IT Service Works » Linux

Font Smoothing in Ubuntu (or derivative)

Scott Kuhn — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:47:36 +0000

The default fonts on my Mint were driving me crazy at this resolution (1280×1024), and options for the kind of font smoothing that XP and Vista have weren’t readily apparent. But thanks to the knowledgebase that is the Internet (yeah, I’m sure it’s also in some man pages in Mint as well) here’s how to enable:

From Terminal, type:

sudo gedit ~/.fonts.conf

(or even better, copy and paste into Terminal!)

Likely is blank. Copy this into it:

true

Save, Log off/in…done.

Install Microsoft TrueType Fonts in Ubuntu (Or Derivative)

Scott Kuhn — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:46:43 +0000

So I’d grown accustomed to the default fonts in Mint, and hadn’t had any issues since the font smoothing. But today I decided to install the Windows TrueType fonts….and wow, what a difference!

It’s not so much the fonts themselves, just that nearly everything online and off is built using them. So websites look different–heck, my blog even looks different.

So here’s how:
From Terminal, type: sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts
Enter sudo password and off you go.

Update the cache by then typing:
sudo fc-cache -fv

Mount Windows Shares in Ubuntu (or derivative)

Scott Kuhn — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:44:21 +0000

1. edit your /etc/hosts file; give the Windows machine an associated name (or to be consistent with Windows networking, the machine’s Netbios name)
2. install the samba and smbfs packages (sudo apt-get install samba/smbfs)
3. Create a directory for the share to appear locally (sudo mkdir /mnt/bob, for instance)
4. Edit /etc/fstab for the share (example of //systemname/sharename /mnt/bob cifs exec,credentials=/etc/cifspw 0 0)
5. Since you just referred it to a password file, create that (in /etc/cifspw for the credentials of the share, as in:
username=Bob
password=BobHasNoPassword)
6. Secure it, if you want (sudo chmod 600 /etc/cifspw)
7. Mount it up: sudo mount -a
8. Create shortcuts/links as you will (the mount is in the location you specified in step 3)

Keeping home directory on separate partition

Scott Kuhn — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:41:34 +0000

Ubuntu’s done some phenomenal work the past few years helping move Linux mainstream. One of the things they haven’t done–and they are not alone–is emphasize creating and using a separate partition mounted as /home.

Why is that important? Well, take me, for example. Reformatted my laptop a couple days ago, and after running into an issue configuring a VM, I started over yet again. Did I need to back up, reconfigure everything (as if I was in Windows)? Nope. Matter of fact, the /home directory contains a lot of configuration info, your Docs and Pictures…so I booted up after the install, and even Evolution was already set up and waiting for me to read my email. No configuration needed. Desktop wallpaper, configurations I’d done to the Gnome panel, everything was there. As it should be, I might add…

So, Canonical…please consider it as a standard like you do with the swap partition. And, um, Redmond….it’s still not too late to do the same sort of thing with Windows.