Configuring GTK/Gnome toolbar icon sizes and labels (Ubuntu 12.10+ and more)

One major annoyance (first-world, clearly) for me having upgraded to Ubuntu 12.10 is that my GTK toolbar icons are very large (32x32 pixels) and have labels on them. This takes up a decent amount of screen real estate in applications like gedit, Rhythmbox, and many others — effectively anything that’s using GTK. What’s worse, it looks like the latest Ubuntu (Quantal Quetzal) now is adding visual padding/spacing around the buttons. I don’t like this at all and prefer my buttons to be tiny and without labels.

As per the post at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php …

in Ubuntu · Wed 24 October 2012

Restart/reset USB in Ubuntu 12.04 without rebooting

Either my Dell Optiplex 990 computer or my Linux install has an issue: occasionally, when I re-plug a USB device into the system, it’ll cause a fault in the USB module in the kernel and USB goes dark. I’m unsure as to whether this is a hardware or software issue, but I’d simply like to restart my USB subsystem and continue working. When searching the web for ‘restart USB in Linux’ and ‘reload USB kernel module’, you get a plethora of results and none of which will work (seemingly due to how the Ubuntu standard kernel is …

in IT · Mon 25 June 2012

Configuring pulseaudio-equalizer defaults

I’ve recently been using the Logitech G930 headset with my Ubuntu 11.10 install and I’ve found that the default configuration offers nothing in terms of decent sound (tinny, no bass, etc). Thankfully, I’ve been able to turn to pulseaudio-equalizer for help with turning down the treble and up the bass. However, using pulseaudio-equalizer-gtk wasn’t an entirely satisfying experience as the default volume for my headset kept being set to 100% upon restart. Now, if you recall my previous post on this headset, having the volume for the device set at 100% leads to static being …

in Ubuntu · Fri 16 December 2011

Logitech G930 Headphones audio quality under Ubuntu

So I recently purchased a new set of Logitech G930 headphones and am currently using them with the latest version of Ubuntu, 11.10.  Set up was a breeze - just plug, check your PulseAudio config, and play.  For those of you, like me originally, who were wondering whether the G930 works on Linux, it certain does on Ubuntu.

Now, it wasn’t all peaches and cream because of two things.  Firstly, the audio output with the default configuration was completely lacking any depth and ‘substance’ to the sound being produced.  I’m not an audiophile and I have slight hearing …

in Linux · Mon 24 October 2011

Ubuntu 11.04 boot freezes with 2.6.38-8-generic-pae kernel

So you’ve just installed 32-bit Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), and in my case, upgraded from Ubuntu 10.04 (Maverick Meerkat).  The upgrade process seemingly went fine and then you were asked to restart your computer.  You diligently do so, only to come back to find that your computer has frozen at GRUB2 upon trying to boot the 2.6.38-8-generic-pae kernel from the GRUB list.  Now what?  How do you fix this?

The issue appears to stem from some form of installation issue where this new kernel isn’t set up right.  Note: I don’t actually know …

in Linux · Thu 05 May 2011

Things to do on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx after install

I’m skipping actually quantifying the number of things to do because this post will undoubtedly get updated as time goes on.  I’ve just updated both my computers (personal laptop and work desktop) to Ubuntu 10.04 from 9.10 and I’m very happy with how things have gone. That isn’t to say a few minor things haven’t annoyed me, such as Project Hamster removing its Day view for task management or Python 2.4 being dropped entirely, but overall, it’s gone well. Here’s my thoughts on what you should do as soon as …

in Linux · Wed 05 May 2010

Installing Python 2.4 on Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

Whoops.  No one sent me the memo that Python 2.4 support was being removed entirely from the latest version of Ubuntu, 10.04 Lucid Lynx.  To be fair, I was presented with the message that ‘these outdated packages will be removed’ and in that list was python2.4.  I made the unfortunate assumption that this just mean the package was outdated (which it certainly is) and I’d have the ability to install it again in Lucid.  There were a number of different packages on the list and in order to save time, I let the updater remove them …

in Linux · Tue 04 May 2010

Ubuntu: Crackling audio noises on a Dell M1530 (or HDA cards)

The problem I found (so did everyone else) when updating to Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic was static/popping noises when your sound card is silent (aka goes into power-save mode). It applies to my Dell XPS M1530 laptop’s on-board sound and probably to the same chipset elsewhere.

The fix couldn’t be simpler! Simply edit this file (as root):

/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

and comment out the last line. Then, restart ALSA to save you having to do a reboot to check it worked:

sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils stop sudo alsa force-reload sudo /etc/init.d/alsa-utils …

in Linux · Sat 16 January 2010

David tries Plone 4.0a2 (Part 2)

Rightio!  So we’ve got Plone 4.0a2 installed and up and running.  Boy, she looks sweet:

• The new Plone site setup is flawlessly simple.  No more ZMI for those of us that don’t want to use it.  It’ll always still be useful, but having Plone throw up a simple, no no-nonsense front-end installer is just what it needed.  Other PHP based CMSes always had it too easy ;-)
• Editing view:  clearer tabs at the top (no idea how many clients miss those, me included to start!) and resizable editing fields.  Great. TinyMCE as the editor — just what the …

in Plone · Tue 08 December 2009

Ubuntu 9.10 install hiccough

Yay, the new version of Ubuntu is out.  With it comes plenty of cool new features (how awesome does the start up and login screen look now?) and also plenty of opportunities for things to break when I’ve become so accustomed to having them working.  At least it’s not Windows though — I think I may just gnaw my own limbs off before I have to get forced to upgrade to Windows 7 for gaming reasons.

But I digress, there was one reasonably small problem with the upgrade that I saw on both of my Ubuntu machines (laptop and …

in IT, Linux · Fri 30 October 2009