What lenses for Unity are available?

Question

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What lenses are available for Unity?

If the lens has (a) scope(s) remember to add them to your answer as well.

Answer 1

Ask Ubuntu

A lens to search and interact with Ask Ubuntu.

Instructions:

• http://askubuntu.com/questions/31712/how-do-i-install-the-ask-ubuntu-unity-lens-and-how-do-i-use-it

Answer 2

Google Books

A lens to search books and authors on Google Books.

Instructions

• How do I install the Unity Books Lens, and how do I use it?

Answer 3

Dash-based Calculator

The scope works using GCalctool – the default calculator installed in Ubuntu. With such a robust backend the scope is capable of handling most basic mathematic operators and requests such as ‘+’, ‘-’, ‘%’, ‘sin’, ‘pi’, etc.

Currently still in testing

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-lens-utilities unity-scope-calculator

More Information @ OMG! Ubuntu

Bugs should be reported @ launchpad.net/onehundredscopes with the term [calculator] placed at the beginning of the subject line.

Answer 4

Ubuntu Cities Scope

Gets you a Map, the time, temperature and wind-speed in almost any city in the world for you in the dash.

Temperature is in Celsius and Fahrenheit and wind-speed is in kilometers/hour and miles/hour.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-lens-utilities unity-scope-cities

More on this scope at OMG! Ubuntu and OMG! Ubuntu Update

Answer 5

Unity Music Lens for 11.04

"Unity Music Lens uses Zeitgeist to search for music played on your computer and displays it in a Unity Lens."

Starting in Ubuntu 11.10, the Music Lens also lets you search the Ubuntu One Music Store.

Instructions

For Ubuntu 11.04, run the following in a terminal (source):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:markjtully/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-music-lens

The Music Lens comes preinstalled in Ubuntu 11.10 and later.

Answer 6

Gwibber Lens for Unity

Gwibber Lens for Unity lets you to search, view and access posts, replies, messages and even images posted on your favorite social networking applications.

Instructions

Ubuntu 11.10 and 12.04 LTS

Click to install: unity-lens-gwibber

Ubuntu 11.04

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwibber-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-lens-gwibber

(source)

Answer 7

Reddit Lens

As described by a post on WebUpd8:

A Reddit user has created a cool Unity Lens for Reddit (a website where you can find what's new and popular on the web with a very active Linux section). By default it displays /r/linux, /r/ubuntu, /r/iama and of course, the main stories.

The search field for the Unity Reddit Lens is basically a filter for Reddit categories so if for instance you want to see the top stories in the /r/technology category, search for "technology"...

Instructions

• How do I install the Reddit Unity Lens?

Answer 8

Google Docs Lens

The Google Docs Unity Lens can be used to search in all your Google Docs files, open them in a browser and sort your documents by various criteria such as file type or ownership.

Instructions

It can be installed from the Web Upd8 main PPA. Installation:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-lens-gdocs

You need to enter your password manually. Just do:

gksu gedit /usr/bin/unity-lens-gdocs.py 

And enter your password then run the lens:

unity-lens-gdocs.py
setsid unity

source

Answer 9

Web Sources Lens

This lens lets you perform a web search from your desktop without having to open a separate browser first. You type in your search terms and select which "source" you want to use to search with.

Instructions

Add ppa:cscarney/unity-web-place to your Software Sources, then run in a terminal:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-place-websearch

(Source)

Answer 10

Adult Lens & Porn Scope

It should go without saying that in-order to use the lens you must be of legal age within your country or province.

The following ‘Adult Lens and Scope’ set which lets you search, filter and watch adult videos directly from the Ubuntu desktop.

The lens is accessible by clicking on the ‘X’ icon in the bottom row of icons in the Dash.

You can enter search terms to find specific videos and/or use the variety of filters to help narrow down your searches or interests.

