Installing new extension

Before we start. let’s first touch on the method to install an extension in your Gnome Shell.

1. First, go to the Gnome Shell extension page. Search for the extension that you want to install.

2. Click the “Off” button at the left of the extension title. The slider will now move to “On”.

3. A popup will appear to ask if you want to download and install the extension. Click “Install”.

That’s it.

10 of the best Gnome Shell extensions

1. Frippery Applications Menu

Personally, I feel that the Activities button at the screen top left corner is useless. It serves the same purpose as the Super button (on your keyboard) and moving your mouse cursor to the top left corner, and it has never been utilized. What the Frippery Applications Menu does is to replace the Activities button with the old Gnome 2.x Application Menu. Click on it and it will show all your applications arranged in their respective categories.

It is definitely more useful than the Activities button.

2. Desktop Scroller

If you like to use different workspace to manage your applications and windows, you will find that switching to another workspace is a very troublesome task. You need to go to the Activities overview (either move your mouse to the screen top left corner, or press the Super button) before you can select the workspace.

The Desktop Scroller is a handy extension where you can move your cursor to the right edge of the screen and scroll up/down to switch workspace. This is one useful way to improve your productivity.

3. gTile

Do you like to work with several applications concurrently? If yes, I am sure you will face the issue of arranging your application windows properly to make them viewable. The gTile extension allows you to quickly arrange your windows in tile. The default setting comes with grids of 2×2, 3×2, 4×4, and 6×6, but you can configure the ‘extension.js’ and add your own grid layout.

4. Jump Lists

The Ubuntu Unity comes with a feature where you can edit the jump list items and behavior for each application launcher. In Gnome Shell, you can achieve the same effect with the Jump Lists extension.

The Jump Lists items are based on the recent files that you have opened. It will requires Zeitgeist to be installed.

5. Music Integration

Ubuntu comes with Banshee media player pre-installed and there is an appindicator where you can control the playback of your music. But what if you are not using Banshee? What about Clementine, Rhythmbox or even the Nuvola Player? This Music Integration extension will unite them all. Making use of the MPRIS2, it will integrate all those supported Music Player into your Gnome Shell automatically.

One thing to note, if you install this extension via the Gnome extension, it will not activate the Music Preferences by default. Here is how you can activate it.

Open a terminal and type the following lines:

cd ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/music-integration@brianrobles204
sudo cp org.gnome.shell.extensions.musicintegration.gschema.xml /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/
sudo glib-compile-schemas /usr/share/glib-2.0/schemas/

6. Overlay Icons

This extension adds a big application icon to each application on the Activities overview page. This makes it easier for you to locate the application window that you are looking for.

Seriously, I think this should be part of the Gnome Shell feature, rather than having to install an extension to enable it.

7. Places Status Indicator

This is a simple extension that add a systems status menu for quickly navigating places in the system. Simple, yet useful.

8. Calculator

Instead of opening the calculator app every time you need to do a quick maths, this extension allows you to do calculation on the search overview. Simply go to the Activities overview page and type your maths in the search field. The result will instantly appear at the center of the screen.

9. Coverflow Alt-Tab

Are you bored of the default Alt + Tab windows switching behavior? This extension adds a coverflow animation so you can switch your windows in style.

10. Mint Gnome Shell Extension (MGSE)

The Linux Mint MGSE contains few of the best extensions that are not found in the Gnome Shell Extension library. The Bottom Panel and Windows List extension make Gnome Shell a much better, and usable desktop manager.

Conclusion

Here you are – 10 of the best Gnome Shell extensions. I am sure to have missed out a few, do tell us about your favorite extension in the comments.

Installation

The current version of AdaptableGimp is based on Gimp 2.6.10. If you are using Gimp 2.6.11 (the default in Ubuntu repsitory), or the latest 2.6.12, you will have to first uninstall your version of Gimp and downgrade to the older version.

For Windows, you can simply download the .exe file and install in your system. For Linux, if you are using 32bit Debian/Ubuntu-based distro, you can download the deb files. For other distro or 64-bit Linux system, you will have to compile and install from source.

On a 32-bit Ubuntu/Debian system, first install the libgimp2.0_2.6.10-0ubuntu0_i386.deb, followed by gimp-data_2.6.10-0ubuntu0_all.deb, and lastly adaptablegimp_2.6.10-0ubuntu0_i386.deb.

Usage

To run AdaptableGimp, press “Alt + F2″ and type “adaptablegimp“. You should see Gimp start loading. Once it is loaded up, it will prompt you to login to an AdaptableGimp account. This will link you to the AdaptableGimp wiki and you will be given recognition for the taskset that you have created. If however, you don’t wish to login to any account, you can simply select the “Start without an AdaptableGimp account” option.

