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OpenOffice is a great free alternative to Microsoft Office. For more information on OpenOffice check out my recent post Open Office- The [Free] Microsoft Office Alternative. However, if you already use OpenOffice on a daily basis, then you have probably noticed how slow it loads. Here is how to speed up the load time:

1.) Launch OpenOffice - It does not matter which of the subprograms you open.

2.) Click ‘Tools‘ and then select ‘Options‘.

3.) Select the ‘Memory‘ from the list on the left side.

4.) Under the ‘Graphics cache’ subheading, change the settings to the following:

• Use of OpenOffice.org - 128MB
• Memory per object - 20.0MB

5.) Under the ‘Cache for inserted objects’ subheading, change the settings to the following:

• Number of objects - 20

Here is what it should look like after the changes have been made.

I do not recommend enabling the Quickstarter as items like these tend to make your computer sluggish on startup. Personally, I like setting the ‘Number of steps’ to a higher number such as 200-500. This allows for much more “undoing” while using OpenOffice.

6.) Select ‘Java‘ from the list on the left side.

7.) Under the ‘Java options’ subheading, deselect ‘Use a java runtime environment’

Here is what it should look like after the changes have been made.

8.) Click ‘OK’

9.) Close OpenOffice

10.) Launch OpenOffice again and watch how much faster it loads!

While these changes will make OpenOffice launch quicker, it will also use more memory which can cause your system to run slower. Depending on your OS, if you have 1GB or more of memory, you should have no trouble with these memory tweaks.

How else do you tweak OpenOffice? Let us know in the comments…

Are you a web designer who runs Linux but needs to test websites using Internet Explorer? Maybe you are an “average” computer user who wants to switch to Linux but still has a few sites that only work in IE. Whatever the case is, if you need to run Internet Explorer in Linux try using IEs 4 Linux.

IEs 4 Linux is the simplest way to install and run IE in Linux. With IEs 4 Linux you don’t have to worry about configuring Wine, running a VM or any of that geeky nonsense. In fact, you don’t even have to compile it from source. All you do is run a simple script that takes care of the installation for you! The best part is IEs 4 Linux is completely FREE and open-source.

What are the System Requirements?
In order to install IEs 4 Linux, you need to have cabextract and Wine installed. Depending on your Linux distribution, you can either install these using a built in package manager or go to the individual sites to download and install the packages.

So Windows isn’t required?
Nope. Thats what Wine is for, to run Windows applications in Linux.

How to Install IEs4Linux
Start by making sure you have cabextract and Wine installed. Then, visit the IEs 4 Linux download page, and grab the latest version. There you will also find installation guides for many popular Linux distributions. Once you have downloaded the package, extract it using an archive manager or with the following command:

tar zxvf ies4linux-latest.tar.gz

Be sure to change “ies44linux-latest” to the correct name of the folder. Once extracted, run the install script by typing the following command:

./ies4linux

This should bring up the following screen:

Here, you can select which versions of IE you want to install. You also have the option of installing the Flash plugin. For advanced installation settings, click the ‘Advanced’ button. You should then see the following screen:

Here you can customize where IEs 4 Linux is installed. You can also choose to install IE7. To begin the installation click ‘OK’ at the original screen. The installation script will take care of the rest. You will be notified when the installation is complete. At this point you should be able to use IE.

As the IEs 4 Linux website suggests, don’t use IE for browsing the internet unless you need it for a special reason. For general browsing, use a more secure web browser such as Firefox.

To answers to more questions about IEs 4 Linux, check out their FAQ page.

Do you need to use IE in Linux? If so, tell us your reason for doing so in the comments.

In Gnome, you can set the top and bottom tool bars to be transparent, which is great if you wallpaper is a light color. The ‘Applications’ ‘Places’ ‘System’ buttons along with the date and time are all in the standard black font. I, however, like using a dark background as my desktop wallpaper. I didn’t like having white tool bars just so that I could read the text. Here’s how to change the text into whatever color you would like:

First, open the terminal and type:

gedit .gtkrc-2.0

Insert the following into the file that was opened:

style “panel”
{
fg[NORMAL] = “#ffffff”
# fg[PRELIGHT] = “#000000″
# fg[ACTIVE] = “#ffffff”
# fg[SELECTED] = “#000000″
# fg[INSENSITIVE] = “#8A857C”
# bg[NORMAL] = “#000000″
# bg[PRELIGHT] = “#dfdfdf”
# bg[ACTIVE] = “#D0D0D0″
# bg[SELECTED] = “#D8BB75″
# bg[INSENSITIVE] = “#EFEFEF”
# base[NORMAL] = “#ffffff”
# base[PRELIGHT] = “#EFEFEF”
# base[ACTIVE] = “#D0D0D0″
# base[SELECTED] = “#DAB566″
# base[INSENSITIVE] = “#E8E8E8″
# text[NORMAL] = “#161616″
# text[PRELIGHT] = “#000000″
# text[ACTIVE] = “#000000″
# text[SELECTED] = “#ffffff”
# text[INSENSITIVE] = “#8A857C”
}
widget “*PanelWidget*” style “panel”
widget “*PanelApplet*” style “panel”
class “*Panel*” style “panel”
widget_class “*Mail*” style “panel”
class “*notif*” style “panel”
class “*Notif*” style “panel”
class “*Tray*” style “panel”
class “*tray*” style “panel”

The top line that says:

fg[NORMAL] = “#ffffff”

changes the text color to ‘white’ or ffffff.

This is what it looks like:

If you want to change your text color to a specific color, you will need to get that color code and insert it here. Colourlovers.com has an excellent list of the HTML color hex codes.

Now click save and you should be finished. All you need to do now is type this command into the terminal to reload your gnome task bars:

killall gnome-panel

Do you have trouble installing the driver for your video card in Ubuntu? Does your XServer often crash or fail to start? Are you afraid to manually edit your xorg.conf because you might mess something up? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should give Envy a try.

Envy is a program written in Python that will automate the installation of video card drivers in Ubuntu. Envy works with several versions of Ubuntu and Debian and supports both ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards. Envy will detect the model of your video card and select the appropiate driver. It will then contact the appropriate website (ATI or NVIDIA) and package the driver. Next, it will install the driver package. Lastly, it will even configure your xorg.conf for you.

To use Envy, begin by downloading it from Alberto Milone’s website. If you use the new Hardy Heron version, you should download “EnvyNG“, otherwise download “Envy Legacy.” There is a table on the website that displays this information.

Next, install the Envy package you just downloaded. Once installed, Envy should be located in Applications –> System Tools –> Envy. Click on Envy to start the program. Envy can also be run from the terminal by typing ‘envy -g’. Envy will then prompt you for your admin password to continue. Once you type in your password and Envy opens, you should see the following window.

From here you can install and uninstall both ATI and NVIDIA drivers. To do so, simply click the corresponding option that applies to your system and then click ‘Apply’. This will start the installation process. A small terminal window will appear that will show you the status of the install.

Once the installation is complete, Envy will ask if you want your xorg.conf to be automatically configured. Unless you have dual monitors or some advanced monitor setup, I recommend clicking ‘Yes’ to this option.

Lastly, it will ask if you want to restart your computer now. Again, this is recommended.

This completes the installation process. If for some reason, when your computer restarts, your desktop environment (GNOME, KDE, etc) did not start, use the following commands:

envy -t
This will open envy using the textual interface
envy --uninstall-all
This will completely remove what Envy has done
reboot
This will completely restart your computer

For more information on Envy and how to install it, check out the following links.

Albertomilone.com - Envy wiki

Linuxgamingtoday.wordpress.com - Easily Install Nvidia Drivers Using Envy in Ubuntu

Ubuntu-tutorials.com - Restricted Drivers Manager vs Envy

Envy logo credited to http://www.albertomilone.com

Are you using Ubuntu and want to use the latest versions of Mozilla’s Firefox and Thunderbird? If you don’t want to wait for the Ubuntu repositories to be updated, you can use repositories straight from Mozilla. Check out the Ubuntu wiki for more information on installing the new versions of Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. The MozillaTeam also has a wiki page that lists all the Ubuntu packages.

For Hardy users, add the following repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/ubuntu hardy main universe

For Gutsy users, add the following repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/ubuntu gutsy main universe

For Feisty users, add the following repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/ubuntu feisty main universe

For Dapper users, add the following repository to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/mozillateam/ubuntu dapper main universe

If you use Gutsy or Hardy, simply install the ‘firefox-3.0‘ package to get the latest testing release of Firefox 3.0. Currently, the latest version is 3.0b3pre. The repositories also contain the latest official release of Thunderbird (2.0.0.12).

If you use an older version of Ubuntu, Feisty or Dapper, the repositories should at least have the latest stable version of Firefox and Thunderbird (2.0.0.12).

