Easy Steps to Make GNOME 3 More Efficient Few Linux desktops have brought about such controversy as GNOME 3. It’s been ridiculed, scorned, and hated since it was first released. Thing is, it’s actually a very good desktop. It’s solid, reliable, stable, elegant, simple... and with a few minor tweaks and additions, it can be made into one of the most efficient and user-friendly desktops on the market. Of course, what makes for an efficient and/or user-friendly desktop? I decided to go about this process by first installing a clean Ubuntu GNOME distribution that included GNOME 3.12. Add window buttons For some unknown reason, the developers of GNOME decided to shrug off the standard window buttons (Close, Minimize, Maximize) in favor of a single Close button. By default, you should have the GNOME Tweak Tool installed. Figure 1: Adding the minimize button back to the GNOME 3 windows. Once added, you’ll see the Minimize button, to the left of the close button, ready to serve. Add extensions Add a complete dock
How To Use Facebook Messenger on Linux Pidgin is the Linux IM client with the most features; Facebook is the most popular social network. Lately, though, anyone using Pidgin to connect to Facebook’s chat feature has been seeing this error message: What’s going on? Don’t panic: there is a plugin that uses the new Messenger API to connect Pidgin to Facebook. Get Facebook Chat Working in Pidgin Again Once you’ve installed the plugin restart Pidgin. If you only see Facebook XMPP make sure you’ve actually restarted Pidgin and try again. Once you find Facebook, sign in using your Facebook username, email address or phone number (all three will work). That should be it! One thing you might notice if you use this for Facebook is that people sign in and out of the service pretty much constantly. You’ll find the Plugin option in the Tools menu; configure Libnotify to get the window seen above. Messenger For Desktop, A Facebook-Centric Alternative If you miss these Facebook-specific features, Messenger For Desktop is worth checking out.
How can I low-level format flash memory in Linux? Restore Your USB Key to it's original state After having tooled around with a USB Linux version using your image overwritten or multi partitioned flash pen drive, you might find it necessary to revert it back to a single fat partition (restore the flash pen drive to its original state) that can again be read by all computers. Windows users can follow the Windows instructions below to Restore a Flash Drive using the HP USB Format Tool. For those working from Linux this task can easily be accomplished via the Linux Flash Drive Restoration tutorial that follows. Restoring your USB key to its original state using Windows/Mac OS: Windows and or Mac OS users could use the SD Formatter Tool to reformat and restore a USB Drive. Or alternately, Windows users could use BOOTICE Download, extract, and run Pauly's BOOTICE Tool(1) Select your USB Flash Drive from the list, (2) Click Parts Manage (1) Click Repartitioning (1) Under Disk Mode, Choose USB-FDD, USB-HDD, or USB-ZIP mode I use USB-HDD as it works with every BIOS I use. (2) Click OK A.
Install Oracle Java 8 In Ubuntu Via PPA Repository [JDK8] The Oracle JDK License has changed for releases starting April 16, 2019.The new Oracle Technology Network License Agreement for Oracle Java SE is substantially different from prior Oracle JDK licenses. The new license permits certain uses, such as personal use and development use, at no cost -- but other uses authorized under prior Oracle JDK licenses may no longer be available. Please review the terms carefully before downloading and using this product. Oracle Java 8 is now stable. As a reminder, the WebUpd8 Oracle Java PPA doesn't include any Java binaries, just a script that automatically downloads and install Oracle Java 8. It's also important to note that the Oracle Java 8 installer is considered in alpha and is offered without any guarantees! If you want to install Oracle Java 7 instead, see THIS post (PPA for all supported Ubuntu / Linux Mint versions). Install Oracle Java 8 (JDK8 and JRE8) in Ubuntu or Linux Mint sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-set-default Or, "javac -version":
Need More, Or Updated, Software? Try These 7 Ubuntu PPAs You’ve installed a fresh copy of your favorite Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, either directly on your hard drive or in a virtual machine. The default repositories are pretty good, but since we’re able to add PPAs and other repositories to our installations, we can make our software selection better. Save yourself the time to check around the Internet for the best PPAs to add to your Linux installation – we’ve done the research for you and compiled it all into a simple list to check out! Oibaf and Xorg-Edgers Looking for the latest open graphics drivers? Oibaf is a PPA that includes the very latest graphics drivers, and is updated virtually every day. Similarly, you can also add the X.org-Edgers PPA if you’re concerned about your graphics performance. Additionally, if you plan on using both of these PPAs, make sure that you’re also using the latest kernel that’s available, which you’ll have to download and install yourself. GetDeb and PlayDeb Webupd8 Java LibreOffice Pipelight Conclusion
How to Run an ISO Image File in VirtualBox If some of you did not know, you can run ISO image files using VirtualBox. This is useful because it saves you time and Cds. A while ago I was working on creating my own Custom Ubuntu LiveCD. There was a lot of trial and error involved, which let me to create numerous ISO images. Instructions In order to run an ISO image you must have a virtual machine already created. Next, in the settings window you are going to select “Storage“. You should now see that your ISO image has been transformed into a regular CD and it is ready to be used. If you wish to boot your ISO image, you have to make sure that your CD-ROM is in the correct boot order; above your virtual hard drive. On the main VirtualBox window, click on “Start” to begin the booting process. And you are done, you are booting from our Ubuntu LiveCD without even having to burn it to a CD. Running ISOs in VirtualBox, not only saves you time and CDs but also gives you the freedom of being able to run any LiveCD within seconds.