Ubuntu Root

Benefits From Using Sticky Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Mon, 05 May 2014 10:08:00 +0000

Sticky notes are one oldest note taking technique. Now day if you work around office you will see that
many people still use sticky notes. Why so? If you look at sticky not closely you can see that you can put or “stick” it anywhere and fill it with any memo, note, or to-do note.

Sticky notes are most used in work environments where collaboration between team is included. Sticky notes allows team to more efficient communicate and propose ideas, feedback and improvements on project that they are collaborating.

These way sticky notes earned they role as best tool for quick note taking. With fast technology progress sticky notes found their way in to computing platforms and they are not big part of any collaboration tool or as an simple desktop or mobile application.

Here are some benefits from using sticky notes

With book – Sticky notes are oblivious choice when marking important information with in any book both in digital and analog format.
Pim program – Use with personal information manager program as side notes to datebook, planer or notebook.
To-do – Sticky notes make perfect temporary to-do list creator.
Alarm note – If you have multiple arums use sticky note to remind you what alarms are for.
Flowchart – Sticky notes are excellent tool if you need movable visual aid. Sticky notes are excellent since you can move theme from one segment of flow chart to another flow chart.
Presentation – You can use sticky notes when you are making presentation, use sticky notes to help you determine order of elements. This will allow you to see presentation in panoramic view and can have big impact in making presentation.

Benefit of digital sticky notes

Sticky notes for your PC or smart phone device are perfect, you can stick them on your desktop and have them available all the time, save theme and modify the when you want.

Digital sticky notes can be easily searched and you can find need information quickly. These sticky notes can be securely protected, encrypted and backup can be made on daily base. Sticky notes in digital format can be easily customized to fit your individual needs, from size and shape to color, with transparency, gradient color, font and special effects.

These notes can be shared with other people or attached as email attachment. Being able to attach them anywhere ensures that that you will not miss any task

How To Install Linux Kernel 3.14 In Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 11:27:00 +0000

Currently Linux kernel 3.14 is not available in Ubuntu. To upgrade to kernale 3.14 you need to install it manually.

While installing latest Linux kernel is obligatory the main reason why people install latest kernel is driver support and performances.

Latest kernels brings better system performances and driver support. The main reason why i install latest kernel is improvements in radeon video driver.

Linux 3.14 kernel enables dynamic power management (DPM) for newer AMD hardware, various bug-fixes, RadeonSI UVD support.

Linux kernel 3.14 release notes you can read here http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux_3.14

NOTE: Before you install Linux kernel 3.14 be aware that proprietary video drivers may not work. In this case uninstall drivers before installing kernel and install them again (if driver support kernel 3.14) after kernel installation.

Open terminal and first download .deb packages.

32bit (i386) system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-trusty/linux-headers-3.14.0-031400-generic_3.14.0-031400.201403310035_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-trusty/linux-headers-3.14.0-031400_3.14.0-031400.201403310035_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-trusty/linux-image-3.14.0-031400-generic_3.14.0-031400.201403310035_i386.deb

64bit (AMD64) system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-trusty/linux-headers-3.14.0-031400-generic_3.14.0-031400.201403310035_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-trusty/linux-headers-3.14.0-031400_3.14.0-031400.201403310035_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.14-trusty/linux-image-3.14.0-031400-generic_3.14.0-031400.201403310035_amd64.deb

When files download run the following command:

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.14.0-*.deb linux-image-3.14.0-*.deb

If you have any problem with new kernel you can remove it with following command:

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-3.14.0-* linux-image-3.14.0-*

How To Install Cisco Packet Tracer 6 In Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 12:51:00 +0000

Cisco Packet Tracer is a network simulation program that allows students to experiment with network behavior and ask “what if” questions. As an integral part of the Networking Academy comprehensive learning experience, Packet Tracer provides simulation, visualization, authoring, assessment, and collaboration capabilities and facilitates the teaching and learning of complex technology concepts.

