May 12

More Picage

I have a few more pictures I took at ASU in the time period since my last photo post. Here are some of my favorite pictures ive taken using my phone:

mouseover the pictures for their captions.

Apr 27

aliencam’s Customized Ubuntu Setup part VIII: desktop look

I have a significantly customized desktop look. Very nearly stolen from here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SimplyStunningLinuxDesktop Most of my configurations are aimed toward fitting more things on my screen at once, because I have a very small screen and can’t afford to have two panel bars.

Right click on the clock, go to Properties, uncheck “Show Date” and “Show Weather”.
Right click on a blank spot in the middle and go to properties. click “Show Hide Buttons” uncheck “Show arrows on hide buttons” and make the size 23 (or the smallest possible.)
Go to the Background tab, select “Solid Colour” and move the opacity slider so the left edge of the slider is at the left edge of the “n” in “Transparent”.
Then right-click and remove each of the “Acessories” “Places” and “System” menus. Then right-click and Add To Panel the Main Menu option, put that all the way at the left edge.
Remove the three shortcut icons, and replace them with a drawer.
Then unlock and move the Window List, right-click on it, go to Preferences, and select Always Group Windows.
Move the Trash Can to the top right, and the Workspace Switcher to the direct left of the clock.
Remove the User Switcher, move the CPU Frequency Monitor directly to the left of the Notification Area, and lock everything.
Now delete the bottom panel.

Set the Desktop background to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Pomegranate03_edit.jpg

Now add a Terminal shortcut to the Drawer, a Firefox Shortcut, Thunderbird Shortcut, Pidgin Shortcut, and an Xournal Shortcut.

Then open a terminal window, right-click in the blank area and select “Edit Current Profile” and on the Effects tab select “Transparent Background” with the slider going from the middle of the “r” to the middle of the “d”.

And now your desktop should look like this:

Isn’t that beautiful?

Apr 27

aliencam’s Customized Ubuntu Setup part VII: Ondemand CPU Govenor

The Ondemand CPU Frequency Governor automatically adjusts the CPU frequency in order to save power. It does not simply set the frequency to the lowest setting, because even if you are saving energy, the longer the CPU is in use the more power it uses. So this adjusts the frequency to complete processes as quickly as possible, so it can return to a low power state for longer periods of time, reaching longer and lower sleep levels.

Make sure all package managers are closed, open a terminal and enter each of the following in order:
sudo modprobe acpi-cpufreq
sudo modprobe cpufreq_ondemand
sudo aptitude install sysfsutils
sudo -s
echo "devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor=ondemand" >> /etc/sysfs.conf

For the first two, it is good if you do not see any response from the terminal. It only responds on errors. After this, close the terminal window and reboot your computer. After the reboot right-click on the panel where you want the CPU monitor, and select “add to panel” then add the CPU Frequency Monitor. . Then in a terminal enter:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure gnome-applets
select “ok” and “yes” and bam! now every time you left-click on the CPU Frequency Monitor you can choose from the available frequencies, or the available automatic options. Remember, Ondemand is the best for battery life.

sources: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=50949&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=ubuntu&start=0
http://ubuntu.wordpress.com/2005/11/04/enabling-cpu-frequency-scaling/

Apr 26

aliencam’s Customized Ubuntu Setup part VI: Fingerprint Reader

Lenovo Fingerprint reader (Lenovo Thinkpad laptops only!)

I suggest that before you do this you practice a few times. You must swipe your entire finger, and it is going to have to be at a slow and uniform speed. My thumbprint swipe takes about one second. I would like to post a video of this because people seriously have a very hard time with it, however I do not currently have a video. And it would be boring. But if i ever come across a video of correct thumb swiping procedure, I will be sure to post it.

In a terminal, enter:
sudo apt-get install thinkfinger-tools libpam-thinkfinger

Once that is complete enter:
sudo tf-tool --acquire

It will then ask you to swipe your finger three times. Do this and it will count each successful/ failed swipe. You need three successful swipes to finish. Then enter:
sudo tf-tool --verify

This will ask you to swipe your finger once, and will tell you if it matches or does not match. Now you need to make sure it actually uses that fingerprint information in password situations.
sudo gedit /etc/pam.d/common-auth

and change the contents of the file to read like this:
auth sufficient pam_thinkfinger.so
auth required pam_unix.so nullok_secure try_first_pass
auth optional pam_smbpass.so migrate

It should only be changing the first line and adding something to the second line, so I did not back up. I would suggest backing up if you are not comfortable in being able to undo that easily. Save and close, then enter:tf-tool –add-user $USERNAME
tf-tool --add-user $USERNAME
replacing “$USERNAME” with your username (should be all lowercase)
(Note: I don’t know if this needs to have sudo before it or not, but I tried both and both gave me an error. However when I logged out my thumbprint worked, so for now ignore the error.)

