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Miscellaneous |
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GarfNet
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GarfNet site syndication. This newsfeed comes from http://www.garfnet.org.uk
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About GarfNet
Thirteen years of GarfNet |1995-08-18 to 2008-08-18 goose (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/wordpress)!
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Backing up using big, cheap hard disks and some nifty Unix tools
We all have our favourite methods of data backup. Certainly DVD is a good archiving and distribution medium. But for routine backup, I look for reliability, low cost, ease of use, high-speed, high capacity and redundancy - so I am not reliant on just one device. One of my favourite methods is a complete off-site dataset consisting of a hotchpotch of USB/eSATA/Firewire disks. Only disadvantage is that they live 20km away and are only updated every couple of weeks. So I keep a further two 1Tb Samsung disks with recent data in my camera rucksack. These are updated daily. Cost around £80.00 each. (So no excuse for not backing up!)But considering HD failure is the most common source of failure and that I am a naturally lazy git, my backup methodology needs to be really really easy and almost instant. Also I have become very reliant on my media server and my business can't really function well without it. So I figured I needed a more radical solution...
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GNUCash - serious open source accounting software
Nowadays, one reads a lot about open source equivalents of proprietary software. Often these are described as poor substitutes for the real thing. However, some open source apps are starting seriously to outperform their proprietary counterparts. Mozilla Firefox is a classic example of this phenomenon. GNUCash is another. Gnucash Splash Screen
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How to upgrade from Ubuntu to Kubuntu (version 8.xx - Hardy)
Firstly please back up anything that is important - as you would with any major upgrade on any computer system! Then you can either use the Synaptic package manager or in this instance it is probably quicker to install from a Terminal window. First we make sure the system is fully up to date. Simply type one line at a time followed by the return key... sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get upgrade Now your system is ready for Kubuntu. Type... sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop This will install the Kubuntu desktop. The download will take a while because it has to download about a CD-ROM-full of files. It will ask you which login-manager you want to use: gdm or kdm. (Gnome Desktop manager or KDE Desktop manager). Basically this is changes what the login screen looks like. If you prefer KDE (as I do), then choose kdm, if you like Gnome, then choose gdm. If you change your mind later then you can change this later. Job done! If you are still dithering, then this is an example of one of my KDE v3.5x desktops - in this instance I am running ThumbsPlus for Windows v7.0 in a Crossover Linux WINE bottle . http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/20070731-TP1.png (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/20070731-TP1.png) to see it full size. The model is GarfNet's MJay (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=search search=mjay)
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I can't open Raw files from my digital camera
Usually the camera manufacturer will provide software that handles raw files from your camera. However, several problems can arise:-You change computer and loose the original software.You have several cameras made by different manufacturers but want to use the same application to deal with their raw files.You don't use Micro$oft Windows.So what can you do?Before you stump up any hard-earned cash, I would suggest you download and try GIMP image editor c/w either UFRaw or DCRaw plugin:-http://www.gimp.org (http://www.gimp.org/)http://ufraw.sourceforge.net (http://ufraw.sourceforge.net/) UFRaw is actually based on DCRaw but is much friendlier IMHO. However, Dave Coffin, the author of the original DCRaw source code is a very interesting and knowledgable chap and his site is well worth a vist anyway:-http://cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw (http://cybercom.net/%7Edcoffin/dcraw)Dave Coffin's mission:- Write and maintain an ANSI C program that decodes any raw image from any digital camera on any computer running any operating system.
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Britain's metrication fiasco
Britain has made a complete hash of metrication whilst failing to teach its young the basic numeracy skills to deal with the ridiculous anomalies that have arisen as a result. E.g...People who think 7.5 lbs is the same as 7 lb 5 oz. People who think of 0 as freezing 0 as boiling and yet think room temperature as 70. Local authorities such as Southampton City Council that insists building plans be submitted in metres but continue to rent allotments in rods!People who weigh themselves in stone or weigh cement etc. in hundredweight but have no idea of the value of either in pounds, let alone kilograms.We buy petrol in litres but our road signs are still in miles - thus making fuel economy calculations almost impossible for the majority of the population. And this is a time when we are told we need to reduce our carbon footprint! Metric measures were legalised in the UK in 1863, yes, 150 years ago! Since then we have endured three failed attempts at metrication. Can't really blame Brits for being a bit muddled when it comes to measuring things, can you?
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gOS - has the Google vs M$ war just "gone nuclear"?
The new gOS operating system certainly would appear to up the ante in the ongoing war between the mighty Micro$haft and that pesky upstart Google. But is it any good and is it really Google? To find out, I just booted from the gOS liveCD I just downloaded. First impression is that it looks very nice, it's very Mac OSX-like and very green. That is, green in the sense that the wallpaper, scrollbars and most of the icons are all green!Screengrab of entire gOS screen Click to enlarge
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How to make (K)Ubuntu play copy-protected DVD's, and...
...and Windows Media, Adobe Acrobat, Skype and GoogleEarthOne of the problems with (K)Ubuntu (and many other Linux distributions) is that it will not play commercial, copy-protected DVD's and a number of other proprietary file formats, out-of-the-box. There are complex legal and ethical reasons for this. However, many users just want to play their files and watch their DVD's. So what is the easiest way to make (K)Ubuntu do these things? In principle, you need to add a couple of extra repositories to your system, namely...deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ gutsy free non-freedeb-src http://packages.medibuntu.org/ gutsy free non-freeand then you have to download some packages that contain the software and libraries you need. If all goes to plan, then the instructions below will add the following additional features to your system... Adobe Acrobat ReaderGoogle Earth MPEG Encoder Play copy-protected DVD's Play proprietary Windows Media file formats Skype There are several ways to do this but probably the simplest and most comprehensive is to open a terminal window and type in each of the following four commands, followed by the return key. Please note that all four of these commands are single lines - though your browser may have caused them to line-wrap . 1. Add repositories. The repository you use depends on the version of Ubuntu you are using:-Version 7.xx (Gutsy):-sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.listVersion 8.xx (Hardy):-sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/gutsy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list 2. If this generates a No such file or directory error it might be necessary to... sudo mkdir /etc/apt/sources.list.d3. Install GPG key - this is needed verify the repository when your machne does routine updates...wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - sudo apt-get update4. Upgrade the distribution...sudo apt-get dist-upgrade 5. Install applications and libraries...sudo apt-get install skype googleearth googleearth-data ffmpeg mplayer mencoder libdv-bin libggi-target-emu libggi-target-monotext libggimisc2 w32codecs libdvdcss2 mplayer-doc non-free-codecs acroread acroread-escript acroread-plugins mozilla-acroreadThats it! Enjoy.
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Go Trabi Go!
Trabifest, Zwickau 2007-06-16 and 2007-06-17Lots of full-sized Trabi pictures : http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=337 (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=337)I found myself at the 50th Anniversary Trabifest in Zwickau in the former East Germany back in June 2007. Not sure I fully understand the enthusiasm for these funny little cars - though I did find myself becoming bitten by the bug. I guess there is a large cultural element to this phenomenon. It seems the humble Trabi has become another cultural icon. One enthusiast I met described the Trabi as, A smile rising from a troubled past. They certainly are quite funny, as these images will indicate... DVD's of German-made Go Trabi Go moviesc/w Chinese-made model Tabant 601'sand a litre bottle of Jagermeister, mmm... Trabant memorabilia - a golden Trabi 601 + a few Trabi books Firstly, I managed to glean from some friendly Trabi enthusiasts that there is a heirchical distinction between the four-stroke models and the earlier two-stroke versions. Cars fitted with the Volkswagen-built four-stroke engine can be distinguished from two stroke models by their larger rear light clusters. These came with the amazing modern innovation of built-in reversing lamps! Two-stroke rear viewTwo-stroke front view The four stroke-models also had asymmetric radiator grilles. However, I am reliably informed that the four-stroke versions are not considered to be real Trabis by the Trabant 601 cognoscenti. Real Trabis should sound like sewing machines and leave a trail of dense blue smoke behind them, apparently. Four-stroke rear view, note the larger rear light clustersFour-stroke front, note the grille only has slots down the vehicle's left sideMmm, I love the smell of fresh Trabi in the morning!
