My audience, time to let your voices be heard!

According to Blogger, most of my site's visitors use Linux & Chrome. I would love to hear from you! Send me a mail or post in the comments. What do you use Linux for? How long have been using it?

I'm still here and still using Peppermint 2

I've been scarce for a while, but I am still here and still using Peppermint 2.

Of all the distro's I have tested on my EEEPC 407 G, it is the best. Everything has drivers and everything works. And it's small enough to fit on the 4 GB SSD HDD, which is also a bonus.

Although I can't do everything in Linux (sync my ipod - not because of software, but because my ipod has a 120 GB HDD and the EEEPC only has 4 GB) and update my Tom Tom GPS (which needs Windows) and I can't run Office 2010 for various reasons; but I must say that I can do most things on Linux.

Why Peppermint 2?

Let's review the things that stand out for me about Peppermint 2 and why I recommend it:

It's:

• lightweight
• fast
• free
• you can install any applications that run on Ubuntu (and there are thousands of them)
• can play my movies, mp3's, podcasts and other media files
• is can be customized 
• can network with Windows computers, connect to my router at home or at work
• did not have too steep a learning curve, as I still am not a Linux guru

So far I have broken Peppermint about 4 times and had to reinstall, but that was my fault and not the OS. Please be careful of using tips mentioned on this blog that pertain to Peppermint One or ICE when dealing with Two, they are different and it may harm your system.

Pet pieves

Well, no matter how good things are, there will always be little irritations.

10 October 2011
When browsing the Windows network, after copying a file to a folder I need to go back and then go into the folder again before the file I copied becomes visible. At least I can browse networks! 


I can't right click on a shared folder and say Send To > Desktop, like I can in Windows or right click and select Send To > Mail Recipient. 


This post will probably be updated from time to time.

Importing gmail contacts into claws mail

from the help files:

How can I convert my old mailbox / address book from (some mail client).

If you can export your old mailbox to MH or mbox format it can be imported directly into Claws Mail. If the mailbox is in MH format you can use /File/Add Mailbox/MH... If the mailbox is in mbox format, it can be imported with /File/Import mbox file/...

The Claws Mail address book supports direct import from Mutt, Pine, and LDIF and vCard formats, which are standard formats exported by most email clients.

In addition, several scripts are provided on the Claws Mail website to convert various mailbox and address book formats.

If your old addressbook only supports CSV export, and it is not supported by the csv2addressbook.plscript on the website, you can convert it to vCard format using this online tool. Another online toolcan convert from vCard to LDIF format.

In addition, several scripts are provided on the Claws Mail website to convert various mailbox and addressbook formats.

If your old addressbook only supports CSV export, and it is not supported by the csv2addressbook.plscript on the website, you can convert it to vCard format using this online tool. Another online toolcan convert from vCard to LDIF format.

Eject flash drives and USB HDD easier

Ejecter in action

One of my small irritations it safely removing my flash drive.

The long way round goes Start > System Tools > Disk Utility
Click on the drive, then click on Unmount, then click on Safely remove.

Get ejector:
sudo apt-get install ejecter

You need to run it (it might autorun after I reboot or something) I need to check how to run programs at startup again...

Now, I am going to research this further - but Ejecter only unmounts the drive. It does not power it down as well. I am not sure if both are absolutely necessary, but I have lost data before by just unplugging a flash drive - so I will investigate.

Day Two with Peppermint Two

So far so good with Peppermint Two. I have installed and configured Conky as well as Gnumeric (it runs faster on the small CPU).

What's different about Conky?
Setting up Conky was very different as the hidden config file is not in your home folder, it is located in:
etc/conky/conky.conf

It took me a while to find it (I'm still a linux newb), but having catfish (a search program) installed helped a lot.

What I like about Peppermint Two:

• The default theme is nice, however there are only 2 wallpapers installed.
• It uses half the amount of RAM in idle mode that Ice did.
• Galculator (Ice did not have a GUI calculator installed by default)
• Character Map (I had to install a font viewer with Ice)
• Leafpad has been replaced with Gedit
• PCManFM 0.9.9 (you can now copy & paste files with spaces in the file names without getting an error message)
• Dropbox, on Peppermint Ice I was unable to configure Dropbox. Click on the menu item and a window appears and tells you to download it from the website. Click on OK, the program downloads and seems to work well. I am very glad that it works now :) 
• Avi files and mp3 files play well, although I do not like the default mp3 player. I installed Audacious instead (it's a personal preference).

