Add to /etc/rc.local before the ‘exit 0’ line:

mkdir /var/run/screen
chmod 775 /var/run/screen
chgrp utmp /var/run/screen
su USER -c 'screen -m -d -S SCREENNAME bash -c "COMMAND"'

Replace USER with the user you want the command to run as. SCREENNAME with any name you like, and COMMAND with the actual command to run in the screen.

The first three lines were necessary to work around a bug in screen on Ubuntu.

LyX is generally pretty good, but sometimes things that should be simple can be a pain. I couldn’t successfully get long URLs to wrap over multiple lines rather than overflowing off the edge of the page until I read this obscure bug report after about 5 minutes of Googling.

What worked for me was using Insert->URL instead of Insert->Hyperlink. Simple as that, I didn’t even notice there were two different options previously.

As a bonus you can make URLs clickable in PDFs by going to Document->Settings->PDF Properties->Use Hyperref Support.

Recording lectures with a USB digital voice recorder left me with a lot of obscurely named files. Naming them according to what the lecture subject was by hand would have been very time consuming. I wrote a script to take an ical calendar file and match up recordings from the device with events on the calendar.

Given an input and output directory and a path to an ical calendar file (may be at a remote URL to use with Google Calendar or similar) the script will copy files and rename them according to corresponding events. Where there are multiple (or no) events occuring around the time of the recording, the script will name the recording as ‘uncategorised’.

It needs the icalendar module to run. The script can be downloaded here. See also the GitHub page.

It’s not limited to organising voice recordings and could be used to label any files with calendar events based on their modification timestamp.

This script exports dates from an ical file, I needed it to put them into a spreadsheet. You need the icalendar module for this.

Here is a small script I’ve written which seeks to improve Amazon product pages by including postage and packaging in ‘used and new’ prices. The prices including delivery are automatically updated whenever you visit a product page.

Updated: Now also gives the option to show prices including delivery in search results.

Examples

Once you click through to the 'used and new' page itself, prices including P&P are shown too.

Install instructions for Firefox

1. Install the Greasemonkey addon
2. Restart Firefox if necessary
3. Go to the Userscripts.org page and click ‘Install’ at the top right of the page

Install instructions for Chrome

1. Install the Tampermonkey addon
2. Go to the Userscripts.org page and click ‘Install’ at the top right of the page
3. Click ‘OK’ twice in the dialogs that appear

Notes

It’s very untested, having not existed for long.

The script is currently not functional for Amazon.jp or Amazon.cn.

Neither I or the script are in any way affiliated with Amazon.com, Inc. All trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners.

Github repository (report bugs here)