Soup Up GNOME 3 Desktop using Opera Widgets

 This article is about customizing your GNOME 3.2.1 desktop on openSUSE 12.1 . Since GNOME 3 desktops doesn't have any desktop icons the desktop real estate is free to be taken over by widgets , screenlets ,docks etc. I propose using  Opera widgets to decorate your GNOME 3 desktop as well as make it a place where you can read news , get weather updates , track stock market updates , play games, maintain your to-do lists , listen to online radio stations, maintain virtual aquarium and do a host of other things.
GNOME 3 Desktop With Opera  Widgets

Opera

Opera is a modern browser which supports all major web standards currently in use, like CSS 2.1, XHTML 1.1, HTML 4.01, HTML5, WML 2.0, ECMAScript, DOM 2 and SVG 1.1 tiny.It's main focus is on speed of browsing . Its page load speed is pretty good even on dial up connection. It has a lot of neat features like:-
==>Supports browser Add-ons / extensions.
==>Supports desktop widgets.
==>Has an in built torrent client.
==>Has an inbuilt mail client
==>First browser to introduce speed dial first
==>First to introduce syncing for bookmarks and other settings
==>First to introduce tabs concept in browsers
==>Inbuilt RSS reader
Install Opera on openSUSE 12.1 / GNOME 3.2.1
One can use this 1-Click Install to install GTk version of opera on GNOME 3.21 / openSUSE 12.1. The installer / YaSt screens / wizard will guide you through the various steps in the installation process.You may need to type in admin password / passcode when prompted.You may also need to click "accept" / "Trust" when it prompts for accepting  the repository key
Use Opera Widgets
There is no need for installation of a separate widget manager. It comes built into the browser . Once can download the widgets here.Opera defines widgets as "small web programs running outside the browser. Widgets can be both fun and useful, like games or development tools. They float on your desktop for quick and easy access to information or services". For those who are UN-initiated ,starting from version 10.10  Opera provides the ability to run the widgets as standalone applications. After the installation, the widgets can be seen as applications in the GNOME menu as an icon . The widgets on installation create link  under "/ home / <Profile> / bin" .There is no need for the Opera browser to intervene. The widgets run as a separate process.
Each widget can be rearranged according to the need on the desktop.
Widget Launch Links in Bin Folder

Launch widgets Along with OS / Add widget to GNOME startup
To add the widget to the start up on needs to launch "gnome-session-properties" through Alt+F2 command quick launch window.Then add an entry for the required widget in "Add Startup program" pop up windows by clicking add button in "Startup Application preferences". This will essentially start the widget when the gnome session starts up.
Launch gnome-session-properties" through Alt+F2

Add new entry for widget in Gnome Session Startup Manager

Hide The widgets in GNOME window switcher
 When one presses the left windows / Super key on the keyboard (OR) on moves the mouse cursor over "Activities" label in the top panel then the windows switcher can be accessed in GNOME 3 .Through the window switcher one can switch-over from using one application to the other application. In order to hide the widgets from appearing in the window switcher one can right click on each widget and set position" to "always below"
Before hiding widgets they appear in window switcher

Set to Always Below

After Hiding widgets they don't appear in window switcher

Widgets on My Desktop

The various widgets shown here in this post are:-
==>Analog Clock
==>BBC Headlines News
==>dotoo: To-do lists.One more upgraded version of too exists here
==>Stock Monitor
==>Weather forecast.This is a cool tool and has multiple display mode like 5 days forecast , compact mode etc.The display modes can be toggled by clinking on the widget.To set the city one should click the search or magnifying glass like thing on the widget and search for the relevant city and choose the  required city in the search results. The tool also allows users to set the display  of temperature to either Celsius or Fahrenheit
Weather Widget city search

Install sun java 1.6 update 30 and browser plugin on openSUSE 12.1

 Due to licensing issues openSUSE had to drop sun java from its repositories starting from openSUSE 12.1 onwards . Hence you need to install it from user maintained or community repositories . Only OpenJDK is offered in official repositories
Install Java
Based on the architecture the relevant package must be installed.You need  to install two packages:-
==>JRE or Java Run-time Environment is needed for executing jars or running class files on your system.Some application software like openoffice / libreoffice  need this to work properly.
==>Browser plugin is used to run applets on your browser
          We can install both JRE and browser Plugin using the 1-Click Install/One-Click for plugin as YaST will automatically detect that JRE is also required.You can also locate other 1-Clicks for Sun Java Plugin here
Important Note:- You may need to type in admin password / passcode when prompted.You may also need to click "accept" / "Trust" when it prompts for accepting  the repository key. Since we are using  1 click for plugin ,the installer /YaST will ask you to upgrade / install JRE also, you may need to allow the up-gradation of JRE.

