These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity desktop on which Cinnamon was installed using either the Ubuntu Software Center or sudo apt-get on the command line.

The instructions may be the same for other versions of Ubuntu, but no guarantee is made.

When Cinnamon is installed in Ubuntu 13.04, it installs several packages and libraries it requires. Not all these packages and libraries are uninstalled when you uninstall Cinnamon. Several packages do not get uninstalled.

Quick Uninstall

1) Open a terminal (instructions can be found here).

2) Enter the following command (it is very long and a single line):

sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove cinnamon cinnamon-common gir1.2-accountsservice-1.0 gir1.2-caribou-1.0 gir1.2-clutter-1.0 gir1.2-cogl-1.0 gir1.2-coglpango-1.0 gir1.2-gconf-2.0 gir1.2-gdesktopenums-3.0 gir1.2-gkbd-3.0 gir1.2-gnomedesktop-3.0 gir1.2-json-1.0 gir1.2-muffin-3.0 gir1.2-polkit-1.0 gir1.2-upowerglib-1.0 gir1.2-xkl-1.0 gjs libcaribou-common libcaribou0 libgjs0c libjs-jquery libmozjs185-1.0 libmuffin0 mesa-utils muffin-common

It is easiest to copy the line and paste it into the terminal (right-click on the terminal and select Paste from the popup menu).

Preferred Uninstall

The better way to uninstall it is to follow the directions on this page.

This will show you on how to uninstall only the packages that were installed when Cinnamon was installed. The instructions are generic and work for any installed package.

It involves:

1. identifying which packages were installed and
2. creating a command to uninstall only those packages

It leaves intact any packages you may have installed or that were installed by other packages instead of blindly assuming that they were installed along with Cinnamon.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Completely Uninstall / Remove the Cinnamon Desktop appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity Desktop.

They may be the same or similar for other versions, but no guarantee is made.

Installing the Cinnamon Desktop will use up about 21.4MB of hard disk space.

What is it?

Like Unity, Cinnamon is a customized version of GNOME 3.

Unlike Unity, Cinnamon tries to preserve the look and feel of the traditional desktop by having a more or less traditional Start menu (boxed in green) and does not have a HUD like interface for application, so programs have the traditional menu bar (boxed in red) at the top.

The image below shows the Start menu open, as well as an open application (Firefox):

As in Unity or the GNOME 3 Desktops, you can type the name of the application or document you want to open in the Search field (boxed in yellow).

From the Command Line

If you are comfortable with Linux and know how to use the command line and apt-get then the command is:

sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Afterwards, you need to restart your system.

From the Ubuntu Software Center

1) Tap the Windows / Super key to open the Dash panel:

2) Type Ubuntu Software Center into the Dash query field:

3) Press Enter to launch the Ubuntu Software Center:

4) Type cinnamon in the Ubuntu Software Center search field:

5) Click on Cinnamon (this will highlight the selection in orange):

6) Click on Install:

7) Enter your password and click on Authenticate:

8) Restart Ubuntu by selecting Shut Down… from the System menu:

9) Click on the desktop selection icon:

10) Select Cinnamon:

11) Login as normal:

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These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity Interface.

They may be the same or similar for other versions, but no guarantee is made.

There are a lot of reasons why your wireless / Wi-Fi connection is not working, but the most common is lack of a driver.

While Ubuntu (and other Linux distros, in general) provide good support for a wide variety of hardware devices, there are various reasons a particular device is not supported, but the 3 most common are:

1. the device is newer and support is not provided in the default operating system.
2. the device and the driver for the device is proprietary, in which case it cannot be part of the Linux kernel (Linux licensing requires that all software that is part of it be openly available, so proprietary software (commonly called closed source cannot be part of it. Nothing prevents proprietary software from later being installed, though).
3. the device is proprietary and no driver is provided for it and no documentation exists that would allow someone to write a driver for it (over time, if a device is popular enough, people may reverse engineer it and write a driver for it).

Fortunately, Ubuntu makes it quite easy to install a proprietary device driver – as long as Ubuntu knows about it (so, you might still be out of luck for very new devices).

Getting an Internet Connection

Ironically, to fix the problem, you need an Internet connection.

The easiest way (but not necessarily the most convenient) is to use a wired Ethernet connection:

You connect your computer to your wireless router. There should be a number of Ethernet ports on the back of your router:

Using an Ethernet connection should be a simple case of plug-and-play.

Alternately, you can use a wireless card or USB device that you know works with Ubuntu (assuming you have one):

Using an alternate wireless connection, you will need to go to the settings and connect to the device:

1) Click on the network icon (shaded in yellow) and select your wireless device:

2) Enter your wireless security code:

Once you are connected to the Internet, follow these instructions for installing a hardware driver.

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These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 using the Unity Desktop, running under VirtualBox 4.2.12.

They may be the same or similar for other version combinations, but I make no guarantee.

Sometimes, after installing updates, the VirtualBox Guest Additions stop working.

To get them working again, it is necessary to reinstall them.

1) Open the Dash by tapping on the Windows / Super key:

2) Type vboxadditions into the Dash query field:

3) Press Enter to open the VirtualBox Guest Additions Folder:

4) Click the Run Software button:

5) Click on Run:

6) Enter your password and click on Authenticate:

This will then uninstall and then reinstall the VirtualBox Guest Additions.

After rebooting your machine, everything should be working correctly again.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – VirtualBox Guest Additions Stop Working After Update appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 13.04.

