Final post here

I'm switching over to github pages.  The continuation of this blog (with archives included) is at umhau.github.io. 

By the way, the long absence when the blog was wierdly down was only partly my fault...it happened after I tried to make blogger redirect to my new site, and it completely died.  You saw the result.  I finally realised I could reset the theme to something completely different to make the site work again.  Sorry it's such a weird theme.

Fast User Switching

This is for Ubuntu GNOME 17.04.  Maybe a lot of other versions of Linux as well.

To get the main login menu: CTRL + ALT + F1
To switch to the first logged in user: CTRL + ALT + F2
To switch to the second logged in user: CTRL + ALT + F3
Etc.

Sound Device Chooser

Personal memo, because I need this so much.  On Ubuntu GNOME 17.04, the OS fails to switch between sound devices when I plug in USB headphones.  I always have to go into the sound menu in the settings and manually switch.  At least this way, it's fewer clicks.

https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/906/sound-output-device-chooser/

Installing GNU APL

Two parts: the keyboard layout and the program itself.  This is on Ubuntu GNOME 17.04.

Install GNU APL.

cd ~/Downloads
wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/apl/apl-1.7.tar.gz
tar xzf apl-1.7.tar.gz
cd apl-1.7
./configure
make 
sudo make install

Set up the keyboard (for all the weird symbols). On Ubuntu GNOME 17.04, go to:

settings -> region and language -> [+] input source -> English (region) -> APL (dyalog)

Then set a good fixed-width font so the symbols show up correctly.  Go here and download the recommended font, open and install it.  Then open the GNOME Tweak Tool:

fonts -> monospace -> APL385 Unicode Regular -> Select

And you're done.  Use

win + space

to switch between the fonts.

Detaching modal dialog boxes from windows

This had been bugging me for a long time.  Gnome Shell Ubuntu decided that it would be nice if users couldn't get to applications while dialog boxes (like a save menu) were open.  Here's a fix to undo that decision.  src.  This is functional on 17.04.  

Detach dialog

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/overrides/attach-modal-dialogs false

Attach dialog

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/overrides/attach-modal-dialogs true

Set External Monitor as Default in Debian Console

I have a copy of debian running on a busted ThinkPad without an internal monitor.  It would be nice if the command line didn't revert to a 640x480 resolution on the external.  Solution: completely disable the internal monitor, so linux auto-sets the monitor resolution according to the specs of the external monitor. src.

Find the name of your monitors.  My internal card is an intel, so I can look in /sys for the EDID file (which has the EDID name, which is what we want).  src.

find /sys -name edid

Based on the output of that command, the name of my internal display is

LVDS-1

With that information, I'm going into GRUB and disabling the display.  Note it will not work at all after this, unless you change the setting back. 

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

edit the line from

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"

(or whatever it was to begin with) to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet video=LVDS-1:d"

Keep whatever settings were already there.  Update GRUB, and reboot the computer.  

sudo update-grub
reboot

tmux cheat sheet

A few commands that are useful to know. src.

managing sessions

tmux new -s foobar          | creates a new tmux session with given name foobar
tmux attach -t foobar       | attaches to an existing tmux session named foobar
tmux list-sessions          | list all available tmux sessions
tmux switch -t foobar       | switches to a session named foobar
tmux detach (ctrl + b, + d) | detach from the current session

managing windows

tmux new-window (ctrl + b, + c)     | create a new tmux window
tmux select-window -t :0-9 (ctrl + b, + 0-9) | choose an existing tmux window
tmux rename-window (ctrl + b, + ,)  | rename an existing tmux window