In the Ubuntu 11.10 operating system with the Unity desktop environment, enhanced desktop effects can be achieved with a composite window manager.

Compiz is a compositing manager, which means, that it enhances the overall user interaction by adding fancy effects to your windows, such as wobbling windows and smooth virtual desktop views. Compiz can also be a window manager, which means, that it is the software between you and your desktop windows. It enables you to move or resize windows, to switch workspaces, to switch windows easily (using Alt+Tab or so), and so on. Compiz Fusion is the result of a merge between the well-known Beryl composite window manager and Compiz Extras, a community set of improvements to the Compiz composite window manager. Compiz Fusion aims to provide an easy and fun-to-use windowed environment, allowing use of the graphics hardware to render each individual window and the entire screen, to provide some impressive effects, speed and usefulness. Compiz is an open-source software project, meaning anyone can use it freely and contribute.

Open the Ubuntu Software Center, search for CCSM and install the Compiz Config Settings Manager (ccsm). Open Dash, search for and start CompizConfig Settings Manager.

Go to “General”. Open “General Options”. Configure the number of virtual desktops. If you have a netbook or a small screen, you might want to have more rows, so larger windows can be handled. Enable “Gnome Compatibility”. Now, you can run a command with Alt+F2, open a terminal window with Ctrl+Alt+T, make a screen shot with PrintScreen and make a window shot with Alt+PrintScreen.

Go to “Accessibility”. Enable “Enhanced Zoom Desktop”. Open it. Enable mouse “Zoom In” for Super+Button4 and mouse “Zoom Out” for Super+Button5. Now, you can zoom in and out with Super and the mouse roller. Enable “Opacity, Brightness & Saturation”. Now, you can make a window transparent with Alt+MouseScroll.

Go to “Desktop”. Enable “Desktop Wall”. Now, you can switch between desktops with Ctrl+Alt and arrow keys. Enable “Expo”. Now, you can view all desktops with Super+S.

Go to “Effects”. Enable “Wobbly Windows”. Now, you can wobble a window when moving it and snap a window to another window with Shift while moving it.

Go to “Extras”. Enable “Screenshot”. Now, you can press Super and use the mouse to select an area on your screen, that you want to store as an image file on the desktop. The Unity window manager might crash at this point due to a segmentation fault in libunityshell.so. However, after a start of Unity or a reboot, the window manager and Screenshot works. The Unity can be started in the background terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, entering username and password, running the following command and returning to the window manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7.

unity &

Go to “Window Management”. Enable “Shift Switcher”. Now, you can switch between the windows on the desktop with Super+Tab and Super+Shift+Tab.

A quality response (QR) code is a form of matrix barcode, that consists of black modules, that has been arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of any kind of data. The amount of data that can be stored in the QR code depends on the character set, version and error correction level. The use of QR codes is free of any license. The QR code is clearly defined and published as an ISO standard.

QR codes, storing addresses and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), may appear in magazines, on signs, on buses, on business cards, or on almost any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone, equipped with the correct reader application, can scan the image of the QR code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the telephone’s browser.

Read more about QR codes at WikiPedia.

Make your own QR code with the Kaywa QR Code Generator.

The programmers of WordPress like comment spam. That’s why they did not implement a ‘delete all’ feature in the comment section of the dashboard – nor disable the MySQL injection possibility, that spam scripts use.

In stead, they want you to buy useless anti-spam software and get a hold of your credit card information.

However, there is a quick and dirty approach to get rid of all comment spam in a split second. The following Unix oneliner command deletes all comments at once. “ann” is the MySQL username and “anndb” is the MySQL database.

mysql -uann -p anndb -e 'delete from wp_comments;'

You can review your WordPress configuration with the following Unix command. The username is “DB_USER” and the database is “DB_NAME”.

grep DB wp-config.php

Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day (SAAD).

A system administrator is a person, that is employed to maintain and operate a computer network system. The duties include installing, supporting and maintaining computer, client and server systems. The duties include planning for, and responding to, service outages and other problems. The duties include scripting and light programming, project management, supervising and training of computer operators. In order to do well, a system administrator must show a blend of technical skills and responsibility.

A system administrator may be a member of an information technology (IT) department, Unix user group (UUG) and Linux user group (LUG).

This means, that if you are able to read this, then thank your system administrator, who made sure, that your computer is working, that your computer can connect safely to the internet, that you can communicate across the world in seconds, that your files are backed up in case of human or technical disaster, that your printer work, that your server and services respond 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

However, often we do not know our system administrator as well as our system administrator knows us. Therefore, the annual SAAD is the day, that we can show our appreciation in words, cakes, mugs or other token gifts.

The annual SAAD is last Friday of July.