It is probably the same for other versions of Ubuntu and (probably) most other Linux distributions, but no guarantee is made.

Detailed instructions for opening a command line / terminal can be found here.

By default, sudo temporarily grants administrative privileges for 15 minutes. This means the first time you run sudo you will be prompted for your password. Then, for the next 15 minutes, you can run sudo <command> without having to re-enter your password.

This should be fine for most users because the average user probably rarely drops to a command line to run an administrative command or two.

1) Open a terminal using Ctrl + Alt + T:

2) Enter the following command:

sudo visudo

3) Enter your password:

This will bring up the sudo configuration file in the nano editor. Note: in other versions of Linux (or if Ubuntu has been modified), the configuration file may be opened with a different editor – in which case, you will need to Google for instructions on using that editor.

4) Locate the line Defaults (highlighted in yellow) and navigate to the end of it using the arrow / cursor keys on your keyboard (your mouse will not work). Add the following:

,timestamp_timeout=0

5) Save your changes by pressing Ctrl + O:

You will be prompted to save the file as /etc/sudoers.tmp.

6) Press Enter to write the changes.

7) Observe that the changes were written:

8) Exit visudo by pressing Ctrl + X.

Starting a new command line session should pick up the changes you just made.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Change the Timout Period for sudo appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 13.04.

It is probably the same for other versions of Ubuntu and (probably) most other Linux distributions, but no guarantee is made.

Detailed instructions for opening a command line / terminal can be found here.

When you open a terminal in Ubuntu, you do not have administrative privileges. This means that there are some operations you cannot perform at the terminal.

Ubuntu provides the sudo command which temporarily grants you administrative privilege. However, you still have to type sudo before each administrative command you want to perform.

If you want to live dangerously and have full root access while at the terminal, enter the following command in the terminal:

sudo bash

After entering your password, you now be running with full root privilege at the command line:

How it Works

Because some commands are potentially dangerous, unless you are root you are not allowed to run them. Using the sudo command temporarily elevates your status to root and allows you to run these commands.

When you run a terminal, it has the same privilege as the current user.

By running sudo bash you start another copy of the bash shell. However, you because you started it with sudo it runs with root privilege.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Run a Shell / Command Line / Terminal as root appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 13.04.

It is probably the same for other versions of Ubuntu and (probably) most other Linux distributions, but no guarantee is made.

Detailed instructions for opening a command line / terminal can be found here.

When you work at the command line, from time to time, it may be necessary to edit files.

You can use an editor like gedit (the GUI based editor that comes with Ubuntu), however, by default, it will not permit you to edit system configuration files (which are likely the files you are trying to edit if you happen to be at the command line).

Starting gedit with Administrator Privileges

Enter the following command to start gedit with administrator privileges:

sudo gedit

You can also append the file you wish to open to the command. This will cause gedit to automatically open the file. For example:

sudo gedit history.log

Editing with nano

Sometimes, you cannot use gedit because you have no graphical interface (GUI) – for example, you need to edit some x-server settings because you can’t get a graphical display, so you are exclusively at a command line.

While vi or one of its clones (vim, elvis, nvi, and vile to name some) tend to be the preferred text editor among Unix / Linux geeks – it is not the friendliest for casual (or one-off) users. The other major editor is emacs, but it is not installed by default in Ubuntu and it is not user friendly either.

nano is a clone of the pico editor.

To launch nano enter the command:

sudo nano

Using nano

nano is a simple editor that allows you to navigate through the text using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

At the bottom of the screen, there are two lines (highlighted in blue) that display a number of common commands.

The caret (^) symbol means Ctrl, as in, Ctrl + X. This means, “while holding down the Ctrl key, you press the other key as though you intend to type it”.

The most common commands you are likely to use are:

• ^X – (Ctrl + X) exit the editor
• ^O – (Ctrl + O) save / write the contents of the editor
• ^R – (Ctrl + R) open / read another file

If you decide to browse through the help (Ctrl + G), then be aware of the following:

• ^^ means Ctrl + ^ not Ctrl + Ctrl
• M- means the Alt key. The Alt key is used the same way the Ctrl key is: it is held down while another key is typed. For example: M-\ means: while holding down the Alt key, press the \ key as though you intend to type it.
• Some commands have parentheses around them, the parentheses are not to be typed. For example, (M-X) simply means Alt + X – the parentheses have nothing to do with it and should be ignored.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – Command Line Basics: Editing Files appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

This tutorial is for Ubuntu 13.04.

It is probably the same for every other version of Ubuntu and all other Linux distros, but I make no guarantee.

Linux (on which Ubuntu is based) is fundamentally a command line driven operating system. While there are graphical interfaces to many of the available commands, sometimes you need (or have no choice) to work at the command line.

There are five fundamental things everyone working at the command line should know (or at least be aware of):

1. man
2. pipes
3. redirection
4. less (or more)
5. ls

man

man is the help file.

When you want to know more about a command, you enter man <command name> to display information about the command. For example:

man ls

will bring up the man page for the command ls. You could also enter man man to display information about the man command. The man page for ls looks something like this:

To navigate through a man you use the following commands:

• q – exit (quit) the man page
• SPACE or f – forward to the next page
• b – backward to the previous page
• e – forward one line
• y – backward one line

Pipes

Pipes allow you to send the displayed output from one command to another command.

In other words, when you enter a command that displays a bunch of information on the terminal (and maybe scrolls past the top of the terminal), you can use a pipe to send that information to another command.