The interface is almost identical to Gimp except for the toolbar. Instead of a list of tool icons, it now shows a search box allowing you to search for taskset.

To perform tasks, you just perform a search in the search field and it will retrieve the relevant instructions. For example, when I search for “Selective colorization”, it retrieve the taskset from the wiki and display them in the toolbar: Do a Fuzzy Select, Feather, Invert, Channel Mixer, Free Select, Rectangle Select. Seldom is the instruction more than 6 steps as that is usually the average to complete a task.

For more detail instructions, you can even click the “i” beside the step to open up the wiki.

Creating your own taskset

With such a useful tool available, you might also want to create your own tasksets, either to share with others, or just to keep a record of the various steps you have done to accomplish a complicated task. To create a new taskset, you just have to click the dropdown on the toolbar and select the “Create New Taskset” option.

You can then add the required tools to the taskset command and the description. Once you have completed, click the Save Changes button and your taskset will be saved to the AdaptableGimp wiki.

Conclusion

If you are already an expert Gimp user, you won’t really have much use for AdaptableGimp. However, for those who wish to master Gimp, and don’t mind using an older version of Gimp, AdaptableGimp is one useful tool that can help you out. It is also a good thing that AdaptableGimp works in an open community environment where users can manage existing tasksets and submit new one. The more tasksets it has in its library, the more powerful and useful it is.

What do you think? Is AdaptableGimp a useful tool for you?

Toggle Time Tracker is a great web based time tracker app that allows you to track the time spent on projects. It is cross-platform compatible and comes with desktop client for the different OS (Mac, Linux, Windows, iOS and Android).

The PRO account allows you to add tasks, track billable rates and you can integrate with Basecamp, Quickbooks, Freshbooks, and many other third party software. The best thing is you can share reports with your clients so they can have a real-time overview of the time you spent on the projects.

Update: Contest Closed.

Here’s what you need to do to win:

Tweet to Enter

All you have to do is click the link below and send out the resulting tweet (or just copy and paste), then leave a comment below with a link to your tweet. That’s it!

This giveaway begins now and ends Friday, 10th February 2012 at 2359hrs Pacific Time. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email.

Share and enjoy!

Toggl Time Tracker

MakeTechEasier would like to thank Toggl for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interested in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us.

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Currently, our newsletter is sent daily with all the articles (full length) that were published on that day. Here are a few choices:

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The usage is simple. Create an account with Toggl. The basic account is free and allows up to 5 users. Beyond that, it will cost $5 per user/month. Once you are logged in to Toggl, you will see an input field “What are you working on?” and the Start button. To get started, simply enter a description for your task and click the “Start” button. How difficult can that be?

For more detail, you can also setup Projects, define your own start and end time and add tags.

For those who prefer a desktop version, you can also go to its widget page

This is how it look like for a desktop app.

They might be simple, but they are very usable.

Of course, it would be useless if you are not able to view or export the reports. In Toggl, you can view reports according to projects, user (for multi-users account), weekly or time entries. The export format it currently supported is pdf and csv.

For PRO accounts, you can also integrate with BaseCamp, Freshbooks, ActiveCollab, QuickBooks etc.

In short, Toggl is a simple, yet useful web based Time Tracker that you can use. If you are using multiple OSes and need to access your data at all time, Toggl is definitely one app that I would recommend.

That is about to change. We are coming up with a new FAQ section where you can email us your problems and we will answer them on a weekly column.

For a start, we are going to focus on Windows first. Here’s what you need to do:

Send your question(s) (please provide as many detail as possible) to windows-help [at] maketecheasier.com or send us a tweet @maketecheasier.

That’s it.

Don’t wait, send in your questions now!

Feedbacks are welcome.

Image credit: Colin_K

Installation

On Ubuntu, you can install via the following PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:marlin-devs/marlin-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install marlin

You might also want to install the Marlin plugins for Dropbox and UbuntuOne

sudo apt-get install marlin-plugin-dropbox marlin-plugin-ubuntuone

Once installed, you can right click on any folder and select “Open with Marlin File Manager”.

Usage

The first impression of opening Marlin is that: it is fast. Usually when I open Nautilus, it will take about 3 -5 seconds, even on a high-end PC, to open. On the other hand, Marlin opens up instantly. To me, the speed difference is noticeable and significant.

