Looking for a word processor on the go? Need access to .doc files on a PC that doesn't have OpenOffice.org or Word? Forget about installing anything. A fully functional word processor is just six seconds away...

ajaxWrite is a web app that has the look and feel of a typical word processor with all the usual functions squeezed into just 400Kb, making it responsive even on older machines. And it's not tied to any particular operating system — Mac, Windows or Linux, it makes no odds.

Documents can be read in a variety of formats (Word, Works, Word Perfect, OpenOffice, StarOffice, etc) and saved as either Word, OpenOffice, RTF, text or PDF documents.

And did I mention it's completely free?

There's only one catch; you've got to use Firefox. And at least version 1.5. Like that's any sort of imposition!

 

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

There have been calls (even from within Microsoft) for heads to roll over the latest delay to Vista. But really, who cares?

Face it, only the brain-dead or extremely over-specced are going to want to upgrade to Vista. It's strictly a new-machine OS only. It's minimum specifications are fearsome, and if you're hanging out to play Halo 2, I suggest you buy an XBox.

That's part of Microsoft's problem. Once upon a time the new-hardware-new-OS treadmill was driven by gamers (“You can't play Leisure Suit Larry on a monochrome XT! You need a 286 and some of them fancy CGA graphics...”) but these days things are simpler. For the price of a high-end graphics card you can buy yourself a complete, dedicated gaming machine with its own built-in operating system.

Besides, I don't hear many corporates begging for Vista's HDTV capability.

Some pundits have put the latest delay down to scheming. Robert X. Cringely recently suggested it could be (1) to give the XBox a clear run at Christmas, (2) to keep co-Borg president Jim Allchin on a bit longer, (3) to show the OEMs who really runs their companies, and/or (4) to punish Steve Jobs cos Windows XP runs fine on Mac hardware. But he's forgotten Occam's IT Razor: Never ascribe to cunning plans that which can be put down to project management incompetence.

A few weeks ago John C. Dvorak (notice how you can't be a credible tech writer in the US unless you use your middle initial) upset Mac heads by suggesting Apple was going to drop OSX in favour of Windows. But curiously no one's yet suggested corollary; that this latest delay plays right into Apple's hands.

Think about it. Windows is wedded to Intel hardware. Last year Apple too moved to Intel kit and its first machines are now on the market. How hard's it going to be to port OSX for regular Windows plods? Some geeks have done it already. Even if the initial hardware requirements are really restrictive (just like Vista!) Apple would sell 10 million copies in a month.

Boy, would that burst Bill's bubble!

Geoff E. Palmer

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

I was down in the PC World archives recently. In amongst our collection of pricelss artifacts — MS-Dos 3.21 diskettes, XT motherboards overclocked to 12MHz and a 486 laptop that cost a mere $6,000 (ex-GST) — I found some early Linux columns.

I've been writing (and using) Linux for four-and-a-half years now but it all started with a column called Learning to Love the Penguin. A couple of months later I did a follow up to address some of the issues readers' raised, and since then I've never looked back. They're actually not too whiskery (sorry about the dust), and if you're still tinkering on the Linux fringes they're worth a look for advice on how to do the Windows cold turkey cure.

Apart from revelations about my secret life, there are also a couple of years' worth of Tux Love columns. Many are still useful though one or two are missing.  (We'd have shot the archivist if he hadn't archived the bullets. And the gun.) I've replaced them with scans from the magazine and marked them with an asterisk*.

Installing Linux
A step-by-step to setting up and getting started.

Get Your Modem Working
Still on dial-up? Many modems really do work with Linux!

Installing Software
A quick guide to installing software under Linux using the fabulous xpenguins as an example.

Directory Structure
At first the way Linux lays out directories looks weird. But it's really quite logical...

X Windows*
Linux isn't monolithic, it's composed of zillions of discrete, interchangeable parts. One of the main ones is it's graphical front end.

Other Worlds
But X Windows isn't the only choice.  Here are some other popular Window Managers.

Spam Filtering
Installing and configuring bullet-proof spam filters. Part I* and Part II.

Networking
Setting up and configuring a network. Part I and Part II.

Firewalls and IP Masquerading
Setting up a firewall and sharing your internet connection.

Running Windows Under Linux
The Wine project allows you to run a surprising number of Windows applications natively in Linux. Then there's CrossOver Office for business apps and Cedaga (formerly TransGaming) for games.

Fun With the Command Line
Windows users have an irrational fear of typing in commands. Under Linux it's a doddle, and you can do anything from browsing the web to building your own DVDs. You can even create your own GUIs! Part I*, Part II and Part III.

Programming Linux
An brief introduction to Linux's main programming languages.

Multi-platform Applications
You don't need to be a Linux user to benefit from Open Source software.

Why Stop at One?
Techies at IBM once installed 41,100 copies of Linux on a mainframe. Our aim's more modest. If you've got some spare hard disk space you can easily add multiple distributions to your PC. Part I and Part II*

System Rescue
The 100Mb SysRescue CD is a boot-from-disc Linux system that could rescue a wrecked PC. Even a Windows one!

Dependency Hell and Package Managers
A look at some of the solutions to "dependency hell".

Kernel Hacking
A build-it-yourself kernel guide. Part I* and Part II.

Do-it-yourself Distro*
An introduction to Gentoo, the distribution you build yourself!

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Fancy creating your own tailor-made Linux distribution? Like a choice between Debian, Fedora, Kubuntu, Suse or Ubuntu in their 32- or 64-bit iterations? Need to create an enterprise-wide installation system or just one for your home desktop? Check out Instalinux.

Based on HP's Linux Common Operating Environment (LinuxCOE), Instalinux allows users to create localised network boot images, set installation options and manage the applications and services provided to users. HP used it to rollout a Linux migration to 15,000 desktops.

If you don't have 15,000 spare desktops, or even fancy tinkering with your current configuration, the site has a simple six-step tutorial on creating and installing it as a Virtual Machine. Did I say simple? I'll say. Here, in its entirety, is step six: "Live out the rest of your days in smug satisfaction."

Now what was that excuse about not trying Linux...?

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 8:39 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Blog entries are like buses. You wait around for days and nothing's posted, then three go by at once. Keeping track of what you've read and what you've missed can be a pain. Which is why you need BlogBridge.

It's free, it's multi-platform (Linux, Mac and Windows) and it's full of useful features. With a single click you can check the status of all the blogs you're watching, and zoom in on postings you've missed. But BlogBridge's killer function is its synchronisation. Whether you read blogs at home, at work, or on the move, synchronisation keeps all your activities automatically up-to-date, whatever machine you use.

The downside? It's Java-based. Which isn't really a downside unless you happen to be a GNU-hugging "Oh my God it's not totally unencumbered software" type. Click to start a Java app and invariably nothing happens for some seconds, even on a fast PC. But once it's loaded its virtual machine, everything runs just fine.

[Click the image to enlarge]

BlogBridge has lots of other cool features but you don't want read me wittering on about them. You want to try them out for yourself, right? So take a look and let me know what you think. (That's what the Comments link below is for!)

[Thanks to David Harrington for suggesting this application.]

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

A couple of months ago - while I was writing this month's feature for PC World in fact - I lost the file. And I mean lost it! Through sheer stupidity I trashed a whole day's work. Nuked. Zapped. Blown into the bit bucket. Completely gone.

And then I recovered it. Here's how...

How I Lost It

The details are too esoteric to relate but it was basically a combination of silliness.  I was using an experimental version of Linux that was running an experimental version of OpenOffice.org 2.0.  As if this wasn't enough, I was compiling and experimenting with other applications on other Desktops while I worked.

OOo even crashed a couple of times, but I didn't take the hint. Restarting it would present the Recovery window, and Automatic Recovery worked perfectly every time.  

Towards the end of the day it crashed again but this time the crash-recovery cycle took me straight into another crash-recovery cycle.  Strange.  I tried opening the document in KWord.  All present and correct.  I tried OOo once more and Automatic Recovery asked if I wanted to restore the document.  This was where I made my REALLY BIG MISTAKE.  I said, 'No.'

My thinking was, 'The file doesn't need recovering.  It's fine.  I just looked at it in KWord.'  OOo's thinking was, 'He doesn't want this file so I'll delete it and start off with a nice blank page.'

See?  A simple misunderstanding.

Now I Really Lost It!

I tried Agonised Screaming version 1.0, Profanities 8.2 (with the Extreme expansion pack), and even a little Desk Pounding (the beta release). They didn't help. Then I took a breather and thought about the problem

My one possible saviour was that I have OOo's Save AutoRecovery Info set to Every 5 Minutes.  (You'll find this setting under Tools / Options / Load-Save / General.)  If Linux was doing regular saves, it probably did so to the  /tmp folder as that's where it stores temporary files.  So I checked it out.

Finding the Data

1. I started Konqueror and searched /tmp based on the contents of the file. (In this case the title of my document)

2. Result: one hit. A file called sv60g.tmp/sv644.tmp in folder sv60g.tmp.

3. I right-clicked the file, chose Open With and used Kate to confirm it was the file I was looking for.  Bingo!

4. I copied sv644.tmp to my Desktop and renamed it content.xml.  Why that name?  You'll see in a moment...

A Diversion About the OpenDocument Format

At the heart of OpenOffice - and several other Linux-based office applications - is the OpenDocument specification.  An OpenDocument file isn't a single file at all but a zipped collection of several files and folders.  

