Derek Hildreth’s Blog

How to Fix the Backlight Control Issue in Gnome 2.24 [Linux Tip]

A quick fix to the problem of not being able to control the backlight in Gnome 2.24 (Fedora, Ubuntu, etc…) is to run a simple command in the terminal.  By no means to I take credit for finding this solution, nor do I promise that this will work for you.  It just so happens that it worked for me when my computer would freeze, hang, and crash when trying to adjust the backlight brightness using the “gnome brightness applet”.  Also, I’d like to make a note that this was tested in Fedora 10.  It should be distribution independent as long as it’s running Gnome 2.24.  Here goes:

In the terminal, run this (you may need to run as root):

xrandr --output LVDS --set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL native

Now, if your luck is anything like mine, you should be able to control your backlight using both your function keys (FN+F5 or FN+F6) and gnome brightness applet. Good luck!

Source: Ubuntu Forums

How to Install/Upgrade Banshee 1.4 in Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex [Tutorial]

On November 10, 2008, a new release of Banshee, one of the most popular music players for Linux, came out with new features and benefits (Banshee 1.4). Here’s how to upgrade your existing installation to the latest version (you can adapt this guide for other Linux distributions as well, but it was specifically written for Ubuntu 8.10):

Open your “/etc/apt/sources.list” file for edit by typing this into the terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add these lines to “sources.list”, and then close the editor:


deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/banshee-team/ubuntu intrepid main


Refresh your sources by typing the following into the terminal:

sudo apt-get update

If you have Banshee installed already, you should now see an available update. Go ahead and run the update to get the latest Banshee 1.4 installed on your system.

If you don’t already have Banshee installed, you should be able to install Banshee 1.4 by typing the following into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install banshee

Now, you should be good to go! Enjoy the many new features and benefits of Banshee 1.4!

If you have a different version of Ubuntu, you may need to change the sources.list items to reflect that. Refer to this page for instructions.

How to Change the Background Color in gEDA [Tutorial]

The following instructions are written for the beginner gEDA users who wish to change the default black background color to white (or whichever color of their choosing).  This is documented on the gEDA Wiki, but I believe that the instructions are either obsolete, not clear enough, or both.  I have used and tested the following instructions using gEDA Version 1.4.0.20080127 within Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex).

Start by opening the file called “system-gschemrc” within the /etc/gEDA directory. You can do this by typing the following into the terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/gEDA/system-gschemrc

Near the top of the document, you will see a block of code that controls the color scheme of the program. Uncomment the line ending in “; light background” and comment out the line ending in “; dark background”. The finished changes should look like the following:


;
; Start of color section
;
; Load up a color scheme has a light (almost white) background
; Comment out the first line and comment in the second line for a
; dark (black) background. The dark background is the original look.
;
;(load (build-path geda-rc-path “gschem-darkbg”)) ; dark background
(load (build-path geda-rc-path “gschem-lightbg”)) ; light background


Now that you have chosen to use the light background scheme, you’ll need to edit the “gschem-lightbg” file to your liking. Here, we will change the color of the background from a light grey, to a white. Begin by typing the following into the terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/gEDA/gschem-lightbg

Then, change the line that reads “;(background-color 0 “grey94″ “null” “1 1 1″ 255 255 255) ; light background” to “(background-color 0 “white” “null” “1 1 1″ 255 255 255) ; light background”. I would recommend copy/paste. The finished changes should look like the following:


; background-color index color_name outline_color ps_color_string
; int_red int_green int_blue
; Set the default background color.
; DO NOT change the value of the index (first number)
;
;(background-color 0 “grey94″ “null” “1 1 1″ 255 255 255) ; light background
(background-color 0 “white” “null” “1 1 1″ 255 255 255) ; light background


That’s it! Re-open gEDA and enjoy the new background color! As the documentation suggests, “if you want more control over the colors, please edit “/etc/gEDA/gschem-darkbg” or “/etc/gEDA/gschem-lightbg” or create your own file and load it in the system-gschemrc file.”

Fedora 10 Release Candidate [Screenshot Gallery]

Here’s a screenshot tour of the Fedora 10 Release Candidate (or Preview Release) running within a VirtualBox VM.  The countdown begins!  21 Days left as of this entry…  Enjoy!

Other useful links:

Release Notes: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/release-notes/f10preview…
Feature List: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/10/FeatureList
Mirrors: http://mirrors.fedoraproject.org/publiclist/Fedora/10-Preview/
Artwork: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Artwork/F10Themes

Not Everyday: Three OS’s Running Simultaneously [Screenshots]

This isn’t something that you see everyday… Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Ubuntu Hardy Heron all running simultaneously thanks to VirtualBox and Compiz Fusion. Screenshots taken by yours truly (click on the thumbnail for larger image). Enjoy!