Fuck Yeah, Ubuntu!

If working with an Nvidia graphics card or chipset wasn’t difficult enough on Linux (thanks for the horrible support, Nvidia,) there is the issue of working with Nvidia Optimus.

If you’re one of the people with a laptop touting the merits of Nvidia Optimus with a shiny sticker to prove it on the armrest, and haven’t heard of the Bumble-bee Project, you don’t know what you’re missing!

Or maybe you DID hear about it, like I did a year or so ago. But then you tried to further look into it and the fact that it somewhere down the road the project got divided into another side project, and the documentation wasn’t so great, and the installation itself wasn’t exactly an easy thing, you just decided it wasn’t worth the time.

Well, it’s time to reconsider the Bumble-bee Project, because with their latest release (3.0) things have never been as easy.

Not only does Bumblebee give you the option of configuring and switching between your Intel and Nvidia chipset, it also installs the Nvidia drivers for you. 

I’m not going to waste anymore time, let’s get our hands dirty, shall we?

Add the repository

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable

Update

sudo apt-get update

Install Bumblebee and Nvidia drivers

sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia

Restart your computer!

There we have it, yo. More information on their website, as always. Enjoy!

Website: http://bumblebee-project.org/

As most Linux users know, one of the most love-able features of using Linux is the fact that you can tweak and customize any aspect of it. This gives you lots of room to experiment and find the software you like the most, to mix and match things together until you have your ‘perfect’ desktop.

One of the things I have been experimenting with for a while now are Desktop Environments and Window Managers. A lot of people get confused between the two, and things do get a little tricky when trying to figure out what each specifically does or is.

A quick Google search later, I come up with the following useful information.

There are three main layers to the Linux desktop:

X Windows – This is the foundation that allows for graphic elements to be drawn on the display. X Windows builds the primitive framework that allows moving of windows, interactions with keyboard and mouse, and draws windows. This is required for any graphical desktop.

Window Manager – The Window Manager is the piece of the puzzle that controls the placement and appearance of windows. Window Managers include: Enlightenment, Afterstep, FVWM, Fluxbox, IceWM, etc. Requires X Windows but not a desktop environment.

Desktop Environment – This is where it begins to get a little fuzzy for some. A Desktop Environment includes a Window Manager but builds upon it. The Desktop Environment typically is a far more fully integrated system than a Window Manager. Requires both X Windows and a Window Manager. Examples of desktop environments are GNOME, KDE, Xfce among others).

Now that we’ve gotten the technicalities out of the way, let’s talk about some of the popular and slightly more unique Desktop Environments and Window Managers. I’ll be going through how to install each one, uninstall each one, and also bringing to the table their own specific advantages and features.

I’ll be highlighting Awesome, Fluxbox, Cinnamon, and Mate. These particularly, because my search for an alternative desktop stemmed from the fact that I still go through Gnome 2 withdrawal. These DEs’ and WMs’ are known for being lightweight, and some are even forks or try to emulate Gnome 2 in certain ways. Most of all, I wanted to put all the helpful commands on how to install and uninstall them in one place.

Note 1: After Installing each of these, just Reboot or Log out, and select the one you just installed or want to try out from the drop down menu at the login screen.

Note 2: I am going to assume you already know what most of the commands mean. For instance, I won’t tell you why you’re running (or why it’s important to run) apt-get update after adding a PPA using add-apt-repository.

Let’s get on with it!

Awesome -

Awesome is a Window Manager, and more specifically, a tiling window manager. Their website and wiki have all the information you need, and more, so I highly recommend you read it.

Screenshot

sudo apt-get install awesome

Uninstall:

sudo apt-get remove awesome

Fluxbox -

Window Manager, this one built upon Blackbox, and adds it’s own set of features to the table. Uses a Lua configuration file, just like Awesome. Great documentation on their website and wiki, which I recommend reading if you plan on using Fluxbox.

Screenshot

sudo apt-get install fluxbox

Uninstall:

sudo apt-get —purge remove xfree86-common
sudo apt-get —purge remove fluxbox
sudo apt-get —purge remove xfs
sudo apt-get —purge remove xlibs-data
sudo apt-get —purge remove xdialog

Cinnamon -

Cinnamon was introduced by the Linux Mint team and comes packaged with Mint, but of course, other Debian based Distros are also invited to the party. It’s another Desktop Environment trying to follow in the steps of Gnome 2 in providing a traditional way of operating your desktop

Screenshot

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Uninstall:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo apt-get purge —auto-remove cinnamon
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo ppa-purge ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable

Mate -

A fork of the popular Gnome 2 that’s developed in collaboration with the Linux Mint team as well. Follows almost the same philosophy as Cinnamon in that it tries to provide users with the traditional environment they were used to with Gnome 2.

