Daily Archives: October 17, 2015

Linux

SwitchingToUbuntu

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Introduction

Switching to Ubuntu can be a slow process. The whole process – from the day you start thinking about Ubuntu to the day you get rid of your old operating system – can take two or four years. This guide will discuss some of the issues you will face along the way. Other pages discuss issues faced specifically when migrating from Windows, Mac OS X, or another Linux distribution.

Switching to Ubuntu can be hard work at times, and not everyone makes it. But even if you don’t complete your switch, you’ll learn a lot from the attempt.

Strategies for approaching Ubuntu

The process of switching to Ubuntu pivots around install day – the day you put Ubuntu on your hard drive. The days and weeks following install day can be quite overwhelming, because everything’s new, nothing works how you expect, and all your instincts are telling you “I can do this in 3 clicks if you just give up and go back!” The trick to a successful switch is to push as much work as possible as far as possible away from install day. This section will discuss some popular strategies during the months and years before install day.

The apps-then-OS strategy

Switching to Ubuntu is best done in two stages. First, keep your old operating system and switch to applications that have Ubuntu equivalents. Then, switch your operating system and keep your new applications.

Most major Ubuntu programs are available for other operating systems, and learning them ahead of time will let you settle in much quicker after you switch. The official list of Ubuntu programs is available at packages.ubuntu.com, but it’s usually easier to search on the Internet.

The purchasing strategy

Ubuntu supports the vast majority of hardware available today, but Linux drivers still aren’t available for some uncommon hardware. When you buy new hardware, you should look online and in Ubuntu’s official list of supported hardware. Although Linux support might be added by the time you switch, it’s best not to rely on it.

The Ubuntu away-day strategy

It’s possible to run Ubuntu directly from a “live” CD, without installing it on your computer at all. It’s very useful to make yourself use this for a whole day before installing Ubuntu.

During your Ubuntu away-day, you should try customising your desktop, installing programs, surfing the web, and using all the hardware you have (like printers and scanners). Your live environment gets reset when you reset the computer, so this is a safe way to get you past the most immediate issues you’ll have when you switch.

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Linux

UbuntuReinstallation

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Sometimes reinstalling is the quickest way to solve a problem, for example if an upgrade failed or if your graphics driver is broken. When reinstalling, you’re most likely want to preserve two things:

  1. /home folder with your files and settings

  2. Entries in boot menu (if you have multiple OS installed)

How To Reinstall Ubuntu

Since Hardy it is possible to reinstall Ubuntu without losing the content of the /home folder (the folder that contains program settings, internet bookmarks, emails and all your documents, music, videos and other user files). This can be done even if /home is not on a separate partition (which is the case by default if you did not manually separate it when installing Ubuntu originally). This tutorial can also be used to upgrade Ubuntu (eg 11.04 -> 12.04 from a 12.04 live-CD).

Before doing anything

This operation should not damage your documents but, for security, backup your documents and settings (including /home hidden files) on external disk or DVDs. (eg via CloneZilla) Note: Some special applications settings may be in system folders, eg LAMP, see below in the thread.

Run the Ubuntu installer

  1. Run the UbuntuInstaller

  2. Follow the prompts until the “Installation type” (or “Allocate disk space”) menu
  3. Choose the right option as described below:

Choose the right option

There are two possibilities – choose the one that fits what the installer is showing:

– If an “Upgrade 1X.XX to 1Y.YY” option is available (like in the screenshot below), choose it. https://i0.wp.com/i.stack.imgur.com/Su5Ay.png?w=474

– Or, if the above option is not available, choose manual partitioning (“Something-else” option), then select Ubuntu system partition, set its mount point as “/”. Be sure to keep the same format type, the same size, and untick the “Format” checkbox or all data on “/” will be deleted!. Also set other partitions (/boot, /home… see DiskSpace) if needed.

Then finish the installation process. (this may take several hours, like a normal install)

After reinstalling

After reinstalling, user accounts must be re-created with the same login and password.

