Filed under: Photography & Graphics
Instructions here, but basically, install ssl-cert and then use the command:
sudo make-ssl-cert /usr/share/ssl-cert/ssleay.cnf /etc/ssl/certs/selfsigned.pem
There’s more information at this great site on how to create self-signed certificates and then set up Apache to support them.
Seems like a silly little thing, but I do a lot of copying and pasting from Visio and other graphical apps into Word and other Office apps. So, I’ve started to write some macros to speed this up. Here’s the one for PowerPoint:
Sub PasteEMF()
ActivePresentation.Slides(ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.SlideIndex).Shapes.PasteSpecial (ppPasteEnhancedMetafile)
End Sub

Filed under: Photography & Graphics
Sweet. We always knew that the GIMP was good, but a bit quirky to use. Then the NativeRaving blog came up with some nice clear instructions on how to create an animated GIF. So easy, even I can follow them! Check out the link above for more detail but, in essence, you:
- Create each of the frames for your image
- Go to File > Open as Layers to bring them all as layers into your image
- Go to Filters > Animation > Playback to test
- Then just save it as a GIF.
Easy as that. And totally free. Ah. Gotta love free.
Filed under: Photography & Graphics, Ubuntu | Tags: note to self linux nvidia gl desktop driver
Turns out that if you patch your kernel up to and including Gutsy (7.10), the restricted drivers manager doesn’t always work properly and you may lose your GL effects in the desktop.Whether this is the cause or not, you can manually install the latest drivers from NVIDIA by doing the following:
- Download the latest driver from NVIDIA. At the time of posting, my graphics card was a GeForce Ti 4200 which fits in their legacy class. The legacy drivers that support 1.0-96xx series work for that card, and the Linux Drivers Portal Page on the NVIDIA site has a link to the latest driver.
- Make sure you have the
linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`installed, as well as build-essential and the relevant linux-source (e.g. linux-source-2.6.22). - Kill gnome with
sudo /etc/inid.d/gdm stop. - Navigate to wherever the downloaded driver file is and run
chmod a+x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-xxxx.runandsh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-xxxx.run - Choose the defaults from the installation app that runs.
- OPTIONAL: (I read that you need to do this, but after I rebooted, it changed it to “nvidia-legacy” anyway) Add “nv nvidia” to the DISABLED_MODULES line in
/etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common. This is to stop the restricted drivers app getting confused. - Restat Gnome (
/etc/init.d/gdm start).
Filed under: Photography & Graphics, Tips, Ubuntu | Tags: Compiz Ubuntu Gutsy desktop effects note to self
When you first install Ubuntu Gutsy (7.10), Compiz is up and running but you can’t do any advanced customisations – i.e. making the desktop cube work, turning off wobbly windows etc. To do this, sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager and then go to System > Preferences > Appearance and then go to Customised and away you go!