=== semitones is now known as sillytones === Pici is now known as Guest59733 === Guest59733 is now known as Pici === zyga is now known as zyga-afk [06:16] hi === txwikinger2 is now known as txwikinger [12:52] #ubuntu [12:52] join #ubuntu === ChanServ changed the topic of #ubuntu-classroom to: Welcome to the Ubuntu Classroom - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom || Support in #ubuntu || Upcoming Schedule: http://is.gd/8rtIi || Questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat || Event: Ubuntu Open Week - Current Session: How to use Ask Ubuntu effectively - Instructors: marcoceppi [14:00] Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/10/21/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session. [14:01] Salutations everyone! [14:03] I'm Marco Ceppi, a community elected moderator of Ask Ubuntu (http://askubuntu.com) and today I'll outlining different, less known ways, to get the most out of Ask Ubuntu [14:05] Ask Ubuntu is really unlike most other community support sites available today, because it operates on a very narrow scope. Ask Questions, Get Answers. In that respect items on the site, unlike in IRC or Forums, are not threaded. Instead they're sorted by votes - which is probably the biggest change for anyone who is used to a linear chat like forums and IRC [14:05] So I'm going to jump around between different topics, if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the question room [14:06] So, finding solutions to a problem you have. If you land on the site looking for an answer to a question there are a few ways to get solutions. Primarily via searching - at the top of the site there's a search bar for entering in search terms. [14:07] Typically typing the question in that bar will yield results but wadding through the results can be tedious! [14:08] The search offers different methods to help narrow the scope of your search. Say you want to figure out how to configure Unity [14:10] You could type "How do I configure Unity?" and about 5 results down you'll find your answer. However, you could narrow the scope by searching via taxonomy. So a search for "configure [unity]" will match the word configure within the questions tagged unity [14:10] As a result, the first solution is the one you're looking for. You can wrap any keyword in brackets [] to search the site for that specific tag. [14:11] Tags are used on the site to organize what subjects the content of the question pertain to. [14:11] Each question has at least one tag with a maximum of 5 [14:12] Typically, if you're asking a question about a specific version of Ubuntu - say you have a question about Unity in 11.10 you would likely tag that question with unity and 11.10 - this helps not only sort the content of the site, but lets people know exactly what they're dealing with when reviewing your question! [14:13] Another method for finding a solution to your question, is to simply ask it. [14:13] At the top of the site there's an "Ask Question" button, which will allow you to type the subject, or title, of your question, a body, and tag the question. [14:14] For an effective question, try to make the title as to the point as possible. If your internet isn't working, don't enter something like "Internet borked :(" as there isn't much that I can derive from that question in that title. [14:15] Try to include a brief summary instead: "Wireless Brodcom BCM43xx not connecting" [14:15] That way, it'll attract people who actually understand that issue, as opposed to it being potentially glazed over because the title it too vague. [14:16] You'll also want to avoid adding things like "on Ubuntu", or "on 10.04" in the title. We already know it's with Ubuntu! You're on Ask Ubuntu :D Likewise, if it is actually something version specific you can use the tags to help convey that information as it will help the taxonomy and for users searching. [14:17] After you type in your title the site will automatically give you a list of potential other questions that have been asked that match that criteria. [14:18] So in the event that you type a fruitful title, you may find that the question has already been asked and can easily click through the link to get to the solution! Just as well, as you start to type the body of the question potential question matches will appear on the right - as it performs a full search against keywords in the body and the title. [14:19] After you've entered a title, body, tags, and ensured your question hasn't been asked anywhere else - you can submit your question to the site [14:20] I'm going to go ahead and jump over to a few ways the site works differently than say other support outlets. When you're using the site we try to avoid too much pointless discussion that doesn't really contribute to the end goal of solving the question/problem at hand. [14:20] So you won't see many people replying "Thanks" or "this worked" or editing the question to say "solved". Instead to show your support of