For a long time I have had trouble with keeping custom characters or images that I used for bullets and numbering in MS Word in my OpenOffice Writer files. Meaning, that I make a list in Word and open the .doc file in O.O. and the special character I inserted as a bullet is gone, and replaced by a standard bullet.
I finally figured this out in Open Office today!
1. Click to the left of one of the bullets, until all bullets are highlighted 2. Go to Format/bullets and numbering 3. Under the "Options" tab, find the appropriate Level, in my case "1", and click on the number (on the left there) 4. Under "numbering" select "graphics" 5. Under "graphics" select "from file" and navigate to the .jpg, .gif or whatever you are trying to use as a bullet 6. In O.O. you can actually resize the graphic bullet, which is very cool. (width and height).
That did it for me. Click "Ok" and go about your business.
When forwarding mail settings from Google Apps Gmail to regular Gmail... First enable POP in the Apps account.
Next, go to the new Gmail account, settings/accounts and import and follow the wizard.
Next, when it gets to asking account names and POP, use your full G. Apps email address as the password for this account. The POP account name is the full G. Apps address, and use pop.gmail.com for the POP server.
Greetings! I wanted to take a moment to say "Thanks" for stopping by my blog. According to Google Analytics, visitors come this site from countries all over the world -- far more than visit my home page. I realize that if you are here, you came by way of an internet search and are looking for something in particular related to your blog, Ubuntu or computer in general. I hope whatever I wrote is useful to you.
I only started this blog as a place to keep my notes, so that the next time I messed up my system, the information I need would still be safe -- on the web. But now you are here, looking for info. If you would take that extra moment to leave a comment when you find something helpful, that would be very cool. It will help me to be of better help to you.
First thing I have done is to stop titling my blog posts with less helpful headings like, "Die Internet Exploder! Die!" to something that will be seen in a web search like, "Background stretch problem in IE8". Never expecting people to read my notes, they may be full of cursing...as I am basically working under the hood. So if you need more specific info, and find nothing in Google, please let me know. And if you need something translated I wrote translated into Japanese, also, let me know.
Found a very cool code HERE. It's new for me; undoubtedly old hat for some of you.
In the header of my blog I have been using the mouse-over command in the navigational buttons to create the illusion of a translucent-to-opaque effect. I didn't know the script commands in html for actual transparency, so I took my images to photoshop. I layered my button images on top of my background image and used transparency layering effects to create a new image, flattened the image and saved as .gif files. In fact, each button used 2 images to work properly, which takes a lot more time to make a cool effect...that I may tire of in a few months. One image was nearly the same color as the background, one was original, but this was not real transparency; it was illusion. Below is how it DID look in code:
Today I found a new technique in which I only need ONE image, and I don't even have to open Photoshop...meaning I can stay logged into Ubuntu, and stay away from XP. Here the opacity is controlled by the numbers in the code. Very cool:
So I have been looking for a way to double-post my blog -- posting the same thing in 2 places -- WITH comments.
My current method is to copy (ctrl+c) the post I write and then paste that code into a new post on the other blog. This is fine but comments made on one blog do not and cannot appear on the other. I wish they did, but have no idea how to do it.
I tried making an RSS feed, but it appears that the only options are to show POSTS or to show COMMENTS only, not both. There appears to be no way to RSS feed posts with their relevant comments in tact.
The only way I know to get BOTH comments and posts together is to download the ENTIRE blog (the one with all the comments has about 250 posts right now) and import the bastard into the other blog, without checking the box that reads "automatically publish imported posts". Since I post on 2 blogs, this would give me doubles of everything...which is shit...and I go down the list finding all the posts with comments, publish those and delete the duplicates. Pain in the ass, but like I said, it is the only way I know to get both posts and their comments imported.
There has been a BIG problem with my blogs and Internet Explorer. It revolves around my background code.
After Geocities died, I had nowhere to store my background images. Picasa shrinks everything to 800px. So installed a background code whereby the background of my blog could utilize a small image, but stretch it across the screen. Of course part of the hack tells the text to go ahead and appear in front. It works great in Firefox, Chrome and Safari. But, in IE, this puts the image OVER the text, and users would have to scroll down to find the content. To remedy that IE issue, I put in a fix for IE6, but then the background would scroll up with the text. IE8 came along and fucked me up entirely.
So... only because my friend uses IE did I spend several days...not hours...days trying to make my website work for IE. I joined forums and asked about it, asked on other people's blogs about it...even installed a program to check for errors in my template code. But the advice was to install a conditional comment for IE8...which did not work.
What I ended up doing to remedy the situation was simple. I decided to use the standard background code, but find a place that I knew would be free, but not resize my image. Blogspot.
1. Create a blog post and upload the background image to that post. 2. Go to the blog and open the image. 3. Grab the URL of the image, in my case http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sxj8vhGdJ6M/SsrVRur5ZUI/AAAAAAAACkw/mydNOdu6-hA/s1600-h/motorheadcat.jpg and remove the bit that says "s1600-h". This gave me http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sxj8vhGdJ6M/SsrVRur5ZUI/AAAAAAAACkw/mydNOdu6-hA/motorheadcat.jpg 4. Paste that URL into a stock background code and use that in the blog template:
body {font-family:Georgia,Serif;font-size:1.1em;margin:0%;padding:0px; background:#ffffff url("http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sxj8vhGdJ6M/SsrVRur5ZUI/AAAAAAAACkw/mydNOdu6-hA/motorheadcat.jpg") 100% 0;background-attachment:fixed;color:#996600;}
5. If you don't want a blog post with just your b.g. image in it, go back into "Edit posts" and save it as a draft. In my case, THIS post is where my background image is stored.
Works awesome. If only I thought of this over a year ago when I decided to use that stretch-hack. All this just to satisfy the users of evil. I only did it because I am THIS COOL. But you should still drop IE because it energizes the devil.
Open Source! Banzai!
Of course now my background is too short for Chrome and its massive screen space... DAAAAMMMN!!!!
EDIT: Ok, "The Blog Doctor" recommends opening a "Googlepages" account to store stuff like backgrounds. Good idea! I think I will try to save my shortcut icon (the little .ico file) there too!
I could swear I posted this... KRENAME. Get it in the Synaptic Package Manager. Being reared on Windows, I expect that I can highlight multiple files, regardless of file type, and rename them and they will automatically be renamed with a sequence number. Not so in Gnome...or maybe in Ubuntu at all. Is this just some stubborn-ass Linux programmer "damned to make another Windows"? Whatever the reason, it is stupid. Stupid not because I say so (which should be enough for YOU dammit) but because millions of people expect this from their file manager.
I descend from the soapbox and say unto thee, get Krename. Pyrenamer is ok, Krename is more like what you expect after looking through the Windows. Very nice.
1. Open it, it even says "Please add some files" at which point YOU select the files to be renamed and drag n' drop them into this window.
2. Hit next. Look at this page, but I always skip step 2 and hit next again. 3. Under Suffix (or prefix) click the gray pulldown menu box there and select number or date. 4. Under Name you can leave it to default "Use original name" or you can click that button and change the name to something like "Custom". 5. If custom, type the new name in the white space to the right of that button. 6. Hit "Finish". Swweeeeet. There is the option to rename more files or just not and grab a coffee.
I no longer had storage space on the Net to keep large formatted images (Picasa shrinks them too small) and so I used a css hack to stretch my background image. After Googling a bit, I am thinking there might be IE8 issues where the "overflow" needs to be "hidden". And looking at my code, it does seem to indicate that I have told IE6 to hide the overflow. Here is the code. So, in the <head> section:
I always think, "I won't forget how to set this up" but always mess up one step -- the Outgoing SMTP settings. As you see in the third image to the right, once you set up your Tbird account go to account settings/outgoing server SMTP, click on your server and select "edit". A box will appear and under "security and authentication" make certain that the "user name" is your Google Apps accout email address; not the account name.
How to add a Google Apps hosted email account to Ubuntu's "Mail Notification" application.
