Installing a local DNS cache on Ubuntu 11.10

A while ago I noticed that Firebug would report 40-100ms DNS lookups for sites that could not possibly not be in the local DNS. When reloading a page that had just been rendered, the same DNS lookup delays would show up over and over. I could not verify whether it's an issue with my ISP … Continue reading Installing a local DNS cache on Ubuntu 11.10 →

Eclipse 3.7, SVNKit, Ubuntu 64bit

Maybe it is my impression, but the combination mentioned in the title just does not work. After a successful synchronization with the repository Eclipse will insist that there are still local changes, but SVN will refuse to commit them. When forcefully committed (overwrite and commit) the repository will claim to have changes which however don't … Continue reading Eclipse 3.7, SVNKit, Ubuntu 64bit →

Reducing HP 4720s power consumption under Ubuntu Linux 11.10

Mainly annoyed by the loud fan I looked into ways of reducing power consumption of the HP Probook 4720s and came up with this script: #!/bin/sh -e # Increase filesystem write cache timeoutecho 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs # Enable power management on all PCI devices find /sys/devices/pci* -path "*power/control" -exec bash -c "echo auto > '{}'" … Continue reading Reducing HP 4720s power consumption under Ubuntu Linux 11.10 →

Shortcut icons on Unity desktop

Noteworthy as Unity's turn away from the desktop towards the launcher might be, I'm an old dog and like my screen crowded. The (manual) way to create a new desktop shortcut icon to an application is to create a shortcut file in the Desktop directory, i.e: /home/george/Desktop/Firefox8.desktop And the contents: [Desktop Entry] Encoding=UTF-8 Version=1.0 Name=Firefox … Continue reading Shortcut icons on Unity desktop →

The "exe" process on slow Ubuntu bootchart

Ubuntu 11.10 does already a good job at starting faster, but if you've read one of my previous posts on Ubuntu startup time [1] then you know that there is always something to be tweaked for better or for worse. Part of the process is to defer services that are not needed immediately (i.e. printing) … Continue reading The "exe" process on slow Ubuntu bootchart →