Jesse Caulfield

Problem: vncviewer authentication for screen zero fails even with correct password

This is a known but unresolved bug: The textbox entry buffer doesn’t clear when characters are “erased”

Solution: In the “Remote Desktop Preferences” pane, use the backspace key to clear the password until you hear a beep to clear the buffer. Add a few more for good measure, then re-enter your password

Now it should work.

Reference threads:

Ubuntu Forums: “So what I did was hold down the backspace button (erase) for 15 seconds and pushed it some more to make sure there was NOTHING in the line. Then I reentered the password and BINGO. It worked. “

I’ve had consistently good experience using Samsung printers with Linux and the CLP-610 is no exception.

The Samsung CLP-610 is an excellent network-ready color laser printer with a built in duplexer. I use the two-sided feature all the time as I prefer to use the minimum amount of paper necessary.

The printer is very connected – it supports PCL6, Samsung’s own language, IPP and LPR. In my opinion, the only way this printer could be improved is to build in stapler and hole-punch.

Samsung provides a script to install their system management software, but I generally prefer to avoid installing vendor supplied software whenever possible. Here’s an the easy way to install the printer on Debian / Ubuntu using the standard printer wizard.

(Note – this was done on Ubuntu 7.10, which is my current desktop.)

First, download the Unified Linux Driver from the Samsung.com support site. The file is 21 MBytes (!) because it contains a lot of stuff you don’t need (like a CUPs driver, printer manager, etc). The printer definitions file we need is approx 52 KBytes.

The filename is dated and looks like 20070927133811468_UnifieldLinuxDriver.tar.gz

Unzip this file to create a “cdroot” directory. This directory contains the latest Samsung printer definitions files.

Start the printer configuration wizard. The Samsung will show up if you have mDNS (default on Ubuntu).

Select “Provide PPD File” and click the (None) button to open a file browser.

Navigate to the PPD subdirectory located here, select the file and click forward.

./cdroot/Linux/noarch/at_opt/share/ppd/CLP-610splc.ppd

Enter some printer housekeeping information, click apply, and you’re done.

Note: This is a Gnome gconf hack and applies to any Gnome desktop that uses the Metacityt plus the Gnome Panel, including Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Suse, etc.

The Problem: If you’re a windows user, the START and LEFT-CLICK button on your keyboard often come in handy, especially if you find navigation via the keyboard to be more efficient than grabbing the mouse.

Unfortunately, the START key is not mapped by default in Gnome – rather, Gnome uses the <ALT> + F2 combination to show the Gnome Menu.

A Solution: Create a gconf file instructing gnome to behave nicely. Here’s how to bring consistency to your desktop menu.

Via the GUI

• Launch the Gnome Control Center
• Select Keyboard Shortcuts
• Click “Show the panel menu” – the existing shortcut is typically <Alt>F2, which will change to “New accellerator …” when you click it
• Press the Windows Start key on your keyboard. The shortcut will change to “Super_L”
• Click Close – you’re done.

Via the Command Line

Create the following file inside your ~/.gconf directory

% vi ~/.gconf/apps/metacity/global_keybindings/%gconf.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<gconf>
<entry name="panel_main_menu" mtime="1185455947" type="string">
<stringvalue>Super_L</stringvalue>
</entry>
</gconf>

Save the file and you’re done. Your START button should now work.