move notes category archive

Moving from MS Money to KMyMoney

At last. I’m free of Microsoft Money, and therefore very close to being free of all my old proprietary applications. I’ve settled on KMyMoney as a capable free-as-in-freedom bookkeeping replacement. It doesn’t do everything that I was able to do in Money, but I can live with that while hoping some of my “wants” find their way in to later versions. And in the meantime I appreciate the more streamlined look and feel of KMyMoney. It does the necessary tasks for me and doesn’t feel as heavy as Money. And it’s free. Did I mention that?

One obstacle in moving away from Money is the amount of data I have squirreled away in there. Twelve years worth, going back to 1995. I didn’t look forward to migrating all of that …

Hodgepodge of Miscellany, part 1 of 2: FSM, OO.o, Tomboy

I’ve been busy with this and that and wishing I had something more substantial prepared to post. I’ve been doing free software stuff, although nothing lately has generated a longer article. Here’s some scrips and scraps on what I’ve been up to:

(Wait! One of the tidbits grew in to its own post! Stay tuned…)

Free Software Magazine, Issue 20

My first article for Free Software Magazine has been published, in Issue 20: Extending Nautilus (the GNOME file manager): rotating JPG images. I’m actually going to be paid for this one, in cash and a book, so it must be good. See, free can pay. :-)

Thanks, FSM!

OpenOffice.org

Working on miscellaneous details in the overall “moving to freedom” process. I spent some time figuring out how to do envelopes and …

GNU/Linux Graphics Programs in Ubuntu

My graphics/image manipulation needs are relatively simple. I’ve gotten by pretty well with MS Paint and IrfanView in Windows.

In the past several months I’ve started using the GNU Image Manipulation Program (the GIMP!) for Windows and have learned how to fix red eye and make downgraded transparent PNG files that display properly in Internet Explorer 6, but that’s mainly all that I’ve used it for. I’ve never used Adobe Photoshop so I can’t compare them from personal experience, but the GIMP is apparently loaded with comparable features. For those Photoshoppers who are confused by the GIMP interface, or for people who want to use Photoshop tutorials in GIMP, there is GIMPshop which emulates the interface of Photoshop.

I’m looking forward to …

Password Safe / Password Gorilla

Updated 20 April 2007: Password Gorilla’s author, Frank Pilhofer, contacted me to clarify how permissions work and to investigate the problem I was seeing. Talk about great customer service! See update notes below…

I’ve been using Password Safe in Windows for many years to manage my passwords. It seemed credible to me because it was originally designed by Bruce Schneier and made by his company, Counterpane Systems. It uses either the twofish or blowfish block cipher, depending on the version. I respect Bruce’s knowledge and opinions on security and figured it would be a robust application, free from obvious security flaws.

And it was free for use. As in free beer. At some point it was released under the free and open source …

Meet the New ‘Move Notes’, Same as the Old ‘Move Status’

I wasn’t really sure what to do with the “move status” page as originally started, so I’m trying something new.

As I start using GNU/Linux more, I still have some apprehension about being able to do all the things I was able to do in Windows, but now I’m seeing that I’ll get there. For a lot of things, it will just be a matter of the new way being different. Already with the Java stuff I’ve been playing with the past week, I can see it will be easier to let go of some Windows habits than I had feared. I’m actually enjoying using and learning about how Ubuntu and GNOME work rather than being frustrated at not knowing anything. (I’m still impatient though. There is so much more …