LearnByDoingIT

  • I have setup a nice working dual monitor setup on the basement workbench.  The key to this one is I am using Dual Computers and Dual Operating systems and yet only one keyboard and mouse.  Using the latest release of Synergy stimulated by this recent article from LifeHacker I went back and setup Synergy.  The last time I used it was when I didn’t have this setup on the bench and although it worked fine I simply couldn’t see my way to using it.  Now with copy and paste across systems as well as the need to put both operating systems into play, often at the same time, I am finding it much more useful and productive.  I am already relocating the positions to fully dual instead of simply using one as primary and secondary.  I am already saving time with it.  Now all I have to decide is which one is going to stream audio.

  • I use a lot of older machines for this and that activity and along with using Fluxbox for a lightweight Windows Manager or XFCE as a lightweight Desktop Manager I am always watching my System Monitor to see what else I can offload to lighten the load or increase the responsiveness of my computer.

    Yesterday I noticed the CPU fan was stuck on high as Pandora running inside Chrome had managed to consume all the CPU and Memory in the machine AND it was paused waiting for me to tell it I was “Still Listening”.  This one due.

    Enter Pianobar which I loaded from the Ubuntu Software Center for ease (and to stop saying Synaptic Package Manager, for no reason at all) of installation.  While it doesn’t support signing up for a Pandora account, it does everything else and the load on the CPU and the memory is absolutely negligible.  Just a reminder for me that the Command Line is indeed a good place to remember.

    Try it and have a great time keeping your machine buzzing at top performance, of course, you will miss the cute ads and album covers, and I am not sure if I can click LIKE/DISLIKE to tune, but for normal use it is sweet.

  • In the shop on my bench today I am working on Jolicloud

    The main purpose of Jolicloud is to present a web enabled GUI. Under the hood, it’s based on the Ubuntu long term service release (10.04), and the front end is handled by a combination of the Chromium web browser and a full screen user interface that eschews overlapping windows.

    I am setting it up on an older notebook to see what kind of user experience in terms of speed I can get.  One of the claims is that using a cloud computer is even faster than simply installing Linux on the computer.

    Since I last perused Jolicloud I find they now have a Chrome Web App available in the Chome Web Store for those who want to give the install a spin without seeing how it works on an older computer.  You can also install it on a USB stick, although the install supports it heritage and will dual boot a windows machine easily and that would be the simplest and quickest path to testing.  I assume you are multi-booting by now for evaluation at least.

    So, what does Jolicloud offer once it’s up and running?

    Everything you would expect for someone running in the cloud, a great deal of focus on the apps that one uses every day with the speed of a machine much faster than the one I was using.  You get the identical desktop by installing the Chrome Web App.

    Conclusion

    I will be keeping Jolicloud on this old notebook as it makes it a bit more exciting and simple to use.  It is as if someone has simplified and overpowered the device and made it very similar to a touchpad that I also have tested recently.  Give this a try to see what the fuss is all about.

  • If you are like me you haven’t used Screenlets on Ubuntu yet, what you need is one great one to get you sucked into the warp drive and get started.  Screenlets are an excellent application to experiment with. And there are lots of useful third party user contributed screenlets available for free. Here is the one to I am suggesting to get you started, a Wallpaper Clock Screenlet

    Install Screenlets Manager

    Before getting started, you need to install screenlets manager first. It is available in the default ubuntu repositories. Just search for ‘screenlets’ in Ubuntu Software Center or simply do the following in terminal.

    sudo apt-get install screenlets

    Now, you can access screenlets manager from Applications – Accessories – Screenlets. It consists of a good number of screenlets as default. Lets start reviewing useful user contributed screenlets available among others.

    Wallpaper Clock Screenlet

    Wallpaper clocks are incredible and if you haven’t ever tried them before, this one is great, although any will really jazz up your screen.

  • Aspirational Projects: Those projects we aspire to complete and yet often never really find time to actually work at completing.

    Two of mine, installing dd-wrt on a router as a hack, and installing git for version control have been around for some time.

    I completed dd-wrt yesterday and have no idea why I put this one off, I already love what I can do and what I have learned with this project.

    Getting started with git Iam going to leave for some other time and remove it from my todo list of items to consider.

    Maybe cleaning up aspirational project lists is a good way to go.  Either way, I feel better about a cleaner Instapaper list.