HOWTO turn off sticky keys in windows

I am normally not one to get riled up, but I have to admit that the number of times I've seen the above dialog makes me ready to use words I shouldn't.

We are blessed with every Windows installation having Sticky Keys ready to respond to either a rapid press of the shift key or a long pause on the shift key. If you are anything like me, I often pause in thought with a finger on the shift key. Right now I pause with my finger on the shift and wonder whose decision it was to leave this on by default in Windows? ... On a lighter note, on the name "sticky keys." Isn't that something you would get if you use your keyboard immediately after peeling an especially juicy orange?

To the get dialog above:
Hit shift 5 times
or
Hold shift down for 5 seconds.


To turn it of from the dialog above:

1. Click Settings
2. On Keyboard Tab, as seen the dialog below un-select use StickyKeys
   
   
3. Careful you aren't done yet. Click the settings button in the StickyKeys area.
   
4. In that dialog un-select all the items.
5. Click OK.
6. Click OK once more.

You are now not going to be interrupted while you are paused thinking any more.

Keywords: Windows, StickyKeys off, Turn off StickyKeys, how to Turn off StickyKeys, Stop StickyKeys dialog.

HOWTO turn off the UPS alarm on Tripp Lite OMNI1000LCD UPS (USB)

All UPS units tend to have an alarm (also known as the beeper) that sounds when the power is removed from the unit. This alarm maybe valuable to some people, but I would say for my computer room closet it would be more annoying in the middle of the night than necessary. I'll deal with a power outage when I wake up.

I am running NUT on Gentoo Linux to manage my Tripp Lite OMNI1000LCD UPS (USB) and to turn off the alarm one simply needs to run the following command, remember the username is what you defined in /etc/nut/upsd.users:

#upsrw -s ups.beeper.status=disabled -u nutusername
-p nutpassword theUPS@localhost:3493


immediately following that the command
upsc verified the change was live:

# upsc theUPS@localhost
battery.charge: 53
battery.type: PbAc
battery.voltage: 12.3
battery.voltage.nominal: 12.0
driver.name: newhidups
driver.parameter.port: auto
driver.version: 2.1.0
driver.version.data: TrippLite HID 0.1
(experimental)
driver.version.internal: 0.30
input.frequency: 59.8
input.voltage: 116.7
input.voltage.nominal: 120
output.frequency.nominal: 60
output.voltage.nominal: 120
ups.beeper.status: disabled
ups.delay.reboot: 65535
ups.delay.shutdown: 65535
ups.mfr: Tripp Lite
ups.model: TRIPP LITE UPS
ups.power.nominal: 1000
ups.serial: 692195 B
ups.status: OL CHRG

Now when there is a power loss to the unit it is silent and will shut down the computer when the low battery signal occurs.

keywords: UPS, NUT, alarm off, beeper off, disable alarm, disable beeper, linux, Gentoo, Tripp Lite OMNI1000LCD UPS USB.

Useful Portage commands (emerge)

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Sync up your portage tree with a mirror

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emerge --sync

--sync

Initiates a portage tree update with one of the rsync.gentoo.org mirrors. Note that any changes you have made to the portage tree will be erased. Except for special circumstances, this uses rsync to do the update. See make.conf(5)'s description of PORTDIR_OVERLAY for a method to avoid deletions.

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Build/install the latest updates in the portage tree.

I use this after 'emerge --sync'

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emerge --update --deep world

--update (-u)

Updates packages to the best version available, which may not always be the highest version number due to masking for testing and development. This will also update direct dependencies which may not be what you want. In general, use this option only in combination with the world or system target.

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Rebuild Everything
Making deep changes to the compiler toolchain may have lowlevel affects, forcing you do rebuild everything (if you are particularly inclined to play it safe). It could also be that you just like using CPU time ...

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emerge -eav system
emerge -eav world

-emptytree (-e)

Reinstalls all world packages and their dependencies to the current USE specifications while differing from the installed set of packages as little as possible. You should run with --pretend first to make sure the result is what you expect.

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Search for portage packages
Used to look into the portage tree and find something. It also will tell you if it is install, what version it is, and other useful tidbits.

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emerge -s package_name
Example
#emerge -s nut
[snipping the none relevant matches]
* sys-power/nut
Latest version available: 2.0.4-r1
Latest version installed: 2.0.4-r1
Size of files: 683 kB
Homepage: http://www.networkupstools.org/
Description: Network-UPS Tools
License: GPL-2

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External References
Rockfloat's tips and tricks also has a good reference

An introduction to Portage: link
A simple portage Wiki page: Portage and Ebuilds
The man page: Portage Man page
The "best-known practices" for working with Portage: HOWTO_Use_Portage_Correctly

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Keywords: Gentoo Portage, Gentoo Package Management, Gentoo Portage Commands, Gentoo emerge commands, Gentoo Linux Portage, Useful Portage commands.