/UVIhtb9JzPI/AAAAAAAAOsE/gmwnnEvL-IU/s1600/drawers-apps_2.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="AppMenu Drawer category"><img alt="drawers stacks unity" border="0" height="257" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_sv12kptAxg/UVIhtb9JzPI/AAAAAAAAOsE/gmwnnEvL-IU/s320/drawers-apps_2.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Drawers is currently available for Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 and 12.04 and it can be installed from its official PPA, by using the following commands in a terminal:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ian-berke/ppa-drawers<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install drawers</code></pre><br />If you encounter bugs, report them @ <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/drawers">Launchpad</a>.

Get A Classic Style Menu In Unity With The Latest Drawers

Drawers, an application that lets you create drawers ("stacks") on the Unity Launcher for quick access (or just to unclutter / bet...

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Unity Tweak Tool Available In The Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Repositories

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-elVWb7Od-nc/UUWWhIAzHPI/AAAAAAAAOkw/aAGPpgcwYTg/s1600/unity-tweak-tool.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity Tweak Tool" border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-elVWb7Od-nc/UUWWhIAzHPI/AAAAAAAAOkw/aAGPpgcwYTg/s320/unity-tweak-tool.png" title="Unity Tweak Tool" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://launchpad.net/unity-tweak-tool">Unity Tweak Tool</a> </b>is a relatively new application that allows you to configure Unity, providing access to settings buried deep in Dconf-Tools or CCSM.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The tool developed by the <a href="https://launchpad.net/~freyja-dev">freyja-dev team</a> is now <a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/raring/+source/unity-tweak-tool/0.0.3">available</a> in the Ubuntu Software Center for Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail (and so, in the official repositories), so there's no need to use a PPA any more, which should expose this excellent tool to a lot more users. The application is also available in a PPA for Ubuntu 12.10.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">The difference between Unity Tweak Tool and other such applications is the huge number of settings which it makes available for the everyday user (although <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/tweak-unity-with-unsettings-008-now.html">Unsettings</a> isn't far off, but it's not available for Ubuntu 13.04 yet), with a nice, polished user interface that comes with its own custom icons. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><b>Using Unity Tweak Tool, users can tweak:</b><br /><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity Launcher: auto-hide behavior and animation, reveal location and sensitivity, transparency, color, visibility, change the Launcher icon size, urgent animation, launch animation, icons background and enable/disable 'Show Desktop';</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity Search (Dash): blur type and background, enable/disable online sources, show "more suggestions" or "recently used" applications as well as enable search of your files or clear search history;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity Panel: menu visibility delay and transparency, tweak the date & time indicator, enable/disable bluetooth, power and volume indicator, show name on the panel and more;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity Switcher: enable/disable "Show Desktop" icon in the switcher, switch between windows on all workspaces or only the current workspace, enable/disable switching between minimized applications, change the ALT + TAB and Launcher switcher keyboard shortcuts;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity Web Apps: enable or disable the web apps and preauthorized domains</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity - Additional: change the HUD, show the launcher, execute command, etc. keyboard shortcuts and display notifications on all displays or only on the active display;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Window Manager - General: tweak the desktop magnification, hardware acceleration, animations and some keyboard shortcuts;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Window Manager: Workspace Settings: enable/disable the workspace switcher, change the number of horizontal and vertical workspaces, current workspace color or the workspace switcher keyboard shortcut;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Window Manager - Window Spread: enable disable the window spread, set the spread spacing, enable/disable displaying icons on previews or click to access the desktop and change the window spread keyboard shortcuts;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Window Manager - Window Snapping: enable / disable window snapping, change the outline and fill colors and set the window snapping behavior for each scren side / corner;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Window Manager - Hotcorners: enable/disable hotcorners and change the behavior for each screen corner;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Window Manager - Additional: set the auto-raise delay, focus mode, titlebar actions or resizing outline and fill colors;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Appearence: change the icon, GTK and window decoration themes, change the cursors, fonts and window controls;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">System: enable/disable displaying icons on the desktop, set the home folder, network, rubbish bin or devices icons to show up on the desktop, security settings such as desktop lock, user log out and user switching and scrolling options: enable / disable the overlay scrollbars, the overlay scrollbars behavior (deault, overlay with mouse or no overlay) as well as touch scrolling settings (edge, two-finger and horizontal scrolling).</li></ul><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FIag9jcMMRg/UUWYtOl1NII/AAAAAAAAOk8/XBxIbsPRXHg/s1600/unity-tweak-tool_3.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity Tweak Tool" border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FIag9jcMMRg/UUWYtOl1NII/AAAAAAAAOk8/XBxIbsPRXHg/s320/unity-tweak-tool_3.png" title="Unity Tweak Tool" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Unity Tweak Tool also comes with some minor but very useful features: for instance, when you change a GTK / window decoration theme, if you don't scroll on one of the columns, when selecting a theme, both the GTK and window decorations theme will be changed in the same time, something that may not seem like much, but no similar application allows this and I for one really like this feature.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">It's also worth mentioning that any changes you make are applied instantly and there's a "Restore defaults" button for each section, in case you want to go back to the default Unity settings.</div><br /><br />Here are a few more Unity Tweak Tool screenshots:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Otdtkhe_wfE/UUWY1x9MF9I/AAAAAAAAOlE/GMWGZTP4C14/s1600/unity-tweak-tool_4.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity Tweak Tool" border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Otdtkhe_wfE/UUWY1x9MF9I/AAAAAAAAOlE/GMWGZTP4C14/s320/unity-tweak-tool_4.png" title="Unity Tweak Tool" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3e6akcMBYEA/UUWY1zC0BXI/AAAAAAAAOlI/XqLoe6fVBGM/s1600/unity-tweak-tool_2.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity Tweak Tool" border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3e6akcMBYEA/UUWY1zC0BXI/AAAAAAAAOlI/XqLoe6fVBGM/s320/unity-tweak-tool_2.png" title="Unity Tweak Tool" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fs38tZg628/UUWY2Pekv-I/AAAAAAAAOlU/XTntpQjIsLs/s1600/unity-tweak-tool_5.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0fs38tZg628/UUWY2Pekv-I/AAAAAAAAOlU/XTntpQjIsLs/s320/unity-tweak-tool_5.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XptRFxaKW4c/UUWY2W1n_FI/AAAAAAAAOlY/5mWdkU6ddX8/s1600/unity-tweak-tool_6.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity Tweak Tool" border="0" height="266" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XptRFxaKW4c/UUWY2W1n_FI/AAAAAAAAOlY/5mWdkU6ddX8/s320/unity-tweak-tool_6.png" title="Unity Tweak Tool" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8usGPHajMM/UUWY19DFALI/AAAAAAAAOlk/BBd4Gm4S3fo/s1600/unity-tweak-tool_1.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity Tweak Tool" border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d8usGPHajMM/UUWY19DFALI/AAAAAAAAOlk/BBd4Gm4S3fo/s320/unity-tweak-tool_1.png" title="Unity Tweak Tool" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Unity Tweak Tool</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Since Unity Tweak Tool is now available in the official Ubuntu 13.04 repositories, if you're using Raring, simply search for it in the Ubuntu Software Center or click the button below to install it:</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="apt://unity-tweak-tool"><button class="thoughtbot">Install Unity Tweak Tool</button></a></div><br /><br /><br />Optionally, you can also install it via command line:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Unity Tweak Tool is also available for Ubuntu 12.10 in a daily PPA. If you want to add the PPA and install it in Ubuntu 12.10, use the commands below:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freyja-dev/unity-tweak-tool-daily<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool</code></pre><br />If you encounter bugs, report them @ <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity-tweak-tool">Launchpad</a>.

Unity Tweak Tool Available In The Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Repositories

Unity Tweak Tool is a relatively new application that allows you to configure Unity, providing access to settings buried deep in Dconf-Tool...

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Unity To Get New Shutdown Dialogs, Scroll To Switch Between Windows Feature [Video]

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail: it looks like two interesting changes will land in Unity soon: support for switching between windows of the same application by scrolling on the application icon in the Unity Launcher and a new Unity style for shutdown dialog boxes.</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Here's are a few screenshots with the new Unity shutdown / restart / lock screen / suspend dialog boxes:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lycchb5oXAE/UTnMzmh87rI/AAAAAAAAOa4/dTl_TlMcUa4/s1600/ubuntu-new-shutdown-dialog_1.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity style shutdown dialogs Ubuntu" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lycchb5oXAE/UTnMzmh87rI/AAAAAAAAOa4/dTl_TlMcUa4/s500/ubuntu-new-shutdown-dialog_1.png" title="Unity style shutdown dialogs" width="500" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tGO6qkHK3gg/UTnMzhEs3UI/AAAAAAAAOa0/-rCHcDyo790/s1600/ubuntu-new-shutdown-dialog_3.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity style shutdown dialogs Ubuntu" border="0" height="216" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tGO6qkHK3gg/UTnMzhEs3UI/AAAAAAAAOa0/-rCHcDyo790/s320/ubuntu-new-shutdown-dialog_3.png" title="Unity style shutdown dialogs" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fatxw8LSpBo/UTnMzt8k0hI/AAAAAAAAOa8/AYQ3X77BNMc/s1600/ubuntu-new-shutdown-dialog_2.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Unity style shutdown dialogs Ubuntu" border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fatxw8LSpBo/UTnMzt8k0hI/AAAAAAAAOa8/AYQ3X77BNMc/s320/ubuntu-new-shutdown-dialog_2.png" title="Unity style shutdown dialogs" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This change has been implemented by Marco Trevisan and it's not a new idea - the new Unity-like dialog boxes were mentioned in an old "GNOME 3 System Settings changes" <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/canonical.com/document/d/1ILTJDiDCd25Npt2AmgzF8aOnZZECxTfM0hvsbWT2BxA/edit?hl=en_GB">spec</a>. from 2011.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With the new design, the Restart entry has been removed from the Session Indicator since when selecting "Shut down...", there are options to either shut down or restart the computer. However, I'm not sure if that's a good idea since users will probably look for the restart option in the Session Indicator menu.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, one thing that I've found annoying in my test is that you <s>can't close the dialogs using the Esc key which, given its design (similar for instance with the lightbox image viewer used on many websites, including on WebUpd8), I would have expected to work</s>. Update: the code has been updated and the shutdown dialogs can now be closed using the Esc key. <br /><br />Remember: <b> Raring is still in development so this might change.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As for the new option that allows you to <b>switch between windows by scrolling on the application icon in the Unity Launcher</b>, the feature has been implemented by Andrea Azzarone and is basically a continuation of the work to bring a more effective window switching experience for applications with multiple windows using the Unity Launcher, which has begun with the quicklists window switching feature which we've mentioned <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/02/unity-gets-new-quicklists-window.html">a while back</a>.</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Video</h2><br />You can watch these two new features in action in the video below:<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gaXYq28jcoM" width="560"></iframe><br />(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaXYq28jcoM">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The code for these changes has been proposed for merging last night</b> and the new feature that allows you to switch between windows by scrolling on the app icon has already been merged so it should land in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail (probably) with the next Unity daily upload, while the new dialogs feature is still pending approval. <b>Update:</b> the new Unity-style shutdown dialogs code has been merged so it should land in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail soon.<br /><br /><b>Update: these changes are now available by default in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail.</b></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In other Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail related news, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/new-icons-for-ubuntu-software-center.html">the new Nautilus and Software Updater icons</a> have finally landed, but for now only the Software Updater icon shows up for now because of a symbolic link that points to the old icon in the Ubuntu Mono icon theme, which should be fixed soon. Here are a couple of screenshots with the new icons:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cB8GBU2JJjE/UTnK_l6n-UI/AAAAAAAAOag/RlVZlL6pIxM/s1600/nautilus-software-updater-icons.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ubuntu Raring new icons" border="0" height="138" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cB8GBU2JJjE/UTnK_l6n-UI/AAAAAAAAOag/RlVZlL6pIxM/s320/nautilus-software-updater-icons.png" title="Ubuntu Raring new icons" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_8fcPO7xSfU/UTnK_lOP1SI/AAAAAAAAOak/bXxhIb_8bn8/s1600/new-nautilus-software-updater-icons.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Ubuntu Raring new icons" border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_8fcPO7xSfU/UTnK_lOP1SI/AAAAAAAAOak/bXxhIb_8bn8/s1600/new-nautilus-software-updater-icons.png" title="Ubuntu Raring new icons" /></a></div><br />By the way, you can use an icon theme that uses the new Nautilus icon as folder icons (that's now how it has been implemented in Ubuntu 13.04 by the way, the old folder icons are still used in Raring) as well as the new Software Updater icon - see: <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/use-ubuntu-1304-software-center.html">Use Ubuntu 13.04 Software Center, Software Updater And Nautilus Icons With My-humanity Icon Theme</a>

Unity To Get New Shutdown Dialogs, Scroll To Switch Between Windows Feature [Video]

Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail: it looks like two interesting changes will land in Unity soon: support for switching between windows of the sa...

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Ubuntu To Use Its Own Display Server Called Mir, Unity To Be Ported To Qt/QML

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7QNX7X75ks/UTTmVqTTJGI/AAAAAAAAOXs/Xl1flZAqhEw/s1600/ubuntu-qt.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-I7QNX7X75ks/UTTmVqTTJGI/AAAAAAAAOXs/Xl1flZAqhEw/s320/ubuntu-qt.png" title="ubuntu qt" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">According to a recent <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2013-March/036776.html">announcement</a>, <b>Ubuntu will use its own Display Server called Mir</b>, replacing X Window server. The reason Ubuntu will use its own display server is that "<i>none of the existing solutions would allow us to implement our vision without taking major compromises which would come at the cost of user experience and quality</i>" and obviously, to achieve full "<a href="https://www.google.com/?q=ubuntu+convergence#hl=en&safe=off&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=ubuntu+convergence&oq=ubuntu+convergence&gs_l=hp.12...0.0.0.2330.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.les%3B..0.0...1c..5.psy-ab.jblqjOSfMjs&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43148975,d.ZWU&fp=7e9a22260310a8e3&biw=1252&bih=927">convergence</a>", a hot topic recently that has caused quite a bit of <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/107555540696571114069/posts/HSL2C21DJt7">controversy</a>.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><h2>Mir, a display server that works across desktop and mobile devices</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Mir (as in the space station) will provide a graphics stack that works across different platforms and it will firstly replace SurfaceFlinger for the Phablet images and will eventually make it on the desktop.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>There will be two Mir libraries</b>: a server which will contain the server side components and will be used to implement a compositor and a client which will allow applications to communicate with Mir servers (used by toolkits). There are also going to be <a href="https://launchpad.net/qmir">Qt bindings</a> for Mir, an Unity System Compositor, a new Unity greeter implementation using Mir and Unity.<br /><br />Also, Mir will support multiple GPUs running in the same system. The MirSPec page mentions that it should support seamless transition between GPUs so maybe with this we'll finally get proper Optimus support on Linux.</div><br />Initially, Mir will only run if your system uses the free / open source drivers, but Canonical is in talks with GPU vendors to get Mir support for those drivers / GPUs:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">With our X-integration in place, you can run Mir on your desktop machine if your system runs a GPU that supports the free driver stack. For the closed-source desktop drivers: We are in active conversations with GPU vendors to enable Mir on those drivers/GPUs, too. More to this, we are working towards a more unified driver model sitting on top of EGL. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>- <a href="http://samohtv.wordpress.com/2013/03/04/mir-an-outpost-envisioned-as-a-new-home/">Thomas Voß</a>, Canonical Technical Architect</i></div></blockquote><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you're wondering what will happen to existing applications that require X, Mir has that covered and it will come with <b>support for legacy X applications</b>. Furthermore, there's no need of porting XUL and GTK3 (and obviously, Qt/QML) applications because the Ubuntu developers will work on providing Mir integration for these toolkits.</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Unity to be ported to Qt/QML</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The second big announcement of the day is that <b>Unity will be ported to Qt/QML</b> "<i>to make development more efficient across our wider convergent strategy</i>".</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnityNextSpec">Unity Next Spec</a>, <b>Unity Next will be integrated on top of Mir, the UI will use Qt</b> and will use much of the code that's already available in the <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/02/ubuntu-touch-developer-preview-and.html">Ubuntu Touch Developer Preview</a>. The ultimate goal is to provide a seamlessly scale across multiple form factors and carry Unity's visual design and identity. This means Unity on the phone, tablet, TV and desktop will share the <b>same code base</b>, so the "convergence" Mark Shuttleworth has talked about a while back is starting to take shape.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">With the recent <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/search/label/Ubuntu%20Touch?max-results=10">Ubuntu Touch</a> announcements, this makes sense, but there is something that I don't understand: why was Unity 2D, which is written in Qt/QML, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/08/unity-2d-no-longer-installed-by-default.html">dropped from Ubuntu</a> and they've used the Compiz-based Unity on the desktop instead? And what's going to happen with the Compiz-based Unity? I just hope this isn't another rushed decision, like the recent <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2013-February/036502.html">changes to UDS</a> which is now an online only event and the <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/02/official-ubuntu-rolling-release-proposal.html">rolling release proposal</a> that even Ubuntu members were surprised to hear about.<br /><br />I'm also starting to doubt that <b>Lubuntu, Kubuntu or Xubuntu</b> will continue to exist after so many changes: rolling release, new display server, focus on Ubuntu Touch, etc. At least, in their current form: based on Ubuntu. Using Debian on the other hand should be a lot easier so maybe they'll switch to it? I guess we should find that out soon, after the Lubuntu, Xubuntu and Kubuntu teams analyze their options.</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>The plan</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The target</b> is to have a first level/functional integration of Mir and Unity Next by May 2013, by October 2013 to have a Mir - UnityNext code base that could be taken to produce a phone and <b>reach full convergence by April 2014</b> (Ubuntu 14.04 LTS).</div><br /><br /><b>More about Mir</b>: <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MirSpec">https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MirSpec</a> | <a href="https://launchpad.net/mir">Mir source code</a><br /><br /><b>More about Unity Next</b>: <a href="https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnityNextSpec">https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnityNextSpec</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Mir and Unity Next will be discussed at the <a href="http://uds.ubuntu.com/">Ubuntu Developer Summit</a> (which from now on will only take place online) which starts tomorrow.</div>

Ubuntu To Use Its Own Display Server Called Mir, Unity To Be Ported To Qt/QML

According to a recent announcement , Ubuntu will use its own Display Server called Mir , replacing X Window server. The reason Ubuntu will u...

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AppIndicator Support For GNOME Shell With A New Extension

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X0JfKfJlNCc/UTFcw-_Z7rI/AAAAAAAAOTk/7q6FcL-r518/s1600/gnome-shell-indicators.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="GNOME Shell AppIndicator support"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X0JfKfJlNCc/UTFcw-_Z7rI/AAAAAAAAOTk/7q6FcL-r518/s320/gnome-shell-indicators.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>A new extension adds native-looking Ubuntu Unity like AppIndicator support for GNOME Shell</b>, a feature for which some <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/gnome-shell-might-support-appindicators.html">patches were submited</a> more than a year ago, but they were rejected because the feature "conflicts with the design".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">AppIndicators have are widely used now, with Ubuntu disabling the message tray (systray) by default, and popular applications like Dropbox or <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/02/get-ubuntu-mono-icons-for-steam-ubuntu.html">Steam</a> come with AppIndicator support by default.</div><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>AppIndicator support for GNOME Shell is a GNOME Shell extension, which, like the name says, integrates AppIndicators into GNOME Shell and it's based on the original patches I've mentioned above, created by Giovanni Campagna.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The extension is a bit rough on the edges, but it generally works well and is basically the same as in Unity, but using GNOME Shell's theming / style.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In my short test, there was only one AppIndicator that didn't work: <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/use-classic-menu-in-unity-classicmenu.html">ClassicMenu Indicator</a>, which is probably related to its multiple submenus, but other than that, all the AppIndicators that I've tried worked as expected, and I've tried quite a few, including Steam, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/google-calendar-indicator-adds-options.html">Calendar Indicator</a>, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/09/ubuntu-indicator-for-qt-applications.html">Skype</a> (which uses sni-qt as it doesn't come with AppIndicator support by default - this is used by all Qt apps), <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/07/monitor-hardware-temperature-in-ubuntu.html">Psensor</a>, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/2-ways-to-temporarily-disable.html">Caffeine</a>, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/02/everpad-25-released-with-note-sharing.html">Everpad</a>, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/variety-wallpaper-changer-sees-new.html">Variety</a>, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/get-htc-like-weather-clock-widget-in.html">My Weather Indicator</a> and Dropbox. Even the Ubuntu Network Manager indicator (a system indicator) has showed up.</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-McDeAG-S-K0/UTFdGrqIGAI/AAAAAAAAOTs/zOp_DDdQ3_Y/s1600/gshell-appindicator-dropbox.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dropbox"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-McDeAG-S-K0/UTFdGrqIGAI/AAAAAAAAOTs/zOp_DDdQ3_Y/s320/gshell-appindicator-dropbox.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dropbox</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Q7XfuZmF0w/UTFdGsbJiQI/AAAAAAAAOTw/wF-oKFxDeAU/s1600/gnome-shell-appindicator-variety.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Variety Wallpaper Changer"><img border="0" height="253" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4Q7XfuZmF0w/UTFdGsbJiQI/AAAAAAAAOTw/wF-oKFxDeAU/s320/gnome-shell-appindicator-variety.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Variety Wallpaper Changer</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--3Ew_H6p50I/UTFdGhPXTjI/AAAAAAAAOT0/YJDEqmUGh1w/s1600/gnome-shell-appindicator-system-load.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="System Load Indicator"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--3Ew_H6p50I/UTFdGhPXTjI/AAAAAAAAOT0/YJDEqmUGh1w/s320/gnome-shell-appindicator-system-load.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">System Load Indicator</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AbePedYA_6Q/UTFeACwy-lI/AAAAAAAAOUU/cBa2helM4D4/s1600/gnome-shell-appindicator-skype.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Skype"><img border="0" height="243" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AbePedYA_6Q/UTFeACwy-lI/AAAAAAAAOUU/cBa2helM4D4/s320/gnome-shell-appindicator-skype.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Skype</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">AppIndicator extension for GNOME Shell comes with a <b>configuration tool</b> which you can use to <b>set the AppIndicators position: on the top bar and/or in the Message Tray </b>(you can even have some in the Top Bar and some in the Message Tray), as well as an option to <b>hide some of the existing AppIndicators:</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ublYeZkuZMU/UTFdPtUrJZI/AAAAAAAAOUI/IpiEw6DOMHk/s1600/gnome-shell-appindicator-config.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ublYeZkuZMU/UTFdPtUrJZI/AAAAAAAAOUI/IpiEw6DOMHk/s320/gnome-shell-appindicator-config.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1VBEiAQ6OVU/UTFdPtMAzKI/AAAAAAAAOUE/mgqoZHTqvG8/s1600/gnome-shell-appindicator-bottom.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Steam AppIndicator in the Message Tray"><img border="0" height="220" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1VBEiAQ6OVU/UTFdPtMAzKI/AAAAAAAAOUE/mgqoZHTqvG8/s320/gnome-shell-appindicator-bottom.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GNOME Shell AppIndicators in the Message Tray</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">As you can see, however, the AppIndicator icons look a lot better on the top panel. The icons don't match those used in Unity though, so they don't have a consistent look.<br />  <br />According to its <a href="https://github.com/rgcjonas/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator">GitHub page</a>, the extension is missing the following features:<br /><ul><li>support for oversized icons like the ones used by indicator-multiload (although this AppIndicator has worked in my test somehow);</li><li>labels are only supported on the Top Panel (so for instance, My Weather Indicator won't display the current weather text if used in the Message Tray);</li><li>overlay icons, icons pixmaps and tooltips. </li></ul></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">So what's next? Maybe proper Unity-like AppMenu (<a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/11/install-gnome-shell-global-menu-in.html">global menu</a>) support? Some users sure hope so and this may be a step in that direction.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install AppIndicator Support extension for GNOME Shell</h2><br /><br />I've tested the AppIndicator extension using <b>GNOME Shell 3.6</b> (in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail) and looking at the metadata file, that's the only GNOME Shell version it supports right now. Update: the theme should also work with GNOME Shell versions newer than 3.6 - simply change the GNOME Shell version in the metadata file under ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/appindicatorsupport@rgcjonas.gmail.com/ (thanks to Mathias Rudolf for the confirmation).<br /><br /><b>You can install AppIndicator Support GNOME Shell extension from <a href="https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/615/appindicator-support/">extensions.gnome.org</a> or get the code via <a href="https://github.com/rgcjonas/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator">GitHub</a>.</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Important: <b>by default, the AppIndicators will be displayed at the bottom</b>, <b>in the Message Tray</b>. To change their position, use the built-in tool by clicking on the settings icon next to the extension name, either on the <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vDHl-AHBOlg/UTFi4RvLUdI/AAAAAAAAOUc/kTrTaH0ssXY/s1600/gnome-shell-extension-settings-icon.png">website</a> or in <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1m_wczkkX-g/UTFjFloseiI/AAAAAAAAOUs/LUfHc38_1lQ/s1600/gnome-shell-extension-settings-tweak-tool.png">GNOME Tweak Tool</a>.<br /><br />The extension has just been released so you may find bugs. In case you do, report them @ <a href="https://github.com/rgcjonas/gnome-shell-extension-appindicator/issues">GitHub</a>. </div>

AppIndicator Support For GNOME Shell With A New Extension

A new extension adds native-looking Ubuntu Unity like AppIndicator support for GNOME Shell , a feature for which some patches were submited ...

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Unity Stacks Application `Drawers` Updated With New Active Drawers Feature, Other Changes

<div style="text-align: justify;">Drawers is an application that creates "stacks" (drawers) on the Unity Launcher, which can be used to organize various files, folders, applications or links for quick access, create drawers that automatically display the applications in a category and more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_QvLz6YM5eo/USzOIuNek1I/AAAAAAAAOK8/RdxWDYZdXDU/s1600/drawers-active-folder.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_QvLz6YM5eo/USzOIuNek1I/AAAAAAAAOK8/RdxWDYZdXDU/s320/drawers-active-folder.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A new "Active Folder" drawer</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The application has been updated today, getting quite a few new features, including a <b>new type of drawers called "Active Drawers"</b>. This type of drawer lets you <b>view and launch the contents of a folder</b> that's <b>constantly monitored for changes, so when you add new files to that folder, they show up in the drawer</b>. You can also access the files in that folder via quicklists (right click) available for the Active Drawer Unity Launcher icon:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OqqIK5VGw-0/USzOOZxf7SI/AAAAAAAAOLE/DvzO4d_pKVQ/s1600/drawers-active-folder-quicklist.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OqqIK5VGw-0/USzOOZxf7SI/AAAAAAAAOLE/DvzO4d_pKVQ/s1600/drawers-active-folder-quicklist.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Active Folder quicklists</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The Active Drawer can display 10 most recent items as quicklists but you can <b>pin items to the quicklists</b> so they are always displayed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Note: adding new files to the Active Drawer copies the files to the disk (so they aren't just simple shortcuts) and also, removing the files from the Active Drawer moves them to Trash.</div><br /><b>Other changes in the latest Drawers 13.2.1:</b><br /><ul><li>Drawers can now save their state (location, sort and pin state);</li><li>added a checkbox to Autostart on Login in Preferences (this will open the drawer on startup);</li><li>added Pin Window BELOW others;</li><li>buttons in drawer are hidden when mouse is not over drawer;</li><li>added "More Help" button on Help window presented in right-click popup menu;</li><li>fixed theme issues when Gtk themes other than Ambiance were used;</li><li>fixed Drawer Preferences bugs related to icons not found;</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">With this release, there's also initial support for using the drawers as desktop widgets. However, for now the Unity Launcher icon continues to be displayed when trying to achieve this, but this should be fixed in a future version.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2MTk4CDskEk/USzOWTJb5eI/AAAAAAAAOLM/zDeGuKQceXM/s1600/drawers-regular-drawer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2MTk4CDskEk/USzOWTJb5eI/AAAAAAAAOLM/zDeGuKQceXM/s320/drawers-regular-drawer.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A regular drawer I've created for quickly launching Steam games</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's also worth mentioning that since our last <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/unity-stacks-application-drawers-gets.html">Drawers article</a>, the application has improved a lot and now the drawers are automatically added to the Unity Launcher, there are new default icons and more.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><br /><h2>Install Drawers in Ubuntu</h2><br /><b>To install Drawers in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10 or 12.04, use the following commands in a terminl:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ian-berke/ppa-drawers<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install drawers</code></pre><br />If you encounter bugs, report them @ <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/drawers">Launchpad</a>.

Unity Stacks Application `Drawers` Updated With New Active Drawers Feature, Other Changes

Drawers is an application that creates "stacks" (drawers) on the Unity Launcher, which can be used to organize various files, fold...

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Everpad 2.5 Released With Note Sharing, Filter By Tags, More

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Everpad is a Linux client for <a href="http://evernote.com/">Evernote</a>, a popular note taking service. The application comes with a Unity lens that supports previews, Ubuntu AppIndicator for quickly accessing your notes, supports Evernote tags, notebooks, resources, places and more.</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Li40ZzLBhY0/USyt8UQvgMI/AAAAAAAAOJM/zqgeUVOtm4A/s1600/everpad-share-n-tags.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Everpad: sharing note and all notes window"><img alt="Everpad: sharing note and all notes window" border="0" height="229" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Li40ZzLBhY0/USyt8UQvgMI/AAAAAAAAOJM/zqgeUVOtm4A/s320/everpad-share-n-tags.png" title="Everpad: sharing note and all notes window" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Even though it has many Unity-specific features, Everpad isn't just for Unity and it works with <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/evernote-linux-client-everpad-available.html">GNOME Shell or KDE</a> too (it even has Krunner integration).</div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Everpad 2.5 has been released recently with some interesting new features, such as:</b></div><ul><li>note sharing;</li><li>filter by tags in all notes window;</li><li>search on the home lens in Unity Dash is now optional (to disable it: in the Everpad settings, on the Appearance tab, uncheck "Search on the home lens");</li><li>basic notebook stacks support;</li><li>interface improvements;</li><li>basic LXDE support;</li><li>many bug fixes.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even though the latest Everpad 2.5 changelog mentions basic LXDE support, Everpad didn't work with Lubuntu 12.10 (LXDE) in my test: the Evernote authorization didn't work, but hopefully this will be fixed soon (I've reported the bug <a href="https://github.com/nvbn/everpad/issues/264">here</a>). This didn't occur in my tests under Ubuntu 12.10 or 12.04 with Unity.</div><ul></ul><br />Here are a few more screenshots for those who are not familiar with Everpad:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0-DMtzTEViU/USyuOPf8gsI/AAAAAAAAOJU/IkAWm5cLXGo/s1600/everpad-indicator.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Everpad AppIndicator"><img alt="" border="0" height="241" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0-DMtzTEViU/USyuOPf8gsI/AAAAAAAAOJU/IkAWm5cLXGo/s320/everpad-indicator.png" title="Everpad AppIndicator" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lQLkyBzvo2s/USyuOVg13sI/AAAAAAAAOJc/rzZZRwboJm8/s1600/everpad-previews.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Everpad: Unity lens preview"><img alt="everpad lens preview" border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lQLkyBzvo2s/USyuOVg13sI/AAAAAAAAOJc/rzZZRwboJm8/s320/everpad-previews.png" title="everpad lens preview" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xZ9o5Xs1Ji4/USyuOUJJu4I/AAAAAAAAOJg/FX8tvmiA1MU/s1600/everpad-lens.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Everpad Unity lens"><img alt="Everpad lens" border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xZ9o5Xs1Ji4/USyuOUJJu4I/AAAAAAAAOJg/FX8tvmiA1MU/s320/everpad-lens.png" title="Everpad lens" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Everpad in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Everpad is available in a<b> PPA for Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04</b> (the 13.04 package failed to build). To add the PPA and install Everpad, use the following commands:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nvbn-rm/ppa<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install everpad</code></pre><br /><b>If Everpad doesn't work, try to log out and log back in!</b><br /><br />For other Linux distributions, see the Everpad <a href="https://github.com/nvbn/everpad/wiki/how-to-install">wiki</a> for installation instructions.<br /><br />If you encounter bugs, report them @ <a href="https://github.com/nvbn/everpad">GitHub</a>.

Everpad 2.5 Released With Note Sharing, Filter By Tags, More

Everpad is a Linux client for Evernote , a popular note taking service. The application comes with a Unity lens that supports previews, Ubun...

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How To Disable The GNOME Shell AppMenu While Retaining Its Functionality