1. Go to Synaptic and either look up "Mail Notification" and install it. 2. Now that you have it installed, go to System/Prefs/Mail Notification. 3. On the General tab there, click "Add" 4. For mailbox type, you’ll have to select Gmail. For username, type your email address. cjamesson@goldencenter.org was mine. (I was trying weird shit like cjamesson@goldencenter.org@imap.gmail.com because that is the way Thunderbird does it...and was sorely mistaken.)
Also, the mailbox name has to be modified in this case to make things work. Move over to Details tab and change mailbox name to your email address.
New b.s. from Ubuntu Jaunty. Nick, this is for you.
I just put a DVD in my player and got the error message, "Could not read from resource" That sort of thing hasn't happened to me in a long while, but there is a known bug that causes this message. But first, let's make sure that newly installed Jaunty was set up properly.
In Jaunty, software sources for universe, restricted and multiverse are supposed to be active by default but if you don't truss it, you can check System/admin/software sources to make sure they are all checked-off.
Now, to make sure that bug I mentioned doesn't screw with us, in Jaunty 9.04 or above run the following in a terminal:
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
This should install packages libdvdread4, libdvdnav4 and gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly, but again, if you are uncertain or want to check, look them up in the synaptic package manager and make sure they are all installed.
My video played at this point. However, some guys said they needed to go to Synaptic and get "ubuntu-restricted-extras". Doing so will get you gstreamer0.10-pitfdll, gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse, and gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse
If this does not make the DVD play, leave a comment. If you found something else that helped, leave it in the comment box.
Whenever I write a bilingual blog post in parallel, I use the code below. The problem is that I end up with a large gap between the title and the post. And I FINALLY figured out what I was doing wrong. Appears that I needed to clear up some gaps. Directly below is how the code SHOULD look:
Just found this info. I made a new Google account (I am a silly, I just wanted a new account NAME) and so have been transferring lots of data from the old to the new account.
I don't often visit Google Analytics, but there is info in there I felt like transferring. So to do it:
1. Log into your old G.A. account.
2. Look at the list of websites you are tracking. Choose the one you want to transfer and click on the account name. For example "motorheadkaze.blogspot.com".
3. Once you are in that website profile page, on the far right under the Actions column, click "EDIT".
4. This is the Profile Settings page. Look at the very bottom there and you will see "Users with access to profile" and on the far right, select "Add User".
5. Follow the instructions, add your email address and select Access Type. If you are TRANSFERRING user accounts, next to Access Type: select "Account Administrator" and save.
6. Log out, and log back in as your new Google account name.
7. Just like in step 2, look at the list of websites you are tracking and choose the one you want to transfer and click on it.
8. At the lower part of the page, in the middle you should see a "User Manager" link. Click it.
9. From here you can delete your old user name, thereby removing the old Google account from the list, giving your new Google account SUPREME POWER...of your Google Analytics account.
Gaaaaaaaaaawwwd! That was a whoooole lot of looking at my old blog templates files to figure out why the hell comments were no longer...
1. appearing below my posts 2. allowing the comment button to appear on individual (permanent link) pages.
I not only backup my blog templates, but each time I make a major change to my template code I keep the old backup and rename it. That way, when I fuckup my code by deleting a > here or an there, I can look back at the code when it USED to work. In fact I currently have a </itempage> in my template with no opening tag. I will have to find that one day, but for now, the fact that it is MIA seems to be fine.
This time it was in fact a missing <$BlogItemCreate$> that was causing problem #2.
I am not certain why comments went away below my posts (issue #1 above) but repasting the comment code from an old template fixed it. How long has this been a problem? I don't know. But the broken code has been used on 4 of my blogs, since I share template codes.
NOW it is fixed though. Yay! So, feel free to comment.
うちのパソコンは２つのOS使用している。MS XPとUbuntu (Linux)や。でも50-50よりほとんどのスペースはUbuntuやねん。もうXPはホトンド会社に「Yes, I have XP」と言えるためにまだ全くXPを消すことはできん。まぁ、オタクの血も入っているから両OSを入れてみたかった。
Open Officeはナンダよ？っていうならここ読んで下さい。とにかく在宅英訳翻訳者として仕事をしていて、翻訳会社からMS Wordの.docファイルが来てもOpen Officeで開いて、訳してまた.docファイルで保存して送り返す。問題ない。読んで欲しいのはUbuntuもOpen Officeも無料だ。使い始めてから慣れていないから色々分からないところがあるかも知れないからUbuntuのユーザー・フォーラムがあるんよ。今日日本語版初めて見たからここでリンクするよ。
Lately we were talking about the page loading slowly, or even crashing on visitors to our site because of the amount of video links we post here. This especially affects computers with 500Mb of RAM or less. We don't want to scare people away from our websites, but don't want to stifle our urge to share either.
The solution, and my recommendation to Firefox users, is to install FLASHBLOCK. Flashblock is an add-on for Firefox that replaces ALL Flash objects with a button. If you want to play the flash video/animation, just push the button. This will not only save browsers from crashing, but will speed up the page-load time as well. Download FLASHBLOCK for Firefox here.
PS. I often fall into pages where people use music players to blast tunes. To test Flashblock on the gadgets, I randomly picked out 10 music-related MySpace sites and was not inflicted with loudness once. This weapon...tool... works against all flash advertisements... bloody Travian and "Hi I'm Amber" avatar ads are HISTORY!
This was posted by Amit Agarwal Saturday, December 16, 2006 on http://labnol.blogspot.com . Very cool! Thanks Amit!
Two Confusing Features of Picasa That Can Frustrate You
While creating a Photo Collage in Picasa for this post, we faced a funny problem - Picasa was not importing all pictures from the hard disk or atleast they were not appearing in the Picasa Image Library.
To our big surprise, this was not due to any bug in Picasa but because of the default settings of the program outlined below:
1. Picasa will not import pictures in PNG and GIF format unless explicitly told.
2. Picasa auto-hides images in the Library View that are smaller than 250x250 pixels in size.
Not sure why Google decided to hide smaller images or GIF/PNG pictures in Picasa by default, but it is fairly simple to fix these factory settings.
» To import and display small pictures or thumbnail images in Picasa Library, just click "Small Pictures" under the View Menu. [see screenshot]
» To import GIF or PNG format photographs in Picasa Library, goto Tools, Options and click the File Type tab. Place a tick next to the image / video formats that you want to import in Picasa Library.
Aaaahhh... now I remember one of the things I didn't like about Jaunty... the shortcut for making Ctrl+Alt+Backspace kill the x-server is now off by default. And you would think you could just go into system/prefs/keyboard shortcuts and make Ctrl+Alt+Bksp into a shortcut...but I did that and it didn't work. So here is what DID work for me:
1. Open a terminal (Applications/accessories/terminal)
1.b. If you have never edited your xorg.conf before do the following: Backup xorg.conf before you mess with it!
1.c. In the event that you need to restore your previous xorg.conf with the backup – something went haywire and your screen is pitch black, etc. when you restart x – you will be able to restart Ubuntu from the command-line. In that case, start Ubuntu via the command-line and type in the following:
2. Paste the following code in the terminal to install the dontzap package:
sudo apt-get install dontzap
3. Open Terminal and type
sudo dontzap -d
"-d" means disable, making Ctrl+Alt+Backspace a shortcut to restart the x-server.
sudo dontzap -enable
“enable” means that it won’t.
The shortcut may not work right away, and if not, log out and come back. Give Gnome a minute and then try your Ctrl+Alt+Bksp again.
4. Personally all that did was install the program, but the shortcut did not work, so we are going to get root power and edit xorg.conf. Paste this into a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and look at the bottom of your xorg.conf file. Do you see this?
If this bit of code is not in there, add it. If it is but ctrl+alt+bksp still doesn't restart x, make sure you retype all the quotes here. (In other words, make sure the quotes you use are not smart quotes.) Swapping out all the quotes did it for me.
Note: If you are typing the above instead of pasting, it is important that when you use the sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf code that the X in X11 is capitalized.
