Changing Zotero Standalone’s Default PDF Viewer in Ubuntu

Apparently, the Gnome desktop environment for Linux systems has an issue with handling some user-specified default application choices. When using Zotero in Ubuntu, therefore, it may be necessary to edit /etc/gnome/defaults.list manually in order to have Zotero default to a PDF viewer besides Evince (e.g., Okular). Changing the “application/pdf=evince.desktop” line in this file to reflect the desired PDF viewer default (e.g., “application/pdf=kde4-okularApplication_pdf.desktop”) seems to do the trick, however. For more information, please see Zotero’s help forums and knowledge base.

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December 27, 2011 Â· 1 min Â· J. David Stark

Saving Scholarship—One File at a Time

After recently transitioning to Ubuntu, I found that my previous online backup solution had some issues running in Linux, even via a Windows XP virtual machine in VirtualBox. With some additional research, however, I came across Digital Lifeboat:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB0Q1BbMwx8&w=640&h=360]

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Digital Lifeboat is still in beta. So, the software has had some hiccups, but overall, it has worked fairly well. Digital Lifeboat won’t presently backup directly from a shared system folder in VirtualBox, but syncing the shared folder to a local folder within the virtual machine itself does let Digital Lifeboat read the folder and run the backup. Perhaps the service’s greatest advantage, however, is that users who sign up during the beta period receive free, unlimited storage for the life of their accounts.

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September 30, 2011 Â· 1 min Â· J. David Stark

(N)evernote

Image representing Evernote as depicted in Cru…Image via CrunchBase

Yesterday, I stumbled upon Nevernote, built especially for Linux users as an open source clone of Evernote. Despite what are, perhaps, the slightly ominous connotations of Nevernote’s name, the software seems to working reasonably well. It successfully downloaded all the notes in my Evernote account, and it allows searching and change syncing from a desktop client. The software seems like it can be a bit slow and memory intensive, but this performance issue may simply be a function of the size of one’s Evernote account. Also, nevernote doesn’t appear to have a built-in screen clipping tool, but there are several other methods of accomplishing this task.

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August 27, 2011 Â· 1 min Â· J. David Stark

Upgrading to and Installing Logos 4 on Ubuntu

[caption id=“” align=“alignright” width=“100” caption=“Image via Wikipedia”] Tux, the Linux penguin[/caption]

Since May 2007, there has been a pretty healthy discussion among Ubuntu Linux users about installing and operating Logos Bible Software under that operating system. About a month ago now, I finally switched from Windows XP (SP3) to Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty), and since then, I’d been running Logos 3 (Libronix) inside a virtualized Windows XP machine using VirtualBox.

Those of us who have been lagging behind in upgrading to Logos 4 have recently seen some communication about current Logos 4 upgrade discounts ending, so earlier this morning, I called Logos, received a small additional discount for ordering over the phone, and have installed Logos 4 on the same virtual machine I already mentioned. An important note for other users in similar, VirtualBox setups, however: The installation may well fail if you select a shared folder as the destination for your Logos 4 installation.

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August 15, 2011 Â· 2 min Â· J. David Stark