And do I take you by the hand

I'm currently working on Project LSP, creating some XChat scripts and plugins and writing some Linux related tutorials. This really helps me learn a lot more and I enjoy doing it.

For a couple of days I've been working at a new layout for my webpage. As I'm new to HTML, in the previous versions I made some mistakes using a background with borders for all the page, so the written text was looking awful on some resolutions (I've made it only for 1280x1024). Now I learnt how to handle tables, and after a hard day's work it's done. It displays correctly on any resolution. It was nice learning how to draw borders around text using the table's rows and columns.

I also added some new stuff and corrected some mistakes, and I also introduced the ODT and TXT versions for HOW-TOs and tutorials. I like it now and I received lots of encouragements on UbuntuForums.

Here it is now: http://89.39.4.39/kh/home.php. Below there is a screenshot showing the new site, currently at version 0.4.1.

I'd like to thank all the persons who helped and supported me in the creation of this site. A great community we have at UbuntuForums.

You can register as a Ubuntu user at this page http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net/. From the description of the website: "The Ubuntu Counter Project is like a miniature version of The Linux Counter. It aims to catalogue the number of registered machines using the numerous varients of the Ubuntu Linux distribution." After the registration some images to choose from and use in a personal web page or blog are displayed, such as this one:



I'm the Ubuntu user number 2542. The UbuntuForums thread about this site can be found here http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=219428. At the moment there are 2527 users with 3914 machines, from which:

Ubuntu Machines: 3113
Kubuntu Machines: 553
Xubuntu Machines: 200
Edubuntu Machines: 29
Nubuntu Machines: 12
Fluxbuntu Machines: 7

I guess this number will grow in the future as people using Ubuntu find out about the website.

This was my first (and only!) HOW-TO and I was thinking of putting it on my blog too. I'm not an expert, however I tested every command in this HOW-TO and it should work properly.


Aliases are custom commands which can be used to make the work with the shell easier. For example, if your current working directory is /usr/bin and you want to quickly go to /var/cache/apt/archives you can do a "cd /var/cache/apt/archives" command. If you want to save time, you may want to type only a command such as "cache" or "archives". This is where aliases come to help.

There are two ways to create aliases.
1. Add aliases directly in your ~/.bashrc file. The format should be:

alias name='command'

You can add for example something like:

alias ll='ls -l'
alias dld='cd ~/Downloads'

Next time you'll type "ll" the "ls -l" command will be executed.

2. The second method lets you make a separate aliases file, so you won't have to put them in .bashrc, but to a file of your choice. First, edit your ~/.bashrc file and add or uncomment the following lines:

if [ -f ~/.bash_aliases ]; then
. ~/.bash_aliases
fi

Save it and close the file. After that, all you have to do is create a ~/.bash_aliases file and add your aliases there, with the same format specified in the first method.



Konsole screenshot showing one of my aliases. The working directory changes from /var/cache/apt/archives to /christmas using only the "chr" alias.










http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=161312 - A Thread from UbuntuForums about Aliases
My Kubuntu Help Page on Aliases
http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Create_Your_Own_Aliases - The UDSF Page of This HOW-TO

On 7th of July Syd Barrett, the first vocalist at Pink Floyd, died. This man was hard to understand by fans even when he was still able to sing, in the early floydian years. He only composed the first Pink Floyd album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in 1967, and a couple of melodies from their second album, just before he gone mentally ill, as more sources say about him. He was replaced by David Gilmour, a great guitarist, vocalist and one of the band's friends.

Syd Barrett was later mentioned with terrible sadness in more floydian songs, like Shine on You Crazy Diamond or Wish You Were Here. Syd is categorized by some as a "crazy person" or even a drug-dependent with no future. I personally don't take all this non-sense as true, for me he is and will be the prototype of a lost genius. The band helped him to record an album after he left the band, in 1970. He was struggling to sing and due to his weak mental health it was very hard to be coherent in his thoughts. All this reflected in his later music activity. The title, the cover and the mood of "The Madcap Laughs" express best what this great man could do for music. Actually, he did enough. Rest in peace, Syd! And shine!

"Lean out your window, golden hair
I heard you singing in the midnight air
my book is closed, I read no more
watching the fire dance, on the floor
I've left my book, I've left my room

For I heard you singing through the gloom
singing and singing, a merry air
lean out the window, golden hair..."