Category Archives: Ubuntu - Page 2

Search and remove duplicate files

Posted by cviorel on October 14, 2009 No comments | This post has 493 views.

Here a small piece of code which will search for the duplicates in the path you supply. It will generate a new file which contains the commands for deleting those duplicates.
Make sure you double check the resulting file!
The script requires that you have fdupes installed.
Install it in Ubuntu/Debian by running the following command in your terminal:

sudo aptitude install fdupes

1	sudo aptitude install fdupes

#!/bin/bash

OUTF='rm-dups.sh'
echo "#!/bin/bash" > $OUTF
fdupes -r -f $1 | sed -r 's#(.+)#rm '\"'\1'\"'#' >> $OUTF
chmod +x $OUTF

#!/bin/bash

OUTF='rm-dups.sh'

echo "#!/bin/bash" > $OUTF

fdupes -r -f $1 | sed -r 's#(.+)#rm '\"'\1'\"'#' >> $OUTF

chmod +x $OUTF

Karmic Koala Beta on ThinkPad T61

Posted by cviorel on October 6, 2009 No comments | This post has 421 views.

I just installed Ubuntu 9.10 Beta on my LENOVO ThinkPad T61 64608NG.
Here is what I found so far, in two days of intensive usage:

Quadro NVS 140M – 2D and 3D acceleration: tested and works.
Wireless switch: tested and works.
Sound: tested and works.
Enabling touchpad on/off key (fn-f8): not working.
Enabling Active Protection System: works by installing tp_smapi.
Read the complete guide here.
Fingerprint Reader: install thinkfinger-tools and libpam-thinkfinger from the repository and everything works.
Network Card Intel 10/100/1000: tested and works.
Wireless Intel PRO/4965AG: tested and works.
Card reader: not tested.

UPDATE: Power level of the fingerprint reader is set to on by default, so it gets hot pretty fast. Use one of the scripts here to set it to auto at boot time.
Note that the path /sys/class/usb_*/*/device is no longer working. Instead, use /sys/class/usbmon/usbmon*/device/usb*/*.
Here is the complete script for that, taken from thinkwiki.org and modified to reflect the new path.

#!/bin/bash

# find the fingerprint reader and change its power level to autosuspend
find_manuf=STMicroelectronics
find_prod="Biometric Coprocessor"

for devdir in /sys/class/usbmon/usbmon*/device/usb*/*; do
  [[ -r $devdir/manufacturer ]] || continue
  manuf=$(<$devdir/manufacturer)
  [[ $manuf = $find_manuf ]] || continue;
  prod=$(<$devdir/product)
  [[ $prod = $find_prod ]] || continue;
  # if we get here then we have the right device!
  plevel_file=$devdir/power/level
  old_level=$(<$plevel_file);
  # if it is already set properly then exit silently:
  [[ $old_level = auto ]] && exit 0
  # if we successfully change it then exit silently:
  echo auto >$plevel_file && exit 0
  echo "Failed to set the fingerprint reader's power level to 'auto'."
  exit 1
done

# if we make it through the for loop without exiting, the search failed
echo "Could not find the $find_manuf $find_prod (fingerprint reader)"
exit 1

#!/bin/bash

# find the fingerprint reader and change its power level to autosuspend

find_manuf=STMicroelectronics

find_prod="Biometric Coprocessor"

for devdir in /sys/class/usbmon/usbmon*/device/usb*/*; do

[[ -r $devdir/manufacturer ]] || continue

manuf=$(<$devdir/manufacturer)

[[ $manuf = $find_manuf ]] || continue;

prod=$(<$devdir/product)

[[ $prod = $find_prod ]] || continue;

# if we get here then we have the right device!

plevel_file=$devdir/power/level

old_level=$(<$plevel_file);

# if it is already set properly then exit silently:

[[ $old_level = auto ]] && exit 0

# if we successfully change it then exit silently:

echo auto >$plevel_file && exit 0

echo "Failed to set the fingerprint reader's power level to 'auto'."

exit 1

done

# if we make it through the for loop without exiting, the search failed

echo "Could not find the $find_manuf $find_prod (fingerprint reader)"

exit 1

How to fix menu icons in GNOME 2.28

Posted by cviorel on October 5, 2009 No comments | This post has 406 views.

In the latest release of GNOME, they decided to turn off icons in menus by default. This is ugly and if you ask me, not practical at all.
However, you can get those icons back by going to System → Preferences → Appearance, and under the Interface tab, you can check the box “Show icons in menus”. The new GNOME also removes stock icons from buttons. The the above option does not put them back.
To enable icons in menus and butttons, run in your terminal:

gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/buttons_have_icons --type bool true
gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/menus_have_icons --type bool true

1 2	gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/buttons_have_icons --type bool true gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/menus_have_icons --type bool true

Before:

After:

Remove all settings for Evolution

Posted by cviorel on September 28, 2009 No comments | This post has 694 views.

