Why I Like Flock

Okay, so ive done the thing…. Switched browsers….. As it happens, moving from firefox to flock isnt very complicated, since its really one and the same thing. Here are some of my reasons:-
1) As far as i have seen, flock seems to take as much as 100 Mb less than firefox 3.0.10
2) The default interface is cute, and the colours used are quite beautiful. In particular, i like the use of    orange. Reminds me of those days when I used to use ubuntu.
3) The Blog Editor:- Ive been considering seriously blogging again, and waiting for wordpress’s slow web interface to load isnt the best wake up call to the sleeping blogger in me.
4) My World:- While it is possible to make up for it in this that and the other way in firefox itself, I really like the integration of everything into one good page. Bravo!

Some Glitches:-
1) I have seen that the Twitter client is really minimalistic. So far as i can see, it does not have a quick way of issuing replies or directs. Does not bother me much since i use TwitterGadget inside gmail using Labs, but i can picture a few people lifting their eyebrows on the matter.
2) The default search is yahoo, and while ive tried some things, but having changed the default search engine to Google, on typing in the address bar, it still uses Yahoo! I wonder why this glitch exists? Is there a secret that the best search engine on the internet is Google?

Overall:-
Extremely Satisfactory (9/10)
Comparison
Firefox(8.5/10)
Opera(8/10)

XMMS REVIVED……

Its been a long time since Amarok has been touted as the single best media player of all time. People have gone for other things as well and it was when i saw one of my friends trying to run Winamp through Wine on Linux when i realized it was time to do something about the situation. While Amarok is one of the best media players of all time, fully featured and the like, i have never cared for it very much. Infact, while i use Mandriva Linux 2008.1 and it ships with Amarok by default and its KDE integration is fantastic,i personally prefer to use XMMS.
So some reasons:-
1) XMMS has some of the best plugins available for it. We will be going into the details of two of my favourite plugins later
2) It is low on memory use.
3) It implements completely glitch free audio, and im yet to see codecs of such quality elsewhere.

Essentially, when you begin to use XMMS, it looks and feels a bit less intuitive than Amarok’s clever and beautiful interface. The focus of this article is to customize XMMS so that it can be quite as rewarding as any other media player, maybe more. Going Stepwise:-
1) Surround Sound:
a) OSS 3D:- I had to hunt around for this plugin quite a bit and the hunt was very rewarding. It is one of the most important reasns I use XMMS.
b) Get it here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/105044469/c3cb1d9d/libxmoss3d.html
c) You need to put this in
/usr/lib/xmms/Effect/

After you have done this, close and restart XMMS, and then go to preferences (Ctrl +P) and then go to the effect tab, enable OSS 3D and click configure. Here you can set up a lot of things. While this is the demo version (no illegal stuff), its still quite good.
2) Intelligent Choices:
a) IMMS:- This is the intelligent media shuffle for XMMS. It behaves like a mind reader. Within a week, itll be playing out to you the stuff you want to listen to and the order in which you like them. It stores your choice of songs, and depending on your mood (which it senses from the kinds of songs you skip), it will put the best ones in.
b) Get it here:
http://imms.googlecode.com/files/imms-3.1.0-rc8.tar.bz2
c) No config is required, just go to the General Tab in the Preferences and enable it
3) Keyboard Shortcuts:-
a) xmms next
xmms has a CLI, meaning that it takes commands like “xmms -t” or “xmms –rev” etc to do somethings. Type man xmms to get a full idea of these things.
Then on GNOME, you can use xbindkeys (a program) to make it bind certain key combos to the player applications like next prev etc.
On KDE, simly use the menu editor to define new aplications with these commands and give them global shortcuts.
b) xmms windows:
now, xmms has a very good media library, something which with very few keypresses allows you to queue songs and search for them. This is initiated by Alt+Q. This only works when the Playlist window is active. Now, we can easily do this in KDE by specifying a window shortcut. Stepwise:
a) Preferences
b) Options Tab
c) Show Window Manager Decorations
d) Select the playlist window, press Alt+F3, select Advanced>Window Shortcut. Maybe Put in Alt+A
e) this means that coming from another desktop, you have to press Alt+(A and Q in that sequence) to get the media llibrary. Its actually quite simple. Switch desktops, hold down Alt, press A, release it and then press Q. This is just mmy personal way of doing things.
On GNOME, you cant do the window shortcut thing. Not to my Knowledge. an option is closing all windows but the playlist and then doing alt+tab when on this desktop.
That generally is all i use for xmms. If you have any questions, post back and ill be glad to share with you.

The Best Free Python IDE for Linux?