Mint was annoying me. First, it was ridiculous to take Ubuntu, make a few changes to the way it was setup, paint it green and call it a new OS. Clement Lefebvre, what were you thinking? Mint should have been a package for Ubuntu, or rather, Ubuntu should just have an option to install all media codecs during installation. Quite frankly the only plus of Mint in my book is the update manager -- now THAT should be in the Ubuntu repos. The green login screen is really pretty, but we can go online and find a myriad of login screens for Ubuntu. If Ubuntu didn't want to install the Mint options or put the applications in Synaptic, at very least Mint should have been called Ubuntu Mint to give credit to the people who actually crafted the system.
But the reason to DITCH Mint was not political, it was just too damn slow. I couldn't take the sluggish reaction times of Mint when running even the most basic applications. Typing in an IM, I could not look and type because the cursor couldn't keep up with my typing. Not knowing if the slowness and hot CPU (running between 46-50C all the time) were connected, and since Ubuntu is so fast to set up, I took the full 20 minutes and re-installed Jaunty Jackorama over the top of Mint. Speeds are back to acceptable levels again. Temps are the same, and during installation (heavy usage) the temp rose to 60C/144F! Such is a lappy I guess.
Japanese Jackalope!
Since I had to go through all that installation silliness again, I opted to install Jaunty in Japanese! Ubuntu offers the option to switch over to another language (for free) and in fact, if you feel like being a weirdo, you can just sign in in Swedish for a session. I have switched to Japanese a few times but the change is incomplete. Firefox and Synaptic are still in English and I have to install Japanese language packs to be able to write Japanese. So this time I said screw all that, I installed 100% in Nihongo and I didn't have to do A THING with grabbing SCIM or Japanese keyrings. Totally awesome. This beats the fuck out of paying another $300 for Japanese XP, then paying $500 for Japanese OfficeXP don't it?
I am SO SICK of this language setting BULLSHIT foisted upon me by Google.
My computer is set to U.S. and English... in XP and in Ubuntu BOTH. My language settings in Firefox and in Internet Exploder are set to US and English. I did everything to set my computer to U.S. and English... my Blog is set to English. My Gmail and other Google settings...all of them U.S. and English. I LIVE in Japan, but I want English.
STILL, in both XP and Ubuntu, bloody damn Google says I have to use Japanese by default. I changed settings in Firefox, but no. I opened I.E. and no, Japanese Google is default. I went to Google's "Language Tools" page and I am already set to English... yet Google default is still Japanese. I can reset this to make Google read in English, based on the cookies it puts in my system, but even so Google Friend Connect refuses to show itself in English! So I Googled and Googled, and finally found the following script (locale: 'en') to add to my blog TEMPLATE to FORCE English! Below is my full Friend Connect Script with the change emboldened. Eat it Google!!!
<!-- Include the Google Friend Connect javascript library. --> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/friendconnect/script/friendconnect.js"></script> <!-- Define the div tag where the gadget will be inserted. --> <div id="div-1233425301191" style="width:310px;border:1px solid #000000;"></div> <!-- Render the gadget into a div. --> <script type="text/javascript"> var skin = {}; skin['BORDER_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['ENDCAP_BG_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['ENDCAP_TEXT_COLOR'] = '#333333'; skin['ENDCAP_LINK_COLOR'] = '#660000'; skin['ALTERNATE_BG_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['CONTENT_BG_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['CONTENT_LINK_COLOR'] = '#993300'; skin['CONTENT_TEXT_COLOR'] = '#ff9900'; skin['CONTENT_SECONDARY_LINK_COLOR'] = '#660000'; skin['CONTENT_SECONDARY_TEXT_COLOR'] = '#cc6600'; skin['CONTENT_HEADLINE_COLOR'] = '#660000'; skin['ALIGNMENT'] = 'left'; google.friendconnect.container.setParentUrl('/' /* location of rpc_relay.html and canvas.html */); google.friendconnect.container.renderSignInGadget( { id: 'div-1233425301191', site: '04713597977602055406', locale: 'en'}, skin); </script> <!-- Include the Google Friend Connect javascript library. --> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.google.com/friendconnect/script/friendconnect.js"></script> <!-- Define the div tag where the gadget will be inserted. --> <div id="div-1233425377750" style="width:310px;border:1px solid #000000;"></div> <!-- Render the gadget into a div. --> <script type="text/javascript"> var skin = {}; skin['BORDER_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['ENDCAP_BG_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['ENDCAP_TEXT_COLOR'] = '#660000'; skin['ENDCAP_LINK_COLOR'] = '#993300'; skin['ALTERNATE_BG_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['CONTENT_BG_COLOR'] = '#000000'; skin['CONTENT_LINK_COLOR'] = '#993300'; skin['CONTENT_TEXT_COLOR'] = '#ff9900'; skin['CONTENT_SECONDARY_LINK_COLOR'] = '#cc6600'; skin['CONTENT_SECONDARY_TEXT_COLOR'] = '#993300'; skin['CONTENT_HEADLINE_COLOR'] = '#660000'; skin['DEFAULT_COMMENT_TEXT'] = '- add your comment here -'; skin['HEADER_TEXT'] = 'Randomness'; skin['POSTS_PER_PAGE'] = '15'; google.friendconnect.container.setParentUrl('/' /* location of rpc_relay.html and canvas.html */); google.friendconnect.container.renderWallGadget( { id: 'div-1233425377750', site: '04713597977602055406', locale: 'en', 'view-params':{"disableMinMax":"false","scope":"SITE","allowAnonymousPost":"true","startMaximized":"true"} }, skin); </script>
I did it. Since realizing that I could indeed create, edit or delete my desktop panels -- or give them arrows to move them out of the way when not using them, widen them to make icons larger -- I realized today that I could actually do something about my main issue with Mint: The Mint Menu on the bottom panel.
I had assumed incorrectly that you pretty much had to deal with the way panels looked according to your distro. Sure I have been adding my own shortcuts to the panels, making them translucent for a couple years now, but never really considered that I could just build my own. But today, I did it and Mint has an Ubuntu menu panel now.
Note to whichever hacker made panels so readily customizable? Thanks! I can imagine that maybe 3 or so years ago, to edit the menu panels you would have to do some major terminal work, but now the things are utterly DIY. Ubuntu is becoming more and more user-friendly. Not at all what people think of when they hear "Linux".
Skype chat logs are located in /home/.Skype/chatmsg*.dbb. Delete these files to get rid of ALL chat history. But! What if you want to only delete the conversation history from ONE contact? Cannot do that easily.
I looked in home/.Skype/ and found the following, and assumed they were chats with individual contacts: chatmsg256.dbb chatmsg512.dbb chatmsg1024.dbb
But apparently that is incorrect. The following I grabbed from another blog: http://www.k840.com/clear-the-chat-history-of-one-contact-in-skype/
Did you know that the default setting for the Skype Chat History is forever ? That means, every chat with every contact is still visible using the View Chat History right-click menu option. This could be a privacy related issue if someone else has access to your computer.
Skype offers a way to delete the complete chat history of every contact and to change the time period in which the chat history is kept. It leaves the user clueless however on how to remove the chat history with one contact only and the official answer from Skype is that it is not possible to delete the chat history of one contact.
This is only partially correct. There is no easy way to clear the chat history but there is one. Skype saves all chats with contacts in a Skype folder in Documents %26#038; Settings. The full path would be C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Skype\skype username.
(edit: in Ubuntu and Mint, that is home/.Skype)
In there you find the databases chatmsg256.dbb, chatmsg512.dbb, chatmsg1024.dbb, chatmsg2048.dbb, chatmsg4096.dbb and chatmsg8192.dbb. Those files contain your chat history. Unfortunately though those are not sorted by contact but by length.
This means that you would have to open each of the files and look for the lines of the contact that you want to delete. What makes things worse is that there will be lots of garbage in the text editor and that it is not always obvious who the chat contact of the current line is.
