Spy der Mann's Journal: My experience with Linux is improving each day :)

Since I had installed PCLinuxOS, I've been doing great improvements in customizing my desktop. And I don't just mean changing the background. I'm talking about usability.

Here are some of the improvements I've made to my Linux machine - in no particular order:

Usability improvement #1: QuickLauncher applet.
This allows me to start my favorite applications with the touch of a button. I still wonder why it wasn't enabled by default. (Or was it and I accidentally deleted? I think so, because I remember that tiny lifesaver icon before).

Usability improvement #2: Multiple Desktops.
It may appear as nothing important, but saving a click is really relieving for your ached fingertips if you got RSI. Did you know that if you move the mousewheel over the desktops switcher, the desktops change? Also, you can make a certain application occupy ALL desktops. I have winamp er Audacious (having the original winamp skin still fools me :P ) and the Buddy list on all desktops.

Also you can use one desktop for slashdotting and tech stuff, another for buddies (so you can have all buddy conversations visible) and another for installations etc. I also modified the desktops applet to use 6 instead of 4 desktops (but maintained the number of desktops to 4). This way the icons use less horizontal space.

Usability improvement #3: Changing the behavior of desktop icons from double-click to single-click. Anything to save my precious fingertips from excruciating pain (Ow, I shouldn't have played that much with my PS2)

Usability improvement #4: Windows-key-behavior for Shortcuts.
This made me use ctrl-alt-del and my favorite windows shortcuts in Linux. For example, If I press Win+R, a "run" dialog appears.

Usability improvement #5: Windows keys compatibility. KDE allows you to use the numpad keys as in windows, but some shortcuts need to be added manually, like ctrl-alt-keypaddel to bring up the task switcher. The only annoyance is a bug in GTK which makes ctrl-numpadright behave like ctrl-left, but that'll be fixed in the next upgrade which I'm anxiously awaiting.

Usability improvement #6: Windows commands emulated
Using my 1337 h4x0r 5k1llz (lol), I created custom shell scripts that emulate windows commands. For example, explorer replicates konqueror & (the & is important, because it sets it as a background process). I don't recommend replicating the basic DOS commands like copy and ren (because that's a bad habit), but "explorer" and "notepad" scripts (which opens kwrite) help me do things faster.

Usability improvement #7:Bells and whistles.
Winamp Skins for Audacious, changing the desktop background, setting semi-transparent taskbar,changing the annoying start button for a nicer one (this required some commandline hacking), those things make my Linux experience more enjoyable and less boring - choosing a tropical and sunny desktop background makes me feel calm and more joyful. And that's also a usability improvement.

What's next...
I'm planning to download Irfanview and add it with Wine(tm) as a quicklaunchable icon. It's a must-have for me.

Conclusion
With these usability improvements, I've made my Linux to be MUCH BETTER than Windows. And with software like Compiz Fusion (not available for my distro... yet), I've come to believe that Linux has NOTHING to be envious about Vista.

Keytouch

[Spy der Mann]

Another good usability improvement is keytouch. From Synaptic, install Keytouch and Keytouch-editor. Keytouch editor allows you to tell Linux what special keys you have. You can save the configuration file on your home folder. I had to do this because my keyboard wasn't included in the keytouch keyboards list.

Now you can run keytouch, and import the keyboard from the file you just saved. Then you can assign the keys as you please. This finally allowed me to advance the songs, or play/pause in Winamp^H^H^H^H

Re:

[Spy der Mann]

I just found a webpage explaining how to make the Volume Increase and Decrease keys work.

It's on the ALSA Driver wiki: http://alsa.opensrc.org/index.php/How_to_use_softvol_to_control_the_master_volume [opensrc.org]

And here's a copy of my .asoundrc:


pcm.softvol {
type softvol
slave {
pcm "front"
}
control {

Pidgin message notification

[Spy der Mann]

Install the Pidgin message notification plugin, and check the "set urgent flag". This will make the message windows flash when someone messages you in Pidgin, just like MSN messenger.