Tips and Tricks About Computers, Web Development, Linux, the Internet and the Like
Archive for May, 2009
Make Screencasts in Ubuntu with gtk-recordmydesktop
May 30th
Yeah, the name sounds cliche but man oh man is this app slick. Compared to some of the others I tried, this one _just_worked_ and had the options I needed, plus more.
sudo apt-get install gtk-recordmydesktop
You can select a specific window or an arbitrary area and it compresses to ogv automatically.
Here’s a quick video I recorded in seconds — http://z.nexuizninjaz.com/videos/nst.ogv
codepad.org – an online compiler/interpreter, and a simple collaboration tool.
May 27th
codepad.org is an online compiler/interpreter, and a simple collaboration tool.
Redmine for software project management
May 25th
Back in 2008, I posted about the project management system, Project Pier, which was a fork of Active Collab. The system served my groups and I well for a while… but it was limited in different areas. Overall I thought it too slow and not so much tailored for software development as the new system I’m been using Redmine.
Redmine is a Ruby “clone” of the python based Trac system, which is also pretty good. I say clone because it’s really just influenced by I Trac, there goals were different than the Trac project. I decided on Redmine because it seemed to fit the bill for my group’s needs.
- It supported SVN and git browser integration.
- Per project wiki
- Per project user levels
- Issue tracking
- lightweight
- extendible (already some nice modules for download)
I haven’t had much hands on experience with Ruby but my buddy Dan Kinsley is a big advocate of RoR and after installing this, I can see why. The install was smooth and professional, largely done through the terminal. It went through without a hitch and immediately after logging into the newly setup system, I noticed how fast it was. This application makes good use of javascript and AJAX.
I was able to get SVN and git repos hooked in pretty quickly with specific projects and so far it’s been helping me manage tasks and layout projects better and faster than Project Pier.
A (darker) brown theme for ubuntuforums.org
May 22nd
Because I use a dark theme for GTK, I’ve been working on a darker theme for the ubuntu forums using Stylish. It’s not complete but certainly usable. If you’d like to try it out, you can install the theme (after you install stylish) by going to the userstyle page.
Inspecting GTK dialogs with Parasite
May 20th
Parasite is a program much like Firebug, except this is for GTK based applications.
By opening a program with parasite enabled, you can literally click elements of the GUI to reveal their properties.
The installation is pretty simple, open a terminal, clone the git repo, compile install and run. I like to make a folder for software I checkout from SVN or Git in my home dir so I don’t get things all messy. You need git to clone, so if you don’t have it installed already:
$ sudo apt-get install git-core
Clone it:
$ mkdir ~/git_software && cd ~/git_software && git clone git://github.com/chipx86/gtkparasite
Compile and install it:
$ ./autogen.sh && make && sudo make install
I run 64bit, so I had to do the following command to get things working:
$ sudo cp /usr/local/lib/gtk-2.0 /usr/lib64/ -r
Try it out (prefix an application name with GTK_MODULES=gtkparasite):
$ GTK_MODULES=gtkparasite geditwhygitisbetterthanx.com – Explaining git
May 17th
Trying to avoid looking like a fanboy but whygitisbetterthanx.com is a really well done website explaining the pros of Git version control.
deluge torrent – sort of like uTorrent for Linux
May 12th
When I first switched to Linux, I was running a lot of things in WINE because I was having trouble finding good linux alternatives for a few programs I use every day. Many programs weren’t a problem because they were designed (or redesigned) to be open-source and cross-platform. Those of you who have been following along have seen me recommend some applications as I made the switch but for the record, here’s a quick breakdown.
Cross platform applications that didn’t effect my switch to linux:
Web browsing: Firefox
Email: Thunderbird
(S)FTP: Filezilla
Web browsing: Opera (used for testing)
Applications I used on Windows and their alternatives I’ve found for Linux:
Text Editing: – Notepad++ | Geany
IRC: mIRC | Konversation (tried kvirc for a while but it’s too buggy)
Music: MusikCube | Amarok 1.4 / Exaile
The other programs I use are either minuscule or obvious (e.g. AIM to pidgin).
Today I’d like to share with you another great application that has replaced uTorrent (which I ran in WINE for a while and disliked), Deluge. What I love about deluge is that it is a native application with an interface that looks and behaves much like uTorrent does. Right click open folder in uTorrent in WINE is very face palm because it would try to open it in the stripped down windows explorer type thing :shudder:.
Anyway… I started using deluge at version 0.5 or so and since then it’s had a major code rewrite and feels more solid and (appears it) is now more extendible. Below is a screenshot of how nice it looks.
It even has a web-ui (if you install the package). You need to run this manually with the following command:
deluge -u web
The only thing it’s missing (that it had in earlier versions) is a good RSS plugin. There are some “solutions” like the FlexRSS plugin or Feeder (web ui only; good luck, have fun with installing that) but they are inferior to uTorrent. However, that is not enough to send me away and I highly recommend this as a Linux torrent client.
To install the latest version in Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope, I added the following PPA to my software sources >> https://launchpad.net/~deluge-team/+archive/ppa
Ubuntu System Panel – A ‘start menu’ for the power-user
May 7th
Ubuntu System Panel (USP) is a replacement for the standard three menus (Applications, Places, System) that come with Ubuntu in the top left. USP condenses these three menus into one easily filtered menu system. You can either navigate the list by clicking buttons related to the type of application you’re looking for (e.g. Accessories, Games, System Tools) or just start typing the name of what you want for a live filter search (my preferred method).
There are many extra tweaks, as seen above I’ve “pimped” mine out a bit with the options. The preferences dialog, you can get to by right clicking system and choosing preferences, has a lot to be desired as it’s interface is a bit O.o. If you play around for a while though, you’ll be able to figure it out.
Optionally, I’ve provided my configuration file which you can apply to your USP by selecting “restore” in the bottom right of the preferences dialog.
Read the installation documentation to get started.
Liquid Rescaling images – A truly mind-blowing plugin for GIMP
May 2nd
I’ve been using a lot of GIMP since switching to Linux because while Photoshop inside WINE is fast, it’s buggy and opening up a virtual machine just isn’t worth the time for a small edit. I’ve been getting used to the differences and with the latest release of 2.6.6 (packaged with Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope) it’s really starting to come together.
Looking to get the most power out of this application, I headed over to this messy repository that is the official plugin registry. Doing a quick breeze through to see if anything caught my eye, it quickly did with this page about Liquid Rescaling. The picture was enough to catch my attention but the video below dropped my jaw.
Looking to learn more, I went to the official page to learn more. On the download page, I found out that it’s included in the Ubuntu repsitories:
sudo apt-get install gimp-plugin-registry
After installing, I went to the help >> plugin browser in gimp and found that it was under the ‘layer’ file menu. I gave it a shot and It really is magic!
Panoramic Sunsets are so much nicer, aren’t they? 
Step one, original picture:
Step two, mark the area I’d like preserved:
Step three, magic:
