Linuxindetails's Blog

Quick command-line jpeg to pdf converter

linuxindetails — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:30:25 +0000

If you have a document in jpeg format and you want to print it in a more friendly printable format, let use convert from the ImageMagick utilities.

To install it :

root@localhost:~#apt-get install imagemagick imagemagick-doc

To make the conversion :

fool@localhost:~$ convert your_image.jpg your_image.pdf

Then you can open your new document with your pdf viewer.

Sometimes, this process can lead to a bigger file in size. Adding the following option -compress jpeg may help decrease this size :

fool@localhost:~$convert -compress jpeg your_image.jpg your_image.pdf

If you are planning to make more complex operations on pdf documents, have a look at the utilities provided by the pdfjam package.

HP Proliant servers and RAM memory set up management

linuxindetails — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:42:17 +0000

It may be very critical to make the most out of the maximum memory capacity (up to 1TB) in the Proliant servers. To deal with, as a reminder, please find below some useful links you should add in your bookmarks :

http://partsurfer.hp.com

HP Servers memtool

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/options/memory-description.html

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01702744/c01702744.pdf

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/c-products/servers/options/Memory_Why_Buy_4AA0-4216ENW.pdf

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/c-products/servers/options/c00256943.pdf

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01702744/c01702744.pdf

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/c-products/servers/options/Memory-Config-Recommendations-for-Intel-Xeon-5500-Series-Servers-Rev1.pdf

Gtk-Message: Failed to load module “pk-gtk-module”

linuxindetails — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:47:50 +0000

After upgrading to GNOME 3, I encountered this error message after running a zenity-based application : “Gtk-Message: Failed to load module “pk-gtk-module”

To look after a special file, you should use apt-file program.

root@localhost:~# apt-file update && apt-file search pk-gtk-module

gnome-packagekit: /usr/lib/gnome-settings-daemon-3.0/gtk-modules/gpk-pk-gtk-module.desktop
packagekit-dbg: /usr/lib/debug/usr/lib/gtk-3.0/modules/libpk-gtk-module.so
packagekit-gtk3-module: /usr/lib/gtk-3.0/modules/libpk-gtk-module.so

Install all these packages :

root@localhost:~#apt-get install gnome-packagekit packagekit-dbg packagekit-gtk3-module

The problem is finally solved.

perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings: LC_ALL = (unset), LANG = “” are supported and installed on your system.

linuxindetails — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:44:17 +0000

After a fresh install of cygwin, you may have some trouble with your locale settings. For instance, while running cpan -l to look for installed Perl modules, I had this error message :

fool@localhost:~$ cpan -l

perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings: LC_ALL = (unset), LANG = “” are supported and installed on your system.

To check which locales are available on your system :

fool@localhost:~$ locale -a

To set the correct value for your locale settings :

fool@localhost:~$ export LC_ALL=en_US.utf8

This will be only available for your current xterm session. To make it available all the time, set it into your shell profile configuration file.

Optimizing your laptop battery life under Debian (part 1)

linuxindetails — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 07:03:30 +0000

Working with a notebook, by default, it might be difficult to work with it on the battery more than two hours. It is not very helpful when you can not plug in to AC power nearby.

There are several ways to optimize your notebook’s battery life. All the tips provided have been tested on a HP Pavilion dm4 Notebook PC running Debian Squeeze 6.0.3. In this part, I will show you three utilities : gnome-power-preferences, xbacklight and xrandr.

gnome-power-preferences is part of the GNOME desktop. It helps you configuring basic actions whether your notebook runs on battery or on AC power. Below are screenshots showing my own settings :

xbacklight may be used as well to control backlight brightness using RandR extension.

To get the actual value :

fool@localhost~:$ xbacklight -get

100.000000

to dim this value by 50 percent for instance :

fool@localhost:~$xbacklight -dec 50.00

More information : xbacklight -help

Last but not least, here is the well-known xrandr. With this program, we can collect all the information concerning the video outputs of the notebook. Some graphics card may activate all its video outputs by default. For sure, you do not use of all them in the same time. Desactivating the non-used ones may help your battery feel better

fool@localhost:~$xrandr -q

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS1 connected 1366×768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 309mm x 173mm
   1366×768       60.1*+   40.1
   1360×768       59.8     60.0
   1024×768       60.0
   800×600        60.3     56.2
   640×480        59.9

LVDS output stands for your LCD panel. Do not desactivate it. If no cable is connected from your VGA output, desactivate it with the following command :

fool@localhost:~$ xrandr –output VGA –off

These are basic tools to make a better use of your notebook’s battery. In the next parts, a few other tools will be presented with a much better tuning capability.

