How To Create A Bootable Windows PE ISO Under Linux

<div style="text-align: justify;">Windows PE (Windows Preinstallation Environment, also known as WinPE) is a lightweight Windows version that runs from memory and can be booted from the network, used to deploy workstations and servers or for system maintenance.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCLFRE92jr7z05TdKjDGyqWOp2LBnPa_CEsIxUT1Y78goBrAx5aIlaXpdxkAFj4LvbL9LF3yz5G-I-psAoLekF-4qyhB1UPoChOfSI-qDLk7EmfLXciKU7xL8y1Ept5AKAL6n9RTu4Xg/s1600/windowspe-virtualbox.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Windows PE" border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCLFRE92jr7z05TdKjDGyqWOp2LBnPa_CEsIxUT1Y78goBrAx5aIlaXpdxkAFj4LvbL9LF3yz5G-I-psAoLekF-4qyhB1UPoChOfSI-qDLk7EmfLXciKU7xL8y1Ept5AKAL6n9RTu4Xg/s320/windowspe-virtualbox.png" title="Windows PE" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Windows PE can may be needed for various reasons, like installing Windows from the network, booting Windows PE from the network or simply running some Windows application without installing Windows or using WINE. </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">I needed a live Windows PE ISO to be able to update my Dell BIOS, because all the other methods of updating the BIOS on my Dell XPS L702x from Linux I found had failed (and I don't have Windows installed on my laptop). Whatever reason you have to build a customized bootable Windows PE image, here's how to create it from Linux.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><h2>Create a bootable Windows PE ISO in Linux</h2><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1.</b> To create a bootable Windows PE image in Linux (no Windows machine is necessary), you need a Windows 7 or 8 DVD or you can download the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) ISO from <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5753">Microsoft's website</a> (for free).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5753">Download the ISO</a> (KB3AIK_EN.iso) in your home folder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In my test, I've used the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) ISO and not a Windows 7 / 8 DVD.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2.</b> The live Windows PE ISO will be created using <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/06/wimlib-imagex-dism-alternative-to.html">Wimlib</a> so you need to install this tool. In Ubuntu, you can install the latest Wimlib by using the main WebUpd8 PPA:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install wimtools</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you're not using Ubuntu, search for Wimlib / wimtools in your Linux distribution repositories or, alternatively, download the source from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/wimlib/files/">SourceForge</a>.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3. Only if you've you've downloaded the Windows AIK (KB3AIK_EN.iso) ISO from Microsoft's website:</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Firstly, you need to create a folder where we'll mount the downloaded WAIK (KB3AIK_EN.iso) ISO:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>cd<br />mkdir waik</code></pre>Then, mount KB3AIK_EN.iso using the following command:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo mount KB3AIK_EN.iso $HOME/waik</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>4.</b> Now let's create the customized live Windows PE ISO. For this, we'll use the "mkwinpeimg" tool included in Wimlib:</div><br /><b>a)</b> If you've used a Windows 7 or 8 DVD:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>mkwinpeimg --iso <b>--windows-dir=/mnt/windows</b> winpe.iso</code></pre><br /><b>b)</b> If you've used the WAIK (KB3AIK_EN.iso) ISO:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>mkwinpeimg --iso <b>--waik-dir=$HOME/waik</b> winpe.iso</code></pre>you can now unmount the WAIK ISO:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo umount $HOME/waik</code></pre><br />Here's what the "mkwinpeimg" options above do:<br /><ul><li>"<i>--iso</i>" - it specifies the tool to make an ISO image instead of a disk image</li><li>"-<i>-windows-dir=/mnt/windows</i>" - if using the Windows 7 or 8 DVD only: this is the Windows mount path, usually /mnt/Windows or /mnt/Windows7 but check the path to make sure</li><li>"<i>--waik-dir=$HOME/waik</i>" - if using the WAIK ISO only: this specifies the path to where the WAIK ISO was mounted, <i>$HOME/waik</i> in our case.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>If you want to add some files to the bootable Windows PE image, you can use "--overlay=<i>/path/to/some/folder</i>"</b> (replace<i> /path/to/some/folder</i> with the path to a folder that contains the files you want included on the custom Windows PE image) - this will included all the files under<i> /path/to/some/folder</i> on the Windows PE image, in the root directory (under X:).</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Run "<i>man mkwinpeimg</i>" in a terminal for more info on mkwinpeimg and all the available options.</div><br /><br />

How To Create A Bootable Windows PE ISO Under Linux

Windows PE (Windows Preinstallation Environment, also known as WinPE) is a lightweight Windows version that runs from memory and can be boot...

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PuddleTag (Linux Audio Tag Editor) 1.0.2 RC1 Released

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://puddletag.sourceforge.net/index.html">PuddleTag</a>, a Linux audio tag editor similar to the popular Windows tool <i>Mp3Tag</i>, has been updated recently with new features and bug fixes.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dnq_xOfBa407H53gveGAjQwN-8E6zXWxRAdAid_0tQfal4c5-OMSchwXIvzJYOdvvqdI4LDFzMarE2sWP0WiJCEklimk43X4LnRRzCkoMzsZNmRCY7s19-C41ErQ-CSUg3dyuEXCkSQ/s1600/puddletag.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="PuddleTag" border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3dnq_xOfBa407H53gveGAjQwN-8E6zXWxRAdAid_0tQfal4c5-OMSchwXIvzJYOdvvqdI4LDFzMarE2sWP0WiJCEklimk43X4LnRRzCkoMzsZNmRCY7s19-C41ErQ-CSUg3dyuEXCkSQ/s320/puddletag.png" title="PuddleTag" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">PuddleTag comes with a highly customizable interface and a spreadsheet-like layout, making it easy to edit all the tags you want. Using it, you can easily batch edit your music files tags, rename files based on tag information, supports adding album covers to your files, can import tags from Amazon, Discogs, FreeDB, AcoustID and MusicBrainz and more. It even supports Mp3Tag tag sources.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">The application supports the following formats: ID3v1, ID3v2 (mp3), MP4 (mp4, m4a, etc.), VorbisComments (ogg, flac), Musepack (mpc), Monkey’s Audio (.ape) and WavPack (wv).</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The latest PuddleTag 1.0.2 RC1, released yesterday, features the following changes:</b></div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Added dropdown in Extended Tags that works like Tag Panel. Useful for editing multiple valued fields;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Support for MusicBrainz cover art;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Search by ID for MusicBrainz tag source;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Album art can be dragged from browser. If link can be resolved, image will be loaded;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">You can now submit your tags containing MusicBrainz IDs to AcoustID;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">__total can be edited in Tag Panel and other places;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Added disambiguation to album title for MusiBrainz so that album titles would be "Somaro (Deluxe Edition)" instead of just "Somaro";</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Multiple-valued fields can be added using '\\' in extended tags;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Added a confirmation dialog if copying large amounts of data;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Added canto field to Discogs tag source;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Column settings now take ordering made by user (by dragging, etc) into account;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Directory modified date is force-changed if files are modified;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Fixed: MP4 tagging not working at all;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Fixed: directory renaming not stripping invalid chars;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Fixed: $validate scripting function failing when '/' in arguments;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Fixed: unable to delete fields if __total populated;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Fixed: checked Actions being overwritten by check Quick Actions selections;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Fixed: Discogs didn't return all album info;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">more.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">PuddleTag 1.0.2 may not be considered a stable release yet, but its developer says he has been "<i>using this release since forever and consider it to work pretty well</i>" and if no issues are reported, he will release this as the stable 1.0.2 version.</div><br /><br /><h2>Install PuddleTag in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu users can install the latest PuddleTag by using the WebUpd8 PuddleTag PPA:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/puddletag<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install puddletag</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Or, if you don't want to add our PPA or you're not using Ubuntu, you can download the latest PuddleTag deb or source files from its downloads page:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://puddletag.sourceforge.net/download.html#development-builds">Download PuddleTag</a></b></div>

PuddleTag (Linux Audio Tag Editor) 1.0.2 RC1 Released

PuddleTag , a Linux audio tag editor similar to the popular Windows tool Mp3Tag , has been updated recently with new features and bug fixes....

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Conky Manager Gets New Options, 4 New Themes

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/07/conky-manager-gui-for-managing-conky.html">Conky Manager</a>, a graphical font-end for managing Conky configuration files, has been <a href="http://teejeetech.blogspot.ro/2013/07/conky-manager-v12.html">updated</a> to version 1.2 yesterday, getting 4 new Conky configurations / themes, as well as some new options.</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRGLyNSj7kw6Uq30BIvPlzcecx7YLqs5sVsej072OBrQui1QpHsGUbscVFftMX1KBMEV05y3IkPeYMqbEIwXY24JgQZS-5YjEz3kZb5V8-JypfiAQXrmZX43PB1VHtZMqLeGqxSiNg4k/s1600/conky-manager-1.2.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Conky Manager" border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRGLyNSj7kw6Uq30BIvPlzcecx7YLqs5sVsej072OBrQui1QpHsGUbscVFftMX1KBMEV05y3IkPeYMqbEIwXY24JgQZS-5YjEz3kZb5V8-JypfiAQXrmZX43PB1VHtZMqLeGqxSiNg4k/s320/conky-manager-1.2.png" title="Conky Manager" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><b>Changes in Conky Manager 1.2:</b><br /><ul><li>new option to change the time format (12hr/24hr);</li><li>new option to change the network interface (WiFi/LAN);</li><li>new application icon;</li><li>a "Show Desktop" button has been added to minimize other windows, to make it easier to see the changes you make to the selected Conky configuration;</li><li>added option to import  Conky theme pack.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1_4Ou9TMlm34gd4LjAOGjpYyT2y6Bvyp6qkzS7r5TmI6dE2cxj7Q3tYMz2CtNaSO1D2CyZr4_OaQC_VybsJ280MV-NdahQ0RGhMLJ1Vrwlt_um8GXZLw8hmv5SB1NsnoVSzlIzjSC7w/s1600/conky-manager-1.2-network.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Conky Manager" border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie1_4Ou9TMlm34gd4LjAOGjpYyT2y6Bvyp6qkzS7r5TmI6dE2cxj7Q3tYMz2CtNaSO1D2CyZr4_OaQC_VybsJ280MV-NdahQ0RGhMLJ1Vrwlt_um8GXZLw8hmv5SB1NsnoVSzlIzjSC7w/s320/conky-manager-1.2-network.png" title="Conky Manager" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Below you can see the new Conky configurations / themes added in the latest Conky Manager 1.2:</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_toQsOfEiqPCbngcqJlCty527Ba1uGbVSoufBm7kTh-9KBTUkE3FujdMn6SnS3GJCA0JxQY4fhy4DLqR9ZVDwXkNLSi2CcUB7JzEMImlRmwHT8PhOQdErDYYVHcpzgwZI6uF6dS81UTM/s1600/conky-lsd.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Conky Configuration" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_toQsOfEiqPCbngcqJlCty527Ba1uGbVSoufBm7kTh-9KBTUkE3FujdMn6SnS3GJCA0JxQY4fhy4DLqR9ZVDwXkNLSi2CcUB7JzEMImlRmwHT8PhOQdErDYYVHcpzgwZI6uF6dS81UTM/s320/conky-lsd.png" title="Conky Configuration" width="242" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conky LSD<u><br /></u></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_N25qlyjmq81R_GfFMPikFqyW0-HzIyI_zAyEvi89MddkxL6ttf2ebXp56lmqWaWohb-DOZ1d-u9MCCwcJsuvkbAhCaVsi6n9DtiLqGE6an4MJqAovLNWsZaLhpO-6sOcc1OqBFHKWqM/s1600/conky-miui.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Conky Configuration" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_N25qlyjmq81R_GfFMPikFqyW0-HzIyI_zAyEvi89MddkxL6ttf2ebXp56lmqWaWohb-DOZ1d-u9MCCwcJsuvkbAhCaVsi6n9DtiLqGE6an4MJqAovLNWsZaLhpO-6sOcc1OqBFHKWqM/s1600/conky-miui.png" title="Conky Configuration" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conky MIUI</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZ9C-l-Vm7BBVF31i6lPwkUbqaHhyphenhyphen-wPRAITZZB1MN3Zu_EIT06KwpnurLtk5nnFre2WmfvHs45KU1zkI-Zh43kY7SLhyphenhyphenoAGKBnMPJpCEAqtniyVI-YfkxjIwLvHd_09iAl1AfRpQBM4/s1600/conky-seamod.