Force Enable KDE File Chooser Previews (KFileDialog)

Just a quick post. In Kubuntu 11.10, running KDE 4.7.2 (and possibly earlier) I have noticed a problem. When using the File-Choosing dialog, I click enable Aside Preivew, which works for the time. Once I choose a file and the dialog closes, if I reopen the File Chooser, the preview option is disabled again and I have to manually re-enable it.

This is a quick fix for force enabling Previews in QT/KDE's File Chooser (KFileDialog).

Open the configuration file '~/.kde/share/config/konquerorrc'. Find the section marked '[KFileDialog Settings]'. Find the line which reads "Previews=false" and change it to "Previews=true".

Save the file and exit it. Restart whatever program you want this to take effect it, and Aside Previews should be enabled by default.

IF YOU NEED HELP EDITING CONFIGURATION FILES UNDER LINUX, please see this link: http://awesomelinux.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-edit-configuration-file.html

Ubuntu Logitech diNovo Edge Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard (Part 2)

I reported on problems with Ubuntu Logitech diNovo Edge Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard, and now in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric and Ubuntu 12.04 Precise the problem resurfaces each time you do a fresh install or Distribution Upgrade. But the solution is slightly different than before.

Update: The problem appears in Ubuntu/Kubuntu 12.04 Precise also, but the solution is the same.

This solution is using for the Logitech diNovo Edge in Ubuntu/Kubuntu. Symptoms are the bluetooth-device-manager kept prompting me to connect to the device but nothing I did ever worked.

Here is the solution / fix for getting the keyword to work. The source for this information is here.

The problem is in the udev rules. In 11.04 there was a special line in '/lib/udev/rules.d/70-hid2hci.rules' for Logitech devices that started with KERNEL=="hidraw*".
These seem to be missing in default configurations. This fix adds this line into another file instead which makes things work.

Edit the file: /lib/udev/rules.d/##-bluez-hid2hci.rules (where the ## is the number on your system. Just search for the keywords 'bluez-hid2hci.rules' in the /lib/udev/rules.d/ directory. For example, on my system in Ubuntu 11.10 it was number 62 and on Ubuntu 12.04 is was 97.)

(If you need help editing a file, see bottom section.)

Change this line:

# Logitech devices
KERNEL=="hiddev*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[345abce]|c71[34bc]", \
RUN+="hid2hci --method=logitech-hid --devpath=%p"

to

KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="046d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="c70[345abce]|c71[34bc]", \
RUN+="hid2hci --method=logitech-hid --devpath=%p"

I have made the changed sections BOLD. Save the changes to the file. I also turned bluetooth off from the icon in the system tray.
After making this change, I turned on my wireless keyboard, unplugged it's bluetooth dongle, plugged it back in, paired the keyword with the dongle, and a few seconds later it worked. I did not even have to reboot.
IF YOU NEED HELP EDITING CONFIGURATION FILES UNDER LINUX, please see this link: http://awesomelinux.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-to-edit-configuration-file.html

Shadows Removed / Missing in KDE 4.7

Overview: Window / Widget shadows are suddenly and COMPLETELY gone in KDE 4.7.

Background Info: So I haven't blogged in a while about any personal issues with the KDE 4 series, because by and large I like what they are doing and I've come to accept the things I don't.

However I just upgraded my system to KDE 4.7 and I noticed a feature is gone that, initially I really hated, but now I really really like. Shadows. Yep, shadows on my windows. Not quite sure how to describe it but my transparent console

Details: Actually, the shadows are both missing and removed, while still present and there. (Big flub-up on KDE's part, IMO. Thumbs way down this time.)

Please see http://blog.martin-graesslin.com/blog/2011/08/shadow-and-no-oxygen/

All users who do not use our default Oxygen widget style and window decoration might have had an unpleasant surprise after upgrading to 4.7. Our old shadow effect provided generic shadows for all windows no matter which widget style or decoration is used. In case the decoration provided its own shadow that one was preferred.
The new shadow system does not provide any generic shadow. The compositor is just providing a service to the widget style for rendering the shadow. This means that the widget style has to implement support for the new shadows.

So, apparently they are still here, but I cannot find any information on getting the shadows back. Neither from their new system or from the Oxygen theme, or whatever. I'm disappointed.

A big thumbs down from me.