a solution, or question, you can use the arrows to vote an answer up or down. [14:21] For instance, if you come across a question that has yet to be answered and like, or agree, or are experiencing that same issue. You can use the Up Arrow to vote that question up [14:23] Likewise, if there is a solution on that question that works for you - you can use the up arrows to communicate to everyone "This works for me!", the more upvotes an answer has the higher up the list of answers it moves. [14:23] That way, the first answer you see on a question isn't necessarily the first person to answer, but instead the one that has the most upvotes by other users like you who have either tested or agree it addresses the question [14:24] In the event something doesn't work, or is a solution you do not agree with you can always down vote that answer. [14:24] That being said, it's encouraged that if you do downvote an answer, you leave a comment on that answer to explain why it was downvoted, and what the user could do to improve it. [14:25] Finally, if you are the person who asked this question - and the solution works for you - you can use the "Accept Answer" button to show that this answer is the best provided and works for you. [14:26] Since I've been going on about voting, it's about time I explain what voting does for users. [14:26] On Ask Ubuntu a user gain, or loses, reputation based on a number of things - votes are one of them. [14:27] Reputation is a lot like Karma on Launchpad only you gain it by using the site and having users up/down vote your content. [14:28] Okay, hold that thought about reputation [14:29] Answering a question with the same answer over and over again doesn't to much help to the question or the quality of that question. [14:30] What happens from time to time, is someone may beat you to "the punch" with an answer. The site will load a banner - as you're answering - which warns you "HEY! Someone has just posted an answer - want to see it?" [14:30] That'll show you what was answered and you can determine if your answer is a duplicate. [14:31] It's always hard to figure out "Should I post my answer, they are so similar" [14:33] Ultimately it's up to you if you want to post your answer or not. If your answer contains far more quality (quality is measured by the length of detail in the answer). So if someone posts a one line answer like "Oh just edit the xorg file" that really is not a model of quality for an answer. If you can provide a greater answer with more quality then I say go for it. People will usually gravitate a [14:33] nd upvote the answer with higher quality. [14:34] That being said, if the answer is a generally good one, which just needs a few modifications or additions. It is more worthwhile to simply edit those details in to the answer rather than reposting 98% of the same thing with some changes. [14:34] I'll jump back into editing and how much fun that can be after I pick up on what I was saying about rep. [14:35] Reputation is a lot like Karma in Launchpad, you get it when people upvote your questions and answers, you lose some when people downvote your questions and answers. [14:35] You can also gain reputation in a few other manners - one such way is via a Bounty [14:36] (as pointed out, one of the primary differences is Reputation never expires) [14:39] Bounties are a way to get a little extra attention to a question. Especially if you have a vested interest in an answer. Anyone can place a bounty on a question and offer between 50 and 500 of your own reputation to anyone who can answer the question. In this sense reputation is almost like a currency where you can barter your reputation to the person who can provide the best solution to the answe [14:39] r. [14:39] This also makes the question a featured question: http://askubuntu.com/?tab=featured where it has it's own tab on the home page to highlight all the questions that have an open bounty. [14:40] Bounties say open for 7 days - once they expire and you haven't awarded it to anyone the reputation disappears. So it can sometimes be a gamble to bounty a question no one can answer - though the trade off is: The question gets more attention and has a higher chance of being answered! [14:41] So, you've gained all this reputation - now what? [14:41] Ask Ubuntu is shaped like a pyramid. [14:42] At the bottom of the pyramid is all the users who have come on the site - maybe just once - who got to the site via a search engine found the answer and left. [14:43] The next smaller level are those who have bothered to create an account, maybe ask a question or give a few answers. More or less they maybe come, hang out for a little, then leave for 8-10 months until they have another problem for solving. [14:44] So far, all of these users are great -they're what we run the site for - keeping an up-to-date repository of questions and valid solutions. [14:45] Next up, are the users who visit the site more frequently, stay longer and