Making Soundcard Work in Macbook Pro

After installing Debian 5.0 (Lenny) on Macbook Pro (4,1), I found that
sound card was detected, but there was no sound. Then, I come to know
that, model=mbp3 option must be passed to snd-hda-intel kernel driver, to
make soundcard work. This is content of /etc/modprobe.d/sound file.


$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound

options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.bVcdGDjFCiF:82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
# Add the following line as an option to snd_hda_intel module
options snd_hda_intel model=mbp3


Securing Your Root Using GRUB

Generally, we forget to provide password security for GRUB boot loader.

If we do not provide password, any one can get access to root login without giving

root password, just by editing “kernel” parameters to “single” or “1″.

Therefore, you can prevent this editing by providing password.

$ grub-md5-crypt
Password:
Retype password:
$1$BRvj2/$A0Xj.CeywUG/iL6j/15HC.

(you can provide any password, you want. But please remember this by heart)
and paste this output in /boot/grub/menu.lst below timeout
or default as


$vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
...
timeout 10
...
password --md5 $1$BRvj2/$A0Xj.CeywUG/iL6j/15HC
...


Now, reboot and try to modify the kernel parameters. You will not be
able to until you press p and provide the password.

Macbook Pro Touchpad: Synaptics Configuration in xorg.conf

I was trying to use touchpad on Macbook Pro (4,1) in Debian 5.0 (Lenny).
By default, it does not have tapping support, and multitouch support.
Even touchpad driver was also unavailable. Therefore, I had compiled
Linux kernel 2.6.29.3 added support for Apple Macbook Touchpad Driver.
Then after booting in new kernel with NVIDIA 8600 GT driver, I have
modified the xorg.conf with following lines.

## In case, you want to revert
$ sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bk
$ sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

...
Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier     "Layout0"
 ...
 # Add Synaptics Touchpad as mouse
 InputDevice    "Synaptics Touchpad" "SendCoreEvents" #"CorePointer"
 InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

...

Section "Module"
 ...
 # Load synaptics driver for Macbook Pro Touchpad
 Load           "synaptics"
EndSection

...

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
 Driver          "synaptics"
 Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
 Option          "Device"                "/dev/mouse0"
 Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
 # not using edge scrolling
 Option          "HorizEdgeScroll"       "0"
 Option          "VertEdgeScroll"        "0"

 # use two finger scrolling
 Option          "VertTwoFingerScroll"   "1"
 Option          "HorizTwoFingerScroll"  "1" # set to 0 if you don't want horizontal scrolling

 # scroll speed, lower is faster
 Option          "HorizScrollDelta"      "15"
 Option          "VertScrollDelta"       "15"

 # minimum pressure motion factor
 Option          "PressureMotionMinZ"    "10"

 # touch and untouch thresholds, higher numbers if you like to push hard
 Option          "FingerLow"             "20"
 Option          "FingerHigh"            "60" # change to 30 or 40 if you like

 # FingerPress (Integer) : Above which counts as press
 Option          "FingerPress"           "130"

 # borders based on output from synclient
 Option          "LeftEdge"              "70"
 Option          "RightEdge"             "1120"
 Option          "TopEdge"               "50"
 Option          "BottomEdge"            "750"

 # speeds, smaller number for a slower mouse
 Option          "MinSpeed"              "0.8" # 0.5 is very slow, 1.5 is very fast
 Option          "MaxSpeed"              "1.3" # up to 1.5 works ok
 Option          "AccelFactor"           "0.10"

 # tap times, change to suit your tapping habits
 Option          "MaxTapMove"            "100"
 Option          "MaxTapTime"            "100"
 Option          "MaxDoubleTapTime"      "200"

 # don't change these or two finger tap stops working
 Option          "TapButton2"            "3"
 Option          "TapButton3"            "2"

 # must be commented out or normal tapping wont work
 #Option         "TapButton1"            "0"

 # Right Top Corner Button as right click
 Option          "RTCornerButton"        "2"
 Option          "RBCornerButton"        "0"

 # Left Top Corner Button as middle click
 Option          "LTCornerButton"        "3"
 Option          "LBCornerButton"        "0"

 # Palm Detection: Useful while typing
 Option          "PalmDetect"            "on"
 Option          "PalmMinWidth"          "10"
 Option          "PalmMinZ"              "200"

 # needed for disabled while typing fix
 Option          "SHMConfig"             "on"
EndSection
...

Pidgin: Buddy List Window Resize is not Working

I am regular user of Pidgin Multiprotocol Instant Messenger (IM)
for Yahoo! and Gtalk IMs.
The buddy list window was getting wider and wider after several
uses. I tried to resize the window. But I was not able to do so.
Then I think to change the configuration file to resize the window.
The configurations are stored in ~/.purple/prefs.xml

I then, opened this file and searched for 'width'
The width in which I was interested is related to 'buddy list window'
i.e. look for section 'blist' and change the width variable according
to your need (I had set it to 300).
<pref name='blist'>
...
...
<pref name='width' type='int' value='300'/>
...
...
</pref>

Save this file and restart pidgin and viola!!
This Works :)