Tweak Ubuntu With Ailurus 10.03.2 (Just Released)

Ailurus is an application similar to Ubuntu Tweak, however it's more "hidden settings" oriented rather than installing new software through PPAs like Ubuntu Tweak is.

Since we last covered Ailurus, it has come a long way and now you can customize every inch of you Ubuntu (and Fedora now) desktop.


The latest version (10.03.2) was released just a few minutes ago and it brings a lot of new features which are designed to make your life easier:

• Added Firefox stable version repository.
• Added NScript (a collection of useful Nautilus scripts. NScripts help you change the background, create/check MD5 checksums, create a diff, create shortcuts via Nautilus) in Install software > Common > Enhancement
• New many system settings added so you can easily change them within Ailurus
• Ailurus now comes with presets for the Metacity window buttons: Gnome default, Lucid style and Mac OS X style. This can be tweaked in the "System settings" pane
• You can now change the name of “My computer”, “Home folder”, “Network servers” and “Trash” icons
• Merge all separate repository configuration files into /etc/apt/sources.list
• Graphical improvements to Ailurus itself
• many many other new features and improvement.

Download Ailurus

This new version has been uploaded to the Ailurus Ubuntu PPA but it will only be built in 8 hours, however you can download Ailurus 10.03.2 .deb, .rpm and source files from HERE.

If you want to add the Ailurus PPA, simply paste this in a terminal:

-Karmic (9.10) and Lucid (10.04):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ailurus

-Older Ubuntu versions:

sudo bash -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ailurus/ppa/ubuntu ubuntu_version main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 9A6FE242

In the first command above, replace "ubuntu_version" with jaunty, intrepid or hardy.

Then, to install Ailurus (any Ubuntu version) - but remember that at the time I am publishing this post, the latest Ailurus version has not been built yet in the PPA:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ailurus

Ailurus Keeps Adding New Features; Version 10.01.4 Released

Ailurus is an application which aims at making Linux easier to use and is especially great for beginners, but not only. Think of it as an Ubuntu Tweak focused more on tweaking and less on installing applications using PPAs.

At least that's what it was initially, because lately they've also focused on installing applications, with the latest version (10.01.4) adding a "Quick setup" feature which should come really handy for beginners. This new feature chooses the fastest repository mirror, and then allows you to install full language support, hardware drivers, input method, multimedia codecs, Adobe Flash, decompression software (7zip, rar, ace, etc.). This is somewhat similar to THIS Ubuntu Karmic initial setup script.


Other new features in version 10.01.4:

• Install some Eclipse extensions, such as Aptana, Mylyn, PDT, RadRails and Subversive.
• Install native Linux 64-bit Flash plugin
• Install LAMP and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud cluster
• Added some third-party repositories

A feature I really like (is not new, but anyway) is the "Recovery" - you can use it to take snapshots of APT so you can later see what packages you've installed / removed and optionally revert changes by simply dragging an action from the "Changes" box onto the "To do" box:

Overall, Ailurus doesn't have the greatest user interface, but can become really handy, especially for newbies.

Install Ailurus in Ubuntu

-Karmic:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ailurus

-Older Ubuntu versions:

sudo bash -c "echo 'deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ailurus/ppa/ubuntu ubuntu_version main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 9A6FE242

In the first command above, replace "ubuntu_version" with jaunty, intrepid or hardy.

Then, to install Ailurus (any Ubuntu version):

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ailurus

The source code / Fedora packages can be found HERE.