Tips & Tricks - Ubuntu

Hello Friends,

Today, I would like to share some cool and useful tips for all the Ubuntu users. Once you are done with the installation part of the Ubuntu. You are already having a default settings which is pretty awesome actually.  However, there are still many things which you can customize in your Ubuntu system. I am mentioning just few and I am sure there are plenty more. I'll share many more some other time, but as of now, here are the things which you can try.....

Adjust the Launcher Icon Size

Ubuntu includes a launcher on the left of your screen. If it appears that the size of the icons on the launcher is either too small or too big, you can adjust it to the size you like.

1. Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
2. Click "Appearance" under "Personal".
3. Under the Look tab, drag the slider of "Launcher Icon Size" to the left for a smaller size, or right for a bigger size.

Auto Hide the Launcher

Depending on the version of Ubuntu you use, the Launcher is set to always either appear or hide on the screen by default. You can change this default setting easily.

1. Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
2. Click "Appearance" under "Personal".
3. Under the "Behavior" tab, switch on or off the button of "Auto-hide the Launcher".

To reveal the Launcher temporarily, just press and hold the Super (aka Windows) key, or move your mouse cursor to the far left of the screen. You can adjust the reveal sensitivity with the slider under the "Behavior" tab mentioned above. If it still doesn't work very well, you can adjust the amount of mouse pressure in the following tip.

Make Revealing the Launcher Easier

After auto hiding the Launcher, you can reveal it by moving the mouse cursor to the left edge of the screen. But when you feel that you have to actually knock the mouse cursor against the screen edge hard enough to get the Launcher revealed, then it's better that you adjust the 'mouse pressure' using CompizConfig Settings Manager.

1. Install CompizConfig Settings Manager from the Ubuntu Apps Directory if the application is not available in your system.
2. Press Alt+F2 and type ccsm into the box, press Enter to run this program.
3. Select "Desktop" from the left panel.
4. Click "Ubuntu Unity Plugin".
5. Under the "Launcher" tab, adjust the preset value of "Launcher Reveal Pressure" or "Launcher Reveal Edge Responsiveness" where applicable, to lower to make the launcher easier to reveal, or higher to do otherwise, click "Back" and "Close".

Try the Launcher again and enjoy.

Disable Shopping Suggestions

When you do a search from the Dash in Ubuntu, it offers additional search results including shopping suggestions, a feature known as "Shopping Lens" or "Unity Smart Scopes", underneath the local search results by default. If you don't like these suggestions, you can turn them off or back on.

1. Click the Dash Home icon on the Launcher and click "Filter results" next to the search box.
2. Uncheck the categories or sources that you want to exclude from the search results.

To turn the online search results permanently, follow these simple steps:

1. Click the Control Gear and select "System Settings".
2. Under Personal, select "Security & Privacy".
3. Under the Search tab, turn off "When searching in the Dash: Include online search results".

How to make bootable pendrive for ubuntu installation

Hello Everyone !

Today, I would like to share a very basic thing. It's nothing but the process making the pen drive bootable for the ubuntu installation. Gone are the days, when we used to rely upon CD/DVD for any kind of installation. Now, we can use even our pen drive for the installation of an operating systems. Well, if we want to install any operating using the pen drive, Then the very first thing we need to do is to make the pen drive bootable. Aahh...Bootable ?? What’s that ?? Okay, Let’s understand this term closely.

In a layman term, Booting is nothing but the process of starting a system. It means, the moment we press start/power button on our Laptop or Desktop till the system reach to it’s desktop. The whole process involved in between is known as the Booting. The time it takes to accomplish all this, is known as the booting time. Now let’s see how can we make a pen drive bootable, so that we can install the ubuntu using that bootable pendrive. Before proceeding to this step, make sure you have downloaded the ISO(disc image) file of the ubuntu operating system.

Search for “startup disk creator” in your dashboard by typing startup. 

Then open that startup disk creator utility and locate your image file over there by clicking the "Other..." Button. 

Once it’s done, click on Make Startup Disk. That’s it. Now you have the bootable pen drive ready for the installation.