Check Installation

Check version of Java/Jre in system
If you are looking to test your installation then you need to open the terminal
an execute the command "java -version"

Check version of Java plugin browser uses
To check browser plugin Navigate here or here
If the installation is successful you must see something like this :-

Run or Execute jar files

If you looking for launching (or) running jar files then ,look here

Vettai review (Contains Spoilers)

Protagonists
Arya as Gurumurthy
Madhavan as Thirumurthy

Protagonist's Love interests

Sameera Reddy as Vasanthi
Amala Paul as Jayanthi

Baddie

Ashutosh Rana as Annachi

Captain Of the ship

Linguswamy

  Vettai film is all about two brothers Madhavan as Thirumurthy and Arya as Gurumurthy.Like Jekyll and Hyde and two sides of a coin Guru and Thiru have diametrically opposite personalities. Thiru happens to be  dull headed and is a bit of scaredy cat,whereas Guru is a Ruf & Tuf and smart.The movie is about how the brothers fare in their life after the death of their father who happens to be a police officer . There is also a running gag that both of them  being sons of a policemen have policemen's blood running in them.

Pluses of the movie

==>Madhavan and Arya's screen presence is amazing.
==>As usual Lingusamy has paced the movie well.
==>Sameera Reddy looked natural even though she is not a local. Amala paul played the role of eye candy to perfection.
==>The script writers / dialogue writers have done a commendable job to keep the audiences interested even though the movie's story lacked substance.
==>The baddie sports a smart clean shaven look and performed well, and is a promising talent.
==>Did not feature any fart jokes unlike nanban

Minuses of the movie

==>The songs were terrible.The less said about the lyrics the better.This has been a typical trend in recent tamil movie.Only movie that came close to breaking this unsavoury streak was vaagai Sooda Vaa
==>Typical Kollywood,run of the mill movie.
==>This is the gazillionth film to portray an American fiancée as a dufus and complete moron.
Story
 The movie starts with the  Madhavan flying a kite along with other boys when another boy intentionally cuts his line When Madhavan confronts the aggressor he gets beaten and shooed away. Madhavan high-tails from the spot . He returns to the spot with his younger brother Arya who picks up a fight with the aggressor.The protagonist's father happens to catch Arya with another boy rolling in the sand and he takes both home and flogs Arya . Though Arya remains unperturbed , Madhavan weeps and feels guilty that he is the reason why Arya got flogged by their father.This scene sets the premise to rest of the film.
  Arya's father dies when the boys reach the age of twenty something and Madhavan gets coaxed by Arya to join the police force . Whenever  Madhavan gets into a tight situation with the baddies he calls up Arya and he takes care of them.This drama continues for sometime and Madhavan gains a reputation of being a no nonsense ,bad ass but kicking police officer.Unfortunately the bad guys find out the truth about Madhavan that he is actually a sheep in wolves clothing.The rowdie elements waste no time and make short work of Madhavan.
  When Madhavan starts recovering from the serious injuries ,Arya reveals the real reason as to why he made Madhavan join the force. He wanted Madhavan to stop being a scaredy cat and stand up to the challenges he faces in the life . He further goes on to say that he cannot continue giving a long rope to Madhavan and asks him shed his fears and beome a responsible police officer.The rest of the movie is about how Madhavan KO's the bad guys.
End of story

Conclusion

Watch the film if you want to have a few laughs or you happen to be a Madhavan (or) Arya's fan. You can also watch the movie if you want to catch a glimpse of Amala Paul who offers plenty of fan service and seems to determined to change her demure image from Myna.