.xinitrc

This is what my .xinitrc looks like:

# set keyboard layout to Swiss German
setxkbmap ch
 
# Load .Xresources file
xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources
 
# Start xbindkeys
xbindkeys &
 
# Set some defaults
export BROWSER=chromium &
export EDITOR=vim &
xdg-mime default evince.desktop application/pdf &
 
# Loop
while true
do
    # Set root title
    sh .xsetroot.sh
 
    # Check battery level
    BATT=$( acpi -b | sed 's/.*[charging|unknown], \([0-9]*\)%.*/\1/gi' )
    STATUS=$( acpi -b | sed 's/.*: \([a-zA-Z]*\),.*/\1/gi' )
    if ([ $BATT -le 5 ] && [ $STATUS == 'Discharging' ]); then
        # Beep
        echo -e "\007" >/dev/tty10 && sleep 0.2 
        echo -e "\007" >/dev/tty10 && sleep 0.2 
        echo -e "\007" >/dev/tty10 && sleep 0.2 
        # Blink
        echo 'on' > /proc/acpi/ibm/light && sleep 1
        echo 'off' > /proc/acpi/ibm/light
    fi  
 
    # Update every 10s
    sleep 10s
done &
 
# Set up rotated dual screen without touching my xorg.conf
xrandr --output DVI-1 --auto --rotate left --pos 0x0 --output DVI-0 --auto --pos 1080x720 --rotate normal
 
# Read .xsessionrc
sh ~/.xsessionrc &
 
# Set wallpaper
feh --bg-scale ~/.xwallpaper-dwm.png
 
# Set WM name (for Java apps)
wmname LG3D
 
# Run dwm
exec dwm

.Xresources

In my .Xresources, I’m setting the UXTerm color to white on black, as well as fixing a bug with the Alt key in SSH sessions. The last line is to set the window URGENT flag when the window uses the system bell.

UXTerm*eightBitInput: false
UXTerm*metaSendsEscape: true
UXTerm*reverseVideo: true
UXTerm*bellIsUrgent: true

.xsetroot.sh

As you’ve seen in my .xinitrc file, I didn’t want to keep my xsetroot commands in the .xinitrc file. The main reason for this is that now I can update the status information from an external script, e.g. when pushing some volume buttons on my notebook.

DATETIME=`date`
UPTIME=`uptime | sed 's/.*up\s*//' | sed 's/,\s*[0-9]* user.*//' | sed 's/  / /g'`
VOLUME=$( amixer sget Master | grep -e 'Front Left:' | sed 's/[^\[]*\[\([0-9]\{1,3\}%\).*\(on\|off\).*/\2 \1/' | sed 's/off/M/' | sed 's/on //' )
UNREADMAIL=`cat .unreadmail`
BATTERYSTATE=$( acpi -b | awk '{ split($5,a,":"); print substr($3,0,2), $4, "["a[1]":"a[2]"]" }' | tr -d ',' )
if [ `date +%S` == 30 -o `date +%S` == 00 ]; then python imap_check_unread.py > .unreadmail; fi
xsetroot -name "Unread ${UNREADMAIL} | ${VOLUME} | ${DATETIME} | Up ${UPTIME}h | ${BATTERYSTATE}"

The uptime value doesn’t look perfect, there are bugs if the uptime is <1h. But that doesn’t bug me

In summary, my status bar displays the following things:

• Unread e-mail count
• Volume
• Date and time
• Uptime
• Battery status

imap_check_unread.py

To check the unread mail count in my IMAP account, I created a little Python script. But because I don’t want to query the server every second, I’m caching the value in a file and updating it every 30 seconds. Create a cronjob or similar to update the file.

#!/usr/bin/env python
 
import imaplib
 
obj = imaplib.IMAP4_SSL('xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx', '993')
obj.login('user', 'password')
obj.select()
print len(obj.search(None, 'UnSeen')[1][0].split())

1. In your irssi session, issue the following commands:

/set beep_msg_level NOTICE MSGS HILIGHT
/set bell_beeps OFF

You can save this configuration permanently by issueing /save.

