CrunchBang - Code, Design & GNU/Linux

A(nother) Regular Expression Test Tool

I came across another regular expression test tool today. This one is an Ajax enabled regex tool which lets you evaluate regex expressions in several languages, including PHP PCRE and PHP POSIX, with instant results. You can choose which functions to use, such as match, match all, replace, split etc. I much prefer it to the similar regex tool I mentioned a couple of months ago. Everything considered, it's a very handy resource for when you are struggling with those pesky expressions.

URL: http://regex.larsolavtorvik.com/
Blog: Lars Olav Torvik - Programming and computer stuff.

Conduit Available via PPA

I'm torn on the idea of Conduit. I really like the concept of an all-in-one synchronisation tool for the desktop; however, whenever I've tried it I've found that I would typically use less than 10% of its features/data providers. Also, being fairly adept at scripting, I tend to Bash my way through my syncing needs.

Having said that, Conduit is still an interesting and impressive application and I'm glad to see that John Carr has set-up a PPA on Launchpad for Conduit releases. The PPA should make it much easier to test the most up to date versions with Ubuntu based Linux distributions.

Also, John Stowers has just released Conduit 0.3.8. If you've not done so already, go check it out.

URL: http://www.conduit-project.org/

Regular Expression Test Tool

I've used this web based regular expression test tool a couple of times over the last day or so. While I don't normally struggle with regular expressions, this tool has still come in handy; it has saved me from the "code it and cross your fingers" approach I normally take.

This is a great tool for anyone who works with PHP, especially as the service uses PHP regular expression functions as a base for its operations.

URL: http://www.solmetra.lt/scripts/regex/

Windows XP, Ubuntu, GParted & Super Grub Disk

Yesterday I permanently shut down the old family desktop. I say family, but in reality it was the desktop used by Becky and Emma before they got their laptops. Anyhow, before shutting the desktop down for the last time, Becky asked if I would transfer her music and photo collection to her laptop.

Becky's laptop is one of my old machines, it's an Acer Travelmate 240. I used it for a good few years before handing it over to Becky sometime last year. Being one of my old machines, it was set-up for dual booting with Ubuntu and Windows XP. Unfortunately I've yet to persuade Becky to migrate to Linux, so she always boots the system into Windows XP.

Anyway, before attempting to move Becky's data I performed a quick check on her system. Turns out that I'd partitioned her 30GB drive in favour of Ubuntu, no surprise there, and Windows XP had less than 2GB of free space to play with. I asked Becky what she would like me to do, her reply, "You can remove that second-rate operating system, I don't want your linucks shite on my laptop" — or something along those lines.

Not wanting to take her bait, and not being a Linux zealot, I agreed. So, I inserted my CrunchBang Linux CD and booted the machine. I then ran GParted and removed Ubuntu's swap and ext3 partitions, before resizing the fat32 partition to use the whole drive [GParted is a fantastic tool!] Once I'd finished adjusting the partitions, I attempted a reboot, only to be presented with a GRUB error. I forgot that this would happen, GRUB couldn't find its configuration file as I'd removed it when I edited the disk partitions.

To fix Becky's now useless system, I inserted my copy of the Super Grub Disk and within a couple of minutes I'd managed to restore the MBR and configure the system so that it would boot directly into Windows XP. I then transferred Becky's data and decommissioned the old family desktop. Easy.

Finding Colour Palettes with Color Hunter

Color Hunter is a place to find and make color palettes created from images.

I'm really liking Color Hunter and think it's one of the most useful applications of the Flickr API I've seen to date. You can use the service to search for new colour palettes either by tag, hex color code or image URL; once you've created a free account you can save a list of your favourite colour palettes for future reference. See some palettes I've saved.

Another great feature of the Color Hunter service is a toggle for displaying palettes in either vibrant or dull mode, this feature instantly doubles the number of palettes available and provides alternative palettes you may not have previously considered. Good stuff.

No Internet Explorer, No Problem

I read a blog post today and it reminded me of a solution to a problem encountered when running a Linux only web design operation. Browsershots:

Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then they will make screenshots and upload them to the central server here.

Running a Linux only operation myself I can really appreciate how fantastic a tool/service Browsershots is. I no longer have to maintain an installation of Microsoft Windows and make it available via a dual boot set-up. When I did maintain a dual boot system I only ever entered Windows to check a new web template in Internet Explorer. Maintaining a complete operating system just for this reason is not worth the time or the effort.

Thank you Browsershots, you've helped liberate my systems!

Firefox Bookmarklet for Flickr CC Search

Searching Flickr for images licensed under Creative Commons is painfully slow and frustrating. For every new query you have to visit the advanced search page and select the appropriate check boxes before hitting the search button. I've been using Flickr in this way quite a bit lately and so I wanted to find an easier way to achieve this task.

