Ubuntu is fun

Stan_Lite · 21-10-2007, 09:03

I normally use my K800i as a back up alarm for getting up in the morning but yesterday, there was no sound from it and the only solution I could find was to give it a tap. This worked ok but I decided it wasn't a reliable enough solution so I decided to see if I could use my laptop as an alarm clock.
I have the small laptop with me which only has Ubuntu on it to force me to use it and learn so I set about finding a way to set it up as an alarm clock.

First job was to find an alarm application – the one I decided upon was kalarm which is a KDE app but works fine in Gnome. It will alert with text or picture or you can set it to run a command at the appointed time. All very well and good.

I wanted to wake myself up with some music so I needed to be able to set kalarm to run a command to play a music file to wake me up.

I found an excellent little application called plait which, once installed, can play music files through your chosen audio player (Amarok in my case) from a simple command.
I set kalarm to run the command

Code:

plait alternative ulster

at 05:00 and crossed my fingers.

I awoke this morning at 05:00 to the strains of Alternative Ulster by Stiff Little Fingers – everything worked a treat. Using the multiple workspace facility, I can leave it open permanently in it's own workspace and set it to run every day at the same time. With the help of Ubuntu's ability to save changes in each session, I can leave it and it will remain there no matter how many times I switch the machine off and on.

I really like plait; if I'm doing something on the pooter and I fancy a quick choon whilst I work, I don't have to open Amarok, scroll through playlists or collections and then play them or open 4 folders to get to the track/s I want. All I need to do is open a terminal window and type a simple command:

Code:

plait alternative

will play alternative Ulster,

Code:

plait inflammable

will play the album Inflammable material or

Code:

plait stiff

will play all songs in my collection by Stiff Little Fingers (it will also play any songs/albums/artists which contain the word 'stiff'). If all you want is Stiff little fingers, you just narrow the search by adding keywords such as 'fingers' but as I have nothing else that matches stiff, that does fine.

I really like Ubuntu, it's a lot of fun finding things out and implementing them. It'll do pretty much anything you want it to do, if you find the right apps.
I'm still at the stage where I'm pretty much following instructions but I'm slowly learning a little bit at a time. I'm a bit too old and have too little time to master it in a significant way but I'm enjoying having the freedom to configure and organise my OS the way I want it.

I look forward to doing more interesting stuff with this. Anyone else done cool stuff with it that might be interesting?

Joe 90 · 21-10-2007, 13:21

I have to admit.... Ubuntu is causing me problems

need to learn more about dealing with this kinda thing.

Daz · 21-10-2007, 13:23

Never heard of plait but that is pretty handy, especially being a keyboard monkey, so ta for the tip

The 'cool' stuff I could share is so incredibly geeky I wont bother, so instead I'll point you at gdesklets:

http://www.howtoforge.com/gnome_gdesklets

Especially if you're looking at customising your desktop

There are also things you can do with transparent terminals to monitor system activity, but you can't do pretty/cool things with weather or whatever else you can find which has a desklet.

Stan_Lite · 21-10-2007, 14:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daz

Never heard of plait but that is pretty handy, especially being a keyboard monkey, so ta for the tip

Any time, if you need any more help, just ask

I'm trying to use the terminal more as I hate using the touchpad on the laptop and I can't always find room for a mouse. I have a beginners book for Ubuntu and there's a whole section on using the terminal for stuff so I'll be studying that for the rest of this trip.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daz

http://www.howtoforge.com/gnome_gdesklets

Especially if you're looking at customising your desktop

There are also things you can do with transparent terminals to monitor system activity, but you can't do pretty/cool things with weather or whatever else you can find which has a desklet.

The gDesklets thing looks kinda funky, I'll maybe have a look at that later on - ta

Garp · 21-10-2007, 16:56

My cool stuff is likewise rather geeky and a bit more work focussed

e.g.

Code:

tar -czf - /source/directory | ssh username@destination.server tar -xzf - -C /destination/folder

A nice and efficient way to transfer data between two Unix boxes, particularly if you're transferring lots of little files (did it once with several thousand small files. SCPing them was liable to take 5 - 6 hours, this method did it in barely an hour)

and 'cause I'm a lazy bugger:

Code:

#!/bin/sh
FILE="$1"
echo $FILE
sed -i 's/\r//g' $FILE

That bash script takes DOS encoded plain text files and strips out their line breaks to make them *nix friendly. You'd be amazed what random bugs that script has fixed for me in the past.

Mark · 21-10-2007, 17:00

I use rsync over ssh to do that myself. Not sure which is more efficient (rsync is definitely more efficient if you're updating existing files).

That's probably equally geeky.

Jasper · 21-10-2007, 19:15

I use Ubuntu at work. Never really thought there was anything special about it, but as a development environment, it beats Windows til its ass is red!

it's not really an Ubuntu thing, but I like using nano - it makes me feel very geeky!

Mark · 21-10-2007, 19:22

Nano is easy. Try vim.

Nerds might suggest emacs. I am not a nerd.

Jasper · 21-10-2007, 19:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark

Nano is easy. Try vim.

Nerds might suggest emacs. I am not a nerd.