Changing default apps:

right click on the file you want to play, left click on properties. Adjust the settings listed at open with and click ok. Then double click on the file and enjoy.

Till next time.

Peppermint Linux: Take 2

Peppermint Ice is no more. One and Ice have been combined into Peppermint Two, (which has been out for a while) which I downloaded last night and installed on my Eeepc 704G before going to work today.

I now have a 1 megabit ADSL connection at home, so the 455 MB ISO was not difficult to download. Using UnetBootin and an old Transcend 2 GB flash drive I made an install disk.

Differences between ICE and Two:
I am really not sure yet, I have not used ICE for a while and it will take a while for me to compile this list, but this is on my To Do list!

First impressions:
Two installed quickly, after a bit of initial trouble where it could not decide what size the / partition and swap partition should be. At 1,5 GB for the swap partition there was insufficient disk space to install Peppermint Two. I changed the sizes and installation went quickly and smoothly.

Installed programs:
I have installed GNUmeric (a program that I have come to like as it is small, fast and so fat does everything I need it to).

I now want to relearn how to use Conky, get some new desktop wallpapers, and generally test drive what Peppermint Two can do.

It is my favourite Linux distribution as it is small (so it fits well on the 4GB hard drive of my eeepc) and is fast.

Slow progress

By this time I have learned to do what I need to get work done in Linux.

This means an email client (claws), Open Office, E Sword (thanks to Wine and PlayOnLinux) and a few other things.

My Tech Support / PC Lessons business has been very busy (and i have been ill 2 days this week) so new posts have been slow.

I hear that Peppermint Two is in development...

Disable "Your battery might be broken error" on EEEPC 704G

It's irritating, every time I boot up an Ubuntu variant, it complains that my battery has a very low capacity (2,3%)

You need a program called gconf-editor to fix it, so let's get it:

Open a terminal window

type in sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

type in your password and press ENTER

now, type in gconf-editor in a terminal window.

Navigate to the Apps folder

then the gnome-power-manager sub folder

then the notify sub folder

find the setting called "low_capacity"

remove the tick next to it.

You should now no longer receive these error messages.

A calculator for Peppermint ICE

Thanks to Rich_Roast from the Peppermint OS forum for helping me to become aware of the built in calculator. I worked out the tutorial.

Peppermint One has Galculator installed by default, while ICE seems to have none. However, xcalc is installed. To run it,

click Menu > Run

and type in xcalc

press ENTER

If you want a shortcut to Xcalc in your accessories menu:

Open PCManFm

go to folder /usr/share/applications

click on Tools > Open current folder as root and enter your password.

run Leafpad, to do this click Menu > Accessories > Leafpad

type the following into the window:

[Desktop Entry]

Name=XCalc

Comment=Basic Calculator

Exec=xcalc

Icon=kcalc

Terminal=false

Type=Application

StartupNotify=false

Categories=Utility

save the file as xcalc.desktop to the desktop folder

right click the file, click on move

go back to PCManFm and click on Edit and then on Paste

You have now pasted the file to the /usr/share/applications folder and you have a shortcut to xcalc in Accessories. Note that we are "borrowing" the kcalc icon as xcalc does not have an icon in the file.

Alternatively (if you want to easier solution, and you have an Internet connection) you can install Galculator

Click on Menu

click Accessories

click Lxterminal

type in: sudo apt-get galculator

type in your root password and press ENTER

you now have Galculator added to your Accessories menu.

For a different approach try Speedcrunch, it is very suitable as a financial calculator. It's great to have options.

How to add a "show desktop" icon

How to add a "Show desktop button" to the bottom panel and stuff up Conky in the process

If you do not use conky, having a "show desktop" button is great.

Right click on the panel

Click on panel settings

Click on panel applets

Click on Add

Scroll down, click on minimize all windows

Click Add

Click the up arrow to position it

Click close

WARNING: using this button will probably minimize your conky window as well! Once minimized the only way to undo that is to end the process and then to restart it.

Thanks to Google Search and the LXDE forum I was able to temporarily fix this, however - upon reboot conky had dissapeared.

Open the .conkyrc (hidden file, so click on view and then on show hidden files in PCManFM)

Make the following changes:

own_window yes

own_window_type dock

own_window_class conky

Save the file

Now click on menu, Preferences, Openbox configuration Manager

Click on the doc tab

choose the position for the conky window (most conky windows I have seen are on the top right hand corner)

Click the check box "allow windows to be placed in the dock space"

Click the dot next to Keep doc below other windows

click Close

The only thing that bugs me is the the conky window now has a background colour, which compliments the theme chosen in Openbox, oh well at least I am making progress.

As I said, this fixed the problem until I rebooted, if anyone has any advice please post it in the comments.

Eliminating desktop icons

Peppermint Linux does not have a "arrange icons" setting for the desktop. A possible work around is to add a panel with your icons on.

Right click on the bottom panel, then click on create new panel.

Right click on the new panel, click Panel settings and go to the panel applets tab.

Add an application launcher bar, click edit and set it to the program you want

add a spacer between application launcher bars to give it a "justified" look.

Right click on the top panel, then click on panel settings, go to the geometry tab. Here you can set the icon and panel size. My panel is 22 pixels high and the icons are 20 pixels high as my eeepc has a 7" monitor and I do not want to loose too much space to a panel.

If you like to hide the panel (which I do not) go to the Advanced tab and click on the check box "Minimize when not in use"

Saving disk space - Part 2

Install Bleachbit to help remove temporary files, browser cache files, etc. This program is available for various flavours of Linux and if (like me) you have a EEEPC with a 4GB HDD then it is a big help.

sudo apt install bleachbit

There are certain files that Bleachbit could not remove, around 4000 localisation files could not be removed although it said that they were removable.

I would reccomend using this program, to be able to clean the .deb files I mentioned last time you need to run Bleachbit as root. If you do not have such a menu entry open a terminal window and type in

sudo bleachbit

Wine Program Files location

Maybe you are looking for where your Windows programs have been installed to, here is the location. Remember the .wine folder is a hidden folder.

/home/tienie/.wine/dosdevices/c:/

Broken Packages

Packages, broken or otherwise makes me think of the post office or a courier service.

Linux uses packages every day, whether you like it or not. When you install or remove a program packages are either downloaded or removed. Debian uses .deb files (Peppermint Linux is a decendant of Debian, Ubuntu and Mint).

Recently, there was a widespread problem with Peppermint Linux. Peppermint uses the Mint update manager, and this keeps the system up to date with new updates. However, Mint update did not want to update and gave an error saying "Broken Packages", and asking you to fix the problem before you can update further.

Now, as far as I can tell, Mint Update will download new updates EXCEPT if the update is a RISKY update. Then it tries to update the other packages, and if one of the packages that needs to be updates DEPENDS on the other RISKY package (too risky to be updated by Mint Update), so then you get a broken packages error.

There is a work around, or fix for this. The packages in question are VLC files, so you need to open Synaptic Package Manager, then type in VLC and update the installed VLC packages.

After that, open a Terminal window and type in:

apt update

apt upgrade

This should fix the problem and you can once again have an up-to-date Peppermint Linux system.

PCManFM - Problems

There are various problems with the new version of PCManFM. A file manager is a vital part of your operating system.

The new version can only click & drag to copy files that have spaces in the file name, amongst other problems as well. So I decided to try out Thunar.

So I open a Terminal and type in:

sudo apt-get install thunar

enter my root password

and Thunar is installed, ahh much better.

Auto login

Loggin in with a username and password seems great for someone with a linux background. It is safe. But I come from a dos / windows background and I want my system to login automatically as I am the only person (that I know of) that uses it.

So here is how to do it:

open a Terminal

gksudo leafpad/etc/xdg/peppermint-ice/lxdm/lxdm.conf

delete the # and space infront of "autologin" and "session"

change "dgod" to your username

save the file and reboot.

Changing the time settings on the taskbar

Time settings in the taskbar

I don't like the counting seconds in the taskbar, it makes me feel like time is going by too quickly. So I changed it :)

Here is how to do it:

right click on the clock on the taskbar

Clock format: %H:%M

(%R does the same thing)

Tooltip format: %A %F

This one is also a pet pieve. It does not change the way the system works (much), but it helps me to be less irritated while using Peppermint.

Viewing fonts in Peppermint ICE

Peppermint is a lightweight distro, that was meant for you to edit your documents with Google Docs or using Microsoft Office Docs. I am using it "incorrectly" or not "as it was meant to be done" by installing OpenOffice. So now I need to add some fonts as in Windows / Corel Draw I have around 3000 fonts.

