By John Dembowski

My wife and I picked up new ‘phones’ last week. Penny wanted a phone with a slide out keyboard so she would be able to text more easily. I wanted a Droid.

The Droid is a 4 inch machine running a slim Linux Kernel called Android. The whole thing is orchestrated by Google. The machine comes with 16 gigs of flash memory, a 5 megapixel camera, audio player that plays several different formats of music including MP3s, GPS, 3.7 inch touch screen, slide out keyboard, WiFi, wireless broadband, a very sophisticated (free) software installation framework, and, oh yeah, a phone.

Not wanting to scare her off I dumbed it down a tad. I said something like “This one has a keyboard. And you can log into Pandora and stream your channel 24 hours a day.” She was sold.

When were just about done checking out and I’ve had about 1/2 hour to tell her all about ‘this and that’ I mention that it doesn’t come with a manual. You have to learn how to use it by actually using it. Among other things there is a big search box on the main screen. Instinctively you find your way to Google. Google can answer any question.

We each found cool stuff to show each other over the next 8 hours. ‘TV time’ that night became ‘install-try-uninstall time’. We tried out every free Droid app we could get out hands on.

My current app list includes:

* a dictionary

* an app with information on every country

* another with info on each of the United States

* an app with just about every math and physics formula you can imagine

* a copy of the Constitution

* the periodic table with all the basics on each element

* an interface to play audio versions of just about every influential book that has fallen out of copyright

* a crappy DirecTV app to set my DVR to record (better than nothing but this is weak and I expect something really slick and similar to the same searches that can be done directly on the DirecTV box)

* an LED scroller that shows the message you type in (think “Get me a beer, plz” on a lit up sign)

* a light saber with the sound-FX following the Droid’s movement

* the Bible

* the Quran

* several WiFi tools to not only find hot spots but to see which channels have the least traffic

* a ton of relaxation noise machines

* a Darth Vader soundboard

* headlines from NPR and BBC World

* the weather radar for where I happen to be standing (goooo GPS)

* the 10 day and hour by hour forecast from the Weather Channel for where I happen to be standing (GPS is so abused in Android apps)

* a few tools to automate common Android tasks

* a guitar tuner

* flashlight app that turns the flash on and leaves it on until you turn it off

* copied 5 gigs of music to it – turning it into a USB drive for a desktop computer was a tad strange

I’ve spent probably 72 hours during the past week geeking:

* set up all the various options to my preferred settings

* set up the phone to teach me Spanish using 5 different apps

* set up a rather complex Personal Assistant to remind me of just about everything using 4 apps but I’m adding at least 2 more for specific task lists

* on my regular PC I installed the developer’s tool kit, the java programming libraries, an Android OS emulator, wrote and ran a little BS app so I could see what the developers see

* joined a couple Droid-Fanboy forums

* joined a couple Android-Developer forums

* wormed my way out of xWindows and into the underlying file structure

* tricked the phone into doing a full install of the Perl programming language

I can really see a future for the Android OS. I have no idea what is going on for iPhones and BlackBerry. They will not be able to go where the Android will go unless they are willing to let other people use their OS.

Dude, I’ve totally gone Google.

Originally posted @ the personal blog of John Dembowski

By Joyce Carcia

Before selecting a web hosting plan or a hosting account, it is important to ensure the quality, support and features they provide with the web hosting account. As far as maintaining a website is concerned, every webmaster would like to have a user friendly control panel. Recently, more and more hosting companies use cPanel as their hosting control panel. So why people like it? If the word cPanel is a strange word to you, never mind. I am going to explain what the cPanel is all about.

cPanel is a graphic application used to control applications in the within web page. It is a graphic program made by Linux Operating System. cPanel hosting has many great features which make managing your web site so much more easier.

Domains and Emails Management

cPanel control panel allows webmaster to easily log into the control panel or cPanel and manage your domain from anywhere you choose. You can save a lot of time and easily add domains, sub domains and email accounts. With cPanel hosting, you can also add email addresses, remove email addresses, and manage email. cPanel hosting gives you an easy way to set up an autoresponder.

