Customize GTK themes with GTK theme preferences

Author : Satyajit Sahoo      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 9/9/2012 4:12:00 PM

'Customizing a GTK theme can be frustrating, especially with both GTK2 and GTK3 themes lying there. And why go through all the hassle when you want to change just few things. You no more have to! I've made a GTK theme configuration tool that allows anyone to change some basic elements of a GTK theme easily (both GTK2 and GTK3) with a simple interface.FeaturesCustomize selected background colorCustomize Xfce panel, Gnome panel and Unity panelCustomize menu colorsThis works for any the(...)'

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Recent development on Fedora Utils

Author : Satyajit Sahoo      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 8/14/2012 6:34:00 AM

'Fedora Utils is a project to make using Fedora easier. It has evolved from being just a simple post-install script to a tweaking utility with a plugin system. While the project haven't gained much attention, the attention it received is enough to keep me developing it. All the recent development is for making development easier. The new plugin system was written from scratch in the aim of keeping Fedora Utils modular and make plugin development much easier, available for testing fro(...)'

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Building a binary for GTK3 theme

Author : Satyajit Sahoo      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 6/25/2012 8:26:00 PM

'We discussed some aspects of making a GTK3 theme in my previous post, and may be we shall do more. In this post, I'll try to explain how to create a binary for your GTK3 theme.Creating a binary bundle for your GTK3 theme can be useful. It will reduce the I/O error and file system checks as the the resources will already be in the memory. This means loading the resources will be more efficient. I really cannot say the impact on performance, but it is easy to do and makes no harm if y(...)'

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When you make a GTK3 theme...

Author : Satyajit Sahoo      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 6/23/2012 12:48:00 PM

'GTK themes in Gnome 3 follow a new syntax that is different from GTK2. The new CSS syntax in GTK3 makes it easier to make themes. Though it is easy to understand the CSS syntax than the old gtkrc syntax, it is not enough to know just CSS. GTK themes are more than that. A good start can be this tutorial and specifically this.I will try to explain in brief what I have learnt about GTK3 theming. It might not be perfect, but I think it can do a little help.You will certainly not want to(...)'

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Make your 3G modem work in Linux

Author : Satyajit Sahoo      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 5/7/2012 6:48:00 PM

'Making your new 3G modem work on Linux can be sometimes quite troublesome. All vendors provide software to make the modem work on Windows, but few support Linux. But you can make your modem work in Linux with few steps, though not as easy as in Windows, it is not that much difficult. I've tested this on Ubuntu 12.04 with a Micromax 3G modem.First of all, connect the modem to your PC. You are lucky if it was detected automatically. But if not, open the Terminal and give the following(...)'

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Get some Plasma goodness in Gnome shell

Author : Satyajit Sahoo      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 2/8/2012 1:03:00 PM

'Gnome Shell is not mature, but I'm starting to love it :) The main thing I miss while using any Gnome based desktop environment is desktop widgets. Sure, there are many alternatives from screenlets to conky etc. But none of them come as close to the variety of widgets the Plasma Desktop in KDE provides. But thanks to the versatility of Plasma Desktop, you can use it anywhere you want, even on Gnome Shell (yes Unity fans, Unity too).So what do you have to do? Not much, just install P(...)'

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Orion - A modern light theme for GTK3

Author : Satyajit Sahoo      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 1/27/2012 12:09:00 PM

'Orion, my latest GTK3 theme, is a light, clean and beautiful theme using the Unico engine. The metacity theme used in Orion is actually a modified metacity from the Boomerang theme. It also includes a GTK2 theme which uses the Murrine engine. May be some parts are not finished yet, as it is a work in progress.The theme is available in my themes PPA, so Ubuntu Oneiric and Precise users can easily install it and stay updated. Just open the terminal, and type the commands,sudo apt-add-(...)'

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What is Rooting an Android Phone?

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 11/28/2011 6:13:00 PM

'Rooting? Are you gonna plant trees? :) Let's face it, most of us don't know what is rooting, and what do we get from it. It can be easier to understand for someone who is a Linux user, but for others, it could be a big mystery. So here is my attempt to explain what I know.When you buy a shiny new Android phone, you have many limitations imposed by the manufacturer. For example, you can install apps, uninstall them, make calls, send messages etc. But if you don't like a preinstalled (...)'

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Gnome 2 and Gnome 3, Now and Then

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 11/11/2011 5:02:00 PM

'Gnome 2, probably a much loved desktop till the date. It is both friendly and customizable. In the past I had posted a post Do We Really Need Gnome 2 Forks? I then emphasized on making the Fallback mode more usable to use like Gnome 2. But conditions are different now. Fallback mode will be no longer maintained, as in Fedora 17, Gnome Shell won't require 3D acceleration to work, and there will be no use for fallback mode.So the Gnome 2 Fork called Mate seems to enlighten all those G(...)'

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Install Jockey Driver Installer in Fedora 16

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 11/11/2011 3:44:00 PM

'Jockey driver installer is an application which can install various hardware drivers, originally intended for Ubuntu. The guys at Parsidora have ported it to Fedora. The problem is, it is only for Fedora 15. So we will install it in Fedora 16 here.First, we need to add the Parsidora repo.cat <<EOF | tee /etc/yum.repos.d/parsidora.repo[parsidora] name=Parsidora 15 – \$basearchbaseurl= http://parsidora.sourceforge.net/releases/15/repos/parsidora/\$basearchenabled=0gpgcheck=0EOFTh(...)'

