Kupfer v206 Released With Improved Runtime Memory Usage, PPA Now Available For Lucid Too

After finally getting themes support about 2 weeks ago, another Kupfer version (v206) was released today bringing a huge list of bug fixes and more importantly, reduced memory usage. The changelog says the Kupfer runtime memory should be reduced by 10-30% thanks to the reimplementation of icon cache.

You can check out all the bugs fixed in the latest Kupfer v206 @ kaizer.se.

With this release, there's also good news for Ubuntu 10.04 users: the latest Kupfer has finally been packaged for Ubuntu Lucid Lynx too so you can finally install it from the PPA (until today the PPA provided a very old Kupfer version for Lucid).

Add the Kupfer PPA and install the latest v206 in Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04 using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kupfer-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kupfer

Tip: Kupfer comes with 2 extra themes - to change the theme, go to the Kupfer Preferences and on the Plugins tab enable the "Custom Theme" plugin, then select among the other 2 themes: dark or square. If you want to create your own theme, see HERE.

Kupfer (v205) Gets A New User Interface. Finally!

Kupfer is a quick launcher (like Gnome DO or Synapse) which comes with many very useful plugins but always lacked a nice user interface. Well, an update today finally brings some UI love for Kupfer. Check out the new Kupfer interface:

Further more, you can theme it however you want - see this page for info: http://kaizer.se/wiki/kupfer/GTKTheming.html


You can also select the icon style you want Kupfer to use: GTK+, Ascii or Unicode:

The icon set can be changed from the Kupfer Preferences (no, I don't know who the dude in the Kupfer Preferences window is):

Besides the interface changes, there are some other new features in the latest Kupfer v205 worth mentioning:

• Add context action "Set X as default action for object Y"
• Implement a preedit widget for input methods, also resolving the incompatibility with ibus so it should fix the issues with non-English languages

Install Kupfer v205 in Ubuntu

Add the Kupfer PPA and install the latest v205 in Ubuntu Maverick and Natty using the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kupfer-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kupfer

Don't know how to use Kupfer? Check out its new HELP page and user manual. There's also a page with quick usage tips @ Gnome.org.

Synapse 0.2.2 Gets Relevancy Service, Three Plugins And More

Synapse, the new awesome looking quick-launcher for Linux reached version 0.2.2 today, getting some of the features many of you have requested:

• Most importantly, Synapse got a relevancy service - the applications you use the most will be on top of the search results (Zeitgeist is used for this).
• Support for basic transliteration when searching for applications - therefore you shouldn't need to type accents (if your language has them)
• 3 new plugins: Open Search (search the web - it currently supports Google search and Google Maps), Locate (find files on your filesystem) and Gnome Screensaver (this was already available in the version in the PPA for some time).

(Synapse 0.2.2 - Google Search plugin)

Other minor changes include: Shift+Enter executes the action without closing Synapse, custom gtkrc file (so now Synapse can be themed) and a notification area icon / appindicator which can be disabled (this was also already available in the PPA for some time).

(New plugins in Synapse 0.2.2)

Install Synapse 0.2.2 in Ubuntu

Add the Synapse PPA and install Synapse in Ubuntu using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install synapse

If you've previously installed Synapse and you're only upgrading to the latest 0.2.2, restart Synapse to be able to use the new features.


Please note that the Maverick version says "0.2.1", that's an error in the version number, it's actually 0.2.2.

Remember, Synapse depends on the Zeitgeist dataproviders you use to display the results, so see our initial post for info on installing more Zeitgeist dataproviders and as well as THIS post for a Chrome plugin.

(Dark Synapse theme using a light GTK theme)

If you're using a light theme and want to try Synapse using dark colors, download THIS file and copy it to your ~/.config/synapse folder, then restart Synapse.

For other Linux distributions downloads, bugs, suggestions and so on, visit Synapse @ Launchpad.

Info via mhr3

Kupfer Monochrome Icons

WebUpd8 reader Nasser Alshammari sent us some nice Kupfer monochrome icons that go well with the Ubuntu Ambiance and Radiance themes. He writes:

The only side effect of this is that it'll replace the colorful logo in the menu entry and in the "About" dialog of Kupfer. So until this issue is solved and for all the monochrome fanatics out there, they can do it this way for now.

To install them, replace the ~/.icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/kupfer.svg icon with one of the icons below.


Download Kupfer Monochrome icons

Many thanks and credits for the icons and screenshot: Nasser Alshammari

Kupfer 201 Released With New Plugins, Authentication Bug Fixed [GNOME Do Alternative]

Kupfer is an alternative to Gnome DO, which will remind you of Quicksilver for Mac (if you used a Mac). In fact, even Kupfer developers say it's heavily inspired by Quicksilver. What does it do? Well, it's basically a quick launcher - an application you can use to easily control different applications and/or actions via plugins.

