Muse is a document writing/publishing tool for Emacs.
Muse-index can be used to show all document in a muse project. But now the file name is shown and sorted by it. I think it will be more useful if document title and create or modify time is shown and sorted by create or modify time. So I revise the muse to do that. The code can be found here.
My Nokia N78 have no WIFI support and local GPRS/3G data connection fee is quite high, so I can not synchronize large amount of data between N78 and PC with cloud service. I use N78 disk mode USB link to synchronize, details are as follow. Tested in Debian (gnome version 2.28).
In fact, this is not N78 specific, and can be used to sync files with any devices mountable in Linux.
Traditionally VFAT file system is case insensitive, but can preserve case optionally, on the other hand, Linux native file system is case sensitive. So VFAT should be mounted in case sensitive mode for synchronizing software to work properly.
Gnome auto-mount VFAT options can be setup as follow:
Start gconf-editor (System tools -> Configuration editor), check key: /system/storage/default_options/vfat/mount_options, make sure there is "shortname=mixed" instead of something like "shortname=lower" (default value for some distributions) in the value. And "iocharset=utf8" should be set in mount_options too.
In gnome, open nautilus-file-management-properties (System -> Preferences -> File management), select tab named "Media", for media handling, set "Open Autorun Prompt" for "Software" media. I have thought gnome-volume-manager will be responsible for autorun script execution, but that is turned off in Debian, and autorun mechanism in nautilus is used instead.
Create a file named ".autorun" in the root directory of the N78 micro-SD card. This is the synchronization script.
Rsync can be used for unidirectional synchronization, such as backup some directories (photos, notes etc) from N78 to PC or push some directories (music, podcast etc) vice versa.
One issue here is that VFAT time resolution is not enough for rsync. This can be fixed via specifying "—modify-window=2" in command line.
It seems that unison can be used for bidirectional synchronization. But I have not tried it. Unidirectional synchronization is enough for me.
.autorun in N78
#!/bin/sh
/usr/local/bin/autorun_sync N78
/usr/local/bin/autorun_sync
#!/bin/sh
usage()
{
echo "Usage: $prog <media>"
}
prog=$(basename $0)
if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
usage
echo -n "Press any key to continue:"
read
exit -1
fi
media=$1
mdir=/media/$media
ldir=$HOME/sync/$media
odir=$ldir/data_out
idir=$ldir/data_in
echo "----------------------------------------------"
echo -n "Rsyncing ..."
rsync -rutv --delete --modify-window=2 $odir/* $mdir/
if [ -f $ldir/dirs.in ]; then
while read d p; do
if [ -z "$d" ]; then
continue;
fi
rsync -rutv --modify-window=2 $p $mdir/$d $idir/
done < $ldir/dirs.in
fi
echo "Done!"
echo "----------------------------------------------"
echo -n "Syncing ..."
sync
echo "Done!"
echo "----------------------------------------------"
echo -n "Unmounting ..."
umount /media/$media
echo "Done!"
echo "----------------------------------------------"
echo -n "Done! press any key to close:"
read
$HOME/sync/N78/dirs.in
Sounds
One big issue of working with multiple devices is synchronizing necessary information among them. For example, synchronizing the document you are writing between multiple PC (notebook, desktop, netbook, handheld), so that you can write it in any time. Synchronizing the web site you are interested between multiple PC and your phone (has web accessing). So the information need to be synchronized should include:
One of the most convenient method to synchronize information amongst multiple devices so far is "cloud" based synchronization. One of the biggest advantages of this method is that it needs not turn on and connect two or more machines simultaneously for synchronization. The disadvantage of this method is the possibility to leak your privacy information, so should use encryption for sensitive information.
I use following cloud services:
Working on a Sony VAIO P for two days. Some thoughts are as follow.
All in all, I think Sony VAIO P is not the right choice for me. A netbook or CULV notebook with bigger keyboard and screen, longer battery life, better performance and acceptable weight (about 1kg) is better for me.
In address book of N78, contacts can be backupped from phone to memory card via menu. By default the backupped contacts is saved in Others/Contacts directory of micro-SD card. There is one vcard file (.vcf) for one contact.
Vcard can be imported into Evolution, but only one vcard file once. To import vcard files generated by N78, the vcard files from N78 can be catenated into one vcard file, then imported into Evolution.