Here is a small script to remove all your Evolution settings:

#!/bin/bash
evolution --force-shutdown
rm -rf $HOME/.evolution
rm -rf $HOME/.gconf/apps/evolution
rm -rf $HOME/.gnome2_private/Evolution
kill -9 `pidof gconfd-2`

#!/bin/bash

evolution --force-shutdown

rm -rf $HOME/.evolution

rm -rf $HOME/.gconf/apps/evolution

rm -rf $HOME/.gnome2_private/Evolution

kill -9 `pidof gconfd-2`

Next time you open Evolution, you will be prompted to add a new account.

Fix Google Earth 5.0 user interface font on Linux

Posted by cviorel on September 2, 2009 3 comments | This post has 708 views.

I installed Google Earth 5.0 and the ugly UI font from the beta is still here.
Based on the comments from Google Earth Help page from here I’ve created the following script wich will fix the user interface font issue.

#!/bin/bash

sudo aptitude -y install libqt4-webkit
ge=`which googleearth`

if [ -n "$ge" ]; then
    ## get the path and check if it is a symlink
    if [ -h "$ge" ]; then
        real_path=`readlink -e $ge`
        dir_path=`dirname $real_path`
    else
        real_path=`dirname $ge`
    fi

    ## backup original Qt4 libraries
    for i in `ls $dir_path | grep libQt`; do
		sudo mv -v $dir_path/$i $dir_path/$i"_backup"
    done

	## backup original Qt4 plugins
    for j in `ls $dir_path/plugins/imageformats | grep libq`; do
		sudo mv -v $dir_path/plugins/imageformats/$j $dir_path/plugins/imageformats/$j"_backup"
    done

	## create a new qt.conf file
cat > $HOME/qt.conf << "EOF"
[Paths]
Documentation=/usr/share/doc
Libraries=/usr/lib
Plugins=/usr/lib/qt4/plugins
Translations=/usr/lib/qt4/translations
EOF

	sudo mv -v $dir_path/qt.conf $dir_path/qt.conf_backup
	sudo mv -v $HOME/qt.conf $dir_path
	
elif [ -z "$ge" ]; then
		echo -e "You don't have Google Earth installed!\n"
		exit
fi

exit 0

#!/bin/bash

sudo aptitude -y install libqt4-webkit

ge=`which googleearth`

if [ -n "$ge" ]; then

## get the path and check if it is a symlink

if [ -h "$ge" ]; then

real_path=`readlink -e $ge`

dir_path=`dirname $real_path`

else

real_path=`dirname $ge`

## backup original Qt4 libraries

for i in `ls $dir_path | grep libQt`; do

sudo mv -v $dir_path/$i $dir_path/$i"_backup"

done

## backup original Qt4 plugins

for j in `ls $dir_path/plugins/imageformats | grep libq`; do

sudo mv -v $dir_path/plugins/imageformats/$j $dir_path/plugins/imageformats/$j"_backup"

done

## create a new qt.conf file

cat > $HOME/qt.conf << "EOF"

[Paths]

Documentation=/usr/share/doc

Libraries=/usr/lib

Plugins=/usr/lib/qt4/plugins

Translations=/usr/lib/qt4/translations

EOF

sudo mv -v $dir_path/qt.conf $dir_path/qt.conf_backup

sudo mv -v $HOME/qt.conf $dir_path

elif [ -z "$ge" ]; then

echo -e "You don't have Google Earth installed!\n"

exit

exit 0

HOWTO Force fsck on the Next Reboot

Posted by cviorel on August 19, 2009 No comments | This post has 466 views.

fsck is used to check and optionally repair one or more Linux file systems.
By creating /forcefsck file you will force the Linux system (or rc scripts) to perform a full file system check.
Create a file called forcefsck:

sudo touch /forcefsck

1	sudo touch /forcefsck

Thinkpad HDAPS in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty

Posted by cviorel on July 29, 2009 No comments | This post has 743 views.

One of the cool features in a Thinkpad is IBM Active Protection System.
The system consist of two parts. The driver that enables reading the acceleration data and some sort of userspace software that does the actual parking of the harddrive heads, usually hdapsd.
The hdaps driver is part of the kernel but the driver maintainers actually recommend using the tp-smapi driver instead. So that’s what we’ll do.
Make sure you have the necessary tools installed:

sudo aptitude install build-essential module-assistant

1	sudo aptitude install build-essential module-assistant

The tp-smapi is in the package repository (universe):

sudo m-a a-i tp-smapi

1	sudo m-a a-i tp-smapi

This will fetch and install the tp-smapi-source package, unpack the source and then compile and install the kernel module.

