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Conky Manager v1.2

July 14, 2013, 11:05 am
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What's New

Selecting a widget from the dropdown in the Edit tab will automatically start the selected widget. Your current selection of widgets will be saved and automatically restored when you leave the Edit tab.

There's a new "Show Desktop" button to minimize other windows. This will make it easier to see the changes to the selected widget.

New options were added for changing the time format (12hr/24hr) and the network interface (WiFi/LAN). These options will replace the arguments for variables in the conky config file. This works for most widgets which display time and network stats but won't work for widgets that use lua scripts.

Themes will be sorted alphabetically in the theme list and widget list. A new application icon has been added.

Conky Theme Packs

A conky manager theme pack is a 7zip file with a .cmtp.7z extension containing following folders:

1) fonts - These fonts will be copied to ~/.fonts when the pack is imported.
2) themes - These themes will be copied to ~/conky-manager/themes
3) home - Any folders named conky, .conky or .fonts in this location will be copied to the user's Home folder.

To import a theme pack go to the Options tab and click the Import button:

Sample Theme Pack

Deluxe Conky Pack by Jesse Avalos (24 MB)

New Themes

Following new themes will be installed by default:

LSD

Conky MIUI

Conky Seamod

Installation

If you are using Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10, 13.04, 13.10 (or any of its derivates like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Linux Mint) then you can install it from the LaunchPad PPA:

Open a terminal window (CTRL+ALT+T) on your machine and type the following commands one by one: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install conky-manager

After installation, the application will be updated automatically if you have enabled automatic updates on your system. The package can also be updated manually by running the install command again.

sudo apt-get install conky-manager

For other Debian systems the DEB package can be download from LaunchPad.net

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Create Self-Extracting 7-Zip Files on Linux

July 20, 2013, 2:36 am
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I recently came across an article describing how a binary payload can be attached to a shell script. You can simply append a zip or 7-zip file to a bash script and the script, when executed, will extract the binary payload and install the contents. This is the same technique used to create installers like the ones used by NVIDIA drivers.

I've written a simple script for creating such installers. Simply pass the path to a 7-zip archive and it will generate a self-contained installer with a .run extension. The install package includes a stand-alone version of 7zip (7zr) which will extract the archive on the user's system. The user does not need to have 7-zip installed on their system. Both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of 7zr are included so that the archive can be extracted on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

Usage

After installation you can run the command make-sfx from any directory. Additional options are given below:

Installer Options

The generated installer also has some options which are given below:

Examples

Let's say we have a 7-zip file named myfiles.7z. The 7zip file has a setup script inside named setup.sh in a sub-folder named files.

The following command will create an installer which will extract files to a temporary directory and run the setup script: 

make-sfx --temp --run "./files/setup.sh" "myfiles.7z"

The installer file can be run from a terminal:

./install.run

Or we can simply double-click the file using a file manager like Nautilus or Nemo:

The --temp option makes the installer extract files to a temporary folder. If --temp is not specified, the generated installer will extract files to the current directory when executed.

The following command will create an installer which extracts files to the same directory.

make-sfx "myfiles.7z"

Users can specify the extraction path using the --target option:

./install.run --target "./newfolder"

Users can prevent the setup script from being executed by running the installer with the --noexecute option:

./install.run --noexecute

Installation

Debian/Ubuntu

<Packages will be uploaded soon>

Others

Download Make SFX Installer

This installer was created with the make-sfx command.
Extract the installer from the ZIP file and install it by executing the file from a terminal window:

sudo ./make-sfx-setup.run
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Linux Deepin 12.12 Review

July 30, 2013, 8:22 pm
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I had some time today so I decided to check out Linux Deepin 12.12. Linux Deepin is a Chinese distribution based on Ubuntu 13.04. It comes with its own desktop environment called Deepin Desktop Environment (DDE) and its own set of default applications.

The look & feel of Deepin is very similar to the Window 7 desktop with transparency, shadows and glass effects. While the Windows 7 theme may not appeal to all Linux users, the desktop is extremely well-polished, and one of the prettiest desktops that I have seen since I came across the elementary desktop a few years ago. If you are someone who enjoys trying out new Linux distros then Deepin is something that you don't want to miss.

The Desktop

The DDE desktop is based on Compiz. There's a compiz-based dock at the bottom of the screen which acts as the taskbar. Moving the mouse over an aplication icon shows a preview window similar to the Windows 7 taskbar. The desktop supports icon grouping. Dragging one icon over another will create an icon group.

Application Launcher

Deepin uses the default Gnome Shell launcher. Clicking the first icon on the dock or moving the mouse to the top-left corner of the screen starts the application launcher.

Default Apps

Deepin comes with its own set of default apps:

  • DPlayer for playing videos (based on mplayer2)
  • DMusic for playing music
  • Deepin Software Center
  • DSnapshot for taking screenshots

The default apps have a glassy UI which fits well with the Windows 7 theme of Deepin.

DPlayer

DPlayer is based on MPlayer2 and can therefore play any format that you throw at it. The seek bar displays a preview when you move your mouse over it. There's an in-built video converter with limited options that can be used to convert videos for mobile devices.

DMusic

DMusic is the default music player with a very unique feature. It downloads lyrics automatically and displays the song lyrics at the bottom of the desktop. While the lyric search is a hit and miss affair, the compiz-powered display of lyrics looks very nice on the desktop. DMusic has three UI modes which can be toggled with a button.

Deepin Software Center

Deepin has one of the best looking Software Centers I have seen to date. The window layout is very neat with a separate view for uninstalling installed apps and upgrading packages.

More Screenshots

Download

Linux Deepin can be downloaded from the Linux Deepin website.

Download Linux Deepin 12.12

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Selene v2.2

August 3, 2013, 2:21 am
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What's New

The UI has been updated, some bugs were fixed and there's a new application icon. I didn't get time to add file monitoring yet. It will be added soon.

Changelog

  • Buttons for adding and editing presets have been moved to a new toolbar.
  • Presets will be saved to $HOME/selene instead of $HOME/.config/selene
  • New application icon
  • Bugfixes

Installation

Debian/Ubuntu/Mint users can install it from my launchpad PPA.

Open a terminal window (CTRL+ALT+T) on your Ubuntu machine and run the following commands: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install selene

Existing users can upgrade the package manually with the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install selene

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Vala #9: Drag & Drop

August 3, 2013, 11:00 pm
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It is often useful to add drag & drop functionality in GUI applications. It allows the user to transfer data from other applications and to manipulate UI objects within the same application.
It is pretty simple to add drag and drop functionality in a Vala program. The following code creates a GTK3 window. Dragging files from a file manager (like Nautilus) and dropping the files on the window will display the file names in a TreeView widget. We'll look at the code first and then go through the details.

Save the following code as dragdrop.vala:
using Gtk;

public class MainWindow : Gtk.Window
{
    private Box vboxMain;
    private ScrolledWindow swFiles;
    private TreeView tvFiles;
    private TreeViewColumn colName;


    private const Gtk.TargetEntry[] targets = {
        {"text/uri-list",0,0}
    };


    public static int main (string[] args) 
    {
        Gtk.init(ref args); 

        var window = new MainWindow (); 
        window.show_all (); 

        Gtk.main();

        return 0;
    }

    public MainWindow () 
    {
        this.title = "Drag files on this window";
        this.window_position = WindowPosition.CENTER;
        this.destroy.connect (Gtk.main_quit);
        set_default_size (550, 400);    

        //vboxMain
        vboxMain = new Box (Orientation.VERTICAL, 6);
        vboxMain.margin = 6;
        add (vboxMain);

        //tvFiles
        tvFiles = new TreeView();

        //swFiles
        swFiles = new ScrolledWindow(tvFiles.get_hadjustment (), tvFiles.get_vadjustment ());
        swFiles.set_shadow_type (ShadowType.ETCHED_IN);
        swFiles.set_size_request (550, 400);
        swFiles.add(tvFiles);
        vboxMain.add(swFiles);

        //colName
        colName = new TreeViewColumn();
        colName.title ="File";
        colName.expand = true;
        CellRendererText cellName = new CellRendererText ();
        colName.pack_start (cellName, false);
        colName.set_attributes(cellName, "text", 0);
        tvFiles.append_column(colName);

        //inputStore
        ListStore store = new ListStore (1, typeof (string));
        tvFiles.model = store;


        //connect drag drop handlers
        Gtk.drag_dest_set (this,Gtk.DestDefaults.ALL, targets, Gdk.DragAction.COPY);
        this.drag_data_received.connect(this.on_drag_data_received);

    }


    private void on_drag_data_received (Gdk.DragContext drag_context, int x, int y, 
                                        Gtk.SelectionData data, uint info, uint time) 
    {
        //loop through list of URIs
        foreach(string uri in data.get_uris ()){
            string file = uri.replace("file://","").replace("file:/","");
            file = Uri.unescape_string (file);

            //add file to tree view
            add_file (file);
        }

        Gtk.drag_finish (drag_context, true, false, time);
    }


    private void add_file(string file)
    {
        TreeIter iter;
        ListStore store = (ListStore) tvFiles.model;
        store.append (out iter);
        store.set (iter, 0, file);
    }
}
Compile it: 
valac --pkg gtk+-3.0 "dragdrop.vala"
Run the executable file:
./dragdrop
Drag files and directories from Nautilus (or any other file manager) and drop it on the window.

Code Walkthrough

The following code is added to the window constructor. It sets the current window as the drop target:
Gtk.drag_dest_set (this, Gtk.DestDefaults.ALL, targets, Gdk.DragAction.COPY);
this refers to the current window object which is the drop target.
targets is a struct of type Gtk.TargetEntry[]. It specifies the type of objects that can be dropped on the window.
private const Gtk.TargetEntry[] targets = {
    {"text/uri-list",0,0}
};
The mime-type text/uri-list specifies that the drop-target will accept only files and directories.
After setting the drop-target, we need to create a function which will handle the drag-drop event. The following code connects the function on_drag_data_received to the drag_data_received window event.
this.drag_data_received.connect(this.on_drag_data_received);
The function for handling the event is given below:
private void on_drag_data_received (Gdk.DragContext drag_context, int x, int y, 
                                                             Gtk.SelectionData data, uint info, uint time) 
{
    //loop through list of URIs
    foreach(string uri in data.get_uris ()){
        string file = uri.replace("file://","").replace("file:/","");
        file = Uri.unescape_string (file);

        //add file to tree view
        add_file (file);
    }

    Gtk.drag_finish (drag_context, true, false, time);
}
data.get_Uris() retrieves the list of URIs for the the files and directories that were dropped on the window. URIs are strings which contain the file path prefixed with file://. For example, the directory /usr/share/themes will have the URI file:///usr/share/themes. We can remove the prefix file:// to get the file path.
Once we get the file path we are adding it to the tree view by calling the function add_file().
private void add_file(string file)
{
    TreeIter iter;
    ListStore store = (ListStore) tvFiles.model;
    store.append (out iter);
    store.set (iter, 0, file);
}

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Deepin GTK Theme for Ubuntu & Linux Mint

August 9, 2013, 12:31 am
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I've uploaded the theme and icons from the Deepin Linux distribution to my launchpad PPA. You can install the theme from the PPA if you are using Ubuntu/Linux Mint or its derivates.

