Nov 6 2009

Change your bootscreen to match your wallpaper

chris

ScreenshotOMG! Ubuntu (a blog you should certainly be reading if you don’t already have it in your reader) has the complete guide to tricking out XSplash, the new bootscreen manager in Ubuntu 9.10.

One of the great things about XSplash is that it starts XServer, what displays good graphics on your screen in Linux, BSD, and OS X systems, a few seconds into the boot instead of near the end.  This means that you no longer have to really know your stuff to change the bootscreen; all you need to do is follow some very simple instructions.

First off, if you just want to change your bootscreen, play with the files in /usr/share/images/xsplash

But I’m not here to talk about that:  I’m talking about a seamless boot experience that changes your login window and XSplash background to be your normal wallpaper. Continue reading

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Art, Computer Science, Geek Culture, Linux, Open Source, Random, Science/Fiction, Technology

Aug 13 2009

GNOME Shell – the next generation desktop for Linux

chris

For starters, throw away all your conceptions about desktops.  They no longer apply.

Also remember that I am reviewing a highly experimental piece of software.  It may look unwieldy but that’s because it has no customization options yet (or at least, no GUI).

And lastly, remember that because there is a whole new paradigm introduced here it may seem that GNOME Shell’s whole concept is flawed.  However, after playing with it I can safely say that I can’t wait for it to arrive and believe it will increase my productivity.

So what am I talking about?  This (click for full view).

GNOME Shell with Google Chrome in foreground

GNOME Shell with Google Chrome in foreground

Continue reading

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Applications, Beam Me Up Scotty!, Computer Science, Linux, Open Source, Random, Technology