Weebly: how to re-use the same images without uploading twice

I'm trying to move my portfolio of digital contemporary art drawings, which is currently on Tumblr, to Weebly.
One of the annoying drawbacks of Weebly is that you have to upload the same image over and over again if you want to use it on different pages or in different elements.

Single images

For single images, here's a workaround I found in this post on The Country School Technology Blog. I quote:

Find a picture you want to reuse and RIGHT click it. Select "Open image in New Tab". (This just makes the next step a bit easier.) Go to the new tab, select the URL address and COPY it. Then go back to your blog post (or whatever) and click the blue box to insert an image. This time, however, instead of dragging photos to the uploader or selecting images from your computer, select the Image URL icon in the uploader's toolbar. Then PASTE the URL you copied from the other tab into the window. That's it - your image will now appear in your new post.

In the original post you'll also find a slideshow with explanations.

Galleries and slideshows

However, this only works for single images. On Weebly, galleries and slideshows do not permit the use of URLs, you can only upload images.
To reuse galleries and slideshows, I found the following workaround myself:

• create a hidden page, which will be your "photobucket"
• create a gallery/slideshow on that page and upload all your photos to it
• whenever you need a "partial" gallery or slideshow, or a copy of it:
• go to your hidden "photobucket" page (I find it by going to the "Pages" tab, select it there and click "Save & Edit"), 
• select your gallery/slideshow and copy it to the page in question (hovering over the left upper corner, this turns into an arrow; if you click this arrow you get a drop-down menu with the option "copy" to the page of your choice)
• then, on the target page, remove from the copied gallery/slideshow the unwanted images and make other changes as you wish (the original one, in your "photobucket", remains unchanged)
• Before starting to copy images/galleries from your "photobucket", add all the captions first!

It's still only a workaround. The main problem being that if you want to add pictures, you'll have to start all over again anyway. So for galleries and slideshows, we really need an option to insert images by URL as well, or an interface where you can select already uploaded images. I submitted a feature request, if it appears, please vote for it!

Alternatives

By the way, if you consider using Weebly, have a look also at Wix and Squarespace. They look more professional to me (and are, I think), but are more expensive also.

Convert .EPUB ebook to .PDF

To convert an .epub file (an ebook) to a PDF, I tried several options:

• Calibre, great software, but not for conversion to PDF: it doesn't handle top and bottom margins on this type of conversion, so it even cuts characters in half on the output PDF between pages
• Printing from the Calibre Ebook-viewer to PDF file: works in some ways better than the Calibre conversion itself, but it doesn't handle page breaks
• CLI (command line interface) use of Calibre's conversion (ebook-convert): works, but I can't manage the parameters well enough from the command line

So finally I found Prince, which works beautifully.

The workflow is:

• make a copy of your .epub file
• rename the extension of your copy from .epub to .zip (it is in fact a simple .zip file)
• extract the .zip file in a directory of your choice
• navigate to the subdirectory where the text files of your ebook are extracted (the .html and .xhtml ones)
• use the command
  

  prince cover.xhtml page_1.html page_2.html page_3.html -o book.pdf

   where you change and add filenames according to your specific case of course.

The output is book.pdf and should look fine.

If I understand correctly, this should work under Ubuntu and Windows alike...

(With thanks to this thread...)

A working jack configuration (Ubuntu 12.04 LTS)

For my own reference, and possibly yours, I put here a working jack configuration, on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on a HP Envy DV7 laptop with an UGM96 USB sound card. (The UGM96 device worked right out of the box, by the way).

So here are the four tabs of the "setup" screen of QjackCtl (the last three tabs are just default values):

I succeeded also in breaking my setup by pushing the parameters too far, trying to achieve a better latency. Well, breaking is a big word, in fact jack just didn't work anymore, but finally I got it back putting the parameters as they should, rebooting, cursing and tweaking a bit.

To start jack, just push the "start" button on QjackCtl and it should work (I don't use the "play" button and don't even know what it's for). Then you have to connect your inputs and outputs between applications of course, i.e. in another application called Patchage, or in QjackCtl itself (less intuitive).

I also have pulseaudio-module-jack installed.

When I start jack using the QjackCtl application, the message I get is the following. I post it here because there are "error messages", but apparently they can be ignored, it works just fine:

07:45:40.364 Patchbay deactivated.07:45:40.382 Statistics reset.07:45:40.389 ALSA connection change.07:45:40.396 D-BUS: Service is available (org.jackaudio.service aka jackdbus).Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server socket
jack server is not running or cannot be started
07:45:40.403 ALSA connection graph change.07:45:47.201 D-BUS: JACK server is starting...Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server socket
jack server is not running or cannot be started
07:45:47.216 D-BUS: JACK server was started (org.jackaudio.service aka jackdbus).Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: Starting jack server...
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: control device hw:1
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: control device hw:1
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: Acquired audio card Audio1
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: creating alsa driver ... hw:1|hw:1|128|2|44100|0|0|nomon|swmeter|soft-mode|32bit
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: control device hw:1
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: configuring for 44100Hz, period = 128 frames (2.9 ms), buffer = 2 periods
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: ALSA: final selected sample format for capture: 24bit little-endian
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: ALSA: use 2 periods for capture
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: ALSA: final selected sample format for playback: 24bit little-endian
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: ALSA: use 2 periods for playback
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: graph reorder: new port 'system:capture_1'
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: New client 'system' with PID 0
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: graph reorder: new port 'system:capture_2'
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: graph reorder: new port 'system:playback_1'
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: graph reorder: new port 'system:playback_2'
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: New client 'PulseAudio JACK Sink' with PID 2289
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: Connecting 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-left' to 'system:playback_1'
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: Connecting 'PulseAudio JACK Sink:front-right' to 'system:playback_2'
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: New client 'PulseAudio JACK Source' with PID 2289
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: Connecting 'system:capture_1' to 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-left'
Sat Aug 24 07:45:47 2013: Connecting 'system:capture_2' to 'PulseAudio JACK Source:front-right'
07:45:49.262 JACK connection change.07:45:49.264 Server configuration saved to "/home/bart/.jackdrc".07:45:49.265 Statistics reset.07:45:49.268 Client activated.07:45:49.272 JACK connection graph change.Sat Aug 24 07:45:49 2013: Saving settings to "/home/bart/.config/jack/conf.xml" ...
Sat Aug 24 07:45:49 2013: New client 'qjackctl' with PID 3418

Set compose key in Xfce

General help can be found on this article on Compose key. It didn't work for me however in Xfce.

The command

setxkbmap -option compose:lwin

works perfectly however. After this, I can for instance type the inverted question mark by pressing the left Windows key, releasing it, and then typing 2 normal question marks.

To make the command run at every startup, I did the following.

Make a file "setcomposekey.sh", put the following text in it:

#!/bin/sh
setxkbmap -option compose:lwin
echo "Compose key set to left Windows key."
sleep 2

and save the file where you can find it afterwards.

Then, in a terminal, navigate to the directory where you saved it, and type the command:

chmod +x ./setcomposekey.sh

to make it executable.

Now, go to Xfce "Applications Menu", choose "Settings" -> "Session and Startup", tab "Application Autostart", and add your little script to the programs to run at startup.

BTW, you have to do this for every user (login as that user and do the same routine).

Disable screen saver in Xfce

Regardless of my screensaver settings in Xfce, even if I disable it completely and power management with it, my screen still goes blank after 10 minutes. (I installed regular Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS and then Xfce, not Xubuntu).

Before messing with xorg.conf, first back it up:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.orig

A. What DIDN'T work

So, to try to resolve this, I tried the following, but it didn't work.

1) First NOT working solution

I found it in this post.
"This isn't the screensaver's issue. It is actually Xorg's default settings.
Add these lines in your xorg.conf (which is located in /etc/X11/xorg.conf and you must edit the file as superuser).

CODE: SELECT ALL

Section "ServerFlags"
   Option "BlankTime"   "0"
   Option "StandbyTime" "0"
   Option "SuspendTime" "0"
   Option "OffTime"     "0"
   Option "DontZap" "false"
EndSection


So, no luck with this. It didn't have any effect at all.

2) Second NOT WORKING solution

Then I tried adding a "NODPMS" option in xorg.conf (see this post). Didn't work either. That actually broke my system, had to boot from live USB, delete the modified xorg.conf and revert to a copy of my original xorg.conf (which luckily I had backed up, see top of this post).

3) Third NOT WORKING solution

Then I removed the gnome-screensaver package using synaptic. Didn't work. Then I removed also the xscreensaver package. Didn't work either, screen still blanked after 10 minutes.

4) Fourth NOT WORKING solution

(Before editing your /etc/profile, make sure to back it up, for instance by entering in a terminal the following command: sudo cp /etc/profile /etc/profile.orig. In case something goes wrong you can login from live CD or USB, or in recovery mode, and revert back by doing the opposite command from the command line interface: sudo cp /etc/profile.orig /etc/profile, then reboot).

Add to the end of /etc/profile (edit as superuser)

xset s 0 0
xset -dpms

Reboot to make changes take effect.

(See this post, this post and this post)

B. So what the # does work????

Caffeine!! (The program, NOT the substance).

Check hard disk Ubuntu 12.04.2

- Start from live USB
- in terminal, do

sudo fsck -c -v -p /dev/sdb1

where /dev/sdb1 is the partition you need to check. Fsck does not work on disks, only on partitions, so you have to do this for every partition you want to check.
To see your partition, use gparted.

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on a HP Envy dv7 7390eb laptop (Windows 8 UEFI)

UPDATE 2014-07-30: Post on Ubuntu 14.04.1 here...

