Bits and stuff

A set of interesting links on the impact and application of bit width/resolution:

• http://webstyleguide.com/wsg2/graphics/displays.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_depth
• http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm Analog vs Digital Audio
• http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/86886-32-bit-vs-64-bit-comparison.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit_computing

IB Computer Science Topic 2: Computer Organisation - Binary representation

Bash vs DOS

Best link I've found contrasting Unix-Linux Bash commands vs. the DOS command prompt

• http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/unix_for_dos_users.html

Unix permissions

I was looking for a nice, simple and straightforward tutorial about unix permissions, and came across these pages:

• http://www.tutorialspoint.com/unix/unix-file-permission.htm
• http://www.dartmouth.edu/~rc/help/faq/permissions.html
• http://www.perlfect.com/articles/chmod.shtml

Gnome 3 Window Buttons

Ah, the polemic, the flame wars... Whatever.

I'm using XFCE, Gnome, and Unity at the moment, while keeping a close eye on KDE (my first and most loved desktop, until they released version 4 (which now looks like it's ready for mass consumption, but I'm still nostalgic about the power and speed of KDE 3) and Gnome 2.

I actually find Gnome 3 nice, but not "tweakable" enough. I hope it won't take too long until it's as customisable as Gnome 2 used to be... Talk about fixing what's not broken and breaking it in the process...

Anyway, what I hate the most about Gnome 3 and its Shell:

1. The (lack of) window buttons: why remove the maximise, minimise, and menu? Doesn't make sense to me...
2. The lack of themes, colour sets, font configuration, etc... customisation and personalisation out of sight.
3. It isn't as light as Gnome 2 (at least it doesn't feel as light and nimble as its predecessor IMO)

So what to do?
Number 3: Use XFCE, LXDE, or Ubuntu 11.04 in Gnome classic mode.
Number 2: Wait until the stuff is available. :(
Number 1: Check this out --

You'll need to install (if you haven't got it yet in your system) gconf-editor first.

Invoke it within the terminal or press the ALT and F2 keys simultaneously, and type gconf-editor at the prompt.

Now navigate to desktop > gnome > shell > windows and change the button_layout key to menu:minimize,maximize,close as shown in the screenshot below:

After you log out and log back in, your windows will have the proper buttons. Of course you could make whatever changes as you see fit. The long description is very useful.

Screenshot taken on openSUSE Edu Li-f-e 12.1, yours may differ. It's a brilliant distro that is enticing me to go back where it all started for me (in terms of Linux addiction): SUSE.

Sound Blaster Audigy on Ubuntu

I had problems getting my Sound Blaster Audigy to output any sound on Ubuntu. My desktop has an AMD/ATI Radeon HD card that has HDMI (which means there's some sound capabilities that make things more confusing) and a web cam that has an in built microphone, also making things more complicated.

Now on to the fix:

First, we need to install gnome-alsamixer

If you like the terminal, type

sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer

...Or use Ubuntu's software center or your favourite package manager (such as Synaptic) to get that step done.

Then, find and run it:

Now choose the tab labelled something like "SigmaTel…" and
Enable/check the box beside the text "Audigy Analog/Digital Output Jack":

...And now your sound should be working again!

Credits go to my source: http://bit.ly/FLbY

Which 11.10?

Just thought it may be useful to someone... If you're into Linux, you may feel confused with the latest changes in our good old desktops. Gnome 3, Unity, etc.

For what is worth, I'm using Xubuntu 11.10 on my netbook (Asus EeePC 1015PX)
and Ubuntu 11.04 (64 bit version) on my desktop (Phenom II quad-core rig I assembled myself). I love the fact that I can choose Gnome 2 (Ubuntu classic) at login, as shown by this screenshot:

If you have any question, post them on your comments. I'll be glad to answer them, as soon as I have the time.

Sun Java on Ubuntu 11.10

Decided to 'fork' my previous post because since Ubuntu 11.10, Sun/Oracle Java has been removed from Canonical's partner repository. Fortunately, Roberto Ferramosca is providing the appropriate packages in his personal package archive (PPA).

So open your terminal, and let's go:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ferramroberto/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin sun-java6-fonts

And that's it. Hope it's helpful. Now if you want to ensure Sun's JRE & JDK are the default, type in the terminal:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

and select your preferred alternative from the list. To select a Java compiler, type

sudo update-alternatives --config javac

Now on to the testing. You should get the version numbers of the currently installed and default runtime and compiler by typing (in the terminal):

java -version
javac -version