Display Gmail Unread Message Count On Your Desktop With Gmail Conky - Ubuntu/Linux Mint

In this tutorial, we will help you install a nice Gmail conky script that will show on your desktop unread message count of your Gmail account. Here is a screenshot of it under Ubuntu:

1. Gmail-Conky Installation

Open the terminal and run these commands:

sudo apt-get install conky-all 

cd /tmp 

wget http://goo.gl/Mk9Ln -O gmail_conky.zip 

unzip -q gmail_conky.zip 

cd GmailConky 

mkdir -p ~/.conky ~/.Gmail_Conky 

cp gmail.py  mail.png ~/.conky 

cp conkyrcGmail ~/.Gmail_Conky

2. Adding Your Gmail Account

Edit the gmail.py file with this command:

gedit ~/.conky/gmail.py

For Linux Mint:

pluma ~/.conky/gmail.py

Add now your Gmail username and password, then save the file and exit:

3. Starting Gmail-Conky

You can now run the script with this command:

conky -c ~/.Gmail_Conky/conkyrcGmail

If you want to start it automatically, create a new file and add the following lines:

#!/bin/bash
sleep 15
conky -c ~/.Gmail_Conky/conkyrcGmail

Save your files and give it execution permission with this command:

chmod +x gmail-file-name

Finally, add it to "Startup Applications" to make it load after you login.

How To Create An Encrypted CD/DVD Image From The Terminal - Ubuntu/Linux Mint

In this tutorial, we will learn how to create an encrypted iso image containing your data using the terminal under Ubuntu or Linux Mint. We will use the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption which will help us encrypt the entire disk image. You can later mount and burn the encrypted disk image to a CD or DVD.

Getting Started

Let's first install the Loop-AES command line tools with these commands:

sudo apt-get install loop-aes-utils aespipe 

sudo modprobe cryptoloop

1. Creating An Encrypted Disk Image

The command for creating an encrypted disk image is the following:

genisoimage -quiet -r ~/Desktop | aespipe -T -e aes256 > image.iso

~/Desktop >>> Replace it with the path of the folder containing the data to be added to the iso file

image.iso >>> this is the name of the iso file to be generated. You can set any name of your choice.

You will be prompted to enter a passphrase two times of at least 20 characters. Your iso image is now encrypted and can't be mounted unless the user provides the correct passphrase.

2. Mounting An Encrypted Disk Image

Via the terminal, create a mount point with this command:

sudo mkdir /media/iso

Mount now your iso file with this command:

sudo mount -o loop,encryption=aes256 image.iso /media/iso

After entering your user password, you will be prompted to submit the passphrase associated with the iso file.

3. Burning An Encrypted Disk Image

You can burn your encrypted iso image with any software of your choice. For burning iso files from the terminal, you can use wodim. To list your burning device with wodim, run this command:

wodim --devices

For my system, the burning device is mounted as /dev/sg1

$ wodim --devices
wodim: Overview of accessible drives (1 found) :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 0  dev='/dev/sg1'      rwrw-- :  'Slimtype' 'DVD A DS8A5SH'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, to burn the iso file, run this command:

wodim dev=/dev/sg1 image.iso

Ubuntu Tweak 0.8.2 Released News and Installation on Ubuntu

A new update of Ubuntu Tweak has been implemented and is available for download. Ubuntu Tweak 0.8.2 fixes many bugs found in the previous version but it also introduces some interesting news. Let’s find out the complete changelog:

• Show apps installation status

No more

• Recovery and Desktop Shortcut for 12.10
• Add option to turn off Unity Web Apps
• Remove “show indicator User” option for 12.10
• Love Wallpaper HD is ready

Into Bugs fixed

• QuickLists load failed in 12.04 (LP: # 1,073,004)
• Window position control button not working for Ubuntu 12.10 (LP: # 1,061,218)
• Window titlebar font setting is not working under 12.10 (LP: # 1,069,669)
• Window theme setting is not working under 12.10 (LP: # 1,069,670)
• Error in it.po Translations (LP: # 1,069,028)

As you can see there are many enhancements to Ubuntu 12.10 : You can now disable the Unity Web Apps, you removed the Desktop Recovery, Love Wallpaper HD is finally ready and working and was removed the option to show the User indicator. Inevitable, as always, bug fixes and various improvements. If you are interested in the release notes and the official announcement of Ubuntu Tweak 0.8.2, you can see this page .

Install Ubuntu Tweak 0.8.2 on Ubuntu

Into To install Ubuntu Tweak 0.8.2 on Ubuntu 12.10 or Ubuntu 12.04 via PPA , just type in a terminal:

Into sudo add-apt-repository ppa: tualatrix / ppa sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Into If you want to use the deb package, instead, simply download it from this page .

CryEngine 3 New Game is Coming to Linux

CryEngine , the engine behind Crysis and Far Cry 2, is considered one of the most sophisticated commercial game engines currently in place and, as you said, to him are due titles such as Far Cry, Crysis and Crysis 2 that are based on it. Thanks to the reporting of our reader Alessandro Frigoli , we learned that many new games based on the latest version of CryEngine 3 are coming on Linux , or rather come in the future including MechWarrior Online and Star Citizen .
Star Citizen is space adventure game by Chris Robert, creator of the Wing Commander series. Recently he made a so-called ‘Ask Me Anything’ on Reddit where he made it clear that CryEngine 3 could get serious about Linux.

It depends on Crytek engine and having the support OpenGL as well as DirectX. There may be some good news in the near future as we’ve discussed it with Crytek Themselves and they want to address this.

words:
depends on Crytek and support for OpenGL and DirectX. There might be some good news in the near future, as we have discussed with Crytek and they also want to meet this challenge.

Another interesting comment by Chris Robert was as follows:

The server side of CryEngine can run on Linux. Unfortunately the client side does not and is currently tied to DirectX. We’ve been discussing discussion with them OpenGL for Linux and Mac Reasons and they have some other licenses That Also want to do it, I know it may happen in the near future.

Translated:

The server side of CryEngine can run on Linux but not on the client side that is related to DirectX. We discussed on OpenGL for Linux and Mac, and it seems there are licenses and intentions to guarantee the support, and what might happen in the near future.

Star Citizen has also launched a survey where you can vote for Linux Support of the project, then I invite you to vote for reach the largest possible number of consensus . Unity and the Source engine have already confirmed Linux Support CryEngine 3 and if you were to achieve support for the penguin, there would be a push really important in terms of gaming for years to come.

Judge orders the FBI to come clean on internet surveillance

Good news, privacy lovers: US District Court has sided with the Electronic Frontier Foundation when it comes to transparency regarding the FBI’s attempts to access encrypted emails and force software companies to build backdoor friendly products.
Long story short, the FBI wants to build a backdoor into all online communications, to give them an easy way to access ‘private’ information. Other organizations, like the NSA, are working on similar projects, as are other governments. Unfortunately, despite the valiant efforts of activists like the fine people at the EFF, attempts to counter, or even learn more about the projects, have been met with a wall of silence. Thanks to US District Judge Richard Seeborg’s decision, that may be about to change.

Judge Seeborg ruled that that the Department of Justice hadn’t followed proper procedure in reviewing the EFF’s Freedom of Information Act filings and ordered a “further review of the materials previously withheld.” To give you an idea of how things have gone so far, the EFF’s previous attempts netted them a total of 1 full page and 6 excerpts out of the 8,425 pages they requested. Hopefully, this will change that.
The scary part of all this is the total lack of transparency. No one really understands what to extent the government’s 'Going Dark' project could affect internet privacy, and so there’s really no way for the public to offer any input or for activists to counter the efforts. Earlier this year, for instance, Wired uncovered evidence regarding a massive NSA surveillance center being constructed in Utah to record virtually every bit of data that passes over the internet.
In the meantime, hopefully the EFF’s new victory, even if it is a small one, will help bring a little more transparency to the debate table.