Efficient desktop environment

I consider myself as a power user. Every day (and sometimes also nights ;-) ) I make intensive use of computers to get things done. Of course I am not a farmer - I am working in IT business. - However, intensive use of computers is by far not limited to IT people.

Of course, for people spending a major part of their time in front of a computer lousy software has a bigger impact on efficiency. While many people can live with the fact to reinstall their Windows PC every 6 months, I get angry when some of my most often used features take two clicks to much as it could be.

There are two major kinds of computer users: Those who are using one or two applications most of the time and those who use a larger set of applications. To the first group people belong who will respond to the question "Which operating system are you using?" with something like "Word - Microsoft Word". ;-) - While for the first group the underlying OS is of minor relevance, for the latter group of people using a bunch of applications, the underlying operating system can be a critical factor.

I am an Ubuntu user and in the Ubuntu world the last months were full of discussions about the new desktop environment developed by Canonical, namely Unity. Many argued about bad user experience. I myself did play around with a lot of additional components to bump up my desktop. I tested several dock components like Cairo-Dock, AWN and others. Although I finally did not use any of those due to other reasons (stability, performance or simply no time to tweak it to fit my needs perfectly), I had a quite nice configuration with Gnome 2 and AWN on my Ubuntu 10.04 machine. Surprisingly that configuration looked quite similar to Unity.

Many of my peers switched to Linux Mint which is Ubuntu-based but is going for a different strategy regarding desktop look and feel. If you like Ubuntu, but don't like Unity, you can either use "classic" Gnome3 or install Cairo-Dock which then offers an option to go with Classic Gnome + Cairo Dock right on login (at least starting with 12.04 beta 1) and I even managed to create an AWN session with the help of TuxGarage. (The example there is outdated - you need to look at your current ubuntu.session file and take this as a sample or look below in the comments on that post).

However I found - after testing a while - that Unity fits best for me - at least with the least effort to put into getting it efficient. Important from my point of view is that with mouse OR keyboard everything can be reached quickly, that includes: Virtual desktops, Launchers, Open Application Windows, Menus, File system.

Out-of-the-box Unity offers a lot of cool hotkeys, besides ALT+TAB for switching between open applications you can use ALT+^ to switch between open windows/instances of the same application or after ALT+TAB you can collapse and expand application windows with the UP/DOWN keys. Pressing and releasing ALT offers the HUD menu (F10 still brings you to the normal menu). STRG+ALT+LEFT/RIGHT switches between virtual desktops. The only thing I immediately missed was a quick way to switch desktops with the mouse. My former way of configuring this was installing compizconfig-settings-manager and configuring desktop wall accordingly to switch to next and previous desktop doing a right-click on the left or right edge on the screen. That does not work any more when Unity is active on the left. I did not change that to now use left and right mouse button on the bottom edge and that works. In addition to that I reduced the icon size to 32 (can be done using compizconfig Unity plugin, installing MyUnity or also via commandline).

People who don't like Unity have different reasons but one might be the dock-style (which even Windows adopted later). The dock with launcher and window list in combination has one big advantage: The icons are always on the same position - no matter in what order you launch them. This is essential if you open a lot of applications during the day and end up in continously searching your app windows. Although I used to hate window grouping, Unity behaves differently whether you click on a different application launcher or not - which I found reduces necessary clicks.

These and a few other things I missed in all the other desktop environments - like e.g. configuring different times - not just one (I like to see New York or other time zones when clicking on the clock). Although other dock components have a lot more customizing options and features, I find Unity simpler and I found minor bugs in Cairo-Dock and AWN which resulted in my decision that I do not want to bother with finding my own fully customized X-Session and then probably experiencing more troubles. Would have tried longer if I would have found Unity unacceptable. But: After all my tests I still find Unity the best.

I definitely find that the time of a classic task bar (as known from Windows XP, KDE, XFCE or LXDE) is over - mostly because of the unsure icon position in a classical taskbar and the fact that the first thought always needed to be: "Did I already start this or not?" - depending on the answer a different icon had to be clicked. And even on larger screens it is annoying to waste screen space with additional panels (quickstart and windows). My attempts to get a combination of XFCE or LXDE with Cairo-Dock or AWN working well together failed because I either had some crashes, or too many panels remaining. BTW: XFCE comes with a bottom launcher which only is set to autohide by default.

There are still a few things I would like to see in Unity - like easier configuration of the unity launchers or including a classic Gnome menu launcher by default, but I think that Unity is on a good way - I got familiar with it quite fast and so new users will, I think. Of course many people find many things to tweak after a first installation of Ubuntu. I probably will come up with my one set of tweaks after the final Ubuntu 12.04 LTS came out...

Related posts: Popular Ubuntu desktop myths, Why companies do not use Linux on the desktop, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin optimized.

Mobile world with Android

As I already wrote earlier, I was not one of the early adopters when it comes to smart phones. In fact, the first smart phone user in our family was my wife with an iPhone (which I am happy that it has been ditched in the meantime because my wife had some troubles with it from time to time and I could not do anything about them with this mega-locked block).

