The Ask Ubuntu Lens is a way to search askubuntu.com via your desktop in Unity. You can search for anything on the site. Questions, tags, users, and badges all show up in the search results and then it will take you here.
Depending on your Ubuntu version:
For 12.10 and above
In 12.10 and above, the Ask Ubuntu Lens is now just a scope of the Help lens, to summon it with a keyboard shortcut use Super-H.
For 12.04 or 11.10:
You can install the Ask Ubuntu Unity Lens via the Software Centre by clicking below:
You will need to log out and log back in for the lens to show up and work correctly.
For 11.04:
You can install the Ask Ubuntu Unity Lens via a PPA
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:askubuntu-tools/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unity-place-askubuntu
Just open up a terminal window and enter the above commands. Then, you need to log out and log back (or run unity --replace
) in for the lens to show up and work correctly.
You can click on the Ask Ubuntu icon on your launcher (for 11.04), or inside your dash in 12.04 and 11.10. To get a fully expanded lens or you can hit the Super-U keyboard shortcut to summon the lens, then ask your question:
12.04 & 11.10 version:
11:04 version:
You can also right click on the icon and get a quicklist of different sub searches if you only want to search for a specific thing:
You can find more info here.
The Google Books Lens can currently be found in a PPA by its author, and currently have a note that These builds may have bugs, be unstable, try to eat your kitten.
To install add the PPA ppa:davidc3/books-lens
(How to Add a PPA) and then install unity-books-lens from the software center.
After this, you need to log out and log back (or run unity --replace
) in for the lens to show up and work correctly.
The lens uses the shortcut Super-b to show the lens.
Alternative method
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:davidc3/books-lens
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install unity-lens-books
Best Answer
You can download the .deb I've created using Andrew Starr-Bochicchio's packaging from HERE.
Once installed, log out and log back in for Unity Reddit Lens to work.
For more info (like configuring it - you must edit a file for this), see the article on WebUpd8.