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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Adding PDF headers, footers, and watermarks in GNU/Linux

Recently I needed to add a header/footer to an existing PDF file. With some help from this link, I figured it out:
http://coding.derkeiler.com/Archive/Perl/comp.lang.perl.misc/2005-04/msg00151.html

First, use OpenOffice.org Writer (for example) to generate a single-page PDF file that has the needed header/footer/watermark.

Second, use pdftk's background option. Quoting from the man page of pdftk:

pdftk in.pdf background back.pdf output out.pdf

the back.pdf is the file you created that has the needed header/footer/watermark. The in.pdf is the file you need to apply header/footer/watermark to. The result, of course, is saved into out.pdf.

You can also use the dual option stamp instead of background. This will overlay the back.pdf on top of every page of in.pdf.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Debian Lenny is out... at last!

Debian 5.0 (codenamed "Lenny") is out. Check:
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4199843436.html
It appears that Debian 5.0 (aka "Lenny") will soon take its big binocular eyes out into the wider world. The Debian project has completed the first release-candidate of Lenny's installer, which features much-improved support for ARM-based devices, along with much faster installation from "live" CDs



The next stable release of Debian is codenamed "Squeeze". Check:
http://www.debiantoday.com/debian-lenny-successor-gets-named/
Prepare yourself for Squeeze, that’s right the little green guy. Continuing with the Toy Story names the Debian project has decided to name the next release in the line up after the three eyed green alien who fears “the claw” at Pizza Planet in the movie Toy Story

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Free Books on "Design Patterns in C++" and Qt

Today is my lucky day :)

I found two free books about Qt and Design Patterns.

The first book is
C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4

The first edition of this book could be downloaded _legally_ for free here:
http://www.qtrac.eu/C++-GUI-Programming-with-Qt-4-1st-ed.zip
http://www.qtrac.eu/marksummerfield.html


The second book is a magnificent one. It is the first book I see to explain C++ and Design Patterns in a Qt-ish style!

The book is free as in freedom! It is released online under the Open Publication License (OPL) here:
http://oop.mcs.suffolk.edu/opensource/

This is NOT a book, it is a complete PROJECT that I think people should actively contribute to... The bugzilla server for this project and many useful materials could be found here:
http://cartan.cas.suffolk.edu/moin/OopDocbook


For convenience, you can download the whole book compiled into chm format here:
http://lawand.wordpress.com/site-map/computer-science/e-books/introduction-to-design-patterns-in-cpp-with-qt-4/

Enjoy the cute Qt!