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Conky Configuration" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfZ9C-l-Vm7BBVF31i6lPwkUbqaHhyphenhyphen-wPRAITZZB1MN3Zu_EIT06KwpnurLtk5nnFre2WmfvHs45KU1zkI-Zh43kY7SLhyphenhyphenoAGKBnMPJpCEAqtniyVI-YfkxjIwLvHd_09iAl1AfRpQBM4/s320/conky-seamod.png" title="Conky Configuration" width="127" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conky Seamod</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuNnPblwsI2Qo-1JJj__f9gcxcACp1XOSIRLx5IiKUWDwPOw8DaJ8sxu3BHhnfNjOFJHtEREMe2QuuOZgeCCYIxhS1LYwURag3EuIEnaySg3cnARbtPkeYbQkVlep47Fr9uNwWwO8iq8/s1600/conky-venti-color.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Conky Configuration" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWuNnPblwsI2Qo-1JJj__f9gcxcACp1XOSIRLx5IiKUWDwPOw8DaJ8sxu3BHhnfNjOFJHtEREMe2QuuOZgeCCYIxhS1LYwURag3EuIEnaySg3cnARbtPkeYbQkVlep47Fr9uNwWwO8iq8/s1600/conky-venti-color.png" title="Conky Configuration" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conky Venti-Color (8 Core with Clock widget)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlTl7c5TdrqCLWDfGVDmjK9ZE37LNAh8Iwtd7kS7JazzT2bk66dvKv7z4MU-KoVdN1uMG17Rgyq5dXTDJudq3um5JOejXSGm-wOwMtWD4HIwsQgT71m-WyEtKItjVmFIiVrXrZNTcQu0/s1600/conky-venti-color_2.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Conky Configuration" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNlTl7c5TdrqCLWDfGVDmjK9ZE37LNAh8Iwtd7kS7JazzT2bk66dvKv7z4MU-KoVdN1uMG17Rgyq5dXTDJudq3um5JOejXSGm-wOwMtWD4HIwsQgT71m-WyEtKItjVmFIiVrXrZNTcQu0/s1600/conky-venti-color_2.png" title="Conky Configuration" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conky Venti-Color (Clock stats + Wifi widget)</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><h2>Even more Conky configurations</h2><br />For more Conky configurations you can download the <a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/5yb5ambg6h4jack/Deluxe_Conky_Theme_Pack.cmtp.7z">Deluxe Conky Pack by Jesse Avalos</a> - to add the pack to Conky Manager (make sure you have installed the latest version), on the Options tab, select "Import Conky Manager Theme Pack" and select the downloaded "<i>Deluxe_Conky_Theme_Pack.cmtp.7z</i>".<br /><br />You can see a quick demo of the Conky configurations / themes included in the <i>Deluxe Conky Pack</i> by watching the video below:<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/GnaSVbw6ONk" width="560"></iframe><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnaSVbw6ONk">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><br /><h2>Install Conky Manager in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>To add the Conky Manager PPA and install the application in Ubuntu, use the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-add-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install conky-manager</code></pre><br />If you're not using Ubuntu, you can download the code from <a href="https://code.launchpad.net/~teejee2008/conky-manager/trunk">Launchpad</a>.<br /><br /><b>For more info, see the Conky Manager page @ <a href="http://teejeetech.blogspot.ro/p/conky-manager.html">Teejeetech</a>.</b><br /><br />Report any bugs you may find @ <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/conky-manager/+filebug">Launchpad</a>. <b><br /></b>

