Ubuntu Tutorials

Some time ago I posted on how to simplify your dropbox URLs by using .htaccess files within Apache web server. Now that I’ve switched to Lighttpd I needed to find the equivalent. Here is what I came up with:


## dropbox redirection
server.modules += ( "mod_redirect" )


$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/dropbox/(.*)" {
url.redirect = (
"^/dropbox/(.*)" => "http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/123456/$1"
)
}


note: if you already have mod_redirect loaded elsewhere you won’t need to worry about that first line. Also note that you’ll need to update the dl.getdropbox.com URL with your unique string. Replace 123456 with your unique value. You can find this value within your Dropbox account.

Based on the comments from the previous post I wanted to offer an update. A much simpler solution is to simply activate the compositing within recent versions of Gnome.

gconftool-2 -s --type bool /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager true


This does introduce a known bug which can break enabling compiz however. If you want to activate compiz after toggling this value, you’ll need to de-activate it first.

gconftool-2 -s --type bool /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager false


Thanks to Christoph, Philip and Cory for this tip.

The recent release of Gnome-Do 0.8.0 has brought with it a number of interface changes and upgrades.  I won’t go into all the new “shiny” stuff in this post, but simply outline how to satisfy the new requirements.  Gnome-Do 0.8.x now requires some type of compositing support for its interface (unless you stick with “Classic”).

First of all, composite does not mean Compiz.  Let’s get that out of the way right from the start.  You do not need a flashy 3D desktop to run Gnome-Do.  You do need a basic compositing manager however, and these should work on nearly any modern system and can run with minimal resources in the background.

I am using a tool called ‘xcompmgr’ for my compositing support, but there are others available.  Ask around or leave some comments to find out what other compositing managers people use.  Here is how I got mine setup:

sudo aptitude install xcompmgr

You can then start compositing manually via the ‘xcompmgr‘ command, or you can automate the process via Sessions.

System > Preferences > Sessions : Add

• Name – Compositing Manager
• Command – xcompmgr
• Comment – Shiny!

With basic compositing enabled you should now be able to use the enhanced features of Gnome-Do 0.8.x, including the Mini Interface, Docky, Glass Interface and Nouveau.

I’ve never been one that is much for customizing Ubuntu themes.  Generally the most I do is switch to Clearlooks and call it good.  Recently, however, a theme was pointed out to me that I really like.  Its called Shiki-Colors, and can be downloaded from gnome-look.

One nice thing about this theme release is that it includes a script to configrue everything for you.  You can download the install script via:

wget -c http://zelut.org/dropbox/colorizeme-shiki-0.2.tar.gz
tar xf colorizeme-shiki-0.2.tar.gz
./install


This script will download and install the icon sets, themes, etc and update your theme as it goes.  To get the full effect you will likely want to logout or reboot.

I also like this in combination with the ttf-liberation font set.

note: the author is definitely an artist and not a programmer.  The shell script is pretty ugly and could use some cleanup, but thats another story..

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this theme.

For all of you that use the nautilus-open-terminal utility, which allows you to right-click on the desktop and quickly open a terminal, you may be interested in this quick-tip.  Thanks goes to a comment on Clint Savage’s blog for pointing this out to me.

In previous releases this utility would open the home directory by default when launched from the desktop.  I’ve noticed currently that this behavior has changed.  If you’d like to toggle this option you can use the following command:

gconftool-2 --set --type=bool /apps/nautilus-open-terminal/desktop_opens_home_dir true

Set the value back to “false” if you prefer it to open the Desktop when used.  Enjoy.

I found a new Gnome Easter egg the other day.  Just when I thought I knew about all of them (yeah, I know, some Gnome developer is sitting back in the corner laughing about all the Easter Eggs we *don’t* know about!) I find a few more.

This one will require you to logout and log back in, but its worth the slight hiccup.

At the login prompt, where it asks for a username, enter: Require Quarter

The username and password prompt will then follow as normal, but you’ll get a quick surprise before you’re logged in.

Enjoy

It was pointed out to me recently that the graphical tool for sharing files and folders no longer displayed within the Main Menu.  I’m not sure if this is reported as a bug anywhere (I haven’t looked), but I thought I would mention how you can still use the tool, or even better, manually add it to your menu.  This tutorial is for anyone that wants to simply share files and folders via samba or NFS.