The best approach in my opinion would be to make copies of the files and work with them. You can;t open the originals if Skype is open and you do need Skype to look at the chat history and search for the phrases in those files.
It is lots of work but the only working way of clearing the chat history of one contact in Skype.
From the Ubuntu Forum: You know you're a geek when...
- When your multi-boot menu has a scroll bar.
- You know you're a geek when you've read 642 pages of a thread named "You know you're a geek when..."
- If you're friends are trying to convince their gf to do oral sex and you, instead, are trying to convince yours to install ubuntu on her PC, you're a geek.
- When you have 10 email addresses and actually use them.
- If you have NEVER bought any software.
- If you keep telling people how great Linux is every time you get the chance.
- (post #6416) when you read pages and pages of this thread to see how many of the characteristics you have and hoping it is most of them.
But you know you're hopeless when you read the following and understand why the final line in the code box is funny, and laugh out loud:
Quote: Originally Posted by Maheriano You know you're a geek when you're so into some computer task that you can't break away from it so you take the laptop onto the toilet with you.
Or bring the laptop for reading material.
Re: You Know You're a Geek When... Quote: Originally Posted by Kopachris Or bring the laptop for reading material.
reading material... uh huh, sure.
Re: You Know You're a Geek When... Quote: Originally Posted by moster examine better word?
These are ideas I got from messing around the forums, and from messing around in general.
Resized, Transparent & Sliding/hidden Panels 1. If you didn't figure it out on the first day of Ubuntu (Gnome), you can pin your most commonly used program icons to the top panel. With a larger monitor, them icons are just toooo small. So right click on the panel (at a place where their are no icons) and select properties. Default is 24 pixels, and on my system, at 32px. the icons go up a size.
2. While you are there, check out the background tab, tick off "solid color" and mess with that "Style" bar to adjust the degree of transparency you want on the panel. Mind you, if you want the bottom panel to show these changes, you will have to alter the properties for that panel separately.
3. Some want to hide the top panel entirely. So as above a. Right click on the top panel and select properties b. (Optional: On the general tab, un-check "expand") c. (Optional:Grab the left end with your mouse and drag the panel to the left side of the screen) d. Check the "show hide buttons" box (leave the "arrows on hide buttons" box checked) e. Now, mouse click the arrow on the far left side of your panel. Oh! Whahappan?
Isn't that sick? After I did this, I realized I prefer the panel to be expanded, so I just skip "b." and "c." and go right to "d." You can do the same thing with the bottom panel if you like. With dual-heads, hiding the top and bottom panels keeps both work spaces the same size...sometimes that is preferable, sometimes not. Funky phreaks may have several of these panels on the left side of their monitor. To do that, and other funky stuff follow the link below. (If you use Mint, but hate their menu bar like me, then you may need some panel funk)
Resizing Desktop Icons To make em bigger or smaller, just right click on one, and select "Stretch Icon". To get rid of the name, right click on the icon, select "Rename", hit space and return. Poof.
Changing Your Login Screen (Login, this ain't the desktop) Because I have used Hardy for a long time, even though "Intrepid Ibex" and "Jaunty Jackalope" have been out for a while now, I thought changing up my login screen might be fun. This requires as much time as it takes you to find a login screen you like.
1. Download a theme at http://gnome-look.org . Once you get to that site, look at the right side bar for "GDM Themes"... there are...many. 2. I would make a new folder (directory) in your HOME folder, and name it something like "login screens" so that you can download and try out several, without filling up the home folder with crap. 3. Do not open or extract the contents of the theme folder, just move it from your desktop to the "login screens" folder you made. 4. Navigate to System/Adminstration/Login Window (or via the command line gksudo gdmsetup) 5. Select the local tab. Push the add button and browse to the GDM theme you put in the "login screen" folder. 6. You should see your new login theme appear in "local" now, so remember to select it. Close your windows, and restart Gnome. 7. !!! THIS is what I thought was cool. You know, I love visual stuff, so I downloaded 5 or so of these login screens. No problem! Go back to that "local" tab and where it says "theme: selected" just change that to "Random from selected"... be sure not to break Gnome by restarting too often!
Customizing the Windows I liked the semi-transparent title-bars across the top of the window that the Emerald theme manager can create, but I cannot use that tool without installing Compiz, Beryl, etc. What's the problem? I am a dual-head type so I cannot use Compiz. So not being able to get what I thought I wanted, I went "shopping" for a new look.
Ubuntu's default window decorator is Metacity. Unlike some people I actually dig the orange and brown "Human" theme. But, I really like the rounded buttons on Mint. I looked through a couple HUNDRED themes at http://www.gnome-look.org and found two that I like quite a bit.
To change your window theme: 1. Download one from the link above, move to your Home folder, or folder inside Home. 2. Navigate to system/preferences/appearance 3. on the Theme tab, click Install 4. Navigate to where you put the new them file. 5. Select it and POW! 6. I liked the default ICONS, so I clicked Customize, went to the Icons tab, selected Human. Tangerine was nice too, but that made my shutdown button into a silly green man...? Here you can try out different things. 7. Done? Click Save As and name your custom theme. 8. Close, and be happy.
Riiiiight. Not a great option if you ask me, because once you get the thing you have to go to edit/plugins/equalizer/configure and make changes... and since it does not react on-the-fly, every time you change the equalizer, you have to restart Rhythmbox. So I put my vote in for a good system-wide EQ.
At any rate, I got the tutorial from linuxforums and basically you just:
1. Download the tarball from deviantdark and save it in your home folder 2. Make sure you have the plugins folder...which you likely do:
mkdir ~/.gnome2/rhythmbox/plugins/
3. Extract the tarball to a ./equalizer directory:
Code:
tar -xzvf rhythmbox-equalizer.tar.gz
4. Copy the directory we just extracted to the plugins folder:
cp -R equalizer ~/.gnome2/rhythmbox/plugins/
5. Start/restart Rhythmbox and go to edit/plugins/equalizer/configure and make your changes.
Again, credit goes to attilathepun from Linuxforums.
Amazing. All you need to do these days to get a transparent terminal in Ubuntu is to open a terminal, click Edit/Current Profile/ and you'll see tabs for colors and effects. Effects is the tab where you can select a transparent background, and what degree of transparency you want.
(Glad I kept searching through Google to find an easy method, because the first few hits all point back to 2006, when you had to do all kinds of crazy hack-up square dancing to get this effect. Must have been such a popular thing to do that it is just a standard setting now.)
I just found out about "Ubuntu Brainstorm" which is one of the coolest pages I have seen related to Ubuntu since the forum itself!
There are tabs labeled Idea Sandbox, Popular Ideas, Ideas in Development and Implemented Ideas so you can see what is going on, and what ideas people think are pretty cool. And what's more? You can VOTE on all of the proposed ideas and see the counter go up or down! Check it out!
I have been testing out Linux Mint version 7 or "Gloria", on my laptop for a little over a week now, seeing for myself what it is all about, and here are my thoughts:
1. Mint would be great for Linux virgins. I would have enjoyed Mint more if I were new to Linux, but most of the credit goes to Ubuntu, which Mint is based on, for getting better since I started using it too.
2. The "big thing" about Mint is that it comes installed with propriety media codecs -- without which you get shitty little messages that say "cannot play file type". Ubuntu tries to stay 100% "open-source" so little bits that belong to some company somewhere don't come pre-installed, you gotta get them yourself. The guy who made Mint said, "Fuck it" and put them all in there so you don't have to get them yourself. Again, good for a new-comer to Linux, no big deal for a veteran.
3. Unfortunately for me, I installed Mint thinking I was going to "explore" a DIFFERENT kind of Linux from Ubuntu (Whoops!) but it is basically an Ubuntu that someone worked hard to make better in some ways. I think that it would have been better for everyone if the guy simply made Mint applications and packagesavailable in Ubuntu instead of promoting Mint as something "different" than Ubuntu. In Ubuntu, my suggestion would be the equivalent of "adding a repository" and maybe creating another desktop manager called "Mint".
