Monday, September 12, 2011

Setup HP LaserJet P1006 in Debian + Gnome

In the Gnome graphical printer interface
sudo apt-get install System-config-printer

Install the HP LaserJet drivers -
sudo apt-get install hplip

Configure the HP LaserJet printer -
sudo hp-setup -i

This will also work for many other HP printers.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Apt-Pinning

Apt-Pinning allows you to install packages from testing/unstable/experimental on your Debian install without running into dependency and upgrade problems. It works by telling apt to give priority to one repository, in my case testing, and only install upgrades from it, while ignoring unstable and experimental unless I specifically request a package to be installed from them.

The Apt-Preferences Manual

You can find your apt-preference under /etc/apt/preferences

Debian installs do not come with a apt-preferences file.

To make apt-preference file:
sudo touch /etc/apt/preferences


My Apt Pining File -
Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=testing
Pin-Priority: 900

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=unstable
Pin-Priority: 300

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian,a=experimental
Pin-Priority: 100

Package: *
Pin: release o=Debian
Pin-Priority: -1

To Install packages from other repositories:

sudo apt-get install PACKAGE NAME/unstable  
- tries to install package trying to use the default (in my case testing) dependencies

sudo apt-get -t unstable install PACKAGE NAME
- installs the package using dependencies from unstable

*Replace unstable with experimental to install packages from Debian's experimental repository

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Edit Webpages in Firefox

In the URL box enter: 
javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0

Friday, January 7, 2011

Configure the Synaptic Touchpad - Enable Multitouch Emulation

Source: The Debian Wiki Synaptics Touchpad Article

Written for Debian Squeeze, for the Dell Mini 9/10v & Vostro A90. The touchpad used in these models do not support multitouch gestures but it can be emulated.

Create an xorg
in a terminal:
sudo Xorg :1 -configure

Download my touchpad configuration file
- it contains all the options available for the synaptic touchpad driver.
- horizontal & vertical scroll, double tap and two finger middle click are enabled.

Copy the contents in my content configuration file into 50-synaptics.conf.
In a terminal:
sudo mousepad /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf
- if you do not use xfce replace mousepad with your desktop environment's text editor
- you can edit these values to further configure the touchpad driver to your liking.

Reboot your PC or restart x to apply these changes.
In a terminal:
sudo reboot

To learn what all the options do:
in a terminal:
man 4 synaptics

I don't use two finger Mac-like scrolling but to enable it add these options to your 50-synaptic.conf file:
option     "VertTwoFingerScroll"      "1"     # multitouch
option     "HorizTwoFingerScroll"     "1"     # multitouch