I only really need it to change config files once they've been uploaded - nano does just what I need. I'll have a look at vim, though - but I've heard it's not easy

Daz · 21-10-2007, 20:04

It's very powerful, which as is often the case, compromises its user friendliness. It's not a pick up and use editor for sure.

21-10-2007, 09:03	#1
Stan_Lite Stan, Stan the FLASHER MAN! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: In bed with your sister Posts: 5,483	Ubuntu is fun I normally use my K800i as a back up alarm for getting up in the morning but yesterday, there was no sound from it and the only solution I could find was to give it a tap. This worked ok but I decided it wasn't a reliable enough solution so I decided to see if I could use my laptop as an alarm clock. I have the small laptop with me which only has Ubuntu on it to force me to use it and learn so I set about finding a way to set it up as an alarm clock. First job was to find an alarm application – the one I decided upon was kalarm which is a KDE app but works fine in Gnome. It will alert with text or picture or you can set it to run a command at the appointed time. All very well and good. I wanted to wake myself up with some music so I needed to be able to set kalarm to run a command to play a music file to wake me up. I found an excellent little application called plait which, once installed, can play music files through your chosen audio player (Amarok in my case) from a simple command. I set kalarm to run the command Code: plait alternative ulster at 05:00 and crossed my fingers. I awoke this morning at 05:00 to the strains of Alternative Ulster by Stiff Little Fingers – everything worked a treat. Using the multiple workspace facility, I can leave it open permanently in it's own workspace and set it to run every day at the same time. With the help of Ubuntu's ability to save changes in each session, I can leave it and it will remain there no matter how many times I switch the machine off and on. I really like plait; if I'm doing something on the pooter and I fancy a quick choon whilst I work, I don't have to open Amarok, scroll through playlists or collections and then play them or open 4 folders to get to the track/s I want. All I need to do is open a terminal window and type a simple command: Code: plait alternative will play alternative Ulster, Code: plait inflammable will play the album Inflammable material or Code: plait stiff will play all songs in my collection by Stiff Little Fingers (it will also play any songs/albums/artists which contain the word 'stiff'). If all you want is Stiff little fingers, you just narrow the search by adding keywords such as 'fingers' but as I have nothing else that matches stiff, that does fine. I really like Ubuntu, it's a lot of fun finding things out and implementing them. It'll do pretty much anything you want it to do, if you find the right apps. I'm still at the stage where I'm pretty much following instructions but I'm slowly learning a little bit at a time. I'm a bit too old and have too little time to master it in a significant way but I'm enjoying having the freedom to configure and organise my OS the way I want it. I look forward to doing more interesting stuff with this. Anyone else done cool stuff with it that might be interesting? __________________ Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean I... Last edited by Stan_Lite; 21-10-2007 at 09:05.

21-10-2007, 13:21	#2
Joe 90 Absinthe Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chester Posts: 2,345	I have to admit.... Ubuntu is causing me problems need to learn more about dealing with this kinda thing. __________________ 360 Blog \| Join GiffGaff \| Twitter

21-10-2007, 13:23	#3
Daz The Stig Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Swad! Posts: 10,713	Never heard of plait but that is pretty handy, especially being a keyboard monkey, so ta for the tip The 'cool' stuff I could share is so incredibly geeky I wont bother, so instead I'll point you at gdesklets: http://www.howtoforge.com/gnome_gdesklets Especially if you're looking at customising your desktop There are also things you can do with transparent terminals to monitor system activity, but you can't do pretty/cool things with weather or whatever else you can find which has a desklet. __________________ apt-get moo

21-10-2007, 16:56	#5
Garp Preparing more tumbleweed Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Hawaii Posts: 6,038	My cool stuff is likewise rather geeky and a bit more work focussed e.g. Code: tar -czf - /source/directory \| ssh username@destination.server tar -xzf - -C /destination/folder A nice and efficient way to transfer data between two Unix boxes, particularly if you're transferring lots of little files (did it once with several thousand small files. SCPing them was liable to take 5 - 6 hours, this method did it in barely an hour) and 'cause I'm a lazy bugger: Code: #!/bin/sh FILE="$1" echo $FILE sed -i 's/\r//g' $FILE That bash script takes DOS encoded plain text files and strips out their line breaks to make them nix friendly. You'd be amazed what random bugs that script has fixed for me in the past. __________________ Mal: Define "interesting"? Wash*: "Oh, God, oh, God, we're all gonna die"?

21-10-2007, 20:04	#10
Daz The Stig Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Swad! Posts: 10,713	It's very powerful, which as is often the case, compromises its user friendliness. It's not a pick up and use editor for sure. __________________ apt-get moo

21-10-2007, 17:00	#6
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	I use rsync over ssh to do that myself. Not sure which is more efficient (rsync is definitely more efficient if you're updating existing files). That's probably equally geeky.

21-10-2007, 19:15	#7
Jasper Simple & Red Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 535	I use Ubuntu at work. Never really thought there was anything special about it, but as a development environment, it beats Windows til its ass is red! it's not really an Ubuntu thing, but I like using nano - it makes me feel very geeky!

21-10-2007, 19:22	#8
Mark Screaming Orgasm Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Newbury Posts: 15,194	Nano is easy. Try vim. Nerds might suggest emacs. I am not a nerd.