Backing up large files

As backup devices, USB flash drives and hard disks are by no means perfect; but they give the most bang for the buck today, and they're fast, too, which is why you should be using them regularly.

Just a small tidbit when you're backing up: if you're backing up a large file, say, an ISO, to a FAT/VFAT-formatted USB drive (which is most likely the case) be aware that there is a 4GB file size limit.  This is a limitation of the FAT file system.  Thus, you'll need to break you up into smaller chunks. 

Neither ZIP nor TAR.GZ or any of the other default compression formats on Ubuntu can do this, however.  You'll need to install p7zip-full or rar.  The Create Archive... dialog that appears when you right click on a file should recognize these formats once they're installed.

Adding a PPA

PPA stands for Personal Package Archive, in essence, a private repository for Ubuntu packages.  Developers use this to distribute software that would not otherwise be found in the main Ubuntu repositories.

A simple way to add a PPA into your repository list is:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:reposite/ppa

Credits to this Ubuntu Forum thread.

Jamendo

Thanks to Rhythmbox on Ubuntu, I've discovered Jamendo, a music site for truly independent artists.  The selections veer away from mainstream music industry fare.  I particularly appreciate the offerings under Latin, Blues, and Electro.  My favorite so far is La Caja Negra, a Spanish group that plays both Latin and Rock.

The site doesn't just offer individual tracks but complete albums.  They come in both MP3 and Ogg Vorbis formats.  They're all legal, too: Jamendo works on a system of voluntary donations.

You can also use Rhythmbox to stream music from Jamendo.

Adding a watermark using ImageMagick

First, create your watermark image.  This can be text or logo, in any format.  For best results, use either a black or white image and adjust the opacity to 50%.

Then, run the following command:

composite -gravity center wm.png image.jpg output.jpg

where wm.png is the watermark image, image.jpg is the image to watermark, and output.jpg is the output image.  The -gravity option has alternative parameters, e.g., north, south, southwest, etc. 

If you have several images to watermark, you can run the following script:

for i in *.JPG
> do composite -gravity center vis-watermark.png $i tmp.jpg;
> mv tmp.jpg $i;
> done

 

ATI HD 4890

I'm not that big of a gamer so I don't pay much attention to graphics cards.  However, this question pops up quite often: what's a good video graphics adapter for Linux?  The recommendation I got from a thread in the forums today: the ATI HD 4890.  The suggestion owes much to the open source driver support that ATI provides.

Phoronix has an in-depth review of the ATI HD 4890 on Linux.  A scan of eBay reveals that it's pricey, thogh, for me at least: around P10,000 ($200), give or take.