ubuntu

Firefox 2 and Firefox 3 co-habiting on Ubuntu 8.04

brad — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:29:11 +0200

I recently upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron). I was pleasantly surprised when Firefox 3 greeted me as the default browser, but then hit a few speed bumps. Being a web developer I constantly use tools like firebug and MeasureIt. Unfortunately, until Firefox 3 is widespread (and released), many extensions don't work (there are hacks, but they come with problems). So I don't want to go back to Firefox 2 as my browser, because when I did try there were some issues with downgrading my profile, and I have become quite used to bookmark tags, awesomebar, the incredible difference in memory consumption, and the Save & Exit prompt. Running Firefox 2 concurrently is possible though, it comes at a price though.

Firstly, install firefox-2:

sudo apt-get install firefox-2

I went the route of using a separate user for FF2, but you could probably use profiles? So:

Create a candidate user:

sudo adduser firefox2

(where firefox2 is the username)

Then you can run firefox-2 as the user firefox2 using:

xhost +local:
sudo su firefox2
export DISPLAY=:0.0
firefox-2

The caution...using xhost +local: means any user logged onto your box (i.e. local), including ssh sessions, can access your X session. You will not have your bookmarks etc., but you can make a copy of bookmarks.html from your ~/.mozilla/firefox/%default profile%/bookmarks.html. You can now install the conventional FF add-ons etc.

This should be treated as a hack and an interim measure, because once FF3 is supported by all your favourite extensions, then there is no need to carry on using it. I use my FF3 as my primary browser, and FF2 as a development environ (so not having bookmarks is fine for me, because I literally only use it for opening the site I am currently working on).

Would appreciate constructive comments and crit. of better ways of doing this.

Give Your Eyes a Treat

brad — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 09:59:23 +0200

I subscribe to the IEBlog because it is always good for a laugh, or good to see exactly how much they are copying from the rest of the community. Recently Bill Hill, the Program Manager for Internet Explorer posted a little blurb about using their nice Consolas font for use in CMD.exe (Microsoft's built in emulator of the 1980's command prompt, for the linux readers out there). Now, I dig the Microsoft fonts, they are very pretty, and very unfortunately licensed (sidebar: who decides to improve web, terminal, and printing with a series of fonts, and then puts licenses that impede their adoption?). I Have them installed on my Linux system, and while the may not have the full features of ClearType under linux, they still look damn good. So, Mr. Hill posted this how-to use it as your default console font, so I thought I would do the same. I am going to repeat his instructions so it benefits any windows users. I am not going to cover installing the fonts on either platform because it is pretty easy.
Windows

    reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Console\TrueTypeFont" /v 00 /d Consolas

    logoff

     Note: In Windows Vista, you need to run the reg command from an elevated command prompt.
When you log back in, Consolas will be an option in the “Command Prompt” Properties. (n.b., Bryn tells me it actually shows up before you relog, but it won’t work.)

Linux/Gnome/Ubuntu
You can do the equivalent in Ubuntu using gconf-editor from the command prompt, but you don't need to elevate privileges, and you need to browse to apps -> gnome-terminal -> profiles -> Default, and change the "font" key. You could also do it system wide and browse to desktop -> gnome -> interface, and edit the monospace_font_name key to "Consolas 10". I find this a little complex, so I tried to see if there was a less obscure way. Turns out there is:
Open a terminal:

Right click the terminal, choose "Edit Current Profile...", and left click:

Uncheck "Use the system fixed width font", and click on the named font (not sure of the default, I already had it set to Consolas 10):

Choose Consolas (or any installed font), and I prefer 10 points, because it ends up being about the same size on screen:

Alternate method
Alternately, you could do it system wide (well, gnome/free desktop wide), by navigating to the top menu in the Gnome environment, choosing System -> Appearance, click on the Font tab, and change the Fixed width font with the font chooser. If you prefer using the keyboard you can just hit Alt-F1, right, right, down, right, down, down, down, Enter, right, right, Alt-F, then type 'Consolas' (or type until it reaches the desired font, I find this is about 'Con'), Tab, Tab, enter "10" or select with the down/up keys, and hit Enter, and Esc.

[sarcasm]Boy, I wish the Linux desktop wasn't as complex and niche as the Windows desktop. I find everyday tweaks require such effort.[/sarcasm]

Intrepid Ibex

brad — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:09:42 +0200

In celebration of the newly announced "Intrepid Ibex" (or Ubuntu 8.10), I once again bring your attention to my python script which generates alternative Ubuntu names. I brute forced some names starting with I and came up with these alternatives (which suggests maybe Intrepid Impala would be a nicer name for 8.10). So,

radbrad@renton:~/python/ubuntu/choose_ubuntu$ while ((1));do python namer.py |grep ^I; done;
Inspirational Insect
Insolent Imp
Inexpensive Imp
Illustrious Ichthyosaur
Ingenious Indri
Incredible Impala
Immense Inkanyamba
Insurgent Ibis
Indefatigable Insect
Inescapable Ichthyosaur
Impressive Ichthyosaur
Inquisitive Imp
Ignited Impala
Ineffable Imp
Inevitable Insect
Inquisitive Ibis
Immodest Imp
Incomparable Ibex
Incredible Ichthyosaur
Ill Insect
Impressive Ibex
Indefatigable Ichthyosaur
Icky Iceweasel

Like the kubuntu, xubuntu, gubuntu names confuse newbies and make Ubuntu difficult to market. I dig the naming scheme, just not the names that come out of it.

Also, the register points out that:

We're informed that a male ibex will try and tempt a female into sex by licking and sniffing the lass and by issuing a low scream. It's suspected that Bono responds to a similar ritual. Sometimes the female will demonstrate her interest by urinating or by ramming the male with her horns. The male then returns the favor through the flehmen response, which is a curling of the upper lip. This goes on for about 30 minutes until Bono shows up or the ibexes get it on.

Hardy Heron

brad — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:37:04 +0200

In celebration of the newly announced "Hardy Heron" version of Ubuntu (8.04) I built a script to randomly generate a name for Ubuntu releases. ~~I did not have a huge corpus of animal names, and I tried to find as many adjectives as I could find, but~~ I used the adjectives and animals from the ubuntu wiki, and here is the script in all it's glory:

import re
from random import randrange

def get_adjectives():
        f = open('adjectives','r')
        adjectives = f.readlines()
        f.close()
        return adjectives

def get_animals():
        f = open('animals','r')
        animals = f.readlines()
        f.close()
        return animals

def choose_adjective(adjectives):
        return adjectives[randrange(len(adjectives))].strip()

def choose_ubuntu(adjectives,animals):
        adj = choose_adjective(adjectives)
        letter = '^%s' % adj[0]
        letter = re.compile(letter)
        animal = [i for i in animals if letter.match(i)]
        if animal == []:
                return choose_ubuntu(adjectives,animals)
        if len(animal)>1:
                animal = animal[randrange(len(animal))].strip()
        else:
                animal = animal[0].strip()
        return [adj,animal]

adjectives = get_adjectives()
animals = get_animals()
ubuntu = choose_ubuntu(adjectives,animals)

print('%s %s' % (ubuntu[0],ubuntu[1]))

The script and the animal and adjective corpusesses (not sure of the plural of corpus) are attached in a zipfile.

P.S. I would have preferred a name like Happy Hummingbird, or something that doesn't sound so much like Hadeda (the reference to a bird does not help it's case). Surely in light of Hoary Hedgehog they should skip H entirely?