Mount your VistaOS in Xubuntu

To mount your Vista file system (assuming you have one) add this line to /etc/fstab as root:

/dev/sda1 /media/VistaOS ntfs-3g nls=utf8,umask=0222 0 0

then go to in Thunar to /media and bookmark VistaOS (in my case) to get to it in the future.  You can name “VistaOS whatever you like.  Reboot after changing the fstab file.

HowTo: Disable Touchpad While Typing in Ubuntu

With Hardy and above, it’s simply Preferences>Mouse>Touchpad and uncheck the “enable touchpad” box.  For older Ubuntu releases, here you go:

It can get really annoying when you type on your keyboard and still have your touchpad active as it happens that you tap on it without noticing it, resulting in messing up the job you are doing.

Disabling the touchpad while typing will avoid unwanted movements and actions from your mouse that could give focus to the wrong window, start actions because of a “click” on the wrong file and so on… Using synclient or syndaemon will stop this.

Both synclient and syndaemon need to be able to access the synaptics driver shared memory in order to work. This can be achieved by adding the right directive in your xorg.conf. So in the first place, edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and make sure

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier     "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver         "synaptics"
Option         "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option         "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option         "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
Option         "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

the bolded entry is present in the section shown.  Your exact entries may be different, but at least add that line if not present (it probably won’t be).  Save and close your xorg.conf file.  Then, the following

Code:

syndaemon -i 1 -d -t -K

command stops the tap-to-click and scrolling options for 1 second after any main key-press (ignoring Shift, Ctrl etc) but allows you to move the pointer and also click with the actual touchpad buttons in that time. Everything comes back alive automatically if you don’t press any keys for 1 second.

You can add it (as a command) to your autostarted list, so it’s always active when you boot up. It appears to use almost no processor at all (always 0%) on my taskmanager in Xubuntu.  Happy laptop’ing!

Bluetooth in Xubuntu 8.04

I recently went back to Xubuntu 8.04 from Kubuntu 8.04, and this procedure was still necessary (though easy) to get bluetooth working at startup.  Ubuntu and Kubuntu can do it now completely through the bluetooth manager GUI.

You have to install some software for Bluetooth to work on your machine: (with *buntu 8.04, Bluez should already be on there ‘out of the box’)

Code:

sudo apt-get install bluez-utils

Then, connect your Bluetooth device if you are using one. Restart the Bluetooth services by doing:

Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/bluez-utils restart

On some machines – 7.04 feisty at least – it may be

Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

On my Gutsy laptop, I use the last command to restart bluetooth and it seems to work.

Verify that your Bluetooth device has been detected, and the appropriate modules loaded by viewing the output of

Code:

lsusb

Here’s my bluetooth module listing in lsusb

Code:

Device 004: ID 0a5c:2101 Broadcom Corp.

Also, view the output of the command hcitool dev which will give you a listing of Bluetooth devices on your computer.

Here’s the output of hcitool dev on my machine:

Code:

Devices:
        hci0    00:16:CE:E1:99:F4

Your Bluetooth device will have a different id.

If you get all zeros, then try restarting the bluez-utils service and try again.

Now we have the hardware setup to find your new mouse or keyboard, lets find the mouse/keyboard.

To connect to a Bluetooth device, you will need to find the address of the device. Make the device discoverable (look for a “Connect” button on many keyboards and mice or look in the device’s manual) and then search for the device with this command:

Code:

  sudo hidd --search

(If that command doesn't work, try this one:) 

  hcitool scan

Each device should have its own address in a aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff format.

If no devices are being shown and you are using Edgy Eft (6.10), you may try

Code:

sudo hciconfig hci0 inqmode 0

Connect Devices for Current Session Only

To temporarily connect to a device, use this command where ‘aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff’ is the address of the device you want to connect to:

Code:

sudo hidd --connect aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff

Your device should now be connected for the current session.

