Configure Gnome to Not Open a New Nautilus Window When Plug a New Storage Device

I don't like the default behavior of Gnome to open a new nautilus window every time I insert a new disc or plug a new storage device (usb disk).
Here the tip to change the behavior to not open any new window.

You can use gconf-editor. If you don't have this tool, you can select and install the package from synaptic.
Go to /apps/nautilus/preferences
Un-check the 'media_automount_open'



Then do testing by plug a new storage device, for example, a usb disk.

Gnome Screensaver & How To Set a Different Pictures for some screensavers

You can set the different pictures by doing this.

I rename the original /usr/share/backgrounds to /usr/share/backgrounds.orig.
Then I create a new /usr/share/backgrounds.
Here I put some my favorite pictures.

Then I have to edit ~/.xscreensaver-getimage.cache to get quick response from gnome-screensaver to use new pictures from /usr/share/backgrounds
    /usr/share/backgrounds
    <enter some pictures here>

Real example of ~/.xscreensaver-getimage.cache
    /usr/share/backgrounds
    img0028tjd.jpg
    classical-girl-010b.jpg
    mir3-1280x800.jpg


Example of screensavers that use pictures:
Slidescreen



Flipscreen3d



Distort



Carousel

Gnome Screensaver & how to recover from freeze caused by some screensavers.

Ubuntu has a few screensavers by default. So I add packages: xscreensaver-data, xscreensaver-data-extra, xscreensaver-gl, and xscreensaver-gl-extra.
You can install these packages by running synaptic for easy installation steps.

Then I run 'gnome-screensaver-preferences' to select a screensaver.



Be careful to select the screensaver.
I have experienced annoying result both in Fedora and Ubuntu, problems related with screensaver. Some screensavers can freeze your xwindow. When it happened, I can not do anything in X. I have to kill gdm from a ssh client.

And that's not enough!
I have to edit the ~/.gconf/apps/gnome-screensaver/%gconf.xml
Delete the entry that contain screensaver I selected before.

Here is the example of %gconf.xml after cleaning up the troublemaker screensaver.
    <xml version="1.0"?>
    <gconf>
         <entry name="power_management_delay" mtime="1224047772" type="int" value="30">
         </entry>
    </gconf>

Firefox and Windows Live Hotmail Full Version

When you signed in Windows Live Hotmail, did you experience this problem?



I did not use an old Firefox browser.



This is the solution I found from the Internet, and I tried.
Type about:config for the address.



Remove the value of the general.useragent.vendor so it's blank.





After signed in, I switched to Full Version





Here I can switch to the full version of Hotmail successfully.



I see that Windows Live Hotmail is not good for small-size window.



Here the snapshot when I maximize the window.



Opera, that has no problem on using full version of Windows Live Hotmail, also has problems with small-size window like this..



Even using Internet Explorer on my Windows XP does not solve the problem. So it's about the design of Windows Live Hotmail.

Download Youtube Videos Using QtTube

QtTube is a good youtube videos downloader. It has graphical user interface (GUI), so it's very easy to use.



just enter the url (usually by copy-paste), type or browse for the destination folder, enter the file name, and click Get Video to start downloading.

Download Youtube Videos Using youtube-dl

I often use this tool to download youtube videos.
To install youtube-dl:
     # apt-get install youtube-dl

The usage is simple:

     youtube-dl -o youtube-video-file-name.flv youtube-video-url

          -o : output

Example:
     $ youtube-dl -o 'red cliff mv with sub.flv' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn8Wj5O1Ghc

Sharing Folder in Ubuntu Using system-config-samba

Sharing folder in Linux is difficult. Agree?
Maybe yes, maybe no. Relative to the person skills.
That's my opinion.

Actually for customization, it would be better if you know how to edit directly from the /etc/samba/smb.conf. I used to do sharing by this way.

But if you do not want to edit directly, there are also some options.
One option is used this tool ini ubuntu: system-config-samba.

Unfortunately, you can not create users from this tool.
You have to create manually either using cli (command line interface) or another gui (graphical user interface) tools. Actually I'm more familiar in using useradd.
The command 'useradd' in ubuntu a little bit different than Red Hat / Fedora / CentOS.

Like this:
# useradd -m -d /home/jenny -s /bin/bash -c "Jenny Gates" jenny

     -m : create home directory as specified in -d
     -s   : set the shell to bash (if you don't specify, defaults to sh / bourne shell)

Don't forget to set the password for the user.
# passwd jenny
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully

Continue with creating user for samba.
# smbpasswd -a jenny
New SMB password:
Retype new SMB password:
Added user jenny.

Then run "system-config-samba"



I can create a new shared folder



Then give access to specific users. In this scenario, to user Jenny.



Sharing folder succeed.



Actually the system-config-samba will modify the /etc/samba/smb.conf.
So if you want further customization for the sharing folder, you can edit directly from the /etc/samba/smb.conf.
system-config-samba may help if you are more familiar with gui, and want to share folders as soon as possible in an easy way.

How Linux Access Windows Shared Folder?

It's easy. Just open the nautilus browser, and on the Location textbox, type:
      smb://ip-address-of-file-server/shared-folder

for example:
      smb://192.168.3.60/temp



You will be have a window asked your username and password to the file server.



Then you can browse just like any other folders in your linux.



Viewing pictures as thumbnails is also OK. You just need to edit of your nautilus browser preferences.
Go to Edit menu, select Preferences, click the Preview tab.
On the Other Previewable Files area, set the Show Thumbnails: Always.
(If not, it defaults to Local Files Only, and you can see the icons only).

Gnome Terminal How to remember Window's position and size

It's annoying that everytime I resize the gnome terminal window. It never remember!
After googling, I found this really helpful information. and I try it..

I press [ALT] + [F2] to launch 'Run Application', then type:
gnome-terminal --geometry=123x38+0-0

It seems fit to my desktop with resolution of 1280x800.
For later use, I create a Custom Application Launcher (shortcut) on the panel, like this:

Dual-Monitor in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron)

First, check on Applications menu, Other, Screens and Graphics.
If Other or Screens and Graphics does not exist, probably it was not enabled for the Applications menu.
You should go to System menu, Preferences, Main Menu. On Applications group, select Other. Then mark enable for Screens and Graphics.



Click Applications menu, Other, Screens and Graphics



On the left, make sure that Screen 1 is selected. On Model, select Generic LCD Panel 1280x800 (I assumed that most laptops come with support for this resolution). Many projectors, old monitors does not support widescreen. So I did not select Widescreen monitor option. If you select this, I'm afraid that later you find problems with the second screen (screen 2).
Then click OK.





On the Screen 1, on the Resolution, change to 1024x768. If not, we have problems with monitors or projectors that support maximum resolution of 1024x768. Screen 1 has already been selected as Default screen.



On the left, click Screen 2, then click Model. Set to Generic Monitor 1024x768. (I assume that at least our monitor support max resolution of 1024x768). Then click OK.





On the Screen 2, select Resolution, and set to 1024x768.



Then select Secondary Screen option, select Mirror to default screen.



In this post, I select Generic LCD or Generic Monitor. You have the options to select the model that really suitable for your own monitors.
Now you can continue with testing with the second monitor.
Good luck.