Fixing Slow Thunar in Ubuntu-based distros

If you are using XFCE on an ubuntu-based distro (e.g. Xubuntu, Linux Mint), the thunar file browser might take a very long time to load when first run. After the first run, it will probably perform normally.

To fix I found a solution online that was very simple:

Edit /usr/share/gvfs/mounts/network.mount and change the line AutoMount from true to false.

The flipside is that network drives (e.g. samba) will not auto mount. These can be accessed with the network:/// location in the left pane.

YMMV!

How to Mount and Recover an encrypted home folder in Ubuntu Linux

So you've broken your linux install and can't get at your /home folder because it's encrypted? All hope is not lost.

1. Boot an ubuntu 11.04 or higher LiveCD.

2. Open a terminal and figure out where the /home folder resides (this will most likely be /dev/sda1).

3. Mount the drive - sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

4. Run sudo ecryptfs-recover-private. 

You will be prompted for your passphrase.

If all goes as planned, will provide you with a mount point (e.g. /tmp/ecryptfs.YttGfdzx)


If you wish to browse the /home directory, run your file manager as superuser from the terminal prompt - for example:

gksu thunar /tmp/ecryptfs.YttGfdzx
gksu nautilus  /tmp/ecryptfs.YttGfdzx

How to Stop Geoclue on Ubuntu Linux (without losing the clock)

For some reason in Ubuntu 12.04 (and possibly 12.10), the tray clock package (indicator-datetime) for unity has geoclue as a dependency. In other words, if you want to ditch geoclue, you lose your clock.

Here's a workaround:

1. Add the following to your /etc/hosts file (sudo gedit /etc/hosts):

127.0.0.1       geoname-lookup.ubuntu.com
127.0.0.1       videosearch.ubuntu.com
127.0.0.1       daisy.ubuntu.com
127.0.0.1       one.ubuntu.com
127.0.0.1       musicsearch.ubuntu.com

2. Change the permissions of the geoclue libs to prevent it from executing:

sudo chmod ugo-x /usr/lib/geoclue/geoclue-master

3. Restart. No more pesky connections to Canonical servers.