4. Mint in Japanese. The day after I installed Mint, I switched over to the Japanese version. Unfortunately, when you switch to Japanese, more than half of the menu headings are in English. Some prompts are in Japanese and some are in English. Open Office switches completely over to Japanese, but to get a Japanese Firefox is a pain in the ass, even for an experienced Linux brute like yours truly. But I got it now.
5. I REALLY like the automatic update manager in Mint. It actually does rock quite a bit. I wrote about this before, but updates in Mint are rated with a "Tested-safe" to "Tested dangerous" ranking system, and you can choose whether you want to even see the "not-tested, but we are pretty sure it is safe" category. Something that I despise about the Automatic Updates in Ubuntu is that we have to UNtick all the updates we don't want, and that can be 200 or so at times.
6. I don't like Mint's desktop manager -- the part of your desktop and folders that you SEE. It is supposed to be Gnome, yet uses a KDE-esque/Windows Start menu rip-off. Part of what I like about Ubuntu is that it uses pull-down menus that make sense. Perhaps a Mac rip-off, but I like it.
7. I DO like that the Synaptic Package Manager (the thing you use to fetch all your programs) is just "Right there" in the Start Men... in the menu. If you do not use Linux, in Ubuntu and Mint both, you don't install programs via VCDs, the programs are all free and ready to install IN the thing.
Summary: If you are new to Linux, but want a good, safe system that you will like once you get the hang of it, try either Mint or Ubuntu. Personally I am already bored of Mint because it is not different enough from Ubuntu to warrant calling it a separate OS.
Edit: (Sept 18th) Been a couple weeks and Mint is too sluggish to enjoy, versus the fact that there is really nothing except the auto updates GUI that makes it worth my while. I can install codecs. Today I switched the lappy to Jaunty Jackalope and the computer responds quicker.
Dual Monitor Setup for Ubuntu (Hardy) or Mint (Gloria)
Having set-up dual monitors on 3 systems now -- both desktop and laptop -- I have fine tuned my process to the point where I think it is time to renew my set-up guide.
First, we will be editing the xorg.conf file, and to ensure that if anything goes wrong we will be able to go back to the way things were before, we will do the following:
2. In the event that you need to replace your xorg.conf with this backup – such as, something went haywire and your screen is pitch black or otherwise “messed” when you restart Gnome – you will be able to restart Ubuntu from the command-line. In that case, start Ubuntu via command-line and type in the following:
3. Make certain that all visual effects are off! Get rid of Compiz! Now that you are backed up, let us navigate to System/Preferences/Apperance/Visual Effects and tick off “None”. Compiz will not work with this.
On my first try with dual-heads, Compiz was apparently left on. Though I always kept visual effects off (faster running computer that way) I do recall that an update for Compiz that came through the updater. At any rate, I ended up with a blank white screen, that took my friend and I an hour on the phone to fix before I could get back to this dual monitor situation. Since Gnome was rendered useless, I did ctrl+alt bksp, and restarted Ubuntu via the command-line and typed in the following command:
sudo apt-get remove compiz
So since Compiz comes pre-installed in Ubuntu and Mint nowadays, I recommend killing it with the above, or in Synaptic.
4. Turn off propriety drivers. I use an ATI video card, and I cannot use the propriety drivers for the graphics card. So:
System/Administration/Hardware drivers
(uncheck box if not already done)
5. Then:
System/main menu/applications/other check "screens and graphics"
6. Are we ready now? Let us edit xorg.conf
gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
In my case, I just add the red text below under the “Screen” section:
(Note: I inadvertently ended up with "endsubsection" pasted in there twice and Gnome was confused by that and sent me into low graphics mode next time I restarted X (Gnome)
Note 2: Anyone who has trouble with finding what the Virtual numbers should be → add the widths of your 2 monitors. I have two 19” (1280x1024) monitors, so for me I just add 1280+1280=2560 to get the first number, and the 2nd number is the greater height of the 2 monitors. In my case, both are the same size, so the number remains 1024, hence my virtual number was 2560 1024.
In the case of my laptop, the laptop has a 1024x768 (13”) screen and the second monitor is 17”, or 1280x1024. I went a couple days with a blurry monitor on the second head because I errantly left them both at 1024x768.
7. You have changed X, so you need to restart it. Ctrl+alt+bksp
8. Get back to Gnome and navigate to:
System/preferences/screen resolution
Uncheck "clone screens", drag the white square that symbolizes your left monitor (in my case, it is named "Electronics") off to the left, and select the proper resolution (for my 19” monitors, that is 1280x1024 at a refresh rate of 60hz). If that doesn't work still, click on the name of your left monitor, and select "Left" and do the same for the right. Apply, ok? Close, and restart X. (Ctrl+alt+bksp)
(Again, when I was new at this thing, I restarted X and came back and my right monitor was just a clone of the left one again. I had to go back into system/preferences/screen resolution and redo my changes. At the time there was some sort of weirdness going on that made the “clone screens” box get ticked again. Seems like it was an issue with a file in my home directory called ~/.gnome2/monitors.xml, which sometimes didn't get overwitten properly. What I did was delete all the hidden files named .gnome something. If you keep restarting and find that your screens keep being clones again, try deleting those files, unticking “clone screens” and restart. This issue never happened to me again, so must have been a bug.)
FOR WINDOWS: THIS LINK made setting up dual monitors very easy. In fact, the little video in that link isn't even all that necessary. After installing a new dual head graphics card (one with both an analog and digital port), installing the driver with the CD, I turned on monitor 2, went to control panel/display/settings and clicked on "2" and then ticked off, "Extend my windows desktop onto this monitor". Easy as pie.
Yowzer yowzer. I just hooked up dual-heads in Mint without a hitch. I was pretty psyched for a half hour, but then I realized that there isn't really any reason for yowzering given that Mint is just basically Ubuntu with a different paint job and some after-market parts.
In case you forgot, I am using Mint on my laptop right now. I wanted to try out another distro of Linux, and my laptop was sitting round doing nothing. And the laptop's designated second monitor was doing nothing too. I took a look at xorg.conf in Mint and it appears to be identical to the one in Jaunty -- a truncated version of the one in Hardy.
Yay! I posted this on the Ubuntu forums...why not? Mint is basically just Ubuntu as far as the terminal is concerned? :
Howdy. I am trying to install a Japanese version of Firefox, but the Firefox page only provides a .tar.bz2 file. So I grabbed it, opened it, and there is a file named "firefox". Tried sudo apt-get install ./configure and ...there is no file called .configure in the (firefox) directory. I tried sudo apt-get install firefox and of course, I was told that a more recent version was already installed. So I thought I would be tricky and rename the file from "firefox" to "firefox-3.5" (which it is) and then ran sudo apt-get install firefox-3.5. That seemed to work, but all I got when running alt+f2 firefox-3.5 was an English version of Shiretoko Firefox 3.5. So what is the "real" way to get this other Firefox installed?
The reply was awesome. A forum member pointed me to http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/firefox which not only has a very nice piece of code to install the mozilla version of F.F. (which is what I was trying to do) but it renames the pre-installed Ubuntu version to "firefox.ubuntu" so I can use the stock English version if I want to. Niiiice. The tutorial has a breakdown of what the parts of the command line code actually do, you should read that.
For me, I just had to rename the file they use in the tutorial, since I was installing firefox-3.2.5.2 not firefox-3
if [[ ! -f /usr/bin/firefox ]]; then sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install firefox; fi && if [[ -e ~/.mozilla ]]; then cp -R ~/.mozilla ~/.mozilla.backup; fi && sudo tar -jxvf firefox-3*.tar.bz2 -C /opt && rm firefox-3*.tar.bz2 && sudo mv /opt/firefox/plugins /opt/firefox/plugins.backup && sudo ln -s /usr/lib/xulrunner-addons/plugins /opt/firefox/plugins && sudo dpkg-divert --divert /usr/bin/firefox.ubuntu --rename /usr/bin/firefox && sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox
Note: I put in a "return" just before the double "&&" on each line there to make this code fit better vertically for easy viewing on the blog. If you use this code, then remove those carrier returns. ...carrier return...old typewriter talk.
