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Navigate in Ubuntu Nautilus Using the Mouse Back/Forward Buttons

by Chris Jean

February 13th, 2009

I’m used to my back and forward buttons on my mice being able to move backwards and forwards through file browsers. However, this function doesn’t work in Nautilus for Gnome, which is the default file browser for Ubuntu. Naturally, I started to dig into the problem.

I found out that I’m not the only one who is irritated by the lack of back/forward navigation via the mouse. On the Ubuntu Brainstorm site where people share ideas on how to improve Ubuntu, there is an idea topic and three duplicate topics all talking about adding this feature.

I have also discovered that there is a way to add this functionality. It isn’t pretty, but it does work.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Easily Burn ISO Files in Ubuntu Linux

by Chris Jean

February 12th, 2009

An iso image is an uncompressed archive file that contains an ISO 9660 or UDF file system. These file systems define the format of data as it is recorded onto media such as CDs and DVDs.

So what are iso files good for? Here are a few ways that iso files can be used:

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Repartitioning Ubuntu and Mothballing Windows

by Chris Jean

February 11th, 2009

Since I have officially been using Ubuntu on my office laptop for more than a solid month without once booting into Windows, it’s time to mothball the Windows partition in order to give Linux more room to breathe.

I seriously considered removing Windows entirely as I don’t believe that I’ll have any legitimate need for it in the future. However, I think that I can get the Windows partition down to a manageable size and then forget about it.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Mount Dell Studio 17 Card Reader in Ubuntu

by Chris Jean

February 10th, 2009

I’m using Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit, Intrepid Ibex, but these instructions should work for users of other distros (such as Linux Mint, Fedora, Sabayon, etc) as well.

This morning I needed to pull some images off of my camera’s SD card using my Dell Studio 17′s built-in card reader. I plugged the card in, got sidetracked for a few minutes, and then realized that I couldn’t find a mount point for my card.

Usually when I plug in the card, it is automatically identified and mounted. Then Nautilus would show a listing in the left-hand pane for the card allowing me easy access to the contents. However, that didn’t happen today.

I thought about rebooting in order to see if it was just a fluke, but I didn’t want to save all my projects, close out all my applications, reboot, and load everything back up. So, I thought I’d see about mounting the device manually. Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult at all.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Getting Rid of Tilde Files in Ubuntu

by Chris Jean

February 9th, 2009

If you are looking at file listings (ls) in Terminal on your Linux system, you may have seen duplicate files that end with a tilde (~). Such as having two files, notes.txt and notes.txt~, in the same directory.

I have found these to be quite annoying and have to manually remove them before I package up the files. I also didn’t know exactly where they came from until today.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Case-Insensitive Tabbing in Ubuntu Terminal

by Chris Jean

February 8th, 2009

Using the Linux terminal is a fantastic thing. It gives you access to hundreds of great commands and programs, can make navigating through complex directories quick and easy, and offers tools like tab auto-complete that make doing all this a breeze. However, there is a caveat for some people: Linux is case-sensitive. Personally, I love how Linux is case-sensitive, but I know that not everyone will agree with me.

There are ways to create case-insensitive partitions, but doing this has its own technical and functional limitations. If anyone is interested, drop me a line, and I’ll work on a post on this topic.

For those that don’t like how everything in Terminal is case-sensitive, there is a solution that will relieve some of the pain. You can configure your system to make tab auto-complete case-insensitive even on a case-sensitive file system.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Forcing a Device to Unmount in Ubuntu Linux

by Chris Jean

February 7th, 2009

I recently ran into an issue where a mounted SSHFS filesystem refused to unmount.

I tried to unmount it from inside Nautilus by right-clicking the mount and selecting Unmount, but this failed with an error message. The error told me that it couldn’t unmount the device and gave a reason of “mount disagrees with the fstab”.

I then edited the fstab (sudo vi /etc/fstab) and commented out the entry for the device. I tried to unmount in Nautilus again, but this time it told me that I couldn’t unmount the device because I wasn’t root and the device was not listed in fstab. I then uncommented the previously commented line and saved the file again.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Partition Manager in Ubuntu Linux

by Chris Jean

February 3rd, 2009

Last night I needed to modify one of my partitions from inside Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10). I quickly realized that the familiar Partition Editor was nowhere to be found. I was quite stumped and looked through all the menus and didn’t find it. There is a simple reason for why I didn’t find it, it’s no longer installed by default on newer Ubuntu releases.

Fortunately, adding the Partition Editor, its true name is GParted, is extremely easy with package management.

Load Synaptic (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager)
Type gparted inside the Quick search box and click the Search button
Right-click the Package named “gparted” and select “Mark for Installation”
Click the Apply button toward the top of the window
Wait for the package to install

Now that GParted is installed, you can access it via System > Administration > Partition Editor.

Happy partitioning.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Create ZIP Archives Quickly in Ubuntu Linux

by Chris Jean

February 2nd, 2009

Here’s a quick tip on storing a number of files into a single archive file quickly and easily in Ubuntu. The instructions will also work for those who use other distros as long as they are using Gnome and Nautilus.

Load up Nautilus (Places > Home Folder)
Copy all the files you want to store in the archive to a single location. For example, I’ll often copy all the files and folders that I want to add to my home folder first.
Highlight all the files to be included in the archive. You can select files and folders one at a time by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on the desired file/folder.
Right-click one of the highlighted files and select “Create Archive…”
Name the archive and click “Create”.

Depending on the size of the files that you’ve selected, you’ll soon have a new zip file sitting in the folder where the source files are located.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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Headphones Jacks Now Fully Work on Dell Studio 17 Running Ubuntu

by Chris Jean

January 29th, 2009

A number of updates were installed on my machine yesterday. Ubuntu asked me to reboot, but I was busy, so I never ended up doing that yesterday. This morning, I booted my machine and was very surprised to find out that my headphone jacks no longer worked. Needless to say, I was upset.

As I discussed in a previous post, I’m running Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) on a Dell Studio 17 laptop and getting the headphones to work required some workarounds. Basically, you had to set up the headphones to be line outs which caused one of the jacks to function but failed to mute the speakers when headphones were plugged in. This resulted in needing to manually mute and unmute the Front audio channel when you used or removed headphones. It’s because of this workaround that I thought the jack no longer worked.

Categories Linux, Tips 'n Tricks
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