OpenOffice.Org have just released OpenOffice 2.2. Overall, version 2.2 should appear better to users thanks to its support for kerning, a technique that improves the appearance of text written in proportional fonts; kerning is now enabled by default. OpenOffice’s PDF (Portable Document Format) export function has also been enhanced with the addition of the optional creation of bookmarks feature, and with support for user-definable export of form fields. For more information on the improvements and bug fixes check out the project’s release notes.
Monthly Archive for March, 2007
GBG Solutions will be demonstrating “Rivendell” the open source radio broadcasting automation software during the Hospital Broadcasting Spring Conference this weekend at the The Park Inn in Northampton. The conference starts this Friday 30th March and ends with the awards on Sunday 1st April.
Novell have done a collection of spoof ads of Apple’s I’m a Mac series
Here’s the first spoof pretty standard introduction of Linux
And here is the second spoof, this one is the better of the two well its the funniest.
The GNOME Project has just released GNOME 2.18 today, the latest version of the popular, multi-platform Free desktop environment. Nothing revolutionary in this release but definitely some nice new features, bug fixes, and improvements. Detailed release notes are available.
This post just quickly explains how to tweak your linux distribution for better performance. Hope it helps.
Fix constant memory swapping
System swap settings are normally set too high on an initial kernal installation (unless the kernel has been optimised by yourselves.)
To check this setting run:
# cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
Standard kernels are set at 60, but I have found benefits to changing this to 10.
Change on the fly:
# sysctl -w vm.swappiness=10
To change permanently add the following to the file /etc/sysct1.conf:
# vm.swappiness=10
Disable virtual terminals that are not required
This procedure will increase system memory that is normally required for virtual terminals. Edit /etc/inittab and comment out the terminals that are not require. Make sure you leave a couple for emergencies though!
# vi /etc/inittab
example:
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty1
2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2
3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
#4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
#5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
#6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6
Speeding up OpenOffice on desktop machines
OpenOffice can take upto 30 seconds to open on some systems, this should speed it up. Another method is to pre-link OpenOffice with either Gnome or KDE.
Start OpenOffice.Org writer
Click Tools
Select Options
Click Memory
Set the options as follows (under graphics cache)
128Mb
20Mb
00:10
Speed up Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla is set to attach to a single HTTP object at a time when initially installed. make the following changes, and you will see a noticeable speed improvement.
Go to the following URL about:config and change these values
network.http.max-connections = 128
network.http.max-connections-per-server =48
network.http.max-persistant-connections-per-server = 12
network.http.max-persistant-connections-per-proxy = 24
network.http.pipelining = true
network.http.pipelining.max-requests = 30
network.http.proxy-piplining = true
Hard Disk Performance Tuning
IDE HDD’s can sometimes be configured incorrectly. Make sure that the changes you make here are compatible with the drive!!!!
hdparm -c1 /dev/hda (set IO to 32 bit)
hdparm -d1 /dev/hda (set DMA to on)
as ever, test before and after by running
hdparm -t /dev/hda
If you think that future NASA’s moon camps need to have a science fiction look, you might be disappointed. Today, NASA is testing small inflatable structures. In fact, if these expandable ‘tents’ receive positive reviews, astronauts will ‘camp’ on the moon as early as 2020. These 12-foot (3.65 meter) diameter inflatable units could be used as building blocks for a future lunar base. Right now, a prototype is tested at NASA’s Langley Research Center. But NASA also wants to test other inflatable structures in the not-too-friendly environment of the Antarctic next year. Still, it’s too early to know if NASA’s first habitable lunar base will use inflatable or rigid structures.