Sharing Folders with Shares Admin

First, lets take a look at the shares-admin tool.  It is a graphical management tool for sharing files and folders by way of NFS or samba.  If you’re not familiar with these protocols, samba is generally used for sharing within a Windows network, and NFS for Linux/Unix networks.

To launch the shares-admin tool type:

ALT-F2: shares-admin

You’ll be asked to “Unlock” access for your user, and then you’ll be able to create a share.

Click “Add” to create a new share.  Select the folder you want to share, the protocol you want to share it with, and the name you want to give it.  It’s that simple!

Adding Shares-Admin to your Main Menu

If this is something you find you might use often you may want to add it to your Main Menu.  This can be done pretty easily, by using the Main Menu Editor.  I posted about this recently, Edit The Main Menu with Two Clicks on Ubuntu 8.04.

Have you ever wondered what the actual command is behind the application you’re launching from the Applications Menu?  I’ve found it useful a number of times, and I have two three methods of finding out what the command actually is.  If there are any Gnome devs reading this, could finding the properties be made simpler directly from the menu itself?

What’s The Command?

There are actually two three ways that I can think of to do this.  One includes the Main Menu Editor, which I blogged about yesterday, the second involves a bit of a quick workaround and the third just uses your browser.  Do you have any other suggestions on how this might be done?

To find the command using the Main Menu Editor you would simply launch the tool:

System > Preferences > Main Menu

Find the application in the list, and then double-click the entry to find the details.  You’ll see something like:

The second method that you can use, and this is the one that I’ve used most often, is quickly adding the application to your panel and then checking the launcher properties.  Because the properties are not available from within the menu itself (again, Gnome devs, can this be added?) we can add the application to the panel and then check the properties.  To find the details this way we’d do the following:

Navigate to the application through the main menu.  Right-click on the application and select “Add this launcher to panel”.  This will add the menu-based launcher to your panel.  The next step is to right-click on the new panel launcher and select properties.  You’ll then find what command and details are being used to launch that application.

Once you’ve found what you’re looking for you can safely remove the newly added launcher via right-click > Remove from panel.

The third method, which was found apparently by accident recently, is simply to drag-n-drop the menu entry into a Firefox tab.  It’ll open the .desktop file, which will outline the command and a whole lot more.  Look for the “Exec=” line for the command used.

Do you have applications in your main menu that you never, ever use?  Would you like to get rid of them?  Perhaps you’d like to reorganize some of your menu entries?  This can be done two ways, both of which take only two-clicks.

Editing The Main Menu

Method number one is done via right-click + left-click.  Bring your pointer to your main menu and right-click on Applications.  Within the resulting options you should see “Edit Menus”.  Left-click on that and the Main Menu Editor will appear.  You’ll now be able to edit the items displayed in your menus by simply checking and unchecking boxes.  You can even add new items if, for some reason, your installed application did not create one.

Method number two is probably even simpler, but I outline Method One above because I’ve had situations where the Main Menu Editor did not appear within my menu.  Sure makes it difficult to add the Main Menu Editor to the menu when you can’t get there in the first place!

To launch the Main Menu Editor navigate to:

System > Preferences > Main Menu

Either of these methods will launch the same tool and give you the same options.  As I mentioned above, I’m glad I know both methods because there have been times when “Main Menu” did not appear within my menu for some reason.  This way you’re always able to find it.

I have heard complaints here and there regarding Ubuntu requiring the user to login at boot time.  I, personally, prefer this as I feel it ads a level of security to my machine, but I can see situations where it’d simply be annoying.  If you are the only user on your machine and you’d like to enable automatic user login at boot time this post will outline how.

Enabling Timed or Automatic Login

I’ll start with the Automatic Login option and then outline Timed Login below.  Both are very similar, and they are configured in the same place.  To enable Automatic Login you can navigate to:

System > Administration > Login Window

You will have to provide your password for authentication and then you’ll be presented with the Login Window Preferences tool.  To enable Automatic Login you’ll want to navigate to the Security tab.

As you see from the screenshot you have the option to Enable Automatic Login by checking the box.  You will also need to select a user to be the default account from the drop down list.

For the Timed Login you’ll want to check the second box, select the user and also select the timeout value.  If, for example, you want your machine to auto-login after 30 seconds you’d set the “Pause before login:” value to “30″.

<disclaimer>Again, I would warn you that anyone able to get access to your machine will now be able to access all of your files and settings by simply booting the machine as normal.  I prefer to enter my username and password as an additional level of security.</disclaimer>