Variety Wallpaper Changer Sees New Release

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://peterlevi.com/variety/">Variety</a>, a cool <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/keep-yout-desktop-fresh-with-variety.html">wallpaper changer</a> that works with most desktop environments (KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Unity, GNOME Shell, Cinnamon or Pantheon), has reached version 0.4.12.</b></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/variety-wallpaper-changer.png"><img alt="Variety wallpaper changer" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/variety-wallpaper-changer_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><b>Changes in Variety 0.4.12:</b><br /><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><b>quotes support</b> - Variety can fetch quotes from QuotesDaddy and display them on top of the desktop. The quotes are highly customizable: you can change the text color, backdrop color, font, transparency, shadow, placement, and you can also filter quotes by tags or authors or set the interval between quotes</li><li><b>customizable appindicator icon</b>: you can now select between dark and light appindicator icons but not only that. In the latest Variety, you can also use the current wallpaper to be used as an indicator icon (so the icon changes with the wallpaper). The icon can also be hidden in which case you can control Variety via keyboard shortcuts or using the Unity quicklists</li><li>the option to display a digital clock on top of the wallpaper has been enhanced: <b>both the clock and the date font can be customized</b> (the typeface as well as the font size)</li><li>Preferences take effect immediately</li><li>Support for XMP/EXIF image ratings</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/variety-quotes.png"><img alt="Variety wallpaper changer - quotes" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/variety-quotes_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><br />For those not familiar with Variety, here's a quick feature list:<br /><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>should work under KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Unity, GNOME Shell, Cinnamon or Pantheon (elementary OS)</li><li>can automatically download wallpaper from Flickr, Wallbase.cc, Wallpapers.net as well as NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day.</li><li>Ubuntu appindicator support; you can scroll over the indicator icon to change the wallpaper</li><li>can apply fancy filters to the images: grayscale, heavy blur, oil painting, charcoal painting, pointilism, pixellate</li><li>option to display the time on the desktop, using a nice digital clock</li><li>clipboard support: can monitor the clipboard for image URLs and fetch them</li><li>more</li></ul><br />Below you can see the latest Variety 0.4.12 in action:<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="280" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/54322138?badge=0" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="500"></iframe><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/54322138">Direct video link</a></center><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Variety wallpaper changer</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Variety is available in the Ubuntu Software Center (for Ubuntu 12.04 / 12.10), but the version is quite old so to install the latest version, you can use its official Ubuntu PPA:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peterlevi/ppa<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install variety</code></pre><br />Arch Linux users can get Variety wallpaper changer via <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=63454">AUR</a>.<br /><br />For other Linux distributions, the Variety source code can be downloaded via <a href="https://launchpad.net/variety/+download">Launchpad</a>.

Variety Wallpaper Changer Sees New Release

Variety , a cool wallpaper changer that works with most desktop environments (KDE, LXDE, Xfce, Unity, GNOME Shell, Cinnamon or Pantheon), h...

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Google Calendar Indicator Adds Options To Create, Edit And Delete Events, More