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Hungarian rebels against the "Microsoft Tax"
[Reproduced from DEOSS (http://www.deoss.org) ]Seems that Micro$haft's corporate enslavement permeates far beyond the English-speaking world. A long and complex legal battle is currently raging in the former Eastern Bloc state of Hungary. APEH (the Hungarian Tax Office) has decided that all Hungarian businesses now have to submit their tax returns on-line. This would not be a problem in itself. However in an act of inexplicable ignorance, APEH has assumed that all computer users use Microsoft Windows. To complete their tax returns, Hungarian business people have to download two Windows executable programs, run them on their Windows based PC's and then submit these back to APEH, duly completed, using Windoze of course!Charles Barcza APEH's tax return files simply do not work on any other platform, not even using WINE or CrossoverLinux. So if you are a Macintosh or Linux user, then tough luck mate! This has infuriated Hungarian businessman and software developer, Charles Barcza. He develops and runs blackPanther, one of the biggest home-grown, Hungarian-language Linux distribution. Despite smiling for our photo, Charles is not a happy Hungarian at all because APEH's decision renders his blackPanther OS and all other non-Microsoft operating systems useless for submission of tax returns in Hungary.
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Vista woes might lead us to better things
We bought a couple of IBM Lenovo 3000C200 laptop PCs in 2007 May. These are fairly average 1700MHz laptops purchased from a UK supplier called eBuyer for around 300 quid a throw. These came preloaded with the basic version of Windows Vista. To describe Vista's performance as dismal would be understatement of the year.Problems included...Waiting over an hour to get the OS from pre installed state to being actually usable (and I use the word usable lightly).MS outlook 2002 crashed on start - seems the pre-installed Office 2007 conflicted with it.Painfully slow start up, over five minutesPainfully slow to do anything at all.Stupid user interface with lots of unnecessary clutter that needed switching off in order to get any speed from the machine.So I took the brave step of reformatting the drive on one machine and installing Ubuntu Linux instead. Now, I have flirted with Linux on desktop PC's for some time, though not in any serious way. Until recently Linux was not user-friendly enough for desktop use and besides, it lacked decent applications. However I have used Linux much more successfully on web servers for many years. Garfnet and our sister site DEOSS (http://www.deoss.org) both run Debian Linux c/w Apache webserver. But things change very quickly in the IT Industry and Linux in particular has come a very long way. Besides Vista made me so angry that I thought it was time to try one of the new Linuxes as a Windows replacement on a real, working desktop. So I undertook quite a lot of research to try to establish which Linux best suited to day-to-day, desktop use in a harsh business environment. There are many choices but in the end I opted for a Debian-based distribution called Ubuntu. This is what I discovered...It took less than 15 minutes to install a working Ubuntu, c/w a fully working OpenOffice.I then decided to Outlook with the far superior (and free) Mozilla Thunderbird. This has never crashed and handles my huge archive of old emails far better than MS Outlook. FYI MS Outlook goes decidedly wibbly as its *.PST file approaches 2GB.Ubuntu's start up averages less than 1/3 of the time that Vista takes.Applications load at a speed that I have never experienced with any Windows machine.I have no problems with virus, spyware, trojans, adware etc. Remember that on many Windows PC's half your system reources can be