Author: Swadesh Parasher

How to Get Gnome 3 On Ubuntu 11.10

Gnome is getting a great shape and it is now stable and user-friendly. The best thing is that Ubuntu 11.10 + (one of Linux Member) can have the gnome interface without much hassle. There are no special tricks to do the specific job. You just need an internet connection and a brief knowledge (or work experience on Ubuntu OS).

Ubuntu 11.10 finally provides Gnome installation through “ubuntu Software Center.” Curious users who wants to try the new Gnome 3 on their Ubuntu 11.10, can now go through the easy and safe steps to try out and install “Gnome-Shell”.

This means that unlike previous releases of Ubuntu installing GNOME Shell in Ubuntu doesn’t require the addition of any extra ‘software repositories’, or the running of any dubious scripts: it can be installed directly from the Ubuntu Software Centre with a simple click.

Click Here to Install Gnome Shell

Gnome Extra’s

To get the ‘best’ GNOME Shell experience in Ubuntu we should also install a number of additional ‘extras’.

These include GNOME Contacts – a slick Google-integrated address book: –

GNOME Sushi is a handy file preview tool integrates into Nautilus (the default file-manager). To preview an image, movie, audio track or text file just select it with your mouse or keyboard then tap the space key once to ‘peek’ inside: –

GNOME Tweak Tool lets you tweak the way GNOME Shell behaves. Whether you want to enable icons on the desktop, change the system theme, or adjust system font size, GNOME Tweak Tool lets you do it: –

Click Here to Install Gnome Extras

Once all of the above applications have finished installing it’s time to dive on in to GNOME Shell. Hit the ‘Power Cog’ icon in the top right hand corner and choose ‘Log out’. Be sure to save any work or files before doing this.

Enabling Gnome-Shell

Now It’s time to rock-n-roll. follow the following simple steps toactivate gnome-shell on your Ubuntu 11.10 OS.

1. At the login screen click the ‘cog’ icon to the right of your username

2. Choose the session you want to log into from the menu. For GNOME Shell you’ll want to select ‘GNOME’

3. Enter your password and login as normal

And That’s it. But wait you might feel that Gnome 3 windows are ugly. Because of black and white tint of colors on the file manager and other windows.

The thing is that you didn’t enable the Gnome Default theme. You are still using the Ubuntu 11.10 “Unity” Theme. So the next step is to change the Default Unity theme to “Adwaita” Gnome Theme. Here’s how:

1. Open ‘System Settings’ from the furthest right-hand menu.

2. In the window that opens we will select the ‘Appearance’ option.

3. From here use the drop-down box at the bottom of the window to choose the ‘Adwaita’ theme.

4. Log out and back in to see the theme take full effect.

Here are some Final ScreenShots, This is what you’ll get on finalized installation.

Note: Some Of the Snapshots shown in this article may be altered by extensions provided Gnome. For e.g. Gnome Has clock and calendar aligned center by default. You can force them to be on the right side as it used to be on Unity environment. You can find extensions for Gnome shell on their Official Website – https://extensions.gnome.orgYou can discover and review gnome on their official website here. -> http://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/

December 9, 2011

USB 3.0 : Everything you need to know

USB 3.0 (universal Serial Bus version 3.0) is a hybrid version of Ubiquitous Universal Serial Bus, Created in 1996 by a consortium of companies led by Intel to dramatically simplify the connection between host and the devices. If we fast forward to 2009, we will find that USB 2.0 has been firmly entrenched as the de-facto interface standard in the PC world for ages. Almost 6 billion (and still counting) devices has been sold ever since. But, we now belong to the era where data transfers @ 100 MBPS is still not enough. With faster computing hardware and ever greater bandwidth demands again drive us where speed is only thing that matters.

Earlier In 2007, Intel demonstrated Ultra High Speed (which was known as SuperSpeed USB) at Intel Developer Forum. It was version 1.0 of USB 3.0 (confusing Isn’t it? well i know that.). It was only on November 17, 2008 when They came up with final specifications. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has taken over managing the specification and publishes the relevant technical documents necessary to allow the world of developers and hardware manufacturers to begin to develop products which uses USB 3.0 Protocols and Technology.

Speed

There are currently 3-speed modes defined by the latest (known to us) USB 3.0 specification according to the context. They are SuperSpeed, Hi-Speed, Full-Speed. Now the words I am going to write now are stunning. The new SperSpeed mode has a transfer rate of 4.8 Gbps. While the specification retains Hi-Speed and Full-Speed mode, commonly known as USB 2.0 and 1.1 respectively (now you must be wondering, The names are even more confusing), they operates at 480Mbps and 12Mbps and are kept to maintain backward compatibility.

To illustrate how fast the USB 3.0 drives whether they be flash drives, 2.5″ portable drives, 3.5″ desktop drives, we plotted their RichCopy real-world benchmark data in bar graphs so you can easily tell the performance leader in each storage peripheral subcategory.

Flash Drives

2.5″ Portable Hard Drives

3.5″ Desktop Hard Drives

Isn’t USB 2.0 fast enough?

Well, yes and no. Usb 2.0 is fast, but not that fast which could meet the requirement of speed demand of today’s generation and higher computing processors and devices. However, with today’s ever increasing demands placed on data transfers with high-definition video content, terabyte storage devices, high megapixel count digital cameras, and HD video capture and portable media players, 480 Mbps is not really fast anymore.

The truth is, no Usb 2.0 connection could ever come close to the 480Mbps theoretical maximum throughput, making transfers at around 320Mbps (40MB/s) – the actual real world maximum. Similarly, 3.0 connections will never achieve 4.8Gbps either. We will likely see areal-world maximum rate of 400 MB/s with overheads. At this speed, USB 3.0 is a 10x improvement over 2.0

Applications

In a nutshell, any high-bandwidth device that works with USB 2.0 will become better if updated with USB 3.0 support. At the moment, devices that tax the throughput of USB 2.0 include:

External Hard Drives

Full HD Video Capture Solutions

High resolution webcams, surveillance cameras

Video display solutions – e.g. DisplayLink USB video technology

Camcoders

Digital Still Cameras

Multi-Channel audio Interfaces

External optical media – i.e. Blu-Ray Drives

High-end flash drives can also push USB 2.0 pretty hard, and oftentimes if multiple devices are connected via hub, throughput will suffer.

USB 3.0 Comparison

How does USB 3.0 compare to competing interfaces?

USB 3.0 versus Thunderbolt

Developed by Intel, the 10Gb/s bi-directional interface is technically PCI Express on a cable. It was originally designed to use fiber optics, but Intel later went with copper wiring as a mean to reduce cost and to supply power. The expansion bus can support both hubs as well as a daisy chain of up to 7 devices. Thunderbolt, which essentially takes over the Mini DisplayPort, is making its way into all Mac laptops and desktops.

While Thunderbolt is widely reported as USB 3.0 killer, it is not really a competing standard. Rather it is more a niche interface, whereas USB is more of a mainstream port. If you do have multiple RAID arrays and need to push large amount of data to and from it on a daily basis, then yes ThunderBolt is a viable option for you. For everyone else, Thunderbolt may not be cost effective. Just look at all the marketing spin and hype around USB 3.0 being ten times faster and how hard it is actually to get that. Ten times faster is more like 400MB/s as USB 2.0 averages at 40MB/s. To achieve 400MB/s, you need a $500 SSD. Now imagine how much more expensive it will be to get even more speed than what USB 3.0 can deliver and how much additional benefit you’ll get.

USB 3.0 versus USB 2.0

USB 3.0 (5Gbps) is theoretically 10 times faster than USB 2.0 (480Mbps). You can expect three-fold to ten-fold increase in performance with current generation of USB 3.0 devices but your mileage varies depending on the type of device. In real world, you’re going to see a SandForce-based flash drive topping 250MB/s and a 5400-rpm portable drive reaching 100MB/s. USB 3.0 also provides more power, 900mA up from 500mA of USB 2.0. This will allow some demanding devices, namely USB monitors and RAIDs, to be powered with just one cable.

Despite the USB 3.0’s advantages, USB 2.0 already serves as the ideal interface for a number of applications as it provides ample of bandwidth in these situations. USB 3.0, in this case, isn’t necessary and could increase the cost. For the reason, the market for USB 2.0 devices of all types isn’t going to dwindle in short to medium term.

USB 3.0 versus Firewire

The interface has long been the “forgotten” mass market, high-speed interface standard. Previously available in Firewire 400 or 800 flavors, it has gradually fallen in popularity as USB 2.0 has surged. Apple, the inventor of the original IEEE 1394 “Firewire” standard, has repeatedly sent mixed messages with the ditching of Firewire first from iPods and more recently from the mainstream MacBook laptops (except for the lowest-end MacBook, oddly enough).

In late 2007, the 1394 Trade Association announced Firewire 3200 (S3200) that builds upon the existing Firewire 800 standard that was released in 2002. Utilizing the very same connectors and cabling that is required for Firewire 800, S3200 is basically a drop-in replacement once the internal system components are updated in devices. To date, S3200 has not gained much traction, even in traditional Firewire markets such as digital video.

Firewire’s main claim to fame is that it is a highly efficient peer-to-peer, full-duplex, non-polling data communications protocol with very low overhead. Firewire delivers much higher actual throughput than USB 2.0 and can achieve much closer to its theoretical 800Mbps data rate than USB. Where a Firewire 800 7200-rpm hard drive can deliver sequential transfer rate of around 90MB/s, USB 2.0 hovers more around 40MB/s and USB 3.0 averages at 150MB/s. It remains to be seen what impact S3200 will have on the computing landscape, but with Apple backing Thunderbolt, there’s little hope for Firewire.

USB 3.0 versus eSATA

Brought to market in 2004 as a consumer interface targeted directly at the crowded external storage market, eSATA successfully address the issue of the interface bottleneck, and allowed fast hard drives to leverage their performance potential when located external to a server or PC. eSATA supports a data rate of 3.2Gbps, which is more than enough for the fastest hard drives, which can transfer about 120MB/s, easily better than USB 2.0 and significantly better than Firewire 800.

eSATA is not without drawbacks, however. Cable length is limited to a mere 2; it cannot supply power to devices connected on the eSATA bus, and the connectors are neither small nor terribly suitable for consumer devices where aesthetics are important. Over the last several years, eSATA has steadily eroded both USB and Firewire market share in the data storage space, although its applications are limited, and really not well-suited to the portable device market.

USB 3.0 versus ExpressCard 2.0

The notebook-exclusive slot interface was practically released the same day as the USB 3.0 specification (November 2008) and promises to enhance the ExpressCard standard for the increased speed requirements of today’s mobile technologies. Closely tied to both the PCI Express and USB 3.0 specifications, ExpressCard 2.0 supports a variety of applications involving high throughput data transfer and streaming. Maintaining backwards compatibility with the original ExpressCard specification, the hot-pluggable interface standard for I/O expansion in smaller form-factor systems will by definition coexist with the world of USB 3.0 devices. [source : Everything USB]

USB MILESTONES

2012	Intel integrates USB 3.0 into chipset Windows 8 begins USB 3.0 support
2009	NEC ships first USB 3.0 silicon SuperSpeed USB logo introduced Linux begins native USB 3.0 support
2008	USB 3.0 specs released
2005	Wireless USB 1.0 specs released
2002	Windows XP SP1 supports USB 2.0 natively
2001	USB OTG specification released.
2000	USB 2.0 specs released USB started to gain reputation as a mainstream bus technology
1998	Apple shipped iMac with USB ports USB 1.1 specification released
1997	USB-IF membership increased to over 400 companies Over 500 USB products were in development worldwide
1996	USB 1.0 specs released First USB product introduced. First USB Plugfest compliance workshop held.
1995	USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) formed with an initial membership of 340 companies Intel introduced the first USB silicon.
1994	USB core companies assembled

In a nutshell, USB 3.0 promises the following:

*Higher transfer rates (up to 4.8Gbps)

*Increased maximum bus power

*New power management features

*Full-duplex data transfers

*Support for new transfer types

*Backward USB 2.0 compatibility

*New connectors and cables

The enhancements to SuperSpeed USB are not just for higher data rates, but for improving the interaction between device and host computer. While the core architectural elements are inherited from before, several changes were made to support the dual bus arrangement, and several more are notable for how users can experience the improvement that USB 3.0 makes over USB 2.0:

More power when needed

*50% more power is provided for unconfigured or suspended devices (150 mA up from 100 mA), and 80% more power is available for configured devices (900 mA up from 500 mA). This means that more power-hungry devices could be bus powered, and battery powered devices that previously charged using bus power could potentially charge more quickly.

*A new Powered-B receptable is defined with two extra contacts that enable a devices to provide up to 1000 mA to another device, such as a Wireless USB adapter. This eliminates the need for a power supply to accompany the wireless adapter…coming just a bit closer to the ideal system of a wireless link without wires (not even for power). In regular wired USB connections to a host or hub, these 2 extra contacts are not used.

Less power when it’s not needed

Power efficiency was a key objective in the move to USB 3.0. Some examples of more efficient use of power are:

*Link level power management, which means either the host computer or the device can initiate a power savings state when idle

*The ability for links to enter progressively lower power management states when the link partners are idle

Continuous device polling is eliminated

*Broadcast packet transmission through hubs is eliminated

*Device and individual function level suspend capabilities allow devices to remove power from all, or portions of their circuitry not in use

#Streaming for bulk transfers is supported for faster performance

Isochronous transfers allows devices to enter low power link states between service intervals

#Devices can communicate new information such as their latency tolerance to the host, which allows better power performance

Additionaly, I would like to mention that some SuperSpeed USB hardware, such as hubs, may always be more expensice than their USB 2.0 counterparts. This is because by definition, a SuperSpeed hub contains 2 hubs: One that enumerates as a SuperSpeed hub, and a second one that enumerates as a regular high-speed hub. Until the USB hub silicon becomes an integrated SuperSpeed USB + High Speed USB part, there may always be a significant price difference.

Some unofficial discussion has surfaced on the web with respect to fiver-optic cabling for longer cable length with USB 3.0. The specification makes no mention of optical cabling, so we conclude that this will be defined in a future spec revision, or left to 3rd party companies to implement cable extension solutions for Super Speed USB.

December 3, 2011

How to Clear the Recently Watched on Netflix?

Though this process does not involve much effort, it can require more work to clear your recently watched movie titles if you do not know the correct functions with which to work.

Update : 2 really easy way to delete your Netflix history or recently watched

Update

Unfortunately, Some users reported that this feature/instructions are not working anymore. Netflix has disabled these features, and there are no official options to remove or hide the recently watched content on your Netflix account apart from removing your account and creating it again.

Instructions

1. Sign into the Netflix account that you use. Then, click on the “Your Queue” option with your computer mouse.

2. Go to the new page that comes up on your screen. Click on the blue tab that the word “Instant.” Go down the page until you reach the part of the page that displays the instant list, beneath the movies you recently watched portion of the page.

3. Go to “Remove.” Then click the “X” symbol adjacent to the names of movies you desire to remove from your list of recently watched titles.

November 30, 2011
[How To] Change Startup Programs in Windows 7
With the release of Windows 7, Microsoft has made many changes to the Windows operating system. How to make specific programs start as your computer starts and loads Windows 7 is similar to how it was done with previous versions of the Windows operating system. Startup programs are saved in a specific folder on the hard drive. When the operating system loads, links listed in this folder start their respective applications. Changing settings for current startup applications is accomplished through the system configuration tool.

Instructions:

1. Click the Windows “Start” button and type “msconfig” in the Search text box at the bottom of the menu. This opens the System Configuration console.

2. Click the “Startup” tab. This allows you to see the programs installed as startup options on your computer.

3. Check the boxes of the applications you want to start when your computer starts. For programs you no longer want to start when the computer starts, remove the check from the program’s corresponding check box.

4. Click “Apply” and choose “OK.” A popup window will ask if you want to reboot the computer or exit without rebooting. Click “Restart” to reboot the computer and save the changes. Choose “Exit Without Rebooting” to exit the console and have the changes take effect the next time you start your computer.

References:
- Windows Seven Forums: How to Change the Startup Programs in Windows 7
- Microsoft: Removing Startup Programs in Windows 7
November 30, 2011
How to Delete the Purchase History for the iTunes Store

If you love to download music, your iTunes purchase history can get cluttered very quickly. Rather than sifting through hundreds of media titles that you downloaded days, weeks or even months ago, it is simple to delete entries from the “Purchase History” section without affecting your iTunes library.

Instructions:

1. Open iTunes.

2. Locate the “Store” section in the main menu pane on the left side of your screen and select “Purchased.” Your purchase history will populate in the main window.

3. Click “Edit” at top left of your screen and choose “Select All” in the pull-down menu. This will highlight every entry in your purchase history.

4. Right-click any of the highlighted titles in the main menu and select “Delete.”

Tips & Warnings

Choose any individual title you wish to delete by clicking on it once, then right-clicking the title and selecting “Delete.” You can also hold the “Control” key as you select multiple titles, or the “Shift” key to select consecutive blocks of titles.

If this is your first time deleting from your purchase history, iTunes may send you a pop-up message letting you know that the title is still in your library. This is a good thing. Simply click “OK.”

Things You’ll Need
iTunes 7 or higher

Image: Pixabay

November 30, 2011

How to install Firefox 8 on Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Opensuse, … or any other Linux distribution.

This howto explains how to install Firefox 8 on Linux distros, without replacing your current Firefox installation.

Firefox 8 will be released on November 8, 2011.
Firefox 8 Beta 6 has been released on November 3.

More information on Firefox release dates, beta, aurora and nightlies on the official releases wiki.

A. Install Firefox 8 in 5 easy steps

1. Download

Download the release from the official channels page:
www.mozilla.com/firefox/channels/

(if the link does not work, use Mozilla’s FTP server)

A 64 bit build is also available in the x86_64 directory of Mozilla’s FTP.

This how-to supposes that the downloaded file is saved in the “Downloads” directory situated in your home directory.

2. Extract

The downloaded file is a compressed .tar.bz2 archive. In case you want to Learn more on these extensions: tar, bzip2.

To extract this juicy archive, open the Downloads directory. Look for a file named firefox-8.0.tar.bz2, right-click on it and select “extract here“.

Alternatively, you can extract the archive from the command line:

cd ~/Downloads/

tar xjf firefox-8.0.tar.bz2

For those interested, here are the tar arguments used in the command:
x : eXtract
j : deal with bzipped file
f : read from a file (rather than a tape device)

The .tar.bz2 archive can now be deleted.

3. Move to /opt

External programs like LibreOffice, Google Chrome, Adobe reader, … are all installed in the /opt directory. If you want more info about why, check out these two links:
Where to install my products on linux?
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard

If you already had a previous Firefox version installed in the /opt directory, remove it with the following command:

sudo rm -r /opt/firefox

Now move the firefox directory – which was created in your Downloads folder during extraction – to /opt:

sudo mv firefox /opt/firefox8

4. Set up symbolic links

Depending on you usage pattern, follow the instructions for case 1 OR for case 2.

Case 1: you want to use Firefox 8 as you default browser:

“Backup” the old Firefox launcher:

sudo mv /usr/bin/firefox /usr/bin/firefox-old

Create a symbolic link pointing to the new Firefox version:

sudo ln -s /opt/firefox8/firefox /usr/bin/firefox

No need to update your icons/shortcuts, they should now launch the new version of Firefox.

Your old Firefox version is still installed. If you want to use it, run firefox-old in a terminal or create shortcuts/icons referring to firefox-old.

Case 2: you want to keep using your “old” Firefox by default:

Create a symbolic link pointing to the new Firefox version:

sudo ln -s /opt/firefox8/firefox /usr/bin/firefox8

Launch the newly installed Firefox by running firefox8 in a terminal, or create shortcuts/icons referring to firefox8.

5. Updates & Final

Firefox 8 will manage its own updates independently of your system’s package manager, an download subsequent releases.

There will be no need to repeat the whole “procedure”… Enjoy Firefox 8!

B. Ubuntu’s case, Linux Mint and Debian

1. Ubuntu: no ubuntu-mozilla-daily ppa!

Many howtos on this subject will tell you to install Firefox pre-versions through Mozilla’s ppa ubuntu-mozilla-daily.

Using this ppa will not only install the latest Firefox 10 nightly build, used to be called “minefield” – updated daily! It will also update your current Firefox and Thunderbird to test versions.

These testing versions are not meant to be stable or usable.

? Avoid this ppa unless you know exactly what you’re doing!

2. The Firefox Beta ppa: mozillateam/firefox-next

The firefox-next ppa will replace your current Firefox installation with the current available version in Mozillas Beta channel. Simply run these two commands in a terminal:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-next
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

You may also have a look at the Firefox Aurora ppa.

Note: you can use only one of these three channels (Aurora, Beta, and Daily) at the same time!

3. Official Ubuntu updates for Firefox (automatic)

Since Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal”, Ubuntu will update automatically to the newest stable Firefox version when it is released. (it may take a few days more, though) This is also valid for Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot” and upcoming releases.

5. Linux Mint 11, and Debian 6 “Squeeze”, …

This howto has been tested with success on the following distributions, with Firefox 6, 7 and 8:

Debian 6 “Squeeze”
Linux Mint 10 “Julia”
Linux Mint 11 “Katya”
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS “Lucid Lynx” (Long Term Support, until April 2013)
Ubuntu 10.10 “Maverick Meerkat” (support until April 2012)
Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” (support until October 2012)
Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot” (support until April 2013)

this installation procedure is reliable and should work with a wide range of distributions. Please share your experience with OpenSuse and Fedora in the comments.

C. Uninstall/remove Firefox 8 (for non-ppa installations)

Remove the Firefox directory:

sudo rm -r /opt/firefox8

You also should consider changing back or removing symbolic links which pointed to the old Firefox directory. Change back:

sudo mv /usr/bin/firefox-old /usr/bin/firefox

Or remove the firefox8 symlink:

sudo rm /usr/bin/firefox8

D. Run multiple profiles and instances simultaneously

Problem: it is possible to run different Firefox versions with the same profile (profiles are compatible through major versions). However this is not very convenient, as Firefox will check the profiles extensions and plugins every time you start a newer or older version.

Solution: create a profile for each Firefox version. Create new profiles with:

firefox -no-remote -ProfileManager

The -no-remote option starts a new instance of Firefox even if there is already a Firefox instance running. Use the -no-remote option to run Firefox 8 and Firefox 9 instances at the same time.

Let’s say that you’ve created two profiles: ffox8_profile and ffox9-profile. You can start one instance of Firefox 8 and one instance of Firefox 9 with the following commands:

firefox -no-remote -P ffox8-profile
firefox8 -no-remote -P ffox9-profile

Now you may create desktop shortcuts / icons / launchers (Gnome: Custom Application Launcher) for each of these Firefox versions with their respective profiles.

If you need some svg icons to recognize your different Firefox installations, here they are. (Obviously these are NOT official Mozilla artwork, please use them wisely.)

November 20, 2011