Now when you log in or need to enter your password in the terminal for sudo or need to enter it for nearly everything else, you can either slide your finger or type your password. For things like the Synaptic Package Manager or the Add/Remove Programs, it will not tell you that swiping oyur fingerprint is an option, but it will work anyway. (it will just say “enter your password”)
This does not however work for the screensaver password or the sleep-mode wake up password. For that you will either have to actually type in your password, or follow this marginally simple guide: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_enable_the_fingerprint_reader_with_ThinkFinger and go to the section titled “xscreensaver/gnome-screensaver.” This is not in this guide because I like to have to type my password after a screensaver or sleep mode, and this is after all a guide to get Ubuntu set up how I like it.

Apr 26

aliencam’s Customized Ubuntu Setup part V: Getting the Tablet to work in Ubuntu Hardy

Setting up the Tablet
Thinkpad x61 or x60 tablet only (I think. But it might work for other wacom tablet computers as well.)

This again requires editing the xorg.conf file, so make sure you have at least one backed up copy of it already. If not, see the Middle Mouse Scroll section. Backing up xorg.conf before making edits is VERY IMPORTANT.
in a terminal:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
then scroll down the the very bottom. Here you will find a section that looks like this:

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

(of course, the correct line spacing will actually work… unlike wordpress’s)
change that so that it looks like this:

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"

#added to get tablet working
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "touch" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Then, above that, make a few more lines, and then add in this:

#BEGIN TABLET SECTION
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" # USB ONLY
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "USB" "on" # USB ONLY
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
Option "Button2" "3" # Added for stylus click
EndSection

# This section is for the TabletPC that supports touch
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "touch"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom" # USB ONLY
Option "Type" "touch"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
Option "USB" "on" # USB ONLY
EndSection
#END TABLET SECTION

Now I would like to note that “touch” does not work yet with this tablet driver. However, It was in the manual, which means that it eventually could work, which would be amazing. It does not cause me any errors to have it in there though, so I figure it won’t hurt. If you wish, remove the section “for the TabletPC that supports touch” and the “touch” line in the server layout section at the bottom.

With this setting, the tip of the pen will act as a regular “left-click”, the button on the pen will act as a “right-click” and the eraser will act as a regular left-click except in applications that support the eraser.

My favorite of such eraser-supporting applications is called xournal. This is a note-taking program that allows a combination of tablet and typing, and lets you annotate PDF files. Very handy for taking notes in my engineering classes. However the eraser does not work correctly by default in this program. In order to get it to work go to Options, and check Use XInput, Discard Core Events, and Eraser Tip. Then, Options > Button 3 Mapping > Highlighter, and back to Options to select Auto-Save Preferences and Save Preferences. Then your pen will work nicely in Xournal from now on.

References: The Linux Wacom Project (man wacdump)

Apr 26

aliencam’s Ubuntu Customization Setup part IV: Compiz effects

Setting up Compiz Desktop Effects
My laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad x61-t) has a blacklisted video card, the Intel X3100. In order to enable desktop effects with a blacklisted card do the following:
enter sudo gedit /etc/xdg/compiz/compiz-manager in a terminal. At the end of the file, type SKIP_CHECKS="yes" then save and close gedit and the terminal.

After you have done that, or if you do not have a blacklisted video card, enter the following in a terminal:
sudo apt-get install simple-ccsm compizconfig-settings-manager fusion-icon
Then (if you chose to install fusion-icon in the line above) go to System > Preferences > Sessions and create a new startup program. You can name it whatever you want (I chose “Fusion Icon”) but for the command enter fusion-icon -n This will put an icon in your notification area that allows you to turn on and off compiz effects, saving power, increasing performance, and stopping compatibility issues when you need it to. the -n in the startup means that compiz will not be restarted when fusion-icon starts.

Now go to System > Preferences > Appearance (and while I’m here I change the theme to Human-Murrine because I like it better) then click the Visual Effects tab and select Custom. If you are satisfied with the lame preferences menu offered there (courtesy of simple-ccsm) then that’s all, but I am not.