help by asking high quality questions and giving high quality answers. Voting up and down on good and bad posts and maybe even making a few edits on posts to help improve quality. [14:46] The more you vote, the more you edit, the more quality answers and questions you provide - the higher your reputation. The more reputation you gain the more tools Ask Ubuntu gives you. Things like editing without needing approval, voting to close questions, and a variety of other tools outlined : http://askubuntu.com/privileges [14:47] The higher your reputation, the higher up the pyramid you go, which in turn provides you more access and powers on the site [14:47] So, I've spoken a lot about editing, and I want to go over what that entails. Anyone, at anytime, can edit any question or answer on the site. [14:48] If you don't like this concept - Ask Ubuntu may not be the best place for you. However, it isn't just a limited reign of chaos with users editing in funny text. [14:49] All users with less than 2,000 reputation have to have their edits approved. The trade off is - if your edit is approved, the site awards your 2 points of reputation for having to wait for making something more awesome. [14:50] Furthermore, all edits on the site are tracked, similar to Wikipedia, in that who edited it, when they edited it, and what was edited is logged. [14:50] There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session. [14:50] At anytime a revision can be rolled back. This helps ensure if something malicious or invalid gets past the site's review it can be reverted at anytime [14:52] I know I've gone over a lot of different things, and jumped around quite a bit, but to be honest the best way to experience the site is to signup and start browsing! http://askubuntu.com/users/login - since the site uses OpenID you can use your LP, Google, Ubuntu, or any other SSO/OpenID login to access the site. [14:52] Exploring is best, since it'll give you first hand experience with the above outlined items, and a chance to explore things unmentioned like earning badges, and other site mechanics [14:53] > QUESTION: Do we lose the +2 reputation if a approved edit is reverted? [14:53] Nope, invalid edits or reverted edits won't lose you reputation [14:54] If you have any questions about how the site works, you can visit our http://askubuntu.com/faq , our http://askubuntu.com/about , or ask a question about Ask Ubuntu itself on the "META" site http://meta.askubuntu.com/ [14:55] There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session. [14:57] Since there are five minutes, I'll take this time to briefly talk about a third place to communicate (the first two being comments and meta). Ask Ubuntu has it's own web based chat software that is persistent and works quite well (http://chat.askubuntu.com) feel free to join us after you've gained 50 reputation points in the various rooms/channels there [14:58] And, since I'm not in the web based chat I can't edit my previous line to state that it's 20 reputation to chat. [14:58] One of the many features of the web based chat allows you to edit, for a short duration of time, your previous messages [14:58] Fixing things like typeo's and misinformation. [14:59] Like placing an apostrophe when it wasn't needed. [14:59] Thanks for your time, I look forward to seeing everyone on the site and in chat at http://askubuntu.com ! === ChanServ changed the topic of #ubuntu-classroom to: Welcome to the Ubuntu Classroom - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom || Support in #ubuntu || Upcoming Schedule: http://is.gd/8rtIi || Questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat || Event: Ubuntu Open Week - Current Session: Accessibility in Ubuntu - Instructors: charlie-tca [15:00] Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/10/21/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session. [15:00] thanks marcoceppi [15:00] Thanks, marcoceppi [15:01] And now... [15:01] I am Charlie Kravetz, also known as charlie-tca, on IRC. I am going to talk about Accessibility in Ubuntu. [15:01] I do triage accessibility bugs. [15:01] I will have some help with this session from the great AlanBell [15:01] :) and I will have help from the great charlie-tca [15:01] Please feel free to ask your questions as you thing of them [15:02] please start them with QUESTION: so they easy to spot. For example, [15:02] QUESTION: What is the goal of the Accessibility Team? [15:02] The answer would then be: [15:02] Our goal is to make Ubuntu and its derivatives usable by as many people as possible across ages, language and physical abilities. Ubuntu is about computing for everyone. [15:02] AlanBell, would you please kick this off? [15:02] ok [15:03] so as charlie-tca said, one of the fundamental prinicpals of the Ubuntu project is that it should be accessible to all [15:04] the accessibility team works to meet that goal, but accessibility isn't something that can be added on afterwards, it needs to be part of what everyone does when contributing to Ubuntu [15:04] so part of what we are doing in the team is educational [15:05] helping others to add accessibility features and to not break accessibility that is already there! [15:05] Accessibility covers a fairly wide range of totally separate features [15:06] for example, a deaf person might like to see the screen flash when the system bell goes (this feature would be an example of something that used to work but has been broken recently) [15:06] a blind person really could not care less about the screen flashing [15:07] visually impaired users might want screen magnification and high contrast [15:07] blind users might want an audio screen reader, or perhaps a screen reader with a refreshable brailled display output [15:08] those with mobility issues might like to use one of several on-screen keyboards we have available [15:08] the default on-screen keyboard we have is called onboard [15:09] it has been themed to match the Ubuntu desktop and can be made available at the login screen and at the lock screen [15:09] it is in the areas like the lock screen that we can really break things the most! [15:11] the accessible install with the Orca screenreader is much better than it used to be [15:12] this is now startable by pressing ctrl+s after the sound of the drums on the live CD [15:12] everyone should give this a go! [15:13] if you are sighted, bung in a live CD, turn off your monitor and try and get to the desktop, or install Ubuntu [15:13] tricky, but I can now do it, in Maverick it was almost impossible [15:14] Orca is the screen reader we have in Ubuntu, it speaks to you and tells you what is on screen [15:14] if you are not sighted then a mouse is a pretty useless device (touchscreens can be useful though) so everything must be keyboard navigable [15:15] in the installer the timezone selection is almost impossible to do with the keyboard for example [15:15] however that doesn't stop you getting it installed, and if you have an internet connection during install it generally guesses your position in the world quite accurately [15:16] whilst I think of what to say next, are there any particular areas of accessibility you would like us to cover? [15:17] marcoceppi asked: How does Ubuntu fair with 508 Compliance? What, if anything, is being done to ensure applications in the software center conform to basic a11y? [15:18] ok, so S508 is part of the US Rehabilitation act [15:18] which isn't globally significant and personally I am not that familiar with it in the UK [15:19] there are a number of accessibility compliance standards which can have relevance [15:19] If I may, With well over 10,000 applications in the Software Center, I don't it is possible for us to verify all of them as a11y compliant. [15:19] to the various Ubuntu websites, and to the software in Ubuntu [15:20] for the websites, you can certainly report bugs against them, and we have been involved in fixing some issues [15:20] things like contrast, variable font sizes and navigation [15:21] we were quite involved in the wiki redesign and although I still think the old wiki was better, we did manage to make the new one less bad than it would otherwise have been! [15:21] there are a lot of applications in Ubuntu, many of which follow the Gnome/GTK guidelines and are 100% readable by Orca [15:21] others are less so. [15:22] there have been issues with Qt applications and embedded webkit, however these are all improving a lot [15:22] in particular, Unity 2d is now fairly well readable (mostly, with important exceptions) [15:23] TonyP asked: What languages is the screenreader available in? [15:23] ok, few different parts to this [15:23] it does read in multiple languages [15:23] espeak, the default synthesiser does understand differnt language pronunciation rules [15:24] so for example, Laura Czajkowski from the Loco council and now Community council has an interesting surname to pronounce [15:25] it is actually of polish origin and is pronounced like the name of a famous composer [15:25] at a terminal try this [15:25] spd-say czajkowski [15:25] it will say it wrong [15:25] now try [15:25] spd-say -l pl czajkowski [15:25] it will apply the polish rules and get it right [15:26] second part of this is translations [15:26] orca can only read and pronounce what it is given, so the text needs to be translated correctly and I think the accessibility lables if present also need to be translated [15:26] charlie-tca: want to take over for a bit? [15:26] Sure [15:27] Thank you for that great information, AlanBell [15:27] Am I correct in saying that Orca should work in the language the computer is using? [15:28] The Accessibility Team has created personas under the guidance of Penelope. This greatly aids the team in determining the direction it needs to head as well as what is needed. [15:28] The leaders of the Ubuntu Accessibility Team are Penelope Stowe (pendulum) and Luke Yelavich (TheMuso). [15:29] Through the