Technical Rockabilly

When deciding on a new distro take what boycott Novell has to say about OpenSUSE 10.3 to heart. I didn’t look at it this way, but it makes a good bit of sense. This is what Boycott Novell had to say about OpenSUSE:

”

1. When you use OpenSUSE, you support SLED/SLES, which Microsoft gets a revenue percentage from
2. When you download OpenSUSE, you give the impression that Novell’s business is on track
3. As soon as you install OpenSUSE, you are most likely installing Mono (in GNOME)
4. If OpenSUSE succeeds in gaining market share, then truly open source Linux distributions suffer
5. When you choose OpenSUSE, you contribute to acknowledgment of patent infringements in Linux. “

I think Novell has done some good things in Linux interoperability, but at the same time, and being within the beast and knowing what I know about Novell and Linux, I am staying as far away from OpenSUSE as I can. interoperability wouldn’t be an issue if businesses hired intelligent admins and used OPEN STANDARDS. Anywho. I’m glad I work at a Linux shop that uses open standards on an open platform. The “openness” of Novell is simply blasphemy toward free and open source software everywhere. It’s great that you’re building on an open platform, but hiring gnome developers just so you can own gnome’s code is just plain wrong.

I installed a few hacks to make my ubuntu look as much like a mac as possible. The end result is really impressive. It’s almost like I have a Macintosh… But its about 90% more useful and customizable.

First: Get a dock.

I use AWN (Avant Window Navigator)

The installation is simple.

Get the latest version from getdeb.net http://getdeb.net/. I used version 0.2.1 from here: http://getdeb.net/release.php?id=1865

The newer versions support drag ‘n drop for placing your launchers. Here is a screen:

Step 3: The wallpaper

Here you go (click to enlarge):

Step 4: Get a cool mac-like theme.

I used Humanoid – OSX – Dark from gnome-look.org

here is a link: http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Humanoid+-+OSX+-+Dark?content=72337

Step 5: Hack your metacity buttons to show on the left. (I’m not sure this will work if you use Emerald)

Open gconf-editor. alt+f2 then run:

gconf-editor

Edit the key: apps> metacity > general

Set to button_layout to:

close,minimize,maximize:menu

Step 6: Install global_menu

Install dependencies:
sudo aptitude install liborbit2-dev libgnomeui-dev libglade2-dev libbonoboui2-dev libglib2.0-dev libpango1.0-dev libatk1.0-dev libcairo2-dev libx11-dev libxext-dev libxinerama-dev libxi-dev libxrandr-dev libxcursor-dev libxfixes-dev libxcomposite-dev libxdamage-dev libcairo-directfb2 libcairo-directfb2-dev libcairo2-dev

Open a terminal
Create a folder

sudo mkdir global-menu-install

* Go to this folder

cd global-menu-install

* Get the patched gtk debs with the following instruction

wget http://gnome2-globalmenu.googlecode.com/files/gtk2.0-ubuntu-gutsy.tar.gz

* Unarchive them

tar zxvf gtk2.0-ubuntu-gutsy.tar.gz

* Install them
1. cd gtk
2. sudo dpkg -i *.deb

* Get the MacMenu applet files
1. cd ..
2. wget http://gnome2-globalmenu.googlecode.com/files/gnome2-globalmenu-applet_0.3.397-1_i386.deb
* Install it

sudo dpkg -i gnome2-globalmenu-applet_0.3.397-1_i386.deb

* Right-click on the panel and click add to the panel. Look for Global Menubar. Add it. And voila. It should work.

The finished product (click to enlarge):

Thanks to:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/global_menu

http://code.google.com/p/gnome2-globalmenu/wiki/InstallingonUbuntu

The new pricing for ebay listings looks pretty sweet until you read on to the part where they take an extra 3.5% of your money earned… I’m getting really sick of ebay’s TOS and procedures in “dealing” with customer issues. I encourage everyone to join in on the boycott this week, and don’t list any new items between the 16th to the 23rd. I’ve taken down all my listings, and I plan on selling them elsewhere.

Take a look at the “awesome” new pricing information:

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/update08/basic/index.html

Step 1: Install wine

sudo apt-get install wine

Step 2: Download and Install the PC version of World of Warcraft.. Nothing special you need to do to install it other than opening the installer with wine.

Step 3: Edit /”World of Warcraft Directory”/WTF/Config.wtf

Add these two lines:

SET gxApi “opengl”
SET SoundBufferSize “70″

Step 4: Run WOW!