TuxCentre

Well now most of the distros give full NTFS read/write support by default (after the release of NTFS-3G) but in openSUSE (and maybe others distros too) i faced a problem — whenever i connected an external drive with ntfs partition, it got mounted but only with read support. To be able to write on it i had to first unmount it and then mount it again using ntfs-3g and only then i could get a write support.

Well the solution to this problem is quiet simple. U just need to use a software “ntfs-config”. This package can be found on openSUSE one click install page. It contains a very simple GUI. Open the software when no external device is attached to you comp. (if external device is attached it writes its entries to /etc/fstab and makes it dirty ). Select “enable write support for external devices” and the task is done. Just attach an external device and test the its writable now.

Kiba dock is a beautiful application dock that uses the Akamaru physics engine to render
complex interactions. Its a MAC style dock that i built for Linux. It works on Linux with graphics effects turned on. Can be used with both KDE and Gnome. Well what more can be said…the with the video below you can see it all for your self…

Installing Kiba Dock :–kiba dock source can be downloaded form its svn server using the command “svn co https://kibadock.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/kibadock/trunk kiba” which will copy the files to kiba directory in the directory you execute this command. Then you will have to install it normally by using the commands — make , make install and intall.
If you are using openSuse simply use 1 click install option from the link www.software.opensuse.org/search.

When i first used compiz fusion with kde the way to enable was using the command “compiz ccp” (which is also there even now) but another way introduced was the compiz fusion icon which have many advantages as will be discussed further…

Previously compiz was enabled automatically but making an executable text document containg the command “compiz ccp &” in the bin folder of the user you use to log in. The compiz fusion icon which came in fedora from the start only, can be started  in the same manner by making an executable text file in the bin folder of the user you log-in into and adding the text “fusion icon &”.

Revison of the steps to do so :–>

1. Open the bin folder in the folder of the user u log into (eg: for root user open “/root/bin” for other users use “/home/user_name/bin”).

2.Create a text file in it.

3.Open the file and write in it “fusion-icon &”.

4.Save and Exit.

5.Right click on the file and in open properties for the file.

6.Under the permissions tab check is executable.

Restart and u will see the compiz fusion icon in system stray.

The greatest advantage of the fusion icon i think is that whenever compiz crashes (which happens many a times due to unstable versions) u can simply reload it by right clicking on the fusion icon and clicking on the reload window manager. Secondly you can Switch between various window decorators installed on your system (again by right clicking on the fusion icon). Thirdly you can change the window manager whenever you want (like when you are doing some serious work and the effects are irritating you). Fourthly you can also access the settings manager from it….

Please note the you need to have fusion icon installed on your system.In openSuse its available in the XGL repository.

I was astonished to see that openSUSE 10.3 got installed on my old machine which has 192Mb RAM, intel 815 motherboard with P3 500Mhz processor. When i stated the installation it stated that yast could not be stared due to less memory and it asked to make a swap partition.I made a new swap partition of 2Gb, activated it and yast started and normal installation started.And its working at a good speed and i working as primary OS on my old machine.(I m using KDE, don’t know if gnome will also work).

Hi every one i just wanted to inform every one that compiz 0.7.0 is out and its not stable.Atleast with my Linux kernal 2.6.22.17-0.1 on openSUSE it crashes and is not working at all. So please beware before updating it. I will suggest that every one should wait for the next stable version before upgradaion.

Leaving it apart i would like to inform that latest version of compiz-fusion has support for dual monitor in it which was not working till the last stable version.

Just after the emergence of Linux as the god of Freedom in 1991 we saw the existence of many of its angels also know as Flavors or Distros. The list of distros is so Huge that it wont be able to fit on this page and its not possible to detail each here,its mainly because Linux is so customizable.Its very easy to make a distro of your own and that’s the main reason for so many distros.Many a times the question arises which distro should i use? And there is no fixed answer for it. Its just a matter of choice or should i say ATTACHMENT that a Linux user generates while using a distro for a long period of time.Personally speaking i have made some perceptions regarding the distros and i like naming(or nicknaming) the as –>

openSUSE –> The beautiful one.

Red Hat –> The professional one.

Fedora –> Mr. do it yourself.

Debian –> The Mature one.

Knoppix –> Test Drive.

Puppy Linux –> Closest to windows Gui.

and the list goes on…well hope these names given by me must have helped u generate a certain idea of these distros. Personally i use openSUSE. I think its extremely beautiful, have a easy to use and modify GUI, has a very simple yet efficient control panel (YAST), updating it is very easy, stable enough to be used as primary OS, max. driver and hardware support and many other features. The best and the most recent feature of openSUSE i like is the oneclick install. Using oneclick install you can you can search for a software on the openSUSE site and can download and install that software using just one click (and ofcourse a reliable and a decent speed net). Use the link software.opensuse.org/search to directly go to the software search for onlick install. In case of quarries about openSUSE or a general Linux question feel free to ask me…i’ll try my best to answer your questions.

Compiz Fusion is the result of a merge between the well-known Beryl composite window manager and Compiz Extras, a community set of improvements to the Compiz composite window manager.

Though Compiz Fusion aims to provide an easy and fun-to-use windowed environment but still using it on opensuse is a not every one’s piece of cake.Here i aim to simplyfy the steps for using compiz fusion on opensuse.

1.Firstly Download all the compiz-fusion packages from the openSUSE XGLRepository

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/X11:/XGL/openSUSE_10.3/ (for open suse 10.3).

2. Next open the home directory of the user you use to log in (if u log in as root then go in /root directory) and make a text file in the bin directory and write the command “compiz cpp &” save and exit.

3.After the right click on the properties of that file and in the permissions tab check “is executable” to start compiz fusion every time you log in as that user.

4.Then enable xgl using the command ( gnome-xgl-switch –enable-gui) and restart the computer.

Note– In case of any problem start linux in failsafe mode and disable xgl ( gnome-xgl-switch –disable-gui )

5.compiz fusion is started to enable disable the plugins use “ccsm” command or the “compizconfig settings manager” form the Kmenu.

enjoy using an out of the box graphics experience with or WITHOUT a graphics card.

Below are some Pics of compiz-fusion on intel 915GM without a graphics card :–