Fedora Daily Package - GUI Thursday

GUI Thursday: Eiciel - GUI ACL Editor

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:01:00 -0400

The Linux filesystem permission model comes from Unix. It provides three permissions (read, write, and execute) for three communities (the user that owns the file, users in the group that owns the file, and all other users). The beauty of this model is its simplicity: it's easy to understand and compact to display. By creating various groups of users, this scheme can accommodate most use cases.

But sometimes the traditional model just isn't convenient, and having many different groups becomes a real pain to manage. Filesystem access control lists (ACLs) mend this pain by extending the traditional model to permit individual permissions to be set for any number of users and groups.

The setfacl and getfacl commands are used to manage ACLs from the command line, and ls -l will display a plus-sign beside the permission of any file which has an extended access control list:

$ ls -l ~/Desktop/lux-handout
-rw-rw-r--+ 1 chris chris 821 2008-05-03 15:21 /home/chris/Desktop/lux-handout

The Eiciel package provides a graphical user interface for managing ACLs. Although this package provides a stand-alone application, it really shines as a Nautilus extension -- if you're using Gnome, simply right-click on a file and select Properties, and you'll see an Access Control List tab with the Eiciel display.

Note: ACLs are only available on filesystem that support extended attributes. Fortunately, this includes ext2/ext3/ext4 (the default filesystems in Fedora), JFS, and ReiserFS. However, FAT, NTFS, NFS, and CIFS (Samba) do not support ACLs at this time.

Bug: The Eiciel display includes a checkbox labeled "Also show system participants". You will need to check this box to see users with a user ID below 1000. This control is intended to hide system accounts such as root and mysql, but on a Fedora system, regular user IDs start at 500, not 1000. See bug 445667 for details.

Installing from the command line: yum install eiciel
Installing using the graphical installer: Base System > System Tools > eiciel
Menu location after installation: Applications > System Tools > Eiciel or right-click on a file within Nautilus, select Properties, go to the Access Control List tab
Command: /usr/bin/eiciel
Upstream website: http://rofi.roger-ferrer.org/eiciel/

GUI Thursday: lshw-gui - Browse hardware info

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:01:00 -0500

Fedora offers many tools for viewing detailed hardware information, including lsusb, lspci, hdparm, and direct access to the /proc and /sys filesystems. An alternative tool, lshw, combines this information and more into a single, unified listing -- but the output often exceeds 1000 lines.

lshw-gui provides a convenient graphical interface into this rich source of information, enabling you to easily drill down into the specific details of each subsystem and device. The display shows four panes of information -- three narrow panes on the left to navigate though the tree of device details, and a larger one on the right to view details of the selected node.

This program displays a lot more information than tools such as hwbrowser and does a good job of translating arcane device details into a very readable format.

Installing from the command line: yum install lshw-gui
Installing using the graphical installer: Not available in the Browse view; use the Search or List views to install lshw-gui
Menu location after installation: Applications > System Tools > Hardware Lister
Command: /usr/bin/lshw-gui
Upstream website: http://ezix.org/project/wiki/HardwareLiSter (lshw-gui is referred to as gtk-lshw on the upstream site)

GUI Thursday: hplip-gui - HP Device Manager

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:01:00 -0500

HP printers and multifunction units are well supported in Fedora, thanks in large measure to HP's decision to open-source its driver software and utilities (hplip) in cooperation with related projects such as sane, ghostscript, and cups. The hplip-gui package provides a simple, convenient GUI front-end to these tools, making it easy to scan and print documents, access photo cards, and control copy and fax functions. hplip-gui also provides access to useful device information such as toner and ink levels.

The HP Device Manager displays a list of available devices and provides a point-and-click interface to the features of each model. External programs such as xsane are leveraged where appropriate, and other capabilities are provided directly by the device manager.

