CC Linux Corner

[maxfaraday]

I just read an interesting thing: apparently the 1.5% figure for linux desktops only counts systems that are shipped with linux, and the actual figure (counting dual-boot systems) is closer to 8-10%.

I don't want linux to become mainstream.
Then there will be money involved,
And we won't be able to laugh at the face of the majority of morons who still use windows anymore.

In other words... you only use linux because you're a hipster?

No, but I think that if linux becomes hype, it will be a bad thing, and I don't want to see that happen.

[nietzsche]

I'm sad to say that I'm going to have to go back to Linux Mint 12.

Everything was good in Mint 12, Mint 13 has some issues that affect to some users and I'm one of those. I've fixed some, for others I'm not been able to.

[nietzsche]

Also, I was thinking.

People shouldn't write open/free stuff for windows , like with gimp.. it should be only available for linux, that way more people would install linux.

[nietzsche]

I'm in the market for a new laptop. Resolution is very important to me, only next to price

This one is dell refurbished, but it's scratch and dent, which means it will have some blemishes. but the resolution is 1900x1200 which is great.

[GreecePwns]

I intend on using Windows 7 for any games (some of which that are unfortunately tied to Steam), and using the fastest possible system for everything else.

I tried installing Lubuntu, but Wubi says to reboot to continue installation. It then boots to some command prompt screen. A little googling around has me thinking its a Lenovo-specific problem? I haven't found a solution for that though. I saw something about entering LXDE environment or something like that and then being able to complete the installation of Lubuntu, but the posts I saw are either not English, don't work on the command prompt that my computer boots to, or are simply things I don't know how to do. Can anyone here help me? Alternatively, is there a different OS that I should use for the purpose I described above?

[maxfaraday]

I intend on using Windows 7 for any games (some of which that are unfortunately tied to Steam), and using the fastest possible system for everything else.

I tried installing Lubuntu, but Wubi says to reboot to continue installation. It then boots to some command prompt screen. A little googling around has me thinking its a Lenovo-specific problem? I haven't found a solution for that though. I saw something about entering LXDE environment or something like that and then being able to complete the installation of Lubuntu, but the posts I saw are either not English, don't work on the command prompt that my computer boots to, or are simply things I don't know how to do. Can anyone here help me? Alternatively, is there a different OS that I should use for the purpose I described above?

Never used lubuntu myself but that is weird,
Try the command start x

[GreecePwns]

start isn't even an available command i'll try to get a picture of the screen, maybe someone here is familiar with it?

[natty dread]

I just read an interesting thing: apparently the 1.5% figure for linux desktops only counts systems that are shipped with linux, and the actual figure (counting dual-boot systems) is closer to 8-10%.

I don't want linux to become mainstream.
Then there will be money involved,
And we won't be able to laugh at the face of the majority of morons who still use windows anymore.

In other words... you only use linux because you're a hipster?

No, but I think that if linux becomes hype, it will be a bad thing, and I don't want to see that happen.

Why would it be a bad thing? More people using linux or other free unix-like systems would be better, there'd be a bigger market and more incentive for developers to support the platform. We'd see more developers adopting an open-source model. It'd be a good thing. I can't see any reason for not wanting more people using linux, unless you just want to feel special and smarter than others...

Free open source software should become mainstream, because it offers more freedom to users. It should be the norm rather than exception. This would also force large software giants like micro$oft to adopt more user-friendly policies.

Also, I was thinking.

People shouldn't write open/free stuff for windows , like with gimp.. it should be only available for linux, that way more people would install linux.

Not sure if you're serious but I disagree. Firstly, the way free open source software works is that anyone can get the source code and compile it for any platform they like. Even windows or mac. However, a lot of the software that has been developed primarily for linux works best in linux, even if it is available for other platforms. Therefore people who use winsnooze or mac can use the software, and when they see how good it is, they will be encouraged to migrate to linux to get more out of the software.

[natty dread]

A little googling around has me thinking its a Lenovo-specific problem

Lenovo is kind of infamous for being a bitch to get to work. It's a bit of hit and miss, depending on the model. I think you should consult the lubuntu or ubuntu forums for help.

[ender516]

start isn't even an available command i'll try to get a picture of the screen, maybe someone here is familiar with it?

Try startx (no space) or xinit.

[GreecePwns]

Well it gets better now. Apparently, my copy of Windows (on a laptop I got from my school so obviously not pirated) is no longer genuine.

