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A year ago, I made the best and worst mistake of my life: I messed up my GRUB boot list, and didn’t have the wherewithal to fix it. I was so frustrated, that I chose to abandon the Microsoft axis altogether. What would I do without the tools I used in Windows? I found myself relying on some very helpful roundups online. You know “The 5 best apps for this or that”, and the like.

It turns out, after you read 50 or so Linux roundups that don’t help you at all, you find one shining program( or solution )in the rough that takes care of your issues. Sometimes, you end up using a combination of programs together, with varying degrees of success. Then, you have the “kludge”. This is a programming term that basically means ” an inefficient, clumsy way to get the result you want”. I have plenty of those, and have detailed a few of my favorites below.

I’m not saying that you will see much of a difference in the programs I suggest in this roundup. Depending on how new you are to the Linux scene, you might stumble onto something you aren’t currently using. What I will offer are unique and occasionally “kludgey” solutions to get the job done.

PDF’s: These gave me a real problem when I started using Linux full-time. Don’t get me wrong, Linux has plenty of PDF readers/writers. When it came to editing them all, I hit a bit of a roadblock. I have to amend PDF’s(photo and text-based) on a regular basis. So what are the solutions I found?

- PDFedit: This is okay, provided you are satisfied with having a one-shot edit. By that, I mean that you can access the document and change it, but it does not have an “undo” function. Hopefully, they will add this feature in future. You have to close the document in order to “undo” any changes. I only use this for highlighting text based PDF’s. For image based PDF’s I choose…

- GIMP(a kludgin’ we will go): Yes, that’s right. The venerated Photoshop replacement can edit text and image-based PDF’s. There are several issues with this method, but I’ll explain how to use it, should you be so inclined. The downfall of this method is that GIMP imports the PDF, whether Image or Text based as an Image. When it exports, it exports the file independently of the original as a PDF. That being said, it is a good solution for 1-3 page docs. All you have to do is create a new layer in Gimp, cover up the old information with a color( I use white, generally) and create a new text layer to replace the old data. Then export as a .jpg or .png (I generally use .jpg, but .gif works pretty well, should you need a smaller file size.)

Here comes the fun part: Now, you have to open up the other PDF pages in GIMP, and export them as a .jpg or whatever. Then, open up OpenOffice Draw. Insert the picture into the first slide. Insert another slide, insert pic. Repeat until done. Click “Export as PDF” button. Tada. Not fun. Or you can just write a PHP script to run on your Apache server, and use the PHP/PDF library to export your files as a single PDF(if you feel froggy, jump.) I hired someone to write a short script for me, and they were among the best dollars I have ever spent.

- Scribus: This is the most mature of the editing/publishing platforms out there. I have heard great things about its ability to edit PDF’s. The only problem is, I cannot get it edit a single PDF. It tells me that my PDF’s are not in an acceptable format. Should they fix this in a later release, this would be your best shot at a editing on a great platform. It just does not work with PDF’s generated in OpenOffice, or anywhere else for that matter.

- Xournal or Gournal: Xournal is the better of the two. They are both lightweight PDF annotators/editors. They do not work well with Image based PDF’s. They do an admirable job when dealing with text based PDF’s.

Let’s move on to picture formats, and photo management systems. Man, have I ever had a problem with these. This mostly has to do with the frequent inability of Linux programs to understand layers, as they relate to Adobe based products.

The following programs allow you to view, and even batch process photos. These are the ones that will save you more time than any other.

- Phatch: The single greatest contribution to Open Source photo editing since GIMP. Phatch allows you to quickly and easily batch edit thousands of files at the time. A simple GUI makes this a snap. Resize, change file quality parameters,rename, rotate, drop shadow, etc., without ever seeing the command line.

- Inkscape: A vector editor that comes close to accurately opening .ai and layered .eps files. I say, comes close, because it picks and chooses which of these files it interprets. It’s Russian Roulette. I wouldn’t pay for a vector graphics package based on its performance, unless it gives you the file in .svg, which it interprets without a problem.

- GIMP: Okay, if you don’t know already, GIMP is the app that started it all. You can open up pretty much anything in GIMP. It just works. There are enough scripts and tutorials out there that enable you to do anything you want with an image. Its batch processing abilities are not nearly as good as Phatch, but you can add “Dave’s Batch Processor” should you feel the urge.

(For all of you who say “Well, you can use Adobe products with WINE.”, let me remind you that I am not dual-booting MS and Linux. To speak of a solution using WINE would nullify the point of this article.)

Ok, now that I am done with programs, I’d like to share with you some websites that help you convert files into usable formats. You know the ones, the primarily brilliant spawn of Microsoft that are a pain to open: .docx, .xlsx, .pub, and anything else you need decoded on the fly.

(It should be noted that current Linux versions of OpenOffice will open .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx locally. Windows versions of the program do not support these files as of yet.) These are for when you are on the go, or using a machine that isn’t owned by you. You could always carry a custom distro on your keychain, but my guess is you are not that hardcore yet. If you are, you have probably discovered or coded far better solutions than I am offering.

