Edgar Mueller is a German artist who creates incredible 3d pavement art using the street as his canvas.
He paints over large areas of urban public life and gives them a new appearance, thereby challenging the perceptions of passers-by.
Talented people at Amazon Tree Houses Ltd construct beautiful natural structures for the young and old to enjoy. This post showcases some of their unique creations.
$ vi /etc/apt/sources.listAdd these lines to sources.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/loell/ppa/ubuntu jaunty mainNow update apt-get.
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/loell/ppa/ubuntu jaunty main
$ sudo apt-get updatInstall Gyachi
$ sudo apt-get install gyachi
$ wget http://www.pixelbeat.org/fslint/fslint-2.40.tar.gz
$ tar -xzf fslint-2.40.tar.gz
$ cd fslint-2.40
$ cd po && make
$ cd ..
$ ./fslint-gui
$ sudo apt-get install fslint* For those under Redhat
Can find it here Applications> System Tools> fslint
Or type fslint-gui at terminal
Windows users have a more limited array of tools at their disposal, mainly because of the Microsoft licensing policy. Still, all is not lost. Windows users have two great tools at their disposal: BartPE and Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.
BartPE is a Preinstalled Environment (PE) builder tools that allows users to create their own bootable versions of Windows. BartPE discs can be then used on Windows machines that cannot boot, have been hit by malware, for safe browsing and more.
UBCD4WIN is a fat child of Bart's. UBCD4WIN is based on BartPE, but it adds lots of programs to the package, significantly enhancing the functionality of the live CD. While the basic BartPE disc will weigh only about 300MB at most, UBCD4WIN can be more than twice the size. The extras translate directly into dozens of excellent programs (plugins) included, programs that users would normally have to package by themselves in order to use with Bart. UBCD4WIN also has better hardware support. It contains a more aesthetically pleasing work environment (desktop), too.
I have talked about these two tools at some length before. For more details, please see my article: How to create a bootable live Windows CD.
Now, it's time to mention UBCD4WIN again. It's been 2 years since my last article. UBCD4WIN has since grown from version 3.1.1 to 3.22. This article covers the new, fresh changes that UBCD4WIN brings to the live Windows administration scene.
Well, let's boot and see.
By default, UBCD4WIN (created with version 3.22) boots into a minimalistic desktop with only the Start button visible. If you're used to a nice shiny desktop wallpaper and lots of icons, you will not get them until you run the My info program.
But let's focus on the real deal - programs. BTW, you can find the full list at UBCD4WIN website, under List of Tools.
It seems as if the creators of UBCD4WIN maintain a secret telepathy link with me, or it may be that I happen to use the most sensible programs available for Windows, but the great majority of my favorites come included!
Browsers
First, you get the great Firefox and Opera browsers:
Imaging software
Then, if you wish to clone your operating system / partitions, DriveImageXML is included.
Additionally, you may add your own plugins. For instance, I added my own Acronis True Image 9, which allows me to manipulate Acronis backups and restores from the CD.
Furthermore, if you have missed in the first screenshot, TrueCrypt is also included, allowing to encrypt your files, partitions, drives, and even the operating system, as well as open and use existing TrueCrypt containers.
Administration tools
There are SO many programs, so I'm just showing off a tiny few.
Karen's LAN Monitor allows you to keep track of the traffic on your subnet. You can also load remote registries (including that of the local machine) for inspection, auditing or malware cleaning.
Then you have hard disk diagnostic tools, too. And if you ever get confused, a comprehensive help file explaining the majors and minors of the live CD.
Next, you may want to defrag your partitions or backup your drivers. Double Driver is an extremely convenient tools that allows you to grab the entire set of drivers for your machine and keep them somewhere safe in case you need them. Then, you can back them up to CD using Small CD-Writer (or several other burning tools). Auslogic Disk Defrag is a solid, efficient defragmenter.
Then, you get Foxit Reader for PDF files, IrfanView for quick image and picture editing, Putty for SSH tunneling, and the omni-potent Notepad++ for anything to do with text, scripts or code.
In addition to the simple Task Manager, you also get CurrProcess. And there's a virtual keyboard, too.