One of the major differences between Kupfer and GNOME Do is that Kupfer comes with a lot more plugins and is actively developed as opposed to GNOME Do (unfortunately). Also, Kupfer is not developed in MONO (unlike GNOME Do), but in Python.

After getting the famous comma trick back in February, Kupfer got lots and lots of new features and plugins such as Twitter (browse friends and timeline), Gmail, Picasa, Google Search, Evolution and many more, but because the plugins which require authentification didn't work for some users (Twitter, Gmail, Picasa), we didn't post about it.

But now Kupfer 201 has been released featuring loads of new plugins but also some important bugfixes. An important bug fixed in Kupfer 201 is the one I was telling you about above, so the Twitter, PicasaWeb and Gmail plugins finally work - just make sure you give it some time to authentificate after entering your credentials. Unfortunately this bug is only partially fixed.

New plugins in Kupfer 201 include Opera Mail, SSH Hosts, Filezilla, Getting Things GNOME, Vim, and also some new options for already existing plugins such as Firefox: options include visites sites, Thunar: action Send To..., support for Traker 0.8 (which you can install in Ubuntu Karmic and Lucid via Tracker Stable PPA) and many more which you can see here. Kupfer 201 also got a new icon and a preferences dialog for the catalog items.

Install Kupfer 201 in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kupfer-team/ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kupfer

Launchy 2.5 Beta 2 Released, Now Available For Mac OS X Too

Launchy 2.5 Beta 2 was released and the new version includes bug fixes, performance overhauls, and new shortcuts and controls but also a version for Mac OS X too (previously, Launchy was only available for Windows and Linux).

While I don't really see the purpose of Launchy for Mac, were Quicksilver rules all quick launch applications, Mac users will still be glad to know they now have an alternative.

In case you don't know what Launchy is:

Launchy is an Windows, Linux and Mac OS X utility designed to help you forget about your OS menu, your desktop icons, and your file manager. Launchy indexes and launches your applications, documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!

Although Launchy has some serious competition on Linux: Gnome DO and Kupfer, many people will probably find Launchy a lot easier to use. Another great thing about it is the low resources it uses: just ~15mb of RAM on my system.


Download Launchy 2.5 Beta 2 [Downloads for Windows, Ubuntu 32 and 64 bit .deb, Mac OS X and source files] | You may also want to download Launchy skins or plugins

[via lifehacker]

Kupfer Pandora's Box 1 Released, Finally Adds The Famous Quicksilver "Comma Trick" And Global Hotkeys [Ubuntu .deb Download]

Kupfer Pandora's Box 1 had been released. We haven't talked about Kupfer on Web Upd8 so I would like to introduce Kupfer first.

Kupfer is an alternative to Gnome DO, which will remind you of Quicksilver for Mac (if you used a Mac). In fact, even Kupfer developers say it's heavily inspired by Quicksilver.

But what does Kupfer do? Well, you ca use it to summon an application or document quickly by typing the first parts of its name. It can also do more than getting at something quickly: there are different plugins for accessing more objects and running custom commands.


Kupfer Pandora's Box 1 finally introduces some of the advanced features found Quicksilver such as commands with many objects and global hotkeys to any custom command.

Let's take a look at the important changes in Kupfer version Pandora's Box 1:

• Implement the famous "comma trick": Press , (comma) in the first or third pane to make a stack of objects to perform actions on. This allows actions on many objects and even many-to-many actions.
• New plugin: Triggers: Add global keybindings to any command you can perform in Kupfer.
• New plugin Skype
  
• New plugin Thunderbird (or Icedove)
  
• Implement merging of contacts and hosts: All contacts of the same name are merged into one object.
  
• New plugin Higher-order Actions to work with saved commands as objects
• The Favorites plugin was reimplemented: you may favorite (almost) any object. Favorites get a star and a rank boost.
• Window List plugin was improved, most notably a Frontmost Window proxy object was added
• New proxy object Last Command
• The Firefox plugin now includes most-visited sites from browser history
• The list of plugins has a field to allow filtering the list
• New Czech localization
• Many smaller changes.

I especially like Kupfer for not using Mono and because it uses less memory than Gnome DO. One of the important things I take into consideration when deciding to use an application is how active it's development is, and Kupfer is great at this too being under very active development, with the previous version being released just a month ago (in fact there were 2 versions released in December alone). The HUGE list of plugins is also nice and basically those should be enough to cover almost anyone's preferences for different applications:

Download and install Kupfer Ubuntu .deb

Kupfer is not yet available in its PPA, but I've created (I'm starting to like this! =) ) Ubuntu .deb files and uploaded them to the Web Upd8 PPA. Update: Kupfer is now available in it's official PPA so add the PPA first:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kupfer-team/ppa

And install it:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install kupfer

Once installed, you will find Kupfer under Applications > Accessories.


Read more about Kupfer Pandora's Box 1 and download source packages: HERE. Also, you can find a lot of Kupfer tips @ live.gnome.org