How To Use Xfce4 Terminal 0.6.x As A Drop-Down Console (Guake-style)

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-xfce.png" rel="image_group" title="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down running in Xfce"><img alt="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down running in Xfce" src="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-xfce_thumb.png" /></a></div><b><br /></b> <br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://docs.xfce.org/apps/terminal/start">Xfce4 Terminal</a></b> has been updated recently, two new versions being released: 0.6.0 and 0.6.1, and many <b>new features were added, including an option to use the terminal as a drop-down console, like Guake or Yakuake</b>. But this new feature isn't available as an option in the Xfce4 Terminal preferences, so here's how to use it.</div><br /><b>Among the new features added in the latest Xfce4 Terminal 0.6.x, are:</b><br /><ul><li>Added search dialog;</li><li>Terminal tab color changes when activity occurs in a tab since last viewed;</li><li>Support for color presets and some presets were added by default, including "Solarized Dark", my favourite terminal / text editor color scheme that I've been using everywhere for a long time (see: <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/04/solarized-must-have-color-paletter-for.html">Solarized: A Must Have Color Scheme For Gnome Terminal, Vim, Gedit And Lots More</a>)</li><li>Drop-down window support when using "--drop-down" parameter</li></ul><br /><a name="more"></a>Changelogs: <a href="http://mail.xfce.org/pipermail/xfce-announce/2012-December/000240.html">0.6.0</a>, <a href="http://mail.xfce.org/pipermail/xfce-announce/2013-January/000242.html">0.6.1</a><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install Xfce Terminal 0.6.x in Ubuntu / Xubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Before installing Xfce4 Terminal, please note that installing it in desktop environments other than Xfce will also install some Xfce packages.</div><br /><b>To install Xfce 4 Terminal 0.6.x in Ubuntu / Xubuntu 12.04, firstly add the Xfce 4.10 PPA and do an upgrade:</b> <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/install-xfce-410-in-xubuntu-1204.html">Install Xfce 4.10 In Xubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin Via PPA</a>. This isn't required for Ubuntu 12.10.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Now, to install Xfce4 Terminal 0.6.x in Ubuntu / Xubuntu 12.04 or 12.10, use the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/xfce-4.12<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install xfce4-terminal</code></pre><div style="text-align: justify;">(you may also want to run an upgrade to get the other Xfce 4.12 development packages from the Xfce 4.12 PPA if you haven't already)</div><br />For other Linux distributions, you can download the latest Xfce4 Terminal 0.6.x source from <a href="http://archive.xfce.org/src/apps/xfce4-terminal">HERE</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>How to use the Xfce4 Terminal drop-down feature</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">To use Xfce4 Terminal as a drop-down window, make sure you're running version 0.6.1 or newer. The terminal doesn't have a GUI option to run as a drop-down (it can only be used as a drop-down terminal by using the "--drop-down" command line parameter), so you must set a keyboard shortcut in your desktop environment to call "xfce4-terminal --drop-down":</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-shortcut-xfce.png" rel="image_group" title="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down keyboard shortcut settings in Xfce"><img alt="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down keyboard shortcut Xfce" src="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-shortcut-xfce_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">- <b>in Xfce</b>: open <i>Settings Manager > Keyboard > Application shortcuts</i>, click "Add" and add the "<i>xfce4-terminal --drop-down</i>" command, then a dialog will pop-up - now press the keyboard shortcut you want to use to open the drop-down terminal (I've used F12).</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-shortcut-gnome.png" rel="image_group" title="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down keyboard shortcut settings in GNOME / Unity"><img alt="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down keyboard shortcut in GNOME / Unity" src="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-shortcut-gnome_thumb.png" /></a></div><b><br /></b> <br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>- in GNOME (including Unity)</b>: open <i>System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts</i>, under "Custom Shortcuts" click "+" to add a new shortcut, under "Name" enter "Xfce4 Terminal" and under command, use: "<i>xfce4-terminal --drop-down</i>". Then click the shortcut on the right to add a keyboard shortcut and press the key you want to use for triggering the drop-down terminal (I've used F12).<br /><br />This also means you don't have to add the terminal to your startup applications and instead, the application will start the first time you use the keyboard shortcut you've assigned using the instructions above. </div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, press the keyboard shortcut you've used to open the terminal. Even though initially Xfce4 Terminal doesn't have any custom drop-down settings, now that you're using it as a drop-down terminal,<b> a new tab called "Drop-down" should show up in its preferences</b>, which allows you to tweak the way the drop-down works. </div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-dropdown-unity.png" rel="image_group" title="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down running in Unity"><img alt="Xfce4 Terminal drop-down running in Unity" src="http://img.netupd8.com/xfce4-terminal-dropdown-unity_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Here, if you use Unity (maybe on other DEs too) make sure you uncheck "Use shortcut to focus visible window" so the terminal closes when you press the keyboard shortcut you've set above. Without this, the terminal will only close/retract when it loses focus (unless you select "Keep window open when it loses focus" in which case it won't close when focus is lost) in Unity, although this doesn't occur in Xfce (so you don't have to check this option in Xfce for this purpose).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Xfce4 Terminal preferences you can <b>customize</b> a lot of the drop-down terminal settings, including the <b>window width, height, opacity, the duration, horizontal position and so on</b>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There's also a button on the bottom right of the terminal that you can use to quickly toggle "Keep window open when it loses focus" on / off.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Xfce4 Terminal supports multiple screens</b> so if you select to display the terminal in the center (top center) of the screen, it won't show up on both screens in a dual screen setup, but <b>on the center of the active monitor</b>, something that you can't do with Guake for instance. <b>If you only want it to show up on the main monitor,</b> uncheck the "Move to monitor with pointer" option in the Xfce4 Terminal preferences (Drop-down tab).</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Xfce4 Terminal drop-down feature seen on <a href="http://blog.desdelinux.net/un-vistazo-a-lo-que-vendra-en-xfce-4-12/">desdelinux.net</a> & <a href="http://www.lffl.org/2013/01/le-novita-del-nuovo-xfce-412.html">lffl.org</a></i></div>

How To Use Xfce4 Terminal 0.6.x As A Drop-Down Console (Guake-style)

Xfce4 Terminal has been updated recently, two new versions being released: 0.6.0 and 0.6.1, and many new features were added, including an...

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Download AirDroid 2 APK, Now With Remote Camera, Find My Phone Features [Android]

<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/airdroid2.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="AirDroid 2 browser interface"><img alt="AirDroid 2" src="http://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AirDroid 2 - browser (web) interface</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://www.airdroid.com/">AirDroid</a> is a free Android application that you can use to control your Android device from your desktop</b>, by using a web browser (so it on Linux and any other OS). It can be used to <b>transfer files</b> (upload to the phone or download to your desktop), <b>browse images, quickly send or read an SMS</b> and many others.</div><br />We've covered AirDroid before, so take a look at our <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2011/12/airdroid-manage-your-android-device.html" title="AirDroid: Manage Your Android Device Using A Browser">initial post</a> for more info. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The latest <b>AirDroid 2</b> beta could only be downloaded by using an invitation, but the apk can now be downloaded by everyone, although it's not on Google Play just yet. The new version comes with many <b>cool new features such as a new "Find my phone" service, a remote camera feature and others</b>.</div><br /><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://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-android-app.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="AirDroid2 Android app"><img alt="AirDroid2 Android app" src="http://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-android-app_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AirDroid 2 Android app</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Here are some of the new features available in the latest AirDroid 2:</b><br /><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">new remote <b>Remote Camera feature</b>: take photos using your phone from the AirDroid web interface;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">new "<b>Find my phone</b>" feature which uses the device GPS to display its current position, useful if you lose your phone or it gets stolen. <b>You can remotely lock or wipe the phone;</b></li><li style="text-align: justify;">quick drag'n'drop area: you can now drag and drop files or apks in a special drag'n'drop area to quickly upload / install them to the Android phone or tabled, without having to open the AirDroid file manager;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">new option to <b>take a screenshot of your Android device from AirDroid web interface</b>. This feature requires root access on the Android device;</li><li style="text-align: justify;"><b>the Android device doesn't have to be in the same wireless network </b>as the computer you're using to access it and you can now <b>use AirDroid over 3G / 4G;</b></li><li style="text-align: justify;"><b>other small new features:</b> quick access to frequent contacts, add folder shortcuts on the web interface desktop, etc.<b><br /></b></li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Below you can see a few screenshots with some of the new AirDroid2 features in action:</b></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://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-camera.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="AirDroid2 remote camera"><img alt="AirDroid2 remote camera" src="http://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-camera_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remote camera </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://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-find-phone.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="AirDroid2 - find my phone"><img alt="AirDroid2 find my phone" src="http://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-find-phone_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Find my phone</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://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-screenshot.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="AirDroid2 remote screenshot tool"><img alt="AirDroid2 screenshot" src="http://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-screenshot_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remote screenshot feature</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>When you start AirDroid v2, you'll be prompted to login with your AirDroid account</b> so if you don't have one, you'll have to create it. Please note that I've encountered an error when trying to create an account: AirDroid allows you to use Twitter, Google and other services to create the account and if the username entered exists on Twitter (even though you didn't select Twitter) but it's not your account, you won't be able to register, so you may have to enter an username that doesn't exist on Twitter. Some users have reported some other more or less similar issues when registering and the AirDroid developers are working on a fix for this.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>You can still use AirDroid 2 without an account, but you won't have access to all the features</b>. For instance, you'll be able to control the camera from the browser, but the phone finder service won't work and you won't be able to transfer files over 3G / 4G. You can, however, transfer files over WiFi if you're not using an AirDroid account. When you start it, enter the local address (e.g: 192.168...) in a web browser, and you'll then be prompted to accept this connection on your device and you're ready to go (no password is required any more):</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://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-accept-connection.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="AirDroid2: local connection with no account, accepting the connection"><img alt="AirDroid2 local connection no account" src="http://img.netupd8.com/airdroid2-accept-connection_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Accept connection (local, no account)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Another small issue I've encountered was when using a local connection (without an AirDroid account) and a HTTPS connection: the web page (AirDroid web interface) wouldn't load in Firefox, but it did work in Google Chrome. However, let's not forget that AirDroid v2 is still in beta, so all of these small issues should be fixed soon!<br /><br />Since AirDroid v2 is still in beta, new features might be added later on. </div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">AirDroid is probably the best solution to transfer files to/from your Android 4.0+ device on Linux, considering the current issues with this. Or, you can use <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/how-to-mount-android-40-ubuntu-go-mtpfs.html" title="How To Properly Mount Android 4.0+ Devices In Ubuntu Using Go-mtpfs">Go-mtpfs</a> which works, but is not so easy to use as AirDroid.</div><br /><br /><h2>Download AirDroid v2</h2><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://airdroid.com/invite/airdroid_v2.apk">Download AirDroid 2 (beta) apk</a></b></div><br /><br /><i>I've tested AirDroid 2 beta using a Samsung Galaxy S2 phone running CyanogenMod 10.1 nightly (Android 4.2.1).</i><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>seen on <a href="http://lifehacker.com/5976628/airdroid-2-beta-finds-your-lost-phone-works-over-mobile-data-and-is-free-and-open-to-all">LifeHacker</a> and <a href="http://www.chimerarevo.com/airdroid-2-il-nostro-test-per-ora-e-un-no/">chimerarevo.com</a></i></div>

Download AirDroid 2 APK, Now With Remote Camera, Find My Phone Features [Android]

AirDroid 2 - browser (web) interface AirDroid is a free Android application that you can use to control your Android device from your deskt...

