Trying to use some of the LXDE applications on a 10/11” netbooks screen, appears to throw up a problem with the window size. The result of this is that the window for lxhotkey doesn't fit on the screen properly. As per illustration below.
I can resize this window, left to right, so horizontally. I can't resize vertically. Which is perhaps needed here.
This appears to be a common issue with many Linux applications on small screens.
I asked on #lxde on IRC and a workaround is to hold down 'alt' and click / drag the window around.
I have been working on some more projects around IRC chat bots. I decided to try and integrate a Magic 8 ball project so that an IRC bot would give a random response, chosen from a pre- defined set within the code (can be changed) when the bot is sent an instruction in my IRC channel.
This project builds on some of the code covered in my Minecraft Pi bot project. Mostly the base code from the Linux Voice article.
The code is currently being tested in ##zleap on Freenode.
At the moment magic8 can be sent the following commands:-
!umame – returns output of uname -a
!uptime – returms system uptime
!help – displays list of options
!botexit – bot quits irc channel,
!magic8 – returns random text
!ping – returns pong (used to check the bot is working, left in for legacy
!web – returns my own web address (this website) but can be changed
!sdtj – returns web address for the South Devon Tech Jam
Notes
uname and uptime are Linux / Unix commands, it is therefore assumed you are running on a GNU / Linux system.
I have created a welcome message from the bot, so when it joins it says hello, also says goodbye if !botexit is sent.
Todo
Make the code Python 3
Add more options
Keep it tidy
Help and Contribute
Feel free to fork the project and make improvements and further customization. Perhaps discuss further on IRC or via social media e.g Mastodon.
A few years ago, Linux Voice published a really simple IRC bot project in the magazine. I took this and managed to get it to connect to a minecraft Pi game and I could use IRC to send instructions to the game.
In the screenshot below the bot has received an instruction to execute uname -a and the output is directed to the game screen.
To get all this to work you need:-
An IRC client
A raspberry pi which should be running Minecraft Pi and the python program, once the game has started the bot should connect.
You also need to connect to either:-
An existing IRC server or
Your own irc server, which can be another Raspberry Pi on the same network running an IRC server.
note You need to ask if it is Ok to connect bots to IRC servers.
In my code it is connecting to a Raspberry Pi (original model) running an IRC server.
It does work, but there is probably potential here for expansion and improvement.
A few years ago, I wrote a Python script (probably badly) that created a TkInter graphical user interface, that would link to some of the Minecraft Pi API functionality. The idea being that a few common commands, would be available at the touch of a widget button.
The program is pretty basic. It may, be useful to someone out there, at least a starting point. I have therefore put the project back on GitHub.
I am happy for someone to fork and or take over the project or contribute further. I can be found on IRC (freenode) as zleap.
