Screensavers on Peppermint 5

I'm back (tomorrow is my birthday, very excited).

I found that Peppermint 5 does not have screen savers - it uses a program called light-locker instead. But what if you prefer having a screen saver? Here is how to do it:

Click Menu >> Accessories >> Terminal
type:
sudo apt purge light-locker light-locker-settings
press <ENTER>
type your sudo password and press <ENTER> again

then type in:
sudo apt install xscreensaver xscreensaver-gl xscreensaver-gl-extra xscreensaver-data-extra

and press <ENTER>

It will install.

Now, let's make it autorun:

Open a Terminal, Menu >> Accessories >> Terminal
Type in:
sudo gedit /etc/xdg/autostart/screensaver.desktop
press <ENTER>, type in your sudo password, press <ENTER>

and then place inside it the following information:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Screensaver
Type=Application
Exec=xscreensaver -nosplash

Save and close the file.

Choose a screensaver that you like:
To activate go to Menu >> System >> Screensaver

(to make things easier, you can copy and paste commands into the Terminal, after copying you can right click inside Terminal then left click on paste)

Conky for my desktop

Normally Conky is one of the first things that I install after installing my operating system. I have been using the same script that I used on my netbook for my desktop, although this was not perfect. The netbook only has a 10" monitor, while I am now working on a 17" monitor. Lots more screen space, and with that comes more space to display stuff.

My desktop also does not run on a battery, so I needed to remove that stat. I played around with colours and font sizes, as well I had more space now.

Here is my new conky ====>>>>>>>

And yes, my wifi reception really is 100%, at the present moment my desktop is only 1 meter away from the router, but once my log cabin is finished I will have about 10 meters or so.

Things I added:

• Date & Time
• More spaces between sections
• Made Conky wider than on netbook
• Connection quality for wifi

And, as always (as I do like to share) here is my Conky script:

background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont Sans:size=8
xftalpha 1
update_interval 1.0
total_run_times 0
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
double_buffer yes
minimum_size 250 840
maximum_width 400
draw_shades yes
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
default_color green
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color white
alignment top_right
gap_x 12
gap_y 12
no_buffers yes
text_buffer_size 1024
uppercase no
cpu_avg_samples 2
override_utf8_locale no

own_window_argb_value 0
own_window_argb_visual no
own_window_colour 000000
TEXT
${font sans-serif:bold:size=11}${color white}SYSTEM ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=9}${color green}$sysname $kernel $alignr $machine
Host:$alignr$nodename
Uptime:$alignr$uptime

${font sans-serif:bold:size=11}${color white}TIME ${hr 2}

${color green} ${font :size=30}$alignc${time %H:%M:%S}
${voffset -30}${font :bold:size=10}$alignc${time %d %b. %Y}
${font :bold:size=10}$alignc${time %A}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=11}${color white}PROCESSORS ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=9}${color green}${cpugraph cpu1}
CPU1: ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}
TEMP: ${font sans-serif:bold:size=9}${color red}$alignr $acpitemp


${font sans-serif:bold:size=11}${color white}MEMORY ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${color green}RAM $alignc $mem / $memmax $alignr $memperc%
$membar


${font sans-serif:bold:size=11}DISKS ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=9}/ $alignc ${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /}%
${fs_bar /}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/home $alignc ${fs_used /home} / ${fs_size /home} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /home}%
${fs_bar /home}
SWAP $alignc ${swap} / ${swapmax} $alignr ${swapperc}%
${swapbar}


${font sans-serif:bold:size=11}${color white}TOP PROCESSES ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=9}${color green}${top_mem name 1}${alignr}${top mem 1} %
${top_mem name 2}${alignr}${top mem 2} %
$font${top_mem name 3}${alignr}${top mem 3} %
$font${top_mem name 4}${alignr}${top mem 4} %
$font${top_mem name 5}${alignr}${top mem 5} %


${font sans-serif:bold:size=11}${color white}NETWORK ${hr 2}

${font sans-serif:normal:size=9}${color green}IP address: $alignr ${addr wlan0}
ESSID: $alignr ${wireless_essid wlan0}
${downspeedgraph wlan0}
DLS:${downspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totaldown wlan0}
${upspeedgraph wlan0}
ULS:${upspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totalup wlan0}
Connection quality: $alignr ${wireless_link_qual_perc wlan0}%

Sharing files over a network

I have a Windows background, so I am comfortable sharing folders and printers in Windows XP and 7. I have before today, not shared a folder in Linux.

Over the weekend I installed Peppermint 5 on my Pentium 4 desktop. I have had experience with ndswrapper and using Windows wifi drivers in Linux, but more about that later.

**** Warning **** Never share your Home folder with read / write access. Always share a sub folder only. It's not wise to share Home, with any user.

For now I want to walk you through how to share a folder in Peppermint 5. A great feature of Peppermint 5 can be found in Software Manager.

1. Click Menu >> Software Manager

2. Click on Featured. Scroll down to Peppermint-Networking-Pack. Install it. One of the programs it installs is a graphical utility to configure Samba shares, called the Samba Server Configuration Tool. It's great, makes the job very easy.

3. Create a folder that you want to share over the network, open PCManFM, (Menu >> PCManFM) then right click in the white section, left click on create new Folder. Type a name and press <ENTER> , I created a folder called Dumpster in my Home directory.

4. Now click Menu >> System Tools >> Samba

5. Click the + , which is just under the File menu.

6. Click on Browse, then navigate to your folder, click OK. Click the check boxes next to Writable and Visible. Now click the Access tab

7. Now click the dot next to Allow access to everyone.

8. Click OK

9. Go to your folder in PCManFM, click the up arrow (top left), now right click on your shared folder. Left click on Properties. Click the Permissions Tab, make sure that Change content is set to Anyone. Click OK.