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Work Started On Cinnamon Screensaver (Forked From GNOME Screensaver 3.4)

<div style="text-align: justify;">Like we were telling you a <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/what-to-expect-in-linux-mint-15.html" title="What To Expect From Linux Mint 15 (Cinnamon, Nemo Changes)">while back</a>, Linux Mint 15 will get a new screensaver, among other cool new features and changes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The work on the new Cinnamon screensaver has started</b> and the code is available on <a href="https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon-screensaver">GitHub</a>:</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/cinnamon-screensaver.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Cinnamon Screensaver"><img alt="Cinnamon Screensaver" src="http://img.netupd8.com/cinnamon-screensaver_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cinnamon Screensaver / lock screen (<b>work in progress</b>!)</td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><a name="more"></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Cinnamon Screensaver is a fork of GNOME Screensaver 3.4 and is very simplistic: for now, it displays the time and date along with the username and a shaded background, with a lock screen dialog similar to the one available for Unity, like you can see in the screenshot above.<br /><br />According to its desktop file, the screensaver can be used not only in Cinnamon, but also in Unity (and I can confirm it works with Unity), Xfce or GNOME.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The new Cinnamon Screensaver is not available as a .deb yet so the only way to install it for now is to compile it from source. But it will probably be available soon in the Cinnamon nightly builds PPA and it may be backported for Linux Mint 14 Nadia. For now, it conflicts with GNOME Screensaver which must be removed for Cinnamon Screensaver to work properly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Arch Linux users can already install Cinnamon Screensaver via <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/cinnamon-screensaver-git/">AUR</a>.</div>

Work Started On Cinnamon Screensaver (Forked From GNOME Screensaver 3.4)

Like we were telling you a while back , Linux Mint 15 will get a new screensaver, among other cool new features and changes. The work on the...

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GNOME Shell 3.8: Redesigned Search

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>GNOME 3.8 will feature a redesigned search</b> which displays the results in a list. A new search settings panel will allow users to configure the GNOME Shell search: you can enable or disable searching for documents, files, contacts or boxes and so on as well as a way to configure search locations:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/gnome-shell-3.8-search-settings.png" rel="image_group" title="GNOME Shell 3.8 search settings"><img alt="GNOME Shell 3.8 search settings" src="http://img.netupd8.com/gnome-shell-3.8-search-settings_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><a name="more"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/gnome-shell-3.8-search-locations.png" rel="image_group" title="GNOME Shell 3.8 search locations settings"><img alt="GNOME Shell 3.8 search locations" src="http://img.netupd8.com/gnome-shell-3.8-search-locations_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The new GNOME Shell 3.8 search results are provided by individual applications and selecting a result will open it in the respective application. There's a limit of 3 results per application in GS, but more can be displayed within the application.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And speaking of settings, there's also a new Privacy panel which lets the user configure what information is revealed in various locations like the lock screen, history (recent files) and so on:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/gnome-3.8-privacy.png" rel="image_group" title="GNOME 3.8 privacy settings panel"><img alt="GNOME 3.8 privacy settings panel" src="http://img.netupd8.com/gnome-3.8-privacy_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even though the design isn't the same, the new Search settings panel and the Privacy panel provide together more or less the same settings that are available in the Unity Privacy settings panel, so once again the Unity and GNOME Shell designers have similar ideas, although obviously, the implementations are different.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Below you can see the new GNOME Shell 3.8 (work in progress) search redesign:</div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3qVJLOK_zao" width="420"></iframe><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qVJLOK_zao">direct video link</a>)</center><br />These new features are already available in the latest GNOME 3.8 development releases (3.7.x). GNOME 3.8 is scheduled to be released on March 27.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via / more info @ <a href="http://blogs.gnome.org/cosimoc/2013/01/16/search-improvements-in-gnome-3-8/">Cosimo’s blog</a></i></div>

GNOME Shell 3.8: Redesigned Search

GNOME 3.8 will feature a redesigned search which displays the results in a list. A new search settings panel will allow users to configure ...

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Fedora 18 `Spherical Cow` Released

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-desktop.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 desktop"><img alt="Fedora 18 screenshot" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-desktop_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://fedoraproject.org/">Fedora</a> 18 "Spherical Cow" has been <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F18_release_announcement?stF18">released</a> today, featuring the latest stable GNOME 3.6 by default and a brand new installer UI.</b><br /><br /><br /><a name="more"></a><br /><h2>New installer UI</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Fedora 18 introduces <b>UEFI Secure Boot support</b> so it can now be used on system shipped with Windows 8, as well as a <b>new user interface for the installer</b> (Anaconda), which is now easier to use for new users, while more advanced users can still access advanced settings:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 installer"><img alt="Fedora 18 installer screenshot" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer_2.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 installer"><img alt="Fedora 18 installer screenshot" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer_2_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer-bug.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 installer"><img alt="Fedora 18 installer" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer-bug_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer_3.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 installer"><img alt="Fedora 18 installer" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-installer_3_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">However, the new installer is not 100% complete so check out the <a href="http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Common_F18_bugs#Installation_issues">known issues</a>. For instance, I found it a bit confusing that after setting the "Installation Destination" hard disk but not changing the partitions, the "Please complete items marked with this icon before continuing to the next step" message at the bottom was still displayed for a few seconds.</div><br /><br /><h2>GNOME 3.6</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>GNOME 3.6</b> (with GNOME Shell as the default "shell" interface) is used by default in Fedora 18: Nautilus, GNOME Contacts, Boxes, Documents, Totem (Videos), etc. are all there.</div><br />Here are some Fedora 18 screenshots:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-activities.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 - Activities Overview"><img alt="Fedora 18 screenshots" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-activities_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-activities-apps.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 - Activities Overview"><img alt="Fedora 18 screenshots" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-activities-apps_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-backgrounds.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 - GNOME Control Center backgrounds pane"><img alt="Fedora 18 screenshots" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-backgrounds_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><br />For more about GNOME 3.6, see: <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/09/gnome-36-released-see-whats-new.html">GNOME 3.6 Released - See What's New</a><br /><br /><br /><h2>Cinnamon, MATE Desktop available in the repositories</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, users who don't like GNOME Shell can now use Cinnamon or MATE Desktop since both are available in the official Fedora 18 repositories, along with Xfce 4.10, KDE Plasma Workspace 4.9 or LXDE (these last 3 are also available as Fedora Spins)</div><br /><br /><h2>Other changes</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Fedora 18 introduces a <b>new tool that's used for the upgrade process</b> (to newer Fedora versions) called fedUP. For how to upgrade the system using fedUP, see <a href="http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FedUp#How_Can_I_Upgrade_My_System_with_FedUp.3F">THIS</a> page.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-updates-logout.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 updates"><img alt="Fedora 18 updates screenshot" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-updates-logout_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, Fedora 18 introduces <b>offline updates</b> and while many updates can still be made on the fly, <b>some packages will require a system restart</b>. The system will boot into a special update mode "in order to avoid problems related to conflicts of libraries and services that are currently running with those on disk", says the <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/OfflineSystemUpdates">Fedora Wiki</a>.</div><br /><b>Other changes include:</b><br /><ul><li>Improved storage management SSM (System Storage Manager)</li><li>/tmp is used as <b>tmpfs</b> by default, this bringing less I/O generated on the disk, increases SSD life, saves power and improves overall performance,</li><li>More!</li></ul><br /><br /><b>For more info, see the official <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/F18_release_announcement?stF18">Fedora 18 release notes</a>.</b><br /><br /><br /><br /><h2>Default applications in Fedora 18</h2><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-nautilus-gcc.png" rel="image_group" title="Fedora 18 - Nautilus and GNOME Control Center"><img alt="Fedora 18 screenshots" src="http://img.netupd8.com/fedora18-nautilus-gcc_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Fedora 18 ships with Linux Kernel 3.6 (3.6.10), but 3.7 is already offered as an update, X Server 1.13 and features default applications such as: Nautilus 3.6.3, GNOME Control Center 3.6.3, Evolution 3.6.3, GNOME Documents 3.6.2, GNOME Boxes 3.6.2, Deja Dup backup tool 24.0, Rhythmbox 2.98, Empathy 3.6.2, Firefox 18, Cheese 3.6.2, Shotwell 0.13.1, Transmission 2.72, GDM 3.6.2 and LibreOffice 3.6.3.2, among others, all on top of GNOME 3.6 and GTK 3.6.2.</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Download Fedora 18</h2><br /><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora-options">Download Fedora 18</a></h4><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And don't forget to try <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/05/fedora-utils-adds-fedora-17-support.html">Fedora Utils</a> after installing Fedora, a tool to tweak Fedora and easily install packages which are not available in the main Fedora repositories.</div>

Fedora 18 `Spherical Cow` Released

Fedora 18 "Spherical Cow" has been released today, featuring the latest stable GNOME 3.6 by default and a brand new installer UI...

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Enable TRIM On SSD (Solid-State Drives) In Ubuntu For Better Performance

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5vJXvqGd6buOgvNwrhpHhdU3WMsVGx_0VQQA8qKNrwnHbi3kYYJAcdU0O-QC6CdS5Fx5zwn1zVaKBPR_N6GHUzDOpNzuSC9x2SNWF4oaODjpUkpjnU0uM-FMkWWE2Mq7KNE1R0SaGUhQ/s1600/kingston-ssd-120gb-v200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="kingston ssd 120gb v200" border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5vJXvqGd6buOgvNwrhpHhdU3WMsVGx_0VQQA8qKNrwnHbi3kYYJAcdU0O-QC6CdS5Fx5zwn1zVaKBPR_N6GHUzDOpNzuSC9x2SNWF4oaODjpUkpjnU0uM-FMkWWE2Mq7KNE1R0SaGUhQ/s320/kingston-ssd-120gb-v200.jpg" title="kingston ssd 120gb v200" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>TRIM allows the OS to "<i>inform a solid-state drive (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YLTY2O/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=weup-21-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B006YLTY2O">SSD</a>) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally</i>". Without using TRIM, the SSD speed decreases after a while so if you have a solid-state drive that supports TRIM, you should enable it so your SSD remains fast over time.</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This isn't easy to benchmark because the performance decreases over time so you'd neet to check the SSD speed constantly for a few months to see exactly how the SSD is affected when TRIM is not enabled. But if your SSD read / write speed decreases a lot over time and you haven't enabled TRIM, this may be way.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Some articles mention using online discard</b> - enabling TRIM by adding the "discard" option to /etc/fstab -, <b>but there are many <a href="http://opensuse.14.n6.nabble.com/SSD-detection-when-creating-first-time-fstab-td3313048.html">who</a> <a href="https://patrick-nagel.net/blog/archives/337">say</a> this isn't a good idea for most solid-state drives</b> and you'll get a pretty significant performance hit when trying to delete a large number of small files. So <b>below I'll let you know how to use both of these methods: online discard (not recommended) and the recommended way: using fstrim and a cron (anacron) job.</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Note: the instructions below have been tested in Ubuntu, but they may (most probably) work with other Linux distributions as well.</i></div><br /><a name="more"></a><b>Before enabling TRIM, you must make sure:</b><br /><ul><li>you're using the Linux Kernel 2.6.33 or newer</li><li>your SSD supports TRIM</li><li>the partition(s) are EXT4 or BTRFS<b>*</b></li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>*</b> Since not many people are using BTRFS, this post will only cover enabling TRIM on EXT4 partitions.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>If you're unsure if your SSD supports TRIM, you can run the following command:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda | grep "TRIM supported"</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Where "<i>/dev/sda</i>" is the solid-state drive (it may be <i>/dev/sdb</i>, <i>/dev/sdc</i>, etc. for you), and the command should return something like this: "<i>Data Set Management TRIM supported (limit 8 blocks)</i>" (if there's no output, your SSD doesn't support TRIM).  If you don't know what to use here, you can get a list of hard disks and their partitions by using the following command:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo fdisk -l</code></pre><br /><br /><h2>Enable TRIM for solid-state drives (SSD) in Linux</h2><br /><h3>Using online discard (fstab) - not recommended</h3><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If the conditions above are met, you can proceed to enable TRIM for your SSD. <b>If you want to use the online discard option (not recommended!)</b>, open <i>/etc/fstab</i> as root with a text editor:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>gksu gedit /etc/fstab</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And add the "discard" option (separated by a comma and no space!) to the SSD partitions you want to enable TRIM for. Here's an example:</div><pre class="source-code"><code><file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass><br /># / was on /dev/sdb1 during installation<br />UUID=1cd2fc4f-7d99-4c7a-8ea7-6f9a2d5e5960 / ext4 <b>discard</b>,errors=remount-ro 0 1</code></pre><br /><br /><h3>Using a daily cron job - recommended</h3><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Using a daily cron job, the SSD trimming will occur once every day.<b> </b><br /><br /><b>To use a daily cron job</b> (so the trimming will occur once a day) <b>for TRIM</b> <b>(fstrim)</b>, open <i>/etc/cron.daily/trim</i> as root with a text editor (<i>/etc/cron.daily/trim</i> doesn't exist so this will create the file):</div><pre class="source-code"><code>gksu gedit /etc/cron.daily/trim</code></pre> and paste this:<br /><pre class="source-code"><code>#!/bin/sh<br />LOG=/var/log/trim.log<br />echo "*** $(date -R) ***" >> $LOG<br />fstrim -v / >> $LOG<br />fstrim -v /home >> $LOG</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The last two commands in the code above perform the actual trimming</b> for the root (/) and home (/home) partition and<b> you need to edit them</b>: here, add the SSD partitions for which you want to enable the daily TRIM job (usually, you must add "/" if the root partition is on the SSD and "/home" if you've set up a separate home partition). </div><br />Before saving the file, you can <b>check if the fstrim command works:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo fstrim -v /</code></pre><br />The output should look similar to this:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>andrei@ubuntu-desktop:~$ sudo fstrim -v /<br />/: 8158715904 bytes were trimmed</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Once you've added your SSD partitions, save the file and make it executable using the following command:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo chmod +x /etc/cron.daily/trim</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu executes the daily cron</b> (<b>we're using anacron, so even if your computer is turned off at that time, the job will still be performed later on</b>) <b>jobs at around 06:25</b> so each day after that time, you can check the <i>/var/log/trim.log</i> log file to see the <i>fstrim</i> output.</div><br /><br /><h3>For encrypted partitions</h3><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you're using an encrypted partition, you'll have to perform some extra steps for this to work (<b>not tested because I don't have any encrypted partitions</b>!): edit <i>/etc/default/grub</i> as root:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>gksu gedit /etc/default/grub</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And add the following options under <i>GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""</i> (it should be around line 12 in that file):</div><pre class="source-code"><code>"allow-discards root_trim=yes"</code></pre><br />After editing the file, it should look like this:<br /><br /><pre class="source-code"><code>GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`<br />GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"<br /><b>GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="allow-discards root_trim=yes"</b></code></pre><br />Then, save the file and update GRUB:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo update-grub</code></pre><br />Now edit <i>/etc/crypttab</i> as root:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>gksu gedit /etc/crypttab</code></pre><br />And add the "discard" option for the SSD partitions, like this (example):<br /><pre class="source-code"><code>#<target name> <source device> <key file> <options><br />var UUID=01234567-89ab-cdef-0123-456789abcdef none luks,<b>discard</b></code></pre><br />And finally, run the following command:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo update-initramfs -u -k all</code></pre><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The above instructions (except for the encrypted partition part, which I can't test) have been tested on Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04 (SSD: <a class="external" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006YLTY2O/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=weup-21-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B006YLTY2O" rel="nofollow">KINGSTON SVP200S 120 GB</a>).</div><br /><br />References / further reading:<br /><ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM</a></li><li><a href="http://wiki.debian.org/SSDoptimization">http://wiki.debian.org/SSDoptimization</a></li><li><a href="http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/SSD/TRIM">http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/SSD/TRIM</a> (German)</li><li><a href="http://opensuse.14.n6.nabble.com/SSD-detection-when-creating-first-time-fstab-td3313048.html">http://opensuse.14.n6.nabble.com/SSD-detection-when-creating-first-time-fstab-td3313048.html </a></li><li><a href="https://patrick-nagel.net/blog/archives/337">https://patrick-nagel.net/blog/archives/337</a></li></ul>

