Adjust Ubuntu Unity’s Settings Easily With GUnity

gunity-mainIf you are using Ubuntu Natty, and the Unity desktop, you will surely know that there are very little configuration options available. If you wanted to make any change, your best bet is to install the CompizConfig Setting Manager and search through the vast list for the options that you want to change. If you are looking for something simpler, GUnity is the one for you.

GUnity is a third party application with various options for you to customize the Unity setting. In short, it is the Compiz Config Settings Manager specially for Unity.
[Read more...]

How to AutoHide the Unity Launcher In Ubuntu Natty

unity-launcherOne of the (most hated?) features in Ubuntu is the Unity theme that changed almost every aspect of the familiar GNOME environment that you are used to. You can’t add custom icons to the panel or to the system tray, you have to change your workflow and get used to the dash. To make it worst, you have to put up with a launcher bar that stays on the side and won’t go away until you place a window on top of it. While you won’t be able to change much of the interface, you can, however, change the behavior of the launcher bar and get it to go out of sight (autohide) when not in use. Here’s the way:
[Read more...]

How to Easily Resize Window In Gnome [Quick Tips]

resize-win-iconHow do you usually resize a window? Move your mouse pointer to the corner of the window and click to resize it, simple, right? Well, if you are using Gnome (Linux), resizing an application window can be a hit or miss affair. In some applications (such as Nautilus), the corners width are huge and you can easily click and drag to resize them. However, in other applications, the sidebar and corner width is only a pixel wide and moving your mouse cursor to that exact point (where the cursor become the resize arrowhead) can be a tedious task.

Here are some ways you can use to make resizing the window an easier, and enjoyable task.
[Read more...]

How to Assign/Remap Keyboard Shortcuts For Better Productivity [Linux]

remap-key-mainBy default, Ubuntu comes with a set of keyboard shortcut that you can use straightaway. However, some of these keyboard shortcuts might not be desirable, troublesome, or obstructive and disrupting your productivity. For example, if you have a keyboard with a media button, that button is automatically mapped to Rhythmbox. If your favorite media player is Banshee, or Exaile, you might want to change the keyboard shortcut to your favorite application.

There are several ways to manage your keyboard shortcut in Linux. You can do it via Xmodmap (and Xkeycaps), Gnome Keyboard Shortcut or Compiz. In this article, we will focus mainly on Gnome Keyboard Shortcut and Compiz.
[Read more...]

Using Compiz As A Window Management Tool

compwin-mainYou’ve seen the wobbly windows, you’ve seen the cube, you’ve seen the raindrops. Compiz is just a bunch of useless eye candy right? Wrong. While the flashy effects get most of the attention, Compiz is a top-notch window manager in its own right. In fact, it’s got so many workspace and window management tools that many people use Compiz for years without ever knowing about some of the most useful features. This guide will cover each of the best window management plugins for Compiz and explain how each can be used to create a more productive desktop, with or without wobbly windows.
[Read more...]

Get Compiz-like 3D Effects In Your Firefox

foxtab-mainIf you are into eye-candy and are always looking for ways to impress your non-geek friends with 3D graphical effects, here is another one to add to your collection. FoxTab is a Firefox extension that transforms Firefox into a 3D browser with Compiz-like graphical effects.

The good thing about FoxTab is that it is cross platform compatible (works in Windows, Linux and Mac) and it doesn’t require a high end computer to run. I got it to work in my netbook and it runs without any lag.
[Read more...]

Gnome Shell – Your Next Desktop Environment

gnome-shell-menu-smallSince the release of KDE4, a major overhaul of the KDE desktop, there’s been some grumbling among the Gnome community about if and when Gnome would have a major overhaul. Well with Gnome 3 we’ll have it in the form of Gnome Shell. It pretty much replaces the panel and window manager in a normal Gnome installation with a fully composited environment with some great new functionality.
[Read more...]

Ubuntu: Two Ways to Keep A Clean Desktop Without Affecting Your Efficiency

clean-linuxdesktopI love placing all the shortcut icons and files on my Desktop because it allows me to access to my data quickly and save me the trouble of searching for it in Nautilus.

On the other hand, I also have a passion for clean desktop. I have a huge collection of beautiful wallpapers and I love to set my desktop to rotate the wallpaper every 30 minutes. It is my source of inspiration and seeing the beautiful wallpaper allows me to relax whenever I am too stress out from my work.

Apparently, having a lot of desktop shortcuts and a clean beautiful desktop together is not quite possible. I need a solution, a method that allows me to clean up my Desktop, yet allows me to access to my shortcut icons and files quickly.

[Read more...]

You Want A Beautiful OS? Try Elive

Elive logoWhat do you get when you put a stable operating system, an innovative desktop manager and plenty of eye candies together? You get nothing short of a beautiful and functional OS.

Elive is a Debian-based Linux distro, customized with Enlightenment e17 desktop manager. It is designed with the aim of providing a stable, fully functional and beautiful operating system that can run with minimal hardware requirement.

The current stable version is based on Debian-etch while the version that is under development is based on the recently released Lenny. Knowing the stability and versatility of Debian and the elegant and simplicity of Enlightenment, there are little things that Elive can go wrong.

[Read more...]

How To Turn Any Applications To A Widget In Ubuntu

If you have installed CompizConfig Setting Manager in you Ubuntu, you can easily activate the widget-layer plugin and hide/show your desktop widgets in a Mac dashboard style.

In addition, with some simple configuration, you can also turn any windows/applications into widgets so that they can run in the background (such as playing music) without messing up your desktop. This can also be very useful if you are frequently watching/reading porn confidential stuffs. When someone (such as your boss) walks in, you can quickly hide it without them seeing it.

[Read more...]