Change Super Contacts Icon on the Palm Pre
I doubt many people will be searching for this post...
I like the Super Contacts app for the Palm Pre, and I decided to put it in the quicklaunch dock instead of Palm's default Contacts app. The only problem with this is that the Super Contacts app is really ugly (my apologies, guys-who-made-it, I admit I'm shallow). Here's what I did to replace it with Palm's Contacts icon.
Disable the New Google Layout
EDIT (8.5.2010) - No longer works. I give up, Google. The new interface is worse, but I suppose I'll get over it.
EDIT - This method no longer works. Google has updated their Labs search to use the new layout. Instead, you can use this URL to keep the old-fashioned Google:
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=all
I saw the new Google search results page layout for the first time tonight. I then googled "turn off new google layout". I suppose I don't handle change very well. If you hate the new Google layout too, here's how to fix it:
Autostart X Without GDM
I'm going to explain how I auto-start ratpoison on my bare-bones Debian Stable (Lenny) system. I don't use GDM, KDM, or any other "DM" (display manager). There are multiple steps here (involving multiple config files), but it is not complicated.
Step 1
/etc/inittab & mingetty
mingetty is an alternative to getty, which (for the sake of simplicity) I describe as the linux login program. You'll need to install mingetty:
#as root (i.e., using either su or sudo) apt-get install mingetty
Bluehost Vs. Godaddy: Bluehost Wins
This isn't an in-depth analysis of the two hosting providers, just my limited experiences. I recently switched my WordPress blog from godaddy.com to bluehost.com, and I've been very pleased with the results.
Reasons:
- Bluehost seems way less gimmicky
- There aren't ads plastered everywhere in Bluehost
- They aren't trying to constantly upsell (in fact, there's really not much to move up to - they just seem to have the one plan)
- They don't charge extra for private domain registration
- The Bluehost interface is clean and uncluttered
- Setting up WordPress is pretty easy with either site, but it seems easier with Bluehost
- Bluehost's cPanel is easier to use
MPC Script – Quickly Find and Play by Album
This is a simple script for MPD & MPC users. It allows you to quickly queue and play an album. I name the script "album" and put it in ~/bin (which is included in my $PATH).
#!/bin/bash ## Shortcut to search, add, and play an album (after clearing current playlist). ## Use -a (for "add") to add the album to the playlist without clearing current playlist. if [ $1 = -a ] then shift mpc search album "$*" | mpc add ; mpc play exit fi mpc clear mpc search album "$*" | mpc add ; mpc play
Removing Ratpoison’s Borders
This is a simple issue, but one that wasn't immediately evident to me. When using Firefox in ratpoison, I noticed that there was a 1px border surrounding the window. This is annoying, especially when trying to scroll with the mouse -- it's always easiest to fling the mouse to the far edge of the screen, so I'm not scrolling frames or text boxes (or flash). But the 1px border is essentially dead space, so I then have to move back a little, wasting time. (I suppose this relates to Fitts's law).
Mounting Canon PowerShot A590
First I should note that I assume GNOME or KDE probably does a great job automounting the Canon PowerShot A590, or at least getting the pictures off of it. Not having GNOME or KDE, however, I'd like to do it from the command line.
Lots of cameras will automatically be recognized as USB mass-storage devices. If this is your camera, great. Just find the camera with "fdisk -l" (as root), and mount it. Then use it like any other mounted drive. Unfortunately, The PowerShot A590 does not work that way (I think it may use PTP - Photo Transfer Protocol). For these kinds of devices, "fdisk -l" yields nothing. You can, however, see that the system took note of the camera if you look at /var/log/messages
Apr 21 11:28:42 tv kernel: [ 8006.701357] usb 6-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6 Apr 21 11:28:42 tv kernel: [ 8006.839278] usb 6-2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice Apr 21 11:28:42 tv kernel: [ 8006.842357] usb 6-2: New USB device found, idVendor=04a9, idProduct=3176 Apr 21 11:28:42 tv kernel: [ 8006.842357] usb 6-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3 Apr 21 11:28:42 tv kernel: [ 8006.842357] usb 6-2: Product: Canon Digital Camera Apr 21 11:28:42 tv kernel: [ 8006.842357] usb 6-2: Manufacturer: Canon Inc. Apr 21 11:28:42 tv kernel: [ 8006.842357] usb 6-2: SerialNumber: 9CA872EC36E04292B3602599D62AC848
I had heard of gphoto2, so I did an apt-cache search to see what was available.
The Trouble with the Framebuffer
The original plan
I've tried for a long time to have a usable, console-only, desktop linux system. By console-only, I mean running without X.org (a.k.a. X). I thought the key to this would be using the framebuffer. Here's wikipedia's definition of the framebuffer, but in short it allows displaying graphics without running X. When the framebuffer is enabled (some systems enable it by default), the first thing you notice is that the console font is smaller and nicer. This alone makes the console considerably more usable, as the screen doesn't scroll nearly as much, letting you see more at once. However, that's not all you can do with the framebuffer. You can also view PDFs, images, and video (using mplayer) with the framebuffer, and even compile complex programs to use the framebuffer instead of X (i.e. gimp, using GTK-DFB).
The main thing that stood in the way of my console-only desktop system is a modern browser. Now supposedly Firefox has been compiled for the framebuffer, as has uzbl. However, I've had no luck with either, and I've sunk a fair amount of time into the task. And links-g just doesn't cut it for me.
A Minimal Debian Stable System
I've recently configured the system I use as a media pc. It's very light-weight, yet so far suits my needs perfectly. I don't use the pc as a dvr (I don't have cable), so it's not a complicated setup. Here's the basics:
- Window manager: ratpoison
- Video playback: mplayer
- Audio playback: mpd
- Browser: Firefox 3.6.3
- Remote control: ssh, synergy, samba
- BitTorrent client: rtorrent
The basic installation is Debian Lenny (Currently Debian Stable) from the netinst CD, with no software packages selected (no Desktop Environment, no Standard System, etc). The basic installation is described here.
Using sudo with an alias
Typically sudo will ignore any aliased commands from your .bashrc, .bash_aliases, or the alias command. For example, I use "ll" as an alias for "ls -lh". Typing "ll" will give me a long-listing of a directory's contents, while typing "sudo ll" will give me:
sudo: ll: command not found
I learned this when I tried to create an alias for "shutdown" that would refuse to shutdown if rtorrent was running. Unfortunately you need root privileges to use /sbin/shutdown, and sudo would completely ignore the clever script I aliased as "shutdown". The solution is an additional alias:
alias sudo='sudo '