Want a Dropbox Account?
Posted on July 23, 2008 in the Programs category
I have 10 beta invites for a nifty file storage/sharing program called Dropbox. Basically it enables a us
er to store & share files across the net with a base computer. Right now Dropbox supports Windows and Mac, but they are currently alpha testing a Linux port (Ubuntu to be more specific). You can install this on a Windows or Mac machine and have web access to your files via any computer (including Linux). Eventually Dropbox will charge for this service, but beta testers keep their original service for free. For a more detailed description, see their website: getdropbox.com If you would like an invite, simply email me.
And a side note to my readers: Sorry I’ve been neglecting ND lately. I’ll be getting married the first week in August and will resume more regular postings after our honeymoon. (Including a tutorial on the DC power jack failure fix that affects so many Gateways. If you need it right away, let me know and I can email it to you.)
Google Desktop Gadgets on Ubuntu Hardy - 8.04
Posted on June 17, 2008 in the Programs category
I recently checked into Google Gadgets again after using it on Windows for many years. At times gadgets
(also know as widgets to many others) can be relatively helpful, but I just enjoy them for the eye candy.
There’s basically two components to the Linux version: the actual gadget browser and the gadget library.
First put the Google Gadget repository into your sources list. Open Terminal and type:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
and add the following lines:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/googlegadgets/ubuntu hardy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/googlegadgets/ubuntu hardy main
Now save and exit.
Update your source list:
sudo aptitude update
Install Google Desktop Gadgets:
sudo aptitude install google-gadgets
Now that the application is installed, you need to run it:
Hit Alt+F2 to open Run Application. Type “ggl-gtk” and click Run.
A square multi-colored icon should appear in your system tray. Right-click on it to get a drop down menu. Select “Add gadgets…” and the gadget browser should appear. You can now add gadgets and they will appear on your desktop.
If you would also prefer the sidebar along with the gadgets then hit Alt+F2 and type “ggl-gtk -s -bg” and click Run. You should now see the sidebar along with your gadgets where they can be docked and undocked to your liking.
That’s it! If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.
Gateway MT6451 Power Management - Disc Spin Up/Down Problem
Posted on May 29, 2008 in the Driver Issues, Hardware category
Well, since my IBM Thinkpad decided to explode and die on me a few weeks ago, I obtained my fiance’s almost new but broken Gateway. The main problem with this computer was that the computer could not charge or operate on AC power. I fixed the issue by simply taking the computer completely apart and re-soldering the power port on the motherboard. After doing so, the computer now takes a charge and works off of AC. This was not the issue of the this topic though. (However, if you would like any help or guidance on performing this yourelf, please feel free to contact me.) The issue after repairing the computer was a slight clicking noise 2-3 times per minute coming from the inside of the computer. The only issue I could come up with would be the power management for laptops being set too aggressively and spinning the hard discs up and down too often. This can cause an extremely short life for your hard drive and in my case, higher than normal temperatures in your laptop. This fix is for Hardy Heron with hda. Substitute sda if you had a SATA drive. Here’s the fix:
Create a configuration file to manage hdd power management. In Terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/pm/config.d/disk
Within this file, create the following:
# Configure the hdd power management settings to ensure
# long disk life and acceptable power management.
#
# Space delimited list of disk devices this affects.
#
DEVICES_DISK_PM_NAMES=”/dev/hda”
#
#
# Power management modes
#
# Powersave mode off
# Disable APM and spin-down - Not completely disabled
#
DEVICES_DISK_PM_POWERSAVE_OFF=”hdparm -q -B 254 -q -S 242″
#
# Powersave mode on
# Enable APM to conservative 200 and set spin-down for 21 minutes
#
DEVICES_DISK_PM_POWERSAVE_ON=”hdparm -q -B 200 -q -S 252″
Now create the Power Management script. In terminal type:
sudo gedit /etc/pm/power.d/disk
Within this file, create the following:
#!/bin/bash
. /usr/lib/pm-utils/functions
. /etc/pm/config.d/diskif test -z “${DEVICES_DISK_PM_NAMES}”; then
exit 1
ficase “$1″ in
true)
echo “**enabled pm for harddisk”
for DISK_NAME in `echo ${DEVICES_DISK_PM_NAMES}`; do
${DEVICES_DISK_PM_POWERSAVE_ON} ${DISK_NAME}
done ;;
false)
echo “**disabled pm for harddisk”
for DISK_NAME in `echo ${DEVICES_DISK_PM_NAMES}`; do
${DEVICES_DISK_PM_POWERSAVE_OFF} ${DISK_NAME}
done ;;
esac
And now make this script executable. In terminal, type:
Sudo chmod +x /etc/pm/power.d/disc
Voila! That is it.
