Hi

My entries will now be in the form of a "story" and can be found here dispersed on the home page of Cooking With Linux site -- Just one click away

Cheers!!

John

[Update November 27, 2008. -- Linux Magazine has stopped producing a print version as well: http://www.linux-mag.com/magazine.]

The last print edition of PC Magazine will be the January 2009 edition : http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2335009,00.asp . I am not surprised as we have seen the magazine get thiner over the years. I wonder if this is a taste of what is to come for other publications? It is more than just economic factors. Sure prices of magazines could be relative in price to what they were twenty years ago. But at $7.00 plus for almost any magazine today, that is hovering around the $100.00 mark per publication per year. That can be a day's pay for many of us.

Then there is the environmental issue.
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A title like that is bound to get your attention, now that I have it, I would like to say something to all of the Linux enthusiasts out there.

Now I ask you, how many times have you talked to a Windows user about Linux this year? Was there any result from your enthusiastic pitch: i.e. did anyone install Linux? Often we don't know. The problem is, without giving someone a tangible item to remember your conversation and or to take action with, we may have wasted time and energy.
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(The answer is yes, see below)

Wow, we crashed the servers at OpenOffice. Well that may not be a good thing, but it shows just how popular the alternative to that other office suite is. I hope that someone at OpenOffice.org can find a way to count how many downloads of the Linux versions are made. That would give us a very good estimate as to the number of Linux users there are. I did my part, I have the deb.tar.gz on my desktop now.
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Toronto has a lot going on, especially if you are into Linux. For those in your family who are not into Linux there is lots to do for them as well.

First we have the Free Software and Open Source Symposium in Toronto, Oct 23/24.

http://fsoss.senecac.on.ca/2008/

A list of the presentations are here: http://fsoss.senecac.on.ca/2008/?q=node/14

Then there is the Ontario Linux Fest on October 25.
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Hello everyone

Unlike our host, I am not an expert on fine wine. However, I do like good wine, and I do believe that good wine can come from anyplace that has the right climate, the right soil and of course a talented vinter. I am a "if it tastes good, who cares where it came from?" kind of guy. Mind you some Ontario wines are, well, lets say they might make good anti-freeze This summer Mary and I went on a local holiday. We went to a small town on the north shore of Lake Erie called Port Stanley. Excellent place to get away from it all.

Just north of Port Stanley we found a wonderful winery called Qaui du Vin.
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I never had much of a need for a webcam. Over a year ago I found one at a cheap price and without checking for Linux compatibility I bought the thing, but it had a spotty record for working with Linux so it sat on the shelf collecting dust until today.

Ubuntu forums said it works out of the box now. It being a EZcam III. So I plugged it in, turned on my computer -- nothing.

I got it working, thanks to Shantanu Goel who wrote at Ubuntu Geek: Tip: Getting Your Webcam To Work In Ubuntu Here are the steps that I took:
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Tonight, on the WFTL Linux Show http://flash9.ustream.tv:18881/broadcast/247959/247959_1220427291891.flv Marcel and I were talking about the number of Linux users that were out there. A prediction of 20% for Linux in 2008 was a bit high in my estimation because I saw another website that placed us around 2% http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php.
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Here is a tool that you will want to remember. By highlighting any part of a OpenOffice document and selecting Clear Formating as shown in the attachment "Clear.png", the formating will be removed. Today I was working on a document where some unwnated formating crept in. This was formating that could not be removed using the formating tools available. Then I stumbled upon this gem and I was no longer wishing for the reveal codes feature in WordPerfect. It would be nice if we could have that, but at least this feature quickly solves the problem (in this case I had double line spacing that would not just go away) and lets us carry on with our work.

Click the image for a larger screen capture.

Somebody must have convinced the RIAA that untold riches will come their way once Digital Rights Management controls are in place. However Digital Rights Management (DRM) will not help anyone.

Like many of us, the recording industry works in a world where technological change is the norm. When they claim that their revenue has been affected by illegal copying they are correct. Today it is too easy to make counterfeit copies of recordings on a large scale. It is up tothe consumer to watch for these fakes, and report them to the authorities. Purchasing a pirated recording is not a bargain. However, the recording industry gains more than it loses when a friend gives a copy of CD to a friend, if it introduces the person to a new musical experience. Also, there is, was, and always will be parasites who never pay for anything if they can help it. They will never be a customer anyway, therefore nothing can be lost or gained by them.
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