This is in continuation with my previous blog post :

To get IronPython to use Standard Python Modules,  one needs to add the following two lines to C:\IronPython-2.0.1\Lib\site.py :

import sys
sys.path.append(r"C:\Python25\Lib")

While this works for most part, it doesn’t help if you are using Python extensions written in C. More about my specific problems in another post. But there is an open source project IronClad to deal specifically with this issue. In the meantime, you can check the differences between IronPython and CPython

Reading (and writing to) CSV file is critical part of my program, while in stadard python it was as easy as “import csv”, the same thing took some efforts to get it working in IronPython. I got the following error for my import statement

Error on line 7 in csv.py
from functools import reduce

I also tried using ActiveState Python 2.5.2.2 (which I already had from few months ago, didn’t feel like downloading the latest version till the problem was fixed) But that didn’t help either. With ActiveState, I got the same error on the same line, except this time it was for _csv.

To Quote from IronPython Cookbook :

For some reason the Python standard library csv module is written in C, which means that it isn’t available to IronPython.

The cookbook points to a third party library called A Fast Csv Reader . The cookbook has a nice example of how to use the said DLL with your IronPython Program.

It wasn’t clear to me as to why I had to register at Code Project to download this binary since it is provided under MIT Open Source License. But whom am I gonna complain to ? Beggars can’t be choosers

Personally, I think KDE 4.x is pretty nice. It comes with host of applications. I think KDE is cool (.. and acknowledge that cool is subjective – personal.)

Since I moved to KDE from Gnome,  I have become dependent on several GTK apps. (GTK is the cross platform widget library used to write the Gnome applications) But by default they don’t look good in KDE.

1. Firefox tabs would merge into each other, and visually I could not differentiate the boundaries.
2. Firefox scrollbars didn’t work correctly either
3. Gnome DO had weird problem, as is the drop-down list which allows me to select the theme went completely bonkers.
4. The Edit box in Autokey is completely Hidden (See the image Above)

Something had to be done. See the images below. Click on the images to see the details.

The Edit Box is missing

Edit box visible after the dialog is resized

The tab boundaries merged

Follow these simple instructions to ensure that GTK apps “play well” with KDE

1. Go to System Settings ->Appearance
2. Click on “GTK Styles and fonts” from the left hand side panel
3. The very first (at the top) option is GTK Styles. The Default is use KDE Style. Select USe Another Style.
4. Select Clearlooks (For blue) or Human Clearlooks from the drop down.
5. You need to restart the GTK Apps.

Now all your KDE/QT apps as well as GTK apps would work well (in terms of display)

See the screen shots after the above fix is applied. Click on the images to see the details.

The Edit box visible clearly - As designed

Tab Boundaries Visible Clearly

Related articles by Zemanta

• Chrome for Linux To Use GTK (ostatic.com)
• Google Chrome on KDE4.2 – Why not? (internetling.com)

Image via Wikipedia

If you are not sure what is Gnome Do, read my previous post on this topic. Ubuntu 8.10 repositories has older version 0.6.0.1 of Gnome-DO. This was probably released around October 2008 time frame when Ubuntu 8.10 was released. It has been several months since then, and Gnome DO has progressed nicely.

If you want to try the latest version of Gnome DO, which now comes with Docky, then read on How to upgrade to latest version.

Remove the existing version

Although update might work after adding coorect sources, it was adviced (on various ubuntu forums) that removing exisitng version is better. Use following command.

sudo aptitude purge gnome-do gnome-do-plugins gnome-do-plugin-rhythmbox

Add new sources

You need to add what is  called PPA – Personal Package Archive. This is where newer packages, which aren’t yet approved by Ubuntu are available. In simpler terms, this are additional Software Sources.

1. Go to System->Administration->Software Sources
2. Third party software Tab, Add, copy following line one by one. (Create two entries)

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu intrepid main

Install

1. System->Administration->Synaptic package manager
2. Click on Not installed from left hand side, then type gnome do in the search box.
3. Select gnome-do (it will also add gnome-do plugins) Click Apply, and wait for the installation to complete.
4. Once done, go to Applications->accesories->Gnome Do.

Docky still not available ?

