Serve Calibre Library with COPS

Mar 29, 2013 GMT

If you want to access your Calibre ebook library via a browser, you either use Calibre's built-in content server, or you can opt for something more nimble like COPS (COPS stands for Calibre OPDS PHP Server). Deploying the application on a server is relatively easy. Grab the latest version of COPS from the project's website, unpack the downloaded archive, and rename the resulting directory to cops. Rename then the config_local.php.example file to config_local.php. Open the file in a text editor, and specify the path to the Calibre library, for example: $config['calibre_directory'] = './calibre/';In this example, the Calibre library is...

Set up a Photo Gallery in a Jiffy with Noda

Mar 25, 2013 GMT

Noda can come in rather handy when you need to throw a stack of photos or images on the web in a hurry. Consisting of a single PHP script, Noda requires no installation or configuration. To deploy Noda, you need a web server with PHP and ImageMagick or GD. Grab the latest release of Noda from the project's GitHub repository using the git clone git://github.com/rikukissa/Noda.git command, and drop the index.php file and the desired photos in the root of your web server (or in a separate directory in the root, if you want to keep things tidy). Point the browser to the index.php file, and you should see a thumbnail gallery generated by Noda....

Migrating to ownCloud

Mar 20, 2013 GMT

I've been meaning to move from Wuala to ownCloud for some time, but there were always more important things on my to-do list. Recently, though, Wuala started to act up, so it was time to take the plunge. What can I say? I wish I moved to ownCloud earlier. Deploying the application on my virtual private server took about 15 minutes. I chose the manual installation procedure, but there is also a web-based installer which does the donkey job of installing ownCloud for you. ownCloud requires practically no configuration. I disabled a few default apps I wasn't planning on using, and that was it. To enable the file synchronization functionality,...

Extension Watch: Vimify Google Chrome and Chromium with Vimium

Mar 18, 2013 GMT

Miss Vim keyboard shortcuts in Google Chrome or Chromium? The Vimium extension remedies the situation by assigning Vim-like shortcuts to often-used browser actions. Once installed, the extension allows you to control the browser and navigate the web without using the mouse. Vimium supports many useful shortcuts including j and k for scrolling the current page down and up, gg for jumping to the top of the page, r to reload the page, and yy to copy the current URL to the clipboard. There are also keyboard shortcuts that allow you to open links, search, open bookmarks, create tabs, and much, much more. You can view a list of all supported keyboard shortcuts in the project's GitHub...

Remove EXIF Metadata from Photos with exiftool

Mar 15, 2013 GMT

Sometimes, it is a good idea to scrub EXIF metadata from photos before sharing them, and there is no better tool for the job than exiftool. The command below nukes all EXIF metadata in a photo in one fell swoop (replace foo.jpg with the actual file name): exiftool -all= foo.jpgThis command removes EXIF metadata from the specified photo, but what if you need to process multiple photos? Then you can use the following command which cleans all the photos in the current directory: for i in *.jpg; do echo "Processing $i"; exiftool -all= "$i"; doneInstead of purging all EXIF metadata from a photo, you can also remove individual fields. For example, the following command...

Simple Bash Currency Converter

Mar 14, 2013 GMT

Every now and then, I need to convert from one currency to another. Usually, I perform the conversion directly from the address bar in Chromium. It's convenient, but this can only be done using the browser configured to use Google as the default search engine. In my search for a more flexible solution, I stumbled upon a simple and clever trick that makes it possible to perform currency conversion from the command-line. The trick is very simple, indeed: it uses the wget tool to fetch the conversion result and then pipes it to sed for some cleaning. To add this functionality to Bash, open the .bashrc file for editing and add the following function at the end of the file: cconv() { wget...

Use a Regular Keyboard with Your Android Device with the WiFi Keyboard App

Mar 12, 2013 GMT

When it comes to virtual keyboard apps for Android, you're spoiled for choice. Still, even the best virtual keyboard can't compete with a physical full-size keyboard. Using a USB OTG cable, you can connect a real keyboard to your Android device (provided it supports this functionality). But if you need to quickly type a message or a note on when sitting in front of your desktop machine or notebook, the WiFi Keyboard app provides an alternative solution. Install the app, then activate the WiFi keyboard option in the Settings | Language and input section on your Android device. Launch the WiFi Keyboard app and note the generated URL. Open an app and select WiFi keyboard as the input method....