Meet Ailurus (AKA Ubuntu Tweak On Steroids)

By , Published December 30, 2009

Ailurus is an Ubuntu enhancement and application management programme designed to help Ubuntu users tweak, tune and get more from their systems.

Ailurus really does pack in a ton of common enhancement tricks and tips, all of which can be easily applied via a check n’ apply system. It’s also able to install applications, manage software sources and provide general system information on hardware and software.

In many respects it’s like Ubuntu Tweak on steroids only without the breadth of available applications.

Is it useful?
Potentially yes – the amount of tweaks and adjustments Ailurus can apply to your system is pretty impressive. However it’s hampered by a slightly confusing layout, inconsistent look and the lack of a backup feature should instill caution in most users.

Momma wouldn’t know where to click first; the interface is quite unintuitive at first glance

The roster of applications falls maddeningly short of Ubuntu Tweak – which is a shame as this application truly holds the potential to be the comprehensive de-facto Ubuntu tweaking application.

I like: The Firefox add-ons section; easy multimedia codec install; nautilus tweaks
I dislike: The confused interface, lack of applications

Install

You can install Ailurus – which is still in development – from the following PPA: -

 
Karmic: 
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ailurus/ppa

Hardy – Jaunty:
Add the following to your Software Sources: -

  • deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/ailurus/ppa/ubuntu karmic main

Then import the key: -

  • sudo apt-key adv –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com –recv-keys 9A6FE242

Then update and install via Synaptic or the terminal: -

  • sudo apt-get install ailurus
Article originally appeared on omgubuntu.co.uk

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  • greg

    A couple of things:

    1. When posting bash commands please don’t use because then I get a * in my bash terminal which means I can’t use the up arrow and fix the command. It would also be nice if you post all 3 commands in one place so I can quick copy/paste them instead of having to copy/paste 3 times.

    2. I didn’t need the import key command because it was built into the apt-repository command.

    3. Install ailurus doesn’t work without an apt-get update first. This only took me a minute of head scratching, but if I weren’t an experienced nerd, this would have been a fail. Now why doesn’t the apt-repo command doesn’t run the apt-get update automatically? Why would I add a repo and NOT want to update?

    I also gave Ailurus a try, I checked “speed up nautilus” and it failed. it also asked for permission to write a directory to my /var directory. I allowed it because I wanted the application to succeed… however even with my permission it still failed.

    This program should keep all of it’s cache files inside its /home/user/.ailurus and not go messing around in my /var partition. /var is for logs, web files, email… things I want to back up regularly not for some cutesy program to create cache files in.

    • Anonymous

      Someone woke up in a bad mood today!

    • daas88

      1. Maybe do0d should post something like these (karmic only):
      sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ailurus && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ailurus

      • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

        well, without meaning to sound rude, i thought apt-get update and then installing was rather obvious…

        But i did put “update and install via Synaptic or the terminal”

        • daas88

          you were not rude at all, and well it was obvious to me, but maybe not for others

          Btw, i love your site, i visit it every day even though i’ve been using arch+kde for the last few weeks^^

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      As for the with commands – i’d prefer it if people DIDN’T copy and paste but took the time to see what they were entering… =)

  • Anonymous

    Ailurus is potentially a good application but, I still like Ubuntu-Tweak better. Oh yeah that shot of steroids for Ubuntu-Tweak is on the way — any day now!

  • greg

    I got it to work by rerunning the command… it didn’t ask for any passwords the second time and it succeeded. Strange bug.

  • http://computergyan.wordpress.com/ Sayantan

    It has a serious bug! It does not detect 64bit applications installed on the system. I have google chrome 64 bit installed. It cannot recognize that it is installed. It still asks if I want to install google chrome .
    Cannot differentiate between wine and wine 1.2 installed applications.
    Oracle repo included in this release is outdated and does not work.

    • http://biringa.com/ WindPower

      I can confirm the 64-bit issue
      And Ailurus is already in GetDeb’s repository, no need to add yet another PPA.

      • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

        Not everyone wants to install getdeb’s PPA.

        • daas88

          that’s right. personally i don’t like it because it overwrites my emesene package from bjfs ppa, which is more up to date…

  • vervelover

    OT: looks like you are not using the default dust theme in the screenshot, it looks more compact and buttons look nicer.. am I right?

  • vervelover

    OT: looks like you are not using the default dust theme in the screenshot, it looks more compact and buttons look nicer.. am I right?

    • http://omgubuntu.co.uk/ d0od

      Sorta-correct – i’m using the official Dust theme, but from its launchpad page (which is more recent than the version in Ubuntu repo’s)

  • Anonymous

    wait tilll i learn to use ubuntu:) do you have any visual programs that us -force force windows?