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Fedora 16 Releases Tomorrow, Keep Fedora Utils Handy!

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 11/7/2011 5:18:00 AM

'So Fedora 16 is releasing tomorrow, which will bring many new features and upstream improvements in Gnome 3.2. While configuring Fedora for the first time could be a boring task (if not difficult), having a post install script certainly makes it easier.So I've released Fedora Utils 1.7.5 which comes with a couple of handy tools and features to get you started with few clicks. While Fedora Utils is not that great, the thing which make it stand out in the crowd is autoupdate, ability (...)'

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Evolve - A Light GTK3 Theme

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 10/28/2011 2:12:00 AM

'Please forgive me for so much posts about Gnome 3/Gnome Shell themes. But I had to write it. I made it, if I won't write on my blog then who will?Evolve is a new, simplistic, minimal, light GTK3 theme. It is easy on the eyes and comes with a matching theme for GTK2 apps. The theme is compatible with the latest GTK 3.2. Evolve uses the Adwaita engine for the GTK3 theme and Murrine for the GTK2 theme.To be frank, though GTK3 theming is a lot easier than GTK2, the biggest challenge is (...)'

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Aqua - A Light Theme For Gnome Shell 3.2

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 10/28/2011 1:58:00 AM

'After a Dark Shell theme, I thought I would bring some fresh air to my Shell. Then I made Aqua, a light theme for Gnome Shell. I must say, making those Gnome Shell themes are not difficult. The thing that is difficult is to think of a new design with the presence of so many good designs. But once you make a design, and know little CSS, then theming is very easy. Gnome 2 was customizable, but not so much. You had to depend on experienced theme developers, and then you might not like (...)'

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Ambiance Blue Updated - Now Available in PPA

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 10/18/2011 9:35:00 PM

'I've updated the Ambiance Blue theme today, rewriting it and making it even better and free from visual glitches. And now it is also available in the WebUpd8 themes ppa. Making it even easier to install. Also the Elegance Gnome Shell theme received few changes too, including new close buttons.Ubuntu 11.10 users can now install Ambiance Blue using the commands below,sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themessudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install ambiance-blue-themeNew changes in(...)'

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Customize the Linux Terminal

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 10/16/2011 7:37:00 PM

'The Linux Terminal is powerful, but sometimes can be dull and boring. Here are some of my customizations that make the Terminal a little more attractive. All of these can be done by editing the .bashrc file in the Home folder. All these are not for Linux Mint by the way, as Linux Mint already has these customizations.Add Some Color:Wanna display the current directory and your username in bash? But with some colors? Then just add the following in the .bashrc# ColorsPS1='\[\033[01;32m(...)'

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Elegance Theme for Gnome Shell 3.2

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 10/16/2011 7:21:00 PM

'Gnome Foundation's latest Gnome Shell is much more customizable than Unity. But it is new, and lacks in number of the available themes. But as the themes are written in CSS, it becomes easier to make the themes who know more or little CSS. So I also made my first Gnome Shell Theme from scratch. The theme aims to be clean while being smooth and beautiful.The theme has a nice HUD interface with smooth CSS transition animations. The different elements are semitransparent and I've tried(...)'

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Ubuntu 11.10 Released - New Features, Review & Tips

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 10/14/2011 9:17:00 PM

'So, Ubuntu 11.10 released two days ago. I decided to get my hands on it, downloaded and installed alongside my Windows 7 and Fedora 16 (Beta) installation. Then I installed the multimedia codecs and some necessary packages. Then I started to explore.First, let's take a look at the new features,Unity Changes - The Dash is now opened by a launcher icon. The colour of the Dash is also derived from your desktop wallpaper. Places have been renamed to Lenses and sport many changes includi(...)'

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Guide to dual booting

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 9/26/2011 12:15:00 AM

'I just wanted you to know that I updated my Guide to Dual Booting. It now includes a Fedora installation Guide too. I won't be publishing that guide in my blog and you have to download the PDF to read it. Let me know your comments and suggestions.Download'

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Fedora Utils just got easier

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 9/25/2011 11:53:00 PM

'I initially created Fedora Utils so that I could save the hassle of configuring Fedora manually each time I install. From a simple terminal script, it got a new life with a GUI using zenity. Then, I got to know about other options like Auto Plus and easyLife. They made it easier for me to include many of the functionality they had to include in Fedora Utils. Probably Fedora Utils wouldn't have been born if I had found them earlier, and I'm happy I didn't. Eventually, Fedora Utils go(...)'

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UC Browser 7.9 Released - More Awesomwness

Author : Satya      Blog : Funsurf      Date : 9/22/2011 7:06:00 AM

'UC Browser, facing tough competition from Opera Mini, Bolt and perhaps many other browsers, is no doubt constantly improving and taking steps forward to a better browsing on mobiles. It has evolved from just a crap browser with a great download manager to an excellent browser. Perhaps UC Browser is the most feature rich mobile browser till date. While some may argue it lacks javascript support, Opera Mini also don't. And it is not possible to provide javascript on low end phones. On(...)'

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