guidance of these leaders, the team has grown and become a loud voice in the Ubuntu community [15:29] Accessibility focuses on the Ubuntu desktop, because Gnome has good accessibility features. Would we like to see that expanded? Of course we would! [15:31] We do work very closely with the developers of Vinux. [15:31] This is just one of the Ubuntu derivatives which focus on accessibility (or have some relevence) [15:31] Originally started to be optimised for blind and visually impaired users, at this time, possible accessiblity additions or changes are tested in Vinux first [15:31] for more information: http://vinux.org.uk/ [15:32] we also have Qimo4kids, which mhall119 developed partially as a way to create something that would be easy for kids with developmental disabilities to use [15:32] For more information about Qimo: http://www.qimo4kids.com/ [15:33] Qimo is a great learning system for any children. [15:33] We also have Xfce 4.10 under development, which promises to bring a11y to Xubuntu, natively. [15:34] The Xfce developers are stiving to insure the desktop environment is usable by all users, but they are a small group of volunteers. [15:35] Any questions on what we have covered up to this point? [15:36] In Ubuntu 11.10, a few things have been renamed to assist finding them. [15:36] I want to talk about the Assistive Technologies menu, which can be found in Universal Access. [15:37] This menu is where you can select your preferred accessibility programs and enable assistive technologies. [15:37] You can use this menu to specify things such as how long to accept as a keypress, how to prevent accidental double clicking, and how quickly to respond to key presses. [15:38] For someone such as myself, with fingers that only bend and work part time, this is a real help. [15:38] It's also useful for turning off and on sticky keys or specifying keystrokes to stand in for things you'd normally do with a mouse. [15:38] This is also the menu you use to specify which programs you want for an alternate keyboard or as a screen reader. [15:39] I turn on sticky keys on all my computers, since it means I don't have to work to hold down the shift, alt, ctrl keys. I can hit them, then hit the next key I need individually. [15:40] AlanBell talked about Orca. Orca can also be used in Xubuntu, with Xfce applications. [15:41] More information about Orca can be found at http://live.gnome.org/Orca [15:42] Let's take a look at magnification software also. [15:42] For the normal sighted person, they can be cumbersome to use, but for the visually impaired, they allow us to see the entire screen. [15:43] We can only grow the fonts so big, and the images are even harder to grow. [15:43] The best solution for users of magnification in Oneiric is the COmpiz eZoom plugin, however it does not have focus tracking support, and does not magnify any parts of Unity, i.e the panel, dash, and laucner all stay the same size, whilst the rest of the user's desktop is magnified. [15:44] This will receive a lot of development in Precise Pangolin, the next version of Ubuntu. [15:44] This application allows you to move the magnification screen around your desktop so as to give the total view. [15:45] While Onboard is installed by default in Ubuntu, another alternative is called Dasher. [15:45] Dasher, rather than having a keyboard set-up, is mouse controlled by hovering the mouse over the letters on the screen. [15:46] It also has predicitve text capabilities, which can be quite useful. [15:46] Dasher learns as you use it, and has quite a high learning curve. However, it does make very useful suggestions to complete words as you use it. [15:47] Using Dasher can result in up to about 35 words per minute, This for me relates to the average 39 words per minute I can type on the hardware keyboard. [15:48] If you run Dasher from the Applications menu in Ubuntu, it prints the characters in its own text editor and you can copy and paste into other programs. [15:49] From the command line you can run " dasher -a direct " which allows direct input into other programs. [15:49] There are also Windows and MacOS X versions of Dasher. [15:49] For more information (including video and a way to try without downloading) you can go to http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/dasher/ . [15:50] There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session. [15:50] There are two programs in Ubuntu that help with alternate mouse controls. [15:51] MouseTrap allows headtracking using a webcam to control your mouse. [15:51] MouseTweaks works with the Assistive Technologies menu to give the ability to allow the mouse to "click" even if the mouse user can't actually make the motion that allows a mouse to click normally. [15:53] And now, let's see what there is Voice Recognition software [15:53] These are the applications that convert your spoken word to text on the screen. [15:53] Unfortunately, there are hacks and there are programs that sort of work, but