This post aims at drafting a blueprint for future implementation in Ubuntu Linux.
Any comments and suggestions are welcome!
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Duplex printing [1] is currently available only to mid-high-end printers.
However same goal can be achieved with minimal effort and minimal user interaction also on simplex low-end printers via a software hack.

Procedure:

This has been achieved for example by Samsung windows drivers. These paginates the printing queue so that sheets are printed

1. firstly rotated 180 degrees and filed in reverse order
2. then the driver prompts the user to put printed sheets back into the tray ‘as they are’ (no manual weired rotating and flipping needed)
3. finally printed normally

The resulting is a paginated duplex printed document.

Advantages and Benefits:

With manual duplex printing a wide range of users with low-end printers such as Samsung ML-2010 series are enabled to:

• print documents on both sides of paper
• make professional looking booklets
• lower the usage of paper
• lower the home/office environmental impact

References:

Blueprint: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/system-config-printer/+spec/manual-duplex-printing

Bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/system-config-printer/+bug/193088

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duplex_printing

If you installed java-gcj and openjdk the Mozilla Firefox browser java plugin wouldn’t work. The only working browser plugin is currently sun-java6-plugin.

sudo apt-get remove gcjwebplugin-4.2 java-gcj-compat java-gcj-compat-headless java-gcj-compat-plugin libaccess-bridge-java openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless openjdk-6-jre-lib

sudo apt-get install odbcinst1debian1 sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin unixodbc

optional: delete pluginre.dat file in your browser profile directory
(usually in $HOME/.mozilla/firefox/[something].profile/ )

Firefox 3.0 stable default setup has these features disabled

• direct printing from print preview
• ability to zoom page before printing from print preview
• ability to change printing page orientation (portrait/landscape)

all this can be achieved by setting string print.whileInPrintPreview in about:config as true
(this now defaults to false).

I filed a bug report about this issue here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.0/+bug/245772

Prestare tanta attenzione al pensionamento di Bill Gates significa perdere di vista la questione centrale. Ciò che conta davvero non è Gates, né Microsoft, ma il sistema perverso delle restrizioni che Microsoft, come molte altre società di software, impone a suoi clienti.

Tale dichiarazione può sorprendere, dato che la maggior parte delle persone interessate a computer nutrono forti risentimenti su Microsoft. Gli uomini d’affari ed i loro docili politici ammirano il suo successo nella costruzione di un impero su così tanti utenti di computer.

Molti al di fuori del campo informatico riconoscono a Microsoft i progressi da cui lei ha in realtà solo tratto vantaggio, come ad esempio la realizzazione di computer veloci ed a basso costo, e semplici interfacce grafiche.

La filantropia di Gates per l’assistenza sanitaria nei paesi poveri ha conquistato l’opinione positiva di alcune persone. Il LA Times ha riferito che la sua fondazione spende dal 5 al 10% del suo denaro ogni anno ed investe il resto, certe volte in società che sostiene sono alla base del degrado ambientale e delle malattie negli stessi paesi poveri.

Molti informatici odiano particolarmente Gates e Microsoft. Hanno abbondanti ragioni per farlo.

Read the rest of “[IT] It’s not the Gates, it’s the bars” »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7487060.stm

To pay so much attention to Bill Gates’ retirement is missing the point. What really matters is not Gates, nor Microsoft, but the unethical system of restrictions that Microsoft, like many other software companies, imposes on its customers.

That statement may surprise you, since most people interested in computers have strong feelings about Microsoft. Businessmen and their tame politicians admire its success in building an empire over so many computer users.

Many outside the computer field credit Microsoft for advances which it only took advantage of, such as making computers cheap and fast, and convenient graphical user interfaces.

Gates’ philanthropy for health care for poor countries has won some people’s good opinion. The LA Times reported that his foundation spends five to 10% of its money annually and invests the rest, sometimes in companies it suggests cause environmental degradation and illness in the same poor countries.

Many computerists specially hate Gates and Microsoft. They have plenty of reasons.

Read the rest of “[EN] It’s not the Gates, it’s the bars” »

Due to the very high pace of Free and OpenSource Software development it often occurs that program versions shipped with a distribution are already quite obsolete, hence the need to upgrade to its latest version.

Compiling the sources can be a little annoying sometimes, since you have to take care of the many multiple dependencies and cannot easily manage the program setup (i.e. update/remove it).

Using the prepacked and patched package from the development repositories is definitely the best solution.

However how to keep up to date with those developing packages? With apt pinning! Read on.

Read the rest of “mixing Hardy stable and Intrepid testing repositories” »

Ever since I installed Ubuntu Linux Hardy 8.04 I’m facing problems in browsing Windows shares with samba.

Even though I can see the Windows Group and the Windows Hosts when I click on them I only get an empty window. No shares are listed.

Read the rest of “Problems browsing Windows shares with GNOME Nautilus” »

In the following tutorial you are going to fine tweak your Ubuntu Linux setup in order to speed up the boot process as well as the startup time of some frequently used applications.

1. use bootchart to profile boot times and bootlenecks easily through an intuitive image graph
   install with

   sudo apt-get install bootchart
   
   then you’ll get a graph in /var/log/bootchart directory each time you boot your system.
   charts will be looking like the image on the right (click to zoom)

Read the rest of “Speed up your Ubuntu Linux boot!” »

* Easy to use interface
* Storing Favourite devices
* Send files
* Browse files on devices
* List all seen devices

Read the rest of “Blueman - Bluetooth Manager” »

Basket Note Pads http://basket.kde.org is a KDE native application for note taking that enables you to do all the following tasks and a lot more in a very human like way.

Basket Note Pads is a GNU Linux alternative to Micro$oft One Note and also to the Mono dependent Tomboy, being much much better than both (on why Mono is not advisable:No-Mono-by-Default).

Read the rest of “Basket Note Pads (OneNote and Tomboy alternative)” »