nik90's questions

I am using PositionSource to get the latitude and longitude of the user's location from the GPS data provided by Ubuntu Touch. However I need to detect if GPS has been enabled by the user.

On reading through the official documentation for PositionSource here, I found that it has the property valid which quoting the official docs says,

This property is true if the PositionSource object has acquired a valid backend plugin to provide data. If false, other methods on the PositionSource will have no effect.

Applications should check this property to determine whether positioning is available and enabled on the runtime platform, and react accordingly.

However this property doesn't seem to update when I enable/disable the location service in Ubuntu Touch. I tried changing the GPS status both using the GUI (location indicator) and from the command line by,

stop ubuntu-location-service-trust-stored

Is there any other property I can track to check whether GPS is enabled/disabled on the phone?

I read about the new fancy progress bar which was added to apt 1.0 in Softpedia and how to enable it here. However on running sudo apt-get update, I did not see the fancy progress bars. On reading the second link again, the solution explicitly requires you to use sudo apt update.

Hence my question is the difference between apt and apt-get. I thought they were one and the same.

I am creating a program using Python and Gtk. I want to guide the user by pointing out mistakes if any. I have attached a sample glade interface below. Here the user is supposed to enter a valid station name in the GtkEntry field. I want to highlight this field with red color (for instance) if he presses the submit button.

How do I achieve this in GTK3 with Python?

I am currently running Ubuntu 12.04. I intend to do so for the future because of its long time support and stability. However, I would like to contribute to testing proposed updates for Precise. I know that the proposed updates can be enabled through software sources. However doing so will install all proposed updates. However, I would like to test only a specific package (unity) and its dependencies.

How would I go about doing this?

This is in correlation with the previous question I asked here. My aim is to create and package an application for easy installation in Ubuntu and other debian distributions. I understand that the best way to do this is by creating .deb file with which users can easily install my application on their system.

However, I would also like to make sure my application is available in multiple languages. This is why I raised the question before which you can read here. In the answers that were provided, I was asked to use disutils for my packaging. I am however missing the bigger picture here.

Why is there a need to include a setup.py file when I distribute my application in .deb format?

My purpose is to ensure that users do not need to perform python setup.py to install my application but rather just click on the .deb file. I already know how to create a deb file from the excellent tutorial available here. It clearly shows how to edit rules, changelog and everything required to create a clean deb file.

You can look at my application source code and folder structure at Github if it helps you better understand my situation.

Please note I have glanced through the official python documentation found here. But I am hoping that I would get an answer which would help even a lame man understand since my knowledge is pretty poor in this regard.

I am creating a python GTK3 program. I'll like to add translation support. I know how to create a .pot and .po file. However in order to make the application available in multiple languages, I need to generate .mo files. I read here that the way to generate .mo files is using the msgfmt.make command.

My question is whether I (the developer) should generate the .mo files manually in my computer and then instruct the .deb installer to move the files into the usr/share/locale/en_GB/ folder when it is being installed? Or should the .deb installer generate these .mo files while the user installs my program on his system?

In way this could be summarized as "are the .mo files machine dependant?"

My folder structure is as follow

nstrain-0.1
   /debian
   /data
   /help
   /nstrain_lib
   nstrain.desktop
   nstrain.py

where nstrain.py is the main executable file which the .desktop file runs when the user clicks on my program.

I am trying to install Ubuntu 12.04 on a USB flash disk and found this askubuntu question. However I am stuck at the part of the KVM. I am supposed to type this command at the terminal

sudo kvm /dev/sdb -cdrom ~/.cache/testdrive/iso/ubuntu_natty-desktop-i386.iso

I tried installing kvm using sudo apt-get install kvm

However on running the command to install ubuntu, I get the following message.

`open /dev/kvm: No such file or directory
Could not initialize KVM, will disable KVM support

I also get this a QEMU terminal

Starting SeaBIOS (version 0.5.1)
Booting from hard disk....
Boot failed: not a bootable disk
Boot from floppy ....
Boot failed: could not read the boot disk
Booting from CD-Rom....
23MB medium detected
Boot failed: Could not read from CDROM (code 000c)
No bootable device

On running the command,

egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo

I get an output 0. This means that my computer does not support hardware virtualization.

