MacBook and Openbox: mimic keyboard shortcut Cmd-tab application switcher

    <keybind key="W-Tab">
      <action name="NextWindow">
        <allDesktops>yes</allDesktops>
        <finalactions>
          <action name="Focus"/>
          <action name="Raise"/>
          <action name="Unshade"/>
        </finalactions>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="W-S-Tab">
      <action name="PreviousWindow">
        <finalactions>
          <action name="Focus"/>
          <action name="Raise"/>
          <action name="Unshade"/>
        </finalactions>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Macbook Air and Openbox: copy the Spotlight(TM) keyboard shortcut

    <keybind key="W-space">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>dmenu_run</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

apt-get install suckless-tools

Macbook Air and Openbox: Raise/Lower Volume, Up/Down Brightness

    <keybind key="XF86KbdBrightnessUp">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>xbacklight +10</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="XF86KbdBrightnessDown">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>xbacklight -10</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="XF86AudioRaiseVolume">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>amixer -c 0 set Master 2dB+</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="XF86AudioLowerVolume">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>amixer -c 0 set Master 2dB-</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Openbox: monitor laptop battery via CLI and notify-send

while (true);do acpi -b | perl -n -e 's/.*?(\d+)%.*/$1/;chomp;print "$_...";if ($_ <= 15) {`notify-send batalert:$_`};';sleep 180;done

Would like a beep, but can't get one, no PC speaker on MacBook Air and mplayer buffers.

Change X / Openbox screen brightness on CLI

1. sudo apt-get -y install xbacklight
2. xbacklight +10
3. xbacklight +10
4. xbacklight +10
5. xbacklight -10
6. xbacklight -10
7. xbacklight -10

vncserver on Amazon Linux on Amazon's AWS

NOTE: this first step may be outdated in new versions of Amazon Linux, which provides libjpeg-turbo.

First, get a good version of libjpeg-turbo:

1. yum clean all
2. yum --enablerepo=amzn-preview install libjpeg-turbo
3. see: https://forums.aws.amazon.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121128

Necessary packages:

1. gnutls-2.8.5-10.el6.x86_64.rpm
2. libfontenc-1.0.5-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
3. libtasn1-2.3-3.el6.x86_64.rpm
4. libxdmcp-1.1.1-7.ram1.x86_64.rpm
5. libXfont-1.4.5-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
6. libxkbfile-1.0.6-1.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
7. libXmu-1.1.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
8. mesa-dri-drivers-9.0-0.7.el6.x86_64.rpm
9. pixman-0.26.2-5.el6_4.x86_64.rpm
10. tigervnc-license-1.3.0-16.el6.noarch.rpm
11. tigervnc-server-1.3.0-16.el6.x86_64.rpm
12. tigervnc-server-minimal-1.3.0-16.el6.x86_64.rpm
13. xkeyboard-config-2.6-6.el6.noarch.rpm
14. xorg-x11-proto-devel-7.6-25.el6.noarch.rpm
15. xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.2-7.1.el6.x86_64.rpm
16. xorg-x11-xkb-utils-7.7-4.el6.x86_64.rpm

Necessary packages for fluxbox:

1. pyxdg-0.18-1.el6.noarch.rpm

Here's a link to all the packages needed: rpms

Start by trying to install tigervnc-server. That will fail. Follow the dependencies down, installing packages one by one as they come up. If they fail, install their dependencies first.

These packages were special cases

1. mesa-dri-drivers-9.0-0.7.el6.x86_64.rpm
1. just "--nodeps" install this one
2. the libraries of the dependencies are never called from my experience
2. libXtst-1.2.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
1. there is a more recent version of this already in Amazon Linux, so just skip this one and "--nodeps" the parent package, which is libXmu-1.1.1-2.el6.x86_64.rpm

If not found, add location of libXdmcp.so.6 to /etc/ld.so.conf and run "ldconfig", e.g. locations is /usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6 so add the line "/usr/lib".

Once I got the vncserver up with

  vncserver :66 -localhost

bizarrely, it was listening on port 5966 and some 6066 port. The 5966 port is the one you want.

See previous post on Redhat VNC for details, click here.

Quick CLI screenshots on Linux or Openbox / Fluxbox

1. sudo apt-get -y install imagemagick eog
2. import myscreenshot.jpg
1. select portion of screen with the crosshairs
3. eog myscreenshot.jpg

Anti-window, anti-desktop Linux desktop

1. Install base debian with NO additional packages
2. apt-get install xorg openbox obmenu slim terminator firefox wicd-gtk
3. reboot
4. Log in to openbox via slim
5. Right-click on blank desktop and open default terminal
6. Run obmenu
7. Edit ~/.config/openbox/menu.xml to add things you like
8. Set up network including wireless using early post on this blog
1. It is not easy
2. but nice to know once you learn