Try loading it:

sudo modprobe tp_smapi
sudo modprobe hdaps

1 2	sudo modprobe tp_smapi sudo modprobe hdaps

The kernel log should show something like this:

[ 4504.896887] tp_smapi 0.40 loading...
[ 4504.897178] tp_smapi successfully loaded (smapi_port=0xb2).
[ 4532.702289] hdaps: initial mode latch is 0x05
[ 4532.702442] hdaps: setting ec_rate=250, filter_order=2
[ 4532.702674] hdaps: device successfully initialized.
[ 4532.702788] input: ThinkPad HDAPS joystick emulation as /devices/virtual/input/input22
[ 4532.728212] input: ThinkPad HDAPS accelerometer data as /devices/virtual/input/input23
[ 4532.756552] hdaps: driver successfully loaded.

[ 4504.896887] tp_smapi 0.40 loading...

[ 4504.897178] tp_smapi successfully loaded (smapi_port=0xb2).

[ 4532.702289] hdaps: initial mode latch is 0x05

[ 4532.702442] hdaps: setting ec_rate=250, filter_order=2

[ 4532.702674] hdaps: device successfully initialized.

[ 4532.702788] input: ThinkPad HDAPS joystick emulation as /devices/virtual/input/input22

[ 4532.728212] input: ThinkPad HDAPS accelerometer data as /devices/virtual/input/input23

[ 4532.756552] hdaps: driver successfully loaded.

For some reason some configuration for udev is missing. Fix this by running:

echo 'KERNEL=="event[0-9]*", ATTRS{phys}=="hdaps/input1",ATTRS{modalias}=="input:b0019v1014p5054e4801-*",SYMLINK+="input/hdaps/accelerometer-event"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/51-hdaps.rules

1	echo 'KERNEL=="event[0-9]", ATTRS{phys}=="hdaps/input1",ATTRS{modalias}=="input:b0019v1014p5054e4801-",SYMLINK+="input/hdaps/accelerometer-event"' \| sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/51-hdaps.rules

Now for the userspace stuff. First let us test if APS is actually working.

sudo aptitude install hdaps-utils

1	sudo aptitude install hdaps-utils

This will install hdaps-pivot or hdaps-gl which you can use to verify that the sensors are working.
You can also test this by running this in your terminal (stop it with pressing CTRL + C):

sudo hdapsd -d sda -s 15 -a -v -y

1	sudo hdapsd -d sda -s 15 -a -v -y

Next we need to update the hdapsd. The one provided in Jaunty is old. There is a PPA with newer versions.

cat | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hdapsd.list << EOF
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonasped/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonasped/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
EOF

cat | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hdapsd.list << EOF

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonasped/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/jonasped/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

EOF

Add the PPA key:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 45EA2DEACE74152B61554DE4036A90F2BEFC6EB4

1	sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 45EA2DEACE74152B61554DE4036A90F2BEFC6EB4

Update the package list and install the package:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install hdapsd

1 2	sudo aptitude update sudo aptitude install hdapsd

Install gnome-hdaps-applet (optional).
There is a PPA for this. You can add it like this:

cat | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gnome-hdaps-applet.list << EOF
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/whoopie79/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/whoopie79/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
EOF

cat | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gnome-hdaps-applet.list << EOF

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/whoopie79/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/whoopie79/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main

EOF

Add the key:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com e1c344a23bb057ff1d4d80cf8c236986e1ecdbb2

1	sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com e1c344a23bb057ff1d4d80cf8c236986e1ecdbb2

Update the package list again and install the packages:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install gnome-hdaps-applet

1 2	sudo aptitude update sudo aptitude install gnome-hdaps-applet

Enjoy!

Android applications running on Ubuntu

Posted by cviorel on May 27, 2009 No comments | This post has 394 views.

Canonical will develop an environment wich will allow Andoid applications to run on Ubuntu. Source.
Also, HP considers dropping Windows for Android in netbooks. Source.

Random crash of the X server in Jaunty

Posted by cviorel on May 21, 2009 No comments | This post has 449 views.

I experienced a lot of random X server crashes using the proprietary driver for the NVIDIA graphic card on my Thinkpad T61 running Ubuntu 9.04 x86 with Compiz activated.
I managed to fix the problem by installing the lastest NVIDIA driver. I wrote a little script to automate the process and save time. I recommend you to run this in command line mode. Here it is:

#!/bin/bash

# Check if the X server is running
pid_of_X=`ps aux | grep X | grep -v 'grep' | grep root | awk '{ print $2 }'`

if [ -z "$pid_of_X" ];
  then
    echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'
    echo -e 'X is not running! - Good!\n'
	# Stop the xserver (GDM)
	sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
	cd $HOME/Desktop

	if [ -e latest.txt ]; # Check for 'latest.txt' file
	  then
	    rm -f latest.txt
	fi

	if [ -e NVIDIA-Linux-x86-* ]; # Check for 'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*' file
	  then
	    rm -f NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*
	fi

