We have Linux today, thanks to a Swedish software engineer named Linus Torvalds. Most Linux users already know this but for the sake of those who don’t, it was first released twenty years ago, on August 25, 1991. It was on that day that Linus Torvalds shared the operating system he was working on as a hobby for Minix (a UNIX Operating System) users on the UseNet newsgroup ‘comp.os.minix‘ and as the saying goes – the rest is history.

Hello everybody out there using minix -

I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I’d like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).

I’ve currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I’ll get something practical within a few months, and I’d like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them :-)

Linus (torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi)

PS. Yes – it’s free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT portable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that’s all I have :-(.

—Linus Torvalds

To celebrate this milestone, the Linux Foundation has created and released this infographic that shows how Linux has developed and spread through the years.

Thank you Linus Torvalds and Belated Happy 20th Birthday Linux!

[via AJ Batac/OMG Ubuntu]

If you’re one of those users who recently installed or upgraded to Natty Narwhal and would like to use the “classic” or traditional GNOME desktop interface but don’t know how, don’t worry coz today I’ll show you in just a few short steps on how to disable Unity Interface and restore original (classic) interface in Ubuntu Natty Narwhal.

Here’s how to do it:
1. Go to Ubuntu login screen. If you’re already logged in, logout and type/select your username.
2. On the bottom panel, select “Ubuntu Classic” or “Ubuntu Classic Desktop“.

3. Type in your password and login.
4. Ubuntu will now use the classic Ubuntu Desktop interface.

For those who haven’t upgraded yet and don’t know the difference between the GNOME desktop interface and the Unity interface, here are a couple screenshots I took from my Ubuntu partition or you can also refer to my previous post on Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal.

Unity interface

GNOME desktop interface (using AWN)

If you want to re-enable or revert to the Unity interface, just follow the same steps above and instead of choosing “Ubuntu Classic Desktop”, select “Ubuntu” or “Ubuntu Desktop Edition“.

Hope this short and simple tutorial helped you disable the Unity interface and switch back to the classic or traditional GNOME desktop interface or vice versa.

The latest version of Ubuntu, version 11.04 aka Natty Narwhal was released last April 28th. I saw the notification from the Upgrade Manager a couple weeks back but I wasn’t able to do the upgrade until yesterday. The upgrade process went smooth and I didn’t encounter any issues or problems but it did take quite a long time because my Internet connection was a bit wonky.

New Features:

• Unity Interface – the new Ubuntu desktop session. It has tons of features including drag-and-drop re-ordering of launcher icons, full keyboard navigation support, launcher activation through keyboard shortcuts, right-click context menu quick-list and switching between running applications.
• Ubuntu One control panel – now allows selective syncing and launcher icon displays the sync progress.
• Ubuntu Software Center – users can now rate and review installed applications and at the same time share their reviews.
• GNOME programs – new scrollbar that uses less screen space.
• Firefox 4 – the standard web browser.
• LibreOffice 3.3.2 – new default office suite, replaces OpenOffice.org.
• Banshee 2.0 – new default music player, replaces Rhythmbox.

Screenshots:
Unity Desktop

Unity Bar

Launcher – Shortcuts

Launcher – Media Apps

Launcher – Internet Apps

Launcher – More Apps

Universal App Menu Bar

Workspace Switcher

The Unity Bar (located on the left side of the screen) and Launcher allows the user to easily and quickly find/access the apps and programs that they’re looking for. The Unity Bar works like the Windows 7 taskbar which allows you to pin apps and easily arrange the pinned apps drag-and-drop style. Unity is the next generation of Ubuntu and will be the default user interface starting from 11.04 to future versions. Personally, I prefer the GNOME desktop and fortunately, Ubuntu 11.04 allows the user to switch to the “classic” Ubuntu desktop interface so I switched and disabled the Unity interface. I’ll be sharing a short tutorial on how to switch to the classic or traditional Ubuntu desktop interface in a later post.

If you like keyboard shortcuts, then you’ll enjoy using the Unity Bar and Launcher because of the Universal Keyboard Navigation feature which allows the user to easily navigate through the entire interface using keyboard shortcuts. I also like the Universal App Menu Bar feature which turns the top desktop bar into a universal app menu bar displaying the File, Edit, View, etc. options when an app offers them, enabling users to have as much space as possible on their desktop.

Another thing I like about the latest version of Ubuntu is the new look of the GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader), the interface that provides the user the choice to choose from a list of installed operating systems or a specific partition. The new GRUB looks cleaner and more professional – it features a smaller text and is no longer black & white but uses the default Ubuntu color scheme.

Anybody else upgraded to and now using Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal? How do you like the new features and interface? Do you prefer the Unity interface or the classic Ubuntu Desktop interface? What are your thoughts on the new default programs – LibreOffice and Banshee? Please share your thoughts.

Want to install Firefox 4 on Ubuntu but don’t know how? Don’t worry, I’m here to help you.

For software compatibility reasons, Ubuntu doesn’t immediately include newly released programs to the Software Center. That’s why you don’t automatically get Firefox 4 but instead see that the latest up-to-date version on your system is Firefox 3.6+. If you don’t want to wait, you can install Firefox 4 manually and I’ll show you how to do it in two different ways.

Install Firefox 4 via GUI (graphic user interface)

1. Go to Applications > Ubuntu Software Center.



2. Then go to Edit > Software Sources.



3. Click on the Other Software tab.



4. Click on the Add button and then type (copy/paste) the following line:

ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable






5. Click on Add Source (system will ask you to update your sources).



6. After the update, go to System > Administration and click on Update Manager to perform the upgrade.
7. Firefox 4 will now be available on the list. Click on Update and it will be installed on your system.

Install Firefox 4 via Terminal (command line)

1. Go to Applications > Terminal or Applications > Accessories > Terminal.



2. Type (copy/paste) in the following commands one at a time:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade




3. Close the terminal.
4. Firefox 4 is now installed on your system.

For those of you who want to install Firefox 4 but want to keep Firefox 3.6 or other older versions, here’s what you can do:

1. Download Firefox 4 from the Mozilla Firefox page (make sure the file you download is in TAR.BZ2 format)
2. Create a new folder for Firefox 4.
3. Unpack/unzip the BZ2 file to that new folder and run (double click) the firefox executable text file.
4. Installation will proceed and just follow prompts.

Btw, these methods are not limited to Firefox 4 but will work for the latest stable version that Mozilla releases. Hope this short and simple guide helped you install Firefox 4 on Ubuntu.

Today, I’m gonna show you how simple and easy it is to restore the battery/power management icon on your Ubuntu panel.

1. Go to Preferences > Power Management



2. On the Power Management Preferences window, click on General tab
3. Make sure that the “Always display icon” option is checked.

For those of you who might not want the icon to show up when you have your computer plugged in or maybe want the icon to show up only during certain instances, just repeat the steps listed above and select your preferred option on the General tab. Btw, if you tried the steps I provided above and the battery/power icon is still not showing up it means that the Notification Area applet is missing from your panel. To enable it, just follow these steps:

1. Right click on the panel, click on “Add to Panel“



2. On “Find an item to add to the panel:” type in “Notification Area“
3. Select the Notification Area applet and click Add

That’s it. Wasn’t that easy? Hope this short and simple tutorial helped you with the missing battery/power icon issue on Ubuntu.