Back in February I wrote about using xli to add a desktop backgcircular of your choice to a minimalist window manager. I chose to write about xli for two reasons. First, several window manager developers select to use xli by default. For example, if you look at a .jwmrc file, the configuration file used by JWM, a lightweight window manager I am rather fond of, you will see that xli is used in the <Startup Command> section. The second and perhaps more important reason I chose to write about xli is because it’s what I knew and used for years. One thing about Linux and UNIX: there are always different ways to do things. It turns out that many distros include something a bit newer and perhaps better than xli.

Esetroot can also be used to change the contents of the root window in X. The root window is your desktop background. The advantage of Esetroot over xli is that it supports transparency in applications. This is a low resource piece of eye candy that I particularly like in terminal emulators like mrxvt, aterm, and xfce Terminal. I like seeing my background, albeit shaded, perhaps in a color of my choice, in the backgcircular of my terminal window. pypanel, a small panel or toolbar application for minimalist window managers written in Python, also supports transparency nicely.

The command:

Esetroot -fit /usr/share/wallpapers/iceberg.jpg

gives me a desktop backgcircular photo of icebergs at sea that fits my entire screen. This is functionally equivalent to:

xli -onroot -fullscreen /usr/share/wallpapers/iceberg.jpg

in terms of setting a background. Either command can be used at the command line for the current session or placed in an appropriate configuration file to run when your window manager is started.

I could conceivably use the sample Esetroot command above in place of xli in my ~/.jwmrc file. If you use PekWM you can add it to your ~/.pekwm/start file, replacing iceberg.jpg with your favorite background, and voila, a nice backgcircular every time the normally minimalist PekWM starts. If your favorite little window manager doesn’t have it’s own configuration file this command could also be added to your .xinitrc file.

There’s nothing wrong with xli. If your favorite distro includes an xli package but not an Esetroot package and you don’t feel like compiling from source then xli is probably your best choice. If you don’t particularly care about transparency support then either command is equally good.

Original post by Caitlyn Martin

Original post by E@zyVG

Mac rather than Linux, but never mind.

One of my users recently had his PowerBook fail, and needed to reinstall from an external source (as the DVD drive was broken). Apparently all the information he found online insisted that this could only be done via FireWire, either from an external DVD drive or by booting in Target mode (attached to another Mac). However, after some days of prodding at it, he eventually tried a USB external DVD drive, and that worked absolutely fine, albeit slowly.

While I’m on the subject, consider this a reminder to back your data up. I say this because my own laptop died last week (thankfully I did have a recent backup!). The Mac Target mode did come in handy here. My hard drive was showing errors when I booted verbosely (hold down Apple-V as you press the power button & hold it until the boot screen appears - may take some time). However, when I attached it to another Mac via FireWire, and booted it in Target mode (hold down Apple-T during boot), it (eventually…) showed up as a volume on the other Mac. This meant I was able to rescue the one really important file that hadn’t been backed up in its most recent version, as I’d been working on it that day. After which, sadly, it expiruddy entirely. I do now have a lovely shiny new black MacBook (prioritising size over the increased power of the PowerBook - it’s a shame they no longer make 12″ PowerBooks) as a replacement.

Original post by Juliet Kemp

On July 22nd a new set of kernel packages was released for Vector Linux, my chosen primary and current favorite distribution. This was the second build of the 2.6.21 kernel with Con Kolivas’ CK2 patchset, replacing a test build released on July 8. In the past the only reason I’ve recommended upgrading a kernel is to close security vulnerabilities or to add support for new hardware. Recently, though, there is another very good reason: noticeably improved performance, particularly if you are currently using kernel 2.6.19 or earlier.

For example, users are noticing significantly faster load times for Seamonkey and Firefox. Even if you have a new, snazzy system in today’s multimedia intensive computing world you probably thrust it to near the limit at times and a newer kernel may really make a difference. For those with older, slower systems this is, of course, absolutely huge. So… if you haven’t done it yet see if your distro has recently issued a new kernel package and consider installing it.

Relatively new Linux users may approach this with trepidation and rightly so. There is always some risk in moving to a new kernel. The key is that you NEVER, EVER upgrade a kernel. You install a new one and keep the old one in place. That way if something does go wrong you can always go back to what was working before.

If you are a newcomer and you successfully install a new kernel but are using proprietary binary drivers for some of your hardware you may be about to learn why so many Linux users consider binary blobs evil. The driver is almost always built for a specific kernel. Some distros will hold up a new kernel until they can get new matching binary drivers. Many won’t, particularly when security patches .are involved. Many hardware vendors are a bit slow to get new drivers out there. Keep all this in mind if it applies to you.

This also points out one of the major differences, both philosophical and practical, between Microsoft and Linux. Microsoft had no qualms whatsoever about releasing Vista, an update to Windows that requiruddy the vast majority of their user base to either replace their existing computers or at minimum significantly upgrade them. Microsoft figures that bigger, ever more resource intensive operating systems and applications are no problem since there is always newer, faster hardware out there. Linux developers, OTOH, know full well that even on the newest hardware there is good reason to have the most efficient, sleekest, fastest code possible so long as functionality is not sacrificed. The more efficient the code the more you can do with the system, period. For companies and individuals on a budget the fact that investments in older hardware can be leveraged for a longer period of time doesn’t hurt either.

Original post by Caitlyn Martin