	# Get the latest driver from NVIDIA's ftp
	nvidia_ftp='ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86'
	wget -c -T 10 $nvidia_ftp/latest.txt

	new_driver_version=`cat latest.txt | awk '{ print $1 }'`
	new_driver_filename=`cat latest.txt | awk '{ print $2 }'`

	wget -c -T 10 $nvidia_ftp/$new_driver_filename

	chmod +x $HOME/Desktop/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*

	# Remove all nvidia* packages in the system
	sudo dpkg -l | grep nvidia | awk '{ print $2 }' | xargs sudo aptitude -y purge

	# Remove all the nvidia kernel objects currently installed
	export kernel_version=`uname -r`
	sudo rm -f `find /lib/modules/$kernel_version -iname nvidia.ko`

	# Install the new driver
	sudo sh $HOME/Desktop/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*.run

	rm -f NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*
	rm -f latest.txt

	echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'
	echo -e '---------\n'
	echo -e 'All done!\n'
	echo -e 'Starting GDM in 5 seconds...\n'
	sleep 5

	# Start GDM
	sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start
    
  else
    echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'
    echo -e 'X is running!\n'
    echo -e 'You should run this script in console mode!\n'

    echo -e 'Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to go to console mode, then run this script again!\n'
    echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'
    echo -e 'Aborting in 5 seconds!'
    echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'
    sleep 5
    exit 0
fi

#!/bin/bash

# Check if the X server is running

pid_of_X=`ps aux | grep X | grep -v 'grep' | grep root | awk '{ print $2 }'`

if [ -z "$pid_of_X" ];

then

echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'

echo -e 'X is not running! - Good!\n'

# Stop the xserver (GDM)

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

cd $HOME/Desktop

if [ -e latest.txt ]; # Check for 'latest.txt' file

then

rm -f latest.txt

if [ -e NVIDIA-Linux-x86-* ]; # Check for 'NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*' file

then

rm -f NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*

# Get the latest driver from NVIDIA's ftp

nvidia_ftp='ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86'

wget -c -T 10 $nvidia_ftp/latest.txt

new_driver_version=`cat latest.txt | awk '{ print $1 }'`

new_driver_filename=`cat latest.txt | awk '{ print $2 }'`

wget -c -T 10 $nvidia_ftp/$new_driver_filename

chmod +x $HOME/Desktop/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*

# Remove all nvidia* packages in the system

sudo dpkg -l | grep nvidia | awk '{ print $2 }' | xargs sudo aptitude -y purge

# Remove all the nvidia kernel objects currently installed

export kernel_version=`uname -r`

sudo rm -f `find /lib/modules/$kernel_version -iname nvidia.ko`

# Install the new driver

sudo sh $HOME/Desktop/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*.run

rm -f NVIDIA-Linux-x86-*

rm -f latest.txt

echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'

echo -e '---------\n'

echo -e 'All done!\n'

echo -e 'Starting GDM in 5 seconds...\n'

sleep 5

# Start GDM

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

else

echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'

echo -e 'X is running!\n'

echo -e 'You should run this script in console mode!\n'

echo -e 'Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to go to console mode, then run this script again!\n'

echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'

echo -e 'Aborting in 5 seconds!'

echo -e '\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n'

sleep 5

exit 0

Custom usplash resolution in Ubuntu

Posted by cviorel on May 11, 2009 No comments | This post has 409 views.

Recently I made a clean install of Ubuntu 9.04 on my Thinkpad T61.
I configured the figerprint, the accelerometer is reporting correct values.
I did not like the default resolution at boot. So I created a custom usplash.conf file:

sudo joe /etc/usplash.conf

1	sudo joe /etc/usplash.conf

I should contain these lines:

xres=1680
yres=1050

1 2	xres=1680 yres=1050

The next step was to update the “initial RAM disk”, that is used when the system boots up:

sudo update-initramfs -u

1	sudo update-initramfs -u

Next, I modified my /boot/grub/menu.lst file.
I added as a parameter for the current kernel the value vga=872:

kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=7281a5b5-6dd5-4011-beff-27339b4b9693 ro splash vga=872

1	kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic root=UUID=7281a5b5-6dd5-4011-beff-27339b4b9693 ro splash vga=872

Nice and clean!

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cviorel.com

Category Archives: Ubuntu - Page 2

Search and remove duplicate files

Karmic Koala Beta on ThinkPad T61

How to fix menu icons in GNOME 2.28

Remove all settings for Evolution

Fix Google Earth 5.0 user interface font on Linux

HOWTO Force fsck on the Next Reboot

Thinkpad HDAPS in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty

Android applications running on Ubuntu

Random crash of the X server in Jaunty

Custom usplash resolution in Ubuntu

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Category Archives: Ubuntu - Page 2

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