Remove Orphaned Packages (Mandriva 2010)

urpme --auto-orphans

Backup xorg.conf (PCLinuxOS 2011)

# File generated by XFdrake (rev 262502)

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"Option "DontZap" "False" # disable (server abort)
#DontZoom # disable / (resolution switching)
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Plug'n Play"
ModelName "F-417"
HorizSync 24-80
VertRefresh 49-75

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 6100 to GeForce 360"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "DPMS"
Option "DynamicTwinView" "false"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
EndSubsection

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "480x360" "320x240"
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection

Playing AAC/M4a Files (Mandriva 2010)

1. Download the plf package system from easyurmpi http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/ (choose the smartpm option).

2. After install, go into package manager, search and install faac, faad, gstreamer0.10-faad and gstreamer0.10-faac.

Installing Windows' Fonts (Mandriva 2010)

Download and install "webcore-fonts-3.0-1.noarch.rpm" here

Turning Off Mounted Volumes Icon

In a terminal type:

gconf-editor

And then go to apps>Nautilus>Desktop and untick the volumes_visible option.

Installing Java (Ubuntu 10.04)

1. Enable the Cononical Partner Repository in Synaptic (under "other software") and reload.
2. Download sun-java6-jre, sun-java6-plugin and sun-java6-fonts.
3. Set your system to use the Sun Java JRE and Dev packages as the default by typing into a console:

sudo update-java-alternatives --set java-6-sun

Enabling Hardware Sensors in Linux

1. Installing the sensor libraries

First thing’s first – you need to install the libraries that allow Linux to read your sensors. To do this, install the lm-sensors library, by running the command:

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors

This will install the libraries for your motherboard’s sensors. For your hard-disk sensors, you’ll want to install hddtemp:

sudo apt-get install hddtemp

In Ubuntu, the install will ask you several questions. First it will ask if it should run SUID root, select “yes.” It will then ask you for an interval for logging the temperature to a file; since we are going to have an applet display our system temperatures for us, this isn’t necessary, so most users will be fine leaving the default of ‘0′ and pressing enter; if you wish to log this data, however, I’d recommend a value between 2 and 10 seconds. Next, it will ask if it should run as a deamon; select yes, and leave the default values for hostname and port. Finally, it will ask if you wish for it to run on startup – select “yes.”

2. Running sensors-detect

Now that your sensor libraries are installed, you need to detect your sensors! Run the command:

sudo sensors-detect

Which will probe your system for sensors. Answer “YES” to all questions! Don’t just hit enter, type “YES”, because at the end there will be a question for which the default answer is “no”, and we’ll want to answer in the affirmative.
The sensors-detect program will scan yur system, and then give you a summary, stating which sensors it has found. It will then say: I will now generate the commands needed to load the required modules. After you hit ENTER to continue, it will ask, Do you want to add these lines to /etc/modules automatically? (yes/NO) This is the question we want to make sure we answer YES to.

3. Loading the modules

Since we answered YES to the previous question, our sensor modules will be loaded by default the next time we start up. But since we don’t want to have to reboot, we’re going to use the information we got from the sensors-detect script to load the modules ourselves, this time only. Right above the last question will appear a list of modules that you should load, in the form of:

#----cut here----
# Chip drivers
smsc47m1
#----cut here----

You may have more, or different, items listed – that’s fine! What we want to do now, to load these modules, is use the modprobe command, as follows:

sudo modprobe [module name]

So, in my case, I would type:

sudo modprobe smsc47m1

If all goes well, you should be returned to the command-line, without any output.

4. Monitoring the sensors!

Wow, that was a lot of work! Now, let’s see the rewards. On the command line, you can simply run the

sensors

command; this will output the information from your motherboard’s sensors.
However, we’d rather have a graphical interface for checking up on our hardware, so let’s install an applet for our Gnome desktop to keep an eye on our system’s temperature. Run the command:

sudo apt-get install sensors-applet

to install the applet. Now, add the applet by right-clicking on your desktop panel, selecting “Add to Panel,” and you will now see a “Hardware Sensors Monitor” applet in the System & Hardware section. Click and drag this to your panel to add it.
The applet will now say that you haven’t enabled any sensors; right click on the applet and open its preferences. The first screen is for general settings:

The options here are self-explanatory; for update interval, choose a value between two and ten seconds. The second screen is where you can enable your sensors to be displayed in the applet:

Here we have my hard drive, /dev/sda, enabled. Simply check off the sensors you want to enable, and they will appear in your panel!

Conclusion

Hopefully by now, you’ll see icons in your panel, with thermometers and temperature readouts, keeping you apprised of the status of your system’s hardware. You’ll notice that when doing intensive operations, various parts of your system will increase in temperature; this is normal, and this applet will help you keep an eye on things so nothing overheats.

Fixing Java in Opera

If you start Opera from the console you may see the following error message if java doesn't work correctly:

ERROR: ld.so: object 'libjvm.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.
ERROR: ld.so: object 'libawt.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.