Open a terminal window (CTRL+ALT+T) and run the following commands: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install deepin-gtk-theme deepin-icon-theme faenza-icon-theme

Run the following to update the GTK icon cache: (optional step, improves system performance)

sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/Deepin"
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/Faenza"
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Ambiance"
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Dark"
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Darker"
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Darkest"
sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/Faenza-Radiance"

Current theme can be changed with the following commands:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface.gtk-theme "Deepin"   # controls
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface.icon-theme "Deepin"   # icons
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences.theme "Deepin"   # window borders

Deepin is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu 13.04. The theme is very similar to Windows 7

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Elementary OS Luna Released

August 14, 2013, 10:11 am
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The long wait is finally over. After more than 2 years of development, the Elementary OS team has released the stable version of Elementary OS 0.2 (Luna). Luna features a redesigned icon theme, multiple display support and a stable version of the Pantheon desktop.

Elementary OS Jupiter, released in March 2011, was one of the most beautiful and well-designed distros at that time. The project had initially started in 2009 with the Elementary icon theme and a set of applications for Ubuntu. The themes and apps were combined to create the Jupiter distro which was based on Ubuntu 10.10. Jupiter was a modification of the base Ubuntu distribution with Elementary as the default icon theme, Plank as the dock and Slingshot as the application launcher. Not satisfied with their work, the developers started working on their own UI framework and desktop. This effort resulted in Granite and Pantheon.

Granite

The Granite framework provides a unique set of widgets for UI development. These widgets are used throughout the distro for creating UIs for the default apps. Language bindings are available for Vala which allows developers to use these widgets in their own applications.

Popovers

Decorated Windows

Source: Read more...

Pantheon Desktop

The Pantheon desktop shell consists of the following components:

  • WingPanel (the top panel)
  • Slingshot (the application menu/launcher)
  • Plank (the dock at the bottom)
  • Pantheon-Greeter (the login window)

Slingshot

Plank

Pantheon Greeter

Elementary Icon Theme 3.0

The elementary icons have been refreshed and sport a modern look. Old folder icons with overlays have been replaced with symbolic icons.

The icons in previous versions of Elementary looked slightly different at different sizes. The new icon theme has a consistent look and comes with icons for all common sizes.

Source: Read more...

Elementary GTK Theme 3.4

The elementary GTK theme has also been updated. While the changes are too subtle to be noticed by most users, the developers have made a number of changes to make the theme look great with GTK 3.4 applications.

Source: Read more...

Screenshots

File manager with tabs

Download Links

Download the Luna release from the following links or head over to the Elementary OS website.

32-bit version (662 MB) - ISO, Torrent
64-bit version (694 MB) - ISO, Torrent

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Elementary Luna Themes for Ubuntu/Mint

August 14, 2013, 9:56 pm
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I've uploaded the themes used in Elementary OS Luna to my launchpad PPA. You can install the themes from the PPA, if you are using Ubuntu/Linux Mint or its derivates.

Elementary Icon Theme 3.0

Open a terminal window (CTRL+ALT+T) and run the following commands: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install elementary-icon-theme=3.0.3~teejeetech

Run the following to update the GTK icon cache: (optional step, improves system performance)

sudo gtk-update-icon-cache -f "/usr/share/icons/elementary"

The theme can be changed from the Appearance tab in System Settings.

Elementary GTK Theme 3.4

This theme is ONLY for GTK 3.4 (Ubuntu 12.04 - Precise).

The theme works perfectly with GTK 3.4 / Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise) which is what Elementary OS Luna is based on. I tried out the theme on Ubuntu 13.04 (Saucy) and there were many issues which make the theme almost unusable. Checkboxes don't work and slider backgrounds are missing. I've removed the packages for other Ubuntu versions.

If you are using some other distro based on Ubuntu you can check the GTK version with the following command:

dpkg -s libgtk-3-0 | grep "Version"

To install the package in Ubuntu 12.04, open a terminal window (CTRL+ALT+T) and run the following commands: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install elementary-gtk-theme=3.4.0.2~teejeetech

The theme can be changed from the Appearance tab in System Settings.

Updates

  • 2013-08-15 Fixed missing icons issue - Added gnome-icon-theme as dependency for elementary-icon-theme
  • 2013-08-16 Fixed some issues with package dependencies
  • 2013-08-16 The GTK theme works only with GTK 3.4 (Ubuntu 12.04 - Precise). Removed packages for other Ubuntu releases :(
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TimeShift for Linux: Coming Soon....

August 27, 2013, 7:21 am
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Ever wished that you could go back in time and restore your PC to the exact state it was in a few days ago?

What if you could take a snapshot of your system before installing software packages and undo the changes in case of issues?

TimeShift is a new application that makes this possible.

TimeShift for Linux is a application that provides functionality similar to the System Restore feature in Windows and the Time Machine tool in Mac OS. It uses rsync and hard-links to create system snapshots which can be restored at a later date to undo all changes that were made after taking the snapshot. Common files are shared between snapshots using hard-links which saves disk space. Each snapshot is a full system backup that you can browse with a file manager.

TimeShift is similar to applications like rsnapshot, BackInTime and TimeVault but with different goals.

Why another application?

