Changing Gnome-Screensaver Background on Lubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric)

I had to find a way on Lubuntu flavoured LXDE to lock/unlock the current running desktop session. The obvious easy way is to use xscreensaver and/or gnome-screensaver and do one of the following:

xscreensaver-command -lock

gnome-screensaver-command --lock

I chose to keep with gnome-screensaver since it is prettier. But immediate annoyance was after locking screen, gnome-screensaver would not retain the same background as current Lubuntu session. After trying so many options (gconf, editing files in /etc), finally I figured - the solution is rather easy.

It appears Lubutu session keeps a separate sets of options from LXDE. When gnome-screensaver is launched, it takes the background option of LXDE (not Lubuntu). To match same background both on LXDE and Lubuntu, which also matches gnome-screensaver background inside Lubuntu session, the steps are below:

1. Set preferred desktop background on running Lubuntu session by right-click > Desktop Preferences > Background.
2. Log-out from Lubuntu session.
3. On the log-in prompt, select LXDE as desktop session to log into.
4. Once inside LXDE, you'll see the desktop background that gnome-screensaver uses as background.
5. From the right-click menu, change the background to match your preference.

That's all !!! Now, you can log in back into Lubuntu and lock screen by initiating gnome-screensaver (I use a Compiz command shortcut with Ctrl+Alt+L which triggers "gnome-screensaver-command --lock") and desktop background will match.

Compiz Config Settings Manager (CCSM) crashes with SIGSEGV on (L)ubuntu Oneiric (11.10)

On my latest Lubuntu 11.10 installation, CCSM stumbles into a segmentation violation (SIGSEGV) if "Desktop Cube" is enabled in Compiz plugins and I try to disable it through CCSM. Since, I managed to convince myself that "Expo" is capable of providing what I really need, I needed a way to disable it without using CCSM. So, for my own future reference and someone who's going through the same kind of nagging crash, the Compiz config file is located here:

/home/$USER/.config/compiz-1/compizconfig/Default.ini

My list of enabled plugins are below:

 [core] 
s0_active_plugins = core;detection;gtkloader;composite;opengl;copytex;decor;mousepoll;commands;imgjpeg;regex;addhelper;annotate;resize;grid;compiztoolbox;place;imgsvg;imgpng;notification;dbus;gnomecompat;resizeinfo;opacify;wobbly;move;text;loginout;scale;animation;kdecompat;thumbnail;workarounds;scaleaddon;scalefilter;animationaddon;expo;ezoom;switcher;

All one has to do is remove "cube" (or whichever is causing trouble) from "s0_active_plugins".

100% cpu on Gmail.com with Ubuntu+Compiz

I have both greasemonkey and stylish installed and yet I fell for "Better Gmail 2" extenstion. Apparently it turns my firefox into a total memory hog when I'm checking my mails at Gmail.com. Just incase anybody is having the same problem, disabling or uninstalling the extension fixes the problem for me.