Adventures in Ubuntu

CCSM ate Unity, help, help!

2011-10-29T13:09:00.003-04:00

After crashing CCSM, although I could login to a normal Unity session, Unity did not start. I could a launch a Unity 2D session, and that worked perfectly.The solution is to start CCSM in Unity 2d and re-enable the Unity plugin. When compiz crashed, it reset to default, without the unity plugin active.more permanent solution/detailed explanation at askubuntu

Rogue App Control

2011-10-16T15:27:00.001-04:00

@omgubuntu: Quickly Kill Rogue Apps in Ubuntu with FlashFreeze http://goo.gl/fb/Y8eJw #ubuntu -- shared via Twidroyd http://twidroyd.com

Opening programs on specific desktops

2011-10-15T11:07:00.000-04:00

To make a program always open on a particular desktop:

Open the program you want to place!
Compiz Config Settings Manager → Places Windows (plugin) → Fixed Window Placement Tab → Windows with fixed viewport (last section) → New (button) → + (button) → Grab (button)
Click in the middle of the window for the program you are planning to place somewhere.
Back to CCSM, + Add (button). Set the X & Y to the appropriate window. Close (button)

source: webupd8 (The bug they mentioned has been fixed, in my installation of Oneiric Ocelot.)

Unity Theming

2011-10-14T22:34:00.001-04:00

To install themes in unity, Extract and Copy the theme file to usr/share/themes ; then open Gnome Tweak Tool and select that theme (GTK, icon, window etc). That’s All.Source

Oh no, Unity!

2011-05-27T08:28:00.001-04:00

It appears I will be stuck with hideous buttons in the global app menu until Oneiric.

Window control buttons in the panel don't respect metacity theme

Totally a web thing: Yahoo Pipes

2011-04-29T22:15:00.002-04:00

Three places to learn about them:

Twiter Backup

2011-04-27T16:50:00.003-04:00

One of the things that makes me grumpy about using twitter is that it doesn't include a backup utility.

Johann Burkard wrote a java Twitter Backup program. Version 3.1.6 works perfectly well with Ubuntu 10.10 and Twitter's oAuth setup. :)

2011-04-21T20:59:00.001-04:00

Power User's Guide to Unity

ResophNotes

2011-04-21T20:31:00.002-04:00

ResophNotes is a good SimpleNotes client I can use under WINE.

However, every time I start it, I have this weird thing where it won't acknowledge the backspace, delete or arrow keys. I think the secret is to hit either control and the right-arrow key or alt and the right-arrow key. I wasn't sure which exactly, but I got deletion back.

Prettier boot menu

2011-03-25T20:57:00.001-04:00

Burg will give you a prettier boot menu, but it is apparently currently a bit buggy.

I don't think I'll install it right now, but I will keep it in mind.

Cleaning old ubuntu kernels

2011-03-22T20:34:00.001-04:00

Cleaning old Ubuntu kernels from your computer couldn't be simpler; just check your current installation to make sure you don't remove it, then open synaptic and get it to remove the older linux-image packages.

Fixing Those Damn Buttons

2011-03-09T23:14:00.002-05:00

1) run gconf-editor
2) go to /apps/metacity/general/button_layout
3) I personally like to set it "maximize,minimize,:close," but you can do whatever you like. The important thing is that the colon separates the right and left sides of the window.

Ditched XFCE

2011-02-02T20:11:00.003-05:00

So, I got a new, very powerful computer, and I've ditched XFCE. (I was seduced by the wobbly windows of compiz.)

Anyway, installed Kindle for PC Beta under WINE, and now there is almost nothing I need Windows for. (I'm dualbooting because I do need it for Overdrive, but that's it, I expect.

Installing flash plugin on Ubuntu Maverick 10.10 � Gnuton’s Blog

2010-10-23T12:20:00.000-04:00

Installing flash plugin on Ubuntu Maverick 10.10 � Gnuton’s Blog: "mv libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/chromium-browser/plugins/"

CliCompanion

2010-09-17T12:39:00.001-04:00

CliCompanion is a program that holds your hand using the command line, which is how a power user can make Linux sing. I'm going to try it out.

Pithos — A Native Pandora.com Client for Linux

2010-08-29T18:38:00.000-04:00

Pithos — A Native Pandora.com Client for Linux

This is great. It's a graphical client for listening and managing Pandora. It doesn't use flash and it doesn't require that you keep a browser open.

The only thing about it is that if you are going to use it, you really should subscribe to Pandora One, because it doesn't respect the 40 hour play limit and it doesn't serve any of the ads.

(It uses piano bar for the backend. pianobar is a command line client, if that sort of thing interests you.)

Softroot - nookDevs

2010-08-28T01:14:00.000-04:00

Softroot - nookDevs I've been thinking about (drooling about) getting an e-reader lately. The nook seems like a possibility, and this would get me root access to the device, except possibly B&N has hardware-revised us out of that possibility. But that's okay. I'm only sort of interested in root access, I'm much more concerned about managing the nook on a linux box, and it appears that ubuntu will recognize it as a mountable device.

I suppose I ought to investigate calibre, for managing the e-books, and converting documents from HTML to epub.

I'll also want to check out e-book stores for the big New York/London publishers. I already know about Diesel. I suspect, however, that I'll be trending towards Webscriptions,which sells DRM free, especially as most of the DRM jailbreaking software still requires you to download onto a Windows machine.

I have this picture that one day I will break bad and buy a used netbook with Windows 7 Starter just so I can download ADE and jailbreak files to put on my real computer. Which is ridiculous.

I suppose the other option is to buy books and download the torrents, too. It's a lot less work, anyway.

Theoretically, I could use Wine and run Adobe Digital Editions under that, but I tried to use Wine a couple of years ago and it just sucked.

Maybe when I upgrade to a newer computer than this one, with a faster processor and stuff, I will give WINE another try.

Howto: Fresh Ubuntu Install Without Losing Your Current Settings

2009-12-09T01:16:00.001-05:00

clipped from linuxologist.com

Howto: Fresh Ubuntu Install Without Losing Your Current Settings

Applications

Now for the current applications. Basically we just need to make a full list of the installed apps.

sudo dpkg --get-selections > /home/user/package.selections

Of course don’t forget to backup package.selections on the external hard-drive. Also you should backup your /etc/apt/sources.list file

Restore

Once your done with the fresh install, copy the file package.selections into your home. Then copy your sources.list file into /etc/apt/ and update it to match your current distro (e.g Gutsy –> Intrepid) you can use CTRL + H in gedit for that. Then do a “sudo apt-get update” ,and finally invoke:

sudo dpkg --set-selections /home/package.selections && apt-get dselect-upgrade

apt-get will now start downloading all your apps, this will take some time depending on the number of apps you have installed.

Even if you can work out how to get ubiquity to keep your home directory (and I haven't, yet), this will help you restore your software.

Remove menu entries

2009-10-23T14:23:00.001-04:00

clipped from xubuntu.wordpress.com

1) Go to the /usr/share/applications folder. Copy and paste in the terminal (Xfce menu > System > Terminal):

cd /usr/share/applications

2) This folder should be full of .desktop files. To see how many there are, type

ls

Say the one you want to edit is Firefox. Copy and paste into the terminal:

sudo mousepad firefox.desktop

3) In the bottom of the file, paste the following:

NoDisplay=true

Save and exit.

Got to find out how to add text to multiple files simultaneously.

Icon Naming Specification

2009-10-23T14:22:00.001-04:00

clipped from standards.freedesktop.org

Overview

The Icon Theme Specification has been in use now for a while, in several
desktops, including KDE and Gnome. However, there has never been any
centralized direction on how to name the icons that are available for use
by applications, when creating a theme. This has meant that artists have
historically had to duplicate many icons, in order for their themes to
work across desktop environments.

This specification aims to solve this problem, by laying out a standard
naming scheme for icon creation, as well as providing a minimal list of
must have icons. Addendums to this specification will provide additional
icon lists for extended sets, such as devices and MIME types.

This is useful when editing .desktop files. If the program I'm adding does not have its own icon, picking an icon from this list should mean that any icon scheme I use will supply an icon for the program.

2009-10-16T18:11:00.000-04:00

1) Go to the /usr/share/applications folder. Copy and paste in the terminal (Xfce menu > System > Terminal):
cd /usr/share/applications
2) This folder should be full of .desktop files. To see how many there are, type
ls
Say the one you want to edit is Firefox. Copy and paste into the terminal:
sudo mousepad firefox.desktop
3) In the bottom of the file, paste the following:
NoDisplay=true
Save and exit.

From http://xubuntu.wordpress.com/2006/08/04/howto-remove-menu-entries-from-the-system-menu/

I need to find out how to add text to multiple files simultaneously. I really like to mess around with the menu frequently.

Menu editing on XFCE

2009-10-16T17:22:00.001-04:00

clipped from ubuntuforums.org

The trick I often use is to make a launcher at the Desktop using "appfinder".

1. Open Appfinder.
2. Find the program you want to use, and "left-click and hold" this app.
3. Drag the application to the Desktop.
It will now show an Icon on the desktop for that application.
4. Open a Terminal and issue the following commands:
> cd Desktop

> sudo mv <name of application>.desktop /usr/share/applications/

I don't know how to get rid of the "Other" but at least all apps are present in the menu.
If the menu fails to show the application, first reboot. It needs to make a new cache file in your home directory.

Thanks for the advice, Jouke74.

Just for reference's sake

2009-10-16T17:17:00.001-04:00

clipped from goodies.xfce.org

The Xfce Goodies Project includes additional software and artwork that are related to the Xfce desktop, but not part of the official release.

Xubuntu includes some of these programs by default.