When I first came across rsnapshot I was impressed by the entire concept of taking incremental backups using rsync and hard-links. However tools like rsnapshot are designed for use on systems which are always running. On such systems cron jobs can be scheduled at hourly/daily/weekly/monthly intervals for taking regular snapshots of the system. But what about home users who use their PCs and laptops for only a few hours a day? There is a good chance that the system is not running at the time that a daily backup is scheduled to run. This results in missed backups and the last "daily" backup may actually be a few weeks old (depending on when it last ran successfully). Timeshift solves this issue by taking backups whenever the system is running. Backups are rotated based on the time at which the existing backups were taken. So running a weekly backup will have no effect if your last weekly backup is less than one week old. Hourly backups will be copied to the weekly level only after the last weekly backup becomes one week old.

BackInTime on the other hand also takes care of the issue described above and is the most feature-complete snapshot tool that I have seen till date. However somehow I could never get used to the UI. I wanted to create a simpler application with a simpler UI and lesser options - a simple system-restore utility which can be used by anyone with minimal setup.

Minimal Setup

TimeShift will be enabled automatically after you start the GUI for the time. Snapshots are saved by default on the system (root) partition in path /timeshift. If the root partition does not have enough space the user can select other Linux partitions for saving snapshots.

Boot Time Backups

By default snapshots are taken every time the system is booted. Hourly/daily/weekly/monthly levels can also be enabled. Boot-time backups provide an additional level of backup.

Better Snapshot Rotation

TimeShift runs at regular 30-minute intervals but takes snapshots only when required. Snapshots are rotated intelligently to maintain the specified number of hourly/daily/weekly/monthly backups.

Backup to Portable Device

Snapshots can be saved to portable hard disks with a Linux partition. Users can add a list of devices and TimeShift will remember the device and the partition. The next time the device is connected, the user will be prompted to save a snapshot on the device.

Restore

Snapshots can be restored either from the running system or from a live CD. Restoring backups from the running system requires a reboot to complete the restore process.

Cross-distribution Restore

You can time-shift across distributions. Lets say you were using Linux Mint till a week ago before switching to Xubuntu. After trying out Xubuntu you decide to go back to Mint. You can restore the snapshot from last week to get the Mint system back. TimeShift will restore the files from the snapshot and re-install grub2 to complete the restore process.

TimeShift is currently in development and will be released soon...

Screenshots

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Conky Manager Support License

September 16, 2013, 11:03 am
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I have been trying to monetize my blog and applications for the last few weeks. After considering all options I am planning to provide support licenses for some of my applications. These applications will remain completely free for personal and commercial use but users will have the option to purchase a support license. Users who purchase a license will be given greater priority for implementing feature requests and providing technical support.

If you find Conky Manager useful and wish to support its further development, you can purchase a support license using the PayPal link below. You can pay any amount you wish. Amounts can be selected from the drop-down.

Thanks in advance :)

Conky Manager Support License

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Introducing TimeShift

October 5, 2013, 2:31 am
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TimeShift for Linux is a application that provides functionality similar to the System Restore feature in Windows and the Time Machine tool in Mac OS. TimeShift protects your system by taking incremental snapshots of the file system at regular intervals. These snapshots can be restored later to bring your system to the exact state it was in at the time when the snapshot was taken.

Snapshots are taken using rsync and hard-links. Common files are shared between snapshots which saves disk space. Each snapshot is a full system backup that can be browsed with a file manager.

TimeShift is similar to applications like rsnapshot, BackInTime and TimeVault but with different goals.

TimeShift is designed to protect only system files and settings. User files such as documents, pictures and music are excluded. This ensures that your files remains unchanged when you restore your system to an earlier date. If you need a tool to backup your documents and files please take a look at the excellent BackInTime application which is more configurable and provides options for saving user files.

I'll be posting more details later about how TimeShift works.

You can leave a comment on my blog if you need any help with this application.

Please consider making a donation to this project if you find it useful. You can also purchase a support subscription if you need additional help through email.

Features:

Minimal Setup

  • TimeShift requires very little setup. Just install it, run it for the first time and take the first snapshot. A cron job will be enabled for taking automatic snapshots of the system at regular intervals. The backup levels can be selected from the Settings dialog.

  • Snapshots are saved by default on the system (root) partition in path /timeshift. Other linux partitions can also be selected.

Boot Snapshots

  • Boot snapshots provide an additional level of backup and are taken 30 minutes after the system is started.

  • Hourly, daily, weekly and monthly levels can be enabled if required.

Better Snapshots and Rotation

  • TimeShift runs at regular 30-minute intervals but takes snapshots only when needed.

  • Applications like rsnapshot rotate a snapshot to the next level by creating a hard-linked copy. Creating a hard-linked copy may seem like a good idea but it is still a waste of disk space. This is because only files can be hard-linked and not directories. The duplicated directory structure can take up as much as 100 MB of space. TimeShift avoids this wastage by using tags for maintaining backup levels. Each snapshot will have only one copy on disk and is tagged as "daily", "monthly", etc. The snapshot location will have a set of folders for each backup level ("Monthly", "Daily", etc) with symbolic links pointing to the actual snapshots tagged with the level.

System Restore

Snapshots can be restored either from the running system or from a live CD. Restoring backups from the running system requires a reboot to complete the restore process.

Cross-Distribution Restore

You can also TimeShift across distributions. Let's say you are currently using Xubuntu and decide to try out Linux Mint. You install Linux Mint on your system and try it out for a week before deciding to go back to Xubuntu. Using TimeShift you can simply restore the last week's snapshot to get your Xubuntu system back. TimeShift will take care of things like reinstalling the bootloader and other details. Since installing a new linux distribution also formats your root partition you need to save your snapshots on a separate linux partition for this to work.

Excluded Files

TimeShift is designed to protect system files and settings. User data such as documents, pictures and music are excluded by default. This has two advantages:

  • You don't need to worry about your documents getting overwritten when you restore a previous snapshot.
  • Your music and video collection will not waste space on the backup device.

Installation

Debian/Ubuntu

If you are using the following Ubuntu releases (or any of its derivates like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Linux Mint) then you can install it from the LaunchPad PPA:

  • Ubuntu 12.04 (precise)
  • Ubuntu 12.10 (quantal)
  • Ubuntu 13.04 (raring)
  • Ubuntu 13.10 (saucy)

Run the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install timeshift

Supported Systems

TimeShift has been tested on distributions based on Ubuntu and currently only Debian (DEB) packages are avaiable. Packages for other systems like ArchLinux, Fedora, etc will be released soon after testing.

Support This Project

This software is free for personal and commercial use and is licensed under the GNU General Public License. If you find this software useful and wish to support its development, please consider purchasing a support subscription using the PayPal link below.

What you get when you purchase a support subscription:

  • Technical support through email for any issues faced while using the application.
  • Any features requested by you will be given greater priority.
  • You will be informed by email as soon a new version is released.

This application is free and open-source and will always remain that way. Please buy a subscription to show your support if you can afford it. People donating $10 or more will have their name listed as a sponsor in the application.

Options
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TimeShift Installer for Non-Ubuntu Distributions

October 11, 2013, 11:19 pm
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Using the Installer

Download the installer from the following links:

timeshift-latest-i386.run (32-bit, 170 KB)
timeshift-latest-amd64.run (64-bit, 180 KB)

Run it from a terminal window using the following commands:

sh ./timeshift-latest-i386.run  #32-bit
sh ./timeshift-latest-amd64.run  #64-bit

Depending on the distribution that you are using, you may need to install packages for the following dependencies:

libgtk-3 libgee2 libsoup libjson-glib rsync

BTRFS and LVM volumes

BTRFS and LVM volumes are currently not supported as a backup device. Support will be added soon.

Support This Project

This software is free for personal and commercial use and is licensed under the GNU General Public License. If you find this software useful and wish to show your support, please consider purchasing a support subscription using the PayPal link below.

What you get when you purchase a support subscription:

  • Technical support through email for any issues faced while using the application.
  • Features requests will be given higher priority.
  • People donating $10 or more will have their name listed as a sponsor.
Options
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TimeShift v1.1

October 14, 2013, 1:24 am
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What's New

This release fixes all issues that were reported by users in v1.0.
The most important changes are summarized below.

Changes since v1.0.7

  • Added support for using LVM volumes as backup device
  • Added user prompt for taking pre-restore snapshot
  • Added exclude entries for root user's home directory
  • Updated command line options
  • Reduced the default number of backups for all backup levels
  • Deleting all snapshots will delete the /timeshift directory
  • Moved code for estimating system size to separate thread

Changes since v1.0.0

  • Added /home/*/.gvfs to exclude list
  • Fixed an issue where scheduled backups are sometimes skipped
  • Fixed an issue with detection of root device
  • Fixed an issue with deletion of snapshots in Ubuntu 12.04
  • Added Italian translation by tomberry88
  • Installer for non-Ubuntu systems

BTRFS volumes

BTRFS volumes are currently not supported by TimeShift. If your system is installed on a BTRFS volume, please do not use TimeShift. Trying to restore a snapshot will cause the volume to fill up.

Installation

Ubuntu

If you are using the following Ubuntu releases (or any of its derivates like Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Linux Mint) then you can install it from the LaunchPad PPA:

  • Ubuntu 12.04 (precise)
  • Ubuntu 12.10 (quantal)
  • Ubuntu 13.04 (raring)
  • Ubuntu 13.10 (saucy)

Run the following commands in a terminal window:

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install timeshift

Other Linux Distributions

Download the installer from the following links:

timeshift-latest-i386.run (32-bit, 170 KB)
timeshift-latest-amd64.run (64-bit, 180 KB)

Run it from a terminal window using the following commands:

sh ./timeshift-latest-i386.run  #32-bit
sh ./timeshift-latest-amd64.run  #64-bit

Depending on the distribution that you are using, you may need to install packages for the following dependencies:

libgtk-3 libgee2 libsoup libjson-glib rsync


Support This Project

This software is free for personal and commercial use and is licensed under the GNU General Public License. If you find this software useful and wish to show your support, please consider purchasing a support subscription using the PayPal link below.

What you get when you purchase a support subscription:

  • Technical support through email for any issues faced while using the application.
  • Features requests will be given higher priority.
  • People donating $10 or more will have their name listed as a sponsor.
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TimeShift FAQ

October 24, 2013, 11:45 pm
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Q: Why is the home directory excluded from snapshots?

The home directory is excluded for following reasons.

  • The home directories of most users contain several GBs of music, videos and other files. Taking snapshots of this data will waste space on the backup device.
  • Documents in the home folder may get overwritten with older files when previous snapshots are restored.

Excluding the home directory avoids these two issues.

Q: What about user settings which are present in home directory?

Settings which are specific to a user are kept in hidden files and directories (starting with a period) in the user's home directory. These files and directories are included by default. Only non-hidden files and directories are excluded.

Q: I have some folders in my home directory that I want to include in my snapshots.

You can add it to the list of included paths (from the settings window) but please remember that these files will get overwritten when you restore a snapshot. TimeShift is designed to protect your system files and settings. If you need an application to help you take backups of documents, photos and other user files, please take a look at other tools like BackInTime.

Q: How do I exclude my Windows partition before taking a snapshot?

It's already excluded. External partitions are mounted under /mnt and /media which are excluded by default.

Q: Do I need to exclude something manully?

The default exclude list is good enough for almost all users. Excluding folders manually will be required only if you have a very customized system. For example, if you have some partitions mounted in non-standard locations (outside of /mnt and /media) then you need to add it to the exclude list.

Q: My disk is running out of space!

If the backup device runs out of space very quickly, please try the following:

  • Reduce the number of backup levels - Enable the boot backup level and disable the others.
  • Reduce the number of snapshots that are kept - In the Auto-Remove tab set the limit for boot snapshots to 5 or less.
  • You can also disable the scheduled snapshots completely.

There may be other reasons why your disk is filling up. If you have any partitions mounted outside of /mnt and /media you need to add the mount path to the exclude list. You can also check the rsync log for a particular snapshot using the toolbar button. It contains the list of files that changed from the previous snapshot.

Q: How can I free disk space again after un-installing Timeshift?

To delete all snapshots, run the application, select all snapshots from the list (CTRL+A) and click the Delete button on the toolbar. This will delete all snapshots and remove the /timeshift folder in the root directory. You can also delete the timeshift directory manually if you have already un-installed the application.

Q: I upgraded my system and now my system boots to a black screen. How can I restore the snapshots?

Boot from the Ubuntu LiveCd and install TimeShift using apt-get or using the installer. Now you can use TimeShift to restore a snapshot from the backup device.

Q: Is re-installing the bootloader really needed for restoring a snapshot?

It is not necessary but it ensures that your system is bootable after restore is complete.

When you install GRUB while installing your OS, the disk location of the GRUB stage files (in /boot) are stored in the MBR. If there is any change to the files in /boot directory after installing GRUB, the system will fail to boot.

Restoring a snapshot can sometimes change the files in the /boot directory. If the bootloader is not re-installed then there is a small chance that the restored system will fail to boot. Reinstalling grub is completely safe and ensures that your system is bootable after restore is complete.

Q: Where are the backups kept?

Backups are kept under a folder named timeshift in the root of the backup device. This path cannot be changed.

Q: Does it support LVM volumes?

Yes. To use an LVM volume as backup device, select it from the backup device dropdown.

Q: Does it support BTRFS volumes?

Yes, but only if the volume has an ubuntu-type layout (with @ and @home sub-volumes).

Q: When are you planning to add support for BTRFS snapshots?

BTRFS snapshots are a completely different concept and I have no plans to add support for this. For taking BTRFS snapshots, I'm planning to create another application named TimeShift-BTRFS. This new application will create only BTRFS snapshots and can be used only with BTRFS file systems.

Q: I need a feature added to TimeShift

Leave a comment on my blog or add a feature request in the bug tracker and I'll add it to my To-Do list. If you need the feature urgently please contact me by email. I can implement the required changes for a small fee.

Any other questions? Please leave a comment below.

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Coming Soon: TimeShift BTRFS & Ubuntu Toolkit

November 15, 2013, 7:38 am
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TimeShift-BTRFS

New application forked from TimeShift that creates BTRFS snapshots instead of RSync snapshots. BTRFS is an advanced file system which supports creation of file system snapshots. Creation and restore of snapshots is a very fast operation which takes less than a second. The snapshots initially do not take any space on disk and slowly "grow" in size as the original system files get modified over time. Read more about it here.

Ubuntu Toolkit

Ubuntu toolkit is a collection of tools which makes it easier to re-install or upgrade Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions.

Features:

  • Backup and re-install applications - Creates a list of extra applications that were installed by the user. After doing a fresh install of the OS, you can run the tool to re-install missing applications.

  • Backup and restore application settings - Backup the settings for applications like Firefox, Deluge, etc. After re-installing your OS you can restore the settings with a single click.

  • Backup and restore downloaded packages - Saves the packages downloaded by APT to a backup location. After re-installing the OS the downloaded packages can be restored. This saves bandwidth since the packages don't have to be downloaded again when you re-install your applications.

  • Scheduled Backups - Takes backups of important files and folders at regular intervals and saves it to your Dropbox folder.

Conky Manager v1.3

  • Option to change theme directory
  • Option to replace colors and fonts
  • New widget-based UI with previews
  • Installer for non-Ubuntu systems

Selene v2.3

  • Bug fixes and improvements

Support

These softwares are free for personal and commercial use and are licensed under the GNU General Public License. If you find these softwares useful and wish to support their development, please consider purchasing a support subscription using the PayPal link below.

What you get when you purchase a support subscription:

  • Technical support through email
  • Feature requests will be given higher priority
  • People donating $10 or more will have their name listed as a donor

These applications are free and open-source and will always remain that way. Please buy a subscription to show your support if you can afford it.

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Search

TimeShift v1.4

January 17, 2014, 9:24 pm
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Recent changes in TimeShift are summarized below.
A big thanks to everyone who sent in their suggestions and bug reports.
The list of people who have donated to various projects are listed on the Donations page.

What's New

Keep Application Settings

The restore window has a new tab which shows a list of applications.
Select the applications for which you want to keep your current settings.
The settings for all other (unchecked) applications will be restored from the snapshot.

For example, if you want to keep your Firefox settings (bookmarks, open pages, etc) select the 'mozilla' item from the Exclude tab.

Similarly if you use Transmission, Deluge, etc select it from the Exclude tab to keep the current state of your torrents.

Mount Devices

The restore window has a new option to mount devices.
If you are restoring another system (not the running system) then select the radio button for 'Other Device'.
Set mount points (/home, /boot, etc) for devices by clicking on the Mount column and then click 'Restore' to restore the snapshot.

If you are restoring the current system, there is no need to mount devices since they are already mounted at system startup.

Aborting Backups

Simply close the main window when a backup is running. The backup will be aborted.

Scheduled Snapshots

Scheduled snapshots are disabled by default. It can be enabled from the settings window.
Scheduled snapshots will be disabled automatically if the backup device is running out of space.

Coming Soon

Aptik

New tool to simplify re-installation of packages after doing a clean installation of an Ubuntu-based distribution. Can be used while re-installing or upgrading to the next Ubuntu/Linux Mint release.
(ETA - End of Jan 2014)

Conky Manager v2

New version of Conky Manager. Widgets can be browsed by preview image instead of browsing by name. User's home directory will be scanned for conky configuration files and previews will be generated automatically. There will be no need to 'package' themes for the application. (ETA - End of March 2014)

Donate

These softwares are free for personal and commercial use and are licensed under the GNU General Public License. If you find these softwares useful and wish to support their development, please consider purchasing a support subscription using the PayPal link below.

What you get when you purchase a support subscription:

  • Technical support through email
  • Feature requests will be given higher priority
  • People donating $10 or more will have their name listed as a donor
Options
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Introducing Aptik

January 20, 2014, 6:40 am
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Aptik is a new tool to simplify re-installation of packages after doing a clean installation of an Ubuntu-based distribution. It can be used while re-installing or upgrading to the next Ubuntu/Linux Mint release.

Upgrading to the next release of an Ubuntu-based distribution can be a painful task.

While most Ubuntu-based distributions provide an option to upgrade your existing installation, it can cause a number of problems.

  1. It sometimes results in broken packages.
  2. If proprietary graphic drivers are in use, the system may boot into a black screen after the upgrade.
  3. The look and feel of the new release is lost since the previous desktop settings are used.

In order to avoid problems most people prefer to do a clean installation. They download the ISO image, format the system partition, and then install the new release.

You get a good feeling when you boot into your shiny new system. Then you realise that you need to re-install all your softwares again and your excitement goes down. Aptik is a new tool that will make your life easier. While it won't eliminate all the work that needs to be done after a fresh installation, it will reduce it greatly.

Take Backups on the Old System

1) Install Aptik

Install Aptik with the following commands: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install aptik

2) Create a Backup Folder

Plug-in your pen drive and create a new folder on it named 'backups'.
Start Aptik from the applications menu.
Select the new folder as the backup directory.

3) Backup Software Sources

Click the Backup button for Software Sources. A list of third-party PPAs will be displayed along with names of packages that are installed from the PPA.

PPAs with a green icon are active and have some packages installed.
PPAs with a yellow icon are active but unused (no packages installed).

Select the PPAs to backup and click the Backup button.
A file named 'ppa.list' will be created in the backup directory.

4) Backup Software Selections

Click the Backup button for Software Selections. A list of installed top-level packages will be displayed.

These packages are top-level packages. Dependency packages will not be listed.

All packages that are a part of the Linux distribution are un-selected by default. For example, Firefox is a package that is installed by default on most Linux distributions. Since it came with the distribution, it will be un-selected by default. It can be selected if required.

All extra packages that were installed by the user are selected by default. For example, if you had installed the package for Chrome web browser (using the Software Center or by running apt-get install command) the package will be selected by default. It can be un-selected if required.

Select the packages to backup and click the Backup button.
A file named 'packages.list' will be created in the backup directory.

5) Backup Downloaded Packages

Click the Backup button for Downloaded Packages.

The packages in your system cache (/var/cache/apt/archives) will be copied to the backup folder.

This step is useful only if the system is being re-installed. When the system is upgraded this step can be skipped since the packages for the new Ubuntu release will be newer than the packages in the system cache.

Restoring the downloaded packages on the new system will save time and internet bandwidth when the packages are re-installed. Since the packages will be available in the system cache, the download will be skipped and installation will complete more quickly.

6) Backup Themes and Icons

Click the Backup button for Themes and Icons. A list of installed themes will be displayed.

These themes are from the directories /usr/share/themes and /usr/share/icons.
Select the themes to backup and click the Backup button.
Selected themes will be zipped and saved in the backup folder.

Restore Backups after Installing the New System

After installing the new Linux distribution the backups can be restored.

1) Install Aptik

Install Aptik with the following commands: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install aptik

2) Select the Backup Folder

Plug-in your pen drive.
Start Aptik from the applications menu.
Select the backup folder on the pen-drive as the backup directory.

3) Restore Software Sources

Click the Restore button for Software Sources. PPAs from the backup file 'ppa.list' will be displayed.

PPAs with a green icon are already active.
PPAs with a gray icon are not active and can be added.

Select the PPAs to restore and click the Restore button.
Selected PPAs will be added to the system.

4) Restore Software Selections

Click the Restore button for Software Selections. Packages from the backup file 'packages.list' will be displayed.

Packages with a green icon are already installed.
Packages with a gray icon are not installed and can be selected for installation.
Packages with a red icon are not available in software repositories and cannot be installed.

Select the packages to restore and click the Restore button.
Selected packages will be installed on the system.

5) Restore Downloaded Packages

Click the Restore button for Downloaded Packages.

The packages in your backup directory will be copied to system cache (/var/cache/apt/archives).

This step is useful only if the system is being re-installed. When the system is upgraded this step can be skipped since the packages for the new Ubuntu release will be newer than the packages in the system cache.

Restoring the downloaded packages will save time and internet bandwidth when the packages are installed. Since the packages will be available in the system cache, the download will be skipped and installation will complete more quickly.

