JimVernon.com

Fix for ClearType fonts looking bad in OpenOffice and LibreOffice

jim — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 05:34:27 +0000

If your running Ubuntu or some other Linux variant, and ClearType fonts like Calibri or Cambria look jagged and thin (or just ugly) in Open/LibreOffice, there is a fix. The problem is that for small font sizes, TrueType fonts use bitmaps instead of antialiasing, which just don’t look particularly good. To stop this from happening, create a file in your home folder called .fonts.conf (if it doesn’t already exist) and put this in it:

false

Save it, and then log out and log back in again. Your fonts should look great now.

How to disable the Workspace Switcher in Ubuntu Unity

jim — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:24:50 +0000

It’s pretty simple, actually. Install MyUnity from the Software Center, or run this command in a terminal:

sudo apt-get install myunity

Then open MyUnity, go to the Desktop tab, and set the number of vertical/horizontal virtual desktops to 1. Log out, and then log back in. The Workspace Switcher should be gone.

Firefox 9 being a bit slow?

jim — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:39:38 +0000

I installed Firefox 9 a few days ago and I’m loving it so far. In fact, it has replaced Chrome (which had replaced Firefox for me awhile back), which says a lot for the progress that Mozilla has made in the last couple of years.

Anyway, I was having this issue where resizing the Firefox window was really choppy and slow. Not a huge deal, but still annoying. The solution was to go into the Options, go to the Advanced tab, and uncheck “Use Hardware Acceleration”.

Getting rid of Compiz lag in Ubuntu

jim — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:48:38 +0000

One of the problems I’ve had with Ubuntu on pretty much every machine that I’ve ever put it on is that Compiz (Desktop Effects) does not run smoothly. It’s always slightly laggy and jittery, and it’s especially noticeable when you’re moving a window around. Fortunately, there is a fix that I discovered awhile ago that has worked every time. The short version is that you need to install compizconfig-settings-manager and turn off the setting to auto-detect your display’s refresh rate, bump up the frame rate manually, and disable vertical sync (optional, but seems to help to).

Here’s a quick how to:

Open a terminal and type this command: sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
Once it’s installed, run it. It should be in the System menu if you’re using Gnome 2, or you can type “compizconfig” in the search box in Unity. You’ll get a window like this:
Click the Composite button on the top. You should see this screen:
Uncheck “Detect Refresh Rate” and set the refresh rate to 60 (or whatever you’re screen’s refresh rate is, if you know it). It should look like this:
Click Back.
Click the OpenGL button near the top. You should see this screen:
Uncheck “Sync to VBlank”. It should look like this:
Close CompizConfig-Settings-Manager and reboot your computer. You should notice that the performance is much smoother now.

Fix for wobbly Lenovo S10-3t screen

jim — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:46:51 +0000

The screen hinge on my Lenovo S10-3t netbook/tablet was getting loose to the point where the screen was wobbling back and forth whenever I moved with it sitting on my lap. Also, the screen was falling forward a half inch or so when I was holding it in tablet mode. I was worried that the hinge itself was wearing out, but last night I decided to see if I could fix it anyway. It turned out to be pretty simple.

If you’re having this problem, all you need to do it tighten two screws located on the bottom of the screen. They’re hidden beneath two rubber pads, which I’ve highlighted in this picture:

The pads are glued on, so you should be able to pry them off easily with your finger nails. Once you’ve tightened the screws enough to eliminate the wobbling, you can cover them back up with the rubber pads.

Windows 7 SP1 Problem

jim — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:50:35 +0000

If you’re having trouble installing Windows 7 SP 1, here’s something to check. I have my computer set to dual-boot with Ubuntu, and apparently that changes some of the flags on the Windows partitions. That said, this fix may not work for you if you aren’t dual-booting, but I’d give it a try anyway.

What you do is right click on Computer, click on Manage, and when the Computer Management screen comes up, click on Disk Management. After a few moments you’ll see a list of drives and partitions. You should see a 200 MB partition for Windows. Right click on it and click Mark Partition as Active. At this point you should be able to run the service pack installer.

Moving Windows Desktop Gadets without them snapping into place.

jim — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:36:49 +0000

All you have to do is hold the Shift key while moving them. This is great for when you’re trying to line up your gadgets and they snapping/sticking to the side of the screen or to another gadget.

MySQL Error

jim — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:28:06 +0000

I was getting this error when trying to access a remote database from a website: “Lost connection to MySQL server at ‘reading initial communication packet’, system error: 111″

It turned out that for whatever reason, MySQL did not like using a different port forwarded to 3306. I guess you need to change the port in my.cnf and on your firewall.

Google Reader slowness

jim — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:52:22 +0000

If you’re noticing that Google Reader seems to load or scroll slowly, try disabling your ad-blocker (like AdBlock or AdThwart).

Slow Firefox 3.5 in Vista 64 bit

jim — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:43:16 +0000

I was having some issues with Firefox being terribly slow, particularly on Facebook and Google Reader. I started disabling extensions and it turns out that the Skype phone number highlighter was the culprit. So if you’re having the same problem, there’s one quick thing to check.