Simple and Useful Ways to Optimize GNOME for Netbook Displays

GNOME is highly customizable and can be tweaked to suit every user’s needs. That’s why I think its versatility makes it a perfect desktop environment for Linux netbooks.

Since netbook displays are small, desktop space should not be wasted. I have here some tips that I hope you will find useful on how you can optimize GNOME for your netbook’s diminutive desktop area.

Customize Panel

* Use one panel only
GNOME comes with two panels by default. For netbook displays, it is best to use a single-panel layout to save some desktop space.

GNOME desktop with single panel

* Shrink the panel size
There are two easy ways to make the panel thinner. One is to adjust the panel size; the other is to install and use a minimalist theme.

* Change “Window Selector” to “Window List”
Window Selector can fill the panel area when you open plenty of applications together. With Window List, you don’t have to worry about this as opened windows are displayed as vertical drop-down list.

Window Selector

Window List

* Autohide panel
Autohiding panel is optional as some people find it convenient to have the panel objects like the main menu, notifications, and icons present at all times.

Optimize Fonts

To make fonts look a lot clearer on a netbook’s small display, I recommend you set the fonts preferences to this:

Experiment with Themes

* Use a GTK theme with slim window borders
There are plenty of available space-saving themes HERE and HERE. I usually use ThinMC, Bentham, and Simplebox so look for them. However, there are still plenty of themes that I haven’t explored yet so don’t be afraid to try some.

* Utilize tiny themes for different applications
Since you can change the theme of Firefox, Thunderbird, and other desktop applications, it is best to utilize space-saving themes. Like for example, I use the Littlefox theme on Firefox.

So there you have it. If you have better ways to optimize a desktop for netbook display, you can always ignore my tips. However, please share with us how you did it via comment so that we too can learn from you.

Firefox 3.0.7 Beta Released

Before anything else, I would like to let everyone know why I failed to post an update for the last couple of days. Well, it’s been a hella busy week. I went to Manila for a visa interview and just celebrated my birthday among other things :-) I’m still not in the mood to write but I thought I should let you all know that I’m still alive and kicking.

Anyway, the first thing that greeted me upon my return is an update of Firefox. Since I am a Beta tester, my previous version of Firefox has been updated earlier than probably most of you. The 3.0.7 version has fixed some key issues:

* Fixed several security issues.
* Fixed several stability issues.
* Items in the "File" menu show as inactive after using the "Print" item from that menu - switching to a new tab restores them (bug 425844). This issue has been fixed.
* For some users, cookies would appear to go “missing” after a few days (bug 444600).
* Mac users of the Flashblock add-on, experienced an issue where sound from the Flash plug-in would continue to play for a short time after closing a tab or window (bug 474022).
* Fixed several issues related to accessibility features.

The stable version of Firefox 3.0.7 will be available for download on March 4, 2009.

Weekly Ten (2-23-2009)

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Satellite collision debris may hamper space launches - scientist
The debris from a recent collision involving two communications satellites could pose a serious threat for future launches of spacecraft into a geostationary orbit, a Russian scientist said on Friday.
More @ spacefellowship.com

2. The unknown hackers
Not many Linux-come-latelies know this, but Linux was actually the second open-source Unix-based operating system for personal computers to be distributed over the Internet. The first was 386BSD, which was put together by an extraordinary couple named Bill and Lynne Jolitz. In a 1993 interview with Meta magazine, Linus Torvalds himself name-checked their O.S. "If 386BSD had been available when I started on Linux," he said, "Linux would probably never have happened."
More @ Salon.com

3. Average iPhone app usage declines rapidly after first download
The vast majority of apps downloaded from the App Store are in use by less than 5% of users after one month has passed since the download, according to an analytics firm that is also shedding light on other aspects of the business.
More @ AppleInsider

4. Cell phone triggered fireworks

More @ HackaDay

5. Getting Girls Into Tech
The number of women entering STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers is declining. There are programs at the college and professional levels that try to attract women and racial minorities into these fields, but they're not all that successful. I think it's because college is too late. What sort of future do you want for your own girls-- a wide-open future full of possibilities? Or more of the same old "you can't do that"?
More @ LinuxToday

6. Yahoo May Overhaul Top Management Next Week, Report Says
Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz may be ready announce a major reorganization of the company's executive ranks next week, according to a news report. Bartz is expected to name a new senior management team to help turn around the troubled Internet company, and to roll back reorganizational changes made by former CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker, according to a report Friday evening in All Things Digital, a news blog affiliated with The Wall Street Journal.
More @ PCWorld.com

