BASH Tutorial

What is the Bash Shell?
The GNU Bourne-Again SHell (BASH) incorporates
features from the C Shell (csh) and the Korn Shell (ksh) and conforms to the
POSTIX 2 shell specifications. It provides a Command Line Interface (CLI) for
working on *nix systems and is the most common shell used on Linux systems.
Useful bash features will be the subject of the rest of this document.

[continue reading]

Open Source Scalable Vector Graphics Editor

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.

Inkscape's main motivation is to provide the Open Source community with a fully W3C compliant XML, SVG, and CSS2 drawing tool. Additional planned work includes conversion of the codebase from C/Gtk to C++/Gtkmm, emphasizing a lightweight core with powerful features added through an extension mechanism, and the establishment of a friendly, open, community-oriented development process.

Boot Fedora Linux Faster: How I Modified Fedora To Boot In Under 25 Seconds

for Linux users who want faster boot time, here's a link to explain how to reduce the boot time to less than 25 sec. on Fedora 4 distribution.

Science Toys: Make it at home

Scicnce toys is a site to explain how to make toys at home with common household materials, often in only a few minutes, that demonstrate fascinating scientific principles.

Gizmo is a Free Phone for Your Computer

Skype is cool, I gotta admit … but it ain’t open source, & that’s kind of troubling. You don’t know what Skype is going to do with their network, & any time they decide to exert controls, users are out of luck. Fortunately, there’s a neat new open source competitor that might be worth a look: Gizmo. Gizmo users can call other Gizmo users for free, and they can also call landlines & cells cheaply (starting at $0.018 per minute). In addition, landlines & cells can call Gizmo users at regular phone numbers for about $5/month. Best of all, Gizmo is based on the SIP open standard, & they’ve committed to connecting to other open VOIP systems as well. The software is currently available for Mac OS X & Windows XP/2k, with Linux versions coming soon. Sounds cool!

via: [ Opensource Weblog ]

Related links:

- Skype vs. Gizmo UI? Hah! No comparison
- Is Gizmo Project a Skype Killer?
- Project Gizmo challenges Skype


Update 1: It looks like opensource weblog mentioned that Gizmo is open source, and that is not true, Gizmo is just a free appliaction that uses an open standard for VoIP, and not open source application, Thanks Alaa for the comment.

Skinning Gmail with a Custom Stylesheet

Short Version

• Install the URLid Mozilla/Firefox extension.
• Download this CSS file.
• Locate your profile folder and the chrome folder within that.
• Copy the downloaded CSS file to the chrome folder and rename it to userContent.css (if you already have such a file, you will have to merge the two).
• Restart Firefox.
• Visit Gmail.

Very nice hack, if you are bored from your Gmail Interface

[Origianl Article]

Create Free PDFs

PrimoPDF is a free utility that allows you to print to PDF format from any Windows program.

via: [ Download Squad ]

MSN VirtualEarth

Microsoft Has launched its maps site, called VirtualEarth, in Beta mode of course.

it looks like the resuolution of Egypt still is not good, but we have google maps until MS finishs its work.

Feedshake

Feedshake tool helps you to generate new feeds by merging, sorting and filtering existing online RSS feeds. This service doesn't require any subscription nor e-mail adress.

[link]

Chinese Language (cont.)

if my old post about learning chinese language was interesting (I doubt that:-) ), Here's some followup: I found another site that may help in chinese resurants, it will help understanding Restaurant signs and restaurant menus.

[link]

This should be more interesting if you like the chinese food.

Yahoo! Widgets

Yahoo! has bought a small company called Konfabulator, that makes desktop widgets for both windows and Macs.

You can browse the widget gallery here, including such exotic and frivolous information nodules as Simpsons quotes, an eBay feedback meter, and a desktop metronome.

The great news is that Konfabulator anounced that they are now free. and Yahoo! now has a site for widgets

via [Engadget]

Bowden's Hobby Circuits

A small collection of electronic circuits for the hobbyist or student. Site includes over 100 circuit diagrams, links to related sites, commercial kits and projects, newsgroups and educational areas.

[link]

I just hope that the site remains up, It contains really nice circuits.

Avoider game

nice flash game. You have to keep your mouse pointer safe as long as you can !!!

[link]

Why FreeBSD

The FreeBSD operating system is the unknown giant among free operating systems. Starting out from the 386BSD project, it is an extremely fast UNIX®-like operating system mostly for the Intel® chip and its clones. In many ways, FreeBSD has always been the operating system that GNU/Linux®-based operating systems should have been. It runs on out-of-date Intel machines and 64-bit AMD chips, and it serves terabytes of files a day on some of the largest file servers on earth.

[more]

Dollars Shirts

if you have some extra dollars, and you'd like to make some shirts out of it, then here's a site that explain how to do that. I think Egyptian Pounds will work, although the shirt will be cheaper :-)

[link]

email address image generator

a nice site that takes your email address and generates an image for it, it contains a list of the major email providers (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, ...).

