How To Set Up And Use Gedit Collaboration Plugin (With Infinoted Server)

Gedit Collaboration is a really interesting plugin that provides collaborative editing meaning two or more people can work on the same files, create new files and folders and so on. The plugin allows you to collaborate both with other Gedit and Gobby users.

Check out this video created by jessevdk (the Gedit Collaboration plugin developer):




Firstly I'll tell you how to install Gedit Collaboration in Ubuntu and how to set up an Infinoted server and then we'll talk some more about the Gedit Collaboration plugin - how it works, etc.

Install Gedit Collaboration Plugin

Install the Gedit Collaboration Plugin in Ubuntu 10.04, 10.10 or 11.04:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pspsampsp/gedit-plugin-collaboration
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gedit-collaboration

Setting up the Infinoted server

If you want to test the Gedit Collaboration plugin without setting up a server, use "gobby.0x539.de:6523" as the server.

For info regarding Infinoted, see: http://gobby.0x539.de/trac/wiki/Infinote/Infinoted

1. To be able to actually collaborate, you'll need a server. Gedit Collaboration plugin requires Infinoted 0.4 so let's install it:

sudo apt-get install infinoted-0.4

2. To configure Infinoted, run

gedit ~/.config/infinoted.conf

and paste the following:

[infinoted]
security-policy=require-tls
certificate-file=/path/where/to/save/infinoted.cert #I've used /home/andrei/.config/infinoted.cert
password=ENTER_A_PASSWORD_HERE
key-file=/path/where/to/save/infinoted.key #I've used /home/andrei/.config/infinoted.key

Edit the file above - everything is self explanatory. When done, save it.

3. Now you need to create the keys and start the server:

infinoted --create-certificate --create-key

4. The above command runs the server so you don't have to run anything else but the next time you want to start the server, you can simply run:

infinoted

You can also specify a port using "infinoted --port-number=PORT". For more info, run "infinoted --help".

While Infinoted 0.4 seems to come with an option to run it as a daemon, it failed to work for me. But you can set up an Upstrart script like the one HERE for this.

Notes:

• I've tested this on Ubuntu 10.10 and 11.04 only!
• Also, I couldn't test it over the internet (I've tested it between my desktop and netbook)

Using the Gedit Collaboration plugin

Once everything is set up, open Gedit, head over to Edit > Preferences and enable "Collaboration" on the Plugins tab. Here you can click "Configure" to edit your username and the color that will be used when you write some code. Then, select View > Side Pane and click the "Collaboration" icon at the bottom:

If you're in the same network as the Infinoted server, the server should show up in the bookmarks list. If not, you can click on the "Create new bookmark" icon, then enter a name for your bookmark, a hostname (by the way, it didn't work using an IP for me, only an actual hostname), port and an username which will then show up in the collaboration plugin user list (but like I've said above, I've only tested it running the server on the same network as both clients):

Now connect to the server (double click your bookmark) and if there are other people connected to your server, they should show up in the list on the left. Right clicking the bookmark (server), you'll be able to create a new file or folder - everybody that connects to it can do this:

What you type will shows up in real time to everyone connected to the server and it will be highlighted using the color you've selected in the Gedit Collaboration plugin options (see above) so it's a good idea for everyone connected to the Infinoted server to use a different color.

Well, that should be enough to get you started. It's really not that hard and if you code or do other related stuff and work in a team, you'll love the Gedit Collaboration plugin!

Many thanks to John for the tip!

TextMap Gedit Plugin Displays A Navigable File Thumbnail In The Side Pane

If you like the minimap which shows you an an overview of your files that comes with Sublime Text 2, you'll be glad to know that such a plugin was released for Gedit.

The plugin is called Text Map and displays a navigable thumbnail of the entire file in the side pane but for now it doesn't display the syntax highlighting as well (like in Sublime Text 2). However, the plugin is currently in beta so it will probably be improved in the future.

To install the plugin, download it, extract the archive and copy the extracted files (files, not folder!) to the ~/.gnome2/gedit/plugins folder. Then restart Gedit and activate the plugin from the Gedit Preferences (Edit > Preferences, on the Plugins tab enable the Text Map plugin).

Once activated, you can view a thumbnail of your file by activating the Side Pane (F9 or go to View > Side Pane), then switch to the TextMap tab.

Rhythmbox Pandora Plugin Now Available In The WebUpd8 PPA, No Longer Requires Pithos

Rhythmbox Pandora is a plugin which allows you to listen to Pandora, add and remove radio stations and love, ban, tired or bookmark songs.

The Rhythmbox Pandora plugin we were telling you about a while back was officially fixed yesterday and the official package now works with Rhythmbox 0.13.2. Further more, even though the plugin still uses some Pithos code, you no longer have to install Pithos to use it.

Because I really like this plugin, I've uploaded it to the WebUpd8 PPA (for Ubuntu Maverick only - using zedtux's folderview packaging, I've only modified a few things). Add the PPA and install the Pandora plugin for Rhythmbox using the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-pandora

I've only tested the plugin using Rhythmbox 0.13.2 so if it fails to run, try installing Rhythmbox 0.13.2. The code is 100% the same as the latest GIT (as of February 4th) so if you encounter any bugs, report them on Github.

Pandora Plugin For Rhythmbox

Pandora radio is a personalized internet radio service that helps you find new music based on your old and current favorites. You can create custom web radio stations and listen free - available only in the US.

I've recently came across a Pandora plugin for Rhythmbox that uses Pithos for accessing Pandora. While Pithos must be installed for the plugin to work, you don't have to run Pithos to use the Pandora Rhythmbox plugin.