And you are done. Very painless indeed.

Donations roll call

When was the last time that you donated to an open source project? Now, please bear in mind that this is not a paid or sponsored post. This is something that I feel very strongly about.

Open source software (and even the podcasts that you love) have lots of expenses. People work for little or no money, while doing something that they feel very passionate about.

Here is a list of people that you can consider donating to:

• Your current Linux distro of choice - these guys have huge bills to pay for hosting, not everyone has Redhat's budget here. 
• LibreOffice / OpenOffice / your office suite of choice - without the hard work these guys do, how would we create and edit our documents, spreadsheets and slideshows? I think it is strange how many people buy Microsoft Office, but would not consider making a $5 donation to a good cause.
• Any open source apps you enjoy and use regularly. 

Like I said before, this post was not paid for by anyone. I am setting an example here. I've started going through my list and making donations. Remember that every $ helps, and that with our support the good people who make open source software will be able to carry on doing their fantastic work. 

OpenOffice has been downloaded more than 50 million times, can you imagine what would happen if every person who used their software donated $1? Imagine how many full time developers and testers they could employ? Imagine the progress they could make. Now imagine being a part of that change :)

A sneak peak of what is to come

I've used a lot of different Bible programs over the years. Until recently, I used mainly E-Sword.

Join me as I try to get E-Sword running in WINE and take a look at a few native Linux Bible apps.

Till next time !!!

Font management becomes a priority

You can tell a lot about someone based only on the fonts they use. Lots of web pages have been written on the subject (link 1, link 2, link 3), but today I would like to talk to you not about the fonts themselves but rather about font management

In a previous post on fonts I mentioned Fontypython, today I would like to introduce Fontmatrix. It makes installing fonts a piece of cake. Whether you are installing one font or thousands of fonts - the procedure is painless.

Fontmatrix has many other features, but this is merely an introduction. I hope you enjoy this app as much as I have.

Now that you have the right software to view and manage fonts, why not download a few fonts from dafont? They have fonts for every occasion.

Here's a screenshot of me installing my core font set:

Updating Conky for multiple partitions

Of course now that /home is on it's own partition, Conky will no longer display the disk usage correctly.

I did some reading, copied and pasted - then edited a line or two. Here is my updated Conky script:

background yes
use_xft yes
xftfont Sans:size=8
xftalpha 1
update_interval 1.0
total_run_times 0
own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type normal
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager
double_buffer yes
minimum_size 200 700
maximum_width 400
draw_shades yes
draw_outline no
draw_borders no
draw_graph_borders yes
default_color green
default_shade_color black
default_outline_color white
alignment top_right
gap_x 12
gap_y 12
no_buffers yes
text_buffer_size 1024
uppercase no
cpu_avg_samples 2
override_utf8_locale no

TEXT
${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}SYSTEM ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}$sysname $kernel $alignr $machine
Host:$alignr$nodename
Uptime:$alignr$uptime
Battery Status: $alignr$battery

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}PROCESSORS ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${cpugraph cpu1}
CPU1: ${cpu cpu1}% ${cpubar cpu1}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}MEMORY ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}RAM $alignc $mem / $memmax $alignr $memperc%
$membar

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}DISKS ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/ $alignc ${fs_used /} / ${fs_size /} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /}%
${fs_bar /}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}/home $alignc ${fs_used /home} / ${fs_size /home} $alignr ${fs_used_perc /home}%
${fs_bar /home}
SWAP $alignc ${swap} / ${swapmax} $alignr ${swapperc}%
${swapbar}

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}TOP PROCESSES ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}${top_mem name 1}${alignr}${top mem 1} %
${top_mem name 2}${alignr}${top mem 2} %
$font${top_mem name 3}${alignr}${top mem 3} %
$font${top_mem name 4}${alignr}${top mem 4} %
$font${top_mem name 5}${alignr}${top mem 5} %

${font sans-serif:bold:size=8}NETWORK ${hr 2}
${font sans-serif:normal:size=8}IP address: $alignr ${addr wlan0}
ESSID: $alignr ${wireless_essid wlan0}
${downspeedgraph wlan0}
DLS:${downspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totaldown wlan0}
${upspeedgraph wlan0}
ULS:${upspeed wlan0} kb/s $alignr total: ${totalup wlan0}

Taking the plunge! Changing my partitions

Partitions are very important, they divide your hard drive into different parts (drives), which may make certain things easier. A little history first - in my experience with Windows, I always have a C: for my Windows installation and Program Files, while D: is for My Documents. In Peppermint, they are / and /home.




I asked the helpful Peppermint Community: http://forum.peppermintos.com/index.php?topic=772.msg6547#msg6547 and a very helpful user game me a link. Which was trustworthy and worked.

I now have 20 GB for /, a little for SWAP and the rest of my 160 GB HDD goes to /home.

Extra reading:

link 1
link 2
link 3

Getting wifi driver on pc to load at startup

Open a terminal Window:

Type:

sudo gedit /etc/modules
when it opens, add a NEW line at the bottom that reads

ndiswrapper

SAVE the file

Changing desktop icons size

I've got a 10" netbook, and I am not a fan of large desktop icons.

You can customize the size of your icons by opening PCManFM (remember that this program is used to determine how much of your desktop works / looks).

Click on Edit >> Preferences >> click on the Display tab. Then choose your icon size.

I also set my Thumbnail size while I was here.

How to open a folder as Root

With Peppermint 5, PCManFM no longer has the option to open a folder as Root as listed under the Tools menu.

Now you can right click a folder, then click on open as root. See the screenshot.