Apparently, the Gnome desktop environment for Linux systems has an issue with handling some user-specified default application choices. When using Zotero in Ubuntu, therefore, it may be necessary to edit /etc/gnome/defaults.list manually in order to have Zotero default to a PDF viewer besides Evince (e.g., Okular). Changing the “application/pdf=evince.desktop” line in this file to reflect the desired PDF viewer default (e.g., “application/pdf=kde4-okularApplication_pdf.desktop”) seems to do the trick, however. For more information, please see Zotero’s help forums and knowledge base.
After recently transitioning to Ubuntu, I found that my previous online backup solution had some issues running in Linux, even via a Windows XP virtual machine in VirtualBox. With some additional research, however, I came across Digital Lifeboat:
Digital Lifeboat is still in beta. So, the software has had some hiccups, but overall, it has worked fairly well. Digital Lifeboat won’t presently backup directly from a shared system folder in VirtualBox, but syncing the shared folder to a local folder within the virtual machine itself does let Digital Lifeboat read the folder and run the backup. Perhaps the service’s greatest advantage, however, is that users who sign up during the beta period receive free, unlimited storage for the life of their accounts.
For day-to-day archiving and file sharing, Dropbox still has some advantages over Digital Lifeboat. But, something like a Zotero directory of about 6 GB will eat into even an expanded Dropbox allotment very quickly. So, if you’re needing an online backup solution for a large amount of data, signing up for Digital Lifeboat during the beta period is certainly cost-effective and may be worth a look.
Yesterday, I stumbled upon Nevernote, built especially for Linux users as an open source clone of Evernote. Despite what are, perhaps, the slightly ominous connotations of Nevernote’s name, the software seems to working reasonably well. It successfully downloaded all the notes in my Evernote account, and it allows searching and change syncing from a desktop client. The software seems like it can be a bit slow and memory intensive, but this performance issue may simply be a function of the size of one’s Evernote account. Also, nevernote doesn’t appear to have a built-in screen clipping tool, but there are several other methods of accomplishing this task.
Prospective Nevernote users can download the software from link on Nevernote’s homepage, or Ubuntu users can install the software via PPA as described here.
Since May 2007, there has been a pretty healthy discussion among Ubuntu Linux users about installing and operating Logos Bible Software under that operating system. About a month ago now, I finally switched from Windows XP (SP3) to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty), and since then, I’d been running Logos 3 (Libronix) inside a virtualized Windows XP machine using VirtualBox.
Those of us who have been lagging behind in upgrading to Logos 4 have recently seen some communication about current Logos 4 upgrade discounts ending, so earlier this morning, I called Logos, received a small additional discount for ordering over the phone, and have installed Logos 4 on the same virtual machine I already mentioned. An important note for other users in similar, VirtualBox setups, however: The installation may well fail if you select a shared folder as the destination for your Logos 4 installation.
For instance, to avoid having to download and reindex Logos 4 and its resources again if I were to delete the Windows XP virtual machine that I’ve mentioned, I initially tried choosing my shared Ubuntu home folder as the installation destination. This folder shows up as a network drive under Windows XP, but for whatever reason, Logos 4 wouldn’t download my library there. The second time around for the installation, I simply used the default directory for installing my library inside the virtual machine (C:Documents and Settings[Username]Local SettingsApplication DataLogos4), and everything went smoothly as it could have gone.
As side note related to the switch to Ubuntu, even more kudos to Vern Poythress than he has already received for his excellent guide to typing biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek under Linux.
