Syntux the geek

After partially-converting to Ubuntu (I’m still dual booting) and fiddling with MS alternatives, one of the first things that got me frustrated was the lack of immediate native Arabic language support in the word processor or the spreadsheet applications under the OpenOffice.org suit. Granted, the latter recognizes Arabic characters and renders right-to-left documents and spreadsheets of existing files, but what about creating new ones?

Native support means that not only is the user able to type in Arabic, which is straight-forward, but also to be able to type from right-to-left for the characters alignments are in tune. (Example: try to type in the text editor of Gmail in Arabic, you will be able to type but if you place a full-stop or any other ASCII character, it will revert back to left-to-right and only the “arabic” portions of the entered text will be written from right-to-left).

If you take a look at the toolbar, you’ll find that part of the hidden icons that enables you to toggle from left-to-right and vice versa, but they’re disabled. Same goes to the spreadsheet application where under Format -> Sheet -> Right-to-Left which is also disabled. Along with the presentation utility.

What you need to do is from each application, you go to Tools -> Options -> Language Settings -> Languages. From there make sure you enable CTL (Complex Text Language) by checking the box below, and then selecting one of the choices of Arabic in the middle section of the screen as shown in the screen capture.

Repeat action in each of the three applications.

Enjoy OpenOffice.org in Arabic…

Basem Aggad (http://dontcallmesheikh.blogspot.com)

Tags: arabic language support, spreadsheet applications, spreadsheet application, ascii character, hidden icons, arabic characters, gmail, basem, language settings, dual booting, text language, screen capture, word processor, alignments, spreadsheets, choices, blogspot, languages

Has anyone tried the Linux version of Google Gears? I installed it like week ago and tried it with WordPress, Google Reader and some other small apps that support it but I felt no effect in speed at all.

Is it just me or did anyone else experience this no speed effect with Linux version of Google Gears?

Tags: google gears, linux version, google, gears, apps, linux

RMconverter is a simple interface for the lame package.

Real Media Converter is a multi threaded gui that takes advantage from the mencoder and lame packages to generate wav and mp3 formats from real media files (ra, rm, and ram) and wav files.

Real Media Converter may become a complete front end for the lame package which is a program that can be used to create compressed audio files.

Requirements:

· Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.6
· mencoder
· lame
· w32codecs

Get RMconverter now

Tags: real media converter, java runtime environment, mp3 formats, w32codecs, that takes advantage, ra, rm, interface

Allow me to repeat myself here, Life is never ending installation festivals & conferences at least when it’s about your freedom Ubuntu Jordan LoCo Team will be at the Open Source Day Organized by Jordan University of Science and Technology.

This event we will be packed with our new member Advocate Omar Eltaweel who will be giving a 60 minutes presentation about Legalizing your IT infrastructure and Of course Mr Khamis Seksek who will be speaking about Linux as an investment.

No speaker slot for the poor me this time but I will be handling the Installation festival, hopefully we will be able to distribute more than 200 CD although the estimate number of visitors goes beyond 5,000, we are still hunting for a sponsor if you think you can sponsor us please leave a comment as we are in big need for more CDs

Tags: Ubuntu, Jordan, LoCo Team, Jordan University, Science and Technology, Installation festival, speakers, conference, legalizing IT infrastructure, advocate, investment

Amman, April 9th-10th 2008 -Ubuntu Jordan LoCo Team.
As part of Ubuntu Jordan LoCo Team continuous efforts to spread awareness about GNU/Linux in the Kingdom, the team organized a public event at Pricess Sumaya University for Technology in Cooperation with The King Hussein School for Information Technology. Mr. Jad Madi & Khamis SekSik gave a two hours lecture Introducing FLOSS in the Jordanian way, as well as a brief background of FLOSS history.

In addition, the lecture included Mr.Seksik explaining some reasons to use FLOSS Jordan, as well as comparing selling service VS selling software, and comparing backward compatibility issues between FLOSS and other software.

Other issues discussed by like the ethical reasons to use FLOSS. The argument is that using proprietary software without paying for it equal theft and as such is unethical. In many ways, we highlighted title=”Ubuntu Jordan LoCo Team- March 2008 event”>again, choosing the right software is a very important decision because it affects time, effort, and money invested in this software.

Tags: continuous efforts, gnu linux, king hussein, amman, ubuntu loco, information technology , cooperation, jordan, linux