Fix User Themes GNOME Shell Extension Installation Problem (Ubuntu)

GNOME Shell, a relatively new user interface environment for Linux desktop which was released with GNOME 3, comes with a default theme which aims to be both functional and good looking. Despite its beatiful design, many users (including me) at some point found that they just want to change the default look of their desktop with a custom theme.

In GNOME 3, there is no official utility for changing desktop theme, especially the Shell theme. You can install and use a tool like Advanced Settings (gnome-tweak-tool) to change various settings in GNOME 3 desktop including GTK theme, but to be able to change the Shell theme with a theme in user theme folder, you have to use an extension, that is User Themes extension (which is one of the most popular extension). You can install it from the official GNOME website here.

Unfortunately, up until now, the User Themes extension from the GNOME website that will be installed into your home directory, is still causing a problem, that is causing Advanced Settings (the app that we will use to change GNOME Shell theme) fail to launch when the extension is active (at least on Ubuntu 12.04 and Debian Wheezy, from my experience).

To fix the User Themes extension problem (causing Advanced Settings failed to launch), you can try the following steps.

Better Way to Hide File / Folder in Nautilus (Ubuntu / Linux)

As you Linux users may already know, in GNU/Linux file system, files/folder with a "dot" in front of their names will become hidden by default. So, if you want to hide a file/folder, you have to add a dot in front of its name (.MyHiddenFile for example).

But do you know that Nautilus, the default file manager app for Ubuntu OS and many other GNOME-based Linux distros, has a feature that can hide files/folders with an additional different way, without renaming the file/adding a dot in its name.

For me, this feature is very useful, especially to hide files/folders that cannot be renamed. Here is an example:

As you may notice from the screenshot above, there are system folders that used by Windows OS (yes, I have multiboot OS on my system, Windows and Ubuntu/Linux OSes) on one of my hard disk partition that I used to store data files (shared files). I hate it whenever I see those files (with ugly names) on Nautilus, but since they are system files in Windows OS, renaming them as dot files won't be effective, because they will be auto-generated whenever I go to WIndows and I will see them again when I return to my Linux box.

So, I use Nautilus' different way of hiding files as solution.

Install Nemo File Manager in Ubuntu

The upcoming changes in Nautilus 3.6 created controvery among desktop Linux users. The latest version of the file manager application from GNOME project has been completely redesigned so that it is much simpler in term of visual design, and also in its functionality.

Despite its better looking and consistency with other GNOME apps, removal of its features including compact view, tree view in sidebar, extra pane, and many other features available in its predecessor that are considered important features for many, has made users consider to find and use alternatives.

Ubuntu team has decided to stick with Nautilus 3.4 for its upcoming Ubuntu 12.10. Other Linux distro, Linux Mint team has had even more further move, by forking it, creating Nemo, a Nautilus 3.4 fork that keep its features, with some other useful addition.

Install Real Firefox in Debian

Mozilla Firefox is a widely used web browser in many GNU/Linux distibution, including Debian OS. But, due to the brand/name restriction, Debian use Iceweasel, a rebranded Firefox browser, as its the default web browser instead of "real" Mozilla Firefox.

Iceweasel is Firefox, only with different name and logo. It looks and performs exactly like Firefox, Firefox extensions/add-ons are 100% compatible and thus can be installed and used in Iceweasel.

But for many people, using the rebranded browser of Firefox somehow doesn't give a "real" Firefox eperience. And also, although in very rare cases, some websites reportedly can't recognize Iceweasel as Firefox, so the site can't be used smoothly on it. Another reason why some people prefer the real Firefox instead of Iceweasel, is because Iceweasel in Debian is a bit outdated, not updated to the latest Firefox (as of this writing, Iceweasel version in Debian Wheezy is Iceweasel ESR 10.0.7, while the latest Mozilla Firefox is Firefox 15.0).

For whatever reason, if you want to install the real Firefox in Debian OS, here I will show a little step-by-step tutorial/guide.

Debian doesn't provide Firefox in its official repository, so we need to install it in another way. In this method, I will show you a manual installation: how to install the real Mozilla Firefox web browser in Debian OS.

Format Junkie: Convert Multimedia Files Easily (Ubuntu)

Format Junkie is an easy to use, all-in-one application for converting media files to most popular formats today.

With its nice GUI, format Junkie comes with lots of options, and supports various multimedia files including audio, video, image, iso/cso formats, and also an advanced feature to join audio/video files or encode subtitles.