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Archive for the ‘computers’ Category

Oneof the cool things about using Linux is the degree to which you can customize your system. If you want to make It look and act like a Mac,you can. Want the Windows 7 or Vista glassy look? No problem. You can do that too. For a week now, I’ve been having fun tweaking Karmic Koala, the latest release of the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. Although I mentioned some of the things I did after installing Karmic Koala last week, here is a more organized checklist.

1. Install the latest video driven. This is an absolute must if you want to get the most out of your Ubuntu desktop. Users with Nvidia and All graphics card should download and install EnvyNG (http://bit.ly/dK5eb).

2. Get your eye candy. Visual effects not only give your desktop some pizazz, they actually help you get around the desktop more efficiently, To enable visual effects, go to System> Preferences > Appearance and check Extras in the Visual Effects tab. Note that if you have not done No. 1, you will probably be unable to do this. To control visual effects, go to the Software Center and install Advanced Desktop Effects Settings. To gain the ability to view thumbnails of all open windows at once (and choose one by clicking on it), make sure the Scale.effect under Windows Management is enabled. Customize how this feature is triggered by clicking on Scale. To gain more work spaces, go to the Desktop Size tab in General Options and increase the horizontal virtual size. Four is a good number, especially if you’re using a desktop cube to switch works paces.

Want some glassy window frames? Install the Emerald Theme Manager and use it to import some cool themes (http ://bit.ly/Install_Emerald). You’ll find loads of cool themes and wallpapers at Gnome-Look.org (www. gnomelook.org). If you’re adventurous, you can even create your own themes using the Emerald Theme Manager. Want a cool dock like the one on the Mac? Co to the Ubuntu Software Center and install GLX-Doek.

3. Install Ubuntu restricted extras. This package gives you Adobe Flash for watching YouTube videos, Microsoft Core Fonts, Java, MP3 playback, EAR extraction, and codecs to watch downloaded videos. To install, go to the Ubuntu Software Center, find the package and install it.

4. Enable the Medibuntu repository. This will let you to install applications such as Skype, Google Earth, Opera and plug-ins that you need to watch DVDs on your PC. To do this, go to System > Administration> Software Sources, click on the Other Software tab, and click on the Add button. Copy and paste this line to the box: deb http://packages.medthuntis. org/karmic free non-free Click close then click the reload button.