Assign your Hotkey to launch Terminal in Ubuntu 11.10

It is sometimes very convenient and fast to launch a terminal using hotkey. If you are a Unity user hotkeys surely make your life much more easier.

To assign your favorite key combination as hotkey, open your 'dash' to search for 'keyboard'.

Under 'Shortcuts' you will find 'Launchers' in left pane and if you select 'Launchers' you will find 'Launch Terminal' in the right pane with it's default hotkey.

You can click on the assigned hotkey and it will display 'New Shortcut' where you can assign your favorite key combination as your hotkey.

As you can see in the below screenshot that I have my shortcut for launching terminal assigned as Ctrl+Alt+Space

In the same way you can assign a shortcut to launch a calculator, web browser, home folder or even logout or minimize screen and many more.

Adding Microsoft Fonts to Ubuntu 11.10

Though Ubuntu has many alternatives to Microsoft fonts like Times New Roman and Arial, but still some of us just love to use only Microsoft fonts. Many colleges accept records only typed in Times New Roman font. Here's an easy tip to add our favorite Microsoft fonts to Ubuntu 11.10.

Open up your Ubuntu Software Center from Dash and search for 'Ubuntu Restricted Extras' package. Its already there in the repository.

As you can see I have already installed the package.

After the installation is complete you can have all the Microsoft fonts in your LibreOffice Writer.

Root Login from GUI in Ubuntu 12.04

Many of us already know that ubuntu in its every distro has root login disabled by default. Still some root-lovers find it convenient to login directly as root. Normally it is a good practice to not use root account directly. It can be hazardous in both intentional or unknowing ways. I usually prefer sudo and su commands for any such root access in ubuntu.

Still if you want to enable your root account then you will need to follow the below mentioned steps -

1. Open up your terminal

2. Execute the below command to enable the root login from GUI. (Considering the fact that your root account password is already set)

# sudo gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

3.Here in this file we have to add one more line that goes as follows
greeter-show-manaul-login=true

3. Reboot the system for the changes to take effect and login as root by username as root and the corresponding root password.

There you are in your root account from GUI Login screen.

Caution: It is highly not recommended to login as root from GUI in any Linux Distribution. Should only be used only when necessary because root is a superuser and has got an unrestricted access (superpower) to perform any task.

Display the Full Folder Path in the Location Entry with Nautilus in Ubuntu 11.10

This tutorial will show you how to configure Nautical file browser to display full folder path in the title bar. It helps in quickly typing and moving to the location of a directory or file. Its always very convenient to use the location entry instead of the path bar.

Open up your terminal to install a package called dconf-tools that will do the trick.

# sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

After the installation is complete launch dconf-editor from 'Dash'.

Now navigate  to org > gnome > nautilus > preferences.

Here you can see at the right-hand side of the window 'always-use-location-entry'. You just have to check it and close out.

The location entry will be available as soon as you open any folder.

Enjoy !!!

Create Desktop Shortcuts of Favorite Applications & Folders in Ubuntu 11.10

We could create desktop shortcuts of our favourite applications and system locations untill Ubuntu 10.10 with the help of desktop launchers. Those shortcuts were called desktop launchers to launch any application or any system location from your desktop. But, thanks to unity that this is not possible since Ubuntu 11.04. Oneiric Ocelot does not allow us to create a desktop launcher just by right-clicking on blank area on the desktop.

To create desktop shortcuts of our favourite applications and system locations we need to install a package to make it possible.

To get started just make sure if the gnome-panel package is installed by running the following command in terminal.

# sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends gnome-panel

Now run the following command to launch Create Launcher dialog box.

# gnome-desktop-item-edit ~/Desktop/ --create-new

In Type field select Application.

In Name field type the name of the application.

In Command field type in the command to launch the application.

Whereas if you wish to make a shortcut of your most accessed system location or folder, just select Location in Type field and type in the path of the folder in the Location field.

Below are some of my favourite shortcuts that I have created for my convenience. You too can create some as per your convenience.