<div style="text-align: justify;">GNOME has introduced the AppMenu for some of its core applications a while back (for some applications like Epiphany, with GNOME 3.4 and for others like Nautilus, etc. with GNOME 3.6), meaning that part of the menu or the whole menu is displayed as a drop-down on the top GNOME Shell bar:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CssfIqYJULc/USeVanQHvZI/AAAAAAAAOEU/x7oGlaoFMbE/s1600/gnome-shell-appmenu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="GNOME Shell AppMenu Nautilus" border="0" height="187" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CssfIqYJULc/USeVanQHvZI/AAAAAAAAOEU/x7oGlaoFMbE/s320/gnome-shell-appmenu.png" title="GNOME Shell AppMenu Nautilus" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Some applications now have two menus:</b> an <b>AppMenu</b> that's displayed on the top GNOME Shell bar which is used for <b>actions that affect the entire application</b> and <b>another menu that's displayed in the application window, which affects the currently focused window</b>.  Such applications include: Nautilus 3.6+ (the AppMenu includes: Preferences, New Window items, etc., while the cog menu that's displayed in the application window can be used to open a new tab, create a new folder, etc.), Totem 3.6+ (uses an AppMenu and a regular horizontal window menu) or Epiphany (Web) browser.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other GNOME applications only use an AppMenu, without a secondary window menu: GNOME Documents, Contacts, Boxes, Cheese or Empathy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While using an AppMenu for actions that affect the entire application and another one for window-specific actions makes sense in theory, in reality this seems to have caused confusion, inconsistency and some would say that it brings no real benefit. Further more, <b>GNOME Shell's top bar is only displayed on the main monitor </b>when using multiple monitors and thus, if you want to access it for an application that's displayed on another monitor, the mouse needs to travel a considerable distance.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And this isn't confusing just for GNOME Shell users. <b>The GNOME Shell AppMenu is also used in Unity and for instance, in Nautilus 3.6 (which is installed by default in Ubuntu 13.04 and can easily be <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/how-to-install-nautilus-36-or-patched.html">installed in Ubuntu 12.10</a> using the GNOME 3 PPA)</b>, it's not clear that there's a menu on the top Unity panel:</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kMPFSf6ZWlc/USeV1k4fRZI/AAAAAAAAOEc/L4wtCSagBYs/s1600/nautilus-unity-confusing.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nautilus 3.6 Unity" border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kMPFSf6ZWlc/USeV1k4fRZI/AAAAAAAAOEc/L4wtCSagBYs/s320/nautilus-unity-confusing.png" title="Nautilus 3.6 Unity" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It doesn't look like there's a menu on the top panel</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kRf5yngBOh0/USeV173_dOI/AAAAAAAAOEg/Whu8Xao39y0/s1600/nautilus-unity-confusing_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Nautilus 3.6 Unity" border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kRf5yngBOh0/USeV173_dOI/AAAAAAAAOEg/Whu8Xao39y0/s320/nautilus-unity-confusing_2.png" title="Nautilus 3.6 Unity" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But there is a menu...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Further more, Ubuntu 13.04 (with Unity) users can't access the Totem preferences<b>, </b>among other menu items, because Totem uses the classic horizontal menu and thus, the menu is displayed on the top Unity panel, so the Shell AppMenu is not displayed at all - I've reported the bug <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/totem/+bug/1131754">here</a>, hopefully this will be fixed in Ubuntu.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So here's how to remove the AppMenu, but retain its functionality.</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>How the menus will work after disabling the GNOME Shell AppMenu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Removing the GNOME Shell AppMenu doesn't mean you'll lose the AppMenu menu items. They will still be available - here's how things will work after using the instructions below:</b></div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">for Nautilus 3.6+ and Epiphany 3.6+, the contents of the AppMenu will be merged into the Cog menu; for Epiphany 3.4, the Shell AppMenu will be displayed in the application window, but not as a horizontal menu bar but as a single menu item;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">GNOME Shell: for Totem 3.6+, you'll get a new menu in the application window, so the menu will be displayed on two lines. I'm not aware of a work-around for this (hopefully, Totem will at least get a cog menu soon);</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity: this tweak will only affect Nautilus 3.6+ and Epiphany 3.6+. For applications that only have a Shell AppMenu, the menu will continue to only be displayed on the top panel. Also, for Nautilus 3.6 and Epiphany 3.6, the contents of the Shell AppMenu will be merged in the cog menu, but it will also be displayed on the top panel;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">for the applications that only use a Shell AppMenu (GNOME Documents, Contacts, Empathy, Cheese, etc.), the menu will be displayed in the application window, but not as a horizontal menu bar but as a single menu item (see screenshot below).</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MTgJj-96Lk/USevFlwyPPI/AAAAAAAAOE0/N5VworbN9Z0/s1600/gnome-documents.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="GNOME Documents AppMenu displayed in the window" border="0" height="102" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5MTgJj-96Lk/USevFlwyPPI/AAAAAAAAOE0/N5VworbN9Z0/s320/gnome-documents.png" title="GNOME Documents AppMenu displayed in the window" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GNOME Documents with the AppMenu displayed in the application window</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And an extra note for Unity with Totem 3.6+ (installed by default in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail): you can get access to Totem's Shell AppMenu without using the tweak below, by launching Totem with "<i>UBUNTU_MENUPROXY=0 totem</i>" so you'll get the regular menu in the application window and the Shell AppMenu on the top Unity panel (actually, using the tweak below won't fix Totem and you'll still have to use that command).</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Disable the GNOME Shell AppMenu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Don't worry, if you don't like the way things work after disabling the Shell Appmenu, you can easily revert this change.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>GNOME Shell 3.4:</b> To disable the AppMenu but still get the AppMenu functionality in the application window, simply install the <a href="https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/32/remove-panel-app-menu/">Remove Panel App Menu</a> GNOME Shell extension.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>GNOME Shell 3.6: </b>The Remove Panel App Menu extension doesn't yet support GNOME Shell 3.6, but you can still remove the AppMenu and get its functionality in the application window. To do this, firstly install the <a href="https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/591/remove-app-menu/">Remove App Menu</a> GNOME Shell extension. Unlike the other extension, this one only only removes the AppMenu from the top GNOME Shell panel, but the AppMenu functionality isn't added to the application window. To get the AppMenu functionality in the main application window, you can simply use the command below:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides '@a{sv} {"Gtk/ShellShowsAppMenu": <int32 0>}'</code></pre><br />You can also use the command above if you want the AppMenu functionality in the main application window, but you also want the AppMenu to be displayed on the top GNOME Shell panel.<br /><br /><b> If you want to revert this change use the command below:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.xsettings overrides '@a{sv} {}'</code></pre>and also, disable the  extension (either "Remove App Menu" or "Remove Panel App Menu", depending on which you've installed).<br /><br />You don't need to restart GNOME Shell or even the applications -  the changes will be applied instantly. <br /><br /><b>Since Unity users can't install GNOME Shell extensions, they can use the same command as above to get the AppMenu functionality in the "cog" menu for Nautilus 3.6+ and Epiphany 3.6+.</b><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>some bits via GNOME Shell <a href="https://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-shell-list/2013-February/thread.html">mailing list</a>.</i></div>

How To Disable The GNOME Shell AppMenu While Retaining Its Functionality

GNOME has introduced the AppMenu for some of its core applications a while back (for some applications like Epiphany, with GNOME 3.4 and for...

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Unity Gets New Quicklists Window Switching Feature [Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail]

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail</b>: <b>Unity has been updated today</b> and besides many bug fixes, the update brings a <b>new feature which allows users to switch between multiple windows of an application using quicklists</b>:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_YxpwKj0EEg/USO_iTY3y3I/AAAAAAAAN7c/Cxrzm5_7z7A/s1600/quicklist-window-switching-unity.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Unity quicklists window switching: Firefox"><img alt="Unity - switching between windows via quicklists" border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_YxpwKj0EEg/USO_iTY3y3I/AAAAAAAAN7c/Cxrzm5_7z7A/s320/quicklist-window-switching-unity.png" title="Unity - switching between windows via quicklists" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Right clicking an icon in the launcher to easily switch between open windows isn't a new idea and <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/06/unity-window-quicklists-switch-between.html">a while back</a>, we wrote about a script that does the same thing, but with some limitations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The maximum width of the window switching quicklists is restricted to<b> 300px</b> and longer window titles are ellipsized at the end. Also, <b>the entries only show up if there are two or more windows; if the application has only one window, nothing is displayed, except for the regular quicklists of course</b>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are a few more screenshots with the new quicklists window switching feature for Nautilus and Gedit:</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OqVehX0xZ78/USO_yKGC4sI/AAAAAAAAN7k/lvjibrk5YFc/s1600/quicklists-window-switching-unity_3.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Unity quicklists window switching: Gedit "><img alt="Unity - switching between windows via quicklists" border="0" height="231" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OqVehX0xZ78/USO_yKGC4sI/AAAAAAAAN7k/lvjibrk5YFc/s320/quicklists-window-switching-unity_3.png" title="Unity - switching between windows via quicklists" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jDcfJuJ92Vo/USO_2Dmi0NI/AAAAAAAAN7s/QwehDOLg41U/s1600/window-switching-quicklists-unity_2.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Unity quicklists window switching: Nautilus"><img alt="Unity - switching between windows via quicklists" border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jDcfJuJ92Vo/USO_2Dmi0NI/AAAAAAAAN7s/QwehDOLg41U/s320/window-switching-quicklists-unity_2.png" title="Unity - switching between windows via quicklists" width="297" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This seems to be the first part of the work to improve window management / window switching in Ubuntu. According to a <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1081843">bug report</a>, it looks like Unity might also get support for switching between windows by scrolling on the application icon. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Besides the new quicklists window switching feature, the latest Unity comes with many bug fixes for multiple monitors and more. Also, the workspace switcher icon is no longer added by default on the Unity Launcher, but you can re-add it via System Settings (<i>System Settings > Appearance > Behavior tab > Enable workspaces</i>).<br /><br /><b>Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail is currently under development, so this feature may change until the final release! </b><br /><br />A complete changelog for today's Unity update can be found <a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/raring/+source/unity/6.12.0daily13.02.19.1-0ubuntu1">here</a>.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Browse our <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/search/label/raring%20ringtail?max-results=10">Raring Ringtail</a> tag for more news about the Ubuntu 13.04 development.</div>

Unity Gets New Quicklists Window Switching Feature [Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail]

Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail : Unity has been updated today and besides many bug fixes, the update brings a new feature which allows users ...

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Unity Privacy Indicator: Quickly Enable Or Disable Dash Online Search Results Or Zeitgeist Logging

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GC3ByrY9Tlw/USaZjosDnLI/AAAAAAAAOC8/rtc8Esy5ovE/s1600/privacy-indicator.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ubuntu privacy indicator" border="0" height="178" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GC3ByrY9Tlw/USaZjosDnLI/AAAAAAAAOC8/rtc8Esy5ovE/s320/privacy-indicator.png" title="ubuntu privacy indicator" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Privacy Indicator is an Ubuntu AppIndicator especially created to control some privacy aspects of Unity.</b></div><br /><b>The AppIndicator can be used to enable or disable:</b><br /><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Dash online search results;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Zeitgeist logging (so when you disable this, all files you access won't be logged by Zeitgeist and thus, will not show up in Dash or any other applications that make use of Zeitgeist);</li><li style="text-align: justify;">show real name on the Unity panel.</li></ul><b>After a recent update, the indicator can also clear the Zeitgeist log and recent files (from the new Nautilus 3.6 sidebar, etc.). </b><br /><ul></ul><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">That's all the Privacy Indicator does for now but if you have an idea for some other privacy-related settings, submit a bug report on <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/indicator-privacy">Launchpad</a>. </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">These settings are already available either via <i>GNOME Control Center > Privacy </i>(for enabling / disabling online search results or disabling Zeitgeist) or Dconf-editor, but using Privacy Indicator, you can quickly enable or disable these features which can be useful in various cases, for example if you often need to disable Zeitgeist, etc.</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Privacy Indicator in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Privacy Indicator can be installed in Ubuntu 12.10 or 13.04 using its official PPA - add it and install Privacy Indicator using the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:diesch/testing<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install indicator-privacy</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you don't want to add the PPA (but without adding the PPA, you won't get automatic updates), <b>you can also download the Privacy Indicator deb from <a href="http://www.florian-diesch.de/software/indicator-privacy/">HERE</a></b> (look at the bottom of the page).</div>

Unity Privacy Indicator: Quickly Enable Or Disable Dash Online Search Results Or Zeitgeist Logging

Privacy Indicator is an Ubuntu AppIndicator especially created to control some privacy aspects of Unity. The AppIndicator can be used to ena...

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Unity Notification Area (Systray) Whitelist Is Obsolete [Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Changes]

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pLwiqaTABNk/URPaka9jxYI/AAAAAAAANcw/EHWJe3jJFiQ/s1600/notification-area.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ubuntu old notification area" border="0" height="24" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pLwiqaTABNk/URPaka9jxYI/AAAAAAAANcw/EHWJe3jJFiQ/s320/notification-area.png" title="Ubuntu old notification area" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old notification area (before AppIndicators)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The notification area (systray) was removed from the Unity panel with Ubuntu 11.04, but you could still use it by <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/04/how-to-re-enable-notification-area.html">whitelisting</a> applications which would allow the icons to show up in the notification area. But not any more! </div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>A recent Unity <a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/raring/+source/unity/6.12.0daily13.02.07-0ubuntu1">update</a> in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail mentions that the "</b><b>Notification area whitelist is obsolete",</b> so you can no longer get notification area icons by whitelisting applications. However, when the notification area whitelist was introduced, there were many applications that didn't come with AppIndicators so it was a pretty big issue back then, but right now most applications that used to come with a tray icon now use AppIndicators, including popular apps like Dropbox, Steam, Skype (with "sni-qt") and so on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, all Qt applications tray icons are automatically converted to AppIndicators thanks to the "sni-qt" package. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lm-e4DOmV_g/URPclY0P01I/AAAAAAAANc4/vrHybJQXVv0/s1600/appindicators.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Ubuntu appindicators" border="0" height="39" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lm-e4DOmV_g/URPclY0P01I/AAAAAAAANc4/vrHybJQXVv0/s320/appindicators.png" title="Ubuntu appindicators" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AppIndicators</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">With the retirement of the notification area whitelist, Java and Wine apps have been <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/974480">hard-coded</a> as the only software still able to use the notification area so this change only affects some old applications that don't come with AppIndicator support. But with the huge number of AppIndicators that exist today, you'll probably find similar or maybe even better alternative. For instance, you can find a huge list of applications that come with Ubuntu AppIndicators on <a href="http://askubuntu.com/questions/30334/what-application-indicators-are-available">AskUbuntu</a>; we've also covered quite a few <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/search/label/appindicator?max-results=10">AppIndicators</a>.</div><br /><br /><i><a href="http://www.webupd8.org/search/label/raring%20ringtail?max-results=10">Click here</a> for more Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail (currently under development) news.</i>

Unity Notification Area (Systray) Whitelist Is Obsolete [Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail Changes]

Old notification area (before AppIndicators) The notification area (systray) was removed from the Unity panel with Ubuntu 11.04, but you cou...

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LibreOffice 4.0 Available For Download

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RyPTp0ZvclA/URPHRe4HGZI/AAAAAAAANbc/IALpd7pgdW4/s1600/libreoffice.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="LibreOffice"><img alt="LibreOffice" border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RyPTp0ZvclA/URPHRe4HGZI/AAAAAAAANbc/IALpd7pgdW4/s320/libreoffice.png" title="LibreOffice" width="320" /></a></div><b><br /></b> <br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The Document Foundation has released <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/">LibreOffice</a> 4.0 today,</b> which, according to the official announcement, is the "<i>first release that reflects the objectives set by the community at the time of the announcement, in September 2010: a cleaner and leaner code base, an improved set of features, better interoperability, and a more diverse and inclusive ecosystem</i>".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The new version brings Unity appmenu support, option to use Firefox Personas,  better interoperability with DOCX and RTF documents and many other changes.</b></div><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><b>The most important changes in LibreOffice 4.0 include:</b><br /><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>Better interoperability with DOCX and RTF documents;</li><li>Possibility to import Microsoft Publisher documents;</li><li>Integration with several content and document management systems – including Alfresco, IBM FileNet P8, Microsoft Sharepoint 2010, Nuxeo, OpenText and others;</li><li>Writer: allow different header and footer on the first page without using a separate page style;</li><li>Introduction of the widget layout technique for dialog windows, which makes it easier to translate, resize and hide UI elements, reduces code complexity, and lays a foundation for a much improved user interface</li><li>Linux: GStreamer 1.0 support, and refactor existing Gstreamer code;</li><li>New templates manager;</li><li>PDF Import, the Presenter Console, and the Python Scripting Provider are no longer bundled extensions but core features;</li><li>Significant performance improvements when loading and saving many types of documents.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-template-manager.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="LibreOffice 4.0 Template Manager"><img alt="LibreOffice 4.0 Template Manager" src="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-template-manager_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New templates manager</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The new version also features <b>Unity integration out of the box</b>, meaning you won't be needing to install a separate package to get <b>appmenu</b> support (global menu):</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-appmenu.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="LibreOffice 4.0 Ubuntu Unity appmenu integration"><img alt="LibreOffice 4.0 Ubuntu Unity appmenu integration" src="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-appmenu_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Appmenu integration</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">However, <b>the appmenu integration by default didn't work in my test under Ubuntu 12.04 or 12.10</b> (with LibreOffice debs downloaded from its website). This does work with the LibreOffice 4.0 beta 2 version available in the LibreOffice <a href="https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/libreoffice-prereleases">Pre-Releases PPA</a> for Ubuntu 13.04.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And there's also <b>support for Firefox Themes (Personas)</b> which you can use to give LibreOffice a personalized look:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-persona.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="LibreOffice 4.0 Personas"><img alt="LibreOffice 4.0 Personas" src="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-persona_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Personas in LibreOffice</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-persona_2.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="LibreOffice 4.0 Personas"><img alt="LibreOffice 4.0 Personas" src="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-persona_2_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Personas in LibreOffice</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>To set a Persona, from the LibreOffice menu select <i>Tools > Options > Personalization > Select Persona</i>.</b></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">With LibreOffice 4.0, there's also the first release of the <b>Impress Remote Control App for Android</b> which for now only supports a limited number of Linux distributions but in the second release which will be coming soon, all platforms should be supported: Windows, Mac OS X and all Linux distributions:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-impress-android.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="LibreOffice 4.0: Android app - Impress Remote Control"><img alt="LibreOffice 4.0: Android app - Impress Remote Control" src="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-impress-android_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Impress Remote Control App for Android</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>You can download the LibreOffice Impress Remote Android App from the <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.libreoffice.impressremote">Google Play Store</a>.</b></div><br /><br /><br /><b>Other minor but still interesting changes:</b><br /><ul><li>Improved performance of ODS document import;</li><li>Calc: Enhanced chart visualization - better quality rendering / print and PDF export of charts;</li><li>Impress: much accelerated multimedia previews, and previews of embedded video on Linux;</li><li>Base: On all non-Windows platforms a new mork driver implementation is used to access Thunderbird address book. This means that Debian/Ubuntu users can finally integrate LO with their Thunderbird address book;</li><li>The bundled Python was upgraded from Python 2.6 to Python 3.3;</li><li>Integration of <a href="http://img.netupd8.com/libreoffice-Sessioninstaller.png">session installer</a> to add missing parts of LibreOffice on the fly.</li></ul><br /><b>For a complete list of changes in LibreOffice 4.0, see <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/download/4-0-new-features-and-fixes">THIS</a> page.</b><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Download LibreOffice 4.0</h2><br /><b>Update:</b> the <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/03/install-libreoffice-40-in-ubuntu-1204.html">main LibreOffice PPA has been updated with LibreOffice 4.0 for Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu:</b> Ubuntu 13.04 users can use the LibreOffice <a href="https://launchpad.net/~libreoffice/+archive/libreoffice-prereleases">Pre-Releases PPA</a> to install LibreOffice 4.0 beta 2. There's also LibreOffice 4.0 alpha 1 in the same PPA for Ubuntu 12.10, but I don't recommend installing it. It's easier to simply download LibreOffice 4.0 deb files from the LibreOffice <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/download/">downloads page</a>.<br /><br />It's better to wait for the stable LibreOffice PPA to be updated, but if you can't wait, to install it in Ubuntu, firstly you'll have to remove the current LibreOffice installation:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get purge libreoffice*</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, download the LibreOffice deb archive from its website, extract it, and inside the folder where the deb files are extracted you'll find a folder called "desktop-integration" with a deb inside - copy this deb into the folder where all the other deb files are located and run the following command from a terminal to install LibreOffice 4.0:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo dpkg -i <i>/path/to/libreoffice/DEBS/</i>*.deb</code></pre><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/download/">Download LibreOffice 4.0</a></b><br /><br />(available for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux (dep and rpm) as well as source files) <b><br /></b></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>info and Android app screenshot via <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org/download/4-0-new-features-and-fixes">LibreOffice.org</a></i></div>

LibreOffice 4.0 Available For Download

The Document Foundation has released LibreOffice 4.0 today, which, according to the official announcement, is the " first release t...

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How To Get Unity Launcher Window Dodge In Ubuntu 12.10 Or 13.04

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-djtNoBlALt4/UQr01CS1bxI/AAAAAAAANHs/eiN28Btvrw0/s1600/unity-dodge-windows.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="unity dodge windows" border="0" height="199" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-djtNoBlALt4/UQr01CS1bxI/AAAAAAAANHs/eiN28Btvrw0/s320/unity-dodge-windows.png" title="unity dodge windows" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/01/unity-revamped-ppa-is-back-for-ubuntu.html">The patch</a> that adds the old window dodge autohide behaviour for the Unity Launcher hasn't been updated for Ubuntu 12.10, but an old script that implements the same behaviour, with some limitations, now works with Ubuntu 12.10 and even 13.04.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Unity Dodge Windows script was initially created by Jorge for Ubuntu 12.04 and it has now been updated by WebUpd8 reader Alex Piggott to work with Ubuntu 12.10. With a minor change, I've also got it to work with Ubuntu 13.04.</div><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>Dodge Windows?</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Unity used to support "window dodge" autohide behaviour until Ubuntu 12.04. <b>Using "dodge windows", the Launcher hides when the active window or a maximized window overlaps it.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are two window dodge scripts (both packaged as debs so you don't have to set up anything manually) you can use with Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04: one that adds a "real" window dodge behaviour, just like it was implemented in Unity until Ubuntu 12.04, as described above, and another one that makes the launcher dodge only for maximized windows.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Below you can watch the Unity Dodge Windows script in action, under Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail:</div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TFdtSAvatig" width="560"></iframe><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFdtSAvatig">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><br /><br /><h2>Known issues / limitations</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The Unity Dodge Windows script isn't perfect and has some limitations:</b></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>it doesn't work with multiple monitors;</li><li>if you were using two monitors but disabled / unplugged one, you need to log out and log back in for Unity Dodge Windows to work;</li><li>the icons on the desktop will shift to the left when the launcher hides and move back to their initial location when the launcher is revealed (you can see this in the video above). This isn't a big issue if you're using the script that makes the launcher dodge only for maximized windows, but for the other one you may find it a bit annoying. A work-around is to disable the file manager from handling the desktop (e.g.: using GNOME Tweak Tool: on the "Desktop" tab, set "Have file manager handle the desktop" to OFF). If you find a better work-around, let us know;</li></ul><br />Also, to enable / disable it, you must install / uninstall the package (see below) and log out, then log back in. There's no configuration for this.<br /><br />Those are the only limitations that I know about, but there might be others.<br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Unity Dodge Windows in Ubuntu 12.10 or 13.04</h2><b><br /></b><b> </b><b> </b> <b>The Unity Dodge Windows scripts are available in the WebUpd8 PPA for Ubuntu 12.10 or 13.04</b> (you don't need it for Ubuntu 12.04, see <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/01/unity-revamped-ppa-is-back-for-ubuntu.html">THIS</a> post instead).<b> To add the PPA, use the following commands:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8<br />sudo apt-get update</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>A) </b>And then,<b> to get the "real" Unity Dodge Windows</b>, meaning the Launcher will dodge / hide if a window overlaps it, even if the window is not maximized, use the following command to install the script from our PPA:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install unity-dodge-windows</code></pre><br />Once installed, press ALT + F2 and run: <br /><pre class="source-code"><code>unity-dodge-windows</code></pre><br />This is only required once because the script is automatically loaded on startup.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>B)</b> <b>Or, if you want the launcher to only hide for maximized windows</b>, install the following package:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install unity-dodge-maximized-windows</code></pre><br />Then, press ALT + F2 and enter:<br /><pre class="source-code"><code>unity-dodge-maximized-windows</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Once again, this is only required once because the script is automatically loaded on startup.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Don't worry, you can't install both packages in the same time: installing "unity-dodge-maximized-windows" will automatically remove "unity-dodge-windows" and the other way around, so there won't be any conflicts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you don't want to add our PPA, you can download the deb files below: </div><ul><li><a href="https://launchpad.net/~nilarimogard/+archive/webupd8/+files/unity-dodge-windows_1.6.1-1%7Ewebupd8%7Eqr%7E2_all.deb">unity-dodge-windows</a></li><li><a href="https://launchpad.net/~nilarimogard/+archive/webupd8/+files/unity-dodge-maximized-windows_1.6.1-1%7Ewebupd8%7Eqr%7E2_all.deb">unity-dodge-maximized-windows</a></li></ul><br /><br /><br /><h2>Revert the changes</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Disabling Unity Dodge Windows is just as easy as enabling it: all you have to do is uninstall the package (alternatively, you can also simply disable it from the Startup Applications dialog):</div><br />To remove <i>unity-dodge-windows</i>, use:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get remove unity-dodge-windows</code></pre><br />Or, for <i>unity-dodge-maximized-windows</i>, use:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get remove unity-dodge-maximized-windows</code></pre><br />Then, log out and log back in and Unity Dodge Windows should be gone.<br /><br /><br />Thanks to Jorge and Alex Piggott for the scripts!

How To Get Unity Launcher Window Dodge In Ubuntu 12.10 Or 13.04

The patch that adds the old window dodge autohide behaviour for the Unity Launcher hasn't been updated for Ubuntu 12.10, but an old scr...

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Unity Reboot (Launcher To Quickly Reboot In A Different OS) Updated For Ubuntu 12.10 And 13.04

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Today I've updated <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/09/unity-reboot-ubuntu-unity-launcher-to.html">Unity Reboot</a> to work with the latest GRUB 2.0 available in Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Unity Reboot is a custom Unity launcher that can be used to quickly reboot into a different OS / Linux distribution, useful for those who dual boot (or triple boot </b>or... it should work with any number of operating systems, including Windows, various Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Fedora, etc.). This isn't just for Unity and <b>it should also work with docks that support Unity quicklists</b>, like DockBarX, Cairo Dock or Plank.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Here's a screenshot with Unity Reboot in Ubuntu 12.10 on a system on which I triple boot: Ubuntu 12.10, Fedora 18 and Windows 7 (in VirtualBox, set up just for testing this):</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MYrNP3RV1Rk/UP7qcaxIkcI/AAAAAAAAMyM/9rbPt0ZP4MI/s1600/unity-reboot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="unity reboot ubuntu fedora windows 7" border="0" height="252" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MYrNP3RV1Rk/UP7qcaxIkcI/AAAAAAAAMyM/9rbPt0ZP4MI/s320/unity-reboot.png" title="unity reboot ubuntu fedora windows 7" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">This is how it works: selecting an entry from the quicklist, the system will reboot and that entry will be selected in the GRUB menu. That means you can still boot to a different OS if you change your mind. You can set the GRUB menu timeout to 0 and you won't see the GRUB menu and instead, the system will directly reboot into the selected OS. This only applies for that system restart (so only one time) and after that, the first boot entry should be selected, like it is with the default GRUB settings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The GRUB menu has changed starting with Ubuntu 12.10 and the various options for an OS (like old kernels for Ubuntu) are displayed in a sub menu which isn't displayed by default, so I've had to tweak Unity Reboot to work with this new GRUB 2 menu. <b>The new version also uses pkexec</b> (so you'll get a nice password prompt in GNOME Shell for instance) <b>instead of gksu for the reboot command.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>You can select to reboot without having to enter your pasword</b>, by right clicking the Unity Reboot launcher icon and selecting <i>Settings > Don't ask for password on restart</i> (for the settings, gksu is still used and not pkexec).</div><br /><br /><b>Important notes:</b><br /><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">clicking the icon on the Unity launcher doesn't do anything (a notification will be displayed if you left click it). All the functionality is in the quicklists so you need to right click the icon and select an an item. Your computer will then reboot and automatically select the item you've clicked in the GRUB menu;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Unity Reboot only works if Ubuntu (the installation on which you're using Unity Reboot) has been installed after the other operating systems. So for example, if you triple boot Windows 7, Ubuntu 12.10 and Fedora 18, Unity Reboot will only work if Ubuntu 12.10 was the last you've installed from these 3 (basically, it needs to run on the Linux distribution that has installed GRUB).</li></ul><br /><br /><h2>Install Unity Reboot in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1. Unity Reboot is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA. To add the PPA and install it, use the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install unity-reboot</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The latest Unity Reboot 0.2 is only available for Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04, but an older version is also available in the same PPA for Ubuntu 12.04, 11.10 or 11.04.</div><br />If you want to get the code and tweak it to your needs, you can get it via <a href="https://github.com/hotice/unity-reboot">GitHub</a> (it uses simple bash scripts and <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2010/12/yad-zenity-on-steroids-display.html">YAD</a> for the settings dialog).<br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2.</b> After the installation has finished, run the following command in a terminal to initialize Unity Reboot (this is only required once):</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>unity-reboot</code></pre><br />Don't worry, this command won't reboot your system.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3.</b> Now you need to add the Unity Reboot launcher icon on the Unity Launcher (or a dock that supports Unity quicklists). To do this, open Nautilus, press CTRL + L (so you can type the location), enter "<i>~/.local/share/applications</i>" without the quotes in the Nautilus location entry (or manually navigate to "<i>~/.local/share/applications</i>") and drag and drop the "<i>Reboot in...</i>" icon to the Unity launcher / dock.</div><br />Now right click it to see the available options:<br /><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Clicking an OS entry in the launcher will reboot into that OS, after you enter your password;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">In the settings, you can set Unity Reboot not to ask for a password when rebooting in a different OS. Warning: if you disable the password prompt, the system will reboot as soon as you select an OS from the quicklist, without any confirmation dialog.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I've tested Unity Reboot on my laptop on which I dual boot Ubuntu 13.04 and 12.10 as well as in VirtualBox with triple boot: Windows 7, Ubuntu 12.10 and Fedora 18. If you encounter bugs, please post them in the comments below. </div>

Unity Reboot (Launcher To Quickly Reboot In A Different OS) Updated For Ubuntu 12.10 And 13.04

Today I've updated Unity Reboot to work with the latest GRUB 2.0 available in Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04. Unity Reboot is a custom Unity la...

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Unity Revamped PPA Is Back For Ubuntu 12.04 (Unity Launcher Dodge, Minimize On Click Features)

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/how-to-get-dodge-windows-and-minimize.html">Unity Revamped PPA</a> is back for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS</b>. This is a PPA that comes with a <b>custom Unity build that brings back the old "Dodge windows" and "Dodge active window" Launcher hide behaviour</b> as well as a feature that many have requested: <b>minimize / restore windows by clicking on their icon in the Unity Launcher</b>.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bHHVKv2Z3Vs/UP3uOGC6WyI/AAAAAAAAMxA/cSaZNk8Uemg/s1600/unity-revamped.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="unity dodge windows revamped" border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bHHVKv2Z3Vs/UP3uOGC6WyI/AAAAAAAAMxA/cSaZNk8Uemg/s320/unity-revamped.png" title="unity dodge windows revamped" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, there are some issues with the patches for the latest Unity available in Ubuntu 12.10 (6.x) , but at least the PPA now works again with Ubuntu 12.04 (Unity 5.18, available in the official Ubuntu 12.04 Updates repository).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of the extra features that used to be in the Unity package available in the Unity Revamped PPA isn't available with this update unfortunately, or at least I couldn't find it in my test: the option to disable global menu autohide in CCSM. But the window dodge and minimize on Unity icon click features work great.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Below you can watch a video I've recorded a while back, demoing Unity with the dodge windows and minimize / restore on click features in Ubuntu 12.04:</b></div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q2rj18H0M38" width="560"></iframe><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2rj18H0M38">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><br /><h2>Get "Dodge windows", "Dodge active window" and minimize on click for Unity in Ubuntu 12.04</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>To add the <a href="https://launchpad.net/~ikarosdev/+archive/unity-revamped">Unity Revamped PPA</a> and upgrade Unity to the custom build available in this PPA (for Ubuntu 12.04 only!), use the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ikarosdev/unity-revamped<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get upgrade</code></pre><b>Then, log out and log back in.</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now try to minimize an open window by clicking its icon on the Unity launcher - this should now work.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To get the "Dodge windows" or "Dodge active window" Unity launcher behaviour, install CompizConfig Settings Manager:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, launch CompizConfig Settings Manager from Dash, click the Unity plugin and on the "Behaviour" tab, under "Hide Launcher", select "Dodge windows" or "Dodge active window".</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Revert to the original Unity packages</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you want to revert the changes and go back to the original Unity packages from the Ubuntu repositories, use the following commands:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install ppa-purge<br />sudo ppa-purge ppa:ikarosdev/unity-revamped</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Thanks to Isaac Joseph for his work on the Unity Revamped PPA!</i></div>

Unity Revamped PPA Is Back For Ubuntu 12.04 (Unity Launcher Dodge, Minimize On Click Features)

The Unity Revamped PPA is back for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS . This is a PPA that comes with a custom Unity build that brings back the old "Dod...

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Unity Changes - Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail

<div style="text-align: justify;">As you probably know, there will be <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/ubuntu-1304-alpha-releases-dropped-only.html">no alpha milestones</a> for Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail and Unity has got some minor, but interesting changes since the Raring development has begun, so I though I'd make a video showing some of these features so you can see what's new.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL5beWCRHw8/UPoxTaVX_iI/AAAAAAAAMus/FGHeToE4sd8/s1600/unity-dash-ubuntu13.04.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="unity ubuntu 13.04 raring ringtail screenshot" border="0" height="179" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZL5beWCRHw8/UPoxTaVX_iI/AAAAAAAAMus/FGHeToE4sd8/s320/unity-dash-ubuntu13.04.png" title="unity ubuntu 13.04 raring ringtail screenshot" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For instance, in an <a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/raring/+source/unity/6.12.0daily13.01.18-0ubuntu1">update</a> last night, the BFB (the Ubuntu logo button used to open Dash) got the new asset (icon) we wrote about a <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/new-icons-for-ubuntu-software-center.html">while back</a>. The same update has brought refreshed Launcher tile assets and the removal of the 32px minimum Launcher icon size limit.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, a few days ago, some new options were added in <i>System Settings > Appearance > Behaviour</i> tab: "Show desktop icon to the launcher" and "Enable workspaces".</div><br />And some older changes include:<br /><ul><li>Bigger, chameleonic overlay shortcuts (the shortcut hints displayed on the Unity launcher icons which show up when holding the Super key);</li><li>Spread improvements such as a selected window outline, better window titlebar and also, the Spread now works properly with all window themes;</li><li>Improved Dash Previews design (and the previews are a lot faster now by the way);</li><li>The workspace switcher has a new icon which is dynamic, meaning that the current active desktop is represented by the workspace switcher icon;</li><li>New lens icons; </li><li>Overlay scrollbars for Dash.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>You can watch the Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail (with Unity 6.12.0daily13.01.18) video below:</b></div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JtbvStm0Sp8" width="560"></iframe><br />(<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtbvStm0Sp8">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Unity has also received many bug fixes and under-the-hood changes and of course, more improvements are expected until the final release.</div><br /><br />In other non-Unity Ubuntu 13.04 news:<br /><ul><li style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/how-to-enable-intel-sna-acceleration-in.html">Intel SNA</a> (a 2D acceleration architecture for the open source Intel Linux graphics driver that provides improved X.Org driver performance) may be turned on by default soon;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">The Intel HDA audio drivers <a href="http://voices.canonical.com/david.henningsson/2013/01/18/upcoming-changes-to-the-intel-hda-drivers/">will be</a> unified, which will make it easier to support new drivers;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Gvfs has been updated in Raring bringing a new MTP backend which allows users to access Android 4.0 devices which do not support the USB Mass Storage.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail will only have one beta milestone, expected on March 28th, while the final release should be available for download on April 25th.</div>

Unity Changes - Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail

As you probably know, there will be no alpha milestones for Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail and Unity has got some minor, but interesting chan...

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