timothy's Journal: When swapping computers ...

There's a text file I've been slowly building up (various versions through the years), the current version of which is below, to help me move smoothly from one computer to another. I see flaws in it, but I find it a helpful guide.

I ought to create a script to quickly install via apt at least my favorite handful of apps, but haven't done this yet.

-----------------------------

  Computer Switch Guide for Tim

(Specifically, for switching from one Debian-based Linux machine running Gnome to another, though most of this stuff would be cross-platform)

Back up data. Even if (intending) to keep everything nicely stored on the disk and merely upgrading / sidegrading, assume this won't work and that you'll need to reimport all your stuff.

Gnome (my desktop of most usual choice):
  set focus to follow mouse
  set windows to autoraise
  set titlebars to roll up windows rather than minimize (not so bad) or maximize (huh?!)
  Add frequently used apps and folders to the top panel.

More with Gnome: With MintLinux (as of late 2007 at least), I don't much like the default slab-style menu or panels. Dunno why not -- I just have become not only accustomed to but a fan of the way regular gnome does it better. (Though I like the 3-menu version better than the one-menu version)

So:
  Move the MintLinux panel up to the top. I just don't like the lower left as a place to begin most computer motions.
  Add to the top panel: force-quit widget, stickies, weather applet, beryl control panel
  Create a new panel on the bottom. Add to it the Hide Desktop icon (LL) and the Trash icon (LR).
  Add the Window List and Desktop Switcher icons to the lower panel, too.
  add the conventional menu to the top panel by selecting Add to Panel. (As of Mint 3.1, there are actually 3 different options; I like the Applications / Places / System choice best.)
  If the video card will support it (Yay! finally I have one that does!), play with the ^%&$%^$ insane options of Beryl until the cube can spin and dance.
  get rid of the (IMO) annoying pre-made folders for "Documents" etc. No, thanks!

Update software repositories. (drat! As usual, on the most recent switchover, I as usual forgot to back up my sources.list.)

Install frequently used apps:
  - vlc
  vym
  pdftk
  pdfjam
  acidrip
  qcad
  inkscape
  AbiWord
  Audacity
  Lyx
  KDE games
  pdftk
  dasher
  camorama (for USB webcam -- it works my cheap philips cam as of fall 2007)
  qtube (download utility, as of the date of this writing capable of grabbing youtube videos)
  Set up my usual folder set (artifacts on top, then audible / visible / legible / software / other). Not perfect, but ... better than anything else I've yet come up with.
  any others which have come to be indispensable! :)

Firefox: (happily, the defaults have gotten pretty sane, wrt to many things I used to hate.)
  import bookmarks
  change download behavior (Preferences / Content / Filetypes)
  set that stupid downloads window not to appear unless invoked
  I like tabs to open to the immediate right of the current tab, rather than on the far right; as of October 2007, this is accomplished using a plug-in called Tabs Open Relative
  change tab-opening behavior to open new tabs additionally instead of replacively
(enter about:config in the URL bar, then find "browser.tabs.loadFolderAndReplace." Toggle this to be FALSE rather than TRUE.)
    Put the close button on the right: kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.tabs.closeButtons (use "3" rather than the default "1")
  As of Fall 2007, new tabs open generally on the far right; an extension called ... well, I forget what it's called! opens them instead to the immediate right of the tab from which they are called.
  Add Chatzilla extension

General:
  set up printing (getting easier each time; Ubuntu 7.10 has this down pat for my current printers at least)

Nice list.

[NoseyNick]

Dasher? Serious? Do you actually use it, or is this just for a laugh?

Thanks for browser.tabs.loadFolderAndReplace - that's one that's always annoyed me, to the extent that I've almost never wanted to open a folder full of bookmarks!

re: Dasher

[timothy]

I try it once in a while, for ouija board fun :) It's gotten better since I first saw it. I'd like to see a more 3D interface, actually, but that would be a LOT harder I bet to adapt to the needs of those who actually need something with the capabilities of dasher. I much prefer a nice clicky keyboard :) However, I'm also interested in things like Dasher and the iPod interface, where complex decisions / outcomes are the result of a very limited universe of inputs.

Serendipitously, a script to do part of that list

[timothy]

Over on planet.ubuntu, the fellow with a name straight out of a yet-unwritten James Bond novel (as bad guy) or a pretty-good Science Fiction novel (as good guy), Sebastien Heinlein, has written (or at least points out, but I'm guessing has written) a script to discover and list all the apps [glatzor.de] that have been explicitly installed on a Debian(-based) system: to reduce the exposure to Murphy's Law, I'm echoing it here:

If you want to install the same packages that already have been installed on another system the following small script (export_list.py) could be of help:

#!/usr/bin/env python

import apt_pkg
fromapt.progress import OpProgress

progress = OpProgress()cache = apt_pkg.GetCache(progress)
depcache = apt_pkg.GetDepCache(cache)

for pkg in cache.Packages:
if pkg.CurrentVer != None and depcache.IsAutoInstalled(pkg):
print pkg.Name

It prints the names of all packages that have been installed explicitly and not as a dependency. It seems to be more elegant than just copying the dpkg selections.

Save the script to export_list.py and run it on the original system to create the list:

python export_list.py | xargs > list

Copy the list file to the new system and run the following command:

sudo apt-get install $(cat list)