To get to more exciting settings and options, click close, and go to System > Preferences > Advanced Desktop Effects Settings and tweak away. (Note: if you had to add “skip_checks” to the compiz config file to get a blacklisted card working, don’t try the rain as it could freeze up your computer.)

Just for fun, here is what I change the settings to:
Enable Desktop Cube
Enable Rotate Cube
Enable Widget Layer
Disable Animations
Enable 3-D Windows
Enable Window Previews
Cube Caps

Then in the Simple ccsm, I go to the Desktop tab, and change Desktop Columns to 3 (making it a triangle, not a cube, but I don’t use more than 3 desktops), and under the Edges tab, I change the top left corner to Initiate Window Picker and the top right corner to Expo Edge.

Then, back to the advanced settings manager again (I do it in this order to make sure all the settings are kept)
Desktop Cube > Appearance > Cube Color and set Opacity to 0. Then under Skydome, I set the skydome to this image resized to 2048×660, due to video card limitations, and converted to PNG. (to find your max resolution, enter glxinfo -l | grep GL_MAX_TEXTURE_SIZE in the terminal, and the number returned is the max size any one side of an image can be.)
. and enable animation. Under the Transparent Cube tab, set Opacity on Rotate to 35.
After that, under Cube Caps > Appearance, set the opacity on both cube top color and cube bottom color to 0.

Apr 26

aliencam’s Customized Ubuntu Setup part III

Installing/Restoring a Pidgin backup.
I keep logs of my AIM conversations, and it is very obnoxious that when I upgrade to a new version I loose all the previous logs. Even if you do the Import Settings for Gaim, it doesn’t bring up logs or settings. So all I did to back up was to copy some files from the .purple folder from my Home folder on the old version to the new one. (note: “.purple” is a hidden folder, you have to press ctrl-h when in the home folder to see it) That means I copied the following files: logs, accels, accounts.xml, blist.xml, cap.db, otr.private_key, prefs.xml, status.xml. (note: “logs” is a folder) If you had plugins installed previously, you may want to re-install plugins, by going into synaptic, searching for “purple” and checking and installing libpurple-bin and pidgin-plugin-pack. Or instead of synaptic, you could (in a termainal) enter:
sudo apt-get install libpurple-bin pidgin-plugin-pack

Apr 26

aliencam’s Customized Ubuntu Setup part II: Thinkpad Middle Mouse Scroll

In order to get the middle-mouse button to scroll you need to edit a configuration file. This is probably the most “dangerous” step in the guide, it could make you unable to access your regular account without fixing an issue if something else gets changed, but if only these options are changed you should be fine. Just in case, ALWAYS BACK UP before editing xorg.conf. To back up, open a terminal and enter:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup
What this does is it copies the xorg.conf file to another file named xorg.conf.backup in the same directory. If you have to revert to the original one from the failsafe terminal mode, or a live CD, you will need to enter the opposite:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf
That will replace the one you edited with the backup version you made before.

Now onto editing. In a terminal, enter:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
You will then need to find the section labeled “Section “InputDevice”" that also has “Identifier “Configured Mouse”" in it. Mine is the second one on the list. Then put a pound sign (#) before each line in that section, and above it another line with a pound sign and “Original mouse configuration” The “#” means that line is a comment, and will not be read. Doing this gives you the opportunity to fix errors without erasing all of your configurations, and to know what you did. After the original section is commented out, type in this mouse section (above or below doesn’t matter) If you choose to copy-paste this section, make sure you re-type each quotation mark, because wordpress changes quotes to curved quotes instead of straight quotes, and the curved will cause an error.:
#Configured Mouse
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2" #IMPS/2 is not recommend for TrackPoints
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "EmulateWheel" "on"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
EndSection
Note: I would tab over all the lines between Section and EndSection just to keep in the same format as the rest of the file. My blog won’t let me tab it over in the post. Here is a screenshot of the original and final xorg.conf files next to each other.

Then save the file, and restart your computer. Hopefully everything will work out great and you will now have a working middle mouse button, if not though, log into the Failsafe Terminal mode and either fix the error, or restore the backup. If you see random brown pixels on the desktop, clicking doesn’t work like it used to, or something is much more messed up, restore the backup or reconfigure using the instructions in the “Repairing xorg.conf” section in the notes.

If you have issues with the middle mouse button acting as “paste” as well as scrolling in Firefox, (an issue I found very annoying while writing this blog) all you need to do is open a new firefox tab, and navigate it to about:config then in the filter bar type “mouse,” and change the value of middlemouse.paste to false by double-clicking on it or right-clicking on it.

