ICT for Language Teachers: Using presentation software and online communites in the classroom

ICT for Language Teachers: Using presentation software and online communites in the classroom

Two useful videos at the Teachers TV site

Improving your presentations
http://www.teachers.tv/video/37335
The Teachers TV website describes the video as follows:
Year One primary teacher Lise Bosher is challenged to improve her presentation skills using ICT. Presenting to pupils is something teachers do on a day to day basis, yet many are still nervous about incorporating ICT into their presentations. Lise meets Joe Dale, a middle school French teacher, who is already using ICT technology to enhance his own presentations. After observing one of his classes, Lise returns to her own classroom to put the presentation technology she has learned into action.

Online Communities in the Classroom
http://www.teachers.tv/video/37336
The Teachers TV website describes the video as follows:
Secondary French teacher Marie Guyomarc'h, investigates how to make use of online communities in her classes. Online communities and social networks are often shunned by teachers because of negative publicity and online safety surrounding certain websites. Marie meets with Lisa Stevens, a primary Spanish teacher, who relishes using social media websites for teaching purposes. Lisa explains the benefits of using websites such as Twitter and Voicethread, and demonstrates how you can use them in the classroom. Later, Marie faces her challenge of taking back what she's learned and using it in the classroom.

Graham Davies

Posted by Graham Davies at 13:28

Ubuntu Tip:How to Play VCD using VLC Player

Ubuntu Tip:How to Play VCD using VLC Player | Ubuntu Geek

This is very simple tutorial how to open VCD using VLC Player

Method 1

Run the following command from terminal

/usr/bin/vlc vcd://

Method 2

Open your VLC Player Go to Media—> Open Disc—> Select SVCD/VCD option

If you have any other idea please shre with us.

Using Eclipse to compare two files

Jeff Mesnil » Blog Archive » Using Eclipse to compare two files

On October 7th, 2004 in eclipse

I often need to compare two files to see their differences.
The UNIX geek in me is using diff --side-by-side for that. But sometimes I want something more fancier with bright colors and easier to scroll.

Eclipse provides a handy feature to compare two unrelated files (e.g. not two CVS revisions of the same file) but it's quite difficult to find it first.

To compare two files in Eclipse, select both files (Control click them) and in the contextual menu (right button), chose Compare With > Each Other. Et voila! you got a nicer diff than its CLI counterpart.

Acroread: Adobe Reader now available through APT

Acroread: Adobe Reader now available through APT

We're pleased to announce the availability of the latest version of Adobe Reader (9.1) through APT. Adobe Reader is now hosted on the Canonical Partner Repositories, and can be installed seamlessly using the 'apt-get' command. Please refer the detailed steps below.

1. Add Canonical Partner Repositories (one-time only)
   This section describes how to manage software repositories in Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron), Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), and Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).
   
   • Via the Command Line
     Software sources can be managed by making direct modifications to the /etc/apt/sources.list file using the command line. However, we recommend using the GUI-based repository management (detailed below). If you prefer to use the command line instead of graphical user interface, see Managing Repositories from the Command Line instead.
   • Via the Graphical User Interface
     
     1. Locate the Software Sources panel
        GUI-based repository management is normally accomplished via the "Software Sources" panel. This panel can be accessed via two menus:
        
        • Software Sources: System > Administration > Software Sources
        • Synaptic: System > Administration > Synaptic >> Settings >> Repositories
        Note: You will have to enter your password to gain access to the page.
        
        Software Sources Menu item through the GUI
        
        
     2. Switch to the Third-party Software Tab
        The "Third-Party Software" tab is where you will be able to add the Canonical Partner Repositories.
        
     3. Enable the Application Partner Repositories entry
        You will see two Canonical Partner repositories listed - one for applications and another for source code (src). Adobe Reader is hosted on the application repository (the first entry) - if this is not enabled on your system, enable the entry and select "Close".
        
     4. Update the Database
        If you made changes in the previous step, you should be prompted to "Close", "Reload" or "Revert" the changes. Select "Reload" to update the database.
        
        
2. Install Adobe Reader
   To get the latest version of Adobe Reader for Linux, simply type the following command on the terminal:
   apt-get install acroread

Posted by Gaurav Jain on April 22, 2009 4:00 AM | Permalink

Migrate or create a clone of a ZenCart site on new host

Migrate or create a clone of a ZenCart site on new host | Learn Web Design Online .com

This tutorial will show explain how to migrate a ZenCart shop from one host to another host. This might be necessary when moving to another web host. Or you may want to make a "clone" of a production live shop on a development test server for testing and development work.