Sumber: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuReinstallation

Linux

Krita 2.9.8

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The eighth bug-fix release of Krita 2.9! We’re still fixing bugs and adding improvements, but a lot of work has gone into the kickstarter goals and the Krita 3.0 porting work, too. Ubuntu Linux users can use the ” krita-lod-unstable” packages from the Krita Lime repository to test-drive the first version of the animation support and the “LOD” performance improvements. Check the LOD option in the View menu, and many brushes and other features will be perform much better on large images!

But for day to day work, please update to Krita 2.9.8! There are some important fixes to the Photoshop-style Layer Styles feature, to the OpenEXR, TIFF, PNG and JPEG import/export filters.

  • Improve performance when adding new layers. (A blank new layer doesn’t need to make Krita update
    the entire image)
  • Fix the pass-through icons so there’s dark and light variants and make some other icons smaller
  • BUG:353261: Make rotation terminology consistent in the rotate image and rotate layer plugin
  • BUG:353248: Prevent a crash when using some types of graphics tablets
  • BUG:352916: Fix a crash in the cage transform worker
  • Improve rendering speed when some layers are invisible
  • Fix a crash when using shape/vector layers
  • BUG:352734: Fix saving single-layer EXR files
  • BUG:352983: Load the layers in a multi-layer EXR file in the right order
  • BUG:352734: Support loading and saving EXR files that have both layers and top-level channgels
  • BUG:310359: Fix loading and saving of L*a*b TIFF images
  • Add a Save Profile checkbox to the TIFF and JPG export filters: you can now save TIFF, JPG and PNG images without an embedded profile.
  • BUG:352845: Store the smoothing options only once
  • Fix Photoshop-style layer styles that use the random noise
  • Improve the performance of Photoshop-style Layer styles.

Download

Sumber: https://krita.org/item/krita-2-9-8/

Linux

New TODO application that blocks distractions while you work

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Submitted by sergio.martins

TL;DR: flow is a sticky TODO manager with support for the pomodoro technique and blocks distractions (cat pictures too) while you’re focusing on a task: git, AUR, Windows, OSX

“A good task manager application is one that can beat a .txt file.”

Even though I was (am?) KOrganizer’s maintainer I could never get used to its TODO view. It simply didn’t fit my workflow. The only time I used it was when I was programming it. For my important stuff, I used a text file instead, and was happy.

Meanwhile I’ve been experimenting with the Pomodoro Technique to help me focus at work and thought it would be fun to create an hybrid between todo manager and pomodoro app in QML.

So, what do we need to make a better organizer than notepad ?

Here’s the 5 ingredients I chose to put in flow:

  • Sticky
  • Pomodoro
  • Block distractions
  • When, not what
  • Light

1. STICKY
Goal: It must be easier to add a task than it would to write it down on a piece of paper.
Flow’s window is sticky (always above, always visible):

Contracted:

Expanded:

Korg needs so many steps to add a TODO that people lose motivation.

2. POMODORO
Goal: Support the pomodoro technique. https://pomodorotechnique.com

Each task has a play button, click it, you’re now in a 25 minute focus block.
Work for 25 straight minutes *only* on that task. Then take a 5 minute break before you start another pomodoro.

“What kills productivity are the context switches, not farmvilling.”
It’s OK to slack, space out or read junk e-mail, as long as you do it in batches.

The key is to group related tasks, do all your non-productive tasks at once, preferably in pomodoro breaks.
Don’t go on reading e-mail every 5 minutes while you’re working on something important.

When a co-worker asks you a favor, open flow and queue it. When the 25 minute focus block ends handle the tasks that you piled up meanwhile.

3. BLOCK DISTRACTIONS
Goal: While in a pomodoro, automatically block facebook and turn of KMail and IM distractions. When the 25m focus ends, re-enable distractions.

Flow supports blocking distractions when a pomodoro starts (via a plugin system).
Currently there are only plugins to block notifications for the apps I use (KMail and Pidgin), but there’s also a “shell script plugin” where you can write shell scripts to do whatever you like.

