Thursday, November 1, 2007
Conky System Monitor
Conky is an advanced, highly configurable system monitor for X based on torsmo. It looks very nice on the desktop. Works with LINUX/BSD/UNIX-like OSes. You can find all the information you need on their site http://conky.sourceforge.net/

After installing the necessary packages for your distribution all you need to do is to provide a configuration file (.conkyrc) in your home directory. You can either write one yourself using the variables provided here Conky Variables and the config file settings found here Config File Settings or use a configuration file you found on the web.

Here are some screenshots of mine running and the configuration file i use.



background yes

cpu_avg_samples 2
net_avg_samples 2
update_interval 1

out_to_console no

use_xft yes
xftfont Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:pixelsize=10
xftalpha 0.8

own_window yes
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_type override
#own_window_type root
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

double_buffer yes

alignment top_left
gap_x 13
gap_y 13

minimum_size 210

draw_graph_borders no
draw_outline yes
draw_shades yes
use_spacer yes

no_buffers no

color0 00B3FF
color1 ffffff
color2 FF6600
color3 004674
color4 07DB00
color5 00FFFF
TEXT
${color0}Date: ${color1}${time %A, %e %B %G}
${color0}Time: ${color1}${time %H:%M:%S %Z}
${color0}Uptime: ${color1}${uptime}
${color0}Kernel: ${color1}${kernel}

${color2}Processors

${color0}#1: ${color1}${freq_g 1} GHz ${cpu cpu1}%${offset 2}${color0}#2: ${color1}${freq_g 2} GHz ${cpu cpu2}%
${color3}${cpugraph cpu1 15,114 000000 FFFFFF}${offset 2}${color3}${cpugraph cpu2 15,114 000000 FFFFFF}

${color2}Proceses

${color0}Name${offset 102}PID${offset 18}CPU%${offset 18}MEM%
${color4}${top name 1} ${top pid 1} ${top cpu 1} ${top mem 1}
${color1}${top name 2} ${top pid 2} ${top cpu 2} ${top mem 2}
${color1}${top name 3} ${top pid 3} ${top cpu 3} ${top mem 3}

${color0}Name${offset 102}PID${offset 18}CPU%${offset 18}MEM%
${color4}${top_mem name 1} ${top_mem pid 1} ${top_mem cpu 1} ${top_mem mem 1}
${color1}${top_mem name 2} ${top_mem pid 2} ${top_mem cpu 2} ${top_mem mem 2}
${color1}${top_mem name 3} ${top_mem pid 3} ${top_mem cpu 3} ${top_mem mem 3}

${color2}Memory

${color0}Ram: ${color1}${memperc}% ${mem}/${memmax}
${color3}${membar 3,230}
${color0}Swap: ${color1}${swapperc}% ${swap}/${swapmax}
${color3}${swapbar 3,230}
${color0}/: ${color1}${fs_used /}/${fs_size /}
${color3}${fs_bar 3,230 /}
${color0}/home: ${color1}${fs_used /home}/${fs_size /home}
${color3}${fs_bar 3,230 /home}

${color2}Wireless

${color0}Essid: ${color1}${wireless_essid wlan0} ${color0}AP: ${color1}${wireless_ap wlan0}
${color0}Link Quality: ${color1} ${wireless_link_qual wlan0}/${wireless_link_qual_max wlan0}
${color3}${wireless_link_bar 3,230wlan0}
${color0}Down: ${color1}${downspeed wlan0}k/s${offset 32}${color0}Up: ${color1}${upspeed wlan0}k/s
${color3}${downspeedgraph wlan0 15,114 000000 ffffff}${offset 2}${upspeedgraph wlan0 15,114 000000 ffffff}

${color2}Battery

${color0}Status: ${color1}${battery} ${color0}Left: ${color1}${battery_time}${if_empty $battery_time}N/A${endif}
${color3}${battery_bar 3,230}
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Create a chibi Tux penguin with Inkscape












Inkscape is n Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

You can find it here Inkscape
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Arch Linux on a Toshiba Satellite A100-784
What was tested

Sound: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller

install alsa-lib alsa-utils and run alsaconf


Wireless: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

Intel 3945abg is fully supported on Linux

Either install ipw3945 and add ipw3945 to your module array in /etc/rc.conf and ipw3945d to your daemon array in rc.conf before the network daemon

Or install iwlwifi and iwlwifi-3945-ucode, then add iwl3945 in the module array in /etc/rc.conf

wireless switch:
works

Ethernet: Intel Corporation PRO/100 VE Network Connection

works out of the box

bluetooth:

I used the omnibook module. In order to obtain it add the following server to your /etc/pacman.conf

[archlinuxfr]

Server = http://repo.archlinux.fr/i686


Do a pacman -Sy and then pacman -S yaourt

after it finishes you can install the module using the command yaourt omnibook and choosing the omnibook-svn version

add the omnibook module in the module array in /etc/rc.conf and the following entry in /etc/modprobe.conf

option omnibook ectype=14

touchpad: Synaptics Touchpad
works

lcd screen brightness:

Works
add the video module to your /etc/rc.conf

you can decrease or increase the brightness by echoing values to /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness ex. echo 10 > /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCD/brightness


headphone jack:
Works

fn keys:
Some functionality, video module needed for some of them to work

Multimedia keys:
not working (to my knowledge)

Sound dial:
Works

optical drive: Matsushita UJDA770
Works

What was not tested

PCMCIA
tv-out
firewire
microphone jack