Workaround for Feisty screensaver bug

When I watch videos in full screen, I usually stop using the mouse. When I do this, I find that the screen blanks after just about exactly 20 minutes.

xorg.conf has options for DPMS control on monitors. This appears to be the one that is causing us problems.

The following procedure is the workaround for this problem.Before doing any chnages you need to take backup of xorg.conf file

sudp cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.orig

Solution1

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf file using the following command

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and add the following lines

Section “ServerFlags”
#other options can go here
Option “BlankTime” “0″
Option “StandbyTime” “0″
Option “SuspendTime” “0″
Option “OffTime” “0″
EndSection

Save and exit the file

Solution 2

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf file using the following command

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

This effectively disables power management on your monitor Settings

Section “Monitor”
#other options can go here
Option “DPMS” “false”
EndSection

Save and exit the file and restart your machin



read more | digg story

HOWTO: Installing And Working With eyeOS Under Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Great HOWTO explaining how to install the eyeOS 1.0 Web Operating System into a Linux system (It's for Debian, I tested it under Ubuntu). Just 4 steps and you can be working on eyeOS from any computer on the net. eyeOS is a web Operating System with a ports system like apt-get and 19 base applications to work on the browser, Open Source.



read more | digg story

Tune Boot-Up-Manger for better performance of Ubuntu

Ubuntu does not come with a graphical tool to disable services. The Boot-Up-Manager (BUM) is the most comprehensive and user-friendly tool for Ubuntu.

Follow these Steps to Install Boot-Up- Manager

• Go to Applications > Add and Remove Applications

• The Add/Remove Applications window is shown. Search for boot in the search text box. Check Boot-Up-Manager and click on OK to install.
  
  

• Click on Apply in confirmation popup. Boot-Up-Manager is installed successfully.

Disable the services for better performance tunning

• Go to System > Adminstration > BootUp-Manager

• Boot-Up-Manager window is shown. Check Advanced check box, and select tab Startup and shutdown scripts

Disabling the below listed scripts doesn't disturb your PC

• ntpdate: a utility that updates the system clock on each reboot.

• pcmcia: used only with laptops if one has PCMCIA cards.

• ppp: point-to-point protocol used only if you have a modem. Disabled the built-in modem in my desktop and only use a network interface card.

• powernowd: Use an AMD processor with Ubuntu and this service does not work with AMD.

• rsync: a utility that provides fast incremental file transfer if you wish to mirror or back up data.
  

• fetchmail: a utility to retrieve and forward mail and act as a gateway to smtp. If you are a Linux groupware client, do not use this utility.

• postfix: a mail transfer agent similar to sendmail. Use a mail server from my ISP and our company domain.
  

Reboot the PC and find the difference.

Mount and Unmount ISO,MDF,NRG Images Using AcetoneISO (GUI Tool)

AcetoneISO is CD/DVD image manipulator for Linux.Using this tool it is very easy to Mount and Unmount ISO,MDF,NRG Images

Howto install Avant Window Navigator in Feisty!!

If you are running Ubuntu Feisty Fawn 7.04, you can install AWN and Affinity from an Ubuntu repository.

First, edit your apt sources:

• gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add these lines to the bottom (without bullets):

• ## Avant Window Navigator
• deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/ feisty avant-window-navigator
• deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/ feisty avant-window-navigator

Then do this in a terminal:

• wget http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/8434D43A.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get upgrade
  

Now to install the stable AWN version do

NOTICE: No stable AWN at this time. It will be added at the next release

Or for AWN SVN do

• sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-svn

The Affinity in this repo requires Tracker to work properly.

For the stable Affinity version do

• sudo apt-get install affinity

Or for Affinity SVN do

• sudo apt-get install affinity-svn

HOWTO: Cleaning up all those unnecessary junk files in ubuntu!

this article shows you how to get ri of those unwanted files taking up space in your Ubuntu folders.



read more | digg story

Make your firefox more beautiful in ubuntu!

One thing that has always bothered me about Ubuntu's firefox is that the buttons, radio buttons, drop down menus, text fields, and checkboxes (known as widgets) are very cruddy looking. Fortunately I found a simple way to fix this. What we have below is a replacement set of images and CSS code for the widgets which will make them much nicer on the eyes (see bottom of the post for screenshots).


The original widgets are done by Osmo Salomaa . I have written a bash script to make the installation and removal process easier. You can download this at the bottom of this post. Simply unpack the archive anywhere you like, open a shell, cd to the directory you unpacked and run install (do this with the ./install command). Now you are presented with a menu.

By default this script works with the default firefox directory: /usr/lib/firefox. To work with a different directory (such as /usr/local/firefox32 if you are using Kilz's firefox32 package) you can specify a new installation/removal (option 3). Make sure you enter the correct path to your firefox directory. You can also change the installation/removal directory with the "-p=" or "--path=" command line options when you initiate the script (run ./install --help or read the README for more information).

Once you have the correct path (or you are just using the default /usr/lib/firefox path), you can install by using option 1 in the main menu. To run the installer immediately and bypass the menu use the "-i" or "--install" command line options when executing the script. Use the "-h" or "--help" command line options to get more information (./install -h).

To remove the widgets (make sure you have the correct path first just like with installing), just select option 2 from the main menu. If you wish to bypass the menu and go straight to removal, envoke the "-r" or "--remove" option.

You can also use the "-p=" option in conjunction with the "-r" or "-i" command line options if you like.

Example) ./install --path=/usr/local/Iceweasel32 -i
This would install the widgets to the /usr/local/Iceweasel32 directory.

I should also mention, I have included a backup forms.css file incase you mess anything up. This file is from a default 64-bit Firefox 2.0 installation. The forms.css file an be found in Firefox's "res" directory. You won't need my backup unless you accidently delete your's or the script malfunctions (in which case please contact me).

Read the README for more information. Screenshots are below, enjoy!


Buttons


Check Boxes


Radio Buttons


Drop Down Menus


Text Fields


Before


After

Download script:http://www.mediafire.com/?8xs20zmmrhv
Read more

Installing .sh files in Ubuntu 7.04

Sometimes when you need to install a software on Ubuntu, the installation package only comes in .sh files instead of standard .deb package for Debian. Well the .sh itself has to be executable, however when you got it from internet repository its attribute is set to non-executable. To change this file attribute you need to either Right Click the .sh file from your file explorer, select file property -> file permission and make it is executable.

You can also change it via the command line console in your Ubuntu.
Open a Terminal Window. If you downloaded the file to your Ubuntu desktop you probably need to


cd /home/userid/Desktop



ls to see if the file exists.



chmod 777 /path/some_linux_installation.sh


After you changed the file attribute, you can execute those file directly via terminal window or click it when you use file manager. Your installation file should startup.

Add screen actions with Brightside

Linux only: Open-source app Brightside adds reactivity to the corners and edges of your screen (in Gnome) so you can execute commands using only the mouse.

Brightside offers a combination of the functionality of Mac OS X apps, VirtueDesktops and Active Screen Corners. Almost exactly the way Active Screen Corners allows you to attach custom commands to your mouse gestures in Mac OS X, Brightside brings this awesome feature to Linux.

Softpedia does an excellent job detailing Brightside's functionality:

Brightside provides 'edge flipping' to allow you to switch to the adjacent workspace simply by pressing your mouse against the edge of the screen. Brightside also allows you to assign configurable actions to occur while you rest the mouse in a corner of the screen.

Ubuntu users can download Brightside out of the repositories with the following command:

sudo apt-get install brightside

Debian users can grab a Debian version, and all other distros can head to Softpedia to get a generic version of Brightside (a free download). — Kyle Pott

Brightside Debian versions [Debian.org]
Brightside generic version [Softpedia]
Read More

Use best dictionaries in Ubuntu

There is a wonderful collection of dictionaries for many languages in this web site

Unfortunately, SDictionary Linux client is ugly and inconvenient.

There is another dictionary system - StarDict - which has a good-looking GTK2 client. It is included in Feisty repositories.

Unfortunately, the dictionaries for StarDict are not as good.

Let’s combine both worlds! I am going to convert SDictionary dictionaries to StarDict format and use them in StarDict

Install StarDict

Download Dictconv (a small program to convert a dictionay file type in another dictionary file type) and install

./configure
sudo make all install


You will need build tools for compiling. Install them

sudo aptitude install build-essential libxml2-dev

Download one of the dictionaries, e.g. English-Spanish, and convert it to StarDict format (.ifo)

dictconv -o EnSp.ifo EnSp.dct

Here is successful operation

The result will be three files

EnSp.dz
EnSp.ifo
EnSp.idx

Put them into a folder and copy that folder into the folder /usr/share/stardict/dic so that the dictionary appears in StarDict

sudo cp FOLDER-WITH-FILES /usr/share/stardict/dic

You will find StarDict in menu Application > Accessories

You can convert and use Babylon dictionaries, too!

Read more

Working with Word 2007 Documents(.docx) in Ubuntu

Microsoft Office 2007 uses a new file format, called Office OpenXML, as the default file format. It is based on XML and uses the ZIP file container.So Word 2007 documents are incompatible with OpenOffice.Here's how to make it compatible.

