My experience with OpenSource & My Hobbies: 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

New Year Resolution

New year Resolution - 2015

New year Resolution - 2015

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Mangalyan - Victory in Maiden attempt :)

First ever country in the world in its first ever attempt to Mars mission with a victory. Proud to be an Indian. #Mangalyan #Mars #Victory #ISRO #INDIA

Mangalyan - ISRO

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

How to install Samsung SCX-4521-NS multifunction printer in Linux?

Steps to install drivers for SAMSUNG SCX-4521-NS multifunction printer

1. Download the driver file for linux from the following url

http://www.samsung.com/in/support/model/SCX-4521NS/XIP-downloads?downloadName=DR

2. extract the downloaded file then open Applications → Terminal

Assume that the downloaded file is in the directory ~/Downloads

3. Issue the following commands as in the same order

$cd ~/Downloads/uld

$./ install.sh

give proper values (mostly yes/no options) whenever prompted

4. Once the driver got installed, connect your printer with the PC/Laptop then do the following steps

5. Go to Applications → System tools → Administration → Printing this will open printer configuration wizard. (Am Using a debian derived distro named BOSS GNU/Linux, in your destro the "Printing" may be available under different menu item, with different name)

6. Click on Add button, give password whenever prompted. The connected printer will be automatically detected and then click on Forward button. Now a new popup window will open select the option “provide ppd file”

7. Now browse to the location of ppd file (which is /usr/share/ppd/uld-samsung)

8. Now select the ppd file with the exact name as “Samsung_SCX-4650_4x21S_Series.ppd”

then proceed.

9. Now, test your configuration with “print test page”

Monday, May 26, 2014

How to add CD/DVD entry into Debian Linux source.list file

In Debian based linux(deb package management system) Linux "/etc/apt/sources.list" is the file which tells your linux box where the repository. Regardless of the new packages installation mode (whether via terminal with apt-get command or with synaptic package manager) this file is referenced to fetch the needed .deb files. For this method you need to have a good internet connection.

If you have installation CD/DVD you can add this to the source.list file and use that as your repository(only to install the packages available in the CD/DVD). how to do that?

[What apt tool actually needs is a catalog file to use (packages.gz) and the original .deb packages. As the installation CD/DVD contains it we can use the same as like online repo.]

1. Insert your CD/DVD into the drive and ensure it is mounted properly

2. Go to terminal by
Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal (Steps for BOSS GNU/Linux)

3. Type the following command

$sudo apt-cdrom add

This command will add the cdrom entry into the /etc/apt/sources.list.

4. Now update your apt file with the following command

$sudo apt-get update

5. Install the packages you need by

$sudo apt-get install

Friday, May 23, 2014

How to build a debian package from source?

1. download the source from the repository

$apt-get source Ex. $apt-get source scimsource

This command will fetch the source code of the package you specified in , which will contain .dsc, .orig.tar.gz, sometimes .diff.gz.

2. Apply changes/differences with the original source

[Assume that I downloaded the packages under ~/Download/scimsource.]

$cd ~/Download/scimsource

apply the diff (changes) to the orig source by

$dpkg-source -x .dsc

[For further details about unpacking debian source you can refer this crisp & simple howto.]

Now, the changes will be applied to the source.

3. Build/Compile the source to build installable deb package.

a) If you want to add some changes in the source code or add some features to the existing source code proceed with the extracted source & then update the Changelog* file accordingly.
b) If your aim is just to build the deb package from the source you need not to touch the Changelog file.

For building the source to deb package you need to

i). Build dependency

$sudo apt-get build-dep

This command will install the needed libraries, other packages that are
essential for compiling/building the source into deb.

ii). Build the source by,

$sudo dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -us -uc -sa

Note: you must issue the above command provided that you are inside the package's source directory. (first do $cd ~/Download/scimsource/scim).

* -> changelog file will be available in the extracted source under "/debian/Changelog"

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Gpick - A Color picker for debian based GNU/Linux .


Screenshot of gpicker

After a long time again tried to create web page with HTML5 & CSS3. As the work progressed as usual endup with doubts/needs/queries. This time it is about getting the hexadecimal code of a color for using in CSS. Some of friends told that to know the color code, first take screenshot of a we page or the desktop application & open the same in gimp then using the color picker tool find the color code. This is one kind of solution (like going around one's head to touch one's nose... :p).

