Easy Printer Setup on Linux

Setting up a printer is a doddle
People seem to have major issues with printer installation and setup. I don’t know why because it’s easy when you avoid all the guis and go for the cups web interface.

I have a HP Deskjet 845C, it works on every linux distro using the cups browser method.

On most Linux distros, cups is available in the repository. So just do a search for cups or printer and install Cups.

Then get your HP drivers
I always install Foomatic Hpijs.

Next start the cups server
Debian based boxes: sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart
Archlinux and others: sudo /etc/rc.d/cups start

Configure your printer from your web browser
Next, open your web browser and type the address http://localhost:631 which is your print server port. You will be greeted with the cups html printer setup page.

Now you just hit “Add Printer” and go through the motions of selecting your printer and driver etc.

Just click all the links and check out what’s on offer, you can add users to the printer and change the default settings, all much easier than some desktop printer config utilities.

When you are done, print a test page.

richs-lxh

Debian 5.0 Lenny Released as Stable

Well this is great news for Debian users and Dreamlinux users alike, as Dreamlinux is built on the Debian Lenny base.

Debian “lenny” Release Information

Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.0 was
released February 14th, 2009. The release included many major
changes, described in
our press release and
the Release Notes.

To obtain and install Debian GNU/Linux, see
the installation information page and the
Installation Guide. To upgrade from an older
Debian release, see the instructions in the
Release Notes.

Contrary to our wishes, there may be some problems that exist in the
release, even though it is declared stable. We’ve made
a list of the major known problems, and you can always
report other issues to us.

Last but not least, we have a list of people who take
credit for making this release happen.

How to add more Speed Dials in Opera?

Opera – The all in one browser
I use Opera as I find it faster than other browsers and has everything I need all included. Torrent Client, IRC, Emai Client……….. and Speed Dial !

Opera Speed Dial
What is Speed Dial? Well, as soon as you open Opera you have a panel with 9 (3X3) miniature views of your favourite, most visited websites which you choose to have handy.

Standard 9 X 9 Opera Speed Dial

When 9’s not enough
I have become so used to just clicking open a tab, and clicking a speed-dial image, that I just can’t be bothered to use the usual favourites/bookmarks menu. So I thought, ok, everything has files that can be hacked. Checkout the Preferences Editor when you type “about:config” in the browser address bar !

Ok, I thought, where’s the file that lists all those Speed Dial windows?

Opera has to be closed before you edit any files
I closed Opera, opened the terminal and used nano text editor to open the aptly named “speeddial.ini”:

sudo nano .opera/speeddial.ini

It was there, but after reading this opera guide, I had to add the grid arguments at the bottom (to get 16 speed dials):

[Size[Size]]
Rows=4
Columns=4

Saving edits with Nano
I saved this in nano by hitting Ctrl+X to exit, Y for yes to save, and Enter to leave nano and go back to the terminal.

I opened Opera, and het presto!! 16 Speed Dials instead of the default 9.

You can add as many as you want, just depends on the size of your screen. At the moment 16 is perfect for me.

Super fast Debian updates and upgrades with Apt-Spy

Find your fastest Debian repository
apt-spy is a program that tests a series of Debian archive mirrors for bandwith. It writes an /etc/apt/sources.list with the fastest server.
You can select which of the many Debian sites to benchmark by geographical location.

Install Apt-Spy

sudo apt-get install apt-spy

How to use Apt-Spy to benchmark the best mirrors for your distribution

apt-spy -d distribution [ -a area ] [ -c config ] [ -e number ] [ -f file ] [ -i file ] [ -m mirror-list ] [ -o output-file ] [ -p proxy ] [ -s country-list ] [ -t time ] [ -u update-URL ] [ -w file ] [ -n number ] [ -h ] [ -v ] [ update ]

To retrieve the latest list of Debian mirrors you need to run the following command

apt-spy update

To find the fastest mirror in europe for stable, you need to run the following command

apt-spy -d stable -a europe

To find the fastest mirror in US for stable, run the following command

apt-spy -d stable -s us

Here is the list of options available

apt-spy -h

Usage: apt-spy [options]
options:
-d distribution Debian distribution (ie, stable). Required unless updating.
-a area Area to benchmark. (eg, Europe).
-c config Configuration file to use.
-e number Number of servers to benchmark before exiting.
-f file File to grab when benchmarking. (relative to Debian base).
-i file Specify input file. For use with the -w option.
-m mirror-list Mirror list to use, or mirror-list to update when updating.
-o output-file Where to put output.
-p proxy Proxy server to use. In format

The apt-spy man page:
http://www.digipedia.pl/man/apt-spy.8.html

How To Linux Enable DMA for dvdrw cdrw (eg K3b says no DMA)

K3b is known to to do this if you have the DMA bug or not.

You can check by first doing a search for your dvd/cd writer with:(I have put dvdrw)

sudo ls -l /dev/dvdrw

[i]Example:[/i](It tells me that my DVD Writer is /dev/hdd)

richs@lxh:~$ sudo ls -l /dev/dvdrw<br />lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 3 2008-04-26 16:49 /dev/dvdrw -&gt; hdd<br />richs@lxh:~$<br />

[b]
Then seeing if it has DMA enabled for /dev/hdd:[/b]

sudo hdparm -d /dev/hdd

[b]
And I get this result:[/b]

richs@lxh:~$ sudo hdparm -d /dev/hdd<br /><br />/dev/hdd:<br /> using_dma     =  1 (on)

[b]If yours says DMA is off:[/b]

/dev/hdd:<br />using_dma = 0 (off)

[b]
Turn it on with:[/b]

sudo hdparm -d 1 /dev/hdd

and it should look like this:

/dev/hdd:<br />setting using_dma to 1 (on)<br />using_dma = 1 (on)

How to Anonymous Browsing with Tor, Firefox Plugin and Privoxy

# Privoxy listens on TCP port 8118 bound only to localhost.
# Tor SOCKS proxy listens on TCP port 9050 (directory) bound only to localhost. This proxy anonymizes connections to servers in Internet by routing them over a randomized route trough to Tor network.
Debian packages have been uploaded to the set of official unstable (sid) and testing (etch) Debian packages.
If you are running Debian stable (sarge) or oldstable (woody), you must first add some lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list file.

If you run etch (testing) you may want to add a sources.list entry too. That way you always get the latest version of Tor, even when it has not propagated to testing yet.
Do not use the packages in ubuntu’s universe.
They are not maintained and most likely old and therefore miss out on stability and possibly security fixes.
For tor’s stable version (for amd64,i386 and sparc):

deb http://mirror.noreply.org/pub/tor main
deb-src http://mirror.noreply.org/pub/tor main
where should be replaced with either woody, sarge, etch, or sid, or – if you are using ubuntu – hoary, breezy, or dapper.

For instance if you are running etch you would add:
deb http://mirror.noreply.org/pub/tor etch main
deb-src http://mirror.noreply.org/pub/tor etch main

To install the packages, issue the following commands:
$ su
password
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install tor
Verifying signatures with apt 0.6.x
If you are using apt version 0.6 or later you may want to add weasel’s key to your apt-keyring, so it can verify the sources:
$ gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv 94C09C7F
$ gpg --fingerprint 94C09C7F
should show you:
pub 1024D/94C09C7F 1999-11-10
Key fingerprint = 5B00 C96D 5D54 AEE1 206B AF84 DE7A AF6E 94C0 9C7F
uid [ultimate] Peter Palfrader
[...]
Then issue
$ gpg --export 94C09C7F | sudo apt-key add -
to add the key to apt’s keyring.
Now let’s get Privoxy
$ su
password
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get install privoxy
Once you’ve installed Privoxy (either from package or from source), you will need to configure Privoxy to use Tor. Open Privoxy’s “config” file (look in /etc/privoxy/ or /usr/local/etc/) and add the line
forward-socks4a / localhost:9050 .
to the top of the config file. Don’t forget to add the dot at the end.
Privoxy keeps a log file of everything passed through it. In order to stop this you will need to comment out three lines by inserting a # before the line. The three lines are:

logfile logfile
and the line
jarfile jarfile
and (on some systems) the line
debug 1 # show each GET/POST/CONNECT request
You’ll need to restart Privoxy for the changes to take effect. Firefox
For Firefox (recommended), simply install the Torbutton plugin, restart your Firefox, and you’re all set:

How to Speed Up Internet: Firefox, Google Earth (No IpV6)

This works great for broadband connections, especially with older routers.

[b]Disable IpV6[/b]
The idea is basically that you disable IpV6 connections. At the moment most connections use IpV4 but this will change in the future so this “fix/ workaround” is fine at the present. We have IpV6 enabled as well as IpV4 but they conflict causing slowdown due to IpV6 trying to get a connection first.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address#IP_version_4
[b]
Speedup Firefox only[/b]

In the [b]firefox[/b] address bar type: [b]about:config[/b], then change

network.dns disableIPv6: True

(just double-click)
[b]
Completely Disable IpV6[/b]

[b]1. Open your Gnome Terminal/ KDE Konsole and type[/b]
For Gnome

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

For Xfce

gksudo mousepad /etc/modprobe.d/aliases

[b]
2. Mousepad or Gedit will open and show you this file[/b]
(scroll down to see what to copy and paste)
[quote]# These are the standard aliases for devices and kernel drivers.
# This file does not need to be modified.
#
# Please file a bug against module-init-tools if a package needs a entry
# in this file.# network protocols ################################################## ########
alias net-pf-1 unix
alias net-pf-2 ipv4
alias net-pf-3 ax25
alias net-pf-4 ipx
alias net-pf-5 appletalk
alias net-pf-6 netrom
alias net-pf-7 bridge
alias net-pf-8 atm
alias net-pf-9 x25
[b]# [color=red]1, 2, 3 new lines[/color][/b]
[i]alias net-pf-10 ipv6 off
alias net-pf-10 off add these three lines here.
alias ipv6 off [/i]
[b]#[/b][i]alias net-pf-10 ipv6 [color=red]=========comment (put #) before this line[/color][/i]
alias net-pf-11 rose
alias net-pf-12 decnet
# 13 NETBEUI
alias net-pf-15 af_key
alias net-pf-16 af_netlink
alias net-pf-17 af_packet
[/quote]
[b]3. Now “Save” and “Reboot”[/b]

[b]Also:[/b]
There’s another way too: instead of changing the aliases file, create a file named bad_list in /etc/modprobe.d containing this line:

alias net-pf-10 off

This method will work even if /etc/modprobe.d/aliases gets replaced at some update.

I did this and had a noticeable increase in speed 😀

How to List and Print a Backup Copy of your Drivers

How do you see all the drivers you have installed on a LInux system?
There is a website called kmuto.jp that will translate the output of a command, and tell you which drivers you have installed on your Debian/Debian-Based box.

All you have to do is type this command in your terminal:
lspci -n

You will get something like this:

richs@DL:~$ lspci -n
00:00.0 0600: 1106:3189 (rev 80)
00:01.0 0604: 1106:b198
00:0f.0 0104: 1106:3149 (rev 80)
00:0f.1 0101: 1106:0571 (rev 06)
00:10.0 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 81)
00:10.1 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 81)
00:10.2 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 81)
00:10.3 0c03: 1106:3038 (rev 81)
00:10.4 0c03: 1106:3104 (rev 86)
00:11.0 0601: 1106:3227
00:11.5 0401: 1106:3059 (rev 60)
00:11.6 0780: 1106:3068 (rev 80)
00:12.0 0200: 1106:3065 (rev 78)
01:00.0 0300: 10de:0322 (rev a1)
richs@DL:~$

Now go to the website and copy and paste the output into their paste-box and click “Check”
HERE

You will be given the details of what drivers you are using. Cool huh?

If you are using Firefox/Iceweasel, click your “File” button at the top left and choose “Print Preview”, if it all looks good, print out the details for safe keeping.

How to Automatic Wireless Network Connection At Boot

This howto relies on the fact that your card is recognized and working.
[b]No network auto-connection at boot[/b]
If you configure your network and when you reboot, the operation has to be repeated, it’s because your network configuration data hasn’t been/isn’t being stored.

I have already shown how to configure a network manually via the command line, now you need to know where to store the data so that everything connects automatically at boot.

[b]Nano text editor:[/b]
*note* I use the text editor “Nano” it edits text inside the terminal with no need to open an external GUI application like Gedit, Kate or Mousepad. You can use what you prefer, but I will add the commands for Nano as well.
[b]
/etc/rc.local[/b]
The rc.local file is a script which will run at boot and issue any commands that you add. In this case, we are going to issue the network config commands and connect.
[b]
Howto:[/b]
1. Open your terminal to edit the “rc.local” file.

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

[b]It will be empty apart from a description:[/b]

#!/bin/sh -e<br />#<br /># rc.local<br />#<br /># This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.<br /># Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other<br /># value on error.<br />#<br /># In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution<br /># bits.<br />#<br /># By default this script does nothing.<br /><br />exit 0<br /><br />

You need to add your commands between the last [b]#[/b] and the [b]exit 0[/b] code:

I connect through a wireless network, with a 13 digit “ascii” wep key, I need the “s:” before my key to denote ascii. You may only need to type your key if it is a 64/128bit wep key.

[b]Mine looks like this:[/b]

#!/bin/sh -e<br />#<br /># rc.local<br />#<br /># This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.<br /># Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other<br /># value on error.<br />#<br /># In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution<br /># bits.<br />#<br /># By default this script does nothing.<br />sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid WLAN_XX<br />sudo iwconfig wlan0 mode managed<br />sudo iwconfig wlan0 key s:xxxxxxxxxxxxx<br />sudo /etc/init.d/networking start<br /><br />exit 0<br />

Now when you reboot, this script will run and connect your network card.

How to Zip/Unzip Tar/Untar any zip/tar/tar.gz

[b]Get help from the terminal[/b]
‘zip’ or ‘unzip’
tar –help
(see above)
(see above)
[b]
List the file’s contents[/b]
unzip -l file.zip
tar -tvf file.tar
tar -ztvf file.tar.gz
tar -ztvf file.tgz

[b]Extract the file’s contents[/b]
unzip -aq file.zip
tar -xf file.tar
tar -zxf file.tar.gz
tar -zxf file.tgz

[b]Create a zip/tar file[/b]
zip -9rq file.zip dir/
tar -cf file.tar dir/
tar -zcf file.tar.gz dir/
tar -zcf

Howto Hide or Show Individual Xfce Desktop Icons

You can choose to hide or show ALL icons with the Xfce desktop settings, but what about if you want to select individual icons?

Like this:

gksudo mousepad ~/.config/xfce4/desktop/xfdesktoprc

copy and paste->

[file-icons]
show-filesystem=false
show-home=false
show-trash=false
show-removable=true

Just put true or false for the icons you want shown or hidden.

Save and Restart Xfce Desktop with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to activate.

Linux Commands for Beginners – Cheat Sheet

Hello Linux Beginners:
If you have just started with Linux, you will find that sooner or later you will have to copy and paste commands into the terminal/console. Don’t be afraid, it’s easy…… and fun.

For example, type sudo apt-get moo in your terminal and hit “enter” 🙂

Here are a few of the more common commands and what they do:

pwd : show path of present working dir
ls : list contents of pwd
cd : change to a directory
rm : to delete files, to delete dir use the -r flag with rm
nano : text editor to open file
su : + passord (switch user) become root
sudo : execute a command with temporary root privileges
chmod : change privileges for a file, value 777 specifies r,w,x for root,group and others
ps : list current processes
killall : stop processes that are not responding
killall -9 : stop processes that won’t stop with killall
shutdown : shutdown system eg. sudo shutdown -h now
reboot : reboot system eg. sudo reboot
init : switch between run levels, 5 is the default run level for multi-user, networking and gui
/etc/init.d/gdm stop : to stop the gnome desktop manager and enter shell mode
/etc/init.d/kdm stop : to stop kde desktop manager
startx : start the xserver after you have booted to console
ifconfig : configure network adapter eg. sudo ifconfig eth0
iwconfig : configure a wireless card eg. sudo iwconfig wlan0
All services are in the /etc/init.d directory eg sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
mount : to mount hard drives, cds
mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom /media/new : will mount a cd in the new folder in media dir
mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/sda1 /mnt/c : will mount ntfs partition 1 in c folder in mnt dir
umount : to unmount a mounted drive, if device busy error comes use -l option for lazy unmount
To automount a partition on boot : add the mount entry to fstab file in /etc directory
cp : copy
mv : move
man : this is the most useful command, typing man command will give you the manual pages for that command which describe the command in detail and how to use it
ctrl+alt+(F1-F6) : enters any of the six available terminals
ctrl+alt+F7 : switch back to gui mode from the terminal
sudo dpkg -i : to install a Debian .deb package

To manually compile a binary executable with a make file, execute the following sequentially

./configure
make
sudo make install

More to come later 😉

Webkit and Midori Browser on Debian

Midori is a very nice browser 8)
I am finding it snappy and fresh compared to FF. Although you do notice that it
isn’t quite finished,especially when posting on forums.

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_(browser)
[quote][b]Features[/b]

* Full integration with GTK+ 2.
* Fast rendering with WebKit.
* Tabs, windows and session management.
* Flexibly configurable Web Search.
* User scripts and user styles support.
* Straightforward bookmark management.
* Customizable and extensible interface.
* Extensions written in C.
* Custom context menu actions.

Extension modules can be written in C, bindings to Lua and/or Python are planned
for the future. Midori passes the Acid2 test, and utilizing a recent WebKit build it
passes the Acid3 test as well.[/quote]

I compiled Webkit then installed Midori nightly build.

Get the last webkit

1. Go to http://webkit.org/
2. Download the last nightly archive for Linux ( I got r40102)
3. Unzip the archive
4. Open a Terminal and go in the new folder

[b]Installation of packages needed[/b]

For a webkit build you need to install :

sudo apt-get install autoconf automake libtool bison flex gperf libicu-dev
libxslt-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libsqlite3-dev libjpeg62-dev libpng12-dev
libglibmm-2.4-dev libgtk2.0-dev build-essential

Webkit compilation
Compilation preparation :

./autogen.sh

[b]And :[/b]

./configure –enable-svg-experimental

Now go and make a coffee, or have a beer, or whatever you think may give
you pleasure for around 10 minutes, while it’s compiling. My proc was at 100%
all the way through. (Yes, I did sit there and watch it. How Geeky is that? :-\ )

[b]Launch compilation with :[/b]

make

[b]Installation with :[/b]

sudo make install

Now lets get the Midori browser

[b]We need git to download Midori sources :[/b]

sudo apt-get install git-core curl

[b]We need some packages :[/b]

sudo apt-get install libsoup2.4-1 cdbs debhelper fdupes gettext html2text
intltool intltool-debian libsexy-dev po-debconf

[b]Download of Midori sources :[/b]

git clone http://software.twotoasts.de/media/midori.git

[b]Go in the directory :[/b]

cd midori

Now install using a different way that you are used to,
Some guides say the usual ./configure or autogen.sh, but no. It’s easier using the waf file.

./waf configure
./waf build
sudo ./waf install

You’ll probably get an error message at the end about the gtk-icon-cache, so did I,
but Midori still works. I did a few searches to try and find out what exactly you need to
be able to run this command:

gtk-update-icon-cache

All it lead me to was:
http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk/stable/gtk-update-icon-cache.html

Maybe somebody else could shed some light on it.

Anyway, I have it all installed and running nicely on my Debian Lenny Xfce4 desktop,
just in case any of you want a taste of the latest greatest browser that uses Webkit.

Of course, screenie:

Digg It! HERE
Discuss It HERE
If you don’t want to sign up to the forum, there is a guest board for comments as well.

Linux Easy Printer Setup

Setting up a printer is a doddle
People seem to have major issues with printer installation and setup. I don’t know why because it’s easy when you avoid all the guis and go for the cups web interface.

I have a HP Deskjet 845C, it works on every linux distro using the cups browser method.

On most Linux distros, cups is available in the repository. So just do a search for cups or printer and install Cups.

Then get your HP drivers
I always install Foomatic Hpijs.

Next start the cups server
Debian based boxes: sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart
Archlinux and others: sudo /etc/rc.d/cups start

Configure your printer from your web browser
Next, open your web browser and type the address http://localhost:631 which is your print server port. You will be greeted with the cups html printer setup page.

Now you just hit “Add Printer” and go through the motions of selecting your printer and driver etc.

Just click all the links and check out what’s on offer, you can add users to the printer and change the default settings, all much easier than some desktop printer config utilities.

When you are done, print a test page.

richs-lxh

Valentines Day – Debian Lenny 5.0 Released

Excellent news, after the long wait, Debian Lenny finally goes stable on the 14th February.

http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2009/02/msg00000.html

The weekend of February 14th is going to be our tentative target for
release. We’ve checked with all the involved teams (which are many!),
and the date works for all of them.

Howto Install and use custom TTF fonts on Linux

Everybody likes and sometimes need a variety of fonts. I use them for my Conky System Monitor to show charts and logos for Disk Space and Wireless Signal Strength.
Here is the easy straight-forward way to install fonts, and update the font cache so that you can start using them.

To use custom fonts:
If you have a .ttf file (lets call it your_font.ttf) that you have downloaded and want to install it as an available font you should follow these steps:

1. Create somewhere to keep your .ttf fonts:

sudo mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype/custom

2. Copy your font there:

sudo cp your_font.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/custom
(If you prefer to use your file browser to do this, just open it as root and navigate to the directory and copy and paste the fonts there)
**Remember that you never open graphical applications as root, nor with a straight “sudo”, you should always use Graphical Sudo:**

Gnome – gksudo nautilus
Xfce – gksudo thunar
Kde – kdesu konqueror
3. Run the following command to rebuild your font cache:

sudo fc-cache -f -v

Some Free Font Resources:

• http://www.fonts4free.net
• http://www.fontspace.com
• http://www.dafont.com

Are You A geek?

Take the Geek Test!!

Overall, you scored as follows:

12% scored higher (more computer geeky),
1% scored the same, and 
87% scored lower (less geeky).

Compared to those in the same age group as you:

19% scored higher (more computer geeky),
1% scored the same, and 
80% scored lower (less geeky).

What does this mean? Your computer geekiness is:

High-Level Computer Geek. All of those below you are envious of you! (…Well perhaps not the cool people)

For your hard work, here is the promised image:

How to: Debian stop MTA start up at boot and other services

I always get this with wireless and MTA when booting Debian due to the way I configure my network card.

My Wireless card config is setup in /etc/network/interfaces, nameservers in /etc/resolv.conf, but I use /etc/rc.local to issue my ESSID, WEP pass and restart the network which means that MTA (Mail Transfer Agent, exim4 to be precise) tries to startup at boot but can’t as there isn’t a wireless network connection yet.

So how do I disable MTA at boot, or any service for that matter?
It’s easy, all those services that start at boot are in the /etc/rc2.d directory and only have to be renamed using the mv command.

1. cd to /etc/rc2.d
2. issue the mv Snameofservice Knameofservice

Here is an example from my Debian terminal:

cd /etc/rc2.d
ls

README S20cups S20openbsd-inetd S89atd
S05loadcpufreq S20exim4 S20policycoreutils S89cron
S10sysklogd S20hotkey-setup S20rsync S99rc.local
S11klogd S20netapplet S20wicd S99rmnologin
S12acpid S20nfs-common S24avahi-daemon S99stop-bootlogd
S12dbus S20nvidia-glx S30gdm
S19cpufrequtils S20nvidia-kernel S89anacron

sudo mv S20exim4 K20exim4
ls

K20exim4 S19cpufrequtils S20openbsd-inetd S89atd
README S20cups S20policycoreutils S89cron
S05loadcpufreq S20hotkey-setup S20rsync S99rc.local
S10sysklogd S20netapplet S20wicd S99rmnologin
S11klogd S20nfs-common S24avahi-daemon S99stop-bootlogd
S12acpid S20nvidia-glx S30gdm
S12dbus S20nvidia-kernel S89anacron

That’s it, painless, took 2 seconds and will knock about a minute off the boot-time on a box which has no network at boot.

Midori Browser and Webkit on Debian

Midori is a very nice browser  
I am finding it snappy and fresh compared to FF. Although you do notice that it
isn’t quite finished,especially when posting on forums. 

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midori_(browser)
Features

  * Full integration with GTK+ 2.
  * Fast rendering with WebKit.
  * Tabs, windows and session management.
  * Flexibly configurable Web Search.
  * User scripts and user styles support.
  * Straightforward bookmark management.
  * Customizable and extensible interface.
  * Extensions written in C.
  * Custom context menu actions.

Extension modules can be written in C, bindings to Lua and/or Python are planned 
for the future. Midori passes the Acid2 test, and utilizing a recent WebKit build it 
passes the Acid3 test as well.

I compiled Webkit then installed Midori nightly build.

Get the latest webkit

  1. Go to http://webkit.org/
  2. Download the last nightly archive for Linux ( I got r40102)
  3. Unzip the archive
  4. Open a Terminal and go in the new folder

Installation of packages needed

For a webkit build you need to install :
sudo apt-get install autoconf automake libtool bison flex gperf libicu-dev 
libxslt-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libsqlite3-dev libjpeg62-dev libpng12-dev 
libglibmm-2.4-dev libgtk2.0-dev build-essential

Webkit compilation
Compilation preparation :
./autogen.sh
And :
./configure –enable-svg-experimental

Now go and make a coffee, or have a beer, or whatever you think may give 
you pleasure for around 10 minutes, while it’s compiling. My proc was at 100% 
all the way through. (Yes, I did sit there and watch it. How Geeky is that? :-\ )

Launch compilation with :
make

Installation with :
sudo make install

Now lets get the Midori browser

We need git to download Midori sources :
sudo apt-get install git-core curl

We need some packages :
sudo apt-get install libsoup2.4-1 cdbs debhelper fdupes gettext html2text 
intltool intltool-debian libsexy-dev po-debconf

Download of Midori sources :
git clone http://software.twotoasts.de/media/midori.git

Go in the directory :
cd midori

Now install using a different way that you are used to, 
Some guides say the usual ./configure or autogen.sh, but no. It’s easier using the waf file.
./waf configure
./waf build
sudo ./waf install

You’ll probably get an error message at the end about the gtk-icon-cache, so did I, 
but Midori still works. I did a few searches to try and find out what exactly you need to
 be able to run this command:
gtk-update-icon-cache

All it lead me to was:
http://library.gnome.org/devel/gtk/stable/gtk-update-icon-cache.html

Maybe somebody else could shed some light on it.

Anyway, I have it all installed and running nicely on my Debian Lenny Xfce4 desktop,
 just in case any of you want a taste of the latest greatest browser that uses Webkit.

Of course, screenie: