Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

For those who don’t know, Caffeine is a small program for Linux that lets a user prevent his or her computer from entering a power save state. If a user wishes, he or she can even configure caffeine to automatically inhibit power-saving when watching a flash movie, or running VLC, Totem etc. For more information, visit its website here.

As a user of both Caffeine and the new Humanity icon theme (the default icon theme in karmic), I made a very basic gray-scale version of the Caffeine icon. You can download it here.

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

Overview

After finding myself frustrated with Vinagre’s (GNOME’s standard VNC viewer) lack of ssh tunneling support I began looking for an alternative. I finally found it: Grdc.

Grdc supports both VNC and RDP. Grdc can tunnel both connections over ssh for security. The ssh tunneling supports key based or password based authentication and allows the user to select a custom server and port (if they differ from the defaults).

Grdc’s user interface is much simpler than that of Vinagre. It allows the user to create and save custom connections and organize them by groups. Its connection quality settings are, unlike many remote desktop programs, quite simple. The user simply chooses the quality and the number of colors. Grdc also has a panel applet for the gnome-panel that lets users connect to their saved connections through a simple menu.

Another interesting feature is the “VNC Incoming Connection” protocol. This protocol lets users create new VNC servers with custom ports and passwords on the fly. This is especially useful if a user wants to let a remote user temporarily control their desktop.

Grdc does not support everything. It does not support tabbed connections like Vinagre but, in my opinion, tabbed connections are overkill for most users. It also does not support browsing a network for VNC connections with avahi as Vinagre does. This feature would be useful for administrators but is somewhat useless for the average user because most users will access the computer from the internet, not the LAN, and thus avahi support would be pointless.

Overall, Grdc is good for remote, internet traversing connections because of its ssh support and is useful to the average user because of its simplicity. Vinagre is still a better VNC client for administrators that have to manage many computers over a LAN because, on a LAN, encryption is usually unnecessary while avahi support is helpful and, when managing multiple computers, tabs are very helpful.

For screenshots see the SourceForge Screenshot Page

Installation

As of the writing of this post, the version of Grdc in the ubuntu repositories is woefully out of date and does not support ssh tunneling. Therefore one should use the deb provided by the project maintainers on sourceforge. Simply download the grdc deb (link below) and install (usually just double click). The grdc-gnome package is the gnome-panel applet and the grdc package is the main program.

Downloads: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=248852

Homepage: http://grdc.sourceforge.net/

– Edit: I have packaged a 64bit version. Download here.

– Edit 2: The 64bit version of grdc-gnome (the panel applet) for karmic seems to work in jaunty. Download here.

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

I broke my previous keyboard and went shopping for a new one (FYI: water + G15 == not good). I wanted another back-lit keyboard (like my previous G15). When I went to Best Buy (not my favorite store) I saw the slick Raser Lycosa Keyboard I decided to try it. My advice: don’t. While the keyboard itself is great (I like the low, rubber covered keys) the neither the the USB port nor the headphone jack worked on either of the keyboards that I tried (I returned the first one and tried the second one in the store). The problem: Interference. My computer refused to mount my USB flash drive while plugged into the Lycosa and the headphones buzzed (like a radio). I ended up getting the latest (annoyingly orange) G15 keyboard which works but I HATE ORANGE.

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

I finaly found the (almost) perfect calculator program, qalculate. It can solve/factor equations, work with significant figures, work with trigonometry, and much more.

Screenshots:

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

I have just tested rarcrack and love it. Rarcrack cracks password protected rar, 7z, and zip archives. Sadly, it’s not in the Ubuntu repository. I have therefor compiled a deb: rarcrack.deb. I have not included this deb in my PPA because I compiled it with debianpackagemaker.

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

Adblock Plus is a great Firefox extension that blocks advertisements. Advertisements hog bandwidth and are distracting. It is easy to use (right click and select block element).

Here is my adblock plus filter list (save it as a text document and import it).

(Adblock Plus 0.7 or higher required) [Adblock]
@@netstream
@@http://www.microsoft.com/
@@http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/
@@|http://www.kiisfm.com/
@@|http://www.apple.com/
@@|https://www.windwardschool.org/
@@|http://iwonderdesigns.com/
@@|http://news.bbc.co.uk/
@@|http://wow.weather.com/
@@|http://www.defensedevices.com/
@@http://www2.gawker.com/assets/minify.php?files=*
@@http://syndication.mmismm.com/
@@http://tags.gawker.com/
*.2o7.net/*
*/shopping_deals*
*/tacoda/*
*_fromoursponsors_*
/(\W|_)(ad(s)?(vert(is(ement|ing|er)?)?)?)(s)?(view|log|image(s)?|Links|counter|serve(r)?|sys|brite|sonar|lengend|side|files)?(\W|_|1)/
/[\W_](blog|get|online)ad(s)?[\W_]/
/[\W_](double|fast)click[\W_]/
/\.geocities.com/js_source/(ygNSLib9|pu5geo).js/
/\D(728|588|468|234|160|120)x(600?|90)\D/
http://*.sageanalyst.net/*
http://*.centrport.net/*
http://*.falkag.net/*
http://*.industrybrains.com/*
http://*.itnation.com/*
http://*.questionmarket.com/*
http://*.spinbox.net/*
http://*.tiser.com.*/
http://*.tribalfusion.com/*
http://*.valueclick.com/*
http://*theglobeandmail.com/adsv3/*
http://ehg*.hitbox.com/*
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/marketing/
http://images.pcworld.com/shared/graphics/bevel_*.gif
http://images.stardock.com/store/*
http://images.usatoday.com/kk/classified/*
http://infospace.abcnews.com/*/adinsert.js
http://media.nyadmcncserve*.com/
http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/popjs/popup*
http://msnbc.msn.com/#DIV(p2)
http://msnbc.msn.com/#DIV(textSmallGrey)
http://msnbc.msn.com/*#DIV(clr)
http://msnbc.msn.com/*#DIV(w779)
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/*
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=*
http://servedby.*
http://server.*.liveperson.net/*
http://www.goodsforyou.com/*
http://www.humaxusa.com/*
http://www.insanely-great.com/*/adsb.cgi*
http://www.kiisfm.com/cc-common/CCAS_media/ccas_creative_81152.gif
/.*(-|_|/)promo(-|_).*\.(gif|png|jpg)/
http://www.qksrv.net/*
intellitxt
*/promotions/*
http://us.a1.yimg.com/*
http://download-search.search.com/search?v=og&q=*
http://i.d.com.com/*/*_sponsors_*.gif
http://www.ftjcfx.com/*
|http://*.addfreestats.com/*
/http://feeds\.(\w|\W)+\.com/~[a]/(\w|\W)+\?.=(\w|\W)+/
http://*.casalemedia.com/*
http://www.lduhtrp.net/*
http://www.afcyhf.com/*
http://www.shareasale.com/*
http://3ps.go.com/DynamicAd?*
/[\W|_](((p|P)romo)(tional)?)?(_)?(promo(s)?|banner)(s)?(_)?(up|down|standard|right|left|top|bottom)?([0-9])?\.(gif|png|jpg|bmp)/
http://*.atwola.com/*
http://ccas.clearchannel.com/*&affiliate=*
http://network.business.com/*
http://affiliates.digitalriver.com/*
http://clk.atdmt.com/*
http://www.awltovhc.com/image-*
http://*.adland.ru/*
http://www.macdailynews.com/adpeeps/*
http://rss.sourceforge.net/~a/*
http://cgi.insecure.org/cgi-bin/pro/*
http://affiliates.babylon.com/*
http://view.atdmt.com/*
/.*(_|/)sponsor(s)?((\.(gif|jpg|png))|(/))/
http://bs.serving-sys.com/BurstingPipe/BannerSource.asp?*
*/web_banners/*
*/bin/ad
http://*.google.com/pagead/*
*/images/banner*.png
http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/tipbox/*
*_sweeps*
http://www.conduit.com/banners/*
*adpartner*
http://digg.com/img/feature-*.gif
http://*.freesoftwaremagazine.com/openads/*
http://regmedia.co.uk/*
http://www.siteground.com/img/banners_cust/2*
http://ubuntulinuxhelp.com/hic300250.gif
http://www.tqlkg.com/*
http://groups.google.com/groups/adfetch?*
http://banner.casinotropez.com/*
http://www.speedsuccess.net/*
#*(sponsored_links_article)
#*(ad_bottom)
#*(ad_top)
#*(launchpad-ads-3)
#*(sponsorship)
#*(sponsorshiphack)
#*(promo2)
#*(ad_300)
#*(ad_180)
#*(adbannerblock)
#*(ad34)
#*(googlesyndication)
##div.banner ad + *
google.com#TABLE(cellpadding=9)(border=0)
openssh.com#BLINK
google.com#a(href^=https://www.google.com/ads)
babelfish.yahoo.com#DIV(ovt)
cnet.com#DIV(class=asl_margin)
cnet.com#DIV(class=rb_pft_ad)
#DIV(id=spons_links)
#DIV(class=columnGroup advertisementColumnGroup)
#A(href^=http://www.servage.net/?coupon=)
flickr.com#DIV(id=AdBlock)
youtube.com#DIV(id=leaderboardAd)
google.com#TD(rowspan=5)
google.com##TD[onmouseover="return ss()"]
google.com#H2(class=sl f)
#DIV(class=sponsor)
youtube.com#NOSCRIPT(class=noscript-show)
google.com#DIV(id=tpa1)
linuxforums.org#DIV(id=topbanner)
linuxforums.org#NOSCRIPT(class=noscript-show)
linuxquestions.org#NOSCRIPT(class=noscript-show)
#DIV(id=rightad)
#DIV(id=topad)(class=ad)
#A(class=sponsoredlink)
#DIV(id=ad-top)
#DIV(class=banner ad)
opendns.com#UL(class=adkeywords)
google.com##TABLE.contentitem[cellspacing="0"][cellpadding="5"][border="0"][bgcolor="#ffffff"][style]
google.com##TD[nowrap][onmouseover="return true"]
google.com#*(href^=http://www.google.com/sponsoredlinks?)
builtwith.com#DIV(class=featuredTechnology)
flashlinux.org.uk#DIV(id=portlet-dtm)
#*(id=sponsors)
#DIV(id=ads)
techcrunch.com#A(href=/advertise/)
#A(href^=http://www.google.com/pagead)
dictionary.reference.com#A(href^=http://www.google.com/url?sa=L&ai=)
#IMG(src^=http://ad.uk.doubleclick.net)
#IMG(src^=http://ad.doubleclick.net)
yahoo.com#A(href=http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12lt27gkl/M=570179.11705344.12177319.9641256/D=yahoo_top/S=2716149:HDLN/_ylt=AvsqK7FgUbxkrtlnjbKs1lP1cSkA/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1193800089/A=5005233/R=0/SIG=14m0dtrqi/*https://www.getsmart.com/refi/qform.asp?bp=ltquickmatch&esourceid=1271910&promo=00221&num=1-866-262-6895&AdType=2&version=45&disable_popups=1&init=1)
howstuffworks.com#A(class=reify-linkifier)
#DIV(class=topbanners)
#DIV(id=holidayad)
#DIV(class=doubleClickAd)
#*(class=doubleClick)
#DIV(class=adText)
guide.opendns.com#DIV(id=noresultsads)
#DIV(class=ad_itext_bar)
search.com#UL(class=sponsored)
experts-exchange.com#DIV(class=ontopBanner)
guide.opendns.com#DIV(id=adbox)
us.f812.mail.yahoo.com#TABLE(id=welcomeAdsContainer)
books.google.com#DIV(class=ad)
weather.yahoo.com#DIV(class=yw-ad)
lifehacker.com#DIV(id=sitemeter)
#DIV(class=advertContainer)