Conky Manager Gets New Options, 4 New Themes

Conky Manager , a graphical font-end for managing Conky configuration files, has been updated to version 1.2 yesterday, getting 4 new Conky...

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Pair Logitech Unifying Receiver Devices In Linux With Solaar

<div style="text-align: justify;">The Logitech Unifying receiver supports connecting up to six compatible wireless mice and keyboards however, only the device that comes with the receiver is already paired (and thus, only that device will work out of the box with the receiver).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Logitech provides a tool for pairing additional devices to the Unifying receiver but it's only <a href="http://www.logitech.com/en-us/support/unifying?section=downloads&crid=583">available</a> for Windows and Mac OSX so if you want to pair new devices or if you want to use a new receiver (in case you lose the old one for instance) and you're using Linux, you can use a third-party tool such as <i>Solaar</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bi5iaKjlWEkihT0wMX7mZsQrj8UnR4dWPuS83mBd0YhzzC7f2MW7jb_W8-tXItjZxfhns3P3ixF43jMOJKLhBridO35hs2CnTQCyRtctcVeK0SkPWMQScWZCJclkeKr6z6O6802St00/s1600/solaar-logitech_2.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Solaar Logitech" border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7bi5iaKjlWEkihT0wMX7mZsQrj8UnR4dWPuS83mBd0YhzzC7f2MW7jb_W8-tXItjZxfhns3P3ixF43jMOJKLhBridO35hs2CnTQCyRtctcVeK0SkPWMQScWZCJclkeKr6z6O6802St00/s320/solaar-logitech_2.png" title="Solaar Logitech" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://pwr.github.io/Solaar/index.html">Solaar</a> is a Linux tool that allows you to manage <i>Logitech Unifying Receiver</i> mice and keyboards, that comes with both a GUI and command line interface.</b></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The application can be used to pair / unpair Logitech devices to the Unifying receiver,</b> it can <b>display the battery status for most devices</b> and, for some peripherals, it supports some extra settings that aren't available through the standard Linux system configuration:</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li><i>K750 Solar Keyboard</i>: display the current lighting value (Lux);</li><li><i>K360, MK700, K750 </i>and <i>K800 </i>keyboards: toggle the FN key state;</li><li><i>Performance MX Mouse</i>: change the DPI;</li><li><i>M705 Marathon Mouse</i> and <i>M510 Wireless Mouse</i>: toggle smooth scrolling.</li></ul><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuPaFYBCBqTOjiQxNphoDZ7tIPnO2_uhW3Sn_BtSBumeMJQwSKy7313H-EqEf0TnwAL0NkWXKmKYrlZrYfJI0RH4JkyL3kb8SFBQYKEIQdCCqBzqZj42jmhAhMSto2yBGFzsr3arfIRy4/s1600/solaar-logitech.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Solaar Logitech" border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuPaFYBCBqTOjiQxNphoDZ7tIPnO2_uhW3Sn_BtSBumeMJQwSKy7313H-EqEf0TnwAL0NkWXKmKYrlZrYfJI0RH4JkyL3kb8SFBQYKEIQdCCqBzqZj42jmhAhMSto2yBGFzsr3arfIRy4/s320/solaar-logitech.png" title="Solaar Logitech" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Solaar</b> currently <b>supports all Logitech Unifying Receiver devices but only some newer Nano Receivers</b> are supported (USB ID: 046d:c52f, you can check that bu running "lsusb -d 046d:")</div><br /><br /><h2>Install Solaar in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Solaar can be install in Ubuntu through its official PPA. To add the PPA and install Solaar, use the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:daniel.pavel/solaar<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install solaar</code></pre>Once installed, open Solaar from the Dash / menu.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Important note</b>: the first time I ran the application (GUI), it couldn't read the battery status for my Logitech M525 Wireless Mouse and I got a missing icon on the top panel. I've had to restart the application twice to get the panel (indicator) icon to show up and to get Solaar to display the battery status. So if you encounter this issue, try restarting the application.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In Ubuntu, all the Solaar files are installed under <i>/opt</i> so if you want to use the command line tool, run the following command:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>/opt/extras.ubuntu.com/solaar/bin/solaar-cli --help</code></pre><div style="text-align: justify;">The command above should display all the available solaar-cli (the Solaar command line interface) options.</div><br /><b>Solaar is also available for <a href="http://pwr.github.io/Solaar/debian.html">Debian 7 or higher</a>, <a href="http://code.r3pek.org/gentoo-overlay/src">Gentoo</a>, <a href="http://software.opensuse.org/package/Solaar">OpenSUSE</a> and <a href="http://aur.archlinux.org/packages/solaar">Arch Linux</a>. The source code is available on <a href="https://github.com/pwr/Solaar">GitHub</a>.</b><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via <a href="http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/blog/2013/07/12/pairing-the-logitech-performance-mx-and-others-to-the-unifying-receiver-in-gnulinux">Fabián Rodríguez</a></i></div>

Pair Logitech Unifying Receiver Devices In Linux With Solaar

The Logitech Unifying receiver supports connecting up to six compatible wireless mice and keyboards however, only the device that comes with...

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How To Download And Install The Windows 8.1 Fonts In Ubuntu

<b>If for whatever reason you need to use the latest Microsoft Windows 8.1 (or 8) fonts in Ubuntu and you don't have a Windows partition to copy the fonts, here's how to download and install them.</b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFIaSd2NOQuWGnab4VKmtFi55i3JFnmNcpSLR0bFlUNUOm5lLMueFeUxIKc3QWevU6p5LEN5oEISzAT_seFxbmcLvHrW9SF9ftiQDyTNVPuyhK5_BHFJ8JFoSrQjgHHg_AYGmJyhuESs/s1600/ms-windows-fonts-ubuntu.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="MS Windows 8.1 fonts Ubuntu" border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFIaSd2NOQuWGnab4VKmtFi55i3JFnmNcpSLR0bFlUNUOm5lLMueFeUxIKc3QWevU6p5LEN5oEISzAT_seFxbmcLvHrW9SF9ftiQDyTNVPuyhK5_BHFJ8JFoSrQjgHHg_AYGmJyhuESs/s320/ms-windows-fonts-ubuntu.png" title="MS Windows 8.1 fonts Ubuntu" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Installing the Windows 8.1 fonts in Ubuntu means you'll get any new fonts that Microsoft included in the latest Windows Preview (like Segoe UI Black, Segoe UI Emoji and a few others) as well as the latest version of popular fonts like Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Segoe UI, Verdana, Times New Roman and so on. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Below you'll find instructions for downloading the Windows 8.1 Preview ISO from Microsoft, extracting the fonts from the ISO (<b>because the fonts can't be redistributed</b>) using 7zip and Wimlib and installing the fonts in Ubuntu, either system-wide or for your user only. The instructions are based on / adapted from the <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ttf-ms-win8/">tt-ms-win8</a> AUR package (thanks to <i>reflexing</i>!).</div><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>How to download and install the Windows 8.1 fonts in Ubuntu</h2><br /><b>1. Download Microsoft Windows 8.1 Preview ISO.</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Since the fonts can't be redistributed, you must extract them from a Windows 8.1 ISO. You can <b>download Windows 8.1 Preview from <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/preview-download">Microsoft</a></b> - save the ISO file in your home folder. I recommend downloading the 32bit ISO since it's 1 GB smaller than the 64bit ISO.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Optionally, you can also download the Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise evaluation ISO from <b><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx">HERE</a></b>.<br /><br />Both Microsoft Windows 8.1 Preview and Windows 8 Enterprise evaluation are available to download for free.</i></div><br /><br /><b>2. Install the tools required to extract the fonts from the Windows 8.1 ISO.</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">We'll need p7zip-full and <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/06/wimlib-imagex-dism-alternative-to.html" title="Wimlib: ImageX / DISM Alternative To Manipulate WIM Files In Linux [Ubuntu PPA]">Wimlib</a> (which is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA) - install them in Ubuntu using the following commands:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install wimtools p7zip-full</code></pre><br /><b>3. Extract the Windows 8.1 fonts from the ISO</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">To extract the Microsoft Windows 8.1 fonts from the ISO file, use the following commands (the commands below assume you've downloaded the ISO in your home folder): </div><pre class="linux-code"><code>cd<br />7z x <b>WindowsBlue-ClientwithApps-32bit-English-X1899604.iso</b> sources/install.wim<br />cd sources/<br />mkdir tmp fonts<br />imagex mount install.wim 1 tmp<br />cp tmp/Windows/Fonts/{*.ttf,cambria.ttc} fonts<br />imagex unmount tmp</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The ISO file name in the first command above may change</b> or you may have downloaded a different ISO so make sure you check the filename of your downloaded ISO and use that instead of "<i>WindowsBlue-ClientwithApps-32bit-English-X1899604.iso</i>" if the command doesn't work.</div><br /><br /><b>4. Optional: convert the Cambria font from TTC to TTF</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">If you need the Cambria (regular) font, you'll need to convert it to TTF because the font is available as a TrueType Collection (TTC) and unless you convert it, you won't be able to use it in LibreOffice for instance. To convert it to TTF, you need to install FontForge:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install fontforge</code></pre><div style="text-align: justify;">And then, open a terminal and run the following command (the commands below assume you've followed our exact instructions and extracted the fonts under <i>~/sources/fonts</i>):</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>cd ~/sources/fonts/<br />fontforge -lang=ff -c 'Open("cambria.ttc(Cambria)"); Generate("cambria.ttf"); Close(); Open("cambria.ttc(Cambria Math)"); Generate("cambria-math.ttf"); Close();'</code></pre><br /><b>5. Install the Windows 8.1 fonts in Ubuntu</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Before proceeding, delete any fonts that you don't need from the sources/fonts folder. </div><br />To install the Microsoft Windows 8.1 fonts system-wide, use the following command:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/fonts/truetype/win8.1<br />sudo cp ~/sources/fonts/*.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype/win8.1/<br />sudo fc-cache -f -v</code></pre><br />Or, to install the Windows 8.1 fonts for your user only, use the following commands instead:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>mkdir -p ~/.fonts/win8.1<br />cp ~/sources/fonts/*.ttf ~/.fonts/win8.1/<br />sudo fc-cache -f -v</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now you can delete the "sources" folder from your home directory as well as the downloaded Windows 8.1 ISO file.</div><br />

