Linking in Linux: a real timesaver!

I recently discovered a Linux feature that had escaped my notice for nearly a decade: the use of links.

While installing a new OS (Bodhi 1.2, I think it was), I was wishing for a way to keep my data safe on a separate partition while still having easy access to it from within my new installation. I knew there must be a way. I decided to play around with linking.

First I learned the hard way. For example, if I wanted my new OS to link to my .mozilla profile on the data partition, I would first remove the new OS’s /home/les/.mozilla file, (rm /home/les/.mozilla), and then create the link like this: ln -s /home/les/.mozilla /path-to-my-existing-.mozilla-profile. When I did this, to my utter amazement, Firefox opened up on my brand new OS with all my bookmarks, history, personas, etc.! Next I tried the same with /home/les/.thunderbird, and guess what… it brought in all my mail, account setups, etc. Now I was excited!

Finally, I discovered the easy way to do this. Normally I use KDE’s Dolphin filemanager, and I set it up with the split window option like so:

I navigate the left pane to my new OS’s /home/username folder. I navigate the right pane to my /home/username folder on the partition that contains my data. Then on the left pane I delete the empty folders that I won’t be needing, for example, Documents. Then in the right pane, I select the Documents folder and drag it to the left pane. I am then given the options “Move here/Copy here/Link here.” I select “Link here,” and it creates a link to the Documents folder on my Data partition! No more waiting while thousands of documents are copied to the new OS! This has worked like a charm, and even though it exposes the lack of depth in my Linux geekiness, I just had to share it. Perhaps someone else will be spared the multiple hours of copying files that I have wasted in the last decade!

Coupons make people unhappy…

It seems to me that coupons only make people unhappy. Most likely my perception is not universal… but do you realize how many coupons in your possession expired before today??? or are for a brand you don’t like??? or the right size or brand isn’t carried at your store, so to claim your 50 cent savings you have to drive across town???

Tradehill.com: the largest and most reputable Bitcoin exchange site?

Until about 2 or 3 days ago I had never heard of “bitcoins.” While I was scrambling around the internet trying to learn what it was all about, I ran across this statement on bitcoinme.com’s “Buy” page:

That’s rather an interesting statement, seeing as Tradehill.com only opened for business 2 days ago:

My email to email@bitcoinme.com asked this question:

“How on earth can you say Tradehill.com is “the largest and most reputable exchange site” when their first day of trading was only TWO DAYS AGO???”

I received this reply from Bruce Wagner:

The answer is..... the REST of the sentence.... "...that we recommend..." We recommend TradeHill.com

That's like saying "My wife is the most beautiful woman in the world... that I live with!"
I'm guessing there's a reason Bitcoinme.com recommends Tradehill, ya think?

A second email from Mr. Wagner offered more helpful insights:

And more.... Later in that same sentence... "....with any number of currencies...."
MtGox has only USD. MtGox does not have the features and benefits of TradeHill.
It also has some SERIOUS --- and fatal in my opinion --- flaws.
Like the $1000 per day limit. And the $10,000 per month limit.
Bruce Wagner  •  OnlyOneTV  •  http://onlyonetv.com  •  646-580-0022 

Well, sounds good, but I think I'll hang onto my (non-digital) coins...
at least until Tradehill has proven themselves a little.

How an LCD screen actually works…

Bill Hammack, the “Engineer Guy” has produced the clearest explanation I’ve ever seen of how this LCD screen I’m using every day actually works. Check it out below!

http://www.youtube.com/user/engineerguyvideo#p/a/u/0/jiejNAUwcQ8

Migrating from Kmail to Evolution or Thunderbird

I have spent a couple dozen hours on this in the last several days. “Akonadi server is not registered at dbus!” This is the error message from the Akonadi Server Self-Test in KDE 4.6. (But I’ve seen it in previous versions also. Many different permutations of answers to no avail. Therefore: (sob, sob) abandon Kmail in favor of Thunderbird. Big Problem: how to export mail from Kmail when it keeps throwing errors, and there is no import filter for Kmail’s maildir structure in T-bird or Evolution? Here’s my answer:
(Preface note: when the Akonadi server error pops up, DO NOT push the close button! Just move the error window to the side, and keep working as instructed below, even though the window is greyed out!)
0) Create a temporary folder on the desktop
1) Open Kmail
2) Open a mail folder you want to migrate
3) Select all emails in the folder
4) Right-click on the selected emails, select “Save As”
5) In the Save As window that pops up, navigate to your temporary folder created earlier. In the “Location” field, type the name of the folder you are migrating (e.g. “Inbox”). You do not need to add any filename extension. In the “Filter” field, make sure it says “.mbox”. Click the save button.
6) This should create a file “Inbox.mbox” in your temporary folder.
7) Repeat this for every folder you want to migrate!
8) Then you will need to use Evolutions or Thunderbirds import wizard to import each individual mbox file you just created in your temporary folder.

What a pain!

Using VLC to capture & save an audio stream…

I haven’t tried this before, but I think I have it figured out. In the interest of preserving and sharing what I’ve learned, here are the steps I used to save an Ogg-Vorbis audio file from an “.asx” listen-now type of stream link:

 

Right click on the “listen now” link. Select “copy link location” or similar.

Open VLC.

Open the media menu, select “Convert/Save”

Select the “network” tab, and paste the copied link into the network url field.

Click the Convert button at the bottom of the window.

In the “Convert” dialog box that pops up, type in the name of the file you will be creating, including the standard file ending, such as .mp3, or .wav, or .ogg.

Select the appropriate profile in the settings section, depending on the type of audio you want. If you want to hear it as it downloads, check the box that says “Display the output.”

Click the start button, and you should see the stream buffer up a bit, and you’ll hear it play (if you checked that option), or you’ll see the progress indicator advancing on the VLC player.

Enjoying “Stability” with Linux Mint Debian Edition

Update: Have since installed the 64-bit version of LMDE, and am just as happy. Although I’d like to have a more current version of Firefox than 3.6.13, it really works fine, and the 4.whatever versions don’t run all of the plugins I’m used to having. So, it’s really not much of an issue. I am still “enjoying the stability.”

I was excited when I first heard that Linux Mint was going to put out a Debian-based edition. I have been using it regularly almost since the day it came out, and have been loving it. I like the rolling release idea. I just today discovered How-To-Forge’s L.M.D.E. “Perfect Desktop” guide. Falko Temme creates these guides for many of the major Linux releases. That made it easy for me to find and install Skype (…now I just have to learn how to use it!)

Wow! Maybe things are coming together in the Linux world…

After some things were a little funny in Kubuntu 10.04, (like log out and shutdown buttons not working… I have a low tolerance for stupid little frustrations…) I got Mint 9 KDE version installed, and it is running beautifully. The WOW is for the way it automatically found and setup my HP Photosmart Premium printer as soon as I turned it on. No hunting for drivers, no messing with CUPS… it just automatically configured it and it works!

“Generating grub.cfg” won’t finish….

A brand new installation of Kubuntu 10.04 always requires updates, including an updated kernel. The new kernel forces synaptic to run grub-update. My problem was that it just wouldn’t finish! It would hang at “Generating grub.cfg.” I finally figured out: unplug the usb cable to my printer, which has an SD slot in it for picture cards. Once I did that, and did a “sudo dpkg –configure -a” in Konsole, the update could finish as normal. I wonder if that is what made Mint 9 KDE installation keep halting at “Looking for other operating systems…” Hmmm. I’ll have to give that a try…

Update: I tried the Mint installation again, but I had to physically disconnect my second hard drive (where I keep my /home directory) and install to the entire first hard drive (no more Kubuntu) before I could get it to install completely. I kept getting stuck at “looking for other OS’s… ” when it was trying to install grub to the main hard drive’s MBR (master boot record). And THEN, as soon as I went to update the new Mint, I was stuck again at “generating grub.cfg… ” The workaround I finally found (somewhere on Ubuntu forums, I think) was to append this line to the bottom of /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true

Then I was able to reboot, update through Synaptic, and it configured the new kernel, updated grub.cfg, etc. without a hiccup.

Restoring a lost KDE4 panel that won’t unhide…

I recently tried to “autohide” my desktop panel in KDE4 (Mepis 8.5, 64-bit). To my consternation, it would not “unhide” when I approached the bottom edge with my cursor, even after rebooting. I could see a little shadow, as though it was thinking about coming up, but it didn’t happen.

Here’s the fix, assuming you have some folder on your desktop that will allow you to open up Dolphin:

Navigate to /home//.kde/share/config/plasma-desktoprc

Look for a line in that file that says “panelVisibility=1″. Change it to “panelVisibility=0″

Save the file, and reboot (right-click on the desktop… it should give you an option to “Leave”)

That should get you going again… at least it did for me.