How To Install Gnome-Do

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Yesterday I started using an application called Gnome-Do, which I have to say is awesome. If you’ve used Quicksilver on OSX or Katapult on KDE its really similar. It’s a quick-launch tool to get you what you need as fast as possible (but not faster, of course!). It allows you to quick launch desktop applications with a few quick keystrokes and just generally makes life easy.

I thought I would outline how to install Gnome-Do on Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy” and also on Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy” for those early adopters like myself.

Installing Gnome-Do on Ubuntu 7.10

To install Gnome-Do on Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy” you’ll need to add the Gnome-Do PPA from launchpad. Add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list file:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ubuntu gutsy main

After you’ve added the repository you’ll need to update your repository cache and then install the package. Two more commands to take care of that:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install gnome-do

Installing Gnome-Do on Ubuntu 8.04

For those early adopters out there that are already running Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy” you’re lucky to have Gnome-Do in the repositories. You’ll just need a simple:

sudo aptitude install gnome-do

To launch Gnome-Do you’ll need to start it manually. This can be done a few ways:

  1. ALT-F2: gnome-do
  2. Open a terminal: gnome-do
  3. Add it to your System > Preferences > Sessions: gnome-do --quiet (for autostart at login)

Once it’s launched you can access the Gnome-Do interface via “Super”-space (windows button+spacebar). This key binding can also be changed in the gconf-editor (/apps/gnome-do/preferences/key_binding) On my next post I’ll outline how to install Gnome-Do plugins, which add so much more functionality you’ll be amazed. I’ve also hacked together a Gnome-Do plugin myself that will let you quickly install packages via Gnome-Do. I’m looking for a few good C# devels that can help me improve it. Details soon!

15 thoughts on “How To Install Gnome-Do”

  2. antistress

    i’m not sure this a bug so i didn’t fill a bugreport about it :

    When you call gnome-do by pressing super+space ans start to type something, you can make gnome-do window disappear by clicking on another window. But when you call it again and start typing, the text is adding to what was typed in first. I think that we should type on a blank field

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  3. antistress

    When you start typing in gnome-do and then click on another window, gnome-do disappear.
    Call it again by pressing super+space and start typing : the text is added to the first one.
    I think that the 1st one should have been deleted to avoid to invalidate the second search
    (imagine type goog
    click to another place
    call gnome-do again and type forest
    your request is googforest)

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  4. Jim Priest

    I love Gnome Do! I can’t seem to get the OpenSearch plugin working mainly because I don’t know how to activate it? I’ve got the dll installed…

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  7. astromme

    I’m having a problem using gnome-do and kde4. It seems like my gnome-do window always opens up underneath every other window I have. Any suggestions?

    (Ubuntu 8.04)

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  11. audun

    how do one change where it looks for files? Most of my files are on a separate partition, but like most search tools this one only searches /home for files.

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  14. Joe

    @ Christer Edwards

    FYI its probably HTML formatting or whatever thats changing the look of your post, but its two dashes (“- -” without the middle space or quotes) prefixing “quiet” to get that option properly invoked. Its very hard to see that in this blog.

    Anyway, I figured it out and fixed a long nag of mine about Gnome-Do…thanks!

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