Using tmpfs for Security and Speed

I have 3.9GBs of RAM of which Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) hardly touches more than 512MBs so I'm going to move all my temporary files to RAM. This will result in 2 things:

• Reading and writing temporary files will be much faster.
• Temporary files will be more securely removed on shutdown.

Swiftweasel and Add-on Collections

I decided to move over to Swiftweasel for the majority of my web browsing needs. The performance boost given by the processor optimizations isn't very big but I'll try anything if it makes my system faster =P (Side Note: I chose Swiftweasel over Swiftfox because it's AUR package was up to date, while Swiftfox was still based on 3.0. They are essentially the same thing.)

Greasemonkey

If you don't use it already, you've probably at least heard of the Firefox extension: Greasemonkey. Its a powerful tool that lets you use JavaScript to change the way webpages display.

Firefox 3.5 Extensions

A few of my extensions are incompatible with the newest version of Firefox. So when I upgraded they got axed. Thankfully some have now returned or have been worked around.

Germany, booting and Firefox 3.5

So, I'm pretty much all set for my trip to Germany at the end of the month. Yes, I'm going to spend nearly a month over seas! I'm so excited. The first couple weeks I'll be in Heidleberg brushing up on my German at the did deutsch-institut. The institut hooked me up with a (hopefully friendly) family for room and board while I study. After that, its off on my own for a couple weeks, exploring Germany. The flight is booked and today I just bought a handy travel guide: Let's Go Germany (on a budget). Flipping through it at Chapters, there's a ton of information on where to go, where to stay, what to do and how to save money. Cause travelling isn't cheap. And I'm on a student's budget. Still I think I'll be prepared by takeoff.

Opera with some Firefox extensions

Opera is an amazing web browser that's long been overshadowed by Firefox. I've been switching back and forth between the two for ages now and can never seem to make up my mind. Its mostly been a contest between Firefox's extensions and Opera's speed. I've always felt that Opera was slightly faster but Firefox's extensions made up for it with increased functionality. Today's post is about mimicking the functionality of some of Firefox's extensions in Opera.