Writing short notes and diaries from the CLI…

The only thing I missed since changing to Linux was short program which would make it possible to make quick notes and/ or diary-entries.

I discovered the magic of the command line then and…hey – I began to think LOL – it has to be solution.

So – yesterday I found quite nice even if not perfect “remedy” for my not satisfied yet needs. It’s my first trial to make something in bash – so, please, be gentle…ok? But – if you have the better or smarter solution – or you see how you can improve mine – do not hesitate to leave the comment here – it will be very appreciated – as I only start to learn bash.

So – “back to our rams” – the solution is simple: You can simply add following alias to your .bashrc file:

alias dz='cd /home/username/diary && cat >> `date +%F`&& date +%c | tac >> `date +%F`'

Steps:
1. Exchange username with your user name, of course

2. Create directory called diary in your home

3. Reload your window manager by fi. log out and log into it. You can also simply clse the terminal window and open it again (malsdad tip ) or type in the terminal: source .bashrc (which doesn’t require from you closing existing instance of a terminal) -> your bash configuration file will be reloaded and you can start using your alias.

4. Open terminal of your choice and simply type into it: dz

The effect – everything you type after using alias dz and then: typing end and – Ctrl d (thanks to malsdad, again for a tip!) will be saved in text file under the name of current date in the directory called diary. You can also press Enter and Ctrl c to save the file…

What’s more – you can use the alias as often as you wish during the day – next entries will be added “auto-magically” to the same file with the current date and time underneath…Magic – isn’t it? he he

In the similar way you can create an alias to make notes in the terminal using for example following code:

alias dn='cd /home/username/notes && cat >> `date +%F`&& date +%c | tac >> `date +%F`'

EDIT: nicer version of the alias created by malsdad and friend (THANK YOU! ) – this one adds date at the beginning of a note + empty line at the end.

alias notesz='cd directoryname && date +%c | cat >> `date +%F` ; cat >> `date +%F` ; echo | tac >> `date +%F`'

And – please once again – remember that it is just the first step – one can certainly create much smarter bash script or script in other language… Anyway – it was funny to find it out on my own and I hope that it will help somebody else with similar to mine “problems” or… perhaps – inspire one of the Great Coders around…? who knows…?

Enjoy,

tami

sidux 2007-03 preview 2

Yesterday the first preview of an upcoming 3rd release of sidux 2007-03 “Γαῖα” have been released. Forums are busy – and it seems that the full-featured release of sidux “Γαῖα” will be as worth of trying as the previous ones

IMHO sidux is not only worth trying but also worth maintaining. The reasons for it are simple:

1. It is Debian Sid

2. It is made by professionals

3 It’s relatively easy to maintain – you do not need to reinstall every 6th month (under two conditions though – that you will keep the fast pace of upgrading distro every day – the script by h2 – called now smxi – will be your best friend and that you will read warnings on sidux forum – where you can also find the best help available around.)

4. It’s fast, stable (yes – this flavor of Sid is stable), fresh and…hmmm… as friendly as Γαῖα should be…

The best recommendation I could give is that it is installed as THE ONLY operating system on both of my machines for soon 1/2 year now. Even my PCLinuxOS addicted husband had to admit lately that the best rescue LiveCD is… sidux…he he…

Handy links for newcomers:

sidux forum

sidux manual

download link 1 (http) and download link 2 (ftp) – (if you are new to Linux – wait for the stable release – which is to come in 2-3 weeks!)

and last but not least – splendid help-tool => smxi script by h2 (besides – his back-up script – rd-h2.sh – is as brilliant as smxi… Big thanks! )

All of the best and have fun with sidux,

tami

“Obligatory” screenshot – this is how sidux can also look – here with fvwm-crystal window manager.

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