4. WHEN more important than WHAT
How do you organize your TODOs in KOrganizer ? There are so many options: By Category, by resource, by todo/sub-todo hierarchies ?

I found out that for me the first level of grouping should be about the “when”. In flow there are two areas,
the tasks for today, and the tasks for later and I don’t need more granularity than later.

5. SIMPLE and LIGHT
Very low memory foot print, I’m also using it on my smartphone. Easy to install on windows and OSX due to minimal dependencies.

Conclusion
I think Korg is very good for long term planing, and I still use it for complex stuff (like due date and recurrences stuff) . But it really sucks for micro-managing your day.

So there it is, please give flow-pomodoro a try. I would also like to hear about your current KOrganizer workflow and if you feel it makes you productive or not.

P.S: While writing this blogpost 3 KMail and 2 gchat notifications were blocked and one facebook attempt was killed.

Sumber: https://blogs.kde.org/2015/05/13/simple-qt-container-optimization-you-should-do-your-code

Linux

Fresh Memory Lite 1.4.0

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Fresh Memory Lite 1.4.0

Fresh Memory is an education application for studying languages with Spaced Repetition method and flashcards. Its primary purpose is to study and repeat vocabulary of foreign languages. But other disciplines can be studied as well: history, geography, medicine, mathematics. The study material is stored as collections of flashcards. The flashcards may have several fields, and the user controls what combination of fields to learn. The flash cards can have formatted text and images. The look of flashcards and studying parameters are can be flexibly configured.

changelog:

* New look of the grade buttons (Spaced repetition window)
* Removed grade 2 Not completely correct.
* New cards are shown with New label
* Introduced learning steps for new cards: must be repeated 2 times at the first day
* Available grade buttons depend on the status of the shown card:
– New cards have just OK and Easy grades
– Learning cards do not have Difficult grade
* For incorrect cards, replaced card-based intervals with short time intervals: 20 sec and 1 min
* New look of the study progress bar (Spaced repetition window)
* Current session is saved on exit, and reloaded at startup
* Example dictionaries are available online. Not included in the installation.
* Online documentation describes used Spaced repetition algorithm in detail
* Images:
– Display image thumbnails in dictionary view (instead of plain HTML tags)
– Add images with GUI
* New study setting: Day starts at 3 oclock (adjustable).
– Affects day limits for all and new cards
* Updated icons for Word drill, Spaced repetition and Search

Windows:

* Installer removes Start menu entries of previous versions

Linux

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 438

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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is issue #438 for the week October 5 – 11, 2015, and the full version is available here.

In this issue we cover:

The issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Paul White
  • Elizabeth K. Joseph
  • Chris Guiver
  • And many others

If you have a story idea for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

Sumber: https://ubuntu-news.org/2015/10/13/ubuntu-weekly-newsletter-issue-438/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ubuntu-fridge+%28The+Fridge+-+News+for+Human+Beings%29

Linux

KDE Ships Plasma 5.4.2, bugfix Release for October

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Plasma 5.4
Plasma 5.4

Tuesday, 06 October 2015. Today KDE releases a bugfix update to Plasma 5, versioned 5.4.2. Plasma 5.4 was released in August with many feature refinements and new modules to complete the desktop experience.

This release adds a month’s worth of new translations and fixes from KDE’s contributors. The bugfixes are typically small but important and include:

Full Plasma 5.4.2 changelog

Live Images

The easiest way to try it out is with a live image booted off a USB disk. You can find a list of Live Images with Plasma 5 on the KDE Community Wiki.

Package Downloads

Distributions have created, or are in the process of creating, packages listed on our wiki page.

Source Downloads

You can install Plasma 5 directly from source. KDE’s community wiki has instructions to compile it. Note that Plasma 5 does not co-install with Plasma 4, you will need to uninstall older versions or install into a separate prefix.

Sumber: https://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.4.2.php