Touchpad Speed in Linux Posted on April 25, 2007 I’ve been running Ubuntu Linux for a few years now and it’s by far my favorite distro out there right now. It’s simple to use, quick to install and everything works out of the box. I used to run Gentoo but I got tired of compiling everything all the time to install things and spending days on end configuring the machine just to use it. I’m a huge fan of the debian packages now and Ubuntu makes everything that much easier. That said, the install on my laptop (a Dell Inspiron 8500) has been bugging me for a while. The touchpad on the thing just wasn’t sensitive enough and the Ubuntu configuration did nothing to change the speed. Today I did a little Googling and found this site. On it were some instructions on how to make the Synaptics touchpad faster. Basically, all you need to do is edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to change the speed settings. Locate the InputDevice section that uses the synaptics driver and add the following lines: Option "MinSpeed" "0.5" Option "MaxSpeed" "3" Option "AccelFactor" "0.05" Note that these numbers are a little different from the site linked, but they feel right on my machine. I am running on a 15″ WSXGA+ screen after all, so I have a lot more pixels to traverse. Play with the values a little and see what works for you. EDIT: Apparently Ubuntu has taken up the HAL system. Jay took the liberty of posting an update to tweaking your mouse settings. Kudos!
Configuring Access in MediaWiki Posted on April 12, 2007 I’ve set up Mediawiki in a few times now, both at work and for personal use. Each time I do it, I end up having to learn how to set up access restriction again. That is, creating custom namespaces and restricting access to those namespaces to people that belong in specific groups. The reason I do this is to keep of people out of articles that only privileged users should really be seeing. Articles about server configurations, software development, new ideas for sites, etc. Making a hidden namespace and allowing only specific groups to access it is the simplest way to go about this task. Doing this is pretty straightforward. I won’t get in to all the specifics though; instead I’ll post links to the exact information you’ll need to pull it off. User Rights Custom Namespaces Group Permissions Setting permissions for a Group on a whole new Namespace There you have it, nice and easy! Now I just need to fix/reinstall our personal wiki….
Why Must Computer OEMs Suck? Posted on April 9, 2007 So, I just picked up a Dell for my Mom. It was a pretty boss deal and I got a widescreen 20″ LCD for $177 out of the deal. Anyway, I go to install the software my Mom is going to use and I’m shocked at all of the garbase software that comes installed. Some Corel photo software, McAffee, Google Desktop….. the list goes on. Yes, nothing useful; no Firefox, no Gaim, no CDex, nothing! To top it off, the computer crashed while I was trying to uninstall McAffee’s garbage software and the load of other software that comes on it. So, what gives? Can’t they at least include SOME software that people might actually use?! I can’t believe they are selling these computers to average people and that the people don’t have more problems with them. So, I’m reinstalling from the restore CD, and if that fails, I’ll have to get me a non-OEM copy. Too bad I can’t get my Mom on the Linux train….. UPDATE: Posting from the machine right now. Turns out the CD Dell ships with the computer is ONLY the OS, so none of their retarded software is included. Once I got all the drivers on here, the machine has been running pretty well. Add Firefox, Clamwin, the Combined Community Codec Pack, Gaim Pidgin and 7-zip and it’s ready to roll! UPDATE 2: Looks like I’m not the only one who sees this as a problem. I found an article through BadVista that sums it all up pretty well.