Update 10/08/09:

I read the latest issue of Full Circle Magazine, and there was an article on “Top 5 Screenshot Tools”. Desktop Data Manager was mentioned. Hopeful that the previous bugs that stopped me using it had been fixed, I installed from the .deb on SourceForge.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed again. The application is unusable, it crashes on opening the application. Various other users have reported exactly the same bug on SourceForge. Try again this time next year I guess!

In the meantime, I’ll have a look at Shutter, and I am happily using Screengrab! (a Firefox addon to capture web page screenshots).

While I was studying for some exams, and typing up exam notes and trying to insert screenshots of lecture slides into my revision notes, I found myself wishing for the type of functionality provided by software such as Microsoft’s OneNote.The default GNOME screenshot application is useful under very particular circumstances, but if you just want to copy a screenshot to the clipboard, you’re SOL.

OneNote has an applet running in the system tray, and on pressing the keyboard shortcut, allows the user to select any area on screen and copy it to the clipboard. This image can then be pasted into word processor documents, image editing programs etc etc.

Just a couple of minutes searching located Desktop Data Manager, a program that can do this, and more. Functionality includes;

• clipboard history
• converts HTML / FTP links to images that can be pasted into any app
• customisable keyboard shortcuts
• take screenshots of windows, subwindows, or user-selected area

It really is very useful and far better than the horrible little GNOME app that you get with the default desktop. It seems to have ongoing development, and there are pre-built debs and rpms or you can build from source. There is even a 64-bit deb. Very cool.

Download Desktop Data Manager here.

Update: After using it for a few days, I found it has some issues. It causes repeatable crashes when cutting / pasting files in Nautilus. Also, it crashes repeatedly whenever opening the Desktop Data Download app. I can’t really recommend it any more with these basic bugs, it needs more work.

If you have installed a few linux kernel upgrades, your GRUB menu will become cluttered, with 2 boot options for each kernel, it can quickly become messy. It is easy to remedy though, just uninstall the kernels you don’t need.

For example, Hardy’s current kernel is 2.6.24-18-generic. I also have the 2.6.24-17 and 2.6.24-16 kernels installed, so I have a total of 6 linux entries in my GRUB menu. I have been using the -18 kernel for a while and know that it works fine, so I just uninstall the 16 and 17 kernels. To do this, search for “linux-image” in Synaptic.

You can see the 16 and 17 kernels listed. Just right-click on each one and select “Mark for Removal”. You will then get prompted to mark additional required changes relating to removing that kernel image.

Finish off by clicking “Apply” in Synaptic to finish off the kernel removal. When you next reboot, your GRUB menu will be nice and clean.

UPDATE: NVidia have released new (non-beta) drivers which you can find here.

If you have a 9000 series NVidia graphics card (eg 9800, 9600), you must manually install video card drivers from the NVidia site, there is not suitable drivers in the repos (ie you cannot enable restricted drivers for your video card).

A consequence of this is that every time a new kernel is installed by synaptic, you will need to reinstall your driver. Luckily, it is pretty straight forward. Follow the steps below (this works on Hardy 64-bit with an NVidia 9600GT) to install the latest beta driver from NVidia.

1. Visit NVidia to download the latest driver. You can find the beta driver page by following the links Download Drivers > Beta and Archived Drivers and then choosing your video card, operating system etc. The direct link to 64-bit beta driver 173.08 is here.UPDATE: New non-beta driver 173.14.05 for 64-bit is here.

2. You need to build a new kernel module when installing the driver, so make sure you have the necessary requirements by running this command in a console;

sudo apt-get install build-essential

3. Open a tty by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1

4. Stop gdm by running;

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

5. Run the NVidia installation script as a superuser;

sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-173.08-pkg2.run

6. If you have previously installed the driver, the installer will ask if you want to uninstall the previous driver, answer yes.

7. Answer yes to all other questions. Once the installer has finished, the driver is installed. You can then restart the gdm by running;

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

8. To complete the installation, disable the “nv” module. If this step is not done, you will run into problems next time you boot. Run the following;

sudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Add the following line to the bottom of the file;

DISABLED_MODULES="nv"

9. Finally, you can run “nvidia-settings” to tweak your new driver through the NVidia control panel.

With thanks to Enthrall.

CompizFusion allows users to seriously customise every aspect of their desktop experience on Linux. To customise your CompizFusion installation, you will need to install Compiz Config Settings Manager (or ccsm). This gives you far greater control than the standard “None”, “Normal” and “Extra” selections available from the Appearance menu. To install ccsm, type the following in a console;

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Now you can access ccsm from the System>Preferences>Advanced Desktop Effects Settings menu.

Now that you have installed ccsm, you can tweak every setting tou your heart’s content. If you don’t like how something turns out and you forget what the original setting was, no problem, just click the little “broom” icon next to each setting to reset that setting to default.

Another part of this customisation is the ability to change window manager themes and mouse icons. The default CompizFusion on ubuntu just uses your metacity themes, which are pretty boring. However, a window decorator called Emerald provides far more exciting themes and decorations. To install emerald, type the following in a console;

sudo apt-get install emerald

You can now access Emerald from the System>Preferences>Emerald Theme Manager menu.

Before you can start using Emerald themes though, you will need to tell Compiz to use Emerald to decorate the windows instead of metacity. To do this, go into the Window Decoration plugin in ccsm (found under the Effects category) and enter the following in the Command text box;

emerald --replace

You will also need some Emerald themes which you can find here;

www.beryl-themes.org

To install the new theme, just follow the directions that you usually get with the theme. You will usually just click “Import” within Emerald and then find the theme (ending in .emerald) you just downloaded. You might have to extract it from an archive first. You will also need to restart Emerald to see your new theme, you can do this by rebooting, or by pressing Alt+F2 and entering

emerald --replace

Finally, to use custom mouse pointers with Compiz, you need to change one last item in ccsm. Firstly, download your mouse themes from somewhere like here;

gnome-look.org

Install them by opening up System>Preferences>Appearance. Drag your downloaded mouse pointer theme onto this window and your pointers will get install. Click Customize, then select the Pointers tab. Find your desired mouse pointer, then write down the name of it exactly as it appears!

Finally, go back into ccsm, click the General Options, then type the name of your mouse pointer theme into the Cursor Theme text box.

That’s it! You have installed ccsm, tweaked your settings, installed Emerald and themes, plus customised your mouse pointers!

Not much happening on my Hardy install, it Just Works. However, today I was prompted to install the first swag of updates since upgrading from my beta install to the “gold” release. 23 MB of updates, from evolution, to hal and apport.