How To Download And Install The Windows 8.1 Fonts In Ubuntu

If for whatever reason you need to use the latest Microsoft Windows 8.1 (or 8) fonts in Ubuntu and you don't have a Windows partition to...

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Dota 2 Test Available For Linux [Steam]

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxumscoJAjQTuhJKJ5-tqHF3C1d62JOxNWg6wqbOYfxkCi0v0I_mszh06efnmHnvQwGMaDIpQp_LAiqD2e0QA8B8Cp5JXAzPowKcnESq31FGjSD5ac-m4pCEE2GCsvRRDCPefs7kK_fbQ/s1600/dota2-test-linux.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Dota 2 Linux" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxumscoJAjQTuhJKJ5-tqHF3C1d62JOxNWg6wqbOYfxkCi0v0I_mszh06efnmHnvQwGMaDIpQp_LAiqD2e0QA8B8Cp5JXAzPowKcnESq31FGjSD5ac-m4pCEE2GCsvRRDCPefs7kK_fbQ/s320/dota2-test-linux.png" title="Dota 2 Linux" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/">Dota 2</a> has been officially <a href="http://www.dota2.com/thebetaisover/">released</a> for Windows a couple of days ago and today, Valve has released "Dota 2 Test" for Linux:</b></div><br /><a name='more'></a><blockquote class="tr_bq"><i>"Please note that Dota 2 Linux is still in <a href="http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=96878">testing</a> and only available on Dota 2 Test. We're looking for early testing and feedback from users before we ship Linux support on the main Dota 2 release client. Your feedback and bug reports will directly help us improve Dota 2 on Linux."</i></blockquote><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Dota 2 is multiplayer online battle arena game developed by Valve, which uses the Source engine. The game is free to play and has the following system requirements:</div><ul><li>Ubuntu 12.04;</li><li>Dual core from Intel or AMD at 2.8 GHz;</li><li>4GB RAM;</li><li>4GB Hard Drive Space;</li><li>nVidia GeForce 8600/9600GT, ATI/AMD Radeaon HD2600/3600 (Graphic Drivers: nVidia 310, AMD 12.11), OpenGL 2.1;</li><li>OpenAL Compatible Sound Card.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Note:</b> "Dota 2 Test" and "Dota 2" use different servers so you won't be able to play with regular Dota 2 users yet.</div><br /><b>To get DOTA 2 Test on Linux</b>, visit the Dota 2 Steam page (<a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/">web</a> | <a href="steam://install/570">Steam link</a>) and click "Get Dota 2". When you get access to Dota 2, you should get a "Dota 2 Test" entry in your Steam games list. According to the Steam product page, "there may be a short wait for you to download the game".<br /><br />Below you can watch the official Dota 2 trailer:<br /><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/-cSFPIwMEq4" width="560"></iframe><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cSFPIwMEq4">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In my test using Intel graphics, the game doesn't work too well as you can see in <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiodrwjodZ2-d2jfueZ5qe93bdT9N5XbhVsZ55sUOv7MVtwk9HxCzNpVIFPcy4LItT_7eHyHdJLTK0NEWiI7tnFTHmXuQwXNilOYweF8gl_D7Py5LnW9shRlDqMJmQ5aMmKbNy-492whJI/s1600/dota2-linux-bug.png">this</a> screenshot. However, many <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1i0sfl/dota_2_test_avaiable_on_linux/">Reddit</a> users have reported that the game works pretty well with other graphics cards.</div><br /><b>Report any bugs you may find @ <a href="https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Dota-2/issues">GitHub</a>.</b><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1i0sfl/dota_2_test_avaiable_on_linux/">Reddit</a></i></div>

