Unity Launcher and QuickList Editor

Install Bazaar Version Control System.

sudo apt-get install bzr

Download the Unity Launcher Editor code from Launchpad.

bzr branch lp:unity-launcher-editor

Run the editor.

./unity-launcher-editor/ule

Refs
http://www.ultimateeditionoz.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2671
https://launchpad.net/unity-launcher-editor

Rest In Peace, Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

Three life stories from Steve Jobs during the Stanford commencement address in 2005.

• Connecting the dots

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart. Even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference."

• Do what you love 

"You've got to find what you love. Do what you believe is great work and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."

• Mindfulness of death 

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

Refs
http://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc

Meditation Techniques

Here is a very short summary of the meditation techniques that I've been learning. Anyone with any belief or even with no belief at all can benefit from these techniques to cope with our stressful life. It's quite simple and you can do it almost anytime and for any length of time that suits you.

In Buddhism, meditation is classified into 2 forms:-

• Samatha (Concentration Meditation)
• • Objective:To bring your mind to a state of peace and happiness.
  • How: Gently concentrate on anything that you like and makes you feel calm, for example, praying, breathing, walking, jogging, weight lifting, earth, water, air, fire, colour, coffee, chocolate, pencil, whiteboard, kindness, forgiveness, etc.

• Vipassana (Insight Meditation)
• • Objective: To let go of it all by training your mind to see things as they really are without trying to change anything. This is a core practice in Buddhism. However, Samatha should also be practiced as they support each other.
  • How:
  • • Be mindful of the current state of your body and mind (just observe it without judging anything as if you are someone else). For example,
    • • As you breathe in, be mindful that you're breathing in.
      • As you breathe out, be mindful that you're breathing out.
      • As you sit, be mindful that you're sitting.
      • As you stand, be mindful that you're standing.
      • As you walk, be mindful that you're walking.
      • As you're happy, be mindful that you're happy.
      • As you're sad, be mindful that you're sad.
      • As you're angry, be mindful that you're angry.
    • Realise their impermanence.

Notes

• Always start by relaxing your body first before doing any routine meditation session (a few mental body scans are helpful).
• Don't try to do meditation while you're thinking for your work. If your mindfulness is strong enough, notice a gap between your thoughts instead. You can also do meditation while you're drinking water or coffee, stretching, or walking, etc.
• Don't force yourself too much. Find your own middle way.
• Do it with low or no expectation.
• It's normal that one day you find your meditation is good, the other day bad. Just keep doing it.
• I've found alcohol has a negative effect on my meditation but it doesn't mean that people who drink cannot do meditation.

Synchronising Folder Problem in Evolution Mail

My Evolution Mail kept synchronising one of the existing folders whenever I clicked on it or read any of the emails inside the folder.

Forcing Evolution to re-index its mailbox file by deleting the associated files with the extensions ".index", and "cmeta" in "~/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/Inbox.sbd" didn't help. The size of the mailfox file for that folder was surprisingly 4GB. Not sure this is the cause of the problem though.

To fix this, I

• Created a new folder in Evolution.
  
  
• Moved all emails from the folder that had the problem to the new folder. Be patient as this took ages. Evolution was synchronising the folder repeatedly for hours while moving the emails. After it finished, the mailbox file size of the new folder was just a bit over 200 MB.
  
  
• Closed Evolution and deleted the bad folder by removing all of its associated files (mailbox, cmeta, index, and data files) in "~/.local/share/evolution/mail/local/Inbox.sbd" because trying to delete it in Evolution gave this error:-

Refs
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=974536

Search for File Contents in Nautilus

Create a script file (text file) called "Find" in "~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts" and allow it to be executable. Add the commands below in the script file:- 

#!/bin/bash
gnome-search-tool --hidden --path="$*" --contains= 

From its command help:-
--hidden               Select the "Show hidden and backup files" search option
--path=PATH            Set the text of "Look in folder" search option
--contains=STRING      Select and set the "Contains the text" search option

To search for files using this script in Nautilus,

Right click a folder -> Scripts -> Find

Refs
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=25114

Allow apps to display tray icons in Unity

Only whitelisted apps are allowed to show tray icons in Unity. By default, the apps in the whitelist on my PC are JavaEmbeddedFrame, Mumble, Wine, Skype, hp-systray, and scp-dbus-service.

To show the current whitelisted programs, run

gsettings get com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist

To add a new program; for example, Tasque, to the current whitelist, run

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['JavaEmbeddedFrame', 'Mumble', 'Wine', 'Skype', 'hp-systray', 'scp-dbus-service', 'Tasque']"

Alternatively, we can do this through a GUI using a tool called "dconf-editor". It's part of the "dconf-tools" package. In dconf-editor, go to

desktop -> unity -> panel

and select "systray-whitelist" on the right panel.

After change, strangely doing a relogin didn't seem to take this into effect for me. I had to reboot the PC. I didn't try just killing X Window though.

Refs
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/03/how-to-hide-or-show-app-tray-applets-in-ubuntu-11-04/
http://ubuntu.sun.ac.za/wiki/index.php/Show_tray_icons_in_unity

vReplicator fails with the message: - " 'Consolidate Helper' snapshot found"

VMWare ESX/ESXi creates a temporary snapshot called "Consolidated Helper" during the snapshot deletion/consolidation. It should be deleted automatically but if it's left behind (possibly due to performance issue or insufficient disk space), vReplicator will fail. To fix this, make sure there's enough free space and then just remove this snapshot manually through Snapshot Manager. After it reaches 95%, be patient as it may take a very long time depending on the virtual disk size to commit the snapshot. If it still fails, try creating a new snapshot and then select "Delete All".

Refs:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1003302
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/274077
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/121642