New Frugalware package of Nautilus-Elementary
Remember, few weeks ago I wrote an entry on my blog about Nautilus-Elementary, a rework of Nautilus. I’ve made a new Frugalware package from a more recent snapshot of Nautilus-elementary bazaar repo. As I said, on a previous entry, now on Frugalware, the default GTK theme of GNOME is clearlooks-revamp. This theme was developed with the classic nautilus but also nautilus-elementary:
Yeah, as you can see, with nautilus-elementary, it’s even more beautiful !
To install nautilus-elementary, first remove nautilus:
# pacman -Rd nautilus
with that, your nautilus extensions packages will not be removed, then install my nautilus-elementary package with:
# pacman -U http://frugalware.org/~devil505/nautilus-elementary-2.30.1-1-i686.fpm
By the way, I recently bumped cover-thumbnailer (0.8.1) on current, If you have a big music folder, I suggest you to use it with nautilus-elementary to get something like this:
Smuxi – mono based irc client
Smuxi is an irssi-inspired, flexible, user-friendly and cross-platform IRC client for sophisticated users, targeting the GNOME desktop.
Smuxi is based on the client-server model: The core application (engine) can be placed onto a server which is connected to the Internet around-the-clock; one or more frontends then connect to the core. This way, the connection to IRC can be kept up even when all frontends have been closed. The combination of screen and irssi served as example for this architecture.
Smuxi also supports the regular single application mode. This behaves like a typical IRC client; it doesn’t need separate core management and utilizes a local engine that is used by the local frontend client.
Smuxi currently supports the following features
- Detachable Frontend (frontend can be detached from a smuxi-server)
- Multiple Server Support (you can connect to more than one server)
- Unified Nickname Colors (identical color across channels and networks)
- Caret-Mode (keyboard navigation through messages)
- Regular and Bash-Style Nickname Completion
- Full Keyboard Control
- Startup Commands (when Smuxi starts)
- On Connect Commands (when connecting to a server)
- Message / Command History
- Configurable Encoding (ISO-8859-1/15, UTF-8, etc)
- Configurable Command Character
- Auto Connect (automatically connect to defined servers)
- Quick Connect Dialog (simply connect to any server)
- Open / Join Chat Dialog
- Find Group Chat Dialog
- Sorted and Reoderable Tabs
- Colors are checked and adjusted for optimium contrast
- Clickable URLs
- Word Wrapping
- Logging Support
- Fully customizable filters to ignore messages or events
- Configurable Highlight Words
- Markerlines which divide old messages from new messages
- Themeing Support
- Configurable Font
- Foreground / Background Color
- Userlist Position
- Tab Colors / Position
- Configurable Timestamps
- Configurable Tray-Icon Support
- Translations
- British English
- Czech
- Catalan (patial)
- Danish
- Finnish (patial)
- French
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Spanish (patial)
- Swedish
- Multiple Network Protocols
- IRC Support
- Stripping Colors and/or Formattings from Messages
- Showing mIRC Colors
- Splitting oversized messages
- Channel List / Search
- CTCP Support including a Menu
- Invite To Menu
- Lag Indicator
- Twitter Support
- Reading and Posting Tweets
- Friends Timeline
- Replies
- Direct Messages
- IRC Support
Themeing & UI
Love the way it handles tabs and userlist. First of all, userlist can show on left side or right side. Tabs can be showed at upper, bottom, right and left side. My pic above has tabs at left side. Colors and fonts are changeable too. background images and tab colours are changeable.
Download
To download Smuxi for Arch, Foresight, Debian, OpenSuse, Gentoo, FreeBSD… Go to: http://www.smuxi.org/page/Download
goosh.org – unofficial google shell
Front-end old-style terminal interface, for web services like those provided by Google and Yahoo.
| command | aliases | parameters | function |
| web | (search,s,w) | [keywords] | google web search |
| news | (n) | [keywords] | google news search |
| more | (m) | get more results | |
| blogs | (blog,b) | [keywords] | google blog search |
| read | (rss,r) | <url> | read feed of url |
| feeds | (feed,f) | [keywords] | google feed search |
| place | (places,map,p) | [address] | google maps search |
| translate | (trans,t) | [lang1] [lang2] <words> | google translation |
| images | (image,i) | [keywords] | google image search |
| video | (videos,v) | [keywords] | google video search |
| clear | (c) | clear the screen | |
| wiki | (wikipedia) | [keywords] | wikipedia search |
| help | (man,h,?) | [command] | displays help text |
| cd | <command> | change mode | |
| site | (in) | <url> <keywords> | search in a specific website |
| open | (o) | <url> | open url in new window |
| go | (g) | <url> | open url |
| lucky | (l) | [keywords] | go directly to first result |
| ls | [command] | lists commands | |
| addengine | add goosh to firefox search box | ||
| load | <extension_url> | load an extension | |
| calculate | (calc) | [mathematical expression] | evaluate a mathematical expression |
| settings | (set) | [name] [value] | edit settings |
| gmail | (mail) | [compose] | read & write mail in gmail * |
| login | login with your google account * | ||
| logout | log out of goosh * |
- Enter green commands without parameters to change default mode.
- Anything that’s not a command will search in current default mode.
- Aliases will expand to commands. Numbers will expand to corresponding search results.
- Use cursor up and down for command history.
- Enter keyword and hit the tab-key for tab-completion.
- Commands marked with * are experimental, use them with care and please report any bugs.
Site: http://goosh.org
Project site: http://code.google.com/p/goosh/
Peppermint OS One 06172010
Admittedly, I do not buy into much of the hype of "the cloud". I prefer to store my files locally and rarely do I use online storage services such as Dropbox or Ubuntu One. However, I do like the use of the Dropbox app on my Motorola Droid. Dropbox is installed by default on Peppermint, so sharing files between my phone and netbook is seamless and easy. Also included are apps for Youtube and Facebook. I hesitate to call these apps as they are little more than links that open a browser window. Including Minitube, instead of a link to Youtube might have made more sense. There does also seem to be a focus on social-networking with apps for Facebook, The Cloud Player (Soundcloud), and Last FM, yet Gwibber or some other app for interacting with Twitter or identi.ca is not included.
In closing, Peppermint is a great lightweight Linux OS that is ideal for netbooks and low-spec PCs and laptops. As stated before, I do not care for all of the cloud hype, but Peppermint is not solely a cloud OS. If you are looking for a nice Ubuntu/Linux Mint-compatible OS without a heavy memory footprint, Peppermint OS fits the bill nicely. I look forward to what the future brings for this distro. They are only two releases in and Peppermint has quite bit of polish and looks very nice. The developers are really on to something here and hopefully we will see more Peppermint offerings down the road.
Banshee – Building from Git
Today, we start to build Banshee from Git instead of tarballs. To make sure we always got a working Banshee, thats based on latest version.
Latest Banshee (1.7.3) was released with an issue that made some packagers to either remove gnome-doc-utils or using a patch to current 1.7.3 release.
So from now on, Foresight Linux will ship Banshee built from Git instead. This doesn’t mean we will update it to make it unstable, we will still make sure its stable enough to have in Foresight. As we specify from what Git commit we will build from.
Also read little from creator and developer for Banshee: http://abock.org/2010/07/22/tarballs-why
Ubuntu 10.04 – Fix Button Layout
For anyone running Ubuntu 10.04 the new default positioning of the minimize, maximize and close buttons can be quite annoying.
Previously I have been using `gconf-editor` to edit the settings manually whenever I change themes. But here are two quicker ways.
First of all you can just use `gconf-editor` running it from terminal and specifying the parameter of the key you want to edit. The GUI will then launch with the value you want to edit already selected.
gconf-editor /apps/metacity/general/button_layout
Now Double click on `button_layout`, change it to read ‘:minimize,maximize,close’, click ok and the change should take effect.
The second way is to use the `gconftool` which allows you to directly edit gconf repository values without using a GUI.
