The Linux Ninja

The Amarok team announced the availability of Amarok 2.1 Beta 1 codenamed “Nuliajuk”  yesterday. The changelog since the 2.0.2 release is absolutely massive and the longest changelog they’ve had in their history. Notable new features include a completely configurable user playlist that supports drag and drop, cue sheet support, and a new management method for applets in context view. Congrats to the Amarok team on what looks to be a very promising upcoming release!

I’ve been a fan of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system for awhile, so seeing the folks over at TuxRadar publish an article on GTD apps for linux and rate them piqued my interest. I found some new apps that I hadn’t had any experience with before, but I think my modified system of using RememberTheMilk (RTM) still works best for me. I use the Google Calendar and GMail widgets so I see them every time I check my email. On my Linux desktop I have Tasque auto-launch and bring up my task lists so I see those every time I login. I also pay for the yearly RTM Pro membership so I can access my tasks on my freedom-hating iPhone. Using this combination, I am never disconnected from my list and that enables me to forget things alot less than I used to and feel like I’m alot more productive at work and at home.

Does anyone else have a favorite Linux GTD app/combination of apps that they use? Or maybe you prefer a different system for being productive?

• Amazon link for David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

digiKam, the popular photo management and editing tool, announced the release of their new version for KDE4. Not only has the new version been ported over to qt4, it also sports an enormous list of over 50 new features and 462(!!!) bug fixes. Sounds like these guys have been pretty busy.

Check out the release page for a full list of new features and bug fixes as well as download links. Also, be sure to let us know what you think of the software in the comments section.

Codeweavers (also the makers of CrossOver Office) has announced the release of CrossOver Games 7.2. CrossOver Games is similar to Transgaming Cedega in that both are optimized versions of WINE for playing Windows games and the overall game support is similar. The extra thing  CrossOver Games has is that you can bundle it with CrossOver Office at a reduced price. Changes in version 7.2  include:

• Fixed Guild Wars on ATI Macs with 10.5.5.
• Added steam:// link support for OSX
• Fixed Steam+compiz
• Added support for “Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine” on the Mac
• A few improvements for City of Heroes
• Improved support for SPORE
• Improved support for WoW:WotLK
• Improved support for the latest Steam client
• A range of general DirectX improvements
  which will improve many games
• Updated Wine version

I’ve used CrossOver Office before and have been pleased with the results, but have never had a chance to use CrossOver Games. Perhaps Codeweavers wants to send me a copy so I can do a full review?

Earlier we covered the new, shiny GUI for Ubuntu that HP started shipping with the new Mini Mi netbook. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for jealous, non-HP Ubuntu users to figure out how to install the HP Mobile Experience Interface on their own computers. Basically, by following some simple steps, you can download the themes directly from the HP Mini repository. User Wildcare posted in a thread over on the Ubuntu Forums the following instructions:

“Open your browser of choice and go to http://hpmini.archive.canonical.com/…/hardy-hpmini/

This should give you links to click on; click on Universe and then Binary-lpia. In here, save the glassy-bleu-browser-skin_0.5_all.deb , glassy-bleu-theme_21_all.deb , and gnome-backgrounds-hp_0.4_all.deb files. Just save these to your Desktop. As these are compiled with “all” rather than “lpia”, these should be global files that will work for 386 or 64-bit distros. Click on the files on your desktop and Package Installer should handle the rest.*

Presumably, you could go into the main, restricted, or multiverse folders and do the same thing for any .deb files that do not have lpia in their name and have them work on your distro.”

If you want to install the HP Launcher as well, you will need to do a little more work. Fortunatley, another savy user has a step-by-step guide here.

As always, make sure to read the entire thread before undertaking this mission – some users have reported problems after installing.

We’d love to hear from you in our comments area if you get it up and running!

This weekend, I decided to check out GNOME Do’s latest 0.8 release with the new Docky task bar. As someone who has managed to avoid all the launcher hype bestowed on programs such as Launch Box, Quicksilver and Ubiquity, I have to admit that in the beginning, I was more than a little bit skeptical about GNOME Do. How useful can this program really be? I mean, all it does is allow you to use keyboard shortcuts for common tasks. I can use the the mouse for that. Right? Wrong. After using GNOME Do for only a few days, it has quickly risen to the top of my must-have applications list. Continue reading