The original plugin doesn't work with the latest Rhythmbox 0.13.2 and the author is currently traveling so he  can't fix it until February so I decided to try and fix it myself, even though I don't know Python and luckily I was able to get it to work with Rhythmbox 0.13.2. However, I'm not sure if it still works with older Rhythmbox versions, so if my fixed plugin doesn't work, try the original plugin.

Features and usage

The Pandora Rhythmbox plugin comes with the same features as Pithos: you can create or delete stations, love, ban, tired songs and so on.

Usage:

• to create a new radio stations, click on "Pandora" on the left Rhythmbox pane and select "Create a new station".
• right clicking a station, you'll have an option to delete the station
• double clicking a station, some songs will show up on the bottom of the Rhythmbox window
• right click on a song to love, ban, tired or bookmark it

Install the Pandora Rhythmbox plugin

To use Rhythmbox Pandora plugin you must firstly install Pithos. In Ubuntu, simply copy/paste the following commands in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kevin-mehall/pithos-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pithos

Then install the fixed Rhythmbox Pandora plugin by using the following commands:

cd && wget http://webupd8.googlecode.com/files/rhythmbox-pandora.tar.gz
tar -xvf rhythmbox-pandora.tar.gz
cd pandora && chmod +x setup.sh && ./setup.sh

Alternatively you can manually download the plugin from HERE, extract it, then right click "setup.sh", select "Properties", go to the "Permissions" tab and check the "Allow executing file as program" and finally double click the "setup.sh" file and select "Run in terminal".

Once installed, open Rhythmbox, go to Edit > Plugins, enable the "Pandora" plugin, then click "Configure" and enter your Pandora email and password. Once you do this, a new "Pandora" item should show up on the left RHythmbox pane - clicking it, the plugin should log you in to Pandora and it should retrieve your saved radio stations.

Remember: if my patched plugin doesn't work for you (for Rhythmbox older then 0.13.2), you can use the original plugin. Once the original plugin will be fixed, I'll update the instructions in this post.

Looking for more Rhythmbox plugins? See these:

• Simple Rhythmbox Plugins: Save Cover In Mp3 Metadata, Save Existing Cover in Mp3 Folder And More
• Play YouTube Videos In Rhythmbox With YouTubeClips [Plugin]
• Synchronize Your Last.fm Play Count And Loved Tracks With Rhythmbox [Plugin]
• Rhythmbox Album Art Search Plugin Ubuntu PPA
• RhythmArty: Browse Your Music Collection Via Album Art [Rhythmbox Plugin]
• Nautilus "Enqueue In Rhythmbox" Plugin Updated, Can Now Add Folders Recursively

Clientside: Gedit Plugin To Format, Minify And Validate CSS / Javascript

Clientside is a Gedit plugin for those who work with CSS and Javascrip which can be used to minify and format/beautify Javascript and CSS. Further more, the plugin also includes jsLint and an option to Gzip the current file.

To install Clientside Gedit Plugin, download it and extract it to the ~/.gnome2/gedit/plugins folder. You'll also have to install NodeJS and PHP - in Ubuntu, simply use the following command to install NodeJS and PHP (php5-cli should be enough):

sudo apt-get install nodejs php5-cli

Once everything is installed, restart Gedit and enable it by going to Edit > Preferences > Plugins - then, you'll find the options to minify / beautify Javascript and CSS under Tools > Clientside. There's one more step: under Clientside, select "Configure plugin" and make sure you enter "nodejs" under "How do I call NodeJS?" and "php" under "How do I call PHP?" or else the plugin will not work.

Clientside Gedit Plugin works on other Linux distributions (obviously), Mac OSX and Windows too, however, the instructions in this post are strictly for Ubuntu. For info on setting it up on a non-Ubuntu system, visit its page @ GitHub.


Also see: Get TextMate Features And Styles In Gedit With GMate

Install Compiz 0.8.x Experimental Plugins In Ubuntu

Compiz 0.8.x has some very cool plugins which are marked as "experimental" and thus are not available in the Ubuntu repositories. Johnnyg posted instructions about installing these plugins @ Gnome Look - I gave it a try and everything seems to be working (though I've only tested 3-4 plugins so far).

Among the experimental plugins are: Static Windows, Anaglyph, Animatons Plus, the famous Cube 3D Models, Cube Snow Globe, Cube Atlantis, Photowheel, Wizard, Window Previews (not the KDE Plasma thumbnails!), Workspace Naming, Toggle Decoration, Put Plus, Snap Windows and more.

If you want to install these plugins (remember, they are experimental so use them at your own risk!), all you have to do is run the commands below (for both Ubuntu 32bit and 64bit - only if you run Compiz 0.8.x, preferably 0.8.6!):

1. Close CCSM (if open) and run the following commands to install the required dependencies and download the build script:

sudo apt-get install compiz-fusion-bcop compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-dev build-essential libtool libglu1-mesa-dev libxss-dev libcairo2-dev git-core
cd && git clone git://anongit.compiz.org/users/soreau/scripts compizexperimental
cd compizexperimental/
chmod +x compiz-addons

2. Now run the script:

a) To selectively install the plugins, use the following command:

cd ~/compizexperimental/
./compiz-addons

At this point you will be asked what to do about each plugin. Here, enter "i" and then press the ENTER key for each plugin you want to install.

b) To install all the plugins at once, with no prompt:

cd ~/compizexperimental/
./compiz-addons install all

2. Restart Compiz: press ALT + F2 and enter:

compiz --replace

Then go to System > Preferences > CompizConfig Settings Manager and enable some new plugins.

Uninstall all the experimental Compiz 0.8.x plugins

If you want to remove all the plugins installed by the instructions above, use the following commands:

cd ~/compizexperimental
./compiz-addons uninstall all

Then restart Compiz (see step 2 above).


Note: I've tested it on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat 32bit.

Thanks to johnnyg for the instructions and Scott Moreau for the experimental Compiz plugins build script!