FireFox Tweak

I came across this simple FireFox hack that makes webpages download @ least 5x faster ; ok maybe 2x. This will work on Linux , Mac , Windows….

Follow these simple instructions,

Speed up page rendering

By default, Firefox doesn’t try to render a web page for 250 milliseconds while it’s waiting for data. If you use about:config to add the Integer preference nglayout.initialpaint.delay, and set the value to 0, Firefox immediately starts to display the page, even without complete data. The drawback, especially on slower machines, is that the total time to display the page will be longer.

Enable Pipelining

Pipelining is an experimental feature, designed to improve page-load performance, that is unfortunately not well supported by some web servers and proxies. To try it out, by using about:config to set the following preferences:

network.http.pipelining

Set this to true, to enable pipelining.

network.http.proxy.pipelining

Set this to true, to enable pipelining to the proxy server.

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Set this to 8, to have a maximum of 8 pipelining requests at once. Possible values are from 1 to 8.

For more information about pipelining, read the HTTP/1.1 Pipelining FAQ.

Specify where to store the cache

To specify in which folder the cache is stored, use about:config to add the String preference browser.cache.disk.parent_directory, and set the value to C:\Path To Cache.Replace Path To Cache with the actual path to your cache folder.

Specify the memory cache usage

Normally, Firefox determines the memory cache usage dynamically based on the amount of available memory. To specify a specific amount of memory cache, use about:config to add the Intefer preference browser.cache.memory.capacity, and set the value:

-1

(default) Determine the amount of memory cache dynamically.

0

None.

n

Memory capacity in kilobytes. For example: 4096.

To disable the memory cache completely, use about:config to set the preference browser.cache.memory.enable to false.

<!– 2005-08-29: removed because site seems to be down

Kiosk Browser

Andrew Mutch has written a comprehensive tutorial that explains how to modify Firefox to run in a kiosk-style mode. Read all about this here.

Limit Firefox to specific web addresses

Many libraries are now providing web-based online catalogs and access to online databases. Often, libraries don’t want computers provided for those uses to have access to the entire Internet. This method will assist you in limiting Firefox access to a pre-defined number of sites.Restricting web access is accomplished by using the proxy settings in Firefox. Read all about how to accomplish this on this page, written by Andrew Mutch.

–>

View page source using an external program

If you want to view the HTML source of a web page using an external text editor instead of the built-in source viewer in Firefox, use about:config to set view_source.editor.external to true, and then set view_source.editor.path to e.g. C:\Windows\Notepad.exe or whatever is your preferred text editor.

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Basic Joomla! concepts

Overview

Joomla! takes a fairly unique approach to several areas of web content management. Before we move on to more detailed instructions on how to use Joomla! to manage your web site, we wanted to take a few moments to provide a brief explanation of each of these areas.

Browser-based Administration

Almost every function and setting in Joomla! can be controlled directly through your web browser, from both the public part of the web site, which we call the Site (Front-end) and from the behind-the-scenes part of your site which requires permission to access, which we call the Administrator (Back-end). All administration functions are available in the Administrator to those Users who have been given management privileges. Content may also be edited directly on the Site, where some of the Administrator functions are available to logged-in Users who have been granted editing privileges.

Parameters

In Joomla!, parameters are configuration settings that are available in most control panels. Parameter settings allow you to modify script variables from the Administrator (Back-end), without the need to open and manually edit, or even understand, PHP scripts or configuration files.

Each type, Content (Sections, Categories, and Articles), Modules, and Menu Items all have parameter sections. Components and Plugins may also have parameters. Which of these types they are determines which variables can be set in the Parameters area. For example, for a Content Article the parameters allow you to Show or Hide the e-mail, print, and PDF icons, Article title, assign an alternate template for that Article, and control many other variables. Components may have parameters to change settings that normally would involve modifying the actual PHP code.

