How To Change the Login Screen Wallpaper on Ubuntu 11.10

The following tutorial will teach Ubuntu 11.10 users how to make their favorite wallpaper appear at the login screen.

As you all know, Unity Greeter is now the default login manager in Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), and it will still be available in the upcoming Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin), due for release next month, on April 26th.

Unity Greeter uses LightDM to provide a very nice and modern login screen, which has the ability to display the current wallpaper used on users' desktops.

Now, there's a problem with that, as it is limited to only the default Ubuntu wallpaper pack offered by Canonical. Yes, you can add you own wallpapers, but there is now normal way to make them appear on the login screen, as it will display the default Ubuntu wallpaper.

How do we resolve this issue? Well, this is why we've created this short tutorial. To teach you guys how to make that beautiful desktop background you love so much, appear at the login prompt.

Of course, this is only a temporary workaround, until Canonical will develop a tool to make it easy for users to select a wallpaper for the login screen.

How to Install Adobe Flash Player 64-bit on Ubuntu 11.04

The following tutorial will teach you how to install the 64-bit edition of the Adobe Flash Player 11 plugin on the Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system.
Well, I guess you've heard the good news, that Adobe released in July 13th, the first Beta version of Adobe Flash Player with support for 64-bit Linux-based operating systems.

The following guide is here to teach you how to replace the 32-bit version of the flash player with the 64-bit one, on Ubuntu 11.04 AMD64 systems. It will work with other 64-bit Linux distributions and with the Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera web browsers.

OK, so let us get down to business, and replace that ugly 32-bit flash player installation from your Ubuntu 11.04 AMD64 edition with the newly released 64-bit version.

Adobe Flash Player 11 Brings 64-bit Support for Linux

Adobe Labs announced last evening, July 13th, the immediate availability for download of the first Beta release of the upcoming Adobe Flash Player 11 for Linux, Windows and Machintosh platforms, now with native support for 64-bit Linux operating systems.

Our prayers have come to an end, as Adobe has finally released a few hours ago a new Adobe Flash Player 11, which includes native 64-bit support for Linux.

Adobe Flash Player 11 Beta drives innovation for amazing, breathtaking digital experiences with brand-new features, including Stage 3D, HD surround sound, H.264/AVC software encoding and 64-bit support.

Highlights of Adobe Flash Player 11 Beta 1:

Ubuntu 11.10 Release Schedule Changed, Alpha 2 Delayed

The release schedule for the upcoming Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system has been modified last week by Canonical. The second Alpha version was supposed to arrive for testing last Thursday, June 30th, but it was rescheduled for July 7th.

For Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), Canonical decided to change the release schedule again, rescheduling Alpha 2 for July 7th. The rest of the dates remain the same. Here is the new release schedule for Ubuntu 11.10:

June 2nd, 2011 - Alpha 1 release
July 7th, 2011 - Alpha 2 release
August 4th, 2011 - Alpha 3 release
September 1st, 2011 - Beta 1 release
September 22nd, 2011 - Beta 2 release
October 13th, 2011 - Final release of Ubuntu 11.10

Mandriva 2011 RC1 Looks Impressive, Screenshot Tour

 Mandriva, through Eugeni Dodonov, announced a few minutes ago, June 29th, the immediate availability for testing of the first Release Candidate version of the upcoming Mandriva 2011 Linux operating system.

Mandriva 2011 RC1 contains a huge number of changes, compared to the previous development release, Mandriva 2011 Beta 3. It has updated applications, such as Mozilla Firefox 5.0, Opera 11.50, Pidgin 2.9.0, as well as a new revamped interface with new artwork.

"The ones following us on cooker and changelog mailing lists have noticed that there was a huge number of changes between Mandriva 2011 beta3 and RC1, and we want to make sure that you will have the most adequate experience with this first release candidate." - said Eugeni Dodonov.

Top 10 Ubuntu 11.04 Unity Panel Applets

The following article will list some of the most important panel applets, also called indicators, for Ubuntu 11.04's Unity interface.

The Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system introduced a different user interface, designed by Canonical, called Unity. The default indicators are nice, but many people complained that they miss their usual applets on the panel.