Adding the fonts is easy:

Open PCManFm

go to your home folder

click on View > "show hidden"

make a new folder, rename it to .fonts

any font you copy into that folder will be installed (I think you need to reboot before it works)

But, let's say like me you have a + - 200 MB zip file on your flash drive with all your fonts on. You do not want want to install all the fonts, just some of them. The problem is that you can't view any of the fonts as Peppermint does not have a font viewer installed either.

I tried Google and found nothing, I searched for "font viewer peppermint linux" and a few other terms - but none were successful. So I went to Synaptic, typed in fonts and started looking through the thousands of packages that have to do with fonts (I was getting desparate here!).

I found fontypython and installed it. Voila! I was now able to view the fonts in a folder, just as I had wanted to for days. There is a very satisfying feeling when you are able to solve a problem on your own and this one was great.

This might not help a lot of other people, but to me it is great!

Startup programs

If you are like me, you don't want to have to click on Menu > Run and type in conky and press every time that you reboot. In Windows there is a folder called startup to add shortcuts to, in Linux I was lost.

Here is how to do it:

Open a terminal window

type in

gksudo leafpad /etc/xdg/lxsession/Peppermint_Ice/autostart

type in the root password

add the following line:

@conky

save the file and reboot

Now conky will autostart when you boot, you can add other things here as well.

Desktop icons

I love having icons on my desktop, not hunderds of icons, but having a shortcut to Trash is handy. I could not find a setting to do this and set out in search of a solution.

Thank you to Chaos from the Peppermint forum (to view the full article, go to http://peppermintos.net/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=236)

For your home folder, right click on your desktop and scroll to new/blank file and create a blank file on your desktop, open the blank file with leafpad and copy the code below,

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]

Version=1.0

Name=Home

Comment=Browser

Exec=pcmanfm

Terminal=false

X-MultipleArgs=false

Type=Application

Icon=gnome-fs-home.svg

Categories=Application;Desktop;Filemanager

StartupWMClass=Pcmanfm

StartupNotify=true

and save to desktop as home.

For root folder, similar to Windows' 'My Computer':

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]

Version=1.0

Name=Computer

Comment=Browser

Exec=pcmanfm /

Terminal=false

X-MultipleArgs=false

Type=Application

Icon=gnome-computer

Categories=Application;Desktop;Filemanager

StartupWMClass=Pcmanfm

StartupNotify=true

For network:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]

Version=1.0

Name=Network

Exec=pyNeighborhood

Terminal=false

X-MultipleArgs=false

Type=Application

Icon=network

Categories=Application;Desktop

StartupWMClass=Pcmanfm

StartupNotify=true

For Terminal:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]

Version=1.0

Name=Terminal

Exec=lxterminal

Terminal=false

X-MultipleArgs=false

Type=Application

Icon=gnome-terminal

Categories=Application;Desktop

StartupWMClass=Pcmanfm

StartupNotify=true

Trash Can:

Code:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open

[Desktop Entry]

Version=1.0

Name=Rubbish

Comment=Browser

Exec=pcmanfm trash:///

Terminal=false

X-MultipleArgs=false

Type=Application

Icon=gnome-stock-trash.svg

Categories=Application;Desktop;Filemanager

MimeType=text/html;text/xml;application/xhtml+xml;application/xml;application/vnd.mozilla.xul+xml;application/rss+xml;application/rdf+xml;image/gif;image/jpeg;image/png;

StartupWMClass=Pcmanfm

StartupNotify=true

I only put a shortcut to Trash on my desktop, but this is a great tutorial. A lot of things are not as "easy" to do when you come from a Windows background. I am glad that there are people out there who are willing to share their knowledge.

Deleting Web Apps

Web apps are great when you have WIFI or ADSL with no Internet cap. However, in South Africa Internet of this kind is not cheap, so few people have it. I am currently one of them.

I don't use Web Apps on Peppermint. I installed Claws mail, Gpaint, VLC, etc. and don't want all the shortcuts in the Menu.

Navigate to the folder:

Run PCManFm and go to

/home/tienie/.local/share/applications (replace tienie with your username)

remember that to view the .local folder you will have to click on View > "Show hidden"

and delete the shortcuts you no longer want to have.

The change is almost immediate and your Menu is a lot neater having less unused icons.

I have not figured out how to move icons from one section of the Menu to the other, if anyone has any hints please post them in the comments below, thanks.

How to remove flash drives

On Windows there is a little button on the taskbar (bottom right) where you can click to safely remove a flash drive.

I never worried about it, until I unplugged my flash drive and lost a whole days worth of work (in Windows). For some reason it had not saved properly, and I am not talking about just one file lost either. The files were simply not there.

In PCManFm you can right click on a flash drive and click on "Eject removable media", this however nevers works for me. I have also lost files when simply unplugging the flash in frustration on Peppermint.

Here is a safer ( and much longer) way to do it:

Click on Menu > Preferences > Disk Utility

(right click on disk utility if you want to add a shortcut to your desktop, you will need it later)

Click on your flash drive

On the bottom, towards the left is "Unmount flash drive"

(but if like me you have a 7" screen you can't see that part of the window, what now? hold down Alt, then click and drag the window higher, now you can see and click it!)

Higher up, and to the right is "Safe Removal" click it, you have now safely removed your flash drive, hard drive, cell phone, etc.

If there is an easier way, please post it in the comments.

Running Windows programs on Linux

I need to run a few Windows programs. Programs like Corel Draw or E-Sword do not have versions (that I know of) on Linux.

I have tried wine before, and after installing E-Sword and setting the resource folder (so that it could load the other Bibles, etc.) I was left with an empty window which was pretty much useless.

Enter PlayOnLinux you install the debian package, which installs wine and a few others things with it. I double clicked on the E-Sword install file and it worked. E-Sword installed and worked perfectly. Instead of installing each package, I copied the installed files from someone else's E-Sword installation folder (Windows PC) and copies them to my wine/e-sword folder.

Finding that folder was a different story as clicking on Menu > Wine > Browse C: does not work. Here is the location:

/home/tienie/.wine/dosdevices/c:/Program Files/e-Sword/

Substitute your username for tienie and you should have it. I can not tell you how happy I am to finally be able to use E-Sword in Linux. There are a few minor bugs, but at least it works, and it works well enough for me to get done what I need to do. Not being able to run E-Sword has been one of the key reasons I have formatted and re-installed Windows XP, now it is no longer necessary.

What are the Windows programs that you cannot live without?

How to save on precious HDD space

If you have installed peppermint on a spacious 80 GB HDD this tip may not seem like a big thing to you. However, if like me you are running Peppermint on a eeepc with a 4 GB (or 2 GB) HDD you will want to save as much space as possible.

First things first, considering that DropBox has a default of 2 GB of disk space (or more if you have invited people and they accepted the invites) you might not want to configure it (not that I could get DropBox to work either, but just as well considering the small HDD).

The second tip comes from my friend, Quintin, check his blog at www.g33q.co.za . I understand it like this: when you update or install new packages the package files are downloaded to this location: /var/cache/apt/archives , and after installation they stay there. Jealously hogging what little disk space you have available. The solution? delete them! (so far this has not harmed my Peppermint Linux, that I can tell)

But this is easier said than done. Firstly you need to be root to delete files from here, so here follow the steps:

Run PCManFM

go to folder: /var/cache/apt/archives

look at all the .deb files

right click on them, then click on delete

error message - you are not root!

OK, so click on Tools > "Open current folder in terminal"

type in sudo rm *.deb press

(be very careful what you do as root user, you have been warned)

Enter the password for root user

The files are now gone! If you deleted them without using Terminal, (ie. Tools > Open current folder as root) they would have been sent to /root/.local/share/Trash/files folder , then you would have had to log into that folder via Terminal and delete them. As even when logged in as root user I was not able to delete the files through PCManFm.

Don't think your temp files mean very much? After 3 days of updates and installing OpenOffice, VLC and a few other programs I had over 300 MB of package files! That means that 13% of my HDD was occupied by files I did not need ...

So if you are running low on disk space, check this out.

Conky

I love system monitors (I use Statbar in Windows XP) and I really enjoy looking at all the numbers and stuff go by.

Type sudo apt-get install conky in a terminal window and you will have conky installed. It is small, text based and works well without draining the resources on my eeepc.

Here is my .conkyrc script (it is a hidden file in the home folder)

background yes

use_xft yes

xftfont HandelGotD:size=8

xftalpha 0.5

update_interval 2.0

total_run_times 0

own_window yes

own_window_type normal

own_window_transparent yes

own_window_color black

own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

double_buffer yes

minimum_size 170 5

maximum_width 195

draw_shades no

draw_outline yes

draw_borders no

draw_graph_borders yes

default_color green

default_shade_color white

default_outline_color black

alignment top_right

gap_x 5

gap_y 5

no_buffers yes

uppercase no

cpu_avg_samples 2

override_utf8_locale no

format_human_readable yes

TEXT

SYSTEM ${hr 2}

PC Name: ${alignr} ${nodename}

User Name: ${alignr} ${user_names}

CPU: ${cpu cpu0}% ${alignr}${cpubar cpu0 8,60}

${cpugraph F57900 FCAF3E}

CPU Frequency: ${alignr} $freq MHZ

CPU Temp: ${alignr} $acpitemp degrees

RAM: $memperc% ${alignr}${membar 8,60}

SWAP: $swapperc% ${alignr}${swapbar 8,60}

Uptime: ${alignr}${uptime}

Battery: ${alignr}$battery_short

PROCESSES ${hr 2}

Running Processes: $alignr $running_processes

Running Threads: $alignr $running_threads

$alignr PID CPU

${top name 1} $alignr ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1}

${top name 2} $alignr ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2}

${top name 3} $alignr ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3}

HDD ${hr 2}

Root: ${alignr}${fs_bar 8,60}

Partition Size: ${alignr}$fs_size

Free Space: ${alignr}$fs_free

NETWORK ${hr 2}

Up: ${upspeed eth0} kb/s ${alignr}${upspeedgraph eth0 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

Down: ${downspeed eth0} kb/s ${alignr}${downspeedgraph eth0 8,60 F57900 FCAF3E}

Upload: ${alignr}${totalup eth0}

Download: ${alignr}${totaldown eth0}

Local Ip: ${alignr}${addr eth0}

This script is a mix of things I found from another person's conky file (a great coder borrows code, not steals it) and stuff that I added later. It is not perfect, more like a work in progress. The eeepc has a very small screen and it's not always possible to do what you want to with it.

Do you use conky? Or a similar / different program?

Linux & Chromium: Multiple User Profiles

Creating a Different User profile in Chromium Browser on Linux

I have recently started to use a Linux Operating System (Peppermint Ice).
It came with Chromium pre-installed.

Now, on Windows, I use the Multiple User Profile trick to create more than one instance of Chrome.
This is very useful if you have other people using your computer.
Simply create a Profile for each user.

On Linux, using Chromium, it is not that simple.
I have searched, but I found no instructions on how to do it.

So, I messed around until I managed to do it.
(Disclaimer:  It seems to work, but use this at your own risk.)

Steps:
01.  )   Click "Menu".
02.  )   Go to "Internet".
03.  )   Right Click on "Chromium Web Browser".
04.  )   Click on "Add to Desktop".  (This will create a Browser Item on the Desktop.)
05.  )   Open your File Browser.
06.  )   Navigate to your Desktop.  (For me, it is "/home/lantere/Desktop")
07.  )   Make a Copy of that Browser Item.  (This is just for Safety.  You can skip it.)
08.  )   Open the Browser Item in Leafpad.  (Under "Accessories" in the "Menu".)
09.  )   Make the following Changes:
09.1)   Name=My Chromium Web Browser   (Give it whatever Name you want.)
09.2)   GenericName=My Web Browser   (Give it whatever Name you want.)
09.3)   Comment=Access My Internet   (Give it whatever Comment you want.)
09.4)   Exec=/usr/bin/chromium-browser %U --user-data-dir=/home/lantere/Documents/Test
09.5)   Save the Item and close Leafpad.

That's it.
Double Click your Modified Browser Item.
It *should* start with your New Profile.
(I have used the folder "Test" in my "Documents" as my new Profile.)








*NOTE:
Read this for Chrome installation in a Multi-User Environment.
Do this before you use the Multiple User Profile trick on Windows with Chrome.
http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=118663

Getting 3G to work

Networking and especially being connected to the world wide web are especially important to Linux systems.

I have loads of install files and programs on my flash drive that I can install Windows applications from, but Linux needs to download things from the web the first time you install it. There are updates and essential apps that you need to download, you also need access to the forum for when things go wrong or when you need help.

