Shaunak's Universe

Over the course of your life on Linux (or Openoffice), you will come to a point where you will face a daunting task. You will one day find the inadvertent need to send some of you work, your hard-typed work, which you so happily created using you open-source tools, and which you so lovingly adorned with open-source fonts, over to a someone who more than contended to pay Mr. Gates hundreds of dollars every couple of years. In short, you will one day need to send an OpenOffice Writer document, laced with open-source fonts over to someone who uses Microsoft Office and has never even heard of Bitstream Charter or DejaVu Sans.

Windows users note: OpenOffice is also available as a windows download. The steps described here are identical for the windows operating system as well. "PDF export" is enabled by default in the windows package.

The easiest way to do this would be to export the document as a PDF. You will find the option under the menu File > Export to PDF. If you cant find this option under your install of OpenOffice, then you need to install the additional PDF export plug-in. Under Fedora the command is:
su -c 'yum install openoffice.org-extendedPDF'
Graphically, this package:

But the problem of the fonts still remains. By default, during the export the fonts will not be embedded into the PDF and the best possible substitutions will be made when the PDF is opened on the remote machine. To embed the fonts and ensure that the documents looks the same on all platforms you need to select the PDF/A1 option in the export dialogue.

This one (Highlighted with a Blue Box):

Note: This step is identical on Windows.

To check if the embedding has worked, you can use the pdffonts command. This script checks the PDF files and prints embedded font information. The usage for the script is:
pdffonts Filename.pdf
The script accepts parameters to limit the page range and enter passwords. Use the -? argument the see the usages.

The script in action, checking a PDF file 'report.pdf':

emb stands for 'embedded' and sub stands for substitutable.

PackageKit is the default package management system on Fedora from versions 9, 10, 11 and up. Package kit has great many advantages, read about them here. But for all its merits, it has one tiny niggle. Sometimes, especially on new OS installs, or after adding software sources, it fails to automatically refresh its cache. And the GUI (currently) has no way of doing that for you. So you will have to show it some good old command line love.

When PackageKit fails to refresh the cache, you either get an error that reads "No results were found. Try entering a package name in the search bar." for every category of packages, or the packages you expect to show up, from the newly added software sources, don't show up.
Graphically:

Refreshing the cache from the command line is simple. The text mode program that allows you to talk to PackageKit via the command line is "pkcon". To refresh the cache type this at the prompt:

$ pkcon refresh

pkcon will run through the refresh routine and PackageKit should work as expected.
Graphically:

If you wish the explore pkcon a little more, type this:

$ pkcon -?

into the command prompt to print the pkcon help.

You might also like to learn that pkcon can not be run as a root user. GTK+ applications should not be run as root. Doing that blows huge security holes into your system. Read more here. If you are in the mood for a little more reading you might want to look into this interview on fedoraproject.org. It talks about the rationale behind the inclusion of Packagekit into Fedora, its advantages and future goals.

I have put together a new AMD phenom powered system after my old Intel 865G motherboard died on me. My new configuration stands at:

* AMD Phenom 9650 Agena: Four Cores of awesomeness clocked at 2.3Ghz by AMD

* Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2HP: Feature Packed, value for money, rock solid board.

* 1GB Transcend PC2-6400 DDR2 800: Two Sticks of these to run in dual channel mode.

The configuration aims to achieve a good balance between performance, power consumption and price. The motherboard is also available in an all solid state capacitor variant which should offer better durability. Its christened "Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-DS2HP". Notice the extra 'D'?

I chose AMD over Intel because it offers a better performance over its Intel counterpart at the same price point. Plus Green, Purple and Black is so much sexier than Blue and Orange. (Come on, bubble gum sells in blue-orange packing :P )

The Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-SCHP is a very well designed board. Its follows the micro ATX form factor, comes with two PCI slots, one PCI-e 16x Slot and one PCI-e 1x slot. Its outfitted with AMD's SB700 southbridge and 780G northbridge, both covered by solemn looking copper heat-sinks. All your standard connectivity options like LAN, USB, 1394 port, e-SATA are bundled. The board comes with an ATI Radeon HD3200 onboard. This is probably the first onboard solution that can playback 1080p content flawlessly.
Read more about the board on Gigabyte's site.

The processor slots in via an AM2+ slot. AMD's heat-sink is well designed, a charm to put on and works exceedingly well. The heat-sink comes with some thermal goop pre-applied. Although it works, I would still recommend you clean it off and apply a good thermal grease. I use Tuniq TX-2. Some popular choices include Arctic Silver 5 and MX-2.

If you are facing high CPU temperatures [50 degrees and above Celsius] I suggest you reapply some good thermal paste and ensure that the processor is locked to the board properly.

As I mentioned earlier, the onboard solution plays back High Definition content, even 1080p content flawlessly. The processor usage remains at 20% or lower levels through out playback. This is a great chipset to use if you are building an HTPC. The onboard chip will probable even handle a bit on gaming. Cant confirm that though. [The last game I played was "Age of Mythology" :)]

The CPU runs very cool. It does not cross 41 degrees Celsius even when put under a stress test. And that is a lot, given my ambient temperature is about 34 degrees. Pictured below, me encoding a DVD, while simultaneously playing back a 1080p movie in VLC. The movie in question is the Fanboys trailer. The CPU usage stays below 50% through out. Click the image for a larger view.

There is one small niggle though. The LAN drivers Gigabyte provides on their CD are horrible. It causes Windows to freeze up and crash. The problem can be solved by using the latest drivers [5.7 upward] from Gigabytes site. If your PC is rebooting too frequently for you to be able to complete the driver repair, open up the BIOS, disable the onboard LAN and then boot into windows. That should stabilize the system.

AMD's cool and quite technology is brilliantly amazing. When you are not performing any processor intensive tasks, it reduces the processor's clock rate and voltage. This allows the fans to spin slower. So when you are just listening to music of web surfing, your computer goes dead quite. Definitely a plus for multimedia and HTPC applications. You will be surprised how much better everything sounds without the whine of the CPU fan. Apart from noise reduction, it also cuts your power bills and helps save the planet. And that is never a bad thing.

If you are wondering about the thermocol in the pictures, I use it as a non conductive surface for bench testing.

All images magically expand when clicked.