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Technology

These are some of my technology writings. I am a firm believer in the value of open source software and the culture of openness and cooperation that surrounds it. So most of my written work today is about open source rather than proprietary products. If you are looking for information about Microsoft products or anything Windows-based, then you are probably in the wrong place – though please feel free to look around anyway, if you have a few moments to spare.

Will Google be the new Microsoft?
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Will Google be the new Microsoft?

Well they say absolute power corrupts. On the other hand the two companies are quite different. The corporate ethos and the attitude towards creativity are almost complete opposites.  For example, I never heard any Google execs reported as using expressions such a “embrace, extend and extinguish“… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish And I think or at least I…

How to install PHPRunner 4.0 on Ubuntu Linux
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How to install PHPRunner 4.0 on Ubuntu Linux

PHPRunner is arguably the best PHP scripting tool currently available. Trouble is that at time of writing, there is only a version for M$ Windoze. This explains how I managed to persuade it work under Linux using Codeweavers CrossoverOffice 6.1.0 – a comercial implementation of WINE. First, I  downloaded PHPRunner 4.0 “Build 264” – the…

Windows applications running successfully on Linux using WINE
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Windows applications running successfully on Linux using WINE

At time of writing, we have got all the following Windoze apps running very adequately on Linux – using either WINE or Codeweavers Crossover (a commercial implementation of WINE). Of course we have replaced many legacy Windoze applications with equivalent (or sometimes better) Linux apps. Other Windoze apps are currently irreplaceable. This is an assessment…

Persuading ThumbsPlus for Windows to work on Ubuntu Linux
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Persuading ThumbsPlus for Windows to work on Ubuntu Linux

This is a crude but effective way to make one of my favourite Windows applications, Cerious Software’s ThumbsPlus! version 6 or 7 work reasonably well on Linux, by using Codeweavers Crossover. This is something of a bodge and it has come about more by trial and error rather than by rational scientific reasoning – so…

FHS (File Hierarchy System) on Unix-like operating systems such as Linux
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FHS (File Hierarchy System) on Unix-like operating systems such as Linux

The Linux file system can seem a little strange especially for those coming from an M$ Windoze background. This is my humble attempt at debunking it and perhaps making it a little easier to understand. Several main differences… There are some important differences between the DOS/Windows type file system and the system used by Unix-derived…

Can I get my  scanner | printer | copier | teamaker | etc. working on Linux?
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Can I get my scanner | printer | copier | teamaker | etc. working on Linux?

These days, seems a lot of folks are ringing or emailing me asking how to get their printer | scanner | trouser-press | etc. working under Linux. Surprisingly, some devices actually are very easy indeed to install under Linux. For example, almost any laser printer that has Postscript will work with the generic Linux Postscript…

A cyber café for thirty quid? Farcical or feasible?
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A cyber café for thirty quid? Farcical or feasible?

“10 pc Cybercafé for 30ukp!!!!” was the triumphant claim of a recent post on the Puppy Linux users forum… http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?search_id=326686869&t=12714 Thirty pounds sterling is about fifty US dollars – not a lot of money. Needless to say my colleagues and I were intrigued and perhaps even a tad sceptical. More intriguing was the claim that…

WebOnCD
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WebOnCD

The WebOnCD concept concerns putting standard HTML (hypertext mark-up language) pages on a local removable disc such as a CD ROM or DVD. Simple WebOnCD publications are very easy to create. They require little previous programming experience, and no special software. Any text editor such as Notepad for Windows, KDE KWrite or Kate for GNU/Linux…