taken up running anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall and other protective software.Ubuntu, and almost all the software for iUbuntu is FREE! No strings, no spies, no adware. In fact there are none of the nasties that one has come to expect with Windows.Three months and countless installed applications later, these Ubuntu-based machines still deliver the same performance that they did when they were new. Compare that with any version of Windoze, where machines get slower and slower the more applications you install.I subsequently upgraded from Ubuntu to the (IMHO) much more stylish and functional Kubuntu - featuring the KDE desktop. KDE is one of many free desktop systems available for Ubuntu. Which one you use is purely a matter of personal choice - something else greatly lacking in the Windows arena.Since 2007 May, we have purchased 3 Lenovos and dumped Vista on all 3 machines in favour of Kubuntu. In addition we are gradually migrating all our Windows PC's to Kubuntu as well. I am at my wits end with constant upgrading, security patching of Windows operating systems. I am sorry to say that Vista is one seriously-flawed operating system too many for us and I am utterly sick of all the broken promises from Microsoft. (K)ubuntu has made migrating to Linux really easy for us. So easy that my non-techy girlfriend was able to install a complete Hungarian language version of Ubuntu for her sister in Hungary, including Skype and all the other doodads, whistles bells in just over half an hour.There are still issues with drivers for scanners etc, but these are gradually being resolved. Our few must have Windows applications, such as ThumbsPlus, Adobe PageMaker and Microsoft Access will all run adequately on Linux by using CrossoverOffice from Codeweavers (costs around 25 quid). Infact MS Access on Linux is actually faster than on Windows! Seriously!All our other data can be handled perfectly adequately using the fantastic array of free, open source applications available for Linux - such as OpenOffice (opens and saves M$ Word, Excel Powerpoint files), Gwenview (for managing photos), Amorok (for MP3's) Kaffiene (for playing DVD's and other movie files). There is also a fantastic array of free, open source educational software that is unrivalled on Windows. The support one gets from the Ubuntu community is far superior to anything you can expect from Micro$oft. My final comment is that anyone struggling with Vista should seriously consider one of the Ubuntu family of Linuxes instead. My view is that if one has the hassle of learning something new then why not make this intellectual effort really worthwhile?My remaining niggle is that presumably I must have paid for all these unwanted Vista OEM licences? Clearly Vista is not of merchantable quality. So I wonder how I can get my money back? I feel a letter to the Office of Fair Trading coming on!
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The Open Source Revolution
This is a whistle-stop tour of the rapidly changing world of open source software. It is intended to give you an idea of some of the arguments in favour of open source software. Obviously open source has its critics too. However this article does not cover these criticisms. If you are interested in the counter arguments then please visit the Microsoft FUD (fear uncertainty doubt) site, amusingly entitled Get the Facts . http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/facts/ (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/facts/)
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Web-footed web log
Hey there all you happening geese out there in Internetland. Don't watch this rubbish. Come visit my new blog. It's really good... http://www.garfnet.org.uk/wordpress (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/wordpress) You know it makes sense!
