Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon ! With the hype of the new release behind us, its time to take a long hard look at the operating system itself. Yeah it's new and funky and has wobbly windows. But lets start looking beyond the first impressions and throw the monkey to the lions.

Step one : Basic installation. Ok , we do the whole next – forward – accept routine of the installation process that should not be any problem ( considering you know what language you speak, what part of the world you live and that your keyboard does not have a Klingon layout. ) so we just skip to the part where you get to your desktop. If you have the brain of a goldfish you know what your user name and password is and you log in. The first screen you see is .. hideous. I know brown is the trademark of the whole Ubuntu distro, but seriously : Why in hells bells does my desktop look like it has an OSX desktop dipped in brown pooh ? So get on the internet, whiz up a wallpaper from some hot chick or whatever, right click the sucker and choose as wallpaper.

By the way : If your wireless card is NOT working out of the box : You're officially fucked ! There are a great many ways to get it working all lovingly explained on the Ubuntu Forums. Get down on your knees, plug the Ethernet cable into your wired network card and start looking for the solution. If you CAN get your wifi card going you are going to find out how, (don't worry). As for me ? I have an intel 2200 chip set that is recognized out of the box, it found my wifi router right away and it worked. ( One point awarded to gutsy for finally getting the whole wifi debacle out of the way)

Next : Go to SYSTEM / ADMINISTRATION / SOFTWARE SOURCES. On the first tab select the first four check-boxes (except the SOURCES one) and un-check the CDROM option (otherwise the Ubuntu is gonna wine for the cd). Now : The second tab : Third party software: Check both options. Third tab : Updates : Choose 'important' and 'recommended' and select “download all updates in the background” Now click Close. That way you'll have your update sources all sorted out. ( If you see the update icon on the top right corner : Click it and install your updates).

When that is out of the way its time to juice up our little distribution with some more software. Click on “Applications” Add/Remove. on the top left select “All available applications” and browse the different sections of software. You can select and choose what you want to install, but I'll give you a list of the extras I've installed.
accessories : 7zip / ace / gDesklets (choose this one !) / Ophcrack. / RAR / xtraceroute.
Internet :Bittornado Client / chatzilla / ClusterSSH / Etherape / ettercap / Filezilla / Gmailnotify / Grsync / Internet DJ Console /Mozilla Thunderbird / Nessus / NmapFE /Pdgin/Sun 5 and 6 (java stuff) / VPN Connection Wizzard./ Wireshark /
Other :ubuntu restricted extra's
System tools: Yaquake

Next click on : Apply changes.

The one thing I have noticed while going through this list is that there are an a-amazing amount of programs that you can install using this select-and click method. (How about turning your ubuntu machine into a fileserver / ftp server / Digital video recorder and so on) But not to turn this 'first look' into the next volume of the Dune series .. I decided to keep it brief.

Now, back to our little desktop : Click SYSTEM/PREFERENCES/APPEARANCE and choose the theme you like. For wobbly windows and more go to 'visual effects' and choose the medium setting (believe me , all the rest is overhead). Click ok and voila.

For the final part of this little howto we are going to spice up our interface. Go to your desktop, and right click on the bottom toolbar : Choose 'delete this panel'. Then go up to the toolbar on the top of your screen and right click. Choose “add to panel” and click on “windows list” That way your top bar has your “start button” and your programs list .. This leaves the bottom half of our screen open for something nice.

Go to applications / accessories / Gdesklets. From here you can choose several nice “widgets” that live on your desktop. The one I want you to choose is Toolbar/launcher/ Starterbar : Click it and drag it down to the bottom of your desktop. Drag shortcuts onto it et voila : you have your own OSX dock. Now to round it all up : We are going to get this little “dock” be started whenever we boot. To do that go to System/preferences/sessions/ Click add and type gdesklets in every line.

Et voila, next time you boot you'll have a cool looking dock, a nice wallpaper, wobbly windows, mp3 and Dvd support and some nice extra programs to keep ya busy :) Enjoy !

Posted by knightwise, on 08-11-2007 13:19, 1. www.knightwise.com Thanx 4 the feedback. I use a macbook and an Imac so the dock is a little familiar to me, thats why i like to use it. Still use the menu bar at the top a lot too.   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment... » See all 1 replie(s) Posted by Tech Aspect, on 08-11-2007 13:16, 2. Not My Cup Of Tea I am not a big fan of the dock. The rest looks good. I just don't want to feel like I'm running an OSX wannabee. I want gnome and linux     Nice guide though.    http://www.techaspect.net   » Report this comment to administrator » Reply to this comment...