Scientific Linux: Configuring default wallpapers

I hate when the wallpapers change and change and change while the box is booting, I like to have the same wallpaper all the way thru the booting until it reaches my own desktop and the box is ready to get to work on it.
So this is what I did on my Scientific Linux lappie to get thing the way I want them.

Setup login wallpaper:

sudo cp /wherever/Blue-Circles.jpg /usr/share/backgrounds/Blue-Circles.jpg
sudo emacs /usr/share/gnome-background-properties/half-circles.xml

The file has to end up like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE wallpapers SYSTEM "gnome-wp-list.dtd">
<wallpapers>
  <wallpaper deleted="false">
    <name>Half Blue Circles</name>
    <filename>/usr/share/backgrounds/Blue-Circles.jpg</filename>
    <options>zoom</options>
  </wallpaper>
</wallpapers>

Select from Preferences and setup Blue Circles as your wallpaper.
And then setup Blue Circles as the login wallpaper:

sudo cp /usr/share/applications/gnome-appearance-properties.desktop /usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow

Logout and back in, force select the "Blue Circles" picture as the wallpaper and login as usual.
Then, disable the further force selection (that will happen on every login):

sudo unlink /usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow/gnome-appearance-properties.desktop

Setup GNOME screensaver's login wallpaper:
This will change the login screen you get when you are using the screensaver and it asks your password to disable the screensaver.
It might be possible that it has to use a different *_default.png picture, this was done on a Thinkpad T60p that has a 1600x1200 resolution screen.

cd /usr/share/backgrounds/
sudo mv 2048x1536_default.png 2048x1536_default.png.ORIG
sudo ln -s Blue-Circles.jpg 2048x1536_default.png

Scientific Linux: installing VLC via RPM

I don't like to mix repositories. Period.

And I'd like this Scientific Linux install to be as stable as it can be, and to last to eternity.

So here is the run down on howto to install VLC by hand, using RPM files, this is on a Scientific Linux 6.2, 32 bits, with all the updates installed.

After getting the VLC rpm package, and testing the install, things don't look easy at all...

> sudo rpm --test -ivh vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm 
[sudo] password for XXXXXXXX: 
warning: vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 6b8d79e6: NOKEY
error: Failed dependencies:
 libBasicUsageEnvironment.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libSDL_image-1.2.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libUsageEnvironment.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 liba52.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libaa.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libass.so.4 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavcodec.so.52 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavcodec.so.52(LIBAVCODEC_52) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavformat.so.52 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavformat.so.52(LIBAVFORMAT_52) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavutil.so.50 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavutil.so.50(LIBAVUTIL_50) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libcaca.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libcddb.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libcv.so.2.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libcvaux.so.2.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libcxcore.so.2.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdc1394.so.22 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdca.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdirac_decoder.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdirac_encoder.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdvbpsi.so.6 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdvdnav.so.4 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdvdread.so.4 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libebml.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libfaad.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libfribidi.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libgroupsock.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libhighgui.so.2.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libixml.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libkate.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libliveMedia.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmad.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmatroska.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libml.so.2.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmodplug.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmpeg2.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libportaudio.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libpostproc.so.51 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libpostproc.so.51(LIBPOSTPROC_51) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libschroedinger-1.0.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libswscale.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libswscale.so.0(LIBSWSCALE_0) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libthreadutil.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libtwolame.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libupnp.so.3 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libva-x11.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libva.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libvga.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libvgagl.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libx264.so.107 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libzvbi.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686

First things first... These are the packages that are on the official Scientific Linux repo, so install those without much delay...

sudo yum install SDL cppunit libXpm unicap libgomp libmtp opencv libdc1394\
 gpm-libs freeglut libdvdread

After that, run another test on the lone VLC package...

> sudo rpm --test -ivh vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
warning: vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 6b8d79e6: NOKEY
error: Failed dependencies:
 libBasicUsageEnvironment.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libSDL_image-1.2.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libUsageEnvironment.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 liba52.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libaa.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libass.so.4 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavcodec.so.52 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavcodec.so.52(LIBAVCODEC_52) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavformat.so.52 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavformat.so.52(LIBAVFORMAT_52) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavutil.so.50 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libavutil.so.50(LIBAVUTIL_50) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libcaca.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libcddb.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdca.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdirac_decoder.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdirac_encoder.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdvbpsi.so.6 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libdvdnav.so.4 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libebml.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libfaad.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libfribidi.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libgroupsock.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libixml.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libkate.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libliveMedia.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmad.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmatroska.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmodplug.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libmpeg2.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libportaudio.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libpostproc.so.51 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libpostproc.so.51(LIBPOSTPROC_51) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libschroedinger-1.0.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libswscale.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libswscale.so.0(LIBSWSCALE_0) is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libthreadutil.so.2 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libtwolame.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libupnp.so.3 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libva-x11.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libva.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libvga.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libvgagl.so.1 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libx264.so.107 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686
 libzvbi.so.0 is needed by vlc-1.1.13-1.el6.rf.i686

