Elementary OS

OpenSUSE with Gnome is still my workhorse, but my new casual driver laptop is using ElementaryOS - https://elementary.io/

It has an Ubuntu LTS base, so it's stable., and it comes with just a few applications (that I'm not crazy about) installed. (I find Midori to be slow, and I don't have much need for local mail/cal apps right now).

The Pantheon desktop is GTK+, but not Gnome Shell.
The file browser is nice, a fork off nautilus.
Nice Human Interface Guidelines (https://elementary.io/developer)

For more in depth, you can always research on Distrowatch http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=elementary

Linux Mint Cinnamon Post Install

Metro Theme - gets rid of the ugly grey/black menus

http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/themes/view/188

Cinna Dock Plus - Docky without all the dependencies
http://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/extensions/view/23

Default gnome icons to get rid of the green.
Themes/Other Settings

Opera (Developer)  for Linux - Finally, Opera supporting linux again
http://www.opera.com/developer

OpenSUSE 13.1 Post Install

UPDATE: Gist for Install https://gist.github.com/billymail/93f1d1a15c1839e49569

I can't help help it - with this little netbook, and the SSD, I try the latest Fedora, Ubuntu, Elementary OS, Linux Mint. I keep coming back to OpenSUSE Gnome, which is my daily driver at work.

OpenSUSE 13.1 install took less that 15 minutes on a netbook, with a USB stick and an SSD.

USB Installation: http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Live_USB_stick

Gnome Extensions

Messaging Menu
Dash to dock

Install Sonar Theme

Gnome3 Adwaita title bars are way two thick. Sonar puts a smaller/darker title bar.

Install Chromium and Midori

Midori does an adequate impression of Safari/iPhone rendering.

Install Geany and plugins

Great all-purpose code editor with symbol browser

GEdit

Don't forget the power of GEdit and external tools

Install dbvis

http://www.dbvis.com/

Nautilus

Ctrl-D to create your first bookmark,  after that you can d-n-d.

Change the Nautilus location bar to show location instead of buttons:
>  gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences always-use-location-entry true

Add back new document menu: touch /Templates/text.txt

Note: Screenshot behavior has changed. It downloads immediately instead of opening or putting into clipboard, but has a lot of options. SEE http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com/2012/11/screen-capture-in-gnome3.htmlfor more details.

WEB DEV

I was going to make a separate post about setting up my webdev environment, but openSUSE patterns make it too easy.

Install  Pattern - Web and Lamp Server

Takes care of installing common php/mysql stuff, more.

Go to yast/http server to configure/start
It seems like it used to setup sftp/ssh for me, but struggling this time. I'm just using ftp.

PHP Extensions
phar
php openssl
mcrypt

Composer - https://getcomposer.org/doc/00-intro.md

curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

 

 Use Tweak UI to add back minimize and maximize buttons

Windows 7 Plugged in Not Charging (HP DM1)

TLDR; Ubuntu/OpenSUSE ftw

I got a netbook free, because it had some flaws, including  a charging issue, being plugged in but not charging.

The symptoms where that if the battery was allow to completely discharge, such as sleeping in a bag for a few days, it would allow ac operation but not charge.

I tested different batteries with the same outcome. Other similar laptops in the fleet did not have this issue.

I found that this could clear it up sometimes.
Disconnect AC
Shutdown
Remove battery
Connect AC
Startup
Under the Batteries category, right-click all of the Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery listings, and select Uninstall (it’s ok if you only have 1).
Shutdown
Disconnect AC
Insert battery
Connect AC
Startup

http://jeffreypalermo.com/blog/plugged-in-not-charging-windows-7-solution/

But it turns out, the real reason that it wasn't a big problem for me is that I swap out between a Linux HD and a Windows HD.

Yup, charges just fine under OpenSUSE or Ubuntu.

Yup, not necessarily a hardware problem, but a Windows driver issue.

Yup, and people still talk about Linux being difficult and having driver issues.

Gnome 3.6 Available for OpenSUSE 12.2

If you haven't heard, Gnome 3.6 is now available for OpenSUSE 12.2.

+Epiphany has evolved, adding a speed dial like feature, and more html5 support.

Gnome Epiphany's Version of Speed Dial
Screenshot from WebUpd8

+Gnome notifications work a little better, and the overall experience is a little smoother.

+ Many improvements, including better accessibility (http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.6/index.html.en#a11y). Visual alerts add a nice feature to make the screen flicker if you press the caps lock key accidentally.

More about what's new:
http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.6/

-Dash-to-Dock extension has not been ported yet - anxiously waiting for that for my big screen, although the Gnome3 experience on a netbook is tremendous.

Linux Slow to Connect After wakeup

Home networks don't usually use IPv6.
Click on Network Settings->Wireless->Configure for your home connection
Go the the IPv6 tab, and select ignore.

Gnome3: to manage touchpad settings

My install of OpenSUSE 12.1 Tumbleweed didn't install with a way to manage touchpad settings, and double click wasn't working.

Installing gsynaptics from the repos didn't do the trick.

Mouse and touchpad settings are available in Gnome 3  by pressing the meta key, and searching for mouse.

Wow, there are lots of different places to set configs...

Simple Sweet: pdfmod

https://live.gnome.org/PdfMod?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=pdfmod-0.9.1.png

"Reorder, rotate, and remove pages, export images from a document, edit the title, subject, author, and keywords, and combine documents via drag and drop."

https://live.gnome.org/PdfMod

Sweet!

Cinnamon on OpenSUSE - Gnome 2 style

 

If I had to start someone on linux today, I would probably start them on openSUSE with Cinnamon.

It's a more familiar, Windows XP/Gnome 2 style interface, without too many surprises.

http://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:GNOME_Cinnamon

But I still prefer Gnome3 with Docky, panel docklet s,evil icon status forever and pidgin integration.
And Tom's Hardware offers some fixes for Gnome 3 too, in their review of Fedora 16

Windows Vista is still my favorite desktop ui. Discuss.

Using SYSLOG to debug Web Apps

syslog(LOG_DEBUG, sprintf("thisfx is going is going to add %s ",
$_value));
db->query($thisinsertSQL);
syslog(LOG_DEBUG, sprintf("thisfx added %s ", $_value));
catch (PDOException $_e)
syslog(LOG_DEBUG, sprintf("thisfx failed to add %s ", $_value));

Finding SYSLOG
Recent
[root@server]# tail -f /var/log/messages
Apr 12 11:07:01 server httpd[506]: ....
^C
Specific
[root@server]# grep -i thisfx /var/log/messages
[root@server]# grep -i "thisfx added" /var/log/messages
[root@server]# grep -i "thisfx failed" /var/log/messages

Gnome 3 Alt-Tab Coverflow Extension

For Alt-Tab Switcher


https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/97/coverflow-alt-tab/


Hat Tip:  MI Helpdesk Guy 

Opera and Linux Color Printing

Had trouble printing to Brother Document Center, in Opera, but not other apps.

ERRORNAME: nocurrentpoint

COMMAND: lineto
OPERAND STACK: 15625



Turn off Gamma correction in CUPS in order for Opera to print.

http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=1345632

Firefox Spell Check

Firefox marked every word as spelled wrong. Right click on any form field select check spelling, and click languages. For some reason mine defaulted to Russian.

Hat tip to ghacks.

Gnome 3 Extension: Favorites Menu

Gnome 3 Favorites Menu

Another one of my favorite Gnome 3 Extensions:

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/115/favorites-menu/

I find it faster for opening my most used apps than it is to use the application menu or meta key.

JPG from PDF in Linux (ghostscript)

Renamed input.pdf for copy/paste
Put in Documents folder
Open Terminal in Documents Folder

gs -dSAFER -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=jpeg -r150 -dTextAlphaBits=4 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 -dMaxStripSize=8192 -sOutputFile=output_%d.jpg input.pdf

Other options to try:

DEVICE=png16m
r300

Gnome 3 AutoStart Programs on Login

Gnome 3 AutoStart Programs on Login

Method 1: GUI:
Use "Desktop Search" to find "Startup Application Preferences" (gnome-session-preferences). Note that it doesn't show up with the Meta key search.

