Items filtered by date: December 2014

This code allows you to set a background image or texture behind the content areas of a Joomlashine template. This will not work for all templates and might need some further work but it is a great starting point.

/*-- Set a background image or texture behind module positions and content --*/

/* Set Background Image - add to wiki */
#jsn-page {
	background: url("../custom/images/background.jpg") repeat scroll 0 0;
}

/* Make backgrounds transparent */
#jsn-topheader,
#jsn-header,
#jsn-body {
	background-color: transparent;
}

/* Remove large padding in reta content block */
#jsn-content {
	padding: 0;
}

/* Restore white to certain regions */
#jsn-topheader-inner,
#jsn-header-inner,
#jsn-content_inner {
	background-color: white;	
}

There are 2 ways of making a Dark Footer Background Image:

1. Manipulate the image directly, then add as a background
2. Use a combination of a dark background and a semi-transparent image allowing the darkness to show through

Suggested footer image sizes

• 1900 x 856
• 192 x 600

Method 1: Manipulate the image directly, then add as a background

This is by far the easiest way of making a footer background image.

• Open the image in your favourite image editor (mine is Paint.NET)
• Edit Hue/Saturation/Lightness and Brightness/Contrast as needed
• Save the image
• Upload the image to the appropriate folder
• Alter the background image using the code below

Basic

This is the absolute code required to change the footer background.

CSS

#jsn-footer::before {
	background: url("../custom/images/footer-background.jpg");
}

#jsn-footer {
	background: url("../custom/images/footer-background.jpg");
}

Reference Code

Joomlashine has also used the following code for setting a footer background.

CSS

/* Required for the positioning of the background */
#jsn-footer {
	position: relative;
	font-size: 13px;
	line-height: 22px;
	color: #acacac;
	padding: 55px 0;
	/* margin-top: 30px; */
}

/* This displays the background image in relation to its parent #jsn-footer */
#jsn-footer::before {
	content: '';
	position: absolute;
	top: 0;
	left: 0;
	width: 100%;
	height: 100%;
	background: url("../images/backgrounds/ft1.jpg");
	background-position: 50% 0;
	background-repeat: repeat;
	background-size: cover !important;
}

HTML

<div class="jsn-footer">
	<!-- Footer Content Here -->
</div>

Method 2: Semi-Transparent Image on Dark background

The #jsn-footer <div> background is black so when the image is semi-transparent the black comes through making the image darker and give a sort of watermark effect.

Not all the code is required but I have put it here for reference. Different Joomlashine Templates might have slightly different versions of this code but the the rules shoud be very similiar.

CSS

/* Required for the positioning of the background and sets it to be dark */
#jsn-footer {
	position: relative;
	font-size: 12px;
	line-height: 20px;
	color: #fff;
	padding: 35px 0px 0;
	background: #171c26;
}
	
/* This displays the background image in relation to its parent #jsn-footer and makes the background image semi-transparent */
#jsn-footer .img-ft-bg {
	position: absolute;
	top: 0;
	left: 0;
	width: 100%;
	height: 100%;
	background: url("../images/backgrounds/footer.jpg");
	-ms-filter: "progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(Opacity="15")";
	filter: alpha(opacity= 15);
	-moz-opacity: 0.015;
	-khtml-opacity: 0.015;
	opacity: 0.015;
	background-position: 50% 0;
	background-attachment: fixed !important;
	background-repeat: repeat;
	background-size: cover !important;
}

HTML

<div class="jsn-footer">
	<div class="img-ft-bg></div>
</div>

Notes

• Demo here - It is a little hidden, possible they have made it to dark. it is on the politics page
• This code keeps the backgound image fixed in place.
• If you think the background has a layer it is fixed to the bottom of the page.
• So when you scroll it appears as if  the footer is a  window and is moving over the background image.
• This is created by absoulte positiong of the .img-ft-bg within the relative positioned footer DIV
• changing the following helps with positioning the picture in the background
  • background-position: 50% 0;
  • background-attachment: fixed !important; --> background-attachment: local !important;

Reduce Image File Size but keep the same resolution

When making  footer images they have to be quite wide and have resolutions such as 1920 x 1080 but this causes the images to be of a large file size. The solution is simple though.

This technique massively reduces its file size and allows you to use large resolution images with small footprints.

• Save the image  as a JPG @ 60% quality

When you save this lower quality image, you will find it normal to the human eye and as such it looks fine, but the image file size is massively reduced. 

In Joomla occasionally you might want to a SubText Message underneath the menu item (Link Title Attribute), but Joomla does not support this feature currently (Joomla 3.51).

Solution

To add a 'Link Title Attribute' to a  'Text Seperator' you need to edit the database directly, preferably using PHPMyAdmin.

Get a working copy of a menu item with a 'Link Title Attribute' to look at

• Configure a menu with a 'Link Title Attribute'
• Goto the Joomla Database via phpmyadmin
• Goto #___menu table
• Find the menu item you are looking for, here it is 'Home'
• Edit params

This is a normal menu item configured with a sub text and css styling

{"show_title":"","link_titles":"","show_intro":"","info_block_position":"","show_category":"","link_category":"","show_parent_category":"","link_parent_category":"","show_author":"","link_author":"","show_create_date":"","show_modify_date":"","show_publish_date":"","show_item_navigation":"","show_vote":"","show_icons":"","show_print_icon":"","show_email_icon":"","show_hits":"","show_tags":"","show_noauth":"","urls_position":"","menu-anchor_title":"Life Coaching","menu-anchor_css":"teststyle","menu_image":"","menu_text":1,"menu_show":1,"page_title":"","show_page_heading":"","page_heading":"Stuart Downing : Professional Life Coach","pageclass_sfx":"","menu-meta_description":"","menu-meta_keywords":"","robots":"","secure":0}

Edit your 'Text Separator' and add a 'Link Title Attribute'

NB: if you have just created your menu item, it will be at the end of the table.

• Goto the Joomla Databse via phpmyadmin
• Goto #___menu table
• Find the menu item you are looking for
• In the item's parameters you will see

  {"menu-anchor_css":"","menu_image":"","menu_text":1,"menu_show":1}

• Add/Edit the menu item with the following parameters. You only need to add what you want. if the tag is already there just edit it

  ,"menu-anchor_title":"Life Coaching","menu-anchor_css":"teststyle",

Alternative Solution not using a 'Text Sperator'

Although this is not exactly what the article is about, this solution will give you the same effect.

• use External URL instead of a 'Text Seperator'
• Edit the 'Link Title Attribute' in the menu item as normal and as required.
• Use # as the link/Target URL

Links

• Text Separator Menu Item add CSS class - Joomla!
• Text Separator Menu Item add Link CSS Style – Customer Feedback for Joomla! - Add your vote to Joomla Ideas to get this feature added.

When you first setup a VirtualBox PC you might find the drivers are missing. These are not easy to find unless you know where they are.

Where are the drivers?

• The windows Files are on a iso file which might not be present until you install "Guest Additions"
• C:\Program files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxGuestAdditions.iso
• So you mount this image which has the drivers.
• see https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html
• I have also found that the drivers that are supplied do not cover all operating systems.

** Notes of the CD **

Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions

• Where have the Windows drivers gone?
  The Windows Guest Additions drivers were removed from this directory to save space on your hard drive. To get the files you have to extract them from the Windows Guest Additions installers:
• To extract the 32-bit drivers to "C:\Drivers", do the following:
  VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86 /extract /D=C:\Drivers
• For the 64-bit drivers:
  VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64 /extract /D=C:\Drivers
• Note: The extraction routine will create an additional sub directory with the selected architecture (x86 or amd64) to prevent mixing up the drivers.
• To get further help with the command line parameters of the installer,
  type: VBoxWindowsAdditions-<arch> /?

Notes

• The video drivers are present but the network card is not. The link below suggest changing the network card hardware type until you find one that works.
• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1106684
  
  • "In the Virtualbox Control Panel thing (where you can specify your machines hardware configuration), you click on the network adapter category and then change the interface type. There are four to select from. Simply try a different interface type until one works. I didn't need to give windows any drivers for the PCnet-PCI II device (the screenshot shows the PCnew-FAST III device, and that's what I use on my home computer... this other persons computer...well, it probably would have worked too, but the I picked the PCI device out of the list of four available and it work with no issues or prompts to install any drivers). "
• Try "PCnet-PCI II device"
• Intel Pro/1000 MT (82540EM)
  • https://downloadcenter.intel.com/
  • https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/18718/Network-Adapter-Driver-for-Windows-Vista-Final-Release

This article is not complete yet.

There are 2 basic ways to remove the counter:

1. Use the USB Jig - A little piece of hardware that would reset the counter and get rid of the yellow traingle when plugged into the USB socket.
2. Software - I am not 100% sure how this works, needless to say it is software that alters the counter but this has a small chance of bricking your phone.

Links

• How to Get Rid of Yellow Triangle Using Triangle Away App on Galaxy S2 i9100! - YouTube
• [2014.01.15][ROOT] TriangleAway v3.26 | Samsung Galaxy S II I9100

I have made a list of the settings I like to set when am setting up a Cyanogenmod Android phoen for th first time. I makes things a lot easier because if you only use a setting once you might not remember where it is and spend ages trying to find it again, I know I have.