The vcard file generated by N78 is compatible with Evolution, that is, all information can be imported properly so far. But some information is not displayed in Evolution, and not available when accessed via python-evolution (should be not available in other libedata client too). After changing any field then change back to original value and save the "changes", evething goes OK. Appears a BUG of Evolution, hopes that can be fixed in the future.
Multple contacts in Evolution can exported into one vcard file too. Just select multiple contacts, then click "Save Contact as VCard" in menu, Or save all contacts in one address book with "Save Address Book as VCard".
Because of the BUG of Evolution vcard importing, I try python-evolution and python-vobject to import N78 vcards into Evolution.
python-vobject is not completely compatible with the vcard 2.1 version, which is used by N78. This can be fixed with simple python scripting or via importing vcards into Evolution then exporting them because Evolution will export vcard 3.0 version file.
This method works good for me. But I encountered one issue too, the address can not be imported because EContactAddress is not wrapped properly in python-evolution yet. Hope that will be resolved in the future. Fortunately, there is only one not so important contact in my N78 address book has address field set.
msynctool --addgroup evo2-file
msynctool --addmember evo2-file evo2-sync
msynctool --addmember evo2-file file-sync
msynctool --configure evo2-file 1
#
# You can keep it as default or use the address book URL in <address_path>
#
msynctool --configure evo2-file 2
#
# Set directory hold the vcard files from N78 in <path>
#
There is issue for this method too. Some information such as phone number is not displayed in imported Evolution contacts, similar with importing vcard with Evolution itself, and can be fixed in same way too. But situation is much better here, that is, more information can be displayed, at least one phone number for each contact.
After testing, I found N78 can be bidirectionally synchronized with Evolution via N78 syncml over USB. But again, there is some issues for method too. Like file-Evolution sync via opensync, some information can not be displayed correctly. But among supported object type, contact has the best support, then calendar and task, but notes must be turned off, or opensync will hang.
Firstly, setup USB device file permission for opensync user space driver. Add following lines into udev rules file or put into a rule file under rules.d directory of udev.
BUS=="usb", SYSFS{idProduct}=="007b", SYSFS{idVendor}=="0421", MODE="660", GROUP="plugdev"Command line as follow can be used to test the USB link.
syncml-obex-client -u
# Found 2 USB OBEX interfaces
# Interface 0:
# Manufacturer: Nokia
# Product: N78
# Interface description: SYNCML-SYNC
# Interface 1:
# Manufacturer: Nokia
# Product: N78
# Interface description: PC Suite Services
syncml-obex-client -u 0 --identifier "PC Suite" --slow-sync text/x-vcard Contacts --wbxml
syncml-obex-client -u 0 --identifier "PC Suite" --slow-sync text/x-vcalendar Calendar --wbxml
syncml-obex-client -u 0 --identifier "PC Suite" --slow-sync text/plain Notes --wbxml
Command line for setup is as follow.
msynctool --addgroup n78-evo2
msynctool --addmember n78-evo2 syncml-obex-client
msynctool --addmember n78-evo2 evo2-sync
msynctool --configure n78-evo2 1
msynctool --configure n78-evo2 2
#
# You can keep it as default or use the address book URL in <address_path>
#
syncml-obex-client configuration is as follow. The notes database name should be left as empty, because notes synchronization for Evolution is not supported, opensync will hang if you set notes database name.