Click Add
Give it a name, and a command

Most programs can be started simply with their common name, eg "chromium", "evolution", "firefox", as long as it's in the path.

Google Chrome is "google-chrome"

This process creates adds desktop files in home/[user]/.config/autostart

Method 2: Directory

You can create your own "desktop" files directly in home/[user]/.config/autostart by either copying an existing one, and editing the properties (right-click)

Give it a name, and a command

Click on the image to find a new image (usually in /usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps)


--Or--

Create your own

.desktop config:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Docky
X-SuSE-translate=true
Type=Application
Exec=nautilus
Terminal=false
Icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/nautilus.svg
Comment=chromium web browser.
NoDisplay=false
Categories=Utility;X-SuSE-DesktopUtility;
Hidden=false
Name[en_US]=Nautilus.desktop
Comment[en_US.utf8]=nautilus

The Dark Art of Video Codecs

Encode as mpeg2 audio mpeg1 video-

ffmpeg

INPUT        :-i s.avi 
AUDIO CODEC  :-acodec mp2 
VIDEO CODEC  :-vcodec mpeg1video 
VIDEO BITRATE:-vb 1000k 
OUTPUT       :s.mpg

ffmpeg -i s.avi -acodec mp2 -vcodec mpeg1video -vb 1000k s.mpg

Ben Rousch Video Editing References:

http://clusterbleep.net/blog/2010/06/25/video-editing-on-linux-part-1/ http://brousch.orthicomp.com/files/video-editing-on-linux-part1.pdf

Anything -> MPEG2
    ffmpeg -i  -vcodec mpeg2video -sameq -r  -acodec mp2 outfile.mpg

Anything -> MPEG4
    ffmpeg -i  -vcodec mpeg4 -sameq -r  -acodec libfaac outfile.mp4

Anything -> H264
    ffmpeg -i  -vcodec libx264 -sameq -r  -acodec libfaac outfile.mp4

Related: 

Transmageddon Video Converter Linux Video Format Convertor

Handbrake - DVD Rip to MKV, M4v

Openshot - Video Editor with export

Gnome 3 Cheat Sheet

The Gnome 3 "cheat sheet" list of shortcuts, and how to use the new interface, is not easy to find, but probably the best starter for using Gnome 3. Maybe more links to the page will help.

The page itself is a very nice, instructional page, with diagrams, making it more than a cheat sheet.

At the end, they list this, which is the "cheat sheet",  I am re-listing for my sake.

• System (Windows) key: Switch between overview and desktop
• Alt+F1: Switch between overview and desktop
• Alt+F2: Pop up command dialog
• Alt+Tab: Pop up application switcher
• Alt+Shift+Tab: Cycle in reverse direction in the application switcher
• Alt+[key above Tab]: Switch between windows of the same application in Alt+Tab
• Ctrl+Alt+Tab: Pop up accessibility switcher
• Ctrl+Shift+Alt+R: Start and end screencast recording
• Ctrl+Alt+Up/Down arrow: Switch between workspaces
• Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up/Down arrow: Move the current window to a different workspace

Most keybindings can be viewed under the User Menu -> System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts 

Add Launcher to Gnome 3

All the instructions I found were manual entries.

To add a launcher to Gnome 3:

Go to Applications/Other/Main Menu

Go to New Item, and you get the traditional Gnome 3 launch  application

Coding in GEdit: Advanced Bookmark Plugin for Navigating

I find that using GEdit works nicely,seamlessly with sftp folders, and I don't seem to get the random destruction of files that I get with other code editors.

I do miss code folding.

I found this subsitute:

http://code.google.com/p/advanced-bookmarks-gedit-plugin/

I "toggle" a bookmark on each function, and it marks the line number, sorts it, and lets me click, effectively giving me a code navigation system.