Arnel's TechBlog

Install Chromium in Fedora 16

Chromium is different from Google Chrome because Chromium is an Open Source project behind Google Chrome. It is an unstable release because Chromium is like a testing ground for Google Chrome’s features, performance, and security fixes. Chromium is a development version of Google Chrome whereas Google Chrome is the stable version. You may notice slight difference in performance when you use Chromium over Google Chrome however, the difference between the two is only small.

Have a look at the comparison between Google Chrome and Chromium here. You may have noticed that you are not able to install Chromium as easily as it was in Ubuntu where it is readily available to install using Ubuntu Software Center, so I won’t be discussing about how to install Chromium in Ubuntu but in Fedora 16 instead.

1. Change the user to root:

su

2. Enable the Chromium YUM repository

 -Change the directory to /etc/yum/repos.d

cd /etc/yum/repos.d

 -Get the Chromium repo file.

wget http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/spot/chromium/fedora-chromium-stable.repo

3. Install Chromium

yum install chromium

Possible Error

If you see some error like this when adding a repo.

http://fedorapeople.org/%7Espot/chromium/F13/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] HTTP Error 404 : http://fedorapeople.org/%7Espot/chromium/F13/repodata/repomd.xml Trying other mirror.

It is possible that you might have installed Chromium before. To resolve this:

1. Remove the old repo.

cd /etc/yum.repos.d/

rm chromium.repo

2. Get the new Chromium repo.

wget http://repos.fedorapeople.org/repos/spot/chromium/fedora-chromium-stable.repo

SongBird Fork, Nightingale Now Available

A lot of us were disappointed when SongBird ditches Linux support a few years ago. However, the advantage of using Linux is anybody can make a fork of the software and make a better one. That is when Nightingale was created.

Nightingale is the SongBird of Linux. If you missed using Nightingale then this is the time to install the software in your favorite Linux distribution. Nightingale is multi-platform supported and this time, it also fully supports Linux.

Which means what Windows and Mac users get, Linux users will have it too.

Nightingale has added some new features and performance tweaks. You can notice a very big difference in how you can search music, moreover, a wonderful user interface that looks flawlessly good on any Linux distribution.

There are also available add-ons based on your need like if you like to listen to online radios, there are ShoutCast Radio, Last.fm and you can download lyrics too.

Running Nightingale in Ubuntu (or any distro) is pretty easy. Once you have downloaded the archive, unzip it, open the nightingale folder, then run nightingale.bin.

Links:

Download Nightingale

Nightingale Website

FXI Cotton Candy Up For Pre-Orders

Technology is so advanced these days that not only you can convert a computer into a tablet but also fit the whole CPU into a small USB stick. That’s right, you can bring a working CPU anywhere you want in this tiny USB stick called FXI Cotton Candy. 

This video below is basically what you can expect in FXI Cotton Candy.

Specifications:

• ARM® Cortex™-A9@1.2GHz
• Quad Core ARM® Mali™-400MP Graphics Processing Unit
• Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
  Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• 1GB DRAM
  Up to 64GB memory local storage (microSD)
• – Android
  – Ubuntu
  – Virtualization client for Windows, Linux, Mac, embedded

For more information visit FXITech.

The price for 1 FXI Cotton Candy is $100, that is why I’m very interested. However, the device is not yet to be released but you can request to pre-order the device if you are interested.

Possible uses for FXI Cotton Candy

According to FXITech, FXI Cotton Candy can do the following:

1. Make a full-fledged desktop PC with just FXI and a monitor.
2. Instantly access Android or Ubuntu in a Mac by just plugging in the device.
3. Access Ubuntu and Android in a Windows Computer seamlessly without the need to restart the computer.
4. Connect FXI to an HDMI TV and make it a Smart TV. 
5. Extend the capabilities of your SmartPhone.

If you are as interested as I am, pre-order FXI Cotton Candy right now and get notified immediately when this product can be bought.

Fix Fedora 16 Memory Leak Problem By Changing The Default Theme

I just found out to the fix about the memory leak I’ve experienced for the past few weeks. The thing is, you jut need to replace the default Gnome Shell theme, Adwaita to other themes. I’ve been changing themes for about 2 days now and I haven’t encountered any lag or hangups in my computer ever since but when I revert back to Adwaita, the problem returns.

Before you can install a theme you here are some things you have to do first:

Create a theme directory in your home. Open the terminal and type:

mkdir ~/.themes/

Then install Gnome Shell user themes extension by using this code in the terminal:

sudo yum -y install gnome-shell-extension-user-theme

Install gnome tweak tool to so you can change themes easily

sudo yum -y install gnome-tweak-tool

After that, open Gnome Tweak Tool and enable user themes extension in the Shell Extensions available on the left pane.

You can get gnome shell themes at DeviantArt. Download the theme of your chose then extract it to ~/.themes

Here are some of my top theme choices:

Ice Cream Shell

[DOWNLOAD]

Roboto Font

Axiom Elementary

[DOWNLOAD]

Antartika

[DOWNLOAD]

Dark Shine

[DOWNLOAD]

Elementary Viper Luna

[DOWNLOAD]

If user shell extensions didn’t work, just manually copy the theme to /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme

Remember to access it as a root so open a terminal and type:

sudo nautilus /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme

Put the default theme in a different folder to create a backup then replace the entire contents with your chosen theme. Restart Gnome Shell to take effect.

Fedora Memory Leak Problem and Temporary Solution

I’m having memory leak problems lately in my Fedora 16 and it is pretty annoying especially when I am in the middle of a very tough work. The good thing is all my work are automatically synced online but that’s another story to deal with.

Ever encountered the same problem as mine? When out of nowhere your gnome shell just gets stuck. You will notice that it the moment your mouse lags and the clock’s seconds seems to jump a bit. It happens to me three or more times a day that I’m starting to miss my Ubuntu days, in which I don’t want to happen right now. So desperate to stick to Fedora 16, I searched for a solution. 

There are two reasons Fedora is having a memory leak: 

1. gnome shell extensions
2. gnome shell

The first one is quite easy, if you suspect that some of your installed gnome shell extensions are causing the problem, just turn it off. To easily detect the culprit, turn off all extensions then turn them on one by one until you see the extension that is causing it. 

But it seems that is only the part of the whole problem with memory leak. The real problem is within Gnome Shell itself. 

So if you have turned off all the extensions and still encountering the same problem, here is a quick solution to that. 

Restart gnome shell. How to do it? Easy

1. Press alt+f2
2. Key in r
3. press enter

This problem is affecting most Fedora users particularly those that have 2Gb of memory or less. The developers are currently working on the solution so expect to see changes when Gnome 3 releases new updates. So stick to this temporary solution or transfer to another distro if you don’t like what you are experiencing. Gnome 3 in Ubuntu 11.10 don’t have this kind of bug.

Remember to do this the instant you detect symptoms like sudden lag in applications or a skip in the seconds of the time because the more it is “leaking” the lesser you will be able to control your system. 

Top 8 Gnome Shell Extensions

Here are some top gnome shell extensions that can provide usability and productivity in your desktop.

Alternative Status Menu

This adds 2 more selections in the status menu instead of the default suspend. Now you can shutdown the computer without pressing alt first. 

Frippery Move Clock

Moves the default location of the clock from the center, to the right side of the top panel. 

Dock

Adds a dock that you can set either in the left or the right side of the screen. I don’t like this dock when it is hiding because it doesn’t hide the way Docky, Cairo dock, and Gnome Do does. 

Music Integration

Integrates your music controls into the volume icon indicator just like what Ubuntu does.

Calculator

Get instant calculations by opening the dash and perform a calculation in the dash’s search box. 

There are also advanced calculation tools like the advanced calculator and unit conversion. 

Gmail Notify

Using Gnome Online Accounts, you will be notified of up and coming emails in your gmail account. 

Remove Accessibility

Average desktop users do not need a shortcut for the accessibility function most of the time. You can remove the accessibility icon on the top panel using this extension.

Remove Bluetooth

Removes the bluetooth indicator on the top panel.

Remove Username

Gets rid of your username in the indicator to either save space or hide your name when getting some screenshots of your desktop.