Howto install Google Gadgets in ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)

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Google Gadgets for Linux provides a platform for running desktop gadgets under Linux, catering to the unique needs of Linux users. We are compatible with the gadgets written for Google Desktop for Windows as well as the Universal Gadgets on iGoogle. Following Linux norms, this project will be open-sourced, under the Apache License.

The Windows and Mac versions of Google Desktop has provided gadget hosting functionality on Windows and Mac for a while now and the Linux version of Google Gadgets will extend this platform to Linux users. By enabling cross-platform gadgets, a large library of existing gadgets are immediately available to Linux users. In addition, gadget developers will benefit from a much larger potential user base without having to learn a new API.

There's two main components to the application: one is a common gadget library responsible for running and presenting a gadget, and the other is a host program that allows the user to choose gadgets and run them on the desktop. Currently we have hosts written for GTK+ and QT, with the GTK+ host offering a sidebar similiar to that of Google Desktop for Windows.

Install Google Gadgets in ubuntu 8.04

You need to edit /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

add the following lines

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/googlegadgets/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/googlegadgets/ubuntu hardy main

Save and exit the file

Now you need to update the source list using the following commnd

sudo aptitude update

or you can use the following procedure

Go to System ---> Administration ---> Software Sources, click on the Third-Party tab, then Add, and paste the following line

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/googlegadgets/ubuntu hardy main

Then click Close and Reload.

Install Google Gadgets using the following command from terminal

sudo aptitude install google-gadgets

This complete the installation process

Using Google gadgets

After finishing installation press Alt+F2, and type ggl-gtk click on Run to start Google Gadgets.

Now You should see a small icon show up in your system tray -- right-click on it and select ‘Add Gadgets' to show a menu

After opening Google gadgets browser you can see similar to the following scree here you can select one and add

After adding you can see similar to the following screen

Add Google Gadgets in Sidebar

If you want to add Google Gadgets in your side bar follow this procedure

Press Alt+F2, and type ggl-gtk -s -bg click on Run to start Google Gadgets

After adding google gadgets you should see similar to the following screen

Start Google Gadgets at startup

Go to System --> Preferences --> Sessions

Once it opens you should see similar to the following screen here you need to click on ‘Add'

Enter the following details and click on ok

Uninstall Google Gadgets in Ubuntu

If you want to uninstall Google Gadgets in Ubuntu go to Applications --->Accessories--->Terminal enter the following command

sudo aptitude remove google-gadgets

and you need to remove Google Gadgets from startup

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28 Responses

  1. wong bater says:

    damn i wish u posted this awhile back. I wasted 1hr compiling from source

  2. belzecue says:

    Refuses to load for me. Something to do with the xml parser… cant see this in the repository (libxml2-xml-parser)…
    —–
    20:34.185: ../../../ggadget/extension_manager.cc:175: Extension default-framework was loaded successfully.
    20:34.185: ../../../ggadget/module.cc:105: Failed to load module libxml2-xml-parser
    20:34.186: ../../../ggadget/xml_parser.cc:34: The global xml parser has not been set yet.
    20:34.186: ../../../ggadget/xml_parser.cc:34: VERIFY FAILED: g_xml_parser
    ggl-gtk: ../../../../extensions/default_options/default_options.cc:77: ggadget::::DefaultOptions::DefaultOptions(const char*, size_t): Assertion `parser_’ failed.
    Aborted

  3. Karthik says:

    Works great. Is there a way to make it visible in all the desktops ? There seems to be only a few gadgets about 20 or so. Is there a way to add more gadgets ?

    Karthik

  4. hemanth says:

    I had previously downloaded .deb file even b4 this post , i installed .deb file all went fine , now if i run i don see and icon on my menu bar , i have deleted drawer bar how do i restore ?

  5. Roninjapan says:

    Thanks..great blog..i can’t stop learning from this site.THANKS.

  6. chenjiancong says:

    chenjiancong@chenjiancong:~$ sudo aptitude install google-gadgets
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Reading extended state information
    Initializing package states… Done
    Building tag database… Done
    Couldn’t find any package whose name or description matched “google-gadgets”
    Couldn’t find any package whose name or description matched “google-gadgets”
    No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
    0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
    Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Reading extended state information
    Initializing package states… Done
    Building tag database… Done

    could you give me a hand ?

  7. Nik Gare says:

    The gadgets look cool but I don’t seem to be able to install any new one.
    I can download the .gg files, but have no idea where to put or extract them

  8. Alain says:

    Nik Gare,

    once you have the .gg file, put those, from your home, in the (think the path is ok, but please check) “.google/gadgets/downloaded/”.

    From there, first, exit from Google-Gadgets. Then, choose the .gg then right-click and choose “open with” and select a command line with “ggl-gtk” (or “ggl-qt”). This will add the Gadget to the desktop/side bar.

    Hope this helps.

    Regards

    Alain

  9. Frank says:

    It really seems nice šŸ™‚ and it’s easier then desklets to configure.
    At the other hand, My cpu really hates me when I use some of the gadgets.