In a terminal session run
gconftool -g /apps/metacity/general/button_layout
It will return what the current button layout is set to. Which should read
close,minimize,maximize:
To edit this just do
gconftool -s /apps/metacity/general/button_layout -t string :minimize,maximize,close
Your button layout should now be correct.
EFO’s Solar Toys are Fun and Educational
Solar power has been a promise since I was my son’s age. In the future. we were all supposed to have roofs covered in solar cells and not having to use ugly power lines to power our lives. We were barely able to get to the point of powering calculators. Fast forward 20 years and while there have been advances, we still don’t drive solar cars and we still have to have power lines run to our homes. Thankfully, there are more things run by solar cells than back when I was 11 and some of them are fun too. That’s where EFO’s solar toys come in.
The first 2 EFO sent me are solar powered bugs. One is a cockroach.
The other is a grasshopper.
Both of these have solar cells replacing the wings that would normally be on their backs. When you take them in to the sun, they will vibrate and dance around until the sun goes down. The motion is caused by what looks like a vibrator mode motor for your cell phone. The legs are made out of wire. The vibrations travel down the legs and make the bugs dance around.
Click here to view the embedded video.
It is really fun to watch them bounce around.
The last toy EFO sent me, is a 6 in 1 Solar Education Kit where you can build a total of 6 different solar powered toys. You can build a Windmill, a Revolving Plane, a Stationary Plane, a Solar Puppy, a Air Boat and a Car.
The first thing you have to do when working with the education kit is build the solar panel module and the gearbox/motor module. Each of these modules have springs are used to connect everything electrically. These are the only two components that are made to stay together.
To build a toy, you simply add pieces to them depending on what you want to build. Once the toy is built, you make the electrical connections by using the included wires between the springs on each module. When sun shines on the cell, the toy will start to move.
Click here to view the embedded video.
All of these toys absolutely need the sun to work. Some solar powered items will work fine on indoor light, but none of these would work at all unless they are exposed to real sun. The best time of day to play with these is during the middle part of the day around lunchtime. In the low evening sun, it’s pretty much impossible to get any of these to work.
EFO Gadget Shops solar toys are fun to play with. Even my son likes playing with the cockroach and grasshopper. Any 4th to 5th grader would love playing with these cool toys.
The Solar Cockroach and Grasshopper are $9.00 each from EFO Gadget Shop. The 6 in 1 Solar Education Kit is $18.50 also form EFO Gadget Shop.
What I liked: Cockroach and Grasshopper required no assembly. 6 in 1 Solar Education kit taught many different ways of using the sun to power a toy.
What Needs Improvement: The wire in the 6 in 1 is the braided style of wire rather than a solid wire. This occasionally made it harder to connect the solar panel and the motor.
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Gear Review: Icon’s Solo and Link LED Flashlights
I loved Icon’s Rogue 2 Flashlight. It was the most durable flashlight I have ever had the opportunity to use. It was bright and well designed and will last many years. Paul Kim, the designer of the Icon line of flashlights is a genius at designing flashlights that are not only very good-looking, but very functional. That’s why I jumped at the chance to review flashlights of another shape and size. Icon sent me a Link and a Solo LED Flashlight and they are the smallest lights that Icon makes.
First up is the rugged and handy Link. The Link is made from machined high strength aluminum. If this flashlight was a little larger, they could probably be used like brass knuckles.
The specs of the Link:
- High-strength aluminum body with carabiner* clip provides secure carry options
- Durable power-regulated LED maximizes output and runtime; never needs replacing
- Solid Total Internal Reflection (TIR) lens creates a smooth, focused beam
- Ergonomic “clickie” tailcap switch allows for easy switching between two output levels
- Sealed with O-rings; waterproof to one meter for 30 minutes
- Powered by one AA alkaline battery; included.
Of the two lights, this one is the brightest and most convenient. The built-in carabiner makes it really convenient to attach to a pack strap or a belt loop. The orange color is also attractive and makes it easy to see the light when hunting for it on your pack’s strap. It fits in a small pack pocket as well making it a handy tool to have.