Computer Specs

Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83 Ghz, 2 GB Ram, Intel Graphics Card

Please help. I'll update the question as I get more info.

I read here how to enable silent automatic updates for Google Chrome. However, I have other repositories like spotify, docky and others for which I would like to enable silent updates.

I am trying to do this in my Ubuntu 10.04 system. But this question applies to all Ubuntu versions. I have the unattended-upgrades package installed.

How can I do this?

This is a question in general. Sometimes when using Natty, the interface freezes like the keyboard works but the mouse does respond. In which case pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 puts me at the terminal. However I do not know how to load the GUI and Unity and continue using Ubuntu. At present I just shutdown properly and restart.

I have no expertise in this regard, which is probably why some of the terms I use could be wrong. Please correct me if necessary.

How do I restart the Xserver or GUI(Gnome and Unity) when I press Ctrl+Alt+F1?

I created a firefox quicklist as shown below,

However I would like to also add commonly used websites in that quicklists under a separate group. To present it visually nice I would like to add separators (white lines as seen in the screenshot) to separate that from the other existing commands.

Is there any code or any other way to do this?

How do I add a separator to the quicklists in unity?

Please note that right now, most of the information contained below is outdated and cannot be updated. Be careful, most of this won't work on Ubuntu 12.04 and newer.

Creating a custom launcher for Unity is simple. Quicklists provide an easy and efficient way to quickly access commonly used tasks for a specific application.

NOTE: Starting with Ubuntu 11.10, this popup option has vanished. Launchers can now only be created by editing text files in your home folder.

Creating a custom launcher is easy.

1. Right-click on your desktop and click create a launcher.
2. Edit the .desktop file using a text editor. (More information can be found here and here.)

So, which custom launchers do you use on Unity?

Note: Please limit yourself to one custom launcher per answer. Also, please provide a screenshot of it in action.

I just installed Ubuntu Natty beta 2 on my system. And I also keep regular track of the milestones of Unity in Launchpad. When I downloaded Ubuntu Natty beta the Unity version was 3.8.6. However few hours ago they released the 3.8.8 version.

I need to know the version since it will help me test the features which were added and other stuff.

How can I find out which version of Unity I am running on Ubuntu Natty beta 2?

What is the difference between Unity-2D and Unity-3D? Would unity-2D be supported (updates, features) in the future version of ubuntu?

I am running ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat, and recently I am helping in testing out indicator-weather using the unstable buids. However there was a bug which caused my system to freeze suddenly (due to indicator-weather not ubuntu) and the only way to recover is to do a hard reset of the system. This happened a couple of times.

And when i tried to open banshee after a couple of such resets I get the following fatal error which forces me to quit banshee.

The screenshot is not clear enough to read the error, so I am posting it below,

   An unhandled exception was thrown: Sqlite error 11: database disk image is malformed (SQL: 
                BEGIN TRANSACTION;
                    DELETE FROM CoreSmartPlaylistEntries WHERE SmartPlaylistID IN (SELECT SmartPlaylistID FROM CoreSmartPlaylists WHERE IsTemporary = 1);
                    DELETE FROM CoreSmartPlaylists WHERE IsTemporary = 1;
                COMMIT TRANSACTION)

  at Hyena.Data.Sqlite.Connection.CheckError (Int32 errorCode, System.String sql) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Hyena.Data.Sqlite.Connection.Execute (System.String sql) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Hyena.Data.Sqlite.HyenaSqliteCommand.Execute (Hyena.Data.Sqlite.HyenaSqliteConnection hconnection, Hyena.Data.Sqlite.Connection connection) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation.

  at System.Reflection.MonoCMethod.Invoke (System.Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Reflection.MonoCMethod.Invoke (BindingFlags invokeAttr, System.Reflection.Binder binder, System.Object[] parameters, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Reflection.ConstructorInfo.Invoke (System.Object[] parameters) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Activator.CreateInstance (System.Type type, Boolean nonPublic) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at System.Activator.CreateInstance (System.Type type) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Banshee.Gui.GtkBaseClient.Startup () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 
  at Hyena.Gui.CleanRoomStartup.Startup (Hyena.Gui.StartupInvocationHandler startup) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