Flexible Content Organization

Joomla! handles content organization and menu creation in two separate stages. This may at first seem unusual if you are used to having the content structure determine what appears in menus. However, separating the two is a logical, straightforward approach that gives you infinite control over how links are presented on each individual page of your Joomla! site.

Section/Category/Article

Content in Joomla! is organized in a Section-Category-Article model. Sections contain Categories, Categories contain Articles. The controls are found in your Content Manager. It is useful to think of this framework as a way to internally organize content, independently of how it is presented on the site. Using the Menu system, you can create navigational menus that link to any combination of Sections, Categories, and Articles.

Other containers for content include Static Pages and User Modules, where you can enter text directly. These are usually used to complement the content stored in the main Section-Category-Article set-up.

Menus

Creating navigational menus for your Joomla! site provides you with a powerful and flexible method to help your visitors move around with simplicity. You can think of Menus as blocks of links to content, with each link independently configured, and each Menu block positionable anywhere in your Site (Front-end) layout.

Menu Items can link to Sections, Categories, Articles, Components, Static Pages and external sites. The Menu Manager allows you to create any number of individual Menus, which appear as individual Modules. Menu links can also be nested indefinitely. Each link has associated Parameters, which allow you to control how the destination content is presented. Individual Menu Modules can appear anywhere in a Template, based on Module Positions.

One-page Templates

Templates in Joomla! are contained in a single file. This is quite different from many web applications, where template components are spread across many different files. Joomla! templates work in basically the same way as a single HTML page, which greatly simplifies the job for the graphic designer. Dynamic content is inserted via PHP tags anywhere you would like it to appear in the page layout.

Module Positions

Module Positions allow you to place dynamic content anywhere in your template. The position code is a single line of PHP, where “position” is replaced by the position name:

<?php mosLoadModules ( 'position' ); ?>

The code is placed in the template file. You can use the many prenamed positions, or create others as your requirements dictate. At each position, any number of Modules can be displayed in an assigned order. For example, you can place the position identified as “left” in the left column of a Template, assign the Main Menu, Search and Login Form Modules to the “left” Module Position (in Menu Manger), and those Modules will appear in the left column, in the assigned order.

To view Module Positions, go to Site->Preview->Inline with Position. This displays your current Template, superimposed with the name and location of each Module Position.

Powerful Extensions: Components, Modules, and Plugins

Extending and customizing Joomla! is easily accomplished with a range of Extensions options. Joomla! has three types of Extensions called Components, Modules, and Plugins. You can install, configure, and uninstall these elements through the Administrator (Back-end) control panel.

Components are essentially new applications. Seven default Components are part of the standard Joomla! installation. They provide functionality such as polls, content syndication (newsfeeds), and mass email to registered users. There are hundreds of additional, third-party components which can add many powerful capabilities such as e-commerce, photo galleries, forums, and more. Feel free to browse and download extensions by clicking on the Extensions tab at the top of this page (which will take you to extensions.joomla.org).
Modules can contain different types of content, and may be installed, or created within Joomla!. Third-party Modules can contain small applications (for example: to display weather conditions or generate random quotes or images). Third-party Modules are often used to display the output from a Component. Joomla! includes a number of default Modules, some affecting Site (Front-end) content, and others used in the Administrator (Back-end). User modules are created within the Administrator, and may utilize formatted text, unformatted text, and/or newsfeeds.

Plugins generally enable or enhance Joomla! features. For example, a variety of WYSIWYG editors are installed as Plugins. Other Plugins connect Joomla! with external resources, like a third-party library.

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Linux on PS3

Linux for PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 is capable to run Linux operating systems installed on the console hard disk. Yellow Dog Linux offer an official distro for the console ^[1], but other distros like Fedora Core, Gentoo and Ubuntu Linux are also compatible.

History

Sony is approaching with Linux since 2000s in PlayStation 2 marketing when they promoted and officialy released the PS2 Linux Kit sold in a package with keyboard, mouse hard disk and modem.

Originally Sony stated that they were going to pre-install Linux on the PS3‘s hard drive, but current units shipping do not include Linux pre-installed. Instead, Sony has made an option in the XMB menu to install other operating systems.^[2]

Soon after the PS3 launch, Sony released an “OtherOS” application that allowed booting into Linux and an Addon CD image that modded the selected distribution’s kernel to properly run on the PS3.

Distros

Ubuntu, Fedora Core 5, Gentoo and Debian have been run on the PS3;^[3][4][5][6] Fedora Core 6 has also been managed to run on the PS3 although it requires many more steps to get it properly working. The Sony-sponsored Yellow Dog Linux for the PS3 was released on November 27, 2006 to the YDL.net community, and was released on DVD on December 11, 2006, and finally as a publicly available image in late December.^[7]

External links

• psubuntu.com – How to install Ubuntu Linux on a Playstation 3

 

 

Wikibooks Linux Guide has a page concerning the
PlayStation 3

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/products/ydl/
2. ^ manuals.playstation.net
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ youtube.com
5. ^ whitesanjuro.googlepages.com
6. ^ Debian Live for PS3. Retrieved on 2007–03-04.
7. ^ Boyes, Emma (2006-11-27). Yellow Dog Linux launches for PS3. gamespot. Retrieved on 2006–11-30.

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Record streaming radio with Streamripper and streamtuner

Streamripper and streamtuner are Linux applications that work in tandem, allowing you to listen and record streaming radio.

Streamtuner is a basic application used primarily for playing internet radio from any number of sources including Xiph, basic.ch, punkcast.com, Google Stations, Live365, and SHOUTcast. Streamripper, on the other hand, sits stealthily in the terminal recording and parsing all of the music pipped through your system into MP3s. Leaving Streamripper running all day will rack you up a healthy dose of your favorite tunes. What’s particularly nice about the combination of Streamripper and streamtuner is that once you choose a station to record, you can exit streamtuner leaving only a tiny, non-obtrusive terminal window for Streamripper.

Note that Streamripper doesn’t do a perfect job parsing your songs into individual MP3s. Unfortunately, there tends to be a few seconds of overlap at the beginning and/or end of the songs. If this bothers you, you can always edit your newly recorded songs with Audacity. Ubuntu users can grab Streamripper and streamtuner out of the repositories with this command:

sudo apt-get install streamripper streamtuner

Other Linux users should grab the appropriate package for your distro at the streamtuner and Streamripper homepages.

Don’t worry Windows users, you’re not left out in the cold. Stationripper lets you do the same thing. — Kyle Pott

A stream directory browser [streamtuner] Record streaming MP3 to your hard drive [Streamripper]

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What the Heck is RSS?

And why should I care?

Good questions. First, here’s why you should care.

Unlike getting website updates or ezines by email, RSS feeds give you absolute, 100% complete control over the situation.

You don’t have to reveal your email address. If you want to stop receiving content, you don’t have to request to be “taken off the list.”

One click, and poof… the subscription is gone.

Plus, since there’s no email address involved, there’s no way a publisher can sell, rent or give away the means to contact you.

That’s right… no more spam, viruses, phishing, or identity theft. And best of all, no reason to put yourself at the mercy of the publisher’s intentions.

You won’t need to suffer through the legalese in the privacy policy (if there is one) looking for loopholes that will send you deeper into inbox hell. No more setting up dummy Hotmail accounts “just in case.”

Again, if you don’t like the content, you can make it disappear as fast as you can change a TV channel. With just one click.

Pretty cool, huh?

That is cool! Umm… What the heck is RSS?

Alright! Now we’re ready to get to that part.

RSS is a simply an Internet technology standard that allows busy people to receive updates to web-based content of interest.

You might have figured that much out by now. But basically, that’s the essence of an RSS feed – you subscribe and then receive new content automatically in your feed reader.