Below are the shortcuts that were created on my desktop.

Enjoy !!!

'Open in Terminal' command to Nautilus Context menu in Ubuntu 11.10

Sometimes we just wonder if we could open a folder graphically into terminal and ofcourse it is also possible in Ubuntu. Though not many people prefer this feature but it may seem to be helpful and handy.

Here's how it is done.

Open up a terminal and the below mentioned command

# sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal

This will install the package for the feature to be activated and then you have to reset the nautilus file browser.

# nautilus -q

That is it and we are done with it. Now try opening your home folder or any folder by right-clicking on it and select 'Open in Terminal'.

Ubuntu 11.10 Overlay Scrollbar Removal

The more I am familiar to Ubuntu 11.10, the more I like Ubuntu 10.10. The Unity feature is particularly disliking to most of us, whereas some of us might be finding it to be more convenient to auto hide the scrollbar. This scrollbar is named as overlay scrollbar. Though it might be quite appealing to some but I fail to understand as to why one would like to auto-hide the scrollbar.

My dislike for this particular feature in Unity compelled me to switch over to the traditional one. Here is a little trick to do so.

Below shown is the scrollbar that you might be seeing.

For this feature to be removed completely we need to open Ubuntu Software Center and search for liboverlay-scrollbar. As you can see in below shown picture that I have two of them listed. So I clicked the latest one and the remove button was visible on the right side.

Now click on Remove button to remove the package.

As soon as the package is removed you will be able to see the traditional, no hide-n-seek scrollbar. In some cases we need to restart the machine and everything is normal finally.

Connectivity of Storedge 3510 by using USB to Serial Connector & laptop

1. Use a USB to serial cable to connect to the COM port of the RAID array to the laptop.

2. Open putty and select serial connection. Verify the COM port no of USB to serial connector in device manager (on laptop) and set the serial port speed to 38,400 and click open.

3. The screen opens up the storage firmware screen, where we select Terminal (VT100 Mode).

4. From the firmware main menu we can view or change the ip by choosing Configuration Parameters > Communication Parameters > Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). By using this IP we can connect directly to the laptop using a cross cable to access the storage firmware screen.

Changing the Window Title Bar Button Layout to Right in Ubuntu 11.10

The Minimize/Maximize/Close buttons of a window in Ubuntu 11.10 are set to left side by default. Few people find it very odd (including me) to move their mouse towards left to minimize or close a window. Here we are with a little tweak to straighten this issue.

Its needless to say that you need to have your internet turned on and open your terminal to type.
# sudo apt-get install gconf-editor

After the package is installed, we need to run it.
# gconf-editor

A window will pop-up. Navigate to apps > metacity > general and there at the right hand side find “button_layout”. The defualt value is set to “close,maximize,minimize:”
We have to change it to “:minimize,maximize,close” by right-clicking on the value and selecting “Edit Key...”.

And as soon as you do so the close button would appear on the right corner of your window. So another trick is in your Ubuntu 11.10.

Drivers & Applications Integration in Windows XP using DriverPacks & nLite

DriverPacks Base integration program was created to mainly integrate drivers and eventually triggers an automated or unattended installation of Windows. Therefore before going further into this tutorial, I hope that you are aware of the basics of creating an unattended Windows Setup CD.

This integration program will take all the individual DriverPacks you want to integrate or slipstream (term used by Microsoft for integration) into your 32-Bit Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 Server source.

Here we are going to use Windows XP Professional SP3 CD

First of all you will be needing few items for our recipe listed below -

1.    Windows XP SP3 CD

2.    DriverPacks

3.    DriverPacks Base

4.    nLite

5.    nLite Add-ons

nLite integrator will be used to integrate the applications, hotfixes, service packs prior to finally proceed to make a Bootable CD / DVD out of source so as to save us the time from downloading and then installing packages.

So to get started, you have to create folders named DriverPacks, WinCD & WinISO under C:\

Copy Windows XP SP3 CD contents in WinCD folder.

Then copy DPs_BASE_1006.exe self-extracting archive in C:\DriverPacks folder.

Extract 'DPs_BASE_1006.exe' in the same folder

Now copy the required and downloaded DriverPacks in C:\DriverPacks\DriverPacks (where DriverPacks is a folder inside a folder named DriverPacks in C:\ where you have already extracted the DPs_BASE_1006.exe). Below you can find the screenshot that should resemble yours.

Now run 'DPs_BASE.exe' in C:\DriverPacks and it will open up a window shown below. Click on the 'greater than' that implies next.

Click next on the 'UpdateChecker for NT5 DriverPacks' window.

Click Next on the 'Settings' window too.

In the 'Select Location of platform' window select 'Disc'.

Click on 'Browse'.

Now under 'Location' it will automatically detect and verify the Windows installation files. Click 'Next'.

Now you will find all the drivers listed if you have put all the driver packs related to XP in C:\Driverpacks\DriverPacks\. Here you can select the required drivers for your installation or all of them and click on 'Next'.

In 'Choose the slipstream method' window choose 'method 2' and click on 'Next'.

Now in 'Choose the method to start the Finisher' window select 'GUIRunOnce' and click 'Next'.

Just click 'Next' on 'Optional settings' window.

Select 'DISABLE KTD' on 'KTD' window and click 'Next'.

Click 'Next' on KTD settings window.

Select 'Enable QSC (Recommended)' on 'QuickStream Cache' and click 'Next'.

Leave the defaults i.e. 'Disabled' for DriverPack Graphics A (ATI & Nvidia) and click on 'Next'.

Click 'Next' on 'Overview of settings' and click 'Next'.

Finally click on 'Slipstream!' on About the DriverPacks BASE window.

The integration process begins.

Click 'OK' when there is a message stating that the slipstream has finished.

Now run nLite and click 'Next'.

Locate the Windows XP source as destination i.e. C:\WinCD

Click 'Next' on the 'Presets' window.

At 'Task Selection' window select 'Hotfixes, Add-ons and Update Packs', 'Drivers', 'Unattended' and 'Bootable ISO'. Click on 'Next'.

On 'Hotfixes, Add-ons and Update Packs' window click on 'Insert' and add all the required nLite add-ons. As you can see in the below screenshots. Click on 'Next' when you are done.

Now we will be directed to 'Drivers' window, where you can click on 'Single driver'.

You might be wondering as to why did I choose to select Drivers in the Task Selection window. Well, DriversPack Base program can integrate only archives as you might have noticed. In nLite also we can integrate the drivers but we have to get the .inf file from the self-extracting archive packed drivers. It might sometimes become difficult to extract the archives and find the .inf file. Here below I have done Prolific USB to Serial Port Convertor driver integration using the .inf file.

Note: It's not compulsory to do this step as its only another alternate method that I have tried to show.

On clicking 'Next' we are directed to 'Unattended' window where we can go for all kinds of unattended questions asked during installation like Product Key, Regional and many more. You can explore and make a fully unattended installation without making it ask any of the prerequisites asked during installation. Click on 'Next' when you are done.

It will ask you to start the process and you may click 'Yes' to proceed further.

The process shall begin and you can view the progress and status.

Click 'Next' when it's finished.

On the Bootable ISO window you can select to 'Explore' and add some extra folders. As I chose to add some some additional software packages like Antivirus in the CD / DVD.

Note: These are not going to be integrated, but by doing this I can use this as my Extra Softwares Data CD / DVD.

After you are done with adding any extra packages, you can click on 'Make ISO' and select the destination path for the ISO.

ISO creation starts instantly.

And finally when our image is successfully created, now you can burn it to CD / DVD.

Click on 'Finish' to exit the wizard.

When you have burnt the cd open it up and make sure a folder called $OEM$ is in the root of the CD / DVD.

If everything goes well then you have just created a Ultimate Windows XP CD / DVD that can be installed on various platforms (applies only if you have selected all the drivers before slipstreaming).