CPU monitors, system load indicators, bandwidth statistics, weather indicators, RSS news feeds, DropBox handlers, and many more other applets can be quite easily installed on Ubuntu 11.04.

This article will show a list of ten most used Unity indicators (panel applets), with installation instructions and screenshots. At the end of the article we will also list other indicators, less important, and where to find them.

Firefox 5 Final for Linux

Mozilla unleashed the stable version of the highly anticipated Mozilla Firefox 5.0 web browser for Linux, Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

Yes! The final version of Firefox 5 is finally here, and it brings support for CSS animations, which will lead to amazing Web experiences. It also brings Location-Aware Browsing, channel switcher, performance and stability enhancements, and much more.

Mozilla Firefox 5.0 is supported on both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, which means that it will run on any Linux distribution. However, Ubuntu 11.04 users will get a Firefox update on the official channels, very soon.

Introducing Ubuntu IVI Remix and Ubuntu Core

Canonical announced recently that is joining the GENIVI Alliance and that it will create a GENIVI-compliant Ubuntu IVI (In-Vehicle Infotainment) Remix operating system based on the Ubuntu Core sub-set.

Announced by Canonical a couple of days ago, Ubuntu IVI Remix will be an In-Vehicle Infotainment operating system, supporting Intel and ARM processors.

The work on the Ubuntu IVI Remix operating system for cars will start in a few weeks, around July or August, 2011. It will be based on the recently released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) distribution.

Ubuntu 11.10 Will Be Distributed As Hybrid CD/USB Images

 Colin Watson announced recently that starting with June 16th, 2011, all daily builds and final releases of the Ubuntu operating system will be distributed as hybrid CD and USB ISO images.

The "hybrid ISO" feature was present in all major Linux distributions, except Debian and, of course, Ubuntu. It was missing from all Debian-based distributions because it would break Jigdo downloads. Therefore the developers are now using xorriso to generate the CD images.

The hybrid ISO functionality allows users to copy the content of the ISO image directly on a formatted USB stick, without the use of external USB creator tools such as UNetbootin or Ubuntu's Startup Disk Creator.

Ubuntu 11.10 Will Have a New Login Manager

 As you all probably already know, the upcoming Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system will have a new default display manager, called LightDM.

LightDM is an operating system's display manager, also known as login manager. Few people know that a display manager is also in charge with the remote logins via XDMCP protocol and manages the X servers.

Why LightDM for Ubuntu 11.10? The answer is simple: because we need a new and themeable login screen that matches the Unity interface.

New Nvidia Linux Driver Brings Support for GNOME 3 and KDE SC 4

On June 14th, Nvidia launched version 275.09.07 of its graphics driver for Linux, Solaris and FreeBSD operating systems, which brings improved support for the GNOME 3 desktop environment and KDE SC 4.6.

The new Nvidia Display Driver 275.09.07 introduces support for new GPUs, such as GeForce GTX 560, GeForce GT 545, GeForce GTX 560M, GeForce 410M, GeForce 320M, GeForce 315M, Quadro 5010M, Quadro 3000M, Quadro 4000M.

Highlights of Nvidia Display Driver 275.09.07:

Google Releases Chrome 12 Stable for Linux

The Google Chrome developers at Google proudly announced last evening (June 7th) the stable release and immediate availability for download of the Google Chrome 12 web browser for Linux, Windows, Macintosh and Chrome Frame platforms.

The new Google Chrome 12 web browser includes various interesting new features, such as the highly anticipated hardware accelerated 3D CSS support and a brand-new Safe Browsing mode.

"In addition, we would like to thank David Levin of the Chromium development community, miaubiz, Christian Holler and Martin Barbella for working with us in the development cycle and preventing bugs from ever reaching the stable channel. Various rewards were issued." - was stated in the official blog announcement.

Highlights of Google Chrome 12.0.742.91:

Ubuntu 11.04 Unity Tips and Tricks

The following tutorial will teach Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) users how to customize the new interface developed by Canonical for the Ubuntu operating system, Unity.

The new Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system introduced a different user interface, designed by Canonical, called Unity. But the development team did not offered some easy to understand and learn tricks, to make Unity usable by human beings.

With these trips and tricks, users should familiarize with Unity and find it very useful and user friendly. Without any ado, we'll let you now test these nice tricks.