To fix this, correct the Java path under Tools -> Preferences -> Advanced Tab -> Content -> Java options. It should look similar to this:

/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.5.0-sun-1.5.0.06/jre/lib/i386/

Check your installed Java pathways and change accordingly.

Installing ISA 2.X Using Wine (Ubuntu)

1. Download and install ISA program file and bible modules using Wine. DO NOT START APPLICATION AT THE END OF INSTALLING!

2. Add Symbol.ttf to .wine/drive_C/windows/Fonts.

3. Copy usp10.dll to .wine/drive_C/windows/system32. (Often not necessary as it already exists).

4. Add ISA.exe to wine-config "applications".

5. Under "Libraries" add riched20.dll, riched 32.dll and usp10.dll.

Installing eSword 9.X Using Wine (Ubuntu)

1. Install wine 906 using wine, but do NOT start.

2. Copy mfc42.dll and msls31.dll to .wine/drive_c/windows/system32.

3. Add oleaut32.dll and riched20.dll to "libraries" (sometimes you may need to change the load order of both to "Native: Windows").

4. Start eSword.

File Deletion using "Shred"

shred: Delete a file securely, first overwriting it to hide its contents.

It is available on most of Linux distributions including Debian GNU/Linux. To remove file called personalinfo.tar.gz :

$ shred -n 200 -z -u personalinfo.tar.gz

Where,

* -n: Overwrite N (200) times instead of the default (25)
* -z: Add a final overwrite with zeros to hide shreddin
* -u: Truncate and remove file after overwriting

Read the man page of shred(1) for more information. Most of these utilities are not effective (read as useless) only if :

* File system is log-structured or journaled filesystems, such as JFS, ReiserFS, XFS, Ext3 etc
* Your filesystems is RAID-based, compressed filesystem etc
* In addition, file system backups and remote mirrors may contain copies of the file that cannot be removed by these utilities.

Crash - Backup!

grub.conf

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s /boot/grub/grubenv ]; then
have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ ${prev_saved_entry} ]; then
saved_entry=${prev_saved_entry}
save_env saved_entry
prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0aa07ec4-ef30-4c91-9ecd-68cb9e0f86df
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
set gfxmode=640x480
insmod gfxterm
insmod vbe
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
terminal gfxterm
fi
fi
if [ ${recordfail} = 1 ]; then
set timeout=-1
else
set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/white
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-19-generic" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
set quiet=1
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0aa07ec4-ef30-4c91-9ecd-68cb9e0f86df
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic root=UUID=0aa07ec4-ef30-4c91-9ecd-68cb9e0f86df ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-19-generic
}
menuentry "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-19-generic (recovery mode)" {
recordfail=1
if [ -n ${have_grubenv} ]; then save_env recordfail; fi
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 0aa07ec4-ef30-4c91-9ecd-68cb9e0f86df
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic root=UUID=0aa07ec4-ef30-4c91-9ecd-68cb9e0f86df ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-19-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
linux16 /boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "Microsoft Windows XP Professional (on /dev/sda1)" {
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd0,1)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 42ec6cd1ec6cc0b1
drivemap -s (hd0) ${root}
chainloader +1
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
Vendorname "Generic LCD Display"
Modelname "LCD Panel 1280x1024"
Horizsync 24.0 - 80.0
Vertrefresh 50.0 - 75.0
modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
modeline "1280x960@60" 102.1 1280 1360 1496 1712 960 961 964 994 -hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x1024@60" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsync +vsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Defaultdepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 1280 1024
Modes "1280x1024@60" "1280x960@60" "1024x768@60" "800x600@60" "800x600@56" "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Disable "dri2"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "DontZap" "False"
EndSection

/etc/fstab

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# -- This file has been automaticly generated by ntfs-config --
#
#

proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda2 :
UUID=0aa07ec4-ef30-4c91-9ecd-68cb9e0f86df / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# Entry for /dev/sda5 :
UUID=04bbfabb-2bb2-4feb-bbb5-726f7ee4781c /home ext4 defaults 0 2
# Entry for /dev/sda6 :
UUID=d3a3ecd4-7a0c-4ca4-86e9-80b6018f076b none swap sw 0 0
/dev/scd0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto,exec,utf8 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /media/Archives ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb8 /media/Video ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/Audio ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_GB.UTF-8 0 0

Unlocking Toshiba SD290EKB (Multi-region)

1) Connect to TV
2) Power on DVD
3) Enter 7777 using remote
4) Use on-screen menu to change region code (region code 0 = region-code free)
5) Power off DVD

or the hack procedure:

1) Power On
2) Open Tray
3) Press 9879 0 (0 stands for Multiregion, you may press buttons 1 to 6 to choose a specific region)
4) A Message appears stating that "The Reg.No was changed to: [insert whatever region (0-6) you selected here]"