Use Firefox 3? You’ll need to Vacuum the database once in a while.

So, fancy new Firefox 3 uses a sweet new database to manage all your history & bookmarks. Which can make for awesomely fast bookmarks and awesome bar usage for the first little while. The only problem is that the database in use is Sqlite3, which has one minor problem for Firefox 3 users: it becomes clogged with dust.

Well it isn’t actually dust, but stale indexes, and the like. The solution is to Vacuum the database.

On Ubuntu you’ll have to navigate to your Firefox profile folder in a terminal. So launch a terminal.

cd .mozilla/firefox/
ls

Now look for a folder called “(randomcharacters).default”
For example it could be called “1g8uequb.default”

cd (folder name above)
Now copy the line below to a text file because you’ll have to shut down Firefox to complete the next step.

Shut down firefox and run the following command.
for i in *.sqlite; do echo "VACUUM;" | sqlite3 $i ; done

It won’t output anything if it runs correctly and should take a minute or two before it returns you to the terminal. If you get a “SQL error near line 1: database is locked” then Firefox is still running. Wait a second and try the command above again.

Launch Firefox up again and appreciate the new found snappiness.

Taken from: http://www.gettingclever.com/2008/06/vacuum-your-firefox-3.html

Hate MS Word / Publisher for laying out reports? Try Scribus.

So, people in my class regulary go on Microsoft Word / Publisher hate rants, because of its horrible handling of images & text boxes. Publisher is better then Word, but it really doesn't have the power of a real layout package. Now of course, I agree with them on Word and Publisher sucking, but I really don't have the same problem.

I use Scribus for anything that relies on layout. Scribus is a professional layout package that runs on almost any computer. (there are windows, mac, and Linux versions) Its not incredibly user friendly, but its not hard to use either. So if your willing to give it a try, I'd recommend it.

Install:

Windows users:

1. Download and install ghostscript. (This is required by scribus to run)
2. Download and install Scribus.

Ubuntu Linux users:

Terminal method:

type: "sudo apt-get install scribus"

Easier method:

• Click "Add-remove applications" at the bottom of the Applications menu.
• Navigate to the "Graphics" section, and check Scribus to install.
• Click the OK button.

Yay! you've just installed Scribus!

Use:
You can either just try it out, or follow this tutorial: Getting Started With Scribus

Additional documentation can be found on their website: http://docs.scribus.net/

List of How-to's on their wiki: http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/Category:HOWTO

So, I just freed you from part of Microsoft's monopoly on everything. Your welcome.

Ubuntu 6.06 Released (geek stuff)

So, you knew it was all coming.

I will talk about geeky stuff from time to time.

First off, Ubuntu 6.06 "Dapper Drake" was released today.

For all the unenlightened out there, Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux. Linux is an operating system, just like Windows, but its free. As it is not Windows, it is not affected by viruses, spyware, and the greediness of Bill Gates. Also, Ubuntu is not just an operating system, it comes with a full office suite (think Microsoft Office), an Image editing program (think Photoshop), a Mail/Calendar application (think Microsoft Outlook), an Instant messaging client (MSN messenger), the best web browser in the world (Firefox), and also has the ability to install thousands of other free software applications with a few clicks.

Ubuntu is widely considered to be the best Linux distro because of its extensive hardware support, ease of use, and abundance of included free software. I use it exclusively on my laptop and its has been working amazing for me.

The website gives a great overview, I'd suggest checking it out. Ubuntu on the desktop
If you are interested, go to http://shipit.ubuntu.com/ and they will ship you CD's for free.

If you are really interested, and you don't what to wait the 4-6 weeks for the CD's to arrive, I'd suggest downloading it and giving it a try. You will need a blank cd, and some form of cd burning software. Just burn the image file you downloaded to a CD, place it in the cdrom drive and restart the computer. After your done trying it out, shut down the computer and take the CD out. (Download Link) (you will want the "PC (Intel x86) desktop CD")

So, thats my plug. Hope it wasn't too boring.