Xubuntu 20.10

 

 Xubuntu 20.10, the latest stable version of the project's official Ubuntu variant featuring the Xfce desktop, has been released: "Xubuntu 20.10 was released on Thursday, October 22, 2020 and will be supported for nine months until Thursday, July 22, 2021." The project has yet to publish an official release announcement, but the release notes do provide some information, including a list of known issues: "Installer issues: grub-installer chooses which drive to install to with no user input. Graphical issues: AMD graphics - block staircase display with side-by-side monitors of different pixel widths (fixed upstream, SRU expected for 20.04.1). General issues: GNOME Font Viewer - crashes in the live environment; Xfce PulseAudio plugin - multiple notifications displayed if multiple PulseAudio plugins added to panel; Xfce Screensaver - password required twice when switching users; Xfce Settings daemon - sometimes does not run after logging in, resulting in appearance and configuration issues. This was a less active development cycle for our team, though we did make some significant improvements for our contributors." Download link: xubuntu-20.10-desktop-amd64.iso (1,731MB, SHA256, signature, torrent, pkglist).

OS4 13.4

Roberto Dohnert has announced the release of OS4 13.4, an updated release of the user-friendly, Xubuntu-based Linux distribution: "Today we are pleased to announce the release of OS4 OpenDesktop 13.4. With this releases we bring in a lot of updates as well as some new functionality to enhance one of the most popular Linux distributions around. OS4 OpenDesktop 13.4 comes in a 32-bit release as well as 64-bit release. Since the 32-bit release is still somewhat popular we decided to keep producing the 32-bit release. With this release we bring in over 200 updates to applications and as well as the core system. With this release we include: Linux kernel 3.2 which provides new drivers as well as stability enhancements to the kernel; Firefox 20.0; Thunderbird 17.0.4; Google Maps replacing Nokia Maps...." Read the rest of the release announcement for more details. Download (MD5): os4-13-4-64.iso (1,559MB, MD5>).

Xubuntu 12.10

Distribution Release: Xubuntu 12.10^Xubuntu 12.10, an official Ubuntu project providing a desktop operating system with Xfce as the distribution's preferred desktop, has been released: "The Xubuntu team is glad to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 12.10, code-named Quantal Quetzal. Xubuntu 12.10 will be supported for 18 months. New features: Xfce 4.10; completely rewritten offline documentation; in the application menu, all settings-related launchers are now grouped under the Settings Manager; updated artwork, including new wallpaper, documentation looks and updates to LightDM, Greybird and Ubiquity slideshow; new versions of Catfish and Parole. Notable bug fixes: no more window traces or 'black on black' in installer." Read through the brief release announcement and the more detailed release notes for additional details and known issues. Download (SHA256): xubuntu-12.10-desktop-i386.iso (693MB, torrent), kubuntu-12.10-desktop-amd64.iso (694MB, torrent).

OS4 1.0 "OpenDesktop"

Roberto Dohnert has announced the release of OS4 1.0 "OpenDesktop" edition, a Xubuntu-based distribution targeting legacy 32-bit hardware, ultrabooks and netbooks: "Today we are proud to announce the general availability of OS4 OpenDesktop 1.0. OS4 OpenDesktop is a 32-bit offering that runs on all legacy 32-bit hardware as well as the newer ultrabooks and netbooks. With this release we focus on mobility and cloud computing. Along with this release the system comes with Audacious, Totem, and Google Chrome. Some of the web applications that come bundled with the system are: Angry Birds, Pandora, Netflix, Flixter, GMail and offline GMail, Google Drive, eBuddy, Weather Channel, Google Books, Google Music, Google Calendar, New York Times, Hotmail and WebCam toy. All multimedia codecs are supported as is DVD playback." Read the rest of the release announcement for further details. The OS4 1.0 "OpenDesktop" release is available for free download from the ibiblio.org server: os4-od-1-0.iso (847MB).

How To Install VirtualBox Guest Additions From CLI Under Ubuntu 12.04/Linux Mint 13 (Guest OS)

 If you find difficulties installing guest additions via the VM "Devices" menu, you can easily follow this tutorial which will help you use the command line under Ubuntu/Linux Mint running as guest to install VirtualBox "Guest Additions", which is a set of tools and system applications that allow the user to copy/paste between host and guest, enable full screen resolution, and it also includes device drivers (graphics card, keyboard, wireless cards, etc.) to ensure better usability and performance for the guest OS.

The tutorial is workable for Ubuntu 12.10/12.04/11.10 or older (applicable also for Ubuntu derivatives such as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.), and any Ubunu-based system like Linux Mint 13/12 or older. Open the terminal and install VirtualBox guest additions with these commands:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-additions

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-x11 virtualbox-guest-utils

After installing all packages mentioned above, restart the virtual machine to enable guest additions.

How To Install Dropbox In Xubuntu And Get Thunar Integration (Xfce)

 

The Ubuntu deb package available for download via the official Dropbox website requires Nautilus. But if you're using Xubuntu (Xfce), you'll probably want to use Dropbox with Thunar, the default file manager, instead of Nautilus.

So here's how to install Dropbox in Xubuntu/Xfce without Nautilus and get some basic Thunar integration (you won't get file emblems, but you'll get options to browse the file on the Dropbox website, get shareable link and view previous revisions, like in the screenshot above).

Install Dropbox and a Dropbox Thunar plugin in Xubuntu

1. Firstly, let's install Dropbox without the Nautilus dependency:

In Ubuntu Oneiric, Precise and Quantal, the "nautilus-dropbox" package available in the official repositories (it's not the same as the deb downloaded from the Dropbox website) doesn't depend on Nautilus, so you can install it on Xubuntu too:

 

sudo apt-get install nautilus-dropbox

 

That's it for Xubuntu Oneiric, Precise and Quantal users. Now simply open Dropbox from the menu (it's under Internet) and follow the setup wizard, then skip to step 2.

For those who are using an older Xubuntu version or another Linux distribution, you can manually install Dropbox without the Nautilus dependency using the commands below:

 

32bit:

 

cd && wget -O - "http://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86" | tar xzf -

64bit:

cd && wget -O - "http://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf - 

To start the Dropbox daemon (and the setup wizard if this is the first 
time you're installing Dropbox), use the following command in a 
terminal:

~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

2. Install the Dropbox Thunar extension.  



Crunchbang provides thunar-dropbox deb packages that work with Xubuntu 12.04 - download the debs below:

• 32bit
• 64bit

I've tested the above packages with Xubuntu 12.04 and they work, but they may not work with other Xubuntu versions, so if you're not using Xubuntu 12.04, grab the Dropbox Thunar extension source from HERE (you'll have to compile it). Obviously, they also work if you're using Thunar in another desktop environment, like GNOME (Unity).

Arch Linux users can install thunar-dropbox from AUR.

Note: Dropbox needs to be running for the Thunar context menu items for Dropbox to show up.

 

Run "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" In One Command Under Ubuntu/Linux Mint

In this tutorial, we will see two methods that will allow us to combine two frequently used terminal commands in a single command under a system running Ubuntu/Linux Mint. We will help you run "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" with one command called "update", which will be easier to write and will save you time.

Method 1

Open the terminal (CTRL+ALT+T) and run this command:

 > ~/.bash_aliases; gedit ~/.bash_aliases

For Linux Mint, run this command:

 > ~/.bash_aliases; pluma ~/.bash_aliases

Add now these lines:

alias update='sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade'

Save your file and close it, then restart your terminal by closing and opening it again. You can now run two commands using this one:

update

Method 2

Open the terminal and run this command:

sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/update

For Linux Mint, run this command:

sudo pluma /usr/local/bin/update

Add now this line:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade

Save your file and exit, then give execution permission to this file with this command:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/update

Run now this command to test your script:

update

I hope you find this tip useful!

Emmabuntüs 2 1.0 Officially Released

Emmabuntüs 2, a distribution created for reconditioning old computers that relies on the robustness of Xubuntu 12.04 LTS, is now at version 1.0.

According to the developers, the Emmabuntüs 2 1.0 distribution is intended to be sleek, accessible, equitable.

Highlights of Emmabuntüs 2 1.0:

• Seven languages have been implemented in cairo-dock (En, Fr, Es, Ar, De, It, Pt), in addition of 3 dock levels for each language;
• A new script for easy installation of Calibri font has been added, in order to achieve a better interoperability with a certain office suite;
• Better video support with two different versions of the Adobe Flash;
• Parental control filter (Blocksi) and anti-tracking (Ghostery) in browsers;
• Many other important applications such as Gimp, Openshot, Calibre, TeamViewer, and so on.

A complete list of changes and new features can be found in the official announcement.

Download Emmabuntüs 2 1.0