Fixing Missing Icons in Ubuntu 11.04 Notification Area

Ubuntu 11.04 introduced a whitelist system for the notification area (systray). Only programs listed in the whitelist can display their icons in the notification area. Here is how to add applications so their icon will be shown.

First, install "dconf-tools" if they are not already installed.
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Type Alt-F2 and type "dconf-editor". Navigate to Desktop->Unity->Panel. Now you have two options: enable icons for all applications or just specific applications. To enable all applications, change the value of systray-whitelist to ['all']. For specific applications, add a comma and the application name in single quotes to the end of the list.

Finally, log out and then back in. Your icons should now show up in the notification area.

Rooting my LG Vortex Android 2.2.2

[Boring Disclaimer] - Rooting your phone voids your warranty and can potentially kill it. I take no responsibility for anything that happens to your phone by following the steps below. Use at your own risk.

I've debated rooting my LG Vortex for a while. I don't really need root access, but I don't like being locked out of something that I own. I finally decided to do it and the following are the steps I took.

-Download Gingerbreak 1.2 and put it on your phone
-On your phone, go to Settings->Applications and enable "Unknown Sources"

-Go to Settings->Applications->Development and enable "USB Debugging"

-Using a file manager (I use ES File Explorer from the Market), browse to the Gingerbreak file and click it to install it
-From your Application list, run Gingerbreak and select "Root device"

-When Gingerbreak succeeds, the phone will reboot
-Check your application list for Superuser. If it's installed, then you have root access.

Gingerbreak takes a while to run, but, according to it's site, not longer than 10 minutes. The first time I tried, I let it run for about 13 minutes before I aborted. I rebooted my phone and tried again. This time Gingerbreak ran about 8 minutes before it succeeded and then restarted my phone.

That's it! Now maybe I'll try some custom ROMs. If anyone knows of some good ROMs to try, please let me know! I would love to try CyanogenMod but it isn't currently available for the Vortex. :(