Installing from the command line: yum install hplip-gui
Installing using the graphical installer: not available through the Browse view; use the Search or List views to install hplip-gui
Menu location after installation: System>Administration>HP Device Manager
Command: /usr/bin/hp-toolbox
Upstream website: http://hplip.sourceforge.net/

GUI Thursday: ManEdit - manpage editor

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:01:00 -0500

For many years Unix and Linux systems have offered convenient online documentation in the form of manpages. These documents provide short, concise information about commands, applications, file formats, APIs, and interfaces. They use a simple markup and can be easily processed for display in a terminal or online help application, converted to PDF, printed using PostScript, or posted to the web as an HTML page.

ManEdit is a graphical editor intended to simplify the task of creating and maintaining manpages. Its user interface displays two panes: the left pane presents a list of the sections in the current manpage (right-click for options), and the right side provides a space for editing the title and text of a selected section. The syntax used is an XML variation of the traditional manpage markup, and controls are provided for inserting basic markup such as bold and underline tags. The Preview button will display a basic preview of the man page.

Although ManEdit is still a bit rough around the edges, it provides a convient way to quickly write a manpage, especially if you are unfamiliar with manpage markup.

Note: The current version of ManEdit crashes if the New button is pressed. Bug 356171 is open regarding this issue. As a work-around, open an existing manpage (from one of the directories in /usr/share/man), edit it, and save it into a new file.

Using manpages:
To view a manpage using a graphical viewer: Use the GNOME or KDE help viewers (yelp or khelpviewer), accessible using the bouy icon on your panel bar.
To view a manpage from a shell prompt: man command (to find out which commands might perform a certain task, try man -k keyword or apropos keyword)
To print a manpage: man -t command | lpr
To convert a manpage to PDF format: man -t command | ps2pdf - > outputfile.pdf
To prepare an html version of a manpage: gunzip <$(man --path command) | man2html >outputfile.html

Installing from the command line: yum install manedit
Installing using the graphical installer: Development > Development tools > manedit
Menu location after installation: Applications > Programming > ManEdit
Command: /usr/bin/manedit
Upstream website: http://wolfpack.twu.net/ManEdit/

Many current open source projects do not have manpages for their software.
Please consider writing a manpage for your favorite program and submitting it to the program author!

GUI Thursday: BibleTime - Bible study tool

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:01:00 -0400

The bible is a unique book: It's an all-time bestseller which has sparked controversy, been quoted in many different contexts, and had influence in language and culture in many parts of the world.

BibleTime is a tool for searching, reading, and studying the bible. It is a KDE application that builds on libraries from the Sword project, which also provides the bible texts, commentaries, concordances, and other modules that can be used with BibleTime. Features of the software include simultaneous access to multiple versions of the bible text, rapid searching, and easy access to cross-references and commentary.

Installing from the command line: yum install bibletime
Installing using the graphical installer: Not available in Browse mode; use the Search or List modes to install bibletime
Menu location after installation: > Applications > Accessories > BibleTime 1.6.3.b
Command: /usr/bin/bibletime
Upstream website: http://www.bibletime.info/

GUI Thursday: Transmission - BitTorrent Client

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 00:01:00 -0400

Fedora 8 is quickly approaching: the first test release is available, the second test release is scheduled to come out in less than two weeks, and with Live CD images, it's easier than ever to participate in testing. The preferred method for downloading Fedora installation images is BitTorrent via the tracker at http://torrent.fedoraproject.org/

There are quite a few BitTorrent clients available in the Fedora repositories. One of the newest is Transmission, which offers some of the most useful features of the highly-regarded Azureus client (including PEX - peer exchange of information traditionally sent through the tracker), but is a native binary and does not require Java. It is has a lightweight design and a sleek but informative user interface -- definitely worth checking out!

Installing from the command line: yum install transmission
Installing using the graphical installer: Applications > Graphical Internet > transmission
Menu location after installation: > Applications > Internet > Transmission
Command: /usr/bin/transmission-gtk
Upstream website: http://transmission.m0k.org/

GUI Thursday: GKrellM - System monitoring tool

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 00:01:00 -0400

If you're interested in monitoring your system's performance, but want to see more information than the GNOME System Monitor applet can display, GKrellM is the tool for you. It's the Swiss army knife of graphical monitoring tools, offering more than a dozen built-in monitors (which run in a single process) and supporting both plugins and themes.

Once installed, GKrellM is available on the System Tools submenu. Pressing the PgUp or PgDown keys while the GKrellM window is focused will cycle through available themes, and right-clicking on the GKrellM window will open the configuration window (as shown in the screenshot) with hundreds of options available for fine-tuning the information presented (you may need to experiment -- right-clicking on different parts of the window may open different configuration dialogs).

A number of GKrellM plugins are available from the Fedora repositories, including analog, sun, and moon clocks, a frequency monitor, hard disk temperature display, weather monitor, and more. The gkjrellm-themes package includes a number of additional themes for customizing the program's appearance.

Installing from the command line: yum install gkrellm
Installing using the graphical installer: Base System > System Tools > gkrellm
Menu location after installation: > Applications > System Tools > GKrellM System Monitor
Command: /usr/bin/gkrellm
Upstream website: http://members.dslextreme.com/users/billw/gkrellm/gkrellm.html

GUI Thursday: Xephyr - New nested X server

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 00:01:00 -0400

Xephyr is an alternative to the Xnest nested X server mentioned last week. Both of these programs provide a nested X display -- drawing into a window on a parent X server instead of drawing directly onto a hardware screen -- but they accomplish this in very different ways. Xnest proxies X requests to the parent server (not actually performing the operations itself), while Xephyr acts on each request and draws onto an X image, which is then displayed in a window on the parent server.

This means that Xephyr can handle requests which the parent server cannot handle. For example, it can offer the RENDER extension (enabling clients to quickly display anti-aliased text) even when the parent display does not have the RENDER extension.

Unfortunately, gdm does not know about Xephyr, so you can't use it with gdmflexiserver in the same way that you can use Xnest. However, if you have enabled XDMCP ("remote login"), you can start Xephyr manually and have it request a session login prompt from gdm:

$ Xephyr -query localhost -screen 800x600 :1

Where localhost is the XDMCP server, 800x600 is the desired screen resolution, and :1 is the display number (use any number which is not already in use).

Installing from the command line: yum install xorg-x11-server-Xephyr
Installing using the graphical installer: Not available in Browse mode; use the search or list modes to install xorg-x11-server-Xephyr
Menu location after installation: (None)
Command: /usr/bin/Xephyr (note the uppercase letter X)
Upstream website: http://x.org/

GUI Thursday: Xnest - A nested X server

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:16:15 -0400

Xnest is a nested X server: a display that runs in a window within another display. It's useful for testing GUI applications as a different user, trying out several desktop environments at the same time, or getting screenshots of the login process.

If you're using the default Fedora display manager (graphical login screen), Gdm, then you can start an Xnest session using gdmflexiserver:

$ gdmflexiserver -n

This instructs Gdm to present a login prompt on an Xnest display. Using the Option or You can adjust the appearance of this display using gdmsetup.

Alternately, you can run Xnest with an XDMCP query or broadcast request (you'll need to configure the display manager to respond to XDMCP):

$ Xnest -query loginserver :20 # Requests a session prompt from loginserver

$ Xnest -broadcast :20 # Requests a session prompt from any available display manager

Or you can start Xnest with a particular client or desktop environment:

$ Xnest -ac :20 -nolisten tcp & xterm -display :20

$ Xnest -ac :20 -nolisten tcp & DISPLAY=:20 startkde

Xnest uses the underlying X server's processing capabilities--it doesn't draw the nested image, it simply proxies the X requests to the parent server. It hasn't been actively updated in a few years, though, so it does not handle newer extensions such as RENDER.

Watch for coverage of Xephyr, an alternative nested X server, next Thursday.

Installing from the command line: yum install xorg-x11-server-Xnest
Installing using the graphical installer: Base System > X Window System > xorg-x11-server-Xnest
Menu location after installation: (None)
Command: /usr/bin/Xnest (note the uppercase letter X)
Upstream website: http://x.org/

GUI Thursday: Seamonkey - Mozilla suite

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:41:42 -0400

Fedora's default browser Firefox comes from the Mozilla Foundation. Unlike early releases of the Mozilla Application Suite (or "classic Mozilla"), it is a pure web browser. If you miss the bundled features of the Mozilla Suite, the Seamonkey package will give you what you want: web browser, e-mail and newsgroup client, address book, WYSIWYG page editor, IRC client, DOM inspector, and JavaScript debugger, all integrated into a single program.

Seamonkey is maintained by a dedicated group of Mozilla volunteers who incorporate code from the main Mozilla projects such as Firefox and Thunderbird. I do almost all of my browsing in Firefox, but my daughters use Seamonkey Composer to create personal web pages.

Installing from the command line: yum install seamonkey
Installing using the graphical installer: Not available in browse mode; use the Search or List tabs to install seamonkey
Menu location after installation: Applications > Internet > Seamonkey Mail and Seamonkey Web Browser
Command: /usr/bin/seamonkey
Upstream website: http://www.mozilla.org/projects/seamonkey/

GUI Thursday: Hwbrowser - Display hardware info

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:01:00 -0400

Hwbrowser is a very simple tool that provides read-only access to hardware information. Although the same information is available in more detailed form using command-line tools such as fdisk, lsusb, and lspci, it can be handy to have this information available in a point-and-click format, especially if you are supporting an inexperienced user remotely over the telephone.

This package was suggested by Ahsan. If you'd like to suggest a package, please form on the right side of the front page.

Installing from the command line: yum install hwbrowser
Installing using the graphical installer: Not available in the Browse view; use the search or list views to install hwbrowser.
Menu location after installation: System > Administration > Hardware
Command: /usr/bin/hwbrowser
Upstream website: (none)

GUI Thursday: System-config-lvm - LVM GUI tool

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:01:00 -0400

Logical Volume Management is a powerful way of managing disk data. LVM enables you to move data between disks, add or remove disks, change volume sizes, and make frozen snapshots of data while your system is running. Any Fedora system administrator should be learn the command-line tools used to administer LVM, because they're essential if you need to perform system recovery work or remote storage adminisitration.

System-config-lvm provides a graphical interface to the LVM tools (and related utilities, including fsck and resize2fs) which is good for non-emergency storage administration. It enables you to manage your logical volume and filesystem configuration with a few mouse clicks, and it prevents potentially-disasterous command-line mistakes such as reducing a logical volume size before reducing the filesystem contained within that volume.

(One word of warning: system-config-lvm does not recognize RAID elements as being in use, and therefore lists them as "Unitnitialized Entities". If you are using a LVM-on-RAID configuration, system-config-lvm will let you wipe out RAID elements by making them into PVs. Be careful!)

Installing from the command line: yum install system-config-lvm
Installing using the graphical installer: Base System > Administration Tools > system-config-lvm
Menu location after installation: System > Administration > Logical Volume Management
Command: /usr/bin/system-config-lvm
Upstream website: The only one given in the documentation is http://www.redhat.com but there does not appear to be a page specifically for this tool. RHEL 5 documentation for system-config-lvm can be found at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-5-manual/Deployment_Guide-en-US/s1-system-config-lvm.html

GUI Thursday: gTweakUI - Tweak the GNOME User Interface

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 00:01:00 -0400

The GNOME project has often eschewed customizability, ostensibly favoring usability. This has led to endless discussion with many arguments put forth both for and against extensive customizability of the user interface.