To install Cisco Packet Tracer in Ubuntu first download installation.
Installation comes in two forms: Cisco Packet Tracer 6.0.1 for Linux - Ubuntu installation (with tutorials) and Cisco Packet Tracer 6.0.1 for Linux (no tutorials).

Chose Cisco Packet Tracer 6.0.1 for Linux - Ubuntu installation (with tutorials) this version is designed for Ubuntu and it also have integrated tutorials.

If you have 64 bit system you need to install ia32-libs-gtk with following command:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs-gtk

Now copy file Cisco Packet Tracer 6.0.1 for Linux - Ubuntu installation (with tutorials)to home folder and rename it to Cisco.bin

Now allow executing file as program using chmod +x command or right click > properties > Permissions > Allow executing file as program

At end run ./Cisco.bin command

Portal 2 Beta For Linux Available

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 12:39:00 +0000

Valve have finally released beta version of Portal 2 for Linux.

To install Portal 2 Beta in Linux you need to switch to beta pipeline in steam.
To do this right click on "Portal 2 (Beta)" > Properties > BETA (tab) and from drop-down menu select "beta - BETA"

Even if it says Portal 2 (Beta) in Steam you need to switch to beta pipeline, game will install but it will not start (bug #46)

Keep in mind that this is beta version and it have bugs.

Some notable bugs are:

Portal 2 Beta is only available in English (bug #8)
Bugs with controller support (bug #14)
Announcer and Wheatley cannot be heard (bug #5) (fixed for new installations)

Fix for bug #5:

However, if you already downloaded Portal 2, there is one part of the update process which unfortunately cannot be completed automatically and you must do manually:
navigate to the bin/ directory under your Portal 2 directory (e.g. ~/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Portal 2/bin
rename libmiles.so to libMiles.so

Bug can be reported on GitHub.

Speed Unity Performances

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Mon, 19 Aug 2013 07:30:00 +0000

While performances with Unity have increased dramatically since first release users who are using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS are stuck with Unity version 5.x and didn't get performance boost that offers Unity 7.

There are ways you can increase performances with Unity on Ubuntu 12.04.

Before you start make sure you install CompizConfig Setting Manager, you need CompizConfig Setting Manager to make all tweaks

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Disabling animations

Disabling animations is the first thing you can do to increase performances. This will disable animations for opening, closing and minimizing applications.

Open CompizConfig Setting Manager. Navigate to Effects > Animations

Now in tabs Open Animation, Close Animation and Minimize Animation select animations and click delete button.

You can restore animation by clicking restore to default button.

Disabling blur

Disabling blur in Unity can lead to big performance increase and if you are experiencing "lag" when using Unity Dash it will fix this issue.

To disable blur open CompizConfig Setting Manager. Navigate to Ubuntu Unity Plugin > Expreimental
There change Dash Blur to No Blur

Running Unity in low GFX mode

Runnig Unity in low GFX mode will disable brur, effects and transparency. Instead manully disabling blur and animations you can use this commands.

gedit .xprofile

and paste

export UNITY_LOW_GFX_MODE=1

You need to restart comuter to take efect.

Resetting Unity configuration/settings

In some cases resetting configuration setting to default may help. To reset configuration setting to default type following command in terminal:

unity --reset

This command only works in Ubuntu 12.04. For Ubuntu 12.10+ you need to to use other command.
First install dconf

sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

Then run following commands:

dconf reset -f /org/compiz/
unity --reset-icons

Switching to Unity 2D

One solution is to swith to Unity 2D. Depends on your hardware configuration this can dramaticly increase performance.

You can switch to Unity 2D by chosing Unity 2D at login screen.

Updating to latest Ubuntu release

If you don't depend on stability of Ubuntu LTS release you can upgrade to latest Ubuntu release to get performance boost in latest Unity version.

Install Latest LibreOffice Version

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 19:00:00 +0000

On Ubuntu 12.04 LibreOffice is outdated and you are only getting updates for 3.7.x version.
Current latest version of LibreOffice is 4.x. Version 4 brings new features Ubuntu global menu integration and better support for MS Office files formats.

You have few options for updating LibreOffice.

Bleeding edge PPA

This PPA have dailly builds of LibreOffice and it is recommended only for users who want's to test new features. This is not stable version and it's not recommended to use this PPA on production machine.

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

4.1.x PPA

This PPA provides version 4.1.x (currently latest) of LibreOffice and updates. You need to keep in mid when version 4.2.x is released this PPA will not provide upgrade to version 4.2.x

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-4-1 && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

There is also PPA for 4.0.x and older version 3.6, 3.5 and 3.4

Direct update

You can also manually download latest version of LibreOffice

Watch Twitch.tv/justin.tv In VLC

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 21:10:00 +0000

With flash still used for video playback on internet suffering continues for users who have old computers or problems with flash. Here is a quick tutorial how to watch stream from Twitch.tv or Justin.tv.

First you need to install rtmpdump

sudo apt-get install rtmpdump

Now go to Bog's awesome stream to VLC script to generate command to stream Twitch.tv or Justin.tv stream.

Here put channel name, in MPC-HC/VLC local path: type just vlc and in RTMP local path: field type rtmpdump.

Now click "DATA ON SCREEN" to generate command. Generated command just run in terminal.

Automount Ext3/4 Partition

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 15:34:00 +0000

Not used (for system purpose or home) ext3/4 partition will not automount same as ntfs partition. The easiest way to automount ext3/4 partition is with Storage Device Manager.

Storage Device Manager that allows full customization of hard disk mount points without the need to edit fstab manually. It also allows the creation of udev rules for dynamic configuration of storage devices.

Storege Device Manager is available on Ubuntu Software Center, or search for pysdm in other distribution repositories.

After installing Storage Device Manager in partition list select partition that you want to automount on system startup and click on Assistant button.

There in Mounting tab check The file system is mounted at boot time.

From now on partition will automount at system startup

Fix When Screen Shuts Off Every 10 Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:57:00 +0000

You may be wondering why is your monitor turns off every 10 minutes but in setting is not set to turn off or screensaver is off.

This can be very annoying because screen turn off even if VLC or other video player is running and making watching movies impossible.

This may be because you have installed other desktop environment and it power manager is turning off screen every 10 minutes (default value). This problem occurs for me after installing Cinnamon desktop environment.

If this is the problem you can try making Gnome Power management default, just type in terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power active true

Now wait 10 minutes to test if it works.
If not you may want try disabling Gnome Power management, just type in terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power active false

Now wait 10 minutes to test if it works.
If this don't help, type in terminal following command:

xset s off && xset dpms force on && xset -dpms

And use, to check if DPMS is Disabled

xset q | grep -A1 -i dpms

This should make it stop shutting down. If problem persist after restart add command to Startup applications

You can also use Caffeine app, it can prevent starting screensaver or shutting off screen for application you have selected or for certain time.

via and thanks to:

fossfreedom over at Ask Ubuntu

VinDSL over at Ubuntu Forums

Fix Distorted Sound With Skype and VLC

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 18:28:00 +0000

If you have distorted sound with Skype (login, first message...), VLC or Clementine (in general i notice this problem with QT apps). there is a simple fix for this issue.

You need to edit with text editor default.pa file located in /etc/pulse/

Or via terminal:

gksu gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa

And find

load-module module-udev-detect

And replace with

load-module module-udev-detect tsched=0

via Ubuntu Serbia forums

Fix Video Corruption In Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 16:33:00 +0000

If you started playing Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP and you have video/graphic corruption or glitches like in screenshot.

graphic corruption in Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

This is happening because you have enabled Advanced Catalyst A.I in Catalyst Control Center.

To fix this issue just set or disable (try disabling only if setting to standard don't help) Catalyst A.I.

Start Catalyst Control Center, 3D > More Settings

Depend on what game are you playing setting Catalyst A.I do Advance can improve your performance.

More info on Catalyst A.I.

