Well, I've been following the Development of Mate DE quite closely via github and it seems like the project is gaining momentum. It gained the support of Linux Mint Dev's and now it has it's own website, so I'd like to give here the link to the GNOME 2 Desktop alternative, in hope more peope will contribute and join.le will contribute and join.
Since there is now a Debian repository for MATE DE, I intend to test it hands on, and not just observe from the side.
Showing posts with label gnome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gnome. Show all posts
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
More GCONF Fun: Setting display backlight
In my Clevo notebook all the Fn keys work, except the Brightness keys. So,
after search quite long, I have found that the only solution that really works for me
is "xbacklight".
So, here is how to map the "Special Key " and alt together with F8 and F9 to reduce or
increase screen brightness.
First, install xbacklight:
And finally, setup the the script which increases the screen brightness:
P.S.
Yariv,
If you are reading this, thanks for introducing me to xbacklight.
after search quite long, I have found that the only solution that really works for me
is "xbacklight".
So, here is how to map the "Special Key " and alt together with F8 and F9 to reduce or
increase screen brightness.
First, install xbacklight:
aptitude install xbacklightDecide where you want the custom script to reside (see bellow) and export the following bash variable:
export PATHWHEREYOUWANTYOURSCRIPT=/usr/local/bin/increasebacklight.shThen create custom keybindings:
#setting to decrease gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/keybindings/custom1/action -t string "xbacklight -dec 14" gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/keybindings/custom1/binding -t string "F8" gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/keybindings/custom1/name -t string "Reduce Backlight" #setting to increase backlight gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/keybindings/custom2/action -t string "$PATHWHEREYOUWANTYOURSCRIPT" gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/keybindings/custom2/binding -t string " F9" gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/keybindings/custom2/name -t string "Increase Backlight"
And finally, setup the the script which increases the screen brightness:
#note: if you chose like me /usr/local/bin/increasebacklight.sh #run the following as root. #you can also have it in ~/bin/increasebacklight.sh, just make #sure ~/bin/ is in your PATH cat >> $PATHWHEREYOUWANTYOURSCRIPT <<EOF #!/bin/bash # a simple script to avoid the fact # that it is impossile to increase 0 precent # by add more precent ... LEVEL=`xbacklight -get` if [ $LEVEL == "0.000000" ]; then xbacklight -set 15 else xbacklight -inc 15 fi EOF chmod +x $PATHWHEREYOUWANTYOURSCRIPTThat is all.
P.S.
Yariv,
If you are reading this, thanks for introducing me to xbacklight.
Monday, October 03, 2011
Quicktip: make gedit more sane
Continuing the agile setup of GNOME desktop using gconftool-2. Here's a snippet to make tab width 4 spaces,
insert spaces instead of tabs and enable automatic indentation:
gconftool-2 --set /apps/gedit-2/preferences/editor/tabs/insert_spaces --type bool 1 gconftool-2 --set /apps/gedit-2/preferences/editor/tabs/tabs_size --type int 4 gconftool-2 --set /apps/gedit-2/preferences/editor/auto_indent/auto_indent --type bool 1Well, GNOME 2 isn't that evil. Let's hope the Mate Desktop Environment really catches.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Quicktip: Setting keyboard layout in GNOME via CLI
Since I tend to break my installation quite often while testing new stuff, I'm always looking for more agile way of re-setting my system quicky. Of course backups could do the job, but I find a clean install much cleaner and safer for my purposes.
So, here is a tip how to set keyboard layouts from the command line using GNOME - very useful if you speak more than one language:
So, here is a tip how to set keyboard layouts from the command line using GNOME - very useful if you speak more than one language:
gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd/layouts -t list \ --list-type=string [us,de] gconftool-2 -s /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd/options -t list \ --list-type=string ["grp grp:alt_shift_toggle,terminate terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"]Do notice: there are TABS in the empty spaces up there. GNOME's xml was intolerant for my attempts to replace them with spaces, and really only worked with the braces.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
GNOME Fork revisited
Since I posted in my blog about GNOME 2 fork, I have seen numerous hits. In 4 months since than,
this single post had more than 3 times hit compared to my second most popular post about TMUX copy mode.
