TechTalk » Applications

Replacing Windows Apps

Techie — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:08:22 +0000

OK, I’m a geek and I freely admit it, but there’s something very pleasant about finding replacements for some of those applications that are commonly used in Windows with an open source alternative. Back in the earliest days of my PC experience, I had very little money to spend on anything, much less high-end software so I made due with lots of shareware packages, some of which were amazingly good. Running a Linux distro on my desktop allows me to freely explore again the wonders of open source, and if it also happens to divert cash from behemoth companies who shall remain nameless, even better.

With the new Mandriva 2010 release, I’ve been working on making myself a procedure list for the things I do whenever i install a new distro. Invariably there are a few things that need to be tested right from the start, once the distro has updated itself. Because I operate a mixed network with numerous different operating systems running, one of the first things to install and check is the Samba connectivity to the other machines in the workgroup - ironically, most distros can interact with the Windows machines in the group but may have issues talking to the other Linux boxen. Mandriva’s Control Centre (listed as Configure Your Computer in the menu) makes installing the Samba system a breeze.

Next on the list is usually DVD playability, which invariably in most distros due to the need to add the libdvdcss package which is usually not included in the distro due to copyright issues. The files are however readily available through the various repositories - in the case of Mandriva, the easiest way to get them is go to http://easyurpmi.zarb.org and install the PLF repositories.Best choice in my mind for watching movie files is the VLC player, especially once the navigation is added.

After many years of using Evolution as my primary email client, I have finally shifted over to a new package - Kontact. Not only does it have a nice email client which seems to work as nicely as Evolution when it comes to handling multiple accounts and mass quantities of folders, but the package also includes a nice To-Do setup, a news feed aggregator, contacts, calendar, notes and more. A really nice information manager, all in all.

One of the reason I run Linux on the desktop is to be able to have a local web server available for testing purposes and Mandriva makes that a simple process. to do so easily, however, you first have to install the drakwizard package from the repositories. Once you have done so and reloaded the control center, the Sharing categorywill show up which allows the setup of a web server. Follow up by installing Webmin and you have a great environment ready in which to play.

HoCo Loves Linux

Techie — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:29:00 +0000

A few years ago, the Howard County Library decided to do something different - they installed a Linux distribution on their computers rather than Windows and they have no regrets. Part of the reason for the change-over was the cost savings resulting from not having to spend nearly as much to update the machines to be used. The library system has gone through changes since their first implementation of linux and are currently running a distribution named Groovix, based on Ubuntu. I wonder what it would take to convince the local library system in my own county to follow suit. I can think of a number of other places locally that could benefit from using linux on their older computers, especially now that XP is no longer available for purchase. Time to start dropping some hints…

Working with Graphics

Techie — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 13:15:49 +0000

One of the driving reasons for moving over to the Linux side was my desire to use the GIMP for image processing rather than the expensive Windows-based tools such as PhotoShop. Though there are still many tricks I haven’t figured out yet in GIMP, I now have the ability to load RAW camera images into GIMP, allowing me to modify my photos for exposure and white balance prior to their being loaded into GIMP for further processing processing. This is done through a very nice little program called UFRaw whose installation includes the ability to create the plug-in necessary for GIMP during the installation process. Very nice interface and easy to use.

Some of my shots are currently viewable at http://marymcindoe.smugmug.com

Working with audio files

Techie — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:06:06 +0000

One of my clients recently sent me an audio file that he wants to use on his new website to help market his services. There was a bit of a problem, though, as the file was nearly 30 MB and the first 15 minutes was filled with advertising for other people and not really relevant to his business at all. Luckily, it’s not that hard to modify sound files since there are lots of tools available for working with audio files in linux. My choice for this little project was Audacity, though I did have to download a copy of LAME as well in order to make use of the mp3 export feature, since Audacity makes use of the LAME engine for its mp3 conversions.

The first step was to find where the important parts of the recoding started and ended. One selected, I exported that selection as an mp3 and it then became my new working file. In this case, there were two large segments of interview that I wanted, with a large chunk of advertising in between the two. Getting rid of the middle ad section was a simple process - I simply selected the unwanted segment and deleted it, bringing the wanted sections back together as a seamless whole. Piece of cake!

Learning some new tricks

Techie — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:51:34 +0000

One of the main reasons that I have migrated over to using Linux again is to take advantage of the powerful applications for doing graphics work, particularly with GIMP, the imaging package. One of my clients had supplied me with a white background for their logo but we needed it to be set on a cream colored background instead - attempts to change it using PSP were only moderately successful, as can be seen in the picture below.

This was just barely ok, so I knew that it should be possible to clean it up quite a bit. Within GIMP is a nifty tool that allows the background color to betaken out of the picture and saved to the alpha channel, leaving the main image intact. Doing so allowed the new version, shown below - quite an improvement!

Making it useful

Techie — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:36:28 +0000

It’s all well and good to have a nifty looking desktop that doesn’t look like everyone else’s, but we still need to be able to do things, right? In addition to the regular types of applications like OpenOffice to replace MS Office, there are lots of other useful apps out there in the Linux world to make life a bit easier.

One of my new favorite apps is a collection building app called Tellico that can handle all kinds of different types of collections such as Movies, Books, Coins and so on and even includes to ability to create your own custom database.

The screenshot above is from my movie collection - complete with images where found. The program can search the net to find the information for each item and inserts the images automatically if found. Very slick!