when a damaged rar file doesn't open

Sometimes a damaged rar file won't open using nautilus native extractor.
First you can test the file by

unrar t filepart1.rar

When the files prove right you can

unrar e file.part1.rar

The recovery mode seems only to work using unrar.

Btw under Debian Linux, you need to type apt-get as follows to install unrar program:
# sudo apt-get install unrar

Using (G)rsync to backup folders to an external HD with NFTS filesystem

I was getting errors doing that because NFTS doesn't support permissions.

But first what is rsync:
Rsync basically can check the destination data and see if any changes have been made in the source data so that ONLY the source data that has been changed is updated. VERY useful. So ideal for making incremental backups...
Grsync is a gui for rsync, more info here

Options to choose in Standard options tab:
Permissions: uncheck save owner, save rights, save group.
Only if data are zipped the permissions can be backup to a NFTS file system. Check Windows compability and uncheck don't leave file system.

Why
Windows compatible:

--modify-window=1: this is ESSENTIAL. Basically in windows filesystems time is kept in even numbers (or some such problem). This command tells rsync to ignore filechanges that are only 1 second in difference from the original. It is almost impossible that you will create a file, sync it, and in ONE second make a change and want to sync it again. So it is safe to use this option and it means that rsync will not back up everything every time simply because of a one second change.

For system-wide backups to a NFTS drive see:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=820425

Fast Stone Image Viewer (portable) in Hardy

One of the most wonderful image viewers is Fast Stone Image Viewer,
one of the few programs I really missed in Ubuntu. But I just discovered the portable version works great under Wine!!
And as I 'm not a purist (sorry)...

FastStone Image Viewer is another great app from FastStone which is one of the best image viewers in my opinion. This little free application which also comes in portable version is a user-friendly image browser, converter and editor, all in just 3,9 mb.

FastStone Image viewer has all the features you will need, like image modification tools: Resize/resample, rotate/flip, crop, sharpen/blur, brightness/contrast, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing, cropping, drop shadow, framing, bump map, lens, morph, waves, color adjustments and digital camera support but what i like the most is the built-in batch processing (you can rename or convert multiple images in the same time).

Unfortunately, FastStone Image Viewer comes only in a Windows version, but if you really want to use it on Linux, the portable version (downloadlink) works great through Wine.
source: http://webupd8.blogspot.com/2009/03/best-lightweight-portable-image-viewer.html

Batch convert svg to png

I just opened gnome-terminal and searched:
Code:

$ apt-cache search svg.*png
inkscape - vector-based drawing program
librsvg2-bin - command-line and graphical viewers for SVG files
scribus - Open Source Desktop Page Layout
...

my eye caught librsvg2-bin
Code:

$ apt-cache show librsvg2-bin
...
Description: command-line and graphical viewers for SVG files
The rsvg library is an efficient renderer for Scalable Vector Graphics
(SVG) pictures.
.
This package includes a command-line utility to convert the SVG files
to the PNG format and a graphical SVG viewer.

afterwards, i checked out the package to see the command for it:
Code:

$ sudo apt-get install librsvg2-bin
...

$ dpkg -L librsvg2-bin
...
/usr/bin/rsvg-convert
/usr/bin/rsvg-view
/usr/bin/rsvg
...

Cool, now we know the commands included
Code:

$ rsvg-convert --help
Usage:
rsvg-convert [OPTION...] [FILE...] - SVG Converter
Help Options:
-?, --help Show help options
Application Options:
-d, --dpi-x= pixels per inch [optional; defaults to 90dpi]
-p, --dpi-y= pixels per inch [optional; defaults to 90dpi]
-x, --x-zoom= x zoom factor [optional; defaults to 1.0]
-y, --y-zoom= y zoom factor [optional; defaults to 1.0]
-z, --zoom= zoom factor [optional; defaults to 1.0]
-w, --width= width [optional; defaults to the SVG's width]
-h, --height= height [optional; defaults to the SVG's height]
-f, --format=[png, pdf, ps, svg] save format [optional; defaults to 'png']
-o, --output output filename [optional; defaults to stdout]
-a, --keep-aspect-ratio whether to preserve the aspect ratio [optional; defaults to FALSE]
-v, --version show version information
-b, --base-uri base uri

With some bash scripting you have a script:
Code:

$ cd your-directory-with-the-svgs/
$ for i in *; do rsvg-convert $i -o `echo $i | sed -e 's/svg$/png/'`; done

cheers!

P.S. you can do a similar conversion using inkscape's command line:
Code:

$ cd your-directory-with-the-svgs/
$ for i in *; do inkscape $i --export-png=`echo $i | sed -e 's/svg$/png/'`; done

source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=820965

Slimrat Rapidshare downloader

Jdownloader in itself is a fantastic app, but updated in such a frenzy it's regularly not usable. An altermative is slimrat for RS Free
See http://code.google.com/p/slimrat/

Installation:

* install perl modules:
o Debian/Ubuntu:

aptitude install libwww-mechanize-perl
aptitude install libgtk2-gladexml-perl xclip libspiffy-perl # for GUI

# Download the archive and unpack it somewhere (svn code may not work)
# Make symlinks in $PATH

ln -s /path/to/slimrat/slimrat /usr/local/bin/slimrat
ln -s /path/to/slimrat/slimrat-gui /usr/local/bin/slimrat-gui

# edit config file and select your terminal emulator
# Run slimrat --help (CLI)
# Run slimrat-gui (GUI)

The nice thing about this app it uses very little resources and provides a simple but effective gui for easy use.
Supported servers:

* rapidshare.com Free
* youtube.com
Not: * depositfiles.com
* mediafire.com

Patch for if you have problems with version 0.9.5.4: place a new rapidshar.pm in the plugin folder: http://slimrat.googlecode.com/issues/attachment?aid=-7662856610013720233&name=Rapidshare.pm
(right click and save as).

Java version HJSplit

http://www.freebyte.com/hjsplit/#java

HJSplit GUI
for Java

A Java implementation of HJSplit with a graphical user-interface (gui) similar to the Windows version. Runs on any platform which has a Java virtual machine installed, which can be: Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris, etc.
Download: hjsplit_g.jar (137 Kb)
Created by: H�kan Gustavsson

Solving problems with JDownloader

J Downloader wouldn't start up. After trying all kind of solutions I found this one: enter the following in a terminal:

sudo update-alternatives --config java

This happened then:

sudo update-alternatives --config java
[sudo] password for paul:

There are 3 alternatives which provide `java'.

Selection Alternative
-----------------------------------------------
1 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java
2 /usr/bin/gij-4.2
*+ 3 /usr/lib/jvm/java-gcj/jre/bin/java

Press enter to keep the default[*], or type selection number: 1
Using '/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun/jre/bin/java' to provide 'java'.

I selcted th right java engine and it workend fine again.



/////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\


Using an older version of JDownloader:

"Here is my installation guide:


(1) disable internet access (for example, click the Stop button on your firewall, or open your Network Connections window and disable your internet connection there)--this prevents jDownloader from downloading anything at all from the updateserver when it starts for the first time;

(2) unzip the version 0.4.xxx zip file into an empty directory;

(3) start jDownloader, go to the Configuration tab and select Advanced Configuration, then on the Main tab make sure that "Update only at user request" is checked;

(4) configure any other options that you might wish to change;

(5) exit and restart;

(6) re-enable internet access;

I used this version:
I've rolled back to version 0.4.594. This appears to have fixed the freezes. There are some download links to this version on the following webpage:

http://www.dl4all.net/applications/12379-jdownloader-0-4-594-multilang.html