Screenlets is a powerful widgets, and I will give you a tutorials to install screenlets, screenlets is the other options after google gadgets. Google gadgets has a ton of widgets, but screenlets also cannot be ignored. Firstly, you need to take a look of the video.

And this is the tutorial, please follow it carefully.

1. Install through the Repositories
Install through the repositories by open your sources.list , press alt+f2 button.
Code: sudo /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add The Line at the End of the Files
Add this line to the end of the file (for Ubuntu 7.10):

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gilir/ubuntu gutsy main universe

Add this line to the end of the file (for Ubuntu 8.04):
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gilir/ubuntu hardy main universe

3. The Installation

Save and close the text editor. Run this command to update apt repositories:
sudo apt-get update

Install the Screenlets package by typing:
sudo apt-get install screenlets

You also need to install the package of phyton-feedparser if you didn’t install this things:
sudo apt-get install python-feedparser

If starting the Screenlets Manager nags you that Gtkmozembed needs to be installed, some Screenlets may not work. Run this command to fix it:
sudo apt-get install python-gnome2-extras

Press y and enter to accept installing the package without verification.

4. Use Debian Package for Offline Users

For offline users, you can use the getdeb.netpackage and it might help you . Don’t forget to use Compiz Fusion too.

5. Get Started with Screenlets!

The Screenlets manager can be started from the System->Preferences->Screenlets menu item. If it’s not there, you may find it in Applications->Accessories->Screenlets.

As you will see in the Screenlets Manager, the default installation includes a lot of Screenlets. Start a Screenlet by selecting it in the list and clicking the Launch/Add button. If you like the Screenlet, select the Auto start on login box to have it launch automatically. Close a Screenlet by unselecting the Start/Stop box.

6. Mac OS X Style

Compiz’s Widget Layer plugin can be used with Screenlets to achieve an effect similar to the dashboard in Mac OS X. Your Screenlets will only be visible by activating a view that dims the desktop and displays the Screenlets on top of everything else.

In the Appearance Preferences dialog (System->Preferences->Appearance), open the Visual Effects tab and switch to the Custom effects level. If this option is not available, you need to install CompizConfig Settings Manager (CCSM) first:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Now, open CCSM by clicking the Preferences button. Find the Widget Layer plugin and select the box to turn it on.

For all the Screenlets you want on the Widget Layer, open their right-click menus and select Window->Widget. The Screenlet will disappear from your desktop. Press the default Widget Layer key, F9, to dim the desktop and display your widgets.

That’s all of Screenlets tutorial, hope it will make your Ubuntu desktop more cooler. And for tutorial to make your desktop look like Mac OS X, please go to this Link . Please fill the Comments. I really appreciate that.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is a special edition of Ubuntu and right now, it seemed to be there isn’t any kind of installation from ISO cd or VB image of netbook remix available. Fortunately, the Ubuntu Netbook Remix Team offers a Personal Package Archive (PPA) of their great work.

Warning: Ubuntu Netbook Remix packages change a lot of settings on Ubuntu Hardy, including all session files and Nautilus setup. So DO NOT install the packages on your native desktop. You can install this Ubuntu Netbook Remix inside your VMWare or VirtualBox.

After you prepared a virtual machine, installation if fairly easy:

1) Add the PPA to your sources list (click the system->software sources or press alt+f2 and type sudo /etc/apt/sources.list):

2) Update your system and install Ubuntu Netbook Remix:

3) After installation, you need to restart gdm:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

And here is some screenshots (for more screenshots visit Flickr.com):

If your theme didn’t change automatically, please check your appearance settings. There’s a new “human netbook theme” available.

There’s also some issued there’s some bug with the graphical interface. Please contact the Ubuntu Netbook Remix at Launchpad.net if you get some bug. Note that some if this tutorial are came from markusthielmann.com . I got this information after searching for more information about this Ubuntu variant. Please give some comments for question, critism, and suggestion.




IBM already launched they office products for Linux named IBM Lotus Symphony. IBM’s closed source OpenOffice-based free office suite. I’m not really impressed with this office suites but I still will gives some review with the installation tutorial. But it seemed to be this lotus symphony has a few bug and errors.

I already installed the Lotus Symphony final release inside my Ubuntu 8.04 and it works well. OK, this is the tutorial, please read carefully.

1. Before starting the installation, you might need to install an extra dependency or the installer will fail with the error: Installation requires libstdc++.so.5 to continue. Install the package libstdc++5 before continuing: sudo apt-get install libstdc++5

2. Disable your desktop effects, because it seemed to be IBM hasn’t fixed the problem from Beta 3 where the installer fails with Compiz enabled. So, disable the desktop effects.

3. Open terminal and change the directory to the directory where you downloaded the file by typing: cd ~/Desktop

Allow the installer to be executed:

chmod +x IBM_Lotus_Symphony_linux.bin

Run the installer as root:
sudo ./IBM_Lotus_Symphony_linux.bin

The installer will be running and it’s really similiar with windows software installation, you’re just need to follow the instructions.

After the installation, You will find a launcher for Lotus Symphony under Applications->Office->IBM Lotus Symphony.

The first thing you’ll find after the installation, you’ll find that the Lotus Symphony has a great layour, blue and orange interface. Lotus Symphony uses a tabbed interface. Multiple documents, presentations, and spreadsheets can be switched between from one window. A neat feature is the Show Thumbnails button on the tab bar which shows a preview of all open tabs.

This is some screenshots:

Lotus Symphony uses the ODF standard file formats. In my testing I noticed that Lotus Symphony does much better rendering complex diagrams embedded in MS Office documents than OpenOffice 2.4. The font size problems I had with ODT files in the previous Beta seem to have been fixed. File compatibility with MS Office and ODF documents in Lotus Symphony is good.

Finally, this is my conclution about this office suite;
1. The software is much more slower than open office
2. IBM need to improve they office suites to keep up with open office 3.0
3. IBM really needs to fix the bugs in their Linux installer, and start providing DEB packages for easier installation.
4. But still, I like the tabbed interface and the simplicity of the layout, it’s more like MS Office.

That’s all of my reviews with IBM Lotus Symphony 1.0 . Hope this reviews will help you. Some tutorial are taken from tombuntu.com and lotus.com. Please give some comments for question, critism, and suggestion.

In Ubuntu 7.10, there’s a simple Compiz Config Settings Manager if you are installed the Compiz Config Manager. But in Ubuntu 8.04, simple Compiz config settings manager has gone.. A new tool, called Simple Compiz Config Settings Manager now needs to be installed to enable the option. Whether or not you want the Simple CCSM, you need to install it to enable the custom effects level.
To Install Simple Compiz Config Settings Manager:
sudo apt-get install simple-ccsm

After that, you can switch to custom effects. Click the Preferences button in Appearance Preferences to open the simple configuration tool. And to access all options you also need to install the CompizConfig Settings Manager By typing:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

After following those steps you can run CCSM from the System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings menu item.

NB: to use Simple CCSM or CCSM, you need to have the Custom effects option selected.

Google just released the new Google Gadgets for Linux. And now, I will give you some tutorials to install the Google Gadgets. Google Gadgets is a cool software, just like the dashboard of the Mac OS X. The Linux Gadgets features is pretty good although I think the windows gadgets might be better. But with the help of the compiz fusion, things are getting better and better.

OK, now here is the tutorial (ubuntu):

1. Go to System->Administration->Software Sources, and select the Third-Party Software tab.Click the add button or you can go by type in terminal: “sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list and paste in this repository code:
" deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/googlegadgets/ubuntu hardy main "
Close the software sources and reload those software repositories, you can type
” sudo apt-get update ”

2. For the installation, after the software repositories reload, (for ubuntu users or if you in ubuntu right now) just click this . Or you just can type ” sudo apt-get install google-gadgets ” in terminal.

3. Run the Google Gadgets, press alt+f2 and type: ” ggl-gtk ”
if you’re not like the sidebar you can type this by pressing alt+f2 again type: ” ggl-gtk -ns ”

Installation2 (other linux): just download the source code here . And compile it.

If you want the google gadgets start automaticly when you’re restarting the computer go to System->Preferences->Sessions. Click Add and create a new item for Google Gadgets with the command ggl-gtk or ggl-gtk -ns if you don’t want the sidebar.

You also can use the Compiz widget layer plugin to get the effects that similiar just like Mac OS X dashboard. You need to install the compiz-config-manager to do that.

Launch System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. Enable the Widget Layer plugin, and enter its preferences screen. Select the Behavior tab, and type the following into the Widget Windows text box:
class=Ggl-gtk

Your gadgets should now be hidden. Press F9 to toggle the widget layer to show and hide them.

That’s all for today tutorial…

Please leave some comments, I really appreciate that. thx..

some information I got from code.google.com and tombuntu.com .