.NET Version: 2.0.50727.1433
OS Version: Unix 2.6.35.27

Assembly Version Information:

gkeyfile-sharp (1.0.0.0)
Banshee.AudioCd (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.MiniMode (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.CoverArt (1.9.0.0)
indicate-sharp (0.4.1.0)
notify-sharp (0.4.0.0)
Banshee.SoundMenu (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.Mpris (1.9.0.0)
Migo (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.Podcasting (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.Dap (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.LibraryWatcher (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.MultimediaKeys (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.Bpm (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.YouTube (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.WebBrowser (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.Wikipedia (1.9.0.0)
pango-sharp (2.12.0.0)
Banshee.Fixup (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.Widgets (1.9.0.0)
gio-sharp (2.14.0.0)
gudev-sharp (1.0.0.0)
Banshee.Gio (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.GStreamer (1.9.0.0)
System.Configuration (2.0.0.0)
NDesk.DBus.GLib (1.0.0.0)
gconf-sharp (2.24.0.0)
Banshee.Gnome (1.9.0.0)
Banshee.NowPlaying (1.9.0.0)
Mono.Cairo (2.0.0.0)
System.Xml (2.0.0.0)
Banshee.Core (1.9.0.0)
Hyena.Data.Sqlite (1.9.0.0)
System.Core (3.5.0.0)
gdk-sharp (2.12.0.0)
Mono.Addins (0.4.0.0)
atk-sharp (2.12.0.0)
Hyena.Gui (1.9.0.0)
gtk-sharp (2.12.0.0)
Banshee.ThickClient (1.9.0.0)
Nereid (1.9.0.0)
NDesk.DBus.Proxies (0.0.0.0)
Mono.Posix (2.0.0.0)
NDesk.DBus (1.0.0.0)
glib-sharp (2.12.0.0)
Hyena (1.9.0.0)
System (2.0.0.0)
Banshee.Services (1.9.0.0)
Banshee (1.9.0.0)
mscorlib (2.0.0.0)

Platform Information: Linux 2.6.35-27-generic i686 unknown GNU/Linux

Disribution Information:

[/etc/lsb-release]
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=maverick
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.10"

[/etc/debian_version]
squeeze/sid

Just to make it clear, this happened only after the hard resets and not before. I used to use banshee everyday and it worked perfectly.

Can anyone help me fix this?

I am hoping that this question would help other ubuntu users when migrating to a newer version of ubuntu. This should have all the info that they need. So please when you answer try to phrase them into points for easy understanding. I understand that some questions that I ask might have been asked before by other users. In that case just provide the links to those questions.

I am running ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat in case that is important. I can say for sure that a clean install is definitely better than an upgrade since it gives you an opportunity to clean your system and get a fresh start. However some of us like to retain certain software configuration or files etc.

The questions are as follows,

1. How do you save the configuration files of certain application like for instance Thunderbird, firefox, etc...so that you can basically paste in the new version of ubuntu? (Thunderbird for instance has all my mail, so I definitely would like to backup its configuration and then use it the new installation that I do)

2. I have some applications like MATLAB and Maple (Based on JAVA) installed. When I migrate, can I just copy the entire installation folder to the new version of ubuntu? Would it still work as now if I do that?

3. When doing a backup which folders should be backed up? Obviously your personal files would be backup. But other than that, is it necessary to back up stuff in the home folder, /usr/bin etc?

4. I have BURG installed. I am guessing that would be erased when I do a clean install along with the program's configuration and everything. How can I do a backup of it?

5. I am dual booting my ubuntu alongside with Windows 7. When I perform the clean install of ubuntu, would GRUB (bootloader) be removed and in anyway jeopardize my windows installation?

6. Over time I have added a lot of PPA which are of course compatible with my current ubuntu version. How do I make a backup of all my PPA and would they be compatible to the newer version of ubuntu when I restore them?

