Linux: Tricks of the Trade -- tips from our members

[dagon]

http://www.noobslab.com I found this site as a suggestion when looking for installation instructions. Today it was a springboard for installing Firefox Aurora 13..

http://www.noobslab.com/2012/02/install ... speed.html

I'm new to all of this "sudo" "apt-get" commands so this was a perfect opportunity to sharpen my skills "green pea skills" after entering this command..

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/firefox-aurora
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get firefox

The Terminal loaded everything just fine then everything came to a halt so i "re-entered the code" the Terminal took off after entering my password, then everything stopped again saying "complete" Well it wasn't complete it just sat there so i entered more code.

"sudo apt-get install aurora" the terminal took off once more only this time it ended by saying 4 files failed to upgrade. By this time seeing things were at least moving forward i continued by entering another command. "sudo apt-get upgrade aurora"

At last, it looked like maybe I'd reached the end when the terminal said "restart all instances of Firefox or there will be problems. I restarted Firefox and the icon in the panel now had the Aurora globe..

If this doesn't belong here or if its not considered a tip maybe a Moderator could move it or?

Thanks..
everready

[dagon]

Sorry for moving your post around. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

http://www.noobslab.com/2012/02/install ... speed.html

I'm new to all of this "sudo" "apt-get" commands so this was a perfect opportunity to sharpen my skills "green pea skills" after entering this command..

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/firefox-aurora
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get firefox

Unfortunately the tutorial you followed has a bug in it. The last command should be:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install firefox

Then you shouldn't have to do anything else but start surfing the web again and cry over all your plug-ins that has stopped working because they're not compatible anymore...
Here's another link showing the ppa, what's in it and how to install. The name of the package is firefox, not aurora. The name aurora is used instead of version number since the version number is always about to change.
http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/firefox_aurora

Bug 2. apt-get upgrade doesn't take an argument so I think "sudo apt-get upgrade aurora" was just interpreted as "sudo apt-get upgrade". But since you had already installed firefox and it was up to date nothing related to this package was updated.

[everready]

After everything was ship shape i uninstalled that package and reinstalled the latest Firefox build. A lot of experimenting going on its like being a kid in a candy store..

Thanks..
everready

That build wasn't 13 it turns out it was 12.02

[vrkalak]

The newest, most improved, updated (June 19, 2012) version of: "How to Ask Questions the Smart Way"

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Not only does this link expand and refine the list but, also, provides lengthy responses as to why and resources to try.

[remoulder]

"How to Ask Questions the Smart Way"

That should be compulsory reading

[w2ibc]

ndiswrapper howto. http://www.w2ibc.com/articles.php?article_id=1

works for pretty much all the distros.

[InkKnife]

I found that turning off hardware acceleration in Adobe Flash eliminated the instability problems that are so common with Flash on Linux.

[geoffm]

Some handy applications you might not know:

• Easystroke You can assign system-wide mouse gestures to commands and keyboard shortcuts. I use it for a lot of interface functions: close program, close tab. minimize, maximise, go back, go forward, go up, refresh, etc. So efficient, when you get on computers that don't have this, you suffer.
• Guake: a "drop-down terminal". Assign a keyboard shortcut ([Shift][Alt][S] in my case) to toggling the terminal's visibility. Instantly access your terminal all the time, dont loose your windows, etc! (on KDE try yakuake!)
• There's a lot more stuff you can customize that's not in the numerous "System settings" sub-applications. install dconf-editor and playaround in it. Make sure you checkout the org.gnome directory, but browser around because nice tweaks are hidden here and there
• For a good note-tacking application or general content / tasks organizer, try Zim wiki. I've tried several note-taking applications before settling on this one, I use it professionnaly at work to keep organized. One of my best productivity assets.
• Don't like evince's limited interface? For a more decent PDF viewer, try okular. It doesn't require a lot of KDE packages. If you want the best of the best, try running PDF-Xchange Viewer in Wine.
• Disapointed of transmission's primitivity? Miss Window's µtorrent? Try Deluge! Very efficient yet simple GTK+ bit torrent client with a neat interface.
• For a better calculator, try speedcrunch. It has a multi-line output that keeps a history of your operations.

You should find most of them in the repositories.

[PcMojo]

What I have been learning recently, is how to search the forums better. I've had to ask questions that I'm certain others have asked before. In fact, I remember reading similar posts but just can't remember the answer. Here's a few search tips:

from: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=83314

by Vincent Vermeulen on July 20th, 2012, 5:35 am
The site search can be fussy. For easier search, consider doing a site search with your favourite search engine. Yahoo, Duck Duck Go and Google (and possibly others) all support the same syntax for doing a site seach. For example, to search for "cinnamon llvm" on Linux Mint, you would give the search query:

Code: Select all

Code: Select all
cinnamon llvm site:linuxmint.com

You can then use your search engine's search tools to further narrow your search.

Also, on another thread, sunewbie & mrjoeyman have been working on custom searches that search multiple preselected ubuntu answer sites. Here is the thread:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=81392
Here is the search site: http://home.windstream.net/joelwest/
or a similar site http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=017607476515012185699:b_owgx6xyi0

I put one of these on my Firefox toolbar so it is just a click away, and it's saved me hours of searching and kept me from posting many questions that have already been answered (but not all ). These searches will greatly cut down the huge clutter a normal search will bring back from a generic search engine. I hope this helps!

[geoffm]

I just discovered the most awesome feature (cinnamon/gnome)
in dconf-editor / org.gnome.desktop.interface / can-change-accels
Enabling this will allow you to change the keyboard shortcuts associated to menu items. Just hit the keyboard key you want associated while you hover the mouse on the menu item.

[vrkalak]

A great Guide for Debian put together my members of another Forum.

A Beginners Guide to Debian
https://docs.google.com/document/previe ... CWkDNFi5Wo

[bkwapisz]

Here is a tip from a Newbie to other newbies: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. This sounds like common sense, and I assume I have none, because I just spent the ENTIRE weekend trying without success to SIMPLY put Linux Mint on a desktop. Today I did some more Google scholaring and read within the first page of instructions where I went wrong and I feel VERY stupid.

The problem was that when I burned the DVD, I did so as DATA, and not an image. The image choice is the correct one. Makes opposite sense to me, but I am just now starting to learn Linux and UNlearn Windows.

Hopefully someone else will have had this problem and I'm not alone.

Cheers, Brian.

[TheOne]

Here is a tip from a Newbie to other newbies: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. This sounds like common sense, and I assume I have none, because I just spent the ENTIRE weekend trying without success to SIMPLY put Linux Mint on a desktop. Today I did some more Google scholaring and read within the first page of instructions where I went wrong and I feel VERY stupid.

The problem was that when I burned the DVD, I did so as DATA, and not an image. The image choice is the correct one. Makes opposite sense to me, but I am just now starting to learn Linux and UNlearn Windows.

Hopefully someone else will have had this problem and I'm not alone.

Cheers, Brian.

This is not related to Linux anymore than Windows, but you are 100 % right!

The same rule applies to Windows though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image

ISO is a specific type of Data DVD that includes the image filesystem.