7. The Perfect Desktop - Debian Lenny
This tutorial shows how you can set up a Debian Lenny desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.
More @ HowtoForge.com

8. SteamPunk Frankenstein casemod sure to anger Luddites

More @ Engadget

9. Stop bouncing: tips for website success
Would you believe me if I said you don't need a Ph.D. to understand your website data? No? Believe it. Free tools like Google Analytics can help simplify website data so that you can better understand what visitors are doing when they arrive on your site.
More @ Googleblog

10. Top 20 Greatest Science Fiction Movies of the 1980s
Action and adventure dominated sci-fi films in the 1980s, thanks in large part to the Star Wars craze. The decade is splattered with many bad films (Masters of the Universe), terrible movies (Superman IV) and unwatchable garbage (Flash Gordon). Even so, finding standouts was easy; narrowing the list to a manageable length was hard. So, to avoid a really long list, I again forced myself to a limit of 20.
More @ ListVerse

25 Most Awesome Firefox Wallpapers

As I’ve said before, Firefox web browser has become so popular that it has a lot of passionate users from around world. These people will do everything to help spread Firefox. --Like some of them have created great desktop wallpapers that even non-Firefox users will surely be attracted to.

To know what I mean, I have collected a few of those wallpapers here for everyone to see. So without delay, here’s my list of 25 most awesome Firefox desktop wallpapers:

1. Firefox Band


2. Wanted Firefox


3. Firefox Balloon


4. Spread Firefox (Brown)


5. Einstein loves Firefox


6. Firefox Mouse


7. Safe Browsing with Firefox


8. Firefox Surf


9. Firefox Atlas


10. United Firefox


11. Firefox Light Bulb


12. Firefox Wall


13. Firefox + Thunderbird Cube


14. Firefox Planets


15. Spread the Fire


16. Firefox Sleek Silver


17. Firefox Sports Car


18. Firefox the Hunter


19. Firefox Girl 1


20. Firefox Pendant


21. Firefox Constellation


22. Firefox Boating


23. Firefox Nebula


24. Firefox Girl 2


25. Firefox + Thunderbird Jack Stone

If you have a link or two to other great Firefox wallpapers, please share it with us via comment.

You may also want to check out my post about some cool and funny Firefox video ads.

Ubuntu 9.10 is Karmic Koala, and it will not be brown!

Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth recently announced that the next version after "Jaunty Jackalope" is codenamed "Karmic Koala". This ended some humorous speculations that Ubuntu 9.10 will be called Kinky Kangaroo.

"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce the Karmic Koala, the newest member of our alliterative menagerie.

When you are looking for inspiration beyond the looming Jaunty feature freeze, I hope you’ll think of the Koala, our official mascot for Ubuntu 9.10. And if you’ll bear with me for a minute I’ll set the scene for what we hope to achieve in that time."

As for me, I was expecting Mr. Shuttleworth to go for a mythical creature and name it after the mighty “King Kong”, and have never thought that he would go for a tree-hugging, eucalyptus-eating, sleepy marsupial.

Aside from having a cute name, Ubuntu 9.10 will have huge improvements in both the server and desktop editions. For the server, it will be embracing the API’s of Amazon EC2 making it easy for anybody to setup their own cloud using entirely open source tools. For the desktop, there will be massive changes. Ubuntu may use Red Hat’s Plymouth graphical boot in favor of Usplash. They are also aiming for a much faster boot speed.

Perhaps the most interesting part in Mark Shuttleworth’s latest announcement is this:

"The desktop will have a designer’s fingerprints all over it - we’re now beginning the serious push to a new look. Brown has served us well but the Koala is considering other options. Come to UDS for a preview of the whole new look."

Is Mark already tired of brown? Will the long-promised Ubuntu new look finally become a reality? I guess we will have to wait until May when Ubuntu Developer Summit kicks off in Barcelona, Spain. However, I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that the upcoming Jaunty Jackalope will have a new theme. What do you think?

Easy Steps to Rip a DVD to ISO in Ubuntu 8.10

An ISO file is the easiest and most universal method for backing up a DVD. The file is an archive file specifically for DVD VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS files, and is an exact copy of the disc. ISO files can be quickly burned to a new dvd using standard burning software, making it the optimal choice for storing backups.

In Windows, third-party software is the only way to backup a DVD. Luckily, Ubuntu Linux has removed this need, and as a result, you can backup your dvds using a standard feature built into the OS --no software or Terminal required.

This tutorial is written using Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex. It will also work with 8.04.

Step 1: Insert the DVD you wish to backup into your optical drive and wait for the dvd icon to appear on your Desktop.

