My Asus T102HA Transformer Pad came with Windows 8 and the free upgrade to Windows 10 Home. As a small pad with 4Gb ram, it did just about everything I needed as a secondary computer...but the Windows updades were less than satisfactory ... not updating successfully ... and costing far too much in data where I live. In the end, it became unusable.

Ubuntu was a free option option to try ... and its working well

The new Raspberrypi Model 3B+ with the Raspbian OS on the micro SDcard ready to plug in and go...

This gives a fully functional computer with a linux based operating system, straight out of the box. The board, case, power adaptor, microSd, keyboard, mouse, hdmi cable... all for under A$100 - just plug into a screen.

Designed and intended for learning programming and how to use a computer as a microcontroller for many things ... its actually a usable computer for general use - just plug in a keyboard/mouse and HDMI to your TV to browse the internet, check email, watch youtube videos, play movies and music from a USB input...and write your new book.

Its a quality product, made in the UK. Just 1Gb of RAM, built-in wifi and bluetooth, and a powerful graphics chip... all powered by a 5V phone charger.

Most text editors fall short on being able to run batch commands with the search and replace features. Gedit overcomes this with the External Tools Plugin which allows us to create scripts and apply these as needed to documents being edited. I'm very happy with it - its powerful and flexible - and does all that it claims.

I didn't realise this was the tool I needed at first as I was sidetracked, thinking the "Python console" plugin would do the job  - once I realised the error of my ways, it was easy... but I still had to do some 'digging' through the internet to work out how to use it for what I wanted... a clear "how to" was not easy to find.

Looking back...it was not difficult ... and well worth the effort.

 

I was recently faced with the challenge of using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert an old book to an editable text format. This is not difficult with English and other major languages, but the challenge comes when the document uses a minority language with a different alphabet to those recognised by OCR programs. Take the "ŋ" character in the image in this article - with English based OCR, "ŋ" can show as "n" or "g" or "u"... or another, but never as "ŋ" as that character does not exist in the language file. The OCR gets completely lost and the resulting text requires much editing.

 

A new Bible App with audio and daily readings for 2018.

Choose between Buk Baibel in Papua New Guinea Tok Pisin, and the World English Bible or New English Translation in English... or compare all three verse by verse... or two at a time in synchronised windows.

• The daily Bible readings for 2018 are based on the Revised Common Lectionary, as used by many churches.
• The WEB and Buk Baibel also include the additional Deuterocanon books.
• Audio is available as phrase synchronised mp3s for NET Old and New Testaments, and for the New Testament of the Buk Baibel and WEB Bibles.
• Add your own notes, bookmarks, and highlights

Available on Google Playstore. Short url: goo.gl/ASNHiB....or dowload from this site

 

Zotero, the powerful reference and citation manager has just seen some good changes in the latest version 5.  See http://www.zotero.org  for full documentation.

The key change for me was that the firefox extension is no longer used. Firefox joins Chrome and Safari in using connectors to a standalone Zotero. Zotero handles the update seamlessly, and now that I am used to the new format, I like it... as it gives me flexibility in use of browsers.

Logon as a "Guest" at elearn, to read more on how this tool can improve your workflow writing scientific and other academic papers.

 

 

Tag: library metadata citation zotero

 

Now, I was thinking it would be good to see just how portable we could make the online Biblio library. The online agriculture library, Biblio, has a mobile friendly browser interface but still requires an internet connection..... Biblio App fills a gap as an offline companion. The Android App is a snapshot from the Biblio web database, and provides a searchable offline library of about 39000 records. Even with 39000 records, the Apk is only 14.6Mb and requires less than 27Mb installed.

If an internet connection is available, new records in the Biblio web library are available to the App via the "Biblio latest" menu. Internet connectivity also allows locating associated physical libraries via google maps, access to linked full text publications, and news and information updates.

So... we hope you will agree... its simple, compact, and fills a gap. 

 

 

The Open-URL Context Object (COinS) standard has been added to Biblio to make it easier to share the online data resource... e.g.  export and save selected references to a personal Zotero library collection...Yes...you will need the Zotero personal reference and citation manager (or another COinS capable system) to use this facility.

 

and....if you don't like the built-in generic bibliography format....Zotero lets you interchange between many alternate styles.

The new Biblio system, while not yet polished, is fully functional. Built with a robust PostgreSQL backend with a browser interface:

• Users can search, and export a selected bibliography set in several export formats
• Save multiple records in the Zotero personal reference and citation manager or similar COinS capable system.
• View individual biblio entries and import these into the personal reference and citation tool, Zotero.
• There is a "Key author" list which gives gives contact information and a shortcut to all their included publications.
• Physical data centres / libraries can be added to a Google map display.
• Biblio administrators can add, delete and edit entries and full text documents, stories, photos and "you-tube" videos.
• It is possible to have several administrators with different access levels.This allows a very "safe" system wih "roll-back" capability.
• The system also provides gantt and pie charts to help administrators in biblio management and reporting.

A stakeholder accessible repository of project and related materials and good visualisation are key principles in making a project information system responsive to its clients and a useful tool, particularly in tracking and in collation of evaluation inputs.

 

The development version (work in progress) is available here.  Most interactive features are only available to logged in users. The security model allows differential access to admin and other features.

Training in this innovative, but easy to maintain, system is available as an elearn course or hybrid workshop / elearn format.

Tag: l repository metadata citation zotero postgresql phpmaker youtube