But first, you will need the Compiz Fusion Settings Manager Tool installed in your Ubuntu 11.04 operating system. To install it, click the link below:

Linux Mint 11 Has Been Released

 Clement Lefebvre, father of the Linux Mint project, announced a couple of minutes ago, May 26th, the new and highly anticipated Linux Mint 11 operating system, dubbed Katya.

Linux Mint 11 (Katya) is based on the recently released Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system and is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.38, X.Org 7.6 and GNOME 2.32.

Even if it's based on Ubuntu 11.04, the new Linux Mint 11 distribution comes without the Unity interface. It uses the old and classic one-panel GNOME look.

Ubuntu 11.10

The following article will present to Ubuntu fans all over the world, a few interesting features and facts for the next version of Ubuntu OS, the Ubuntu 11.10, dubbed Oneiric Ocelot.

Mark Shuttleworth announced the Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system on March 7th, 2011. Ubuntu 11.10 will be released on October 13th, 2011.

Ubuntu 11.10 Desktop features:

· Linux kernel 2.6.40;
· GNOME 3;
· GTK 3;
· LightDM as default login manager;
· X.org 1.10;
· Unity improvements and bug fixing;
· Unity usability, accessibility, automated and stress testing;
· Mozilla Thunderbird as the default mail client (Alpha 3);
· Deja Dup might by added for backup tasks;
· Utilities for building localized CD's;
· FeatureFreeze was moved right after Alpha 3;
· Backports package selection was integrated into the UI;
· Improvements to Software Center's Reviews and Ratings functions;
· Improved multiarch;
· Python will be updated to version 2.7 and 3.2;
· New artwork!

Ubuntu 11.04 Unity Keyboard Shortcuts and Tricks

The new Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system introduced a different user interface, designed by Canonical, called Unity. With it, the Ubuntu development team also released some keyboard shortcuts for easy usage.


With this article we want to inform our readers who use Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity about some very useful and helpful mouse tricks and keyboard shortcuts.

With these tricks and shortcuts, users should familiarize with Unity and find it very useful and user friendly.

Without any further introduction, we will let you now test the following mouse tricks on your brand new Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) operating system. Remember, you must use Unity!

How to Use Classic GNOME Session on Ubuntu 11.04

The following tutorial will teach our readers, and all Ubuntu users out there, how to switch their Ubuntu 11.04 desktops to the classic GNOME session, used in previous Ubuntu releases.

Don't like Unity? You want to use your old classic GNOME desktop in Ubuntu 11.04? Look no further, we have the tutorial for you. It's easier than you might think!

Many of our readers have requested this, so here it is guys... an easy, step-by-step with screenshots tutorial about how to dump Unity and switch back to the old and classic Ubuntu interface, using GNOME's two panel session.

Parted Magic 6.0 Gets a New Booting System

Parted Magic 6.0 has been released. The latest update gets a new major version number, due to some underlying, structural changes, and comes with a number of updated, as well as downgraded, packages.

Several changes have been implemented which should make booting significantly more reliable. Many booting issues should be fixed now, though, since this is a new system, others may have creeped in.

Ubuntu Aims for 200 Million Users In 4 Years

Mark Shuttleworth, father of the Ubuntu operating system, announced yesterday, May 9th, at the Ubuntu Developer Summit in Budapest that Canonical's goal is to have 200 million Ubuntu users by 2015.

Ubuntu Developer Summit for Oneiric Ocelot, the upcoming version of the popular Ubuntu operating system is taking place these days in Budapest, Hungary. Mark Shuttleworth delivered yesterday morning his usual keynote where he set the goal for 200 million Ubuntu users in 4 years.

Canonical Will Collaborate With Lenovo

Canonical, through John Bernard, has just announced a couple of minutes ago that they will start a collaboration with the popular Lenovo company, the world’s 4th largest PC manufacturer.

It is now official that Canonical will work closely with Lenovo to certify the Ubuntu operating system on various Lenovo laptops, workstations and servers.

At the moment there are more than thirty (30) Lenovo ThinkPads that are certified with Ubuntu, and many more will come by the end of this year. To check all the existing Ubuntu-certified Lenovo machines, please click here.