Customize the ubuntu live CD
I wrote a simple script to ease the customization of the ubuntu live CD: see
this page.
mplayer slow to start
I upgraded my ubuntu recently (Intrepid -> Jaunty). And
mplayer (
medibuntu rulez) proved very slow to start: like waiting for something after displaying "GNOME screensaver disabled". A little strace investigation revealed that mplayer was spawning "dcop kdesktop KScreensaverIface", which got stuck connecting to some file socket.
A quick fix is to start
dcopserver by hand. Some googling suggests to install the
kdelibs package, which I did but I don't know yet if it is enough to automagically fix the problem (I still have to restart from fresh to see).
Stupid ubuntu screensaver config
The default gnome configuration tool in ubuntu (Intrepid, Jaunty, ...) for the screensaver is largely incomplete. Install the
xscreensaver package and configure it the "old" way (with
xscreensaver-demo). However, this will NOT be enough, because gnome overrides part of its settings when it starts its own screen saver. So you will have to look at
~/.xscreensaverrc and update the config for your favorite screen saver in
/usr/share/applications/screensavers/<your_screensaver_here>.desktop. For example, for me, the
Exec line for glslideshow in the desktop file looks like:
Exec=glslideshow -root -duration 25 -pan 30 -fade 4
And the picture configuration is taken from my
~/.xscreensaverrc file.