Xubuntu Blog

Howto: Terminal Tips and Tricks Part 2

Last time, I talked about setting up a trash can for Xubuntu. Now, you can use it in Thunar too!

1. Set up the trash can as described in Howto: Terminal Tips and Tricks.
2. Open Thunar and select “configure custom actions…” in the Edit menu.
Add a new action by pressing the “+” button.
3. In the dialog, set the options like shown in the figure. Name it whatever you want. I named it “Move to trash”.

4. In the “appearance conditions” tab, leave the pattern as “*” and select all the check boxes. See second figure.

5. Finally, you get the Move to Trash option in the popup menu:

Credit goes to http://nongeeksight.blogspot.com/2006/07/configuring-trash-bin-for-xubuntu.html for this!

Howto: Load Xfce menu with IceWM

Do you miss the Xfce menu when you’re using IceWM? Here’s how to get it back:

1) Edit the file .icewm/toolbar. Open up a terminal (Xfce menu > System > Terminal) and type:

mousepad .icewm/toolbar

Paste in the following, at the very top:

prog "Start" "/usr/share/icons/Human/24x24/places/distributor-logo.png" xfdesktop -menu

Save, and exit.

2) Now we need to edit your X session file, and make sure that xfdesktop gets loaded when you log in. To do this, type the following:

mousepad .xinitrc

And paste this in the file:

xfdesktop &

* Note: if the file is empty, paste this in, instead:

#!/bin/sh

xfdesktop &

Save, and exit.

3) Remove IceWM’s default start menu by editing its preferences file. To do this, type the following:

mousepad .icewm/preferences

Search for (or, if the file is empty, paste in):

TaskBarShowStartMenu=1

and change it to

TaskBarShowStartMenu=0

Save, and exit.

4) Log out and back in. Now when you log in, you should have Xfce’s menu when you click the start button, and when you right click the desktop. You’ll have your old keyboard shortcuts and whatnot too. Enjoy!

Speed!

Xubuntu’s very fast…but you can make it even faster!

1) HOWTO: run Ubuntu on low RAM computers:

I set this up for all of my installations. Obviously, the best tweaks are using IceWM/Fluxbox, and using lighter programs (my suggestions: web browser – Opera, email client – Sylpheed-claws, terminal shell – Dash, virtual terminal – Mingetty, terminal – xterm, mp3/cd player – xmms, file manager – xfe).

Disabling virtual terminals will help a little, but if you use Mingetty you probably won’t notice. Mingetty also has a guide on permanently removing extra virtual terminals, but I still use Ctrl-Alt-F4 in case of a crash.

If you play games, freeing up video RAM will make a noticable difference. Be careful removing ‘glx’ though! Some games need it!

2) That guide suggests removing services, but I would go one step further: Speeding up ubuntu boot process – the way you can feel it. I can get my boot-up under a minute with these tweaks…however, make sure you understand what you are doing!

3) You can follow some of the guides here: Improve performance in Ubuntu. My favourites are speeding up Firefox, enabling DMA to speed up your hard drive (You can also do this with Automatix), and choosing a better kernel (The speed can be noticable depending on your hardware). The rest don’t have very noticable speed increases.

4) If you have enough time to waste, compiling your own kernel also helps.

Happy Xubuntuing!

Howto: Terminal tips and tricks

Xubuntu requires the terminal more than Ubuntu…so let’s have fun with it!

1) Move to Trash: Currently, Xubuntu doesn’t have an option to move files to the trash. You can, however, recreate it in the terminal:

First, create a file named /usr/bin/del:

sudo mousepad /usr/bin/del

Copy and paste the following into the file:

#!/bin/bash
mv -vi -- "$@" $HOME/.Trash

Save, exit, and make the file executable. Run sudo chmod -v 755 /usr/bin/del.

Now, to move a file to the trash, just run del filename and it will be moved to the .Trash folder. If you’re used to DOS, using del will be easy for you.

2) Aliases: If you want to save some typing time, then aliases are for you. (Example: Rather than constantly typing sudo apt-get install, you can just type apt.)

To make an alias, edit the file ~/.bashrc, by running mousepad ~/.bashrc. The method is as follows:

alias aliasname='command'

aliasname being the name of the alias, and command being the command run when you type the alias. Example:

alias apt='sudo apt-get install'

Here are all of my aliases:

alias free='free -m'
alias kill='pkill'
alias apt='sudo apt-get install'
alias remove='sudo apt-get remove'
alias search='apt-cache search'
alias edit='mousepad'
alias suedit='sudo mousepad'
alias i='sudo dpkg -i'
alias upgrade='sudo apt-get upgrade'
alias dist-upgrade='sudo apt-get dist-upgrade'
alias update='sudo apt-get update'
alias clean='sudo apt-get autoclean'
alias build-dep='sudo apt-get build-dep'
alias df='df -Hl'
alias home='cd ~'
alias mktar='tar -cvf'
alias mkbz2='tar -cvjf'
alias mkgz='tar -cvzf'
alias untar='tar -xvf'
alias unbz2='tar -xvjf'
alias ungz='tar -xvzf'
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
alias mv='mv -i'
alias cp='cp -i'
alias rm='rm -i'
alias del='rm -r'
alias sources.list='sudo leafpad /etc/apt/sources.list'
alias menu='edit .config/xfce4/desktop/menu.xml'
alias xorg.conf='sudo leafpad /etc/X11/xorg.conf'

Just copy and paste these into your .bashrc file, and log in and out. Using the terminal is now a lot faster!

My IceWM Setup

I’ve been getting questions about my setup, so I’ll cover it in more detail:

1) If you’d like my configuration, download this file to your home folder: icewm.tar.gz. Untar it, and you’re good to go.

2) .xinitrc: This controls what programs load up when you log in. Create a file in your home directory named .xinitrc and paste in the following:

#!/bin/sh

xcompmgr -CcFf &
xscreensaver -nosplash &
ivman-launch &
icewm-session

Save the file, and exit. Make sure the file is executable (run chmod +x .xinitrc).

(You can also use ~/.icewm/startup: just delete the line icewm-session from the file.)

3) Using my login automatically guide, I changed the line startxfce4 to startx in my .bash_profile file. This, along with .xinitrc, automatically logs me into IceWM.

If you’re using my configuration files, make sure to also do Step 5 (Rebooting and shutting down without a password).

4) My wallpaper is Ubuntu Glass. I scaled it down to 1024×768 using the GIMP.

5) My beep-media-player theme is Dapper Orange – BMP, and my Opera theme is Dapper.

Hope this helps anyone who is interested in my setup!

Howto: Thumbnails of your to-do list

This is a creative idea.

1) Create a text file on your desktop (Open up Thunar, go to ~/Desktop, right-click, mouse over Create Document, and click Empty file), and name it To-Do List.

2) Edit the file, and write in your to-do list. Save the file. Its contents will be shown on the desktop. To make the icon bigger, right click the icon and click Stretch Icon. Stretch it as you see fit.

That’s one use for thumbnails, and I’m sure there are many others (Cheat sheet for the terminal, perhaps?)

(Credit goes to oss_monkey at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=213984)