The last light they sent me was the Solo. The Solo reminds me of the penlight flashlights I used to have when I was a kid that used a conventional incandescent bulb. This uses a white LED just like all of the other Icon flashlights instead of a regular bulb. The Solo is also much more solid in construction of any penlight I have ever used. The specs of the Solo are:
- High-strength aluminum body with sturdy pocket clip
- Durable power-regulated LED maximizes output and runtime; never needs replacing
- Micro-textured reflector creates a smooth, powerful beam
- Ergonomic “clickie” tailcap switch allows for easy switching between two output levels
- Sealed with O-rings; weatherproof
- Powered by two AAA alkaline batteries; included.
The Solo is an attractive, almost gun-metal like color. It’s also not as powerful as the Link, but still plenty bright. You could use this in your bag as a security light. It adds almost no weight to your bag and is extremely handy to have.
The Link is only $27.99 on Opticsplanet.com. The Solo is $24.99 from our friends at Think Geek.
What I liked: Both lights are very small and very handy lights to have. Quality construction that may last longer than you do.
What I did not care for: It would be nice to have some other colors.
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The Next HOPE
Last weekend was The Next HOPE (following from The Last HOPE) in New York City. HOPE stands for Hackers on Planet Earth and is a biennial conference put on by 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. The Wikileaks guy may or may not have shown up. Some online say he didn't. Someone else told me "oh yeah, he was sitting behind the Tesla stage drinking Club Mate all day Friday," so who knows. Apparently his keynote timeslot resulted in everything being timeshifted by one hour though. The physical security folks said he ran long. Though maybe it was a substitute who did so? I don't know. Kaminsky had another of the keynote slots, talking about SQL injection and the difference between programmer ways of thinking ("I'll just concatenate these strings here…") and programming-language-developer thinking ("We'll parameterize these, so they don't break anything…"). He made the very good point that the reason programmers ignore that parameterization stuff is that it's a pain in the neck to have to jump all around as you try to read the code figuring out "ok now insert first parameter…back up to code…second parameter…wait which one's the seventh parameter?" and outlined some ideas he has to make syntax programmers won't hate that can still fix the problem. And yeah, let's face it. Trying to escape every bad character is total Whack-A-Mole.
A group of librarians were here talking about how to get FOSS into libraries. They had a very important tip: brush your teeth. If you show up looking like a caricature of a hacker, it's a bit hard for the librarians to take you seriously. So, look like you've bathed since last Tuesday and know what a toothbrush is. Yes, they mentioned Evergreen.
Deb "freedeb" Nicholson from the Free Software Foundation spoke about why diversity is important to the growth of Free Software (hint: more diversity = more people!) and how to get there. In a similar vein, Nikki Neulist had a talk called "Hey, Don't Call That Guy A Noob: Toward a More Welcoming Hacker Community." She was talking about how new people provide new perspectives and if you're willing to just be helpful early on, they can end up really useful later. I think this is something we've tried to exemplify in the Ubuntu world, though I do still occasionally see some unwelcoming behaviour on IRC. Unfortunately, during her talk's Q&A, some guy thought it made sense to say tough cookies, this is our hacker culture and if your skin's not thick enough, you don't belong here. C4BL3FL4M3 and I started yelling at him from opposite sides of the room. How on Earth could "if you don't like our bad attitude, GTFO" fit in in a conversation about being welcoming? Why did he even attend if that's his attitude? Troll!
The Vintage Computing talk ended in me dragging a 14 year old I was showing around to the Borders across the street to buy her a copy of Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution to give her more context about things like the Altair and the PDP-11.
