sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gdm2setup/gdm2setup
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python-gdm2setup

Once done there will be a second Login Screen in your menus indicated with (GDM2Setup). From there one can change general options, wallpaper, decoration, and theme of GDM.

In the System Settings go to Regional & Language under the Locale I add US English. Under Time & Date I change Time format: to pH:MM:SS AMPM. Then I hope over to the Other tab and set Measure system: to Imperial.

Restart KDE.

make sure sshfs, gvfs-fuse, and fuse are installed

via Debian as root:

aptitude install sshfs, gvfs-fuse, and fuse are installed

now add your desired user to the fuse group as root:

gpasswd -a username fuse

(if that is your current user log out and back in for change to take effect)

to mount make the desired directory, change the owner with the chown command, and use the sshfs command:

sudo mkdir /mnt/sftp
sudo chown username:fuse /mnt/sftp
sshfs username@example.com:/path/to/mount /mnt/sftp

now you can change directory via comandline or your file manager and make changes. Be sure to unmount properly for those changes to take effect.

fusermount -u /mnt/sftp

to set this up to be available on boot edit /etc/fstab

sshfs#usernames@example.com:/path/to/mount /mnt/sftp fuse rw,noauto,user,sync,noexec 0 0

NOTE: this will ask for a password each time, but you can set up ssh with a keyring to bypass the password. I currently do not have a tutorial on this, but you can do a search for “ssh passwordless” to learn how.

if you want it to mount automatically replace noauto with auto
(not advices, unless you are dealing with a computer on your local network)

if you have a regular ftp account you would like to mount thisway install curlftpfs instead of or in addition to sshfs.

to mount:

curlftpfs username:password@ftp.example.com /mnt/ftp

for availibilty upon boot your /etc/fstab should look something like this:

curlftpfs#usernames@example.com:/path/to/mount /mnt/ftp fuse rw,noauto,user,sync,noexec 0 0

This is handy if there is an ftp or sftp account you use regularly and you get tired of constantly login in via ssh or ftp.

NOTE: if you get the error “mount disagrees with fstab” try adding allow_other,uid=1000,gid=1000,fsname=sshfs#user@example.com:/path/to/mount to your fstab too look something like this (all one string):

sshfs#user@example.com:/path/to/mount /media/sftp fuse rw,noauto,user,sync,noexec,allow_other,uid=1000,gid=1000,fsname=sshfs#user@example.com:/path/to/mount 0 0

and uncomment allow_other in /etc/fuse.conf

ANOTHER NOTE:A handy gtk based gui for managing these kind of mounts is gigolo which require gvfs gvfs-backends gvs-fuse (in debian)

First identify your wifi adapter:

ifconfig

you should get a read out of network adapters. Wireless is generally wlan0, but sometimes might be eth1. You can tell it is wireless with a top line readout that looks like this:

wland0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:”"

now you have identified your wifi adapter lets scan for wireless devices.

iwlist wlan0 scan

Now if there are any wireless devices in range you will have a print out of them. What you are looking for is to see if access is encrypted and the ESSID which identifies the network apart from the others. The read outs will look like this:

Encryption Key”on
ESSID: “MyNetwork”

now that you are armed with the information you need:

iwconfig wlan0 essid MyNetwork
ifconfig wlan0 up
dhclient wlan0

Alternatevely, you can use dhcpd inplace of dhclient. this is for an open network. I have yet to figure out how to access an encrypted network with the command line.

Now that I have a reliable home computer I have tested out a few home financial applications availible for Linux. The first one I tried is HomeBank. It has a nice simple interface and is very simple for bassic home accounts. I would have perfered this application, If I wasn’t encountering regular crashes on my Debian XFCE Lenny system. So I looked at GNUcash, which I remember playing with back in my early induction into the Linux community. GNUcash is much more complex then HomeBank and would be an excellent alternative to proprietary paid financial managers. The default formatting you have to choose from is quite elaborate and complex, and since I have little to no understanding of this kind of Software I decided to start with a blank page, and categorize my accounts to make sense to me.  With that said, it took me some tinkering, to figure out how to get expenses, bank accounts, account payable (for bills), and money I own. Once I sat down and configured it to my specifications and learned how to read and input transactions. I was happy with it, and I will see how I like it in the next few months.

As you can see from the screenshot this utility provides you with the information to understand what daemons and scripts may be running in the background of your system, and gives you the ability to adjust as seen fit.

user@system:~$ sudo date
Thu Jul 23 11:24:49 PDT 2009

Unfortunately this clock is two hours ahead. you can also check the time of your motherboard directly, to see if it is only your system time which needs adjusting.

user@system:~$ sudo hwclock
Thu 23 Jul 2009 11:26:56 AM PDT  -0.030508 seconds

In this case it looks as if it is my hardware clock which is off. First lets set the system time. The formate for this is date nnddhhmm (nn = 2 digit month, dd = 2 digit day, hh = two digit hour in military time, mm = minutes). In our case:

user@system:~$ sudo date 07230927
Fri Jul 24 09:27:00 PDT 2009

Now when I check my hardware clock it still reads 11:26 so I need to sync the two together.

user@system:~$ sudo hwclock –systohc

If you wish to keep your time synced with an atomic clock overt the internet you can install Open Network Time Protocol (in Debian) and activate;

user@system:~$ sudo apt-get install openntpd
user@system:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/openntpd start
Starting openntpd: user@system:~$

If you are not using Debian or Ubuntu based distribution you will have to find where your init scripts are kept.

