xabbott.blg

I typically hate how “code” fonts look on forums and websites. So I was planning to edit my .fonts.conf to replace whatever font they used with something I did like. So the first two websites I wanted to change were using “monaco” as a first choice. I knew it was a mac font but had never seen it.

Out of curiosity I went looking for it. This was actually harder to find than I thought it would be. I found a direct link to it here, thanks to this list of programmer fonts.

I like how it looks so no need to edit fonts.conf!

Mugshot isn’t new but it’s still small and I believe invite only. I clicked a link to it on someone’s blog and got an invite via email. So not sure what happen there. Anyway I really dig this service, it ties up all of your “weblife” into one hub. In one spot my friends would be able to see what I’ve dugg recently, pictures added to my flickr account, my recent bookmarks , blog posts, etc. It doesn’t support everything yet but it’s growing.

Best of all you can share and view activies via RSS feeds or it’s desktop application. The desktop app has a version for every OS too.

For Arch users the package in the community repo is out of date and orphaned. Check out this thread to find out what you need to do to compile it.

I recently had an itch to try KDE again after looking into KDEmod. It’s a tweaked and modularized KDE designed for Archlinux. The installation was very easy, between the installation guide and FAQ you should have no problem.

Upon first loading it I’m presented with a clean desktop (no icons), Arch wallpaper and a Arch branded KDE menu. It’s not the default K menu but Suse’s Kickoff menu. This was the first time I had used it and I really liked it.

The second thing I notice is how little I’ve actually installed. While I’m used to a KDE install leaving me with about four or five programs for every task. KDEmod is thankfully much more frugal. If I recall I had a text editor, file/web browser, control panel, and I think that’s about it. You’ll end up installing exactly what you want!

Along with the menu change there are other little patches applied here and there. These patches range from security, usability, and eyecandy. They really show the attention to detail to this project. I did appreciate most of them, however the Icon execute feedback was a bit buggy for me. This could have been due to using Beryl with it. Another issue I had with Beryl was that the pager wouldn’t work consistently.

Other than that the only issue I had was with my fonts looking bad. That was easily fixed with a visit to the control panel.

I won’t be switching to KDE but KDEmod does present one of the nicest KDE desktops I’ve used. It was stable, polished, and really fit the Arch way. It’s even more impressive when you consider it’s done by one lone Archlinux fan. If you like KDE or just want to revisit it I highly recommend checking it out.

I really like Beryl, it’s fun and does offer more than just eyecandy. After reading a Beryl rant it was nice to see someone write an article on how useful it can be. There’s three in total, and two of them include videos.

I just noticed I can’t post my .bashrc properly on here. It strips some chars out of the color codes. So I thought I’d put them on Pastebin but the site is melting. So I used Arch’s pastebin:.bashrc, .dir_colors, .Xdefaults.

If you want even more configuration file goodness check out Vico’s little Linux site and dotfiles.org.

Saw this on LearnPydia. If you have Python you can type the following in any directory and make it accessible via http.
python -c 'import SimpleHTTPServer; SimpleHTTPServer.test()'

If you use it often enough you can make it a Bash alias too.
alias servethis="python -c 'import SimpleHTTPServer; SimpleHTTPServer.test()'"

You’ve probably seen this but if you haven’t check it out.

While Jimmac’s mouse cursor has a few different names in various distros odds are you are using it. It’s been updated check it out.

I’m a big fan of the Angry Videogame Nerd and now he’s giving it a go at movies too! Check out his first review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3.

Angry Movie Nerd – TMNT 3 – Part 1

Angry Movie Nerd – TMNT 3 – Part 2

Yaourt is a Pacman wrapper for Archlinux. I’ve been using it for a week or so and now wouldn’t want to be without it.

It offers colorized output, easy AUR package management, orphan clean up, and uses all the same commands as Pacman. One of the little things I like is your package search results tell you what’s installed. Here is a screenshot comparison.

The Yaourt website is in French but has screenshots. However there is a detailed post on the Archlinux forums with installation and usage documented. Or simply get it from AUR here.