On the left pane is the “Places” menu where it lists the main directory and mounted devices. Unlike Nautilus, there is no Bookmarks feature where you can save your frequently accessed folders, but the menu is collapsible so you can hide the places you don’t want to see.

Marlin supports “Open In Tab” feature and you can color tagged each file and folder to distinguish them from the rest.

One of the things that work right out of the box is the ability to right-click on a file or folder and select “Open in Terminal”. This is one function that I use very frequently and I am glad it is built right into Marlin.

Personally, I find the toolbar rather well-organized and slick, but in case you don’t like it, you can reorder the icons and add/remove icon to/from the toolbar.

When it comes to the configuration section, it doesn’t seems to have as many options as Nautilus. There are only three tabs: Behavior, Display and Extensions.

Under the Behavior tab, you can choose whether to single-click to open file, mouse auto-selection speed, use modal window for Properties dialog (the window that pop up when you right click a file and select “Properties”) and to set it as the default file manager.

This is what you will see for the Properties dialog window:

The Display section allows you to customize the sidebar icon size and the date display format. Nothing too special here.

Lastly, the Extensions section is where you activate the installed plugins. Currently, there are only two plugins available: Dropbox and UbuntuOne.

Preview Files in Marlin

If you have installed Gloobus-Preview, you can also get it to work in Marlin. Here are the steps:

Press Alt + F2 and type dconf-editor.

In the dconf-editor, navigate to “apps -> marlin -> preferences“. Under the “previewer-path”, enter:

/usr/bin/gloobus-preview

Press Enter, and exit the dconf-editor.

Conclusion

If you prefer a lightweight, slick and fast file manager, I would definitely recommend Marlin. I have always used Nautilus, not because it is the best, but because it is the default in Gnome. After using Marlin, I have not looked back at Nautilus anymore.

Try it out and let us know if you like Marlin.

2. Extract the zip file. Open the backup.php with a text editor and edit your database and Dropbox credential.

Optionally, you can create a backup folder in your Dropbox and insert the name of the folder to the backup.php. Your database will then be backed up to this folder.

3. Save and close the file. Upload the whole backup folder to your server. Note the uploaded location relative to the server root.

4. If you are using cPanel for your web hosting, log into it and go to the cron job section.

5. Create a new cron job. You can set the time and frequency to backup the database. Under the command field, copy and paste the following command:

/usr/bin/php -q /path-to-backup-folder/backup/backup.php

Change the “path-to-backup-folder” to the location (relative to the server root) where you upload the backup folder.

6. Save the cron job.

That’s it. Now, your server will backup your database and upload it to your Dropbox account.

Note: This is a generic method for backing up any database on a Linux server. However, if you are using WordPress, there are plugins that you can use to back up your database to Dropbox. One thing to note: if you have a big database, using the plugin to backup your database will use a lot of system resources and and might slow down (or even crash) your WordPress site if your server is not up to par.

Image credit: Backup word on white keyboard by Big Stock Photo.

The installation is pretty straightforward.

Go to Desura’s homepage and click the “Download Desura” button. Depending on your OS, it will download either an .exe or a tar file. For Linux, you just have to extract the tar file and double-click the Desura file. The installer will start and download the module from the server. Once the installation is completed, you will be able to login to Desura.

If you do not have an account with Desura, this is the time to create it. The registration is free. Once you are logged in, you will be able to search for games.

At each game page, you can watch the game trailer, read the summary and check out the comments of other users. If you like what you see, simply click the “Install game” button at the top right of the screen to install (or buy) the game.

For all those games that you have installed, you will be able to find them on the Play tab. You can either launch the game or uninstall them. It is always good to be able to manage all your games in one place.

Desura is very community focused. That means you can participate in forums, discussions or even submit mods that you have developed. For game developers, you can also get involved and have Desura distribute your games for you. It is a good way to expand your reach to a large group of gamers instantly.

Give Desura a try and let us know if it is useful to you.

Desura

Installation

If you are using 32-bit Linux, all you have to do is to download the tar file (from here) and extract it to your Home folder. After the extraction, simply double-click on the “SuperFlexibleSynchronizer” file to run it.

If you are using 64-bit Linux, you will have to install the 32-bit libraries before you can use it:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

This is how it looks when you first run it.

Usage

To configure it, click on the “Advanced Mode” link at the top right corner. This is what you will see. Click on the first button (the + icon) to setup a profile.

