vsbabu.org : open source http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/categories/open source/ Gluing passing thoughts to foregone conclusions en-us vsbabu@gmail.com Copyright 2008 2004-12-28T17:21:42+05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Vim outliner http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2004/12/28/vim_outliner.html This is so really cool! 995@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ From journal of Ziggy:

Who needs MSWord when you have vim? ... The answer is The Vim Outliner, courtesy of the indefatigable Ned Konz.

I would love to get/make a converter to ReStructured Text. A bit too busy these days :-(

]]> open source 2004-12-28T17:21:42+05:00 Interesting software from Freshmeat http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/06/13/interesting_software_from_freshmeat.html I think these are going to be useful later. 808@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ The daily morning check at Freshmeat revealed some projects that caught my attention. I've not used any of these, but I think these might be useful in future.

]]> open source 2003-06-13T06:17:20+05:00 Duplicate CDs with CDRDAO http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2003/05/22/duplicate_cds_with_cdrdao.html Quick start guide to using cdrdao to duplicate CD-ROMs 796@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ If you have a need to duplicate a CD, CDRDAO is really great. There are quite a few GUI front-ends available, but command line is much more easier than all of them.

]]> open source 2003-05-22T09:17:35+05:00 WideStudio, DjVu http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/12/07/widestudio_djvu.html Two nice open source software that caught my eye. 644@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ WideStudio is an integrated development environment(IDE) to build GUI applications for Linux / FreeBSD / SOLARIS / Windows95/98/ME,Windows NT,Win2K.This software is free (MIT/X Consortiun Licence). It is possible to develop GUI applications at no charge, and very easily. People who cannot afford expensive development tools can now start developing with WideStudio for free.

Once you've developed your application, here is another free way to make documentation!

]]> open source 2002-12-07T11:49:55+05:00 Licenses or Support? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/12/04/licenses_or_support.html In this economy, one should think about what provides most value for the money. 639@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Economy is getting normal - I wouldn't say down, because I used to strongly believe that .com days were hugely abnormal. These days, people have no choice other than to see whether they are getting their money's worth. In October, I noted down my thoughts on what makes IT drain money.

Most of the IT money one spends goes into three categories, viz., compensation, licenses and support. I've not yet thought on compensation, though this is usually the biggest part. Licenses and support costs can be huge if you are not thoughtful enough.

]]> open source 2002-12-04T10:58:31+05:00 Choice of software and syllabus http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/11/26/choice_of_software_and_syllabus.html Will my little native state have the heart to do the right thing? 627@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Members of Free Software Users Group has submitted a mass memo to the Government of Kerala regarding its choice of Microsoft software for all schools. This is a really well written memo and is easy to read. via Slashdot discussion.

]]> open source 2002-11-26T06:11:33+05:00 Why Open Source DBs? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/09/17/why_open_source_dbs.html A good article comparing different databases available. 499@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ NewsForge - I've been working with databases for many years. I started out with Oracle and Informix then used a little Sybase. Then I discovered open source and used mSQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL pretty extensively. Most recently I've been working with Oracle again, and just started playing with MSSQL. Why is any of this important? It’s important because I've seen the good and the bad of all these systems. And perhaps even more important are my conclusions after 10 years of working with RDBMS.

]]> open source 2002-09-17T11:44:14+05:00 Blackbox, Fluxbox http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/09/15/blackbox_fluxbox.html X Window System has more alternatives than KDE and Gnome. 493@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ OSDir.com has a very short note on Blackbox window manager. I used to use KDE 3, but within a week, I started missing the lightweight nature of Blackbox.

After some looking around, I settled for Fluxbox, which is a variant of Blackbox with some nice features. Set it up with keyboard shortcuts and I'm very happy with it.

]]> open source 2002-09-15T08:08:44+05:00 Nagios http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/09/10/nagios.html Open source tool for system monitoring and alerting. 481@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Nagios (formerly NetSaint) is a really good *NIX based system monitoring, alerting and reporting tool.

  • Open source
  • Plugin architecture; it looks like it is not that hard to write your own
  • Good reporting
  • Multiple forms of filtered alerting
]]> open source 2002-09-10T06:12:39+05:00 Unixifying Windows http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/09/02/unixifying_windows.html Useful tools to Unixify Windows for free. 464@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Simon Brunning: Eric's Webspace has some fab tips on DOS and Windows script writing. Combine with Unix utilities for Windows, and you can get a lot done.

Thanks Simon!

]]> unix 2002-09-02T10:30:07+05:00 Who fix things faster? http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/08/14/who_fix_things_faster.html Fixing an SSL security hole in IE and Konqueror. 438@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Day before yesterday: SSL defeated in IE and Konqueror.

Yesterday: KDE smokes Microsoft in SSL bug fix.

via Mark Pilgrim.

]]> open source 2002-08-14T06:05:08+05:00 FreeVSD: One machine, upto 250 environments http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/08/06/freevsd_one_machine_upto_250_environments.html A virtual server environment that lets you create up to 250 Web development sandboxes 431@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ IBM dW - FreeVSD: Free sandboxes! Get to know freeVSD, a virtual server environment that lets you create up to 250 Web development sandboxes for experimentation or production.

I say this is all the more reason to kickout NT/2000. If not for developers' sandboxes, it could be used for setting up demo web applications.

]]> open source 2002-08-06T19:17:42+05:00 OSS for Mac OSX http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/07/29/oss_for_mac_osx.html Good article on using open source software under OSX 415@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ O'Reilly Net has a nice article with links about using all those fabulous open source software in the new Mac OSX.

For all those hard-core Windows' users out there, I've not booted into Windows at home for more than 4 months now. So, you see, it is actually possible to compute without using Windows.

]]> open source 2002-07-29T18:14:07+05:00 Barriers to OSS in government http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/07/28/barriers_to_oss_in_government.html 5 practical issues for open source movement in the government. 413@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ Phil Windley, CIO of Utah, has penned very interesting thoughts on the problems in using Open Source Software in government.

His list includes sales droids, consultants, lack of open source culture, risk and lack of IT lobbying.

He couldn't have put it better!

]]> open source 2002-07-28T20:50:48+05:00 Installing KDE 3 on Mandrake 8 http://vsbabu.org/mt/archives/2002/05/13/installing_kde_3_on_mandrake_8.html My notes on installing KDE 3 and configuring it on Mandrake 8.0. 322@http://vsbabu.org/mt/ KDE3 screen shot: click for 1024x768 popup shot Recently I installed KDE3 on my Mandrake 8.0. Installation was easy. Configuration needed some effort.
- First download and install all RPMS. I did not use any development packages. And I used the official version, though these are slower and has debugging code compiled in.
- Then go to /etc/X11/wmsession.d and rename 11KDE to 11KDE3
- In the 11KDE3 file, if you see a space in "KDE 3", remove the space.
- Run chksession -x=KDE3
- Edit /usr/share/config/kdmrc and add KDE3 as a session. You can do this from the Mandrake menu too (Configuration - KDE - System - Session Manager)
- Restart X server and login using KDE3 session
- Menus might be off, so run menudrake. Once it is done building the menu, click on Save and then close the program.
- Personalizer pops up for every login. To fix this annoyance, add FirstLogin=false to .kde3/share/config/kpersonalizerc after the first login.

]]> open source 2002-05-13T05:48:18+05:00