Open Source Tools

In preparing the soil for planting, you will need several tools. Dynamite would be a beautiful thing to use, but it would have a tendency to get the dirt into the front-hall and track up the stairs.. -- Robert Benchley (1889–1945), U.S. writer, humorist.

Links

Links to tools related web pages.

OpenOffice.org

Postgres

Postgres Foundry

Perl.com

Apache Software Foundation

Fedora

Ubuntu

Inclusion of these links on this page does not constitute endorsement of these views by Bob Breedlove. The views expressed on these web pages are soley those of the authors.

Introduction

To the man with a hammer, everything is a nail . . .

Having the right tool is important to do the job. I use several tools in my real job and in the other work that I do. This page is my place to express my thoughts on these tools and to share things that I have found.

Perl

I am a long-time perl hacker. I have developed many complex applications with this language and generally find that I can solve most basic problems on the web with it.

Netbook vs. Tablet

I have an Acer netbook that I run Windows XP and Ubuntu on. I use it as a notepad with my emphasis being on using Microsoft OneNote on Windows and NoteBasket on Ubuntu. I'm still looking at tablets, but don't think that they are for me at this time due to the fact that I want to create content rather than just viewing it.

Ubuntu

I have added Ubuntu to my netbook and am using it to work when a small computer is needed. Zip over to the blog to see some of my thoughts and experiences with this operating system and its various apps.

UseMod Wiki

I had been looking for a simple way to allow readers to contribute their ideas and have implemented the UseMod Wiki to do so. This is a simple Wiki implemented as a single perl script with configuration options. It does not require a database (a plus for implementation, bad if you are thinking of implementing something like the WikiPedia), and probably isn't best for any large scale Wiki work.

I intend to use it as a supplement to these pages and the GimoBlog. It will become somewhat of a whiteboard.

Go to GimoWiki . . .

Apache

I run the Apache web servers at work. Actually, we have been long term Stronghold users. I find that the packaging done by Red Hat eases maintenance on this open source product. I find Apache to be stable an dependable.

blosxom

This is a simple perl script which produces a blog (see GimoBlog). It takes plain text files with HTML markup and displays them. It is a relatively simple method of blogging, but it allows me to produce blogs with simple tools and put them up on the website.

Click on the title of this article to go to their website.