If you like Google Earth then you will like it in Ubuntu. Installation is simple, here we go:

1.Open a terminal Applications>Accessories> Terminal

Insert this code:

wget http://dl.google.com/earth/client/current/GoogleEarthLinux.bin

2.When the file has finished downloading into your home folder, insert this code in your terminal to install:

sh GoogleEarthLinux.bin

3. The Google Earth Setup window opens, if the default installation paths are fine to you click Begin Install

4. The program installs itself, when it has completed click Start

Enjoy!

Changing the appearance of your desktop is something we all like to do from time to time.

Personally I like to apply the GTK themes available from Gnome-Look.org.

Changing your theme is quite simple, just a few steps away from a tweaked out desktop.

First is to open the file that you downloaded and ensure that a index.theme file is inside (this is a document file with the theme name on it). This is crucial if you would like to apply the theme changes.

When you open a theme folder you will see a few files.The GTK file, sometimes a metacity file and a document with the theme name on it. if this file is missing open up a text editor and insert this information:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=INSERT THEME NAME HERE
Type=X-GNOME-Metatheme
Encoding=UTF-8
[X-GNOME-Metatheme]
GtkTheme=INSERT THEME NAME HERE
MetacityTheme=INSERT THEME NAME HERE
IconTheme= LEAVE BLANK OR INSERT THE NAME OF AN ICON SET YOU ARE USING

Save this file as the theme name you are using and insert in the theme file folder you downloaded alongside the GTK file.

Open your home folder Places>Home folder

Click on view on the toolbar and select show hidden files

All the hidden files will appear

Open the .themes folder and insert the theme folder you downloaded

On the panel click System>Preferences>Appearance

You should see the new theme in the list of available themes

You can also click on the customize button to select them new themes controls or window borders.

(An alternate method, easier if you know all the files required are included)

Download GTK theme from Gnome-Look.org.  and save

Open Appearance Preferences System>Preferences>Appearances

click install and a select theme window will open

Navigate to the downloaded GTK theme tar.gz file you downloaded (dile does not need to be unpacked) and select it

Click open and the theme is installed for you, very nice

Enjoy!

An great program to give you that dock similiar to the type found on Mac’s for launching programs is Awn

To get AWN in Gutsy:

1. Run this command in the terminal Applications>Accessories>Terminal

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
2. Add these to the end of the file that opens:

deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator
deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42 gutsy avant-window-navigator

Click Save and exit gedit.

3. Run these in the terminal ( just cut and paste):

wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/reacocard.asc
sudo apt-key add reacocard.asc
rm reacocard.asc
sudo apt-get update
4. Then run this command in the terminal:

sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr awn-core-applets-bzr

Awn will be installed activate it by Applications/Accessories/Avant Window Navigator

Mozilla Firefox

In FireFox:

Click the ‘Edit‘ menu and select ‘Preferences’.

Select the ‘Content‘ tab at the top, and under “Fonts & Colors”, click ‘Advanced...’

Set the following fonts:

Proportional: Serif Size: 16

Serif: Georgia

Sans-serif: Verdana

Monospace: Bitstream Vera Sans Mono Size: 14

Click ‘OK‘

On high resolution monitors, web page text in Firefox may seem a bit small. An excellent add-on is the No Squint plugin: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2592. I like to have my text set at 110%, but your preferences may vary. Some sites don’t scale as well as others with the enlarged text, but you can always use CTRL and + or – to make the text larger or smaller for those sites.

Mozilla Thunderbird

In ThunderBird:

Click the ‘Edit‘ menu and select ‘Preferences‘.

Select the ‘Display‘ tab at the top, and under “Fonts & Encodings”, click ‘Fonts…’

Set the following fonts:

Proportional: Serif Size: 16

Serif: Georgia

Sans-serif: Verdana

Monospace: Lucida Sans typewriter Size: 14

Additional software to enhance your Ubuntu experience can be added throught the Synaptic Package Manager (System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager)

• cups-pdf (allows you to print directly to a PDF file)

• kdepim-suite (information management applications, contains many helpful tools)

• koffice (office suite, including Kthesaurus and Krita graphics software)

• kaffeine-mozilla (plugin for streaming audio & video formats when using Firefox)

• lame (for creating MP3 audio—required for MP3 export in Audacity and other software)

• libdvdcss2 (required for DVD playback. NOTE: only download this if you already have a legal license for DVD playback software (such as playback software that was shipped with your DVD-ROM drive). Otherwise, it is not legal and you should purchase LinDVD or another commercial DVD playback software for Linux if you wish to play DVDs on your system.)

• openoffice.org-galleries (additional clip art and graphics files for OpenOffice.org)

• RealPlayer (Real media player)

• RealPlayer-rpnp (plugin for Firefox)

• webcore-fonts (standard web fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, etc.)

• win32-codecs (contains Win32 essential codec binaries required for the decompression of video formats that have no or limited open source alternatives (eg. some Quicktime, RealPlayer or Windows media codecs)

• wine (allows you to install and run many (but not all) Windows programs)

Optional Cool Software

• audacity (audio editing software that can export as WAV, MP3 or OGG)

• audacity-manual (user manual)

• bluefish (web page editor—many features for advanced users)

• cmake, gcc-c++, kdebase-devel, libgtk+1.2-devel, libgtk+2.0_0-devel (these libraries are needed for compiling some software, which is necessary for a lot of software that is not available in the PSLinuxOS repository)

• fonts-ttf-freefont (additional fonts)

• gtk-qt-engine (recommended if you want to make your KDE and GTK apps have a similar look-and-feel)

• inkscape (vector graphics designer, similar to Adobe Illustrator)

• kde-kickercolors (additional KDE panel skins)

• additional KDE visual styles and window decorations: I find the following to be quite good:

  • kdemoreartwork-ia_ora (Ia Ora KDE visual style)

  • kdemoreartwork-knifty (Knifty KDE visual style)

  • kdemoreartwork-polyester (Polyester KDE visual style)

  • kdemoreartwork-powder (Powder KDE visual style)

• kdeutils-kfloppy (tool for formatting floppy disks—not necessary if you don’t intend to use floppy disks)

• keytouch (for configuring the extra (multimedia) keys on your keyboard)

• kino (video editing software)

• kompozer (WYSIWYG web page editor, similar to Microsoft FrontPage, for those who want to design a web page, but don’t know how to code in HTML)

• kpowersave (battery monitoring and suspend/standby triggers for laptops)

• scribus (desktop publishing software, like Microsoft Publisher)

• shorewall (firewall—do not install if you intend on using DansGuardian parental controls)

You can install the MS core fonts by installing the msttcorefonts package. To do this, use the following command from the command line in the terminal Applications>Accessories>Terminal:

$sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

This will give you the core fonts, but if there are other TrueType fonts that you want installed, it is as easy as copying the font files to the ~/.fonts/ directory ( Places>Home folder>.fonts,) to see hidden files when you open the home folder, click view and show hidden files in the toolbar.

After installing new fonts, you will have to log out and log in again to be able to see and use the new fonts.

If you are unable to download the package log in as root ( this is something you don’t want to do often)

Open a terminal  and enter:

su [enter] 

password [your password, then enter]

If you don’t know the password go into system/administration/users and groups

highlight root and click on properties

you will see a portion where you can change the password to one you know then click ok.

retry to login to your terminal as root