"Black" Screenshot Workaround For Mutter Based DE

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 20:14:00 +0000

There is a knows bug that affects taking screenshot in Mutter based desktop environments like Gnome-Shell, Cinnamon and Pantheon.

This only affect users that have installed ATI proprietary drivers, screenshot will be black or only show desktop background.

One and only for now workaround to take screenshot is switching from tty1 and back to tty7 (desktop).
You can switch to tty1 using keyboard shortcut CTRL + ALT + F1 and to switch back to desktop CTRL + ALT + F7

You can create a script and will switch to tty1 and back and take screenshot but that will require root privileges. You can also run script with gksudo and that will require password for taking screenshot screenshot.

If you are interested in using script (you need to run it with sudo or gksudo)

chvt 1
chvt 7
gnome-screenshot

You can try using import command
It works if you try to capture only one window for example

import -window steam screenshot.jpg

But if you trie to camture entire scrren it looks like this:

import -window root screenshot.jpg

Other tools like scrot, gimp, shotwell behave same as default.

If you need to take in game screenshots note that taking screenshots in Steam (F12 default) works with no problems.

Other solution is to not use ATI proprietary drivers and use default open source drivers. Also you can use other window manager like Metacity, this is not possible with Gnome-Shell and Cinnamon but with Pantheon is possible (you will not have some features available with Gala) but if you need to take screenshots and you need ATI proprietary drivers this is one solution

While users report that this issue have been fixed with latest version of Cinnamon, i tried installing latest Cinnamon version and issue is still there.

I have this problem on Ubuntu 12.04 as base with 13.1 ATI proprietary drivers. Not sure if this problem exist with newer Xserver or newer ATI proprietary drivers.

Start Video Playback From Last Position In VLC

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:00:00 +0000

While Totem have this feature build in VLC don't have it and it is a nice feature to have.

Feature in Totem, needs to be manually enabled drom preferences menu

August Bering have developed a extension script for VLC that resumes video playback from last position in VLC.

You can get this extension with this simple command:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/vlc/lua/extensions && wget http://ubuntuone.com/2932ENr3jVtS0BdtvFra2T && mv 2932ENr3jVtS0BdtvFra2T .local/share/vlc/lua/extensions/mempos.lua

Now start VLC go to View and check Remember position.

via August Bering over at The scientific Swede

How To Add Non-Steam Games And Wine Games To Steam

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 12:54:00 +0000

Compared to the Windows adding Non-Steam games to Steam is not just selecting an .exe file and clicking OK.

Adding native Linux games to Steam

If you are wondering why to add other games to Steam, well it is nice to have all games in one place and Steam Overlay will be integrated in game :)

If you have installed game from Ubuntu Software Center and or from installer you can find that game from list when you want to add non-steam game.

For other games that are not "installed" on system like DRM free HiB games you need to create launcher because selecting only executable like in Windows may not always work.

To create a launcher open text editor.
In first line type cd command to navigate to game directory. For example:

cd /media/DATA/Games/Mari0/

In second line type command to run game. For example:

love mari0_1.6.love

At end launcher should look like this:

cd /media/DATA/Games/Mari0/
love mari0_1.6.love

Now save file and make it executable, right click on saved file > properties > permissions > and check "Allow executing file as program" or using chmod +x command.

Now in Steam when adding non-steam game use browse select any file type and locate launcher.

Game will appear in you library and you can play it.

Adding Wine games to Steam

If you are using PlayOnLinux for wine games check this tutorial by Shane on how to add PlayOnLinux games to Steam library.

For "standard" Wine you need create launcher.

To create a launcher open text editor.
In first line type cd command to navigate to game directory. For example:

cd /media/DATA/Games/Warcraft\ III/

In second line type command to run game. For example:

wine war3.exe -opengl -noborder -windowed

At end launcher should look like this:

cd /media/DATA/Games/Warcraft\ III/
wine war3.exe -opengl -noborder -windowed

Now save file and make it executable, right click on saved file > properties > permissions > and check "Allow executing file as program" or using chmod +x command.

