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If you notice OpenOffice taking a while to start-up even with a 1GB memory for your desktop machine, then you are not alone. This is because by default the application only uses 9MB of the RAM for it's graphic cache. To increase the Graphic Cache, go to "Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Memory" and increase the "Graphics Cache" from 9M to about 128MB (Adjust this accordingly depending on your usage and available RAM). Restart OpenOffice and you will notice that the latency has now dissapeared...

While you are at it, the Memory per object setting allocates memory for each object. The default is 2.4 MB which may need to be increased if you are working with high quality images or decreased if you are not really using images and you need to save on memory resources.

This list has been compiled over time as reference to some of the frequently used linux commands that I use. I hope it will help some new-comers ;)

Linspire formerly Lindows, is giving away free copies of its Linux desktop operating system, called Linspire Five-0, until Sept. 6.

Get It while you can...

Redhat/Fedora does not come with mp3 support enabled by default. Follow the below directions to install the mp3 plugin for RhythmBox:

1. As root setup the livna repo for yum.
   

   # rpm --import http://rpm.livna.org/RPM-LIVNA-GPG-KEY
   # cat <<EOF > /etc/yum.repo.d/livna.repo
   [livna]
   name=Livna.org Fedora Compatible Packages
   baseurl=http://rpm.livna.org/fedora/$releasever/$basearch/RPMS.lvn
   enabled=0
   gpgcheck=1
   EOF
   

2. Setup the fedora extras repo for yum. FC4 should come with a default setup for extras.

The easiest and fastest way to upgrade FC3 to FC4 is to do it using the ISOs from the hard drive.

In my case I am using the nvidia driver (see related post...), the IPW2200 kernel module driver for wireless and the firmware for the corresponding IPW2200 driver. (See related post...). So prior to the upgrade make sure to download all of the required drivers.

Below is a quick outline of the upgrade using ISOs from the hard-drive itself without having to burn it into cds or dvds:

Inkscape is an open source drawing tool with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, and CorelDraw that uses the W3C standard scalable vector graphics format (SVG). Some supported SVG features include basic shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, and grouping. In addition, Inkscape supports Creative Commons meta-data, node-editing, layers, complex path operations, text-on-path, and SVG XML editing. It also imports several formats like EPS, Postscript, JPEG, PNG, BMP, and TIFF and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.

MP3 support is not included in Redhat or Fedora due to licensing concerns. You will need to first install MP3 support for XMMS in order to play files in that format.

The necessary RPM file (xmms-mp3) is available from Freshrpms.net .

Here's what I did on FC3 to download and install the plugin:

$ wget http://ftp.freshrpms.net/pub/freshrpms/fedora/linux/3/xmms/xmms-mp3-1.2.10-9.1.1.fc3.fr.i386.rpm
# rpm -ivh xmms-mp3-1.2.10-9.1.1.fc3.fr.i386.rpm

While you're at it, you may also want to install the skins rpm and check out some additional XMMS tips at the LinuxDevCenter .

Here's a simple bash script that will help in renaming files and folders with uppper-case to lower-case letters.

Make sure you have a backup and test it with a small batch. Also read the whole comments section below if you have spaces in your file names.

#!/bin/bash

#
# Filename: rename.sh
# Description: Renames files and folders to lowercase recursively
#              from the current directory
# Variables: Source = x
#            Destination = y

#
# Rename all directories. This will need to be done first.
#

# Process each directory’s contents before the directory  itself
for x in `find * -depth -type d`;
do

  # Translate Caps to Small letters
  y=$(echo $x | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]');

  # check if directory exits
  if [ ! -d $y ]; then
    mkdir -p $y;
  fi

  # check if the source and destination is the same
  if [ "$x" != "$y" ]; then

    # check if there are files in the directory
    # before moving it
    if [ $(ls "$x") ]; then
      mv $x/* $y;
    fi
    rmdir $x;

  fi

done

#
# Rename all files
#
for x in `find * -type f`;
do
  # Translate Caps to Small letters
  y=$(echo $x | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]');
  if [ "$x" != "$y" ]; then
    mv $x $y;
  fi
done

exit 0

The OpenCD project aims to introduce users of MS-Windows to the benefits of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

When you insert the disc into your computer it automatically launches a browser which will guide you through the contents of the disc, presenting the various programs, and allow you to easily install them. The programs are carefully selected to ensure stability, ease of use and a clean install and un-install from your computer. This CD is intended as a first introduction to the world of OSS, in the hope that you will later go on to explore other projects, and at some stage you may even want to try a whole new operating system such as Linux.

The latest edition also lets you boot into a highly polished desktop based on Ubuntu for a taste of the world of free operating systems! Many of the same applications found on the Windows side of the disc are also pre-installed on the live Ubuntu demo, showing how the user experience and data can be preserved across platforms.

"SoX" (Sound eXchange) is a command line program that can convert most popular audio files to most other popular audio file formats. It can optionally change the audio sample data type and apply one or more sound effects to the file during this translation.

Fedora 3 does not come with "sox" compiled with mp3 support. You will need to download the source and recompile for mp3 support and install it. Else you can grab a prebuilt rpm if you are looking for a quick and easy way out. Download mp3 and lame enabled sox via FreshRPMS.net and install it: