Ubuntu Tips And Tricks

Auto Shutdown Timer ( Sleep ) script for Gnome Ubuntu

Switch it off. Save energy & money by shutting down your computer automatically.
This is simple script that tell your Linux machine when to shutdown.
Since leaving my computer on for 24 hour, 7 day a week becoming a habit, I made 2 simple and easy to use scripts to shutdown my Ubuntu system automatically. Now I can fall asleep while listening to my favorite music without having to worry about shutting down my computer.
These scripts use Zenity interface & simple bin bash command.
There are 2 mode of shutdown timer in this script:

Schedule shutdown timer - shutdown at any given time ( in 24 hour format hh:mm )
Countdown shutdown timer - shutdown after given ( mm ) minute.

Screenshot

Select shutdown timer mode

schedule mode - enter time hh:mm in 24 hour format

countdown mode - enter countdown shutdown time [minute]

Abort shutdown

Download

Download Auto-shutdown.zip file here.
If you don't have Zenity pre installed in your system, install using Terminal:

sudo apt-get install zenity

There are 2 bin bash script files inside the folder - Auto-shutdown & Cancel-shutdown

Install & Use

Extract Auto-shutdown.zip to any folder.
Right click, select extract here [image below]

Cut & paste Auto-shutdown folder to ~/.Gnome2/nautilus-scripts [ example image below]

Auto-shutdown script should be available on right click > Scripts menu [image below]
You can run shutdown timer script by clicking on Auto-Shutdown or abort shutdown timer using Cancle-Shutdown option.

Make sure permission to execute as program is given to both script files.
Right click on script files > Permissions tab and check the “Allow executing file as program” checkbox.

Note: This script is tested on Ubuntu Karmic Koala system. It might work on other Linux distros. I'm not a programmer & this is my first time writing scripts with Zenity interface.

Divergence IV Docky theme

This is a Docky theme based on the Divergence IV GTK2/Emerald theme. This theme comes with a left version as well to mimic the title buttons' switch in Ubuntu.

Divergence IV theme [link]

AwOken - Awesome Token icon set [link]

wallpaper [link]

Instructions:

Unzip to ~/.local/share/docky/themes(create the 'themes' directory if it's not there). For all users /usr/share/docky/themes.

Glest!! An Alternative To Warcraft III

For those who’s hate to play warcraft III game using wine or other emulators on your linux desktop, but you couldn’t find other games similar to warcraft III that could run natively on linux, you should try Glest!!
Although I’m a cyber cafe owner but I am not a games freak, but Glest had caught my eyes 3 years ago, when I started osscc.org. Glest is a good 3D real time strategy game, the game is still under good development progress. You can play Glest on LAN or single player also. Although Glest is not as advance as Warcraft III, but I really enjoy playing it some time, even those kids when we did an exhibition last year gave us a positive feedback when they play Glest on our diskless linux gaming system using DRBL.

Installation
Installing Glest on Ubuntu Linux is far too easy, open your terminal and type the following command:

# sudo apt-get install glest

Glest is a free 3D real-time strategy game, where you control the armies of two different factions:Tech, which is mainly composed of warriors and mechanical devices, and Magic, that prefers mages and summoned creatures in the battlefield.

Glest is not just a game, but also an engine to make strategy games, based on XML and a set of tools. A few mods already exist.

Mega Glest

Their other project called MegaGlest seems doesn’t has so many progress since they registered the project at SourceForge.net on Jan 22 2010, and is described by the project team as follows :
“Currently there is no active development of the real time strategy game glest. This project aims to improve the game and its content. It already has a lot more content than the original game and contains bugfixes and improvements.”

And the stable release of MegaGlest is version 3.3.3 and can be downloaded from here :http://glest.org/glest_board/index.php?topic=6054.0

You can visit their site to find out more about this game:
Glest Official Website : http://glest.org/en/index.php
Glest Blog : http://glestblog.blogspot.com/
Glest Forum : http://glest.org/glest_board/

source

GUVCviewer: Finally Webcam Recording Made Easy

For almost two years my primary recording device for YouTube videos has been with not a fancy camcorder, but a webcam.

So believe me when I tell you that I’ve tried a lot of different applications on different operating systems to get the most from my camera, both proprietary and open source. Out of everything I have tried, GUVCviewer packs the best blend of performance and features.

Check out the video for my full review:

GUVCViewer Video Review

I should mention that one problem web cameras face in Linux, as well as every other O/S, is that they are limited by the interface (to date). USB webcams, even USB 2.0, simply don’t have the ability to output 1080p (or even 720p) video at decent frame rates. It will be a while before we see high-bitrate video recorded at 30 fps in 1920x1080p.

This is not a software fault but a hardware limitation. The good news is that prices for camcorders that can handle 1080p video have come down quite a bit!

( Check out Nixie’s blog here and follow her on Twitter! )

To Install GUVCviewer just open Ubuntu Software Center. search GUVCviewer and install

Source OMG! Ubuntu

Minimal ‘conky Orange’ theme

Just take this minimally-stunning ‘Conky orange’ theme by GNOME-look user hardball.

Amongst the many circular displays you can see are a clock, CPU monitor (with top 3 processes listed), RAM usage (with top 3 largest memory users) and information on your hard-disks and network connection.