Cron and MySQL

cPanel hosting allows you to set up cron jobs easily. And it usually comes with the ability to have MySql databases, which is crucial to any website. With MySql, it is very easy to create a database.

Website Statistics

When you buy cPanel hosting, you get access to a variety of ways to view the stats for your website. You can use Awstats to learn more about the visitors to your website, so as to improve your website.

In conclusion, the cPanel web hosting feature is a very active as well as an important part of your website which can help you generate more visitors.

Hostease offers you the best and cheap cPanel web hosting with great customer support (24×7 phone, email and live chat supp). All of the cPanel Hosting packages are available at a very cost effective price. You are also allowed to host multiple websites under the same account. All packages support for the PHP, MySQL, Perl, PHPMyAdmin, Cron Job and much more.

Hostease is a leading web hosting company, who offers REAL 24/7 support via email, live-chat and phone for client’s satisfaction. We never overload our server. All of our plans include the latest industry features available on the market. We cater for the personal blog as well as the multiple websites for large business group. Our packages are equipped with the features needed to meet all of your requirements.

Kismet also sports a plugin architecture allowing for additional
non-802.11 protocols to be decoded.

Kismet identifies networks by passively collecting packets and detecting
networks, which allows it to detect (and given time, expose the names
of) hidden networks and the presence of non-beaconing networks via data
traffic.

Kismet Drones are designed to turn Kismet into a distributed IDS system.
Drones support all of the capture methods Kismet normally supports,
including multiple capture devices per drone. Drones capture wireless
data and forward to a Kismet server over a secondary connection (ie,
wired Ethernet). Drones do not do any decoding of packets and have
minimal hardware requirements.

A Kismet server connects to the drones and will provide a single Kismet
UI display, packet dump, and alert generation point. Capture sources on
remote Kismet drones are forwarded to the Kismet server and appear as
independent capture devices which can be configured for channel hopping,
locking, etc.

Using the tun/tap export function, the central Kismet server can export
the packets from all attached drones to a virtual network interface for
use with external IDS/packet capture systems (such as Snort).

To start using Drones, launch the kismet_drone process on a remote
system (editing the kismet_drone.conf file to control what hosts are
allowed to connect) or turn on drone capabilities in the Kismet server
(by enabling the drone config options in kismet_server.conf). When
running a kismet_server instance as a drone, local logging will act as
usual and Kismet clients can be connected to the server as normal; When
running kismet_drone, Kismet clients cannot connect directly to it, and
it will not log, a Kismet server instance must be started to provide
packet decoding, logging, and Kismet UI connectivity.

By Singgih Tri Widodo

From the installation and use, lies in the simplicity and beauty that has a wireless security camera system. With this camera you can send pictures or videos directly to the recipient that the cord is connected to your computer or television. This is a wise way to watch someone who you think is suspect or your goods.

You do not need to buy goods with a very high price for it, and then you get someone else to arrange it. It is not necessary. For that, you should need is some good camera and handy with a computer software and stable, it makes you more calm and comfortable.

Wireless camera – Take a picture

You have the freedom to choose different types of cameras you want to build your own surveillance. You can have 4 to 30 cameras, you want at will. If you want to do off-site supervision, you need to put the camera in certain places. For example pages, swimming pool, main entrance, backyard, etc..

A good outdoor camera should be weather resistant, and must also have night vision. While which indoor surveillance cameras, was far too difficult for a computer or using a simple camera eye to eye. This camera is easily disguised so as not to be seen and caught.

Tips for buying a camera

I suggest before you make a purchase, make sure you check the camera so that the signal coverage to ensure you receive a picture can clearly. It may need a powerful transmitter.

To create a data input, choose the camera to perform voice or movement, and he will activated own end at the appointed hour through the scheme

Recipients / Receiver

Wireless camera basically sending videos and pictures through walls which can achieve distances up to 300 feet 10 miles. By your camera, you will only need can to get a DVR receiver that is used to retrieve the signal is transferred through the camera. The recipient is the most important part of your camera system, without it you can not do anything and can not receive video images you capture which.

