Improve font appearance in Firefox Linux

Don’t you just hate the way fonts look in Firefox in Linux. A couple of simple solutions exist in order to fix the problem. You could try and reduce your screen resolution. Another thing you can do it press ‘Ctrl + Mouse wheel’ or ‘Ctrl and +’ in the Firefox window. I use this shortcut a lot while browsing. But I have found that the following settings (Edit -> Preferences) make a huge difference to the look of web pages. It’s all about choosing the best looking font. You can do a search in Google for msttcorefonts if you want to install Windows based fonts like Verdana, Tahoma etc. on your Linux system. Here are screenshots of settings that work best for me. Don’t worry you can replace my fonts with any that look good on your system.

Tasque - to do application in Linux for forgetful people

Tasque [ pronounced 'task' ] is a great application for forgetful Linux users. There are a few to-do list applications in Linux, but most lack the finesse that Tasque provides. It acts as a front-end for various backends. You can use Evolution, SQLite etc. as it’s backend. Presently, it needs to be installed from source. You need Mono and ndesk-dbus already installed on your system. Additional instructions/information can be found on the following link -

http://live.gnome.org/Tasque

Demystification of your xorg.conf

Disclaimer : Editing the xorg.conf can make things go horribly wrong if you don’t know what you are doing. Unless you are sure of yourself, do not try this. At the very least you should be comfortable with some basic Linux commands in case you need to restore a backed up copy of the file. You have been warned.

The first thing that you should do, and I cannot stress this enough : Make a copy of your xorg.conf file. It can be found in the /etc/X11/ folder. The command to do the same is -

su

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup

After this you can begin editing various sections of the file. I will try and explain a couple of important sections. With trial and error you can become pretty good at this and have more fine tuned control over your display.

The xorg.conf file is divided into a minimum of eight sections. The start of each section is marked by the word Section followed by the section’s name, and its end by EndSection. Sections can be placed in any order, and you can have more than one section that cover a certain purpose — for example, if you are using multiple monitors. As in most configuration files, you may also see lines that start with a number sign (#) that provide comments for human readers. These lines are ignored by the operating system, and you can add more for your own purposes.

Fonts

Quick tip for fonts : You can add new font paths by following the format of existing entries: FontPath “<absolutepath>”
It is suggested that you place any directory for 100dpi bitmap fonts before those for 75dpi bitmap fonts, and add :unscaled to the end of all the paths for bitmapped fonts. This ensures that the higher quality fonts are used by the xserver first.

Module

You should prevent editing this section. xorg.conf’s Modules and DRI sections refer to modules loaded by the X server for such purposes as 3-D acceleration (glx, dri) and font support. Unless the relevant resources have been compiled in the kernel, it will not make a difference if you edit this section.

Input Device - Keyboard

Most probably you will want to use the XkbRules options to define the general behavior of the keyboard, since the alternative is to define all aspects of the keyboard layout separately yourself. Driver ‘kbd’ will work fine 90% of the time. The XkbModel for the keyboard can be defined, using one of the options listed in /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst, or else a generic one such as pc104 or pc102.

Input Device - Mouse

Two important sections here are ”Driver” and ”Device”. The driver ’mouse’ will work fine for most. Device indicates the location where your pointing device is present. The protocol section defines the type of mouse you have - whether a PS2 (round connector), a USB or a serial mouse. If you have a three-button mouse, you should add the “Emulate 3 buttons” option as follows -

Option “Emulate3Buttons” “true”

Device & Monitor

These sections define your monitor and your 3d card. Make sure that they have got detected correctly. If you are having trouble with the display, you can try one of the drivers in the /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers directory for the graphic card ‘Driver’ section. If all else fails you can get basic video support by entering “vesa” or “vga” for the driver. The bus ID for the first 3d card is usually PCI:1:0:0.

For the monitor, the DPMS, enables Display Power Management Signaling in order to conserve the power used by the monitor.

Screen 

The screen section can be used for setting the depth and resolution. Pretty handy if you want to bump up/down your resolution or if you know beforehand that your monitor does not support a particular mode.

After you hav made changes to your xorg.conf file, save the file and restart X by pressing ‘Control + Alt + Backspace’. I case something goes wrong you can always restore the the copy of xorg.conf that you had backed up earlier. You can also look for logs related to the error in the /var/log folder. Look for recent entries.

Download this article as a PDF -> Demystification of your xorg.conf

Open ports for your Airtel connection (Port-mapping)

This write up will explain to you how to speed up your Airtel Broadband connection / solve other problems regarding connection failures due to closed ports.

Although I use Airtel and a Beetel 220 BX modem as my basis for this write up, the same rules can be applied to others as well. So lets get started. First thing make sure your DSL modem is on. Fire up your browser. Type http://192.168.1.1 as the address with the following Username/Password -

Username : admin

Password : password

Note : These are case sensitive. Make sure all are typed in lowercase.

