Guake - Drop-down terminal for linux

Today there is seldom a need to open a terminal in a linux system to carry out your day-to-day tasks. And i feel it is good, as many new linux may get scared off, if you need to use the terminal for simple daily tasks, but as any moderate linux user will tell you, it is very useful to have some basic terminal skills. But i hate it when you have to keep track of all the terminal windows when you minimize them or when they hide behind some other window. A solution to this problem is the Guake terminal for gnome desktop.

Guake Terminal 

It is a drop-down terminal for gnome desktop system. Here are some of its main features

• Can be invoked by single key press.
• Opens instantly, as it is already loaded in the memory at the start-up.
• Multiple terminals can be opened in the single window.
• Highly customizable. Keyboard shortcuts, window appearance, scrolling behavior can be changed very easily.

To get it for ubuntu just search it in the software center or CLICK HERE to visit its development page.

Klavaro - Free touch typing tutor for linux

If you are a heavy web user or a general computerholic, significant amount of your tasks are done using a keyboard and i am sure that most of you, use just the index fingers to do most of the typing. Though i have seen some people typing really fast with just their index fingers, it is frankly a very unproductive way of typing. So it would be worthwhile to learn to use all your fingers for typing and to not look constantly at you keyboard. This is called touch typing. If you are a linux user here is good software too get started with touch typing.

Klavaro
It is a free touch typing tutor for linux systems. Small in size but you will be amazed to see so many features packed in it. Some of the important features are

• Supports mostly all the languages you can think of.
• Supports a wide range of keyboard layouts.
• You can also customize the keyboard layout
• Shows progress charts to review your performance.
• Very simple layout and free of unnecessary options which you will seldom use.

If you are a ubuntu user, just type "klavaro" in the software centre and install it. To download it for other distros Click Here to visit their website.

Conky (with personal conky configuration)

If you have seen any Linux desktop screenshots, there is high probability that you have come across the very geeky looking system monitor on the side. That is conky.

Conky
Conky is a free system monitoring software for Linux and BSD. One of its most attractive feature is that its highly configurable. There are hundreds of parameters and graphic layouts you can choose, to be displayed on your desktop.
If you are using Ubuntu just search for conky in their software center.
or CLICK HERE to download and get other installation instruction.

Configuring Conky Layout
But the most fun part about conky is its configuration. Some people spend hours trying out different layouts to suit their personal needs. You can access the conky config file by typing "gedit .conkyrc" in the terminal. To get more information about conky configuration and parameters, visit the above download link.
If you like the conky layout in the image of this post CLICK HERE to download its config file.

View hardware and software info on ubuntu using hardinfo

There are hundreds of occasions when you need to check some information about the hardware or software installed on your computer. On windows this can be easily done by typing "dxdiag" in run. On ubuntu you can get this information using "sysinfo" but it it is very limited. To get detailed information about all the components installed on your computer and getting other software related information you can use hardinfo.

hardinfo
hardinfo provides the user with detailed information of the user's computer. Currently it shows information of PCI, ISA PnP, USB, IDE, SCSI, Serial and parallel port devices. It also carry outs benchmark test for your CPU. It can also generate reports in html and plain text for later reference.

Getting hardinfo
To get and install hardinfo, open your terminal (Alt + Ctrl + T) and type "sudo apt-get install hardinfo"
or just go to the "Ubuntu software center" and search  for "System Profiler and Benchmark".

To open it type "hardinfo" in the terminal or just open it through the dashboard by searching "System Profiler and Benchmark".

For more information, CLICK HERE to visit their website. 

Virtual or on-screen keyboard for Ubuntu

If you are a lazy web surfer like me, you will surely know how useful on-screen keyboards are when you are sitting or reclining in unusual positions. They are also very useful for the people with some physical disability, where physical keyboard becomes inconvenient to use. In windows the inbuilt keyboard can be easily accessed from the start menu. But on Ubuntu its a bit tough. So here are some methods, to use on-screen keyboard on Ubuntu.

1) You can use the inbuilt keyboard. For that open the terminal (Alt+Ctrl+T) and type "onboard". The virtual keyboard will instantly start.

2) You can also install other on-screen keyboards. One of the popular choice is Florence virtual keyboard. To install it just go to the "Ubuntu Software Center" and search "florence virtual keyboard" install it and it will be ready to use. To open it from the terminal type "florence".