As this behavior was starting to annoy me I looked into what I could do to fix it. It seems that the solution is very easy as long as you have some of gnome installed including gnome-settings-daemon. All you then need to do is start this along with fluxbox and this can be achieved through the fluxbox startup file located in ~/fluxbox/  This is very well documented so you can just follow the instructions which include adding the line before the exec fluxbox which is already in there:

/usr/libexec/gnome-settings-daemon &

This is the case in my Fedora install at least, the path to the executable may be different dependant on distribution. If its a rpm based distribution then you should be able to query the rpmdb with

rpm -ql gnome-settings-daemon

Recently Ubuntu has had a new release which has managed to wrangle its way into the mainstream media with mentions on BBC news, admittedly in a piece about Windows 7. This has got me thinking about how Linux distributions could do better with publicising themselves, Linux is only known of in a general manner and none of its benefits have been pushed and they should always in my view be mentioned in articles about Microsofts latest and greatest. I think that distributions could do a better job by following at least some of these ideas.

• Publicity. New releases should be advertised on sites where even beginner computer users will find it, we often look far too insular for our users.
• Keep to release dates. This one is of particular annoyance to me as a Mandriva user. If you have set a date for release for heavens sake release on that date.
• Issue press releases. While this would probably fall in with the publicity idea, I see this as a separate step. Your current users should know about your releases, the information should come to them, not the other way around

So what are your thoughts ? What can Linux distributions do better to attract a bigger audience ?

The cartoon follows the storyline of the comics much better than the films do and so venom who is my favourite comic character of all time doesnt make him go emo.

This post was a bit random, I started it the other week and decided to finish it despite it basicly just being filler. Look out for decent content filled posts soon.

My next plan is to change to a different gaming system and I have decided on doing Warhammer 40,000 using a Space Marine army. I have most of the models already so it will be cheap to collect but will still need painting.  Currently it is thought that the gatekeepers tournament in November will allow special characters so I am going to design it with Marneus Calgar as the main HQ choice, this allows most units can choose to fail or pass moral checks at will, which will allow a few tactical options. I am unsure of the whole army yet and am working hard on working out a few possibilities.

To achieve this I am currently relearning all the CSS and xhtml I will need, after that I am going to learn javascript which I have never had more than a basic understanding of. I am also goign to get some books on basic visual design for the web.

I have also decided its time to crank up my online prescence. This blog is going to move to blog.martlev.com but still be hosted by wordpress.com by setting it up through them, save the hassle of sorting out themes and so forth on my server. I will also be doing something with martlev.com, no idea what yet but I’ll do something.

Updated to fix typo.

Mr. T: The “T” in I.T.
Source: Topless Robot

While I could do something like coding the gatekeepers website (which has laid dormant development wise for too long) or paint some wargaming miniatures I find myself doing nothing but watching TV which I have no interest in.

I have thus decided that starting from when I get home from work tomorrow I am going to throw myself back into things. I will have a new site done to try and pimp me out, I will finish the gatekeepers site and I will decide on a direction to take with life outside of work.

While not wholly needed I have ordered myself a new laptop. I went with a Lenovo 3000 series andmanaged to find one with linux pre-installed from www.linux-emporium.co.uk The distro that is loaded onto it is Ubuntu 8.04, I will either stick to this or install Mandriva onto it, or perhaps even dual boot.