The wait is over and Spotify is now available for Linux. Following is how you can install spotify in Ubuntu 10.04.

Note: Because they are not able to run ads on this client, this service is only available for spotify premium users. But we can safely assume that it’s coming soon to free users as well.

1. Add repository to your software sources

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following line at the end of the file

deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free

2. Open the terminal window and paste the following command to add the spotify public keys

gpg --keyserver wwwkeys.de.pgp.net --recv-keys 4E9CFF4E
gpg --export 4E9CFF4E |sudo apt-key add -

3. In the terminal paste the following command

sudo apt-get update

4. Type the following command to install spotify

sudo apt-get install spotify-client-qt

5. Once installed you can run it using the run prompt (ALT+F2) and typing spotify.

Ubuntu has come a long way in terms of the user interface and design. With a little bit of tweaking, Ubuntu can be turned into a real eye candy. Following is a collection of some beautiful GTK 2.x themes which could be ideal for someone looking for a new look and change. In order to download, click the title of each GTK theme.

Zuki

Simply Basic

Radiance Drakfire Mod

absolute

Azenis

Equinox Variance (previously Radiance)

GTK Equinox Engine 1.2

Victory (Strikes Again)

Ambiance Refined II

imetalV5

FineryThemes

FineryBlues

LaGaDesk-102-Suite

Khali-Blue

Turquoise_Nights_II_by_nale12

Enjoy the new looks!

Let’s see a step by step guide to install NetBeans 6.9 on Ubuntu 10.04. But before we start with the installation process let’s see what NetBeans is:

The NetBeans IDE is an award-winning integrated development environment available for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris. The NetBeans project consists of anopen-source IDE and an application platform that enable developers to rapidly create web, enterprise, desktop, and mobile applications using the Java platform, as well as JavaFX, PHP, JavaScript and Ajax, Ruby and Ruby on Rails, Groovy and Grails, and C/C++.

Release overview of NetBeans 6.9

NetBeans IDE 6.9 introduces the JavaFX Composer, a visual layout tool for visually building JavaFX GUI applications, similar to the Swing GUI builder for Java SE applications. Additional highlights include OSGi interoperability for NetBeans Platform applications and support for developing OSGi bundles with Maven; support for JavaFX SDK 1.3, PHP Zend framework, and Ruby on Rails 3.0; as well as improvements to the Java Editor, Java Debugger, issue tracking, and more.

Following is an Overview video of NetBeans 6.9 release.

Installation

In order to install NetBeans, you will need Sun Java installed on your machine. Make sure you have JDK installed before you begin the installation process.

1. Download NetBeans 6.9 from NetBeans download page

You can select the version you want. I selected the complete version.

2. Once you have downloaded Open a terminal window and navigate to your Download directory (where you downloaded NetBeans installer script). Once you are at your download directory, type the following command to begin the installation.

sh netbeans-6.9rc2-ml-linux.sh

3. This should initiate the installation process.

Once installed you can find it under Applications > Programming > NetBeans IDE 6.9

Following is a short guide to installing Google’s infamous open source Chromium browser which is said to be the fastest browser on planet.

Chromium is the open-source project behind Google Chrome. We invite you to join us in our effort to help build a safer, faster, and more stable way for all Internet users to experience the web, and to create a powerful platform for developing a new generation of web applications.

Following is how you can install Chromium on OpenSuse 11.3

1. Go to http://software.opensuse.org

2. Search for Chromium

3. Look for “Chromium is the open-source project behind Google Chrome.” and click 1-Click Install.

This should install chromium on OpenSuse. Enjoy speed browsing.

This post is specific to enabling 3d (desktop effects) in fedora 13 running on Nvidia graphics. I struggled to enable the desktop effect in Fedora 13. But eventually I managed to enable the desktop effects using the following steps.

Note: This is a 3 steps process. Please follow all the steps to enable desktop effects in Fedora 13

1. Install Nvidia drivers ( if you have 4Gb of RAM or more you will probably have a PAE kernel [32bit only] so follow the PAE part )

su
rpm -Uvh  http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm   http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.i686

If you use a PAE kernel

su
rpm -Uvh  http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm   http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm
yum  install kmod-nvidia-PAE

2. Edit the Grub File

su -
sed -i '/root=/s|$| rdblacklist=nouveau|' /boot/grub/grub.conf
mv /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img /boot/initramfs-$(uname  -r)-nouveau.img
dracut /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

3. Reboot

Once you have rebooted go to System > Preferences > Desktop Effects

Flock is a social browser which till recently was based on Mozilla. No more. The new version of Flock will be based on Google Chromium.

Note: It’s currently not available for Linux.

The move is to make it a little lighter and faster. We managed to have some sneak peak into the beta version of upcoming Flock (based on Google Chromium). It’s almost as good as Google Chromium though has still tried to stay social by integrating the popular social services like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

Read the rest of the post on our technology blog TechReviews.

Conky is a system monitoring tool for Linux. However, it’s a great tool to bring immense amount of information right on your desktop. You can flaunt off some really geeky looking desktop to all your friends stuck with Windows (though there are ways to achieve the same in Windows as well).

Conky is a free, light-weight system monitor for X, that displays any information on your desktop. Conky is licensed under the GPL and runs on Linux and BSD.

This is how my conky setup looks like (Click on the image to see the complete screenshot). This is how my conky flaunted desktop looks like:

Following is how you can install conky:

sudo apt-get install conky

Once installed all you have to do is to bring up run prompt (Alt+F2) and type conky to bring up conky. Though it might look ugly.