Dota 2 Test Available For Linux [Steam]

Dota 2 has been officially released for Windows a couple of days ago and today, Valve has released "Dota 2 Test" for Linux: ...

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How To Get XCF Thumbnails In Nautilus 3.x [Quick Tip]

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Quick tip: You can get XCF thumbnails in Nautilus by using GNOME XCF Thumbnailer. However, the tool needs a fix to work with the latest Nautilus 3.x.</b> This should also work with <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/how-to-install-nemo-file-manager-in.html">Nemo</a>, the default Cinnamon file manager.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNfNrfr2yRgxvmT0jUfZwBOhyd4sJPa7yKJGaPDODCURS2x63u5W2nP9WBB62z8c_oJqFmW2-Q-xpTjydialpcRaBMOJ8lKP0iYjpE2JwsT4rlz1w6kliyPBA2Kk-I-rXUI-ch5SwMDs/s1600/xcf-thumbnails-nautilus.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="XCF thumbnails Nautilus 3.8" border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBNfNrfr2yRgxvmT0jUfZwBOhyd4sJPa7yKJGaPDODCURS2x63u5W2nP9WBB62z8c_oJqFmW2-Q-xpTjydialpcRaBMOJ8lKP0iYjpE2JwsT4rlz1w6kliyPBA2Kk-I-rXUI-ch5SwMDs/s320/xcf-thumbnails-nautilus.png" title="XCF thumbnails Nautilus 3.8" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XCF_%28file_format%29">XCF</a> (eXperimental Computing Facility) is the native image format used by GIMP image editor.</i></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">To get XCF thumbnails in Nautilus, firstly <b>install gnome-xcf-thumbnailer</b>. In Ubuntu, use the following command:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install gnome-xcf-thumbnailer</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">At this point the the thumbnails don't work yet because GNOME XCF Thumbnailer doesn't install a .thumbnailer file, required by Nautilus 3.x. To fix this, use the following commands:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/thumbnailers/<br />echo -e "[Thumbnailer Entry]\nTryExec=gnome-xcf-thumbnailer\nExec=gnome-xcf-thumbnailer %i %o\nMimeType=image/x-xcf;image/x-compressed-xcf;" | sudo tee /usr/share/thumbnailers/gnome-xcf.thumbnailer</code></pre><div style="text-align: justify;">New XCF files (or if you move some already existing XCF files) should have thumbnails now but existing ones may not get thumbnails yet. Let's fix this too by removing the failed thumbnails from cache:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>rm -r ~/.thumbnails/fail<br />rm -r ~/.cache/thumbnails/fail</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">That's it. Nautilus should now display XCF file thumbnails, as you can see in my screenshot above. I've tested this with Nautilus <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/04/get-nautilus-34-features-back-in-ubuntu.html" title="Get Nautilus 3.4 Features Back In Ubuntu 13.04 With SolusOS Patched Nautilus">3.4</a>, 3.6 and 3.8.</div><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2099853">UbuntuForums</a></i></div>

How To Get XCF Thumbnails In Nautilus 3.x [Quick Tip]

Quick tip: You can get XCF thumbnails in Nautilus by using GNOME XCF Thumbnailer. However, the tool needs a fix to work with the latest Naut...

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