/lib/modules/3.0.0-1-686-pae/modules.pcimap: No such file or directory

linuxindetails — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 05:21:34 +0000

pcimodules command, part of pciutils package, lists all the loaded modules corresponding to the PCI devices found and detected by the kernel. pcimodules needs the modules.pcimap file to run successfully. If missing, then you have to recreate it manually :

fool@localhost:~$ pcimodules
/lib/modules/3.0.0-1-686-pae/modules.pcimap: No such file or directory

root@localhost:~#depmod -m

root@localhost:~# ls -l /lib/modules/3.0.0-1-686-pae/modules.pcimap

-rw-r–r– 1 root root 441540 Sep 26 21:19 /lib/modules/3.0.0-1-686-pae/modules.pcimap

audio codec family [mpg123] (afm=mpg123) not available

linuxindetails — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 10:25:34 +0000

This message can occur while listening to a webradio with mplayer. Here is a more detailed message :

Requested audio codec family [mpg123] (afm=mpg123) not available.
Enable it at compilation.
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders
AUDIO: 44100 Hz, 2 ch, floatle, 96.0 kbit/3.40% (ratio: 12000->352800)
Selected audio codec: [ffmp3float] afm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG layer-3 audio)

To use this codec without compiling mplayer again, install the following Debian package :

root@localhost:~#apt-get install libmpg123-0

Then, enable the use of this codec within your own mplayer configuration file :

fool@localhost:~$echo “afm=mp3lib” >> ~/.mplayer/config

This option will force mplayer to use mpg123 codec instead of ffmp3float.

More information on mpg123 by Thomas Orgis from the official mpg123 website :

You need libmpg123 for the mpg123 codec in MPlayer, but the mp3lib codec is an internal fork of mpg123 code that fully resides in MPlayer.

So, if you want to use mp3lib, you can just say that in your ~/.mplayer/config … if you want mpg123, you need the lib and also MPlayer must be built with the codec enabled. Note that mp3lib will vanish sometime in favour of mpg123 usage (or ffmp3float, but I naturally hope the former;-), after some quirks have been settled.”

Finding the right name for your Intel graphics chipset

linuxindetails — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:13:44 +0000

The output of lspci does not always provide enough information about graphics card and integrated graphics chipsets :

fool@localhost:~$ lspci -nn |egrep “VGA|Display”
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2e32] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2e33] (rev 03)

In this case, this information “Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller” is not sufficient to find the right name of this Intel graphics chipset. There are two solutions to solve it :

fool@localhost:~$grep -i chipset /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[    17.764] (II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810,
[    17.770] (II) intel(0): Integrated Graphics Chipset: Intel(R) G41
[    17.770] (–) intel(0): Chipset: “G41″

fool@localhost:~$dmesg |grep -i agp

[    1.008912] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[    1.009057] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: Intel G41 Chipset
[    1.009142] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: detected gtt size: 2097152K total, 262144K mappable
[    1.010058] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: detected 32768K stolen memory
[    1.010181] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0xe0000000

With this information, it will be much more easier to use the right driver and tune the Xorg configuration file. (if necessary)

Hope this helps !

Use of uninitialized value $text in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Text/WrapI18N.pm line 101, line 5. substr outside of string at /usr/share/perl5/Text/WrapI18N.pm line 130, line 5

linuxindetails — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:44:20 +0000

Migrating from Squeeze to Wheezy, if you have this error while running dpkg-reconfigure -a for instance :

Use of uninitialized value $text in concatenation (.) or string at /usr/share/perl5/Text/WrapI18N.pm line 101, line 5.
substr outside of string at /usr/share/perl5/Text/WrapI18N.pm line 130, line 5

Use this workaround to avoid further similar error messages :

http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1116926

Debian cd including firmware

linuxindetails — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:48:12 +0000

Debian has made available unofficial CDs ISO including firmwares. For Debian Squeeze, look at :

Debian Squeeze netinstall iso including firmware

Once downloaded, do not forget to check the iso using shasum utility as follows :

fool@localhost:~$ shasum -c SHA512SUMS firmware-6.0.2.1-i386-netinst.iso

For more information about Debian CDs/DVDs :

Debian CDs/DVDs