3 Ways to Save Web Page as PDF

How to convert Html (web page) to Pdf? Here are 3 ways to convert or save as any website in .pdf format in Ubuntu.

1 - wkhtmltopdf ( no GUI )
Use this line in Terminal to install:

sudo apt-get install wkhtmltopdf

To use:

• Use wkhtmltopdf [ without the "<>" sign ]

example:
wkhtmltopdf http://www.ubuntu.com ~/Desktop/Ubuntu.pdf

• For more option, use help command.

wkhtmltopdf --help

2 - Print to File

This function is available in common web browser ( Firefox, Chromium, Midori ) in Ubuntu.
To use:

• Use Print function [ Ctrl+P ]

In Firefox: File > Print
In Chromium: Current Page Control Button > Print
in Midori: File > Print

• Select Print to File
• Select Output format ( PDF )
• Enter the PDF file name 
• Print

To include image/background of the web page that you want to save as PDF ( and other options )

• Go to Option tab [ see image ].
• Check on Print Background Images & Print Background Colors check box. [Firefox]
• or Features tabs > Print background images [Midori]

File > Print

Print images & background colours

3 - Firefox Add-on - Web2PDF Converter
There is also a Mozilla Firefox add-on that able to do this.
Download from here:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/14979
But then you need to download the pdf file from web2pdfconverter.com as you want to convert a web page. [ see image ]

Download PDF created

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Quickly Type Special Characters Ubuntu

Here are 3 simple ways to search, insert & quickly key in special characters in Ubuntu.

1 - Use KCharSelect / Character Map
Character Map is pre-installed in Gnome Desktop & located at Application  > Accesories > Character Map.

• Press Ctrl+F key to search special character
• Simply double click, copy & paste any special character you want to use.

Gnome Character Map

KCharSelect

KCharSelect is pre-installed in KDE.

• For Gnome users, use this line in Terminal to install:

sudo apt-get install kcharselect

• After installation, go to Application  > Accesories > KCharSelect to run this tool.
• Same as Character Map; double click, copy & paste any special character you want to use. 

2 - Compose Key Mode.
Ubuntu also has a composition table, a mapping from sequences of keys called key chords to individual special characters. The composition table for Ubuntu can be found here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GtkComposeTable. For frequent use of special characters, composition shortcuts is a faster alternative. This mode can be applied on most text boxes in Ubuntu ( OpenOffice, GIMP, Gedit, Firefox, etc )

Set Composition Key

• Go to System > Preferences > Keyboard
• Select Layout tab
• Click on Layout Option
• Click Compose Key position
• Tick any key you want to assign as Compose Key ( in my case : Right Alt key - image )

Assign Compose Key

How to use?

• Press 2 combination key after Compose Key

example : © ( Copyright sign )

• Press & release Compose Key ( in my case : Right Alt key )
• Press o key
• Then press c key

[ compose key + o + c = © ]
Special character © should appear

3 - Unicode entry mode
This mode same as Compose Key mode but with different activation key combinations. This mode also can be applied on most application text boxes.
You can find Unicode number or key combinations from Character Map or KCharSelect(see image)

Unicode mode - Sticky Notes

How to use?

• Press Ctrl+Shift+U key followed by Unicode number or key combination of special characters.

Example:
To type Sigma sign ( Σ )

• Press Ctrl+Shift+U to enable Unicode mode
• Type Unicode number of sign for Sigma sign - 03A3
• Then press Enter key

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Change Xsplash Login Screen Background Image - Manually

Here is another way ( manually ) change your login screen / x-splash background image besides using Xsplash Background Settings tools.

How to manually change login screen background / xsplash image ?
Prepare background image

• Resize the new image that you're going to use as login screen background to fit your screen resolution using any image manipulation program ( GIMP / gThumb Image Viewer )
• Convert or Save image in .jpg format

Resize image using gThumb Image Viewer

Open Xsplash image folder as root

• Press Alt-F2 to open Run Application dialog & type / paste this line:

gksudo nautilus /usr/share/images/xsplash

• Backup original login image by renaming the file.  [ eg. bg_backup.jpg ]
• Copy & paste the new image into xsplash folder opened earlier using line above.
• Rename the new image with the same name as original image. [ eg. bg.jpg ] [see image below ]

Copy & Paste new image into xsplash folder

Backup old image & rename new image

Done

• Logout session to see changes.

Watch video for better understanding:

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Change Login Screen Background - Xsplash Background Settings

If you already bored with default background of your Ubuntu ( Karmic ) login screen, Xsplash Background Settings tool help you change your login screen or Xsplash image easily.

Xsplash Background Settings?
Background settings dialog for XSplash and the login screen (GDM), providing easy changing of the background image and an optional daemon, that keeps xsplash and gdm background consistent with the desktop wallpaper.

How to Install?

• Simply download & install using .deb intaller from Launchpad or
• Add stable Xsplash Backgrpund Settings Launchpad PPA & install using these lines in Terminal

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:meerkat/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xsplash-background-settings

How to use?

• Go to System > Preferences > XSplash Background Settings.

• Select either current backround image or other custom image as your login background
• Logout to see changes.

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Install LXDE in Ubuntu

Last week I decided to try LXDE (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) on my Karmic Koala. Here is the overview & how to install LXDE on Ubuntu.

LXDE?
The "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment" is an extremely fast-performing and energy-saving desktop environment.
Why use LXDE?
LXDE uses less CPU and less RAM than other environments. It is especially designed for cloud computers with low hardware specifications, such as, netbooks, mobile devices (e.g. MIDs) or older computers. Here is System Monitor comparison during my test:

LXDE Session

Gnome Session

How to install?
Add LXDE launchpad ppa

• Open Terminal & paste these lines [karmic]:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lxde/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lxde

Done
How to use LXDE session?

