http://linuxbeacon.com/ 2010-09-09T05:49:35+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/ http://linuxbeacon.com/lib/images/favicon.ico text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:autohotkey&rev=1268648766&do=diff If you want to automate some repetitive tasks or write a simple utility that makes your daily computing easier, it’s not very practical to learn a full-blown programming language. Instead, you’d be better off using a scripting tool like AutoHotkey that allows you to automate virtually any task on Windows. AutoHotkey features an easy-to-learn scripting language you can use to create useful scripts in a matter of minutes. The scripting language contains functions that allow you to create graphical… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:battletanks&rev=1268648769&do=diff Originally published on Linux.com Finding an addictive computer game on a Friday evening can be rather dangerous. Instead of doing things you have been promising your wife for weeks, you spend the weekend in front of your computer playing the game and trying to explain to your better half that “this is for work”. This is exactly what happened to me when I discovered the Battle Tanks game. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:btnx&rev=1268648766&do=diff When you splashed out for a new swanky mouse like Logitech VX Nano, you sure want to make the most out of your investment, which means making its programmable buttons work. The problem is, however, that many Linux distributions recognize most mice as a generic pointing device, so none of the fancy extra buttons work right out of the box. Fortunately, the btnx utility can help you to turn your mouse into a versatile tool it meant to be. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:10+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:buddi&rev=1268648770&do=diff Although the idea of using an application to manage your personal finances does make a lot of sense, not all of us have the time and patience to learn all the intricacies of tools like GnuCash or Money Manager Ex. In this case, you need Buddi, probably the most easy to use personal finance manager out there. Written in Java, Buddi runs on most platforms with Java Runtime Environment installed. If you are running Debian or Ubuntu, you can download and install a .deb package; otherwise you can opt… text/html 2010-03-23T17:04:03+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:coccinella&rev=1269360243&do=diff Although its name sounds like that of a bacterium, Coccinella is a nice cross-platform open source Jabber client. While Jabber, and IM clients in general, are a dime a dozen, Coccinella sports a few nifty features that make it worth considering if your are in the market for a Jabber client. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:10+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:conduit&rev=1268648770&do=diff Keeping your documents and files in sync between multiple computers is a tough challenge as it is, but there are other factors that make this task even more difficult. Nowadays, documents and files are not only stored on a desktop machine or laptop, they are quite often dispersed over different web-based services and applications like Flickr, del.icio.us, and Gmail. Conduit is a unique synchronization utility, which can help you to keep stuff on your laptop in sync with myriads of web services a… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:conky&rev=1268648769&do=diff When it comes to monitoring your Linux system, few tools can rival Conky. This lightweight system monitoring utility can help you to keep an eye on virtually any aspect of your system, and it offers a huge list of options to choose from. But this flexibility comes at a price: all Conky’s settings are stored in the .conkyrc file, which you have to create and tweak manually. The good news is that once you’ve understood the inner workings of the .conkyrc file, you can easily create rather powerful … text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:deliciousmind&rev=1268648768&do=diff del.icio.us is a nifty bookmark service -- no doubt about that. However, if the way it displays the bookmarks doesn’t tickle your fancy, you can add a whole new dimension to your bookmark collection by turning it into a mindmap using a clever utility called DeliciousMind. This tiny tool converts your del.icio.us bookmarks into a mindmap, which you can then view and edit in the FreeMind application as well as publish on the Web. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ewallet&rev=1268648768&do=diff Using OpenOffice.org Base you can easily build a database for storing personal data such as passwords, software and hardware serial numbers, PIN codes, etc. This article shows you how to overcome the two challenges of creating such a solution, namely storing disparate data, and securing access to it. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:exhibit&rev=1268648768&do=diff Originally published at Linux.com Tools like phpMyEdit allow you to create a quick-and-dirty front end to a database, but what if you need to publish a spreadsheet or BibTeX file on your website and give your visitors the ability to dynamically sort, filter, group, and visualize the published data? For that, you can turn to SIMILE Exhibit, an impressive data publishing framework that uses plain old HTML, CSS, and a bit of JavaScript to create web pages with support for sorting, filtering, and… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:10+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:flatfile&rev=1268648770&do=diff While the vast majority of existing open source web publishing systems rely on database back-ends, there are quite a few high-quality applications that use plain text files instead of databases to store and manage data. These applications are often called flat-file systems, and they offer a few advantages that make them viable alternatives to the database-driven applications. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:fma&rev=1268648766&do=diff The modern mobile phone is a powerful device that you can use to store contacts, manage calendars, check email, and even browse the Web. But that’s not all: install floAt's Mobile Agent (FMA) on your laptop or PC, connect it to your handset, and you can use the combo as a versatile communication tool. This article introduces you to FMA’s features and shows you how to get started with the application. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ikog&rev=1268648768&do=diff First published on Linux.com: <http://www.linux.com/feature/61612> Despite its name, iKog is not a KDE application. In fact, it’s not even a GUI application. iKog is a text-based task manager that can help you to keep tabs on your tasks from the command line. Although it lacks all the bells and whistles of a full-blown GUI task manager, it’s one of those tools that make a virtue of doing a limited range of tasks well. iKog is written in Python, and since most Linux distributions come with Py… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:indywiki&rev=1268648768&do=diff Originally published on Linux.com No matter what you think about the quality and nature of Wikipedia articles, there is no denying that the encyclopedia provides an immense knowledge repository full of exciting facts and information. And while you can quickly find an article about a particular topic using Wikipedia’s search capabilities, there are other ways to explore Wikipedia that break away from the traditional search box approach. Indywiki is a good example of a tool that tries to rethin… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:07+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:jvltstardict&rev=1268648767&do=diff There are plenty of textbooks and teaching materials that can help you to learn foreign languages one way or another. Yet, there is no way to learn a foreign language without memorizing vocabulary and looking up words in a dictionary. This is hard and often not very exciting work, but there are a few tools that can make the process of acquiring new words and expressions a bit more tolerable and effective. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:kexi&rev=1268648769&do=diff Although for many the OpenOffice.org Base application is an obvious choice for building a desktop database application, it’s not the only game in town. Kexi, a relatively new member of the KOffice family, allows you to create simple databases without learning all the intricacies of database development. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:knoppix60pictoguide&rev=1268648768&do=diff The latest version of Knoppix represents a radical remake of the venerable Live CD Linux distribution. Knoppix 6.0 is leaner, faster, and more versatile than ever. In addition to that, the new version brings another significant improvement: the amazingly fast boot process. Even when Knoppix runs from a CD, it takes less than a minute to boot to the graphical desktop. More importantly, the improved boot process doesn’t affect Knoppix’ legendary hardware detection capabilities. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:krusader&rev=1268648769&do=diff Konqueror, KDE’s default file manager and browser, is a good all-around tool, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that it fits all your file management needs. Sometimes a dedicated file manager can be a better choice for daily computing. Krusader is a powerful and versatile file manager that can make your work more efficient and productive. Krusader is available with most KDE-based major Linux distributions, including Kubuntu (and Ubuntu with KDE), PCLinuxOS, KANOTIX, etc., and you can easily inst… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:lftp&rev=1268648768&do=diff No matter what Linux distribution you are using, chances are that you’ll find more than one graphical FTP client in its repositories. But if you are looking for a powerful command-line FTP tool, your best bet is lftp. Of course, you can always use the good old ftp tool, but lftp takes the task of managing files and directories using the FTP protocol onto a whole new level. To get to grips with this excellent tool, let’s use it to write a script that creates a local backup copy of a web site. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:odfwriter&rev=1268648769&do=diff While you can create and save documents in the OpenDocument format using OpenOffice.org, KWord, or AbiWord, there are other ways to generate ODF files. odtwriter, for example, can help you to quickly convert plain text files formatted using reStructured Text markup into odt (OpenOffice.org Writer-compatible ODF) documents. You might wonder why you’d want to create ODF documents this way, but odtwriter does offer a few important advantages: text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ooobab&rev=1268648769&do=diff So you’ve written a nifty OpenOffice.org macro and want to share it with the world. You can, of course, publish the code on your website, but a better way to go is to pack it as an easy-to-install OpenOffice.org extension. An extension is just a plain zip archive containing, besides the macro itself, a few XML-based files that OpenOffice.org needs to properly install the package. Theoretically, it’s possible to create the required XML files in a text editor, but it would be as effective as digg… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:10+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ooobaseprimer&rev=1268648770&do=diff Of all four OpenOffice.org applications, Base is probably the most complicated one. It is a powerful tool that allows you to build complex databases, but this power comes at a price: if you’ve never worked with database applications, you might find Base a bit overwhelming. This article provides an introduction to the most important aspects of Base that will help you to create databases with consummate ease. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:oooconvert&rev=1268648769&do=diff One of the less well-known features of OpenOffice.org is its ability to run as a service. You can put that ability to some clever use. For example, you can turn OpenOffice.og into a conversion engine and use it to convert documents from one format to another via a web-based interface or a command-line tool. JODConverter can help you to unleash OpenOffice.org’s file conversion capabilities. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:07+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ooodigitalsignature&rev=1268648767&do=diff OpenOffice 2.0 or higher allows you to digitally sign documents using certificates. While obtaining a certificate is a quite complicated and expensive procedure, you can easily create a so-called self-signed certificate and use it to sign your documents. Both Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Office include tools for generating self-signed certificates, but if you only want to create a certificate for personal use, you can do this using the free and easy-to-use utility SELFCERT from Abylonsoft. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:oooforms&rev=1268648768&do=diff With OpenOffice.org Writer you can create any kind of form from simple questionnaires to sophisticated interactive tests. Here’s how to create a simple quiz using the form tools, and how to add interactivity to it with a couple of macros. The quiz you are going to create will consist of a series of multiple choice questions. Before you start designing the quiz, it is a good idea to create a database that will contain all the questions. This database will greatly simplify the process of managing… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ooohg&rev=1268648766&do=diff Creating maps is by no means an easy task. While there are a few open-source Geographical Information System (GIS) applications available for Linux, they are all geared towards professional users, and as such they have quite a steep learning curve. Even if you manage to master a GIS application, you still have to produce maps, or find pre-made map templates, which quite often are rather expensive. Fortunately, there is an easy-to-use software package called OOoHG that includes everything you nee… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ooosparklines&rev=1268648769&do=diff Big graphs are not the only way to visualize data in a text document. Using a couple of tricks, you can spice up your OpenOffice.org Writer documents with sparklines -- word-sized graphs embedded into text. Developed by infographic guru Edward Tufte, sparklines provide a simple yet effective way of visualizing data directly in the text body of the document. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:ooowt&rev=1268648769&do=diff Disclaimer: I’m the author of the Writer’s Tools extension, and the article describes how to use the extension’s tools which I created specifically to help me to write more efficiently. I hope you’ll find Writer’s Tools useful, too. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that a word processor can’t help you to become a better writer, you can use OpenOffice.org Writer with the Writer's Tools extension to improve your writing skills and make the writing process more efficient. The extension provides… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:openttd&rev=1268648766&do=diff Written in 1995 by British computer game developer Chris Sawyer, Transport Tycoon Deluxe to this day has thousands of fans around the world. Although the game’s development ceased a long time ago, Transport Tycoon Deluxe continues to live and evolve through OpenTTD, an open-source version of the original game. OpenTTD takes over where Transport Tycoon Deluxe left off, and adds a wealth of improvements and new features including bigger maps, new and significantly improved AI, support for more tha… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:schedulemacro&rev=1268648766&do=diff One of the major shortcomings of OpenOffice.org Basic (OOo Basic) is the lack of a mechanism that allows you to schedule macros. For example, the Writer's Tools extension comes with the Multi-format Backup tool, which you can use to save backup copies of the currently opened document in different formats. While this tool is useful as it is, adding the ability to create scheduled backups can save you the trouble of manually running the tool every time you want to perform a backup. While it’s not … text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:scrapbookbasket&rev=1268648769&do=diff While desktop search applications usually do a great job of locating files and finding text in them, they cannot solve a problem, which may sound familiar to many users. Normally you know where all your files are, and you have a pretty good idea of what they contain. However, collecting and organizing disparate pieces of data on the hard disk and from the web is another matter. For example, as I am learning Japanese, I have hundreds of text notes, images, loose web pages, scanned articles, and o… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:10+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:tbirdguide&rev=1268648770&do=diff Using Thunderbird’s advanced features and a few nifty extensions, you can turn a humble email client into a fine-tuned productivity tool. The following guide shows you how. Filters allow you to automatically sort incoming emails into specified folders. They are great time-savers that can help to keep your Inbox nice and tidy without you lifting a finger. Let’s take a concrete example that shows how to configure and use a simple filter. If you stumble upon an interesting website, and you want t… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:07+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:tbirdtxt&rev=1268648767&do=diff Despite the fact that there are quite a few document management systems (DMS) on the market, email remains for many the main tool for managing document workflow. Admittedly, an email client doesn’t offer any advanced tools for managing files, but email’s sheer convenience and ease of use are rather compelling reasons for sticking with the proven tool. In one respect, email actually beats a conventional DMS. Quite often, a document is just part of a bigger picture; comments, reviews, and feedback… text/html 2010-03-31T19:27:45+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:tonidoopenid&rev=1270056465&do=diff OpenID is a pretty neat thing. It gives you a universal identity that you can use with any Web site that requires authentication. Basically, instead of creating an account on a Web site that requires registration, you can use your OpenID URL and password to sign in. The advantage of this approach is obvious: it allows you to replace multiple user names and passwords with a single universal OpenID identity. text/html 2010-04-12T21:03:28+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:tonidopluglamp&rev=1271099008&do=diff While TonidoPlug is a great personal server as it is, you can teach it a few neat tricks. For example, how about turning your TonidoPlug into a fully-fledged server running the MySQL/PHP stack? There are two ways to do that. Since TonidoPlug is powered by Ubuntu Linux, you can install the required packages and configure them yourself. But if this DIY approach is not your cup of tea, a custom LAMP image for TonidoPlug can do the trick with a minimum of fuss. While it’s not free, this solution off… text/html 2010-03-29T19:41:47+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:tonidothots&rev=1269884507&do=diff While there are quite a few services that offer free blog hosting, there are situations when you’d want to run a blog on your own server. This approach has its advantages, but setting up a server and then installing and configuring a blog system can be a daunting proposition -- unless you choose to use Tonido, that is. This solution offers everything you need in one neat , easy-to-install package. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:07+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:toucan&rev=1268648767&do=diff Need a tool to keep documents and files on your USB stick safe? Look no further than Toucan, a nifty portable utility that has a few clever tricks up its sleeve. Figure 1: Toucan’s main window Unlike other backup utilities out there, Toucan allows you to both synchronize and back up your files, giving you the best of both worlds. While the former allows you to keep files on your USB stick in sync with multiple machines, the latter is perfect for storing backups of your data as compressed ar… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:09+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:usbunison&rev=1268648769&do=diff If graphical synchronization tools like Toucan are not flexible enough for your needs, you might want to try Unison, an easy-to-use yet powerful synchronization utility. To install Unison on your USB stick, download its command-line version (the unison-x.xx.x-win-text.exe file), rename the file to unison.exe, and move it into the root of the USB stick. Create a unison folder in the same location. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:07+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:vlcdvd&rev=1268648767&do=diff If you have the VLC media player (VLC) installed on your computer, you probably already know how versatile this tool is: it can handle virtually any media file, it can play network streams like Internet radio stations, and it can stream media contents across the network. But that’s not all; VLC can also stream the contents to a file in a user-defined format, which makes it a rather handy transcoding tool. The most obvious use of this feature is to backup your film DVDs, and VLC makes the entire … text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:vlctips&rev=1268648766&do=diff VLC media player features a deceptively simple interface that doesn’t require a degree in rocket science to operate. That doesn’t mean, however, that VLC is a simplistic application: it has a few tricks up its sleeve, which can significantly extend its functionality and your user experience. Here are a couple of VLC’s nifty features you might want to try. text/html 2010-03-25T16:43:48+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:wikiinajar&rev=1269531828&do=diff While TiddlyWiki is probably the most popular desktop wiki out there, it’s not the only fish in the sea. And if you don’t fancy TiddlyWiki’s approach to managing content, or you are looking for a desktop wiki that can help you to manage not only your notes but also appointments and contacts, then you might want to try Wiki in a Jar. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:07+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:wnotes&rev=1268648767&do=diff While OpenOffice.org is first and foremost a desktop office suite, it has a few powerful features that allow you to create some nifty solutions. For example, the Base application supports different database engines such as MySQL, and it can connect and manage remote databases. Moreover, the data from a remote database is available for other OpenOffice.org applications, so you can, for example, access and manipulate database records directly from within Writer. These capabilities can be put to so… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:06+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:worldkit&rev=1268648766&do=diff No one would argue that maps are useful. However, creating even a simple interactive map ready to be published on the Web can be a real hassle. Fortunately, there is worldKit, a Flash-based light-weight geographical information system (GIS) distributed under GPL. Although it doesn’t provide all the bells and whistles of a professional application like GRASS GIS, it has a few clever tricks up its sleeve that allow you to create interactive maps without getting too deep into all the intricacies of… text/html 2010-03-21T11:37:14+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:writerapps&rev=1269167834&do=diff Although OpenOffice.org Writer and AbiWord top the list of open source software for those who write for work or fun, they are not the be-all-and-end-all of writing tools. In fact, there are quite a few other nifty applications that can help you to collect ideas, manage notes, edit documents, and even improve your writing. text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:08+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:writerscribus&rev=1268648768&do=diff Although OpenOffice.org Writer offers many tools that allow you to create rather sophisticated layouts, you might want to use a dedicated DTP application to layout a brochure or a book. Scribus is an open source DTP software that allows you to do just that. Better yet, the latest versions of the application can import .odt documents, which makes Writer and Scribus a perfect combo for DTP work. The following article provides a brief overview of Scribus’ essential tools and features, from Writer u… text/html 2010-03-15T11:26:11+02:00 http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php?id=articles:writertips&rev=1268648771&do=diff Writer is, without a doubt, the most frequently used application in the OpenOffice.org suite. It offers many advanced features that can help you to create anything from a simple letter to a book with a complex layout. But, as with any powerful application, you often have to dig deep in order to get the most out of Writer. The following tips will help you to quickly master Writer’s many useful features.