For a while, ive been using python, and since i only use Linux, ive been using it on my OS of Choice. Now, python code can be written in anything from minimalistic editors like nano, to full fledged IDEs. I prefer the functionality of an IDE over the resource friendliness of the nano like stuff. I have tried the following IDEs:

1) IDLE:- Bundled in with most python distributions on Linux, or can be easily installed from the package tool of the Distro. Simple and does the job, but i miss a lot of things in it. Code completion is at best silly, there is no class browser (AFAIKS) and running GUI apps can become troublesome, with crashes and glitches

2) SPE: Perhaps the best free one around, it has extensive integration with wxPython Related tools. Menu shortcuts for wxGlade, and good code intellisense. One of the problems i had with this IDE was that i couldnt find a python 2.6 intellisense plugin. Maybe one exists but i didnt find it.

3) KOMODO EDIT:- Komodo is a full fledged development Environment, and komodo edit is its free version. YOu can get it from the activestate website. http://www.activestate.com/komodo_edit/

and by default it has support only till python 2.5. To add support for 2.6 visit this webpage and follow the instructions

http://community.activestate.com/forum/support-python-26-and-30-eventually-auto-complete

Now you will have komodo edit and autocomplete as well. If you want to run a written program, you can press Ctrl+R and then set the path accordingly. In general write

python %F

Hope you have a good time editing with komodo edit

Comments are welcome

Bye!

Fingerprint sensor in linux(debian and such like) (HP6515b)

this is it- the fingerprint sensor on my linux is working (and it will work on urs too if it is a debian based system)

I followed this walkthrough:
http://blog.irwan.name/?p=471

There still are some issues i outline them for others to solve (i’m also working on them)

1) Segmentaion fault:- Occurs on multiple sudos. after logging on open a terminal and write

sudo gedit

it says

scan yur finger

do it

It opens gedit as root(u can save a text file in gedit or edit the config files in /etc)

now close the gedit window

and type again

sudo gedit

it should say

scan ur finger

but it says

segmentation fault

2)gksu (no visuals) again after logging on open synaptic through the menus and …..

(Nothing happens)

u just see a revolving cursor now just scan ur finger..

u see

Synaptic

So thats the point no visual prompt

Also a suggestion some login themes are incmplete that is they have no message boards so i suggest using happy gnome with browser so u wont have to keep typing the username plus u can see what is happening.

happy swiping and feel free to post comments…..

Walkthroughs for Hardy on HP6515b Laptops

Anyone who has used linux for any length of time knows that the two things which are often difficult to set up are networking and (well….) 3d effects.

This is a step by step guide to getting it all working on the box i call my computer:

WiFi

We are going to use ndiswrapper to configure the Windows XP driver for the Broadcom BCM4312 chip we have on this computer. so we need the windows XP drivers bcmwl5.inf and ndiswrapper (both are available freely just google) once you have these here’s what to do:

1) install ndiswrapper and ndiswrapper utilities from the .deb packages u have

2) fire up a terminal and navigate to the directory where u have the driver.

3) Type

sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

4) and then type

sudo ndiswrapper -m

5) this would say that it is writing ndiswrapper to module alias wlan0.

6) now in a terminal type

sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

before the exit 0 line in this file, put the following 2 lines-

rmmod ssb

modprobe ndiswrapper

7) save and quit.

restart the comp. and u will find wifi working.

3d effects

1) I assume u have internet on the box if u have followed the last steps u should have it by now.

2) Open Synaptic Package Manager from System >Administration

3) Click reload if u haven’t already done so after the install. This can take some time and u must be online for this to complete.

4) Once the repositories are refreshed, find the package xorg-driver-fglrx in the list and install it.this can again take some time.

5) Once this is installed go to Syt=system>ADministration and click hardware drivers. Now click on Enable to enable the ATI Graphics driver. Close the window and restart the comp.

6) After this is done open system preferences appearance and click on visual effects

7) Click Extra.

3d effects are working! Now u need compiz so open synaptic and find a package called compizconfig-settings-manager

9) Install this and u can now configure the kind of effects u want from system preferences and Advanced Desktop Effects.

My Setup

Hello! I tink it is time to Update on my setup. I have an HP6515b Laptop and very few brains… With these limited resources i spend time having fun with my computer and enjoying life in general. My comp. is a real problem though.. Half the things on it were not supported on Linux, my favouraite OS until recently leading to myself spending a lot of time thinking of workarounds to get simple stuff like internet working… All that has changed with the latest and (arguably) best from linux’s stable of OSes Hardy Heron. It brings integrated hardware support to my computer making it easy to setup and fun to use.

The First Post

Welcome to my blog, I am Soumen Banerjee. This blog is primarily going to be technical and based on computers and i plan to have a good time with it. I hope you like it in the days to come….