Android Settings

• You can search settings
• NB select to update the cyanogenmod recovery - Settings --> Developer options --> Update Cyanogenmod recovery
• disable home button waking phone up - settings --> buttons --> Home Button --> Wake up device
• change vertical app list to horizontal –
• change home screen time out - settings --> Display & Lights --> Screen --> Sleep (i set to 10 mins)
• enable developers mode - settings --> about --> tap 7 times on the build number
• force app close when holding the back button --> settings --> Developer options --> Kill app back button
• Kill app on leaving - Settings --> Developer options --> Apps --> Don't keep activities = destroy all related tasks when you leave app
• Extended shutdown with recovery option - Settings --> Developer options --> Apps --> Advanced reboot
• format SDCARD in android - Settings --> Storage & USB --> {select the drive ie sdcard0} --> 3 button menu --> Settings --> format -- you cannot wipe system drive here and also i would recommend not having root on whilst you do it.
• enable usb drive mounting via usb
  • http://en.code-bude.net/2013/03/05/how-to-activate-usb-mass-storage-and-developer-options-on-cyanogenmod-10-1/
  • http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/93168/android-5-0-lollipop-device-not-detected-via-usb
  • NB when you connect the usb a notification appears. if you click this you can change the transfer option/mode
  • old location
  • If you go to Settings -> Storage, then hit the menu button, you'll find an item called USB computer connection.
  • http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/70225/disabling-mtp-ptp-all-usb-stuff-except-charging
  • **Note also that PTP must be ticked for tethering to be offered, either via USB or Bluetooth.
  • Cyanogenmod location - Settings --> Developer options --> Select USB Configuration --> (MTP is default, try PTP, NB when in charging mode it will not diplay files? It seems to still charge when you change modes to MTP).
  • With Root disabled and in MTP mode you can only see the SDCard in explorer

You receive the following error when trying to format your Samsung S2 Internal SD drive in Cyanogenmod CM13 (Android 6.0.1):

Command ’33 volume partition disk:
179_0 public’ failed with ‘400 33
Command failed’

Possible Causes

• Corrupt PIT
• The kernel/Bootloader was not IsoRec compatible
• Corrupt partition format
• The ROM is faulty

Solution (does not work)

After I had updated the bootloader/Recovery with TWRP 3.0 and performed a REPIT The drive seems to work ok. This basic will fix any of the errors outlined above. Obviously unless you need to re-partition you Samsung I would just try updating the Bootloader/Kernel/Recovery first.

I still cannot reformat the drive in CM13

Notes

• https://forum.cyanogenmod.org/topic/124100-sd-card0-showing-as-corrupt-why/
  • My problem has been resolved by starting afresh from a stock Rom and stepping up slowly. Therefore this topic is now closed.
• http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2/help/sdcard0-corrupt-cm-13-0-20160304-t3332269
  • could be a rom issue with 13 so i will now flash an older version, on guy said he went back to stock an built up slowly
• http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/48524/how-to-restore-damaged-internal-sd-card-partition-layout-tried-everything
• possibly requires to be flashed by odin to reflect a new PIT (partition layout)
• i dropped to cm-11-20150614-NIGHTLY-i9100 (last version 11) and then formatted the SD drive in android, this worked with no error. 12 might of worked.
• you cannot format whilst the usb cable is connected. CM v11 still has clockword mod by default.
• I have the usb cable connected when I tried wiping in cm13
• so i will now upgrade 11 --> 12 --> 13

This could just be a bug in the current revision of CM13.x so another excellent solution is to see if updating to the latest verion of CM13 works.

These are my reseach notes for trying to find out why my new Samsung Evo 850 SSD was not running at advertised speeds in my Dell E6540 Laptop.

Settings I tried and the results:

• Chipset drivers set as IRRT but running in ACHI mode in bios (No Change)
• using a standard ahci drive from microsoft 2006 causing issues (No Change)
• use intel RST technology but make sure this is the driver being used (No Change)
• c state setting in bios (No Change)
• Disable the samsung RAPID Mode  as it is only a RAM disk
• Intel speed step disabled (a bit better)
• Single core rather than multi (slower IOPS read if i restrict to 1 core because not proper 1 CPU emulation, 1 core giving half speed and thus maxing the core out.)
• UEFI / Legacy MBR (No Change)

Other Settings Not tried or are not applicable:

• I can bump those 4K random read/writes up by disabling C1e and c-states in my BIOS
• Other power settings in bios

So the Specific Settings I have available in my Dell E6540 are:

• System Status
  • SATA Operation = AHCI
• Performance
  • Multi Core Support
  • Intel SpeedStep
  • C-States Control
  • Intial Turboboost

None of these made any difference.

Other things to try that have been suggested:

• Try safe mode
• Try running prime 59 whilst running the Performance program because the CPU is kicked in fully
• Window has power management features that could throttle the CPU
• See if the drive is faulty by trying it in a Desktop PC with a powerful SATA chipset.

Conclusion

It is my chipset that has a limitation. Not all laptops were designed to handle SSD speeds because when these laptops were getting designed, SSDs were not main stream yet.

Links

• 850 evo low iops - 850 - Storage | Toms Hardware
• Samsung 840 256GB Pro: IOPS? Why so low? | overclock.net
• Brand New Samsung 850 EVO 250GB, VERY Low Random Read/Write (IOPS)? [Solved] - SSD - Storage | Toms Hardware
• Samsung SSD 850 EVO (120GB, 250GB, 500GB & 1TB) Review | AnandTech

This code creates a form using a UniForm, that will slide in from the center for that extra effect to whichever module position you select In this case, Stick Leftbottom [stick-leftbottom] position.

This code is designed for Uniform but can be adapted to slide in any module.