Deskbar is feature built-in to Ubuntu Linux that speeds up common tasks by letting my type just a word and having it "do what I mean". Some examples:

If I want to use my chat program, I don't no longer have to think about whether it is already running or not, to decide whether to use a "task launcher" or a "task switcher". I just type "chat", and Deskbar will do the right thing-- Switch to it if it is open, or launch it if it is not.

The ability to "just think of the application" is the core elegance of the Mac OS X Dock, yet so many imitations of it get it wrong and continue to separate the concepts of task switching and launching. Deskbar thankfully allows you to just think of an application without being concerned about whether or not it is already open. But that said Deskbar is not a dock and the similarity with the OS X Dock ends there.

With the increasing popularity of laptops, getting the most out of small screen sizes has become a priority for computer users.

Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon helps with this by providing a consistent keyboard shortcut for a "Full Screen" mode. Pressing "F11" in many standard Ubuntu applications allows you to to toggle the application in and out of a full screen mode. Today I tested that the following key applications support this:

• Firefox
• Gimp Image Editor
• Eye of Gnome Image Viewer
• Evince Document Viewer
• Totem Movie Player
• Rhythmbox Music Player
• Terminal

Now that I realize the shortcut exists and is widely supported I use it regularly to get the most out of my 14" laptop screen. I did find one key application had a full screen model and used a different shortcut. Open Office mysteriously uses "Ctrl-Shift-J". I have filed a bug to suggest that Ubuntu make this consistent as well.

I've been known to accidentally leave a stream of music running all night when I'm not there to listen to it anymore. That wastes bandwidth and energy.

Here's a quick tip to prevent from happening, by causing any music playing to be turned off at 7:00 pm each night.

On Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10, add these lines to "/etc/crontab". You can edit this file with "gksudo gedit /etc/crontab":

Note that "rhythmbox" and "vlc" are the names of the music players I use. Change as needed.


# stop streams from playing all night.
0 19 * * Mon-Fri killall --quiet rhythmbox vlc


For several years Linux has enabled to run a command by name with a little "Run Command" application, often accessed by pressing Alt-F2.

This is my favorite way to launch applications since it can be done with the keyboard by just remembering the name of the application.

In Ubuntu Gutsy, this little tool has become more useful.

No longer do I need to remember that the program run by OpenOffice is called 'oowriter'.

Now I can just start typing "OpenOffice", and it will show me the icon and name for "OpenOffice Writer" as an option.

If I type "Mail", it shows me the options for the "Thunderbird" and "Evolution" e-mail programs. Great!

Look we (the Community) have tried to make Linux easy for everyone, non-text installs, Live CD's and DVD's, LUG's, install-fest's, etc, etc. But now we have done the one think that makes trying Linux as brainless as installing Windows apps.

Now I'd like to show you Wubi.

Wubi is an unofficial Ubuntu installer for Windows users that will bring you into the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other application. If you heard about Linux and Ubuntu, if you wanted to try them but you were afraid, this is for you.

Wubi is Safe

It does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader.

When Dell surveyed their customers to see what they wanted on their IdeaStorm feedback site, one answer was loud and clear: "We want Ubuntu Linux pre-installed". And now, only about two months later, they have it.

Dell is now offering Ubuntu pre-installed on three machines. Not only is the open source foundation of Ubuntu a great choice for consumers, the price is lower than buying the machines with Windows Vista, and having Dell pre-install the software means that they have certified and support this specific hardware to work with Linux.

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn is a great operating system, and I've already helped install it on a number of systems. Here are five customizations I make right away to make it a more pleasant system to suit my taste:

1. Install the Flash and Java plugins. Ubuntu already has packages for these, but I believe they turned on by default for licensing reasons. Go to Applications: Add & Remove Applications and search for "ubuntu-restricted-extras". This will install Flash and Java plugins, as well MP3 support and some nice free Microsoft fonts. Check the boxes next to the listing and click "Apply" to finish the job. The Java plugin installs some things into the menu system that I think I'll never use, so I remove the entries for them. To edit the menu, right-click on "Applications" and select "Edit Menu". The menu editor should be fairly intuitive, and allowing you to remove "Java Web Start" and anything else you want. (Note: removing the menu items doesn't un-install these applications).

Today is release day for Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, which I've been playing with in beta for almost a month now. I must say this is the best Ubuntu release yet. I've never been happier with Linux on the desktop.

Most of the release notes are about upgrading fro Edgy to Feisty but they did say that the minimum memory requirement for Ubuntu 7.04 is 256MB of memory. With only the minimum amount of memory available, the installation process will take longer than normal, but will complete successfully, and the system will perform adequately once installed.

And here is a link to 11 things that are awesome in Feisty http://leetcode.net/2007/04/11-things-you-havent-seen-yet-in-ubuntu-feisty-fawn

Kurt has just installed Kubuntu Edgy on his laptop to replace Mandriva, so that gave me a chance to compare Kubuntu to Ubuntu.
I have Ubuntu on my laptop now, an almost identical model to his.

Having seen both Ubuntu and Kubuntu, I definitely prefer Ubuntu at this point. Read on for details.

As part of my switch from Mandriva to Ubuntu, I had the opportunity today to contribute some improvements back to both operating systems.

Having just used Mandriva on this laptop, I knew it was possible for the sound to keep working after a suspend/resume cycle, but it quit working after the Ubuntu switch.

Since Mandriva's solution was made available under an open source license, I was able to review it adapt to work with Ubuntu, and Ubuntu can easily and legally accept this solution, if they choose.