I recently wrote an article outlining how to remove the login screen user list in the KDE login screen. This article outlines the same steps, but specific to the GNOME login screen. The instructions here have been tested on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS as well as Ubuntu 9.10. If you would prefer to remove the user list from your login screen and require the username be entered in combination with the password, these instructions will achieve just that.

GDM Changes

I believe it was with Ubuntu 9.10 that the GDM login manager was rewritten and the previous configuration options removed. I know there was a lot of upset about that when it happened. The functionality seemed to be the same, but the configuration options that users had grown used to were now gone. It seems, however, that there are still some settings that can be changed. Perhaps not quite as many, but one of the important ones is still available. If slightly obscure.

Updating Configuration

There are two methods of updating this configuration. There is the command-line one-liner, which I like for it’s quick and easy use. There is also the graphical method. I’ll outline both below. You can follow whichever you feel most comfortable with.

Command Line : gconftool-2

To disable the login screen user list in Ubuntu 10.04, simply run the following command, entering your password when prompted:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list true

The next time you log in you’ll be prompted to enter your username and password, instead of selecting your username from a list.

Graphical Method : gconf-editor

To disable the login screen user list in Ubuntu 10.04 graphically, run the following command and then navigate to the proper key=value pair setting.

sudo -u gdm gconf-editor

Navigate to /apps/gdm/simple-greeter.

Check the box that says “disable user list”, setting the value to true.

disable ubuntu login user list

Whichever method you choose, you’ll end up with the same result. Disabling the list of users at the login screen. I prefer my machine to require the username + password combination. No reason in telling everyone who the machine belongs to, and removing half of the security of the login mechanism.

I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the security vs usability of a user list at login. Do you agree with me or disagree?

If this article has been helpful, please consider linking to it.

I wasn’t going to write this post. I was going to get used to the idea of my window buttons being on the left, instead of the right where I’m used to them. I was really going to try and use the Ubuntu “standard”. Well, after a little more than a month, I give up. If you’re the same and you’d like your window buttons back “where they belong”, this post will outline how to move window buttons back to the right.

For those in a hurry,  I’ve outlined the quickest way known to man to move the window buttons back to the right. Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), and paste in the following command:

gconftool -s /apps/metacity/general/button_layout -t string menu:minimize,maximize,close

Magically your window buttons will be back to the “right” place.

For those that are afraid of the terminal and their copy-paste functionality, you can follow these steps:

1. Press ALT-F2 to open the application launcher.
2. Enter ‘gconf-editor’
3. Navigate to Apps > Metacity > General > Button Layout
4. Change the string value to ‘menu:minimize,maximize,close’
5. Exit gconf-editor

Those steps aren’t too bad either. I prefer the first, of course, but perhaps it has a little too much “magic” to it.

In conclusion I think the move is still controversial. I would have expected some of these controversial changes in a development release, but not an LTS (Long Term Support) release. In any case, I’m not here to make decisions.

GNOME 2.30 Released

I am happy to pass on the announcement that GNOME has released 2.30, and exactly on schedule! This release brings a number of great improvements that I’m sure you’ll be happy with in the upcoming Ubuntu release. Because Ubuntu bases its releases after the GNOME release schedule, each GNOME release means an Ubuntu release is imminent.

If you enjoy GNOME, please consider donating to Friends of GNOME. They are *so* close to their goal. I’m sure the readers of Ubuntu Tutorials could help push them over the goal! Thank you.

I’ve been using the Shiki theme (Shiki-Brave) for some time now. You may recall that I wrote about it in My Ubuntu Look and Feel as well as How To Install Shiki-Colors Theme in Ubuntu. After seeing some recent posts on other blogs regarding some of the potential themes for Ubuntu 10.04 “Lucid”, I’ve got the urge to try something new.

So, I this is my question for all of you readers out there, and don’t be shy about linking to screenshots:

What is the best GNOME Desktop theme?

I’ve been meaning to type this up for some time now. Ever since I wrote the article on Installing GNOME Shell on Ubuntu 9.10, I’ve wanted to write about some of the other features of GNOME 3.x. Finally I am able to bring to you the preview of GNOME Activity Journal (also known as Zeitgeist). In this article I will outline how to install, use, and update the GNOME Activity Journal.

