Compiz Fusion Tutorial

Let's setup the desktop cube in Compiz Fusion, this quick video guide will help you learn! From CCSM under Desktop click to enable Desktop Cube.

KDE and Gnome Comparison

Disclaimers

• This is not, by any means a comprehensive look at the differences between KDE and Gnome, but it should give new users a small taste of the two desktop environments' different strengths and weaknesses and their philosophical approaches to usability.
• The focus is particularly on Ubuntu and Kubuntu, but aspects of this comparison can apply to other Linux distributions as well.
• Since this is not a comprehensive look at the differences between KDE and Gnome, you should just pick one arbitrarily based on what's presented here... or you should just try both and see which one you like better.

Default Look

When you look at the default setup of Gnome and KDE in Ubuntu, their differences are mainly cosmetic.
KDE by default (this can be changed) favors blue and black, has one toolbar at the bottom of the screen, and has one main menu.

Gnome by default (this can also be changed) favors brown and orange, has two toolbars (one at the top, one at the bottom), and splits its menu into three submenus—Applications, Places, and System.
You should not select your desktop environment based on its default look. Gnome can just as easily favor blue, and KDE can be made to be orange. Both can be any color you want. Toolbars can be moved, added, deleted. The Gnome menus can be combined. New KDE menus can be added.
Both KDE and Gnome offer flexibility.

Menu Navigation

In KDE, there is a KMenu through which you access all programs. By default in Kubuntu (Ubuntu's implementation of KDE), there is a quick-navigation button that looks like a folder.
If you want to go to your Documents folder, you would go to the quick navigation button and then select Documents. Then you would click Open to open it.

In Gnome in Ubuntu's default layout (though you can change it to a one-button format if you'd like), you have separate buttons for applications, for folder navigation, and for system preferences.
To go to your Home Folder or Documents folder, you click on Places and then select the location you want to go to.

Renaming Files

In both KDE and Gnome, you rename a file (just as you would in Windows) with the F2 key. In older versions of KDE, the rename would focus on the entire filename, including the extension. In newer versions of KDE, the renaming process focuses on only the main filename and leaves out the extension. The renaming happens in a pop-up window, which you can confirm or cancel when you're done.
KDE also defaults to a single-click instead of double-click for opening files. So if you stick with the single-click, you'll have to hold down Control while selecting the file so that you just select the file and don't open it.

In Gnome, renaming a file also focuses on the main file name, but it does so inline and not with a pop-up window.

File Browser Preferences

KDE has a reputation for having confusing menus and options. I tend to think of it as just a different approach. In the file browser preferences, for example, you see three main options and then a lot of minor options in each submenu.

In Gnome's file browser preferences, you see six main options and then a bunch of other minor options in each submenu. Even though there are more options in Gnome in this case, many Gnome advocates consider Gnome simpler and less confusing. Again, I think of it as just two different approaches and a matter of preference.

System Preferences

KDE has a System Settings central location for configuring system preferences. This can be accessed through the KMenu. And, despite KDE's reputation for being more Windows-like than Gnome, you can see the layout here is actually quite similar to Mac OS X's System Preferences window.

In Ubuntu's Gnome, by default, you access each preference one at a time by going to System > Preferences > and then selecting the item you want. You can cheat a bit to get something similar to KDE's System Settings by pressing Alt-F2 and then typing in gnome-control-center to get something like this.

More Options

While I do sometimes defend KDE against its reputation for being complicated, there are other times I have to admit the reputation is well-earned. Take a look at this dialogue for configuring window behavior. Each of those five tabs has a lot of gobbledygook that could confuse the uninitiated.

And this is an example of how Gnome has earned a reputation for being simple. Some would argue too simple, but it's always a matter of preference.

Changes

In KDE, usually when you make a change, you have to click Apply or Save to get the changes to stick. This again is part of how it's earned its reputation for being more Windows-like.

In Gnome, changes usually take effect as you are choosing the new option.

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Panel Options

Yeah, it's a random option, but it's a popular one.

Once again, I usually defend KDE, but in this case, I can't make much sense out of the configuration options for panels. It used to be so simple (in older versions of KDE) to change it so the panel was on the top instead of the bottom. I can't find that option anywhere. What does screen edge mean as a setting?

In Gnome, the options are pretty straightforward for modifying the panel. Of course, Gnome also has the annoying lock for individual panel applets instead of KDE's more sensible locking and unlocking of all widgets.

Exiting

In KDE, if you want to exit, you click on the KMenu and select Leave and then the next option. I can't tell whether it's Kubuntu (Ubuntu's implementation of KDE) or all implementations of KDE 4, but after you decide to shutdown, you'll be asked if you want to close all the virtual terminals, too. Seems a little bit silly to me, but I guess if you use the virtual terminals a lot, it may be a good thing. If you don't even know what a virtual terminal is, this will be yet another confusing option to you.

In Gnome, the exit option recently moved from being in the System menu to being its own applet. You click it and the options come down.

Summary

Generally, KDE focuses on offering as many features as possible with as many graphical ways as possible for configuring those features. Fans of KDE highlight the functionality it has. Critics of KDE say the menus are too confusing.
Gnome, on the other hand, opts for simplicity and often hides certain configurations in order to achieve that simplicity. Fans of Gnome think the simplicity of Gnome offers a cleanliness that allows the user to get stuff done. Critics of Gnome think it just lacks certain functionality.
Once again, this comparison touches on only the surface of the differences and similarities between Gnome and KDE. As you can see, both offer more or less the same functionality. It's up to you to pick the desktop environment that works for you.
You may have glanced at this page and thought, "Well, gee, the differences look very cosmetic. I don't know which one to pick." The good news, though, is that you don't have to pick. You can have both installed together and switch back and forth whenever you feel like it.

Installing IEs4Linux on Ubuntu

Why use Internet Explorer on Ubuntu?

Some people are baffled (even outraged sometimes) at hearing that someone might want to use Internet Explorer (IE) on a Linux distro. With Firefox, Epiphany, Opera, and Konqueror available, choosing Internet Explorer seems to these people ludicrous. There are two main reasons people use IE on Ubuntu:

1. For web design, you want to be able to preview how the majority of people will see your website
2. You bank or do business with a site that works in only IE, and Firefox's User Agent Switcher extension just isn't cutting it (by the way, that extension handles a lot—I'd recommend trying it before installing IE)

Installing IEs4Linux on Ubuntu

Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. You'll be prompted to enter your password. Enter it.

Once Synaptic is open, click on Search. In the new search box, type cabextract and then click Search.
The package cabextract should appear in the search results. Right-click on that package and select Mark for Installation.

Click Search again and this time search for wine and click Search.
Mark the package wine for installation by right-clicking it.
You'll be asked if you want to mark additional required changes. Click Mark to mark them as well.

Click Apply to finally install cabextract, wine, and the additional needed software packages. You'll be asked to confirm the application of changes. Click Apply to confirm.
Synaptic will then download the necessary software installation files.
Once the installation files have been downloaded, Synaptic will also install the downloaded software.
When the software has finished being installed, click Close and then exit Synaptic.

Launch Firefox and search for ies4linux
The IEs4Linux website should be among the first search results.
Once at the IEs4Linux website, scroll down to the download page. As of this writing, the link is called Follow me....
Scroll past the installation instructions. As of this writing the instructions for Ubuntu are outdated. Instead, download the script.

When you click on the download link, Firefox should ask if you want to open the .tar.gz (or compressed file) with the archive manager. You do. So click OK.
Once the archive manager opens up, click Extract to extract the files and folders from the compressed file.
You'll be prompted for where you want to save the extracted files to. It doesn't really matter where you save them, as long as you're able to find them later. In this case, I saved them to my home directory.

Now go to Places > Home (or to the other easy-to-find place you saved them) to get the extracted files.
Double-click on the IEs4Linux folder to enter it (in this case, the folder has the version number at the end of the name, so the exact folder name is IEs4Linux-2.99.0, but that may change, depending on what version is available at the time you install it).
Inside the IEs4Linux folder, double-click the IEs4Linux file, and you should be prompted about what to do with it. You want to Run in Terminal.

You should get a pop-up asking you what options you want (and there are advanced options if you know what you're doing). When in doubt, just go with the defaults and click OK.
The script should pretty much run by itself. I highlighted in these screenshots a couple of places where the script might take a long time and seem stalled, but just be patient—the script will proceed by itself.
When it finally finishes, click Close.


You should now have a launcher icon for Internet Explorer on your desktop. Double-click it, and you can now use Internet Explorer on Ubuntu!
Note: Apparently some Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) users have been experiencing problems installing IEs4Linux using the above method. For more details, see this Ubuntu Forums thread.
I have tested this tutorial in 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), though, and it works just fine in those releases.
Disclaimer: If you're concerned about legal issues with installing Internet Explorer in Ubuntu, please read this

Using Wine on Ubuntu

What is Wine?
Wine is a program that offers a compatibility layer allowing Linux users to run some Windows-native applications inside of Linux. Wine is not the ideal. Ideally, you should find native Linux applications. You can use Ubuntu's software package manager to search for easily installable native Linux apps, or you can explore OSalt or Linux App Finder to find alternatives for specific Windows programs.
Not all Windows applications run in Wine. And some that do require extra configuration in order to work. You may want to consult the Wine HQ app database to see if the Windows application you're thinking of installing through Wine will work well with Wine or not. Platinum-rated applications will work with no extra configuration. The example on this page is a platinum-rated application.
Installing Wine
The installation of Wine is the same as for most software. These screenshots give you a basic overview of the steps. If you're unfamiliar with how software package management works in Ubuntu, you can find more details about it here.

Using Wine

Right-click the setup.exe for the Windows program you want to install. In this case, I went to the Sumatra PDF website and downloaded the installer file called SumatraPDF-0.9.3-install.exe and right-clicked it.
In the context menu that appears, select Open with "Wine Windows Program Loader"

Do the usual next-next-next you'd normally do with a Windows program installer.

To launch the installed Windows program, go to Applications > Wine > Programs and then find the menu item for the Windows program you just installed.

The program should launch and be ready for use!
Please note
I purposely used Sumatra PDF as an example, because it is a platinum-rated Windows application, and this is just an orientation to the basics of how to use Wine. If you are planning to install a Windows program that is gold-rated, silver-rated, or bronze-rated, be prepared to do some extra configuration, and try to look for a Wine tutorial specific to that application. Or, better yet, find a native Linux alternative instead of using a Windows program.