Some quick notes about Debian and Ubuntu-related systems.

$ <in>gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 6070D3A1</in>
$ <in>gpg --export -a 6070D3A1 | apt-key add -</in>

(works on Etch)

$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/epiphany/directories/downloads_folder --type string "~/download"</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/epiphany/general/homepage --type string "http://www.google.com.au"</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/gksu/sudo-mode --type bool true</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/background_color --type string "#000000"</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/foreground_color --type string "#FFFFFF"</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/gnome-terminal/profiles/Default/use_theme_colors --type bool false</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager --type bool true</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/focus_mode --type string "mouse"</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/nautilus/desktop/home_icon_visible --type bool false</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /apps/nautilus/preferences/desktop_is_home_dir --type bool true</in>
$ <in>gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_key_theme --type string "Emacs"</in>

To be completed, but see also the 'gnome-tweak-tool'.

$ <in>dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/wm/preferences/focus-mode "'sloppy'"</in>
$ <in>dconf write /org/gnome/nautilus/preferences/desktop-is-home-dir true</in>
$ <in>dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/gtk-key-theme "'Emacs'"</in>
$ <in>dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/background/show-desktop-icons true</in>

$ for file in at-spi-dbus-bus.desktop gnome-keyring-gpg.desktop  gnome-keyring-ssh.desktop gwibber.desktop indicator-bluetooth.desktop onboard-autostart.desktop orca-autostart.desktop pulseaudio-kde.desktop ubuntuone-launch.desktop vino-server.desktop ; do echo -e "[Desktop Entry]\nX-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=false" > ~/.config/autostart/$file; done

For some reason, the Lenny installer gets them wrong…

The device= line has to be changed to the following in /etc/yaboot.conf.

ofboot=/ht/pci@7/k2-sata-root/k2-sata@0/disk@0:2

The actual device can be found in OpenFirmware (Cmd+Opt+o+f during boot), using command devalias. The ':2' at the end identifies the second partition (/dev/sda2).

$ <in>sudo ybin -v -b /dev/sda2 -C /etc/yaboot.conf</in>

It can be checked that all worked properly by mounting /dev/sda2 and checking the beginning of file ofboot.b is instructed to load yaboot from the aforementionned device (/ht/pci@7/k2-sata-root/k2-sata@0/disk@0:2,\\yaboot).

For some reason, the thermal module doesn't get loaded, which results in the computer to quickly start really noisy, with the fans full on. As suggested in this post, loading module therm_pm72 (e.g. from /etc/modules) solves the problem.

A notification is just fine.

$ <in>sudo gconftool -s --type bool /apps/update-notifier/auto_launch false</in>

This is the motherboard found in HP/Compaq d530 computers. The Headphones and Main mixers are inverted. Fortunately this seems to be common emough amongst manufacturer that ALSA provides a way to make everything write again.

The snd-intel8x0 module has an ac97_quirk option which, when set to swap_hp does exactly what we want it to.

This can be made reboot-proof by adding the following in /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf.

options snd-intel8x0 ac97_quirk=swap_hp

: work in progress (a.k.a this doesn't work yet…)

A dmix mixer has to be created, in ~xmbc/.asoundrc/etc/asound.conf.

pcm.dmixer {
  type dmix
  ipc_key 1024
  ipc_key_add_uid false   # let multiple users share
  ipc_perm 0666           # IPC permissions for multi-user sharing (octal, default 0600)

  slave {
      pcm "hw:0,0"
      period_time 0
      period_size 1024
      buffer_size 8192
      #periods 128
      #rate 44100
      rate 48000
   }

  bindings {
    0 0
    1 1
  }
}

pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave.pcm dmixer
}

Then XBMC has to be configured to use this mixer. In Settings/System/Audio hardware set AUDIO OUTPUT DEVICE to custom and CUSTOM AUDIO DEVICE to plug:dmixer (lowercase).

When using MPD as a system service using ALSA, PulseAudio messes with the volumes all the time. Setting flat-volumes = no in /etc/pulse/daemon.conf doesn't fix the problem.

As GDM is the one responsible to start the PulseAudio daemon, we follow instructions from there to disable it. Namely, this is done by creating a configuration file for user gdm that prevents PulseAudio from starting:

/var/lib/gdm/.pulse/client.conf

autospawn = no
daemon-binary = /bin/true

The file is then given to the gdm user.

# <in>sudo chown gdm:gdm /var/lib/gdm/.pulse/client.conf</in>

This also works on ArchLinux.