2. In your ~/.screenrc, add the following lines:

vbell off
bell_msg 'Bell in window %n^G'

3. Tell your terminal to set the URGENT flag when beeping. Add one of the following lines to your .Xresources:

# For UXterm users:
UXTerm*bellIsUrgent: true
 
# For (u)rxvt users:
Rxvt.urgentOnBell: true

I have written a Python script that will simplify that task. You can get it on Github.

Usage:

$ ./show-engines.py

or

$ python show-engines.py

Download:

https://github.com/gwrtheyrn/MySQL-Show-Storage-Engines

# Makefile to create PDF documents from LaTeX-Files
# Needed software packages: pdflatex, rubber
# License: No copyright, just do what the heck you want with it
 
all: pdf clean
 
pdf:
	for file in $$(ls *tex | cut -d \. -f 1) ; do make $$file.pdf ; done
 
%.pdf: %.tex
	rubber -m pdftex $<
 
clean:
	rm -f *.toc *.aux *.log
 
cleanall:
	rm -f *.toc *.pdf *.aux *.log
 
.PHONY: all pdf clean cleanall
.SILENT: pdf
 
# vim: set tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 noexpandtab:

This creates a PDF version of each *.tex-File in the current directory using rubber. I chose rubber over directly using pdflatex because it compiles the documents as many times as necessary in order to get all the TOCs and footnotes. Feel free to substitute it with whatever other command you prefer.

Save the code in a file called Makefile and run make to get all *.tex-files in the current directory converted to PDF. Type make file.pdf to convert file.tex to file.pdf. Type make clean to remove all unnecessary *.toc, *.aux and *.log files and make cleanall to remove all PDF documents as well.

Warnings:

1. Don’t use make cleanall if you have other important PDF files in the current directory, they will get removed as well.
2. Retain the tabs in the Makefile, spaces won’t work

1. Install brother-dcp7010 and brscan2 via AUR
2. Install sane and a frontend for it, e.g. xsane
3. Add your user to the scanner-Group: gpasswd -a username scanner
4. Add the keyword brother2 to /etc/sane.d/dll.conf
5. Log out and back in

You should now be able to print and scan.

$ xdg-mime default desktop-file mimetype

E.g. to open pdf files with evince, issue

$ xdg-mime default evince.desktop application/pdf

Seit ein paar Tagen kann man sich mit Pidgin nicht mehr im MSN einloggen, stattdessen kommt die folgende Meldung:

Kann Zertifikat nicht validieren
Das Zertifikat für omega.contacts.msn.com konnte nicht validiert werden. Die präsentierte Zertifizierungskette ist ungültig.

Um dieses Problem zu beheben muss man entweder manuell das aktualisierte Zertifikat installieren, oder Pidgin updaten. Leider wird Pidgin unter Ubuntu nur bei Sicherheitsupdates aktualisiert. Abhilfe schafft folgendes Vorgehen:

Ubuntu

1. Das Pidgin PPA herunterladen
2. .deb-Datei öffnen und mit dem GDebi Installier installieren
3. Eine Konsole öffnen und sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade eingeben

Daraufhin wird Pidgin aktualisiert und sollte wieder funktionieren.

Windows

Unter Windows kann man Pidgin wie gewohnt herunterladen und installieren/updaten.

pacman -S python2-distribute

If you’re an Ubuntu user, install python-setuptools.

apt-get install python-setuptools

For download, see the suckless.org [dev] mailinglist archive.

1. Add fingerprint-gui ppa to your sources:

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fingerprint/fingerprint-gui
   sudo apt-get update

2. Install fingerprint-gui

   sudo apt-get install fingerprint-gui

3. Install UPEK library libbsapi

   sudo apt-get install libbsapi

4. Log out and back in
5. Play with settings in System > Preferences > Fingerprint GUI

For more and more detailed information, see https://launchpad.net/~fingerprint/+archive/fingerprint-gui.