This hardware is easy once you plug in the computer or television or wherever you want to install to see it. Usually the camera is equipped with DVR card is which their own and it can directly broadcast to the Internet. But you can buy the device separately at your nearest store shops.

Memory

Data you have on your camera you should keep it safe. You must put the camera in a different place, which surely will make the full leap camera memory. You must buy a separate memory was of about 1 TB hard drive or you need to hire another online server to store your video data. And of course you should regularly monitor your data.

Software

You must have the software to monitor the camera. Maybe you can using a Mac, Windows, Linux, or others. This can help you to monitor, transfer, and store your data. You can see it on the laptop, or phone, or even equivalent to a simple desktop.

For more information see Wireless Security Camera System

Singgih Tri Widodo comes from Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia. has written several articles on Motorcycle and Camera. You may want to check out other guide on Motorcycle Link tips, and Camera Link guide!

By Jared D. Ingram

Drupal hosting is a new concept in the internet world and has amazed all the human minds. In the beginning there was just a simple concept, web hosting. It later developed into dedicated web hosting and cheap web hosting, the technology just got better and PHP and ASP hosting services dawned on the web. The new technology just gets better with each day and right from the static pages to the dynamic ones, slowly the things only keep getting better and slowly the wordpress hosting, joomla hosting and PHPBB hosting has come our way.

Now, let us get down to Drupal hosting, this is basically a CMS or content management system and has been written down by the PHP and needs the MySQL database to function properly. Now after understanding the basic also know that drupal hosting can turn your website into large ones and small logs would soon help you in creating big directories and online communities.

If you are searching for best drupal hosting service for you then you must take 10 things into consideration:

• Drupal is established by PHP even though you can always select a windows hosting and PostgreSQL, but the finest alternative to function Drupal hosting is still the Linux and MySQL.
• Even now, drupal hosting is new to the internet world and not all the good web hosting companies will be able to offer you with solutions that give your Drupal site good support.
• A company that offers free Drupal installation and free themes etc does not mean that they are the best drupal hosting services. You will get the same free services with Fantastico, you have to know that all the hosting companies have these tools set up to be able to provide you with the services and that Fantastico is already very popular in the web hosting companies.
• The clean URL support is vital requirement from the best hosting as it would make your website more search engine friendly.
• If you want to get multi-site features of the best hosting, you would have to get an access to the Unix Shell and create a Symlink. Though for the security purposes, this might not be permissible. In such cases you can also create a PHP script for accomplishing your task.
• The best drupal hosting can only work if the database runs very fast and a lot o companies fail to do that.
• There are some hosting companies that will set a limit for you to utilize the CPU resource or the Memory resource. You will have to check with the hosting providers and understand the data and also keep a close check on your website to see if it gets down for this trouble. If this is the trouble then you will have to upgrade your hosting.
• Select a drupal hosting company that permits you to preserve your cron jobs.
• There is a common phenomenon for all the shared web hosting companies; here you will receive unlimited bandwidth and disk space. But do not believe these companies and always remember that you will get for what you will pay!
• Backup your website daily, this is really important.

Ready to learn all about the best drupal hosting? Visit http://www.drupalhostingreview.net/reliablehosting.php today for more information!

By Dean Walden

There are several options when it comes to choosing an operating system for your computer. Of course Windows is the overwhelming heavyweight in the market place and it isn’t a bad choice in some ways, especially for those not interested in the nuts and bolts of things. Also looking for users are Linux, BSD and Leopard.

1. Windows

The good side of Windows is that it is made to operate programs. The rich variety of software that works here is a huge selling point. You don’t have to be a programmer or even a techie to be a user. Everything comes from a disc or a download. Click the install button and away you go. Word processors, Spreadsheets, Games, Synthesizers, Photo Editors, Art Creators, Email Handlers, Bookkeepers and Website Makers are some of the most common. Then there are the not so popular yet also intriguing out of the mainstream volumes such as File Converters, Iso File Makers, Virus Hunters, Adware Killers and endless utilities you may discover once you start looking. There is a small utility that saves clips (as many as you want) that can be pasted anywhere so you don’t have to retype all the time.