Step 2: Right-click on the DVD icon and choose 'Copy Disc' from the menu.

Step 3: A dialog box will appear. In the drop-down box next to 'Copy to...', choose FILE IMAGE.


Step 4: Press the WRITE button.

Step 5: Choose a location to save the ISO.


Step 6: Wait for the progress bar to reach the end. It will say 'Successfully Copied'. Close the window and remove the DVD.


Step 7: You can test the ISO and confirm it works using VLC media player. If you don't have VLC installed, you can install it via the Terminal and this code: sudo apt-get install vlc .

Step 8: If you want to extract the VOB files from the ISO, right-click and choose 'extract here'. It will take about ten minutes, but the video_ts and audio_ts folders will be extracted to the same location.

Step 9: If you want to convert the ISO into a smaller file, such as an XviD or x264, you can either extract the VOBs and use DVD::RIP, or download Handbrake and rip directly from the ISO--both run smoothly on Ubuntu.

Fair Warning: In some countries, backing up DVDs you legally own is not legal--for example, in the US, copying a commercial DVD violates the DCMA. Be sure to check with the laws in your country before proceeding.

This tutorial was prepared for “Tech Source from Bohol” by Blair Mathis of LaptopLogic.com, your premier source for latest notebook reviews.

Why iPod is Rockin’ with Rockbox

I realized that I've been using Rockbox instead of my iPod's stock firmware for more than 2 years already. It's rock solid and I never encountered any problems with it that I didn't even bother upgrading to the latest Rockbox version for the longest time now.

I want to convince people to install and use Rockbox because I can honestly say that it's the best thing that ever happened to my iPod by pushing its limits and making it more capable and useful. So, I thought I should share to everyone some of my reasons why I use Rockbox (and you should too) and why it is still rockin’ after all these years.

* Copy and paste. Yes we can.
With iPod's stock firmware, you will have to install iTunes or any of those iTunes replacements to manage and transfer files to and from your iPod. With Rockbox, all you have to do is connect your iPod to a computer and transfer files by copying and pasting just like when using a USB flash drive. No more syncing hassles.

* Look Ma! I can play Doom on my iPod
Only few iPod owners know that it’s possible to play Doom on their beloved audio player. With Rockbox, you can install Doom on iPod and I can assure you that it will work smoothly and you will have lots of fun. What a way to take a break from listening to Barry Manilow’s greatest hit songs.


* Zoom in, zoom out
Have you sometimes wished that your iPod’s own photo viewer could zoom in and out on the photos you are viewing? With iPod’s tiny screen, I’m sure you have. Rockbox’s JPEG viewer plugin has a zoom in and zoom out feature that you will likely find useful.

* Theming
Like me, I’m sure you want to change your iPod’s default theme to fit your mood, to be unique, or whatever your reasons. Rockbox will make theming possible. In fact, I made a post about some of the great themes for Rockbox that you can easily download and install.


* More games and plugins
With Rockbox, you are not just limited to playing Doom because there are plenty of wonderful games to choose from via plugin. To name a few, there’s Chessbox, Brickmania, Bubbles, Packbox, Sudoku, and Jewels. Also included are useful plugins like Calculator, Calendar, DiskTidy, RockPaint, and so much more. For a full list of plugins and for more details, you can go HERE.


Since Rockbox is constantly being developed, I expect to see more features coming real soon. So, that’s about it. I hope some of you out there will get to try Rockbox after reading this. And, to those who have used or are already using Rockbox, we also want to hear your experiences through comment.

Free and Open Source Finance/Accounting Software for Linux

If you have a small or medium-size business, then you may consider using finance or accounting software to efficiently manage your own venture. You can choose from a wide variety of finance programs. --Some of them are really expensive, while others will cost you nothing.

To those who are using Linux and are living on a tight budget, you can try some of these open source finance/accounting software that you can get for free:

GnuCash

GnuCash was initially aimed at developing capabilities similar to Quicken; a popular personal finance management tool developed by Intuit, Inc. GnuCash has features for small business accounting. Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, it allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. Some of its main features are:

* Scheduled Transactions
* Mortgage & Loan Repayment Druid
* Double-Entry Accounting
* Small Business Accounting Features
* OFX, QIF Import
* Transaction-Import Matching Support
* (Limited) Multi-User SQL Support
* Multi-Currency Transaction Handling
* Stock/Mutual Fund Portfolios
* Online Stock & Mutual Fund Quotes


OpenERP

OpenERP is claimed to be a complete ERP and CRM system. It has separate client and server components. Among the features are management accounting, financial accounting, inventory management, sales and purchase management, tasks automation, Human Resource Management, marketing campaigns, help desk, and point of sale. Open ERP is known to be very complete and extremely modular, with 350 available modules. It is based on a strong MVC architecture, with a distributed server, flexible workflows, an object database, a dynamic GUI, an XML-RPC interface, and customizable reports.

