Want to see the date and time in the Mutt mail client when reading e-mail ?

Then add the following to your ~/.muttrc

ignore *
unignore from date subject to cc
unignore organization organisation x-mailer: x-newsreader: x-mailing-list:
unignore posted-to:

Really, you just need to add unignore date. This snippet above firstly turns everything off, then selectively decides to show the headers as listed with unignore.

I have been slightly annoyed for a while now that my Mutt configuration wasn’t displaying the send-time when i was reading emails. I had the date in the e-mail list, but nothing in the actualy email.

Finally I got to look it up

Widgets with Compiz on Ubuntu

I have being using compiz recently with ubuntu, a really nice desktop control environment.

One of the things I had wanted from the start were Desktop Widgets (aka Desklets or Screenlets)

There is in the Compiz configuration settings, under the “Desktop” section, a “Widget Layer” feature.

I have just gotten this to work with arbitrary widgets, indeed one can make any application behave like a widget, through unique identification of the window for that application.

I have installed MacSlow’s Cairo-Clock and gDesklets. I use the Éphémeride Calendar, SideCandy Network, Disk IO and Binary Clock gDesklets. I also run Mutt Mail Client in a gnome-terminal window and would like that to behave as a widget also.

So, I enable the “Widget Layer”, and set the following for the “Widget Windows” field on the “Behaviour” tab :

name=cairo-clock | (name=gnome-terminal & title=mutt) | name=gdesklets-daemon

I got the details of the windows via the xprop command. Just open a terminal, run xprop and then click the window you want information for, and it will be dumped out to screen.

Be warned, the output of xprop doesn’t look pretty, but you are looking for the values of variables like WM_CLASS or WM_NAME in order to identify your application.

One set, your specified applications will be hidden. When you press F9 they appear as an overlayed layer, and the rest of the desktop fades out.

Settings for Compiz on Ubuntu

Just found this

Lists some nice settings to use with Compiz.

The vortex setting in the ‘Expo’ effect is pretty nice!
(for the shortcut keys, ’super’ is probably familiar to most users as the ‘Alt Option’ key, or a key having an MS logo)

When Desktop Cube and Rotate Cube are enabled press and hold CTRL-ALT and click the left mouse button…

Fancy Desktop effect in Ubuntu 7.10

I had gone through setting up extra effects in ubuntu before with compiz, custom xorg configuration, and so forth.

With 7.10 I have just tried it again, and it couldn’t be easier.

I simple installed two packages as per https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CompositeManager/Xgl/simple and restarted the windowing system (CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE - beware, save anything you want to keep and probably best to close all apps and logout first)

Thats it. Navigating to System -> Preferences -> Appearance I can upgrade to extra nice effects. At the minute I am having great fun with the ‘rotating cube desktop’.

Linux on USB disks : Damn Small Linux

Today I tried out installing two separate, cut-down, versions of Linux onto a USB drive.

This post details my experience with damn small linux.

Damn Small Linux

I tried getting various files, including the embedded zip file, but failed to install to
a USB disk. The idea seemed pretty simple, unzip the files onto the USB
disk, run sys linux. Go. But it just wouldn’t work. Kept reporting
missing files early in boot.

The alternative, boot into the system form the iso and install from there, also failed.

Note, in both cases I am booting into a virtual machine, not natively.

http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/damnsmalllinux.org/current/dsl-4.2.5.iso

Instead of burning a CDR I booted the cd image with Qemu, a free virtual machine emulator (available in Ubuntu Debian Gnu/Linux)

qemu -k en-gb -m 512 -localtime -boot d -cdrom dsl-4.2.5.iso /dev/sdb1

I provided the USB drive as the hard-drive to the virtual machine
(/dev/sdb1) and instructed the boot drive to be the cd (’-cdrom
cd-image.iso’) with the option ‘-boot d’.

DSL booted up into the GUI without issue.

Then
I selected the install option “USB-HDD Pendrive Install.” from the DSL Menu -> Apps -> Tools

I also tried HDD install.

Neither work. The filesystem has errors on creation. Might try again when booted native from the CD, instead of through the virtual macine.

Linux on USB disks : Puppy Linux

Today I tried out installing two separate, cut-down, versions of Linux onto a USB drive.

This post details my experience with puppy linux.

Puppy linux

I tried getting various files but ended up using the iso download file.

ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/puppy-3.01-seamonkey.iso

Instead of burning a CDR I booted the cd image with Qemu, a free virtual machine emulator (available in Ubuntu Debian Gnu/Linux)

qemu -k en-gb -m 512 -localtime -boot d -cdrom puppy-3.01-seamonkey.iso /dev/sdb1

I provided the USB drive as the hard-drive to the virtual machine (/dev/sdb1) and instructed the boot drive to be the cd (’-cdrom cd-image.iso) with the option ‘-boot d’.

I booted into XVESA, XORG didn’t work.
Then I selected the install option “Install to IDE flash drive.” from the puppy installer at Menu -> Setup -> Puppy Universal Installer

I shut down the virtual machine, and rebooted, this time from the newly set-up USB disk, with:

qemu -k en-gb -m 512 -localtime /dev/sdb1

Worked fine, no issues !

Previously I had tried downloading other puppy linux files from the download server, but failed to install to a USB disk (without too much trying I must admit though in fairness)