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How To Create Multiple Firefox Profiles
Although it's possible to create separate login profiles on both Windows and Linux, it's often inconvenient when sharing a computer with other household members to start a whole new login session when someone just wants to quickly access their webmail or homepage. A more convenient solution is to create separate user profiles in Firefox to manage different homepages, bookmarks, etc.
Firefox's built in profile manager makes creating new user profiles a trivial task. In this example, I'm going to create two new profiles; His and Hers. I'm doing this in Xubuntu 8.04. The Firefox commands should be the same in other versions of Linux or even Windows, but the procedure to create the desktop launchers may vary slightly depending on your desktop environment.
The first step is to open a terminal and type:
In the Profile Manager click on Create Profile. In the new window, click Next. Type a name for the new profile, (I used Mr for mine), and click Finish. Repeat the process to create another new profile for Mrs.
Now we're going to create desktop launchers for each of the profiles. Right click on the desktop and select Create Launcher. Type Firefox-Mr for the name. For the command, type firefox -P Mr -no-remote. The -no-remote option makes it so both profiles can be open at the same time. For the icon, select /usr/share/pixmaps/firefox.png. Now click on Create and the new icon will appear on the desktop. Repeat the process to create a launcher called Firefox-Mrs.
You now have launchers to use the two different Firefox profiles. You can now maintain separate bookmarks, homepages, extensions, themes, etc.
I've written a Windows specific version at: How To Create Multiple Firefox Profiles in Windows
Ubuntu Video Configuration on a Dell Inspiron 2600
Update Nov. 9, 2008 - While trying to get Ubuntu 8.10 working on my 2600, I remembered one key detail to getting 8.04 to work. I've only gotten it to work with BIOS revision A08. Here's a link to the Inspiron 2600 BIOS A08 on the Dell website. Unfortunately, this is a Windows executable to make a bootable floppy, so obviously you'll need access to a Windows machine to make the BIOS boot disk.
Ubuntu 8.04 installation on the Dell Inspiron 2600 takes a few tweaks to the video configuration to get it working properly. First off, to get the Live CD to work you will need to select Safe Graphics Mode at the boot options screen to get the Desktop Environment to load properly. I'm not going to cover the entire Ubuntu installation process as it is well covered elsewhere.
Once you have Ubuntu installed you need to reboot and select the recovery mode from the boot screen. Select the root prompt option and hit Enter. Now that you're logged in, you need to edit the xorg.conf file.
Code:
Find the section with the following line:
and change the section to look like this.
Identifier "Intel i830"
Driver "i810"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection
The next section should be for "Configured Monitor". Change it to look like this:
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 28-49
VertRefresh 43-72
EndSection
Next, change the "Screen" section to look like this:
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel i830"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Modes "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubSection
EndSection
With all of your edits complete, hit Ctrl+X to exit the nano editor. Hit Y when prompted to save, then hit Enter to save it as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Now, reboot your computer to see the changes take effect.
Code: