10 Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu 13.10

Ubuntu 13.10 is out, you’ve upgraded, and you’re wondering what to do now. Don’t fret – here are 10 things to do after installing Ubuntu 13.10.

We put together a post-install checklist for every release of Ubuntu, but as new features arrive and improvements are made, the steps we suggest change and alter.

So what are the best things to do after upgrading to Ubuntu 13.10?

1. Get Up To Speed

While Ubuntu 13.10 packs in fewer user-facing features than previous releases the effect of the new Smart Scopes Service is hard to miss.

2. Enable Additional Drivers

Ubuntu supports a vast array of hardware right out of the box. But while the free, open-source drivers that make this possible are increasingly capable you may find that performance less that ideal for playing games on Steam or streaming HD video.
If so you may want to install and enable any proprietary drivers listed in the Software & Updates tool.
Open the Software Sources app via the Dash (or through System Settings) then click through to the ’Additional Drivers’ tab and follow the on-screen prompts.

3. Install Media Codecs in Ubuntu

Due to a big tangle of legal issues Ubuntu is unable to play many popular audio and video formats ‘out of the box’. It’s an inconvenience born of necessity.
But installing what’s needed is only a couple of clicks away.  During installation you can tick the ’Enable Restricted Formats’ box to have the required codecs pulled in, or – if you forgot to do that – you can install everything needed to get media working from the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Install Third-Party Codecs  

4. Set Up Your Social Life

Facebook, Twitter, Google Talk, Gmail and a heap more social accounts can be set up in one go using the Online Accounts hub.
Just add an network then decide which applications can use it. For example, stop Empathy firing up Google Chat by default, and filter our Facebook from the Social Lens.
Services supported include Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook (including Facebook Chat), Flickr, and a growing number of others.

5. Add Additional Apps

Ubuntu offers a lot of neat apps by default but one size doesn’t fit all. If you don’t like a certain app, or find yourself missing something else, you can easily add more software.
Fire up the Ubuntu Software Centre to browse thousands of free applications, including popular choices like:

• Dropbox - Popular, cross-platform cloud storage service
• Steam – Game distribution platform
• GIMP – Advanced image editor
• VLC – Popular media player

You’ll also find a wealth of additional software listed on sites like ours – check out our Apps tag for some ideas.

View App Posts on OMG! Ubuntu!

6. Protect Your Privacy

Privacy is a hot-potato these days, so it’s great to see that the latest release of Ubuntu improves its Privacy offerings with a new look and a handful of extra options.
Whether you want to hide a folder or app from appearing in the Dash, restrict access to your computer after waking up, or choose what data about system crashes is sent back to Canonical, the Privacy & Security pane is where you’ll find all the tools you need.

7. Embrace The Web

Canonical are enticing web devs with word that websites can be easily packaged, integrated and made available for install on Ubuntu Touch.
The genesis of this approach has been included on desktop Ubuntu for a few releases. Over 30 popular websites – including Gmail, Yahoo! & Rd.io - can seamlessly integrate with parts of the desktop.
For example, add GMail and you get fancy Gmail options in the Launcher and Messaging Menu; enable Rd.io and you’ll be able to control playback using the Sound Menu.

8. Make Unity Yours

Unity is more customisable than people think. Unity Tweak Tool is a third-party app that lets you adjust the Unity desktop experience to suit you.
Options include:

• Adjust launcher transparency 
• Set launcher icon animations
• Enable workspaces
• Configure shortcuts
• Move window controls

And no, before you wonder, it won’t let you move the launcher.

Install Unity Tweak Tool from Ubuntu Software Centre

9. Filter The Noise

Ubuntu’s new ‘Smart Scopes’ service promises to be a handy tool, but at present it’s just not as smart as it claims.
The good news is that feature can be switched off with a click, so there’s no need to avoid using Ubuntu altogether.
If you find yourself facing a wall of obscure music results or obtuse shopping suggestions every time you search for something unrelated you can disable each offending scope individually.

If you find yourself flooded with irrelevant music results for every search disable the music scopes. Don’t want Amazon suggestions? Switch Amazon off.

10. Spread The Word about Ubuntu 13.10

This item on our to-do list is cringe-worthy, I know. But the only way people are going to try out Ubuntu 13.10 is if they know about it – so do your bit and share news of it.
Whether you just post this post to Facebook, or make a LiveUSB for your OS X-loving partner, you’ll be helping raise awareness of Ubuntu.
Don’t forget to enjoy using it, too. Go check your Facebook profile, listen to some music, and  do a bit of surfing in Firefox.



#http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/10/10-things-installing-ubuntu-13-10http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EiRQ-znEcI&feature=player_embedded

Music App ‘Musique’ Adds Album Sorting, Gapless Playback and Playlist Tweaks

 

It’s a good week for music fans on Linux. Following the recent update to Banshee comes a new release of the lightweight Qt music player Musique.
Musique 1.3 builds on the core feature set found in previous versions by adding the much-requested option to sort artists and albums in the grid views by name, popularity, year, etc.
Also new in this update is a “reworked” playlist that now shows a small album cover thumbnail for the playing track; notifications on song change; and support for gapless playback for those using the GStreamer Phonon backend.
Various bug fixes are also included, as are performance improvements in the album and artist grids, and a wider selection of image formats for local album art.

Musique 1.3 is available to install from the Ubuntu Software Center on Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 & 13.10 - no PPAs, no .deb packages necessary:

 Install Musique 1.1 from the Ubuntu Software Center 

#http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/10/musique-1-3-update-adds-album-sorting

Manage Passwords Securely in Ubuntu with KeePassX

 


With security issues becoming more and more important, the emphasis on secure passwords (as well as other methods like multiple step authentication) has never been greater.
With that in mind I recently tried out several secure password managers to try and find something secure, but also easy to use and cross-platform.
First, I went to LastPass. It’s probably the most known tool for managing your passwords, and since it’s based on the web, it’s the most cross platform of them all. However, I found the interface lacking, and the number of tools and options on offer was overwhelming.
Next, I tried KeePass 2. While this is a perfectly capable app, very similar to the tool I’m going to talk about in a minute, it doesn’t provide official Linux packages, and the community ports, while serviceable, aren’t the nicest looking apps out there. So I tried other apps.
My favourite of all those I tested was KeePassX. It started out as a Linux port of KeePass, but eventually evolved as its own app. It bests KeePass 2 with a nicer, more native looking interface.

Using KeePassX in Ubuntu

Conveniently, KeePassX already has packages in Ubuntu available for installation.
Install keepassx from the command line or install it from the Software Centre:

Install KeePassX from the Ubuntu Software Centre

When you open it, you’ll see a blank window. Use the first button on the toolbar to create a new database. You can either protect it by using key files, or a password. You probably want a password which is quite easy to remember and type — you’ll be typing it in a lot, but on the other hand you don’t want anyone else accessing your database.
Next, you need to save it somewhere. I saved mine in my Dropbox, so I can access it from multiple locations. Dropbox uses two factor authentication, so if anyone wants to get into my Dropbox to access this database, they’ll also need to have my phone, which makes the process secure enough.
Alternatively, you can use other services like Google Drive and Skydrive which both use standard Authenticator apps, or Box which uses SMS for two factor authentication.
Of course, if you’re really worried about your passwords, you probably won’t want to save it where other parties can theoretically access it.

The main screen of KeePassX in Ubuntu

Using the app is actually pretty straightforward. You can add groups, and into those groups you can add keys. KeePassX includes a handy password generator whenever you need to input a password. I tend to generate my passwords with all the basic characters and special characters selected as well, at 20 characters long, but that of course depends on what the website accepts.
It’s important to note that some websites don’t always tell you how long a password they’ll accept, and opt to just put a limit on the input box. If your pasted in password doesn’t quite look long enough, it probably isn’t. It’s happened to me a few times.

KeePassX password generator

In my everyday usage of KeePassX, I’ve noticed a few things that should make using it a bit easier:

Copy & Paste Paranoia

You might be worried about the notion of copying and pasting passwords. It sure is more efficient than typing them out manually. By default, KeePassX clears the clipboard about a minute, but you can shrink this in the settings. You don’t need to be worried about someone else pasting the password and viewing it on your computer. You can also use a feature called AutoType, which types your password automatically, but this is a bit useless since for some reason it puts the password together with the username in the same field. Apparently it just doesn’t work for me. Chris Zuber explains how to use AutoType in the comments.

Database Dilemma

If you save the database in the cloud, don’t set the password to the cloud service to something completely random. It’s no good having the password to it saved inside the cloud if you can’t access the cloud. It might seem obvious, but it’s not something I originally realised.

SECURE ALL THE PASSWORDS

Whipping out your phone constantly while at work or school to access your most commonly used accounts can be a pain, so keep that in mind when settings passwords.

The future

If you’ve looked into KeePass 2 and KeePassX previously, you might’ve noticed that they use different database formats.
KeePass 2 uses a newer version of the format, which offers things like custom fields. Even though KeePassX is not yet ready for the newer .kdbx format, a new version of it is in development which supports this format.
You can view the new version of KeePassX, with a vastly improved interface below. You can also download it to compile it yourself on GitHub.

Main screen of KeePassX 2.0

Details of a single password

Additional attributes of a single password

Entry history, most likely replacing the ‘Backup’ folder from the previous version

Settings in KeePassX 2.0

Other devices

As I said in the beggining of my post, I was looking for something cross platform. This is a great advantage of the .kdb format — there are quite a few apps currently supporting it. KeePassX is also much easier to get running on Mac OS X than KeePass 2, and runs fine on Windows too.
On Android I use KeePassDroid, which works solidly both on my phone and tablet.


#http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/10/manage-passwords-securely-keepassx

Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Named ‘Trusty Tahr’

The tantalising trials of taxonomy are complete: the mascot for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS has been chosen – get used to typing out the name ‘Trusty Tahr’.
“What’s a…tahr?”, you ask? Google tells me it’s a goat-like mammal found in mountainous areas in Oman, India and the Himalayas.
The sure-footed animal reflects the goals for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, which Shuttleworth says, will see conservative choices made on the desktop as it focuses on delivering “…performance, refinement, maintainability [and] technical debt.” 
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS for servers and desktops is pencilled in for release in April 2014.


# http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/10/ubuntu-14-04-lts-named-trusty-tahr

Android 4.3 for Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4 now available

We've got good news for all international I9505 Galaxy S4 users. Samsung has just begun to roll out the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean firmware update for the LTE-enabled version of its flagship smartphone.
The first country to get the update is Germany, but other regions will supposedly be joining the whitelist shortly. German Samsung Galaxy S4 users can update both OTA or via the Samsung Kies computer software.
The Android 4.3 update brings quite a few new features, although most of them are part of Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz UI launcher and not the OS itself.
Here is the complete changelog for the update as compiled with SamMobile:

• OpenGL 3.0 Support
• GALAXY GEAR Support
• TRIM Support (Makes the device much faster)
• ANT+ Support
vSamsung KNOX Implementation (KNOX bootloader and dedicated application)
• Samsung Wallet comes pre-loaded
• Improved RAM management
• Improved Display colour reproduction (Display looks much sharper than before)
• Improved TouchWiz Launcher (Much less launcher redraws and less lag)
• New Samsung Keyboard
• New Samsung Browser (Full screen by default, new tab interface and more)
• New Reading Mode (Optimises display for reading, used by only a few specific applications)
• New Camera firmware
• Minor UI tweaks (Contacts app, Flashlight Widget, dialog boxes etc)

Naturally, the update rollout process is gradual so you need to be patient. You can also download and install the update via Odin, but you will be voiding your warranty this way.
Currently the Android 4.3 update is available only for the I9505 Galaxy S4 LTE-enabled model running on Snapdragon 600. SamMobile claims the octa-core I9500 will follow suit next week, the Galaxy S III will be getting its 4.3 release next month, while the Galaxy Note II will get the Android 4.3 treatment in December.
The reason why the former Samsung phablet is taking so long to reach Android 4.3 is the huge number of S Pen-related features that need to be ported to the lasest Android release.


#http://www.gsmarena.com/android_43_for_samsung_i9505_galaxy_s4_now_available-news-7000.php

Delete Temp Files With BleachBit: CCleaner of Linux

BY GUEST AUTHOR - AUGUST 14, 2012 2:00 AM - 4 COMMENTS

Every operating system, Windows, Mac, Linux, create temporary files while running. Software installations and uninstallations also create temp files. These files consume a small part of hard disk space. In addition to this, Google chrome, Mozilla Firefox like web browsers store histories, web caches, cookies etc.. Accumulation of these files also reduces the useful space.

On Windows we have many software to clean these temp files. CCleaner, Tweak Now, Tune-up utilities are of the popular clean up tools in Windows. But what about Linux users, what do they have to delete these temp files?

BleachBit is a clean up application available for all major platforms i.e. Windows, Mac and Linux. Ubuntu provides BleachBit in Software Center:

Once installed, open the application. Fill up the option and go for a clean up. Generally, it takes 5-10 mins to complete the process:

Enjoy a cleaner Ubuntu.

#http://www.computerandyou.net/2012/08/delete-temp-files-with-bleachbit-ccleaner-of-linux/