This is a picture of the command prompt. It comes up right after the blue screen with the word lubuntu and the 5 dots underneath. I've posted the same message on the Ubuntu forums (apparently it's harder to get Lubuntu help because it's not official?)

[nietzsche]

Well, I'm not sure but apparently the installation didn't complete for some reason.

What I'd do is try to install it again.

If you install Linux Mint 13, at the mdm (login screen) you can chose a different window manager every time. I installed cinnamon 1.4, but was a little slow for me so right now I'm using Gnome classic. You can chose lxde too.

[maxfaraday]

It says it could not find the install media, was it plugged?

[natty dread]

Always check the md5 checksum on your iso before you burn your install cd. Of course if you use torrent this isn't necessary.

[nietzsche]

So, pissed off because cinnamon sucks at handling two displays or a projector (I can't get it to give me panels in both) I started trying others, first mate which was so-so, then gnome fallback and finally gnome shell. Turns out gnome shell and nvidia work correctly, you can chose where to put the panels and it doesn't change the second monitor when you switch workspaces.

But it gets better, apparently unity does all that and gives you panels in all displays! God damn it.. It appears that I will have to switch to the linux with the ugly name and horrid colors..

natty and max, do you use 2 displays?

[ender516]

I guess that there is nothing you can do about the ugly name, but surely you can change the horrid colours? (I have no idea how onerous that might be, but I have to believe that if it is based on the X Window System, then you can change the colours.)

[nietzsche]

I guess that there is nothing you can do about the ugly name, but surely you can change the horrid colours? (I have no idea how onerous that might be, but I have to believe that if it is based on the X Window System, then you can change the colours.)

Yes, but I was trying to offend ubuntu, and you are not helping.

[ender516]

I guess that there is nothing you can do about the ugly name, but surely you can change the horrid colours? (I have no idea how onerous that might be, but I have to believe that if it is based on the X Window System, then you can change the colours.)

Yes, but I was trying to offend ubuntu, and you are not helping.

Pardon me, do carry on.

[natty dread]

I guess that there is nothing you can do about the ugly name, but surely you can change the horrid colours? (I have no idea how onerous that might be, but I have to believe that if it is based on the X Window System, then you can change the colours.)

As fortune would have it, by happenstance I have been looking into this very thing.

firstly, you need to install dconf-tools (just apt-get it from the command line) then run dconf-editor. (and no, the config editor that comes with ubuntu is not the same thing and will not be sufficient)

There, you can go to org.gnome.desktop.interface and find the key "gtk-color-scheme" which is a string. Now this gets a bit tricky, as there's no good help available on dconf-editor itself, so I had to dig for the answers, but anyway, apparently the string needs to be formatted like this:

item:colour; item:colour; item:colour; (and so on...)

Where colour can be in hex triplet form - eg. #556677 and the item can be one of the following:

fg_color
bg_color
text_color
base_color
selected_fg_color
selected_bg_color
tooltip_fg_color
tooltip_bg_color
link_color

Now out of these, selected_bg_color is worth changing, and probably bg_color as well, I haven't found out what the others do yet, but by changing these two you get rid of the horrid bright orange in menus (the selected item in menus will no longer be orange) and when you highlight text in most programs it won't be orange.

So, for example, I set the key to this value:

selected_bg_color:#007090; bg_color:#007090

However, for some reason this doesn't seem to affect the text highlight colour in firefox. Probably because firefox doesn't use Gtk. I haven't yet managed to find how to change the colour in firefox, but it does affect menu highlight colour in firefox so that's good at least.

[natty dread]

However, for some reason this doesn't seem to affect the text highlight colour in firefox. Probably because firefox doesn't use Gtk. I haven't yet managed to find how to change the colour in firefox

I figured it out. Open a new tab, go to about:config and add a new key of type string, named ui.textSelectBackground, and enter the colour value in hex triplet form, eg. #00ffc3

This changes the colour of the text highlight.

[ender516]

Good to know.