Here are the steps I took so far for getting Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04.2 LTS to work on my HP Envy dv7 7390eb laptop. (Take care, I'm not an expert, just an average user sharing his experiences! Always back up important data before installing or tweaking!)
The laptop comes with Windows 8 UEFI pre-installed.

I have to say that, in general, Ubuntu 12.04 works pretty well out of the box on this laptop, but needs a bit of tweaking to get every detail working - still a work in progress that I intend to log here.

So...

Step 1: installing Ubuntu

Pretty straightforward, I encountered no problems. You have to do some extra steps to have a working boot manager because of the UEFI system (see further), but if you follow the instructions you should not encounter any problems.

The laptop comes with two 1 TB hard disks. Disk 1 contains Windows, Disk 2 is partitioned as "DATA". I decided to use disk 1 for Windows + Windows DATA and disk 2 for Linux.

First, from within Windows, I deleted the "DATA" partition, then shrunk the "OS" partition to make room for a new "DATA" partition on disk 1, which I then created. For instructions about all this, see for instance here or do a search on internet with keywords "Windows 8 shrink volume".

Do not create a partition on Disk 2 from within Windows, just leave it "unallocated" (free) and reboot on your Linux Live USB. Linux will take care of everything.

Then just do a standard Ubuntu "install alongside Windows" automatic install (see general installation instructions via the links on the Ubuntu page), then follow the steps outlined in "Installing Ubuntu Quickly and Easily via Trial and Error" on the UEFI-page of help.ubuntu.com. You will have to restart from Live-USB and do a boot-repair, it's all explained on the pages I mentioned.

To install Ubuntu from live USB I did not have to disable SecureBoot; however once installed and the boot-repair executed (as outlined on the Ubuntu UEFI page, see above link), I had to disable it to be able to boot into Windows. Weird, but true. So I just keep SecureBoot disabled for the moment, although with Linux it does work. 

After the install I decided I wanted a bigger swap in linux. Default installed is 16GB, same as RAM and I wanted double for extra safety so as to be sure that suspend would work. This may or may not be necessary or a good idea, but it's what I did and it seems to work. Apparently I could have just installed a swap file - more info and detailed instructions on the SwapFaq page of Ubuntu help.

I didn't write down the steps I took, but, from memory, I did the following.  

• rebooted with live-USB, 
• ran Gparted, 
• right-click on swap partition (16GB at this moment) -> swapoff
• right-click on swap partition -> delete
• apply
• right-click on main linux partition -> resize to about 17 GB less
• apply
• new unallocated space is 32 GB, right-click on it -> new -> extended
• right-click in extended partition -> new, choose type "linux-swap"
• apply

Now boot into your installed linux (on hard drive) and

• run Gparted (install first if necessary)
• right-click on swap partition -> swapon
• then follow instructions here (chapter "How do I add more swap") to edit /etc/fstab.

I did get an error message on first reboot after the Live-USB, probably because I did "swapon" from within the LiveUSB without editing /etc/fstab, but it didn't cause any further problems, and I never got it again. Which makes sense, as I edited /etc/fstab.

Step 2: adding TLP and Bumblebee

TLP is a tool that runs in the background to optimize battery-life. See installation instructions on the TLP-homepage.

Bumblebee is a package that enables NVIDIA Optimus in Linux. This laptop comes with two graphics cards, one that uses little power but is not very good for 3D, and another one (NVidia) that is a lot better for 3D but consumes more power and generates more heat. The Nvidia Optimus technology is designed to optimize battery life by disabling the NVidia card when not necessary. After installing Bumblebee, if I understand correctly, the default card used is the "simple" one (not Nvidia), unless you start the program in question in a terminal and put "optirun" in front of the program name (see the Bumblebee wiki for all details). More info on the Bumblebee homepage, installation instructions here.
I tested running "glxspheres" and "optirun glxspheres" and there was indeed a notable difference in performance.

Step 3: Wifi

Wifi actually works out of the box (kind of) but you may need to have a look at this thread here to get it up and running. Basically I have to use the command

sudo rfkill unblock all 

at every boot to activate the device, after this I can turn on or off the wifi and bluetooth using the net applet. I also installed wifi-radar.

Step 4: get Beats Audio working

Learning from this thread, I did in a terminal:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

and added the following line at the bottom:

options snd-hda-intel model=ref

Save the file. Then reboot, not perfect, but sounds better.

Step 5: non-free codecs / Playing encrypted DVDs

The prime source of information is here: RestrictedFormats/Playing DVDs on Ubuntu help.

What I did was:

Go to medibuntu.org, follow instructions and install especially the lib- and non-free-packages. I installed them almost all. Reboot.
At first I still got error messages when trying to play a certain DVD (Ironman 2 in my case - great movie by the way).
Then I used regionset to set the region of my DVD-player to 2 (Europe). Reboot.
The DVD played, but garbled. Finally I deleted the ~/.dvdcss/ folder (I opened my home folder as root in Thunar), rebooted, and then everything worked.

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