There were talks on "Color, Light, and Perception" and "Cooking for Geeks." In the former, I learned that magenta does not exist as part of the white light spectrum. You will not find it with a prism. It's not a single wavelength of light but rather a trick in our brains when red and blue wavelengths overlap. I also learned about additive colours, which is what the RGB colour model we use for defining colours on a computer screen is based on. The reason I see white captions on a black background as red/blue-split (like when you look at 3D stuff without the glasses) when seeing it at an angle out of my glasses was also explained. Neat! The latter was about food science, a basic introduction to it, and a reference to there being more in the speaker's new book of the same title. Apparently the temperatures we're taught in food safety courses assume you're not hitting the coldest part of the meat, that your thermometer's wrong, and a bit more, so they're overestimated by a good 15°. Not that I eat meat or am interested in testing that. Time at temperature was brought up as well—the fact that reaching a temperature doesn't matter as much as maintaining that temperature for a decent amount of time. Various enzymes take various times to break down into something tasty. I think he said brussels sprouts were in the category of things that need to spend a good amount of time at high temperature to taste good. Someone should tell my mum this. Hers are too bitter.
I missed much of the "Simpson's Did It" talk, but I caught Mouse's segment where she talked about Mozart. Apparently "Miserere" by Gregorio Allegri was well-loved by the pope of his time. So well-loved, that he had analogue DRM on it! That is, no copies of the sheet music could be made without the pope's permission, period. Only two copies ever were, and they were for princes who had to promptly return them as soon as they finished. Additionally, the song could only be played during Easter week. What did Mozart do, knowing he couldn't get sheet music? Showed up, listened, memorised, and transcribed from memory. DRM broken! Thanks, Mozart!
If you want to write online about controversial topics and you find that your free speech is being harmed by those who do not want you to be heard sending false DMCA notices, you should know about Project DoD, a web host who is willing to send a counter-notice in response (apparently unlike most others). You still have the mandatory 10-day offline period while the counter-notice goes through, but at least it's not a permanent offline period. They're willing to fight for their clients. Lawyer Tiffany Rad (who was my carpool for the trip) and Chris Mooney were talking about this project of theirs.
I mentioned earlier taking a 14 year old around. She's a smart kid named Johannah, so I was introducing her to the other LinuxChix and other assorted cool people. I explained public key cryptography (the practical, not the mathematical theory) to her and showed her how to generate a GPG key. She's an Ubuntu user, so I got her uncle to pick up a copy of How Linux Works for her. It looks like an excellent book for her skill level. It starts out with basic command line stuff and goes on all the way through explaining bootloaders and system internals. Cool!
We attended a LinuxChix Lunch on Saturday, where the women who'd been there in 2002 for H2K2 were expressing surprise at how many women were present, saying LinuxChix would soon be obsolete. They said H2K2 had somewhere between 10 and 30 women total. Improvement was obvious. And by the way, yes, the hacking community does seem to have more women than the Free Software community. There was definitely a higher percentage of women here than even at SELF, which I've already said has more than I remember seeing at any other Linux event (uh, outside of LinuxChix events, obviously). Funny enough, when we got back, I ended up talking to some woman I'd never met who saw my panoramas on my screen and wanted to know how I took them. I told her about Hugin and Free Software and Ubuntu. Anyway, the "funny" bit is that one of the first things she said when asked how she liked the con (she'd never been to a hacker thing before, but her son was a speaker, so she showed up) was (paraphrased) "this is all very interesting, but I notice it's mostly male, and mostly Caucasian." Yeah…still got a ways to go.
I had a duty while I was there too. I was handing out postcards for Ohio LinuxFest to everyone I saw with a Tux, GNU, or distro logo on their shirt, laptop, or tattoo. There were a lot of Ubuntu users. At one point I thought I saw an Ubuntu laptop in front of me, but it was actually OSX.
Warzone2100 2.3.2 is out
Version 2.3.2 of the famous strategy game Warzone2100 has been released.
This version brings new features including:
- A new map, 4c-Pyramidal.
- People with with no middle mouse button will be able to rotate the screen by holding down the left and right mouse buttons at the same time.
- Many fixes (see changelog)
This morning, I bumped Warzone2100 package in frugalware current repo to 2.3.2 . 
Enjoy !
