Steffen's Tech Blog

Following the instructions on KDE 4.1.1 Release News I updated to KDE 4.1.1 on my Kubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron PC. Some of the instructions were a little confusing: enable "Recommended Updates (backports)" in "Software Sources" --> as "backports" are also used to describe "Unsupported updates" (--> which is not recommended for a productive system), it must be a mistake There is no authentication key for the repository containing the updated packages deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kubuntu-members-kde4/ubuntu hardy main . This results in warnings when updating packages from this repository which leave some kind of uneasiness as using authentication keys seem an useful security measure. Besides this, the update worked well and I found now KDE 4.1.1 much more stable than KDE 4.0. In addition, most of the functionality that I used in the GNOME desktop is available. Furthermore  I like the new KDE look as well as some of its new applications (as alrea...

Two weeks ago my MacBook wouldn't start because of a hard disk defect. As the Macbook still was within the warranty period, I took it to the nearest Apple authorized service provider A.S.T.I. GMBH AGENTUR FÜR SYSTEME (that I have found via http://www.apple.com/de/buy/locator/index.html ), where they replaced the HD. At home, I restored my Macbook HD content (that furtunately had been regularly backed up via Time Capsule) with the following steps (based on http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1177 ): Install the system from the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard DVD Restart the Mac Connect Time Capsule via an Ethernet cable with the Macbook Click "From a Time Machine backup or other disk." when asked if you want to transfer information from another Mac or volume (in the Do You Already Own a Mac?" window). Click Continue Select Time Capsule when it appears as a Backup Volume and click Continue The Macbook starts to check the Time Machine backup and the "Transfer Your Information...

Recently I needed a tool to modify PDF files and afterwards merge these files into one file. I ended up using the following tools: Inkscape Inkscape is a free and open source vector graphics editor that can be used - among lots of other functions - to modify a single PDF page (e.g. add text). AccessPDF - Pdftk the PDF Toolkit. Pdftk is a free and open source easy to use command line tool for: * Merge PDF Documents * Split PDF Pages into a New Document * Decrypt Input as Necessary (Password Required) * Encrypt Output as Desired * Fill PDF Forms with FDF Data and/or Flatten Forms * Apply a Background Watermark * Report on PDF Metrics such as Metadata, Bookmarks, and Page Labels * Update PDF Metadata * Attach Files to PDF Pages or the PDF Document * Unpack PDF Attachments * Burst a PDF Document into Single Pages * Uncompress and Re-Compress Page Streams * Repair Corrupted PDF (Where Possible) e.g. the following example Merges Three PDFs...

What is BlogThis! ? : "BlogThis! is another easy way to make a blog post at your Blogger blog. Just add the BlogThis! link to your browser's toolbar. Clicking this opens a mini-interface to Blogger prepopulated with a link to the web page you are visiting, as well as any text you have highlighted on that page. Add additional text if you wish and then publish or post."

Recently, I spent some time to search for free, open-source alternatives for commercial mathematics programs such as Matlab and Mathcad. By far the most promising software I have found was Sage. Sage combines the power of many (currently 71) existing open-source packages into a common Python-based interface. It can be used to explore mathematical constructions in algebra, geometry, number theory, calculus, numerical computation, etc. The combination of proven open-source packages (including excellent Python packages such as Numpy, Matlibplot, Scipy and Sympy) and an excellent web browser based entry of formulas and plots in worksheets called notebooks. The usage of Python as the glue that holds all packages together provides several advantages. First you have the full power of python available in Sage. Second, you don't need to learn another specialized script language that you would otherwise not need. Excellent screencasts together with good tutorials and documentation pages p...

After reading the following article about the status of the GNOME project http://wingolog.org/archives/2008/06/07/gnome-in-the-age-of-decadence I decided to check out the KDE 4 desktop by installing the "kubuntu-kde4-desktop" package (via Adept or apt-get) and I have to admit: I really like the new KDE 4 desktop. A lot of improvements have been made compared with its predecessor. I especially like the new version of the image viewer Gwenview and Okular, KDE4's document viewer. Check out http://www.kde.org/announcements/4.0/applications.php for more details. Unfortunately, the KDE 4 desktop seem not to be stable enough for production use. At least I experienced some crashes that required reboot via " R aising E lephants I s S o U tterly B oring" . In addition, I missed some functionality. Therefore I can't recommend switching to KDE4 right now. But I decided to give it another try as soon as KDE4.1 is available from the Ubuntu repositories in the hope that ...

Today I decided to switch to the newest version of the ATI driver flgrx (version 8.6) instead of the restricted driver that comes with the ubuntu 8.04 distribution. I followed the excellent description on http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Hardy_Installation_Guide . Everything worked fine. I could enable "Extra Visual Effects" without having problems with the video drivers e.g. in Miro (after I changed from xine to gstreamer).