In the beginning of the year (which is only a few weeks ago) it was time to choose a new mobile work phone. As I already have a smart phone now, I was searching for a very simple phone for doing just calls. Battery duration was the primary "feature" I was looking at when comparing models. Unfortunately I was not able to find something better than the Samsung Galaxy S II which is again a smart phone. It has one of the longest battery times, is slim, lightweight, very low SAR value. And one of the reasons why I again have chosen an Android smart-phone: It is simple to setup - just login to my Google Account and all the contact data is there - automagically.

First I had a few concerns with two phones running against the same Google account, but I find it very fine now. I have setup mail and calendar for both phones and so I can very easily check appointments or emails on the second phone while talking (it often happens that a customer calls me and wants to talk about an email he/she has sent a few minutes ago. Easily now with a second smartphone.

You may not believe, but there are cases, where I go out or going on vacation without my Laptop in the luggage and I might be on places without WLAN access. So happened a few weeks ago when a customer called with an issue which I solved using the great TeamViewer Android application on my phone while having the customer on loudspeakers.

While in train or bus going to work in the morning, I do read news with the Google Reader Android app or listen to podcasts, so if I do not travel for a longer time right now, I don't turn on my laptop any more.

Here is the list of applications I am using on my mobile phone - bold ones are my frequently used apps:

• Advanced Task Manager (Saves battery power by killing apps that are not in use but otherwise remain started).
• AlarmDroid (Alarm clock)
• Apo-App (Austria)
• BarClone (Get rid of customer/club cards by having the barcodes in your phone and display them instead of using the card - unfortunately a lot of barcode readers in shops are not capable of reading the barcode from the display although other smart phones can read them without problems).
• Barcode Scanner (zxing)
• barcoo (Barcode scanner)
• BatteryTime (Display battery charge level more in detail or as icon on the Android-Desk)
• BeyondPod (Podcast software - like Google Reader for Podcasts)
• Bluetooth File Transfer (Phone-to-phone data exchange)
• Bump (Handshake with other people to exchange contact data)
• CamScanner (Scan documents with your phone)
• Citrix Receiver (Remote access to company citrix server)
  
• ConnectBot (Remote access to other Linux/SSH servers)
• Contact Widget (Put Quickdials on your Android-Desk)
• Dolphin Browser HD (Alternative Web browser)
• Dropbox (Access to your cloud files - I use it on Android for saving ringtones and small files containing notes or scans/photos done during meetings to get them automatically on my work machine without requiring the use of bluetooth or USB).
• ES Datei/File Explorer (File Manager)
• Facebook (if not already there, but I use it less and less because it gets slower and slower with each update)
• Financisto (Financial expenses tool)
• Flash Player
• Flashlight (several available)
• Genial Writing (Handwriting tool)
• K-9 Mail (Alternative E-Mail client - I tried several, that is probably the only one where you can configure IMAP folders to use in detail and probably the one with the most options).
• Money Manager (Financial expenses tool)
• MultiLing Tastatur/Keyboard (I tried several original keyboards of different phones and always finally downloaded MultiLink keyboard - it's simply the best with the most options.
• Note Everything (Note taking tool)
• (Opera Mini - as alternative for Dolphin Browser)
• (PowerTutor - if you do not already know what consumes the most power
• and consider appropriate settings)
• QR Droid
• QuickMark
• QuickOffice (View office documents)
• Reader (Google Reader)
• RealCalc (Alternative calculator with more features than the usual default ones)
• Schweizer Taschenmesser (several small tools)
• Shazam or SoundHound (both are quite equal - record music from where you are and get the name and interpreter of the music title being played.
• Stoppuhr (Timer)
• SwiFTP (Access your phone via FTP - must be on the same WLAN-net - use that at home to bulk-download fotos).
• Tasks To Do Free (Tasklist / todo manager)
• TeamViewer (Remote Support and meeting tool)
• TuneIn Radio
• XING (Xing social networking Android app)
• YoutTube (Video viewer - mostly already installed by default on Android phones)
• Zeiterfassung (Timesheet, worktime recording)

Related posts: Mobile phone situation.

Virtualbox vmdk image to vdi

One of my VirtualBox virtual machines used the vmdk disk format (From VMWare). Somehow it seemed to be slower than another machine I had running in VDI format (default for VirtualBox >= 4.0).

I had to search the internet a while to find the right solution and it was not complete, so here is my description on how to migrate the virtual machine disk format from vmdk to vdi:

cd <folder where your disk image is>
vboxmanage clonehd somename.vmdk somename.vdi --format VDI

That takes a while. After finished you need to start virtualbox and go into the settings of your virtual machine. Under "Storage" you will still find the old HD file attached to SATA (or IDE) controller. Remove the old one and attach the new .vdi file.

Try starting the virtual machine to see if everything works as intended.

Then shutdown your virtual machine, go to File->Virtual Media Manager and remove the old vmdk file even there. Now you can delete the .vmdk.

The individual desktop

I can see an interesting movement on the market: Many Apple iPhone users seem to lurk towards a Mac when they think of buying a new computer. - And some actually do.

And in my neighbourhood I can count already 6 Macs in the first minute trying to count them.

