How To Install Microsoft Office 2007 In Ubuntu (Under Wine)

Today I had to install Microsoft Office 2007 at work. I don't like it but I had to install it because I work with storyboards (created in MS PowerPoint) and apparently these look differently in OpenOffice/LibreOffice and Microsoft Office 2007+. Since some of you are probably in the same situation as me (one way or another) and have to use Microsoft Office, I though I'd let you know how to install and get it to work in Ubuntu - the process is fairly easy but it involves a little "trick" to get PowerPoint to work.

Install and get Microsoft Office 2007 to work in Ubuntu

1. Firstly make sure you're running the latest WINE:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine1.3

2. Go to Applications > Wine > Configure Wine and on the "Applications tab" select "Windows XP" under "Windows Version" and click "Apply".


3. Now install Microsoft Office 2007 - to be able to run the "setup.exe" installer, right click it, select "Properties" and on the "Permissions" tab check the "Allow executing file as program" box. Now double clicking setup.exe should open it using WINE. If it doesn't, right click it and select "Open with Wine Windows Program Loader". Now you can easily install Microsoft Office 2007.

4. At this point, PowerPoint will fail to start. To fix it, go to Applications > Wine > Configure Wine and on the "Libraries" tab, under "New override for library" type: "riched20.dll", then click "Add". Now click the newly added "riched20" file, click "Edit" and select "Native (Windows)".

Microsoft Office 2007 PowerPoint should now work

Create A Gnome Panel Icon For Triggering The Compiz Expo Plugin (Like In Unity)

If you've tried (or seen some video) Unity, you've surely noticed the Compiz Expo icon on the Unity dock (launcher). There is no Gnome panel applet to do this but you can do this thanks to xautomation. Here is how to replicate this behavior in any Ubuntu version, using the normal Gnome desktop.

1. Install xautomation and CCSM:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager xautomation

2. Set a Compiz Expo plugin key binding:

Go to System > Preferences > CompizConfig Settings Manager and enable the "Expo" plugin. Then click it and on the "Bindings" tab, set a keyboard shortcut for the "Expo key" (first item on the list) - I've set "e" so that's what I am going to use for the commands in this post.

3. Optional: multiple desktop rows:

By default, expo displays one big wall, but if you want multiple rows (like in Unity - and in my screenshot), go to CompizConfig Settings Manager, click on "General options" and on the "Desktop Size" tab, set the "Vertical Virtual Size" to some number larger then 1. I've used "2" for both "Horizontal Vertical Size" and "Vertical Virtual Size".

4. Create a new custom application launcher:

Right click on a Gnome panel, select "Add to panel" and add a "Custom Application Launcher". Set the following image as its icon (this is the icon used in Unity, you can however use whatever icon you want):

(save it to your computer)

For your custom launcher name enter whatever you want and under "Command", enter this:

xte 'keydown Super_L' 'key e' 'keyup Super_L'

(This assumes you've used "e" as the Expo key binding under step 2, if not, modify it to whatever custom keybinding you've used). 

That's it! Save the custom application launcher and try it out.

Force quitting rogue applications could do with looking better.
According to you guys that is, who often send us your ideas on how unresponsive application notifications should be shown.

Alejandro send us his ideal design, pictured above, after becoming tired of having to run ‘xkill’ yet again after an application hanged.
On his design he says “I find it much more user-friendly and better looking than a pop-window.” Looking at the ‘pop up window’ style I have to agree…

How would you like to see Force Quit dialogues displayed?

Gnome Shell - Tron Legacy

 

This is a GNOME Shell theme inspired by the film Tron Legacy. Icons in the screenshot are also provided.

Font used is called Zero Threes

Light Cycle wallpaper

Instructions:

Backup your /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme directory (or where ever you have GNOME shell installed).

Extract the zip file and copy the theme directory to /usr/share/gnome-shell/

Restart GNOME Shell by Alt, F2, then type r and press enter.

Icons

Icons are in the directories that correspond to your icon theme. Backup your current icon theme and replace the icons in their directories. Apps use 48x48, places use 16x16, the application switcher uses scalable and the status menu uses 16x16. Your icon themes are in either /usr/share/icons or locally ~/.icons.

Switching Fonts

To use different fonts in GNOME Shell, just open the gnome-shell.css file found in your theme directory and find lines font: 10px sans; Replace "sans" with your font name, save the file and restart GNOME Shell. You must be superuser to do this.

NOTE

I recommend a version of GNOME Shell 2.31.2 to 2.31.5(out of date but 2.31.5 is installable with most recent distros like Ubuntu 10.10 and Fedora 14). Please don't use with Git(Jhbuild), since GNOME Shell has had a re-layout.

Performance

Due to the heavy use of shadows to achieve the glow, the performance may not be smooth on some systems. This is beyond my control, however remember that GNOME Shell is still in heavy development and does not reflect the final release quality.

See the GNOME Shell group for more info.

Git re-layout version is here, WIP [link]

The following theme mock-up by ~RustedThorn may be a tad indulgent on the branding scales, and closing an application via a menu every time would get real annoying real fast, but you know what? I really don’t care. It looks beautiful.

Check out the full image @ rustedthorn.deviantart.com