Now in Steam when adding non-steam game use browse select any file type and locate launcher.

You can also create .desktop application launcher, here is tutorial by xpressrazor. With this launcher you can specify icon, description etc. Method in this post in simple and enough to get you playing the game.

If you want to have icon in Steam you can right click on game > properties and from there chose icon.

Fix "Failed to create OpenGL device!" with Source games

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 20:05:00 +0000

This is a common error message if you have ATI/AMD card with FGLX legacy drivers version 13.1. This error occurs in Source game like Portal, Half-Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Left4Dead 2...
There is a official bug report on Steam for Linux GitHub page.

To fix this you need to disable anti-aliasing in video setting file.
You can find video setting file in game directory folder (~/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/)

File name and location depends on game, for example L4D2 video setting file in located in Left 4 Dead 2/left4dead2/cfg video.txt.
For Portal in in Portal/portal videoconfig_linux.cfg

After you located file open it with text editor and search for (depending on game)

"setting.mat_antialias" "2"

mat_antialias" "2"

And change 2 to 1.
You can now play without problems, only make sure that you don't change anti-aliasing setting in game.

UberWriter - Simple Markdown Editor

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 13:28:00 +0000

UberWriter is a simple Markdown editor. Challenge, write this review it this editor.

Features

Focus mode - focus will highlight your current sentence.
Fullscreen mode.
Spell check.
Export to PDF, HTML and RTF.
Math formulas support - you can write math formulas. etc e^2 * x = y after exporting will be formated as e2∗x=y
Simple design.

Focus Mode

Impression

Writing in in markup language is really fun and relaxing and focus mode makes you focus on writing and current sentence. Also simple design of app helps with that. Contrast between text and background and simple design makes pleasant experience for eyes.

Missing features

While app is not yet finished i would like to see this features included in future versions.

One feature that i miss from start that is start to using is tabs, you cant open multiple files at once. I would be nice if tabs were integrated differently than other text editor, standard tabs integration would just break simple design of app.
While i like the design and markup language (this is first time i am using it and i like the simplicity of language) i would like more export features like export to Blogger. I don’t like Blogger’s editor that much. I would write text here and edited it there (add images and etc). Export to Google docs would be nice and Ubuntu One sync will be implemented in future versions.
Preview feature would be nice, when you write math formulas to quick check if you did not make some mistakes.s
Some kind of build in syntax help and examples would be nice. I found this site very useful for syntax examples http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax

Final conclusion

For the first time i used this type of app i am really satisfied with simplicity and productivity that UberWriter gives. Writing is really smooth and contrast of text and background is very pleasant to eyes. While default text editor in Ubuntu Gedit also support markdown UberWriter offers better user experience for writing.
As for challenge to write this review in UberWriter i can say it was success.

Try it for you self

You can download UberWriter by adding PPA, in terminal type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:w-vollprecht/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install uberwriter

As i mentioned UberWriter is not finished yet and you can send your feedback.

UberWriter by: Wolf Vollprecht
Website: http://uberwriter.wolfvollprecht.de/
Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/uberwriter

How To Setup Joystick/Gamepad In Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 14:06:00 +0000

Here a little tutorial if you got joystick or gamepad and you want to use it in Ubuntu.
It is really easy you just need one app to make it work and another one to configure it to work with games that don'r support game pad or joystick.

First install jstest-gtk

After installing jstest-gtk joystick will be detected, you can use it for calibration and remaping buttons. It also support profiles so you can have specific configuration for every game.

jstest-gtk is a simple graphical joystick tester. It provides a list of attached joysticks, and for each one can display which buttons and axes are pressed, remap axes and buttons, and calibrate the device.

Now you can play, but if you want to play games that don't have support for joystick you can use Rejoystick to map keyboards keys on joystick

Rejoystick is a program that maps keypresses on your gamepad/joypad/joystick to keypresses on a keyboard when you are running X.

Download Rejoystick

If you are running 64bit system make sure that you install 64bit version or it will not work.

To use it start Rejoystick and set your configuration then exit Rejoystick.