Compiere

Compiere is an ERP and CRM business solution for the Small and Medium-sized Enterprise in distribution, retail, service and manufacturing. Compiere is distributed by Compiere, Inc. and through the Compiere Partner Network, a collection of trained and authorized business partners. The application and source code is provided on the basis of the GNU General Public License version 2. A commercial license, documentation and support contracts are also available for a fee.

Adempiere

Adempiere is a community-driven project that develops and supports an open source business solution of the same name that delivers Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management functionality. The following business areas are addressed by the Adempiere application:

* Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
* Supply Chain Management (SCM)
* Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
* Financial Performance Analysis
* Integrated Point of sale (POS) solution
* Integrated Web Store


SQL-Ledger

SQL-Ledger is a double entry accounting/ERP system. Accounting data is stored in a SQL database server, for the display any text or GUI browser can be used. The entire system is linked through a chart of accounts. Each item in inventory is linked to income, expense, inventory and tax accounts. When items are sold and purchased, the accounts are automatically updated. Invoices, Packing Lists, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Sales, Work and Purchase Orders, Statements, Receipts and Checks are generated from templates and can be changed to suit your needs.

Weekly Ten (2-16-2009)

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Do We Need a New Internet?
Two decades ago a 23-year-old Cornell University graduate student brought the Internet to its knees with a simple software program that skipped from computer to computer at blinding speed, thoroughly clogging the then-tiny network in the space of a few hours.
More @ NYTimes.com

2. Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 released
The Debian Project is pleased to announce the official release of Debian GNU/Linux version 5.0 (codenamed "Lenny") after 22 months of constant development. Debian GNU/Linux is a free operating system which supports a total of twelve processor architectures and includes the KDE, GNOME, Xfce, and LXDE desktop environments. It also features compatibility with the FHS v2.3 and software developed for version 3.2 of the LSB.
More @ Debian.org

3. Power to the people
Imagine how hard it would be to stick to a budget in a store with no prices. Well, that's pretty much how we buy electricity today. Your utility company sends you a bill at the end of the month with very few details. Most people don't know how much electricity their appliances use, where in the house they are wasting electricity, or how much the bill might go up during different seasons.
More @ Googleblog

4. Rear projection TV multitouch

More @ HackaDay

5. Experiences Of A Newbie iPhone Developer
t is 2 months and 6 days since, over a few bottles of budget beer, illustrator Dennis Harrison and I had an idea for an iPhone application that would surely leave other developers in awe, and the global iPhone community screaming for more. This was it - the solution to our financial woes – we’re going to make millions! All we need is a little bit of money and a good iPhone developer.
More @ TechCrunch

6. Kindle 2: Still Vaporware But a Bestseller
If Amazon's bestseller list is accurate, the $359 Kindle 2 and accessories are outselling all other gadgets, including the top model iPod, Garmin's auto navigator, the Flip video camera, and Canon's PowerShot camera.
More @ PCWorld.com

7. I Give Up. Windows Is Proof That People Are Too Stupid To Use Computers.
And too stupid or dishonest to report Microsoft Windows as the defective disaster that it is. If it were any other type of product it would have banned from every country in the world long ago. The BBC reports the latest Windows Conficker worm outbreak in typical "oh no big deal" fashion, does not identify this as a Windows worm until several paragraphs into the article, quotes industry security vendors as though they were actually worth listening to and not useless weasels, and then blames end users:
More @ LinuxToday

8. V12 Design Dual-Screen Laptop Gets a Bit More Real With Estari Partnership

More @ Gizmodo

9. Sabayon Linux 4
Sabayon Linux began life as a binary shortcut to a fully working Gentoo system. Early experiences with RR4 - Sabayon's original name - ranged from "nothing installed" to "data lost." Fortunately, the developers never gave up and today Sabayon is a beautiful, functional, and stable Linux desktop distribution.
More @ LWN.net

10. Conquer the Fears Lurking in the Dark Corners of Your Mind
I was reading Confessions of a Shopaholic recently and ran across a passage that struck a chord with me … the main character is avoiding thinking about increasingly urgent letters from banks and creditors, trying to push these worries out of her mind:
More @ ZenHabits

Saying "I Love You" in Different Languages

As some of you may have noticed this week, I have not been posting articles as often as before. I’ve been really busy once again so I’m spending my little free time bonding with my family instead of writing here. But, it's all good and I hope to be back on track by next week.

