Using UbuntuTweak to keep programs up to date

I use UbutuTweak to help me set options in Ubuntu, including my GTK login splash. But while reading the latest posts on a thread in the Ubuntu Forums about installing Google Gadgets I came across a post that surprised me.

Well, I installed Ubuntu-Tweak and enabled an option to keep Compiz-Fusion and GoogleGadgets updated to the latest and greatest. It brought in a bunch of updates and now it works perfectly.

No more black boxes where they should be. I’m a happy camper… Thanks for the suggestions.

I wasn’t even aware that Ubuntu Tweak had been updated, but sure enough, I found that they had released an update on 3 July. Not only is it faster than older versions, they’ve added a way to not only add and remove third-party applications through a custom repository, they also give you the opportunity to use that same repository to make sure you have the latest versions of the apps, including Avant Window Navigator (AWN), GnomeDo, Google Gadgets and UbuntuTweak itself.

Plus, as of version 0.3, UbuntuTweak now supports other GNOME-based GNU/Linux distros! Woot!

Some people may dislike the idea of UbuntuTweak using a third-party repo to install files, like Automatix 2 used to do, let alone use their custom repo to update apps, but most of the apps they can watch for updates for are things that you may not install from the Ubuntu repos. If you don’t want them watching apps you installed from other sources you don’t have to have UbuntuTweak watch for updates, but they’re a great way to keep programs installed from a downloaded .deb file up to date.

You can even use UbuntuTweak to play with the development version of Compiz Fusion, allowing you to play with the new desktop sphere.

Youuuuge thanks to crjackson for pointing this new ability in UbuntuTweak out to me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to add UbuntuTweak’s RSS feed to my Evolution subscription list so I don’t miss news like this again.

Peng’s links for Monday, 7 July

I think it was a good thing I took the weekend off after Saturday’s final post. Yesterday Comcast crashed so hard that we were without not just Interweb but also cable and phone all day long. Luckily we had some things saved on the DVR or else the three of us would have been bored out of our gourds. It finally came up after nine last night making Comcast offline for around a dozen hours, but I haven’t been able to see any reports on what went wrong. If anyone knows what happened to Comcast in the Malden area please post it in the comments.

• Alan Pope: Is that a Paul Smith shirt? Alan wore the tee that Nanci and I want and got a great response from one of the other parents at his daughter’s ballet school.
• Dante Díaz: How to Install Linux Media Center Edition step by step. Yes, Virginia, there is a Linux Media Center Edition, and Dante’s vid shows how to install it on a KDE-based distro. I suspect it will be similar on GNOME desktops.
• Bill Dwyre: Where have you gone, Ernie Banks? Do you remember baseball’s double headers? I don’t mean the ones caused by rainouts, but the ones that give fans the chance to see two games in a single day, usually around a holiday. Dwyre remembers them, and wonders why we don’t have them anymore, as do I.

I do have one other thing I want to blog about, but it deserves a post of it’s own. But before I close this post I have to pimp my new favorite place to get coffee in Boston. I love Starbucks, but I also like having a place closer to home to be able to get a cup of joe as I hop on the subway every day. I used to get my coffee from Mike’s Donuts in Forrest Hills Station but after three straight cups of coffee that weren’t what I ordered, as well as trying to talk with the owner but having to wait while they took care of customers I decided to find a new place to get my coffee. It’s too bad, too, because I’ve known the owner’s wife for over a decade but when I told her I’ve had problems with getting coffee the way I ordered it she didn’t even take the time to find out what was wrong.

I finally tried Java Jo’s, which is not just across the street from the station but also on the side of the station that bus drops me off to get on the subway. I found it was more like a Starbucks than a Dunkin’ Donuts (Mike’s takes your order, and hands you a supposedly ready to drink cup of brew), but I don’t mind putting my own cream and sugar in my coffee, especially when the cream is cool enough to make the coffee immediately drinkable, an issue that prompts me to ask for a little ice in my coffee from Mike’s although lately they don’t fill that part of my order well. Which is part of why I tried to speak to the owner in the first place. The owner likes ice in his coffee, and his wife, who runs the Forrest Hills store, respects a customer’s wishes in that respect. Alas, her employees don’t have the same idea of customer service that she has. I still get coffee at Mike’s on the weekend and on holidays, but only because Java Jo’s doesn’t open as early on weekends and I’m on the road pretty early seven days a week. After having to go without Java Jo’s coffee over the recent three-day weekend I really missed my proper cup of coffee as I got on the subway.

One thing that makes Java Jo’s even better is that their coffee, a rich, bolder coffee than Mike’s sells, is so good that I don’t have to run through Back Bay to hit Starbucks in the morning any more. And their food is delicious, too, so you may want to take advantage of their catering service for your office one day.

If you’re in the Forrest Hills/Franklin Park area of Boston and you’d like a good cup of coffee or some delicious food check Java Jo’s out. You’ll thank me for it.