The generated image looks nice, and it will help you if you don't want automated spiders to read your mail, and sell it to spammers, but take care, they might spam you :-)

[link]

gOFFICE: Browser based Word processor

I found a link for a browser based word processor and office suite, In my opinion the future will be for web-based applications (as gmail, and here goffice), where the license can be controlled in a tightly way.

Google Hacking Explained

I found a tutorial to explain the security risks associated with common internet search engines.

In the past few years, Google has come to be the most popular search engine in the world, so much so that many consider it the only one worth using. For this reason this tutorial will focus on Google, however it can be safely assumed that most of what is said here applies to other similar engines as well.

[link]

Java news reader RSSOwl

RSSOwl is another reader for RSS, open-source, cross-platform, and rolled in a yummy Java crust.

via [Download Squad]

BMW adds super-vision to night driving

BMW claims that its new 7 Series is the first production car to feature a far infra-red night vision system, used in conjunction with the new high-beam "assist" function to make night driving safer.

[link]
[Engadget]

$100 laptop

The MIT Media Lab is launching a new research initiative to develop a $100 laptop—a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. The $100 Laptop Project (HDLP) was announced by Nicholas Negroponte, Lab chairman and co-founder, at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2005.

What is the $100 Laptop, really?
The $100 Laptop will be a Linux-based, full-color, full-screen laptop, which initially is achieved either by rear projecting the image on a flat screen or by using electronic ink (developed at the MIT Media Lab). In addition, it will be rugged, use innovative power (including wind-up), be WiFi- and cell phone-enabled, and have USB ports galore. Its current specifications are: 500MHz, 1GB, 1 Megapixel. The cost of materials for each laptop is estimated to be approximately $90, which includes the display, as well as the processor and memory, and allows for $10 for contingency or profit.

Why not a desktop?
Desktops are cheaper, but mobility is important, especially with regard to taking the computer home at night. Recent work with schools in Maine has shown the huge value of using a laptop across all of one's studies, as well as for play. Bringing the laptop home engages the family. In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home.

[link]

Potter book beats US sales record

The new Harry Potter book has sold 6.9 million copies in the US in its first 24 hours, beating the record held by the previous Potter release.

This means more than 250,000 copies per hour accoring to BBC.

US sales of the sixth Harry Potter book have generated more than $100m (£57m) in revenue across the weekend - more than the combined box office sales of hit films, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Wedding Crashers.

via [BBC]

lucky J.K. Rowling :-) [offical site][forbes]

my-google blogger templates

blogger-templates is a site hosted on blogspot that contains free blogger templates (as you may already guessed ), I really liked my-google one very much.

Are you using the right blogging tool?

To complete my previous post, I found another article about blogging tools, now should I switch to blogsome? Can I get any recommendations?

mounting iso image file to a local directory on linux

To mount the ISO image file.iso to the mount point /mnt/file use this command:

mount -o loop -t iso9660 file.iso /mnt/file

blog software comparison chart

It looks like blogger is far behind in this comparison, I wonder if there's a better free blogging option for me.
Did they mentioned MSN spaces, and Yahoo! 360 ?

Optimus keyboard

[link]

An Automatic Computer Science Paper Generator

An Automatic CS Paper Generator

very funny idea, to generate random computer science paper, and it really contains real scientific terms.

Links July, 17 2005

- Great Hackers
- Photoshop tricks
- Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures
- RSS and Atom compared


unrelated links :-)

Harry Potter launch

Fans around the world are finally getting their hands on the sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

via [BBC]

Updated Yahoo Desktop Search

There's an update for YDS that includes support for Thunderbird

via [Yahoo! Search blog]

Gmail and BT

Scott Villarosa's Blog included a post on Using Gmail to find downloads on BitTorrent:
I have copied it here:

Microsoft's Outlook 2003 gives users the ability to use Search Folders. Essentially this feature allows users to scan their incoming email using specific criteria they provide. Simply a handy feature without question. I thought I'd borrow from this idea, though, and hook up Gmail to filter out some specific downloads I regularly track on various BitTorrent websites. So here we go.

First, find a few good RSS feeds for BitTorrent downloads. I'm using a feed each from Mininova.org, Rokanova.org, and NewTorrents.info.

Next, go and visit the free RSS-to-email service RssFwd and subscribe to your chosen feed(s).

Lastly, log on to your Gmail account and create the appropriate label(s) and filter(s). For example, create a filter based on items that you usually would search for via these websites and their feeds. The image example I've provided shows a simple filter I set up to search for all instances of musical artists that I like. I then have opted to apply a label titled 'Downloads' to these items when filtered.

Hopefully with this information you can get Gmail really working for you. I mean why bother, for example, searching through literally hundreds of potential download items when Gmail can do all the sorting? And of course you'll hardly run out of storage space either. Joy!

One final step might be to subscribe to your Gmail account's incoming 'Downloads' mail feed in your favourite news aggregator. There are many to choose from.

Very nice article, and this is what should be the inovation of "google" users :-).

Firefox 1.0.5 released

Firefox 1.0.5 has been released [Download]

Firefox 1.0.5 is a security update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version.

[release notes]

New Potter book leaks in Canada

The latest (6th) Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is scheduled to be released July 16, but a store near Vancouver briefly put the book on sale last week.

via: [CNN]

digg

What's Digg? Digg is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do.

via: [Download squad]

Linux vs. Windows, embedded this time

Linux versus Windows isn't just servers and desktops anymore. Smart devices are showing up all over the place, and the embedded arena features fighting just as intense. The Great Gadget Smack-Down aims to sort it out once and for all, and find out which embedded OS is best [more].

This is an article published on LinuxDevices , it looks very interesting specially the device counts:

Cool devices, by embedded OS -- Round Three Scorecard

Device Category	Windows Embedded	Embedded Linux
PDAs, handhelds	103 devices	40 devices
Mobile phones	36 devices	22 devices
VoIP phones/devices	13 devices	14 devices
Robots	(included in other)	11 devices
Audio/video devices	20 devices	60 devices
Thin client devices	37 devices	26 devices
Tablets/webpads	36 devices	13 devices
Gateways, servers, APs	(included in other)	73 devices
Other	45 devices	54 devices
TOTAL:	290 devices	313 devices

---

And the winner is...?

via: [Engadget]

Hotmail new interface

Microsoft is testing a new hotmail interface, I hope this one will be lighter than the current one, as the current interface doesn't always load successfully in my home PC.

via [Beta news]

Photography Plugins

Photography plugins to enhance digital photos, unfortunatly it's not free.

Occasional XSLT for Experienced Software Developers

Although using XSLT to process XML is increasingly common, most developers still use it only occasionally—and often treat it as just another procedural language. But that's not the best way to use XSLT. Learn how to simplify and improve your XSLT processing using event-driven and declarative techniques.

source [devX]

Obsolete computer gallery

http://members.aol.com/chrzahn/


via [Boing Boing]

It reminds me with the site Apple History, but Apple History (as the name indicates) is specific to Apple only, and have a larger collection.

Google Maps Mania

I found a blog devoted to google maps, and tools developed by google maps API [link].

via [Boing Boing]

I like google maps, and I wish they develop it more, bringing higher resolution images for the world.
Does anybody have any idea about their roadmap ?

iPod Family

People *love* Apple Computer's iPod, pinkbeltrage Created a photo album for the iPod family, and She wrote:

Mr. and Ms. iPod share the pictures of their new arrival, little Shuffle.
Herethey are taking him out for a walk around the iBook in his new pram..."

The photos is hosted on Flickr

via: [TUAW]

and for other readers who don't like iPods, here's a blog called iHateYouriPod

Rambus unveils 8GHz XDR 2

the Register

Rambus is pitching XDR 2 at graphics applications as the successor to today's GDDR chips. Rambus claims ownership of key components of GDDR and is currently suing five memory makers which it alleges have infringed its intellectual property rights.

The new version of XDR is available for licensing immediately, the company said, but it won't be until 2007 at the earliest before XDR 2 appears in shipping product.

XDR 1 has already been adopted by Sony for incorporation into the PlayStation 3. Samsung began shipping 256Mb XDR DRAM chips earlier this year. Memory maker Elpida has also licensed XDR. ®

and another link on The inquirer

Chinese language

Do you want to try something new, what about learning Chinese, BBC have an online course Real Chinese.

Previously I registered in Chinese course here in Cairo, but that was in My Preparatory year in Faculty of engineering, and the Chinese course was conflicting with some labs in my college, so I stopped after only 2 sessions.

reset cached nicknames in Outlook

today looks like a great day for blogging :-)

Here's a Microsoft KB article to reset the nickname and the automatic completion caches in Outlook.

c++ future

two interesting links:

C++0x Standard Library wishlist
Language wish list

Also, Bjarne Stroustrup [homepage] [wikipedia] posted "The design of C++0x" article in C/C++ Users Journal. May 2005

Links: July 07, 2005

- SWT on Swing
- Eclipse Plugin Central
- SWT on Swing and vice-versa

Eclipse 3.1 download Challenge

Eclipse made a challenge to reach 1 million download of eclipse 3.1 in less than 60 days:

It took roughly 60 days for us to ship 1 million copies of 3.0.2. We feel we can do better than this for 3.1. For every day less than 60 that it takes for us to reach our 1 millionth download, willing members of the Eclipse community will donate either time or money (as appropriate) to a charity of their choosing. For instance, if it takes us 20 days to reach 1 million then those pledging will donate 40 times (60 days less 20) whatever they've pledged.

If you like eclipse, you may consider supporting this challenge by downloading eclipse 3.1

Adding my blog to egybloggers

I have added my blog "To Blog or not To Blog" to egybloggers in the Techonlogy category
I don't know if Alaa and Manal aggregator will pick it automatically or not, We will see soon.

blogs written by employees of google or yahoo

blogs written by employees of google or yahoo [link]