That’s the good side of Windows. Just so you know it’s not all roses and candlelight you should know there are some drawbacks too. Everything you do on Windows should be backed up regularly. Why? Because just about the time your five week project is within a few paragraphs of completion, Windows will have a hiccup and lose the whole thing or some virus will erase your hard drive, or you’ll press the delete button accidentally. Boom, it’s all toast. Another thing about Windows is that it’s already programmed, you have to accept it as it is. If it doesn’t have a feature you need, you’re out of luck. If the button arrangement is not convenient (although there is some flexibility), you must adapt. Don’t need all the bells and whistles? Your stuck with them. Then there are the slow days when it all just seems to sit there and mock you taking it’s sweet time. It’s no wonder someone occasionally tosses one out the 10th story window.

2. Leopard

So, what are the other options? Well, first is Leopard which is the Macintosh operating system. Macintosh is made by Apple Computers. If you don’t know who Steve Jobs is, you must live in a dark and deprived world. Macs, as they are known, cost a little more than others systems (about twice the price of a Windows machine). I will tell you right here that I have yet to meet a Mac user that has a bad word to say about his or her machine. If you get one, you are practically guaranteed to love it. They are the choice of graphic artists almost universally. The local ad sheet for the city is made on them, so they make commercially viable tools.

The negative side. Not a lot really. There isn’t as much software made for them, but the ones you get are extremely well made. A lot of the less popular stuff doesn’t exist for Macs. That along with the higher price are the main hitches.

3. Linux

Another option is Linux. The Linux operating system is actually free at this time so the price is right. There are many flavors (versions) of Linux, so you don’t have to use the same thing everyone else has.

Some that I know of are:

• Red Hat
• Ubuntu
• Suse
• Damn Small

Each one has advantages and limitations because they are geared toward a certain area such as games or internet or servers. They have a ways to go to become popular, yet are making great strides in market share. Also, if you can do the programming, Linux offers wonderful access to the code. In the last year or so, it has become quite easy to obtain and install Linux on any computer. In fact it will coexist right alongside Windows, so now there is little excuse for not trying it out. They offer a GUI similar to Windows and Leopard which is fairly intuitive. Some software is quite comparable to the bigger fish. OpenOffice will take Office on and come through looking pretty good. Gimp has a learning curve, but can do much of what Photoshop does for free.

The downside is that Linux is just not as developed. It is a terrific platform for geeks that love to swim through code and troubleshoot glitches. The creative potential is unlimited which is the main drawback at the same time. Most people want something ready to go, not something they have to create before they can operate. The number of programs (though growing) is quite limited.

4. BSD

The last of our operating systems to consider is BSD. Just like Linux, it is free (though there is a commercial version). The major selling point is that it is the most modern system. It doesn’t have the backward compatibility issues of Windows. So many advances in hardware have been made since windows was introduced that you wouldn’t believe some of it. BSD was created to take advantage of these advances. It has the most potential of all these systems because of it’s modern design. It is quite compatible with and similar to Linux, just more modern.

That at the same time is it’s largest problem. Most of the accessories that go with an operating system (software and interface) are lacking at this time. It’s like having a Ferrari engine and framework without the rest of the drive train.

Dean Walden is an avid internet user, watcher, promoter, website builder and researcher. The Ubuntu version of the Linux operating system is easy to use if you can use Windows.

Someone has developed a way to install Ubuntu on a Windows machine without interfering with Windows. To learn how to put Ubuntu Linux alongside Windows on your computer (with the Wubi installer), start at http://wubi-installer.org/
Once you have it downloaded, just start it and it will do the rest. Then the next time you boot up, you’ll have the option of Windows or Ubuntu. Once you try Ubuntu, you can shut it down and restart to go back to Windows.

By Brady Crabb

Upgrading software is a task that should done with some care. When you upgrade an application you should backup your data for it. But when you are performing an operating system upgrade, you should do more than just back up the data.

Because an Operating System (OS) controls how your computer interacts with the components attached to your computer and with how it communicates with networks and the Internet, you should put some time into preparing your migration. What I am stating here applies to ALL operating systems. No matter what the system upgrade is, whether it is a linux os upgrade, mac os upgrade or a windows 7 upgrade, you need to back up all your application data first.

System software, no matter what the computing platform, effects how the computer sees the world and how it interacts with it. For your migration to be as painless as possible, you should go through the followng list. Skipping any step in the list could cause you to lose data or make your computer inoperable under the new OS.

1. Determine if the new OS is compatible with the hardware you have.

a. This step is the most critical and cannot be skipped.

-i. Go to the vendor’s website and find out what the minimum hardware requirements are. Important items here are:

1. Memory Requirements

2. Hard Drive Space Required for installation

3. Graphics Card Support

4. Video Support (Monitor or LCD panel)

5. Installation Source

a. CD, DVD, hard drive or network

6. Supported Devices and Equipment

a. If you own unsupported items, they may or may not work and most likely will have to be replaced.

-i. This affects printers, scanners and all-in-one printer/fax/scanners

-ii. Your DVD and hard drive

1. This can get real bad if the DVD you are installing from isn’t supported and suddenly fails on you.

2. Determine the type of install you are wanting to perform:

a. Clean Install – which reformats the hard drive before installation.

-i. This is usually the best option, as it checks hard drive integrity during the installation, as well as removing any potential virus or spyware during the install.

b. Upgrade leaving Old System files intact.

-i. Some folks do this for purposes of setting up a dual-boot system that can boot the old or new OS.

-ii. I recommend this only to advanced users, as problems can occur if the installation has problems…data can be lost in this scenario.

c. Deleting the old OS and keeping existing programs and settings.

-i. This option is not always possible, as some OSes, like Windows 7, require reinstallation of applications before they can be made usable under the new OS.

3. Plan your strategy for backing up your data and do it. Copy the data to CD, DVD or a hard drive before you do the upgrade. If you don’t back up your documents, you may lose them, especially if you do a “Clean Install,” which reformats the hard drive before installation. Application data varies on where it is stored, and some of us store lots of files on our desktop as well as our Documents folder, (this is very true of both Mac and Windows users).

a. Look around for your files a little and make SURE you have backed up all your important files, or else you can lose them.

b. The ideal solution here is to back up the entire hard drive as an image with a backup utility. There are a number of free options out there for each operating system, just get the right one for your current OS. Make sure the program is compatible with your new OS, or it won’t do you any good.

4.Verify that the data you backed up is usable. Open some of the files to verify them, or if the backup utility you used can do this, use it to verify the data. It seems like this is overkill, but you will be much happier if you can retrieve your data after the migration.

5.If you are using a CD or DVD for the install, make a backup of your installation discs before proceeding, and put the originals in a safe place. This may sound like an extra step, but take it from someone who lost an original of Microsoft Office several years ago due to it being damaged in the drive. If you get scratches on a backup, all you have to do is to make another copy to do your install – don’t assume the manufacturer of the software will be willing to replace the damaged original. Use the backup of the installation disc for all installs and for all re-installs and you won’t be sorry.

I hope this information helps you out and allows you to make a smooth migration from one OS to another. If you followed the steps above and the installation goes bad, you can try to install again. If worst comes to worst, you can reinstall the old OS and copy your data back until you fix whatever the problem was that prevented a successful upgrade.

Brady Crabb is a computer educator and repair tech, blogger, eBayer, and website developer. You can check out his websites at http://crabbymac.com and http://crabbymac.info/kindle-books or watch his videos on YouTube under the ID of TheCrabbyMac.