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/calendar-indicator.png" rel="image_group" title="Calendar Indicator"><img alt="Google Calendar Indicator" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/calendar-indicator_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Calendar Indicator, an Ubuntu AppIndicator for Google Calendar, has been updated to version 0.1.0.0. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new version brings <b>options to add, edit and delete Google Calendar events as well as to create new calendars</b>. Until now, Calendar Indicator would only display Google Calendar events in the indicator menu and through notifications. There's also a new option to select the calendar to be used from all your Google calendars (or you can select all of them).</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/calendar-indicator-new-event.png" rel="image_group" title="Calendar Indicator - create new event"><img alt="Calendar Indicator new event" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/calendar-indicator-new-event_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">To edit or remove an existing event, simply click on it in the indicator menu, then click the edit or delete icons. You can also do this by selecting Show Calendar, then double clicking on an event. Creating new events is just as easy: select "Add new event" from the indicator menu.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Another change in the latest Google Calendar Indicator is an <b>option to set the automatic synchronization time</b> - 12 hours by default (there's also an option in the indicator menu to sync with Google Calendar on demand). This change is important because the Google Calendar API used to reach the limit often which was causing Calendar Indicator to stop working. Hopefully, with this change, the API limit will be harder to reach and thus, there will be less API errors.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Google Calendar displays the next 10 events but if you want to see the events for a longer period or for given date, you can select <b>"Show Calendar"</b> from the indicator menu. The calendar has been updated in the latest Calendar Indicator version, and it now looks a lot like the Google Calendar web design:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/show-calendar.png" rel="image_group" title="Calendar"><img alt="Calendar indicator" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/show-calendar_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And finally, the last new feature in this version is the addition of an <b>option in the Calendar Indicator preferences to set the calendar colour</b>, which affects the events colour in the Calendar dialog.</div><br /><br /><h2>Install Google Calendar Indicator in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The latest Calendar Indicator is available in the main Atareao PPA, along with some other great Ubuntu AppIndicators such as <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/my-weather-indicator-gets-new-forecast.html">My Weather Indicator</a>, created by Lorenzo from <a href="http://www.atareao.es/">atareao.es</a>. <b>To add the PPA and install Calendar Indicator in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail, 12.10 Quantal Quetzal or 12.04 Precise Pangolin, use the following commands:</b></div><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install calendar-indicator</code></pre><br />If you encounter bugs, report them @ <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/calendar-indicator">Launchpad</a>.

Google Calendar Indicator Adds Options To Create, Edit And Delete Events, More

Calendar Indicator, an Ubuntu AppIndicator for Google Calendar, has been updated to version 0.1.0.0. The new version brings options to add, ...

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GNOME Control Center 3.6 Available In The GNOME 3 PPA [Ubuntu 12.10]

<div style="text-align: justify;">GNOME Control Center 3.6 (along with GNOME Settings Daemon 3.6) has finally made it into the GNOME 3 PPA for Ubuntu 12.10. This was the last piece that was missing for Ubuntu 12.10 users to get a truly complete GNOME 3.6 experience.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Here's what's new in GNOME Control Center 3.6 (version in the PPA is 3.6.3) compared to the previous version available for Ubuntu 12.10 users (3.4.2):</div><a name='more'></a><ul><li>Background: new design (the old one is till used in Unity, see below)</li><li>Mouse & Touchpad: new design</li><li>Mouse & Touchpad: new testing area</li><li>Mouse & Touchpad: natural scrolling option added ("Content sticks to fingers") for touchpad</li><li>Sound: Remove hardware page, and offer different connectors directly from the input and output pages</li><li>Keyboard: Add common keyboard layout related options to the shortcuts tab</li><li>Network: Improve the Wi-Fi page layout</li><li>Network: Split the wireless panel</li><li>Network: Add network strength to the details panel</li><li>Wacom: add support for "switch monitor" shortcut</li><li>Printers: redesigned "new printer" dialog</li><li>New option to <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/gnome-shell-how-to-enable-notifications.html">show notifications in the GNOME Shell lock screen</a></li><li>The old Appearance panel (this includes the old background pane, Unity settings etc.) is now displayed only under Unity and comes as a separate package</li><li>Many other changes</li></ul><br />Here are a few screenshots:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gnome-control-center-3.6.png" rel="image_group" title="GNOME Control Center 3.6"><img alt="GNOME Control Center 3.6" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gnome-control-center-3.6_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gnome-control-center-background.png" rel="image_group" title="Background panel"><img alt="GNOME Control Center 3.6" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gnome-control-center-background_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gnome-control-center-background_2.png" rel="image_group" title="Background panel"><img alt="GNOME Control Center 3.6" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gnome-control-center-background_2_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gcc-mouse.png" rel="image_group" title="Mouse panel"><img alt="GNOME Control Center 3.6" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gcc-mouse_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gcc-mouse_2.png" rel="image_group" title="Mouse panel"><img alt="GNOME Control Center 3.6" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gcc-mouse_2_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gcc-3.6-sound.png" rel="image_group" title="Sound panel"><img alt="GNOME Control Center 3.6 sound" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/gcc-3.6-sound_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">To upgrade to the latest stable GNOME Control Center 3.6.3 in Ubuntu 12.10, use the following command to add the GNOME 3 PPA (the PPA will also upgrade Nautilus, Totem, etc. to the latest 3.6.x version):</div><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3</code></pre><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, launch Software Updater use it to upgrade your packages.</div>