My next item was getting 3G connectivity, as I do not have ADSL at home. I have a Huawei E160g data stick and a Samsung M3200 (which has a modem in) and neither worked as a modem in peppermint.

I am used to plugging in my data stick in Linux Mint or Ubuntu and it telling me that a new broadband device has been detected. I tell it which country I am in and which network I am on and presto, I have a broadband connection.

Not so with Peppermint. I read somewhere that peppermint detects the card reader, mounts that and the virtual CD ROM (in my case) and ignores the modem (I don't know why).

A nice person on the peppermint forum gave me the solution:

go to lxterminal

type in :

sudo leafpad /etc/etc/modules

you will be prompted for a password.

After it opened, enter the following 2 lines at the bottom of the document:

usbserial

option

Save the file, close leafpad and reboot.

Go to network manager and set 3G to connect automatically and set up your connection.

Those 2 lines, usbserial & option make a world of difference. My Huawei data stick and Samsung M320 now work perfectly for Internet connectivity.

How frustrating: Well, I don't particularly like sending email from my phone, it's difficult and tiresome. So I would prefer to use the data stick or modem on my eeepc. Needing internet connectivity to get help on internet connectivity problems seems redundant, but it is exactly the problem that I was having. I give it a 5/5.

Getting started with Peppermint ICE

I installed Peppermint ICE on Saturday 19 02 2011.

I used a Windows tool called Unetbootin to create a Linux startup / install disc from the Peppermint ICE CD that my friend Henry gave me. It installed rather quickly. The 4 GB HDD in my eeepc 704G is now an ext4 drive and Peppermint lives there.

The first problem I had was that the desktop would not sit, it would change every time I unplugged a flash drive (which I was unmounting wrong) or when I restarted.

To fix it: go to the folder /home/username/.config/pcmanfm there are two files and a folder there. Delete the file that is not main.peppermint-ice , I think the file has "backup" in it. I can't check it now as I have deleted the file and emptied the rubbish bin.

How irritating: Not having my desktop wallpaper stick as very irritating, I give it 5/5

The next problem I had was that there was no "arrange icons" option when I right click on the desktop.

To fix it. Right click on a file then check "stick to current position" then right click it again and click on "snap to grid" do it for every icon you have on the desktop. The icons you add after this should be right, but there is no guarantee.

How irritating: Very, a desktop with icons not lined up looks horrible, I would rather not have not have icons on my desktop that icons littered willy-nilly all over the place. I give it 5/5.

Next time we take at look at more problems, more questions more irritations and more solutions. "Ithink I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

Why Peppermint ICE rather than Peppermint One

Well, that's an interesting question. I have actually had Peppermint One for a few months on my PC (lying around as an ISO file). I have tried various distros on my eeepc, and eventually have to uninstall Linux as the 4 GB drive is too small to install stuff like Ubuntu or Mint on (together with apps like Wine).

I have spent years trying to get to the point where I can actually use Linux for more than just browsing the web, to where I can work on it.

There are a few programs I can't live without you see. They are (in no particular order):

Office (be it Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.org)

E-Sword

Audacity

VLC

Seems straight forward as Audacity, VLC and OpenOffice.org each have linux versions. The problem comes in with E-Sword. There is no Linux version and I absolutely need this application as it is the best I have found at what it does in ten years. So E-Sword is not negotiable.

Having a 4 GB HDD meant that with Ubuntu & Wine installed there was no space for E-Sword. Ubuntu after all, installs with loads of applications that fill up your hard drive and which I never used. It is after all a netbook, so I do not need CD burning software. Using synaptic to remove stuff always moaned that the software I was about to remove was an integral part of the system and used by some other software somewhere.

So back to the question, my friend Henry gave me a CD with Peppermint ICE on, after showing me how it looks. I was hooked. It is a small distro, which has the ability to download local applications. So far I have installed gpaint, gmountiso, OpenOffice (writer & Calc), Claws mail, Audacity, VLC, Play on Linux, E-Sword and I still have 1 GB of free space.

On this journey that we will undertake together, I will share with you the joys and frustrations of working on Peppermint Linux. At this point I must compliment the Peppermint OS forum, as everyone there that has answered my questions have given great answers (that worked too!).

This is my story, read it if you are at all considering using Peppermint Linux (One or ICE).

ps. ICE has Chrome loaded with a blue theme to the folder icons, while One has Firefox with a red theme and uses Mozilla Prism.