Force Quit Option Ubuntu 10.10

“Arrrrrrgh” said the bear with the sore head when trying to run ‘xkill’ in Unity. “Why doesn’t pawing ALT + F2 work in here?!”.

It’s something which I know has perplexed, bamboozled and annoyed the frell out of many readers who have upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10 Unity.

Thankfully it’ll be one of the many things fixed in Unity come 11.04 but, if you can’t wait until April 2011 to flex your fingers, here are some alternative ways to run commands, launch apps and stretch those digits using ALT+F2.

photo © 2009 Martin Teschner | more info(via: Wylio)

1. Do it with GNOME-Do

Gnome-Do can open, launch and execute a whole world of wonders when called – search google, send text to pastebin, upload photos or just launch an application. For those who desire some visual slickness in their launcher Do is the undisputed choice.

2. Take Alawalk for a walk

Launch your applications/command whilst using very little memory with Alawalk.

And by ‘very little memory’ I mean very little – Alawwhich uses barely above 65KiB of RAM when in use.

Alawalk comes with many-a plugin from Google search to Tweeter. It uses a custom set of commands for a few things but all is explained in the ‘Read Me’ file included in the download.

alawalk.tk

3. Run with Gmrun

Another work around to the lack of ALT+F2 freshness is by use of Gmrun – a small dialogue window that can be configured to show on shortcut.

Gmrun has terminal-style TAB completion amongst other standard fare. Unlike other entries in this list it doesn’t use window controls.

Gmrun can be installed via the Ubuntu Software Centre.

4. GRun

Want your launcher to have automatic auto-complete (as opposed to tab completion)? gRun steps up to the challenge. It’s small, can be configured to run on a keyboard shortcut and, whilst lacking some of the advanced features others in the list can claim, it does have a ‘memory’ for swift access to your most commonly used commands.

gRun can be installed via the Ubuntu Software Centre.

5. Be lazy, use the terminal

Finally if none of the candidates bring balm to your each keyboatd-shortcut-loving fingers there is always the terminal ready and waiting. Add it to your Unity launcher for quick access and et voila – problem almost solved.

There. No need to stress out too much Mr Bear. Maybe you should go find whoever broke in to your house, ate your porridge and slept in your bed before stealing your prize collection of Ubuntu release CD’s, hmm?

Compiz Config Settings 3

Zorin Splash Screen Manager

both

If you want a simple Plymouth manager to easily change, install and remove Plymouth themes, try the the new Zorin Splash Screen Manager.

Besides options to install / remove and change the Plymouth theme, Zorin Splash Screen Manager also allows you to change the theme text (for a text mode Plymouth).

Download Zorin Splash Screen Manager

Compiz Config Settings 2

Install Linux Sabily - Ubuntu with Islamic Applications

Sabily is a free, open source operating system designed by and for Muslims. It is based on the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution which is a free, efficient and secure operating system. Unlike Microsoft Windows and other proprietary systems, Linux is publicly open and extendible by contributors.


Because Sabily is free, already includes all software you need in your everyday tasks, and is customized specifically for Muslims. And even if you didn't buy Windows, you should not use pirated copies because then you are still supporting Microsoft by adding to the impression it's the only OS available.


Sabily includes a set of packages that customizes the Ubuntu distro; Ubuntu is easy to use for a novice user, with the most-used Office, Internet, Graphics and Video applications already installed. With Sabily, Muslim users have “out of the box” Islamic software and tools installed as well. Sabily includes Islamic software (prayer times tool, Quran study tool, Hijri calendar etc.) and has a custom design. Sabily comes with out of the box educational software, codecs for the most used media formats and has better support for Arabic language.

Install Sabily from DVD

 Follow these steps if you don’t have any operating system installed on your computer

Download and burn the DVD: Download Links

Learn how to verify that your DVD download is ok: HowToMD5SUM
Learn how to create a DVD from your newly downloaded file: BurningIsoHowTo

If you can’t download the DVD, you can buy it here.

Then install it as a standard Ubuntu CD (documentation).

See the support page if you need help.

Convert a standard Ubuntu installation

Follow these steps if you already have installed Ubuntu on your computer

If you have an old version of Ubuntu, less than 9.10, you should first upgrade your system:

sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude safe-upgrade
sudo aptitude dist-upgrade

Then, to convert Ubuntu to Sabily, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window (Applications→Accessories→Terminal), and execute the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sabily.team/ppa && sudo apt-get -q update
sudo apt-get install sabily

Answer ‘Yes’ when needed.

Finally, restart your computer to apply changes.

See the support page if you need help.

Run Sabily in Virtual Box

Follow these steps if you want to run Sabily on top of another operating system

Virtual Box is a virtualization software, that means you can execute a "guest" operating system on top of a "host" operating system. For example, if you have Windows installed on your computer, you can run Sabily like an application on Windows. No need to burn a DVD with Sabily, then to install it on your computer... So if you are afraid to lose data by installing Sabily on your computer, or if you just want to quickly test it, install Virtual Box, download the Sabily image and execute it!

Here are the detailed instructions:

• Download and install VirtualBox here
• Download the Sabily image here (download both files, .vmdk and .ovf)
• Launch virtualBox and select "import virtual appliance", then browse to the .ovf file you downloaded (the .ovf file and .vmdk must be in the same folder)
• Review the machine settings (especially memory, it is set to 512MB, but you can increase it if you have more memory) and launch it.
• Log in using:  username -> test, password -> S)bilY  (the keyboard is set to qwerty by default)

See the support page if you need help.