Apr 25

aliencam’s Customized Ubuntu Setup. Part I

So, now that you’ve finally gotten Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron installed, all the guides stop here. Well, now what? Most people won’t be happy forever with the default desktop settings, so here is my guide to customizing and setting up Ubuntu 8.04 the way I like it. Each of these tips can be done independently, or pick and choose the ones you like. I’ll be using a fresh installation of Ubuntu 8.04 x86_64, but everything should be the same for both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions. I’ll also be using a Lenovo x61 Tablet laptop, and a few of these customizations will be hardware specific, so don’t do them if you have different hardware from me, but they should work on the majority of Thinkpad laptops. (I will note where things should and shouldn’t work, and for whom)

I will start this off with a screenshot of the default desktop. Up at the top is the Applicatoins, Places, and the System menu, along with a few program shortcuts, the clock, power button, and the notification area. At the bottom is the “show desktop” button, the window list, virtual desktops list, and the trash. (yes, I still call it trash and not recycle bin. Nothing I put in there ever gets re-used. Ubuntu calls it trash too.)

Enabling Repositories and Installing Basic Codecs
The first thing I always do when I have a new installation of Ubuntu is to enable more repositories. Essentially, the repositories are servers where many Ubuntu software packages are held. However, when you have a fresh install, only a few of these are enabled, meaning that you can’t see all of the programs or software packages available to you. Change these settings by going to the System menu on the top, then Administration, then Software Sources. You will have to enter your account password here. (see note on “Sudo and the Administrator Password”) I go through all the tabs, and I check nearly every option. Check both under “Third Party Software”, under “Updates” it is your choice to check “Pre-released updates” and “Unsupported Updates” those are both repositories that will send programs that may have updated in the repositories since the distribution became available, but are not nearly beta updates, as they are generally just stable updates that have not yet been completely accepted by the Ubuntu community. And on the “Statistics” tab, it is nice to check the “submit statistical information” box just to help out find which programs are most popular. When you are through, select “Close” and an alert will pop up telling you that your information is out of date. Click reload, and then it should close. (if not, just click cancel the second time)

Now, to install the “Ubuntu Restricted Extras” package, go to Applications, then Add/Remove. At the top, under “Show:” change the option to “All Available Applications” then search for “Ubuntu Restricted Extras”. Check the box next to it, and click apply. This allows you to play MP3s, watch DVDs, view Microsoft Core Fonts, and a few other things. I would also suggest using the media player “VLC” instead of the default totem movie player, as VLC can handle many more formats than the other video players, and I believe it fetches codecies as you need them. More media compatibility is available by following this guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Note: This is only the first part of the guide, I decided to split it into smaller posts. I will be making a page with the consolidated guide though.

Apr 25

Firefox Extensions

As I am backing up all my files and settings, I needed a list of all firefox extensions that I have installed. I found a nice extension called “add-on dump” so I installed it, and it printed me this nicely formated list of all extensions. Many of these will be rendered unnecessary (w00t!) when I convert to firefox 3 beta 5 after the install, as opposed to the swiftweasel version I am currently using. But if swiftweasel trunk is faster than the FF3b5 (which it probably will be) I will switch back to swiftweasel.

Add-Ons list:
Application: Swiftweasel 2.0.0.13 (0000000000)
Operating System: Linux (x86_64-gcc3)

April 25, 2008

Total number of items: 32

- Adblock Plus 0.7.5.4
- Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper 1.0.4
- Better GReader 0.2.2
- Better YouTube 0.4.2
- BugMeNot 1.8
- Copy All Urls 0.8.0
- CustomizeGoogle 0.71
- del.icio.us Bookmarks 1.5.44
- DOM Inspector 1.8.1.13
- DownThemAll! 1.0.1
- Extension List Dumper 1.13.1
- Fasterfox 2.0.0
- FireFTP 0.97.1
- Fission 0.9.5
- Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer 2.0.45
- GooglePreview 3.11
- Greasemonkey 0.7.20080121.0
- keyconfig 20060828.1
- Linky 2.7.1
- Mozilla XForms 0.8.5
- Nightly Tester Tools 1.3
- OneClick Installer for Wordpress 1.0
- PDF Download 1.0.1.1
- Preferences in Tools Menu 0.1
- Quick Locale Switcher 1.6.5.1
- RetailMeNot 2.1
- Save Session 1.3.1.3
- Stealther 1.0.1
- Twitterbar 0.0.8
- Update Scanner 2.0.15
- Usage Counter 0.2.1
- User Agent Switcher 0.6.11