Debian "wheezy"

These are different Debian/Gnome hacks,tweaks, and tricks from different sources on the internet and some of my own.

Kernel config file
Change /usr/src/linux/Makefile, add custom name to kernel at EXTRAVERSION =-whatever (don't forget to start with a dash).

This is for the Debian 3.2.15 kernel on a HP Mini 110-3135DX Netbook, download the config file config-3.2.15-hpmini-1 and copy to /usr/src/linux/.config

Disable APT from downloading translations
To disable downloading translations, create a file named /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99translations & put the following in it:

Acquire::Languages "none";

You may also need to remove existing translation files in /var/lib/apt/lists/

Enable passwordless logins
When using lightdm and XFCE just remove the user password to be able to login without entering a password.

sudo passwd --delete $user-name

Disable the Universal Accessibility Icon
In the new gnome-shell, otherwise known as Gnome 3, there is an accessibility menu called "Universal Access" that cannot be removed by any apparent means. Fortunately it can easily be removed, hidden, or disabled by editing a file and restarting the shell. This method works for gnome-shell version 3.0 (this reportedly works in Gnome 3.2 as well), it may or may not work in future versions.

Edit the file /usr/share/gnome-shell/js/ui/panel.js

Look for the following line, (line 38 in my case):

a11y': imports.ui.status.accessibility.ATIndicator,

Comment out this line like so:

//'a11y': imports.ui.status.accessibility.ATIndicator,

Then restart gnome-shell by typing Alt-F2 to run command, enter "r" without the quotes, and hit enter. This will quickly restart the shell and you should find that the Universal Access menu no longer appears. If you should find a use for it in the future, simply un-comment the lines found in /usr/share/gnome-shell/js/ui/panel.js

Thanks to the endlessly helpful folks who maintain ArchWiki for this tip.

Source Conjure Code

Resize Icons in Gnome Applications Overview
Edit the file /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css scroll down to the section /* Application Launchers and Grid */ and change from this:

.icon-grid { spacing: 36px; -shell-grid-horizontal-item-size: 118px; -shell-grid-vertical-item-size: 118px; }  .icon-grid .overview-icon { icon-size: 96px; }

To this:

.icon-grid { spacing: 18px; -shell-grid-horizontal-item-size: 78px; -shell-grid-vertical-item-size: 78px; }  .icon-grid .overview-icon { icon-size: 66px; }

This is what it looks like after shrinking icons:

Then to change the font comment out like the part below:

/* small bold */ .dash-label, .window-caption, .switcher-list, .source-title, .app-well-app > .overview-icon, .remove-favorite > .overview-icon, .search-result-content > .overview-icon { font-size: 8pt; /*   font-weight: bold; */



Enable numlock on startup
Download and install numlockx:

apt-get install numlockx

Then enable it to run at startup:

nano /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

At the beginning of the file add:

/usr/bin/numlockx on

Change cups pdf printer output
Edit the file /etc/cups/cups-pdf.conf change the line from:

Out ${HOME}/PDF

to what ever directory you want:

Out ${HOME}/PDF/printed

Enable Synaptic to run from the menu
Edit the file /usr/share/applications/synaptics.desktop and change the line Exec = synaptic to Exec = gksu synaptic.

Enable Flash support in Chromium
Download flashplugin-nonfree & flashplugin-nonfree-extrasound, then link the files to the Chromium plugin dir.

ln -s /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/chromium/plugins/libflashplayer.so   ln -s /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree-extrasound/libflashsupport.so /usr/lib/chromium/plugins/libflashsupport.so

Then run Chromium with the following:

chromium --enable-plugins

Install Brother HL-2270-DW Printer
Download hl2270dwlpr-2.1.0-1.i386.deb and cupswrapperHL2270DW-2.0.4-2.i386.deb Install the ia32 libs (multiarch), then install the two files with:

dpkg -i --force-all hl2270dwlpr-2.1.0-1.i386.deb dpkg -i --force-all cupswrapperHL2270DW-2.0.4-2.i386.deb

Now when you go to "localhost:631" you should be able to detect and install the printer.

Find Duplicate Files
The sure-fire way to find duplicate files is by comparing MD5 hashes. This compares only the first 20 characters of the md5sum, but it still takes a long time. It's the most accurate method, so I don't mind the wait:

$ find. -type f -exec md5sum '{}' ';' | sort | uniq --all-repeated=separate -w 20

You can also compare file sizes, which is a little less accurate but a lot faster:

$ find. -type f -printf "%p - %s" | sort -nr -k3 | uniq -D -f1