Enable TRIM On SSD (Solid-State Drives) In Ubuntu For Better Performance

TRIM allows the OS to " inform a solid-state drive ( SSD ) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped intern...

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Beautiful MediterraneanNight GTK 3.6 Theme Pack Updated

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>MediterraneanNight is a pack of 3 <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/2-beautiful-dark-themes-for-gtk-36-or.html" title="2 Beautiful Dark Themes For GTK 3.6 Or 3.4 [Ubuntu PPA]"><i>darkish</i> GTK3 themes</a></b> based on <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/zukitwo-adwaita-cupertino-themes-ported.html">Gnome Cupertino</a> available for both GTK3.4 (Ubuntu 12.04) and GTK3.6 (Ubuntu 12.10 and 13.04) as well as for Xfce.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The beautiful theme pack has been updated yesterday,</b> getting some interesting changes, but only for the GTK3.6 version:</div><ul><li>new switches,</li><li>more rounded buttons,</li><li>improved Rhythmbox sidebar color,</li><li>Nautilus 3.6 changes: pathbar better spacing, improved icons sidebar color, changed the style of tabs (better readability),</li><li>many fixes and details like fixed OSD widget, checkbox and radiobutton symbols in menus, fixed Synaptic GTK3 toolbar and more.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Below you can see a few screenshots featuring the latest MediterraneanNight, MediterraneanDark and MediterraneanLight for GTK 3.6:</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><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/mediterranean-night1.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="MediterraneanNight GTK3 (3.6) theme"><img alt="MediterraneanNight GTK3.6 theme" src="http://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-night1_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MediterraneanNight</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><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/mediterranean-night-twf1.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="MediterraneanNight GTK3 widget factory"><img alt="MediterraneanNight widget factory" src="http://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-night-twf1_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MediterraneanNight</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><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/mediterranean-dark1.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="MediterraneanDark GTK3.6 theme"><img alt="MediterraneanDark" src="http://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-dark1_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MediterraneanDark</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><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://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-dark-twf1.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="MediterraneanDark GTK3 widget factory"><img alt="MediterraneanDark widget factory" src="http://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-dark-twf1_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MediterraneanDark</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><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/mediterranean-light1.png" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="MediterraneanLight GTK3.6 theme"><img alt="MediterraneanLight gtk3 theme" src="http://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-light1_thumb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MediterraneanLight</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">As you've can see in the screenshots above, Nautilus 3.6 uses a different toolbar with smaller buttons and rounded pathbar (like Gnome Cupertino), but you can get the old style back using the configuration script I've packed with the theme, which you can use to customize any of the three Mediterranean themes. To do this, simply run:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo mediterranean-config</code></pre><div style="text-align: justify;">Then select the theme you want to customize, and when you reach the "Select style for Nautilus" step, select "3" which is "Nautilus 3.4 with light sidebar and pathbar" and even though the description says it's for Nautilus 3.4 it should work with Nautilus 3.6. Then, restart Nautilus (sometimes a logout is required to fully apply the changes):</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>nautilus -q</code></pre><br />And you should have the old MediterraneanNight toolbar/pathbar for Nautilus 3.6:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-night-old-style-nautilus36.png" rel="image_group" title="Nautilus 3.6 - old MediterraneanNight pathbar style"><img alt="Nautilus 3.6 old MediterraneanNight pathbar style" src="http://img.netupd8.com/mediterranean-night-old-style-nautilus36_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><h2>Install MediterraneanNight themes in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The theme pack is available in the WebUpd8 Themes PPA so to add the PPA and install the MediterraneanNight themes in Ubuntu 12.10 or 13.04 (for Ubuntu 12.04, the version is slightly older), use the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install mediterraneannight-gtk-theme</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Once installed, apply the theme using a tools such as GNOME Tweak Tool, Ubuntu Tweak or <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/10/tweak-unity-with-unsettings-008-now.html">Unsettings</a> and if you want to tweak the themes, don't forget to use our configuration script, especially since you'll have to select the desktop environment style (with or without a global menu), so once you've installed the themes, run:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo mediterranean-config</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For other Linux distributions, get MediterraneanNight from <a href="http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=148398">Gnome-Look</a>.</b></div>

Beautiful MediterraneanNight GTK 3.6 Theme Pack Updated

MediterraneanNight is a pack of 3 darkish GTK3 themes based on Gnome Cupertino available for both GTK3.4 (Ubuntu 12.04) and GTK3.6 (Ubunt...

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