five things that I wish Ubuntu could Learn from Kubuntu & KDE

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I learned Linux from a gnome/Ubuntu point of view and I will continue to use gnome on my desktop.  With that said I have really been digging on my Kubuntu installation on my netbook for the last week, so I decided to post a list of things I wish Ubuntu could do. I will also list some things that frustrate me about Kubuntu.






What I really wish Ubuntu would Learn from Kubuntu:

~ 1 I wish the nautilus file mgr. would have a pause button for file transfers.

This is one of the greatest strengths of the dolphin file manager. There have been a few times where my laptop was almost out of charge in the middle of a file transfer. If I could have just paused it, then hibernate/suspended  the transfer until I plugged in my charger; I would not have had to franticlfy look for my charger. I used to use the terra copy freeware program to get this functionality in Windows, and it is being bundled into windows 8. I don't understand why a pause button isn't standard on all Operating system file managers. :/

 ~2 I wish  that Nautilus would have a one click way to select/de-select multiple files.

In dolphin when you hover your mouse/tracpad cursor over a selected item, there appears a Plus button which selects the file with one click. If you select a bunch of files, but change your mind about one of them; then just simply click the minus button, and it will be de-selected from the list of files. This feature is extremely handy when sorting files to copy/move, as well as delete. Windows has a similar feature, that shows a check-box that allows you to select/de-select files; but it is buried within the file options...;D~ In all fairness you could still do what I learned to do in Windows XP and Ubuntu, which is just hold the ctrl. key to select/de-select files in Kubuntu as well.

~3 I wish that Ubuntu would learn to integrate desktop customization like KDE has.

What I mean by this is that in Kubuntu KDE user created themes are installed, with ridiculous ease. For example if I dig into the the workspace appearance, under the system settings, you will find the cursor theme tab. Under the cursor theme tab, there is a "Get new theme" button. This button will show a dialouge that will show a ton of cursor themes. After which with one button, you can install the theme of your choice.

This is the  case with the several other options, and one is the login screen. Which I chose to install a "stargate" 9 chevron theme for when my Kubuntu is loading. I still have not figured out how to change the lightDM theme on my Ubuntu side YET.

~4 wish that Ubuntu would have made it as simple to re-install the xScreensaver package.

I guess that Ubuntu was trimming, and that is OK, by me. Especially since in modern computing screen-savers aren't really necessary. Kubuntu did the same thing, but they included a pop-up notification that directed me to a one-click install of a package to extend the functionality of the screen-saver, beyond just a plain boring black screen. I was disappointed that the xscreensaver-gl package in Kubuntu didn't have the matrix-gl screen-saver, until I found the ascii aquarium.

~5 I wish that Ubuntu allowed for more advance control of the Interface.

In Kubuntu I found myself able to easily disable the caps lock key. Kubuntu has mouse/tracpad gestures built right into the distribution. For the record I do really like Unity's gnome shell implementation, except for one major thing. If I zoom out into window switching mode in Unity I can only close the last active window, if I am careful with the global menu. But in the gnome 3 fall-back and Kubuntu when zoomed out in window selection mode, I can choose to select or close any of the windows displayed and the screen. Window switching mode is accessed via the top Left corner in both Kubuntu and Gnome 3 shell.

My only major frustration with Kubuntu as a whole is the plasmoid widgets did not work very well for me. I could not get half of them to work, and the other half looked like crap on my screen.

For the record I will continue to use both desktops. Ubuntu is the only Linux OS on my net-book that I can use, as a modem for my desktop, because my wifi source is in a different room.

If you want to check kubuntu out for yourself, you can download it below:

www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu

Linux Mint 12 review: pt. 3 (B) 10 things 2 do after fresh install.

Top 10 things I do after a fres install continued:

3~ Disable auto-run. This is irritating to my control freak nature.

Notice the check box, at the bottom. 

All settings button leads you back to the main settings menu which looks like this.

4~ set up any necessary user accounts, depending on your specific situation.

I set myself as the admin, and my rommate's account to a standard user.

The plus and minus keys add/remove accounts. You must click the unlock button, as administrator to change any account settings.

Notice auto-login is switched on. I only recommend this,
with a standard user account on a Desktop PC. 

 5~ Change the Wallpaper of the back-ground. I chose the cube wallpaper. Although I really like a lot of the mountain backgrounds in Mint 12.

Notice the Dual-screen working very nicely.
I had to set this up in the Nvidia X server settings.

6~ Install Drop-box to sync my documents.

7~ mouse settings

I increased acceleration & sensativity, and checked show  position of pointer
when the control key is pressed. 

8~ set the nautilus file manager to open folders w/ a single click.

Just click the single click to open items radio button,
and the change is instantly applied.

To get to the File Management preferences go to the edit menu, and down to preferences.

9~ Make sure the Power/Screen settings are set properly for my situation.

