Java error while installing extensions in OpenOffice 3

The OpenOffice 3 error “Could not create java implementation loader” while installing extensions on Ubuntu can be fixed by deleting the following file :

javasettings_Linux_x86.xml
in ~/.openoffice.org/3/user/config

Building and installing ProjectM visualizer (Milkdrop for linux) in Ubuntu Intrepid 8.10

This didn't take as much mucking around as previous Ubuntu's. There's a great How To on ubuntuforums.com for Hardy, which works for Intrepid with just a couple of tweaks.

This is based on a post I made there adapting the method for Intrepid which worked fine for myself.
ProjectM is basically the linux version of the Milkdrop Visualization plugin for Winamp. It will work with any player as it uses the pulseaudio driver. Some players use the libvisual library for visualizations such as Amarok which allow even better integration. I use Exaile so ProjectM needs to be launched manually whenever I want to see visualizations.

First download some deps
sudo aptitude install libglew1.5 libglew1.5-dev ftgl-dev libpulse-dev subversion cmake libvisual-0.4-dev libsdl-dev libqt4-dev build-essential

Create a local folder and download the ProjectM svn from sourceforge.
cd ~
mkdir projectm
cd projectm
svn co https://projectm.svn.sf.net/svnroot/projectm/trunk projectM-Trunk

cd projectM-Trunk/src
ccmake .
Now cmake will load. Press "c" to configure ProjectM. Highlight the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE field, press enter and type "Release" there. Press enter again. Then highlight the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX field and change /usr/local to /usr/. Then press "c" again to configure it with those parameters.

I had some warnings that looked like

CMake Warning (dev) at projectM-libvisual/CMakeLists.txt:14 (ADD_DEFINITIONS):
Policy CMP0005 is not set: Preprocessor definition values are now escaped
automatically. Run "cmake --help-policy CMP0005" for policy details. Use
the cmake_policy command to set the policy and suppress this warning.
This warning is for project developers. Use -Wno-dev to suppress it.

I went on anyway.

First make failed but this fix got things on track.
cd libprojectM
gedit Renderer.hpp

then edit lines 28-30 from this:
#include <FTGL/FTGL.h>
#include <FTGL/FTGLPixmapFont.h>
#include <FTGL/FTGLExtrdFont.h>

to this: (changing case and commenting out two lines)

#include <FTGL/ftgl.h>
/**#include <FTGL/FTGLPixmapFont.h> */
/**#include <FTGL/FTGLExtrdFont.h> */

After this, exit gedit.

Now cmake . worked
cd ..
cmake .
make

now the make succeeds, and you can proceed with
sudo make install

projectM-pulseaudio should be in (Menu -> Sound and Video)
or cli
projectM-pulseaudio

This worked recently with svn revision 1198 on Intrepid, this was taken from a post of mine on ubuntuforums.com with credit to 'sammydee' for the initial Hardy How To and 'lamelos' for a codefix.

Removing iGoogle's 'Home' tab in Firefox

While I'm sure they meant well, they really bugged a lot of users with this new iGoogle design.  The addition of a home tab on the left served no useful purpose for my use anyway.  After some searching around I found a lot of boards with disgruntled users  planning to switch to alternative homepages, I managed to find a solution for now.

Firefox users can install greasemonkey which allows user scripts to modify the way we view webpages.  There's a bunch of scripts made by users over at userscripts.org.

The one we want is iGoogle_fix which simply removes the tabs from the left side of iGoogle and we get our valuable homepage realestate back!

The gMail gadget was also hurt during this design 'upgrade'.  Links within mails were no longer clickable and the iGoogle page messed it up in other ways.  Scripts come to the rescue here to to return the gMail plugin back to it's former glory. Until the author of the gadget updates it this script iGoogle Gmail gadget fix for greasemonkey will do the job.

Update: While links still don't work in the Gmail gadget it has been updated to allow opening messages in a new tab/window which is basically what this script did.