Running Firefox on Dual Head Monitors

Rai    Linux, Tips    

I have been using Firefox way back during my college days and if my memory serves me right, I started using it since year 1999 or 2000. It has saved me from a lot of headaches from then on and sometimes, even caused some. There were times that not all sites are Firefox friendly and so I have to open an Internet Explorer session just to get a glimpse of the web page. Then things started to change. More and more websites are becoming Firefox-ready and so the Firefox era has boomed.

I use Firefox on my work and home computers, on Linux and on Windows, on KDE or on GNOME. I never really had a hard time tweaking Firefox since a lot of information is already circulating the net and most of all, it is open source and free. Firefox is not really that hard.

What? Prove my point? Well, OK.

Let’s say you want to know your Firefox version (which you can do so by opening the Help menu, but that is too easy). Please stop googling. Give up? Well, it is as simple as opening a new tab and typing about in the address bar. That will display some information about your Firefox.

If you want to know all the settings you use on your Firefox, you can type about:config in the address bar to bring up the list of configurations that you can edit yourself to your satisfaction. The list contains some of the settings that are not accessible in the Options menu and adjusting these settings may make or break your Firefox so be very careful.

Lately I have been bugged by a Firefox problem. A problem so simple that it beats the hell out of me. You see, I use dual-head monitor settings using Individual Desktop in my workstation. I know I posted a picture of my workstation here so you use the search bar to look for it . Anyway, when I start Firefox on the one monitor, Firefox will not open on the other simply because, Firefox is already running (duh). And I can’t drag another Firefox window to the other monitor because I’m using Individual Desktop settings which basically means each monitor is independent of each other, as opposed to the Spanning Desktop setting which is one whole desktop, cut in half for each monitor to share. So what do I do now?

You might say, “Why not use spanning mode?”. It’s because I don’t like cluttered taskbars and I don’t want to hide taskbars either. I want them where I could see them. And using spanning desktop makes me feel like the taskbar is cluttered. With individual desktop however, I get to control which window will open on what desktop.

Now, with all that out of the way, let’s get back to the problem of opening two sessions of Firefox on two separate desktop session. Well one way is opening the other Firefox using the commandline. Just type the following lines on your terminal window:

$ /path/to/firefox &

That will call up a different session of Firefox and the & brings the command into background. This worked for me until yesterday. When I opened up another session of Firefox, it still gives me the “Firefox is already running” error. So what do I do now?

After much googling, I found a tweak that will open up a the Profiles manager window so I could set a different profile. In the commandline, type:

$ /path/to/firefox –profilemanager

Profile manager will open so you could set a different profile to use. This worked but I don’t really want to use or create another profile. So what now?

Type the following in the commandline:

$ /path/to/firefox -no-remote

And voila! There’s my Firefox. The -no-remote switch makes you run Firefox using the same profile. You can also do:

$ /path/to/firefox -P linux-stuff -no-remote

if you want to use the linux-stuff profile in two different sessions.

That’s the gist of it. There are more Firefox tips and tricks if you know where to find them . And of course if want to ask something about Firefox or any other Linux related questions, I might be of help. Just send an email to kamotegirl@pinoytux.com and be sure to ask nicely! 

Hiring: System Administrators

Rai    Career, Linux    

Our company, MBS Tek Corporation, is in need of two more Junior or Mid Level System Administrators. The qualifications are as follows:

• At least 1 year experience in administering Red Hat and Fedora Linux servers including backups, migration and disaster recovery.
• Knowledge or experience in configuring Apache, MySQL, Iptables, Postfix, Qmail.
• Knowledge or experience in Perl or PHP scripting.
• Experience in maintaining and monitoring services that require 100% uptime is a plus.
• Must be flexible and willing to work on shifting schedules including graveyard shifts and holidays.
• Willing to be assigned in Pasig office.

Being a System Administrator, these are the tasks that will be assigned to you:

•  Setup, configuring, optimization, monitoring, maintenance, back-up and disaster recovery of local and collocated web servers (development and live), with coordination with system administrators in New Jersey and California office.
• Keeping the server up-to-date with latest package releases (kernel, Apache, MySQL).
• Intrusion detection and performance tuning.

If you know you got what it takes, send me a copy of your resume to kamotegirl@pinoytux.com and you will be scheduled for an interview and hands-on exam.

More details about the job opening is available at the MBS Tek company website.

Software Freedom Day: Free As In Freedom

Rai    Linux, Society     current news

Come September 15th, Linux users all around the globe celebrate the 4th Annual Software Freedom Day. This is definitely a day to say to the world that Free and Open Source Software does not mean free beer, but free as in freedom. Freedom to do what it is you need to do to accomplish something. Freedom to choose. Freedom to be heard.

This is a special day that Linux enthusiasts take time to spread good words about FOSS in local communities, educating the children and introducing it to those who are uninformed. Users also get to know each other in person, taking the Linux community from mailing lists and forums to personal and face-to-face discussions.

Groups do their share by participating in key notes speeches, fun activities and games and of course, giving away goodie bags (yay!). This is also a time to exchange ideas and distribute loads and loads of free and open source software kits .

Some Philippine groups have already registered to participate in the event and expect the big announcement sometime next month. You can check the SFD site to get the latest updates.

Happy SysAd Day!

Rai    Society     current news

July 27th is celebrated as the 8th Annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. So to those who reads my blogs, make sure to send your sysads a gift or anything nice (tux plush sounds fun) just to let them know they are appreciated.

A sysadmin is a professional, who plans, worries, hacks, fixes, pushes, advocates, protects and creates good computer networks, to get you your data, to help you do work — to bring the potential of computing ever closer to reality.

And to those who are not so gifted when it comes to gift-giving, you can browse through the many Linux stuff in cafepress.com and hopefully you will find something to give to your ever so humble system administrator.

Happy SysAd Day!

Do We Still Need [P]LUG?

Rai    Linux, Society     current news

A recent post in PLUG woke me up this lazy morning as I scroll through my email messages. This article discussed why are some of the online Linux groups have been inactive lately while some are non-existent anymore. A quote from the article:

A few years ago, LUGs enjoyed a heady heyday. If you were lucky enough to have a LUG close enough to drive to, you probably attended meetings regularly. Enthusiasm, both for Linux and the ideals for which it stands, drove an agenda full of exciting presentations, nights dedicated to getting a new distribution installed on your desktop, and lots of free stuff from companies like Red Hat, Corel, and SUSE, who wanted us to catch the fever.
Today, many LUGs have seen a slowdown in attendance, and some Linux events typically sponsored by local user groups have ceased to exist, such as the Atlanta Linux Showcase (ALS).

I agree with Paul Foster (Suncoast Area Linux User Group) when he said:

It’s like buying a new car. It’s cool-looking. It smells like a new car. A few months go by. You still like your car. But it’s now just your car. It’s what gets you from point A to point B. You don’t think much about it.

I remember how I, as a child, get so excited about my new toy. Whenever tatay or nanay buys me a new one, hours pass so slowly whenever I am at school, waiting for the 3:00PM bell, which signifies that I can finally go home and be with my neighborhood friends to show off my new mini-kitchen and new Barbie to go along with it. Ah, brings back memories.

Do you know that feeling you get about something new? I used to get this feeling with every new dress, new shoes, new book or even a new haircut. That’s what Linux is to me when I first started using it. Then I get used to it. Used Linux in office as my workstation OS, used Linux at home for testing and what-not, used Linux just to show off . Then slowly, that feeling faded away. Linux has become just Linux to me.

Being a member on the PLUG mailing list has made my mailbox a happy mailbox because of the fact that every single day, I receive email. And although it is not the email that came from someone I know, those emails made me feel as if I am with those who share the same interests as me. We share the same problems, share the same insights. Flame wars shooting every now and then but it is OK. Flame wars makes the mailing list seem like it is just an ordinary discussion and draws people attention that fires up the discussion (kudos to Gmail). When I have come to a dead-end, I send an SOS email and hope that someone has had my same Linux problem and got through with it.

I remember the time when I was so frustrated of making SAP run on Linux (it was my project back then to be proposed to a company who had plans of converting to Linux) and googling seems to be the dead-end, I asked for help from PLUGgers and after a day, I finally received answers to my frustration. Thank God for PLUG. The project never materialized. Lol.

PLUG may be just a mailing list to most of the people. A discussion group where you can ask questions or scout for talents. But for some, PLUG is not just an ordinary mailing list. It is a social interaction. A place where you can meet new people and be friends with those who have the same interests as you have. I have attended one seminar provided by PLUG and I have seen that some were already acquainted with each other.

Newbies will come out from time to time and ask questions on PLUG. But that will not guarantee that PLUG will be forever. PLUG may not be here to stay. But like living things, something new will come. And that is for sure.

As for me, as long as I use Linux, PLUG can always flood my mailbox.