VMware keyboard mapping issues (Alt Gr) solved

If your VMWare keyboard mapping prevents you from using special keys such as Alt Gr, just add the following the your /etc/vmware/config:

xkeymap.keycode.108 = 0x138 # Alt_R
xkeymap.keycode.106 = 0x135 # KP_Divide
xkeymap.keycode.104 = 0x11c # KP_Enter
xkeymap.keycode.111 = 0x148 # Up
xkeymap.keycode.116 = 0x150 # Down
xkeymap.keycode.113 = 0x14b # Left
xkeymap.keycode.114 = 0x14d # Right
xkeymap.keycode.105 = 0x11d # Control_R
xkeymap.keycode.118 = 0x152 # Insert
xkeymap.keycode.119 = 0x153 # Delete
xkeymap.keycode.110 = 0x147 # Home
xkeymap.keycode.115 = 0x14f # End
xkeymap.keycode.112 = 0x149 # Prior
xkeymap.keycode.117 = 0x151 # Next
xkeymap.keycode.78 = 0x46 # Scroll_Lock
xkeymap.keycode.127 = 0x100 # Pause
xkeymap.keycode.133 = 0x15b # Meta_L
xkeymap.keycode.134 = 0x15c # Meta_R
xkeymap.keycode.135 = 0x15d # Menu

I found this solution on the German Ubuntu forum.

This worked with VMware-server-2.0.1-156745 in combination with host OS Ubuntu 9.04 and guest OS Windows XP SP3.

New in Ubuntu 9.04: screen-profiles, the enhanced GNU screen

My recent discovery: Ubuntu 9.04 comes with screen-profiles, a command-line “GUI” enhancement based on curses. If you have been using GNU-Screen for a while, but have always been too lazy to configure the display (or any other part of the program), you might enjoy this tool.

Lorna Jane posted a nice summary about screen-profiles.

Side note: This tool was actually developed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu.

From 8.04 LTS to Jaunty Jackalone (Ubuntu 9.04): Software

The upgrade from the Ubuntu 8.04 LTS version to 9.04 (codename “Jaunty Jackalone” = JJ) was very smooth. It did NOT screw up the X-Server, SMB, Cups, NFS, SSH, USB, etc.  For me it was about a 3GB download.

The first thing I noticed was that a nasty gdm-login-screen-resolution bug was fixed by upgrading from 8.04 to 8.10.

Since each upgrade changes the default version of ones most used/favorite software, I will list those products I was concerned about most:

Sun Java (http://java.sun.com/)

• OK: JJ comes with the current Java JRE and SDK version (1.6_13)

Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/)

• Out-of-date: JJ comes with version 3.2 (2 years old). The current version is 3.4 (Ganymede). But since you can run Eclipse directly without compiling, this is no big deal.

GNU Emacs (http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/)

• GNU Emacs snapshot (=bleeding edge/developer version): OK: installing emacs-snapshot-gtk gives a current developer version  (build from 2009-04-05)
• Emacs stable: Out-of-date: The current Emacs version is 22.3. JJ has Emacs version 22.2, although Emacs 22.3 was released 2008/09.

AUCTeX (http://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/)

• Out-of-date: JJ comes with AUCTeX version 11.84. Version 11.85 was released 2008/02. I’ll have to install this manually.

R (http://www.r-project.org/)

• OK: JJ has 2.9.0. The current version is 2.9.0.

TexLive (http://www.tug.org/texlive/)

• Out-of-date: JJ comes with texlive-2007… Just download the current texlive-2008 from the texlive homepage and install it beside the Ubuntu texlive version.

Skype-Plugin for Pidgin’s Instant Messenger

• I’ve already written a blog on some of the nice Pidgin features. After upgrading to JJ and seeing that Pidgin is used for internal messaging within Ubuntu, I am even more convinced that this is currently THE multi-protocol multi-plattform instant messenger to go with. Get the skype-plugin from http://eion.robbmob.com/ and install the Debian/Ubuntu skype4pidgin.deb file by executing “sudo dpkg -i skype4pidgin.deb”

GTKtalog (http://www.nongnu.org/gtktalog/)

• Not present in JJ’s repositories. I’m very sad about this, because to my knowledge this is the only software for managing a CD/DVD collection which does not require a database. Although its user interface (Tck/Tk) is not-so-stylish-up-to-date, it has many features which I have grown accostumed to and which are lacking even in current high-end Disk-Manager programs.