Offsetting pages in OpenOffice

I created a journal paper template following the fine advice of Dmitri Popov. A master document is ok but sometimes I just want to PDF that subdocument (journal article) right away with the corresponding planned pages.

Searching the web for offsetting solutions, I've got mixed results, none of them completely satisfactory.

Until... I found the best advice that came along. This is from OpenOffice.org's Tutorial on Page Numbering.

Summary
1. On the page where you want an offset page number go to the first paragraph
2. Right-click, select Paragraph then Text Flow
3. Check Insert, then With Page Style , then choose the page style you created if you have one on the scroll down menu
4. Then on Page Number, insert the start of the page number.

Composing a string and executing it in Matlab : preserving empty spaces

Say you want to automatically open files which are named file001, file002, etc. Further suppose that these files are in a folder named d:\folder 1, d:\folder 2, etc.
Normally, you could use strcat to concatenate a string together with num2str. For example
FILE = strcat('file00',num2str(i));
But strcat will eliminate empty spaces so if strcat is used this way,
FOLDER = strcat('folder ',num2str(3)); % note the single space after 'folder'
the result will be
FOLDER ='folder3'.
To preserve the empty space, use square brackets instead:
FOLDER = ['folder ',num2str(3)]
Suppose you composed a string containing a command:
com1 = 'cd c:\folder 3\file001.jpg'
To execute the string use exec:
exec(com1);

Installing software in a netbook

I love my netbook! It's light, it's cheap, and it has a large disk space. But when it comes to installing programs in it, I'm reduced to : 1) borrowing an external CD drive, or 2) downloading the software from the net.

There are two other ways: 3) share the CD drive over the network, and 4) create an ISO image of the CD. This last one I find very handy. I got this solution from btfx in Yahoo Answers.

Step 1. In a computer with a CD drive, create an ISO image of the installation CD. A compact freeware suggested is http://lc-iso-creator.en.softonic.com/

Step 2. Copy the ISO image in a USB drive.

Step 3. Insert the USB drive in the netbook and mount the ISO volume using DaemonLite http://www.disk-tools.com/download/daemon

Be sure to unmount the ISO after use.

The Problem with Technical Knowledge

The problem with technical knowledge is that, technology marches by so fast that what you know now will become obsolete later, and quite quickly. If so, does it make sense to learn a technology at all? The Philippines is still a techonology "consumer" according to Dr. Roger Posadas in his talk on Science at "Beyond 2010". So will we be forever catching up?

I think there are still key concepts and skills to master (quantum mechanics for example) that will be relevant in the long term.

But I also think we can be ahead or be anticipatory. If we do research, we make our own technology and create new knowledge. In tackling research problems we come to grips with cutting-edge technology and create solutions where there are none.

I like to tell my students that a good research begins with a good research problem. The challenge really is asking the right questions.

What to do when SIP does not link with Scilab 4.1.2

If you see the error message below when trying to activate SIP Toolbox in SCILAB...

Do this:

chdir(ImageMagickPath);
link('CORE_RL_magick_.dll');

Then reclick the "Toolboxes" button.

Reference:

http://www.scilab.org/contrib/index_contrib.php?page=displayContribution&fileID=146

DDR1, DDR2, SDRAM? How to determine a PC's memory when upgrading

I have a desktop i bought in 2004. It's still working fine but I wanted to upgrade its 256 MB memory. But how do I know which type of RAM to buy? Without a manual, I took a look at the label of the existing RAM - it says there 256MB DDR 266MHz. But what is the maximum amount of memory I can insert?

I found this very useful application which can tell me what my RAM types are and more:

System Information for Windows by Gabriel Topala

www.gtopala.com

Note that each RAM slot has a maximum memory capacity and the motherboard has a total maximum capacity. It doesn't pay to insert 3 1 GB DDR's in a motherboard with a maximum 2GB capacity.

Upgrading Without a Recovery Disk

My Lenovo 3000 C100 did not come with any Windows XP CD. Instead, the OS is embedded in the harddrive. I do not like this arrangement. First, it takes up precious space in the harddrive. Second, should the harddrive get useless, how do I upgrade?

And so with only 40GB (32 GB only with 8GB reserved by XP for Rapid Restore) my laptop quickly lost space. I bought an 80GB disk (the website says my laptop model can only accomodate up to 100GB and there was no such size in the market) and agonized whether I should install Mandriva or Ubuntu instead.

The decision to remain in XP was arrived at when I realized I would not be able to program in Matlab since my Matlab license is for Windows. Oh well, I can always dual boot. Scilab is fine but would need more improvements in image processing.

Fortunately, I found that it is possible to make a Windows Installer from such embedded OS. The original link seems no longer active. But here's a tip : In google, type How to Fresh Install Windows XP Without a Recovery CD. I thank profusely the one who figured this out.