Yesterday, I bumped into a young fork of GNOME 2, called matte. Named after the Argentinian herb infusion. Let's hope this project will not have a bitter end like the drink, and rather long sweet life. The odd choices of developers are sometimes annoying. While it might seems narrow minded of me, I do expect a project that aims to be the size of GNOME2, to write a document or two in English. He, but what do I know there are actually more Spanish speaking people. I should learn Spanish instead of blogging...
I will try Mate sometimes probably.But in the mean while, thanks to GNOME developers I have been looking into alternatives and found my own peace within DWM, and now I am building my Desktop from Scratch.
this single post had more than 3 times hit compared to my second most popular post about TMUX copy mode.
Yesterday, I bumped into a young fork of GNOME 2, called matte. Named after the Argentinian herb infusion. Let's hope this project will not have a bitter end like the drink, and rather long sweet life. The odd choices of developers are sometimes annoying. While it might seems narrow minded of me, I do expect a project that aims to be the size of GNOME2, to write a document or two in English. He, but what do I know there are actually more Spanish speaking people. I should learn Spanish instead of blogging...
I will try Mate sometimes probably.But in the mean while, thanks to GNOME developers I have been looking into alternatives and found my own peace within DWM, and now I am building my Desktop from Scratch.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Better Apps in Linux
I don't know why, but I have the feeling that the rise of Ubuntu, does not bring Linux forward. I have read a few posts about it. And I think that the focus of Linux developers is starting to annoy me so much that I am thinking of ripping Linux off my Laptop and just installing *BSD, although I'd have to twitch my nose, because I prefer GPL over BSD.
My rant is about things like GNOME3, KDE4, UNITY and stupidities like systemd. The first two idiotic examples are a proof of how FOSS developers can be totally disconnected from their users. I mean, KDE4 and GNOME3 both seek to re-invent the user experience. However, the firm hold of windows in the market, shows that user experience is not such big deal. Rather, I think, applications and stability are more important.
True, Windows suck big time. I hate the thought of using such a flawed OS. However, Windows Jane and Joe, don't care. They just want their Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat to work. And while cool Dave has his Unity blowing off cool effects, he can't properly annotate PDFs, while GNOME and Ubuntu developers are still fighting if the awesome bar should be in the bottom of the screen or on the left side.
Systemd, sounds really like an amazing piece of software, which can really fly my laptop to mars upon boot. However, I boot my computer only once in 2-3 months, when I upgrade my kernel, and frankly, I don't care if it takes 2 minutes to boot. The same is true for all Windows 7 users.
Last week, I was riding the train, and the guy next too me booted his Windows XP - took him 5 minutes until he got to his email software. But you know what ? When he did get to it, it worked.
I am at the point, that I am using Linux for 5 years now, and I will never install Windows on a friend's computer. However, I feel that Linux apps really annoy me sometimes. And this week, I just discovered it again, while downloading a PDF with FORMS, which only worked with ADOBE READER for Linux. Evince and Okular the two leading FOSS PDF readers just failed to fill the forms and save the document. Now you can tell me, I can open bugs - which I did (2 and 3 years ago) and they are still not attended, because like I said, the BAR and Desktop effects are more important. Of course, I can role my sleeves up, and put some effort and code it. But at the same time, I can just apt-get ADOBE Reader from Debian's non-free repository.
I hate that last option, and I wish it was the other way. So if some one in GNOME or KDE reads this post, please, forgot about stupid stuff like the SHELL or PLASMOIDS, we don't care about that crap. We want applications that can do more, for less memory, and for less CPU, that will be stable, and have more features than their WINDOWS counters. And then people will come.
This is also trough, not just for PDF reader, but to ALL KINDS of commercial software which abundant for WINDOWS but lack for Linux. The gaming industry has picked it up, and the picture is starting to change. Next I hope to see CAx software, accounting and banking, medical software and more. When these will come, it won't mater if Linux will have Plasmoids or Unity or the SHELL.
