Tag: labor productivity

Where is the Normal.dotm analog for LibreOffice located

Posted by Alex On November 28, 2021

In the office suite MS Office there is such a concept as a template, for example, for Word this file is called Normal.dotm. In this template, you can customize styles, enter text, and make formatting settings.

The saved template can replace the Normal.dotm file and then all newly created documents will have the properties made in the template.

Alternatively, you can create multiple .dotm files with different names and different settings and use them all as templates.

LibreOffice also has template support, but there is no exact equivalent of Normal.dotm from MS Office. Nevertheless, LibreOffice even surpasses MS Office in terms of the functions of working with templates.

You can also use templates, and instead of searching and replacing the Normal.dotm file, you can make all the settings in the graphical interface.

You can create any number of templates and choose any of them as the default.

Start by opening a blank document. Make the formatting settings you want, enter the text that should be contained in all new documents (for example, division into chapters, inserting a table of contents, page numbers, choosing a default text language, paragraph style, etc.).

When your template is ready, go to File → Template → Save as Template. Come up with a name for your template, choose a template category.

You can also immediately enable the “Set as default template” option.

When everything is ready, click the “Save” button.

Or later you can go to File → Template → Manage Templates, select the template you want to use as default, right-click on it and select “Set as Default”.

The default template will have an icon with a green checkmark.

To find out the path where your templates are stored, go to Tools → Options → LibreOffice → Paths.

On Linux, custom templates are stored in ~/.config/libreoffice/4/user/template/.

You can choose a different template to use as the default at any time. To do this, go to File → Templates → Manage Templates and select the desired template.

There you can also restore the original template, for this click the menu button in the form of three horizontal stripes and click “Reset Default Template”.

In the same menu, you can create and delete categories of templates, which will allow you to organize work with a large number of templates used as templates for various documents.

How to configure Linux LMDE login without entering a password

Posted by Alex On June 12, 2020

LMDE is the Linux Mint Debian Edition. As with all Linux Mint, during installation, you can select the option “automatic login”, that is, login to Linux without entering a user and password.

If during installation you did not select this option, and then changed your mind and decided to configure login without a password in LMDE, then this instruction will step-by-step explain how to enable automatic login to the system. If you are the only user of your computer, then automatic login (as is done on Windows) will make using the OS a little more convenient.

LMDE uses the LightDM display manager. To automatically enter LightDM, open the configuration text file /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf: 

sudo xed /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Find the [Seat:*] section there, and in this section two commented lines: 

#autologin-user=
#autologin-user-timeout=0

Uncomment them (remove the # character at the beginning of the line), and after autologin-user, enter the name of the user to be automatically logged in, for example, if this is the root user, then the lines look like this: 

autologin-user=root
autologin-user-timeout=0

If you don’t know or forgot your Linux system username, you can find out by executing the command in the terminal: 

whoami

If the lightdm.conf file is completely absent, then create it: 

sudo xed /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Copy to this file: 

[Seat:*]
autologin-guest=false
autologin-user=mial
autologin-user-timeout=0

Pay attention to the autologin-user directive and the username that comes after it is mial. Of course, you need to replace this name with your own system username.

Now open the file /etc/pam.d/lightdm-autologin: 

sudo xed /etc/pam.d/lightdm-autologin

Find the line there: 

auth      required pam_succeed_if.so user != root quiet_success

and replace it with: 

auth      required pam_succeed_if.so user != anything quiet_success

Reboot – after this, an automatic login should be performed without entering a password.

If it doesn’t work, to check whether the settings from the configuration file lightdm.conf are applied, run the command: 

/usr/sbin/lightdm --show-config

Multi-button mouse for increased productivity

Posted by Alex On March 6, 2020

Most of us hold onto this appliance most of the day. I mean a computer mouse.

This is my mouse from 2011-2012 to January 2016 (I had to replace it due to problems with the left mouse button, we fought to the last and I even set the right button to work as LMB):

Here is my mouse from January 2016 to November 2019 (again, the problem with the left button):

And here is my new mouse:

These are only those mice whose photos I have preserved (I just took them from the old blog, do not think that I am crazy to the extent that I store photos of computer mice…). For a very long time, I use precisely multi-button mice. And you know what? It's damn convenient!

On the mouse buttons I set up the most frequently used actions (keyboard shortcuts) that I use really often and in which the hand usually rests on the mouse. For example, it takes me a lot of time to write articles on websites, the most common actions are copying and pasting text (for creating blocks of code, for example), images (for arranging images in the text of an article), links (for pasting links into text). These actions, as well as highlighting in bold, undo the last action, deleting the character and Enter, I brought to the mouse buttons. This allows me to focus on the screen (no need to move your eyes to the keyboard to find the appropriate button combinations), and thanks to this, the process of creating article markup is significantly accelerated.

Before I started working with websites, I spent most of my time in the office Word editor – similarly, such combinations made it possible to slightly facilitate the process of formatting documents.

You can configure absolutely any action on the mouse buttons: keyboard shortcuts, launching certain applications, switching tracks, increasing/decreasing the sound volume – anything you can do using the keyboard or using the program menu.

If you choose the right actions for the buttons and spend time getting used to working with the mouse, then it will become a little easier and a little faster.

My previous mouse model was the Zelotes C-12. A new mouse was the model Zelotes C-13. You can still buy Zelotes C-12, and the C-12 and C-13 models are practically the same (including the price), but I would recommend the newer Zelotes C-13, since it has improved sensor characteristics and a new button is added (at the bottom of the mouse – to switch profiles).

Advantages of the Zelotes C-13 mouse:

  • cheap – about $ 20
  • many buttons – 13 pieces
  • any of 13 buttons of this mouse can be configured for any action
  • supports macro recording and binding from to mouse buttons
  • All saved settings are stored in the mouse itself, that is, you can connect it to another computer, and the functions of all buttons are saved!
  • all functions can be used on Linux, since all settings are stored in the mouse itself
  • two profiles, for each of which you can configure the buttons in your own way. Switching between profiles is done using the button on the mouse itself.
  • customizable RGB backlight – several animation options, or the choice of one color
  • you can configure different animation options for each of the profiles – thanks to this it is easy to distinguish which profile is currently active
  • switching by buttons on the mouse DPI modes (the cursor starts moving faster or slower)
  • there are weights that can be removed if you prefer lightweight mice
  • amazing sensor, excellent positioning on any surface

Frankly, if this mouse cost $200, I would buy it anyway – this is an amazing model and without a multi-button mouse I feel like without one hand… Fortunately, this mouse costs only about $20.

You can find fault and say that the mouse is not wireless or that it does not have a special mat with a soft wrist rest (yes, I also had such mice). I liked the wrist rest, although over time the gel leaked out of it. As for the wire, I like it more, because I don’t need to think about recharging the battery. Of course, the wire should be positioned so that it never touches anything, so that when you move the mouse it feels as little as possible, otherwise it really causes discomfort.

Screenshots of the button settings:

Sensor settings screenshot:

Lighting Setting:

Macro Recording Window:

If you want it too, look for it by the name Zelotes C-13 and be sure to sort the price + delivery starting with the cheapest – you can save a lot.

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