I turned to Google and found this Greasemonkey hack. It looks good and does what I want, however I don't use Greasemonkey and I'm not about to start using it anytime soon. So I ended up creating a quick bookmarklet to do the job instead — I don't know why I didn't do this in the first place, it only took seconds?!

Flickr CC Search

You can install the bookmarklet by dragging it your Firefox "Bookmarks" toolbar.

A Couple of Favicon Tools…

…because creating favicons with GIMP can be tricky.

1. Favicon from Pics is an old favourite of mine. This online tool will generate a favicon from an existing image. It copes well with transparent images and will also create animated favicons [not that I would advise using them!] Works best when using square images.

2. Favikon is another good web based tool for creating favicons. This tool will crop and resize an existing image before presenting your new favicon for download. Via Dan Cederholm.

Sites Added to Ubuntu Search Engine

I've added the following addresses to my version of an Ubuntu Search Engine:

• xubuntu.org
• xubuntublog.wordpress.com
• xubuntu.wordpress.com
• www.kubuntu.org
• wiki.kubuntu.org
• www.edubuntu.org
• wiki.edubuntu.org
• ubuntustudio.org

That brings the total number of sites to 178.

I've been quite surprised at how popular the service is becoming, especially considering that I only created it as an experiment to satisfy my own curiosity. The Firefox tools have also attracted a number of downloads.

Here's a basic usage chart provided by Google:

Add your site

I'd like to keep the service as relevant and concise as possible, so if you own or know of an Ubuntu related blog/site that is not included then please let me know.

Cruciforum - Crucially Simple

Stuart Langridge has updated his really simple forum software, Cruciforum.

Cruciforum is really, really simple. There's no database required to run it — you don't need MySQL or anything — it doesn't have user accounts, it doesn't need an administrator. It's really low-impact on your server because all the pages are plain HTML — if someone's browsing the forum then they don't even use PHP! Just fire it up and go; all you need on the server is PHP support, which most things have.

Cruciforum is built with Joel Spolsky's thoughts on forum design in mind, and a few other tweaks that might be interesting. It's designed to be crucially simple.

I really like simple web software [the simpler the better if you ask me] and Cruciforum is about as simple as it gets. I really like the fact that there is no need to create an account before you can post a message.

Cruciforum also features built in support for Akismet spam protection [which I guess is a must when there's no account system.] Textile is used for converting user input and Gravatar support is also a nice touch.

The only thing missing at the moment is support for RSS — this has been recognised and there's a bug report here.

I can see many uses for Cruciforum, it has a lot of potential. Check it out here: http://www.kryogenix.org/code/cruciforum/

Ubuntu Search Engine

Foreword: I set-up this Ubuntu Search Engine as an experiment and to satisfy my own curiosity about Google's CSE service. It's ironic but I only found uboontu.com when testing my own effort. I'm also aware of the existence of ubuntuwire.com, however I've not been able to connect to this service for the last few days. There isn't much difference between the any of these services [this is to be expected as they all use the same backend.] My version of an Ubuntu Search Engine has the slight advantage of having its results hosted on Google. Hopefully this will minimize the chances of the service going down or becoming unavailable in the future. Besides, you can never have too much Ubuntu goodness ;)

Google Custom Search Engine for Ubuntu

I've set-up a new Google Custom Search Engine for Ubuntu. So far it provides results from a list of 169 separate Ubuntu related domains. The usual suspects are included in the list i.e. www.ubuntu.com, wiki.ubuntu.com, help.ubuntu.com, ubuntuforums.org etc. The list also includes blogs listed on planet.ubuntu.com and various other Ubuntu related sites.

Firefox Tools

I've created a couple of Firefox tools to accompany the service. See: http://crunchbang.org/ubuntu-search-engine/firefox-tools/

About the design & logo

The user interface to my Ubuntu search engine should appear familiar to users of Google. This is intentional as I don't want to confuse anyone with a new Web 2.0 atrocity. Also, I like to keep to the K.I.S.S principle where possible and I don't think you can get much more simple than Google's default interface. Finally, this wasn't an exercise in stroking my design ego.

The logo may also look familiar — I'm hoping I don't receive any threatening letters from Google Inc :)

Spread the word

If you enjoy this version of an Ubuntu Search Engine please consider spreading the love by sharing with your colleagues, friends, family and complete strangers. There are a couple of ways you could help share this service:

1. Add an "Ubuntu Search Engine" search box to your blog or web site with this code.

2. Share with: Digg - Del.icio.us - StumbleUpon etc.

Thank you :)

Disclaimer

Google search engine and the Google logo are the trademarks of Google Inc. My Ubuntu Search Engine is not affiliated with Google Inc.

Deskbar Applet & Tracker on Ubuntu

I've been using the Gutsy Gibbon on my desktop for just over a week now. I pretty much settled into using it straight after the upgrade fresh install from Feisty. So far I've experienced no real problems with it whatsoever.

During the past week I've managed to have a play with most of Ubuntu's new features. The one that has really stood out and impressed me the most has been the integrated desktop search provided by Deskbar Applet and Tracker.

