Ubuntu is a popular Open source linux based desktop OS as many may know.Android is a powerful mobile open source OS.How about both integrated? Ubuntu for Android enables to run fully functional Ubuntu OS just like a desktop by docking your phone to a connected keyboard and monitor.

Ubuntu for android is a customised version of Ubuntu that works together with Android, sharing the data between both OS running simultaneously.It can run on multi-core Android phones with USB and HDMI.All the services are shared like messaging, applications, files , calling functions , contacts , photos and videos and all for the case.

The desktop interface is brought easily by just docking your phone and it is ready for use just like your desktop.While on docked mode the integrates SMS and calling functions allow you to read and reply to messages and to attend calls directly from your desktop.All your Office applications and other Ubuntu applications can be run and also android applications.Yes you can run android applications from within Ubuntu while docked.

Android is really powerful.But with Ubuntu for Android it would be just like having a full desktop PC in Pocket.This is possible because of the much flexible hardware requirements of the Linux based OS s.It doesn’t require a strict configuration and needs very low minimum requirements.We have already seen about Raspberry Pi the Pen-drive sized smallest computer  on this blog , which is a great example for the lowest config required for Ubuntu.For this Android integration it needs the below hardware…

• Dual-core 1GHz CPU
• Video acceleration: shared kernel driver with associated X driver; Open GL, ES/EGL
• Storage: 2GB for OS disk image
• HDMI: video out with secondary frame buffer device
• USB host mode
• 512 MB RAM

It also has many default applications for great desktop experience like Google chrome browser, Google Calender, Google Docs, Thunderbird email Client, Gwibber, VLC Media Player, PiTiVi, Rhythm Box Music Player, Ubuntu Photo Gallery, Android Dialler.

Much info would be available from the MWC to be held next week.

A demo video embedded below may help you know more…

But When I was new to ubuntu 11.10, I didn’t get any graphic driver (Intel Extreme Graphics) for ubuntu. After a long search, I learnt ubuntu 11.10 provides Unity 2D environment even my PC doesn’t have capability to provide 3D Graphics. To make your old PC to run as though you have installed graphic card, just run install gnome-panel on your ubuntu 11.10 system.

First, install latest definitions from ubuntu server:

sudo apt-get update

Then install gnome-panel to your ubuntu system:

sudo apt-get install gnome-panel

After installing, dragging of screen will be fixed.

But you will have moderate effects. You will see the panel at the left.

If you want to get a classic desktop environment with top and bottom panel, choose GNOME Classic when you log in, which will be available in the Gear icon.

Look the above picture. After getting into GNOME classic, you can get a desktop as shown in the picture.

Google chrome has now become one of the most popular web browser and the fastest too.Those list of features google chrome has have always kept its fans from moving away.One such is the incognito mode.When ever one wants to keep privacy,switching to incognito mode would be better.For those who wish to be in incognito always it would be annoying to choose incognito mode every time from the menu or to click ctrl+shift+N each time.How would it be to have Chrome started to incognito mode everytime? It would be easier isn’t it?

Its just a child’s play to have it done.Just follow the steps below based on the OS you use…

Windows:

Nothing so hard in windows.

• Just right click on the Google Chrome short cut icon you use to launch it.May be the one on Desktop or on the Start Menu.
• Select Properties.
• On the Shortcut tab,locate the textbox labelled Target.

  

• Place your cursor on the text box and go to the end of the entry.It end as …chrome.exe
• At the end just type -incognito leaving a space beween exe and -
• Click Apply and exit.

Now you have it.You will automatically open chrome in incognito mode in future.

Ubuntu:

Ubuntu user? Don’t worry.We have a method for you too.

• First you need to start Main Menu options dialog.
  • If you use any Ubuntu version prior to 11.04 ,Right click on the Ubuntu logo on the left top corner of the screen and choose Edit Menus.
    
  • If you use 11.04 , Just type Main Menu on the Dash Click on the Main menu icon.
• both will lead you to a dialog box like the one below…

  
  

• Select Internet under menus and then Google Chrome under items.
• Click properties and you will get a small pop up dialog as below…

  

• In the Command text box Go to the end of the entry.It will be like …chrome %U
• Place the pointer betweenchrome and %U and type –incognito
• Make sure you leave a space between on both sides of –incognito
• Click Close to save your changes or click Revert if you feel you went wrong.

Thats it! You have set your part.Now every time you start Chrome enter incognito mode by default…

P.S: Note that in windows just a single hyphen (-) but in Ubuntu two hyphens (–) before incognito.

Did you like this tweak?Share it…Press your thoughts in comments…

The Launcher:

The new Launcher located on the left side of the screen allows easy access to applications and shows the open windows.Looks similar to the taskbar in Windows 7.You can add or remove application on the Launcher just by dragging into it.The Launcher can be hidden or revealed from the top left of the screen.It sure would assist your multitasking simpler.

The Dash:

Clicking on the Ubuntu logo on the top left corner opens the dash.The new Dash feature make it simpler for you to search for applications and programs.Get a faster access to you email,music,photos,documents and more.

Workspaces:

Workspaces allows you to your applications to different spaces allowing confusion free multitasking experience.Similar to the one in earlier version.But now clicking the Workspaces icon on the launcher will pop up showing all active spaces an can switch between them in a click.

This video would explain you better…

Video By: Canonical Design

Why Ubuntu:

• Thousands of free applications from the Software Center
• Safer Web Browsing(all popular browsers supported
• Built in virus protection
• Integrated office applications(Libreoffice.org)
• Better experience for your Photos and Videos
• Compatible with all your devices
• Power of Open source
• Of all it is free for lifetime with a good support.

How to Get it?

No more Free CDs Canonical has closed its free cd shipment service.Having served millions of users they want them to upgrade or download the newer versions.You can still Buy the CDs for a small amount.

Free Download You can download the iso image(698 MB) of the CD and burn it to a CD or a USB drive.Take a live test drive and decide whether to install.

Windows installer You can even install or uninstall ubuntu as you do with other applications on Windows.

So head to http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download to get Ubuntu by any method you want.

Share your views in comments…

Disk Utility is used for doing this work…Get a shot of it here.

1. Go to System => Administration => Disk Utility
2. Select the item ‘xx GB Hard Disk’ The one you need if you have many HDD.
3. In the Volumes section, click on a partition you want to label with a name of your choice.
4. Click ‘Edit Filesystem Label’.
5. In the Label box, enter a name, eg: Disk-Drive1, and click Apply.

The file manager should now show the partition label, instead of xx GB Filesystem.

If the option for “Edit Filesystem Label” is not shown, click “Unmount Volume” before hand. In case you can’t unmount a volume, try Storage Device Manager to unmount it. This tip is for naming a partition using Disk Utility, use other advanced features such as format, edit or delete partition with caution,as they can delete data on your disk.

What you named your partition as?Share your experiences in comments…

Installing firefox Through terminal:

Go to Applications > Accessories > Terminal and enter the following commands carefully,

1. sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable
2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get install firefox

Installing firefox through Software center (GUI) :

Start Ubuntu Software Center. Go to Edit > Software Sources and click the ‘Other Software’ tab. Press ‘Add’ and then add the PPA ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable.

After that you need to update sources. So go to System > Administration > Update Manager to perform an upgrade.

Share your experiences…