1. Give a name to this new profile.

2. At the next section, there are two input fields – 1 on the left and 1 on the right. The left is where you select the directory to backup and the right is the backup destination. For file restoration, select the “right to left” option. For the backup destination, you can select a local folder, an external hard drive, or a network drive. The “Internet” option allows you to setup cloud storage, such as FTP, WebDav, Amazon S3 and Google Docs. Note that to upload files of any type to Google Docs, you will need a premium Google App account. For basic and personal account, you can only upload documents that can be converted to files in Google Docs (such as Words, Excel spreadsheet, Powerpoint presentations etc).

3. At the “Sync Operation Mode” section, you configure whether it should just backup the source directory, or perform a synchronization. The “Standard Copying” and “Move Files to Destination” serve the same purpose, except that the latter will delete all files in the source folder. The “Smart Tracking” option refer to a 2 ways synchronization between the source and destination folders.

4. Once you have setup your backup source and destination location, you can continue to schedule a time to run this profile. Additionally, you can configure more advanced settings like version control, zip archive your backups, number of retries and so on.

5. Lastly, click the “Save as” button to save the profile.

Back to the main window, you can now press the “Play” button to run the profile.

More Configuration Options

There are tons of things that Super Flexible File Synchronizer can do than just simple backup. You can setup a password protection so only you can access the backup settings or set it to send you an email when the task is completed. It also comes with a version controlling system so you can restore to files that you have amended or deleted accidentally. What I love is the scheduling tool that allows you to control the particular timing (down to the seconds) to run the profile, not to mention that you can setup multiple profiles for different backup jobs. You just need to set it up once and it will automate the backup process. Cool.

Conclusion

The Windows and Mac version are available for US$59.90, so the free Linux version is definitely a steal. I am not sure if it will be free forever, so grab it while it is still available.

SuperFlexible File Synchronizer

You need to have experience in using Linux and be proficient with the app and command line. You also need to be able to come up plenty of tweaks, hacks, mods, software review and capable of explaining them in an easy-to-understand manner.

Conditions:

Passionate about Linux.
Confident and experienced writer.
Always on the loop for latest Linux news and update.
Able to come up with 1-2 articles per week.
Able to meet publication deadline.

To Apply:

Write to us at writers [at] maketecheasier.com, with the subject “Application as a Linux writer”. Do not send us your resume. Include in the mail your years of experience as a writer, the blog(s) that you have wrote for and your level of proficiency in Linux. We will certainly ask you for a sample of your writing.

PS: We are not looking for guest posters. Guest posters, please refrain from sending us email. They will not be entertained.

2. Scroll down the list to find the RSS feed icon. Drag it to the top toolbar, either to the left or to the right of the URL bar. Click the Done button.

That’s it.

On a website that does not provide RSS feed, the icon will be greyed out. Once it detected the presence of a RSS feed, it will be active and you can once again click on it to subscribe to the feed.

gksu gedit /etc/hostname

You should see a line stating your current hostname. For eg. damien-desktop

2. Change the hostname to something you desired. Save and close the file.

3. Back in your terminal, type:

gksu gedit /etc/hosts

4. Change the line:

127.0.1.1	damien-desktop

to

127.0.1.1	your-new-hostname

Save and close the file.

Restart the computer. Your new hostname should appear in the terminal now.

Technology is always evolving, fast. The computer that you bought last year is now obsolete and you are planning to get a new one. Before you walk into the store and pay big bucks to the retailers for the latest PC in town, check out this guide on how you can get a better computer, with more juice and power, without breaking the bank.

For those of us who are not geeky in nature, the easiest (and the most expensive) way of getting a computer is to walk into the retail store and pay for the computer on the shelf. The truth is that, the price of that computer is often twice (or more) its actual cost price. To make it worst, that expensive computer you are getting may not even be the latest model. By selling you an older model, the retailers are making sure that you will have to go back again the next year to upgrade your PC. If this sound familiar to you, stop for a while and think, how can I get a better computer with paying an extra dime for what it should cost?

Build Your Own Computer

It may sound like a complicated task meant only for the geek, but apparently, it is not. With a little research and effort, anyone can build their own computer. The biggest benefit of building your own computer is that you can pack a beast into the computer case for only a fraction of what you are going to pay in the retail store. To make it even better, you can mix and match the different hardware and customize the computer to suit your needs and not the other way round.

The difficult part of building your own computer lies in the sourcing of the various hardware. There are different brands and models of motherboard, CPU, RAMs, hard drive etc and they are all interdependent. Choosing the best combination will require you to do plenty of research. As usual, Google is your best friend. Make full use of it for your research. Once you overcome that, putting them together is just a piece of cake.

