Index to the Grumpy Editor series [LWN.net]

Your editor did not start out grumpy, but the current state of many Linux tools can certainly make him that way. The Grumpy Editor series started when your editor, seeking a web browser as good as Galeon used to be, reviewed some of the other available graphical browsers. The editor has since moved on to several other topics, but his focus remains the same: finding tools which enable the user to get the job done, don't get in the way, and don't forget the lessons learned about usability over the last couple decades or so.

Current entries in the LWN Grumpy Editor series include:

Shotwell, an image management and editing tool.
The grumpy editor's e-book reader; experiments with the Kindle and associated free software.
The exceedingly grumpy editor's accounting system update. Accounting is a pain.
Video part 2: Video editors (January, 2008). Several tools for the editing of video data.
Video part 3: DVD authoring (January, 2008). How to create a playable DVD from suitably-edited video files.
Video part 1: capture (December, 2007). In which your editor starts out on the task of acquiring video data from an old camcorder and turning it into DVDs suitable for grandparental distribution.
(Some) development distributions (November, 2007). Life on the bleeding edge.
Firebug (August, 2007). A slick tool for web developers.
The Grumpy Editor's next project (May, 2007). An introduction to the lengthy task of finding a free small business accounting system - a project which remains in progress.
Working with raw images (March, 2007). Tools for people who want complete control over their digital photographs.
HDR with Linux (March, 2007). A look at the free .tools available for doing high dynamic range photography.
Note-taking applications (February, 2007). The editor tries to get his thoughts organized.
Graphical IRC clients (January, 2007). The best way to burn productivity on the net.
SSH servers (June, 2006). Are there any viable alternatives to OpenSSH?
Audio stream grabbers (May, 2006). How to capture an audio stream from a favorite network source.
RSS aggregators (March, 2006). Tools for keeping up with the net.
Bayesian spam filters (February, 2006), and the followup (March, 2006). A look at several bayesian filters, including testing results.
Rockbox (January, 2006). A detailed look at GPL-licensed firmware for several portable digital audio players.
Music managers (November, 2005). What's the best way to manage one's music collection?
Personal finance managers, part I (September, 2005). Your editor balances his checkbook, and runs three free personal finance applications through their paces for a number of basic operations. Part 2 (September, 2005) completes the study with a look at scheduled transactions, reports, and investing features.
Firefox extensions for web page editing (June, 2005): in particular, for the editing of other sites' pages.
Image management (April, 2005): A look at some image management applications.
Camera interfaces (February, 2005): making digital cameras "just work."
PDF viewers (November, 2004). A look at the available tools for reading through PDF files.
Free documentation licenses (October, 2004). Which license would you use for free documentation?
Presentation programs (September, 2004). The search for tools which help make a good impression in front of an audience, and which do not get in the way.
Electronic mail (a sub-series in progress):
- Introduction (June, 2004) with a discussion of MH and MH-e.
- Graphical email clients (June, 2004). Detailed reviews of Balsa, Evolution, KMail, Sylpheed, and Thunderbird.
- Graphical clients and GPG (July, 2004). How the above clients support encrypted email.
Terminal emulators (June, 2004). Working with the command line is still a necessity, and may always be the best way of accomplishing some task. Your editor looks at alternatives to the venerable xterm.
Diagram editors, part I (May, 2004). What is the best tool for the creation of graphical diagrams?
Diagram editors, part II (May, 2004). Three more tools which were missed in the first round of reviews.
64-bit Linux (April, 2004). Your editor gets an x86_64 system and looks for a good Linux to go with it.
Image viewers/editors (March, 2004). Why are none of the current crop of image viewer/editor programs as good as xv was over a decade ago?
Calendar managers (March, 2004). When the venerable ical program disappeared from his Debian system, your editor went looking for alternatives.
Web browsers, part II (February, 2004). A look at Konqueror.
Web browsers, part I (February, 2004). A look at the current set of Gecko-based web browsers.

Index to the Grumpy Editor series

Posted Jul 20, 2004 10:44 UTC (Tue) by lacostej (guest, #2760) [Link]

too words: IM and telephony IP.
I am investigating the second one these days (tried gnomemeeting, skype, going for openMCU teamskeak, etc...).
I may make a review if you want but not before a month or two. Takes time to review all of these!

Index to the Grumpy Editor series

Posted Sep 16, 2004 18:57 UTC (Thu) by raybry (guest, #4527) [Link]

RE: Linux Presentation Software

One of the problems I have run into is getting X to synchronize up with an
LCD projector. I use a Dell Laptop with an LCD resolution of 1400x1050
pixels. In order to sync with a typical LCD projector, you need to knock
that down to 1024 x 768, typically, and depending on the projector, you may
or may not be able to get it to display the screen when running X on your
laptop.

So, its back to the old "boot windows and hope nobody notices" trick and
set the screen resolution there. This has worked every time.

So its not just the presentation software that keeps us from using native
Linux tools, even if we wanted too.

Anyone have a solution to the above problem?

Index to the Grumpy Editor series

Posted Sep 24, 2004 19:27 UTC (Fri) by jlquinn (subscriber, #24972) [Link]

I notice that the comments for many of these articles note various tools
that were missed completely (though usually not the most prevalent ones). It occurs to me that you might be able to head off some of that by posting a request for candidates at the end of each posted article for future articles you have planned. That might help at least get you the names of more favorite projects up front.

Index to the Grumpy Editor series

Posted Jan 20, 2006 16:28 UTC (Fri) by tzafrir (subscriber, #11501) [Link]

I wonder if it would be useful to link articles such as http://lwn.net/Articles/168094/ (Using open-source tools for documenting research). Maybe not as good as all the above Grumpy Editor reviewes, and with less comments from the crowd, but still seem like a source of useful information in the same field.

Heck, I've just linked ;-)

Index to the Grumpy Editor series

Posted Jun 7, 2006 5:46 UTC (Wed) by roelofs (guest, #2599) [Link]

Forgot one:

The Grumpy Editor's guide to RSS aggregators (20060328)

Greg

Index to the Grumpy Editor series

Posted Jan 26, 2009 23:45 UTC (Mon) by bmur (guest, #52954) [Link]

Is there a chance to see a comparison of ERP software? You were almost there when you mentioned Compiere in the accounting software article. I'd love to see how Compiere stacks up against OpenERP and any other packages of your choosing.

Thank you.

Index to the Grumpy Editor series

Posted Feb 18, 2009 18:06 UTC (Wed) by drblock2 (guest, #56729) [Link]

Dear Grumpy,

As a refugee from the World of Windows, I often seek the comforts of home - like clicking to record music while listening to it at the same time.

Actually, I have been doing this in one form or another for some fifty years now - ever since I connected the line-out of my preamplifier to my real-to-real tape recorder.

After struggling with no avail with VLAN, which delivered the music, but not the recording and failing with Audacity, which chokes off the source, I found your article and - as you suggested - down loaded KStreamRipper. This did not immediately work, of course, because I had neglected to down load streamripper itself.

This having been brought to my attention by the front end, I followed your link, down loaded the source code and easily compiled the binary (having done this once before).

Wow! It works. And, I imagine the results are better than the Windows solution, which converts the mp3 stream to wav, which I record and then save as mp3 again. Linux allows me to record the stream directly.

Now, if we could somehow combine all of this into one package with a simple click on "setup", imagine what linux could do!

Thanks so much.