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Windows applications running successfully on Linux using WINE
At time of writing, we have got all the following Windoze apps running very adequately on Linux - using either WINE or Codeweavers Crossover (a commercial implementation of WINE). Of course we have replaced many legacy Windoze applications with equivalent (or sometimes better) Linux apps. Other Windoze apps are currently irreplaceable. This is an assessment of the current situation...How to (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=89 Itemid=58) do it.Irfanview v3.95 (100% replaced by Gwenview).Isobuster v1.9JASC Paintshop Pro v7.0 (mainly replaced by GIMP though Paintshop Pro has a few unique tools).MediaChance Photobrush v3.02 3.50 (mainly replaced by GIMP though Photobrush has a few unique tools).Microsoft Internet Explorer v5, v5.5 v6 (100% replaced by Firefox).Microsoft Office 2002 including Access.Excel (Replaced by OpenOffice.org Calc).Frontpage (partly replaced by OpenOffice.org Writer and by Bluefish. Note FP is a bit flaky under WINE).Outlook (100% replaced by Thunderbird).Powerpoint (100% replaced by OpenOffice.org Presenter). Word (Replaced by OpenOffice.org Writer exept for mailmerges to MS Access).MS Office/VBA based applications includingGarfBaseFlexiDENTMicrosoft Money v3.0 and v2001 (horrid but once-necessary app which is 100% replaced by the excellent GnuCash).MPegJoinerPHPRunner v4.0. How to (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=68 Itemid=58) .Soundforge v4.0 including DirectX plugins.Studio Factory.Synth Factory.ThumbsPlus v6.0 and v 7.0 (partly replaced by Gwenview) How to (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=65 Itemid=16) it on Linux. Also see... http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/b...p_id=741;tips=1 (http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/browse/name/?app_id=741;tips=1) Testbeeld v1.0 (Philips PM5644 style test pattern generator).TMPGEnc v2.5 (partly replaced by Mencoder).WildRenamer (100% replaced by KDE Krename).WinAmp (100% replaced by Amarok)WinHTTrack (100% replaced by WebHTTrack).WinRar v3.41 (100% replaced by Ark for unpacking. Also, RAR is now available for Linux as a command line app).Winzip (superseded because loads of Linux apps handle zip files).
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How does GarfNet manage its image library?
We've been using Coppermine (a free, open source PHP/MYSQL gallery database system) for several years here on GarfNet. I like it because it is powerfful, reasonably fast yet very easy to administer. My clients and models seem to like it because they can download the pics they want, whenever they want and wherever they are. Means they get images that are ideally presized for use on other web sites. Coppermine actually stores images in three different sizes, a thumbnail, an intermediate and an original. It generates the intermediate and the thumb automatically. You can actually pre-determine all three of these sizes if you wish. It also has a bulk upload mode, EXIF reader, keyword search, multi-language, template switcher, organisation by categories and a whole stack of additional plugins if you want them. Access permissions, read write, may be set at both user and group level – all very unixy! Means we can make any gallery, public, private, password protected for just one viewer or pretty much set any permissions we want. For example, one of the many uses I make of our installation is as an online family album. Here all family albums are hidden from public view. Then, any family member can see any image providing (s)he logs in. Some family members have permission to contribute further images and a very select few are allowed to edit captions and delete images. You can run Coppermine with any web host that supports MySQL PHP. And its sophisticated template system means you can “skin” the program to suit your site, either by using one of the dozens of free themes or by designing (or customising) one of your own. And its FREE.
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Commonly used radio terminology
This is a brief list of some commonly used terms and expressions used by radio enthusiasts and resellers. It is not an exhaustive list and many of the terms can be found in greater detail in the Wikipedia. http://www.wikipedia.org (http://www.wikipedia.org)
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How to upgrade to "Goosebuntu" - a fully loaded (K)ubuntu 7.xx (Gutsy) system
Note this applies to Ubuntu 7.xx and may be out of date. For Ubuntu 8.xx please visit:-http://www.garfnet.org.uk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content task=view id=126 Itemid=58 (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=126 Itemid=58)
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What is the best image library management system for me?