Want a Proof ? Look at MacOS, although it is a FAR better operating system then WINDOWS, it stayed always in a niche. Why ? Because Apple played close, and developers did not develop commercial apps to it, compared to the amount of apps available for Windows. Of course, commercial, does not have to be closed source. On the contrary, commercial should be open too.
But that is for another post.
I'll sum up, forgot the decorative stuff like SHELL, PLASMOIDS or UNITY. Give us better applications, better than WINDOWS, and people will rush to LINUX.
My rant is about things like GNOME3, KDE4, UNITY and stupidities like systemd. The first two idiotic examples are a proof of how FOSS developers can be totally disconnected from their users. I mean, KDE4 and GNOME3 both seek to re-invent the user experience. However, the firm hold of windows in the market, shows that user experience is not such big deal. Rather, I think, applications and stability are more important.
True, Windows suck big time. I hate the thought of using such a flawed OS. However, Windows Jane and Joe, don't care. They just want their Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat to work. And while cool Dave has his Unity blowing off cool effects, he can't properly annotate PDFs, while GNOME and Ubuntu developers are still fighting if the awesome bar should be in the bottom of the screen or on the left side.
Systemd, sounds really like an amazing piece of software, which can really fly my laptop to mars upon boot. However, I boot my computer only once in 2-3 months, when I upgrade my kernel, and frankly, I don't care if it takes 2 minutes to boot. The same is true for all Windows 7 users.
Last week, I was riding the train, and the guy next too me booted his Windows XP - took him 5 minutes until he got to his email software. But you know what ? When he did get to it, it worked.
I am at the point, that I am using Linux for 5 years now, and I will never install Windows on a friend's computer. However, I feel that Linux apps really annoy me sometimes. And this week, I just discovered it again, while downloading a PDF with FORMS, which only worked with ADOBE READER for Linux. Evince and Okular the two leading FOSS PDF readers just failed to fill the forms and save the document. Now you can tell me, I can open bugs - which I did (2 and 3 years ago) and they are still not attended, because like I said, the BAR and Desktop effects are more important. Of course, I can role my sleeves up, and put some effort and code it. But at the same time, I can just apt-get ADOBE Reader from Debian's non-free repository.
I hate that last option, and I wish it was the other way. So if some one in GNOME or KDE reads this post, please, forgot about stupid stuff like the SHELL or PLASMOIDS, we don't care about that crap. We want applications that can do more, for less memory, and for less CPU, that will be stable, and have more features than their WINDOWS counters. And then people will come.
This is also trough, not just for PDF reader, but to ALL KINDS of commercial software which abundant for WINDOWS but lack for Linux. The gaming industry has picked it up, and the picture is starting to change. Next I hope to see CAx software, accounting and banking, medical software and more. When these will come, it won't mater if Linux will have Plasmoids or Unity or the SHELL.
Want a Proof ? Look at MacOS, although it is a FAR better operating system then WINDOWS, it stayed always in a niche. Why ? Because Apple played close, and developers did not develop commercial apps to it, compared to the amount of apps available for Windows. Of course, commercial, does not have to be closed source. On the contrary, commercial should be open too.
But that is for another post.
I'll sum up, forgot the decorative stuff like SHELL, PLASMOIDS or UNITY. Give us better applications, better than WINDOWS, and people will rush to LINUX.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Network-manager still sucks !
I have been long complaining about the buggy network-manager included in GNOME. Today, I have (re)discovered I am still unable to use Network-Manager to connect to a WPA secured wirless...
Being too lazy to look up why on a clean install of Debian Mint Linux Edition, Network-Manager is still retarded, I opted to the following solution:
apt-get --purge remove network-manager && apt-get install wicd wicd-gtk
So long, Network-Manager!
Being too lazy to look up why on a clean install of Debian Mint Linux Edition, Network-Manager is still retarded, I opted to the following solution:
apt-get --purge remove network-manager && apt-get install wicd wicd-gtk
So long, Network-Manager!
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