Ok! So I think "I will use Firefox in Japanese". I found that page in the Firefox site, click "Download for Linux" and...they give me a .tar.bz2 file??!?!! Lazy sods can't supply me with a .deb?
I fussed around for an hour, found a .deb file (mozilla-firefox-locale-ja-jp_2.0.07-mint1_all.deb) that did fuck-all for me...says that I already had Firefox installed, so I could not install the .deb...even when I went in and deleted Firefox via Synaptic... and I tried to find a way to get a Japanese version of the repos...but no luck on that one yet. So I am going to try to install this bastard via apt-get. (Sigh)
apt-get install
This command installs a new package.
apt-get build-dep
This command searches the repositories and installs the build dependencies for . If the package is not in the repositories it will return an error.
then said..."Shit, this sucks" so looked at some forums, people said "Use the propriety video driver" which I cannot do or my dual monitors will not work. Someone else suggested ticking off "atmosphere" under the "view" column, and that was awful. So I said "fuck it" and ran.
Ok, I finally hacked my conky enough to get it JUST how I wanted it. I have a current weather summary for Seattle, a 3-day weather forecast for Osaka, system info including space used on my external drive AND on my XP partition, and Rhythmbox all working together wonderfully. It took me a long time to figure out the horizontal sizing code, but I did it. It was more confusing than it should have been due to the fact that I read mulitiple tutorials, and there were 2 styles that I looked at that did not work well together...dammit. And so here is my screenshot, the conkyrc (conkymain) script, as well as my conkyForecast.template, and the conkyRhythmbox.template...phew.
Conkymain/conkyrc file script:
# conkymain aka conkyrc
# set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background background no
# X font when Xft is disabled, you can pick one with program xfontsel #font 5x7 #font 6x10 #font 7x13 #font 8x13 #font 9x15 #font *mintsmild.se* #font -*-*-*-*-*-*-34-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
# Use Xft? use_xft yes
# Xft font when Xft is enabled xftfont Arial:size=9.5
# Text alpha when using Xft xftalpha 0.8
# Update interval in seconds update_interval 1.0
# This is the number of times Conky will update before quitting. # Set to zero to run forever. total_run_times 0
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus) own_window no
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone) double_buffer yes
# Minimum size of text area minimum_size 220 0 maximum_width 220
# Draw shades? draw_shades yes
# Draw outlines? draw_outline no
# Draw borders around text draw_borders no draw_graph_borders yes
# Stippled borders? stippled_borders 8
# border margins border_margin 4
# border width border_width 1
# Default colors and also border colors default_color white default_shade_color black default_outline_color white
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented #alignment top_left alignment top_right #alignment bottom_left #alignment bottom_right
# Gap between borders of screen and text # same thing as passing -x at command line gap_x 10 gap_y 35
# Subtract file system buffers from used memory? no_buffers yes
# set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase uppercase no
# number of cpu samples to average # set to 1 to disable averaging cpu_avg_samples 2
# number of net samples to average # set to 1 to disable averaging net_avg_samples 2
# Force UTF8? note that UTF8 support required XFT override_utf8_locale yes
# Add spaces to keep things from moving about? Only affects certain objects. use_spacer right
# colours color1 white # light blue color2 6892C6 # grey color3 grey # slate grey color4 slate grey # red color5 CC0000
text_buffer_size 2048
# variable is given either in format $variable or in ${variable}. Latter # allows characters right after the variable and must be used in network # stuff because of an argument
${color4}HIGHEST CPU: ${color #ddaa00} ${top name 1}${top_mem cpu 1} ${color lightgrey} ${top name 2}${top cpu 2} ${color lightgrey} ${top name 3}${top cpu 3}
${color4}HIGHEST MEM: ${color #ddaa00} ${top_mem name 1}${top_mem mem 1} ${color3} ${top_mem name 2}${top_mem mem 2} ${color3} ${top_mem name 3}${top_mem mem 3}
Mint Japanese OS Tastes Like Fried Chicken; Not Teriyaki
So the day after I installed Mint, I switched over to the Japanese version. Well, it turns out that there is no official version, so when you switch to Japanese, more than half of the menu headings are in English. Some prompts are in Japanese, some are in English. Open Office is completely Japanese, but Firefox is in English. Hmmm.
Hey, "Oh well" though right? Japanese don't even like mint. I mean, if they want a Linux for Japanese? They should call it "Ichigo-mochi" with a desktop called "Crepe" and everybody will flip out and install it tomorrow.
MintUpdate makes it possible to choose updates by RATING. Wow. There is a rating from 1 to 5, one being, "we tested it, you need it" five being "we tested it, it's dangerous". Kernel updates are rated high, some plugins for Firefox, etc. are rated on the low side. In MintUpdate, you can even set preferences to only view the rating level that YOU want.
Example, rating 3 means they think it is safe, but didn't test it. I don't want that kind of stuff, so I can just untick the box for all rating 3 updates! Currently in Ubuntu, we have to untick everything we do not want, so if there are 200 updates I don't want, but 5 that I do...that can piss me off. Someone suggested that Ubuntu adopt this. I agree!
Shaded border around Conky with desktop effects on
HEY! Just fixed something that was annoying me! There was a shaded line around conky when desktop effects/Compiz are enabled. I got lucky in the Google Search and found another guy complaining about it. The solution was this:
Go to compizconfig settings manager and open the window decorations plugin. Under shadow windows, type in !title=Conky , that'll take off the shadow. I added that bit after the word "all" on mine. Hitting "Back" will be enough for it to take effect, but you may need to restart X if there is no change.
Helluva long time since I used Compiz. I put Mint on my laptop, and after installing Japanese, switching the OS to Japanese, and instaling the Conky stuff on the desktop as in the post below, I setup Compiz. It is TOTALLY a different experience to set it up since I was on Feisty, lemme tell ya. It used to be that we had to go searching for the CompizConfig manager, etc. and it was all kinds of nerdy-hacky shit to get it going. I stopped using it once I got it all working because I thought, "What was the point in getting a cube?" Then once I set up dual-heads, Compiz just became a non-issue.
I have not yet set up dual-heads yet because right now Mint is still just a toy for me. Conky and the Cube are both definitely silly toys that I have no real need for, but since I am trying a new OS ...kind of... I wanted to see how easy it would be. Yup. Easy.
BUT just as I remembered it, geeky desktop effects slow everything WAY down to a seriously annoying degree. Even with 1Gb of ram in the laptop, it is still sluggish.
As for Conky, I set it up just following the same instructions as for Ubuntu. Conky has potential if you set it up with what YOU want on it. I could give a fudge about how much space is left on my HD, and I don't need to constantly see what is using my CPU the most. Time? Ubuntu and Mint both have clocks. But, weather, Gmail, Rhythmbox might be more appropriate to me. Calendars can be put in there, whatever.
Conky Setup for Hardy (Time, weather, Rhythmbox, etc.)
I did not WRITE the code in this tutorial, but the tutorial I used was overly wordy, and I was confused by the fact that several guys had their own tutorials which used methods that, if used together, will give you a conky that doesn't work right. The reason for this is that some people have you create a file called .conkyrc and some have you make a file named conkymain. The first one seems to be the most common, but I used the latter one because I found it first. So, light up a fat bowl of Fruit Loops and let's proceed.
1.Get Conky from the repos or open a terminal and type:
sudo aptitude install conky
2. Start conky. Open a terminal and type:
conky
That will open a small window that displays a basic conky. But that's the default conky (found in: /etc/conky/conky.conf) but it is not the awesome custom version that we want. So if you want the cool one (cool being utterly relative here) we ain't done yet.
3. Create a conky gedit file. Open a terminal and type:
gedit ~/Conky/conkymain
(Alternatively you could also go to your home folder -- for me that's home/kaze -- and create a folder named Conky. Then create an empty file inside the Conky folder called “conkymain” and then double click on it to open it.)
