Tragically, a strange incident with a power supply has rendered my MX518 useless to my desktop. There is no damage to anything, just strange behavior.

I've switched to an MX300 mouse for the time being... which has a tilt wheel, and I was thinking how I wanted to utilize the tilting ability. Honestly, how often does a user with a widescreen resolution need to scroll horizontally? So I came up with two options -- zoom (mapped to Ctrl+= and Ctrl+-) or Page Up/Page Down keys. I couldn't make up my mind.

In my previous article about mouse setup, I explained the xbindkeys program and how it operates off of a configuration file. Instead of settling for one function, I decided to write a small script that changes configurations on the fly. Here it is:


I created the .xbindkeys directory and added the two slightly different configuration files, xbindkeysrc-pg and xbindkeys-zoom. The script alternates between the two configurations on each run using a file as a flag, and then tells xbindkeys to read the config file and refresh by sending it the hangup signal.

I made it executable then can map the script to a keyboard shortcut or make a button for it on the panel. I'm thinking about creating a KDE panel applet that allows switching, as well as showing the current configuration used.

Now if I only had an extra mouse button to assign this script to...

I have been tagged by Sean from Obsidian Profile to post my workstation! Incidentally this comes at a time not far from when I have redone my desk, and so I'm willing to post anyway.

Setting my desktop at home has always been an affair of compromise. My desk contains a three-level bookshelf, and the monitors for my computer do not fit underneath the first shelf. Therefore, I've always set the monitors in front of the bookshelf, leaving me with mere inches of desk space in front of them -- not even enough for my keyboard (You can affirm this here, when I posted about getting my second monitor. The other day, however, in a revelation of cleaning craftiness (and perhaps a bit of OCD) I decided to remove the stands from each of my monitors and attempt to set them back underneath the shelves. The result was thrilling. I now have a significantly increased amount of desk space, which, even if not explicitly used for anything, will keep my mind clearer when I work. Here is the improvement:

The monitors are a Samsung SyncMaster 914v (19" monitor, going on two years old) and an Optiquest Q22wb 22" widescreen (10 months old). With slightly different DPI they aren't a perfect match, but are nonetheless a wealth to have when doing web development, coding, or just chatting and browsing simultaneously =)

Here is beneath my desk:

The tower case is actually an Antec that is several years old (I'm actually not sure how many) but is light as ever and makes me never want to get rid of it. My sub woofer, to its left, helps round out my rather unbalanced 2.1 stereo audio setup. The woofer is not a computer model, but something more suited to work with a surround system, or to test a seismic scale. At any rate, it gets the job done.

Incidentally, I do have other machines I use. My Compaq r3140us doesn't get too much use, however. But still more than the old HP Pavilion desktop I occasionally use as a server. It's currently in the trunk of my car, as it has been for the past month or so.

High Contrast and the Web Browser Issue

As you can see, I've recently moved to a dark theme on my desktop. One thing I particularly enjoy about having a KDE desktop over Windows is its flexibility in appearance, and affinity for this sort of thing. The only snag I have hit so far regards rendering web pages; In a dark desktop, a very light web page can be a painful contrast. Thankfully, I found a Firefox Extension called "Blank Your Monitor" (BYM), that modifies the rendering engine to produce black web pages. It's available from the Mozilla Addons site, though requires registration to download. It was well worth it.




During the daytime, however, I don't usually use this extension. However, I still have some issues in text appearance on web pages, particularly with form controls. I've found a Firefox workaround, however.

Many people don't realize the amount of control the user has over Firefox's behavior. In addition to the "Preferences" or "Options" window (it's OS-dependent), there is the about:config interface which lets you set many variables used by Firefox and its addons.

Also, inside Firefox's profile folder, you can find several files that determine the appearance and behavior of the browser. A few of these are userPrefs.js, a javascript file that is executed as Firefox is run, userChrome.css, a style sheet that determines the appearance of Firefox's controls, and userContent.css, a style sheet that is applied to every web page you visit. With a few simple lines of CSS I can assure, in this file, that every input control in forms is readable in a high-contrast setting.


With this, all of my buttons, drop down boxes, text boxes, etc have a black background with white text. Excellent!

In a joint effort of BIOSLEVEL and Yackovich.com, a review of the ThermalTake BlacX Hard Drive Disk Dock has been constructed and posted to the BIOSLEVEL review site.

BIOSLEVEL is a community based on the principles of open source and free thought. In addition to hosting LAN parties, it features reviews of upcoming hardware, software, as well as technical articles involving the open source world.

Considering this is something that has been taking up the majority of my time, I should share the details.

The application was developed originally in Java for an Embedded Systems course, and as interest grew in the Admissions Department in Shippensburg we were hired to develop and improve the software to something more professional and scalable. Here is what we have:

The program runs on any standard Windows Pocket PC 2003 platform. Starting it up provides the user with this front page:

The user can then click (touch) either the Guided Tour or Free Roam modes to get different tour experiences. Let's start with guided tour mode.

Guided Tour


The tour begins and the user is presented with some preliminary information about the buildings about them. Several of these windows appear before the user is shown this:

The user is given directions to reach the next tour stop, and an arrow is presented to guide the user in the direction to this stop. The arrow updates every few seconds to keep the user on track. Upon reaching the next stop, new screens appear to tell about the objects of interest of those points, and the tour continues.

Free Roam

A user who finds himself more tailored to wandering rather than following directions will feel more at home with the Free Roam mode. Upon starting the user is presented with up to six images of buildings that are within range of the user.

These buildings are sorted by their distance away from the user, so closest buildings show up first. This updates every few seconds to include the buildings in range as the user traverses campus. If the user finds interest in a building on this list he may click it to see a new window:

This explains more about what the building is, and includes any remarks a tour guide might have about the building.

Another feature is the "Go To Building" functionality which allows a user to click the button on the free roam page to bring up a list of all objects of interest on campus:

The user can select any of these buildings and press OK to bring up a new window similar to the Guided Tour: A window directing them to their target.

The user can also click "Building Info" here to find out information about the building to which they are traveling.

Optimistically, this program will be a perfect supplement to an admissions department's tour guide team. If visitors show up during hours not typical for a tour, they could potentially borrow a Pocket PC device with this software and learn about campus otherwise. An ambitious goal is releasing this software free to allow potential visitors to install it on their own devices to use on campus. Overall, this is an approach to making the campus more accessible to prospective students and visitors.

Just stumbled across something pretty neat, thanks to my department chair... It's called FlickIM, and features a browser-based IM client as well as a few extra apps thrown in... including a last.fm player, yoink'd mediabox, and a couple others. Remember AIM Express? FlickIM is similar, except this client seems to actually work (I remember always having problems running AIM express). Currently supporting six protocols including AIM, Jabber and Google Talk, FlickIM has a iChat-like interface for the buddy list (apparently written in js/Ajax), and has a very intuitive interface. Speaking of which, I'm told that it automatically adjusts for the iPhone's browser to be easier to read.

While I plan to stick with Pidgin for now, I will be keeping this client in mind, especially for use on public computers if I need to chat. A nice find, though!