João Morais

How to split or merge PDF documents in Linux?

Wrote on September 11th, 2009 under Linux, Software

Most of the times when I had to split or merge a couple of PDF documents I had to use command line tools, which was kind of boring, since it isn’t a tool that I use often so what used to happend was that I always forgot the syntax usage.

Today was one of those times that I needed to merge two PDF documents so I’ve looked around and found PDF-Shuffler which is a small python-gtk application, which helps you to merge or split PDF documents and rotate, crop and rearrange their pages using an interactive and intuitive GUI. It is a frontend for python-pyPdf.

(more…)

Google Chrome Web Browser Installation on Linux

Wrote on August 5th, 2009 under Papers, Software, Xubuntu

Tired of the slowness of Mozilla Firefox and curious with the acclaimed performance of Google Chrome (or Chromium, if you prefer), today I’ve decided to give it a try.

Although it is still an alpha version it already allows you to perform the regular navigation activities that you are used to with an incredible speed.

It’s layout is also a bit different of what we are used to, in my opinion it is great, KISS principle all the way.  I also like the new functionalities like the task manager which allows you to take control over the used memory with each tab/window and the browser itself.

(more…)

GMail support on aMSN

Wrote on July 31st, 2009 under Software

Yesterday I was looking for new plugins to use on aMSN when I’ve found GNotify. A great plugin that allows you to have multiple GMail accounts associated to your aMSN and receive notification messages whenever you receive a new email.

You can download GNotify plugin here, and if you don’t know how to install an aMSN plugin, you can read the installation instructions here.

Django 1.1 is out!

Wrote on July 29th, 2009 under Frameworks, Python, Releases

It seems it was on purpose, a couple of days ago I’ve started to play with Django 1.02 and today a new version is released.

This new version includes a number of nifty new features, lots of bug fixes, and an easy upgrade path from Django 1.0. You can also read the list of security updates here.

FoxTab – 3D effects in your web browser

Wrote on July 26th, 2009 under Software, Web

Last week I’ve found FoxTab a Firefox extension that brings 3D effects into your web browser.

It allows you to switch through opened tabs with a combination of keys (like you usually do in your operating system to switch through opened programs).

I’ve been using for a couple of days now and it’s been working great. It is really useful when you have 20 tabs opened inside a window and you want so select a specific one. It also has a lot of options and customizable environments which is a plus.

Because a picture is worth more than a thousand words here is a link to FoxTab homepage, image gallery included, and a video on YouTube which illustrates it’s usage.

Liferea – A simple and free Gtk desktop news aggregator!

Wrote on July 19th, 2009 under Linux, Software

Today I bring you  Liferea, a simple and free Gtk desktop news aggregator for online news feeds.

For a long time now I have been looking for something like this to help me to keep track on the blogs that I like to read often. Since I’ve got back on blogging I’ve found it to be the right moment to search for a similar tool.

Although I’m only using it for a couple of days, Liferea seems a nice piece of software, it’s incredibly simple, fast and it also has some nice features.

You should definitely give it a try.

VMware Player installation issues on kernel 2.6.27

Wrote on November 18th, 2008 under Linux, Software

Since this morning I’ve been fighting against VMware Player installation without any success till a couple of moments ago.

After reading a lot of tutorials about related issues that were fixed using the any-any patches, I’ve found the specific-specific patch (the ones who should be used for specific kernel versions).

After you install this patch the installation will proceed and your problems will go away.

This happened because I was trying to install VMware Player 2.0.5, an old version.

At the moment the latest version is 2.5 and it already has a nice GUI and runs with no problems, try it.. it will save you some precious time.

Looking for Diagram, Workflow and Chart designer.

Wrote on September 30th, 2008 under Linux, Software

At the moment I need to write a couple of work flows and charts so I can be able to demonstrate the usage of a tool I’m currently developing.

The only tool that I knew that could do this kind of work (on Linux) was Dia. Although it has a lot of features it seems (I’m not sure, since I’ve only used it once) that there aren’t much sheets available to download, and I don’t like the ones provided by default.

Later I’ve decided to look for another program, and I’ve found Kivio an easy to use diagramming and flowcharting application integrated in The KOffice Project.

Kivio provides by default a couple of nice sheets, so let’s hope it works as expected.