Figure 1: An OpenDocument file is really a zipped collection of several files and folders.

From the creator's perspective content.xml is the most important because, as it's name suggests, it contains the user's data.  The file I located in /tmp was actually this content file in an uncompressed state.  The real giveaway was the file header...

Figure 2: Comparing the headers on the recovered sv644.tmp file with a real content.xml ,

File Recovery

This was the easy part.  Armed with the above information, it was simply a matter of injecting the recovered sv644.tmp (now sitting on my Desktop and renamed it content.xml) into a valid uncompressed OpenDocument collection and recompressing it.

1. Create a new OOo document, type in a few random characters and save it to the Desktop as blank.odt.

2. Right-click this file and rename it blank.zip.

3. Right-click blank.zip, chose Extract and Extract To blank/. This creates a new directory on the Desktop called blank/ containing the uncompressed files and folders.

4. Now simply delete content.xml file in blank/ and replace it with the recovered content.xml sitting on the Desktop.

5. Close the blank/folder.  Right-click it, choose Compress, Compress As and blank.zip.

6. Rename blank.zip back to blank.odt and re-open it in OOo. And there's your recovered file!

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments ( 3 )

What do you with a CD you can't even read?  A CD that's not recognised by any player (or PC) you put it in?  Bin material, right?  That's what I thought when a friend presented me with the penultimate CD in an audio book collection.  She'd spent around 15 hours listening to the story-so-far before being stopped dead by an unplayable disc.

Nothing I tried it in would recognise it but out of interest I decided to see what cdparanoia made of it.

Cdparanoia's different from most CD rippers because it focusses on knowing as much as possible about the hardware you're using.  Amongst a lot of other fancy stuff it'll read and repair data from damaged CDs.  It's the brains behind a number of Linux's GUI-based rippers but in this case the GUIs couldn't actually see the disc.

Since cdparanoia reads the audio on a CD as data with no intermediate analog step, I tried it straight from the command line...

cdparanoia --query

...and, hey presto, I got a track listing.  Awesome!

Table of contents (audio tracks only): track length begin copy pre ch =========================================================== 1. 13064 [02:54.14] 0 [00:00.00] no no 2 2. 13576 [03:01.01] 13064 [02:54.14] no no 2 3. 14191 [03:09.16] 26640 [05:55.15] no no 2 ... 19. 13860 [03:04.60] 242494 [53:53.19] no no 2 20. 13277 [02:57.02] 256354 [56:58.04] no no 2 TOTAL 309751 [68:50.01] (audio only)

Next step, to try ripping some tracks.

Cdparanoia has masses of options.  You can rip individual tracks or even parts of them.  If you just wanted to grab the audio from between the times 0:30.12 and 1:10.00 on track 8 you'd enter cdparanoia "8[:30.12]-8[1:10]" That's far more than I needed so I just went for...

cdparanoia -B

...to extract the entire disc and put each track in a separate file.

It took a while—one 5-minute track took more than 5 hours to extract—but it worked! Audio quality seems fine too.

So that's another win for Linux and hero status for your's truly.

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )

According to Groklaw:

"Andreas Pleschek also told [LinuxForum 2006] that IBM has cancelled their contract with Microsoft as of October this year. That means that IBM will not use Windows Vista for their desktops. Beginning from July, IBM employees will begin using IBM Workplace on their new, Red Hat-based platform. Not all at once - some will keep using their present Windows versions for a while. But none will upgrade to Vista."

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 2 )

...it's still a cool video clip if you're a Simpsons fan...
.

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 0 )

Being the only non-office-bound blogger, I ended up as unofficial external access tester for our new blogs. Except I couldn't get in. I could almost hear the whispers at PC World Towers (“But he's using Linux...”) so made doubly sure by re-booting a backup machine into Windows 2000 (it normally runs Gentoo).

Still no go.

To make doubly sure, I bypassed the firewall. I do this in Linux now and then with no ill effects but it's a big mistake under Windows. Almost immediately – we're talking under a minute here – I received an alarming alert...

... and got infected with a Trojan.

Yes, the above is Messenger spam and you can get rid of it by disabling stuff and installing other stuff. And no, I shouldn't have dreamed of starting Windows without a firewall, a photon shield, three-inches of armour plating and an armed and active ICBM in the back yard, but you just don't get this crap in Linux!

It occurred to me that hidden behind corporate firewalls, protected by network professionals and carefully considered security policies, most computer journos tend to forget what it's really like out there in the wild for the ordinary Joe User who just wants a PC that works. Reliably. The poor sods end up with Windows and being bombarded by this kind of garbage...

Forget it. Ditch it. Get a real operating system. Get Linux!

Posted by Geoff Palmer at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments ( 1 )