Another Delay

Trying to get this blog off the ground has proven to be no easy task.

The brand new hard disk I just bought 3 weeks ago failed last night. I exchanged it this morning for a new one, which means I am once again installing Ubuntu from scratch.

This time I thought I'd take it back to Ubuntu 10.04, since it is the latest Long Term Support release. I don't care for Ubuntu 11.04, and support for Ubuntu 10.10 runs out the beginning of next year. I figured it was time to settle down with a fully supported stable OS.

After all, there's always VirtualBox if I want to try out another distro or a newer release.

Anyway, I'm done boring you for the day. Just wanted to drop in with an update. I'll be back up and running soon.

Until then...

How to Add "Open As Administrator" Option in Ubuntu

If you're a Windows user, then you're already familiar with the "Run as Administrator" option that shows up when you right-click a file. That same functionality is also available to Ubuntu users, but is not automatically installed. Luckily, it's quite easy to add.

But first, let's briefly explore why this is so important on a Linux system.  If you're already familiar with the way file permissions work in Linux, click here to skip over this little lesson.

If you'd like to learn more, read on after the jump.

BRB

Just popping in to let everybody know that the promised Compiz tutorial is on hold for the time being. I upgraded to Ubuntu 11.04 last night and things did not go swimmingly. I will be downgrading to Ubuntu 10.10 this morning, and hopefully will be able to restore everything back to the way it was. If not, I guess I'll be referencing my own tutorials.

I hope you have better luck with your upgrading experience, friends.

Until next time...

A Complete Guide to Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 (via OMG!Ubuntu!)

If you've been keeping up at all with Ubuntu news, you know that Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal comes out tomorrow, April 28. You also have heard, no doubt, that this version of Ubuntu will introduce an entirely new desktop environment called Unity. If you're wondering what Unity is and how it works, click the link below for an awesome guide to Unity and its basic features.

OMG!Ubuntu!'s Guide to Unity in 11.04

Thanks to OMG!Ubuntu! for all their hard work in preparing this material. I'll be trying out Natty in the coming months, and I'll let you know what I think (of course).

Until next time...

A Fresh Start, Part 3: The Finishing Touches

In the first segment of the final chapter of the Fresh Start series (phew!), I'm going to walk you through how to get from here:

Ubuntu 10.10 Default Desktop

To here:

My Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop

I've posted a video at the bottom of this article that will demonstrate a few of the things I'm going to be writing about here, but I'll warn you now, the video is about 30 minutes long and features me rambling about God knows what in a weird amalgamation of nerd-speak and southern drawl.   If that doesn't sound like an unbearable experience for you, I encourage you to check it out because I always feel that it helps to have a nice visual representation of whatever I'm trying to learn.  The written sections below will provide further detail, so if you're ready to get crackin' on some Ubuntu customization, read on after the jump.