"Cloning" is essentially the same a "migrating" except you do not delete the store from the old host.

In either case, to set up a new shop on a new host with all the information and look-and-feel of the old shop on the old host, take a look at this ZenCart article.

The thing you have to remember is that you never overwrite the two configure files that are on the servers. The config files belong to the server in which they were created; they do not move from one server to another. The two configure files are includes/configure.php and admin/includes/configure.php.

If Cloning on a Development Server

Remember that your new host will have all the same database values of your old host. If you are cloning the shop for testing purposes, remember to change the admin email and also the order email notifications of the development shop to your own. And also uninstall all the payment modules on the development shop so that visitors do not accidentally happen upon it and try to buy something.

Testing and Possible Errors

You need to test thoroughly the new shop after the migration, especially going through the checkout process and make a real purchase. Sometimes it may look fine, but have problem in a few pages. If you get warnings like "header already sent", see this thread about possible file corruption. Sometime due to the heavy file transferring back and forth or via webhost web editors, some extra lines or space may got added or deleted. Also check the two config files for that and possible missing PHP end tags.

General Steps for Migrating ZenCart

1. Note the IP addresses of the old host and new host. Sometimes when switching domain name servers, you may need to access the site via the IP.

2. Turn on "Down for Maintenance" for the shop on the old host.

3. Backup the file system and the database on the old host.

4. Setup database in the new host and install default ZenCart of the same version of your shop on the new host. And also use the same database prefix. This gets the installer to write out the two config files correctly on your new host. Test the default ZenCart shop on the new host.

5. Delete all the ZenCart files on the new host, EXCEPT for the two config files. Then copy all the ZenCart files from the old host to the new host, EXCEPT for the two config files.

6. If you had renamed your admin folder as you should have as explained here, then move the admin/includes/configure.php file to the same location in your in renamed admin folder. Edit this configure.php file according to the above link to have path referencing your renamed admin folder.

7. Set the two configure files to be permission 444.

8. Set the directories that is specified in the ZenCart install instructions to 777.

9. Drop all tables of the ZenCart database on the new host. Then import the SQL database file of the old host to the new database on the new host.

10. Run the Fix Cache Key utility

11. Set the new server path of your new host in ZenCart Admin -> Configuration -> Logging.

12. Turn on your new shop and test. If all goes well, do a full-backup. You don't want to lose all the hard work done in the migration.

13. If doing a migration (instead of a clone), delete the ZenCart files and database on the old host. Make sure you are not deleting the ZenCart on your new host. You may need to access the old host via the IP address. If doing a DNS name server change, you may also want to look into the mail system to see if any emails had fallen through the crack during the switchover.

Drop all tables in a MySQL database

Drop all tables in a MySQL database

After finding a reference on the MySQL Lists (http://lists.mysql.com/mysql/193430) I started playing with the idea. I didn't want to have to dump into one file and then run that query. Also - the problem with the above concept is that it drops the table and then recreates it - not what i wanted!

I then looked into using the pipe and grep features in Linux. Now I was getting somewhere! A few tweaks later and this is what I got:

 mysqldump -u[USERNAME] -p[PASSWORD] --add-drop-table --no-data [DATABASE] | grep ^DROP | mysql -u[USERNAME] -p[PASSWORD] [DATABASE]
  

In the above, [USERNAME], [PASSWORD] & [DATABASE] are all the details for your database. You might not need the username and password fields - depends on your setup!

Hide Removable Drive Icons from Your Ubuntu Desktop

Hide Removable Drive Icons from Your Ubuntu Desktop :: the How-To Geek

I prefer a clean desktop with no icons cluttering it up, but by default Ubuntu adds icons to the desktop for every single removable drive that you attach to your system.

Having recently transitioned to using Ubuntu full-time at home (instead of just part-time), this was one of the first things I wanted to disable. Sadly there's no option in the default configuration screens, so we'll have to use the "registry editor" for Ubuntu, called gconf-editor.

Just type in gconf-editor into the Alt+F2 run dialog to open the app.

Now browse down to the following key:

apps \ nautilus \ desktop

You should see a key in the right-hand pane called volumes_visible. Remove the checkbox from it, and the icons will instantly disappear from the desktop. Remember that you can always access the drives from the "Computer" icon, or easily in the file browser.

I'm much happier now with my beautiful desktop.