Click on Advanced Setup -> NAT in the page that loads. If you do not see these options try entering http://192.168.1.1/main.html as the address. Some routers/modems deliberately try to prevent users from accessing these options. On the NAT virtual servers page click the add button. Now add the port number that you wish to open up. You can even open up a range of ports using the add button. You should see something similar to the screenshot below. Click it to view full image

This technique can be used for any operating system / modem / service provider. It may vary slightly but the essential principle remains the same.

Google Talk (GTalk) in Linux!

Enable GTALK from Gaim in Linux

By Synapse

Gaim is what you probably use if you use Linux and want to connect to Yahoo or MSN. Lately google talk has been steadily becoming popular among people. Not many know that you can use Gaim to connect to the google talk servers and chat with your gtalk friends! Here’s how you go about it -

1.Click Accounts > Add (At the main login screen)
2.From the protocol dropdown select Jabber
3.Your screen name will be your gmail address except @gmail.com Example: If your address is xyz@gmail.com then your screen name will be xyz
4.Change the server from jabber.org to gmail.com
5.Password will be the same password that you use for Gmail
6.Click show more options
7.“Use TLS is available” should be checked
8.The connect server should be “talk.gmail.com”

[Edit : The connect server should be 'talk.google.com' Please make note of the change]

Chat away!

Download PDF version of this document for offline viewing

Free Linux CD’s / DVD’s

 

http://free.thelinuxstore.ca/

That’s right! Absolutely free Linux disks. No gimmick. Just logon to the following link, choose your distro, fill in the address and in 4-6 weeks get your very own free Linux disk! As simple as that

Tux Issue #15 now available

Issue number 15, July 2006, of TUX now is available. To download the current issue, subscribe for FREE today. If you already have subscribed, click here or on the Download TUX button on the right to download the current issue.

Some of the topics include:

• From the Publisher: Ubuntu and Dapper Drake Illustrate the Social Power of Inclusion
• From the Editor: Filling the Void between Free Software and New Linux User
• P2p: Q&A with Mango Parfait
• Home Plate: Building a Database with Kexi
• Suited Up: Connecting Evolution to MS Exchange
• Suited Up: Using VMware Player to Introduce Linux into the Enterprise
• TUX Explains: KDE Kontact
• Reviews: Linux Loft: Family Box with Edubuntu

 

Google releases Picasa for Linux

Google has finally released Picasa - their flagship photo management software, for Linux. The official link is -

http://picasa.google.com/linux/ 

However for some reason Google has released it for US citizens only. So if you aren't a US citizen you will likely get a page not found error. Fret not, where there's a will there's a way. Non-US residents can click the following modded link (read proxy) -

http://67.18.35.242/-picasa.google.com/linux/thanks-rpm.html 

Direct download links for Non-US citizens are -

RPM (Red Hat/Fedora/Suse/Mandriva x86): http://dl.google.com/linux/rpm/stable/i386/picasa-2.2.2820-5.i386.rpm
DEB (Debian/Ubuntu x86): http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/pool/non-free/p/picasa/picasa_2.2.2820-5_i386.deb
BIN (Any x86 Linux distribution): http://dl.google.com/linux/standalone/picasa-2.2.2820-5.i386.bin

Bash shorcuts

Taken from http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2005/08/bash-shell-shortcuts.html

 ____________CTRL Key Bound_____________
Ctrl + a - Jump to the start of the line
Ctrl + b - Move back a char
Ctrl + c - Terminate the command
Ctrl + d - Delete from under the cursor
Ctrl + e - Jump to the end of the line
Ctrl + f - Move forward a char
Ctrl + k - Delete to EOL
Ctrl + l - Clear the screen
Ctrl + r - Search the history backwards
Ctrl + R - Search the history backwards with multi occurrence
Ctrl + u - Delete backward from cursor
Ctrl + xx - Move between EOL and current cursor position
Ctrl + x @ - Show possible hostname completions
Ctrl + z - Suspend/ Stop the command
____________ALT Key Bound___________
Alt + < - Move to the first line in the history
Alt + > - Move to the last line in the history
Alt + ? - Show current completion list
Alt + * - Insert all possible completions
Alt + / - Attempt to complete filename
Alt + . - Yank last argument to previous command
Alt + b - Move backward
Alt + c - Capitalize the word
Alt + d - Delete word
Alt + f - Move forward
Alt + l - Make word lowercase
Alt + n - Search the history forwards non-incremental
Alt + p - Search the history backwards non-incremental
Alt + r - Recall command
Alt + t - Move words around
Alt + u - Make word uppercase
Alt + back-space - Delete backward from cursor

—————-More Special Keybindings——————-

Here "2T" means Press TAB twice

$ 2T - All available commands(common)
$ (string)2T - All available commands starting with (string)
$ /2T - Entire directory structure including Hidden one
$ 2T - Only Sub Dirs inside including Hidden one
$ *2T - Only Sub Dirs inside without Hidden one
$ ~2T - All Present Users on system from "/etc/passwd"
$ $2T - All Sys variables
$ @2T - Entries from "/etc/hosts"
$ =2T - Output like ls or dir

The Linux boot process

I came across this great post on how a Linux box boots up. Click the link to read the story

Click me to read the post

(Taken from http://itreviews.blogspot.com/)