Technorama
An omnibus of tech posts by a Futurologist on software development primarily.Sunday, 18 December 2011
Ubuntu needs brightness/contrast control
Due to many displays brightness/contrast controls not working with Ubuntu. It should have in System Settings a Brightness/Contrast control setting; this could simply set xgamma etc.
Labels: Ubuntu
Saturday, 12 November 2011
How to change DPI in Ubuntu 11.10
Just open gconf-editor Install gconf-editor, navigate to the key /desktop/gnome/font_rendering/dpi and adjust to values you need.
Alternatively use gnome-tweak-tool, and update text size to 1.1 or above even.
Alternatively use gnome-tweak-tool, and update text size to 1.1 or above even.
Labels: Ubuntu
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Ubuntu 11.10 first feedback - not good
Just upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10. First feedback:
Bugs:
* Time after login to desktop is v.sluggish, 20 seconds.
* Default keyboard repeat rate is v.slow.
* Loading Ubuntu Software Centre by clocking on link on left of desktop took around 30 seconds to open.
* Default DPI is wrong, text is very small.
* /var/log/syslog is full of AptDaemon: messages recurring every 5 mins.
Positives:
* Ubuntu software centre is going to some-way to catch up with Android and iPhone. Looks fantastic, and great to see free as well as paid Apps, but are they all under reasonable licences? However, despite being in the UK, all prices are listed in US$??
My system is an 8 month old top of the range Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820T, 4GB Ram, Intel i3-370M.
Bugs:
* Time after login to desktop is v.sluggish, 20 seconds.
* Default keyboard repeat rate is v.slow.
* Loading Ubuntu Software Centre by clocking on link on left of desktop took around 30 seconds to open.
* Default DPI is wrong, text is very small.
* /var/log/syslog is full of AptDaemon: messages recurring every 5 mins.
Positives:
* Ubuntu software centre is going to some-way to catch up with Android and iPhone. Looks fantastic, and great to see free as well as paid Apps, but are they all under reasonable licences? However, despite being in the UK, all prices are listed in US$??
My system is an 8 month old top of the range Acer Aspire Timeline X 3820T, 4GB Ram, Intel i3-370M.
Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Switch Ubuntu back to Gnome desktop
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Ubuntu key repeat rate too slow
Anyone else find the first thing necessary on a new Ubuntu install is to reduce the key repeat delay? I'm always surprised how long the repeat delay is set by default!
Labels: Ubuntu
Friday, 11 March 2011
HP PhotoSmart not working after update
Bizarrely, if you accept the update on the device of its software (that it keeps prompting for daily!) it wipes the WiFi password. So you'll need to set that again on the device.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
HP Photosmart B110 (CN245B) Ubuntu GNU+Linux verdict
Purchased the HP Photosmart B110 (CN245B) for work, have to say it is so easy to set up on Ubuntu 10.10.
* Enter wifi key on Photosmart.
* Install hplip package using Ubuntu package manager (great to see HP corporation setting such a good example re open source printer support)
* Click System->Administration->Printing, Add printer, find as network printer.
Took around 5mins total. Windows machine was still struggling with the CD (traditional OS which doesn't use an online package management repo system ;)
Scanning works very well too, Applications->Graphics->Simple Scan.
I would recommend this HP Photosmart B110 (CN245B) to others ;)
HP Photosmart B110 profile
* Enter wifi key on Photosmart.
* Install hplip package using Ubuntu package manager (great to see HP corporation setting such a good example re open source printer support)
* Click System->Administration->Printing, Add printer, find as network printer.
Took around 5mins total. Windows machine was still struggling with the CD (traditional OS which doesn't use an online package management repo system ;)
Scanning works very well too, Applications->Graphics->Simple Scan.