Connect Devices at Startup

To connect the device at startup every time, use the following commands to edit the configuration file:

Code:

sudo cp /etc/default/bluetooth /etc/default/bluetooth_backup
 sudo gedit /etc/default/bluetooth

We always want to backup the files we alter so we can save the system if this doesn’t work.

Look for the following line:

Code:

HIDD_ENABLED=0

And change it to:

Code:

HIDD_ENABLED=1

Next, look in the same file for a line similar to:

Code:

HIDD_OPTIONS="--master --server"

You can leave the “–master” command or remove it, depending on the device. If you have problems with “–master”, try removing it or vice versa.

Add additional “–connect” arguments for each device that you want connected at startup so that it looks like this:

Code:

HIDD_OPTIONS="--connect aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff --connect aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff --connect aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff --server"

Save the file.

Finally, add HIDP to /etc/modules:

Code:

echo hidp | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Your Bluetooth devices should now be connected at startup.

************************************************** **********

Some folks will say that I cut and pasted this whole thing from the web site, which I did, but there wasn’t a guide on the forums for some people to find, so I hope it becomes easy for some of you to get your bluetooth mouse and keyboard up and running.

Xubuntu Mission Statement, Spring 2008

Mission Statement

Xubuntu will provide (The goal of Xubuntu is to produce) an easy to use distribution, based on Ubuntu, using Xfce as the graphical desktop, with a focus on integration, usability and performance, with a particular focus on low memory footprint. The integration in Xubuntu is at a configuration level, a toolkit level, and matching the underlying technology beneath the desktop in Ubuntu. Xubuntu will be built and developed autonomously as part of the wider Ubuntu community, based around the ideals and values of Ubuntu.

It appears that Xubuntu, my current distro, has a bright future under new project leadership.  Read more about it here:  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Specifications/Intrepid/StrategyDocument

Kubuntu: Replace Knetworkmanager with Wicd

Wicd:
One of my favorites, since it is not tied into the GNOME or KDE
desktops. The program home page is located here: Wicd. When installed through Synaptic in the case of Kubuntu, it will uninstall Knetworkmanager as a requirement. Add the repository for Wicd per their site to your /etc/apt/sources.list.
Works well with (K)ubuntu, Fedora and Arch Linux. This application also
provides solid support for WEP, WPA and WPA2 (WPA1/2). And unlike
network-manager, you get to select your WPA Supplicant driver, rather
than automatically relying on WEXT.

This network manager is very fast and reliable, and IMO a much better wireless manager than Knetworkmanager.   Network switching is faster in my experience. Follow the directions on the Wicd site, incl. the link on how to add a sys tray icon at startup for KDE (simple).  You will like it.  I learned to appreciate the functionality of Wicd while a Zenwalk user.

EDIT:  I am now using Wicd in Xubuntu.  Works the same way (outstanding), put the link to tray.py  (systray icon) in autostarted apps per the web site instructions for Ubuntu.

Kbackup for Kubuntu, get rid of Keep

Kbackup for KDE works great to back up to an external Samba drive, whereas Keep which comes with Kubuntu gives error messages.  Get rid of Keep, and install Kbackup.  A .deb package is available here.

Description:

KBackup is a program that lets you back up any directories or files, whereby it uses an easy to use directory tree to select the things to back up.The program was designed to be very simple in its use so that it can be used by non-computer experts.The storage format is the well known TAR format, whereby the data is still stored in compressed format (bzip2 or gzip).

The backup can be put onto a local directory (mounted device, etc.) but also on a remote URL (thanks to KDE KIO).

It also includes a german, french, italian, slovak, portuguese, swedish and russian translation for the user interface and an english, french, russian and german handbook.

You’ll find all RPMs including 64bit versions for different distributions on the openSuse build service (links below)

NOTE:Due to a KDE3 limitation, it can only backup files each up to 4GB in size (on 32bit platforms at least; therefore larger files are skipped)