Dirk.Net

The Google search led me down the wrong path, so here is the gist of it:

Install chm2pdf, which is in the repositories starting with Ubuntu 8.04

sudo apt-get install chm2pdf

Get help with

chm2pdf –help

Convert with for example:

chm2pdf –continuous –no-links –quiet input_file.chm

The input file should not contain any special characters or spaces, otherwise you might get all kinds of “File not found” errors, regarding for example urlslist.txt and other files. So rename your input file accordingly.

This process is far easier than working extract_chmLib and htmldoc.

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Certain issues with screen brightness adjustment in Ubuntu for a variety Intel graphics chips (945GM, GL40) which will be fixed in the upcoming Ubuntu Karmic. For now, if you have problems getting your screen brightness adjusted via fn keys (I had this issue on a new Acer notebook), you might try this command:

xrandr –output LVDS –set BACKLIGHT_CONTROL combination

The screen will flicker when you run this but your function keys might just start working. You might add this command to your startup scripts. YMMV.

Noise of different colors can be generated on a Linux box with these commands (Ubuntu, Debian etc.):

sudo apt-get install sox

play -n synth 60:00 whitenoise

The latter command will generate white noise for 60 minutes. Also works with brown and pink.

The basic task is to create a frontend for the encoding titans ffmpeg and mencoder and on Windows there’s the (otherwise) super Super. If if already arrived on Linux you should check out WinFF by Matt Weatherford (Big Matt).  Easy-to-use, fast and effiecient describe this neat little program.

Update: Since Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex” Hal has superseded xserver/xorg.conf as the preferred means to configure input devices.  This post has the settings for hal, and they work just like the old xorg.settings outlined in the original post. Migration to hal will likely bring benefits for most, such as plug-and-play hot plugging. You might want to check out this writeup before taking the plunge.

Original post (applies to xserver/xorg.conf < Ubuntu 8.10):

As you know I consider the Logitech Marble Mouse the Best Pointing Device, bar none. And the final tweak I wanted to enable the trackball to act as a scroll wheel. For Windows and those suffering from the generally horrid Logitech drivers and utilities (SetPoint anyone?), there’s Marble Mouse Scroll Wheel (original download page seems to be down recently, so here is another download link). But for my installation of Linux Mint/Ubuntu I had tried some advice from the web without success, to the point when X failed to load. Finally the approach suggested by linux (USA) in his Amazon review worked. It lets you use the right small button as a paste button and holding the left small button will let you use marble/ball as an omnidirectional scroll wheel. Here it goes:

You must edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (dont’ forget to backup with cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.bak), for xorg 6.8 the relevant settings look like this:

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Configured Mouse”
Driver  “mouse”
Option  “CorePointer”
Option  “Device”  “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Protocol” “ExplorerPS/2″
Option “Buttons” “5″
Option “YAxisMapping” “4 2″
Option “XAxisMapping” “6 7″
Option “EmulateWheel” “yes”
Option “EmulateWheelButton” “4″

EndSection

You also need to create an ~/.xmodmap file in your home directory and enter:

pointer = 1 5 3 4 2 6 7

With xorg 7.2 (released 15th Feb. 2007) and newer you have to remove the “YAxisMapping” and change the “EmulateWheelButton” to “8”, so that the entire section looks like this:

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Configured Mouse”
Driver  “mouse”
Option  “CorePointer”
Option  “Device”  “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Protocol” “ExplorerPS/2″
Option “XAxisMapping” “6 7″
Option “EmulateWheel” “yes”
Option “EmulateWheelButton” “8″

EndSection

Your ~/.xmodmap file will have to contain this:

pointer = 1 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 10 11

instead of the above. The protocol setting “ExplorerPS/2” is also important to get the buttons to work even though the device is connected via USB.

To enable horizontal scrolling in Firefox you’ll have to go to the about:config page and set:

mousewheel.horizscroll.withnokey.action 0

The ~/.xmodmap file will likely be loaded automatically when you start your system, but if not you might have to create a ~/.xinitrc file. This page has more info, and here’s more info about monitoring your buttons using the xev utility. Hope it helps.