You can even connect to remote Linux machines using VNC:
One of the sections that matters most to many Windows users is security. When booting from the live CD, the host operating system is dormant and fully exposed, and so are any potentially hidden rootkits, DLLs, files, folders, and whatnot. Disinfection from live CDs is a very simple affair.
If you're afraid to do it manually, then you have a broad range of programs, including AntiVir and AVG anti-virii, SuperAntiSpyware, McAfee Stinger, Spybot Search & Destroy, Rootkitty, and others.
UBCD4WIN is mighty toolbox. It is friendly and highly useful. It allows you to safely recover lost data in the case of a disaster, restore partitions, look for deleted files, fix the registry, clean malware, even access encrypted data, and communicate with remote machines using SSH or VNC.
While there's nothing revolutionary between version 3.0 and 3.22, the new changes are all good. UBCD4WIN has grown a bit in size, but the additions are excellent, lightweight and superbly versatile programs (IrfanView, Notepad++ to name just two).
For Windows users, this is a must. And even if you're a Linux guy, having a live CD specially dedicated to Microsoft machines, which you might need handle some day, certainly does not hurt.
In this article, I will show you a collection of excellent applications that will help you use and manipulate your documents, all for free. You will learn about some pretty decent programs that allow you to print your documents in PDF format, convert your document to PDF format, convert website to PDFs, and more.
The article is mainly intended for Windows users.
So let us begin.
Foxit is my favorite PDF software for Windows. It's light and lightning fast. It weighs only a few MB and loads in nanoseconds. In comparison, Acrobat Reader weighs well over 100MB, installs hundreds of registry keys and takes a bit loading. Furthermore, while Acrobat Reader is quite often prone to numerous vulnerabilities, Foxit Reader has remained blessedly safe.
You may also be interested in the older 1.3 version, which comes with no Javascript support, making it even more impregnable to possible exploits.
The latest Foxit version (3.0) includes an optional Foxit toolbar and AskMe.com homepage change, so be careful when you click Next, Next, Next.
Foxit Reader also has a portable version.
Sumatra is a slim, lightweight PDF viewer for Windows. It can't get any simpler than that. It has no fancy functions; it merely shows you the document you want to see. It's superb for handling unknown documents or for carrying around on a USB stick. Indeed, Sumatra PDF also has a portable edition.
While you may associate the process of distilling with the creation of fine ale, in this here article, we're talking about printing.
OpenOffice is an excellent office suite. It's free, it's powerful - and it will convert your documents into PDFs in just one mouse click. This is something the non-free Microsoft Office suite does not offer by default, so even if you don't really fancy using OpenOffice, because some of your peers might have problems with file formats or styling, you should consider having it your arsenal, just for this purpose.
Converting files is a breeze. Just click on the toolbar:
Or if you want more options, go through the menu, File > Export as PDF ...
OpenOffice offers a range of conversion options, including the quality of images, how to treat hyperlinks, encryption and read-only features, and more.
PrimoPDF is a neat little thing. PrimoPDF is a PDF converter - and it will create PDF documents from ANY file that is printable. Any file.
It will install as a virtual printer. Then, when you want to convert your documents into PDF, choose Primo from the list of available printers, give the output file a name - and that's it.
Choose the printer:
Choose your output file settings. This includes the quality / size of the output file and post-processing, like opening or emailing the file.
Let's see how you can convert websites into PDF documents, in seconds.
This software comes as an add-on to Internet browsers, either Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. I'm going to show you what it looks like in Firefox. If you need help installing extensions, please check my Firefox add-ons tutorial.
For the add-on, please visit the Mozilla repository. You should also check the official website for more information.
Once you install the extension, it will show up in Firefox:
To use it, click on the drop-down arrow:
After a few moments, your document will be converted and available for download:
There you go, a whole load of goodies to make your PDF experience better. With these free utilities in your toolbox, you will gain on many levels. You will save precious space on your hard disk by keeping away bloatware that does the same job with 50 times more resources. You will increase your productivity, as you now have programs that will create PDF documents in just 1-2 quick mouse clicks. You will even possibly increase your security.
Best of all, you can use them all together without any problems. For instance, OpenOffice for documents that require encryption and advanced tagging, Primo to convert images or other files on your machine, PDF Download for website, Sumatra for opening potentially risky PDF documents that might contain Javascript, and Foxit for daily usage.
I hope you enjoyed it.
