So, first I started with synergy http://synergy-foss.org/

This allows me to share a a single keyboard + mouse across multiple computers. This also shares the clipboard. With the only minor disadvantage of not being able to move windows across the two screens, I was running two desktops. And it is super responsive. I am also tunneling it via ssh as described in
http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/security.html. In this setup I have a synergy-server whose kbd and mouse are shared and clients.

Second, I wanted all apps on the client-desktop to forward their sound to the server desktop. To do that, I captured the alsa output on the client and pipe it to the server via ssh, where it is

On the client, I did
amixer set ‘Mix’ cap 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null

amixer set ‘Capture’ cap 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null

amixer set ‘Capture’ 10% 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null

amixer set ‘Master’ mute 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null

amixer set ‘PCM’ 72% 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null

arecord -f cd 2>/dev/null | \
ssh -c blowfish server “aplay -f cd – 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null” &

This works perfectly, and after I am done, I kill the ssh process and set back the controls to old values

A single ssh command can also be used to pipe both the audio stream and tunnel synergy data.
arecord -f cd 2>/dev/null | \
ssh -c blowfish -L localhost:24800:server:24800 server \ “aplay -f cd – 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null” &

I also used a few tricks to sync screen-lock etc, but those are too ugly and specific to my setup.

Updating package lists and upgrading
aptitude update

aptitude safe-upgrade
upgrades as many packages as possible but doesn’t uninstall anything

aptitude full-upgrade
upgrades as many packages as possible

To install / remove / reinstall packages
aptitude install/remove/reinstall <package name>
This also automatically resolves dependencie.

Purging Packages
remove doesn’t remove configuration files in a package.

aptiture purge <package name>
removes (if installed) and deletes any configuration files of the package.

aptiture purge ~c
purges all removed packages

to hold/unhold packages
holding a package means it will not be upgraded until it is unholded
aptitude hold/unhold <package name>

to search for packages
aptitude search <pattern>

in particular
aptitude search ~ahold lists all packages that are currently on hold

for details see SearchTermQuickGuide

Alsaequal

It enables realtime control on almost any ladspa plugin. Just go to the webpage and see for yourself. I have been using it for sometime now and it works great.

(1) become root. mount the iso and copy all it’s contents to a folder on the hard drive.

mkdir -p /remaster/newiso; cp -r /tmp/sidux/* /remaster/newiso/

(2) unpack the squashfs file on the iso to a folder in the iso

cd /remaster; unsquashfs /tmp/sidux/sidux/sidux.686

This creates a /remaster/squashfs-root folder with the filesystem extracted.

(3) chroot to the squashfs file system. Customize it as needed.

chroot /remaster/squashfs-root

(4) customize it as need. Install all the packages you want. Typically try to keep it below 2GB if you want a <700MB iso
After customization is done. delete all files in /tmp /var/log /var/tmp /var/cache/apt/archives, as these are unnecessary.

(you might even add new users, add persistance to the file-system etc, google for all that)

(5) exit the chroot environment and pack the squashfs filesystem

mksquashfs /remaster/squashfs-root sidux.686

this gives us sidux.686

cp /remaster/sidux.686 /remaster/newiso/sidux/

(6) if you have updated the linux kernel while in chroot, add the new kernell to the new iso.

cp /remaster/squashfs-root/boot/initrd* /remaster/newiso/boot/
cp /remaster/squashfs-root/boot/vmlinuz* /remaster/newiso/boot/
cp /remaster/squashfs-root/boot/memtest* /remaster/newiso/boot/

cd /remaster/newiso/boot/grub; # modify menu.lst and menu.lst.686 to use the new kernels

(7) create a bootable iso
(see http://orgs.man.ac.uk/documentation/grub/grub_3.html#SEC11 )

# cp /usr/share/grub/i386-pc/stage2_eltorito /remaster/newiso/boot/grub/
# the above isn’t required as that file is already there

cd /remaster
genisoimage -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o newsidux.iso newiso

A few more steps are required to install this in an usb-key. I’ll update this post later

http://www.cmi.ac.in/~pranabendu/static/unpack-deb

it creates a folder with the same name as the debian package.

note that debian packages are named as <name>_<version>_<architecture>.deb

note that the DEBIAN/control file contains all the information on version, architecture, dependencies etc.

