How to include other layout xml files in a layout file in Android

Sometimes some layout files can contain too many views making it difficult to manage the layout file later. To overcome this, Android has an <include> tag that allows the inclusion of other layout files into the main layout file (in below illustration, the activity_main.xml file). <include android:id="@+id/b_layout" layout="@layout/activity_main_part_b" /> The above include statement will add … Continue reading How to include other layout xml files in a layout file in Android →

Installing Spotify on Linux Mint desktop

Spotify also has a desktop application that works on Linux Mint. To install it, open a terminal window and enter the following:$ curl -sS https://download.spotify.com/debian/pubkey_0D811D58.gpg | sudo apt-key add - <enter>$ echo "deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list <enter> $ sudo apt-get update <enter>$ sudo apt-get install spotify-client <enter>

How to install wine stable from winehq on Linux Mint 20 or Ubuntu

The wine package in the Ubuntu Linux repository is version 5, but running applications from it, cannot connect to the internet. It was found that upgrading to wine version in the winehq repository solved this error. To install wine from winehq, open a terminal window and enter the following commands: $ sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 … Continue reading How to install wine stable from winehq on Linux Mint 20 or Ubuntu →

Shared hosting and WordPress

WordPress had recently upgraded it's code to work with PHP 7. Subsequently, each time I logged into the hosting provider account, I was always reminded by WordPress to upgrade the WordPress code and stay up to date with the latest security patches. Unfortunately, the hosting provider informed that the latest PHP 7 scripting language could … Continue reading Shared hosting and WordPress →

Speed up application startup time in Ubuntu

If you find your Linux computer is slow in starting up applications, you can install the preload package. It makes a small, discernible difference when launching applications. To install, open a terminal window and run the following command: $ sudo apt-get install preload <enter>

How to annotate PDF files on Android devices using Xodo

There are several tools to annotate PDF files. Some are non-free like Adobe Acrobat Writer and others, and some are free like Xournal on Linux. Xournal is a very powerful annotator, whereby, the original file is untouched, but a separate file of the annotations done on top of the original PDFs is maintained. You can … Continue reading How to annotate PDF files on Android devices using Xodo →

Remove unwanted lenses in Ubuntu 12.10

There are some lenses and startup programs that I do not use. To remove them, enter the following command in a terminal window: $ sudo apt-get purge unity-lens-shopping unity-lens-gwibber unity-lens-music unity-lens-photos unity-lens-video gwibber gwibber-service firefox-globalmenu thunderbird-globalmenu <enter>

Use Windows Builder from Google to create GUIs in Java quickly

If you use Eclipse to create Java programs, you would know that there are several plugins that enable Eclipse to do magic. However, the Google Windows Builder plugin available from the eclipse market place, almost proves it can make "coffee". Using Windows Builder, you can create GUI windows using Swing, SWT or XWT in minutes. … Continue reading Use Windows Builder from Google to create GUIs in Java quickly →