System Load Indicator

At last, a replacement to System Monitor

https://launchpad.net/indicator-multiload

Simple search for "System Load Indicator" in Software Center.

Now run the App, and finally I can what my Mac is up to.

Nice Features are when you right click, you will see that it is by default - set to autostart.

Turning on the Status bar in nautilus

A quick tweak to make me feel more at home

Open a nautilus window
In the context menu set the option view -> statusbar to checked

I can now see the number and size of files again.

Creating custom launchers for the Unity launcher in Ubuntu 11.10 (Minecraft Example)

After recently upgrading my Ubuntu from 11.04 to 11.10 I realised there was no simple way to add custom items to unity launcher. The Unity launcher only accepts .desktop files (see examples /usr/share/applications or desktop entry spec).

Below is an example of how to create a Minecraft custom Launcher, the assumption that you have already installed Java and have Minecraft downloaded and unpacked somewhere are made.

• First we need to create a shell script file to launch the Minecraft launcher (I put mine in an apps directory within my home).

cd ~/
mkdir apps
gedit ~/apps/minecraft.sh

• Paste the following content into gedit and save/close gedit 

#!/bin/bash
~/apps/java/bin/java -Xmx1024M -Xms1024M -jar ~/apps/minecraft/minecraft.jar net.minecraft.LauncherFrame

NOTE: The path to java (~/apps/java/bin/java) must match where ever you've installed java this can be found with the following command (to be run in a terminal):

which java

NOTE:  The path to minecraft.jar (~/apps/minecraft/minecraft.jar) must match the path to where ever you've unpacked the Minecraft download.

• Next you will need to make the .sh file executable with the following command:

 chmod +x  ~/apps/minecraft.sh

• Now we will create a new .desktop file (I put mine in a launchers directory within my home).

cd ~/
mkdir launchers
gedit ~/launchers/gnome-minecraft-panel.desktop

• Paste the following content into gedit and save/close gedit

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Minecraft
Comment=Minecraft Launcher
Exec=~/apps/minecraft.sh
Icon=~/apps/minecraft/minecraft.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
StartupNotify=true
Categories=GNOME;GTK;X-GNOME;
OnlyShowIn=GNOME;
# Translators: those are keywords for the date and time control-center panel
X-GNOME-Keywords=Minecraft;
X-GNOME-Keywords[en_GB]=Minecraft;
X-Ubuntu-Gettext-Domain=Minecraft Launcher
Name[en_GB]=gnome-minecraft-panel.desktop

NOTE: the paths to the (Exec & Icon) need to be to the .sh file and the Icon wish you want to use accordingly).

• Open the file browser (Nautilus) and navigate to the lauchers directory within your home directory.
• Drag the desktop into the Unity Launcher, done!