Beta Gimp 2.7.x Segment Fault problem and workaround

I have been using the beta version of the Gimp 2.7.x series and I encountered a problem I want to share. Obviously I also want to share the workaround solution.

Long story short, the program will have a segment fault if it is run and the directory ~/.gimp-2.7 does NOT exist. So make sure it is there. I had deleted mine.

Similar symptoms occur if the file ~/.gimp-2.7/contextrc DOES exists. So make sure it does not.

KMix Lockups, Freezes, and Performance

Recently I experienced serious problems with using KDE's audio system, which I eventually tracked to the program 'kmix.' The symptoms were extremely slow response on volume-changes and mutes. By slow, I mean taking a full minute or more to apply. Also, it was taking up 100% of the CPU sometimes for minutes at a time (when it was not responding). Thank goodness I have a quad-core.

I am not sure if the problem is the result of using KDE 4.6.0 or not, since it is very recent and it might have introduced some bugs.

Regardless, I eventually figured a solution to the problem: Quit kmix. You may need to actually kill the program. Next move (or delete or rename) the folder 'kmix' in the folder '~/.kde/share/apps/. Restart kmix, and it will recreate a default '~/.kde/share/apps/kmix/' folder with default settings.

This fixed my problem. Hopefully it will help with yours.

Hamachi for Linux / Ubuntu

Hamachi is a Zero-Configuration VPN (Virtual Private Network) service. Unfortunately getting the Hamachi service to work well in Linux requires a few steps, and until recently it was more difficult. Here is my guide for how I get it working with as few hurdles and hassles as possible:

There is a progam called 'Haguichi', which supports the Hamachi protocol and is an up to date program. It has a PPA available for Ubuntu. Go and add the PPA to your system, and then update and then install Haguichi.

Hamachi backend itself must be installed, which must be downloaded, compiled and installed. You can grab the official legacy client from here: http://files.hamachi.cc/linux/. To compile it, extract and run 'sudo make' which will auto-install.

After that, the program 'tuncfg' must be started. Running 'sudo tuncfg' on command will do this. (NOTE: That is 'tuncfg' NOT 'tunecfg'.)

If you have connection problems, try disabling your computer's firewall. This is probably blocking the Hamachi port. (I have no idea which port it uses.)

Ubuntu Graphics Session Fix after botched Kernel Upgrade

Overview
This post is about restoring graphics to your Linux Desktop session if you install some kernel updates that don't go so well. Particularly, ones that fail with your graphics drivers.

Quick Steps
If you get error message (when trying to upgrade kernel packages or kernel drivers): "Skipping (driver build) at this time because kernel-source is missing." Try the following steps:

Note: `uname -r` is a commandline option which will auto-substitute your kernel version and architecture into the install command. If installing via a GUI, just use the info output from running the console command `uname -r`.

sudo apt-get install linux-source-`uname -r` linux-headers-`uname -r`

If this does not automatically cause your nvidia drivers to compile, cause a manual install with:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

If that still doesn't work, try uninstalling and reinstalling nvidia-current.


Background
Today I noticed there were some kernel updates in Ubuntu, but they had been kept back. So I decided to manually install them, since they did not appear to be causing any package conflicts. I do updates from command line with 'apt-get' (because I'm awesome that way *wink*). While installing the held-back packages, being kernel updates, it tried to accommodate my Nvidia graphics drivers.

Apparently, this failed. I noticed the error on the console, and immediately downgraded my kernel back to the previous versions. But alas, it did no good. I rebooted and was confronted with a text-only machine. Now, I'm fine with this, since I spend a lot of time on console. (Screen, vim, ssh, and elinks are usually all I need for most rescue operations. Sometimes rtorrent, wget, and curl are handy too.)

After trying to get the packages to jive well together, I gave up trying to juggle the kernel packages and instead focused on the Nvidia drivers. I tried installing the nvidia-current package provided by the Ubuntu repositories. (I was running a later version from a PPA.). This failed, but triggered the same error.

"Skipping (driver build) at this time because kernel-source is missing." Now, I've seen this error before. So I quickly installed the linux-source-`uname -r` package. This did not quite do the trick, and I have been around long enough to know that the source-packages often require the header packages as well. So I install linux-headers-`uname -r` package.

Once installed that, I didn't even have to do anything. The system automatically compiled the missing nvidia drivers and installed them for me. A quick reboot later, and now I am blogging about this simple solution.