Skype Ubuntu Messaging Menu / NotifyOSD Integration

There's a very old thread @ Ubuntuforums which includes a python script to get NotifyOSD notifications for Skype. Since the first post, the python script has been improved by many users and it now provides both Ubuntu Messaging Menu integration (with all the features the Messaging Menu provides like the envelope icon changing color when you have a pending notification, etc.) as well as NotifyOSD notifications for Skype.

Using the script on Ubuntu Forums involves manual setup and the instructions are pretty clear but there are quite a few steps to follow. Also, the thread doesn't provide info on what dependencies you may need to install to get it working. So I've made a script which sets up most of the stuff automatically, however you still have to add a command in the Skype options manually to get it to work.

If you prefer to do this the manual way, download the improved Skype Notify by not_insane from UbuntuForums and follow the instructions inside. For an somewhat automated way, follow the instructions below.

Get Messaging Menu / NotifyOSD integration for Skype in Ubuntu 11.04 or 10.10

Before continuing, please note that I've only tested this with Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal 32bit (with Unity) as well as Ubuntu 10.10 32bit and it worked but it probably won't work with other Ubuntu versions! Also, I cannot guarantee this will work - if it doesn't (and it doesn't involve my installation script), you can ask for support @ Ubuntuforums.

1. Running the following commands, you'll download my script which will automatically set up everything (mostly). So open a terminal and copy/paste the commands below:

wget http://webupd8.googlecode.com/files/skype-notify-messaging
chmod +x skype-notify-messaging
./skype-notify-messaging

The script will now ask what you want to do. Enter 1 to install Skype notifications / Messaging Menu support or 2 to remove it:

2. Now you must set up Skype - this only requires 3 clicks and a command you must copy/paste in the Skype options.

Open Skype, log in and in its options (click the Skype logo on the bottom left corner of the Skype window and select "Options), under "Notifications" click "Advanced View":

Then check the "Execute the following script on any event" box and under it, paste this:

python /usr/share/skype-notify-improved/skype-notify.py -e"%type" -n"%sname" -f"%fname" -p"%fpath" -m"%smessage" -s%fsize -u%sskype

Here's a screenshot:

Then click "Apply".

3. Now log out from Ubuntu, log back in and start Skype from the Messaging Menu (envelope icon), not from some other place like Dash, etc! Oh, one more thing: you won't get any notifications if your status is set to Do Not Disturb.


4. Authorizing the scripts with Skype.


The first time you'll receive a notification (like for instance when someone writes something to you and the window is minimized: then you'll get the popup to authorize the scripts), a window will pop up asking for permission to use the Skype API:

Here, check the "Remember this selection" box, then "Yes" and you're ready!



5. Optional:  since Skype now shows up in the Ubuntu Messaging Menu, you may want to blacklist it from showing up on the notification area (Ubuntu 11.04). To do this, install dconf-tools:

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Then press ALT + F2 and enter: "dconf-editor", navigate to desktop > unity > panel and under "systray-whitelist", remove skype but leave the rest of applications.

Removing the Skype Messaging Menu / NotifyOSD integration

Ubuntu 11.04+ only: If you want to remove the Skype Messaging Menu integration, run the script again (step 1 in this post) and this time enter "2" when prompted instead of "1".

Then once again go to Skype options, under "Notifications" click "Advanced View" and uncheck the Execute the following script on any event box.

Credits for the Skype Messaging Menu / NotifyOSD integration go to Lightbreeze, Ned Hoy, not_insane and everybody else who contributed to this.

 

Written by Andrew in Web Upd8

Nord: A Beautiful Glassy GNOME Shell Theme

Nord is a new glassy GNOME Shell theme based on Zukitwo, created by WebUpd8 reader rAX.

The theme is currently in beta and there are some known bugs but it already looks great, featuring some unique elements like the switches which look amazing (see the screenshots). If you use GNOME Shell, you must really give it a try!

Here are a few screenshots:

To use Nord, either extract it in the ~/.themes/ folder and use GNOME Tweak Tool or ThemeSelector GNOME Shell extension to apply the theme or rename the extracted folder from "gnome-shell" to "theme" and replace the /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme folder.

Download Nord GNOME Shell theme

Written by Andrew in Web Upd8

Conky Lunatico Rings

Conky Lunatico Rings is a really nice Conky configuration based on Conky Orange which displays rings for the CPU, memory, disk and network usage, in the form of gauges.

