Linux~ized

Migration time!

2009-04-27T21:00:00.003+03:00

I've successfully migrated to my private domain, http://www.linuxized.com =]

The new site is running on Wordpress, we'll see how that'll turn out soon enough!

Thanks for reading, see you all there!

Portage: emerge all packages depending on a live ebuild you've just updated

2009-01-29T22:24:00.003+02:00

So... you've re-emerged your favorite live package and now all apps depending on it are failing!

This relatively simple command finds all packages depending on a specific package (in this case, everything depending on qt-gui) and re-emerges them.

emerge -av1 `equery depends qt-gui | grep -v x11-libs | cut -d" " -f1 | sed "s/^/=/"`

-1 means it won't write every package in the world file ( if you skip this argument, all the re-emerged packages will be recorded as manually emerged - you don't want that ).

:)

Gentoo: How-to emerge the latest beta nvidia driver with portage and layman

2008-12-15T19:32:00.008+02:00

UPDATE: this guide is now obsolete, since 180.22 is in ~arch. however new drivers come and go every day so maybe it'll be useful for someone in the future!

The nvidia-drivers package in gentoo ~arch lags behind the latest official beta from nVidia.

In this post I'll show you how to install the latest nvidia driver through Gentoo's overlays. Most of the stuff you'll do here is a one-time operation, meaning you won't have to do it again the next time an update rolls out.

To begin, we need to be able to add overlays. Gentoo has "layman" for this job.

emerge -av layman

make sure git and subversion USE flags are enabled

when that's done, you'll need a list with all the available overlays:

layman -L

now its time to add an overlay. the commands for adding/deleting overlays are layman -a overlay and layman -d overlay

There are currently two overlays with the latest nvidia-driver ebuilds available, berkano and voyageur.

We'll randomly go with berkano now but you can choose whichever you want. I have them both since they provide other stuff too.

Add the overlay:

layman -a berkano

when its done, we need to add a line in make.conf to let portage know we've activated layman:

echo "source /usr/local/portage/layman/make.conf" >> /etc/make.conf

NOTE: depending on the configuration, your layman installation might be in /usr/portage/local/layman/ - adjust this guide as needed :)

If you're inserting the line manually, make sure its the last line in the file!

If we are running on stable, portage will ignore the new nvidia-drivers by default. We simply need to add some lines to unmask them:

echo "x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers" >> /etc/portage/package.unmask
echo "x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers **" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

** BEWARE ** If you have switched /etc/portage/package.* to a directory structure the above commands will destroy everything, so take care and adjust them if necessary (most users don't have to worry here)

Now we are ready to install or update to the new nvidia-drivers

emerge -av nvidia-drivers

and portage takes care of the rest:

wired@cloud ~ $ sudo emerge -av nvidia-drivers

These are the packages that would be merged, in order:

Calculating dependencies... done!
[ebuild R ] x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers-180.16 USE="acpi custom-cflags gtk (multilib)" 0 kB [1]

Total: 1 package (1 reinstall), Size of downloads: 0 kB
Portage tree and overlays:
[0] /usr/portage
[1] /usr/local/portage/layman/voyageur

Would you like to merge these packages? [Yes/No]

Please note that the overlays contain other stuff that are not masked if you are running ~arch (testing) and will be updated if you emerge world. You'll need to mask everything you may want to avoid (i.e. mplayer-9999);

To mask mplayer-9999 (adjust the same command for any package):

echo ">=media-video/mplayer-9999" >> /etc/portage/package.mask

Thats it! You're now running the latest and greatest nvidia-driver.
Here's my xorg.conf for reference. I don't use aiglx, desktop effects or compiz, but these settings make 2D blazingly fast for me - you may have to experiment with them to find what works best for you - 180.16 is really a good driver release =)

There's one thing left though: updating!

Overlays need to be synced like the main portage tree. To sync all overlays, simply run

layman -S

preferably alongside emerge --sync. after this is done,

emerge -avDuN world

will include overlay updates (yeah, nvidia updates too ;))

Enjoy!

[UPDATED] Xorg: How to make your synaptics touchpad work the way its supposed to...

2008-11-11T16:10:00.010+02:00

UPDATE: it seems that the latest version of synaptics doesn't tap-click with my current settings... I had to add the "TapButton1" option to make it work again. Ive made it bold :)

If you are looking for a way to make your stupid touchpad work correctly under xorg, including the side/scroller, use the following config in xorg.conf:

* NOTE: the following works nicely on a Dell XPS m1530. It might require some tweaking to work with your laptop's touchpad.