1.Download the OpenXML Translator
From: http://download.novell.com/SummaryFree.jsp?buildid=ESrjfdE4U58~
filename: odf-converter-1.0.0-5.i586.rpm

2. Use alien to convert it to a Slackware tgz file
Code:
fakeroot alien -ct odf-converter-1.0.0-5.i586.rpm

If fakeroot and alien is not installed then install it
Code:
sudo apt-get install alien fakeroot

3. Unpack the slackware tgz file
Code:
tar xzf odf-converter-1.0.0.tgz

4. Copy three files into your OpenOffice.org directories -- note that the usr that you're copying from is a directory that was inside the tgz file.
Code:

sudo cp usr/lib/ooo-2.0/program/OdfConverter /usr/lib/openoffice/program/
sudo cp usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/MOOXFilter_cpp.xcu /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Filter/
sudo cp usr/lib/ooo-2.0/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types/MOOXTypeDetection.xcu /usr/lib/openoffice/share/registry/modules/org/openoffice/TypeDetection/Types/

5. Restart OpenOffice and you can now save and open Word 2007 docx files.
来源

How to speed up Mozilla Firefox on Ubuntu

Simple tips and tricks to speedup Mozilla Firefox on Ubuntu



read more | digg story

How to speed up CD/DVD-ROM in Ubuntu!

Do you want to make sure you are getting the best speed possible from you CD/DVD-ROM?

Assumed that /dev/cdrom is the location of CD/DVD-ROM

First open a terminal window and type:

sudo hdparm -d1 /dev/cdrom

sudo cp /etc/hdparm.conf /etc/hdparm.conf_backup

sudo gedit /etc/hdparm.conf

Append the following lines at the end of file

/dev/cdrom {
dma = on
}

Save the edited file

Done

Install Pidgin 2.0.0 Plugin Pack on Ubuntu Feisty

This plugin pack contains the following plugins

Plugins in the Plugin Pack

1. Album
2. Auto Accept
3. Auto-rejoin
4. Auto Reply
5. awaynotify
6. Bash.org
7. Buddy Icon Tools
8. Buddy List Options
9. Buddy Note
10. buddytime
11. chronic
12. convcolors
13. Dice
14. DiffTopic
15. Magic 8 Ball
16. Flip
17. gRIM
18. Group Message
19. Hide Conversation
20. IRC Helper
21. Irssi Features
22. Last Seen
23. List Handler
24. Marker Line
25. My Status Box
26. napster
27. New Line
28. Nick Said
29. Offline Message
30. Old Logger
31. Plonkers
32. Schedule
33. Separate and Tab
34. Show Offline
35. Sim Fix
36. Slash Exec
37. SSL Info
38. Stocker
39. Switch Spell
40. Talk Filters
41. XMMS Remote
42. XChat-Chats

You can download Pidgin 2.0.0 Plugin Pack from here or here

wget http://www.kalpiknigam.com/blog/uploads/purple-plugin-pack_1.0-1_i386.deb

Install Pidgin 2.0.0 Plugin Pack Using the following command

sudo dpkg -i purple-plugin-pack_1.0-1_i386.deb

This will install all the plugins menctioned above.

Howto Set Windows as Default OS when Dual Booting Ubuntu

When you install Windows and ubuntu as dual boot you’ll notice that Ubuntu is set as the default operating system in the Grub loader if you want to change your default booting OS to windows you need to follow this procedure

You need to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst file

sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst

Look for the following option

default 0

to

default 4

Save and exit the file and reboot your system.

You will need to change that number 0 to match the Windows boot section.In most cases 4 is a default dual-boot configuration and in one my friend’s laptop this value is 5 so you need to check this and enter the value.The blocks at the bottom of the file match the items in the menu and the numbering starts at 0.

If you want a graphical operating, well, maybe there is another easier way. Use startup-manager,after install it(sudo apt-get install startupmanager) and run it, below the “Boot options”,you can make a choice with “Default operating system”,choose "windows xp", and all done!!

Optimize Ubuntu Feisty Fawn for Speed - Tips for a faster Ubuntu machine!

来源
If you use Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn) as your Linux distribution, which everyone knows it's a pretty fast Linux operating system, you can also do some tricks in order to get a boost. I will teach you today some quick hacks on how to improve the overall performance of your system.

WARNING: Please follow the instructions below very carefully, in the order in which they are listed below and reboot your machine after each one. If not, your operating system will NOT work anymore.

