Install OpenOffice 2 in Puppy Linux

I installed Puppy onto the hard disk and followed the following instructions from the Puppy forum to convert the OpenOffice rpm files and install them onto Puppy:

http://www.murga.org/~puppy/viewtopic.php?t=7938&highlight=openoffice

post from:
rarsa
Joined: 29 May 2005
Posts: 1746
Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Posted: Tue May 09, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject: My preferred way for installing OpenOffice in Puppy is the following:

1. Go to the Open Office website and download the latest stable version to an empty folder I prefer to do it outside the pup001 file if you are using one as it is a large install, also make sure that it is not a FAT file system.
2. Extract the file with the following command (use the file name that you downloaded)Code:
tar -xvzf OOo_2.0.2_LinuxIntel_install.tar.gz


3. The previous command will extract all the files to a subfolder. Change folders to the RPMS folder under that newly created folder. e.g.Code:
cd cd OOB680_m5_native_packed-1_en-US.9011/RPMS


4. Extract the RPM files with the following command (all one line)Code:
for FILENAME in *.rpm ; do exec rpm2cpio "$FILENAME" | cpio -i -d; done


5. The previous command will create a opt subfolder and under that an openoffice.org2.0 folder. Move that folder to a final location. Please note that it must be a place with enough space such as your /mnt/home folder. e.g.[code]mv opt/openoffice.org2.0 /mnt/home (Paul's note: I actually moved the files to /root )
6. Create a symbolic link (symlink) to the open office executable. e.g. [code]ln -s /mnt/home/oppenoffice.org2.0/program/soffice /root/my-applications/bin/soffice
7. Execute open office by executing soffice

Reading related to worthwhile works

From the Second letter of Timothy (New Jerusalem Bible):


"Turn away from the passions of youth, concentrate on uprightness, faith, love and peace, in union with all those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.Avoid these foolish and undisciplined speculations, understanding that they only give rise to quarrels; and a servant of the Lord must not engage in quarrels, but must be kind to everyone, a good teacher, and patient. He must be gentle when he corrects people who oppose him, in the hope that God may give them a change of mind so that they recognise the truth and come to their senses, escaping the trap of the devil who made them his captives and subjected them to his will."

.....

"Before God and before Christ Jesus who is to be judge of the living and the dead, charge you, in the name of his appearing and of his kingdom:proclaim the message and, welcome or unwelcome, insist on it. Refute falsehood, correct error, give encouragement-but do all with patience and with care to instruct. The time is sure to come when people will not accept sound teaching, but their ears will be itching for anything new and they will collect themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and then they will shut their ears to the truth and will turn to myths.But you must keep steady all the time; put up with suffering; do the work of preaching the gospel; fulfil the service asked of you."

Blogging plugin for Firefox

On Call For Help TV show (episode 324) I heard about a plug in which speeds up blog posting. It's from
http://performancing.com/firefox
I've installed this and it seems to work well.

The hope of the little match seller

I remember hearing about the tale "The Little Match-Seller" by Hans Christian Andersen:
http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_match.html

Hans Christian Andersen has thoughtful ideas, conveyed by memorable stories. He seems to have a theme that different people can look at the same thing and see it differently. This is obviously true of some of his other tales, such as "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Ugly Duckling", but I think it is also true of "The Little Match-Seller". For some people, this is just a sad and sentimental story. But is it also a story of hope and happiness?

Scarlet and the Black

Watched the film "The Scarlet and the Black" starring Gregory Peck. This is the story, which I had not heard of, about Msgr Hugh O'Flaherty and Colonel Herbert Kappler. Msgr O'Flaherty saved thousands of prisoners duing the German occupation of Rome in the Second World War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_O'Flaherty
http://www.rootsweb.com/~irlker/scarlet.html
http://www.terracetalkireland.com/profiles/hugh.htm
http://www.catholicireland.net/pages/index.php?nd=68&art=490
http://www.answers.com/topic/hugh-o-flaherty

Picasa on Linux

from:
http://picasa.google.com/linux/thanks-deb.html

Installing Picasa

If you have a Picasa window open, or you have the Picasa icon in your toolbar, please close them before installing a new version.
If you're using a recent version of Linux, you should be able to pick "Open With Default Application" or double-click on the downloaded .deb file to install.

If that doesn't work, save the file in the /tmp directory, then open a terminal window and install with a command like

$ sudo dpkg -i /tmp/picasa_2.2.2820-5_i386.deb

or

$ su
# dpkg -i /tmp/picasa_2.2.2820-5_i386.deb
# exit

Starting Picasa
Start Picasa by looking in your Linux distribution's Graphics menu. If you can't find it there, give the command /usr/bin/picasa in a terminal window.

Tips

* If you use NFS, when Picasa first starts, tell it to scan just your desktop! Otherwise Picasa gets real slow while it scans all your NFS directories!
* To get Picasa to see pictures on your hard drive, click "File / Add Folder" (NOT "Import").
* When adding a folder to Picasa, the default action is to remove the folder from Picasa. You have to actively choose Scan once or Scan always.
* Picasa is not supported over remote X connections.

Wow, Picasa found all my photos!

When you start Picasa, it instantly goes to work, organizing all the pictures on your hard drive by date in the "Folders on Disk" collection. If Picasa finds folders you don't want, go into Tools > Folder Manager to tell it which folders to scan once, scan always or remove. To remove individual pictures from your library, simply select a photo and right-click to delete it permanently from your computer or hide it from Picasa.

Visit the Picasa for Linux FAQs

Kororaa server Linux

An Australian company in Canberra is working on a Gentoo based distribution for servers.

See www.kororaa.org

Kororaa is a pre-configured binary install method for Gentoo Linux, complete with a fully automated dialog installer. It comes with a pre-configured KDE system and, being based on Gentoo, it sports the full power of portage and other great features. It takes the best open source packages and combines them into one very powerful and quick Linux desktop. Kororaa is designed to have programs to support a wide range of everyday tasks like email, web browsing, instant messaging, and multimedia support for photos, videos, TV, music, burning, etc. Also look at a program like ruby on rails to see what is necessary to set up a web site including podcasting

control scripting in firefox

I loaded the firefox plugin from www.noscript.net
This can be used to control java scripting allowed when visiting websites

Add CastPodder to menu

create a desktop file by:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/CastPodder.desktop

insert the following:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=CastPodder
Comment=CastPodder podcast aggregator
Exec=CastPodder
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-squeak.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;Internet;

For some reason, CastPodder has been included in the "Other" menu instead of the "Internet" menu.

Da Vinci Code vs HBHG

I have heard about the court case in England where the publisher (or is it the author) of the 70's book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" are suing the publisher (or author) of "The Da Vinci Code" for copying their ideas. Authors are following this case with interest, because it might define what it means to copy an idea. I have read neither book, but I believe that HBHG has the form of an academic study, whereas TDVC has the form of a fictional novel based on the same ideas as HBHG. Since neither are based on fact, is it legal to copy the ideas.
All this seems to be a messy battle over profits and far removed from the great ideas both books claim to be true. Truly, God is not mocked.

Is the following a fair comparison....
Thomas Keneally wrote "Schindler's Ark" and said he studied the story, spoke to as many witnesses as possible and made his novel as faithful to fact as possible. If the story had been documented in a book, would it be plagiarism to then base a book on it? Maybe that fact that the story is true (unlike HBHG) is a defence.

Using theology to teach English literature

I found high school English very interesting because of the range of books we studied and the ideas and ways of appreciating them. However, looking back, I think I did not appreciate the background and philosophy of the authors. What made Byron different to Keats or Shakespeare or T.S Eliot? What made Dickens different to Hardy or Thackeray?

We studied the form of each book or poem and what motivated each character and how they related to each other. But there was some context missing. Possibly the philosphical or theological motivation could supply this. Authors are to some extent creatures of their period (or some authors change their period), so it is interesting to relate humanists to Byron, the spirit of nature to Wordsworth, Christianity to T.S Eliot etc. I think I would have found this a fruitful way of studying English literature.

PC sound to iTunes and TotalRecorder

I use iTunes to playback audio and video podcasts, and I also use TotalRecorder to record from audio streaming. I found that I have to change a setting in the control panel depending on which I am using.

Select control panel/Sounds and audio devices/audio. I change the sound playback and recording: Avance AC97 audio when I am playing back on iTunes, and playback through TotalRecorder when I am using that. If I have TotalRecorder seleced and use iTunes, the sound is distorted and has echoes.

commonwealth.tv

An interesting country in the Commonwealth Games parade is Tuvalu.
Area: 26 sq.km.
Highest point 5 metres
Income sources include: sale of stamps and coins, and leasing the internet domain name .tv
Flag: Union Jack in the upper hoist-side quadrant, with 9 stars representing a map of the islands (that is, the stars are not a constellation)

The business of privatisation of schools

Many people want to send their children to large private schools. IMHO, the private schools have responded by turning themselves into businesses first, schools second. I read about a school with a Board, a Chairman, and Chief Operating Officer, and oh, by the way, also a Principal. I know they have to manage themselves efficiently and transparently, but it seems a case of the financial tail wagging the educational dog.

Other evidence of the expanding school sector is the fact that their fees are rising faster than inflation. The rising demand would push this, as well as the increasing capex required to compete with other private schools. It is not enough to provide facilities for academic studies, and some sports fields. These days, parents expect all the potential of their children to be explored, such as music, leadership, arts, commerce and of course networking with the other students who may become their business peers in the future.

How is this for a financial analogy?.... The share price of a listed company represents the expected value of future income. In the same way, the (rising) school fees represent the expected value of future income and lifestyle opportunities which result from attending a private school.

CastPodder 4.0-2 vs iPodder 2.1-1

As I mentioned in my last post, I downloaded the Alan Kohler market report podcast using CastPodder 4.0-2 and it works fine.

Previously I had used the version of iPodder in the Ubuntu repository (2.1-1) and it did not work.

Onwards and upwards!

Linux podcast aggegator: CastPodder, nee iPodder

The podcast aggregator in the Ubuntu repositories is iPodder 2.1. I installed this, but there seems to be a problem. Some of the files I download using this have a MIME type of text/html, even though the "enclosure" tag in the xml gives a MIME type of audio/mpeg. These files do not play, although the XMMS audio player is loaded, but it says immediately that the file is finished. I tried a few files, and the xml files which contain iTunes tags do not work, but the ones without iTunes tags download and the audio plays correctly (and the MIME type is correct).

I could not find this as a bug on line, but the latest version of iPodder is 2.1.9, so maybe this has changed in the latest version.

To test the theory that this is a bug in the program, I downloaded and installed CastPodder from
http://borgforge.net/frs/?group_id=6

using the method given in
http://www.psychocats.net/linux/installingsoftware.php

After this installation, I can start it with /usr/bin/CastPodder

CastPodder is the Linux fork of the iPodder project after copyright objections to the name iPodder
(Juice is the fork for Windows and Mac)

CastPodder works with a xml feed which contains iTunes tags. I'll try it with the Alan Kohler podcast tomorrow when a new episode is available.

Pope Leo XIII, marxism and modernism

An interesting figure in the development of the Church's relationships to modern philosophy is Pope Leo XII. He identified the flaws in Marxism, as well as the errors in the way workers were treated in his encyclcal Rerum Novarum. He also set up a school of Thomistic philosophy at the University of Louvain to discuss and study the issues brought up by modernism.
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0256.htm

Divine consolation

These are thought of C.S. Lewis after the death of his wife:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/transcript/grief.html
Note especially the last paragraph in the quote below:

Narrator: "A Grief Observed" is Lewis's description of the journey he took after Joy's death, a portrait of grief and a struggle with his own faith.

Lewis: Talk to me about the truth of religion and I'll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I'll listen submissively. But don't come talking to me about the consolation of religion or I shall suspect that you don't understand. The conclusion is not "So there's no God, after all" but "So this is what God is really like, the Cosmic Sadist. The spiteful imbecile?"

Peter Kreeft: He lashes out at God and he says, "How can you expect us to live this way?" Very much like Job. Very honestly, he doesn't just argue. He emotes, the whole of his being is there, in front of God, it's a deep trust in God that allows him to give vent to his distrust.

Lewis: From the rational point of view what grounds has Helen's death given me for doubting all that I believe? Should it, for a sane man, make quite such a difference as this? No. And it wouldn't for a man whose faith had been real faith. The case is too plain. If my house has collapsed at one blow it is because it was a house of cards. Indeed, it's likely enough that what I shall call, if it happens, a 'restoration of faith', will turn out to be only one more house of cards.

Something quite unexpected has happened, it came this morning early. Suddenly, at the very moment when, so far, I mourned Helen least, I remembered her best. Imagine a man in total darkness. He thinks he is in a cellar or dungeon. Then there comes a sound. He thinks it might be a sound from far off — waves or windblown trees or cattle half a mile away. And if so, it proves he's not in a cellar, but free, in the open air. Lord, are these your real terms? Can I meet Helen again only if I learn to love you so much I don't care whether I meet her or not? When I lay these questions before God I get no answer. But a rather special sort of "no answer." It is not the locked door. It is more like a silent gaze. As though he shook his head, like, "Peace, child, you don't understand." How wicked it would be, if we could, to call the dead back. She said, not to me, but to the chaplain, "I am at peace with God." She smiled. But not at me.

Using cash from the AWB for appeasement

Why is the question "is there any proof that ministers knew what the AWB was doing" by pouring millions into Saddam's pockets?

The real question should be "how is the government keeping us safe"?

We were told by the PM with breathless urgency at the time that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical weapons, and was within months of having nuclear weapons. The smoking gun could be a "mushroom cloud" with thousands, or millions of casualties. But now, we are told, no minister knew that the AWB was shovelling money Saddam's way to protect its contracts, even though the negotiations over the contracts were a major issue at the time. That would be like British ministers in 1939 saying they didn't know Hitler was going to invade Poland, because no-one sent them the memo.

Who have we got for a PM, John Winston Howard, or John Neville Chamberlain?

Models of marriage

Same-sex unions are legal in some countries, and some people want the description "marriage" to be used.

Just a question: why are same sex marriages limited to only 2 people? What convention or law imposes this limit? There are pretty obvious reasons why marriage is limited to 2 people, a man and a woman, although there have been some well-known cases of open marriages involving 3 people, eg H.G.Wells (one man and 2 women) and Ayn Rand (one woman and 2 men). But for same-sex unions, there seems to be less reason for this restriction. Or is it the case that even the people who want same-sex marriage have an idea of what a real marriage is, but don't want to admit it?