carlf - Developer IT

Linux Flash Player with 2 Monitors: always full-screen on primary monitor

- by CarlF

My setup at home uses a laptop, with a larger external monitor in addition to the built-in LCD panel, which is primary. I can see the larger monitor from the rest of the room and use it as my TV, for playing DVDs and various types of web video. However, it isn't ideal for Flash video. For instance, if I watch a video from Hulu or any other Flash-based site, I can expand it to full-screen mode. However, no matter which monitor the browser window is on, the full-screen mode is always on the laptop LCD panel, which is both too small and not visible from most of the room. Does anyone know of a way to force the Flash video to play full-screen on the monitor I select instead of the primary? My video chipset is NVidia, using kernel 2.6.31 (Ubuntu). Thanks.

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Speakers silent, headphones work in Ubuntu 9.04

- by CarlF

I'm running Ubuntu 9.04. Worked fine for months, then I rebooted yesterday after weeks of continuous operation. Now audio won't play through the speakers. The USB headset works fine, but the Conexant audio (CX20549) does not. Weirdly, it thinks it's playing. pavumeter shows appropriate levels, volume looks OK in alsamixer, but no sound. I did find this page: http://www.eugeneteplitsky.com/fixing-silent-pulseaudio-in-ubuntu-9-04/ Unfortunately the advice there doesn't help me. For one thing, the syntax for the alsa-base.conf file is apparently not actually documented anywhere. For another, my chipset isn't listed in the kernel.org docs he links to! EDIT: would upgrading to 9.10 help? Is there a major change in the audio subsystem between 9.04 and 9.10? Any suggestions? EDIT 2: This is stranger than I thought. Sound works normally in Xine, but is silent in Audacity, VLC and mplayer. What the?

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Ubuntu 9.10: switch in KVM, mouse is detected but not usable immediately

- by CarlF

I use a KVM switch to jump between my tower and laptop, both placed on my desk. With Ubuntu 9.04 this worked perfectly. In 9.10, when I switch to the tower, then back to the laptop, the mouse is detected (as shown by /var/log/messages) but moving it has no effect. If I use Ctrl-Alt-F1 to switch to the TTY, then Alt-F7 back to Xorg, the mouse starts working. The tower is running Windows 7, but that shouldn't matter. Sometimes, but not other times, the USB keyboard on the KVM switch is also not usable and I have to use the laptop's built-in keyboard to switch to the TTY. The laptop has two monitors, the built-in and an external. It's (obviously) the external panel that is attached via the KVM switch. Any suggestions? Report to Canonical as a bug?

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Microsoft Access: computer freezes when user tries to update record

- by CarlF

A colleague and I have developed an Access 2003 database which is used throughout our department. Currently about four dozen people do data entry using one of two very similar forms. If 47 of us use them, they work perfectly. If Mr. 48 clicks the "Save" button, Windows XP freezes and a hard reset is needed. The problem has to be on his specific computer (Dell latitude D630) and not in the code because this problem only affects him. Complicating the matter: I don't work for IS, and this project is not supported by IS. If I'm going to get our tech support to fix the problem I had better be able to explain exactly what to do and how to do it, because they aren't going to invest any resources. I don't even have admin rights on the computer (and neither does its regular user). I've asked him to bring his laptop the next time he visits my building. (Just to make matters worse, he doesn't usually work in the same location as me or the other developer.) Any suggestions on debugging the problem? My first try will be to uninstall and reinstall Office, which I can do using corporate utilities without being admin. Note: yes, those are old versions of Office and Windows. We expect to upgrade later this year.

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Debian Squeeze: Trackpad on EEE PC 1000HA acts like slate

- by CarlF

I'm using Debian on an Asus Eee PC 1000HA. It works flawlessly, except that the built-in trackpad acts as if it was a slate. That is, if I touch the upper-left quadrant of the trackpad, the mouse pointer "teleports" to the upper left of the netbook's screen. If I touch the bottom center, the pointer teleports to the bottom center of the screen. I currently have no xorg.conf. I have tried various settings for the mouse in xorg.confs that I created, and none of them did more than disable the trackpad entirely. The trackpad works perfectly in Windows XP (shipped with the Eee) and in Ubuntu. Debian works fine with the (USB) mouse. Any suggestions? Thanks.

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WordPress-based ticketing systems?

- by CarlF

I have been asked to set up a ticketing/help desk system for a small nonprofit. Our server runs Debian GNU/Linux. Because we already have WordPress installed and plan to exploit it heavily going forward, I'm wondering whether there are any WP-based ticketing systems. Obviously, it will simplify the admin's life to have less software installed on the server. Thanks.

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Enter / Return key stops working

- by andygrunt

I have a Dell Latitude E5400 laptop running Windows 7. Everything runs fine on it for days then I suddenly notice the enter/return key is no longer working e.g. I could be writing an email, press enter for a new line but it doesn’t ‘register’ – so no new line. I thought it might be some dirt under the key perhaps so I tried running the Windows onscreen keyboard but the Enter key on that doesn’t work either. A reboot always fixes the problem but it’s a pain. Any ideas a) how to fix it and b) out of interest, is there some other key combination that I can use as an alternative to using the Enter key when I need to? UPDATE: Thanks to CarlF's suggestion, I tried exiting running programmes and found it seems to be a problem with PhraseExpress.

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