The most common use of pipes is with the more (or, preferably, less) command. This is especially true when information scrolls past the top of the terminal.

The pipe is the vertical bar (or broken bar) symbol: ‘|‘.

For example, any of the following commands is likely display information that will scroll past the top of the terminal:

ls /bin
ls /etc
ls /lib

If we pipe the output to the more command, then we can scroll through the output one display page at a time:

ls /etc | more

Another common use of pipes is with the grep command. (grep is often used to filter out unwanted information – but I won’t be covering grep here.)

You can pipe together as many commands as you like. The output from the command on the left of the pipe is sent to the command on the right of the pipe.

Redirection

Sometimes you need to capture the information displayed by a command. This is done using redirection.

The output displayed by a command can be sent to a file instead of the display.

The redirection operator is the greater than symbol: ‘>’.

For example, suppose I want to dump a man page to file, so I can later look at (or print that file). I can do so by redirecting the man output to a file (you choose the name of the file):

man ls > ls.txt

The above command will send the output of the man page for ls to a file called ls.txt. I can then handle ls.txt the same way I handle any text file.

Another example, I could send a directory listing to a file as well:

ls > directory_list

The above command will send the output of ls to a file called directory_list. Again, the file can be handled the same way any other text file is handled.

Redirection always send stores the file in the current directory (normally, this will be your /home/<user> directory). You can write the file to another directory by either (1) changing to a different directory (using the cd command), or (2) specifying the path along with the file name. Note: you may not have permission to write in other directories, so the operation will fail.

less

less is used to display information one page at a time.

Most often it is used in conjunction with pipes to prevent output from scrolling off the top of the terminal:

ls | less

less can be used to display the contents of a text file:

less <file name>

where <file name> is the name of the text file to display.

To navigate through text being displayed by less you use the following commands:

• q – exit (quit) less
• SPACE or f – forward to the next page
• b – backward to the previous page (does not work if more is displaying text from a pipe and the main reason why less is preferred)

ls

ls is short for list

ls is used to display the contents of a directory.



Directory contents are colour coded. Different files have different colours.

The default colours (in the default Ubuntu 13.04 terminal) for common file types are:

Note: if you or someone has configured your system, or you are using a different terminal (or a different Linux distribution), the colours and their significance may be completely different.



There are other colour combinations in use and some colours (notably purple) are reused for other file types.

The post Ubuntu 13.04 – Basic Command Line Techniques appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

]]> https://complete-concrete-concise.com/ubuntu-2/ubuntu-13-04/ubuntu-13-04-basic-unity-interface-desktop-tutorial/ Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:26:35 +0000 http://complete-concrete-concise.com/?p=2917 The basics of Unity are easy to pick up.

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]]>

This is a basic tutorial for the Unity Interface / Desktop which comes with Ubuntu 13.04 – it should help get you up and running.

Each new version of Unity (introduced in 11.04) improves on the functionality of the desktop.

This tutorial reflects the way I understand and use the Unity interface.

The Unity interface consists of four main parts:

1. Panel
2. Launcher
3. Dash
4. HUD

The Panel

The Panel is the strip at the top of the interface:



The menu bar that you are used to seeing near the top of an application’s window is now displayed in the panel:



There is a catch:

1. The menus displayed in the Panel are only for the active (topmost) application window.
2. The menus are only displayed when you hover your mouse over the Panel, otherwise, the Panel is empty.
3. If a window is maximized (full screen), the buttons (icons) for minimize, maximize, and close are hidden unless you hover your mouse over the panel.

This might seem like a step backward. Why hide the menu bar? Why make the user have to move the mouse all the way to the panel to access it? While it gives a little extra window space to the application, it is also inefficient – and this was the problem with Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10.

Since Ubuntu 12.04, Unity has the HUD. The HUD makes mousing / navigating through menus obsolete (mostly).

Additional things displayed in the Panel include:

• the name of the active (topmost) application (green)
• various indicators (blue)
• the time (yellow)
• the system menu (red)



The Launcher

Despite being the most prominent feature of the Unity interface, it is the one I use the least.

This is the panel of buttons on the left hand side of the screen:



It serves 3 functions:

1. Application Launcher: clicking on an icon will launch the application associated with that icon. e.g. Clicking on the FireFox icon launches the FireFox browser.

2. Visual indicator of running applications: any running application has its icon placed in the Launcher and an indicator showing its status.
   1. Two solid triangles: this is the active application (the one on top).
   2. Single solid triangle: the application is running, but does not have focus (is not on top).
   3. Single open triangle: the application is running in a different workspace (by default, Ubuntu 13.04 sets up only a single workspace. You can read how to enable workspaces here.).

   

3. Application Switcher: you can switch to an application (bring it to the front) by clicking on its icon in the Launcher.

Removing an Application from the Launcher

Note: removing an application from the Launcher does not uninstall the application.

The Launcher can become cluttered with applications (when you install an application using the Ubuntu Software Center, it is usually automatically placed in the Launcher).

1) Right-click on the application you want to remove from the launcher. This will display a popup menu.

2) Click on Unlock from Launcher in the popup menu:



Adding an Application to the Launcher

Sometimes, an application is not added to the Launcher, or you had previously removed it.

1) Start the application / program you want to add to the Launcher.

2) Find the application’s icon in the Launcher.

3) Right-click on the icon. This will display a popup menu.

4) Click on Lock to Launcher to add the program to the Launcher:



In general, only the most commonly used applications should be in the launcher.