Anyway, the point of this post is not to make excuses but to greet everyone of you, and of course to my loving wife a Happy Valentine's Day. And please allow me to say, "I love you" in different languages:

* Afrikaans: Ek is lief vir jou

* Albanian: Te dua

* Arabic: Ana behibak (to male) or Ana behibek (to female)

* Armenian: Yes kez sirumem

* Basque: Maitea haut

* Bavarian: I mog di narrisch gern

* Bengali: Ami tomake bhalobashi

* Boholano: Gihigugma ko ikaw

* Bulgarian: Obicham te

* Burmese: Nin ko nga chitde or Chit pa de

* Cambodian: Bon sro lanh oon

* Catalan: T'estimo

* Cherokee: Tsi ge yu i

* Cheyenne: Ne mohotatse

* Chichewa: Ndimakukonda

* Chickasaw: Chiholloli

* Chinese: Ngo oi ney or Wo ai ni

* Corsican: Ti tengu caru

* Croatian: Volim te

* Czech: Miluji te

* Danish: Jeg elske dig

* Dholuo (Kenyan tribe): Aheri

* Dutch: Ik hou van je

* Elvish: Amin mela lle from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

* English: I love you

* Esperanto: Mi amas vin

* Estonian: Mina armastan sind

* Ethiopian: Afgreki'

* Farsi: Mahn doostaht doh-rahm

* Finnish: Mina rakastan sinua

* Flemish: Ik zie oe geerne

* French: Je t'aime

* Gaelic: Ta gra agam ort

* Georgian: Mikvarhar

* German: Ich liebe dich

* Greek: S'agapo

* Greenlandic: Asavakit

* Gujarati: Mai thara prem karu chu

* Haitian Creole: Mwen renmen'w

* Hawaiian: Aloha au ia'oe

* Hebrew: Ani ohev otah (to female) or Ani ohevet othah (to male)

* Hindi: Mai tumase pyar karata hun or Mai tumase pyar karati hun

* Hopi: Nu' umi unangwa'ta

* Hungarian: Szeretlek

* Icelandic: Eg elska thig

* Indian Gujarati dialect: Tane prem karoo choo

* Indonesian: Saya cinta padamu

* Irish: Taim i'ngra leat

* Italian: Ti amo or Ti voglio bene

* Japanese: Ai shite ru or Kimi o ai shiteru

* Kannada (India): Naanu ninnanu preethisuthene

* Kenyan: Nakupenda

* Kiswahili (East African): Ninakupenda

* Korean: Sarang hapnida

* Kurdish: Ez te hezdikhem

* Lao: Khoi huk chau

* Latin: Te amo

* Latvian: Es tev milu

* Lebanese: Bahibak

* Lithuanian: As myliu tave

* Luo: Aheri

* Macedonian: Te sakam

* Malay: Saya cintamu or Saya sayangmu

* Maltese: Inhobbok

* Mandarin: Wo ai ni

* Mohawk: Konoronhkwa or Kanbhik

* Moroccan: Ana moajaba bik

* Navajo: Ayor anosh'ni

* Norwegian: Jeg elsker deg or elsker deg

* Pakistani: Muje tum se mu habbat hai

* Persian: Doostet daram or Tora dost daram

* Pig Latin: Ie Ovele Ouye

* Polish: Kocham cie

* Portuguese: Eu te amo

* Romanian: Te iubesc

* Russian: La liubliu tebia or Ya vas lyublyu

* Scottish Gaelic: Tha gra dh agam ort

* Serbian: Ljubim te or Ja te volim

* Sign language: I -- point at self with index finger. love -- hold crossed hands over your chest. you -- point with index finger to the other person.

* Sioux: Techihhila

* Slovak: Lubim ta

* Slovenian: Ljubim te

* South African: Ek het jou lief

* Spanish: Te amo

* Swahili: Nakupenda

* Swedish: Jag alskar dig

* Swiss: Ch'ha di ga'rn

* Syrian: Bhebbek (to female) or Bhebbak (to male)

* Taiwanese: Gwa ai lee

* Tagalog: Mahal kita

* Tahitian: Ua here vau ia oe

* Thai: Phom rak khun or Ch'an rak khun

* Tswana: Ke a go rata

* Tunisian: Ha eh bak

* Turkish: Seni seviyorum

* Ukrainian: Ya tebe kahayu

* Urdu: Me aap se pyaar karthi houn

* Venda: Ndi a ni funa

* Vietnamese: Anh yeu em (to female) or Em yeu anh (to male)

* Welsh: Rwy'n dy garu di

* Wolof (Western Africa, mostly Senegal area): Nop nala

* Yiddish: Ikh hob dikh lib

* Yugoslavian: Ya te volim

* Zulu: Ngiyakuthanda

* Zuni: Tom ho'ichema

5 Awesome Robot Kits to Get You Started with Robotics

Every geeks dream is to have a personal robot that can be programmed to perform various tasks. If you have seen Tony Stark's robotic assistants in the movie Iron Man then you probably know what I mean. But unlike in movies, today's robots are not as advanced or still have limited capabilities. However, time will come that they will become more sophisticated and more useful than they are now.

At the moment, anyone with enough time and money can start creating the robots of the future with the aid of commercially available robot kits. The kits can consist of: structural and mechanical elements, motors, sensors, and a controller board. Some kits can be available without electronics to provide the users the opportunity to use their own.

For those of you who are interested in Robotics, here are some awesome robot kits to get you started:

LEGO Mindstorms
LEGO Mindstorms is a line of Lego sets combining programmable bricks with electric motors, sensors, Lego bricks, and Lego Technic pieces (such as gears, axles, and beams). Mindstorms originated from the programmable sensor blocks used in the line of educational toys. The first retail version of Lego Mindstorms was released in 1998 and marketed commercially as the Robotics Invention System (RIS). The current version was released in 2006 as Lego Mindstorms NXT. The NXT version has three servo motors and four sensors for touch, light, sound, and distance. Lego Mindstorms may be used to build a model of an embedded system with computer-controlled electromechanical parts.

Lego Mindstorms NXT

Vex Starter Kit
Vex is intended to introduce students as well as adults to the world of robotics. The Vex Starter Kit retails for about USD $200. This kit comes with the Vex "brain" (a microcontroller), a hobby-grade remote control, various sensors (2 bumper sensor and 2 limiter switches), three electric motors and a servo, wheels (4 small, 2 medium all purpose, and 2 large high traction tires), gears, and structural parts. Additional sensors (ultrasonic, line tracking, optical shaft encoder, bumper switches, limit switches, and light sensors), wheels ( small and large omni-directional wheels, small, medium, and large regulars), tank treads, motors, servos, gears (regular and advanced), chain and sprocket sets, extra transmitter and receivers, programming kit (easy C) extra metal and rechargeable battery power packs, can all be purchased separately.

Vex Protobot Robot Kit

qfix
qfix robot kits are an education tool for teaching robotics. They are used in schools, high schools and mechatronics training in companies. However, the robot kits are also used by hobby robot builders. The qfix kits can be programmed from the PC, either in C++ by using the WinAVR environment or with a graphical programming environment called "GRAPE". Programs can be downloaded to the qfix controller board via parallel or USB link.

qfix MiniBot

BOE Bot
BOE Bot is short for Board of Education robot. It consists of a main circuit board, a plug in microcontroller, two small servo motors to drive the wheels, a bread board and a small aluminum chassis that all the parts bolt into. The microcontroller which plugs into a socket on the green circuit board is called the BASIC Stamp. The BASIC Stamp is programmed in PBASIC.

BOE Bot Robot Kit

Arduino
Arduino is based on a simple I/O board and a development environment that implements the Processing/Wiring language. Arduino can be used to develop stand-alone interactive objects or can be connected to software running on a computer (e.g., Adobe Flash, Processing, Max/MSP, Pure Data, SuperCollider). The boards can be built by hand or purchased preassembled; the software can be downloaded for free.

Arduino Starter Pack

Weekly Ten (2-09-2009)

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Professor works to revolutionize computer chips
On Sunday, Krishna Palem, speaking at a computer science meeting in San Francisco, announced results of the first real-world test of his probabilistic computer chip: The chip, which thrives on random errors, ran seven times faster than today’s best technology while using just 1⁄30th the electricity.
More @ chron.com

2. Windows XP's Days are Really Numbered Now
In 10 weeks, Microsoft Corp. will begin to retire Windows XP by shifting the seven-year-old OS into a more limited support plan.
More @ PCWorld.com

3. Eye-tracking studies: more than meets the eye
Imagine that you need a refresher on how to tie a tie. So, you decide to type [how to tie a tie] into the Google search box. Which of these results would you choose?
More @ Googleblog

4. Augmented FPS gaming

More @ HackaDay

5. Wake Up Call: Facebook Isn’t A Safe Haven
Facebook just turned 5 years old. But a week that should have been filled with reflection and good times was instead marred by a series of breaking news reports detailing sex scandals, phishing, and other malicious activity on the world’s largest social network.
More @ TechCrunch