Let’s see how to customize conky to look something like the one on my screen. Create a new document in your home drive and name it .conkyrc (this will be a hidden file in your home drive). Paste the following code in the file and save and close the file. Your new conky should look like the one above.

background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont Zecton:size=8
xftalpha 0.5
update_interval 1.0
total_run_times 0
double_buffer yes
no_buffers no
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type override
own_window_hints undecorate,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
minimum_size 500 5
maximum_width 200
draw_shades yes
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
default_color lightgrey
alignment top_right
gap_x 15
gap_y 50
uppercase no
override_utf8_locale yes

TEXT
${color white} ${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=16}V${font :size=10}   Date&Time $hr $font $color
${goto 1000}${time %l:%M}${font}${time %p}
${time %A, %e %B %Y}

${color white}${font OpenLogos:size=18} I${font :size=10}   SYSTEM $hr $font
$color $font$sysname: ${alignr} $kernel ($machine)
$color Battery: ${alignr}$battery_time

${color white} ${font StyleBats:size=16}V${font :size=10}   CPU $hr $font $color
$color ${font}CPU@${freq}MHz: ${cpu cpu1}% ${alignr}${cpubar cpu1 8,60}
$color ${top name 1} $alignr ${top cpu 1}%
$color ${top name 2} $alignr ${top cpu 2}%

${color white}${font StyleBats:size=16}E${font :size=10}   MEMORY $hr $font $color
${color}${font}RAM: $mem/$memmax $alignr $memperc%
$color ${membar}
${color}${font}Swap: $swap/$swapmax $alignr $swapperc%
$color ${swapbar}
$color ${top_mem name 1} $alignr ${top_mem mem 1}%
$color ${top_mem name 2} $alignr ${top_mem mem 2}%

${color white} ${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=16}K${font :size=10}   HDD $hr $font $color
$color root: ${fs_used /}/${fs_size /} $alignr ${fs_free_perc /}%
$color ${fs_bar /}
$color home: ${fs_used /home}/${fs_size /home} $alignr ${fs_free_perc /home}%
$color ${fs_bar /home}
$color windows: ${fs_used /media/sda1}/${fs_size /media/sda1} $alignr ${fs_free_perc /media/sda1}%
$color ${fs_bar /home}
$color stuff: ${fs_used /media/sda5}/${fs_size /media/sda5} $alignr ${fs_free_perc /media/sda5}%
$color ${fs_bar /home}

${color white} ${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=16}@${font :size=10}   NETWORK $hr $font $color
$color Local IP: $alignr${addr wlan0}
$color Public IP: $alignr${execi 1 ~/.conky/ip.sh}
$color Download: ${downspeedf wlan0} KB/s $alignr ${totaldown wlan0}
$color Upload: ${upspeedf wlan0} KB/s $alignr ${totalup wlan0}

${color white} ${font Arial Black:size=16}@${font :size=10}   GMAIL $font $color${alignc}${execi 60 ~/.conky/gmail.sh}

${color white} ${font PizzaDude Bullets:size=16}@${font :size=10}   Weather $hr $font $color
$color Skies are: ${alignr}${weather http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/ EFTP cloud_cover}
$color Winds from the: ${alignr}${weather http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/ EFTP wind_dir}
$color Winds speed: ${alignr}${weather http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/ EFTP wind_speed} km/h
$color Humidity: ${alignr}${weather http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/ EFTP humidity}% relative humidity
$color Temperature: ${alignr}${weather http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/ EFTP temperature}C

Feel free to modify the file. The original setup is inspired by didi79

Once you install proprietary Nvidia and ATI drivers in your Ubuntu 10.04 and boot your machine next time all you see is an big and ugly Ubuntu Plymouth logo. Though it really doesn’t too much to have that ugly Plymouth, but if you are a stickler for perfection like me then you would want to fix it to get the following nice looking Plymouth.

Following is a way to fix this:

1. Open a terminal Window and type the following command:

sudo apt-get install v86d

2. Next up in the same terminal window type the following command:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

This should open your Grub file in Gedit editor.

3. Find the following line:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

and replace it with

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset video=uvesafb:mode_option=1280x1024-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap"

4. Next find the following line in your Grub file:

#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

and replace it with

GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024

Your Grub file should look like this:

Save the file and close it.

5. In the terminal type the following:

sudo gedit /etc/initramfs-tools/modules

And in the file that opens, add the following line:

uvesafb mode_option=1280x1024-24 mtrr=3 scroll=ywrap

The file should look like the one below:

Save the file and close it.

6. In the terminal window type the following command:

echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash

You will see something like this:

7. In the terminal Window type the following commands:

sudo update-grub2
sudo update-initramfs -u

That’s all, now you can reboot your machine to see the restored good looking Plymouth.

[via Softpedia]

Yesterday the Opera team announced the release of Opera 10.60 Alpha for Windows, Mac and Linux. They have promised an increased performance for both JavaScript, DOM and CSS.

Following are some features to look out for:

In addition to the visual tweaks you have seen already, such as the Speed Dial face lift, we have also been making further UI enhancements. You will notice that the O menu button now says “Menu” for easy discovery, and instead of hard to read thumbnails for internal tabs, we have replaced them with icons. The tab hover previews have also received a face lift.

Once installed you can find it under Applications > Internet > Opera.

Download Opera 10.60 deb for Ubuntu i386

Other Downloads for Linux can be found here.

Release Announcement can be found here.

Google Chrome is a lightening fast browser and is available cross platform. Let’s see how to install Google Chrome on Open Suse 11.3. All you have to do is go to Google Chrome Download Page.

1. Click on Get Google Chrome (BETA).

2. On the subsequent page make sure OpenSuse is selected. Click Accept and Install.

3. The package file will be downloaded and opened in YaST and Google Chrome will be installed on OpenSuse 11.3

Once installed you can find it under Computer > Applications > Internet > Google Chrome

Enjoy fast browsing experience with Google Chrome!