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
  Driver "synaptics"
  Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
  Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
  Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
  Option "LeftEdge" "120"
  Option "RightEdge" "830"
  Option "TopEdge" "120"
  Option "BottomEdge" "650"
  Option "FingerLow" "14"
  Option "FingerHigh" "15"
  Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
  Option "MaxTapMove" "110"
  Option "ClickTime" "0"
  Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "75"
  Option "VertScrollDelta" "10"
  Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
  Option "MinSpeed" "0.45"
  Option "MaxSpeed" "1.50"
  Option "AccelFactor" "0.040"
  Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "200"
  Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "200"
  Option "UpDownScrolling" "1"
  Option "CornerCoasting" "true"
  Option "CoastingSpeed" "2"
  Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "false"
  Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "false"
  Option "CircularScrolling" "0"
  Option "SHMConfig" "true"
  Option "TapButton1" "1" # Needed for tap-clicking
EndSection

Don't forget to add it in your layout section:

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier "X.Org Configured"
  Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
  InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
  InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad" "AlwaysCore"
  InputDevice "USB Mouse" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

Gentoo: How-to unmerge KDE 3 packages if their KDE 4 versions exist

2008-10-15T11:01:00.003+03:00

So you've merged KDE 4 versions of your favorite packages and want to remove the 3.5 versions...

Make sure you have installed portage-utils and run the following:

emerge -avC `qlist -C -I -D -v kde | grep 3.5 | sed 's/^/=/g'`

qlist finds the duplicates and lists them, then we use grep to keep only the 3.5 versions, which we then pass to emerge (with = in front of each one) to unmerge :)

you can also remove all of kde 3.5 with a similar command:

emerge -avC `qlist -C -I -v kde | grep 3.5 | sed 's/^/=/g'`

:)

Linux, EVE Online, Premium Content and Wine :)

2008-10-12T23:29:00.001+03:00

Eve is a great game. Unfortunately, the client provided by CCP for linux doesn't include the new and much improved graphics.

Wine handles the game well though, allowing you to play with the Premium Content enabled :D

Steps to make it work:

Install wine

Run winecfg once, select Windows XP under "windows version"

Edit the file ~/.wine/user.reg and add the following lines:

[Software\\Wine\\Direct3D] 1223841454
"DirectDrawRenderer"="opengl"
"OffscreenRenderingMode"="fbo"
"PixelShaderMode"="enabled"
"VertexShaderMode"="hardware"

[Software\\Wine\\DllOverrides] 1223842291
"d3dx9_35"="native"
"d3dx9_36"="native"

Download the following two files and copy them to
~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/

d3dx9_35.dll
( http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?d3dx9_35 )
d3dx9_36.dll
( http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?d3dx9_36 )

cp d3dx9_35.dll ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/
cp d3dx9_36.dll ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/

Download the Arial font and copy it to ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/Fonts/

download http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?groupname=corefonts&filename=arial32.exe&use_mirror=ovh

Then extract it (u need cabextract)
cabextract arial.exe

and copy fonts
cp *TTF ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/Fonts/

Now you're ready to install/copy EVE.

To install, get the client and run "wine client.exe"
To copy, just put the CCP/EVE folder somewhere on your linux filesystem.

cp -R /mnt/win/Games/CCP /opt/games/

Finally, to run EVE, switch to the installed/copied folder
cd /opt/games/CCP/EVE/

and type
wine eve.exe

Enjoy :)

Gentoo: Updating all your 9999 packages

2008-10-10T10:42:00.000+03:00

I needed a way to keep my kde-svn up-to-date.

Pretty simple actually:
emerge -av `eix -Jc | grep 9999 | cut -d" " -f2 | tr "\n" " "`

:)

Linux, Gentoo and Awesome Fonts

2008-07-21T09:42:00.002+03:00

With Gentoo I finally have a linux setup that beats Windows in font display!

I just enabled the "bindist" USE flag and activated anti-aliasing by writing some options in /etc/fonts/local.conf and ~/.fonts.conf

this guide was really useful: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts

The result?

=)

Gentoo Chronicles

2008-07-21T09:36:00.004+03:00

I've been running Gentoo for the last 3 weeks :)

Its actually pretty cool. You get to know the complete in-and-outs of your system. Im definately more aware of each service running on my system now that I've configured each and every one I've activated. USE flags are also pretty cool since you get to decide what you want down to the tinny little detail.

You do need a good system to compile the packages quickly though. Don't try it on old machines!

Debian is still my favorite distro since everything works (tm) and I still use it on my MythTV box and my Workstation @ work, but gentoo is fun to fiddle with on my personal laptop :)

UPDATE:
Gentoo > *
:D

Debian 64bit, Iceweasel and Flash Plugin

2008-03-28T15:00:00.003+02:00

Alrighty... I just installed Debian AMD64 on my new dell...

I was a bit worried about Iceweasel not working with flash properly, since everyone says you have to do this and do that to make it work.

I just ran

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

and everything worked out by itself!

So, no more hassle with the flash plugin in 64bit, debian takes care of it for ya! ;)

amsn 0.97b package with font anti-aliasing for debian

2007-10-12T01:11:00.000+03:00

Debian added Tcl/Tk 8.5 in their unstable repos recently.

I took advantage of that and built a Tcl/Tk 8.5 version of the latest svn version of amsn (0.97b).

Download it and install it by typing the following commands:

sudo apt-get install tcl8.5 tk8.5
sudo dpkg -i amsn_0.97b_tcltk_8.5.deb

now you can try launching amsn

amsn &

finally, anti-aliased fonts ;)

How-to: Debian, ATI, XGL + Compiz Fusion/Beryl

2007-08-19T06:18:00.000+03:00

&lt;br>After a LOT of research, I am proud to present the Debian, ATI, XGL + Compiz Fusion/Beryl How-To!

Current version: 1.1

1.1 changes:
- Added Fusion Icon in Compiz. Now you can easily manage Compiz Fusion with the help of a tray icon :)

What's needed:
- Debian Unstable (sid): Etch could work too, but I haven't tried it.
- KDE or Gnome Desktop w/ GDM (KDM won't cut it, its so slow you need a minute to login...)
- ATI Graphics card supported by the (in)famous fglrx driver (tested on Radeon Mobility 9600)
- Basic shell knowledge

1. Update your system and get GDM if you don't have it

Either use your favorite package management tool (Adept/Synaptic) or the following commands to make sure you have the latest packages.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Make sure you're running the 2.6.22 kernel. If you aren't, get the new one:

// AMD
sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6-k7

// INTEL
sudo apt-get install linux-image-2.6-686

Now install GDM

sudo apt-get install gdm

when asked, select gdm as your default login manager (don't worry, you can login to kde with gdm)

Note: I am using sudo to run commands as root. If you don't like it, become root and run the same commands without sudo!

2. Add some new repositories

Some stuff needed for this aren't included in Debian. Open the file /etc/apt/sources.list with your favorite text editor (as root) and add the lines listed below:

deb http://cairographics.org/packages/debian/ unstable/
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/osrdebian/ unstable compiz-fusion-git
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/3v1deb/ debian-unstable beryl-svn

save and close the file

Now update your package lists by typing

sudo apt-get update

===
Note: to edit the file from a terminal type

sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list

to edit the file with a Graphical Text Editor type

sudo kwrite /etc/apt/sources.list
OR
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
===

3. Get the xserver-xgl package from ubuntu feisty

You're probably wondering why... Simple, it works! I've tried other packages without any luck but this one worked :)

Get the file from this link:
Ubuntu xserver-xgl mirrors

4. Download and install the latest and greatest (yeah right...) ATI driver.

You can download the file from this link:
ATI Linux Driver

You're gonna need some extra tools to finish the installation, its a good idea to install them now by typing:

sudo apt-get install module-assistant debhelper
sudo m-a prepare (say yes to all)

When everything is done, you'll have to prepare the ATI driver for installation (make sure your shell is at the same directory where the ATI driver is located)

chmod +x ati-driver-installer-8.40.4-x86.x86_64.run
sudo ./ati-driver-installer-8.40.4-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Debian/unstable
sudo dpkg -i fglrx*

This phase may bring up some errors but you can ignore them for now. Next is the kernel module of the driver:

sudo m-a a-i fglrx
sudo apt-get -f install

Right now you should be ready to switch to the latest fglrx driver. Patch your xorg.conf by typing:

sudo aticonfig --initial --overlay-type=Xv

then edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf) and make sure that you have the following sections looking like mine (if a section is missing, add it!):

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "0"
Option "RENDER" "Enable"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
Load "GLcore"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Just to make sure, you can reboot your computer now and type the following command in a console after your Desktop has loaded:

fglrxinfo

If you get something similar to this, you're good to go!

display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600/9700 Series
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (2.0.6747 (8.40.4))

5. Installing XGL

Type the following commands in a console (you need to be where the xgl package currently is)

sudo apt-get install libglitz-glx1 libglitz1
sudo dpkg -i xserver-xgl_7.2.0.git.20070224-0ubuntu3_i386.deb
sudo apt-get -f install

6. Installing Compiz Fusion and/or Beryl

Run the following commands:

// Compiz Fusion
sudo apt-get install compiz compiz-fusion-plugins-main compiz-fusion-plugins-extra compiz-fusion-plugins-unsupported compizconfig-settings-manager fusion-icon

If you're running KDE get this package as well:
sudo apt-get install compiz-kde

// Beryl
sudo apt-get install beryl

7. Installing Window Decorators

Run the following commands:

// KDE (beryl only)
sudo apt-get install aquamarine

// Gnome (beryl only)
sudo apt-get install heliodor

// Emerald (optional)
sudo apt-get install emerald emerald-themes

8. Fix some important paths to enable XGL acceleration

XGL expects to find dri modules in the old dri directory, so we have to create a link to the new one

sudo mkdir -p /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/dri /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri

9. Create a wrapper for the fusion-icon app (COMPIZ ONLY)

Run the following command (or edit /usr/bin/compiz-manager with your favorite text editor as root):

sudo vi /usr/bin/compiz-manager

type in the following:
#!/bin/bash
LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/fglrx/diversions/libGL.so.1.2 /usr/bin/fusion-icon $@

then make the file an executable:

sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/compiz-manager

10. Alter GDM configuration to start with XGL (also: KDM instructions for the brave)

IMPORTANT NOTE: kdm is painfully slow (unusuable) under XGL, especially in high resolutions. I recommend running GDM even if you're using a KDE desktop :)

// GDM
edit the file /etc/gdm/gdm.conf

sudo vi /etc/gdm/gdm.conf

add the following under [servers]:

0=Xgl

add the following lines at the end of the file

[server-Xgl]
name=Xgl
command=/usr/X11R6/bin/Xgl -fullscreen -ac -accel glx:pbuffer -accel xv:fbo -fp /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/
flexible=true

// KDM
If you must use KDM, here's how (NOT recommended):

Edit /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc

sudo vi /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc

Find the following line:

ServerCmd=/usr/bin/X -br

and make it look like this one:

ServerCmd=/usr/X11R6/bin/Xgl -fullscreen -ac -accel glx:pbuffer -accel xv:fbo -fp /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/

11.a. GNOME ONLY

You should be ready to go.

Reboot your computer (or restart your login manager) and login to your Desktop.

If you think everything's a bit too slow, don't worry! Its because you haven't launched Compiz/Beryl yet.

Launch a terminal and type the following command to get Compiz Fusion up and running (as a normal user):

compiz-manager

if nothing happens, you'll have to activate compiz. Do that by right-clicking on the new blue cube in your system tray and selecting Select Window Manager -> Compiz

To start beryl type:

beryl-manager

(you might need to right click on the diamond @ your system tray and select Beryl from the window manager submenu before beryl actually takes over)

Thats it! If all went well, you should be looking at your newly XGL accelerated desktop.

Try moving a window around to confirm it and check Compiz/Beryl options for more features!

Check out point 12 on how to make Compiz/Beryl autostart :)

11.b. KDE

IMPORTANT: If you're running KDE, DONT REBOOT. KDE is extremely slow without compiz/beryl loaded. So slow, it'll take you a minute to open up a console! Follow the instructions at point 12, then restart! KDE will take a while to load, but then everything should run smoothly!

12. Autostart Compiz/Beryl

If everything went well, you'll probably want to autostart compiz/beryl each time you login:

// KDE (if you have the session restore feature of kde enabled, you dont have to do this)
edit the file ~/.kde/Autostart/xglmanager (new file, normal user) and add the following lines in it:

#!/bin/bash
compiz-manager &

or these lines for beryl:

#!/bin/bash
beryl-manager &

then make the file an executable

chmod +x ~/.kde/Autostart/xglmanager

// GNOME
Go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions
Click New
Type in Compiz or Beryl in the name field
and compiz-manager or beryl-manager in the command field
click OK and you're done!

=== DONE! ===

&lt;br>I hope this How-To helps all you guys out there who love Debian and are using an ATI card :)
Comments/Corrections most welcome.

Have fun with Compiz/Beryl!