From dierdorf at io.com Thu Jun 4 22:03:49 2009 From: dierdorf at io.com (John Dierdorf) Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 22:03:49 -0500 Subject: [Linux SIG] KDE 4.2.4 Message-ID: <200906042203.49411.dierdorf@io.com> The subject version of KDE was just released, replacing the 4.2.3 that comes with Kubuntu 9.04. It fixes some bugs, so you might as well install it if you use Kubuntu. To do so, insert the following line at the end of /etc/apt/sources.list -- deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-ppa/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main Then, from the command line, sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade That should do it. After it finishes downloading and installing about fifty packages, restart the system and you should be running 4.2.4 with no problems. This will be the last release of KDE 4.2, barring catastrophes. Version 4.3 is due in July and will undoubtedly be the standard issue for Kubuntu 4.10, aka Kinetic Kangaroo or whatever. :) Actually, it's Karmic Koala if my brain hasn't been fried by too much alliteration. We shall see. At least koalas are better suited for wallpaper than a Jackalope was. Personally, I think there would be MUCH better creative possibilities for a Kinky Kitten logo. -- John Dierdorf Austin, TX www.io.com/~dierdorf From dierdorf at io.com Fri Jun 5 22:44:24 2009 From: dierdorf at io.com (John Dierdorf) Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2009 22:44:24 -0500 Subject: [Linux SIG] Mouse Tip Message-ID: <200906052244.24315.dierdorf@io.com> Do you have a mouse where the track wheel can be moved side-to-side? In Windows, it will scroll the screen sideways, right? Doesn't work in Linux, right? The Linux SIG to the rescue! a. Edit the file .Xmodmap in your home directory. If it doesn't exist, the editor should create it. b. Put the following line in the file, or add it to the existing file: pointer = 1 2 3 4 5 7 6 10 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 (all one line) Note the order of the numbers!!! That's it. When you restart the system, the side-to-side scrolling should work on wide web pages, images, etc. By the way, if you use Linux a lot, particularly if you use Vi or Emacs, you might be somewhat aggravated because you use the ESC key frequently but it is inconveniently located in the far upper left corner of the keyboard. Add the following four lines to .Xmodmap to swap the meaning of the ESC and [useless] CAPSLOCK keys. This will put ESC right next to the "A" key, which is far, far more better. remove Lock = Caps_Lock keycode 0x42 = Escape keycode 0x09 = Caps_Lock add Lock = Caps_Lock Again, this will take effect when the system (or rather, when Xwindows) is restarted. I've done this on all my systems; the only hassle is when and if I dual-boot into Windows and use Vi or Emacs, the damn keys are back in their old positions! I'm sure the keymap can be modified in Windows, too, but I'm much too lazy to figure out how. :) -- John Dierdorf Austin, TX www.io.com/~dierdorf From dierdorf at io.com Sun Jun 7 16:31:20 2009 From: dierdorf at io.com (John Dierdorf) Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2009 16:31:20 -0500 Subject: [Linux SIG] June Linux SIG Meeting Message-ID: <200906071631.20068.dierdorf@io.com> The June meeting of the LBSIG will be this coming Tuesday the 9th at the usual time and place: 8109 Greenslope, 6 PM informal and 7 PM presentation. Also as usual, coffee and carbs will be available. This month I'm planning a couple of topics: 1. How To Make Your System Less Secure. Yeah, yeah, I know, but sometimes it's convenient, when you have a home network that's secure from the outside, to make it MORE accessible from inside. I'll mention at least three ways to get rid of passwords and allow two Linux machines to get naked. 2. We haven't gotten into scripting for a long time, so I'm going to talk about Bash and Zsh and how to make your life easier when doing repetitive tasks. In the process, you'll see that the tips I've mentioned this past month Really Do Work, and also, in passing, that they are (IMHO) useful. :) See you Tuesday. -- John Dierdorf Austin, TX www.io.com/~dierdorf From dierdorf at io.com Thu Jun 18 12:12:33 2009 From: dierdorf at io.com (John Dierdorf) Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:12:33 -0500 Subject: [Linux SIG] Ubuntu newbie Message-ID: <200906181212.34212.dierdorf@io.com> On Thursday 18 June 2009 07:06:23 am you wrote: > Hiya. I emailed you a couple of weeks ago about the LBSIG discussion list. > I signed up, but haven't rec'd any mail, so I was hoping I could ask your > advice directly. There hasn't been any traffic since my June meeting notice, sent out on the 7th. If you send a message to "linux at www.ccaustin.org", everyone on the list should see it. I'm doing a cc to the list with this message, so if things are going right you should get two copies. > Meanwhile, I'm planning to attend the users group meeting > at Flipnotics on Sunday, but I don't know how they feel about novices. I've never been there, so I can't give advice. > Anyway, I'm loving the speed and features of my Ubuntu laptop, but I'd like > to mine my old windows XP desktop for data (like my Outlook contacts and > calendar). Is there a way for me to connect the two computers, either with > a data transfer cable or a double-male USB cable, and transfer data? I'm > hoping not to have to put windows on my Ubuntu machine to do it. Can you > advise me? You want to install SAMBA on your Linux machine. Samba is a Linux implementation of the SMB protocol (also called CIFS) that Windows uses for shared access to other computers, printers, etc. on the local networking. When installed and configured correctly, the Linux box will look like just another WinBox to Windows (Accessible as drive K: or whatever), and the Windows machine will be mountable as a directory on the Linux machine. At that point you have full access in both directions. If there just a few files you need to transfer, don't bother with Samba, just use FTP. You might have to install the "lftp" package on your Ubuntu box, but from there on you should be able to issue "ftp ubuntubox [or whatever] from a Windows command line and transfer anything in either direction. All of this assumes that both computers are network connected. If so, you can check each box's IP address by using the ifconfig command under LInux or ipconfig under Windows. Then even if they don't recognize each other by name, you can say "ftp 192..168.0.102" or whatever instead. -- John Dierdorf Austin, TX www.io.com/~dierdorf