I find it a good thing, that Macs are increasing. With more people using Macs, companies need to start considering that there is not only Windows and world is colorful.

There is just one thing that I need to make clear: Many Mac users think that they are a special individual with their extraordinary computer and this is not true IMHO.

I can see the following different strategies:

• Microsoft: Keep compatibility to keep market share but try to offer new GUI stuff that feeds people's enthusiasm and keep some flexibility.
• Apple: Focus on usability and don't make the user think or choose.
• Linux: Be open and flexible. Everybody should be able to use it as desired.

I was thinking if there could be the optimal all-use-fitting user interface but I came to the conclusion that there are many different use cases, many different jobs and many people thinking in many different ways.

I think, the Apple way is not the worst, but for those who work a lot with the computer it might be worth to invest a little more time finding the best fitting environment. If you want to be really individual, Linux is the way to go - just search youtube - e.g. for "my Linux desktop" or "top linux distros" to get an idea what people do with Linux.

Related posts: Distribution choice, Popular Ubuntu desktop myths.

Failed user lock-down

Have been on a Citrix Windows 2008r2 server machine where the admins really tried to lock down everything.

The other side is: Some stuff is not working well and I do not wonder because I am pretty sure that a lot of features that have been disabled are required by several pieces of software.

And the funny thing is: You can't really lock out the user on Windows - just to show one simple way to open the command prompt if disabled:

1. Start Microsoft Word
2. Press ALT + F11
3. Press CTRL+G
4. Type: vba.shell "cmd.exe"
5. Press Enter
6. Voila here it is the commandline window.

In the particular case C: drive was disabled and command prompt -  now everything is at hand form the command prompt. You can either try:
vba.shell "explorer C:\Windows"
works either. :-)

Smart Backup on Linux

About two years ago after setting up a Linux server I was asked to create a backup of the last seven days. Reason for this was the idea that if something gets deleted or corrupted it might not be noticed immediately.

The problem was: The hard disk did not have enough free space to hold 7 times the data and at the moment there was no external hard disk available.

I searched the Internet and found a really smart solution - you can find details here on mikerubel.org (rsync snapshots). My final script looks like this:

 #!/bin/bash  
 rm -rf /data/autobackup/backup.7  
 mv /data/autobackup/backup.6 /data/autobackup/backup.7  
 mv /data/autobackup/backup.5 /data/autobackup/backup.6  
 mv /data/autobackup/backup.4 /data/autobackup/backup.5  
 mv /data/autobackup/backup.3 /data/autobackup/backup.4  
 mv /data/autobackup/backup.2 /data/autobackup/backup.3  
 mv /data/autobackup/backup.1 /data/autobackup/backup.2  
 cp -alv /data/autobackup/backup.0 /data/autobackup/backup.1 > /data/autobackup/0to1.log  
 rsync -av --delete /data/live/ /data/autobackup/backup.0/ > /data/autobackup/last-rsync.log  

If you want to go more into detail - Michael Jakl has posted a variant here (rsync time machine).

Currently in my use case the live part takes 149GB and the whole backup of 7 days takes 161 GB (instead of more than a TB!)

I know, disk space is quite cheap, but the rising amount of data also requires a lot! - In my case:

1. I already have several external drives (2 HDs where HD images of my work notebook are saved alternating).
2. Two separate external drives where data only is saved with rsync (to one disk more often to other about once in two months).
3. I have a 500GB external HD where data is outsourced that I do not need that much or simply consumes too much of my primary HD. That one was not saved in the early times. In the meantime I do sync it to a second one from time to time (people have a lot of external HDs these days but I am not sure if they backup those too...).

Guess what, if I would decide to keep snapshots of several days - way too much for a normal copy x7!

Google Maps issues

A while ago I had problems using Google Maps - I had a slow loading issue which ran into an error.

I found a discussion about this problem where many people were angry at Google because they don't fix this problem.

I found out that the problem was due to my browser security plugins Adblock Plus and NoScript. At least one of those (I think it was NoScript) was blocking the site gstatic.com (and google.com of course or at least maps.google.com). No need to completely disable (which was mentioned also in the discussion), just whitelist relevant sites in those plugins (Check site media information to see loaded images for example).

Some other people mentioned different reasons causing the same problem like:

• Check your orther privacy or security plugins for blocking maps.google.com or gstatic.com
• Delete cookies for maps.google.com as well as all temporary internet files (clear cache).
• Skype extension for Firefox causing the problem.
• DNS problems (that usually temporarily - to separate this reason from others check availability of maps.google.com and gstatic.com using nslookup and check if it works using a different browser without any plugins - if both works then DNS is not the reason for your problem).
• if2k (if on Mac).
• Badly written router firewalls (try deactivating IPv6).
• Turn off inprivate filtering (if on Windows IE).
• Windows only: Uninstall Java and reinstall launching as Administrator (Win 7).
• Your mobile web service provider might have implemented an accelerator reducing image quality - check and turn off on the provider's website.

I am posting this because there were many responses to this and still some are posting without reading the earlier answers offering solutions and it seems that plenty of people experiencing problems with google maps.