6) Restore Themes and Icons

Click the Restore button for Themes and Icons. A list of themes available in the backup directory will be displayed.

Themes with a green icon are already installed.
Themes with a gray icon are not installed and can be selected for installation.

Select the themes to restore and click the Restore button.
Selected themes will be extracted to system directories /usr/share/themes and /usr/share/icons.

More Options

Fix Ownership of Home folder

The home folder can be manually copied to another location and then restored after doing a fresh install. However, it can sometimes cause problems if the user's login name or UID is different from the previous one. Click the Take Ownership button to change ownership of files in your home directory to your current login ID. This is same as running the following command 

sudo chown username -R /home/username

Command-line Options

Run aptik --help to see the full list of options.


Disclaimer

This program is free for personal and commercial use and comes with absolutely no warranty. The author will not be liable for any damages arising from the use of this program.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Support This Project

This software is free for personal and commercial use and is licensed under the GNU General Public License. If you need help for any issues or wish to support its development, please purchase a support subscription using the PayPal link below.

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Ubuntu Raring (13.04) Reaches End of Life

February 8, 2014, 9:10 am
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Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) reached End of Life on January 27, 2014.  Since Raring is no longer supported by Launchpad, there will not be any new builds for Ubuntu 13.04 in the teejee2008 PPA.

Raring users are advised to upgrade.

WorkArounds for Raring Users

The DEB file for other Ubuntu versions can be downloaded from Launchpad and installed manually.  You can also download the manual installer for TimeShift and Aptik from the following links.

timeshift-latest-i386.run (32-bit)
timeshift-latest-amd64.run (64-bit)

aptik-latest-i386.run (32-bit)
aptik-latest-amd64.run (64-bit)

With the release of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty) in April the remaining Ubuntu releases from 12.10 to 13.10 will also reach end-of-life in a few months.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ubuntu_releases#Table_of_versions

  • 12.10 (quantal)  -- April 2014
  • 13.04 (raring)   -- Jan 2014
  • 13.10 (saucy)    -- July 2014
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Conky Manager v2 FundRaiser

February 25, 2014, 2:05 am
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Hi All,

I'm trying to raise some funds for the next version of Conky Manager. If you wish to support this project, please use the button below to make a donation via PayPal. Your contributions will help me give more time to this application so that it can be completed as soon as possible.

Please note that there are no refunds if the target is not met. Donate only if you wish to support this project.
Even if the target is not met, the next version will be released as soon as it is complete. It will only take more time to finish.

The final application will be free for everyone irrespective of whether you donated. People who donate will receive a complimentary user manual and their names will be listed on the Donations page.

$0Donated            $300Left            $300Target

This bar will be updated once a week.

Donate

Options

Preview

New UI with Previews

Widgets can be browsed by preview image using the arrow keys on the keyboard. Previews are generated automatically for widgets that don't have a preview image.

Use your existing Conky setup

There is no longer any need to 'package' themes for this application. You can use your current Conky setup with minimal changes. User's home directory will be scanned for Conky configuration files and preview images will be generated automatically.

Wallpapers and Themes

Option to create a Conky "Theme" which is a collection of Conky widgets along with a wallpaper. Applying the theme will start all widgets in the theme and change the desktop wallpaper.

Support for Non-Ubuntu distributions

An installer will be available for non-Ubuntu distributions like Arch, Fedora, etc.

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Aptik v1.4

April 1, 2014, 7:38 pm
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What's New

New Look

The main window has undergone some changes. New toolbar is added with buttons for each action.

Backup & Restore Application Settings

New option to backup and restore settings for an application. Aptik will list all hidden folders in your home directory which contain config files for various applications (Firefox, Chromium, etc). You can select the folders to backup and restore. For example, to backup the settings for Firefox (bookmarks, addons, etc) select and backup the folder ~/.mozilla. This folder can then be restored after doing a fresh installation of Ubuntu to restore your Firefox settings. Similarly, in order to backup the current state of torrents being downloaded by the Deluge Bittorrent Client, quit Deluge and backup the folder ~/.config/deluge. After restoring on the new system you can continue downloading the same torrents.

Restoring the application settings in this way can sometimes cause problems. For example, if the new system has a new version of the application then it may have problems loading the config files created by previous version. If you face issues after restoring files, you can "reset" the application settings using the 'Reset' button. This will delete the selected config directory. New config files will be created automatically (with default settiings) when you run the application next time.

Bug Fixes

A number of bugs were fixed.

  • There was an issue while adding PPAs on on some systems. A log window will be displayed with error messages in case of errors while adding a PPA.
  • Hard-coded icons have been replaced with icons from the system theme. Hard-coded icons will be used if the current icon theme used on the system doesn't have the required icon.
  • Various fixes and improvements.

Elementary Icon Theme

Numix Circle Icon Theme

Install Aptik

Aptik can be installed by running the following commands in a terminal window: 

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install aptik

Existing users can update the application with the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install aptik

Support This Project

This software is free for personal and commercial use and is licensed under the GNU General Public License. If you find this software useful and wish to support its development, please consider purchasing a support subscription for $10 or leaving a donation using the PayPal link below. Your contributions will help in keeping this project alive and developing it further.

What you get when you donate or purchase a support subscription:

  • Technical support through email
  • Feature requests will be given higher priority
  • People who donate $10 or more will have their name listed as a donor on the donations page
Options


Disclaimer

This program is free for personal and commercial use and comes with absolutely no warranty. The author will not be liable for any damages arising from the use of this program.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
See the GNU General Public License for more details.

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