Once you have Firefox 3.0 installed, you will need to install Flash.

First make sure you have the Adobe Flash plugin installed, since it is not included with any version of Firefox.

sudo update-flashplugin
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

The flashplugin-nonfree was made before the Firefox3 pre-releases, therefore, the only way to install Flash is to manually add it to the libraries. To do this, we will link the libraries from the default install location. This way, if you upgrade flashplugin-nonfree in the future, it will automaticaly be updated for Firefox 3.0 as well.

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so /usr/lib/firefox-3.0b3/plugins/flashplugin-alternative.so

If you receive an error then you are probably using a different version of Firefox 3.0 and you will need to change this command. The best way to find out what this line should read is to navigate to /usr/lib/ and locate the firefox-3.0 folder. This folder name might be slightly different. Once you know the folder name, you can substitute it in the previous command for ‘firefox-3.0b3′. Once you have done this, close Firefox, reopen it and go to Adobe’s test site. This will test to ensure you successfully linked flashplugin-nonfree to Firefox 3.0.

Information on how to install Flash for Firefox 3.0 was taken from the following website.

If you use one of the older versions of Ubuntu and still want to have Firefox 3.0, try some of the following links.

Lifehacker

Linux owns

Mike’s Ubuntu blog

Topical Matt

Ubuntu Forums

Ubuntu Geek

Pictures were taken from the following website respectively:

http://www.library.drexel.edu/blogs/librarylog/firefox.jpg

http://static.howstuffworks.com

http://newtech.aurum3.com/images/firefox-3.jpg

http://www.basement.org/

Have you ever wanted your desktop background to change randomly? For you Linux users out there I have just the program. It is called Wallpaper Tray and as the name suggests, its a little utility that runs in the notification area. This program allows you to have your desktop wallpaper change randomly. You can specify what folder/pictures to use, how often the wallpaper changes, the order in which it changes, as well as a few other options. The best part of this little program is it is available in the default Ubuntu repositories.

To install the Wallpaper Tray, simply type the following command into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install wallpaper-tray

You can also install this program using the Synaptic Package Manager. You should not need to add any additional repositories. If you install it using the Synaptic Package Manager, search for ‘wallpaper-tray.’

To run this program, press Alt+F2 and type ‘wallpaper-tray’. This should bring up a notification telling you that no wallpapers were found. The wallpaper-tray should now be running in the notification area (located near the clock).

In order to configure the Wallpaper Tray, right click on the wallpaper-tray icon and select Configuration. This will bring up a window like the one shown below.

Here you can choose the directory that contains the different wallpapers you would like to use. To do this, click Add and then navigate to the correct directory.

If you click the ‘More Options’ tab located at the top of the window, you can configure how often the wallpaper changes, in what order it changes, and how the wallpaper is displayed.

In order for the wallpaper to change randomly, you must select ‘Timed Wallpaper Change.’

If you want this program to start when you login, be sure to add it to your Sessions. To do this click ‘System‘ then ‘Preferences‘ and then select ‘Sessions.’ Next, click ‘New‘ and give the program a name (wallpaper tray). Then, for the command type ‘wallpaper-tray’. Click ‘OK’ to add this to your sessions. Be sure that the program is enabled. Now, the next time you login, Wallpaper Tray should automatically run and change your desktop wallpaper based on your options.

If you want to select a random wallpaper manually, simply left-click on the wallpaper-tray icon in the notification area.

You can also find more information on the Wallpaper Tray at the Ubuntu Community Docs.

The first thing I would try would be ctrl-alt-backspace - This will restart your Xserver, which is similar to logging out.

If that doesn’t work, holding ctr-alt-delete will restart your computer.

Sometimes, however, even these two commands don’t work. If this happens to you, the following command should be your last resort before actually holding down the power button.

Hold down alt-sysrq (sysrq is sometimes the same as the print screen button) and then type r-e-i-s-u-b (I remember it as ‘busier’ backwards)

This is what that last command actually means:

ALT+SYSRQ+R (should give back control of the keyboard )

ALT+SYSRQ+E (Sends term to all processes but init)

ALT+SYSRQ+I (Sends kill to all processes but init)

ALT+SYSRQ+S (issues a sync)

ALT+SYSRQ+U (file systems are mounted read only, prevents fsck at reboot)

ALT+SYSRQ+B (reboots the system, without the previous steps this would be a hard reset).