GNOME Control Center 3.6 Available In The GNOME 3 PPA [Ubuntu 12.10]

GNOME Control Center 3.6 (along with GNOME Settings Daemon 3.6) has finally made it into the GNOME 3 PPA for Ubuntu 12.10. This was the last...

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How To Install Ubuntu 12.10 On Non-PAE CPU

<div style="text-align: justify;">Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04 use the PAE Linux Kernel by default for 32bit ISOs and while you could use the <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/how-to-install-ubuntu-1204-on-non-pae.html">mini ISO to install Ubuntu 12.04 on computers that don't support PAE</a>, that's not possible in Ubuntu 12.10.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Further more, with 12.10, Xubuntu and Lubuntu no longer come with a non-PAE Linux Kernel, so by default, you can't install any Ubuntu 12.10 flavour on computers using CPUs that lack PAE support (such as Intel Pentium M).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LDQTuow3ftlBGN96VX-jPRunO2yYjgv27uSOE24m3eTvcCtcfYHoG1vvj8Jzz9wsfYNslrHI-LeBzQIO6KgRGDP6LocVK5cu9t2wR_XYKhTi3qdenVGV2ELNvFpZIWwmHheo6LNI8KG6/s1600/ubuntu12.10-non-pae-kernel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ubuntu 12.10 non-pae" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LDQTuow3ftlBGN96VX-jPRunO2yYjgv27uSOE24m3eTvcCtcfYHoG1vvj8Jzz9wsfYNslrHI-LeBzQIO6KgRGDP6LocVK5cu9t2wR_XYKhTi3qdenVGV2ELNvFpZIWwmHheo6LNI8KG6/s320/ubuntu12.10-non-pae-kernel.png" title="ubuntu 12.10 non-pae" width="320" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><b>Below you'll find instructions on how to install Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal on computers that don't support PAE</b>.<b> The instructions have been tested on the default Ubuntu 12.10 ISO (with Unity), but they should work with any Ubuntu flavour like Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and so on and probably Linux Mint 14 as well</b>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Using the resulting bootable Ubuntu 12.10 USB stick, it should also be possible to upgrade from Ubuntu 12.04 to 12.10, but I've only tested it on a clean installation.</div></div><br /><a name='more'></a><i>Physical Address Extension (PAE) is a feature to allow (32-bit) x86 processors to access a physical address space (including random access memory and memory mapped devices) larger than 4 gigabytes.</i><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal on computers that don't support PAE</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1.</b> Download the required files (includes non-PAE Linux Kernel 3.5.0 deb files).</div><br />You can grab all the required files as once, using BZR:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install bzr<br />cd<br />bzr branch lp:~webtom/+junk/linux-image-i386-non-pae</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Or, you can download each file manually from <a href="http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~webtom/+junk/linux-image-i386-non-pae/files">HERE</a> (click the green download image on the right). </div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2.</b> Create a <a title="4 Ways to Create Bootable Live USB Drives (For Windows, Linux and Mac OS X)" href="http://www.webupd8.org/2009/04/4-ways-to-create-bootable-live-usb.html">bootable USB stick</a> with the Ubuntu 12.10 32bit ISO and once the stick is ready, open it in your file manager (.e.g. Nautilus) and replace the following files from the USB stick with the files downloaded under step 1:</div><ul><li>rename the downloaded "vmlinuz-3.5.0-17-wt-non-pae_3.5.0-17.28_i386" file to "vmlinuz" and copy it to the USB stick, under the "casper" folder, replacing the already existing "vmlinuz" file.