[Haggis_McMutton]

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

rows=$(tput lines)
cols=$(tput cols)
colors=(red green blue purple cyan yellow brown)
lock_file=
lock_file_base=/tmp/$(basename $0 .sh)

multiple=0
if [[ "$1" ]]; then
    nsingle=$1
    shift
else
    nsingle=10
fi
if [[ "$1" ]]; then
    nmultiple=$1
    shift
    if [[ $nmultiple -gt 8 ]]; then nmultiple=8; fi
else
    nmultiple=6
fi


function colorstr()
{
    local  row=$1
    local  col=$2
    local  color=$3
    local  v
    case "$color" in
    red)     v=31;;
    green)   v=34;;
    blue)    v=32;;
    purple)  v=35;;
    cyan)    v=36;;
    yellow)  v=33;;
    brown)   v=33;;
    white)   v=37;;
    *)       v=;;
    esac
    shift 3

    if [[ $multiple -ne 0 ]]; then
        touch $lock_file
        while [[ $(ls $lock_file_base.* 2>/dev/null | head -n 1) != $lock_file ]]
        do
            sleep 0.05
        done
    fi
       
    tput cup $row $col
    echo -n -e "\e["$v"m"
    set -f
    echo -n $*
    set +f
    if [[ $multiple -ne 0 ]]; then
        rm -f $lock_file
    fi
}

function center_colorstr()
{
    local  row=$1
    local  color=$2
    shift 2
    local  s="$*"
    local  slen=${#s}
    colorstr $row $(((cols / 2) - (slen / 2))) $color "$s"
}

function fireworks()
{
    local row=$((rows - 1))
    local col=$(((RANDOM % (cols / 2)) + (cols / 4)))
    local height=$((RANDOM % rows - 2))
    local slant
    local h
    local color1=${colors[$((RANDOM % ${#colors[*]}))]}
    local color2=${colors[$((RANDOM % ${#colors[*]}))]}
    local color3=${colors[$((RANDOM % ${#colors[*]}))]}
    while [[ $color1 == $color2  ||  $color1 == $color3  ||  $color2 == $color3 ]]
    do
        color2=${colors[$((RANDOM % ${#colors[*]}))]}
        color3=${colors[$((RANDOM % ${#colors[*]}))]}
    done

    case $((RANDOM % 4)) in
    0) slant=-2;;
    1) slant=-1;;
    2) slant=1;;
    3) slant=2;;
    esac

    if [[ $height -gt 5 ]]; then
        h=$height

        while [[ $h -gt 0 ]]
        do
            colorstr $row $col $color1 '.'
            let row--
            if [[ $((col + slant)) -ge $((cols - 3))  ||  $((col + slant)) -le 2 ]]; then break; fi
            let col+=slant
            let h--
            sleep 0.1
        done

        if [[ $((col + slant)) -lt $((cols - 3))  &&  $((col + slant)) -gt 2 ]]; then

            h=$((height / 5))

            while [[ $h -gt 0 ]]
            do
                colorstr $row $col $color2 '.'
                let row++
                if [[ $((col + slant)) -ge $((cols - 3))  ||  $((col + slant)) -le 2 ]]; then break; fi
                let col+=slant
                let h--
                sleep 0.1
            done
        fi

        colorstr $((row)) $((col - 1)) $color3 '***'
        colorstr $((row - 1)) $((col)) $color3 '*'
        colorstr $((row + 1)) $((col)) $color3 '*'
    fi
}

for i in $(seq 1 $nsingle)
do
    clear
    fireworks
    sleep 1
done

clear

pids=
for i in $(seq 1 $nmultiple)
do
    let multiple++
    lock_file=$lock_file_base.$i
    fireworks &
    pids="$pids $!"
done

trap "kill -9 $pids 2>/dev/null" EXIT

wait $pids
sleep 3

clear
center_colorstr $((rows / 2 - 1)) red "Hope you enjoyed the show!"
center_colorstr $((rows / 2 + 1)) red "Happy 4th of July"
center_colorstr $((rows / 2 + 3)) red "Your Friends at Linux Journal"
echo

sleep 5
clear


# vim: tabstop=4: shiftwidth=4: noexpandtab:
# kate: tab-width 4; indent-width 4; replace-tabs false;

Happy 4th of July Linux people.

Save that code and run the file with sh

Disclaimer: I didn't make it or anything, it's from Linux Journal

[ender516]

Cute, but it would be better if it set your background to black first.

[Haggis_McMutton]

Cute, but it would be better if it set your background to black first.

That's a good idea.

Also, apparently it's as simple as adding this line at the beginning:

Code: Select all

tput setab 0

Ha, this is why I like linux.

[nietzsche]

There's no sound!!!!!!!!!!