Customize Nautilus Shortcut Keys

Today, I had this itch to customize the shortcut keys in my Ubuntu Jaunty --> Nautilus.

I wanted to assign the Alt-D key to select the location bar. Ctrl-L is the default option, but I find Alt-D easier on the fingers, especially when all fingers are resting on the correct keys on the keyboard! I also use Alt-D in Opera/Firefox to highlight the address in the address bar.

Unfortunately, The 'Keyboard Shortcuts' in System --> Preferences does not have any option for Nautilus.

A quick search landed me here and Wolki had a nice suggestion. It worked like a charm.

So to change Ctrl-L option to Alt-D, here is what needs to be done:

1. In Ubuntu Jaunty, Go to System --> Preferences --> Appearance --> Interface.

2. Enable the option 'Editable menu shortcut keys'

This is what Ubuntu Help says about this option:

"Editable menu shortcut keys

  Selecting this option allows you to define new keyboard shortcuts for menu items.

  To change an application shortcut key, open the menu, and with the mouse pointer on the menu item you wish to change, press the new combination of keys. To remove a shortcut key, press Backspace or Delete.

  When using this feature, you will not be warned if assigning a new shortcut key to a command also removes it from another command.

  There is no way to restore the original, default keyboard shortcut for a command.

  This feature does not maintain shortcuts that are normally common to all applications, such as Ctrl+C for Copy. This may lead to inconsistencies in your GNOME applications."

3. Now open Nautilus, click 'Go' menu and highlight the 'Location...' option by moving mouse pointer over it.

4. At this point, press Alt-D on the keyboard. The Ctrl-L shortcut will be replaced by Alt-D!

5. As a precaution, turn off the 'Editable menu shortcut keys' option.

6. If the shortcut does not work immediately, log out and log back in. (need not restart)

Disclaimer: Read the warnings in the above help extract carefully. You should know what you are doing!

Amarok tip on Ubuntu

Ok, this is neat. I have been using Amarok 2.0.2 for sometime on Ubuntu, but just discovered this today.

If you drag a song from 'Collection' to either the 'Current Track Info' window or 'Lyrics' window (and hold it there for couple of seconds), it displays some good options to 'Queue Track' or 'More' options to 'Edit Track details'. 

Holding down the dragged song on the 'More' option (also hold it for couple of second) also gives some more options!

See snapshots:

Creating tiny urls easily!

I wanted a quick way of creating tiny urls for either posting on twitter or just to include in my emails. 

I somehow did not like the fancy toolbar buttons or java scripts or add ons. I like a clean browser.

So using my favourite Opera 9.64 this is how I achived my goal.

1. I jumped to the tinyurl website. Link

You can use this with any url shortening site. I just like tiny!

2. Then I right clicked on the the textbox (left of the Make TinyURL button) and clicked 'Create Search'

3. A search engine dialog popped up. In the keyword textbox, I entered 'tiny'. You can use any word even 't', but 'tiny' is easy to remember. Click OK

4. Now to create a tiny URL, I just copy that looong URL and type

tiny   and this immediately creates a short URL and directs to the tinyurl.com page.

Here address bar shortcut like Alt-D helps to select the current URL (if thats the long URL you wanted to shorten). Or sometimes, if I am already on the page that needs to be shortened, I use the following sequence:

1. Click Alt-D (highlight the address)

2. Click Home

3. type 'tiny ' (with space at end) and hit enter! Thats it.

Now thats the shortest and easiest way to create shortened URLs!

No plugins, no javascript!

Ubuntu and the LCD projector!

I had a presentation in office and thought of using Ubuntu for it. But I was not sure if Ubuntu will behave well if I connect to the LCD projector. Didn't wanna take a chance.

Beforehand, I had done some research on connecting Ubuntu based laptop to the LCD projector and the problems that may arise.

This tip worked and helped me connect the Laptop running Ubuntu to the LCD projector.

1. Start the LCD projector (obviously!)

2. Start Ubuntu and log in with your username

3. Connect the projector to your laptop. Now like me, chances are, you may not see anything on the projector screen.

4. Now, log out (using ctrl-bkspace, if it works). Need not restart the laptop.

5. Log back in and you should see your Ubuntu desktop on the big screen!

Ubuntu, Openoffice, AnyRemote!

So I had this presentation in office and I thought of 'showcasing' ubuntu!

Had some trouble getting anyRemote to work on Ubuntu with Nokia E51, but eventually met with success. Initially I tried to download the .gz files from sourceforge.net and compile them myself. After resolving a few compiler dependencies, i could, configure, make and install. But I was still clueless and thought 'nothing seem to happen'

Eventually this is what worked well for me. And darn pretty simple too.

Make sure your Open office Impress presentation is loaded.

1. I downloaded and installed the java client for mobiles. Link

2. Instead of using the .gz files from sourceforge, I installed anyremote from the ubuntu repositories.

So I searched the Synaptic Package manager for gAnyRemote and installed it.

3. Start ganyremote on Ubuntu

In a terminal, type ganyremote

I got a message, saying 'Bluetooth service is not active', I ignored it.

ganyremote starts and an icon is visible in the top right panel.

4.Click on the icon and it will display a window with a list of applications.

5. I clicked on Open Office Impress and clicked 'Start'. The status changed to 'Managed'

6. Then I launced anyremote on mobile (Nokia E51).

7. Then from the options menu, I clicked 'Enter BT address'.

8. You need to know your PC's bluetooth address. For this type hcitool dev  in any Ubuntu terminal. Note down the 12 char address. Enter this address in your mobile (option 7 above). The format will be something like this btspp://0008F4163049:19 (the address in bold will be your PC's bluetooth address. Rest remains the same)

9. Now I switched to the impress presentation and using the keypad on mobile, I was able to control the presentation!