Screenshot

Add ONE of the following repository (the website recommends the latter repo mirror at the moment):

sudo add-apt-repository “deb http://packages.mate-desktop.org/repo/ubuntu precise main”

OR

sudo add-apt-repository “deb http://repo.mate-desktop.org/ubuntu precise main”

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mate-archive-keyring
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mate-core
sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment

The second last command to install mate-core installs the base packages. The last command to install mate-desktop-environment installs extra packages.

Uninstall:

Remove mate-core packages:

sudo apt-get remove atril atril-common caja caja-common engrampa engrampa-common ffmpegthumbnailer-caja libcaja-extension libmarco libmate libmate-common libmatecanvas libmatecomponent libmatecomponentui libmateconf libmatecorba libmatedesktop libmatekbd libmatekeyring libmatemenu libmatenotify libmatepanelapplet libmatepolkit libmateui libmatevfs libmateweather libmateweather-common marco marco-common mate-applets mate-applets-common mate-backgrounds mate-conf mate-conf-common mate-control-center mate-corba mate-core mate-desktop mate-desktop-common mate-dialogs mate-icon-theme mate-keyring mate-media mate-menus mate-mime-data mate-panel mate-panel-common mate-polkit mate-power-manager mate-power-manager-common mate-screensaver mate-session-manager mate-settings-daemon mate-settings-daemon-common mate-settings-daemon-gstreamer mate-system-monitor mate-terminal mate-terminal-common mate-text-editor mate-themes mate-vfs mate-vfs-common mate-window-manager python-mate

Remove mate-desktop-environment packages:

sudo apt-get remove libmatesensorsappletplugin mate-calc mate-desktop-environment mate-netspeed mate-sensors-applet mate-system-tools mate-utils mozo python-mate-menu system-tools-backends

That’s it, folks! Happy experimenting, and don’t forget to have fun.

UPDATE: Whoops! Made a huge booboo. See, Fluxbox took off from Blackbox, and not Openbox as I originally proclaimed (d’oh! Got my boxes all mixed up.) Thanks to Everything Linux (http://everything-linux.co.cc/) for pointing the error out in a very understanding and kind manner. 

Here’s a few things to add/change in your conky configuration in case you’re having trouble with transparency:

own_window yes

own_window_type override

own_window_transparent yes

own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

Save the file, and if it was being used, wait a few seconds for the changes to take place.

I decided to try out Xfce in Linux Mint, on my journey to find a Desktop Environment that resembles classic Gnome.

MATE, the fork of Gnome 2, is pretty close to the classic desktop environment, but not without it’s glitches and missing functionality. That can be understood however, because the creators themselves as well as Mint acknowledge that, and have warned people on it’s use.

Xfce is surprisingly similar to Gnome 2!

It is highly customizable, very light-weight, and is aesthetically both simple and minimalistic. This design philosophy does the same kind of wonders for Xfce, that it did for Gnome 2.

Love it. Look at screenshot below! Would you be interested in finding out exactly how I got that look?

Might just end up switching to Xubuntu, or install Xfce on Ubuntu 11.10.

To install yourself, just use:

sudo apt-get install update

sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop

Restart your computer, just because. Then pick Xfce at the drop down menu on the Login Screen!

I’ve been missing out on all the action on Tumblr and haven’t updated the blog in the longest time!

I hope you’re all still bearing with me, I just got way turned off because:

a) The whole Unity/Gnome Shell BS is/was NOT working for me at all. 

b) I got a new Laptop - with nVidia Optimus and what not. Some hardware is too new for Linux at this point, and some other issues here and there.

Mainly, however, it had everything to do with how much I dislike Unity and Gnome shell both. I just can’t stand the fact that they’ve completely removed Classic Gnome and don’t plan on going back to it.

Save for MATE though. It’s a Classic Gnome fork that Linux Mint 12 comes packaged with. Now, realize that I haven’t completely switched ships - because Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu itself.

Expect all the news, links and great software in the near future then. =]