there aren't great results for voice recognition in Ubuntu. [15:54] The only voice recognition software in the Software Center is Julius. [15:55] Julius was originally developed in Japanese and is being ported to English. [15:55] there is a series of things called CMU sphynx as well [15:55] There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session. [15:55] mostly development libraries without much of a front end [15:56] Unfortunately, as julius is not finished software, the documentation is lacking. [15:56] The other thing which has worked for some Ubuntu users is to run Dragon Natural Speaking under Wine. [15:56] julius has also been included as a library into the simon listens control gui [15:57] which works quite well but I think isn't in Debian yet as there were some issues around licensing of the Julius component [15:57] and compatibility of various free software licenses I think [15:57] But when you need the software, it is well worth investigating. [15:58] Where to get help or information: [15:58] it would be great to have better voice recognition and the holy grail of continuous speech dictation [15:58] https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Accessibility [15:58] http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility [15:58] The Accessibility section of Ubuntu Forums [15:59] #ubuntu-accessibility on IRC [15:59] The mailing list at ubuntu-accessiblity@lists.ubuntu.com [15:59] also, the ubuntu accessibility team is http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/Team [15:59] The Gnome A11y team is also often useful: gnome-accessibility-list@gnome.org & http://projects.gnome.org/accessibility/ [16:00] Let's get a big thank you out to all of you for participating in OpenWeek. It is a pleasure to be able to do these sessions. === ChanServ changed the topic of #ubuntu-classroom to: Welcome to the Ubuntu Classroom - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Classroom || Support in #ubuntu || Upcoming Schedule: http://is.gd/8rtIi || Questions in #ubuntu-classroom-chat || Event: Ubuntu Open Week - Current Session: Using Unity like a Boss, trips and tricks - Instructors: jcastro [16:00] Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/10/21/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session. [16:00] oor if you prefer, ninja, thundercat, or whatever expert mode thing you're into [16:01] I'm going to go over how I use Unity on a day to day basis [16:01] and how I use it's advanced features to become a multitasking force to be reckoned with [16:01] I'm going to go through how I use it, and then I can field some questions that you might have about getting the most out of unity. [16:02] So first off, I use Unity in a dual panel twinview set up [16:02] with a 24" and 22" inch monitor [16:02] some people think Unity isn't designed for high resolution screens, and is more for netbooks [16:02] however, even on big panels, you get more room for the things you really care about [16:02] like applications [16:02] your web page [16:02] and whatever content you are working on [16:03] So let's start off with some terminology [16:03] http://askubuntu.com/questions/10228/whats-the-right-terminology-for-unitys-ui-elements/62842#62842 [16:03] there are the parts that make up unity [16:03] the launcher is thing on the left, and the dash is the overlay thing, this is where we'll do a bunch of our power usery kind of stuff [16:04] the first thing I do on my new unity set up is to set the launcher up [16:04] this gives us a few nice options [16:04] first off, I organize things on the launcher in order of how I work [16:04] so for me, it's the file manager first [16:04] then the browser [16:04] then mail [16:04] then twitter [16:04] then google docs [16:04] then update manager [16:04] then music [16:04] I set up all my computers this way [16:04] because Unity has pretty awesome keyboard shortcuts: [16:04] http://askubuntu.com/questions/28086/what-are-unitys-keyboard-and-mouse-shortcuts [16:05] and my favorite shortcut is Super-# [16:05] So, the super key is commonly seen as the Windows key on most keyboards [16:05] So from top to bottom, you can do Super-1, Super-2, etc. [16:05] and it corresponds to whatever order the app is on the launcher [16:05] so Super-1 always launches my file manager [16:05] Super-2 always launches my browser [16:05] and so on down the row. [16:06] I put my launcher things in order because this builds up my /muscle memory/ [16:06] so, in the morning, when I log in [16:06] I do: [16:06] super-1, move to another desktop, super-2, move to another desktop, and then super-3 and I'm set to go [16:07] since I always set my computers the same, I always _know_ that my browser is super-2, and it becomes part of my routine [16:07] Now, sometimes you don't want to keep things in your launcher [16:07] or sometimes you want to find a file you've been working on [16:07] so the next 2 shortcuts I use are super-a and super-f [16:07] the super-a always