</li><li>rename the downloaded "initrd-3.5.0-17-wt-non-pae_3.5.0-17.28_i386.lz" file to "initrd.lz" and copy it to the USB stick, under the "casper" folder, replacing the already existing "initrd.lz" file</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3. </b>Copy the following downloaded files to the USB stick (don't place them in any sub directory):</div><ul><li>linux-headers-3.5.0-17-wt-non-pae_3.5.0-17.28_i386.deb</li><li>linux-image-3.5.0-17-wt-non-pae_3.5.0-17.28_i386.deb</li></ul><br />Note that these are the <b>3.5.0-17</b> Linux headers and image, not 3.5.0-18!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>4.</b> Now you can use the USB stick to install Ubuntu 12.10 on the non-PAE capable computer. Once the installation completes, DO NOT REBOOT the computer, press CTRL + ALT + F1 and in the tty, type the following commands to install the non-PAE kernel you've copied to the USB stick under step 3:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>cd /cdrom<br />sudo dpkg --root=/target -i *.deb</code></pre><br />Some warnings will be displayed when running the above command:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZ9w2-SmYInUFQHjPtWZU3mUk5W3kxgFp3ahLeT7Uow3rHEdmHsKUlvZ8V1LOiKFfMW4slkLzlBOOp9JAGZ13ndfs30DC67oiVN96ygutrUgqYc2XjRMaSlyJs6TkM3H4De-I3zpFbrQV/s1600/install-nonpae.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="ubuntu 12.10 non-pae" border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZ9w2-SmYInUFQHjPtWZU3mUk5W3kxgFp3ahLeT7Uow3rHEdmHsKUlvZ8V1LOiKFfMW4slkLzlBOOp9JAGZ13ndfs30DC67oiVN96ygutrUgqYc2XjRMaSlyJs6TkM3H4De-I3zpFbrQV/s320/install-nonpae.png" title="ubuntu 12.10 non-pae" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">ignore these warnings and once the installation completes, reboot the system (you can press CTRL + ALT + F7 to switch back to the installation and reboot from there or type "sudo reboot").</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>5.</b> Your computer should now boot the newly installed Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal flavour. From the files downloaded under step 1 (or, if you don't have access to them any more, redownload just the ones below), copy the following files to some folder that doesn't have any other deb files, e.g. your home directory:</div><ul><li>linux-image-3.5.0-18-wt-non-pae_3.5.0-18.29_i386.deb</li><li>linux-headers-3.5.0-18-wt-non-pae_3.5.0-18.29_i386.deb</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>This is the latest Linux Kernel version available in the Ubuntu 12.10 repositories (3.5.0-18 and not 3.5.0-17 which we've used under steps 3-4). </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And finally, install these deb files:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>cd #if you've placed the files in your home directory<br />sudo dpkg -i *.deb<br />sudo apt-get install -f</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">That's it! </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Unfortunately, there's no PPA (that I know of) to use for non-PAE Linux Kernel updates, so when a Linux Kernel update is available in Ubuntu, don't install it and instead, check if a newer Kernel has been added to the <a href="http://bazaar.launchpad.net/%7Ewebtom/+junk/linux-image-i386-non-pae/files">BZR repository</a> used in this post and install it using "sudo dpkg -i *.deb". Or, compile your own kernel.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Instructions adapted from <a href="http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~webtom/+junk/linux-image-i386-non-pae/view/head:/README">HERE</a>. Thanks to Thomas Reith for the instructions and non-PAE Linux Kernel deb files.</i></div>

How To Install Ubuntu 12.10 On Non-PAE CPU

Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04 use the PAE Linux Kernel by default for 32bit ISOs and while you could use the mini ISO to install Ubuntu 12.04 on co...

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GNOME Shell 3.8 To Get A `Classic` Mode

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwxwoIHNYUHYVduWk6A4SLvlCn38TenWDQlAb8Q9cRxQMmgEVep-mr2wvZvXJHkrdEawAAg54A24J7AzOe_UMWDsSWIE29PdylupF-tOlTcmau4gvHJTS3NutRYuJlboOXQGtlc9t0ATD/s1700/shell_4.png"><img alt="Classic GNOME Shell" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXwxwoIHNYUHYVduWk6A4SLvlCn38TenWDQlAb8Q9cRxQMmgEVep-mr2wvZvXJHkrdEawAAg54A24J7AzOe_UMWDsSWIE29PdylupF-tOlTcmau4gvHJTS3NutRYuJlboOXQGtlc9t0ATD/s320/shell_4.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Two weeks ago, we were telling you that the <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/fallback-mode-classic-session-to-be.html">fallback mode will be dropped from GNOME 3.8</a> and that some extensions which provide a GNOME 2 like layout might be maintained by the GNOME developers for those who are used to the classic interface.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Well, it's now<b> official</b>: a few <b>GNOME Shell extensions which bring back some "classic" features will be supported by GNOME</b>. Among the extensions included are: <b>classic alt tab, task bar, min/max buttons and a main menu</b>.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Sure, there are a lot of extensions that can already mimic the classic/fallback session on <a href="http://extensions.gnome.org/">extensions.gnome.org</a>, but for each GNOME Shell release, the users have to wait for the developers to update them, and sometimes this takes a long time, so it's not a real solution for those who want to always use a GNOME2-like UI. </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">But because these extensions are supported by the GNOME developers, it means they will work with each new GNOME Shell version, as soon as its released.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A final decision on how the users will be able to use these extensions hasn't been made yet, but <b>one of the ideas so far is to add a "classic mode" switch in GNOME Tweak Tool</b>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Note: the screenshot in this post does not represent any of the new extensions, it's an old GNOME 3.0 image with some extensions.</i></div><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via GNOME <a href="https://mail.gnome.org/archives/desktop-devel-list/2012-November/msg00093.html">desktop-devel</a> mailing list</i></div>

GNOME Shell 3.8 To Get A `Classic` Mode

Two weeks ago, we were telling you that the fallback mode will be dropped from GNOME 3.8 and that some extensions which provide a GNOME 2 l...

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New Icons For Ubuntu Software Center, Nautilus, Software Updater And Unity Launcher Revealed [Ubuntu 13.04]

<div style="text-align: justify;">A <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/1081702">bug</a> called "Update the default wallpaper in 13.04" has been reported on Launchpad today, revealing the new Ubuntu 13.04 wallpaper which, like we're used to, is just a slightly modified version of the previous default wallpaper:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/ubuntu_default_13_04.jpg"><img alt="Ubuntu 13.04 default wallpaper" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/ubuntu_default_13_04_thumb.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">But the bug report I was talking about revealed something a lot more interesting than this: it links to <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/1081691">bug</a> <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-design/+bug/1081697">reports</a> about some <b>new icons which will be used for Ubuntu Software Center, Nautilus, Software Updater and some launcher icons like the BFB icon</b> (the Launcher icon that's used to open Dash), <b>or the workspace switcher</b> (the new icon should change depending on which workspace is currently being utilised, but this hasn't been implemented in Unity yet) which you can see below:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/preview-new-launcher-icons.png"><img alt="Ubuntu 13.04 new icons" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/preview-new-launcher-icons_thumb.png" /></a></div><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Since the icons don't exactly express what they do, let me explain: the icon in the middle of the ALT+TAB dialog in the screenshot above is the new Ubuntu Software Center icon, the one on the right of the USC icon is the Software Update icon (the green icon). And the icon on the left of USC, as you've probably figured out, is the Nautilus icon.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The new wallpaper / icons have not landed in Ubuntu 13.04 yet and are subject to change.</div><br /><b>What do you think? Do you like the new icons?</b><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>wallpaper bug via <a href="http://www.iloveubuntu.net/default-wallpaper-ubuntu-1304-officially-published">iloveubuntu.net</a></i></div>

New Icons For Ubuntu Software Center, Nautilus, Software Updater And Unity Launcher Revealed [Ubuntu 13.04]

A bug called "Update the default wallpaper in 13.04" has been reported on Launchpad today, revealing the new Ubuntu 13.04 wallpap...

