Linux
Debian Etch and hp nx6120
hpn
March 31, 2008 - 08:56
It was a long time since I installed debian on my laptop. Unsupported hardware issues dogged it the last time I tried it on this (which seems years back). But this time, it was really worth giving a shot.
I found Debian sleek, more nostalgic than any other present distribution. It is probably the best distribution to work with.
But the old kernel that is shipped with etch had some ACPI related issues. And sound wasn't there. I had to download and compile the latest Kernel after which everything is good.
It was a long time since I installed debian on my laptop. Unsupported hardware issues dogged it the last time I tried it on this (which seems years back). But this time, it was really worth giving a shot.
I found Debian sleek, more nostalgic than any other present distribution. It is probably the best distribution to work with.
But the old kernel that is shipped with etch had some ACPI related issues. And sound wasn't there. I had to download and compile the latest Kernel after which everything is good.
Upgrade to Feisty Fawn
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Upgraded Ubuntu on my laptop to the latest - 7.04, Feisty Fawn. The upgrade was smooth and easy.
For me, upgrading to a newer version is to just have the latest of applications, especially GNOME and Evolution. Looks like there is a bunch of [:http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/704tour|very nice features] on 7.04.
If your Firefox rendering of Indic characters (especially Kannada characters) go bonkers yet again, add your default locale back again on /usr/bin/firefox.
Converting and merging TIFF files to PDF
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Notes
Found this on a forum. Very useful in converting Tiffs to PDF.
tiff2ps -h 8.5 -w 11 *.tif > tiffs.ps
ps2pdfwr -g7920x6120 tiffs.ps
OR
$ for f in *.tiff; do convert [options] $f $f.ps; done
$ convert *.ps merged.ps
$ ps2pdf merged.pdf
For the first method, you'll need Ghostscript Utilities installed. For the second, you'll need imagemagick installed.Converting multiple JPG files to PNG
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(Quite handy - and you can even go ahead to shrink the two commands to one).
for A in *.jpg; do convert $A $A.png; done
rename -v 's/\.jpg.png$/.png/' *.jpg.png
This, on GNU/Linux, with [:http://www.imagemagick.org/|imagemagick].Renaming multiple files at one go
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rename -v 's/\.php5$/.php/' *.php5
(the above command renames .php5 to .php in the present folder)GaNapa GDM
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GDM for the rightists?
Not quite, but you could find it useful if you, like me, are not-so-orthodox Hindu who prays to [:http://www.hindunet.org/god/Gods/ganesh/|Ganesha] everyday before starting work.
Setting SCIM as default Input Method on Ubuntu Dapper and Edgy
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Many people have asked me about this, so let me point to this wonderful piece of documentation on Ubuntu Wiki.
[:https://wiki.ubuntu.com/InputMethods/SCIM/Setup]
and if you're still stuck wondering why GTK IM Module isn't working for you on OpenOffice, there's [:http://www.scim-im.org/wiki/faq/gtk_gnome/why_i_can_not_input_with_scim…|another] [:http://www.scim-im.org/wiki/documentation/installation_and_configuratio…|wonderful piece of documentation] for you.
Ubuntu on Pentium D processor
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For some new hardware I bought recently, I was almost lost in a maze recompiling the kernel and applying patches for SATA (libata) until I found out that the AMD-Xeon kernel on the Ubuntu repositories work just fine for Pentium-D processor.
Edgy is not a smooth ride
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Succumbing to the temptation, I upgraded to [:https://help.ubuntu.com/community/EdgyUpgrades|Edgy ] on my laptop. It wasn't all that smooth ride, but was somehting that was to be expected.
At first, it was the X not willing to start, and then some more issues. While re-compiling the Kernel for Centrino, I hit upon [:http://www.ubuntu.com/products/GetUbuntu/download#currentrelease|this this issue] like many other there.