Select and paste a conky file from "Post your .conkyrc files w/ screenshots" into this conkymain text file and save it. (If you used the terminal, save as "conkymain" in home/(your name)/Conky). Remember, in the link above, these guys are using the .conkyrc file, you are not.
I used this text for my first conky script. For future re-installs of 'Buntu, I will use the completed script found HERE:
# UBUNTU-CONKY # A comprehensive conky script, configured for use on # Ubuntu / Debian Gnome, without the need for any external scripts. # # Based on conky-jc and the default .conkyrc. # INCLUDES: # - tail of /var/log/messages # - netstat connections to your computer # # -- Pengo (conky@pengo.us) #
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus) own_window yes own_window_hints undecorated,below,skip_taskbar background no
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone) double_buffer yes
# fiddle with window use_spacer yes use_xft yes
# Update interval in seconds update_interval 3.0
# Minimum size of text area minimum_size 400 5
# Draw shades? draw_shades yes
# Text stuff draw_outline no # amplifies text if yes draw_borders no
uppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
# Stippled borders? stippled_borders 8
# border margins border_margin 4
# border width border_width 1
# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5 default_color white default_shade_color black default_outline_color white
own_window_colour brown own_window_transparent yes
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented #alignment top_left alignment top_right #alignment bottom_left #alignment bottom_right
# Gap between borders of screen and text gap_x 10 gap_y 10
# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
override_utf8_locale no xftfont Terminus:size=8 xftalpha 0.8
${offset 240}${color slate grey}Highest CPU: ${offset 240}${color #ddaa00} ${top name 1}${top_mem cpu 1} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top name 2}${top cpu 2} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top name 3}${top cpu 3} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top name 4}${top cpu 4}
${offset 240}${color slate grey}Highest MEM: ${offset 240}${color #ddaa00} ${top_mem name 1}${top_mem mem 1} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 2}${top_mem mem 2} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 3}${top_mem mem 3} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 4}${top_mem mem 4}
That is all you do to get a working conky... so check it out:
conky -c ~/Conky/conkymain
4. Set up conky to autostart on boot. Create a hidden file named .startconky in your home/ folder (~/.startconky) :
gedit ~/.startconky
Paste this text into that empty file:
#!/bin/bash sleep 20 && # 0 good for Xfce - use 20 to 30 for Gnome conky -c ~/Conky/conkymain &
("#" is just a comment mark that reminds you, if you are using GNOME or KDE like me, to leave the line "sleep 20" untouched.)
Save this file and close it. Then make the file executable. Open a terminal and type:
chmod a+x ~/.startconky
(Alternatively, you can go to the .startconky file itself, right click on it, open Properties > Permissions > check the box necessary to make it executable.)
6. Getting Ubuntu to autostart conky Go to: System/Preferences/Sessions then click "add", and in the "Edit startup program" box, type "Conky" for the name, and "/home/(your name)/.startconky" for the command.
(Other tutorials have you type "conky" under command, but that will send us to the default conky folder, which we do not want when using THIS tutorial.)
7. To show a Rhythmbox "now playing" list, add the followingConky Rhythmbox Python Script (Originally posted here)
a.) For Hardy Heron (others are HERE), open a terminal and type:
d.) Add the Rhythmbox code to the bottom of your conkymain file. Below is my conkymain text file, with the Rhythmbox code at the bottom in RED:
# UBUNTU-CONKY # A comprehensive conky script, configured for use on # Ubuntu / Debian Gnome, without the need for any external scripts. # # Based on conky-jc and the default .conkyrc. # INCLUDES: # - tail of /var/log/messages # - netstat connections to your computer # # -- Pengo (conky@pengo.us) #
# Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus) own_window yes own_window_hints undecorated,below,skip_taskbar background no
# Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone) double_buffer yes
# fiddle with window use_spacer yes use_xft yes
# Update interval in seconds update_interval 3.0
# Minimum size of text area minimum_size 400 5
# Draw shades? draw_shades yes
# Text stuff draw_outline no # amplifies text if yes draw_borders no
uppercase no # set to yes if you want all text to be in uppercase
# Stippled borders? stippled_borders 8
# border margins border_margin 4
# border width border_width 1
# Default colors and also border colors, grey90 == #e5e5e5 default_color white default_shade_color black default_outline_color white
own_window_colour brown own_window_transparent yes
# Text alignment, other possible values are commented #alignment top_left alignment top_right #alignment bottom_left #alignment bottom_right
# Gap between borders of screen and text gap_x 10 gap_y 10
# stuff after 'TEXT' will be formatted on screen
override_utf8_locale no xftfont Terminus:size=8 xftalpha 0.8
${offset 240}${color slate grey}Highest CPU: ${offset 240}${color #ddaa00} ${top name 1}${top_mem cpu 1} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top name 2}${top cpu 2} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top name 3}${top cpu 3} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top name 4}${top cpu 4}
${offset 240}${color slate grey}Highest MEM: ${offset 240}${color #ddaa00} ${top_mem name 1}${top_mem mem 1} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 2}${top_mem mem 2} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 3}${top_mem mem 3} ${offset 240}${color lightgrey} ${top_mem name 4}${top_mem mem 4}
Problem. I found the correct code to show what is currently playing on Rhythmbox, but the text didn't line up with the rest of the text in conky... wtf? You could say...it was a wonky conky. I made sure to add ${offset 240} to the front of my Rhythmbox conky code, but everything after "Rhythmbox status" was still out of line with the rest of conky. (See attached image). The problem was that the text in /usr/share/conkyrhythmbox/example/conkyRhythmbox.template also needed the code ${offset 240} in there too. So go to 5.) e.) Aligning the text properly. Open a terminal and get root power:
sudo nautilus
Then navigate to /usr/share/conkyrhythmbox/example/conkyRhythmbox.template and paste the code ${offset 240} to the beginning of all those lines of code as well, or just replace that text with the following:
d) You must set up an account at http://www.weather.com/services/xmloap.html in order for this to work. It is free. After you set up the account they will send you a Partner ID and License Key to your email box. These numbers are toward the bottom of the mail.
f) When this file opens, add your new Partner ID and License Key which you received in the email from weather.com into these files to the proper line.
Alternatively, you "could" do this: e) Open a terminal and get root power: sudo nautilus
f) Navigate to usr/share/.conkyForecast.config and paste in your Partner ID and License Key which you received in the email from weather.com. Don't close your root power folder yet. Then navigate to home/(your name)/.conkyForecast.config and paste in your Partner ID and License Key numbers again. If you do not have this file, copy the one in usr/share and save it in your home.
f.2) FOR REINSTALLS you will be stopping here. Get root power, open usr/share/.conkyForecast.config and paste in the following, and save it: conkyForecast.config script:
i) Finally, to get the weather icon to show up, you will need to install the font "weather" found at http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=WEATHER, and then follow Ubuntu instructions for rebuilding your font cache.
Remember, any time that you want to see your changes applied, open a terminal and:
killall conky
...then restart it
conky -c ~/Conky/conkymain
NOW that we are DONE, I rearranged the order in which the sections appear, and dressed it up a bit. My final conky script and screenshot are HERE. In hindsight, this site has a pretty good rundown of how to build a conky too. I used his ideas and read the explanations of what we just did. Very helpful.
For MINT I did exactly the same thing as above, except that I have not yet added the Rhythmbox text because I am still trying out Compiz, and don't want to be arsed with putting in different code for conky and Compiz to be friends before I am sure I will even keep Compiz.
NOTE! My laptop has dual-heads which are NOT the same size. This made the conky on my right (laptop) monitor too high and I had to mess with the vertical controls. The above tutorial works great for my laptop, but the following gap_y value has to be changed from 34 to 260:
# Gap between borders of screen and text # same thing as passing -x at command line gap_x 10 gap_y34
# Gap between borders of screen and text # same thing as passing -x at command line gap_x 10 gap_y 260
I did NOT have to install a Japanese key-ring in the 3rd Party repos...in fact Mint's Synaptic doesn't even show a tab for 3rd party repos... All I did was Install Jp. lang. support and put the above code into a terminal and the shit worked. I imagine it was this easy because the newest Mint version, "Gloria" is based on Jaunty, so everything is new and phutoi like that.
