Backup Mirrors for /etc/pacman-mirrors-conf (Manjaro)

##
## /etc/pacman-mirrors.conf
##

## Branch Pacman should use (stable, testing, unstable)
Branch=stable

## Generation method
## 1) rank   - rank mirrors depending on their access time
## 2) random - randomly generate the output mirrorlist
Method=rank

## Specify to use only mirrors from a specific country
## Disabled by default
OnlyCountry=United_Kingdom

## Input mirrorlist directory
MirrorlistsDir="/etc/pacman.d/mirrors"

## Output mirrorlist
OutputMirrorlist="/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist"

Setting Up NTP Server on Manjaro

Create a text file containing the following....

#!/bin/bash
systemctl stop ntpd.service
ntpd -qg
ntpd -qg
ntpd -qg
ntpd -qg
systemctl start ntpd.service
hwclock -w

... and name file ntp.sh and make executable.

Edit /etc/ntp.conf and under '# Associate to public NTP pool servers; see http://www.pool.ntp.org/', replace the three lines of 'server 0.pool.ntp.org' with...

server 0.uk.pool.ntp.org
server 1.uk.pool.ntp.org
server 2.uk pool.ntp.org
server 3.uk pool.ntp.org

N.B. The 'uk' is for United Kingdom. Insert your own region.

Save, and as sudo, run ntp.sh script.

sudo ./ntp.sh

To sync the clock every time your computer boots run...

sudo systemctl enable ntpd 

N.B. Alternately, replace 'systemctl start ntpd.service' in the top script with the above command.

Fixing the "RTMP ReadPacket failed" error in iPlayer

To fix "RTMP_ReadPacket, failed to read RTMP packet header" error, try typing the following into a terminal:

get_iplayer --prefs-add --rtmp-tv-opts="--swfVfy http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/releases/iplayer/revisions/617463_618125_4/617463_618125_4_emp.swf"

... and then use as normal.

More info on the cause here.

Installing 34 bit Skype on 64 bit Xubuntu

First, install 32 bit architecture, then update:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update 

Then add necessary Canonical repo and install Skype.

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/
$(lsb_release -sc) partner"
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install skype

Making Skype Work on Xubuntu 13.04 with nVidia Drivers

1. Install Skype from .deb from main website.

2. Rename the 'skype' executable found at /usr/bin to /usr/bin/skype-bin

3. Create the text file /usr/bin/skype and copy and paste the following information and save.

#!/bin/sh
export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/mesa/libGL.so.1
exec /usr/bin/skype-bin

4. Set 0775 permissions on /usr/bin/skype

sudo chmod 0775 /usr/bin/skype

Backup fstab (Manjaro)

First create the respective folders in /media

#
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
#

UUID=547fd19a-66be-46b0-8323-815b7adfeb76 / ext4 defaults 0 1
UUID=8978dd1d-1867-4ced-ad55-87e3e939dc4c swap swap defaults 0 0
UUID=fe17cdfb-7b6e-4cd8-8eb1-016daedae010 /home ext4 defaults 0 1
#added mount points
/dev/sda4 /media/backup ntfs defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/audio ntfs defailts 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /media/archives ntfs defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb5 /media/television ntfs defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb6 /media/comics ntfs defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb7 /media/video ntfs defaults 0 0

Reinstalling GRUB2 (Manjaro)

Load up a live distro of Manjaro. Determine the partition where Manjaro is installed. (Example /dev/sda2).

blkid

Mount the partition:

mount /dev/sda5 /mnt

Mount the swap:

swapon -a

Sigil - WYSIWYG Codes

The insert a blank line in SIGIL, rather than using <br> or <p> -- which won't show up in epub on certain devices -- use: <div>&#160;<br />&#160;<br /></div>

Installing Handbrake (Xubuntu & Ubuntu)

For 32 bit:

wget https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archive/handbrake-releases/+files/handbrake-gtk_0.9.8ppa1~precise1_i386.deb

For 64 bit:

wget https://launchpad.net/~stebbins/+archive/handbrake-releases/+files/handbrake-gtk_0.9.8ppa1~precise1_amd64.deb

Then to install:

sudo dpkg -i handbrake*

If that fails, the:

sudo apt-get install -f

Installing Sigil (Ubuntu 13.04)

To install Sigil, in a terminal, type...

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunab/sigil-git
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sigil

Change ripping bitrate in K3b

Go to Settings>Configure K3b>Plug-ins>K3b external audio encoder  and edit the configured encoder line by inserting your chosen bitrate before the -h. See example.

lame -r --bitwidth 16 --little-endian -s 44.1 -b 192 -h --tt %t --ta %a --tl %m --ty %y --tc %c - %f

Stop Totem Saving Your History

To permanently remove the recent file list from totem, edit /usr/share/totem/totem.ui as root and change the following line: (Change square brackets with angle brackets.)

[separator name="recent-separator"/]
[placeholder name="recent-placeholder"/] 

to:

[!--[separator name="recent-separator"/]
[placeholder name="recent-placeholder"/]--] 

N.B. Remove the part that you added to reactive history.

Fixing a Broken Encrypted Swap Partition (Ubuntu and Xubuntu 12.04)

For some reason, with all of the Ubuntu derivatives I end up with a busted SWAP partition. This manifests itself in no defined SWAP at all, and a blacked out SWAP partition when viewed in Gparted. The solution is to redefine the SWAP partition, as follows. (If in doubt where your SWAP partition is, run 'sudo fdisk -l'.)

sudo swapoff -a
sudo cryptsetup remove /dev/mapper/cryptswap1
sudo gedit /etc/crypttab

Remove the SWAP line (e.g. /dev/sda3)

sudo /sbin/mkswap /dev/sda3
sudo swapon /dev/sda3
sudo gedit /etc/fstab 

Replace /dev/mapper/cryptswap1 with /dev/sda3.

If you're feeling brave and fancy trying to re-encrypt it, use...

sudo ecryptfs-setup-swap

If it all goes wrong, just repeat the process above.

N.B. Obviously /dev/sda3 in the above example is just that, an example. Replace it with whatever you find in your 'sudo  fdisk -l' results.

** To test whether swap is enabled use:

free -m