Directing Mailto: to Gmail

Open your Gmail page in a tab of firefox. In the address bar copy and paste the following:

javascript:window.navigator.registerProtocolHandler("mailto","https://mail.google.com/mail/?extsrc=mailto&url=%s","GMail")

After clicking on a mailto: link you will now get the option to direct the link to Gmail, Yahoo or your mail client. Choose Gmail.

**If this trick doesn't work, go into about:config and make sure that network.protocol-handler.external.mailto is set to its default value true**

Changing File Permissions in Linux

If you want to give read permissions, use the command:

chmod 744 yourfile

to give execute permissions*, use the command:

chmod 755 yourfile

to give read/write permissions, use the command:

chmod 766 yourfile

to give all permissions, use the command:

chmod 777 yourfile

Solving The Initramfs Problem

Try adding the following to /boot/grub/menu.lst

all_generic_ide

Splash Screen Wrong Resolution

Sometimes after changing the screen resolution, the splash screen will remain at its old size. There are two ways to remedy this.

Method One:

Install "startupmanager" via synaptic and adjust the resolution using the GUI.

Method Two:

Open a terminal and type.....

gksudo gedit /etc/usplash.conf

Change the resolution as required and then type the following into a console......

sudo update-initramfs -u

Mounting Partitions (Mint 5.0)

Unlike in Mint 4.0, for some reason the NTFS partitions don't auto-mount on bootup in Mint 5.0. To get them to boot, the easiest solution is to download the "ntfs-config" tool from Synaptic. It's basically a GUI tool that alters the fstab for you.

If however you're happy with editing the fstab, you need to create individual directories first in /media, using......

sudo mkdir /media/nameofdirectory

........and then alter your fstab accordingly. The finished product should look something like this......

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=a1f611d0-1cf4-4906-b652-5f851d0b70a6 / ext3 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda7 :
UUID=b1fa4d86-0b25-4e96-a331-8a1033b8f647 /home ext3 relatime 0 2
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=2294b177-9d7f-4a68-a32a-ff3b8adcbefa none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/sdb6 /media/Video ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/Archives ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb5 /media/Audio ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sda1 /media/System ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0

How to force a crashed application to quit

Method One:

Type in a terminal.....

top

...and make a note of the PID number of the process you wish to stop. Then type into a console.....

kill PID

...where PID is replaced by the actual number of the process.

Method Two:

Press alt+PrintScreen and type reisub to shut down and restart your machine properly.

Method Three:

Use the "Force Quite" Gnome Applet.

Incorrect Screen Resolution (Mint 5.0)

There seems to be a problem with the "Heron" release of Ubuntu with regards it accurately detecting screen resolution and monitor type. Using the vesa drivers, the maximum screen size seems to stick at 800x600. After installing the nvidia proprietary drivers and restarting, the resolution if further lessened to 640x480 and the nvidia X-server setting tool is likewise maxed out at 640x480, with no hope of changing anything.

There are a few issues here. Firstly, by default Mint enables Compiz...which makes navigating your way around the nvidia X Server tool virtually impossible, due to it jumping all over the place with every mouse click. If this is an issue for you, first turn off Compiz by choosing "None" under "Visual Effects" in "Appearance".

Secondly, after installing the propreitary nvidia drivers and restarting, type the following into a console.......

gksudo displayconfig-gtk



.....to bring up the "Screen and Graphics Preferences". Under "Screen" choose a suitable monitor type and resolution and under "Graphics Card" choose the nvidia driver and not the "Vesa" driver. "Test" if you like and then hit "OK" if all goes well.








Grep Commands

lspci | grep Network

DNS Server

http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/aboutyou.ch

Applying Cheat Codes At Boot

After installation, often it is necessary to add the cheat codes used to boot the live CD to the boot script. To do so simply type the following into a terminal......

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Just add whatever codes are necessary to the kernel boot up scripts and "save".

Checking Battery using the Command Line

sudo acpi -b

Installing Wicd as your Network Manager.

To install the latest version of Wicd, add the following repository to your sources list at /etc/apt/sources list.

deb http://apt.wicd.net gutsy extras

Add the signing key with:

wget -q http://apt.wicd.net/wicd.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Reload apt or Synaptic and install Wicd. Under Applications>Internet choose Wicd. Locate your wireless connection and enter your encryption details. Under preferences choose "wext" as the WPA supplicant Driver. Hit connect.

To get the tray icon loading automatically on boot go to System>Preferences>Sessions and in the Startup tab add a new entry called "Wicd", with "/opt/wicd/tray.py" as the start command. Save and reboot.

If all goes wrong, to reinstall the default Network Manager, simply reinstall network-manager and network-manager-gnome (which automatically uninstalls Wicd in the process). You may need to connect via Ethernet to receive these updates....however, in some cases, there may already be a copy in the /var/cache/apt/archives.

Getting Sound Juicer To Rip To MP3

Install the gstreamer0.10-lame codec. The codec isn't in your normal repo's, so install with......

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse

The mp3 option should now turn up in your Sound Juicer options. To adjust the bitrate try the following. Go into edit profiles or....

gnome-audio-profiles-properties

And create a new profile with the following values.....

Profile name: mp3 192, Lossy
Profile Description: mp3 192
GStreamer Pipeline: audio/x-raw-int,rate=44100,channels=2 ! lame name=enc vbr=0 bitrate=128
File Extension: mp3

The bitrate value is changeable. Shut down Sound Juicer, fire it back up again, and it should now be available in your ripping options as a codec.