Requirements

GNOME Activity Journal previews can be downloaded from Launchpad by way of bzr. You can easily checkout the latest development versions and run them, no compilation required! You will need to have the bzr utility installed, which can be done using the following command: (or click the linked package name)

sudo aptitude install bzr

Once you have bzr installed you’re ready to go! Next I will cover how to download the development previews and get started running and testing GNOME Activity Journal.

Download GNOME Activity Journal

There are two requirements for running GNOME Activity Journal. The Journal utility itself, and the Zeitgeist daemon. In the following steps we’ll checkout the latest revisions of each.

First, we’ll create a directory structure for our applications to run in.

mkdir ~/zeitgeist

cd ~/zeitgeist

Zeitgeist

Download Zeitgeist using the command:

bzr branch lp:zeitgeist

GNOME Activity Journal

Download the GNOME Activity Journal utility using the command:

bzr branch lp:gnome-activity-journal

Launching GNOME Activity Journal

Once these two utilities have downloaded we’re ready to launch them and start previewing the GNOME Activity Journal. This is done using the commands:

~/zeitgeist/zeitgeist/zeitgeist-daemon.py &
~/zeitgeist/gnome-activity-journal/gnome-activity-journal &

Keeping Updated

If you want to keep these two utilities updated, you can simply continue to track the bzr repositories and update your branches with the latest revisions. Anytime you want to check for new features or changes in either Zeitgeist or GNOME Activity Journal, simply run the following two commands:

cd ~/zeitgeist/zeitgeist && bzr pull
cd ~/zeitgeist/gnome-activity-journal && bzr pull

These two commands will move you to the directories where you have each utility checked out and pull for any new revisions in the upstream Launchpad repository. If there are no changes, you should receive the message “No revisions to pull”. Otherwise it’ll download the latest changes and you can simply re-launch as outlined above.

Preview

Check out this YouTube video of a recent build:

Conclusion

The new utilities and features in GNOME 3.x are shaping up very nicely. Between the GNOME Shell and GNOME Activity Journal we’ve got some fun and exciting new utilities to tinker with. I’d love to hear your thoughts on both of these, and what you think about the upcoming GNOME 3.x release.

This post is an update to an article I wrote some years ago. There have been some changes in the configuration between now and then, so I felt this warranted an update. The original article in question is: Clearing or Resetting the GNOME keyring. This article addresses the issue where a user may have forgotten or otherwise become locked out of their keyring. The keyring, of course, allows for the management of SSH, GPG and other keys through a central tool and interface.

The problem

You are prompted by the system to enter your keyring passphrase in order to unlock additional keys. None of your passphrases work–somehow you have become locked out of your keyring. In this situation you may not be able to unlock needed keys, such as passwords, SSH or GPG keys.

The solution

The only solution that I’ve been able to come up with is to delete the keyring contents, including the incorrect or corrupt passphrase. Note: this will destroy all stored keys in the keyring, requiring that they be re-imported. Other than the need to “start over” with the keyring manager, this solution should be otherwise harmless.

Method 1:

It is possible to clobber your keyring passphrase and settings from the Terminal. Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), and run the command:

rm ~/.gnome2/keyrings/login.keyring

On older systems you may need to try:

rm ~/.gnome2/keyrings/default.keyring

Method 2:

The second method bypasses the Terminal and uses the graphical interface strictly. To delete your current keyring, follow the steps below:

1. Navigate to Applications > Accessories > Passwords and Encryption Keys
2. Select the far-right tab “Passwords”
3. Select your keyring
4. Right-click and attempt “Change Password” or, if that doesn’t work, select “Delete”

Additional:

If you continue to have problems I would suggest looking for additional tips in the comments here or here.

I’m really enjoying the latest additions in GNOME 2.28, but one thing that has been bugging me is the rewrite of the GDM login screen. Historically it has been possible to customize a number of options, including features such as activating or deactivating the user list. With this latest upgrade it seems that GDM has been completely rewritten and those previously accessible customizations are now gone or well hidden. I have, however, been able to find a way to disable the user list and, again, require a username to login.

