Android Nexus 5 not detected for USB File transfer in Windows 7

After setting the Android phone on MTP mode in phone's Settings -> Storage -> (... menu) ->  USB computer connection,
Windows may still not show the phone under My Computer.

To fix:

• In Windows 7, go into Device Manager
• Portable Devices
• Nexus 5
• Properties -> Driver
• Update Driver
• Let it search and detect by itself

Windows should now detect the MTP device and it will pop up in My Computer.

How to fix Bittorrent periodic slowdown, download speed dropping

Sometimes Bittorrent downloads will regularly slow down, causing the download speed to look like a sinusoidal up and down slowing and speeding up as below (bottom graph):

This periodic slowing down and speeding up is caused by setting the upload speed limit too low.

For example, if your upload speed is 3,000 KB/s and upload is limited to 40 KB/s, you will see this behavior.  Try increasing the upload limit in your Bittorrent client such as Deluge, Transmission or uTorrent such that it is at least 1/20th of your download speed (3,000/20 = 150, so the upload limit should be at least 150 KB/s).

Hope this helps!  If so, leave a thank you comment!

SSH Putty SOCKS proxy Connection Reset error

If you are trying to connect to your SSH Tunnel to setup a secure proxy, yet receive a "Connection Reset" error in Firefox this may help.

In Firefox, go to this address "about:config" and make sure this value is set to true:
    network.proxy.socks_remote_dns = true

Note the dynamic forwarding port in Putty settings:

In Firefox, network Connection settings window, make sure "Manual Proxy" is selected and make sure that only the SOCKS fields are populated. All other proxy fields should be blank, and "0" for the ports.  See example below:

The SOCKS proxy should have the Putty dynamic tunnel port number.

That's it.  You can check your IP address before and after using the proxy at www.whatismyip.com

Lenovo Thinkpad Fan Speed Control under Linux

Note: Written and tested with Ubuntu 12.04.

• Install thinkfan:

sudo apt-get install thinkfan

• Start thinkfan:

sudo thinkfan

• Change fan speed to a custom level (0 through 7):

echo level 1 | sudo tee /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

(blog post not yet complete) 

Moving windows to the sides like Windows 7 Aero in Ubuntu Linux

Do you find the ability to move windows to the side of the screen one of the most useful features in Windows 7 as I do? :)  I'm sure Windows 7 has many other amazing new things, but on to enabling this in Linux:

This guide will help you move windows to side to side (or up/down) in Ubuntu Linux Gnome interface.

• We begin by enabling Compiz:
• Go to System > Preferences > Visual Effects
• Choose "Extra" for the visual effects.  This will enable Compiz on your Ubuntu gnome interface.
• Install Compiz Configuration Settings Manager (ccsm)
• Applications > Ubuntu Software Center
• Install "Advanced Desktop Effects Settings (ccsm)"
• Go into the Compiz settings...
• System > Preferences > Compiz Config Settings Manager
• Enable "Grid"

Grid will enable you to move windows with keyboard shortcuts quickly to side to side or top and bottom.

(click to enlarge)

The default shortcut keys are something like Ctrl+Alt such and such, but I prefer to use the menu key on the keyboard (yes, the one with the windows icon):

Fix: Skype Bluetooth Stack COM server has stopped working in Windows 7

If you get the error "Bluetooth Stack COM server has stopped working" in Windows 7, Skype is the cause and here is the solution:

The error is caused by Skype trying to access Bluetooth devices and some tries fail.  You must go into the Windows Registry (be careful in making changes since this can affect your system).

• Click the Start button,
• in the search bar type: regedit (and press enter)
• give Administrator rights to run the program
• on the left, browse to the following area: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Widcomm\BTConfig\General\
• On the right side, look for DoNotIntegrateSkype
• Double click its icon and change its value to 0.
• Close the Registry editor.
• Restart Skype.

How to fix MATLAB small figures and small fonts in Ubuntu linux

If you are using Ubuntu Linux 10.10 or a similar linux distribution but are seeing small figures (with tiny datapoints on plots) and small fonts on the axis, it is most likely due to the dpi setting being incorrect using the nvidia drivers.

Example of the problem:

MATLAB R2011a on Ubuntu 10.10 with tiny fonts and data points

In order to set your display DPI setting, you will need to add the following lines to your xorg.conf file in the "Device" section:

Option "UseEdidDpi"   "false"
Option "Dpi"          "92 x 92"

If you are new to linux, you can accomplish this with the following procedure:

• Launch a terminal window by going to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
• type this and press Enter: sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
• add the above 2 lines in the "Device" section in the file
• Save, restart your computer

Hope this helps!

Here is a decent MATLAB figure after the change: