First, I want to tell you that I think I might have accidentally broken facebook. It is going to be a while before this becomes apparent, but I think it might be true. Then, I’ve got some cool links for Linux Lovers.
Continue reading Some Technology Talk
Tag Archives: Linux
Syncing Your To Do List
I still have not found a satisfactory way to sync my calendar and to do list between the University’s calendar server, my Windows “computer” at work, my Linux Laptop, the iPod Touch, and the main computer in the Blog Cave.
But we may be getting there.
To-do syncing has always been one of the gaping holes on the productivity side of the iPhone and iPod touch. Several third-party apps have filled this hole, but with Google Sync, to-do syncing gets even better.
The Knowliz weblog details how to set up popular to-do list manager Toodledo (and it’s calendar feed feature) to work in conjunction with Google Calendar–and by extension, Google Sync–so that your to-do list syncs seamlessly between your calendar, to-do list, and iPhone.
Apple Feels It Owns You
If you buy an iPhone from Apple, you don’t own the iPhone. No. Apple owns you.
According to this item on Slashdot regarding this item from somewhere else on the intertubules.
So if you buy this thing, you can do whatever you want with it as long as whatever you want is what Apple wants. If you want to do something else with your thing, the Apple Police will come and get you.
Big brother, it turns out, is all about Oedipus.
Doh! I missed it!!
Earlier today, the Linux Epoch time … which is the number os seconds since January 1st 1970 when the world was created … reached this number:
Microsoft = Evil
From slashdot:
“Microsoft is advertising for a new director of open source strategy, but this one has a specific purpose: fight the Linux desktop. ‘The Windows Competitive Strategy team is looking for a strong team member to lead Microsoft’s global desktop competitive strategy as it relates to open source competitors.’ For a variety of reasons, this move is almost certainly targeted at Ubuntu Linux’s desktop success. With the Mac, not Linux, apparently eating into Microsoft’s Windows market share, what is it about desktop Linux, and specifically Ubuntu, that has Microsoft spooked?”
figures. details and links here.
What happens on February 14th?
Lots of important things. For one, it’s Amanda’s birthday! Then, there is some holiday on that date, can’t remember. Labor day or something. Then, the 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards for Linux Journal come out!
Between now and then, go ahead and vote on your favorite Linux Stuff. To take the survey, must insall lynx if don’t have it:
sudo apt-get install lynx
then type in:
lynx www.linuxjournal.com/content/readers-choice-awards
Or, if you must, just CLICK HERE.
Your computer can run a Zillion times faster!
If you are currently using Ubuntu 8, the upgrade to Ubuntu 9 will involve the implementation of Ext4. Ext4 is a super duper very fast file system that will make your computer sing. Sing fast.
If you are not using Linux at all, say you are using WinDoze, switching to Ubuntu 9.04 will make your computer run Two Zillion times faster, and it will not keep breaking and doing annoying things.
But remember, Linux is NOT FOR EVERYBODY. No …
Continue reading Your computer can run a Zillion times faster!
R U N Ubuntu User?
Technology News and Stuff
Microsoft to stop selling Windows XP on Monday from PhysOrg.com
(AP) — Microsoft Corp. is scheduled to stop selling its Windows XP operating system to retailers and major computer makers Monday, despite protests from a slice of PC users who don’t want to be forced into using XP’s successor, Vista.
[…]
Synchronize directories with Komparator and KDiff3
f you work some of the time on your laptop and some of the time on your desktop box, making sure that your work is updated on both machines is a must. Many tools can help you accomplish this, from command-line tools such as scp and rsync to generic graphical applications like Konqueror or Krusader, to more specific tools like Unison. Komparator and KDiff3, a couple of KDE applications with interesting features, may offer better ways of syncing your work.Komparator can search and synchronize any two directories. It uses KIO slaves, which lets you compare not only standard directories, but also protocol-based pseudofolders such as smb:// (Samba folders), ssh:// and ftp:// (remote directories via SSH and FTP), and fonts:// (local fonts). Its latest version is 0.8, dated from October 2007, and it’s available under the GPLv2. ..KDiff3 provides more functions than Komparator, but not all are relevant to synchronization. Working with directories, KDiff3 goes further than Komparator — it can compare as many as three directories at the same time (instead of two), simulate the merge operations, do the synchronization in a more “hands-off” way, and even produce backups. More importantly, it can also help you compare specific files (think source files, if you’re a programmer) by highlighting their differences, then merging them. In KDiff3, a merge need not be simply one file overwriting another. If you’ve ever modified a file on one machine and then carelessly made another change to a copy of the file on a different machine, common merging procedures would opt for one of the files, making you lose the changes on the other one. With KDiff3, you could get to keep both changes.