7. Is there a way to get the entire list of user installed application and if possible automate the installation of those applications in the new system? For instance I have application like VLC,ubuntu tweak etc. installed, and rather than have to install everything from scratch it would be nice to have a program do it.

I hope this covers all the questions or doubts that a user might face when thinking about performing a clean install of his system. If I missed anything please mention it as a comment and I will add it to my question.

I am running ubuntu 10.10, and installed Gnome Activity Journal. However it does not show any recently used files. I have attached a screenshot below.

Please note that gnome activity journal has been installed on the system for quite some time. So it is not that I recently installed and it still has to slowly gather data. Also the zeitgeist-daemon is running in the background.

Would reinstalling zeitgeist help solve this problem? If yes could you please provide a ppa where I can find the latest stable release of zeitgeist.

Update 1: I tried uninstalling both zeitgeist and gnome activity journal, but still the problem persists. Why is zeitgeist not gathering data?

Update 2: I checked the spikes in the month of december. But they were nothing. After proceeding to that month, the spike just went back to nothing just like the rest.

Update 3: I checked the zeitgeist preferences. I have not blacklisted anything. Going to check if deleting the database does anything.

Update 4: I am glad to know that zeitgeist is collecting data but somehow it is not being shown in gaj. Following one of the solutions below to purge the software and then reinstall it, I am no longer able to open gaj. However I can say that I couldn't purge everything properly. When I tried the command sudo apt-get --purge gnome-acitivity-journal it doesn't work. When I try to open gaj now I get the following message in the terminal.

    ** Message: pygobject_register_sinkfunc is deprecated (GstObject)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/gnome-activity-journal", line 101, in <module>
    from src.main import PortalWindow
  File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/main.py", line 31, in <module>
    from activity_widgets import MultiViewContainer, TimelineViewContainer, ThumbViewContainer
  File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/activity_widgets.py", line 39, in <module>
    from store import ContentStruct, CLIENT
  File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/store.py", line 539, in <module>
    STORE = Store()
  File "/usr/share/gnome-activity-journal/src/store.py", line 397, in __init__
    days_population = ZeitgeistDBusInterface().get_extension("Log", "journal/activity").GetHistogramData()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/zeitgeist/client.py", line 82, in __getattr__
    raise TypeError("Unknown method name: %s" % name)
TypeError: Unknown method name: GetHistogramData

The thing is I used to get this error before. However I solved it by copying gnome_activity_journal.py to /home/krnekhelesh/.local/share/zeitgeist/Extensions/. But now that method does not seem to work. I also tried restarting the zeitgeist daemon but still the same problem.

Update 5: I no longer get the error posted in update 4. Gnome Activity journal opens but with the same problem as shown in the screenshot. The output of the terminal is

** Message: pygobject_register_sinkfunc is deprecated (GstObject)
Activate
Activating Example Plugin
Activating Blacklist Manager

Update 6: The recent documents is not disabled. I can view it perfectly under the places menu. Also the file activity.sqlite was created again when I deleted it showing that zeitgeist is recording recent activity.

Update 7: This is the most recent screenshot I've inserted below, where it shows 8 items for one or two days. However when I click on that day, GAJ does not show any recently used files.

Update 8: I deleted ~.local/share/zeitgeist folder and then ran the command zeitgeist-datahub in the terminal. The output is as follows,

 Traceback (most recent call last):
 File "/usr/bin/zeitgeist-datahub", line 33, in <module>
 from _zeitgeist.loggers.zeitgeist_setup_service import DataProviderService
 ImportError: No module named loggers.zeitgeist_setup_service

Update 9: Version Number of the zeitgeist components are the following,

Zeitgeist-Core : 0.7.0

Gnome-Activity-Journal : 0.6

Zeitgeist-datahub : 0.5.2

Update 10: I completely removed GAJ and zeitgeist and made sure the folders /usr/share/zeitgeist and /usr/local/share/zeitgeist were also clear before I reinstalled GAJ again. On running GAJ the windows did not appear. So I did the following.

