There may be times when you need to view a list of the packages that were recently installed in Ubuntu for troubleshooting purposes or maybe just to find a program you installed that does not display in the menu. There are two ways to find out what was installed recently. You can view recently installed packages by date using the Synaptic Package Manager and from the command prompt using a Terminal window.
Use the Synaptic Package Manager
To view software packages installed recently using the Synaptic Package Manager, select Administration | Synaptic Package Manager from the System menu.
On the Synaptic Package Manager dialog box, select History from the File menu.
The History dialog box displays. All packages installed and removed using the Synaptic Package Manager are listed by month and date. Click the arrow to the left of a month in the left pane to display dates within that month on which software packages were installed or removed. Click a date to view what packages were installed or removed on that date in the right pane.
NOTE: Only software packages installed using the Synaptic Package Manager are displayed on the History dialog box. If you installed other software using other methods, such as the Ubuntu Software Center, they are not listed here.
To close the History dialog box, click the Close button.
To close the Synaptic Package Manager, select Quit from the File menu.
Use a Terminal window
If you prefer working in a Terminal window, you can get a list of installed software packages using the command line. To do this, select Accessories | Terminal from the Applications menu.
Enter the following command at the prompt and press Enter.
cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep “\ install\ “
NOTE: There is a space after each of the backslashes.
This command displays entries from the dpkg.log file that match the term “ install “, including the spaces before and after. The “install” entries indicate packages that have been fully installed.
All the “install” entries in the dpkg.log file are displayed in the Terminal window, the most recent entries listed last.
If the dates in the dpkg.log file don’t go back as far as you need, there may be other dpkg log files. The dpkg.log file is rotated and archived weekly. You can find available dpkg log files by listing the contents of the /var/log directory.
To do this, enter the following command at the prompt and press Enter.
$ ls –l /var/log
NOTE: After “ls ” is one dash and a lowercase “L” followed by another space.
Notice that you get a listing of all the logs in the /var/log directory, not just the logs for dpkg. To display only the log files for dpkg, enter the following command at the prompt and press Enter.
$ ls –l /var/log/dpkg*
NOTE: Again, after the “ls ” is one dash and a lowercase “L” followed by another space.
Only one dpkg.log file displays in our system, because it is a new system we installed recently. To open the dpkg.log file for viewing, enter the following command at the prompt and press Enter.
$ gedit /var/log/dpkg.log
The dpkg.log file opens in gedit. All packages are listed, not only the ones with the “install” status. This makes it harder to find the fully installed packages.
TIP: Using the cat /var/log/dpkg.log | grep “\ install\ “ command is probably the best way of viewing a list of installed packages, because only “install” entries in the log file are displayed. If you need to view installed packages that are older than those available in the dpkg.log file, simply replace the dpkg.log filename in the cat command with other dpkg log filenames you find using the ls –l /var/log/dpkg* command.
To close gedit, select Quit from the File menu.
You may notice that the list generated using the Terminal window is more complete. Programs installed using any method are listed, not just programs installed using the Synaptic Package Manager.
Use Multiple Workspaces in Ubuntu
Posted: 20 Nov 2010 08:25 AM PST
If you have a lot of programs open at one time, it might be helpful if you can split them up among multiple workspaces. Ubuntu allows you to move open programs to different workspaces. Workspaces are like virtual screens you can switch among. The same desktop, panels, and menus display in every workspace.
However, each workspace can have different applications running inside it, and those applications keep running when you switch to a different workspace. This tool that allows you to have multiple workspaces is called the Workspace Switcher, and is found in the lower, right corner of your screen on the bottom panel next to the Trash icon, by default.
There are several settings you can customize for the Workspace Switcher. To access these settings, right-click on the Workspace Switcher and select Preferences from the popup menu.
The Workspace Switcher Preferences dialog box displays.
The first set of options determines how the workspaces are displayed on the switcher. If you select the Show only the current workspace option, you must use the keyboard shortcuts to switch among workspaces. To switch to the workspace to the right of the current workspace, press Ctrl + Alt + right arrow.
To switch to the workspace to the left of the current workspace, press Ctrl + Alt + left arrow. These arrow keyboard shortcut keys work according to the layout of your workspaces on the panel. If you have your workspaces displayed vertically instead of horizontally, use Ctrl + Alt + up arrow and Ctrl + Alt + down arrow to switch among the workspaces.
You can change the layout of the workspaces on the panel by selecting the Show all workspaces in X rows option and specifying the Number of workspaces. For example, if you want to display 4 workspaces vertically on the panel, enter 4 for the Number of workspaces and enter 4 as the value for X in the Show all workspaces in X rows edit box.
You can also change the name of each workspace. For example, you might have all office programs in one workspace. You can rename that workspace to Office. You could use another workspace for all your work in a Terminal window, and call that workspace Terminal. Simply click on a Workspace name in the list twice slowly, until the name is highlighted. Type the desired name and press Enter.
If you want to display the name of each workspace on the Workspace Switcher, select the Show workspace names in switcher check box.
To move a minimized program to another workspace, right-click on the program’s icon or button on the panel and select Move to Another Workspace from the popup menu. A submenu displays, listing all available workspaces. The currently displays workspace is grayed out. Select a workspace name from the submenu to move the program to that workspace.
NOTE: If the program is open and not minimized, right-click on the title bar of the program to access the Move to Another Workspace option.
If you have a program open that you want displayed all the time, no matter which workspace is being displayed, right-click on the program’s icon on the panel, or on the title bar of the program, and select Always on Visible Workspace from the popup menu. For example, you may want a Terminal window available on all workspaces, if you use it often.
You can use the Workspace Switcher to categorize your open applications. For example, use one workspace for internet related programs, such as web browsers and email programs. Use another workspace for office programs, such as OpenOffice. Managing your open programs using workspaces can keep you organized and more productive.
0 comments:
Post a Comment