By Joseph L Wilson

Working within I.T. for most companies today almost always means at some point you will have to take a certification exam. If you’re a network engineer this means you will need to take a Cisco CCNA Certification exam. To take and pass a CCNA exam is not an easy thing. In this article I will layout some tips and suggestions on how you can pass your Cisco CCNA certification exam the first time.

There is usually three reasons why you would need to take a certification exam.

1. Your Employer requires you to take it – this is often need to justify the salary they are paying you and for managers to gauge your expertise level.

2. You want a new job – Many times having a CCNA certification on your resume will help get your foot in the door to a new company and new opportunities.

3. New career choice – You are wanting to start a new career and a certification is a great way to allow you to enter in to a new job field.

Most seasoned I.T. professional are well versed at certification exams. For Cisco there is the CCNA, CCDA, CCNP, and CCIE, plus numerous other exams including Security, Voice and Storage. Other vendors have certification tests as well. These companies include Microsoft, sun, Oracle, Linux, and Novell.

All of these tests are given at a special facility that is designed to administer the tests in a controlled environment. Nothing can be taken into the testing room while you take your test with the exception of two pieces of paper and a pencil provided by the testing center. Tests are delivered to workstations in the testing room that have been downloaded over the internet to the testing center.

Taking these tests can be very unnerving. However, passing these tests can be done by anyone. You simply need to invest in the study materials and time to get the job down.

The sure fire way to pass these test:

To prepare for a CCNA Certification Exam you should do the following.

Get a Good Study Book

Visit your local bookstore and look through the CCNA study guides. Find a book that is easy for you to read and makes sense. Every author writes differently and can convey technical details differently. You need to find an author that writes in a way that allow you to absorb the material.

Get Practice Exam Software

Next, you need to get a hold of a practice exam. There are many companies today that sell practice exams that will help you prepare for these difficult test. You need to buy a practice test that is focused on your particular exam, for example the CCNA Certification Exam.

Finally, read the book that you purchased once through, highlighting along the way key areas that you may want to come back to later to review.

Then, install your practice test software and take your first practice test. Don’t worry you will most likely fail your first time through. Don’t get discouraged, everybody does. Most practice test software will come will a bank of about 400 questions or more, each divided in to 4 practice tests. You need to take each practice test 4 times! After the 4th time (you should be passing by now- if now take them again until you do pass) Lastly, take the final practice exam which will be the entire bank of 400 questions.

After this point you are ready to take the real exam. Your head has swollen to a point you didn’t believe it could swell to. Pick up the phone and call your local testing center to schedule your exam. Take it as soon as possible.

Good luck! You can to it!

Be at the leading edge of the latest networking technologies. Get and pass your Cisco CCNA certification exam today.

Joseph L Wilson is a Senior Network Engineer in Dunedin Florida and has worked with IP networks for over 18 years. As a Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) and CCIE candidate, regularly writes about how to pass Cisco exams and is the author of the Cisco blog site RouterFreak.com.

By Nate Boot

So at about 1am this morning, Burst.Net finally got my server up and running for me to use. Unfortunately for me, I was already sleeping and I had work today so I wasn’t able to actually play with it until tonight. Like other VPS’s and dedicated servers out there, the server is usually bare boned with no software except the operating system. For me I decided to use CentOS 5 64-bit edition to get my web server up and running. Burst.NET had Apache 2 pre-installed on my VPS for me but that was pretty much about it. So I had to scramble around and search for an easy way to install Mysql and PHP to go with my Linux Apache server.

After some searching, I realized that it is really easy because Linux CentOS 5 comes pre-bundled with Yum. Yum is a feature that allows you to download and install software automatically. It will determine all of the dependencies and take care of the rest. I determined which packages I needed and sent off my command:

yum install php php-mysql mysql-server php-gd postgres ImageMagick ImageMagick-devel

This determined all of the dependencies and installed PHP and Mysql on my CentOS Linux server! It was so easy!! I just needed to give Apache a reboot and php was pretty much up and running. To give it a test, I just wrote a simple line of code in /var/www/html/test.php.

phpinfo();

Then visit yourhost/test.php If your php server is setup correctly, this should output all of the information about your php install and the different components that were installed with it. It will give you a list of all your configurations and plugins that are enabled.