Singapore vs SimpleViewer vs Coppermine?All three of these are excellent products. However, the expression horses for courses leaps to mind here. These are quite different in they way they work and are aimed at very different markets. Just because a particular product is better for me, it doesn't mean it is neccessarily better for you. I will try to summarise...Singapore is an open source, PHP-based image library management script. It is extremely simple and reliable. The Singapore project had died for a while but it is good to see it up and running again now. Singapore's strength is its simplicity. It is also highly customisable and has a small but loyal following of supporters. However it has no back-end database. This means that the server only needs PHP programming language, not mySQL back-end database. The disadvantage is that it is only suitable for relatively small collections.Choose Singapore if you want a simple but powerful and customisable solution to managing a relatively small library of photos...http://www.sgal.org/ (http://www.sgal.org/)SimpleViewer is probably the simplest and arguably the prettiest off-the-shelf solution, with its cute animated graphics. You simply upload a flash file to your web server drop the necessary links instructions to it in the html code of your page, et voila! It has no extra server requirements. Unfortunately it is also least customisable of the three. Each gallery page has a maximum limit of about fifty photos because each thumbnail is loaded into the user's PC memory. It also only displays SWF and JPEG format files. Also it is not open source and whist it is free to use it for your own photographs, SimpleViewer may not be redistributed as part of a content management system or online hosting solution without the permission of its author. Choose SimpleViewer for very small libraries and you are not bothered about its usage restrictions. It would be anexcellent choice for a (semi)professional phototographer wanting to display say his top twelve to twenty images... http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/ (http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/)Coppermine is a highly customisable, open source (though its authors insist on a credit) image library manager. It is a big monster and would be a sledgehammer to crack a nut if you only had say 50 to 100 photos. It requires both PHP programming language and mySQL back-end database to be installed on your web server. Coppermine handles many filetypes and it is possible to add new ones. It also offers great flexibility regarding both its looks and who you permit to access and edit its contents. This means you can have proper site membership if you wish and tailor it to fit the look and feel of your existing site. Because it uses a back-end database it can handle very large, searchable collections - ours is 22000 and growing steadily. Individual galleries can be as large or small as you wish. Coppermine has a lot of supporters and developers and has a very active discussion forum on its site. Biggest disadvantage is that if you are not very self-disciplined, you can spend a lifetime customising and configuring it! Choose Coppermine if you want a top-notch product to manage huge libraries and perhaps want to host images for other people. But you must be prepared to spend the time configuring it exactly the way you desire...http://www.coppermine-gallery.net (http://www.coppermine-gallery.net/)
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What's the difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu
Ubuntu Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop. This is a very clean, simple environment and is well suited to Linux beginners. In many respects it is much easier to use than any version of MS Windows - though its layout is a little different from Windows. For example, its application menus are at the top of the screen - similar to old-style Macintosh OS9. It also has thin task bar at the bottom specifically for toggling between open applications. Both the menubar and taskbar can be placed top bottom or side if you prefer. Its applications are generally designed using the Gnome Toolkit (GTK) - which is also open source and allows anyone to develop applications for it. Kubuntu Kubuntu uses a German-designed desktop system known as KDE. This is a much more feature rich environment than Gnome. So rich that it is considered by many not to be best suited to beginners. However its look and feel is much closer to Windows XP - in fact some describe it as being like a really well-featured Windows desktop. For example It has a K menu which by default is in the same location as the Windoze start menu. If you have a lot of files to manage then KDE's Konqueror file manager-cum-browser really is the business. It also does FTP and Secure FTP which is great for remote management of websites. Don't forget the Internet is Unix. Therefore, well designed Unix-orientated tools are wonderful thing - once you get the hang of them. Example: there is nothing in either Windows or Gnome to touch KATE - the KDE Advanced Text Editor for writing programming code, HTML, PHP etc. In addition KDE has some really nice toys: eg: METAR weather and my favourite of the moment: an active