• After successful installation logout your gnome session.
• Click on your user account
• Select LXDE from Session at bottom panel before you enter your password. [see image]

Session: LXDE

LXDE Screenshots

Unistall?
For complete unistall

• Open Terminal & use this command:

sudo apt-get autoremove lxde

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Add Website Shortcuts on Desktop

How to create webpage launcher on Ubuntu desktop

Here are 3 ways to create desktop shortcut for webpage URL :

1. Launcher...
2. Prism
3. DeskCut ( Firefox Add-on ) 

The Launcher
Simply create launcher for wabpage URL. Set web-browser of your choice for the launcher to open the URL.

• Right click on your desktop
• Click Create Launcher...
• Enter name for the launcher

If you want Firefox to open the URL, fill in the the Command box with:
firefox http://websiteurl.com
For Chromium
chromium-browser http://websiteurl.com
For Opera
opera http://websiteurl.com

( see image )

Prism
Prism is an application that lets users split web applications  out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop.
Install Prism
Prism can be installed using Ubuntu Software Center or Terminal command:

sudo apt-get install prism

How to use:

• Run Prism from Applications > Internet > Prism
• enter URL and Name for the website 
• Tick on Create Shortcuts > Desktop

The shortcut icon will use favicon of website or any image that you select as icon once you double click the shortcut & Click Mark as Trusted

DeskCut ( Firefox Add-on )
Download from here https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/66
Use:

• In Firefox, right click on website that you want to create desktop shortcut
• click on Create DeskCut

Done.
Unlike Prism, you'll need to manually select an image for the shortcut's icon
Right click > Properties to do so.

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Banshee with ClutterFlow plug-in ( CoverFlow clone )

How to install ClutterFlow 0.3.0 plug-in in Banshee 1.5.2 ( 1.6 Beta )

ClutterFlow is a CoverFlow clone for the Banshee media player. ClutterFlow uses the Clutter toolkit to harness the OpenGL powers.
Last weekend I tried to install this awesome banshee extension on my Karmic Koala.
And because I wanted to try the new OpenShot video editor, I made this short demo video:

This CoverFlow style plug-in is still in development, Banshee might crash at certain point while using this plug-in. Here's the installation steps:

Install Banshee
Banshee 1.5.2:

• Add ppa & install Banshee by running these command in Terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install banshee

Dependencies
This plug-in require these dependencies :

Mono, Monodevelop, Clutter toolkit ; Clutter, Clutter-gtk & Clutter-sharp

• Install using this command in Terminal:

sudo apt-get install monodevelop mono-gmcs mono-utils mono-xsp monodoc-http libclutter-gtk-0.10-0 libclutter-gtk-0.10-dev gtk-doc-tools git-core

For Clutter & Clutter-sharp you need to download compile manually. Run these command in Terminal.

• Clutter:

git clone git://git.clutter-project.org/clutter
cd clutter
./autogen.sh
make
sudo make install

• Clutter-sharp:

git clone git://git.clutter-project.org/bindings/clutter-sharp
cd clutter-sharp
./autogen.sh
make
sudo make install

If all compiling process goes well then proceed to this steps:

• Download ClutterFlow 0.3.0 from SourceForge.net .
• Right click downloaded the tar.gz & select extract here
• Open Banshee extension folder using Nautilus by Alt+F2 and type

gksu nautilus /usr/lib/banshee-1/Extensions

• Move the extracted Banshee.ClutterFlow-0.3.0-binaries folder into /usr/lib/banshee-1/Extensions folder that opened by command above.

Done. Start Banshee. The plug-in is enable by default. The video above explains how to use it.
[ source : http://sourceforge.net/apps/wordpress/clutterflow/ | http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/01/coverflow-banshee-linux-ubuntu.html ]

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Batch Watermark script Ubuntu : Zenity + ImageMagick

Watermark entire image files in a folder with one batch process. As my weekend project, I wrote another simple bin bash script that apply Zenity as graphical user interface & ImageMagick composite command to overlay a selected watermark image on all image files inside a targeted folder.
This script might be useful for those who want to protect their digital photos or images using visible watermarking technique.
ImageMagick should be able to handle over 100 of image format but I've only tested this script with .svg, .png, .bmp, & .jpg files in my Ubuntu system.



Installation & use shown in this video:

Install script:
Make sure Zenity & ImageMagick installed on your system.

• You can install both apps by typing this command in Terminal:

sudo apt-get install zenity imagemagick 

• Download Batch Watermark script from here. [Download]
• Extract Batch Watermark.zip anywhere.
• Open Batch Watermark folder.
  
• Simply double click & run Install.sh file
  

or install manually by:

• Copy paste Batch Watermark file to ~/.Gnome2/nautilus-scripts
• Make sure permission to execute as program is given to script files. 
• Right click on script files > Permissions tab and check the “Allow executing file as program” checkbox.

 

How to use:

• Browse to directory or folder containing image files that you wish to watermark.
• Run Batch Watermark script. Right click > Scripts > Batch Watermark
  

• Browse & select an image file that going to be used as watermark.
• Select size of watermark image

• Select opacity of the image.

• Finally select position of watermark image.

When process is done, new set of all watermarked images with *_wm.* name prefix will be placed inside Watermarked folder.

Known problem:
Script fail to execute if directory of watermark source image have space in their name. Please let me know if anyone can fix this.

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