elementary OS Luna Beta 2 Available For Download

May 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Five months after the first beta, elementary OS Luna beta 2 has been released yesterday. Based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Luna beta 2 comes with improved multi-monitor support, updated default applications and artwork and more.


elementary OS Luna beta 2 video

Even though there aren’t any major visual changes, except for the improved artwork, I’ve decided to make a video anyway so you can see the beautiful effects and the overall desktop feel of this beautiful Linux distribution. And obviously, you can also check out some of the changes in the latest Luna beta 2.


(direct video link)

Changes in elementary OS Luna beta 2

Changes / new features in elementary OS Luna beta 2 since beta 1:

  • Switchboard (system settings) now includes two new Keyboard and Power sections as well as an option to switch dock (Plank) themes;
  • improved multi-monitor support for Plank and Wingpanel;
  • improved elementary theme (both GTK and icon theme), including brand new folder icons, file manager icon and emoticons set;
  • Shotwell, Midori, Noise (now called Music), Geary and Pantheon Terminal have received various enhancements and bug fixes:
  • Geary email client now includes multiple account support, “collapsed” messages in conversations, “important” folder support, option to mark emails as spam and many bug fixes;
  • Midori, the default elementary OS web browser has received a customizable new tab page behavior, a new Cookie Security Manager extension, improved extension loading, a reworked downloads backend, etc.
  • Noise is now called “Music” and the latest version comes with duplicate-detection, some design updates, improved external device support and more.
  • better translations support;
  • many bug fixes;
  • more.

    • Below you can see some elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots:

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    System Settings (Switchboard)

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    New Power settings

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    New Keyboard settings

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    New Keyboard settings
    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Pantheon Dock (Plank) settings
    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Plank – switching between themes

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Plank – switching between themes
    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Geary email client

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    elementary OS desktop / Calendar indicator
    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Pantheon Files (Marlin fork) and the new elementary OS icon theme folder icons

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Midori web browser

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Music (Noise)

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Expose (Super + W)

    elementary OS Luna beta 2 screenshots
    Workspace switcher (Super + S)

    For more about elementary OS Luna, see our beta 1 article.

    Download elementary OS Luna Beta 2

    If you’ve installed elementary OS Luna beta 1 or a daily build and have all the packages up to date (e.g.: updated using Update Manager, “apt-get upgrade”, etc.), you already have the latest beta 2 so there’s no need to reinstall.
    To read the official release notes, see how you can contribute or download elementary OS Luna beta 2, see announcement @ elementaryos.org

    Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.


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    Ubuntu Might Get A New Simplified Packaging Format And App Installer

    May 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    According to a recent message posted on the Ubuntu Devel mailing list by Colin Watson, Installer Team leader, Ubuntu might get a new, simplified packaging format and app installer which should make it easier for developers to get their software into Ubuntu. This will target, at least initially, the Ubuntu phone/tablet but it should be usable elsewhere too, even on non-Ubuntu or non-Linux systems.

    The already existing packages won’t change and Ubuntu will continue to use dpkg and apt, syncing with Debian and so on.
    “Click packages” (the new packaging format) is aimed at making it easier to build packages for Ubuntu: no dependencies between applications, no maintainer scripts and each app will be installed in its own directory.
    The new package format needs a new installer and there’s already a proof of concept low-level app package installer that’s entirely new code – highlights of what it can do so far:
    • no dependencies between apps; single implicit dependency on the base system by way of a Click-Base-System field;
    • installs each app to an entirely separate directory;
    • entirely declarative: maintainer scripts are forbidden;
    • base package manager overhead, i.e. the time required to install a trivial package containing a single small file, is about 0.15 seconds on a newish x86 laptop and about 0.6 seconds on a Nexus 7 (and that’s with the current prototype implementation in Python; a later implementation could be in C and would then be faster still);
    • not limited to installing as root, although there may be similar constraints elsewhere to ensure that apps can’t edit their own code at run-time
    • packages built by feeding the intended output directory tree to a simple Python tool, plus a manifest.json file;
    • building packages requires only the Python standard library, with the intent that it should be possible to build these packages quite easily on non-Ubuntu or even non-Linux systems;
    • binary packaging format sufficiently similar to existing one that we could add support to higher-level tools with minimal effort;
    • strawman design for hooks into system packages, which will be entirely declarative from the app’s point of view;
    • unit-tested from the start.