Things still look pale and bleak... So, tinme to start downloading stuff, all of these RPMs have to end under the same directory, in order to make your life easier.

wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/SDL_image-1.2.10-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libcaca-0.99-0.1.beta17.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/aalib-1.4.0-5.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/enca-1.10-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/ffmpeg-0.6.5-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/fribidi-0.10.9-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libcddb-1.3.1-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libdvbpsi-0.1.7-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libebml-1.0.0-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libmad-0.15.1b-4.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libmpeg2-0.5.1-2.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libupnp-1.6.6-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/opencore-amr-0.1.2-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/portaudio-19-1.20071207.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/twolame-0.3.13-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/zvbi-0.2.33-2.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/faac-1.26-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/ffmpeg-libpostproc-0.6.5-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libass-0.9.11-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libdvdnav-0.1.10-3.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libmatroska-1.0.0-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libva-1.0.6-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/schroedinger-1.0.10-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/a52dec-0.7.4-8.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/dirac-1.0.2-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/faad2-2.7-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/lame-3.99.5-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libcaca-0.99-0.1.beta17.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libdca-0.0.5-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libkate-0.3.7-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/libmodplug-0.8.7-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/librtmp-2.3-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/live555-0-0.27.2012.02.04.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/orc-0.4.11-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/svgalib-1.9.25-1.el6.rf.i686.rpm
wget http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el6/en/i386/dag/RPMS/x264-0.0.0-0.4.20101111.el6.rf.i686.rpm

Once all of the packages are downloaded, simply run rpm like this:

> sudo rpm -ivh *.rpm
warning: a52dec-0.7.4-8.el6.rf.i686.rpm: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 6b8d79e6: NOKEY
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:x264                   ########################################### [  3%]
   2:libva                  ########################################### [  6%]
   3:libebml                ########################################### [  8%]
   4:dirac                  ########################################### [ 11%]
   5:a52dec                 ########################################### [ 14%]
   6:libmatroska            ########################################### [ 17%]
   7:zvbi                   ########################################### [ 19%]
   8:twolame                ########################################### [ 22%]
   9:svgalib                ########################################### [ 25%]
  10:SDL_image              ########################################### [ 28%]
  11:portaudio              ########################################### [ 31%]
  12:orc                    ########################################### [ 33%]
  13:schroedinger           ########################################### [ 36%]
  14:opencore-amr           ########################################### [ 39%]
  15:live555                ########################################### [ 42%]
  16:libupnp                ########################################### [ 44%]
  17:librtmp                ########################################### [ 47%]
  18:libmpeg2               ########################################### [ 50%]
  19:libmodplug             ########################################### [ 53%]
  20:libmad                 ########################################### [ 56%]
  21:libkate                ########################################### [ 58%]
  22:libdvdnav              ########################################### [ 61%]
  23:libdvbpsi              ########################################### [ 64%]
  24:libdca                 ########################################### [ 67%]
  25:libcddb                ########################################### [ 69%]
  26:libcaca                ########################################### [ 72%]
  27:lame                   ########################################### [ 75%]
  28:fribidi                ########################################### [ 78%]
  29:faad2                  ########################################### [ 81%]
  30:faac                   ########################################### [ 83%]
  31:ffmpeg-libpostproc     ########################################### [ 86%]
  32:ffmpeg                 ########################################### [ 89%]
  33:enca                   ########################################### [ 92%]
  34:libass                 ########################################### [ 94%]
  35:aalib                  ########################################### [ 97%]
  36:vlc                    ########################################### [100%]

Bingo, VLC is installed.

Sunday 29-07-2012

The current GNOME 3 extensions

Extensions, extensions & more extensions... Or so it seems..
The whole bunch of the installed ones at Usul.

A wonderful winter

We didn't have any snow, at least so far, and I doubt we will, but nevertheless it has been an amazing winter, really cold.

Some Windows testing

Testing Windows 7 (Ultimate) on my beloved T43.
Installed it on Tuesday, mostly to see how Windows 7 behaves and see if I can get used to it, and then, maybe, maybe... Switch to it... As my main OS for day to day to work and fun.