I would recommend this HP Photosmart B110 (CN245B) to others ;)
HP Photosmart B110 profile
Thursday, 20 January 2011
bootchart == fantastic
Wonderfully useful tool. Logs GNU+Linux bootup, and produces a picture of the boot process. I saw the 10 sec lag after trying "preload", decided against using it, as a fast boot up is more useful.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Ubuntu 10.10 startup timings
Test environment
Vanilla install of Ubuntu 10.10
HW: Acer 3820T, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM
No swap partition.
Description Timestamp
BIOS: 6 seconds
Login screen: 33 seconds
Functioning desktop (wifi established): 46 seconds
Not that bad, under a minute, but not ideal.
Ubuntu 10.10 uses Grub2. Config file /boot/grub/grub.cfg has some odd things:
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-24-generic-pae' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
^^ Why load msdos? or even set the root as msdos. All the other menuentry are the same.
Change the timeout to 1 sec.
Edit /etc/default/grub as root. change to:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
Run update-grub to apply the changed setting.
From System->Preferences->Startup Applications -> un-tick the gnome login sound. Likewise for Ubuntu One, Visual Assistance + Update User Folder names to locale.
Next steps, remove packages:
modem
ppp (lots installed packages, only used by a modem)
pcmcia
moving /tmp to RAM in /etc/fstab:
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noexec,nosuid 0 0
apt-get --purge remove mono-runtime
Lots more posts like this
Edit /etc/X11/Xsession.options and comment out #ssh-agent
This is like a ssh keyfob, and not really needed.
Edit /etc/default/avhi-daemon and add:
AVAHI_DAEMON_DETECT_LOCAL=0
AVAHI_DAEMON_START=0
or even apt-get --purge remove avhi-daemon
apt-get --purge remove modemmanager
Vanilla install of Ubuntu 10.10
HW: Acer 3820T, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM
No swap partition.
Description Timestamp
BIOS: 6 seconds
Login screen: 33 seconds
Functioning desktop (wifi established): 46 seconds
Not that bad, under a minute, but not ideal.
Ubuntu 10.10 uses Grub2. Config file /boot/grub/grub.cfg has some odd things:
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-24-generic-pae' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
recordfail
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
^^ Why load msdos? or even set the root as msdos. All the other menuentry are the same.
Change the timeout to 1 sec.
Edit /etc/default/grub as root. change to:
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
Run update-grub to apply the changed setting.
From System->Preferences->Startup Applications -> un-tick the gnome login sound. Likewise for Ubuntu One, Visual Assistance + Update User Folder names to locale.
Next steps, remove packages:
modem
ppp (lots installed packages, only used by a modem)
pcmcia
moving /tmp to RAM in /etc/fstab:
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noexec,nosuid 0 0
apt-get --purge remove mono-runtime
Lots more posts like this
Edit /etc/X11/Xsession.options and comment out #ssh-agent
This is like a ssh keyfob, and not really needed.
Edit /etc/default/avhi-daemon and add:
AVAHI_DAEMON_DETECT_LOCAL=0
AVAHI_DAEMON_START=0
or even apt-get --purge remove avhi-daemon
apt-get --purge remove modemmanager
Labels: Ubuntu
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Ubuntu 10.10 Acer 380T 13" configuration
Set DPI for the display (default is 96dpi)
Screen size is 1366x768 pixels, (11.5 x 6.5 inches). 1366/11.5=118. 768/6.5=118
System->Preferences->Appearance.
Click on Fonts tab.
Click Details
Enter Resolution "118" dots per inch.
This fixes the Gnome desktop, and all application File and Window text sizes (just need to restart applications, or log out and back in)
Firefox uses the value returned by Xorg (check with xdpyinfo). I've not found any of the ways successful to change this. Mozilla DPI page didn't help. Felix Miata has a very useful site, check his browser dpi link (this now reports DPI as 118).
However Firefox still has small fonts. Therefore set dpi in Firefox:
about:config
layout.css.dpi (defaults to -1), change to 118.
It is possbile to start X in the correct DPI, which xdpyinfo will then report:
Unfortunately this means removing the gdm login, as that does not allow specification of the DPI!
Better Firefox workaround is to install the NoSquint add-on and set it to zoom text, but not images. My DPI is 1118, divide that by 96 and I get the zoom level I need (122%)
Screen size is 1366x768 pixels, (11.5 x 6.5 inches). 1366/11.5=118. 768/6.5=118
System->Preferences->Appearance.
Click on Fonts tab.
Click Details
Enter Resolution "118" dots per inch.
This fixes the Gnome desktop, and all application File and Window text sizes (just need to restart applications, or log out and back in)
Firefox uses the value returned by Xorg (check with xdpyinfo). I've not found any of the ways successful to change this. Mozilla DPI page didn't help. Felix Miata has a very useful site, check his browser dpi link (this now reports DPI as 118).
However Firefox still has small fonts. Therefore set dpi in Firefox:
about:config
layout.css.dpi (defaults to -1), change to 118.
It is possbile to start X in the correct DPI, which xdpyinfo will then report:
startx -- -dpi 118
Unfortunately this means removing the gdm login, as that does not allow specification of the DPI!
Better Firefox workaround is to install the NoSquint add-on and set it to zoom text, but not images. My DPI is 1118, divide that by 96 and I get the zoom level I need (122%)
Labels: DPI, GNU+Linux, Ubuntu
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Ubuntu 10.10
After being an avid Ubuntu Netbook Remix user on my old Compaq 10" 702EA Intel Atom I'm pretty disappointed with what 10.10 is! The simplicity is gone, what made it ideal!
Now on my Acer 13" 3820T I'm appreciating the standard Gnome desktop once more ;)
Now on my Acer 13" 3820T I'm appreciating the standard Gnome desktop once more ;)
sda is apparently in use by the system; it's not safe to run badblocks!
root@ubuntu:~# badblocks -b 4096 -c 512 -s -v -w /dev/sda
/dev/sda is apparently in use by the system; it's not safe to run badblocks!
Checking the output of "mount" I see none of the partitions are mounted. However, using the command "swapon -s" I see the swap partition was in use:
root@ubuntu:~# swapon -s
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda5 partition 12285948 0 -1
root@ubuntu:~# swapoff /dev/sda5
root@ubuntu:~# badblocks -b 4096 -c 512 -s -v -w /dev/sda
Checking for bad blocks in read-write mode
From block 0 to 122096645
Testing with pattern 0xaa: 0.32% done, 0:20 elapsed
2.97% done, 3:11 elapsed
Previous log
=======
root@ubuntu:/# mount
aufs on / type aufs (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
/dev/sdb1 on /cdrom type vfat
(rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc
(rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/ubuntu/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon
(rw,nosuid,nodev,user=ubuntu)
root@ubuntu:/# badblocks -b 4096 -c 512 -s -v -w /dev/sda
/dev/sda is apparently in use by the system; it's not safe to run badblocks!
/dev/sda is apparently in use by the system; it's not safe to run badblocks!
Checking the output of "mount" I see none of the partitions are mounted. However, using the command "swapon -s" I see the swap partition was in use:
root@ubuntu:~# swapon -s
Filename Type Size Used Priority
/dev/sda5 partition 12285948 0 -1
root@ubuntu:~# swapoff /dev/sda5
root@ubuntu:~# badblocks -b 4096 -c 512 -s -v -w /dev/sda
Checking for bad blocks in read-write mode
From block 0 to 122096645
Testing with pattern 0xaa: 0.32% done, 0:20 elapsed
2.97% done, 3:11 elapsed
Previous log
=======
root@ubuntu:/# mount
aufs on / type aufs (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=
/dev/sdb1 on /cdrom type vfat
(rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=
/dev/loop0 on /rofs type squashfs (ro,noatime)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc
(rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/ubuntu/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon
(rw,nosuid,nodev,user=ubuntu)
root@ubuntu:/# badblocks -b 4096 -c 512 -s -v -w /dev/sda
/dev/sda is apparently in use by the system; it's not safe to run badblocks!
Ubuntu 10.10 partitioning not considered harmful
Just installed Ubuntu 10.10 on my new sweet Acer 3820T ;-)
What is strange, I selected "use whole disc" but Ubuntu has added a Swap partition, and even put it in the extended area (also making it 6GB!). Swap isn't needed these days, especially as the machine has 4GB RAM. Adding it to the extended partition is only going to make the move to EFI boot firmware more difficult:
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
sda1 * 2048 952197119 476097536 83 Linux
sda2 952199166 976771071 12285953 5 Extended
sda5 952199168 976771071 12285952 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Solution, re-install, after partitioning myself as single sda1 partition ;-)
Don't forget to run fsck on all new hard drives! better to find out now than 3 months later when files are corrupted or it fails to boot.
What is strange, I selected "use whole disc" but Ubuntu has added a Swap partition, and even put it in the extended area (also making it 6GB!). Swap isn't needed these days, especially as the machine has 4GB RAM. Adding it to the extended partition is only going to make the move to EFI boot firmware more difficult:
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
sda1 * 2048 952197119 476097536 83 Linux
sda2 952199166 976771071 12285953 5 Extended
sda5 952199168 976771071 12285952 82 Linux swap / Solaris
Solution, re-install, after partitioning myself as single sda1 partition ;-)
Don't forget to run fsck on all new hard drives! better to find out now than 3 months later when files are corrupted or it fails to boot.
Friday, 1 January 2010
500 gram GNU+Linux netbook - £70
Disgo Net Browser 3000 is sells in China for £70 with Windows CE 5.0. With its 7 inch display (800 x 480) it would make an excellent GNU+Linux netbook coupled with Firefox. Buying whole sale would be even cheaper. When the average *new* netbook price is £200, this is an absolute bargain.
So why has no one done it already?
So why has no one done it already?
- Needs an ARM distro (OpenZaurus, Maemo, openmoko or other embedded disro might make more sense than a regular Ubuntu distro).
- Only 64MB RAM, bloated firefox would consume that immediately, so Fennec is probably the way to go.
- Only 2GB NAND Flash, distro can fit in that, presumably it is also writable so can be partitioned for a HOME partition.
Labels: Future, GNU+Linux, Laptops, Ubuntu, UK
Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Ubuntu Netbook Fixes for 2010
I've been runing a recent Ubuntu Netbook Remix on my HP Compaq Mini-Note 10" laptop. A very good user experience.
What I'd like to see improved in 2010 is:
What I'd like to see improved in 2010 is:
- "Desktop" still exists as a folder, however, it isn't the Desktop! Replace the "Favourites" with the existing "Desktop". Favourite apps can still be copied into the Desktop.
- Fix "Update Manager" display of "Reading package information" which comes up so often; even when it says before and after "Your system is up to date".
- Fix "Update Manager", it often appears in the notification panel, open it up and there are no updates to install. Download and check for updates and there are still no updates to install!
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Laptop power button press again to cancel shutdown?
We've all done it, you come back to your laptop and press the power button.. forgetting it was already on! So then it shutsdown, and there is no way to correct the mistake.
It would be pretty easy for Ubuntu to connect the button as a toggler, so if pressing again while in the shutdown runlevel, it toggles and goes back into multi-user and X login (level 5 as I recall)
It would be pretty easy for Ubuntu to connect the button as a toggler, so if pressing again while in the shutdown runlevel, it toggles and goes back into multi-user and X login (level 5 as I recall)
Monday, 16 March 2009
Keyboards identifying their keymap
Every time I buy a Dell laptop, or run an Ubuntu live CD I find I am running with the wrong keyboard map file, which means it defaults to US layout typically (why do we all have different locations for punctuation keys anyway!?)
So my USB keyboard is detected I can see form /var/log/messages:
input: Dell Dell USB Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2.1/2-2.1:1.0/input/input14
kernel: [ 9575.364318] input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [Dell Dell USB Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2.1
kernel: [ 9575.375861] input: Dell Dell USB Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2.1/2-2.1:1.1/input/input15
ubuntu kernel: [ 9575.404288] input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Device [Dell Dell USB Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2.1
(Seems to detect it twice, USB1.1 and USB2.0)
So as it already has the name string "Dell Dell USB Keyboard", would it be any harder to also encode "en" in that? (or "en_US" etc)
Now we all just need to unify on one standard keyboard layout, probably adopting the international US one with some adaptation to add Alt+Number for every currency (rather than having £, $, 円, €. Also with good sized Enter and Space keys, and my small keyboard layout if on a portable.
So my USB keyboard is detected I can see form /var/log/messages:
input: Dell Dell USB Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2.1/2-2.1:1.0/input/input14
kernel: [ 9575.364318] input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [Dell Dell USB Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2.1
kernel: [ 9575.375861] input: Dell Dell USB Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-2/2-2.1/2-2.1:1.1/input/input15
ubuntu kernel: [ 9575.404288] input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Device [Dell Dell USB Keyboard] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-2.1
(Seems to detect it twice, USB1.1 and USB2.0)
So as it already has the name string "Dell Dell USB Keyboard", would it be any harder to also encode "en" in that? (or "en_US" etc)
Now we all just need to unify on one standard keyboard layout, probably adopting the international US one with some adaptation to add Alt+Number for every currency (rather than having £, $, 円, €. Also with good sized Enter and Space keys, and my small keyboard layout if on a portable.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Ubuntu gnome memory wastage
While looking into other Ubuntu performance issues and Compiz crash I noticed just how many wasteful processes are running by default. Feels like I'm back on a Windows machine!
gnome-settings
python (system-config-printer/applet.py)
update-notifier
trashapplet
seahorse-agent (can't get rid due to ubuntu-desktop dep)
evolution-alarm (succeeded in removing!)
evolution-exchange
gnome-power-management
evolution-data-
gnome-screensav
gvfsd-smb-browse (can't get rid due to ubuntu-desktop dep)
gvsfd-smb-network
gvsdf-dnssd
gvfsd-computer
gnome-vfs-daemon
bluetooth-applet (succeeded in removing!)
bluetoothd-service-audio
bluetoothd-service-input
compiz-decorator (succeeded in removing!)
gtk-window-decorator
b43 (runs regardless of if the Wireless is enabled, so enable/disable must be a software switch)
bonobo-activation-server (can't get rid due to ubuntu-desktop dep)
samba
I wish I could remove samba, I don't have any Windows machines on my network I need to transfer files to, but ubuntu-desktop has a dep on it.
Even with my internal wireless disabled (Fn+F2) I still see the b43 driver task running and taking up memory.
It's no wonder with all this running it takes 4 secs to load Firefox3 on a 1.6Ghz CPU with 1.5GB ram. It should be up in less than a second. OpenOffice Writer is even worse, around 8 seconds.
Remove Evolution:
# apt-get --purge remove evolution
^ It isn't mentioned, but the tasks are all still running, so another reboot is necessary (another Windows reminder..)
# apt-get --purge remove gnome-screensaver
Why is a screensaver running all the time anyway? The system could run the process from a gnome timer when it needs to start.
Let's see how it goes with this lot removed, I'll be tempted to install Xubuntu (XFCE desktop) if performance is still hogged!
gnome-settings
python (system-config-printer/applet.py)
update-notifier
trashapplet
seahorse-agent (can't get rid due to ubuntu-desktop dep)
evolution-alarm (succeeded in removing!)
evolution-exchange
gnome-power-management
evolution-data-
gnome-screensav
gvfsd-smb-browse (can't get rid due to ubuntu-desktop dep)
gvsfd-smb-network
gvsdf-dnssd
gvfsd-computer
gnome-vfs-daemon
bluetooth-applet (succeeded in removing!)
bluetoothd-service-audio
bluetoothd-service-input
compiz-decorator (succeeded in removing!)
gtk-window-decorator
b43 (runs regardless of if the Wireless is enabled, so enable/disable must be a software switch)
bonobo-activation-server (can't get rid due to ubuntu-desktop dep)
samba
I wish I could remove samba, I don't have any Windows machines on my network I need to transfer files to, but ubuntu-desktop has a dep on it.