I’m not vouching for either of these as I have not tried them for this purpose, but it looks worthy of consideration.See Also:Keyboard Shortcuts in OpenOffice.org
Gedit With It.
I find myself using a basic text editor more and more often. Even the relatively well behaved openoffice.or Writer had a tendency to do stuff I don’t necessarily want to do with a simple text file, and certainly, something like Word is the work of Satan.For instance, have you ever noticed strange goofy characters that are not supposed to be there in the title of the posts on this blog or elsewhere? That comes from using a text editor. What looks like “Hello World” in both a text editor and a word processor may not really be the same thing, when copied and pasted. Character encodings and all.Anyway, text editors are important, and they are not just for coders. In fact, bloggers need an excellent text editor, as do many normal people.Here is an overview of Linux text editors. I’ll make just a few comments.As the review says, vi (or Vim or Elvis … variants of vi) is installed on virtually every *nix computer. Therefore, if you are a system administrator, you will find …. wait, wait, if you are a system administrator you do not need to learn anything from me about text editors. Move along. northing to see here.OK, the review also discusses Gedit and Kate. I’ve written recently about Gedit, HERE, in what I think is my most under appreciated post … lots of work, good stuff, funny jokes, nobody read it. Go read that to find out more about Gedit. And spornography. And other stuff. Continue reading Gedit With It.
Optical Character Recognition in Linux
I don’t think Optical Character Recognition (OCR) works that well, frankly. But it can be done and it can be better than retyping piles of text.It does seem to work nicely when the text is nice and clean on nice clean white paper with a good contract between ink and background and no garbage on the page. But in my experience, when I have those conditions, it is because i have an electronic version already! When I have a PDF file that consists of scans of photocopies, OCR tends to see flecks of yeck as accents (or entire letters) and things get messy. Continue reading Optical Character Recognition in Linux
Talkin’Trash in Linux
A little wine with your Linux?
Wine is the software that runs in Linux which, in turn runs Windows programs. I have experimented and I could not believe how incredibly well it worked. At the time, I was able to achieve greater stability and performance, and an easier install, for Microsoft Office and Endnote on my Linux computer than on a comparable Windows computer. The down side in that case was that I had to run an older version of Office than currently (at that time) available. Also, the increase in reliability and performance was almost certainly in the system itself. The Linux computer simply worked (as they tend to do ) and the Windows computer was simply screwy (as they tend to be). Also, from a broader perspective, Wine was limited in what it could run. I could use Word and Excel and integrate Endnote with Word and so on, but I could not run Sim City (for example) . Ideally, a “windows emulator” (and I put that in quotes because Wine is not exactly a windows emulator) should be able to run anything windows can run. On your Linux box. Backwards and wearing high heels.Well, after fifteen years of Mucking around and slowly improving, Wine has some interesting news… Continue reading A little wine with your Linux?
Linux List
How to be more keyboardy
Being more keyboardy is good. The mouse is good, too. But if you can do more things with the keyboard, those things will usually happen faster and with less mucking around. Also, it is very, very cool to sit there and go “tap tap tap” and have stuff happen on the screen without the mouse. Like in that Star Trek where Scott was forced to use a Mac Classic to design Invisible Aluminum. First he tried to use the mouse as a microphone to communicate with the computer. When that didn’t work, he just went after the keyboard and tap-tap-tap had a design for Invisible Aluminum ready to go. To put whales in.Since most of your time is spent using a web browser, and the main web browser you use is Firefox, I thought I’d pass on a few keyboardy shortcuts. Keep in mind, however, that many keyboard commands are used in common system wide for many different programs, like the first three I’ll mention … they work, in one way or another, in all programs that also use a mouse. Most of the time. Continue reading How to be more keyboardy