I use Gwibber to keep up with the various micro-blogging (Twitter, Facebook updates, identi.ca etc) services and having just installed Ubuntu 11.04 ‘Natty Narwhal’ (which includes Gwibber by default) I thought now is a good time to work on some themes. The supplied themes – ‘ubuntu’ and ‘default’ plus those available in the gwibber-themes package – are good but I found they didn’t contain exactly what I needed so have now been creating some of my own that also integrate with the UI settings.
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In this previous post I installed a kernel module for the Wacom Bamboo tablet under Ubuntu 10.10. With my laptop this was all working fine, but I now also have a separate monitor (a Samsung Syncmaster F2380 for anyone keeping track), it’s a widescreen monitor that allows landscape or portrait orientation by physically rotating the monitor screen. A graphics tablet works by “mapping” the screen (or window) area to the tablet surface, so how does it work when the tablet and screen have a different aspect ratio? I set out to get this working, with a semi-elegant solution…
Image: “One moment of writing” by Flickr user Julie Jordan Scott (Creative Commons license). Having finished some projects (though started others…) something I’d like to do in the New Year is re-start writing. I already write a fair amount on blogs, forums and suchlike, but it’s been a while since I consciously set out to create a unified and fictional piece of a decent length. In the past I used a word processor or even hand-wrote things (sadly being too involved with computers these days my handwriting isn’t really up to it any more!) but got thinking about whether there has to be a better way. A wiki is normally used for collaborative editing and content creation, such as with Wikipedia, and collaborative fiction writing is something I’m very interested in, but for the moment want to work individually. So does a ‘Wiki’ approach lend itself to individual writing? I don’t know, but this is what I’m going to try. In a previous post I looked at the drivers for the Wacom Bamboo ‘Pen & Touch’ graphics tablet and installation on Ubuntu 9.10 which was quite a long-winded procedure to download and compile the drivers. Now I’ve updated to Maverick Meerkat 10.10 I’ve needed to go through the process again to get it working on my new installation! It’s better now though… (Updated 30/04/2011: I’ve now installed 11.04 ‘Natty Narwhal’, more in a separate post, and it is working with the Bamboo with the same method as detailed below.) Having installed Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04 I was now ready to begin working with the OS and although it comes with some useful applications installed by default there’s quite a few things I normally add and change as part of the setup. The roundup below shows working with the Software Center, Package Manager (Synaptic) and Update Manager and differences from 9.10. → view the rest of the post: As Ubuntu 10.04 ‘Lucid Lynx’ was released a couple of days ago I’ve downloaded it and done my first installation! (honestly, the things I’ll do to avoid working on an Open University assignment…) I already had 9.10 on that computer but decided to overwrite it with a fresh install – there’s an ‘Upgrade’ process available but having had a bad experience with this in the past (flaky internet connection from my ISP dropping halfway through and I had to do a clean install anyway) I’ve always installed from CD (or USB) since then and this also ensures I have a live CD to hand in case of someone asking about Ubuntu, needing to recover files from a Windows system, etc. Anyway the first part of the installation process is as below – if you are coming to this page via a search then hopefully the below and subsequent posts will be useful. → view the rest of the post: Updated 27/12/10: I’ve made another post about installing this tablet, this time under Maverick Meerkat 10.10 (which should also apply to 10.04 – I didn’t have 10.04 installed for very long!). The updated method is much easier as it no longer needs to be compiled by hand from the drivers as a developer has very kindly packaged up the required drivers. So if you are using 10.04 or later then have a look at that instead/as well. (Original text:) I’ve been after a graphics tablet for a while and chose the Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch based on good reviews, previous good experience with a Wacom tablet (Volito 2) and assurance from the interwebs that this tablet can be used successfully under Ubuntu! As a Linux user it is often the case that supplied driver CDs that come with hardware only support Windows and sometimes Mac, resulting in a little more ‘fiddling’ to get the device to work under Linux. I’ve now got the Pen and Touch working so it is possible – as some of the guides on the internet contradict each other and contain different steps I had some difficulty initially but following this method allowed me to install and use it successfully including pressure sensitivity with the pen, and the touch navigation. If you have found this page through a search then you could try following the steps below and if there are any further problems check sources such as the Ubuntu forums. I’ve been a user of Ubuntu Linux and other distributions for a number of years now and primarily work on a laptop. I finally got one of the ‘netbooks’ to use when out and about etc and chose the Acer Aspire One 531 model with Windows XP (there’s a new one out with Windows 7 and a higher capacity battery which also seems to be branded as 531 – mine is the more ‘basic’ one and cost £220 as of today). Not being a Windows enthusiast I know it’s possible to use Ubuntu or other distributions on a number of the netbooks so decided to try this today. → view the rest of the post: |
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