You can download Conky Lunatico Rings from HERE.


Because there were some spacing issues on my system, I've tweaked the configuration a bit so it looks like this:

(Using the original configuration, it looks like this on my system)

But maybe the original Conky Lunatico Rings works better on your computer (it's most probably related to the font configuration) so try the original firstly. If you want my tweaked version, you can get it from HERE. 

Because the wireless ring is useless for me, I've removed it - so if you don't want the wireless part and don't know how to do it, you can download my modified Conky Lunatico Rings without wireless from HERE. Here's a screenshot with this config:

But you can of course tweak it some more by yourself, it's really not that difficult.

Usage

Firstly, install Conky. In Ubuntu, use the following command in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install conky

To use Conky Lunatico Rings, you'll need to install the Ubuntu font - this is already available on your system if you use Ubuntu 10.10+ or you can manually download it from font.ubuntu.com.

Then, download Conky Lunatico Rings (links above), extract the downloaded archive, create a folder called ".conky" in your home directory and move the "conky_lunatico.lua" and "conkyrc_lunatico" files into this folder.

And finally, run it using the following command:

conky -c ~/.conky/conkyrc_lunatico

To add Conky Lunatico Rings to startup, open Startup Applications, under "Name" enter "conky" and under "Command", enter this:

conky -p 50 -c /home/YOUR_USERNAME/.conky/conkyrc_lunatico

Where "YOUR_USERNAME" is yes, your username :) This will delay the Conky startup which is required for it to function properly.


For more Conky configurations, check out our Conky tag.

Written by Andrew in Web Upd8

DoudouLinux 1.0

DoudouLinux is a Linux distribution for children, designed to be both educational and fun. It can be used from a CD/DVD or an USB stick so you don't have to install it. We've reviewed it a while back so check out that post for more info.

The first stable DoudouLinux version was released earlier this month. DoudouLinux 1.0 "Gondwana" is based on Debian Lenny and supports 15 languages, using 5 different alphabets. Here are the most important changes in DoudouLinux 1.0:

• three new applications: Songwrite (a simple song editor and player which defaults to use fingerings and tabs instead of the musical notation), Stopmotion (animation movie creator - using this app, you can make videos from a series of photos in which the characters are slightly moved from one shot to another) and Jukebox (a small launcher that plays the music files in the user’s Music directory)
• new startup / shutdown graphics and music
• songs for children
• better hardware support, especially for networking and wifi (Network Manager has replaced lxnm)

Songwrite and Stopmotion aren't exactly for young children, but there are quite a few applications for children of any age, like: Tux Paint, Piano Keyboard, Childsplay and lots more.

DoudouLinux 1.0 is the last release based on Debian Lenny and the next version will use Debian Squeeze as a base and will be ported to the ARM platform.

Written by Andrew in Web Upd8

Get Rid Of PPA "404 Not Found" Messages When Running "apt-get update"

If you type the wrong PPA address when adding a PPA or you add a PPA that doesn't provide packages for your Ubuntu version, you'll get a "404 Not Found" error message when running "apt-get update".

These errors are pretty much harmless (though they probably slow down "apt-get update" a bit) but if you want to get rid of them anyway, you must disable the PPAs that cause the 404 errors via Software Sources. If you want an easier, automated way to disable the PPAs that cause these errors, give "fix404" a try.

"fix404" is a simple script that checks for "404 not found" messages for all the PPAs added to your software sources and prompts you to disable them:

"fix404" will prompt twice for each PPA - that's because it needs to disable both the binary and the source line.

By the way, if you want to check which Ubuntu versions are supported by each PPA you've added, use "checklp".

Installation

The "fix404" PPA is only available for Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal - add it and install it using the commands below:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:lkjoel/fix404
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fix404

For other Ubuntu versions, you can download the .deb file from HERE.

To use "fix404", run the following command in a terminal:

sudo fix404

Update: the last command is required because I've found a bug in this script (the permission of the modified .list files is changed). I've reported the bug so hopefully it will be fixed. The bug has been fixed. In case you've ran fix404 before the fix and get an Update Manager error, run this command in a terminal: "sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*".


Also see: Launchpad-Getkeys, a tool to automatically import all missing PPA GPG keys.

Thanks to lkubuntu for the script!

 

Written by Andrew in Web Upd8http://www.webupd8.org/2011/07/get-rid-of-ppa-404-not-found-messages.html#more