Virtualization, Automation, and anything else that might be on my mind
I’m posting this from a Firefox extension called JustBlogIt. You can find it here. It puts a new item in your right-click menu and let’s you blog links and pages that you find. Only problem is, that function doesn’t work with Drupal. I’m sure it’s supposed to, but I’m not sure exactly how Drupal works, so all I can get is the page to post content.
I’ve been trying to get my laptop to hibernate on and off for about a year now. Recently I found a great tutorial for Ubuntu, and other similar distros, that makes it really easy to do.
It took me about 10 minutes to get set up, minus the kernel compilation.
Here’s the tutorial that I used.
Later,
Jon Howe
Adding a feed
Click on the RSS button, then click Add. Paste in the feed URL and hit OK. If you want to name the feed, simply type the name in front of the URL, like so:
TV Feed|http://somesite.com/rss.xml (NO SPACE BEFORE OR AFTER THE | )
Note that the RSS Downloader will NOT consume any extra resources if you have no feeds present/enabled. Some feeds do not give direct links to the .torrent files (most notably Mininova) and as such won’t work, but you can use the MiniRSS feed fixer to modify those feeds to work properly. For Mininova’s feeds, you can use MiniRSS.org
Disabling a feed or filter
Simply uncheck the box next to the feed or filter, and it will no longer be used.
Renaming a feed or filter
You can rename a feed by selecting it, then single clicking or pressing F2. You can do the same thing for renaming filters.
Sorting filters
You can sort filters by drag and drop. Simply click, hold, and drag to wherever in the list you’d like it.
Using feeds that require HTTP authentication
For feeds that require HTTP authentication, simply use this format for the feed URL: http://username:password@sometorrentsite.com/rss.php
Using feeds that require cookies
To use feeds that require cookies, you must find the cookie for the site, and grab UID and pass from it.
* IE users will find their cookies in %UserProfile%Cookies
* Firefox users will find their cookies in Tools -> Options -> Privacy -> Cookies -> View Cookies
* Opera users will find their cookies in Tools -> Advanced -> Cookies, but they must scroll down manually, find doesn’t work
* Users of other browsers will have to consult their browser’s documentation
Once you have the appropriate information, use this format for the feed URL:
http://sometorrentsite.com/rss.php:COOKIE:…jh12378912y3lkj
Some sites do not use uid and pass as the variables, or use additional ones, so you MUST use the exact variable name and the extra variables they specify! For example, on a certain site, it uses id, password, and secure as the cookie variables you must use.
Automatically downloading torrents
To automatically download specific torrents from a feed, you can use Favorites to specify your own filters to grab torrents. It does NOT support regular expressions. Here’s a tutorial explaining the various options and how to use them (with examples).
* Hit Add, then type the name of the filter.
* Click on the editbox next to Filter: and add your filter. The allowed wildcards are * ? and |. An example of a filter you could use would be *MP3 Archives*
If you have a strange feed using underscores or something besides periods, you can also try something like *Go?Open*
You cannot specify the season or episode number in the filter if it is decoded by
This is a little something that I made up this afternoon at school.
It’s an implementation of a search app with out a celing. In other words , there’s no submit button. With each keystoke that you type, the query get’s more accurate.
If you just want to check it out (with source, and an example) then Click Here
The code is commented pretty well.
If you want a little explanation read on.
I used a library called Xajax for this project (and the last one as well). It’s an extremely useful and easy to use library because of the fact that it doesn’t require the coder to know any javascript. This is a goood thing, because I HATe javascript.
The Xajax library allows you to take a PHP function and essentially use it as a javascript function asynchronously.
What this script does is check to see if the user presses a key. Each time that they do the PHP function autoSearch() runs. autoSearch() has one paramater, the current value of the input box. Read the code comments for more info on this.
If the entered query is 2 or more charachters, then a mysql query is executed. If there are result(s), then they are diplayed.
Practical Application:
Personally, I hope to use this in the content mananagement system that I’ll be starting soon. I’m planning on having it parse through blog entries, and display the title and the publishing date of the post.
When you click on the link above you’ll see the example page. At the bottom of it are links to the PHP source, as well as the MySql Source.
If you have any questions email me at “howe -dot- jon – at – gmail – dot – com”, and I’ll get back as soon as I can.
Later,
Jon Howe
Most Logitech mice are connected via USB, and I have not tested this with PS/2 mice.
Open xorg.conf
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Now find the section that says something like:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Buttons" "7"
EndSection
and comment it out by putting a # symbol in front of each line. It should look like this:
#Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "Mouse"
# Driver "mouse"
# Option "CorePointer"
# Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
# Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
# Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
# Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
# Option "Buttons" "7"
#EndSection
Now make some space under or above that section and paste in the following:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "evdev"
Option "Dev Name" "Logitech USB-PS/2 Optical Mouse"
Option "Dev Phys" "usb-*/input0"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/event2"
Option "Buttons" "10"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Save the file and restart the X server by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
Note: If the X server fails to start, use the command “sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf” to restore your original settings.
After the X server is restarted and your mouse is still working, you have to edit the .Xmodmap file.
sudo gedit ~/.Xmodmap
Paste the line “pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 4 5” without quotes in this file. If there’s already a “pointer” section, overwrite it.
Now run xmodmap to apply the settings:
xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap
Now to get the side buttons working in Nautilus and Firefox. Install xvkbd and xbindkeys with:
sudo apt-get install xvkbd xbindkeys
Create a configuration file for these new program by:
gedit ~/.xbindkeysrc
Paste the following into that file, then save and exit:
"/usr/X11R6/bin/xvkbd -xsendevent -text "[Alt_L][Left]""
m:0x0 + b:6
"/usr/X11R6/bin/xvkbd -xsendevent -text "[Alt_L][Right]""
m:0x0 + b:7
Now add this program to you session by adding it to “System > Preferences > Sessions”. Click on the “Startup Programs” tab and click “Add” and enter “xbindkeys”. This makes sure that everytime you log in, your setting are loaded.
Install the logitech applet (not really an applet by the way) by:
sudo apt-get install checkinstall build-essential libusb-dev
wget http://freshmeat.net/redir/logitech_applet/53319/url_tgz/logitech_applet-0.4test1.tar.gz
tar xvfz logitech_applet-0.4test1.tar.gz
mv ./logitech_applet-0.4test1 ./logitech-applet-0.4test1
cd ./logitech-applet-0.4test1
./configure --prefix=/usr
make
sudo checkinstall
Just hit enter when checkinstall prompts you. Everything should now be installed.
Use the command:
sudo logitech_applet -s 800 -e
This sets you mouse at optimum resolution. You might have to adjust the mouse setting in Gnome as the mouse will be much more accurate now. Go to “System > Preferences > Mouse” and adjust the settings to your liking.
Now to make all this load at boot time. Make a file in /etc/init.d/local to keep local settings.
sudo gedit /etc/init.d/local
Paste this into the file, save, and exit:
echo "Setting up Logitech mouse..."
logitech_applet -s 800 -e
Make that file executable by:
sudo chmod 755 /etc/init.d/local
Now run the following command to make the “local” script run when the system boots:
sudo update-rc.d local defaults
Now you should have a fully working Logitech USB mouse in Ubuntu.