Installing

The lens and scope are available to install from a dedicated ‘Adult’ PPA.

launchpad.net/~scopes-packagers/+archive/adult-scopes

(link for above)

From OMG! Ubuntu

Answer 11

YouTube Scope & Lens

Allows you to search and filter YouTube videos from the Dash. Now opens video in VLC (if installed as well).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/lenses
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install lens-video scope-youtube

Once both elements have been installed you will need to log out and back in before they show up.

Read more at OMG! Ubuntu

Answer 12

Tomboy Lens

The Tomboy Lens provides a number of basic features.

The Lens itself presents a note-only overview of your saved notes for easy launching, along with a ‘New Note’ entry for the creation of new notes.

The search bar within the Lens lets you search through the contents of all of your notes so you can whittle down and find whatever it is you’re after.

Add to your software sources:

ppa:remi.rerolle/unity-lens-tomboy

Click to install

More information found at OMG! Ubuntu.

Answer 13

Grooveshark Lens

The Grooveshark Scope can be installed in Ubuntu 11.10 by adding the following PPA:

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa

Then install the scope:

 sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-scope-grooveshark

(Source: OMG! Ubuntu)

Answer 14

Unity Graphic Design lens

Unity Graphic Design lens is a specialized tool, aimed towards designers, acting as a global place that can easily offer various resources needed for design, all in the comfort of the Dash.

The lens comes with four scopes:

Designs gather data from Dribbble, website also known as Twitter for designers (here you can abundantly find various images suited for a wide range of tastes and needs)

Palettes, 1-click adds color pallets to GIMP/Inkscape

Icons opens the vast iconfinder's icon collection to get an icon, click on it (it will open in your default web-browser)

Brushes scope brings deviantart into the lens

Add the following official PPA (Oneiric, Precise)

     sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
     sudo apt-get update
     sudo apt-get install unity-lens-graphicdesign unity-scope-colourlovers unity-scope-deviantart unity-scope-dribbble unity-scope-iconfinder

Then log out and back into have it activated. Read more about this at iloveubuntu.net

Answer 15

SSHSearch-Lens

This lens parses the ~/.ssh/config and ~/.ssh/known_hosts file to simple start the gnome-terminal and open a ssh connection with the fitting host-name and/or user.

If you would like to search in the known_hosts file you should disable hostname hashing in /etc/ssh/ssh_config (HashKnownHosts no). Otherwise this lens only uses ~/.ssh/config to find possible host-names.

Installing

The lens is available to install from the ‘Scopes Packagers’ PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-lens-sshsearch

(Link for above)

Features and examples could be found in the README file.

Answer 16

Pirate Bay Scope & Torrent Lens

The technology itself is perfectly legal, but it has been debated if its implementation in connection with copyrighted material or otherwise illegal material makes the issuer of the bittorrent file, as opposed to the copyrighted material itself, liable as an accomplice or infringer.

Allows you to search torrents without opening a browser, and allows drag and drop to transmission for downloading. You can also filter by torrent type (music, video, ect.) and size.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-scope-piratebay python-lxml

More information found at OMG! Ubuntu

For information as to what a Torrent is, take a look at this question.

Answer 17

Unity Bliss Lens

This lens puts applications into category folders in the dash, similar to the old GNOME 2 Applications menu categories.

According to Mikkel Kamstrup Erlandsen (the lens' creator) from this OMG! Ubuntu article:

“This is a very simple implementation of an apps lens for Unity. It can be used as a replacement for the default apps lens if you want something simpler, or it can be used as a solid starting point for writing your own lens.

Bliss is by no means official or anything. It is a quick hack to showcase how you can go about this, mostly intended for developers who want to do their own thing. That is also why you wont find a PPA for it (not from me at least)”

Instructions for installation:

1. Download the package from https://launchpad.net/unity-lens-bliss by clicking the green button on the right side of the page.
2. Extract the package into your home folder.

3. Run the following in a terminal:

   cd unity-lens-bliss-0.1.3
   ./configure –prefix=/usr –sysconfdir=/etc
   make
   sudo make install
   

4. Log out and back in to see it in the Dash.

(Adapted from this answer.)

Answer 18

Recoll Lens

Recoll is a full text search desktop tool which indexes the contents of many file formats including OpenOffice, MS Office, PostScript, MP3 and other audio files, JPEG and more. Besides regular searches, Recoll also lets you perform some advanced operations like searching for the author, file size, file format as well as operators like "AND" or "OR".

Unity Recoll Lens lets you use Recoll from Dash, without having to open any additional GUI. The lens comes with a few filters like Text, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Media or Message, but for more advanced searches, you'll have to manually enter the Recoll search query. Examples: author:"john doe" metallica OR megadeth /2007 (all documents from 2007 or older) dir:/path/to/dir (filters content from /path/to/dir directory)

Installation

Unity Recoll Lens is available in the Recoll backports PPA for Ubuntu 11.10 and 11.04. To add the PPA and install Unity Recoll Lens, use the following commands:

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:recoll-backports/recoll-1.15-on
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install recoll-lens recoll

Once installed, you'll have to start the Recoll GUI (just search for Recoll in Dash) and let it index your files. Once it finishes, log out, then log back in and you should see a new Recoll search lens. The Recoll search results don't show up just on the Recoll lens but also on the home Dash, when performing a global search.

From webupd8.org, more information for Recoll lens found here

Answer 19

Cooking Lens and Recipefy Scope

Searching for offline and online recipe's from unity has never been easier.

Install it from the Scope Packers PPA

Click to install, if ppa added: unity-lens-cooking

also please checkout My Testing PPA for the newest changes ( unstable )

PS: I wrote it my self. I hope you enjoy it. You can visit the project on Launchpad for more info.

Answer 20

Unity Calendar Lens

Allows you to easily search and access your calendar. Unity Calendar lens categorizes its events in Recent and Upcoming, events filterable by Personal and Birthdays & Anniversaries.

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:markjtully/ppa 
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install unity-calendar-lens

If you want to use Unity Calendar lens with Thunderbird install Lightning extension

sudo apt-get install xul-ext-lightning

More information found at iloveubuntu.net.

Answer 21

Unity Binary Clock

This unconventional lens displays the time in binary format. Just add up the orange dots and you get your current time.

Add the following official PPA (Oneiric, Precise)

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:markjtully/ppa
  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get install unity-binaryclock-lens

Read more about it at iloveubuntu.net

Answer 22

Spotify scope

Spotify scope adds extra resources to Ubuntu's default Unity Music lens, displaying Spotify songs when a particular item is searched.

Spotify scope depends on spotify-client-qt, tool that must be installed before the scope.

A definitely interesting innovation about the above mentioned scope is the marking of its items, meaning one can easily differentiate between songs provided by Banshee and Spotify's, the latter featuring a Spotify symbolic icons.

The usage is simple, properly oriented towards its corespondent application, meaning, playing a Spotify song is as simple as clicking on it (the item will be opened via the Spotify client).

Install

First, install the Spotify client (download the package and install it via Ubuntu Software Center).

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install unity-scope-spotify

Active the scope by logging out and then logging back in.

Information from iloveubuntu.net

Answer 23

Unity Dictionary Lens

The Ubuntu Dictionary is an Unity Launcher plugin that allows you to find the meanings and definitions of words directly from the Unity Dash, using the GNOME Dictionary tool.

To install the Unity Dictionary Lens plugin in your Ubuntu 12.04 LTS operating system, open a terminal window (hit the CTRL+ALT+T key combination) and paste the following commands (one by one, hitting Enter after each one):

Instruction

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y unity-dictionary-lens

You will also need to restart your session after the installation. Be aware that this is only available for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin).

VIDEO

(SOURCE)

Answer 24

Wikipedia Lens

The Wikipedia Lens is pretty self-explanatory: it allows you to search Wikipedia for various articles.

Instructions

This lens is available in a PPA for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 12.10, and can be installed using these commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scopes-packagers/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-lens-wikipedia

(Source: OMG! Ubuntu!)