Backup list of Installed applications - Debian based distributions

To back up a list of all installed applications:

Backup installed package list on current machine
dpkg --get-selections > installed_stuff.txt

move installed_stuff.txt to the new machine

dpkg --set-selections < installed_stuff.txt

Ubuntu 12.04 - classic menu

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-classicmenu-indicator-in-ubuntu-12-04precise.html

From the link above:

Open the terminal and run the following commands

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:diesch/testing
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install classicmenu-indicator

Restart the computer

LXDE - Screensaver settings

Found out that you can change the screensaver settings with the LXDE window manager by going to a terminal and typing xscreensaver-demo. This pops up the demo window, which has the controls available,

Avahi daemon taking up 100% of the processor.

It seems that there is a bug that makes the avahi-daemon overuse the processor - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/avahi/+bug/655835. Avahi is a similar thing to Bonjour on the Mac and is for finding other people to chat to, printers to print to etc. http://avahi.org/

To stop it run:

/etc/init.d/avahi-daemon stop

Changing Start Icon in Ubuntu 10.10

Create or find a new icon 24X24 pixels in png format.

sudo mv win98-start.png /etc/alternatives/start-here-24.png

To see the new icon.

killall gnome-panel

To get a theme fairly close to win98 for Ubuntu use the win2k theme from http://art.gnome.org/themes/metacity

Test from Drivel

This is a test of using Drivel

Instructions for reinstalling all your Ubuntu packages fast

Found these very useful instructions which allow you to reinstall Ubuntu (or any other debian based system) and end up with exactly the same packages installed, almost automatically.

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-get-list-installed-software-reinstallation-restore.html