Image via Wikipedia

I was trying to find a way to get live cricket scores on my desktop. I could have used retreived rss feeds every few minutes, but I found a simpler way on a mailing list Here, a python script by Sridhar.

I modified it a bit to fit my horizontal conky, and also the display format.

Click on image to see complete screenshot:

Download cricscore.py
and place it in your home folder.

To get the live score in the terminal, just type

python cricscore.py

If you want it to show in conky, just add this line to your .conkyrc file where you want it to show

${execi 30 python cricscore.py}

that will update the score every 30 seconds

Anyway, heres my .conkyrc script: .conkyrc. (for the rhythmbox script, check here

I’ll be referring to the main PC that updates from official mirrors as _server_ and the other PCs as _client_. Lets start.

———————— _Server_ Config —————————-
Open a terminal on the _server_ and type

sudo apt-get install apt-cacher apache2

(yep, you’ll need a webserver)

once thats done, open /etc/apt-cacher/apt-cacher.conf in a text editor and modify to your needs.
The default port is 3142. The only thing I modified was path_map which lets you use aliases for repository hostnames

My path_map looks something like this.

path_map = ubuntu archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu ; partner archive.canonical.com/ubuntu ; ubuntu-security security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu ; lp-compiz ppa.launchpad.net/compiz/ubuntu ; google dl.google.com/linux/deb ; ubuntutweak ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu

you can use full hostnames instead of aliases, but I prefer this.

Now you need to edit /etc/default/apt-cacher and set AUTOSTART to 1.

Now restart apt-cacher

sudo /etc/init.d/apt-cacher restart

Now update the repositories and upgrade your packages

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

If you’re upgrading to Intrepid Ibex from Hardy Heron, Please Check http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading

After the entire upgrade completes, run this command in terminal to import existing cached archives.

sudo /usr/share/apt-cacher/apt-cacher-import.pl /var/cache/apt/archives

If it throws up an error, try

sudo /usr/share/apt-cacher/apt-cacher-import.pl -s /var/cache/apt/archives

———————— _Client_ Config —————————-
First Check if the Apt-cacher server is running by opening
http://repository-server:3142/report in your browser (‘repository-server’ here is the IP or hostname of the _server_ machine)

Then on the _client_ machines, open /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

And change the mirror to your local server’s IP/hostname
for example:
(If you used path_map)

deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid main restricted

changes to

deb http://repository-server:3142/apt-cacher/ubuntu intrepid main restricted

Note: replace ‘repository-server’ with your _server_’s IP or hostname (in my case 192.168.0.3)

Otherwise (If you didn’t use path_map) change it to:

deb http://apt-cacher-server/apt-cacher/archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid main restricted

Do this for all lines in sources.list that you want to update via the apt-cache server.

now you can use apt-get just like before.
to upgrade to Intrepid Ibex from Hardy Heron, Check http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading

and click on upgrade to ubuntu 8.10

Reference links (might help you with troubleshooting)
http://www.debuntu.org/how-to-set-up-a-repository-cache-with-apt-cacher
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Apt-Cacher-Server

You can also upgrade using apt-p2p – Learn more on torrentfreak

And I also suggest you use bittorrent for downloading the Cd and DVD ISOs so that there is lesser stress on the mirrors. If you have to use the http/ftp mirrors, try using a local mirror or one close to your country.

Get the Torrents here

See Whats New in Intrepid Ibex

Heres the link (http://www.gnome-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=185)
When I googled for this term, I got mixed results. Some said it was a software that would replace Gnome, Others said It was a bunch of ideas and mockups for Gnome 3, Then a post on ubuntu brainstorm says that Gnome 3 will be called Topaz. Well, looks like Gnome 3 mockups to me

Heres a few I liked (Click on Image to go to the Gnome-Look page)

To Install, first edit your /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

and add these two lines:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/tualatrix/ubuntu hardy main

Now, Update and install ubuntu-tweak

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Other ways to install Ubuntu-Tweak.

A List of Features in Ubuntu-Tweak.

Screenshots

A couple compiz effects (Trasparent Menu and Pick Windows)

I was trying to get the Cylinder and Sphere/Globe effect on My Ubuntu. After trying many scripts that install compiz from git, I found my copy of compiz completely broken. Then after days of googling, I found this https://launchpad.net/~compiz/+archive.

And it seems, all you need to do is edit your /etc/apt/sources.list and add these lines

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/compiz/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/compiz/ubuntu hardy main

and then

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-gnome

And you might also want to do a “sudo apt-get upgrade” to upgrade compizconfig-settings-manager.

You can now go to System > Preferences > CompizConfig Settings Manager and enable Cube Reflection and Deformation (Well, this is why I wanted version 0.7.6.) and edit to your liking.

now just

compiz –replace &

Screenshots Here (http://d1g1t.net/2008/07/17/desktop-screenshots-july-17/)