- k2pdf.com : This will take .rtf, .txt, .doc, .eps, .docx, .mdi, .tif, and a few other formats, and convert them into a usable, viewable PDF for you.

- pdfonline.com- Should you need the document editable in word, head over here to convert your PDF to a standard MS Word file. The only reason that you would possibly need this, is to edit tables from an .xlsx to PDF conversion. Still, a reasonably decent kludge.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html- Yup. Adobe offers to convert your PDF to HTML for you here. You take the help where you can get it. Then you can paste the HTML into OpenOffice and save as .doc (or preferably, an .odt.) Again, not the greatest solution, but one that works.

The Linux community is doing an admirable job of making file formats accessible. Hopefully, in the near future, an open standard will overtake these proprietary formats. In the meantime, I hope some of these patched together solutions will help you get the job.

I have paperwork to do, so I’ve gotta run. The penguin shall prevail…

Kurt Hartman

PHP is the most widely used web scripting language. It enables even fairly inexperienced programmers to develop dynamic web sites for virtually any web application under the Sun, (This is an inside joke which will be explained below.) The present article introduces PHP and its companions. This article introduces PHP and its companions. First we will discuss a bit of its history.

PHP originally meant Personal Home Page when first created in 1994 right around the time that graphical web browsers started to bloom. It is a good thing that the name was changed. This programming language does a lot besides prepare personal home pages, which it happens to do very well. PHP now stands for Hypertext Preprocessor. The letters seem to be in the wrong order, but this is an inside joke. Many of its fans have a weird sense of humor.

PHP is part of the LAMP suite of open-source (free) software. The L stands for Linux, a Unix-based operating system that is a direct competitor to Microsoft Windows. To run LAMP on Windows computers you will perform two separate downloads, one for Linux and one for Easy PHP which brings in the remaining LAMP components. You can run these three components on almost any Windows computer, even one that seemed ready for the garbage heap. To test your web programs you need a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox but you don’t need a live Internet connection.

The A in LAMP stands for Apache, the most widely used web server. You can run Apache alongside PHP, testing your programs in a live environment.

The M in LAMP stands for MySQL, which is the most widely used database management system. Sun Microsystems recently purchased MySQL for more than one billion dollars. But don’t worry; this product remains absolutely free for small and medium-sized systems. When your system becomes big enough, you really won’t mind paying the relatively small cost of the professional version of MySQL.

PHP runs on the server, the computer managed by Apache. Let me remind you that you only need a single computer to run the program and develop and test your website. When the time comes for other people to access your website you will have to host the site on the Web. This means naming your site and dealing with a web-hosting company. You must pay for your site name and in most cases you also pay for hosting your domain. The web hosting company may charge extra for Linux and MySQL services and support. Many webmasters believe that Linux offers a more professional environment. Others prefer the more familiar Microsoft Windows. It will be your choice.

Levi Reiss

The domain name for a web site should be relevant to your business and easy to remember. With several thousands of domain names being sold each day, it can be a challenge to find the appropriate domain name for your company. But being creative and original can go a long way and will serve your purpose well.

There are a few important points to consider when selecting a domain name:

- Use existing domain names but in another fashion. For example if you want to have a website related to time management. Obviously www.timemanagement.com will probably not be available. You may try variations. I hope you get the idea. Anyway, you must try to keep the domain from becoming too long as well because the longer the domain name, then the harder it is to remember.

- Create a unique name – If you create a unique name like yahoo or Amazon, you will have a greater chance of getting a shorter and catchy domain name. If again I take the above example – time management can take the shape of tima or mytime.

- Domain Extensions or Types – There are many domain suffixes to choose from for a given name, i.e. .com, .net, .org, .name, .fr, .us, etc. Once you have a great web address (read domain name), the next step will be to find an equally great host to take your site to the internet world. So let’s choose a web host for you.

Consider these when choosing a web hosting provider:

- Disk Space – Decide how much disk space you will require. Normally most web hosting providers now offer unlimited disk space so this should not be an issue. Disk Space is a measurement of the number of files in weight on your server. Just be sure to check with your web hosting provider that there is unlimited Disk Space. Bluehost or Lunarpages are a few examples of web hosts that offer unlimited disk space.

- Bandwidth – This factor is usually overlooked until the bandwidth limit is reached. If you go over your allotted bandwidth, you will have to pay a lot more. If you are running a site with lots of downloads, or a site with lots of images, audio and/or video your bandwidth will be a lot higher than a site with mostly text. And again, most web hosting providers offer unlimited bandwidth.

- Uptime – An uptime guarantee of minimum 99% is becoming more of a standard these days. Make sure your web host has great uptime.

- CGI Bin – This is now an industry standard. If you do not have access to your own CGI Bin, you cannot install scripts and programs. You can’t do without scripts.

- MySQL – MySQL database is needed to hold the data in your website. Again this is something you cannot avoid. You will probably need a minimum of one database.