Even with my internal wireless disabled (Fn+F2) I still see the b43 driver task running and taking up memory.
It's no wonder with all this running it takes 4 secs to load Firefox3 on a 1.6Ghz CPU with 1.5GB ram. It should be up in less than a second. OpenOffice Writer is even worse, around 8 seconds.
Remove Evolution:
# apt-get --purge remove evolution
^ It isn't mentioned, but the tasks are all still running, so another reboot is necessary (another Windows reminder..)
# apt-get --purge remove gnome-screensaver
Why is a screensaver running all the time anyway? The system could run the process from a gnome timer when it needs to start.
Let's see how it goes with this lot removed, I'll be tempted to install Xubuntu (XFCE desktop) if performance is still hogged!
Labels: GNU+Linux, Performance, Ubuntu
Remove Compiz from Ubuntu
If like me you're running one of the recent Ubuntu releases (8.04 LTS) you'll still be experiencing the unfixed bugs in Compiz Desktop Effects, for me this results in Totem and Xine crashes, taking out the whole machine (power switch restart).
So as no official fixes have been made (even though its LTS!), disable and removing compiz is the workaround:
Right click on the desktop, select "Change Desktop Background".
Click "Visual Effects", click the "none" option.
Then issue these commands to remove the Compiz packages:
# apt-get --purge remove compiz compiz-core
^ It doesn't tell you, but compiz is actually still running, so you will need to reboot to benefit.
Tip: Want to track down that rogue process in the "top" or "ps aux" output? Track it back to the package it came from, so you can unisntall it:
# dpkg -S /usr/bin/compiz-decorator
Laptop is quicker, and no more video playback crashes (yet!) ;).
So as no official fixes have been made (even though its LTS!), disable and removing compiz is the workaround:
Right click on the desktop, select "Change Desktop Background".
Click "Visual Effects", click the "none" option.
Then issue these commands to remove the Compiz packages:
# apt-get --purge remove compiz compiz-core
^ It doesn't tell you, but compiz is actually still running, so you will need to reboot to benefit.
Tip: Want to track down that rogue process in the "top" or "ps aux" output? Track it back to the package it came from, so you can unisntall it:
# dpkg -S /usr/bin/compiz-decorator
Laptop is quicker, and no more video playback crashes (yet!) ;).
Labels: GNU+Linux, Performance, Ubuntu
Remove Bluetooth from Ubuntu
If like me you are running on a laptop or desktop without Bluetooth, you'll notice that Ubuntu is still running around 1.5MB of Bluetooth packages, wasting drive space and memory at run time.
We could could ignore the disk space loss, but the fact that it stays resident after it sees no bluetooth hardware connected is far from ideal. It would have been trivial for them to exit the daemon when it found no hardware connected, so its probably just sloppy QA (or lack of any QA again..) that let this one slip into a release. Should anyone plug in a USB bluetooth adapter, HAL should then swawn the daemon etc.
So simply disable and uninstall/remove bluetooth from Ubuntu.
# apt-get --purge remove bluez-utils bluez-gnome
The --purge removes the installer files from your drive, recovering the space again ;)
We could could ignore the disk space loss, but the fact that it stays resident after it sees no bluetooth hardware connected is far from ideal. It would have been trivial for them to exit the daemon when it found no hardware connected, so its probably just sloppy QA (or lack of any QA again..) that let this one slip into a release. Should anyone plug in a USB bluetooth adapter, HAL should then swawn the daemon etc.
So simply disable and uninstall/remove bluetooth from Ubuntu.
# apt-get --purge remove bluez-utils bluez-gnome
The --purge removes the installer files from your drive, recovering the space again ;)
Labels: GNU+Linux, Performance, Ubuntu
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