Desktop search has evaded me for a while now. I've tried Beagle before but I wasn't overly keen on it, I much prefer Tracker. It's faster, more elegant and less intrusive. Also, it doesn't seem to grind on my hard drive — Beagle made my drives sound like they were shredding themselves when it was indexing my data.

Anyhow, I've been using the Deskbar Applet and Tracker Search tools more and more over the last few days. I have to say, they work really well together and I'm beginning to wonder how I managed without them. The only feature that I can think of that would make them better would be an integrated "Find & Replace" tool.

A screenshot of Deskbar Applet in action:

A screenshot of Tracker Search in action:

Gmail IMAP Support

I've been waiting to test Gmail's IMAP support ever since I first read about it. I've been checking my account everyday to see if the new feature has been added, only to be disappointed. Then this morning I read this:

After hearing the news that Google had added IMAP to it’s Gmail service, I was somewhat surprised to find that my account didn’t seem to be set up for it.

After fiddling a little I discovered that Google’s IMAP service is language specific, and isn’t enabled on UK English based accounts.

Log on to your Gmail account. Click on Settings. In the General tab, change the ‘Google Mail display language’ option to ‘US English’.

After a refresh you should now see the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ option.

Have fun!

I've just tested it and it works! Nice one Chris.

dict.org Bookmarklets for Firefox

As well as liking monkeys I also like dict.org. I've been using it more-and-more since my rant last month about pop-up advertising and Dictionary.com.

For anyone unfamiliar with dict.org, it's basically a free service without any adverts that provides a fast dictionary and thesaurus lookup [it does more too!]

The bookmarklets

This morning I decided to play about with creating a Bookmarklet to help perform dict.org queries. I ended up creating three. One to perform a standard query, another to perform dictionary only queries, and the final one to perform thesaurus only queries. The bookmarklets are below:

dict.org lookup — for performing default queries [dictionary + thesaurus + more]
dictionary lookup — for erm… …dictionary only queries
thesaurus lookup — for… …work it out :)

All three bookmarklets work the same way. You can either highlight a word on the web page you are viewing before clicking the bookmarklet to perform the query; or click the bookmarklet and type a word at the prompt.

Howto install the bookmarkets

Simply left-click and drag any of the bookmarklets to your Bookmarks Toolbar within Firefox.

Before installing the bookmarklets it should be noted that I've only tested them with Firefox — as an Ubuntu user it's pretty much the only browser I use. Please let me know [post a comment or something] if you test them with any other browsers.

Credits

These bookmarklets are a direct hack of the free browser buttons available for Dictionary.com. These were inspired by the work of Steve Kangas at Bookmarklets.com.

Howto Boot After a Failed Linux Install

Installing Ubuntu [and most other Linux distros] isn't too difficult. In fact with the latest liveCD installs it has become easier than ever before. However, it is still possible for the installation process will go wrong and fail. This has happened to me on a couple of occasions and it has left me with a system that is incapable of booting.

The first time this happened there was a power outage mid-installation. On the second occasion the installation shut down after finding a hardware fault [the heatsink had pinged off my coprocessor!] On both instances the installation had created new partitions and edited my disk structure, but crucially, had not installed Grub. Again, this caused my system to choke and die when it came to booting.

Enter the Super Grub Disk

The Super Grub Disk is a bootable floppy, CD or USB that can help you to fix and deal with boot problems. You can use it to automatically restore Grub and Microsoft's Windows bootloader [if you're that way inclined] to your disk's MBR.

The Super Grub Disk is one of those tools every Linux enthusiast should have. It can be a real time-saver when things go a little tits up.

You can get more details about the Super Grub Disk at: http://supergrub.forjamari.linex.org/

Editing Disk Partitions with GParted LiveCD

I've answered a couple of Ubuntu questions today where I've suggested using the GParted LiveCD. I like GParted, it's one of those tools that once you've used it you never forget it. This is probably because you'll normally first encounter it when you have a problem with one of your hard drives!

I think Microsoft Windows users could also benefit from knowing about GParted, not least because it could save them from forking out for commercial options such as Norton PartitionMagic.

More information about the GParted LiveCD can be found at: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php

Greasemonkey Hack for Google Reader

Some hacks are are pointless, others are not. This Greasemonkey hack will remove the dreaded "Mark all as read" button from the Google Reader UI. Sweet.

For more info about Greasemonkey see: http://www.greasespot.net/

Testing Type With Typetester

Typetester is a tool for comparing type on screen. It's an excellent tool for any web designer who wants to be able to quickly check how a specific font renders to screen. Options include setting sizes, line-height, letter-spacing, alignment and more. You can compare up to 3 fonts at anyone time and there is a preconfigured list of popular fonts available on Windows and Mac platforms [what no linux?] You can also use fonts from your own system.

All in all, Typetester is a valuable tool.