Now when you want to use joystick with remaped keys type in terminal:

rejoystick -d

and to stop using it:

killall -9 rejoystick

Also if you want to use joystick as mouse check this tutorial.

This will work with generic joystick or gamepad i didn't tried it with Xbox or PS3 controller.

Control Mouse With Your Gamepad/Joystick

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 19:30:00 +0000

If you have gamepad /joystick you can you can use it to control mouse cursor.

To do this you need to install xserver-xorg-input-joystick

Open terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-joystick

Now log out and you can use your gamepad /joystick as a mouse

Now if you want to disable this function you can use this command

xinput --set-prop "DEVICE NAME" "Device Enabled" 0

to enable:

xinput --set-prop "DEVICE NAME" "Device Enabled" 1

To get the device name in terminal type:

xinput list

For tutorial on how to setup joystick in Ubuntu are remaping joystick keys check this tutorial.

Remove AMD/ATI Drivers "Testing Only", "Unsupported Hardware" Watermark

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 16:37:00 +0000

If you have installed latest beta AMD/ATi proprietary drivers watermark will appear in down right corner.

To remove it open text editor and paste:

#!/bin/sh
DRIVER=/usr/lib/fglrx/xorg/modules/drivers/fglrx_drv.so
for x in $(objdump -d $DRIVER|awk '/call/&&/EnableLogo/{print "\\x"$2"\\x"$3"\\x"$4"\\x"$5"\\x"$6}'); do
sed -i "s/$x/\x90\x90\x90\x90\x90/g" $DRIVER
done

save it to Home folder with .sh extension

then right click on file > Permissions and check Allow executions file as program

Now open terminal and type:

sudo ./FILENAME.sh

*replace file name with name of file you saved

Log out and watermark will be gone

Clementin Global Menu Support

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:04:00 +0000

If you have Clementin music player installed (version 1.0) you can see that global menu support is disabled.

This is because of bug with global menu and QT applications. Now when this bug is fixed you can have global menu support enabled again.

To enable it you need to update to latest version of Clementin.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:me-davidsansome/clementine-dev
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Local File Syncing In Ubuntu

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:16:00 +0000

Now days cloud storage is very popular, from Ubuntu One, Google Drive, Dropbox, Apples iCloud or MS Skydrive.

This services offers file syncing and storage in internet. but what if you wan't to sync files locally or over local network with other computers or USB flash or backup hard drive.
One awesome tool for this purpose in Grsync.

Grsync works in simple way, you just select source and destination and click run.

You can also select many options like deleting files from destination if file is no longer available in source, preserve permission, owners and group for files, checksum, compresion, backup making.

Grsync also support profiles so you can have more than one configuration for syncing.

sudo apt-get install grsync

or CLI only

sudo apt-get install rsync

How To Preview Plymouth Boot

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Thu, 31 May 2012 23:03:00 +0000

If you like to change plymouth boot theme and you can't decide witch theme to use and you don't want to restart computer every time just to see it here is a way to preview plymouth theme without restarting computer.

You just need to install plymouth-x11

Or open terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install plymouth-x11

To show plymouth theme you will need to run script created by _khAttAm_

You can download script here.

Download script and paste in your home folder, make sure that "Allow executing file as program" in checked

Or via terminal:

sudo chmod +x plymouth

Now to run in type in terminal:

sudo ./plymouth

Preview will show for 10 second you can change this by editing script in line 22

Skype Ubuntu Integration

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:12:00 +0000

Skype is only chat app that i use and its integration with any desktop environment suck.
There is nice application called Skype-Wrapper that integrates Skype in Messaging Menu, system notifications and Launcher.

Skype notification integration with Skype-wrapper

To install Skype-wrapper open your terminal and type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skype-wrapper/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install skype-wrapper

For me integration works good but only Launcher integration was making problem.
Skype was not visible in launcher and windows switcher ("alt-tab" menu) and because of that manipulation with multiple windows was impossible. Attention was in skype.desktop instead in skype-wrapper.desktop so i got 2 Skype icons in launcher.