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

Taboo is basically a temporary bookmarks manager. If you have found an article that you find interesting but it is too long you would normally have 3 options.

1. Bookmark it.
2. Leave the tab open and move on.
3. Close the tab and find it in your history.

All of these options have one major problem: Clutter. Bookmarks can either be stored in a menu or the bookmarks toolbar. This is fine for sites that are frequented often or are permanent references but temporary bookmarks make the perminant bookmarks harder to find. A separate temporary bookmarks folder is fine but it can be very hard to find a specific bookmark mixed in with all of the other temporary bookmarks. Leaving the bookmark in your tabbar makes sorting through your tabs frustrating. The history is normaly erased after a set period of time ind is a pain to look through.

Taboo solves these problems. If you can’t remember the sites name, you can look for the thumbnail of the site. If you can only remember when you looked at the site you can view your taboos in calendar mode. If you know that you added your taboo recently (within the last 10 or so) you can use the menu attached to the “View Taboos” button as the list is sorted by most recently added. Taboo is a beta so more features should appear as time goes on.

Screenshots:

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

Scribefire is a very useful extension and can even upload images to blogger but has a few annoying “bugs” for lack of a better word.

Scribefire pre-release and dark-themes (gtk) don’t mix well (it looks very ugly). Scribefire current release works better with dark themes but not perfectly.

Scribefire can upload images but does not upload them to the standard server (it uploads them to “Picasa web albums”) and, unlike the default editor, it simply places a shrunken version of the image on the webpage and does not link it to its bigger version. This is easily fixable but annoying (especially when using lightbox).

Too many features and few options to trim down the UI.

Verdict: Fun but not for me (yet).

Caveat lector: I wrote this post in high school; it’s likely outdated and poorly written.

I just signed up with 1and1.com and found that they do not offer marginally advanced DNS settings and allow only five subdomains. To work around these limitations I signed up with Xname.org. They allow unfettered customization of the DNS record and are free. I very much recommend them (and thank them).