Applications for Linux

This is a list of applications that I use for my Gentoo laptop. I don't really go for applications with lots of features or with beautiful interfaces and so forth. I prefer lightweight, simple and efficient stuff.

1. Window manager: Fluxbox

2. Office suite: Libreoffice

I used to use OpenOffice. I haven't been keeping myself updated with the latest news. I only found out recently that most systems now come bundled with Libreoffice instead of OpenOffice. I just installed Libreoffice today and have not seen much difference between these two. Is it just my imagination or does Libreoffice loads up faster?

3. Browser: Firefox

4. PDF reader: mupdf 

This is a fantastic lightweight pdf reader. I only regret that I found out about this only this month! I used to use acroread but it takes ages to load up and can render my system unresponsive for a while.

I've installed another pdf reader called Okular (KDE), which I read was one of the best pdf reader for Linux. However mupdf works very well for me. Therefore I have not tried out Okular much. It's just there for backup as I have uninstalled Acroread. I may install Evince (Gnome) later to see how much dependencies it draws in. I use neither KDE nor Gnome, therefore I'd like to reduce as much dependencies as possible that I have to install.

5. Picture viewer: gqview

6. Picture editor: GIMP

7. Comics viewer: comix

8. Music player: Audacious

9. Video player: Mplayer

10. Podcast client: Gpodder

11. Ipod manager: Gtkpod

12. Tag editor: Easytag

13. Terminal: urxvt (rxvt-unicode)

I have been using urxvt for a very long time because it can display Chinese characters nicely. I think I was using xterm previously but it was quite ugly and I had problems with Chinese character.

14. Terminal editor: vim

15. File manager: Thunar

I don't use this often. I often edit my filenames through the terminal. However when you need a GUI file manager, this is a very nice one to have. 

Whatsapp on Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Wifi Only (Appguard method - now defunct)

Update 16 July 2013

This method does not work anymore. Here's the link to another method to install the app. 

I managed to install Whatsapp on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Wi-fi only using instructions from this page. One or two things from the instructions didn't work for me. So, the following was what I did:

1. Install SRT AppGuard. This is a German app, but for those who do not read German, do not worry. The app itself, other than the license agreement, is in English.

2. Download Whatsapp.apk (2.8.7286) file from Whatsapp official site. The instruction from the Nexus tablet forum advised to have the file downloaded from Play Store using Chrome extension APK Downloader. However the extension did not work for me. Therefore I just downloaded and installed the apk from the official site.

3. Run SRT AppGuard after installation of Whatsapp to secure the app.

4. Change Whatsapp permission through AppGuard by unticking "Phone calls - read phone status and identity".

5. Run Whatsapp. Here I failed to get verification by both the SMS and voice call methods. The workaround was to install Bluestacks on a PC, and then install Whatsapp on the PC through Bluestacks. So, I got the verification code through the Whatsapp on PC and keyed the code into the tab.

6. Back to the Whatsapp on the tab. After the error message regarding failed voice validation pops up, tap on the last icon at the bottom of the screen that looks like three vertical dots/lines. (The red arrow in the picture below) That will bring up the window to enter the verification code. After that, you're good to go. :)

NB: It rankles me that in the end I still needed a Windows PC to get Whatsapp working because Bluestacks is not availabe for Linux!

EDIT:

1. Added the version of Whatsapp which I initially installed.

2. Added a picture of where to find the three vertical dots which you have to tap to bring up the window to enter the verification code.

3. Latest update - 03 February 2013 - I received a message from Whatsapp service to inform me that my current version has expired and I needed to install the latest version. Downloading from Google Play did not work of course. What I did:

a. Uninstall current version from the tab.
b. Downloaded the latest apk (2.9.1587) from Whatsapp website.
c. Installed it as normal.
d. This time I didn't need a 6 digit activation code. I only needed to enter my phone number (which has already been registered during the first time installation) and it was working again.

Updatedb

Updatedb tends to run immediately after I've logged in. This usually will cause almost everything to come to a standstill. One of the first thing that I do when I'm logged into my desktop is to open Firefox and OpenOffice and when updatedb runs at the same time, everything will proceed at an excruciating and jerky pace for a few minutes. To prevent this from happening:

1. Edit /etc/mlocate-cron.conf

Inside the file:

# nice value to run at: see -n in nice(1)
NICE="19"

# ionice class to run at: see -c in ionice(1)
# you have to install sys-apps/util-linux manually
IONICE_CLASS="3"

# ionice priority to run at: see -n in ionice(1)
IONICE_PRIORITY="7"

#######

The default value for IONICE_CLASS in this file is 2. I changed it to 3 so that updatedb will only run when the cpu is idle.

Galaxy S2 ICS USSD Codes

Some codes which I found useful:

1. *#1234* : View firmware version

2.  *#*#4636#*#* : Shows phone and battery information, usage statistic and Wi-Fi information

3. *#7353# : Quick test

4. *#0228# : Battery status

The code  *#7284# which I mentioned in the previous post no longer works after the upgrade to ICS.

Upgrade Galaxy S2 to ICS

Today I finally upgraded my Samsung Galaxy S2 I9100G from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich platform. The first thing that rankles me is the fact that I had to use MS Windows to upgrade the firmware due to the fact that Kies cannot be run under Linux! Anyway, here are a few issues that I encountered during the upgrade:

1. Kies could not recognise the phone. This was solved by keying in the dialer *#7284# > USB > select PDA. (If PDA has already been selected, then select MODEM and then PDA again.)

2. During the installation of the firmware, progress bar suddenly became 0%, Kies complained that the phone is disconnected. However there was the warning message "Do not disconnect target" displayed on the phone. All was well again after rebooting the phone and rerunning the firmware upgrade. Weird.

But it was an interesting process. I learned a few dialer codes and some shortcut buttons which I will detail in the next post.