How to use Ubuntu software center on Linux Mint

Ubuntu Software Center StartbildschirmLinux Mint itself is well and good, but the included software management is admittedly not quite my thing. I personally think it’s quite sluggish (long loading times) and also eye candy looks different. Concerning the software center Ubuntu has done a far better job. And that’s why I want to show you today, how to get Ubuntu’s software center running up on Linux Mint.
In the first step the software center must be installed with the following shell command.

sudo apt-get install software-center

Then a python script must be created. Therefore you copy an existing script and edit it. See the following shell commands to get to know what exactly is going on.

sudo cp -r /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/distro/Ubuntu.py /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/distro/LinuxMint.py

In this script, you need to edit some lines. So replace

class Ubuntu(Debian)

with

class LinuxMint(Debian)

For this purpose, just open the file with the following command:

gksudo gedit /usr/share/software-center/softwarecenter/distro/LinuxMint.py

(Within the […]

Bash script doesn’t work on Linux Mint

fromdos_tofrodosToday I wanted to run (once again) a bash script on Linux Mint. (I had downloaded it from Pastebin.com). But unfortunately nothing happened. Not even an error message. Whereas solution was quite simple. The script was apparently stored with line breaks in Windows format (r), so the bash interpreter couldn’t parse it correctly.
Quick and easy solution was promised by fromdos. To repair the script, you just have to call the following command:

fromdos myScriptFile.sh

Should you have fromdos not yet installed, you can catch up by simply typing the following into a shell window.

sudo apt-get install tofrodos

And now, have fun fix you files! ;)

How to edit Linux Mint start menu

Gnome Menu vs. Linux Mint MenüMeanwhile, I have used Linux Mint for a few weeks and I’m in between, of course, repeatly encountered one or another obstacle. One of them is for example the fact that some programs that are installed by the shell, are only visible to the the Gnome menu, but aren’t showing up in Linux Mint start menu. How to fix this, I want to show you today. (Who does not know the difference between Linux Mint start menu and the Gnome menu should simply click once on the little picture above-left of the article.)
The solution for the problem is a little program called “alacarte”, which you can install by Linux Mint’s software management. After installation, you can freely manage (delete, add and categorize) the entries in the Linux Mint start menu.

Quickly search, find and start any application with Synapse for Linux

Today, I want to show you an application for Linux, which at least in my eyes, is very helpful for you daily work. It is called Synapse and is an application launcher for Linux.
By using a specified key combination, by default ctrl+spacebar, you can open a smart-looking input mask. In this input mask you can enter not only the names of applications you want to start, but just about everything you can think of. When typing, Synapse scans your files in real-time and shows you all possible results.
If you enter for example the first letters of a songname,  so Synapse suggests you to either open the song in a media player, queue it up on the media player or to open the folder which contains the song.
Also every text you put into the search mask, can be used as query to Google. Programs may also be started. As you’ll have […]

How to manage autostart applications on Linux Mint?

Today I was faced with the question of how to manage the autostart of applications on Linux Mint. At last there’s no startup folder on Linux as it is on Windows.
To put it in a nutshell. To manage startup applications is as easy as any other experience with Linux Mint.

Press ALT+F2 (this hotkey opens the “Run command”-window)
Write “gnome-session-properties” into the run command textbox and press the enter key.

Linux Mint Autostart