6. VMware Rolls Out Open Source Virtual Desktop Client
VMware has released an open source virtual desktop infrastructure client, aiming to make it easy for partners to build their own applications or devices around its code. The goal eventually is to make possible a "universal client" that will support multiple environments.
More @ LinuxInsider

7. Windows 7 chiefs: We messed up
Scratch all the confusion over the past few days regarding whether Microsoft would take user feedback into account and make the User Account Control (UAC) setting in Windows 7 better suited to protecting users.
More @ ZDNetBlogs

8. WSJ: Kindle 2 launching today with Stephen King exclusive

More @ Engadget

9. Real Geeks do Peer Clouding
"The cloud" is just a new buzzword for an old concept, hosted services. While a number of grumpy old geekbeards swear they will never embrace "the cloud" because they do not trust their data in other hands, it's already happening. Google Mail, for whatever reason, is cool in ways that Hotmail and Yahoo mail never were. Google Apps are also cool. Inexpensive hosting services have been a staple of the do-it-yourself geek since forever.
More @ LinuxToday

10. Top 10 Fascinating Skydiving Myths
Skydiving is the single most exciting sport there is. Nothing even comes close to the exhilaration you feel when floating on a cushion of air, and flying your canopy safely to the ground. It’s also very misunderstood, and filled with many common fallacies and misconceptions that keep most people from trying this beautiful sport.
More @ ListVerse

Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" Wallpapers

First there were Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" mock-up designs, now showing up are tons of user-created wallpapers dedicated to the next major release version of this popular Linux distribution. If you are interested, let me show you some of those wallpapers here. But please take note that this is not a “best Linux wallpapers list” so I encourage you to lower your expectations and stop oneself from sending us violent reactions :-) However, if you happen to know a link or two to other good Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope-related wallpapers, please do share it with us via comment. So without further delay, here they are:

By Apurv

By Apurv

By yoyovlt

By yoyovlt

By crisg

By JonPotiron

By JonPotiron

By howitzer777

By Joseph B

By PKemrin

PCLinuxOS 2009 Beta 3 Released

Don't count out PCLinuxOS just yet. The Ripper Gang announced today the release of the third public beta of PCLinuxOS 2009. According to them, the series of beta ISOs are released under the name of N1PTT to honor the loss of Robert Green, a long time friend of PCLOS community who recently died of cancer.

"This beta features kernel 2.6.26.8, KDE 3.5.10, OpenOffice.org 3.0, Firefox 3.0.5, Thunderbird 2.0.0.14, KTorrent, Amarok, Flash, Java JRE, Compiz Fusion 3D and much more. We request that only our more experienced PCLinuxOS users test this beta release and report any issues with it in the forum provided specially for it. Testers are advised to install this beta into a separate partition for temporary use only. This and any subsequent betas are considered static installs and will not be upgradeable to the 2009 Final, so please don't install this with the idea of using it long-term as a work station."

Also from the announcement, Texstar (PCLOS lead developer) is still taking a leave of absence due to personal problems but promised to be back soon.

So now we know that there will be no more PCLinuxOS 2008. They did however release a mini edition of PCLOS last year. It's also worth noting that PCLinuxOS 2009 will probably not utilize KDE 4 contrary to what was expected. But, things could change. Anyway, all I’m hoping right now is to finally see a latest and greatest version of PCLinuxOS yet.

You can read the full release announcement HERE.

Best Linux Distro for Mac

I've been using Xubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” on my Macbook Pro Penryn (Early 2008 model) for several months now. Although there are few minor issues left unsolved, I'm quite happy with Xubuntu on my Mac because it simply works for me.

However, these past days, I've been considering replacing Xubuntu with a distro that hopefully has a much better hardware support out-of-the-box and could unleash the optimum performance of my Macbook Pro. --Like perhaps a distro that can magically help increase the battery life while decrease the hardware temperature when running.

At the moment, I have a short list of Linux distros that could replace Xubuntu Hardy on my Mac:

Fedora 10
I dual-booted Fedora 9 and Xubuntu before but ultimately decided to just use Xubuntu since it performed a lot better than Fedora. Right now, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Fedora 10 will do wonders for my Mac.

Mepis 8.0
I have great memories using Mepis Linux, so I want to take the plunge and test the upcoming version.

Sabayon Linux 4
Putting this Gentoo-based distro on my Mac can be suicide since I’m probably on my own when I do this. But since danger is my middle name, I will most likely try Sabayon Linux on my Macbook Pro.

Xubuntu/Ubuntu 8.10
To avoid extreme danger, I’ve been thinking of just upgrading to "Intrepid Ibex" and see what happens.

As always, any suggestions are welcomed via comment.

To some Linux-on-mac users out there, I would like to ask this question: What Linux distro works best with your Mac?

Mac OS X Command Line Audio Player

I've been playing with the Mac OS X "Leopard" command line lately, and one of the cool things I've discovered is a CLI audio player that's already installed out-of-the-box. I know some Mac users out there still don't know this tiny feature so I thought I should share this.

A command line audio player can very useful to those who want to play sound files while conserving system resources. It can also be used along with a shell script and Automator action.

The OS X command line audio player that I'm talking about is called afplay.

Since afplay is in your path by default (located at /usr/bin directory), you can play audio files directly with a simple command like in this example:

afplay audiofile.mp3


There are a few options that you can display using help: afplay -h. You can also display the man page: man afplay.


If you want a powerful CLI audio player, Linux has plenty to offer. Right now I'm using mp3blaster and MPlayer. But, that's another story :-)

Set up OpenDNS on Ubuntu

One sure-fire way to speed up your Internet connection is to replace your ISP's slow DNS server with a third party DNS resolver like OpenDNS. Considered by many as one of the best DNS resolution services, OpenDNS is free and is really very easy to set up.

If you want further explanation about OpenDNS or if you are still not convinced to use it, perhaps you should go HERE first.

If you are ready to set up OpenDNS on your Ubuntu desktop, just follow these simple instructions:

1. Right-click on ‘Network Icon’ (located at top-right panel by default) and click on ‘Edit Connections’ to open Network Connections Manager.

2. Choose the type of connection you have. For this example, we will use ‘Wired’.

3. Under ‘Wired’, highlight ‘Auto etho’ and click on ‘Edit’.


4. Inside 'Editing Auto etho' window, click on ‘IPv4 Settings’ tab.

5. Under ‘IPv4 Settings’, change the ‘Method’ to Automatic (DHCP) addresses only.


6. Put these nameserver addresses as your ‘DNS Servers’: 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220

7. Click ‘OK’ and you are done setting OpenDNS on Ubuntu.

Weekly Ten (2-02-2009)

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:

1. Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals
As President Obama's motorcade rolled down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day, federal authorities deployed a closely held law enforcement tool: equipment that can jam cellphones and other wireless devices to foil remote-controlled bombs, sources said.
More @ WashingtonPost.com

2. Google Earth, Google Ocean: mysteries of the seafloor are mapped for the first time
Since Google Earth launched in 2006 ­millions of people have used its virtual globe to "travel" around the planet without leaving home, climbing a digital version of Mount Everest and even flying into space thanks to the website.
More @ Guardian.co.uk

3. Mac web share hits record 9.9 percent in January
Even as the economy has continued to falter, Apple's share of web users has climbed up to a landmark 9.93 percent in the first month of 2009 while Windows' own share continues to slide downwards.
More @ AppleInsider

4. Wireless genesis controller for PC

More @ HackaDay

5. Microsoft confirms no more betas for Windows 7
Microsoft officials on January 30 reiterated that there will be no public Beta 2 of Windows 7 and the next milestone will be the Release Candidate (RC) test build of the operating system.
More @ ZDNetBlogs

6. Creating USB Startup Disks From Various Linux Distributions With UNetbootin
This guide shows how you can create USB startup disks (on your USB flash drive) from various Linux distributions with UNetbootin. This is useful if you want to install a Linux distribution on a computer that has no CD/DVD drive.
More @ HowtoForge

7. "This site may harm your computer" on every search result?!?!
If you did a Google search between 6:30 a.m. PST and 7:25 a.m. PST this morning, you likely saw that the message "This site may harm your computer" accompanied each and every search result. This was clearly an error, and we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused to our users.
More @ Googleblog

8. Rubik 360 Will Probably Take That One Guy Another 26 Years to Solve

More @ Gizmodo

9. Money is Not Wealth
We hear it so often it becomes part of the overall background noise-- silly propaganda about how FOSS is anti-capitalist and un-American because it can't be locked up and exploited. I picture people who look like Mr. Burns on the Simpsons cackling, rubbing their hands, and gloating over their ill-gotten gains.
More @ LinuxToday

10. Brew the Best Possible Coffee Without Breaking the Bank
Whether you're the kind of coffee drinker that slugs back the swill in the break-room coffee pot at work or savors exotic coffee on sleepy Sundays, there is always room for enhancing your java.
More @ Lifehacker