Sirius Stuff

Set Gmail as Default Mail Client in Ubuntu

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 06:06:06 PDT

As much as I love Thunderbird with IMAP, I’m finding that I’m making mistakes because of using Linux and Google Reader more and more. I use vim and both it and Google Reader use the vi-style commands of the j key for down, k key for up, etc. I can’t find a way to re-map the keys in Thunderbird to do the same under Linux. Also, using Thunderbird means keeping two addressbooks instead of one.

So I’m now using gmail as my primary mail program, reserving Thunderbird for the times when I actually do need to work off the ‘net. One of the things that I found useful was a way to Set Gmail as Default Mail Client in Ubuntu. This is working like a champ.

Bookmarks Power up Firefox with keywords - Lifehacker

Wed, 23 May 2007 05:05:05 PDT

I have this working on my laptop. But I have to remember to get it going on my desktop machine. That’s the only problem with having two machines - even with Google’s browser sync it’s hard to keep the FireFox configurations absolutely identical. Bookmarks: Power up Firefox with keywords - Lifehacker

Hack Attack - Firefox and the art of keyword bookmarking

Wed, 23 May 2007 05:05:05 PDT

Another article on FireFox and bookmarks. Hack Attack: Firefox and the art of keyword bookmarking - Lifehacker

Convert Physical Windows Systems Into Virtual Machines To Be Run On A Linux Desktop

Fri, 18 May 2007 05:05:05 PDT

Another article on how to Convert Physical Windows Systems Into Virtual Machines To Be Run On A Linux Desktop

Running a Windows Partition in VMware

Fri, 18 May 2007 05:05:05 PDT

I’m still trying to figure out whether I’m going to try and keep running XP on my laptop or try to run XP under Ubuntu. Big problem with running Ubuntu is that hibernate does not work and I’ve spent several hours on it. Enough time that I’m not willing to spend more without confidence that the time will be well-spent. I may just wait for Dell or someone else to come out with Ubuntu on their machines officially and then buy one of those. Hopefully WiFi and hibernate will work without the kind of work I’m having to do.

Right now, I’m sticking with XP on laptop and Ubuntu with desktop. This looks useful for Running a Windows Partition in VMware I’m using VirtualBox and am pretty happy with it so far.

Things I can do in Linux that I can’t do on Windows. | dmartin.org

Fri, 18 May 2007 05:05:05 PDT

This article lists some of the things I can do in Linux that I can’t do on Windows. Nice article.

You Can Switch to Linux! - willsmith - Maximum PC

Fri, 18 May 2007 05:05:05 PDT

Apparently it’s Ubuntu day for me. Wondering if you can switch to Linux? Here’s a nice article on how to do so. Published in Maximum PC magazine, it’s clear and current with Feisty Fawn, released just less than a month ago. Good stuff.

Firefox - Open diverted links in new background tab instead of new window

Tue, 01 May 2007 05:05:05 PDT

I really like to be able to click on links while reading an article but not have to deal with the links until I’m done. I’ve got enough ADD issues without tabs popping up. So I was very happy to find this reference to making tabs work better (for me, anyway): Teuton: Firefox: Open diverted links in new background tab instead of new window

It’s kind of an adjustment process because FF is relatively “quiet’ - the tabs are opening all the way to the right and not grabbing attention. Just the way I’ve wanted but it’s a little unnerving - I’m checking to make sure the tabs did open.

Highly recommended.

Dell offering pre-installed Linux?

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:04:04 PDT

Was reading Deep Jive Interests about Deep Jive Interests » Dell’s Crowdsourcing More Than Hype: Tells Microsoft to “Suck It!”

I’ve spent some time the past 10 days or so putting Ubuntu 7.04 on 3 PCs, all of them dual-booting some flavor of Windows. Obviously there’s a lot of interest in doing this on Dell’s site but it’s not clear at all that Dell is going to reduce the price just because they don’t install Microsoft. I still don’t have hibernation working properly on my desktop - haven’t tried on the kids’ or my laptop yet - so I’m a lot more interested in paying the same price as a Windows box just to have hibernate and wireless work without a glitch.

Working on the hibernate scripts is not fun for me. I can’t imagine it’s fun for a programmer. So, OK. I’m willing to pay to have better support for Linux. It would be nice to be able to either specify “just hardware that plays nice with Linux” or have Dell lean on their suppliers to just make it happen.

20 must-see Greasemonkey Addons(No Technical Knowledge Req.)

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 04:04:04 PDT

I love the way that Firefox and Thunderbird can be extended by extensions. But I’ve been somewhat concerned about the reliability and stability of Greasemonkey scripts. There were a couple of features that I wanted to try (more on that later) so I broke down and installed it on my laptop.

Wow. I’ve been very pleased with how well the scripts worked. I’m still cautious about installing them, since they’re not looked over anywhere near as much as extensions on the official Mozilla site are. But the Userscripts site lets you look over info from the author and comments from people before installing anything.

A good place to start is 20 must-see Greasemonkey Addons(No
Technical Knowledge Req.) » MakeUseOf.com