  10. Michael Ajitsingh says:

    VERY VERY COOL!!! THANKS!!!

  11. kiran says:

    It is fantastic…
    thank you very much for your good info.

  12. Xavier says:

    Hey,

    It seems to load (i can see it in system monitor taking a lot of CPU), but nothing shows up. Help?

    Thanks

  13. Nitesh says:

    Cool! I always wanted to get it for my Ubuntu but did not dare to compile it. This was really easy. However, there is one issue…. It does not show up on all Workspaces.

  14. diego says:

    when i run this app it doesnt run in color Why????????? its like black and white

  15. Strydar says:

    According to the version on the launchpad repos, it is 0.9.1. You can get version 0.9.3 for both 32 and 64 bit from http://www.getdeb.net/app/Google+Gadgets, this will place a shortcut for the sidebar in the Applications -> Accessories -> Google Gadgets menu. Hopefully the launchpad repos will provide version updates.

    @Diego
    It sounds like you are running compiz and the program is not responding. You can try to disable compiz or your “Visual Effects” and see if there is a difference.

  16. Norman says:

    I guess there is no solution to getting the gadgets on all workspaces

  17. jeyno says:

    Nice work, and thanks for the posting!

    All seems to work fine – I do have problems with some of the gadgets: e.g. the Games, Google Earth gadget and Google News gadgets show up as a white box … any ideas what I may be missing?

  18. Norman, right-click on the system tray icon and check the box for “Always on top” and you should see your Gadgets on every workspace šŸ™‚

  19. Brian says:

    Also, can add “-ns” to get “ggl-gtk -ns” to get the sidebar to be invisible, so you only have the widgets <3

  20. nico says:

    it worked perfectly! thanks a lot, i really like this gadgets šŸ™‚

  21. CosmaL says:

    Hey guys, after running the command: sudo aptitude install google-gadgets i have a message says that the file is broken.
    any help? and i also have the same problem as
    chenjiancong Says:
    June 9th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

    chenjiancong@chenjiancong:~$ sudo aptitude install google-gadgets
    Reading package listsā€¦ Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state informationā€¦ Done
    Reading extended state information
    Initializing package statesā€¦ Done
    Building tag databaseā€¦ Done
    Couldnā€™t find any package whose name or description matched ā€œgoogle-gadgetsā€
    Couldnā€™t find any package whose name or description matched ā€œgoogle-gadgetsā€
    No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
    0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
    Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
    Reading package listsā€¦ Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state informationā€¦ Done
    Reading extended state information
    Initializing package statesā€¦ Done
    Building tag databaseā€¦ Done

  22. John says:

    does anyone know if this works with intrepid. I have been sat here for hours trying to install this from the above instructions. I think it installs ok but get a error message when trying to run ggl-gtk. Could not open location ‘file:///home/john/ggl-gtk’Error stating file ‘/home/john/ggl-gtk’: No such file or directory.
    any help would be good, thanks

  23. Man, you made my Day says:

    Your install description was working for me.

    Tany thanks,
    Emil

  24. Obrigado, jĆ” e a segunda vez que pego essa dica aqui!
    Vlw

  25. sheikhnasser says:

    apparently a very rich web site,thanks are for the other and the reactive readers

  26. pawan says:

    pawandeep@pawandeep:~$ sudo aptitude install google-gadgets
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Reading extended state information
    Initializing package states… Done
    The following packages are BROKEN:
    google-gadgets
    The following NEW packages will be installed:
    libaudio2{a} libmozjs0d{a} libqt4-assistant{a} libqt4-core{a}
    libqt4-dbus{a} libqt4-designer{a} libqt4-gui{a} libqt4-network{a}
    libqt4-opengl{a} libqt4-script{a} libqt4-svg{a} libqt4-test{a}
    libqt4-xml{a} libqtcore4{a} libqtgui4{a} libxul-common{a} libxul0d{a}
    0 packages upgraded, 18 newly installed, 0 to remove and 151 not upgraded.
    Need to get 25.0MB of archives. After unpacking 82.3MB will be used.
    The following packages have unmet dependencies:
    google-gadgets: Depends: libkrb53 (>= 1.6.dfsg.2) which is a virtual package.
    Depends: libltdl3 (>= 1.5.2-2) which is a virtual package.
    Depends: libqtwebkit1d which is a virtual package.
    The following actions will resolve these dependencies:

    Keep the following packages at their current version:
    google-gadgets [Not Installed]

    Score is -9881

    Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] y
    No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed.
    0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 151 not upgraded.
    Need to get 0B of archives. After unpacking 0B will be used.
    Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y
    Writing extended state information… Done
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Reading extended state information
    Initializing package states… Done

    and the when i type this on RUN “ggl-gtk”
    it says.

    ———————————————-
    Could not open location ‘file:///home/pawandeep/ggl-gtk’

    Error stating file ‘/home/pawandeep/ggl-gtk’: No such file or directory
    ——————————————-

  27. really says:

    Marvelous article! Howto install Google Gadgets in ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) | Ubuntu Geek really makes my morning a little bit better šŸ˜€ Keep going together with the great posts! Heed!!

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