Student's Outlet

For quite some time, I’ve been looking for a tool some kind of a “portion-of-a-desktop-screen-grabber” rather than just the print-screen-then-edit-using-Gimp here in Ubuntu. In Windows Vista or Windows 7, there is a built-in snipping tool which is used to grab a specific portion of a screen selected by the user. Well here in Ubuntu, there is also a snipping tool! You just need to fire up your favorite command line and just type in this command:

kenan@kenan-laptop:~$ import filename [dot] whatever_image_format

An example would be kenan@kenan-laptop:~$ import image.png

It must turn your cursor to a cross, or a plus sign. Now, you’re ready to grab and save any portion of your screen just press and drag. :)

If ever there is an error that the command is not found, you should install the ImageMagick package.

kenan@kenan-laptop:~ sudo apt-get update
kenan@kenan-laptop:~ sudo apt-get install imagemagick

import – saves any visible window on an X server and outputs it as an image file. You can capture a single window, the entire screen, or any rectangular portion of the screen.

There are a lot of options available in this command. You can just read its manual pages.

I would just like to share this page, What’s the Difference Between JPG, PNG, and GIF?. It’s fun and cool to read that article, very informative for me, who doesn’t know anything. :P

Of all the Linux Distribution available worldwide, Ubuntu is my favorite. :)

Why? Well here are some of the reasons why I love Ubuntu:

• First of all, it’s free. No payment. As in, free!! Actually there are four freedoms:
  • Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
  • Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish.
  • Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
  • Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits.

  Read more…

I guess the video tells it all! A great AVP made by Gerry Roxas and script made by Marston Pascasio. *hats-off* to this guys.

Tired of opening lots of different chat clients? Try Pidgin.

Pidgin is a chat client program that used to be installed by default in Linux (now it is Empathy IM Client), or to be downloaded and installed in Mac or Windows. Pidgin lets you log in to different accounts on multiple chat networks simultaneously. Like Meebo (no installation needed, only a web browser is needed), this means that you can be chatting with friends on MSN, talking to a friend on Google Talk, and sitting in a Yahoo chat room all at the same time.

Pidgin supports many features of these chat networks, such as file transfers, different status messages, buddy icons, custom smilies, and typing notifications. Numerous plugins also extend Pidgin’s functionality above and beyond the standard features. One feature I like the most about this chat client program is that logs or conversations you have with someone is automatically stored in your computer.

Pidgin is free and contains no ads. All Pidgin’s code is open source and licensed under the GNU General Public License. This means you can get Pidgin’s underlying code and modify it to suit your needs, as long as you publish the changes you make for everyone to benefit from as well.

This is also translated into many different languages. See this for list.

Now, Pidgin already has a Twitter plugin (Twitgin), a Tweeter Conversation, which lets you tweet and receive tweets from the users you are following using this chat client. Read this for the instruction on installing this Tweeter plugin. Also, this chat client already supports Facebook chat. All you need to do is download and install the debian file, if you are using Linux, or the executable file if you are using Windows.

Now, you could already chat with you friend on MSN, talk to friends on Google Talk, sit in a Yahoo chat room, tweet and receive tweets with Tweeter, and chat with online friends in Facebook, all at the same time.