- PHP – Many new scripts and programs require PHP support. Most website use the Linux and PHP support unless you are on a Windows server. Again, this feature is almost standard these days.

- FTP Access – Unlimited and unrestricted FTP access to your site is essential. You will need an FTP program to transfer files.

- Control Panel – A Control panel should be easy to use. Some control panels require hours of learning. If you select a plan where you cannot preview your control panel before you buy, you can always use the money back guarantee to get out of it if you are not happy. Most web hosts have a 30 day guarantee. Most of the good hosts have a demo version of their control panel.

- Customer Support Service – Without a doubt, simply the most important feature you can look for. If your web host does not provide any kind of 24/7 Customer Support, then you really need to look for one that does. Most web hosts now provide around the clock support.

So by now you have the basis of choosing a great domain name and also a great web hosting company. Happy hosting!!!!!

Russell Blanc

The new keyword is used to create an object. By using it, PHP allocates memory for the object and returns a pointer to it. Which is why you often assign it to a variable like…

$mydatabase = new db;

This establishes an object from the class "db" and returns a reference to it, assigning it to $mydatabase.

After this assignment is done, $mydatabase can be used as an "instance" of this object. I could then use $mydatabase as if it was a "db" object. Maybe use it to call one of the objects function like run a query…

$mydatabase->query("select id from accounts");

Hope you understand the answer. Enjoy!

The Plug-In Profit site was dreamt up by home business entrepreneur Stone Evans back in early 2003. After discovering how to make a massive income from home on the internet he decided to make it easier for others to follow in his footsteps and achieve their dreams of being financially successful.

What is the Plug-In Profit Site?

In a nutshell it’s a home based business opportunities website built for free and within 24 hours using the domain name of the customer’s choice and hosted on a Host4Profit server. The site promotes numerous affiliate programs and products including (at the time of writing):

- Web Hosting from Host4Profit
- Digital Products from Clickbank (e.g. E-books)
- A membership to Empowerism
- Advertising from Traffic Swarm
- Products from Strong Future International (SFI)

In addition to a website there is also a 300+ page free branded E-Book called Dotcomology and an auto responder with a pre-written series of letters to follow up with your customers.

How do you make money from a Plug-In Profit Site?

There are two main ways to make money:

(1) When visitors visit your site they may purchase one of the products advertised on your site, or follow an affiliate link to another site and make a purchase or join a program. If this happens you will earn a commission. The majority of products advertised are digital products and many pay out commissions of 50% and over.

(2) If someone else signs up for their own Plug-In Profit site from your site you will make a monthly residual commission from their hosting fees and from their Empowerism membership. At the time of writing this is $30 upfront and at least $17 per month per member thereafter.

How much does it cost?

The site itself is free, but there are still some startup costs and running costs for your site. At the time of writing the costs are:

- Startup – $59.90 (Hosting + Domain Name + Empowerism Membership)
- Monthly Cost – $44.90 (Hosting + Empowerism Membership)

What are the benefits?

There are numerous advantages, but to summarise, these include:

- Reduced Learning curve – your site & auto responder are up and running in 24hrs. Setting up a website could normally take weeks or months for someone without the technical know how.

- No Technical Knowledge Required – it is possible to be successful without having any technical knowledge such as. HTML and PHP. Only basic PC skills are required.

- Training & Support – the site comes with a training plan called “30 days to Success” written by Stone Evans himself. There is also a support helpdesk and a support forum where members share ideas and help each other.
- Residual Income – many of the products and memberships promoted on the site provide a recurring monthly income. This means that one single sale can provide many months of income.

- Customizable Site – The website is 100% customizable. Products can be added and removed, the look of the site can be changed and new pages added.

What are the disadvantages of a Plug-In Profit site?

Despite all the good points there are a few points that some may see as bad points.

- Competitive Niche – the site promotes products to the home business opportunity market. This market is very competitive so may be harder to break into than other niches. It is however one of the biggest markets on the internet.

- Not a “Get Rich Quick Scheme” It is unlikely that you will make money overnight with this opportunity, unless of course you are already an experienced internet marketer. From my own personal experience it took around 4 months to start generating a monthly profit.

- Effort is required – it isn’t possible to have the site built for you then sit back and do nothing. Time and effort is required to promote the site.

Is a Plug-In Profit Site the right choice for everyone?

Finally, is this opportunity the right one for you? The answer to that question really depends on you and your circumstances.

The opportunity is suitable for complete beginners due to the fact that the website comes ready built and with a training plan, but it is also a good program to choose if you are an experienced internet marketer due to the substantial residual commissions.

If you have no interest in the home business opportunity market or don’t have a few hours a week to spare to promote your website then this is certainly not the opportunity for you.

On the other hand, if this market interests you, you have time available to promote your site and you can afford the monthly cost then it certainly is worth pursuing.

Suzanne Morrison
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/a-review-of-the-plugin-profit-site-85784.html