Note: all commands above should be preformed with root privileges

Today, I went to the Compiz Wiki tutorial to learn more about this function. The first thing I learned is that I needed a third party widget engine such as, Screenlets or GDesklets. I have used these engines before in the past, and found the idea appealing, but didn’t like how they would sometimes behave on a composite enabled desktop (with wierd shadows and texture problems). Since Screenlets appears to have more individual widgets developed for it, and the tutorial uses Screenlets for its example, I installed the Screenlets package using Synaptic in Debian.

First I followed the instructions found on this Ubuntu Forum. In terminal I typed:

mkdir ~/.config/screenlets
mkdir ~/.config/autostart

It was time to configure the widget layer in Compiz. I right clicked the Fusion-Icon and went to Setting Manager and found the widget layer (be sure to have compiz-fusion-extras installed via these instructions). I clicked on the behavior tag and copied the text specified from the forum and tutorial into the widget window field.

name=Screenlet.py

I found the Screenlet interface under Accessories in my XFCE menu system and found there already was an assortment of widgets available. First thing I did was select the Calender widget and clicked Lauch/Add to the left. A nice black box with the date apeared in the left hand corner of desktop. I could left click on it and drag it where I wanted to or I could right click and be given a menu list to adjust its properties and appearance. I left it where it was. I then added the meter widget and moved it in the bottom left, and added disk usage in the top right corner.

Now that I had a collection of widgets on my desktop I pressed F9 and nothing seemed to happen. But I pressed F9 again and they went away. One more press of F9 and there they where again. I had configured the widget layer correctly. Now I wanted to install some more widgets. I installed the calculator widget and pressed F9 and then adjusted the position. With another press of F9 it went away, and came back with yet another press of F9.

I began browsing the catalog of Screenlets widgets and choosing ones I liked for download. To install opened the Sceenlets manager clicked install on the left made sure install screenlets was selected and clicked OK. From there I browsed to where I had downloaded the desired widget and clicked. I know found the new widget listed to the right and added it to the widget layer like above.

To get gDesklets to work replace name=Screenlet.py with:

class=Gdesklets-daemon

I also had to edit each individual widget to display above all programs. For example I edited /usr/share/gdesklets/Displays/calendar/Calendar/Calendar.display and replaced window-flags=”sticky, below” with window-flags=”sticky, above”

To add gdesklets to autostart a added the program in XFCE’s Session and Startup as with the command gdesklets

It should be noted that I had difficulty getting Screenlets to autostart with compiz and eventually gave up on the endeavor.  I disabled the widget layer entirely after discovering the many GNOME dependencies that installed with gDesklets (I am running XFCE).

There are a lot of things you can do to get the fullest out of your mp3 collection.

When dealing with mp3′s it is always handy to have lame installed in linux. In Debian install from terminal:

sudo apt-get install lame

If you are space minded, and prefer all your mp3′s to be under a specific bit compression the tool Sound Converter will allow you to adjust the compression of several files at one time. You have to have the gstreamer lame plugin installed to work with MP3′s. In Debian I install it thusly:

sudo apt-get install soundconverter gstreamer10-lame

This is what my preferences look like in SoundConverter

Easytag is a robust utility which allows you to edit the ID3 tags on your MP3s. The interface takes getting some used to, but once you have the hang of it. You can change the tags based on the file names or change the tags based on file names in one sweep.

Audacity is a heavy duty audio editor for Linux. When I have an MP3 that cuts of at the end of the song abruptly, or has a lot of live crowed in the beginning or end, I use this file to cut out the crowed or to fade out the end. I also use this file to change the bit compression of a single song.

If I want to rip a CD I just bought into MP3s to add to my collection Grip is a good option with many configurable options. If you want something a little more stripped down and user friendly try Sound Juicer. Be sure to have lame installed before using either program.

To convert your MP3s into a custom mix desk you can install Brasaro, a GNOME based CD/DVD burning application. You can also choose Gnomebacker which I do not think is still maintained, but still a solid tool. There is xfburn, but only the latest version has audio capability and is not available for Debian Lenny. For KDE users, K3B is an excellent choice.

Now there are a few options for playing your MP3 files. If you remember the old days of WinAMP then you will like the design of Audacious. Now if you want a more iTunes like player which catalogs your collection you have many choices. If you are a KDE man Amarok is what your looking for. For GNOME or XFCE users there are a number of choices such as Rythmbox, Banshee, and my favorite Exaile (LinDesk has a good overview of Linux MP3 players).

Enjoy your MP3s!