Extra Ubuntu Eye Candy: AWN

Avant Window Manger is all the fun of a dock style task bar without the closed system. I found a walk through on Ubuntu forums, but it needed some tweaking to work in the latest release.
This requires a bit of advanced editing of your apt-sources and whatnot, but the end result is quite pretty as you will see here in the screen shot to your left.


Here is the installation walk through:



1. Open Terminal and type: sudo nano -w /etc/apt/sources.list
2. Type the following at the bottom of your sources.list file.
## AWN
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
3. Save your edited sources.list by typing Ctrl-X in order to save your edited document.
4. Type the following in terminal:
wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/reacocard.asc
sudo apt-key add reacocard.asc
rm reacocard.asc
sudo apt-get update
5. Now install AWN by running the following command in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr awn-core-applets-bzr
6. You can run AWN by going to Applications>Accessories>Avant Window Navigator.
7. I highly recommend removing your bottom panel when running AWN. You can remove it by right clicking on the panel and selecting: Delete this panel.
8. If you like AWN enough you can add it to your auto-start by going to System>Preferences>Sessions. Click Add, then type avant-window-navigator to the command field.

Many thanks to all the folks at Ubuntu Forums for providing the information for this posting in the post titled: HowTO: functional eye-candy with Avant Window Navigator and Affinity.
Enjoy

Zen and the Art of Linux Installing: Part 1

I have been playing around with Ubuntu 7.10 lately in my free time. I thought it would be interesting to archive a bit of my set-up process here for your enjoyment (perhaps). I noticed on Day 1 that my repository downloads were running very slow. My office is connected up on Internet2, so changing my repository to point to another University with Internet2 access would certainly speed things up.

Change Repositories for my local mirror:

1. Click on Applications
   
2. Select Add/Remove...
   
3. Click Preferences
   
4. Type your Password
   
5. Select the Download From: drop down box. Now select a mirror that you know is going to be fast. Sometimes it is the closest mirror. I chose mirror.cs.umn.edu because I know our Internet2 connection will deliver fast response.
   
6. Uncheck the box for Installable from CD-ROM/DVD. I never carry my CD with me, I prefer to pull everything off the local mirrors.
7. Now you can simply close the window and it will update your repository. Things should load much quicker
   

Use Add/Remove... in order to Install Fun Stuff
There are three programs I know that I want right off the bat. Add/Remove... makes this very possible. I know I want the Advanced Desktop Effects Settings, Xchat IRC, and Amarok. Installing is super easy with Add/Remove Applications. All you have to do is search, check the box and apply the changes and your ready to roll. With my repositories adjusted properly downloads are quick and everything installs wonderfully. Best of all no restart required!

Enjoy