Modify files in the folder as per need, then create the new package as

dpkg-deb –build <folder_name>

which gives <folder_name>.deb

in config.h

static Rule rules[] = {
/* class instance title tags mask isfloating */
{ NULL, NULL, “panel”, ~0, False },
};

this makes sure that trayer or “panel” is visible across all tags

in dwm.c

#define ISPANEL(x) (ISVISIBLE(x)&&(strcmp(“panel”,x->name) == 0))

and in movemouse and resizemouse add

if(ISPANEL(c) return;

this disables resizing and moves for the panel.

thus we have a panel

PATH=”$HOME/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH”

The following go in .bashrc

#prefix for configure scripts
alias configure=’./configure –prefix=”$HOME”/.local’
#gcc custom library and include paths
export LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/.local/lib
export C_INCLUDE_PATH=$HOME/.local/include
export CPLUS_INCLUDE_PATH=$HOME/.local/include

#pkg config paths to local files
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$HOME/.local/lib/pkgconfig/

#sets man path
export MANPATH=$HOME/.local/share/man:$HOME/.local/man:`manpath 2>/dev/null`

#dynamic libraries in local path
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/.local/lib

Method 1: Compile and install

Most well written programs come with a configure script of some kind, which accepts a prefix argument of someking. Set the prefix to ~/.local. I do it by setting up an alias in bashrc as shown above.

Method 2: Install debian packages inside your home folder

Sometimes you can install debian-packages inside your home folder (after setting it up as above). Note that this won’t work for a number of packages, like the linux kernal, but certainly will for smaller things.

0. do aptitude search to find a suitable software package for your needs.

1. do    apt-get –print-uris install <pkg-name>        this gives the urls of the  required deb packages

2. download these packages using wget etc.

3. install these packages by  dpkg-deb –extract <deb-file> ~/.local

4. note that removing the packages will almost be impossible.

So there is a script for doing it all automatically and you can easily uninstall them too. You still have to download the deb files using step 0-2.

http://www.cmi.ac.in/~pranabendu/static/install-deb

(It was written by arnie)

Method 3: Autopackage and similar tools

visit autopackage site and learn more

A simple way to custom start your X-session is to create a $HOME\.xsession.

This file will contain all the programs / scripts you need to customize your x-session (inclusing a custom WM . Note that you should provide absolute paths, just in case the program is not in PATH.

Next edit your .dmrc file and change the Session=<something> line to Session=default. (Note that now your .xsession must contain a WM, or else your login will fail, i use dwm).

That’s it. Now you are flying off your own custom WM

Oh, and you might keep a $HOME/.profile file to set paths etc. This file is used by popular wm and login shells. (Most probably it’s what is being used).

Google answered dwm http://www.suckless.org/dwm/

This littile thing (final executable < 30KB !! ) works really great. It has 9 workspaces. Is highly Customizable. Maybe the only obstacle is that it has to be configured from source. But that’s is really easy, if u know any programming in C.

here i post the config.h (It’s still the first draft, will modify it further later)

/* See LICENSE file for copyright and license details. */

/* appearance */
static const char font[] = “-*-terminus-medium-r-normal-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*”;
static const char normbordercolor[] = “#cccccc”;
static const char normbgcolor[] = “#cccccc”;
static const char normfgcolor[] = “#000000″;
static const char selbordercolor[] = “#0066ff”;
static const char selbgcolor[] = “#0066ff”;
static const char selfgcolor[] = “#ffffff”;
static unsigned int borderpx = 1; /* border pixel of windows */
static unsigned int snap = 32; /* snap pixel */
static Bool showbar = False; /* False means no bar */
static Bool topbar = True; /* False means bottom bar */
static Bool readin = False; /* False means do not read stdin */

/* tagging */
static const char tags[][MAXTAGLEN] = { “1″, “2″, “3″, “4″, “5″, “6″, “7″, “8″, “9″}; /* upto 9 supported */
static unsigned int tagset[] = {1, 1}; /* after start, 1 is selected,
only any two of above can be selected at a time */

static Rule rules[] = {
/* class instance title tags mask isfloating */
{ “Gimp”, NULL, NULL, 0, True },
{ “Firefox”, NULL, NULL, 0, True },
};

/* layout(s) */
static float mfact = 0.55; /* factor of master area size [0.05..0.95] */
static Bool resizehints = True; /* False means respect size hints in tiled resizals */

static Layout layouts[] = {
/* symbol arrange function */ /* first entry is the default */
{ “><>”, NULL }, /* no layout function means floating behavior */
{ “[M]“, monocle }, /* maximized */
{ “[]=”, tile }, /* tiled */
};

/* key definitions */

/* some key names
shift Shift_L (0×32), Shift_R (0x3e)
lock Caps_Lock (0×42)
control Control_L (0×25), Control_R (0x6d)
mod1 Alt_L (0×40), Alt_L (0x7d), Meta_L (0x9c)
mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3
mod4 Super_L (0x7f), Hyper_L (0×80)
mod5 Mode_switch (0x5d), ISO_Level3_Shift (0x7c)
*/