I came across this awesome desktop applicaiton called "Gpick" home page of Gpick (Yes, for GNOME Desktop environment). Its just cool, I need not even to explain how to use this application, it as simple. Just install by

$sudo apt-get install gpick

and give a try.

Note: I am using BOSS GNU/Linux a indian version debian linux.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

2014 Elections

Thursday, April 3, 2014

2014 LokSabha Elections, EC's Code of conduct

BJP and NaMO, Congress and RaGa both accuses each other for their Election Code of conduct

EC's Code of conduct vs NaMo vs RaGa

Thursday, March 27, 2014

WHO declares India polio free

#WHO announces #India #polio free country. Kudos 2 Indian govt&all polio vaccin volunteers.. :)

Polio free india

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Its kejriwal Vs NaMo at varanasi

Arvind kejriwal decides to contest against #NaMo in varanasi constituency in #loksabhaelections2014.

It's AJ Vs NaMo at Varanasi

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

How to solve "Package gtk+-3.0 was not found" & "fatal error: gtk/gtk.h: No such file or directory" errors in Linux

As of now some of the Linux distros don't come up with the gtk-3.0 libraries and development files by default. Though Gnome application developers are asked to migrate to gtk3, most of the desktop applications are still in gtk2. Due to these reasons gtk3 development files are not pre bundled with distros. So, we have to install gtk3 development files, libraries manually to compile a gtk+-3.0 based GUI applications.

If your gtk3 program compilation ($gcc -o executable_name program_name `pkg-config --cflags --libs gtk+-3.0`) throws error something like this

Package gtk+-3.0 was not found
(or)
fatal error: gtk/gtk.h: No such file or directory

which means your machine is not installed with the gtk3 development files.
To install the package in debian based machines

$sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-dev

To install in rpm based machines

$yum install gtk3-devel

After the successful installation your machine should return output something like following while you execute the command
"sudo pkg-config --cflags --libs gtk+-3.0"

"-pthread -I/usr/include/gtk-3.0 -I/usr/include/pango-1.0 -I/usr/include/gio-unix-2.0/ -I/usr/include/atk-1.0 -I/usr/include/cairo -I/usr/include/gdk-pixbuf-2.0 -I/usr/include/freetype2 -I/usr/include/glib-2.0 -I/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/glib-2.0/include -I/usr/include/pixman-1 -I/usr/include/libpng12 -lgtk-3 -lgdk-3 -latk-1.0 -lgio-2.0 -lpangocairo-1.0 -lgdk_pixbuf-2.0 -lcairo-gobject -lpango-1.0 -lcairo -lgobject-2.0 -lglib-2.0
"
Now, you can compile your gtk3 programs happily... :)

Thursday, February 20, 2014

How to view all feeds/articles (both read & unread) + How to change read status of a feed in feedly

How to view all feeds/articles (both read & unread) feedly

Since the closing announcement of google reader service from google, I have been engaged with feedly as my feed reader. Though there are many other rss/atom feed readers available in the web & in the app store, I do like feedly a lot. The main reason why I am using feedly as my rss aggregator is

1. I can import all my google reader subscriptions into feedly via OPML file seamlessly. (Ofcourse you must have downloaded the OPML file before the closing ceremony of google reader.)
2. feedly's simple yet intuitive design
3. Can be linked with your gmail account.
4. Can be configured in many devices & can sync
5. Can export the subscriptions into OPML file.

So, When I configured my feedly account & added new subscriptions It shows only a few latest feeds of a website as unread and all others as read. By default feedly shows only the unread article. So, If I want How I can see all the feeds from a particular subscription? There are 2 ways.

In Broser/web based login, Once you logged in you can see all your subscriptions.

1. When you click on a particular subscription in the right top of your screen you can see a gear wheel/ tooth wheel kind of symbol. Click on that and uncheck the option "unread only" under the category named filters.

2. In the Left bottom of you feedly home page one can find a link to "preferences". Click on that and go to "Hide read posts" and select option "No".

If you have further queries refer feedly's FAQ page & feedly's Knowledge base.

How to change read status of a feed in feedly
feedly has lot of shrotcuts to manage the feeds and subscriptions. If you want to know about all the shortcuts, Once you logged in into your feedly reader in web browser press "?" which lists all the available shortcuts..

If you want to change the read/unread status of an feed/article click on that article and press "m" which toggles the status.

To go to next feed/article press "n" or "j"

To go to previous feed/article press "p" or "k"