Compiz-Check
Posted on May 6, 2008 in the Driver Issues, Programs category
My main laptop is an IBM ThinkPad R40 with a Radeon 7500 M7 Video Card. Because of this, I have never been able to get Compiz Fusion working correctly on it. 
I have searched forum after forum to no avail. I finally got it working today with the help of an awesome script named Compiz-Check. Basically, this script tests Compiz to check if it is able to run on your system and if not, it will give you the reason(s) why. If you are having problems with Compiz, check out Forlong’s Blog and follow his instructions. After months of messing around with different xorg setups and drivers, Compiz-Check alerted me to the fact that my screen resolution was incompatible with Compiz. After a few tweaks and adjustments… voila! It worked! Major kudos Forlong!
TM-Cypress enabled
Posted on May 6, 2008 in the Plugins category
We have enabled AmbientWebs WordPress plugin (TreeMagic-Cypress) on our site. SImply double click on any non-hypertext word or phrase and you may obtain additional information from other Linux sites (etc.).
Hopefully this will make researching topics, terms, and concepts easier for all of us!
Information on TreeMagic-Cypress may be found at:
- TreeMagic-Cypress and on
- WordPress
Batch Resize of Multiple Photos
Posted on May 5, 2008 in the Programs category
After searching Synaptic Package Manager for a batch photo resizing program, I came across a nifty program called ImageMagick. An excerpt from its description reads:
ImageMagick is a set of programs to manipulate various image formats (JPEG, TIFF, PhotoCD, PBM, XPM, etc…). All manipulations can be achieved through shell commands as well as through an X11 graphical interface (display).
Possible effects: colormap manipulation, channel operations, thumbnail creation, image annotation, limited drawing, image distortion, etc.
The only effect I needed for, however was image re-sizing. Here’s what I did under Hardy:
First, you need to install ImageMagick:
jason@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install imagemagick
Create a folder to put all the images you want to resize in. For my images, I just created a folder named “Batch” on my desktop.
jason@ubuntu:~$ cd /home/jason/Desktop/
jason@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ mkdir batch
jason@ubuntu:~/Desktop$ cd /home/jason/Desktop/batch
jason@ubuntu:~/Desktop/batch$
Now comes the time to do the actual resizing. I resized mine to a width of 640. The aspect ratio will stay the same if resizing just the width.
jason@ubuntu:~/Desktop/batch$ mogrify -resize 640 *.JPG
Note that the file extension is case sensitive and will give you an error message otherwise. If you want to force a particular aspect ratio (such as 640 x 480) then try this:
jason@ubuntu:~/Desktop/batch$ mogrify -resize 640×480! *.JPG
And there you have it! There are alot of other effects that you can try with this program. For more effects to use at the command line, see the ImageMagick website.
Dell Inspirion 1525 WiFi Driver (Ubuntu 8.04)
Posted on May 5, 2008 in the Driver Issues category
My beautiful fiancée recently purchased a new Dell Inspirion 1525. This specific version of the 1525 comes preloaded with Windows Vista. Dell sells another version named the Inspirion 1525n that comes preloaded with Ubuntu 7.10. My future Father-in-law and I assumed since Dell sold the 1525 as both a Vista and Ubuntu version, a switch to the Hardy Heron would be a breeze. This assumption, for the most part, was true. The main issue we had was with the Broadcom WLAN driver. Between the two of us, we probably tried around 40 drivers and many configurations to no avail. Finally after about a week of messing around with it, I found the solution:
Open up Terminal and follow these commands:
Blacklist the bcm43xx driver:
lisa@ubuntu:~$ echo ‘blacklist bcm43xx’ | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
Install ndiswrapper and dependencies:
lisa@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper-common ndisgtk
Follow this link: http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R174291.exe and save the .exe file.
Unzip the file:
lisa@ubuntu:~$ cd desktop
lisa@ubuntu:~$ unzip R174291.exe
lisa@ubuntu:~$ cabextract R174291.exe
Open the folder that was just created and open folder DRIVER_US. Locate bcmwl5.inf
Use ndiswrapper to install bcmwl5.inf
lisa@ubuntu:~$ sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf
On my fiancées’ computer, the blue wifi light instantly turned on and the WLAN worked instantly. You may or may not have to reboot to get it working.