Google Gadgets are now available on Linux, but as of this moment, it's not in their Google Repository and they don't have an easy .deb. Thankfully, getdeb.net is making .debs of them, so they're quite easy to install on Ubuntu.
Installing
If you're on 32bit Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex"
Download and install this .deb (click).
If you're on 64bit Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex"
Download and install this .deb (click).
If you're on 32bit Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron"
Download and install this .deb (click).
If you're on 64bit Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron"
Download and install this .deb (click).
When they finish installing, simply press Alt+F2, and type "ggl-gtk" to start them. You should see a small icon show up in your system tray, and a sidebar. Right click on any of them and select 'Add Gadgets' to show a menu.
That's it, you're done! Enjoy.
Optional
Autostart
If you'd like to have Google Gadgets start automatically, go to System - Preferences - Session, click 'Add', paste 'Google Gadgets' for the name and 'ggl-gtk' for the command. Click OK and Close, and you're good to go.
No Sidebar
If you don't like the sidebar, then you can start Google Gadgets without it by doing "ggl-gtk -ns".
Uninstalling
I couldn't find an entry for Google Gadgets in Add/Remove, so the only way to uninstall them is to go to Applications - Accessories - Terminal, and pasting this in:
If you added them to be automatically started, go to System - Preferences - Sessions to remove them. That's it, you're good to go!sudo apt-get remove google-gadgets
Note: Google Gadgets also features a QT gui (ggl-qt), but I don't use KDE as the DE, so I don't know how to set them up there. If someone does, please let me know, and I'll include the instructions.
Changelog:
Dec 25th, '08: updated to version 0.10.4. Gadget Designer should work now, along with a lot of other optimizations being done.
Nov 13th, '08: updated to version 0.10.3
Aug 15th, '08: updated to version 0.10.1
Aug 11th, '08: fixed a typo, the command is "ggl-gtk" not "ggk-qtk". Thanks to starcannon for pointing it out.
Jul 18th, '08: updated to Google Gadgets 0.10.0
Jun 15th, '08: added the no sidebar option
Jun 15th, '08: google gadgets 0.9.3 are out. The changelog is missing, but the noticeable changes are that the sidebar is enabled by default in the gtk version, and it's way less buggier.
Jun 15th '08, switched from the PPA to getdeb as the PPA already missed 2 releases while getdeb.net had them.
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