While on vacation, I like to spend a part of my time reading whichever blogs are currently subscribed in my RSS feed reader. On vacation for about a week, I’m still looking for a good offline RSS feed reader for Linux. An offline reader allows one to read the downloaded posts even when offline (e.g. on the train between employment and home). Actually, the choice shouldn’t be so hard because after a prelimirary survey, the only three promissing choices were Liferea, RSSOwl and, of course, Google Reader (offline using the Google Gears).
Liferea is built using GTK libraries and has some nice features, but a minimal experimentation session proved Liferea to be a sligthly unstable application (even when using the stable version). However, the advanced features, specially Google Reader synchronization (only available in the unstable version), make me consider using it as my official RSS reader.
On the other side, RSSOwl is a platform independent, supported by the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, reader with a lot of advanced features. Being a lot more stable that the previous reader, currently RSSOwl seems to be a good candidate.
Using Google Reader is certanly another good option, which became even more probable when I discovered that using Google Gears allowed to add offline behaviour to the original service.
The current choice, although not final, falls on to RSSOwl, but I’ll have to check the offline Google Reader feature.
^C^C^X^X^X^XquitqQ!qdammit[esc]qwertyuiopasdfghjkl;:xwhat
My first vim session was almost like the one above. Found it here and had a big laugh.
A good book makes an excellent company. The time it takes to go from home to work is usually occupied with some reading, but from time to time I prefer the more passive company of a good interview or technical discussion downloaded from any given podcast.
Until today, no Linux podcast client had all the features that made it perfect for me, but that was just because I was looking in the wrong place. I tried Amarok built-in client, gPodder and a few others but none of then was ever able to truly accomplish the task at hand.
A couple of days ago I found IcePodder (a Linux clone for Juice), a very simple to use podcast client (also available for Windows and Mac, not that I care). With a clean interface, the subscription process is very straight-forward and quick.
Unfortunately, the installation procedure on Ubuntu 8.04 is not the usual ’sudo aptitude install X’, but it still remains to be quite simple:
> sudo apt-get install subversion
> svn co https://icepodder.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/icepodder icepodder
> cd icepodder
> sudo ./install.sh
> sudo apt-get install python-wxversion
and that is it. Just run iPodder.
[Updated after some complaints from the readers on not being able to install IcePodder]
This might seem a stupid post… but, due to fact that the CTRL+Enter key sequence works in both Word and Powerpoint to insert a newline in a table cell contain text, and in my mind, it should also work in Excel! This is not the case. When using Excel the CTRL+Enter sequence is interpreted as a simple Enter keystroke.
Why does Excel uses ALT+Enter, instead of the usual keystroke sequence? This fact has always baffled me…
A few days ago I had to scan a paper certificate to send it in a digital form. The paper certificate had 3 pages which I promptly scanned into 3 separate PDFs as the required format was PDF.
Then came the hard part, I could only submit 1 file which meant that had to concatenate all 3 original files. Of course that for this I could use some kind of PDF tool (such as acrobat writer), but as any respected Linux user the way forward was to use “the shell”…
So, the solution was to use Ghostscript. The tool is able to “print” a sequence of files into a unique PDF file. Just use it as follows:
gs -q -sPAPERSIZE=a4 -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite
-sOutputFile=out.pdf in1.pdf in2.pdf in3.pdf [more-input-files]
After using a tool on a daily basis for a while I start to (as most of the people) know very specific details about that tool. But there is always some specific features that simply are not used because they are forgotten …
I always defend that peole should not be forced to know anything by heart, and so, I am a huge fan of having a quick reference card for this or the other tool currently in use. Currently, hanging in the wall being me is the GDB reference card, and soon also the CVS reference card.
I’m also a very strong supporter of the “RTFM” approach… the linux man command is one of my favorite linux command.
I use and suggest to everyone a tool framework called Valgrind. Valgrind’s tool suite include very powerful debugging and profiling tools, essential to the development of any C/C++ project. In sum, I strongly recommend it use!
This post is not about any tip or trick on how to use Valgrind. It’s about a more trivial matter… Is about the name ‘Valgrind’, and it’s origins. During the last week I discussed with a colleague it’s origins. I was arguing that the name Valgring was some kind of short to “value grinder”. I now admit: “I was work!”… but very, very, dead Wrong! My colleague was dead On!
In fact, it took no more than 10 minutes to find the Valgrind FAQ, and another minute to find the answer from the authors themselves:
Where does the name “Valgrind” come from?
From Nordic mythology. Originally (before release) the project was named Heimdall, after the watchman of the Nordic gods. He could “see a hundred miles by day or night, hear the grass growing, see the wool growing on a sheep’s back” (etc). This would have been a great name, but it was already taken by a security package “Heimdal”.
Keeping with the Nordic theme, Valgrind was chosen. Valgrind is the name of the main entrance to Valhalla (the Hall of the Chosen Slain in Asgard). Over this entrance there resides a wolf and over it there is the head of a boar and on it perches a huge eagle, whose eyes can see to the far regions of the nine worlds. Only those judged worthy by the guardians are allowed to pass through Valgrind. All others are refused entrance.
It’s not short for “value grinder”, although that’s not a bad guess.
The last phrase says it all. The authors even read my mind, or someone else has had the same crazy idea before!!
I didn’t forget to download the latest Firefox 3.0. This way I participated in a new World Record, and also got my hands in the best browser available in the world. Here’s the proof…
Remember The Milk is a very nice online tool to manage your personal task list. It enables you to manage your tasks from wherever you are at the moment, keeping them always updated.
For those how use Firefox, the RememberTheMilk tool developers have developed an add-on which integrates the tool into your Gmail interface. A task list is created in a new sidebar which is added to right side of gmail’s message list.
A add-on to integrate the task list into Thunderbird is also available here (the installation procedures are here). This allows the user to integrate the task list into the calendar Lightning add-on.
The Spread Firefox community will attempt to achieve a Guiness World Record for the most Downloaded Software Application in a Day. For this, your help is required!
Please pledge to the initiative, and download the new Firefox 3.0 the day it is launched!
