If you still use Ubuntu 10.04 (like I was) and have the following conditions :

• running Wine applications
• have Intel Graphic Card

Do Not Install | Upgrade Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Or you'll have this black patch bug in your Wine apps (see pic below). This bug was introduced in Ubuntu 10.10 (or so I read) and survives, a very resilient bug this one.

I only tested this on two Wine applications : Amibroker and HOTS (an online stock trading app), they are both affected even on latest 11.04 update.

Upgrade or not to? It's your call of course. 

Some users reported they manage to squash this bug here by using Intel Driver from this PPA. I already did this, it fixes HOTS app but the problem in Amibroker persists.

 

keyword : reason not to upgrade, ubuntu, 11.04

Now that I finally have digiKam back, and not just the old digiKam but the newest 2.0.0 version, I am curious to see if the KIPI Import/Export Plugin for Facebook work properly or not. The last time I tried it, I could not make new album or post to pre-existing one.

And....it works perfectly! KIPI Plugin works like a charm, fast and easy to use, it even automatically resizes images according to your setting before uploading. love it. Great  work digiKam team.

How to use it?
On digiKam export menu, click Export to Facebook (or Alt+Shift+F), there you'll have options to authorize your account (just once), pick photos to upload, to which album, resizing setting and the obvious Upload button.  And you're done.

 

 

If you want a photos management-editor application that also uploads to social networks, try digiKam 2.0.0 (or any software that uses latest KIPI Plugins, I suppose).

To digiKam developer : please add 500px upload plugin :)

 

keyword : ubuntu | digikam | kipi

As I posted earlier my KDE installation is broken so I uninstalled KDE and back to pure Ubuntu. But I miss my KDE apps already, digiKam the most.

And now my working hour is done for today, time to re-installing them but this time around I just want some of KDE application not the whole Desktop Environment.

Re-installing digiKam via Synaptic Package Manager unfortunately also installs many KDE apps I don't need, after googling around I find better alternative and that is via command line.

sudo apt-get --no-install-recommends install digikam

That cut down packages considerably. 

via askubuntu.

 

keyword : install digikam without KDE

For a while I've been using Choqok in Ubuntu, (fyi : I use both Kubuntu and Ubuntu on my desktop) but yesterday my Kubuntu act weird and I decided to reinstalling them later and for now I am Kubuntuless, that means loss of many great apps : digiKam, KNemo, and Choqok.

But because of that, I was looking for Twitter client alternative, and I found a better Twitter Client for Ubuntu, Turpial.

Here's how to install Turpial in Ubuntu via PPA.

Or if you prefer one file installer, you can just download the .deb file, just remember to pick the correct version for your Ubuntu here.

keyword : ubuntu | twitter client | turpial

Sometimes, you need to browse your files as root and delete things, now the problem is how to clean your deleted files that went into root's trash bin safely.

The solution? Use Bleachbit (available on repository) this app is your computer janitor. After installation there would be two launchers : one as root and one as ordinary user.

Choose the Bleachbit (as Root) and then if you want to delete Root's Trash, check the Trash option. Click Preview to see what files are to be deleted and how many hard disk space will be recovered.

keyword : clean | root | trash |

One of few games I play on Ubuntu, the game itself needs no introduction. In one word : addictive.

But a few weeks ago, it stopped working and only displayed splash screen with "You're running the latest offline capable version" message, and it stopped there.

I had many things to concern last weeks (stock market mini crash and stuffs), that only today I have a chance to find the fix. And it's simple enough, it involves deleting local cache, the downside is all my game progress was lost.

And here's how to do it:

• click the Wrench icon -> Preferences -> Under The Hood -> Content Settings -> All Cookies and Site Data
• look for chrome.angrybirds.com
• click it, and you'll find some options under it. Click "local cache" and then delete it
• start Angry Birds

As I told you earlier, your game progress will lost and you have to start all over again.

 

via google support forum.

keyword : angry birds, ubuntu, chrome error

Sometimes when things go wrong with web browsers, it helps to know where its profile and configuration folder are, but unlike Firefox that are easier to find ( /home/username/.mozilla/firefox ), Google Chrome's is a bit harder to find.

But look no more, here's Google Chrome configuration|profile location in Ubuntu : /home/username/.config/google-chrome.

I just show you the way, the rest of the journey (and its consequences is up to you).

keyword : google chrome | ubuntu | configuration | profile

After upgrading mintMenu to 5.2.2, my Places in mintMenu links won't work e.g.= Home, Music, Pictures. When I clicked it, nothing happened.

It's a simple thing actually, but irritating nevertheless.

Here's how to fix it :

• First backup everything in your /home/username/.local/share/applications/ , just copy everything to somewhere safe,
• delete everything in /home/username/.local/share/applications/
• by now your Places should work (mine does) , but your custom launchers won't be there. Did you backed up like I told you? Good, now go to your back up. Search and put your custom launchers back to your /home/username/.local/share/applications.

It works on my system, your mileage may vary though. Use it on your own risk.

I read the method here.

 

keyword : mintmenu places, error, won't open

 

From many choices of Gnome Menu applets out there, I choose mintMenu for its beauty, simplicity, and configurability. What I like most is its ability to pin many favorites apps so I don't have to browse deep into menu or clutter my desktop with launchers.

As the name suggests, it's a default Gnome Menu for Linux Mint, but you can easily install it in Ubuntu. The latest version is mintMenu 5.2.2, you can download mintMenu and its dependecies here.

• mintMenu 5.2.2 
• mint-common 1.0.5 
• mint-translations_2011.08.06  

If you want to check its latest version go here.

keyword : gnome menu applet, mintmenu, latest, ubuntu

Chrome crashes when Compiz' wobbly window effect is enabled, I guess Chrome has a severe motion sickness :p

FYI : in Ubuntu 10.04 + Compiz 0.8.4 + Google Chrome 13.0.782.112.  

 

keyword : Google Chrome | hang | crash | compiz | wobbly

Network Manager is a great tool to manage internet connection and it is integrated well with gnome, but it only works with certain devices. For obscure devices like some CDMA modems, we must use KPPP|Gnome-PPP or the more powerful yet GUI-less wvdial.

For instance Nokia 6255 CDMA phone | modem, for some reason(s) it won't connect with Network Manager, and I have to use wvdial or gnome-ppp or kppp.

Although it connects with gnome-ppp, there's a bug(?) that make it won't share internet connection (either via ethernet nor wi-fi). The fix? Connect the shared connection before you make the internet connection via gnome-ppp. That's it.

Although I use Gnome, I use and like KPPP better than Gnome-PPP :)

 

keyword : gnome-ppp | kppp | wvdial | share internet | problem

I've been looking for a Network Monitoring app that also records statistic : current speed and usage on certain period of time.

After installing|uninstalling few applications, I found the one that meet my needs, and it has been in front of me all this time, well in Kubuntu repo actually. Its name is KNemo.

It records statistics, shows them in plotter, and even notify me when I hit my monthly quota. 

Configuration is easy, after installation, look for it in Application > Internet > KNemo. It will appear as little icon in your notification applet. Right click it and configure.

The two most important thing to configure are :

• add new interfaces to monitor e.g: ppp0 for modem, wlan0 for wifi
• make KNemo starts automatically  

You can also configure your billing period, colors, icons, and many more.

Need KNemo? Just go to your Synaptic Package Manager and look for KNemo.

Traffic plotter :

 

Daily, weekly, yearly usage and billing periods statistic:

 

keyword : ubuntu | network monitor | statistic | billing | usage

It's quite a shame that I knew about it a week late, as I use digiKam for most of my post processings.

Anyway, the new digiKam Software Collection 2.0.0 is out and sports many long awaited features i.e: face detection and recognition, image versioning to name few and 236 bug fixes. Awesome.... 

If you are like me, the urge to upgrading is overwhelming :)

But it's not that simple on Ubuntu 10.04 since the default digiKam version is the light years behind 1.2.0. The only option to get Ubuntu 10.04 running this new and shiny digiKam is to install digiKam via tarball. It's not that hard nor complicated anyway, I installed the digiKam 1.9.0 this way. It just needs a little more work but worth the effort. If you are tarball virgins, the digiKam tarball install guide will help you here.

Happy digiKam-ing :)

 

 

A reminder : on digiKam guide page it's recommended to uninstall previous version of digiKam and get all the dependencies installed.

keyword : digikam 2.0.0, Ubuntu, image management software