New Linux User » apps

Inklite: Simplified Inkscape?

Clair Ching — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 18:17:51 +0000

If you’ve been wondering if there’s a lite version of Inkscape, there’s a possibility that there might be one in the future. Bryce Harrington blogged about keeping the toolbars simple and changing some settings. He also noticed that the dialog boxes appear bigger so it will probably look smaller when they implement it in Inklite.

A snippet from his blog entry on Inklite:

The main challenge was the aux toolbar – I think we’ll need JonCruz’s toolbar rework (which missed 0.46 but will definitely be in for 0.47); I just hacked it down. Deciding what to keep in the left toolbox was a tough choice, but I think I kept the most useful tools; the paint bucket would be the next on the chopping block, but I understand kids love it, so it just made it.

You’ll note I turned off the scrollbars, ruler, and color palette – this was trivial to do via the menus, and could be turned back on as desired.

Sounds like it’s going to be a dream come true for those who love using ultraportables with low resolution screens, and also for those who are newbies who might have found Inkscape bit intimidating.

Post from: New Linux User

Focus on writing with JDarkRoom

Clair Ching — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:30:32 +0000

Writing a novel could be difficult especially with the many distractions online. It’s really insane when people just nag you on IM or when your email notification icon on the panel is nagging you to check your email. One thought goes here and another there and before you know it your idea for the plot is gone! Oh no no no! Your editor nags you on your mobile and you have nothing else you could say except “Yes, I will send it to you by the end of the day.” Tsk tsk. What would make your life a bit easier? Even just something to let you focus on your paragraphs.

The nice thing about JDarkRoom is that you only have the text in front of you. Literally. Nothing else. There are no icons for highlighting text and making that have italicized fonts or whatever fancy stuff. It’s for you to write your words. Seriously. If that wouldn’t force you to write your thoughts and stop worrying about the format, I don’t know what else will help.

The downside about using it is that there are no online tooltips or menu to help you do something immediately. But don’t worry, pressing the F5 key or CTRL-H will show the help screen.

The app requires Java 1.4 and up so make sure you check if you installed it already. There is a jar file available for Linux users.

Post from: New Linux User

Can’t live without Emacs

Clair Ching — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 03:28:30 +0000

Every time I install Linux I make sure that I install Emacs. Actually even on Windows, I install Emacs It’s a text editor which people say is hard to learn. They have a point but you see, Emacs is one fascinating text editor. It has a lot of features and extensions or macros. It’s really complex and amazing all at the same time. Some people call it an ‘operating system’ and that it has everything but the kitchen sink. Some people are said to live in Emacs. I blame a friend for introducing me to Planner-el, a planner for Emacs. And there are really so much more that I love about Emacs but maybe it’s because I am such a fangirl.

Emacs lets me do the following:

Organize my tasks and notes – via Planner, Remember and Org mode.
Play music through EMMS
Commit files to the repository via psvn
Browse stuff on the intarwebs
Open a terminal!
Chat on IRC by using ERC then connecting to bitlbee.
Listen to myself rant by talking to the Emacs Doctor.
Play a game or two — Snake, Tetris, among other things. I could play Nethack too but I am not good at it.
Manage my files.

There is so much more and you could check out the Emacs Wiki for that. This is but a short list but I guess I’d just like to say that Emacs is definitely one app that I really must have. And thanks to Linux I got to use it and love it as well. ♥

Post from: New Linux User