Buying the hardware

The essential parts that make up a computer are the motherboard, CPU (with cooling fan), Memory RAM, hard drive, computer case, power supply, keyboard, mouse and monitor. Optional parts include the graphics card, sound card, wireless adaptor (if your motherboard doesn’t come with it), DVD-ROM, extra cooling fans, speakers and various gaming controllers if you are into gaming.

You will want to invest in the motherboard, CPU and RAM. This is the backbone of your computer. The motherboard will determine which type of CPU and RAM you can use. The CPU will determine the speed of your computer and the RAM determines the response time of your applications. My order of preference: first choose the CPU, follow by the motherboard, and then the RAM.

Rule of thumb: don’t get the latest release of the CPU. They might boost the highest speed and latest technology, but they are often very expensive and most of the OS and software are not optimized to fully utilize it yet. Instead, go for the second (or third) best, but choose a motherboard that allows you to upgrade the CPU in the future.

As for the RAM, if possible, fill it up to the maximum that your motherboard can support. If not, try to get a minimum of 8GB RAM. You won’t regret on this.

Use Linux Rather Than Windows

If you are not looking to buy a new computer, but are thinking of boosting the performance of your existing PC, you might want to consider switching your primary OS to Linux (my recommendation is either Ubuntu or Linux Mint for middle to high end computer, and Lubuntu for low-end computer). In my experience of using both Linux and Windows, I have found that Linux has always outperformed Windows in terms of speed, stability and hardware compatibility. This is not to say that Linux is better than Windows, but just that the way that Linux is built makes it suitable for all type of hardware, particularly a low-end computer. If you are building your own computer, using Linux also means that you will save up money on getting a Windows license, so it is killing two birds with one stone.

However, switching to Linux is not as easy as it seems. You have to prepare to learn everything from scratch as the user interface and inner working of Linux is significantly different from Windows. Ubuntu has made it easy to use, but still, it is different from Windows. In addition, if you have a particular software that you need and it is only Windows compatible, switching to Linux is definitely not a good idea. In this case, the best solution you have is to optimize your Windows for the best performance.

Optimizing your OS and Regular Maintenance

Last but not least, your computer will work best if you maintain it regularly and optimize it for the best performance. In Windows, this means clearing the Recycle bin, un-installing unnecessary programs, cleaning up the registry and temporary folders, removing unnecessary services from startup etc. You will be surprised how much speed you can gain by cleaning up you computer regularly. If necessary, reformat your hard disk and re-install Windows again. That will clean up everything and give it a brand new life. The same applies to Linux as well.

Other than that, you should also clean up the internal of your computer (hardware). Open up the computer case and vacuum the internal clean. Keep it dust free and you will find that the fan is no longer as noisy and the CPU is no longer heating up as fast.

Image credit:
Desktop Computer by BigStockPhoto
Hands Installing Computer Parts by BigStockPhoto
two businessmen passing each other money by BigStockPhoto

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In Linux, the most primitive way of using git is via the command line. Once you have installed git (with the command “sudo apt-get install git“), you can use the few commands “git add *“, “git commit“, “git pull“, “git push” to manage your repository. However, the most primitive way doesn’t mean it is the best way. Below are several graphical git client that you can use to make your git usage an easier and better one.

1. Git-cola

Git-cola is developed in Python and comes with the usual pull, push, commit functions. It also comes with a diff-viewer and file staging mode.

In Ubuntu, git-cola is found in the repository and can be installed via Ubuntu Software Center, or via the command:

sudo apt-get install git-cola

2. Gitg

gitg is a simple application. You can commit changes and view the repositories in graphical display. There is also the diff viewer and a file browser, that’s all. Some people love this as a git viewer because of the colorful graphs and great organization, making it easier to see the changes.

In Ubuntu, gitg can be installed with the command:

sudo apt-get install gitg

3. SmartGit

SmartGit is a cross-platform java-based full featured git client. It comes with almost everything you need to manage your git repository. You can pull, push, commit, track changes, clone, stage, branch and access remote repo. It also comes with support for GitHub, Beanstalk, Codebase and Unfuddle. Too bad, it doesn’t work with BitBucket, the hosting provider that I am using.

If you are using Ubuntu Oneiric and have installed the OpenJDK instead of the Sun/Oracle Java runtime, you will find that SmartGit won’t run at all. Here’s thPlanning a wedding and have a Windows Phone 7? Try out these apps to get some inspirations.e fix.

1. Download SmartGit.

2. Extract the tar file to your home folder.

3. Open a file manager and navigate to the bin folder inside the smartgit directory. Open the “smartgit.sh” file with a text editor.

Change the line

#SMARTGIT_JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/java

to

SMARTGIT_JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk/jre

At the last line of code, change the line:

$_JAVA_EXEC $_VM_PROPERTIES -Xmx${MAXIMUM_HEAP_SIZE} -Dsmartgit.vm-xmx=${MAXIMUM_HEAP_SIZE} -jar "$SMARTGIT_HOME/lib/smartgit.jar" "$@"

to

$_JAVA_EXEC $_VM_PROPERTIES -Xmx${MAXIMUM_HEAP_SIZE} -Dsmartgit.checkIncompatibleJava=false -Dsmartgit.vm-xmx=${MAXIMUM_HEAP_SIZE} -jar "$SMARTGIT_HOME/lib/smartgit.jar" "$@"

Save the file and close it.

4. Lastly, click the “smartgit.sh” file and select Run when prompted.

Smartgit is free for non-commercial use.

4. Giggle

Giggle is more of a git viewer. You can view the files and changes that you have previously committed, but you are not able to commit changes or pull/push from/to the git server.

In Ubuntu, you can install Giggle with the command:

sudo apt-get install giggle

5. Git Gui

Git Gui is lightweight and simple, yet one of the most feature complete git client among the list. When you first run it, it will prompt you to either create a new repository, open an existing repo or clone a remote repo. Once opened, you will be able to view the master and branch changes and history, and the database statistics. You can also stage, merge, commit, push changes to the remote server. It might not have a long feature list as SmartGit, but it is definitely more user-friendly and easier to navigate.

Git Gui is available in the Ubuntu repository, so you can install via the command:

sudo apt-get install git-gui

To run it, press “Alt + F2″ and type “git gui” (without the quote).

6. qGit

qgit is yet another git viewer based on the qt framework. If you are on using Gnome, you will find that the interface and icons are very similar to those in KDE (since KDE is based on qt framework as well).

qGit comes with a diff viewer and a revision log viewer, and you can easily switch between both. There is also an Action Builder where you can add and save custom Actions that you use repeatedly. For example, you can create Actions to pull, push, commit the changes rather than doing it on the terminal or other git client.

I am sure there are plenty of other graphical git clients around. What other git client do you use?

Windows 7 doesn’t come with a native application for you to track your Internet usage, but there are several useful and lightweight third-party apps that can easily get the job done.

1. NetStat Live

NetStat Live (NSL) is a small, easy to use TCP/IP protocol monitor which records all incoming and outgoing traffic (the bandwidth, not the data) and lets you see the exact throughput on both incoming and outgoing data. To put it simply, it measures your Internet usage and display them in a easy to read format.

If you noticed, NetStats Live is more than just a bandwidth monitor. It also tracks your CPU usage and show you how quickly your data goes from your computer to another computer on the Internet. So if your Internet connection is slow, you can find out which point of connection is slowing down the data transmission.

NetSats Live

2. tbbMeter

tbbMeter is a bandwidth meter to help you monitor your Internet usage. It comes with a graph to allow you to see how much data your computer is sending to and receiving from the Internet in real time.

The good thing about tbbMeter is that it is highly configurable. You can change the visual style to show animated icon, scrolling graph or bar meter and get it to display the traffic for all Internet connection or only for local connection.

There is also plenty of test tools that you can use to test your Internet connection. My personal favorite is the Speedtest that measure how fast my Internet connection is.

There are many more features in tbbMeter that are not mentioned above. You really have to try it out to see how useful it is.

tbbMeter

3. BitMeter OS

BitMeter OS is slightly different in that it is cross-platform compatible and it works from your browser rather than a standalone application.

Once installed and started up, it will fire up your browser and display the traffic graph in a new tab.

The main page shows the traffic graph, but you can also select to view the History, Summary, Query (for a specific date range) and even set a alert when your network usage goes above a certain amount.

For those who love a clean interface without clutter and need the ability to zoom into a specific date in the history, BitMeter OS is the one for you.

BitMeter OS

4. FreeMeter

FreeMeter is a small and portable application that acts like a widget on your desktop. It used to be open source, but the developer took down the Open Source tag because someone took the code, rebrand it and publish it as their own. The latest version is now closed source and is only available for download on the developer’s website.

This application is pretty simple. It tracks your traffic usage and show them on the graph, real-time. There is no history or summary feature, but you can run the ping utility to see if a site is up. For those who need a small tool to monitor a spike in Internet usage, this is the one to go for.

FreeMeter

5. Bandwidth Vista

If you need to know the geo-location and IP of the connection that you are making to and from, then Bandwidth Vista is the application for you. Once installed and activated, you will see a map of the world and the traffic graph at the bottom of the map. Points are placed on the map to show the countries/locations of the connection made.

Other features of Bandwidth Vista include a ping utility and an alert function to notify you of excessive data usage.

Bandwidth Vista

Which is your favorite application to track Internet usage?

Image credit: Big Stock Photo

At 98MB, it is not exactly the smallest distro around (DamnSmallLinux is only 50MB), but it serves a purpose. It allows you to boot up quickly on any computer and be able to browse the web. Need to surf in the cybercafe while on a holiday but afraid that there are viruses/malware/tracking tools installed in the computer? BrowserLinux could fill that niche.

After you have downloaded BrowserLinux, you can either burn it into a CD and use it as a Live CD or create a bootable USB drive. If you need persistent data (storing your session or save files), it is best to create a bootable USB drive.

When you boot into BrowserLinux, it will first ask you to setup your video card.

The default method is to select the “Probe” option. If the monitor detection is not successful, simply choose from a list of generic monitor setting.

This is what you will see on the main screen. As can be seen, there is only a Firefox browser icon on the desktop.

Hovering your mouse at the bottom will show a menu dock where you can access the file manager, text editor and the terminal.

Clicking the “More Apps” option also reveal several other pre-installed apps like gFTP, music player, pdf viewer, image viewer etc.

Conclusion

Since it is a lightweight distro, it loads pretty fast and doesn’t take up too much of the resource. Minimal setup are required and it works right out of the box after you boot it up, so that is really great for bringing it on a USB drive. If you really need a distro solely for browsing, then BrowserLinux is one distro that you can consider. For everything else, you might consider installing PuppyLinux or Ubuntu on your thumb drive.

BrowserLinux

Recently, I re-checked the XDA-Developers forum again and found that someone has created a super-easy way to create a dualboot system. I tried it and it works! Here’s what I did:.

Disclaimer: This tutorial will format your tablet hard disk and wipe out all your data. It could also brick your tablet. It would definitely void your warranty. MakeTechEasier will not be held responsible for any damage, data loss, fire or death of a loved one resulting from using this mod for your device.

Note:
1. This tutorial is based on Linux/Ubuntu. If you are running Windows, this tutorial is not for you.

2. This tutorial only works for Asus Transformer with SBKv1. If your device is running SBKv2. This tutorial is not for you. Here’s how to check if your device is running SBKv1 or SBKv2.

• Download sbkcheck.tar
• Extract the tar file. Open a terminal and cd to the sbkcheck folder
• Put your Asus Transformer to APX mode. To do that, first power off the device. Power on the device again. When you see the Asus EeePad splash screen, press the “Power + Vol up” buttons. When the screen goes black, and remain black, you are in APX mode. Once it is in APX mode, connect the device, via USB to your computer
• Back in the terminal, run the command:

sudo ./sbkcheck

It should return a message whether your device is running SBKv1 or SBKv2. As a general guide, if you bought your Asus Transformer after Aug 2011, most probably it is running SBKv2.

3. The Asus Transformer mentioned in this article is the 1st gen Asus Transformer, not the quad-core Transformer Prime.

Backing up your data

There are a few ways to backup your data. You can either:

1. download a file manager app from market. Use the file manager to transfer important files to the external SD card.

2. Sync your emails, contacts, calendar, files with Google and Dropbox. Even if your device is wiped, your data is still intact in the cloud.

2. For app backup, use Titanium Backup or Titanium Backup Pro if you wish to backup to Dropbox. You will need to root your device first (depending on your firmware, rooting your Asus Transformer is only a 1-click process).

Now that you have verify the SBK version and backed up your data, here the exact steps to create a dual-boot system:

1. Download OLiFE Prime.

2. Extract the file (DO NOT extract the files on a windows type filesystem such as NTFS or FAT or you will run into problems. Do it all inside your linux partition).

3. Open a terminal and cd to the OLiFE directory. Run

sh OLiFE.sh

You will see an agreement page. Read it carefully. Once done, type “understood” and press Enter.

4. In the next screen, press ’2′ to select the flash device option

5. Now, it will show you the different option to flash the device. Regardless what your intention is, choose ’1′ to dualboot.

6. Choose ’1′ to select the Android as the default OS. Ubuntu as the default doesn’t work.

7. Put your device in APX mode and connect it to the computer via USB. The script will now format your device, partition the hard drive and copy the ubuntu and Android img over. This will take a long time, so go grab yourself a coffee and relax.

8. Once it is done, your device will restart and boot into your Android OS.

Installing Ubuntu

Now that the Ubuntu.img is copied over to your device, it is time to install it.

1. Power off your device. Press “Power + Volume Down” button until the splash screen comes alive. At the top, you should see a message asking you to press the “Volume Up” button. Release the “Power + Volume Down” button and press “Volume Up” button. This will boot into the Ubuntu installer (this is also the way to boot into Ubuntu in the future).

2. Once you reach the Ubuntu main screen, proceed on to install Ubuntu (make sure your device is connected to the keyboard dock).

If you don’t have the keyboard dock, connect it to the computer via USB again. On your Linux computer, in the terminal, run the command:

sh OLiFE.sh

This time, press ’5′ to select the “Onscreen keyboard”. You should now see the onscreen keyboard appear on your Ubuntu screen.

3. Proceed with the Ubuntu installation. If everything goes well, you should have a dual OS tablet now.

Post install configuration

Everything works out of the box for Ubuntu on Asus Transformer, however, the Unity desktop is taking up a lot of resources, causing the system to run very slowly. What I did is to open the Ubuntu Software Center and install LXDE – a lightweight desktop manager. Once I switched to LXDE, everything runs smoothly and quickly.

Inject bluetooth firmware

The bluetooth firmware is not included in the Ubuntu installer due to licensing issue. Here’s how you can get bluetooth working on Ubuntu.

Connect the device to your computer again and run the OLiFE script. This time, press ’4′ to select “Inject Firmware”.

Press ’1′ to select the Default Install.

When prompted which firmware to inject, select either one will do.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Reference: XDA-Developers Wiki

1. Install the Tablet Remote app on both the tablet and phone.

2. On your tablet (or the device that you wish to control), run the tablet remote app and go to Setup.

Select the two settings: “Enable Tablet Remote in the settings” and “Change the input method for tablet remote”.

It will bring you to the Settings page. You will have to change the keyboard setting to “Tablet Remote”

3. Next, turn on your tablet bluetooth and pair it with your phone.

On your phone,

1. Turn on the bluetooth and pair it with the tablet. Run the Tablet Remote app and go to the Connection page.

Click on the tablet device to connect to it. Once you see the connected icon, you are ready to control your tablet from your phone.

This is what you will see at the remote control page.

There are a few things you can do with this remote. You can access the Home screen, Menu option, issue the Back command and perform a search. You can also Play, Pause, Fast Forward and Rewind the current video or music. At the two sides are the Volume and Brightness control.

If you put your phone in landscape mode, the remote control will turn into a gamepad where you can use it to play game on your tablet. However, this seems to work only for games that support key input with the gamepad.

The navigation (left, right, up, down and Enter button) is rather filmsy at the moment and it is always a hit or miss when trying to launch an app. However, if you are only using this to control the video playback, volume and brightness, it is a good app to use.

Tablet Remote (market link)

On the first run, it will prompt you to perform a system scan so it can find the problems that are slowing down your PC.

You can click the big “Scan” button to start the scan immediately, or you can click the “Show scan options” link for more configuration options.

Beside the Scan button, you can also select the Scan action, whether to perform a simple “Scan Only”, or a “Scan and Repair”.

If you select the “Scan Only” option, after the scan, it will show you the report of the potential problems that slow down your PC. You can go through the list and select the stuff you want to remove. Lastly, click “Repair Now” to repair the problems.

The System Advisor tab, as its name implies, comes with a series of advices to help you optimize your PC. For example, if you are running Windows on a low-end PC, it will advise you to disable the Aero Effects. Similarly, you can go through the list and select the options that you want to disable. Next, click the “Fix selected” link at the right sidebar. Done.

The Advanced Tools tab comes with many tools such as Disk Maintenance, System Tweaks, Internet Optimizer, Registry Maintenance etc. You can click on any of the tool and run the related optimization.

All in all, Auslogics Boost Speed 5 is a feature-rich optimization tool that covers a wide range of options for your Windows PC. If you are looking to automate the cleaning and optimization process of your PC, this is one software that you can consider using.

Free Giveaways

Thanks to the generosity of Auslogics, we have 10 free license keys to give away.

Update: Contest closed.

Here’s what you need to do to participate:

Tweet to Enter

All you have to do is click the link below and send out the resulting tweet (or just copy and paste), then leave a comment below with a link to your tweet. That’s it!

This giveaway begins now and ends Thursday, 12th January 2012 at 2359hrs Pacific Time. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email.

Share and enjoy!

Auslogics BoostSpeed 5

MakeTechEasier would like to thank Auslogics for their generosity while participating in this giveaway. Interested in sponsoring? We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with us.