Pretty fonts for Java desktop software under Ubuntu

I'm an eclipse (Java IDE) user for a long time. As maybe any eclipse user I'd heared from the IntelliJ camp that their IDE should be much better. Great refactoring and completion... But any evaluation I did in the past - and I did it every couple of years - ended up with that I returned to eclipse because IntelliJ seemed to me totally visually 'noisy'. Tons of colourful icons and ugly fonts under Linux. I could just not stand it.

But suddenly Android's official IDE is now based on IntelliJ and in my current project I could just not make the darn maven build work under eclipse while the IntelliJ using colleagues were just importing the pom.xml and started working. So back home this veryevening I gave it another chance: Colourful icons were gone but the fonts were still ugly. But after some research I found a solution and now IntelliJ looks almost like a native application. I did this with Ubuntu 13.10

The solution ist a combination of installing the alternative font rendering Infinality and a patched openJDK. Both hacks are described at webup8.org Better Font Rendering In Linux With Infinality and Install OpenJDK Patched With Font Fixes.

The recipe

1) Install Infinality

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:no1wantdthisname/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install fontconfig-infinality

2) Configure Infinality Answer question with linux:

sudo bash /etc/fonts/infinality/infctl.sh setstyle

Edit this file, search for USE_STYLE and set it to UBUNTU:

sudo -H gedit /etc/profile.d/infinality-settings.sh

3) Log out and back in again to see the changes

4) Install the patched openJDK

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:no1wantdthisname/openjdk-fontfix
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

5) Install openJDK (if not installed)

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

6) Ensure IntelliJ is using the patched openJDK by adding this line to {IntelliJ install dir}/bin/idea.sh as first line after the file comment.

IDEA_JDK="/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.7.0-openjdk-amd64"

7) If there are still bold fonts in the software's menu uninstall this package

sudo apt-get remove fonts-unfonts-core

Google Talk and Google Hangouts for Ubuntu

Google Talk is a browser plugin that lets you voice and video chat with friends and family from your browser. Install this plugin and logon to Gmail with your webcam and microphone attached to your computer, then initiate a chat with a friend or family member. It will try to connect to your webcam and enable video chat.

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install google-talkplugin

My unity theme for 12.04

Installing Ubuntu-Tweak to get more control over the theme.


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak


Some more colors for ambience and radience gives more choice for the filesystem folders as I don't like the humanity orange.


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ravefinity-project/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install humanity-colors


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ravefinity-project/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ambiance-colors radiance-colors




The Zukitvo theme is very nice.


sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/themes
sudo apt-get update

Oracle Java for Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

Global Menus for LibreOffice

Today I found the package lo-menubar. Finally LibreOffice doesn't feel so much as a stranger anymore.

Fine Tuning Ubuntu

Disable Gwibber autostart and notifications
gsettings set org.gwibber.preferences autostart false
gsettings set org.gwibber.preferences no-notifications true

Increase time to dim screen
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power idle-dim-time 30

German Umlauts For US Keyboard

As a programmer and console lover I very much prefer the US keyboard layout but when writing in German I need a convenient way to access the German Umlauts. I also hate the capslock key as I always hit it by accident, so I want to remove it from my layout. Before I knew how to do this I even ripped off the cap from the capslock key. Here is how:

Create a user xmodmap config file:

gedit ~/.Xmodmap

Paste these key mappings inside:

! Umlauts with modifier RIGHT ALT + 
keycode 108 = Mode_switch
keysym e = e E EuroSign
keysym c = c C cent
keysym a = a A adiaeresis Adiaeresis
keysym o = o O odiaeresis Odiaeresis
keysym u = u U udiaeresis Udiaeresis
keysym s = s S ssharp

Activate instantly:

sudo gedit /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-xmodmap.sh

Did I mention that I hate the capslock key?
System Settings > Keyboard Layout > [your layout] > Options > Capslock key behavior = Caps Lock is disabled

External USB keyboard

The xmodmap trick doesn't work whe the computer resumes from suspend. So we have to execute xmodmap on resume.

#!/bin/bash

. /usr/lib/pm-utils/functions

case "$1" in
    hibernate|suspend)
    ;;
    thaw|resume)
xmodmap $HOME/.Xmodmap
    ;;
    *)
    ;;
esac

exit

Finally make is executable:

sudo chmod 755 /etc/pm/sleep.d/50-xmodmap.sh

Ubuntu Software I Use

Gnome Tweak Tool

I want more control over the fonts, look and feel as ubuntu is offering out of the box.

sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool

Chromium

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
sudo apt-get install chromium-codecs-ffmpeg-extra

Enter  chrome://flags/ and enable compositing

Video

sudo apt-get install gnome-mplayer
sudo apt-get install vlc
sudo apt-get install avidemux

Pictures

sudo apt-get install gimp
sudo apt-get install gimp-data-extras
sudo apt-get install gimp-plugin-registry

Audio

System

• sudo apt-get install nautilus-dropbox
• sudo apt-get install filezilla
• sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal
• sudo apt-add-repository ppa:vicox/syspeek && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install syspeek

Programming
gmate

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-on-rails/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gedit-gmate

Installing ubuntu 11.10 oneiric ocelot

First I booted my shiny new machine into the pre installed windows 7. Good, it works but windows was not here to stay. I just used the occasion to update the BIOS of the machine to the newest version and removed the drive to replace it with a crucial m4 with 128 GB - bye bye windows. I probably archive the recovery partition as I might use it again when I replace the machine with a new one and give it away or sell it. I also still have a case for 2.5" drives use the drive as an external USB drive.