I came to conclusion that problem was in skype-wrapper.desktop with default skype.desktop there was no problem but then you get problem when you close Skype and you can't "open"/show it again.

So first we are going to solve "bug" when you close Skype and you can't "open"/show it again.
Open terminal and start typing:

gedit ~/showskype.py

Text editor will open, now paste:

#!/usr/bin/env python
import dbus
# Get a D-Bus interface to Skype
bus = dbus.SessionBus()
skype_object = bus.get_object('com.Skype.API', '/com/Skype')
skype = dbus.Interface(skype_object, dbus_interface='com.Skype.API')
# Ask for permission to control Skype
response = skype.Invoke("NAME " + __file__)
response = skype.Invoke("PROTOCOL 8")
# Issue commands
response = skype.Invoke("SET WINDOWSTATE NORMAL")
print response

Save it and run this command in terminal:

chmod +x ~/showskype.py

Now type:

sudo gedit /usr/local/bin/skype

And in text editor paste:

#!/bin/bash
nbi=$(pgrep -c skype)
if [ $nbi -ge 2 ];then
~/showskype.py
else
/usr/bin/skype
fi

Save it and at end type this command:

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/skype

Now when you again start Skype in will show current running Skype and not start new one.
Also it will ask for permission for using script.

Since we are going to use skype.desktop (original skype launcher) and not skype-wrapper launcher we need to edit one script in skype-wrapper so unread message counter and transfer progress on launcher works.

sudo gedit /usr/share/skype-wrapper/unitylauncher.py

and in line 14 change skype-wrapper.desktop to skype.desktop and save.

Now the final step is to set skype-wrapper to start when you log in.

In Skype go to Options > Notifications

Click on Skype Login > Advanced View and check Execute the following script

and paste:

/usr/share/skype-wrapper/skype-wrapper.py

Now when you log in to Skype skype-wrapper will start and you will get Messaging Menu, Launcher and notification integration.

Skype pop-ups will also show up, to disable theme go to Options > Notifications and click on notification that you want to disable and uncheck Display pop-up notification

Paw 12.04 Plymouth Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 19:00:00 +0000

This is a modification of Paw-Ubuntu plymouth theme. I only changed colors to match Ubuntu theme.

You can download theme Paw 12.04 plymouth here.

To install it extract it to Home folder, open terminal and start typing:

sudo cp -R Paw-12.04/ /lib/plymouth/themes/
sudo update-alternatives --install /lib/plymouth/themes/default.plymouth default.plymouth /lib/plymouth/themes/Paw-12.04/paw-12.04.plymouth 100
sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

From list choose Paw-12.04

And at the and in terminal type:

sudo update-initramfs -u

Preview:

F.lux - Colour Temperature Adjustment

noreply@blogger.com (Ivan Cizik) — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 10:26:00 +0000

f.lux is a app that changes/adapts colour temperature of your display during the day.
By adapting the colour temperature for the time of the day it will make your screen more viewable and it is good for your eyes.

f.lux makes your computer screen look like the room you're in, all the time. When the sun sets, it makes your computer look like your indoor lights. In the morning, it makes things look like sunlight again.
Tell f.lux what kind of lighting you have, and where you live. Then forget about it. F.lux will do the rest, automatically.

To install f.lux you first need to add PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kilian/f.lux
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fluxgui

f.lux is only not available for Ubuntu 11.10 but you can install one for Ubuntu 11.04 (https://launchpad.net/~kilian/+archive/f.lux/+files/fluxgui_1.1.8_all.deb)

When you first time start f.lux it will ask you for location (latitude and longitude)

You can easy find your latitude and longitude by clicking link in menu (http://stereopsis.com/flux/map.html) (here is another site if first one is not working http://itouchmap.com/latlong.html)

Now just leave f.lux running and it will do the rest.

At first you may think that this in not good for you but when you turn f.lux off and screen will become bright and you will notice that f.lux is good for your eyes :)