So far so good,  But I wanted to install Docky. As per the instructions, I was supposed to select Docky theme. But there was an error that I had not enabled composting.

Since I had four years old machine, I had turned off all the effects, I thought I won’t be able to use Docky, after all. But apparently one can enable composting without having latest and greatest graphics card.

Follow this link to Enable Composting in metacity

As the thread above mentions, Lightening team has to bump up the minVersion to 3.0b2pre. That means you need to get nightly build (at least as of this writing. Once Beta 2 is released, it is recommended you use Official Beta 2, rather than nightly builds.) You can get the nightly build from here.

Since I downloaded the .zip file, there are no installation involved for me, just unzip the contents into desired folder. Personally I would suggest this method to you all, since this provides portability.

Setting up Gmail IMAP Account

Setting up regular IMAP account was very easy with TB 3.0b2pre. But what amazed me was how simple it is to setup Gmail account.  Gmail IMAP is already a preset option when you try to add a new account. In second (and only real) step you need to enter your Name (as it will be displayed to your recipients) and your email address. That is all there is to it.  The last step is confirmation, where is shows your choices, and you need to click Finish so that account is created. So all practical purposes it is essentially one step process.

Compare it to the instructions you need to follow for Thunderbird 2.0 (Latest TB released version as of this writing)

Before you set any calendar, you need to install and configure the plugin. The instructions are same as listed in my previous post. I had bit of a problem the first time, as in the New calendar option was not enabled. Restarting Thunderbird resolved the problem.

URL to your Google Calendar

1. Go to your Google Calendar
2. Go to Settings.
3. Go to Calendars Tab, and Select the appropriate calendar.
4. Scroll towards end of the page where you will see entry titled Private Address, and three icons next to it. (XML, ICAL and HTML)
5. Copy the URL for XML (Right Click->Copy Link Location in Firefox, Right Click->Copy Shortcut in IE)
6. You need to use this URL in Step 4 below.

Private Address URL for your Google Calendar

Setting up Google Calendar

1. File -> New ->Calendar (You need to be in Inbox view. If you are already in Calendar view, you will not see menu option)
2. On Network
3. Format -> Google Calendar
4. Location  :  As discussed in previous section. Use your Private URL here.
5. You need to Provide name and select color for your Google Calendar.

That’s it. Now you can see as well as update your Google Calendar from Thunderbird.

Note : Since the Lightning plugin was broken, I installed the nightly build of Thunderbird in different folder, just in case I need to go back to my working email environment.  If you are installing it afresh, ignore this comment.

Ingredients

• todo.sh – This is a command line shell scripts which allows to manage your TO DO list
• DropBox Account : Free, Syncs various computers, Cross Platform (at least works on Windows as well as Linux)

Recipe

• Make Sure you have installed Dropbox clients on all of your machines (Mainly Work and Home)
• Download and install todo.sh in your Dropbox folder. This is main trick to make your TODO list portable.
• You need to modify the .todo file (or todo.py script itself) to set the TODO_DIR variable. I’ve created a folder called “tododir” in my Dropbox folder, and set the TODO_DIR variable as “tododir”. This helps avoiding path problems on various machines.
• (Optional) Read the tutorial available at LifeHacker
• Open command Prompt, and take charge of your TODO lists.

Why This Idea Rocks

• Since the todo list is maintained as simple text file, any machine/platform allows you to directly view and edit your todo list.
• While one would install Dropbox clients on all of their regularly used machines, You can always view and edit your todo.txt even from a cyber cafe, using Dropbox’s web interface.

Are you on Windows ?

• If you are on Windows, you will require cygwin which provides unix utilities on windows. (I was unable to get todo.sh working with mSys, which I got as part of mSys Git (More about it later, in another post))
• There is a variation of todo.sh written in Python (which is what I’m using these days). If which case, you need Python instead of Cygwin. Python version supports color coding of the items based on priority even on Windows.

Can I not just use USB Drive instead ?

• Sure you can.  But some employers do not allow the employees to connect their personal USB devices to office computers. (Security, Virus threats) in which case Dropbox is better alternative.
• Even Cyber cafe won’t allow to plug in your USB drive, but you sure can access your files from Web Front end of Dropbox.