Category Archives: Linux - Page 2

Quick gnome tweaks

Posted by cviorel on December 24, 2010 No comments | This post has 500 views.

Here are some tweaks for your gnome:

Print all subdirectories and entries under a dir, recursively:

gconftool-2 -R /

1	gconftool-2 -R /

Change GDM font:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \
/desktop/gnome/interface/document_font_name "Ubuntu"
sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \
/desktop/gnome/interface/font_name "Ubuntu"
sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \
/desktop/gnome/interface/monospace_font_name "Monospace"

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \

/desktop/gnome/interface/document_font_name "Ubuntu"

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \

/desktop/gnome/interface/font_name "Ubuntu"

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \

/desktop/gnome/interface/monospace_font_name "Monospace"

Change GDM backgound:

sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \
/desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename "/path/to_image"

1 2	sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set --type string \ /desktop/gnome/background/picture_filename "/path/to_image"

Set default gnome terminal size in Lucid Lynx

Posted by cviorel on May 26, 2010 No comments | This post has 554 views.

Use these commands to change the default gnome terminal size:

gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/default_size_columns \
--type integer 160
gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/default_size_rows \
--type integer 50

gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/default_size_columns \

--type integer 160

gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/default_size_rows \

--type integer 50

XMLStarlet: command line XML toolkit

Posted by cviorel on February 5, 2010 No comments | This post has 10,295 views.

XMLStarlet is a set of command line utilities (tools) which can be used to transform, query, validate, and edit XML documents and files using simple set of shell commands in similar way it is done for plain text files using UNIX grep, sed, awk, diff, patch, join, etc commands.

This set of command line utilities can be used by those who deal with many XML documents on UNIX shell command prompt as well as for automated XML processing with shell scripts.
Ubuntu allready has it in the repos, so issue the following command in your terminal to install it:

sudo aptitude install xmlstarlet

1	sudo aptitude install xmlstarlet

Vacuum your Firefox 3

Posted by cviorel on February 3, 2010 No comments | This post has 1,752 views.

This tip will hopefully speed up your Firefox 3 by optimizing it’s database.
Firefox stores your browsing data using SQLite – self contained, small footprint database.
Having database store your browsing data has one drawback, you have to optimize the database from time to time to get rid of old, deleted data, re-index the columns etc.
Otherwise you keep all the junk data mixed in with your real data.
In SQLite is the statement to do this called VACUUM. So here’s how to vacuum your Firefox:

1. Download sqlite command line client for your platform. In Ubuntu, go to yout terminal and issue the following command:

sudo aptitude install sqlite3

1	sudo aptitude install sqlite3

2. Turn off your Firefox
3. Go to your profile folder
4. Issue the command:
* For Linux

for i in *.sqlite; do echo "VACUUM;" | sqlite3 $i ; done

1	for i in *.sqlite; do echo "VACUUM;" \| sqlite3 $i ; done

* For Windows

for %i in (*.sqlite) do @echo VACUUM; | sqlite3 %i

1	for %i in (*.sqlite) do @echo VACUUM; \| sqlite3 %i

Enjoy!

Turn off or limit the Recent Documents feature in Ubuntu

Posted by cviorel on January 27, 2010 No comments | This post has 653 views.

If you want to turn off the Recent Documents feature in Ubuntu, all you have to do is create a .gtkrc file in your home directory.

touch $HOME/.gtkrc-2.0

1	touch $HOME/.gtkrc-2.0

Then add gtk-recent-files-max-age=0 to this file.

echo 'gtk-recent-files-max-age=0' | tee -a $HOME/.gtkrc-2.0

1	echo 'gtk-recent-files-max-age=0' \| tee -a $HOME/.gtkrc-2.0

This is documented here.
This will also work in any other linux distribution running Gnome.
Enjoy!

Ubuntu One coming to Windows

Posted by cviorel on January 26, 2010 No comments | This post has 475 views.

At PyCon 2010, Ubuntu One development team will focus on helping Ubuntu users who also use a Windows box. This is great news!
Source.

Skype for Linux 2.1 beta2

Posted by cviorel on January 21, 2010 No comments | This post has 458 views.

Skype just released Skype for Linux 2.1 beta2 aka “Talking Screens”.
Chats are faster, UI supports switching styles on the fly, and audio is a lot better than before. You can download it here.
What’s new in this version:
– Screen sharing
– Quote a message in chat
– Localized time formats
– Support for UI styles
– Report abuse
You can view the detailed changelog here.

TIP: If you use a darker theme (I use Dust), the menus will look ugly.

To fix this, go to Options (CTRL+O) and under General, select Desktop Settings or GTK+ for the style.
Restart Skype and enjoy!

Search and remove duplicate files

Posted by cviorel on October 14, 2009 No comments | This post has 612 views.

