Just a quick note. I discovered that the Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) version of sun-java6 provided in one of their updates is a higher version than the base version provided in Karmic (9.10). This produces installation errors if you try to add any additional Java packages.

The solution is to remove sun-java6 and its associated components and reinstall (You can also downgrade in Synaptic by using "force version" and selecting the Karmic version).

When will computer manufacturers finally get it right? For a serious computer user, four or even six USB ports is just not enough. In this day and age, I should not have to attach a HUB just so I can have all of my devices connected at once. Everyone is different, but let me give you an example of everything I need plugged in at once:

1. keyboard

2. mouse

3. graphics tablet

4. external hard drive

5. printer

6. game controller 1

7. game controller 2

Then, I need at least one free port for card readers and/or flash drives that I might attach. Is that really too much to ask? 8 to 10 ports on every desktop PC should be standard. A laptop should at least have four (I’m looking at you, Apple, with a disappointed expression on my face). It’s time to get it right. My computer should have more ports than an island nation, more ports than a submarine, more ports than…you get the idea. Four in the front and six in the back. That’s all I need.

KDE 4.4 Beta 1 has been released, and the talk of the town is the new “tabbed windows” feature. They completely slipped this one past me. I didn’t even know anyone was working on it. Anyway, it is exactly what the name implies: the ability to have multiple windows all tabbed in one window. You can even drag one window onto another window’s row of tabs.

As a writer, I have long wished for tabbed word processing (outside of Google Docs), and now that will be possible with this KWin feature.

Expressions Magazine, the official literary magazine of the Muslim Writers Society, has been released.

Download it now in PDF format.

Since its creation, over fifteen years ago, free software and open source advocates have longed for the day when masses of people around the world would adopt GNU/Linux or Linux (depending on who you ask). There is little doubt that the past five years have seen tremendous strides in Linux desktop adoption.

Some hardware vendors, such as Dell, now sell Linux desktop computers, although you have to page through their online catalog to find it, and their promotion of it seems spotty at best. The netbook craze has also seen the rise of several Linux offerings, but even the company that arguably started the netbook craze with its Eee PCs, Asus, still proudly displays “Better with Windows” on their website.
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Digikam is a free and open source photo management software package for KDE. Many KDE-based Linux distributions either come with Digikam installed or have it available in their repositories. With Digikam, you can import photos from your digital camera or flash memory, organize and tag them, rate them, edit them, and export them to various services or custom galleries.

Three popular services that Digikam can handle are Flickr, PicasaWeb, and Facebook. The first two are social photo sites, and the last is a social networking site. All three support photo plugins used by Digikam. This makes uploading photos quick, easy, and painless.

I am operating under the assumption that you already have accounts on the services you want to use. If not, you will need to register and activate whichever accounts you want before you proceed.

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On the night of the 21st of Ramadan, after Imam Ali (peace be upon him) died, Imam al-Hasan (peace be upon him) rose and gave a sermon:

“Tonight you have killed a man on a night in which the Qur’an came down, a night in which Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) was taken up, and a night in which Joshua the son of Nun, the champion of Moses (peace be upon him), was killed. By God, none of those who were before him are ahead of him and none of those who will come after him will overtake him. By God, if the Prophet (may Allah bless him and his progeny) sent him on a raid, Gabriel was at his right hand and Michael at his left. By God, he did not leave (at his death) gold or silver except for 800 or 700 dirhams, which he set aside for a servant woman.”

It is reported that Imam Hasan ibn ‘Ali (peace be upon him) said:

“Be obedient to Allah and have faith in Him. The loftiness of those who know the greatness of Allah is expressed in their modesty. The safety of those who know the power of Allah is expressed in their surrender to Him. Do not be influenced by the ignorant. Seek knowledge from its bearers. They are the light with which one can enlighten oneself.”

Imam Hasan was born on the 15th of Ramadan in Madinah, city of the Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny). He was the second to take the office of Imam after his father Ali (peace be upon him).

The Prophet once said of Imam Hasan and his younger brother Imam Husayn: “Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn are the leaders of the youths of Paradise and Fatimah (their mother) is the leader of its women.”

He (may Allah bless him and grant him and his family peace) said:

“They (Hasan and Husain) are my two sweet-smelling flowers in this world.”