Dash

The Dash replaces searching through menu hierarchies for applications.

Like anything new, it feels all wrong, but, I found it very easy to pick up and now prefer it over the traditional menu navigating paradigm.

Instead or navigating a hierarchy of menus, Dash provides a query field in which you type the name of the application or document you want to open.

Using the Dash interface is very much like searching with Google – as you type in what you are looking for, Dash displays possible results.

I think the greatest strength of Dash is that you can navigate it completely via the keyboard, so you never alternate between typing and reaching for the mouse.

Dash is activated by either:

1) Clicking on the Dash icon in the Launcher:



2) Tapping the Windows key on your keyboard

Note: tapping the Windows keys means pressing it as though you intend to type it. It does not mean holding down the key (holding down the key does something else).

Ubuntu calls this the Super key



The Dash panel looks something like this (click for a larger image):



It is divided into upto 5 sections:

1. The query field (outlined in green) is where the keyboard focus goes when you activate the Dash.

   Type the name of the application you want to run, or document you want to open. As you type, Dash will update the list of applications and documents.

   It has improved greatly since 11.04, if you type in game you will get Mahjong, AisleRiot Solitaire and Freecell Solitaire, and Sudoku.

   I suspect it may still miss certain applications because they are not listed in the “obvious” way. For example, previous versions of Unity would not display Sudoku if you typed in game – you needed to type in puzzle.

   If you type in games it will only display AisleRiot Solitaire, but none of the other games.

2. A list of the most recently used applications (outlined in red) is displayed. If you type in the query field, the list of applications is modified to match your search.

   You can use your mouse to select an application, or you can use the arrow keys to navigate to the desired application (and then press Enter. I like using the arrow keys because my hands don’t have to leave the keyboard.

3. A list of the most recent viewed documents (outlined in blue) is displayed. If you type in the query field, the list of documents is modified to match your search.

   You can use your mouse or the arrow keys to navigate and select the desired document. I like using the arrow keys because my hands don’t have to leave the keyboard.

4. Relevant search results from Amazon (outlined in yellow) . As you type your query, it is sent to Amazon (anonymously via Ubuntu) and relevant results are displayed.

   Many people find this intrusive and disable this feature. Instructions to disable Amazon search results are here.

   I don’t have a problem with it, but wish it was more customizable. For instance, I don’t want Amazon search results in my main Dash panel. I don’t mind them if I am using the music lens or movie lens (explained in more detail below). Unfortunately, there is no way to selectively enable Amazon search results.

5. At the very bottom of the Dash (shaded in green) are a number of icons. These are “lenses”. A lens is a specifically focussed (or themed) query. The five lenses at the bottom are:

   1. Dash lens: this is the default lens – it searches everything you are possibly connected to which includes your computer as well as any cloud services you use.
   2. Applications lens: this focuses searches only within applications.
   3. Folders and Documents lens: this focuses searches only on folders and documents.
   4. Music lens: focuses search on music.
   5. Photos Lens: focuses search on photos.
   6. Video lens: focuses search on videos.

   You can navigate to the lenses using either the mouse or keyboard.

   Typing Ctrl + Tab will navigate through the lenses.

   Note: typing Ctrl + Tab means, “While holding down the Ctrl key, press the Tab key as though you intend to type it.”

   If you hold the Windows (Super) key down for a few seconds, a cheat sheet of commands will be displayed (click for larger image):

   

   Note: the cheat sheet only appears if your screen resolution is 1024×768 or greater.

   HUD

   The HUD was introduced in Ubuntu 12.04 and combined with Dash it provides a powerful way of interacting with your applications.

   Just as Dash replaces navigating a hierarchy of menus to find applications and documents, HUD replaces navigating a hierarchy of menus in an application.

   Like anything new, it feels all wrong, but, I found it very easy to pick up and now prefer it over the traditional menu navigating paradigm.

   Instead or navigating a hierarchy of menus, HUD provides a query field in which you type the name of the action you want to perform with your applications.

   Normally, to do something in a program you either use a keyboard shortcut (like Ctrl+B to bold text in a word processor), or you use the mouse to select an option from a menu or toolbar.

   With HUD, you type in what you want to do. The HUD interface will then locate appropriate / matching menu entries and display them to you to select. Again, you can use the mouse to perform the selection or the arrow keys and the Enter key.

   I think the greatest strength of HUD is that you can navigate it completely via the keyboard, so you never alternate between typing and reaching for the mouse.

   The HUD is activated when you tap on the Alt key:

   Note: tapping the Alt keys means pressing it as though you intend to type it. It does not mean holding down the key.

   If you hold the Alt key down for about 2 seconds, the application menu bar will display in the Panel. As soon as yo let go of the Alt key, it will disappear – thus encouraging use of the keyboard to select a menu option (e.g. Alt + F to open the File menu).

   

   The HUD panel looks something like this:

   

   1. The query field (outlined in red) is where you type the operation you want to perform in the application, e.g. open, new, auto white balance, etc.

      This is where the focus goes when you activate the HUD.

      As you type, a list of possible commands will be displayed below it. You can navigate those commands using the mouse and clicking to select or the keyboard (arrow keys) and pressing Enter to select. By default, the top command is always selected and will be executed if you press Enter. A nice thing is that you do not have to type the whole command.

      Note: if a command is not available (for example, it is greyed out), then it will not appear in the list of commands.

      For example, if you have just opened GIMP without any image, it is not possible to perform image operations on it (like unsharp mask, or auto color enhance, etc). So if you type unsharp into the query field, you will not receive any options.

      I think it would be better if the HUD somehow indicated that the operation is unavailable rather than just not showing it at all.

   2. On the left, the icon (outlined in green) shows which application the command is for.

      The HUD may display commands for other programs (not just the active one). This can be confusing if you are not paying attention.

   3. Below the query field is a list of matching commands (outlined in blue.

   Note: HUD may not work with all applications – it depends on how the menus in an application were coded. Prior to Ubuntu 13.04, LibreOffice was an application that did not work with the HUD (there was a patch available to make it work, though).

   Final Words

   Unity is a new way of interacting with the computer: instead of navigating a hierarchy of menus, you type what you want to do.

   As an old timer (my first interactions with a computer were via a teletype), I never really liked the mouse / GUI way of doing things because it required me to take one hand off the keyboard. As a consequence, I have always configured shortcut keys to perform common tasks.

   With Unity, I am able to keep my hands on the keyboard and easily perform the tasks I need. I still program my shortcut keys, but I know longer have to navigate through menus to find some lesser used operation.

   Play with it. I think you will find it easy to learn. I have found it easier to adapt to than the Ribbon interface Microsoft introduced a few years ago.

   I find the Dash and HUD work well when I am very familiar with the programs / applications I am working with and I know the command set.

   I find the HUD awkward to work with when I am not familiar with an application. For example, perhaps I install Blender to try out some 3D graphics development. Not being familiar with Blender, it is very awkward to try typing commands into the HUD in the hope of finding the right one. This is definitely a case where being able to browse through a bunch of menus can be helpful.

   Of course, I can always type help and hope a help file comes up.

   It is with new or unfamiliar applications that I miss the menu bar at the top, but even if a menu bar was visible, there have been times when I could not find what I wanted and had to google to discover how it was named or where it was located.

   Additional Resources

   While these aren’t tutorials, they offer some insight into Canonical’s focus and direction (they are written by Mark Shuttleworth – Canonical’s CEO):

   Introducing the HUD. Say hello to the future of the menu.

   Dash takes shape for 11.10 Unity (note: the Dash panel has changed somewhat from the screen capture he presents)

   This shows a side by side comparison between using the tradition menu driven way to perform a task and using HUD. While a number of commenters have complained that it isn’t an objective comparison, I think it shows very nicely the difference in working in both environments:

   This is another video showing the HUD In action:

   The post Ubuntu 13.04 – Basic Unity Interface / Desktop Tutorial appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

   ]]> https://complete-concrete-concise.com/ubuntu-2/ubuntu-13-04/ubuntu-13-04-how-to-display-hidden-files-and-folders/ Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:33:26 +0000 http://complete-concrete-concise.com/?p=2902 Learn how to display hidden files in Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity Desktop and using the Nautilus file manager.

   The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Display Hidden Files and Folders appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

   ]]>

   This tutorial is for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity Desktop and using the Nautilus file manager – this is the default configuration for Ubuntu 13.04.

   The instructions may be the same or similar for other versions but no guarantee is made.

   Note: for some reason, Nautilus has changed quite drastically in Ubuntu 13.04 from previous versions. Not sure, yet, if this is heavy Ubuntu customization or changes in Nautilus itself. On significant (minor?) change is that in the About dialog, it is now called Files – never mind that it shows up as nautilus in the process viewer.

   

   1) Open the Files application:

   2) Tap the Alt key. Note: tapping the Alt key, means pressing it as though you intend to type it. It does not mean holding the key down. This will bring up the HUD:

   

   3) Type preferences into the HUD query field:

   

   4) Press the Enter key. This will open the Preferences dialog:

   Note: you can press the Enter key as soon as Preferences is the topmost displayed option.

   You can also select Preferences by clicking on it with your mouse, or navigating to it using the keyboard arrow keys and pressing Enter.

   

   5) Click on the Show hidden and backup files checkbox to enable it. Click on Close

   :
   

   6) Restart the Files application to enable the setting.

   I think this is a bug because I would expect the changes to take place immediately after closing the Preferences dialog.

   The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Display Hidden Files and Folders appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

   ]]> https://complete-concrete-concise.com/ubuntu-2/ubuntu-13-04/ubuntu-13-04-how-to-completely-uninstallremove-a-packagesoftwareprogram/ Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:29:12 +0000 http://complete-concrete-concise.com/?p=2894 Learn how to remove all the files and packages that were installed.

   The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Completely Uninstall/Remove a Package/Software/Program appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

   ]]> This tutorial shows how to completely remove or uninstall a package in Ubuntu 13.04. These instructions should work for other versions of Ubuntu, it’s derivatives (Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Myhtbuntu) and other Debian based Linux distributions – but no guarantee is made.
   This tutorial is definitely on the advanced rather than basic side of things, but if you are careful, it shouldn’t be a problem.

   WARNING ! ! !

   There is a small but real risk of data loss or making other programs or Ubuntu unusable.
   It is advisable to ensure you have a backup before proceeding.

   I am somewhat over emphasizing the risk, but anything can happen – there might be a power failure in the middle of uninstalling and this might leave your system in a funky state, or you might select a critical system file for deletion and this leaves your system unusable.
   I don’t expect anything bad to happen (because nothing bad has ever happened to me), but I make no guarantees.
   Note: the risk is about the same as applying software updates where old packages are removed and new packages are installed.
   You can jump directly to the “How To” part here.

   Uninstalling a package should be as easy and straightforward as installing it – either enter sudo apt-get remove --auto-remove at a command line or click Remove in the Ubuntu Software Center. Unfortunately, it is not:
   

   The Problem

   There are three types of packages: (1) simple, (2) with dependencies, (3) complicated.
   Simple packages install only a single program file and that’s it. They are completely self contained and don’t depend on anything other than the core operating system being present. These types of packages are rare.

   stella (an Atari 2600 emulator) is an example of a simple package.

   Packages with dependencies need other files in order to work. When installing one of these packages, Ubuntu Software Center or apt-get determine what additional files are needed and automatically installs them for you. When you uninstall the package, the dependency files are usually left behind. Sometimes they can be removed by using the command sudo apt-get autoremove, but that is an exception rather than the rule.

   stellarium (a 3D planetarium / sky simulator) requires the additional file (stellarium-data) to be installed in order to work. When you uninstall it, it leaves behind stellarium-data. The good news is that stellarium-data can be uninstalled using sudo apt-get autoremove.
   abiword (a word processor) requires additional files (about 16) to be installed. One of these is ttf-lyx (a font). When you uninstall, abiword it will automatically uninstall some of the files, the remainder can be removed using sudo apt-get autoremove, but the file ttf-lyx is not – it must be explicitly removed.

   Complicated packages (also called metapackages), typically, do not install any files. Instead, they are a collection of dependent packages. These are the hardest to clean up, since you have to uninstall each dependent package (along with its dependencies) separately.

   lubuntu-desktop (a desktop environment based on the lxde interface) is an example of a package that installs several dependent packages. Each of those packages installs other packages and files. In total, about 200 files get installed (totalling 377 MB of data). When you uninstall lubuntu-desktop, it only removes the lubuntu-desktop package (about 30kB). Using sudo apt-get autoremove will remove nothing else. All the extra files which were installed because lubuntu-desktop said it depended on them remain behind and they use up about about 377 MB of disk space.
   These include packages like abiword, leafpad (a text editor), lubuntu-core, lxde-common, along with many, many other packages.

   Note:The 30 kB and 377 MB are not typos, uninstalling lubuntu-desktop leaves behind about 99.99% of everything it installed.

   Not only are various packages left behind after an uninstall, but also configuration data used by the (now removed) package, directories (folders) and user data – all of these have to be manually removed.

   Why Can’t Everything be Uninstalled?

   My best guess is because it is a low priority:

   • Users want applications to install easily and work. In the (fairly distant) past, installing applications in Linux was a pain – users would install an application and it wouldn’t work, then they would discover they needed to install some other package to get it working, and then there were package incompatibilities (still a problem in Linuxland) and so on. Nowadays, most Linux distributions do a very good job in packaging applications for easy installation.
   • Hard disks are big. If you have a 500GB hard disk, will you really notice if 3MB or 50MB or even 1GB of data are cluttering it up? Probably not, the files cached by your Internet browser is likely occupy more space on your hard disk.
   • It is not sexy. Who cares if a programmer wrote a really neat uninstaller? Probably no one. Programmers are more interested in “cool” apps. And since it is possible to manually uninstall all the unnecessary applications, there is no incentive to write a proper uninstaller.
   • Uninstallation should be a “rare” activity. Although, I think users are very likely to try out applications and uninstall them if they don’t like them or find it is not what they wanted.
   • It is hard. If a package is uninstalled shortly after installing it, this is probably no problem uninstalling it because nothing is likely to have changed on the system. But if a package is uninstalled 2 years after having been installed, then there are serious concerns: (1) other applications may have been installed that depend on some of the same files (this makes deciding which files to uninstall complicated), (2) it is likely that updates and upgrades have been applied over time (the files and dependencies may have changed. Consider a program that originally depended on a file called cutting-edge-library, but later the developers switched to using mature-and-stable-library instead – this poses problems to the uninstallation program.
   • Finally, if the uninstaller breaks an application the user wants to keep, the user is going to be unhappy, so it is better to be very conservative when uninstalling and leave stuff you are not sure about behind.

   All the information needed to uninstall an installed package is available (sometimes it takes a little poking around). The only information not available is which files and folders are created by an application – so cleaning up all the config data, application folders and user data is harder.
   This is a long standing problem with Linux – many projects have been started (and abandoned) whose purpose was to clean up leftover files on the computer.
   

   How to Completely Remove a Package

    

   Quick Instructions

   1) Open the aptitude log file (/var/log/apt/history.log).
   2) Locate the files that were installed.
   3) Remove the files using sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove <file names>

   NOTE: it is a good idea to ensure that you are not removing any extra files. This might happen if you (or someone else) has installed other packages or updates since the package you are uninstalling was installed.

   4) Locate and remove configuration files and data associated with the package. Most often, they will be found in /home/ and /home/.config/ directories.

   Detailed Instructions

   Finding Out Which Packages Were Installed

   These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04, using the Unity interface and the Terminal application.
   I expect the instructions to be similar for other environments, but no guarantee is made.
   Instructions for opening a terminal can be found here.

   Opening the Installation History Log File

   All installation and uninstallation operations that happen using either apt-get or Ubuntu Software Center (or any of the aptitude family of functions) are stored in /var/log/apt/history.log. Examining the contents of this file allows us to determine which packages were installed.
   1) Click on the Files icon:
   
   2) Click on Computer:
   
   3) Double-click on the var folder:
   
   4) Double-click on the log folder:
   
   5) Double-click on the apt folder:
   
   6) Double-click on the history.log file – this should open it with gedit, the default text editor in Ubuntu 13.04:
   

   A Quick Overview of the history.log File

   The history.log file contains all the operations performed on your system using apt-get (or any of the aptitude family of programs)
   Each block of operations contains:

   • a Start-Date and End-Date (red) for the operation
   • the operation performed (blue)
   • additional information about the operation (green)

   
   In our case, we are interested in the Install information.

   Finding the Installation Data

   7) Search for the package you installed. If it was the last package you installed, then it will be at the end of the file. The records are stored with the newest operations towards the end (bottom) of the file and the oldest at the beginning (top) of the file.

   Note: the history.log file is archived monthly. If you don’t find the required install information in history.log, then check the history.log.<number>.gz files:
   
   Double clicking the .gz file will open it with Archive Manager. Inside Archive Manager you double click on the file to open it with gedit

   In the sample below, you can see I installed lxde-core on 27-April-2013:

   Start-Date: 2013-04-27  16:29:19
   Commandline: apt-get install lxde-core
   Install: libobrender27:i386 (3.5.0-7, automatic), lxsession:i386
   (0.4.9.2~git20130310-0ubuntu1, automatic), openbox-themes:i386 (1.0.2,
   automatic), libfm-data:i386 (1.1.0-0ubuntu2, automatic), libfm-gtk-bin:i386
   (1.1.0-0ubuntu2, automatic), obconf:i386 (2.0.3+20110805+debian-1, automatic),
   libjpeg-turbo-progs:i386 (1.2.1-0ubuntu2, automatic), xscreensaver:i386 (5.15-2ubuntu1,
   automatic), lxde-common:i386 (0.5.0-4ubuntu4, automatic), lxsession-data:i386
   (0.4.9.2~git20130310-0ubuntu1, automatic), pcmanfm:i386 (1.1.0-0ubuntu2, automatic),
   lxde-core:i386 (0.5.0-4ubuntu4), libfm-gtk-data:i386 (1.1.0-0ubuntu2, automatic),
   libgif4:i386 (4.1.6-10ubuntu1, automatic), libfm-gtk3:i386 (1.1.0-0ubuntu2, automatic),
   openbox:i386 (3.5.0-7, automatic), libglade2-0:i386 (2.6.4-1ubuntu2, automatic),
   lxmenu-data:i386 (0.1.2-2, automatic), libfm3:i386 (1.1.0-0ubuntu2, automatic),
   lxshortcut:i386 (0.1.2-3, automatic), lxpanel:i386 (0.5.12-0ubuntu2, automatic),
   libid3tag0:i386 (0.15.1b-10build3, automatic), libimlib2:i386 (1.4.5-1ubuntu1, automatic),
   libjpeg-progs:i386 (8c-2ubuntu7, automatic), libmenu-cache2:i386 (0.4.1-0ubuntu1, automatic),
   xscreensaver-data:i386 (5.15-2ubuntu1, automatic), libobt0:i386 (3.5.0-7, automatic)
   End-Date: 2013-04-27  16:30:00

   8) Cut and paste the Install data into an editor. You can start a new document in gedit by clicking on the Create a new document icon:
   
   9) Edit the data to remove all unnecessary text.

   The data has the following form: <package name>:i386 (something in parentheses),
   Only the package name is important. The :i386 (something in parentheses), needs to be deleted.
   So libopenal1:i386 (1.13-2, automatic) becomes libopenal1 after removing the extra information.

   Note: if you are running the 64 bit version of Ubuntu, then it will be :amd64 (something in parentheses), instead.
   If you have a lot of text to edit (as in this example), you might consider using a text editor that offers regular expression matching – like LibreOffice Writer – for search and replace.
   Using LibreOffice Writer 4.0.2.2, you can use one of the following regular expressions (I think they are complete, but they might miss the odd expression):

   Use this if you are running the i386 version of Ubuntu:

   :i386 \([0-9\~\.\+a-zA-Z\-, ]*\),?

   Use this if you are running the amd64 version of Ubuntu:

   :amd64 \([0-9\~\.\+a-zA-Z\-, ]*\),?

   Let me know if you encounter a case where the regular expression doesn’t work.

   Press Ctrl + H to launch the Find and Replace dialog in LibreOffice Writer.

   1. Click on the More Options button (it will change to Fewer Options).
   2. Click on the Regular expressions box.
   3. Enter the regular expression into the Search for field.
   4. Click on the Replace All button.

   

   10) Add the following to the start of the edited package list: sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove . You should have something that looks like this:
   sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove libobrender27 lxsession openbox-themes ...

   I recommend use of the purge option over the remove option because purge claims to remove some of the configuration data.
   You can always use sudo apt-get remove --auto-remove instead.
   Note: if you are using LibreOffice Writer make sure that it does not autocorrect what you are entering.
   Two very common problems are:

   1. the ‘s’ in sudo gets changed to UPPERCASE. The Linux command line is case sensitive, so Sudo is not the same as sudo.
   2. the double minus (–) gets converted in a single DASH (–).

   Either error will cause the uninstall script to fail.

   11) Cut and paste this package list with the apt-get command from step 10 into a Terminal to completely uninstall the package.

   To paste into a terminal, you need to right-click in the terminal and select the Paste option from the popup menu. Using the traditional shortcut Ctrl+V will not work.

   Detailed instructions on how to open a terminal can be found here.

   

   It should look something like this (the exact list of files will depend on what you are uninstalling):
   
   12) Press the Enter key and enter your password (this is your login password):

   NOTE: when you type your password, nothing will happen on the screen. This is normal. As a security feature, Linux does not echo back any indication of the characters you are typing in.
   Note: You will only be asked for your password if this is the first time in this terminal session that you are using sudo apt-get.

   
   13) Press the Enter key after entering your password and apt-get will respond by showing which files are going to be uninstalled:
   
   If you want to uninstall the files, then press the Enter key. If you don’t want to uninstall the files, type the N key and then press the Enter key.

   Note: if this was not the last package installed. Or if updates have been installed, I STRONGLY advise you to double-check the files being uninstalled to ensure they do not include any extra files.

   WARNING ! ! !

   This should work perfectly if the package you are uninstalling is the LAST package you (or anybody else) installed on your system. In other words: No one has installed anything else – not even updates – since this package was installed!
   If other packages have been installed, if updates have been installed, then there is a RISK that those packages or updates may have a dependency on one or more of the packages you are uninstalling.
   If you uninstall a package that some other package depends on, then that package will no longer function correctly.
   Examining all package dependencies is very complicated. Proceed at your own risk – backups are strongly recommended.

   Double Checking Your Uninstall Script

   If the package you are uninstalling was not the last package installed, there is the risk that you will accidentally uninstall a package that some other application depends on.

   Why Double Check?

   For example, you install abiword. Abiword depends on the package ttf-lyx and it will be installed it if it is not already installed.
   Later, you install cadabra. Cadabra also depends on ttf-lyx, but since it is already installed, it will use the installed copy instead of installing a new copy.
   If you uninstall abiword using the technique above, it will explicitly uninstall ttf-lyx (which is also needed by cadabra – which was installed after abiword).
   This will cause apt-get to uninstall cadabra because cadabra depends on ttf-lyx.
   To avoid this problem, it is necessary to double check that you are not removing any extra files.
   Since apt-get displays the files it is going to uninstall, it is a simple matter of checking that no additional files were added to the uninstallation:
   

   Uninstalling Configuration Data

   I don’t recommend doing this unless you know exactly what you are looking to delete.

   The last thing left to do is to delete / remove all the configuration data.
   Unfortunately, this is hard to do since there is no record of what files and folders the (now uninstalled) application put on your computer.
   A good place to start is in your /home directory and your /home/.config/ directory.
   However, data, files, and folders could be squirreled away all over the place.
   As you can see, it is not necessarily obvious what folders and files need deleting:
   
   In this case, I know that it is the three highlighted folders that need deleting, but there is no easy way to tell (except by doing a before and after comparison – even that is tricky because an application typically does not write a .config file until it is used. For example, gedit creates the gedit folder after it is used. If you used gedit after you installed a package and then did a before and after comparison, you might be tempted to think the gedit folder needs to be removed as well.
   

   The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Completely Uninstall/Remove a Package/Software/Program appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

   ]]> https://complete-concrete-concise.com/ubuntu-2/ubuntu-13-04/ubuntu-13-04-how-to-customize-configure-unity/ Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:21:49 +0000 http://complete-concrete-concise.com/?p=2877 Believe it or not, you can customize Unity without needing to be a command line guru.

   The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Customize / Configure Unity appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

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   These instructions are for Ubuntu 13.04 running the Unity Desktop.

   They may be the same or similar for other versions, but no guarantee is made.

   Ubuntu provides access to a few of the aspects of Unity that can be customized, but the majority are buried in configuration files that use pretty arcane shell commands to manipulate.

   The Unity Tweak Tool provides easy access to the various bits of Unity and allow you to configure Unity to your heart’s content:

   

   Best of all, if you you mess up or don’t like the changes you made, you can always restore the settings back to the original default settings:

   

   The only shortcoming of the tool (that I see) is that there is no help file or manual describing in detail what each setting does. Sometimes it is a matter of trying something out to see what it does. Many times, you can probably figure out what something does from the parameter name and the popup info that appears if you hover your mouse over an option for a few seconds:

   

   Installing from the Command Line

   1) Enter the following command in a terminal:

   sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

   Installing from the Ubuntu Software Center

   1) Tap the Windows (Super) key to open the Dash panel.

   Note: tapping the Windows keys means pressing it as though you intend to type it. It does not mean holding down the key (holding down the key does something else).

   Ubuntu calls this the Super key

   

   2) Type ubuntu software center into the Dash search field (you can stop typing once the Ubuntu Software Center icon is the left most icon):

   

   3) Press the Enter key to launch the Ubuntu Software Center application:

   Note: pressing the Enter key will select the first Dash entry. If Ubuntu Software Center is not the first entry, then use the keyboard arrow keys or mouse to navigate to the appropriate icon.

   If pressing Enter does not launch the Ubuntu Software Center, then click on the Ubuntu Software Center icon.

   4) Type unity tweak tool into the Ubuntu Software Center search field:

   

   5) Click on the search result Unity Tweak Tool:

   

   6) Click on Install:

   

   7) Enter your password and click on Authenticate:

   

   An additional bonus with this application (although, maybe most users don’t think about it) is that it only installs one file. So, when you decide to remove / uninstall the application, cleanup is easy and straightforward. This is not the case with most packages.

   The post Ubuntu 13.04 – How to Customize / Configure Unity appeared first on Complete, Concrete, Concise.

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