Here a small piece of code which will search for the duplicates in the path you supply. It will generate a new file which contains the commands for deleting those duplicates.
Make sure you double check the resulting file!
The script requires that you have fdupes installed.
Install it in Ubuntu/Debian by running the following command in your terminal:

sudo aptitude install fdupes

1	sudo aptitude install fdupes

#!/bin/bash

OUTF='rm-dups.sh'
echo "#!/bin/bash" > $OUTF
fdupes -r -f $1 | sed -r 's#(.+)#rm '\"'\1'\"'#' >> $OUTF
chmod +x $OUTF

#!/bin/bash

OUTF='rm-dups.sh'

echo "#!/bin/bash" > $OUTF

fdupes -r -f $1 | sed -r 's#(.+)#rm '\"'\1'\"'#' >> $OUTF

chmod +x $OUTF

Karmic Koala Beta on ThinkPad T61

Posted by cviorel on October 6, 2009 No comments | This post has 554 views.

I just installed Ubuntu 9.10 Beta on my LENOVO ThinkPad T61 64608NG.
Here is what I found so far, in two days of intensive usage:

Quadro NVS 140M – 2D and 3D acceleration: tested and works.
Wireless switch: tested and works.
Sound: tested and works.
Enabling touchpad on/off key (fn-f8): not working.
Enabling Active Protection System: works by installing tp_smapi.
Read the complete guide here.
Fingerprint Reader: install thinkfinger-tools and libpam-thinkfinger from the repository and everything works.
Network Card Intel 10/100/1000: tested and works.
Wireless Intel PRO/4965AG: tested and works.
Card reader: not tested.

UPDATE: Power level of the fingerprint reader is set to on by default, so it gets hot pretty fast. Use one of the scripts here to set it to auto at boot time.
Note that the path /sys/class/usb_*/*/device is no longer working. Instead, use /sys/class/usbmon/usbmon*/device/usb*/*.
Here is the complete script for that, taken from thinkwiki.org and modified to reflect the new path.

#!/bin/bash

# find the fingerprint reader and change its power level to autosuspend
find_manuf=STMicroelectronics
find_prod="Biometric Coprocessor"

for devdir in /sys/class/usbmon/usbmon*/device/usb*/*; do
  [[ -r $devdir/manufacturer ]] || continue
  manuf=$(<$devdir/manufacturer)
  [[ $manuf = $find_manuf ]] || continue;
  prod=$(<$devdir/product)
  [[ $prod = $find_prod ]] || continue;
  # if we get here then we have the right device!
  plevel_file=$devdir/power/level
  old_level=$(<$plevel_file);
  # if it is already set properly then exit silently:
  [[ $old_level = auto ]] && exit 0
  # if we successfully change it then exit silently:
  echo auto >$plevel_file && exit 0
  echo "Failed to set the fingerprint reader's power level to 'auto'."
  exit 1
done

# if we make it through the for loop without exiting, the search failed
echo "Could not find the $find_manuf $find_prod (fingerprint reader)"
exit 1

#!/bin/bash

# find the fingerprint reader and change its power level to autosuspend

find_manuf=STMicroelectronics

find_prod="Biometric Coprocessor"

for devdir in /sys/class/usbmon/usbmon*/device/usb*/*; do

[[ -r $devdir/manufacturer ]] || continue

manuf=$(<$devdir/manufacturer)

[[ $manuf = $find_manuf ]] || continue;

prod=$(<$devdir/product)

[[ $prod = $find_prod ]] || continue;

# if we get here then we have the right device!

plevel_file=$devdir/power/level

old_level=$(<$plevel_file);

# if it is already set properly then exit silently:

[[ $old_level = auto ]] && exit 0

# if we successfully change it then exit silently:

echo auto >$plevel_file && exit 0

echo "Failed to set the fingerprint reader's power level to 'auto'."

exit 1

done

# if we make it through the for loop without exiting, the search failed

echo "Could not find the $find_manuf $find_prod (fingerprint reader)"

exit 1

How to fix menu icons in GNOME 2.28

Posted by cviorel on October 5, 2009 No comments | This post has 540 views.

In the latest release of GNOME, they decided to turn off icons in menus by default. This is ugly and if you ask me, not practical at all.
However, you can get those icons back by going to System → Preferences → Appearance, and under the Interface tab, you can check the box “Show icons in menus”. The new GNOME also removes stock icons from buttons. The the above option does not put them back.
To enable icons in menus and butttons, run in your terminal:

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/buttons_have_icons --type bool true
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/menus_have_icons --type bool true

1 2	gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/buttons_have_icons --type bool true gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/menus_have_icons --type bool true

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cviorel.com

Category Archives: Linux - Page 2

Quick gnome tweaks

Set default gnome terminal size in Lucid Lynx

XMLStarlet: command line XML toolkit

Vacuum your Firefox 3

Turn off or limit the Recent Documents feature in Ubuntu

Ubuntu One coming to Windows

Skype for Linux 2.1 beta2

Search and remove duplicate files

Karmic Koala Beta on ThinkPad T61

How to fix menu icons in GNOME 2.28

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Category Archives: Linux - Page 2

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