    The Ubuntu developers have also looked into similar existing tools such as Listaller or 0install but there are some things which they prefer to do differently; e.g.: Listaller is dependency-based and they prefer this to be as independent as possible and 0install would also need some system integration problems to be solved, so instead, they’ve decided to create a new installer.
    The proof of concept installer is currently under 300 lines of code (Python) and obviously, still needs work. The prototype will be ready in time for UDS next week and there’s also going to be an UDS session to discuss this.
    For more info, see Colin Watson’s message @ Ubuntu Devel mailing list. 

    Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.


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    Using ngx_pagespeed With nginx On Debian Wheezy

    May 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    Using ngx_pagespeed With nginx On Debian Wheezy

    Google has just released PageSpeed Beta for nginx, the nginx equivalent of mod_pagespeed for Apache. This module applies web performance best practices to pages, and associated assets (CSS, JavaScript, images) and therefore speeds up your web site and reduces load times. This tutorial explains how to use PageSpeed with nginx on Debian Wheezy.

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    How To Upgrade Debian Squeeze To Wheezy

    May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    How To Upgrade Debian Squeeze To Wheezy

    The new Debian Wheezy has just been released. This tutorial explains how to upgrade your system from Debian Squeeze to Debian Wheezy.

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    Cinnamon 1.8 Gets Its Own Control Center And Screensaver, Easier Spices Installation

    May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    Cinnamon, the desktop environment used by default in Linux Mint, has reached version 1.8, getting its own Control Center, screensaver and more.

    Cinnamon is a GNOME Shell fork which tries to offer the layout and customizability of GNOME 2: by default there’s a panel at the bottom (but optionally, you can also get one on top like in GNOME 2) that supports autohide, it supports applets, a classic system tray and more.

    Let’s take a look at what’s new in the latest Cinnamon 1.8!

    Cinnamon 1.8 video

    Below you can watch a video which presents the most important changes in Cinnamon 1.8:


    (direct video link; for more videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel)

    Sorry for the fonts in the video, it’s an YouTube bug because the fonts look ok in my original video. The fonts don’t look like that when using Cinnamon.

    What’s new in Cinnamon 1.8

    Cinnamon 1.8 no longer uses gnome-session for fallback which has advantages such as the ability to restart Cinnamon after a crash or the use of a wrapper which allows Cinnamon to restart itself after potential crashes. This should also fix the issue with Cinnamon not working on some hardware which was actually capable of running it.
    Cinnamon 1.8 comes with its own Control Center, so there’s no longer the need to use GNOME Control Center. This is especially useful if you have installed multiple desktop environments: features that are GNOME Shell or Unity specific don’t show up in Cinnamon Control Center, so you should now have a more clean, less confusing settings app. 
    In Cinnamon Settings you can find all the GNOME settings that also apply to Cinnamon as well as Cinnamon-specific settings such as applets, desklets, theme settings, windows behavior, hot corners setup, panel settings and more:

    Cinnamon Control Center

    By default, Cinnamon Control Center displays only some of the system settings and for more advanced settings you must click the “Switch to Advanced Mode” button in the lower left corner.
    The Cinnamon Screensaver about which we were telling you a while back, is available by default with Cinnamon 1.8. The screensaver is very simplistic, displaying the date and time on a shaded background and optionally, it can also display an away message:

    Cinnamon Screensaver

    Cinnamon screensaver settings
    The new Cinnamon release also introduces “Desklets” (desktop widgets), but since this is a new feature, there are only a few available for now:

    Cinnamon Desklets

    Cinnamon desklets settings

    The desklets can be set to snap to a desklets grid so they align nicely, with configurable grid width and users can also select if the desklets should use a border, border and header or no decoration at all.
    Another interesting new feature in Cinnamon 1.8 is that you can install or update “spices” (which include applets, desklets, themes or extensions) directly from the desktop, via Cinnamon Control Center, so Cinnamon users no longer need to manually download and install them from http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com:

    Cinnamon 1.8 applets install

    In my test, installing themes didn’t work for some reason, maybe because the available themes aren’t compatible with the latest Cinnamon 1.8 yet, but I was able to successfully install applets and desklets.
    And finally, Nemo, the default Cinnamon file manager, has received many improvements since the previous stable release that’s available in Linux Mint 14 (1.1.2), such as:
    • buttons in the statusbar to easily hide the sidebar and switch between places and treeview (sidebar);
    • option to hide the menu;
    • collapsable sidebar categories;
    • breadcrumbs;
    • Sidebar Disk Indicators: indicators are displayed under each drive, displaying the free/used space;
    • various fixes and more.

    Cinnamon 1.8 Nemo
    Nemo 1.8

    See how to install Nemo file manager in Ubuntu.

    Other changes:

    • Cinnamon now automatically falls back to Software Rendering (previously known as Cinnamon 2D) when the full Cinnamon is not supported – a critical notification is displayed on startup when running Software Rendering – this usually happens because of a problem with the drivers or if the graphics card doesn’t support any acceleration;
    • improved hot-corner configuration;
    • new coverflow and timeline alt-tab;
    • updated default applets, many fixes, etc.
    Cinnamon hot-corner configuration

    Cinnamon coverflow alt-tab
    Coverflow ATL-TAB style

    Cinnamon timeline alt-tab
    Timeline ALT-TAB style

    Bumpmaps, a feature that was supposed to be added in Cinnamon 1.8 didn’t make it unfortunately as it’s not yet fully ready.

    Install Cinnamon 1.8 in Ubuntu

    Cinnamon 1.8 will be available by default in Linux Mint 15 (Cinnamon Edition – RC should be out mid-may) and it should also be available in the “Romeo” repository for Linux Mint 13 and 14 soon.
    Ubuntu Precise, Quantal, Raring and Saucy users can install the latest Cinnamon via PPA:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install cinnamon

    Once installed, log out and select Cinnamon from the login screen.

    For other Linux distributions, see the Cinnamon downloads page.

    Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.


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    The Perfect Server – Debian Wheezy (Apache2, BIND, Dovecot, ISPConfig 3)

    May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    The Perfect Server – Debian Wheezy (Apache2, BIND, Dovecot, ISPConfig 3)

    This tutorial shows how to prepare a Debian Wheezy server (with Apache2, BIND, Dovecot) for the installation of ISPConfig 3, and how to install ISPConfig 3. ISPConfig 3 is a webhosting control panel that allows you to configure the following services through a web browser: Apache or nginx web server, Postfix mail server, Courier or Dovecot IMAP/POP3 server, MySQL, BIND or MyDNS nameserver, PureFTPd, SpamAssassin, ClamAV, and many more. This setup covers Apache (instead of nginx), BIND (instead of MyDNS), and Dovecot (instead of Courier).

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    The Perfect Desktop – Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail)

    May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    The Perfect Desktop – Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail)

    This tutorial shows how you can set up an Ubuntu 13.04 desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

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    Install Linux Malware Detect (LMD) On CentOS

    May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    Install Linux Malware Detect (LMD) On CentOS

    In this tutorial I will show you how to install and configure a great malware detector software called LMD (Linux Malware Detect) in your CentOS server.

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    Get Nautilus 3.4 Features Back In Ubuntu 13.04 With SolusOS Patched Nautilus

    May 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
    Patched Nautilus 3.4 dual pane Ubuntu 13.04

    Ubuntu 13.04 uses Nautilus 3.6 by default, for which some features that were available in Nautilus 3.4 are no longer available, such as the dual pane view, sidebar tree view and more.