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
<!-- (Only for bluetooth) The bluetooth address if the bluetooth mode is selected -->
<bluetooth_address></bluetooth_address>
<!-- (Only for bluetooth) The bluetooth channel to use. `sdptool browse $MAC` to search for the correct channel -->
<bluetooth_channel></bluetooth_channel>
<!-- (Only for USB) The usb interface number of the SYNCML-SYNC target. use syncml-obex-client -u (you will need access to the USB raw device) to find it. -->
<interface>0</interface>
<!-- The string that the plugin will use to identify itself. Some devices need a special string here. -->
<identifier>PC Suite</identifier>
<!-- The syncml version to use: 0 for 1.0, 1 for 1.1 and 2 for 1.2 -->
<version>1</version>
<!-- if the plugin should use wbxml -->
<wbxml>1</wbxml>
<!-- The username to use. Leave empty to not require a username -->
<username></username>
<!-- the password for the username -->
<password></password>
<!-- sets the connection type to use. 5 means obex over usb, 2 means obex over bluetooth -->
<type>5</type>
<!-- If wbxml is enabled, defines wether the wbxml should use string tables -->
<usestringtable>0</usestringtable>
<!-- Never send ADD command, but send REPLACE (not needed normally) -->
<onlyreplace>0</onlyreplace>
<!-- Workaround around for mobile phones which only use local timestamps and _no_ UTC timestamps! -->
<onlyLocaltime>0</onlyLocaltime>
<!-- Sets the maximum allowed size in bytes of incoming messages (some device need this option set). Example: 10000 -->
<recvLimit>0</recvLimit>
<maxObjSize>0</maxObjSize>
<!-- The name of the contacts db. Must be the same as the phones sends -->
<contact_db>Contacts</contact_db>
<!-- The name of the calendar db. Must be the same as the phones sends -->
<calendar_db>Calendar</calendar_db>
<!-- The name of the note db. Must be the same as the phones sends -->
<note_db></note_db>
</config>
The last and the best so far. I use it now. The best features of this method are as follow:
To setup N78 side, you can refer to: Nokia Setup Instructions for Google Mobile Sync.
To setup Evolution side, you can refer to: How to sync Evolution with Google's PIM apps.
Screenshots are as follow:
Hope useful for E-ink PDF viewer or PDF to image converter.
Cellwriter is my primary on screen virtual keyboard now. But the docking or translucence does not work for me until recently. Now I finally find a way to make it work.
Translucence is not the cellwriter's business in fact. It is done by a composite window manager such as compiz. To configure it in compiz, using compizconfig setting manager:
Cellwriter has full docking support in fact. But it does not work properly in metacity on x86_64. Seems there is a bug of cellwriter and an issue of metacity of gtk+.
At first, I found _NET_WM_STRUT_PARTIAL has no effect. After comparing the window strut setting of cellwriter and gnome-panel, I found the main difference lies in data type of struts structure passed into XChangeProperty. Cellwriter uses int, while gnome-panel uses gulong. So I try gulong in cellwriter, and it works like a charm!
Although the format of struts structure passed into XChangeProperty is 32, in "man XChangeProperty", I found following words:
"If the specified format is 32, the property data must be a long array."
So format 32 should be 64-bit on 64 bit machine in fact, and struts should be long instead of int.
Home and office have different network configuration, most lies in proxy setup. A simple script as follow is used to switch configuration. Hope it is useful for someone else too.
#!/bin/bash
prog=$(basename $0)
usage()
{
echo "Usage: $prog <home|work>"
}
if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
usage
exit -1
fi
tnet=$1
if [ $tnet != "home" -a $tnet != "work" ]; then
usage
exit -1
fi
if [ "$tnet" == "work" ]; then
sudo cp /etc/apt/apt.conf.avail/99proxy /etc/apt/apt.conf.d
gconftool-2 -s -t string /system/proxy/mode auto
else
sudo rm -f /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99proxy
gconftool-2 -s -t string /system/proxy/mode none
fi
Method is copied from somebody's blog, can't remember who.
#!/usr/bin/python
import pynotify
import sys
def notify(title="Notify", message=""):
n = pynotify.Notification(title, message)
n.show()
if __name__ == '__main__':
pynotify.init("cli notify")
if len(sys.argv) > 1:
title = sys.argv[1]
msg = " ".join(sys.argv[2:])
notify(title, msg)
else:
notify()
Use testing version of Debian as my primary working environment. But some softwares are available only in sid version, and bugs are fixed in sid firstly. So switching between testing and sid is routine. A simple script as follow is used to simplify/accelerate the operation.
#!/bin/sh
prog=$(basename $0)
usage()
{
echo "Usage: $prog <testing|sid>"
}
current_dist()
{
if grep sid /etc/apt/sources.list > /dev/null; then
echo sid
else
echo testing
fi
}
if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
usage
exit -1
fi
tdist=$1
if [ $tdist != "sid" -a $tdist != "testing" ]; then
usage
exit -1
fi
cdist=$(current_dist)
if [ "$tdist" != "$cdist" ]; then
cp /etc/apt/sources.list.$tdist /etc/apt/sources.list
mv /var/lib/apt/lists /var/lib/apt/lists.$cdist
if [ -d /var/lib/apt/lists.$tdist ]; then
mv /var/lib/apt/lists.$tdist /var/lib/apt/lists
fi
fi
apt-get update