I’m curious to see further improvements to the new GDM system, but until that time I prefer to require username and password to login, not just a password.

Disable User List

In order to disable the user list you’ll need to open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list true

Enable User List

If you’d like to re-enable the user list you can revert the above command using:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type boolean /apps/gdm/simple-greeter/disable_user_list false

I had some free time the other evening so I decided to give the new development builds of GNOME-Shell a try. This is the new overlay, or navigation system around the GNOME Desktop which we’ll start seeing as the default in Ubuntu 10.10 (yes, a year away!). We’ve begun seeing YouTube videos of early builds, and the installation process has become much simpler. I was able to install all dependencies and compile the latest build in about 20 minutes on my Core2Duo 2.10GHz.

Remember, these are development builds and are still in the early stages. While it appears to be functional (so far) your mileage may vary. Follow these steps at your own risk.

UPDATE: This article has been extended and published here.

As you’re probably aware, Ubuntu 9.10 was released on Oct 29th, 2009. The best way to download these new images is by way of bittorrent.
Whether you are looking for the latest LiveCD, Server installation or Netbook Remix, we’ve got your torrents here. See the list below to find
your preferred image and start downloading! Please remember to seed once you’re finished, at least 2:1.

Ubuntu

Ubuntu 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 32bit Torrent

Ubuntu 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 64bit Torrent

Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop (LiveCD) 32bit Torrent

Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop (LiveCD) 64bit Torrent

Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix 32bit Torrent

Ubuntu 9.10 Moblin Remix 32bit Torrent

Kubuntu

Kubuntu 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 32bit Torrent

Kubuntu 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 64bit Torrent

Kubuntu 9.10 Desktop (LiveCD) 32bit Torrent

Kubuntu 9.10 Desktop (LiveCD) 64bit Torrent

Kubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix 32bit Torrent

Xubuntu

Xubuntu 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 32bit Torrent

Xubuntu 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 64bit Torrent

Xubuntu 9.10 Desktop (LiveCD) 32bit Torrent

Xubuntu 9.10 Desktop (LiveCD) 64bit Torrent

Ubuntu Studio

Ubuntu Studio 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 32bit Torrent

Ubuntu Studio 9.10 Alternate (text-based) 64bit Torrent

Ubuntu Server

Ubuntu 9.10 Server 32bit Torrent

Ubuntu 9.10 Server 64bit Torrent

Mythbuntu

Mythbuntu 9.10 Desktop 32bit Torrent

Mythbuntu 9.10 Desktop 64bit Torrent

Edubuntu

Edubuntu 9.10 DVD 32bit Torrent

Edubuntu 9.10 DVD 64bit Torrent

If I missed any, please let me know and I’ll add them. I’d like this list to be a definitive list of all available 9.10 torrents!

Last week I volunteered my weekend to help represent the GNOME foundation at the Utah Open Source Conference. The conference was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of interesting people as they came to say “Hi” at our booth. I found that a large percentage of the conference attendees were “Fans of GNOME”, and we even took some pictures with many of them.

Will is one of the conference organizers.

The Ubuntu Utah booth guys representing our favorite distribution, all decked out in brown!

Paul Frields from the Fedora Project came to show us some GNOME love.

Our friends from the OpenVZ booth next door. I heard their speech so many times I feel like I could have run their booth myself!

Clint, giving us his biggest smile!

Even our friends from KDE came by to show us that we can all just get along.

Here we have Josh trying to recreate the GNOME foot.

Derek is excited to see us!

..and finally, my favorite, Mike Basinger REALLY showing us how much he likes GNOME!

As you can see, the conference was a lot of fun and I had a great time being a part of GNOME for the weekend. Since that time I have started contributing to GNOME a bit more. I’m still trying to find just the right place, but I’ve been meeting a lot of new people and learning about a lot of the exciting things coming up for GNOME 3.0! There are some exciting things coming up, and there is a lot of work to be done. I know we can make it all happen with your help.

If you are a “Fan of GNOME” I invite you to become an official “Friend of GNOME” by contributing to the GNOME foundation. You can find out more at the “Become a Friend of GNOME” website. You can donate any amount, and all donations are very much appreciated. Together we can make GNOME do great things! Thank you.