The gTweakUI package provides four tiny tools that enable additional customization of the GNOME2 desktop. Once the package is installed, your System > Preferences menu will have options to adjust the behaviour of the GNOME menus, session manager, file manager (Nautilus), and web browser (Galeon -- though most Fedora GNOME users use Firefox).

One of the very useful options provided by gtweakui-menus, for example, is the option to change the menu accelerators (keyboard shortcuts) offered by an application. If you checkmark the Can change menu accelerators option, you can hover your mouse over a menu option and then press the key combination that you wish to use to access that option (usually a letter key with some combination of Ctrl, Alt, and possibly Shift modifiers).

Installing from the command line: yum install gtweakui
Installing using the graphical installer: Desktop Environments > GNOME Desktop Environment > gtweakui
Menu location after installation: System > Preferences > gTweakUI - Galeon / gTweakUI - Menus / gTweakUI - Nautilus / gTweakUI - Session
Command: /usr/bin/gtweakui-galeon, /usr/bin/gtweakui-menus, /usr/bin/gtweakui-nautilus, /usr/bin/gtweakui-session
Upstream website: http://gtweakui.sourceforge.net/

GUI Thursday: VNC - Cross-platform display

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:16:43 -0400

VNC is a cross-platform, lightweight remote display protocol originally developed and released under the GPL by Oracle & Olivetti Research Labs in Cambridge, England. The labs were sold to AT&T and eventually closed. Some of the original developers formed RealVNC Ltd to promote and commercialize the technology, and other developers created TightVNC as a friendly competing implementation. There are nearly 100 open-source projects available that use VNC technology (including VNCsharp, a C# implementation created by my colleague David Humphrey at Seneca College).

On a Windows or Mac platform, VNC is usually used to share the single GUI desktop with other users. In a Linux (or Unix) environment such as Fedora, VNC can be used to do much more -- there are literally dozens of possible ways to use VNC because the platform is inherently multiuser.

Fedora includes vino (Gnome) and krfb (KDE) which are tools for sharing the Fedora desktop like a Windows or Mac system would share the desktop: the local user and the remote user see the same image and can both interact with the display. These programs have the advantage of being user-configurable (they are on the menus and don't require root access to set up) and you can disconnect from a session and reconnect to it later. However, since they are started after login, they can only be used if someone is already logged in on the local X server display.

The Fedora vnc-server package provides a special X server (Xvnc) that does not draw onto a video card, but instead draws only on to a remote VNC display. The included vncserver script uses this to create a session in addition to the one displayed on the local screen, enabling remote GUI access that does not affect or interfere with the local GUI desktop.

The vnc-server also package includes an interesting module which can be loaded into the X.org server permitting simultaneous local and remote display; since this is started when the X server starts, you can use it to remotely login to a system as any valid user.

But perhaps more importantly, Xvnc has an inetd mode, which can be configured to work with the xinetd and gdm servers to provide on-demand remote desktops. If no one is connected to the VNC service, no Xvnc servers are started; if five people connect, then five servers are started.

Continue reading "GUI Thursday: VNC - Cross-platform display"

GUI Thursday: Cssed - CSS Editor

nospam@example.com (Chris Tyler) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:01:00 -0400

Editing cascading style sheet files (CSS) can be a huge chore. Cssed is a text editor for CSS files. It includes on-line references, syntax highlighting, and auto-completion.

So far, that sounds like any programmer's editor -- but what sets Cssed apart is the built-in CSS validator, CSS value and property insertion, and wizards to aid in determining selectors, setting colours, and developing box properties.

Cssed provides a unique and convenient environment for editing CSS files.

Installing from the command line: yum install cssed
Installing using the graphical installer: Applications > Editors > cssed
Menu location after installation: Applications > Programming > Cssed
Command: /usr/bin/cssed
Upstream website: http://cssed.sourceforge.net/