Portable Linux Apps - Run your favourite apps on any Linux distribution from a USB drive

Ever wanted to run your favourite Linux applications from a USB sticks on ANY major Linux distribution with the need to install anything? Then prepare to say hello to Portable Linux Applications.

The Portable Linux Apps project brings the ideal of "1 app, 1 file" to Linux. Applications are able to run on all major distributions irrespective of their packaging systems - everything the application needs to run is packaged up inside of it. There are no folders to extract, dependencies to install or commands to enter: "Just download, make executable, and run!"

The method is similar to the way in which OS X handles applications; everything required for an application to run is in the application itself allowing for the application to be run from any location.

There are plenty of benefits to this approach. Users can test out nightly builds of popular software without compromising the installed version, applications can be downloaded and dropped onto a USB stick or memory card and then run on any desktop.

Some currently available Portable Linux Apps available to download right now include: -

• Pidgin
• Midori Web Browser
• XChat IRC Client
• Transmission torrent app
• SpiderOak online backup tool
• Blender
• Handbrake

There are plenty more and, even better, creating your own 'AppImage' is made simple thanks to the ImageAppAssitant tool available.

Remember the banners?

Back in April we issued a call for users to get creative and design some simple banners for their favourite applications. We couldn't reveal at the time what they were to be used for... Keeping schtum about this project for the past few months has been hard to say the least! Anyway, if you submitted a banner a few months back then be sure to check out the app gallery because it may have been used!

Download

There is nothing for users to install in-order to run portable applications, everything they may need is bundled up with them.

You will need to mark the applications 'executable' after download - Right click > Properties > Permissions > Check 'allow executing as a programme' . After that just double-click and you're off.

View and download portable Linux applications @ portablelinuxapps.org

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Easily Create a multiboot usb stick

Ever wanted to try out lots of different LiveCD’s on your thumb drive without the hassle of installing them one at a time? Say hello to MultiBoot LiveUSB which does just that. You just drag and drop as many .iso files as your drive can handle onto the application window and you’re done!

Upon booting from your USB stick, MultiBoot displays a graphical menu for you to select which OS you want to boot into. Log out, restart and then pick another! It’s a great way to try out various OSes on your netbook without the need of an external DVD drive.

The main benefits of using - as well as installing from - a Live USB is speed. Unbridled speed. I installed Ubuntu from a USB drive a few days back and it was took less than 5 minutes from boot to restart. You’ll also find using a ‘live USB’ desktop much more responsive too as there is no disc to spin and seek from.

Using MultiBoot LiveUSB

It should go without saying that in order to cram lots of different OSes onto a USB drive it needs to be a bit roomy. To use Multiboot to any extent you’ll need a USB stick, SDHC card, compact flash, USB external hard drive, etc of at least 2GB.

MultiBoot supports all main Ubuntu versions and associated spins Xubuntu, Kubuntu & Lubuntu. Most other Ubuntu-based derivatives work well as does pretty much every other OS that is available as a live CD.

The video below shows MultiBoot USB in action. There is no sound; your speakers have no blown: -

MultiBoot in action

Download

Installing MultiBoot LiveUSB is a bit of a faff. You need to download this .tar.gz, extract it and then double click on the script inside. This will prompt you for your root password and then proceed to install.

Once installed MultiBoot can be run from the Applications > Accessories sub-menu and the rest really is as easy as it sounds.

Issues

I had to battle to get MultiBoot working at first; the application requires that a USB drive be formatted in FAT32. This can easily be done using the Disk Utility app in the System menu however MultiBoot refused to recognise that I had a drive connected. A lot of pulling out/plugging back in later and it did eventually notice it.

Images & video | liveusb.info

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New .deb Thumbnailer script gives .deb installers application icons (updated)

I love how fast the Open Source community works. I really do.

Earlier today I posted an article titled “IF WINE INSTALLERS CAN LOOK FANCY, WHY NOT .DEBS?” which asked the question ‘Why do .debs files have to look so drab?’. Plenty of you engaged with the idea straight away and added in your own thoughts or reasoning's on the the addition of application icons to .deb files.

A reader by the name of Alex Eftimie not only read that post but has gone on to make a small script that pretty much does exactly what was posed! It places the respective application icon over the standard .deb icon, as demonstrated below, providing that the .deb file itself contains the application icon.

Alex notes that “There is definitely more work to do, including: testing, excluded paths, default icons for applications/libraries, performance, .desktop analysis, getting rid of the annoying frame around the thumbnail” but being hard at work on his Graduation thesis he doesn’t have much time to work on it further. Instead, he has put the project on Launchpad so that others wishing to get involved may continue the project.

Hopefully there are many of you out there who would love to spend some time on this because it is a great little project that, for many casual users, gives a huge usability boon.

Install

In the mean time you can try out Alex’s script by installing the following .deb package and follow Alex’s instructions: -

“If you want to test it, simply install the deb, then log out and log back in (so that gconf gets refreshed). The easiest way to see something is opening nautilus -> ctr+L -> /var/cache/apt/archives .”
(Source is available here.)

Super thanks to Alex

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If Wine installers can look fancy, why not .debs?

Y’know, now that Windows executables look all fancy with the latest Wine - making use of the inbuilt application icons - I can’t help but think that they make Ubuntu look worse. Why? Here goes…

Dreary .Deb’s

Just look at native .deb installers in comparison - they look so bland and uniform and indistinct.

George Dumitrescu e-mailed us to not only point out the lack of visual intuitiveness but to ask why they have to be like this when they could be much more akin to this: -

Whilst your Joe Average user shouldn’t need to be exposed to .deb installers in the first place (that’s what the Software Centre & PPA’s are for, non?) there are situations where he will either need to use one or prefer to use one. Coupled with this are the relative pain-free installation .deb’s provide and it’s easy to see why they are one of a users preferred options.

In a folder full of downloaded .deb packages Joe Average has to read and/or search for the application packages’ name. In Windows he’d just need to visually scan for the application icon.

George puts this succinctly: “It's a big deal. I mean if my sister downloads an deb from the web something like flash player and opens the download directory, will be able to find it instantly without confusing it with an archive.”

Why is it like this?

First up lets note that not every .deb package is an applications. In fact most aren’t. George suggests that such non-app installers could be displayed with an ‘extension’ type icon to denote that it is a library/etc: -There are, no doubt, also technical considerations preventing .deb’s from displaying icons. A .deb would somehow need to announced whether it was a library, codec, etc or an application and that, one assumes, would require some extra work; this isn’t an idea that could be implemented over night or surely it would have been already. In a simplistic frame of mind you can help but think that given the .deb of an application contains an application icon is there surely no way to draw on this?

Mock-ups by George

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Proposed Ubuntu 10.10 installer changes will make installation faster, friendly, intelligent

A new installation and Live CD experience is being mooted for inclusion in Ubuntu 10.10 that aims to address the complexities and inconsistencies currently inherent in the process and thus make the entire process super-quick, friendly and reassuring to new users.

Why the need?

For many users the installation is their first taste of the Ubuntu pie; leave a bad taste here and the user may never come back for a second slice. By crafting a refined and reassuring overhaul of the installation/ubiquity experience users will feel more in control, informed and confident in using Ubuntu.

As such the installer will aim to behave much more intelligently, cautiously and user-friendly. Particular attention will be paid to the partitioning process which daunts/terrifies many a new user.

“The Ubuntu Live CD is the first experience many new users will have of Ubuntu. The installation experience should be attractive and effortless to reassure new users that Ubuntu is the right choice. The process should feel safe and should only highlight risk when necessary (e.g. when data will be destroyed).”

Overview

The design specification detailing the proposed changes is exhaustive and thorough but below are some of the notable changes that, having been a newbie once myself, offer up a delicious menu of change that will dramatically reduce the headache that installation so often presents.

Don’t ask the obvious

One cool idea suggested - and likely to be implemented in the installer - is automatically detecting language, wifi, keyboard layout time zone, etc settings from other installed Operating Systems or the internet. This has the added benefit of ditching two entire steps from the install process by not needing user input thus making installation quicker.

Install user essentials

Checkboxes for installing legally encumbered codec's and applications during the installation process will also be introduced. Doing so will enable users to start using their desktop as they see fit right after installation - no trying to play .mp3s and receiving a warning.

Make partitioning mum-proof

Partitioning is another area with sexy mock-ups proposed for clear and more intuitive partitioning. Gone are the fields for manual size entry (which confuses many-a-newbie) and in comes some simple options (’replace everything’ or ‘use half of available disk space’.) A new slider widget aims to allow better tweaking of size allocation, too.

Vs.

Calm installation

As is obvious from the designs so far one key aim is to to inform and confirm the users intentions during installation. Whether this is through a new ‘get ready’ screen or via a new ‘time remaining’ widget during actual installation - keeping users fully aware of what is happening - or about to happen - makes them feel much more confident in proceeding. 

Particular attention will be paid to not un-necessarily alarming the user with screams of “DATA LOSS” and “WARNING” but, after confirming their actions, proceed quietly. Other wording will be changed to make more sense to the end-user (E.g. Password 'strength: weak' text will be changed to 'Weak password'.)

It’s all about you

An improved user-account creation dialogue will offer up many oft-requested features - including the ability to take a user-account photo with your webcam!

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A shiny new Ubuntu installer icon

When testing out the Lucid live CD next you’ll see a brand new icon for the Ubuntu Installer rocking out on its’ lonesome.

Thanks to THAC0 over in the OMG! IRC I can bring you a comparison: -

New Vs Old

 

Now, now. I didn’t promise a dramatic change; the icon keeps the same ‘idea’ structure. Overall it’s yet another icon to basket thru the hoop of YES.

Thanks to THAC0

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Coming Soon: Ubuntu App Centre – Replacing Add/Remove, Synaptic, Gdebi, Update Manager…

Ubuntu is currently developing a centralised “App Store” to simplify the adding/removing/updating/configuring of software within Ubuntu.

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New In Karmic: Installation Changes

Our series on what new software users can expect to find in Karmic Koala come October continues. Today we take a sneak peak at the shiny new additions to Ubuntu’s installer ‘Ubiquity’.

Canonical have been hard at work redesigning the Ubuntu installer ‘Ubiquity’ into something more user-friendly in time for Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala.

Ubiquity now has a "Quit" button during all the installation steps, so you can quit the installer at any time. Great if you feel you’ve made a mistake during set-up. A “Continue Testing” also button appears on the ‘Installation Finished’ window.

The time zone selection screen has been changed and now shows just the region/zone only, and not the city.

New Users Need Help

The biggest change to ‘ubiquity’ is the addition of an Ubuntu-focused ‘slideshow’ that plays helpful information on using Ubuntu during set up. This ‘information’ will certainly help orient new users into the way things are done in the Ubuntu Operating System.

So many times people used to Windows have been amazed that ‘Add/Remove’ actually allows you to ADD programmes! The ‘Add/Remove’ in Windows is solely used by the vast majority for removing applications.

You can take a glimpse at what will be greeting you during your next Ubuntu set-up in the video below.

 

 

Although this blog is Gnome-Ubuntu focused, i can’t help but show of thee bling of Kubuntu’s revamped installer, too.

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