The next step was getting mysql up and running. After the yum install, the daemon is not automatically started so you will need to start it yourself. You can start the mysql daemon but running the following command:

service mysqld start

If everything goes well, the service should start without a hitch and it will give you a list of directions for first time users. One of the most important things to do now is to set a password for the root user in mysql. Again just like everything else it is just a simple 1 liner to change the mysql password:

/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password ‘mynewpassword’

Thats it! After only a few simple commands in Linux, I was able to get a bare-boned CentOS 5 system up and running with a full LAMP install. This process will take a max of 5 minutes to complete. But for me.. I was busy googling it took me about 30 minutes to an hour.. so hopefully this will help you.

For more information about PHP and WordPress check out http://www.websitejourney.com/

Visit WebsiteJourney for other great tips: http://www.websitejourney.com/

By Alexey Titov

Since the invention of PDF format in 1993 PDF documents have become extremely popular tool for exchanging information across the Web. Even now PDF beats more recent DJVU and various e-book formats in terms of popularity.

This article is a quick (and hopefully, a useful) note about 3 free programs for creating a PDF document in Linux (first of all, in Debian GNU/Linux, but in other distributions the situation is much the same).

This note is by no means a complete guide to PDF handling in Linux, and should be viewed as a simple road map for PDF lovers and self publishers, looking for a free open-source alternative to commercial applications.

1. OpenOffice.org (OOo) Editor

   The easiest way to create a PDF from a text file is to export it as PDF in OpenOffice.org Writer. All you need to do is to put your text in OOo Writer and hit “Export as PDF” in “Files” menu — and you will get a nice PDF version 1.4 file. Creating a PDF with OOo is an extremely straight-forward and easy-to-learn process, even an absolute beginner can make a PDF just in seconds. But the simplicity of the process is its main disadvantage: do not expect to achieve a high printing quality through this method. On screen or on paper your PDF document will look just like an OOo document (or like a MS Word document, if you can imagine that) and nothing more.

2. TEX and its derivatives

   A typesetting system designed by Prof. Donald Knuth in 1978, and greatly developed in the following years by the TEX community allows you to create PDF documents of much higher printing quality than those created with OpenOffice.org editor. A document made with TEX looks like “a real book” and even today TEX and its derivatives are used by several widely known publishers. But higher printing quality of TEX has its price: you will need to invest some time and effort in learning TEX commands and mark-up language. Fortunately, a lot of tutorials on TEX and its derivatives were published during last 30 years, and a complete beginner can learn TEX basics in a couple of weeks.

3. Scribus

   Scribus is a relatively new (first released in 2003), but rapidly developing desktop publishing application. Like TEX, Scribus allows to create PDF documents of very decent printing quality, but its process of creation differs from that of TEX. Preparation of a document in TEX resembles programming, while in Scribus it looks more like designing on canvas. If you ever worked with Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress — Scribus will look familiar to you. Scribus is very proud of its PDF handling features and claims being able to produce a “high quality, ‘press-ready’ PDF including advanced PDF 1.4 features, ISO compliant PDF/X-3 and ICC color managed PDFs.” Unfortunately, you will need to spend a good amount of time to learn even basics of Scribus, and Scribus tutorials are not so readily available as those of TEX.

Conclusions:

• If you want to make a simple PDF document fast and cheap — your choice should be OpenOffice.org. It is possible to make simple PDF books by using OOo’s formatting, styles and image embedding.
• If you want to make a well-structured document, with cross-references, sections, subsections, index, etc. — you should stick to TEX (and its derivatives like LaTEX, ConTeXt and others). And if you have a lot of mathematics in your document — TEX may be your only possibility.
• If you want a fancy layout, a lot of collage illustrations like in glossies, and other flashy staff — you will probably need Scribus.

Check my website Free PDF Books for some examples of PDF documents created with TEX.

Alexey Titov is an amateur self-publisher and webmaster of PDFreeBooks.org website.