Gthumb is the program I preferred for printing images, and I only knew about it because it was preinstalled in Feisty. Very nice for simple editing of images such as directional changes and cropping. But perhaps it was with Hardy that it was no longer pre-installed and I couldn't remember the name of the program. Gthumb. It is in the repos now.
Windows image viewer still has Ubuntu (Gnome) beat when it comes to directional changes, but at least Gthumb is a simpler alternative to Gimp.
To rename multiple files that have different names / batch rename files with dissimilar names When looking up this info today I kept mostly running into terminal commands, and I wanted something simple like...Windows has built in. This annoyance is one reason why I have to go over to my XP partition -- to rename my bloody image files. Just Ctrl+A, right click, rename and BAM! all files have the same name and are automatically given a suffix number. Alas, in Gnome we have to use a separate program to do a simple batch rename. "Bulk Rename"and even the command terminal are probably ok for renaming multiple files when the file names are in a sequence, such as files from a digital camera. However I could not use these when renaming dissimilar file names.
I found out that in Ubuntu we can use Krename or PyRenamer -- both of which are in the repos -- to rename a batch of files. Since starting this post, someone in the forums told me how to use PyRenamer properly, so here are tutorials for both Krename and PyRenamer. (Krename has one less thing to remember, therefore I will probably use it from now on.)
For PyRenamer: 1. Go to System/Administration/Synaptic Package Manager and search for pyrenamer, get it, open it. 2. Use the left sidebar to navigate to where the files to be renamed are kept 3. Select just the files to be renamed 4. Where it says "renamed files using patterns" at the bottom of the window? Go to "renamed file name pattern" and replace {1} with Newfilename-2009 ({num2+1}) 5. Click preview, see if you like that, and then 6. Click "rename"
Note: If all your files are .jpg files, then under "renamed file name pattern" replace {1} with Newfilename-2009 ({num2+1}).jpg and if they are .MP4 then type Newfilename-2009 ({num2+1}).MP4 and so on. This little bit of info is necessary, and if you cannot remember it, then use Krename.
For Krename. Go to System/Administration/Synaptic Package Manager and search for krename, get it, open it. Then follow my screenshots.
1. Open your file with the files to be renamed, select the files and drag them into krename and click "next". 2. If you are just renaming files click "next" again. 3. Under Filename, you'll see prefix, suffix, name and extension. Under "name" select "custom name" and type in the name you want. 4. If you want the name to be followed by a number, under "suffix" select "number". Click "finish" 5. Yowza! You're done! If you screwed up, click "undo" here or just close the box if everything is cool.
Now that the laptop has Mint loaded up in there, I decided to throw an 'Anpanman' dvd in for the kid to watch this morning. Unlike Ubuntu, a DVD does NOT auto-play when inserted, so I gather that the guy/guys at Mint did not like that function in Ubuntu? The DVD icon appears on the desktop, and you have to open the file. There are your audio and video VOB folders, but you can ignore those. Look to the top right of the DVD folder, and you will see the 'Open with MoviePlayer' button, which starts your movie without a hitch (knock on wood). This also points out that MoviePlayer does come preinstalled in Mint just as in Ubuntu.
Something I do NOT like is when I have to play one VOB file at a time. VLC and Mplayer don't seem to understand how to open a DVD folder properly. Or if they do, they are not set to automatically play the whole thing.
On an unrelated note, Mint brought me an unexpected gift. This HP laptop comes with physical buttons for volume and mute control on the front. These were not usable in Ubuntu, but Mint seems to have picked them up fine and they work. How cool is that?
After further research on this topic, I felt it necessary to edit my post. The comments will be left untouched. My rant begins with me seeing an interesting little application in Linux Mint called "Mint Nanny" which is a domain blocker. I have been interested in installing such a program in the past to further thwart unwanted ad-pages from bothering me. I wondered if it was available in Ubuntu so I did a Google search and found something called, "Dansguardian" which in turn brought me to a Linux forum where people were talking about Ubuntu CE.
Ubuntu CHRISTIAN EDITION!?!?! GGGAAAAGGHHHH!!!(repeat this 5 times while running down the street naked pouring Jell-o over your head and you will arouse the shock in others that I feel now.)
What the bloody hell does religion have to do with computing? This really bothers me quite a bit, and the respect I felt for Ubuntu has diminished. I am unhappy. There are no Atheist, Hindu or Taoist editions, but the Christians have a version?
Edit: Wrong! I just found out that there is Buddhabuntu, Sabily -- for Muslims, and even Ubuntu Satanic Edition. Damn! ...ed. It turns out that these are unofficial versions, but the fact that the name Ubuntu is used, still bothers me. Organized religion is one of the worst things to have happened to the world in my opinion, yet there are religious Ubuntu versions. I am actually cool with Jesus and Buddha, just not the religions that claim to represent those figures. But my beliefs are irrelevant too. It would not matter if Christianity were the greatest thing in the world, there still should be no Christian Edition, nor Satanic, nor Atheist, Democrat, Punk rock, nor Porn Stars of the 80's Version. That is what desktop wallpapers and applications/software are for.
I might actually get a kick out of a Taoist operating system, but it still has nothing to do with computing. The first image at the top is the actual desktop image that comes with Ubuntu CE. The second image here is one of MANY Satanic Edition desktops. As much as I think Satanism is absolutely moronic, I read a bit about this version and it seems more about free metal music than the devil...but it makes no difference. Standard Ubuntu has no religious or political references in it whatsoever, but the fact that Ubuntu allowed religious groups to use the name got under my skin. It ain't right.
Edit: Freedom of expression. I dig it, but can't these guys just go off and make something new without using the name Ubuntu?
A fella in the Linux Mint Forums recommended Ubuntu CE to another guy because it comes with software installed to help block unwanted websites from his kids. The guy replied, "No thanks. I am trying to raise my children in a safe and happy atheist home." The reply came back from the fella who gave the recommendation, "Don't be so judgmental...". I just had to laugh because a CHRISTIAN said not to be judgmental. Wow.
Edit: Atheists are often as judgmental and "In your face" as any religious types can be -- often worse -- and I have had to put up with more than my share of b.s. from both Christians and atheists. If there were an "Atheist Ubuntu Edition", I would be equally as irked. My comments are not anti-Christian, I am vehemently against mixing religion or other social regimes with computing. Bringing religion into the virtual world just creates more divisions we don't need. We already have an anti-Windows, anti-Linux thing going on.
In a nutshell. 1. No religionbuntu 2. Keep your beliefs in your "Home" folder.
My desktop: Ubuntu 8.04/Windows XP dual-boot, dual-heads
Elite Group A770M-A motherboard; AMD Athlon X2 BE2400 processor; 2Gb DDR2 RAM ASUS Extreme AX300SE-X/TD Radeon X300 SE Video card
Laptop: Ubuntu 9.04/Linux Mint, dual-heads
HP Compaq nc6000, Intel Pentium M 1400Mhz processor,1024Mb RAM
.gif "Our Family")
.gif "Motorbike Photos")
.gif "Crazy Genius")
.gif "Wisely Weird")
前から日本人友達にUbuntu（リナックス）を勧めたいなぁと思った。今日はやっとその勧めを書くね。
While creating a Photo Collage in Picasa for this post, we faced a funny problem - Picasa was not importing all pictures from the hard disk or atleast they were not appearing in the Picasa Image Library.
» To import and display small pictures or thumbnail images in Picasa Library, just click "Small Pictures" under the View Menu. [see screenshot]
I did it. Since realizing that I could indeed create, edit or delete my desktop panels -- or give them arrows to move them out of the way when not using them, widen them to make icons larger -- I realized today that I could actually 