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Install MPlayer With VA-API (Hardware Acceleration For Intel / AMD GPUs) Support In Ubuntu

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>VA-API is an open source library/API which enables hardware accelerated video processing. It uses the GPU to accelerate video processing in order to offload the CPU.</b><br /><br />Supported hardware includes <b>Intel HD Graphics and G45 chipsets and newer</b> as well as <b>AMD Radeon GPUs</b> (there's also a Nvidia VDPAU backend for VA-API). <b>You can find a list of supported hardware, drivers and video codecs <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Acceleration_API#Supported_hardware_and_drivers" rel="nofollow">HERE</a></b>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here's an example: on my laptop (Ubuntu), the CPU usage is around 40-50% when watching an 1080p H.264 video using MPlayer without VA-API and around 2-5% when watching the same 1080p video using MPlayer with VA-API. You can see some screenshots below:</div><br /><a name='more'></a><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://netupd8.com/w8img2/mplayer-novaapi.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="CPU usage: MPlayer without VA-API"><img alt="mplayer without vaapi" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/mplayer-novaapi_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CPU usage: MPlayer without VA-API</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://netupd8.com/w8img2/mplayer-vaapi.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="CPU usage: MPlayer with VA-API (on an Intel GPU)"><img alt="mplayer vaapi" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/mplayer-vaapi_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CPU usage: MPlayer with VA-API</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><br /><h2>Install Intel / AMD VA-API drivers in Ubuntu</h2><br />Before installing MPlayer with VA-API support, <b>install the VA-API drivers:</b><br /><br /><b>- for Intel GPUs (for Intel HD Graphics as well as G45 and later):</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install i965-va-driver</code></pre><br /><b>- for AMD Radeon GPUs (you also need the proprietary drivers!):</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install xvba-va-driver</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The Intel VA-API driver is available in the official Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin (and newer) repositories. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Nvidia users: MPlayer supports VDPAU by default so everything you need for hardware accelerated video decoding is already in the repositories. See <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/use-mplayer-with-vaapi-support-hardware.html">THIS</a> old post for more info (unless something has changed, but I can't test it since I have Nvidia Optimus and Bumblebee doesn't support VDPAU). You can also use the "vdpau-va-driver" driver which is a VDPAU-based backend for VA-API and follow use the instructions below to install Mplayer with VA-API.</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><h2>Install MPlayer with VA-API support in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">By default, the MPlayer version available in the official Ubuntu repositories doesn't support VA-API, but you can use a PPA which provides custom MPlayer builds with VA-API support.</div><br /><b>To install MPlayer with VA-API support in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.10, 12.04 or 11.10, use the following commands:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sander-vangrieken/vaapi<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install mplayer-vaapi</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Once installed, open SMPlayer (or whatever MPlayer GUI you're using: <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/install-gnome-mplayer-107-in-ubuntu-1210.html">Gnome Mplayer</a>, KMPlayer, etc.) and in its Preferences, on the Video tab (in SMPlayer: <i>General Video > Output driver</i>) <b>set the video output driver to "vaapi"</b>:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/smplayer-vaapi.png" rel="image_group" title="SMPlayer VA API video output settings"><img alt="SMPlayer vaapi" src="http://netupd8.com/w8img2/smplayer-vaapi_thumb.png" /></a></div><br />That's it!<br /><br /><br /><b>Other Linux distributions:</b><br /><ul><li>Arch Linux users can install MPlayer with VA-API support from the <a href="https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/i686/mplayer-vaapi/">community repository</a>.</li><li>The mplayer-vaapi source can be downloaded via <a href="http://gitorious.org/vaapi/mplayer">gitorious.org</a></li></ul><br /><b>Note: I've tested this on an Intel GPU only!</b><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via <a href="http://help.ubuntu.ru/wiki/%D0%B0%D0%BF%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B6%D0%BA%D0%B0_hd_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE">Ubuntu.ru wiki</a></i></div>

Install MPlayer With VA-API (Hardware Acceleration For Intel / AMD GPUs) Support In Ubuntu

VA-API is an open source library/API which enables hardware accelerated video processing. It uses the GPU to accelerate video processing in ...

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