Roberto's blog

Niced

2011-05-25T15:19:00.001+02:00

Hi everybody, I just wrote a small script to send a job (under LINUX-like systems) with priority 19 (like using the command renice after sending it). The script is based on the true command nice, not on the one included in most of the shells which is almost not configurable. This is the script: #!/bin/bash # send a job with priority 19 # # niced # Author: Roberto Lineros # Date: May 25, 2011

Valencia.

2011-02-27T16:11:00.000+01:00

In this blog, I have not written so much about what is going. Some months ago, I moved to Valencia. Looking in youtube for videos about the city I found this: http://youtu.be/ejoGDF1_EaU

catPDF

2011-01-24T18:59:00.002+01:00

Several times I have to join/merge PDF files into a single one. I read that it can be archieved using ghostscript in the following way (more details): gs -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=finished.pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf Nevertheless, for people that do not want to deal with commands and terminals, I did the following GUI-script that uses zenity and ghostcript to produce same

Using new fonts is OpenOffice.

2010-09-26T01:05:00.002+02:00

Hi guys!!! I don't know which program you use for doing presentation. In the beginning, I used to do my slides with prosper (LaTeX), but with the time I started to change to Impress -- the "power point" of Oracle's Open Office -- because it was easier to do more nicer slides. One of the inconvenience of Impress (under Linux) is the low number of nicer fonts. I fixed this inconvenience by

Cleaning Google-Chrome's cache

2010-09-04T18:56:00.001+02:00

Hi again (This is the last post of the day ;P) Anyway, this trick is to improve the speed and to keep clean the cache of Google Chrome in Ubuntu. So, first you have to convert your /tmp folder into a tmpfs system (check it out here). Chrome store the cache in the folder .cache/google-chrome at $HOME. So the idea is to link cache's folder with the /tmp folder. First you have to delete (or move

using DNS cache for faster internet.

2010-09-04T18:44:00.001+02:00

At home, I have an ADSL connection to internet which is rather slow. So, reading how to improve it, I found that using a DNS cache you can reduce the time used for request an IP number to the DNS server. In the guide, you can find all the details. Roughly speaking, it is just: sudo apt-get dnsmasq Edit /etc/dnsmasq.conf and look for the line: #listen-address= and replace it with listen-address=

faster Ubuntu using tmpfs.

2010-09-04T16:11:00.001+02:00

Hi everybody, I read in some blog that tmpfs can help to improve a lot the performance of your Ubuntu linux. I tried this trick on a netbook and on a desktop with moderate resources (especially RAM). So, first is to modify your etc/fstab file by adding these lines: # reduce the number of writes tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,mode=1777 0 0 tmpfs /var/lock tmpfs defaults,noexec,nosuid,

Sage: a free open-source mathematics

2010-08-31T22:56:00.000+02:00

I got some comments about SAGE. Today, I finally installed on my desktop (Ubuntu 10.04) and I tried it. It goes fast in every test that I did. It is pretty easy to install and very easy to learn how to use it, of course, if you know any programation language and/or you are familiar with Mathematica and similar programs. Seriously, I use from time to time Mathematica but I do not want to

Mollweide projection with gnuplot

2010-07-20T22:26:00.002+02:00

Most of the people knows I am a fun of the plotting tool gnuplot. Well, I needed to do some plots using the elliptical projection or Mollweide projection of some data. Unfortunately, gnuplot is not able (not out the box :) ) to do that. So, I create the proper function to perform that. This is the code to add: mwhigh(x) = 1.0 + -0.919061*(abs(1.0-x))**0.674635 mwmed(x) = mwhigh(x) -0.0807765

:) even more tweaks

2010-07-19T22:04:00.001+02:00

Sometimes it goes to a low--graphics mode. I found some suggestions here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1484137 it is something related to the intel 945GME graphics card. see you.

More tweak to eeepc 1005P

2010-07-13T09:40:00.001+02:00

Hi everybody, I still work on tweak ubuntu lucid for my eeepc (1005P). I found some trick described in this forum: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1466205 It seems it can be used not just for eeepc. Cheers

How to update eeepc 1005p bios

2010-06-16T11:37:00.000+02:00

Hi everybody, I'm still digging on my netbook. I just learnt how to upgrade the BIOS. The steps are: Download the latest one from ASUS' ftp. It was installed the bios version: 0804. I downloaded the file 1005P-ASUS-1103.zip. Unzip it Rename the file 1005P-ASUS-1103.ROM to 1005P.ROM Copy it into a USB flash key formatted to FAT16. Then turn on your EEEPC and press ALT+F2. If it is

I have a new netbook.

2010-06-15T15:10:00.002+02:00

After the bad moments thanks to thiefs, I bought (one week ago) and received (yesterday) my new machine. It's not as powerful as my Dell xps m1210 (MIA) but it seems to be good enough for going to conferences and trips :). Anyway, I chose the ASUS eeepc 1005P which is a very light netbook (~1.3 Kg). Of course, I erased the by default Windows 7 Starter and I installed in it xubuntu, because it

I hate the thief

2010-06-07T15:24:00.002+02:00

Especially, when he/she took my laptop :@ :@

Nadia Comaneci

2010-06-04T22:49:00.000+02:00

I haven't seen anybody moving like her. I just saw her in youtube. Of course, she got 10. :-O

arxiv vs. snarxiv

2010-06-04T09:30:00.002+02:00

This is a very interesting place. For training you skills related to "how to distinguish real from fake papers by just reading the title". http://www.snarxiv.org/vs-arxiv/ check it out.

A TED talk about life undersea and the horror.

2010-06-03T09:22:00.001+02:00

About this talk: Photographer Brian Skerry shoots life above and below the waves -- as he puts it, both the horror and the magic of the ocean. Sharing amazing, intimate shots of undersea creatures, he shows how powerful images can help make change. More info: ted.com

Guess who?

2010-06-02T22:13:00.002+02:00

Hi everybody! I removed a bit the dust on this blog. I guess I lost a lot of imagination by using facebook and its lazy way to post. Wish me luck to keep posting here :)