On a laptop my main concern is power consumption, and on a Deskotp my main concern is making sure that I can watch movies from start to finish.

The default setting was to turn off after a half an hour.
I also switched the screen lock to off.

I choose Don't suspend when inactive.
Since this is a Desktop critically low power is pointless.

~10 customize my web browser(s) to my individual needs.

In chrome this is super-simple, because I have my g-mail account linked to my browser settings. So all of my extensions, web apps, and book-marks are linked in one easy step.

In Firefox I have to manually re-install all of my extensions, theme, and most common sites I visit I sync as well. I protect my Fire-fox passwords with a Master password.

After I have synced Fire-fox on-line, I choose to sync my  fire-fox data with chrome. Then I put a similar Master password to Google chrome.

Please check out Linux Mint on Distrowatch.com for more information & download it for yourself.

Link: Linux Mint's distrowatch page.

 I would also encourage you to go to the Linux Mint page, and create a user account so that you can help create the ratings for the software you enjoy. After all that is what has made Linux so resilient from the beginning, was peer review of the code. This gives every Linux mint user the chance to be a much needed part of the community. Microsoft or apple tell you what is good by marketing to you, but Linux Mint asks you to Learn from your peers. The Linux Mint community, also has an incredibly helpful community. My (LM) U/N is: zarr0BoogZ.

http://community.linuxmint.com/

Linux Mint 12 review: pt. 3 (A) 10 things 2 do after fresh install.

I would like to start this post with the first things that I do after a clean install.

1~update video drivers
2~initial update
3~Disable auto-run
4~ set up any necessary User accounts/permissions.
5~change the default Wallpaper.
6~Install DropBox to sync my documents.
7~ modify mouse settings.
8~set nautilus to open folders w/ a single click
9~ set the power/screen settings.
10~ modify my  Firefox && chrome web-browsers to suit my needs.

One of the greatest things about Linux mint, is that you don't have to install your codecs to be able to play your media manually after installation. 

CODEC:  " co der- dec oder" a piece of software that is installed to decode your media files. Fore example MP3.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec 

1)update to the newest stable video drivers since I have an Nvidia graphics accelerator card. Nvidia Geforce 210. Cheapest card I could get that was slim enough to fit, a gigabyte of video memory, and HDMI/VGA/DVI.

Searching for available drivers...

I always choose to activate the recommended driver version.

2) initial update. This takes the longest, but is the most crucial.

Your update time may vary, based on your Connection speed to the Internet. 

If you are really curious  about what files Linux Mint is downloading,
click the Right arrow to open up this dialogue. 

The first window of the update manager.

Taking a peek at where the real work getting done in Linux Mint 12

I hope you enjoy this Blog post, and be sure to check out part B...

Mini Post: Linux mint 12 installation slides.

 This is what happens after you successfully finish entering your user data, during the Linux mint 12 installation.

Welcome to Linux Mint.
Welcome and thank you for choosing Linux Mint. This slide show will show you around while the system is being installed on your computer.

Browse the web.
Be fast and safe on the web with Mozilla Firefox. Enjoy Java, Flash, and multimedia content.

Listen to music and CD's.
Enjoy your music with Banshee. Plug-in your MP3 player or extract songs from your audio CDs. Listen to pod-casts and on-line radios. Discover new artists on last.fm, the Internet Archive and the Amazon MP3 store. 

 

Watch videos and DVD's.
Insert a DVD and enjoy a movie. Watch high-definition videos with VLC.

Manage your photos.
Organize, enjoy and share your photos with gThumb or Picasa. Export your albums to CD, to the web, or to on-line services such as flickr or PicasaWeb to share them with friends and family.

Stay connected.
Keep in touch with your friends and contacts, by email, messenger, or on your favorite social networks. Linux Mint provides all you need to interact with Twitter, Facebook, MSN, ICQ, GoogleTalk, AIM, Yahoo and many other networks. 

Be productive.
Use Libre Office to create4 professional documents, spreadsheets, and presentations that are fully compatible with Microsoft Office. Archive documents, emails, or web pages to PDF. Send and receive files with Giver on the local network. Share printers or access them remotely.

Install software.
Browse through 30,000 free applications from the Software Manager. Enjoy screen-shots and user reviews. Install software with one click of the mouse.

Run Windows software.
Install Wine and run Windows software in Linux Mint. Or install Virtual-box, and run Windows itself within Linux Mint.

Customize your desktop.
Make yourself at home and modify any aspect of your desktop. Choose from a large variety of themes, icons and backgrounds. Linux Mint is open and easy to customize.

Keep your system up to date.
Receive fixes and security updates all in one place, for the entire system, including the software you install.

Find help.
If you're curious about something or if you're facing a problem, simply ask around. Linux Mint is the 4h most widely used Operating system in the world. It comes with a user guide, a community website, a collection of tutorials, active forums, and chat rooms, and one of the most dynamic communities on the Internet.