emf's questions

How to disable shadows for Ubuntu 15.04 for a certain window class? In Ubuntu < 15.04, you could disable shadows and window decorations for a specific class of windows, using CCSM.

For a specific example:

I'd like to remove Shadow decorations from Conky windows. (Conky is a desktop monitor system.) In previous versions of Ubuntu, you could use CCSM and choose "Window decorations -> Decoration windows -> By class" and selectively remove shadows/decoration from your choice of window class.

You can see from the photo, there's shadows around the boxes on the desktop.

Attempting to enable "window decoration" plugin in CCSM now interferes with Unity's window decoration. (Which is, naturally, a disaster. It disables Unity completely.)

How can I disable shadows for a certain window class in Ubuntu 15.04+?

Thanks!

Will setting up dual monitors on a decent-but-not-too-powerful machine significantly slow down my system?

For specifics to my system, this is a 2GHz Intel Dual-core laptop with 4GB RAM and a decent integrated video card, has no problems running multiple applications with Compiz and effects.

The monitors in question are integrated 1366x768 laptop screen and external 1200x800 monitor, nothing fancy or outrageous.

So, in your experience / knowledge, will running dual-monitors significantly detriment operation speed?

Question says it all:

What happens if rsnapshot or rdiff-backup gets interrupted in the middle of a transfer?

I know that rsnapshot tries to make a complete snapshot of your system in rotating fashion, and rdiff-backup makes a differential backup, which is going to be based on the files previously saved behind it.

So: What happens if it gets interrupted in the middle?

Does this result in an "incomplete snapshot"?

Will other snapshots which are dependent on this one be corrupted? (Surely not, but... ?)

I'm a bit confused about doing backups with rsync/rdiff-backup / rsnapshot via SSH.

I've been looking at utilities such as backupninja and rsnapshot. These are rsync / rdiff based backup systems, capable of being scheduled to do backups over SSH. Reading the manual pages, it seems to be leading me to believe it is only possible to configure these utilities to pull FROM the client TO the server, whereas I thought it was possible to schedule these to push TO the server FROM the client. Am I mistaken here?

Meaning:

I want to have my laptop running the rdiff-backup / rsnapshot utility via cron to back up to my home server.

1. My laptop runs cron job nightly (if it's on home network) ... and connects via SSH to my home server, (because my server has the static IP address and not vice versa)
2. Laptop pushes data to backup directory on server.
3. If laptop is not on home network, it does not perform backup.

Am I doing this backwards?

...

UPDATE:

I have currently installed rsnapshot on the server machine, and gotten it running pulling backups manually from the laptop, but I still think this seems to make more sense to have the laptop push to the server, because it's only going to be connected at home intermittently.

Still waiting for a response on whether this is the proper way to be doing this, or whether the reverse order (server pulling from laptop) is appropriate method. Input please?

Rather than rephrasing my question, let me describe to you the desired user-case:

I create a short shell-script to run command "gnome-terminal --someoptionflagname 'my text to be posted'", and execute this script.

Gnome-terminal pops up, with command-line prompt followed by my text.

ie: fields@mycomputer:/$ my text to be posted

Can this be done?

I've seen several links suggesting it is possible to make a call from the command-line with skype. The instructions suggest something along the lines of:

skype --callto:+14445551234

However, this gets me an error message, "skype: unrecognized option '--callto:+14445551234".

Is this possible?

Use case scenario:

I want to call a particular number frequently.

• assuming skype client is already running and logged in.
• I create a shortcut on my desktop, which runs skype --callto:+14445551234 or something similar.
• Double-click the shortcut.
• skype window pops up, immediately calling this number

Can this be done?

I know there is a Skype API. Can this be done from a normal skype installation on Ubuntu, without installing any developer tools?

EDIT: I am considering this question to be still open, because I would like to know if this is possible from a default installation of skype without any additional functionality.

However, the answer below regarding "Skype4Py" does answer the desired outcome, albeit with an additional tool. I will mark this as the answer if another is not forthcoming in a few weeks.

Poll on best VNC / remote desktop software for assisting others on Windows/Mac machines from Ubuntu?

I've heard good things about TeamViewer and Fog Creek Copilot, but I'm wondering if the included GNOME Vinaigre VNC client is good enough for this.

To specify, I'm looking for best option based on:

1. SIMPLEST ease-of-use for client to download/use on their end.

2. See #1.

3. Works cross-platform

4. I am able to control client's mouse and/or keyboard from remote machine.