#define MODKEY Mod4Mask
#define TAGKEYS(KEY,TAG) \
{ MODKEY, KEY, view, {.ui = 1 << TAG} }, \
{ MODKEY|ControlMask, KEY, toggleview, {.ui = 1 << TAG} }, \
{ MODKEY|ShiftMask, KEY, tag, {.ui = 1 << TAG} }, \
{ MODKEY|ControlMask|ShiftMask, KEY, toggletag, {.ui = 1 << TAG} },

/* helper for spawning shell commands in the pre dwm-5.0 fashion */
#define SHCMD(cmd) { .v = (const char*[]){ “/bin/sh”, “-c”, cmd, NULL } }

/* commands */
static const char *dmenucmd[] = { “dmenu_run”, “-fn”, font, “-nb”, normbgcolor, “-nf”, normfgcolor, “-sb”, selbgcolor, “-sf”, selfgcolor, NULL };
static const char *termcmd[] = { “xterm”, NULL };
static const char *runbox[] = { “runbox”, NULL };
static const char *lockscreen[] = { “lockscreen”, NULL };
static const char *vol_up[] = { “vol_up”, NULL };
static const char *vol_down[] = { “vol_down”, NULL };

static Key keys[] = {
/* modifier key function argument */
{ MODKEY, XK_space, spawn, {.v = dmenucmd } }, /* a menu */
{ MODKEY, XK_Return, spawn, {.v = termcmd } }, /* terminal */
{ Mod1Mask, XK_F2, spawn, {.v = runbox } }, /* ALT+F2 */
/* { MODKEY, XK_b, togglebar, {0} }, */
{ Mod1Mask, XK_Tab, focusstack, {.i = +1 } }, /* Alt+Tab */
{ Mod1Mask|ShiftMask, XK_Tab, focusstack, {.i = -1 } }, /* ALt+Shift+Tab */
/* { MODKEY, XK_h, setmfact, {.f = -0.05} },*/
/* { MODKEY, XK_??, setmfact, {.f = +0.05} },*/
/* { MODKEY, XK_??, zoom, {0} }, */
/* { ControlMask|Mod1Mask, XK_Right, view, {0} }, */
{ MODKEY, XK_k, killclient, {0} },
/* { MODKEY, XK_??, setlayout, {.v = &layouts[2]} },*/
{ MODKEY, XK_f, setlayout, {.v = &layouts[0]} }, /* floating window */
/* { MODKEY, XK_m, setlayout, {.v = &layouts[1]} },*/
/* { MODKEY, XK_??, setlayout, {0} }, */
/* { MODKEY|ShiftMask, XK_??, togglefloating, {0} }, */
{ MODKEY, XK_0, view, {.ui = ~0 } },
{ MODKEY|ShiftMask, XK_0, tag, {.ui = ~0 } }, /* show all windows */
TAGKEYS( XK_1, 0) /* show windows in tag 1 */
TAGKEYS( XK_2, 1) /* and so on … */
TAGKEYS( XK_3, 2)
TAGKEYS( XK_4, 3)
TAGKEYS( XK_5, 4)
TAGKEYS( XK_6, 5)
TAGKEYS( XK_7, 6)
TAGKEYS( XK_8, 7)
TAGKEYS( XK_9,
{ MODKEY|ShiftMask, XK_q, quit, {0} },
{ ControlMask|Mod1Mask, XK_l, spawn, {.v = lockscreen } },
{ ControlMask|Mod1Mask, XK_0, spawn, {.v = vol_up } },
{ ControlMask|Mod1Mask, XK_9, spawn, {.v = vol_down } },
};

/* button definitions */
/* click can be a tag number (starting at 0),
* ClkLtSymbol, ClkStatusText, ClkWinTitle, ClkClientWin, or ClkRootWin */
static Button buttons[] = {
/* click event mask button function argument */
/* { ClkLtSymbol, 0, Button1, setlayout, {0} },*/
/* { ClkLtSymbol, 0, Button3, setlayout, {.v = &layouts[1]} },*/
/* { ClkWinTitle, 0, Button2, zoom, {0} },*/
/* { ClkStatusText, 0, Button2, spawn, {.v = termcmd } },*/
{ ClkClientWin, MODKEY, Button1, movemouse, {0} }, /* moves the floating window */
/* { ClkClientWin, MODKEY, Button2, togglefloating, {0} } */
{ ClkClientWin, MODKEY, Button3, resizemouse, {0} }, /* resize window */
/* { ClkTagBar, 0, Button1, view, {0} },*/
/* { ClkTagBar, 0, Button3, toggleview, {0} },*/
/* { ClkTagBar, MODKEY, Button1, tag, {0} },*/
/* { ClkTagBar, MODKEY, Button3, toggletag, {0} },*/
};