takes me to applications [16:07] and super-f, my files [16:08] so, for example, I don't use Cheese often enough to care about putting it in my launcher [16:08] so I do "super-a" then start typing out c-h-e-e-s-e [16:08] the dash auto completes and I can just hit enter and it launches [16:08] in this way I can quickly launch any app from wherever I am on the desktop [16:09] If I ever want to just keep cheese on my launcher [16:09] I can right click on it and select "keep in launcher" [16:09] or I can just drag it right onto my launcher for the dash [16:10] QUESTION: why don't you just use session management so that that happens automatically on login? [16:10] I usually log out and suspend my machine at night, but my wife sometimes uses my PC and I generally can't be bothered to save my sessions [16:10] however on my laptop since I rarely reboot it (I just close the lid) my set up is usually persistant inbetween sessions [16:11] any other questions before I move on? [16:11] ok [16:11] so that's how I roll with launching apps [16:12] but mostly, think about it like when people first moved from Yahoo to Google [16:12] in Yahoo, they tried to organize the web [16:12] into categories [16:12] and you would have to sit there, and think "Ok, I have a question about star wars, let me click TV, then sci fi, then maybe I can find something." [16:12] so you would sit there all day "browsing menus" [16:12] then, one day google came around [16:13] and instead you just typed what you wanted, and it did all the hard work [16:13] so if I want to make a presentation [16:13] I just start typing out "presentation", and usually within a few keystrokes I'm already launching the app [16:13] you don't even need to wait for the dash to render the search [16:14] you can double-tap enter as a kind of "I'm feeling lucky" and unity will just get out of your way and launch the first app [16:14] ok so now I can launch apps quickly [16:14] now I need to be able to manage them [16:14] if I open a bunch of terminals I can get to them in a bunch of ways [16:14] one is to click on the terminal icon [16:15] which shows me a spread [16:15] or I can alt-tab over to the terminal and do alt-` [16:15] or just alt-` [16:15] let me explain alt-` for a minute [16:15] on US keyboards the shortcut is alt-` [16:15] but really it's alt and whatever key is above your tab key [16:16] Unity detects your keyboard layout and makes it so that the alt-key above tab is actually window level switching [16:16] Alt-tab is _application_ level switching [16:16] so when you alt tab, it goes to the next application [16:16] when you alt-key-above-tab, it switches between _windows_ [16:16] this is kind of hard to explain on IRC, so I made a video! [16:17] http://www.youtube.com/user/whiprush69?feature=mhee#p/u [16:17] (this is my favorite feature in ubuntu right now) [16:17] because a certain OS is window based [16:17] and another one is applicationish based [16:17] and this is a hybrid, which flows really well [16:17] now, Alt-tab and alt-` are good for that [16:18] but you can also use a combination of the spread mode to switch between apps [16:18] you can invoke this by using super-w [16:18] this gives you an entire overlay view of all your applicatioins [16:19] sometimes I find this quicker to use than alt-tab or alt-` [16:19] but really it depends on how you lay out your windows [16:19] before 11.10 I just used this method of multitasking [16:19] which I have made a video for here: http://blip.tv/jorge-castro/how-i-multitask-in-unity-5015448 [16:19] I find using this way works for me [16:20] it really depends on what you find more comfortable [16:20] for example, on my laptop I prefer to alt-tab because it's a smaller monitor, and I like to keep it "tight" [16:20] on my desktop I have like 40 inches wide of desktop panel space [16:21] so I tend to use the super-w more there, since the spread view has more room to show me what's going on [16:21] QUESTION: what do i do when this happens: http://imagebin.org/180164 [16:21] ok so in this pic you've moved to spread mode [16:22] what you can do here is either mouse on the window you want and click [16:22] or you can use the arrow keys to navigate to the window you want, and then hit enter [16:23] QUESTION: yes, but how am i supposed to tell which window is the one i want when they are all so tiny and also they move around [16:23] right, so in this case, this is one of those cases where you have 15 terminal windows [16:23] and it's challenging to put so many windows on the screen [16:24] what I do in cases like this is I use tabs in the terminals themselves [16:24] ali says "ypically i want "the terminal window that is on the current workspace"" [16:24] ah right [16:24] so this is a bit of a sensitive topic for some people [16:24] where you want to be able to limit the windows you can manage to just that workspace [16:24] instead of showing you every window on your entire desktop [16:25] currently there is no way to do this [16:25] but, here's a work around I use: [16:25] http://i.stack.imgur.com/G834P.png [16:25] the second checkbox there [16:26] for "Bias alt-tab sorting" does put the applications in the alt-tab switcher FIRST on the list [16:26] so the apps from your current workspace will be shown first [16:26] unfortunately this doesn't work with the spread mode afaict, but it's one of those corner cases we need to improve [16:26] DBO: anything you want to add about that? [16:27] jcastro: it will bias apps or windows? Because, with the terminal example, the terminal on the current workspace is the one I want to see, not the other 4 on my other workspace. [16:28] (DBO is answering this question in -chat, and I'll paste it in here) [16:29] jcastro: Voiced DBO :) [16:29] ah now I can answer here [16:29] so in short [16:29] thanks! [16:29] the bias option changes the sorting method of the windows in the switcher [16:29] so that they bias to the current workspaces windows (they sort first) [16:29] this means apps on the current workspace will always sort higher than apps not on the current workspace [16:30] this causes the alt-tab behavior to be similar to how it was before for users who prefer that [16:30] in Pretty Pony we will be improving this further [16:30] another thing you can do [16:30] and making this option act even more closely to what these types of users expect [16:31] especially with terminals (this is a ninja sysadmin trick here), is to use the --class option in a terminal to make certain terminals lie to unity and make it think it's a totally different application [16:32] Jamie started talking about it here: http://penguindroppings.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/unity-and-me/ [16:32] and I've documented it here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/34597/how-do-i-make-a-custom-launcher-for-terminal-applications [16:32] in this way you can call your mutt window "--class=mail" [16:32] and it won't get lost with the other terminals [16:33] In my AU answer I linked, I make all my remote terminals launch with "--class=remoteserver" [16:33] so when I am managing my windows I can effectively "split" my remote stuff from my normal terminals [16:34] QUESTION: tell us more about this --class option - t sounds like something that would be incredibly useful to me :) [16:34] right so I discovered this when Jamie mentioned it [16:34] and I have been playing with it [16:34] however I don't use it with enough gusto to know any more advanced things to do with it [16:35] which is why I recommend you just play with it, and then write it down somewhere [16:35] so other people can play with it and improve it. [16:35] QUESTION: oh, so it only works if you launch from the launcher? [16:35] QUESTION: is it just for terminals or any app? [16:35] so this is a feature of gnome-terminal [16:36] but I am not sure if you can arbritrarily set the WM class on just any old app, DBO? [16:36] you can't, some apps, most apps, simply will set it when they startup [16:37] some gtk apps will pass on the option to gtk to let you override it [16:37] Some mentions that "my mail window is a firefox window not terminal :)" [16:37] but thats only if they are well coded [16:37] what I do in that case, is unity recognizes web app mode at least for chrome and chromium, so my gmail shortcut is a separate app, it doesn't mix in with my normal chrome windows [16:38] I have not found a way to replicate that behavior in Firefox, it seems they're going more for "app tabs" than allowing you to have app window mode. [16:38] question: is there a specific place i can go to see a full list of available shortcuts? such as ctrl+alt+t to execute the terminal. [16:38] We have those here: [16:38] http://askubuntu.com/questions/28086/what-are-unitys-keyboard-and-mouse-shortcuts [16:38] and it's usually kept up to date [16:39] ok so moving on [16:39] one thing I like to be able to do is place my windows quickly [16:39] this is especially nice on large monitors [16:39] I can drag a window to the left or right edge and it will fill 50% of that space [16:40] but most people know that, since I saw a commercial about a guy who was in the shower and had this vision and told microsoft and they implemented it in windows 7 [16:40] one thing that you won't find in win7 for that feature is the powerful placement you can do with the keyboard for this [16:40] so .... [16:40] when you have a window selected [16:40] you can hit ctrl-alt-4 or ctrl-alt-6 [16:41] (image your numpad as a representation of your screen) [16:41] now [16:41] we don't only do left right [16:41] you can do ctral-alt-8 to do top [16:41] ctrl-alt-2 to do bottom [16:41] or my personal favorite, the corners [16:41] I used to sit there OCDing placing terminals in each corner all day [16:42] now I keyboard shortcut them into a corner [16:42] a nice thing is too [16:42] you can keep hitting the key to keep resizing the window [16:42] so [16:42] try this [16:42] select a window [16:42]