Installation 
OK, I downloaded ubuntu 11.10 oneiric ocelot 64 bit desktop edition and prepared a bootable USB pen drive with the help of unetbootin. After finding out that you have to push F1 instead of the ThinkVantage-Button I got into the BIOS and checked that IDE is configured with AHCI in order get good performance with the SSD. Booting into the live system was fine. I partitioned the drive with a 16 GB swap and the rest as ext4. Installation and reboot...

First Boot
After the first login I was shocked that the touchpad didn't work although it worked fine in the live system. The workaround was to activate the touchpad in the gnome configuration:

sudo aptitude install dconf-tools
dconf-editor

• Search for: /org/gnome/settings-daemon/peripherals/touchpad/
• Check "touchpad-enabled"

Initial SSD stuff
Quickly checking the SSD by  sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda results in mind blowing 319.17 MB/sec - YESSSS! As I read, ubuntu mounts per default with the relatime mount option which is a decent compromise. About the trim and tempfs stuff I will do that later.

Monitor Calibration
The FHD monitor's colors were just horrible, totally blueish. Quick search and yes, somebody posted an icc profile. Importeded into color profiles and ahhh... so warm now.

Wireless
Just in that moment when I started to be happy and copied my personal files over from my old machine. And it was slow as hell. The reason is a bug in ubuntu with the wireless in 11n mode. Lots of IP packet are being lost and the download rate never exceeds 2.5 MB/s. There is a bug filed at launchpad which has a high activity. I subscribed and hope for a solution soon.

Misc
All other hardware seems to work fine. Now some stuff I always do after ubuntu installation:

Multimedia codecs and stuff like mp3:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

DVD Playback:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

A4 papersize

sudo dpkg-reconfigure libpaper1

CUPS PDF printer

sudo apt-get install cups-PDF

My New Notebook Lenovo T520

After 3 years with my Lenovo T61p I decided that it's time to get a new machine. My old one had 4GB RAM and as I'm running a 64 bit ubuntu it started to run out of RAM constantly when working on software projects. The disk was also busy virtually all the time and really slowed down the machine very much. I bought a refurbished machine from the German Lenovo partner www.nbwn.com. It's almost new but with a mind blowing price of 1035 Euro, which I find very cheap for this specs:

• Lenovo T520 4243-WR7 (CTO)
• Intel Core i7 2620M 2x 2.70 GHz
• 8 GB DDR3 RAM
• 320 GB HDD
• 15.6" Full HD (1920 x 1080)
• Intel HD Graphics 3000
• 720p WebCam
• DVD Multiburner
• Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300
• Bluetooth
• 9 Cell Battery
• Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit
• On-Site warranty until 04/2014

The machine has got a Danish keyboard so I ordered an US-English international one which will install by my self. For some time already I wanted one of these shiny new SSD's on the market and now was the time to get one. I decided for a crucial m4 with 128 GB which is IMHO the best bang for the buck at the moment as it really got fast after recent firmware updates.

Installing the SSD was quite painless. But now I need to install ubuntu 11.10 oneiric ocelot on the machine. I guess this endeavor will result in some posts the following days...

Nicer Fonts for gitk

gitk uses tcl and looks really really ugly under ubuntu 10.04. Today I really got sick of it and I looked for a cure. Here it is, thanks to http://navarra.ca/?p=4

Just configure the alternatives for wish:

sudo update-alternatives --config wish

 Choose number 3 'wish8.5', that's it

Using your phone from your computer via BT-HFP

When I'm at work I'm using a bluetooth headset with my android phone and a cable headset with my computer in order to listen to music or use skype. Sudenly it got on my nerves that I had to switch headsets all the time and I thought there must be a way to make and take calls with my mobile from my computer, so I can use the computer headset all the time.

After some research I found the 'HFP for Linux' project.

The receipe

1. Check out the sources:
   svn co https://nohands.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/nohands/trunk
   
2. cd into the source directory, then compile and install the software. I had to install the packages automake, libtool, libbluetooth-dev, libasound2-dev and libspeexdsp-dev before.
   ./autogen.sh
   ./configure
   make
   sudo make install
   
3. Make phone bluetooth discoverable. Somewhere in your phone's settings 
4. search devices
5. Configure audio to OSS /dev/dsp

- launcher use /usr/local/share/hfconsole/icon.png