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    TonidoPLUG & Rsync


    2009 - 11.04

    Posted in Hardware, Settings | No Comments »

    Here is a brief guide on how to setup a TonidoPLUG from Ubuntu to provide remote backup facilities for us road warriors!

    • Setup port forwarding at your home router: port 22 should be forwarded to your TonidoPLUG.
      • Note: When you open port 22 on your router, note that anybody can try to connect to your port. But if you have a strong password, it is very unlikely anyone will be able to hack into your TonidoPLUG (the key is to have a strong password)
    • Next test your link. This is done by entering a terminal command such as: ssh username@YourName.tonidoid.com.  If this works you will get a request to enter the user password; I recommend that you do this to complete the test. If you login successfully, close the terminal window and go to the next step.
    • Initiate Rsync from your PC (one external to your home network): Since you are initiating the connection externally, you do not need to know the public IP of your your external location. Just run either:
      • an Rsync command from your terminal window (something like: rsync -e ssh -a -P /path/to/source/dir/at/work/PC username@YourName.tonidoid.com>:/path/to/dest/dir) – or -
      • through a tool like GRsync to upload files to your home TonidoPLUG.

    Happy computing!

    Great Themes for Jaunty/Intrepid


    2009 - 07.18

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Settings, Themes | No Comments »

    After searching around for some new themes for Ubuntu… i came across some really nice themes from a website called Bisigi Project.  There are a total of 10 themes in all.  Here are just a few of my favorites:

    Infinity

    Showtime

    Wild-shine

    Install for Ubuntu Jaunty:

    First edit /etc/apt/sources.list file:

    sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

    Add the next two lines to the bottom:

    deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
    deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/bisigi/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

    Add the following GPG Key:

    sudo apt-key adv –recv-keys –keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 1781bd45c4c3275a34bb6aec6e871c4a881574de

    Update the Source List:

    sudo aptitude update

    Install the Bisigi Project themes:

    sudo aptitude install zgegblog-themes

    Now select a new theme by going to System > Preference > Appearence.
    Enjoy the new themes!

    Cursor Themes (xcursor)


    2009 - 02.08

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Settings | No Comments »

    If you wish to use non-standard cursor themes with Ubuntu (Gnome) and Compiz the following steps will keep you from going crazy:

    • Find a xcursor theme you like (they are available via Synaptic, gnome-look and other sources)

    The following steps are required if you manually download your preferred xcursor theme:

    • If you download from the web, place the tar.gz or similar file on your Desktop.
    • Right click your Desktop and Open “Change Desktop Background”
    • Select the Theme tab
    • Drag the xcursor tar.gz file into some whitespace between your themes; you will be asked if you want the theme installed- answer: YES

    If you installed xcursor themes via synaptic then:

    • Right click your Desktop and Open “Change Desktop Background”
    • Select the Theme tab
    • Next Select “Customize”
    • Next select “Pointer” tab
    • Finally pick your preferred package from the list available

    Always:

    • Jot-down or save the name of your new xcursor theme
    • Open the “Compiz Settings Manager” next
    • Select “General Options”
    • Type the CORRECT name of your xcursor theme into the dialog box labeled “Cursor theme”

    In order to see your new theme you may wish to reload your window via CTL-ALT-backspace. Log back into your desktop and you should have a new xcursor that remains as you change windows.

    …mark

    Ubuntu Desktop Environment


    2009 - 01.02

    Tags: , ,
    Posted in Settings | No Comments »

    As you probably know, I am a user of Ubuntu (currently running 8.10).

    By way of giving a little bit back to the community, I have created a unified desktop environment with Login Screen, Desktop, icons and sounds to provide a cohesive (to my mind) environment.

    If you would like to try these out on your Ubuntu Desktop feel free to download the 19+ MB set here. Note the readme document which contains installation instructions. I am guessing that this environment will work on any Gnome/ Debian base… but I have only tested it on Ubuntu 8.10.

    Enjoy!

    …markdesktop

    Firefox 3 Embedded Flash Player Stops Working


    2008 - 11.21

    Tags: , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Plugins, Settings | No Comments »

    I recently switched from Ubuntu to Linux Mint.  Linux Mint is an amazing distro which almost completely worked out of the box for me (minus wireless of course, but I’ll leave my fix for that for another post.)  I did notice however that my embedded flash player for Firefox 3 did not work.  It did work when I tried the same page (YouTube.com) in Opera.  This, of course led me to one conclusion…  the Mozilla plug-in was malfunctioning.  I corrected this problem with a quick fix:

    In Synaptic, I searched for “Flash” and came up with the offender: flashplugin-nonfree.  I simply elected to try adobe-flashplugin instead.  Simply look or search for this package and click “Mark for Installation”.  Synaptic should automatically try to install adobe-flashplugin and remove flashplugin-nonfree.  Once the operation has completed, restart Firefox and try it out!

    Speed Up Ubuntu Boot Time


    2008 - 10.07

    Tags: , , , , ,
    Posted in Settings | 1 Comment »

    As most Ubuntu users probably notice, the longer you use Ubuntu, the longer your boot times become.  I have a few quick commands you can run to help with this issue:

    1. Disable unnecessary services:  Go to System –> Administration –> Services Shut down unnecessary services you do not use.  ie:)  Bluetooth Device Management (If you do not use BT), Braille Display Management, Printer Service (if you do not use a printer), etc.

    2.  Remove incomplete packages:  Open Terminal and type…

    sudo apt-get autoclean

    3. Remove residual configuration files:  Go to System –> Administration –> Synaptic Package Manager In the left column of the package manager, select Status, and then check for Not Installed (residual config packages).  If this option appears, then you will have to right-click each package individually, and select Mark for Complete Removal.  After selecting all the packages, click Apply.

    4.  Remove isolated libraries:  Open Terminal and type…

    sudo apt-get install deborphan

    sudo deborphan

    If it appears you have some isolated libraries, then use the following commands in Terminal to remove them:

    sudo deborphan | xargs sudo apt-get -y remove – -purge

    sudo apt-get autoremove

    That is it. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.