I typed zeitgeist-daemon --replace and got the following output,

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/zeitgeist-daemon", line 38, in <module>
    from _zeitgeist.engine import constants
ImportError: No module named _zeitgeist.engine

And then I ran the command zeitgeist-datahub and got the following output,

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/zeitgeist-datahub", line 32, in <module>
    from zeitgeist.client import ZeitgeistDBusInterface
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/zeitgeist/client.py", line 35, in <module>
    from zeitgeist.datamodel import (Event, Subject, TimeRange, StorageState,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/zeitgeist/datamodel.py", line 1116, in <module>
    execfile(os.path.join(_config.datadir, "zeitgeist/ontology/zeitgeist.py"))
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/usr/local/share/zeitgeist/ontology/zeitgeist.py'

On checking synaptic manager, the version numbers are the same as stated before in update 9.

UPDATE 10: IT WORKS!!!!!! Here is what I did, as told by mhr, I uninstalled everything, used locate zeitgeist and removed everything. After which I also forced Version 0.5.1 for zeitgeist-datahub. Restarted and installed everything again. It works..however there is a small catch!

I have to first run the command zeitgeist-daemon --replace and while this is running in the terminal, I can open GAJ. Otherwise it does not appear.

If I dont run zeitgeist-daemon --replace but run GAJ in the terminal I get the following error messeage.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/gnome-activity-journal", line 90, in <module>
    CLIENT = ZeitgeistClient()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/zeitgeist/client.py", line 318, in __init__
    self._iface = ZeitgeistDBusInterface()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/zeitgeist/client.py", line 184, in __init__
    self.OBJECT_PATH)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 244, in get_object
    follow_name_owner_changes=follow_name_owner_changes)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/proxies.py", line 241, in __init__
    self._named_service = conn.activate_name_owner(bus_name)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 183, in activate_name_owner
    self.start_service_by_name(bus_name)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/bus.py", line 281, in start_service_by_name
    'su', (bus_name, flags)))
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/dbus/connection.py", line 620, in call_blocking
    message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.Spawn.ExecFailed: Failed to execute program /usr/local/bin/zeitgeist-daemon: Success

Other than this, it works perfectly. It nicely got the files I used today, the picture I worked with and everything.

Hope this helps. Anyone?

Please do not mistake this for another post resembling installing Firefox 4.0 beta..I have no intention of that.

What I meant to ask was in Febrary or possibly march Firefox 4.0 will be officially released. Would the official repositories update to the latest version or should I install add the mozilla daily ppa to do this?

I am very keen on installing the latest version of firefox 4.o when it releases. The firefox website only provides .tar.bz2 files which means I need to compile from source. Hence the question if the official repository updates to firefox 4.0.

First of all, I am not sure the title of this question is the most appropriate however this is what I meant to say,

There are many ways to extend the life of a laptop battery. One way is by not connecting it to the AC adapter all the time which will overcharge it. I read that in this website.

1. Is there an application which automatically prevents the charging of the battery once it has reached 80% charged? I mean that is such a cool feature. Sometimes people tend to forget to remove the AC adapter and this could diminish the capacity and reduce the life time of the battery.

2. Does the battery indicator in ubuntu display info or pop-up when the battery is almost dead (dead not in the sense of usage time) but rather a degraded battery?

I recently replaced the indicators in the gnome panel with the Indicator Applet Complete, as can be seen in the screenshot below.

However I really miss the weather which used to be displayed with the date gnome applet. I tried searching for an alternative weather indicator and found one here. However its ppa is empty and no longer works.

Is there any other alternative? I prefer it being an indicator rather than a ordinary gnome applet as I already know that there is one that can be added to the gnome panel (screenshot below for more info)

I am running ubuntu 10.10, and everything is working fine. I just checked the system monitor to see what processes run in a linux system..and noticed something strange. There were many python processes running (status:-sleeping)...Why is this? Also each of them seem to use a moderate amount of RAM...

I used to program with python..and then I thought may be it is because of improper closing of the python program.but I restarted the laptop and checked the system monitor but with no change. I have included a screenshot of the system monitor below.