    If you want these features back in Ubuntu 13.04, a proper appmenu for Nautilus along with other features / options such as:

    • customizable toolbar with back / forward buttons on the left: you can add or remove the up, refresh, home, computer and search icons and you can also add the old location / path bar toggle button which was removed from Nautilus starting with version 2.30;
    • unified toolbar that spreads across the whole window width unlike in the original Nautilus 3.4 (also, only one toolbar is used when using the extra pane (F3) feature);
    • other minor features like displaying the icons in the pathbar for Documents, Downloads, etc.

    … you can install the patched SolusOS Nautilus 3.4 which I’ve uploaded today in the WebUpd8 Experiments PPA for Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail). This patched Nautilus is also available for Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04 in the same PPA, as you probably already know.

    Patched Nautilus 3.4 dual pane
    The Nautilus 3.4 package in the WebUpd8 Experiments PPA also comes with all the patches from Ubuntu (12.10) (as opposed to Nemo for instance, a Nautilus 3.4 fork that has a very nice set of features as well).

    Install the (SolusOS) patched Nautilus 3.4 in Ubuntu

    Note: if you’re using the GNOME 3 PPA, you have Nautilus 3.8 so the instructions below won’t work! This is only for those who are using the official Nautilus 3.6 packages from the Ubuntu 13.04 (or 12.10 and 12.04) repositories.
    To install the patched Nautilus 3.4 in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail (it’s also available for Ubuntu 12.10 and 12.04), use the following commands:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/experiments
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
    killall nautilus

    (it seems “nautilus -q” doesn’t always work if you’ve upgraded / downgraded Nautilus)

    Warning: if the dist-upgrade command tries to remove some packages, it means your system is broken and you need to fix this before proceeding; do not continue with the upgrade if that’s the case.

    That’s it! Now open Nautilus and you should have the SoluOS patched Nautilus 3.4.

    By default, you’ll get a Computer icon on the desktop. If you don’t want this, use the following command:

    gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.desktop computer-icon-visible false

    Reverting the changes

    If you want to remove the patched Nautilus 3.4 and go back to the Nautilus version you were using before adding our PPA, use the following commands to purge the WebUpd8 Experiments PPA:
    sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
    sudo ppa-purge ppa:webupd8team/experiments
    killall nautilus

    Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.


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    The Perfect Server – Ubuntu 13.04 (nginx, BIND, Dovecot, ISPConfig 3)

    May 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

    The Perfect Server – Ubuntu 13.04 (nginx, BIND, Dovecot, ISPConfig 3)

    This tutorial shows how to prepare an Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) server (with nginx, BIND, Dovecot) for the installation of ISPConfig 3, and how to install ISPConfig 3. ISPConfig 3 is a webhosting control panel that allows you to configure the following services through a web browser: Apache or nginx web server, Postfix mail server, Courier or Dovecot IMAP/POP3 server, MySQL, BIND or MyDNS nameserver, PureFTPd, SpamAssassin, ClamAV, and many more. This setup covers nginx (instead of Apache), BIND (instead of MyDNS), and Dovecot (instead of Courier).

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    Install Pepper Flash Player For Chromium In Ubuntu Via PPA

    April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
    As you probably know, the latest Adobe Flash Player versions are available on Linux only through Google Chrome, while other browsers are stuck with version 11.2. If you want to use Chromium browser instead of Google Chrome, here’s an easy way to install Pepper Flash Player.

    The latest Adobe Flash Player that’s bundled with Google Chrome doesn’t work with browsers like Firefox for instance, because it requires an API called “Pepper” that’s only available in Google Chrome and Chromium. A while back we wrote about using Pepper Flash from Google Chrome in Chromium browser by installing Google Chrome and manually adding the Pepper Flash plugin but here’s an easier way to do it under Ubuntu: by using a PPA.

    Pepper Flash Chromium Browser
    In case you’re wondering what are the differences between Google Chrome and Chromium (besides the logo), here are a few:
    • Google Chrome is not open source (and thus not available in the official distribution repositories) while Chromium is;
    • Google Chrome is tested by the Chrome developers while Chromium may be modified by distributions; for instance, Chromium in Ubuntu is modified to support the WebApps feature while Google Chrome, being closed source, doesn’t come with these modifications and thus doesn’t support WebApps;
    • Google Chrome comes with optional user metrics;
    • Google Chrome comes with proprietary plugins such as a PDF viewer and Adobe Flash Player (Pepper).

    Install Pepper Flash for Chromium in Ubuntu

    The Pepper Flash Installer available in the PPA automatically downloads Google Chrome (stable), extracts the Pepper Flash files and installs only those files. Google Chrome itself won’t be installed.
    The package is just an installer and doesn’t contain any Google Chrome / Adobe Flash files, like the official flashplugin-installer or out oracle-java-installer.
    To add the PPA and install Adobe Pepper Flash from Google Chrome in Ubuntu (to be used in Chromium), use the following commands:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skunk/pepper-flash
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install pepflashplugin-installer

    Once installed, there’s one more step to get Chromium to use the Google Chrome Pepper Flash Player: you need to open /etc/chromium-browser/default as root with a text editor (e.g.: gedit – which I’ll use in the command below):

    sudo apt-get install gksu #it`s not installed by default in Ubuntu 13.04
    gksu gksu gedit /etc/chromium-browser/default

    (“gksu” is used twice to avoid a bug with Gedit opening a blank file next to our file)

    and in that file, paste the followng line at the bottom of the file (after the CHROMIUM_FLAGS=”" line):

    . /usr/lib/pepflashplugin-installer/pepflashplayer.sh

    (yes, there’s a dot in the beginning of the line, then a space!)

    Pepper Flash Chromium Browser
    That’s it. Now restart Chromium browser, visit chrome://plugins and check the Adobe Flash Player version (it’s possible you have two, there’s no need to disable the old one because Pepper Flash will be used by default since it’s newer) – it shouldn’t be 11.2.x but a newer version (e.g.: 11.7.700.x at the time I’m writing this article).

    Arch Linux users can install Pepper Flash for Chromium basically in the same way, by using THIS AUR package.

    If you don’t want to use a PPA for this, see: Use Pepper Flash Player From Google Chrome In Chromium Browser.

    Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.


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    Download Lightworks Linux Public Beta [Professional Video Editor]

    April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
    Lightworks, a professional video editing and mastering software, is finally available for Linux, as a public beta.
    Lightworks has been used in renowned Oscar and Emmy Award award-winning films, including The King’s Speech, The Departed, Mission Impossible, Pulp Fiction or Braveheart.

    lightworks linux

    Lightworks Beta for Linux has only been tested on Ubuntu 12.04 and 12.10, Mint 13 and 14 and Lubuntu 13.04. There are some unofficial Fedora rpm files but this is not an officially supported distribution. Also, there’s a pretty big list of known issues and limitations for now, including:
    • support for only Nvidia and ATI graphics;
    • 64bit builds only;
    • no AVI and H.264 MOV export option;
    • AVI files may play back incorrectly with black flashing frames and there might be no audio for some uncompressed AVI files;
    • PNG Image Sequences are slow to export;
    • the record tool, playout tool will not be available in the current Linux Beta build of Lightworks. They will be added in a future Linux Beta build;
    • no SDI or Firewire support;
    • more.

    You can take a look at all these known issues on the Lightworks Beta for Linux downloads page.
    Lightworks is free to use, but if you want extra codecs and support, you need to purchase a $ 60/year PRO license.
    To be able to download Lightworks Beta for Linux, you need to register and agree to the Terms and Conditions:

    Submit feedback or bug reports for the Linux beta, HERE.

    Originally published at WebUpd8: Daily Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.


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