I've set it up, bit by bit, with the usual programs I've been using on Linux, but the Windows equivalents.

There wasn't that many problems, so far at least, except for one that it is really killing me, the email client.
I don't like Outlook, so I gave Thunderbird a go, but I guess I'm way too used to Evolution by now...

Emotional Weather Forecast

Let's see... 100% humidity... Fog... Overcast... Yes, its Buenos Aires, right...
At least its winter and we are not melted onto the pavement.

Trust No DVI, Mr.Mulder

GNOME 3, with a huge display, and given the Thinkpad T410's speed, it does become a truly usable Desktop Environment.
But, even with the added speed and a better video card (than the T60p) I still think that GNOME 3 is not intended to be used with more than a handfull of apps open at the same time.

Incidentally, the old Apple Cinema Display is ideal to watch The X Files on it... Started to (re) watch Season Three during this weekend.

The current Scientific Linux desktop

Another one, again, one of my travel pics as wallpaper.

Sunday 22-07-2012

Degunking the T60p

It was time, the little lappie that could was making a whole lot of noise, but, really, really, a whole lot; it was nearly unbearable to have it around on a quite room.

So I opened it (again) but time not to get rid of the creaking, but to go all the way to the CPU/ fan assembly... It certainly wasn't fun, but hell, the noise fan's noise level was nerve-wracking.

Some screws, some dust, a little gunk, some pure alcohol, a bit of oil and a couple of hours later the T60p is once again put together and working fine (I'm posting from this from the lappie).

Will see if all of this helps a bit lowering the overall noise making factor.

The current Scientific Linux desktop

Another one, this time, with a picture of my own as the wallpaper.

Thursday 19-07-2012

Monday 16-07-2012

Its cold out there!!

Another rise and shine moment!!

Fuzzy Panel on GNOME 3

GNOME 3 is not over, at least not on the Thinkpad T410...
But here is a new one, a new bug I mean... The Panel got, coming back from a Suspend, all the fonts screwed up, the same thing happened with the Overview.

Santiago, briefly

Two day of meetings on the run

Getting Ekiga up & running on Scientific Linux

It is not that hard, really...

You have to create a symlink once the install is done, in order to get the audio working (don't have a camera on my T60p to test that...)

 Unless you do that, you'll have no way of speaking, nor hearing anything while using Ekiga; all the audio devices are listed as SILENT (like that, with capital letters ;) )
Here are the steps, this is tested on a Scientific Linux 6.2 (32 bits) with all the updates installed as of today.

sudo yum install ekiga
cd /usr/lib/
sudo ln -s ptlib-2.6.5 2.6.5

The current Scientific Linux desktop

My beloved T60p with showing one of the lovely Mountain Lion wallpapers.

A week with Scientific

Its been a week already. My first Ubuntu-less week in quite a while...  I mean, as in Ubuntu-less using it as my main OS day in day out...
Both on the T60 as well as the T60p Scientific does an amazing job, the difference between running GNOME3 or Cinnamon on those two laptops is huge, really, really huge.

I had really no problems -at least, no real, big ones- so far.

Installed quite a bunch of stuff on both of them, things like VLC, VirtualBox, Wine, etc; in order to get all my desktop needs fulfilled, all of those via straight rpm, w/o using extra repos.
I'll post later step by step instructions.

No more Blogspot love for Firefox

Got this message today...
Running Firefox ESR 10.0.5
The need to push Chrome is that strong?

Scientific Linux 6.2 on a Thinkpad T60p

Installed on Stilgar during Sunday afternoon and I've been using it since.
I simply love it, the difference in terms of snappiness compared with running GNOME 3 or Cinnamon on the same laptop is world shattering.
Of course, everything works out of the box on the lovely, noisy and heavy weight T60p

The rise and fall of the Global Menu

There is no news that I love GNOME Global Menu, it simply makes sense to me; one of the things, along with drop shadows, that I got stuck from the Os X days.

While searching over and over on Google and Duck Duck Go for info on how to get it (or something very similar) up and running on Cinnamon and/or MATE I found a pattern regarding the adoption of the program.

There seems to be a clear cut that divides everybody's wishes to have something like GNOME Global Menu installed, and then, getting it out of your box no matter what.

The event is no other than Unity; it seems like Ubuntu's Global Menu implementation was a bit hard to swallow for a lot of folks.

The current Scientific Linux desktop

Installed it on my Thinkpad T60 yesterday... The Precise Pangolin install didn't last too long...
So far, everything is A Ok, still have to install VirtualBox and Wine.