wallpaper showing real-time shading of the planet due to earth's rotation etc. KDE Applications are front-ended using a development toolkit known as QT (pronounced cute ) - developed by Oslo-based company Trolltech. Trolltech develops GUIs for Google SkypeAlmost all applications designed for Gnome will Work on KDE and visa versa. I tend to cherry-pick my favourite apps from both desktop systems - something you cannot do with Windoze of course. Should you use KDE? If you have already successfully mastered Gnome than it probably is time to try KDE. With most modern Linuxes it is perfectly possible to install several different desktops and choose the one you want from the login screen. How do you install it?Click here to find out how to upgrade to Kubuntu (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=123 Itemid=58)
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Icom IC-R20 radio scanner
http://www.garfnet.org.uk/joomla/content/view/89/58/ (content/view/89/58/)Sound recordings from my IC-R20 Scannerhttp://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=504 (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=504)General I have left the deeply technical stuff to others. Please see the section marked Icom IC-R20 reviews on-line further down the page. Suffice it to say that I find it offers a performance and an overall build-quality, roughly on a par with the AOR 8200. The display and the battery life is better on the Icom IC-R20. The sound recorder in the Icom IC-R20 is handy - albeit rather limted. Downside, the AOR will use a standard 12 VDC power supply. Actually the AOR 8200 seems happy with anything between about 8 13 volts. Whereas the Icom IC-R20 insists on 6 VDC. A well engineered and compact unit, the IC-R20 is a pleasure to use. Its frequency coverage spans from 150 kHz up to 3300 MHz, uninterrupted (unless you live in the United States - where the US version is hobbled so it cannot receive mobile phone frequencies). Battery life using the supplied battery pack is around 10 hours. And you can use ordinary alkaline R6 (AA) batteries when the battery pack runs out - providing you remember to bring the little R6-battery adaptor with you! Or you can splash out and spend £40 on a spare battery pack.The controls are well placed, well spaced and relatively easy to use - though it is worthwhile actually reading the manual because quite a lot of additional funtionality is not immediately apparent. For example you can swap the tuning and volume controls around! The variable bandwidth bandscope is handy for detecting signals near to the one you are receiving and its variety of scan modes seem very comprehensive indeed. The LCD display is clear and the efficient backlighting makes it very usable in low-light conditions. The set is reasonably sensitive, though one makes compromises for its small size - as one does with all hand held communication receivers. The sound quality from the IC-R20 is reasonably good. It is no noisier than the AOR 8200. And the built-in speaker is reasonable considering its small size. The set is 60(W)×142(H)×34.8(D) mm and weighs just 320 grams including battery pack and the supplied telescopic aerial. PC connectivityOne of its endearing features is that its computer connectivity lead is a standard A to mini-B USB lead, rather than some horribly expensive proprietary lash-up as used by AOR. It is the same lead as used by my Fuji S9600 camera, my Sandisk card reader, my Edirol R-09 digital sound recorder and my IcyBox USB hard disk drives. It is great only having to bring one lead with me - and knowing I can replace it for a few quid when I loose or break it!Unfortunately, the recommended software CS-R20 is not particularly well designed, rather difficult to manipulate data and is only designed to work on Micro$haft Windows. Icom does not support Linux or Macintosh at all. However there is third party software available and the IC-R20 offers a lot of connectivity options to those with the skills and/or determination to discover them...More information about PC Connectivity from Tony Ling's excellent sitehttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/tony.ling/radio/ic-r20/R20um22.htm (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/tony.ling/radio/ic-r20/R20um22.htm) And it seems that with a little determination, the CS-R20 software can be persuaded to run on Linux after all. Please see linked article entitled... Making Icom CS-R20 software for IC-R20 run on Linux (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=89 Itemid=16) Sound recordingThe IC-R20 has a built in sound recorder feature. Unfortunately I still cannot download these onto my PC - and if I could they would be no use to me because they are in a non-standard propriatary format. So I use my Roland Edirol R-09 digital recorder to get the sounds off it and as the start of a sort of manual transcoding process. Here's how...Connect the Edirol R-09 reciorder with a stereo 3.5mm male to 3.5mm male lead with a stereo to mono adaptor at the IC-R20 end. I usually record in pure 16 bit WAV format on the R-09. Then I can easily transfer these to any PC (or MACor Linux box) either via the USB lead or by removing the Edirol's SD chip and using a card reader. Top and tail them