Since I loose vertical scrolling support, every time I update the kernel and have to patch it again, I write a small "How-To".

This is for my Dell Latitude E5410 ALPS Touchpad, which have a lot of problem, not only on Dells. Simply because ALPS is very, very closed regarding open drivers or specifications (what makes no commercial sense, since they earn money with selling hardware, not with selling drivers for it).

This experience, however, forces me to not buy any Laptop with ALPS hardware anymore in the future. If you are a linux user and want to buy a new Laptop, ask your hardware vendor what Touchpad is used in your laptop. Do NOT buy machines with ALPS hardware or you will get problems with it.

This How-To is for ubuntu maverick (10.10) 32bit and the generic 2.6.35 Kernel. If you want to patch other kernels you have to search or the appropriate patch, compiled against your kernel, in the bugreport or patch and compile the psmouse.ko module by yourself.

Backup the original psmouse module. You might end up with no mouse support at all after patching and want to undo the changes.

sudo cp /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/input/mouse/psmouse.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/input/mouse/psmouse.ko.backup

Now download the psmouse.ko module from https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/550625/comments/194. The patch disables clicks when tabbing on the touchpad (this feature is annoying if you are writing text directly on the laptop and your arm accidentally tabs the touchpad) and enables vertical scrolling on 2.6.35 gerneric 32bit Kernels.
If you want to patch other kernels you have to search for the appropriate patch in the bugreport or patch and compile the psmouse.ko module by yourself.

If you have your correct psmouse.ko fi

My Project Definition Report is finally good to go... Gosh, how much pain for 10% of the final project mark... I just wanna program!  

Now my only problem is to get up early tomorrow, print it out again and hand it in, before the shutter closes. ->Bed now

I recently bought a Microsoft Arc keyboard to work with my ubuntu 10.10 maverick system and I am very happy with it.

Only one problem occured: When I hit one of the multimedia keys on it (Volume up, down or mute) my left mouse button stopped working. It seems like pressing a multimedia key is forcing a pushed down left mousebutton until you restart the x-server.

Really annoying, but the ubuntu guys have a fix for ubuntu maverick 10.10 in launchpads bugtracker already.

Install this Package for 32bit systems or this one for 64bit systems and reboot your system.

The annoying keyboard/mouse issue is gone.

Should work for ubuntu lucid 10.04 and other keyboards with multimedia Keys (Microsoft, HP, A4Tech) which suffer from this issue, too.
 

As I have worked quite a lot with html, php and javascript, I encountered some issues and also solutions, when it comes to webdeveloping, testing and Firefox.

Of course Firefox is the best Browser for testing dynamic websites, since there are much add-ons to assist your work. Do not forget to test your webapplication in Internet Explorer, Chromium, Opera and Safari on a regular basis, too.

Following: Some tips for Firefox.
 

Firefox caching bug

there is a bug (or maybe they even call it a "feature") in Firefox, preventing the user from cleaning the cache. You reload and reload your php or html page (maybe even installed some "cache cleansing" addons or buttons), but javascript, css and html stays the same, although you have changed it!

This bug has a long history. If you are interested, read the report in Mozillas Bugtracker and get an idea about what is happening there.

All I can say to you is: rename, delete or move the file you are testing, reload until you get an 404 (file not found exception) and put the file back on its place. Reload. Firefox should show the edited file now. Closing Firefox and restart it (do not save your tabs!) works sometimes, too.
 

DOM, Javascript Testing

Firefox has an Error Console, located under "Extras"->"Error Console" in the menu (or for the shortcut folks: "ctrl+shift+J"). Use it for your javascript debugging needs.

If you need a more powerfull testingtool, Firebug is essential for testing your DOM and Javascript or to get to know the DOM of other websites/webapplications you have not made. Firebug can do quite a lot. Feel free to discover it's possibilitys.

HTML Validation

General Test

[UPDATE 18.01.2011]
Finally somebody had the same problem like me and came up with a better solution. The problem with what I wrote: Changes get lost on nautilus updates.

To get the "real deal", stick to Joeys How-To at OMG! ubuntu. Thanks for reading.

[/UPDATE]

to change the side pane colour in nautilus, open the gtkrc file for your theme

e.g.

sudo gedit /usr/share/Ambiance/gtk-2.0/gtkrc

and add

style "treeview-mod"
{  
    GtkTreeView::even_row_color   = "#F2F1F0"
}
widget "*NautilusNavigationWindow*" style "treeview-mod"

only issue: when switching the view to treeview, the background changes, too. But thats not so bad as you mostly use treeview when the folder is full, so that you never see the background in treeview anyway.

I did this with nautilus elementary mod, so I do not know if it fully works with the standard nautilus. 

Take a look at these threads at ubuntuforums to get your own clues:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1539296
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1381274