GrassField

This is an interesting success story. I have been given a vaio with 2GB ram/Core2Duo 2.1GHz with Vista Business. After the installations of basic dev&doc tools like eclipse, tomcat, mysql, openoffice, box became very slower. Build and deployment are done in snail’s pace

Very bad, I just tried Ubuntu 9.1 Live CD couple of days ago. Basically I love Mandrake because of their superb control panel, user friendly installation. Once I tried Debian surge, came back to Mandrake again because I am not successful with the configuration of all devices. But this time it is a huge success.

Installation : Very quick (obviously, it is a live CD)

Partitioning : It is good, But I still love Mandriva in this

The system was up and running in just 20 to 25 minutes!! woww!

Display & UI : Good, I like minimal transition effects – they are fast and professional! (wipe in/out , zoom in)

Package management : Synaptic. Good. But I still love Mandriva

Devices :
I dont have much. Finger pad is working like a feather. Tried to install BSNL EVDO (ZTE), Tata Indicom Photon Plus (Huawei). Ubuntu has device drivers and finds it quickly. (Beware!!! I read in forums, Tata distribute two kind of USB modems one of them dont support Linux)

Network :

Tested Wired LAN,  Wireless LAN and mobile broadband – Good. Tested Remote desktop to connect to remote Windows box – Good. Skype Audio Chat – Good.

Dev tools:

Eclipse, Mysql, Tomcat, Openoffice, firefox all are running without any freezing moment. (not at all possible with my previous Win installation)

So, The journey starts!

I found an interesting library today. Java ID3, http://www.dusbabek.org/~garyd/id3/ a useful library to read the tags of mp3 files. I was doing some experiment with music folder today. It helped me a lot. very simple api and fast rendering of tags. Good one! It has some problems while reading UTF based tags. I have written a mail to the enthusiastic developer. Hope he will get back to me!

All,

I am writing this post on a beautiful Sunday evening. I am trying to deploy an account software to maintain my own personal accounts. As a funny attempt, I tried to start writing my own code, out of laziness and lack of time I left it in halfway and searched for a simple software in sourceforge ; I came across some softwares. Most of them don’t have enough documentation, I have to pull my hair even to install it. Suddenly gnu-cash came to my mind. GnuCash, is a successful GNU software (Indian Linux enthusiasts say it is a replacement for Tally!). Amazing, they have a build for windows too.

It supports many important features, Budget, Vouchers, Bills, facility to maintain bank accounts etc etc. Here are some screenshots.

1. Account summary page

2. Imbalance report

3. General Ledger

4. Balance Sheet

5. Reports – Expense analysis

You have full freedom to use/modify this software. Most of the linux distributions have this software, they have a build for windows also. A layperson like me is able to setup my own account at no time.

Then why dont you try it?