If you actually want to know how RSS works, click here.

What the heck is a feed reader?

You may already be using a form of feed reader, and not even realize it. If you use personalized home page services like My Yahoo or My MSN, you’ve got RSS capabilities built in. That’s how syndicated content like news, weather and stock quotes appears on your personal page. You can also add content from any blog or other site that uses RSS to provide updates.

Other web-based tools are primarily dedicated to feed reading only. One of the most popular web-based feed readers at this point is Bloglines, and it’s also free and easy to get started with.

If you use the Firefox browser, you can also receive RSS feeds from your tool bar by using the Live Bookmarks function. The next version of Internet Explorer will add this feature as well.

Finally, there are desktop-based feed readers. These function somewhat like an email program for feeds. Examples include Newsgator and Feed Demon.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not. And things will get even easier when the next version of Outlook integrates feed-reading capabilities. So, you’ll have the same convenience that email subscriptions offered in the old days, without any of the terrible consequences of giving out your email address to potentially unscrupulous characters.

Sounds good. So how do I subscribe to a Feed?

First of all, look for the subscription or feed options (some bloggers make this difficult for some odd reason). You might see a variety of buttons (amusingly called chicklets).

If the site you want to subscribe to uses FeedBurner to aid in the subscription process (like Copyblogger and many other popular sites), you’ll likely see the standard RSS icon, which takes you to a page that will give you an array of the most popular feed readers so you can select yours, and you’ll go from there. This is the new standard RSS icon:

Finally, you may also see little orange buttons that say XML or RSS. Often these chicklets will take you to a page that looks like code gibberish. In this case, you simply cut and paste the page URL from your browser window and manually paste it into your feed reader subscription function.Hopefully this last method will soon disappear, never to be seen again.

In summary: RSS solves BIG problems.

So there you have it… RSS is being adopted at a phenomenal rate, because it’s a good thing for everyone.

The benefit to readers is obvious. And it’s good for publishers too, because we want to make sure that people feel comfortable subscribing, and that our message is not nuked by an overzealous spam filter.

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Beryl on Ubuntu Linux

This just a small sample of the Desktop coolness that comes with the latest BERYL plugin.

What is the Beryl Project?

Beryl is an OpenGL accelerated desktop that seeks to provide a free, open source desktop experience to the community that reflects the wishes of the users. Above all else, the project seeks to listen to and respond to the requests of the user base.

Beryl is a combined window manager and composite manager written in C using OpenGL to provide acceleration. It is designed to be highly flexible, extensible, and portable, all the while keeping in mind that the users know how they want their desktops to act better than we do. With Beryl the rather esoteric concept of the computer desktop is brought down to a more human level, allowing for a more native and intuitive understanding of your workspace. To learn more about Beryl and its features visit our Feature Spotlight.

Beryl is a fork of the Compiz project, started by David Reveman of Novell. We continue to port new changes from compiz, and consider them essentially our upstream. Beryl could not have existed were it not for the heavy lifting done both server side by David and in creating compiz, which is the base on which all of our code is built, and which still comprises a large portion of our code, though this is likely to change as the 0.3.0/0.4.0 release cycle gets started.

Getting Started

If this is your first time here, you are probably wondering where to next? Well that all depends, but you can find most of the key links on the quick links bar to the right. If you have questions of other users or developers drop by our forums and ask away. Packages can find release tarballs on our Releases page. Developers can take a peek at our roadmap and find other developers at #beryl-dev on the irc.freenode.org IRC server. For those of you who have not yet installed Beryl but are looking to do so, please check our Wiki for instructions on how to install Beryl on your distro. New users might also find the New Users Guide helpful to their Beryl experience. Welcome to the project!

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Graphic Design On UBUNTU Linux

I finished creating this Beach Map (1.5 gig .psd file) on Ubuntu Linux recently using a neat plugin called crossover office. This lets you run windows /mac programs on your linux PC.

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