using Soundforge 4.0 - also running perfectly under Linux. You can also use noise reduction plugins at this stage if you have them. Encode the resulting files as MP3 using open source LAME encoder. I generally use the KDE SoundKonverter front-end on my Kubuntu Linux boxes. Windoze users can use something like Audiograbber. Save the resultant MP3 files with sensible names - perhaps include the station name, the frequency and the date and time. If you intend to use the files on a website then replace any spaces with the underscore character e.g. Lincolnshire_Poacher_(short)_6,95870_MHz_USB_20071223.mp3 (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/displayimage.php?pos=-24393) That's it!You can hear some more of the results here...http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=504 (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=504) Annoyments and ImprovementsSelectivity As other reviewers have commented, the IC-R20 could do with better selectivity, both on HF AM and on VHF WFM. One should not expect the same channel on two, four or sometimes even six adjacent frequencies. Granted, judicious use of its menu-embedded RF gain control can negate this to some extent on strong signals. But selectable bandwidth would be a much better way methinks.Display Why does Icom (and most other manufacturers) still use those yukky coloured yellowy-green backlight LED's when white LEDs have been adopted by mobile phone manufacturers' displays for many years? She-that-must-be-obeyed describes it as looking like a 100 year old mobile phone! Granted, the display on the IC R20 is much clearer than most other devices in its class. But c'mon Icom, it is the 21st century!Sound RecorderHowever I think it is the sound recorder that everyone else seems to rave about that has annoyed me most of all. Whilst I accept that it is a very nice feature, I feel it could have been done so much better. For example, as an opensource guy, I find it deeply irritating that Icom chose an obscure proprietary format for its sound files, when it could have used MP3 or the open source and 100% free OGG format. Additional wishlist for the Icom IC-R30 - if Icom ever makes oneSD Chip. Whilst 32MB of storage for the audio recorder is a heck of a lot more than you get with the AOR 8200's add-on, it is pathetic by today's standards. 1GB SD chips now retail for under a tenner! IC-R20 boasts four hour's recording in the Long Time mode. However, the only recording mode worth using is Fine because both the Long Time and Normal modes add unpleasant audible artefacts to the recording. Fine mode gives you around 1 hour recording time - which gets gobbled up very quickly, in my experience. A removable SD chip using standard MP3 files would seem a much more sensible, cost-effective and generally useful way to store audio IMHO. Use SD chip for.icf files. With a little more imagination, the IC-R20's .icf file(s) could also have been stored on the same SD chip - making cross-platform compatibility much easier to achieve. Stereo 3.5mm jack, why do so many scanner manufacturers still use a mono 3.5mm jack when almost all headphones now use a stereo 3.5mm jack? It means that you either only hear sound through the left headphone speaker or you have to buy some crappy, overpriced mono earpiece! Icom want five quid for theirs and it really is awful! Alternatively, you can buy an additional stereo to mono adaptor. Whilst these adaptors are not expensive, they are easily lost and they protrude excessively from the side of the scanner. Consequently, the scanner phone jack can easily be damaged. Besides it makes a very pretty scanner look damned ugly too! Clock. I have bought cheapie (sub £10) shortwave sets in Hong Kong street markets that have basic timer functions - so why is this lacking on the IC-R20? Metadata and log files. Being familiar with digital recorders such as the Roland Edirol, I find it very irritating that the Icom IC-R20 does not capture essential metadata when making a sound recording - such as the date and time the recording was made and ideally the frequency and the mode of the transmission. This is very basic stuff and would cost Icom nothing - or next to nothing - to implement. Had Icom used MP3 or OGG as its soundfile format, this metadata could be written in plain text to the soundfile's ID3 tags. And the software to do it is all open source and again would cost Icom nothing. It really is a pain having to write down this information separately every time I make a recording! In any event, if the device had an SD chip it would be dead easy to store log files on it. Just imagine that!OverallIt is a nice little scanner and please don't let the above whinges put you off! I use mine every day. Although I have not had it very long, I have recorded some quite interesting transmissions with it...http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=504 (http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=504) It is available in the UK for £299.95 from Nevada Radio in Portsmouth...http://www.nevada.co.uk (http://www.nevada.co.uk) PS. It is probably worth the extra £15.00 for the Icom LC-158 soft case to protect the large and rather easily scratched LCD screen.
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