Gnome-Do is an application launcher, among other things. It is the fastest, slickest application launcher I have found for any platform. It was originally designed after Spotlight from the Mac operating system. However, it has outclassed its predecessor entirely.
With a couple of key-strokes I can launch any application on my system. Or I could open a folder location. Or I could just as easily search for something which came to mind. Or I could use Gnome-Do to access the inner workings of many different applications on my system through its extensive plugins. Or I could search the Internet. Or I could search my del.icio.us bookmarks.
Pretty much anything I could imagine. Just a few key-strokes.
It’s like magic. I’m surprised Sarah Silverman doesn’t have a show about it.
If you are running Ubuntu (and you ought to be by now), Gnome-Do is available through Synaptic and the standard Ubuntu repositories. However, if you would like to latest version of Gnome-Do you can add their repositories directly.
Open your repositories (System —> Administration —> Software Sources) and add these two entries (Third-Party Software tab; Add button):
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deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu [YourVersionHere] main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu [YourVersionHere] main
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(Substitute your version as appropriate. I am running 8.10 and 9.10 so I use intrepid and karmic, respectively.)
You’ll also want to add the verification key for this repository. The simplest way to do that is by running two commands (Applications —> Accessories —> Terminal):
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sudo apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys 77558DD0
sudo apt-get update
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If you are already running Gnome-Do, you can now update your system (System —> Administration —> Update Manager) and you will get the latest version. If you need to install Gnome-Do, hop into Synaptic (System —> Administration —> Synaptic Package Manager) and look for it by name.
You will have to start Gnome-Do manually before you can use it (Applications —> Accessories —> GNOME Do) and I set it to auto-start (located in its Preferences dialog, which is where you will also find its plugins).
I believe by default you call up Gnome-Do by using cltr-alt-space. I have a Microsoft keyboard and so set mine to super-space (Windows-space). You can choose something you like and which is convenient for you.
Have fun with this. You’ll wonder how you ever got by without it. And you will sincerely miss it when you are working on other operating systems.
Thanks to this post for the repository information.