1. Boot tweaking

It is a very good idea to do this tweak when you first install Ubuntu, but you can also do it anytime after the installation. This will reorganize some files that are read when the computer boots and it makes the boot process a little faster. All you have to do is hit the ESC button to see the GRUB menu when the computer starts, then select the second line (the one that looks like this: /vmlinuz-2.6.20-15-generic root=UUID=6162302f-3f32-4b73-bb56-c42f4f9fbce2 ro quiet splash) and hit the "e" key to edit that line. Add the word profile at the end of this line (don't forget to put a space before you type profile). Hit enter when you're done and then push the "b" key on your keyboard in order to boot the system.

It will take a little longer to boot, but only this one time, because after this process it will boot faster.

2. Filesystem tweaks

The following tweaks are for EXT3 and ReiserFS filesystems

Open a console and type:

CODE


sudo gedit /etc/fstab


Add the following options marked in bold to the root (/) mount line. In other words, it should change from this:

# /dev/sdb2
UUID=f4d4d73d-4141-4701-a7e2-ec41664483a7 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1

into this:

# /dev/sdb2
UUID=f4d4d73d-4141-4701-a7e2-ec41664483a7 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro,noatime,data=writeback 0 1

Now type the following command in the console:

CODE


sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst


And add this option:

rootflags=data=writeback

to the end of the following lines:

# defoptions=quiet splash rootflags=data=writeback

# altoptions=(recovery mode) single rootflags=data=writeback

Now save and close, and type the following command in the console:

CODE


sudo update-grub


Type now the following command in order to manually change your filesystem "on-the-fly" into writeback.

NOTE: Please note that /dev/sdb2 is my root (/) partition. If you have the root (/) partition in another place, change it accordingly. Please look in /etc/fstab for this!

WARNING: The next trick is only for EXT3 filesystems! For ReiserFS this will NOT work, so don't run the following command, just reboot your system for the changes to apply.

CODE


sudo tune2fs -o journal_data_writeback /dev/sdb2


That's all, now reboot your system and when you get back, you should feel an increased speed in video, image or audio usage.

3. Tuning Swappiness

If you have been running Linux systems for some time and you have used applications like 'top' to see what's going on in your machine, then you've probably wondered: Where has all my memory gone? You should know that the largest place is being used in the disk cache, as the cached memory is free and it can be replaced anytime if a newly started application needs that memory. Linux systems are made like this to use so much memory for disk cache because the RAM is wasted if is not used and if something needs the same data again, then there is a very good chance to be in the cache memory.

In a console type the following code:

CODE


sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf


Now add the following line at the end of this file:

CODE


vm.swappiness=0


The number at the end of this line can be between 0 and 100. At 100 the Linux kernel will prefer to find inactive pages and swap them out, while value 0 gives something close to the old behavior where applications that wanted memory could shrink the cache to a tiny fraction of RAM.

4. Concurrent booting

If you have a dual-core processor or one that supports hyperthreading then concurrent booting allows Ubuntu to take advantage of them. Just open a console and type the following code:

CODE


sudo gedit /etc/init.d/rc


and find the line CONCURRENCY=none and change it to:

CODE


CONCURRENCY=shell


Save and reboot your computer.

5. IPv6 tweaking

In Linux, most of the installed software uses the IPv4 Internet protocol in order to connect to the internet and because the IPv6 protocol is enabled by default in Ubuntu, you must create a file to block this protocol. Type the following code in a console:

CODE


sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/bad_list


and add the next line in that file:

CODE


alias net-pf-10 off


Remember to hit enter after you've added the above line, save and exit.

That will be all for now, please report if you see any improvements to your system. If anyone has more improvements, you can post them here anytime, so others will know about them!

Transfer Files with Bluetooth on Ubuntu Transfer Files with Bluetooth on Ubuntu - Activate Bluetooth file transfers on Ubuntu

Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras and video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed short-range radio frequency.

Today I'll give you a quick example of how to transfer files via Bluetooth from/to your mobile phone. For this guide, I've used the Canyon Bluetooth CN-BTU2 USB 2.0 Adapter (picture in the left) and a Motorola v360 Bluetooth capable mobile phone.

Enable Bluetooth

In Ubuntu Edgy, Bluetooth support is enabled and started by default, so if you'll buy a Bluetooth adapter and plug it into the USB port, you may see a pop-up that let's you know that a Bluetooth device was found. However, if you don't have Bluetooth support in your Ubuntu Edgy, you can enable it as follows:

CODE


sudo apt-get install gnome-bluetooth bluez-utils


CODE


sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth start stop restart


After this, you can control and communicate with Bluetooth devices if you enable the GNOME Bluetooth software, which you can find under Applications -> Accessories -> Bluetooth File Sharing

You can search for Bluetooth devices from the command-line as follows:

CODE


hcitool inq


The result of the inquiring was...

CODE


~$ hcitool inq
Inquiring ...
00:17:00:98:39:E2 clock offset: 0x75a5 class: 0x522204


This is my Motorola v360 phone.

Transfer files via Bluetooth

From Mobile to PC

If you want to send files from your mobile phone to PC, then this is a very easy task, just select the file you want to transfer and according to your mobile device options, you can select to send the file to a Bluetooth device. It will ask you then which device to send to (mine was found as marius-desktop-0) and send the file. Simple as that!

From PC to the Mobile device

Now, if you want to send files from your PC to the mobile phone, you can use a lot of applications to do that.

Example 1:

1. Create a launcher on your desktop.
2. In the Command field, put the following line:

CODE


gnome-obex-send %s


3. Drag and drop files to the icon you've just created.

A window will appear asking you to select the device you want to transfer files to.

NOTE: Remember to turn on your Bluetooth on the mobile phone before you start the file transfers.

Example 2:

1. Right click on the file you wanna send to the mobile device, and go to "Send to..."
2. A window appears asking you were you want the file to be sent. From the drop down list, select Bluetooth (OBEX) and it will start searching for your phone's Bluetooth. When it's found, send the file.


The Kubuntu way

In Kubuntu, you have more options by accessing the mobile device if you type in Konqueror:

CODE


bluetooth:/


You will have Bluetooth services like:

- OBEX file transfer
- OBEX Object Push
- Dial-up networking Gateway
- Hands-Free voice gateway
- Image Push
- Voice Gateway

See examples of usage, below:

howto install rpm in Ubuntu!

ubuntu是基于debian的linux

因此使用了debian的deb软件管理模式

所以是不能直接使用rpm的

如果需要使用rpm 那么你需要执行以下命令：

代码:

sudo apt-get install alien

在安装好之后，你需要把下载好的rpm进行转换

代码:

sudo alien XXXX.rpm

然后安装转换好的deb包

代码:

sudo dpkg -i xxxxx.deb

最后说明一点 转换不一定成功 最好是找该软件的deb版下载

install ubuntu-studio themes!

1.编辑 /etc/apt/sources.list 加入下面一行:

deb http://archive.ubuntustudio.org/ubuntustudio feisty main

2. 搞到密钥：

$ wget http://archive.ubuntustudio.org/ubuntustudio.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

3. 升级

$ sudo apt-get update

4. 如果想gdm theme, wallpapers, icon theme, session splashes 和gtk theme 全部安装就用这条命令：

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-look

当然你也可以挑其中你感兴趣的，比如我不装gdm theme 和 session splashes 那就用这条命令:

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntustudio-theme ubuntustudio-icon-theme ubuntustudio-wallpapers

Set Gmail as Default Mail Client in Ubuntu

Every Geek uses Gmail… it’s pretty much required. And now you can set Gmail as the default client in Ubuntu without any extra software. (Windows requires the Gmail notifier be installed)

Just go to System \ Preferences \ Preferred Applications

Under Mail Reader, select Custom, and then put this into the Command window, changing "geek" to your username.

/home/geek/open_mailto.sh

Next, you’ll need to save this shell script into your user directory ( /home/username ). [Download]

For the curious, here’s the contents of the script:

#!/bin/sh

firefox https://mail.google.com/mail?view=cm&tf=0&to=`echo $1 | sed ’s/mailto://’`

If you’d like to make the script open a new tab in an existing Firefox window, you can replace the firefox line in the script with the following:

firefox -remote "openurl(https://mail.google.com/mail?view=cm&tf=0&to=`echo $1 | sed ’s/mailto://’`,new-tab)"

Update: If you want to make the script file hidden by default, you can rename it with a . at the beginning of the file like this: .open_mailto.sh. You’ll have to change the path in the preferences, of course.

Open a terminal and type in the following command, to make the script executable:

chmod u+x ~/open_mailto.sh

Now it should be working.

To test it out… I clicked the contact link on my page… and it immediately opened in Gmail.

Note that if you aren’t logged into Gmail you’ll be prompted to login to gmail… and you’ll have to click the email link again. Seems like Gmail’s login redirector won’t open the send mail page. But then again… why aren’t you logged into Gmail?

Update: Changed to point to a script so that the mailto: tag would be removed. Thanks VERY much to Mr Linux for not just noticing, but giving me the working script.

来源