For Linux user, don't let your computer wallpaper look old and boring.. Here, put some color n style on your computer screen...
Check out this "25 Coolest Linux Wallpapers".
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
Most users still think Nero and Roxio are the only people that make burning software. Did you know - there are tons of good, free burning applications for Windows. Here's a quick list of five that you can download and use for free!.
1. ImgBurn
Since most of my recording tasks involve ISO files or burning entire folders as a backup, ImgBurn has become my app of choice. It's small and easy to use, and I've yet to produce a coaster with it. It's also a great tool for creating ISO files - either from a disc or files and folders on your PC.ImgBurn also gets bonus points for the random comments that appear in status bar
2. CDBurner XP
If you prefer a more Nero-style experience but can do without all the bloat, CDBurner Xp is a great option. Apart from burning pretty much any kind of project, you can also use CDB to create covers and burn Lightscribe artwork to your discs. It also now supports Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats. It's very easy to use even for non-technical types.
3 .InfraRecorder
InfraRecorder has been part of the Portable Apps suite for a long time, and with good reason. It's an excellent burning application that can handle just about any type of project. It is, of course, totally portable so it's a perfect tool to cart around on your flash drive. Running 64-bit Windows? There are also native x64 versions of both the installer and portable versions of Infrarecorder.
4. NCH ExpressBurn
ExpressBurn packs a lot of functionality into a sub-400Kb download. In addition to creating data and audio discs and ISO files, it can also copy discs and burn video DVD and Blu-Ray/HD-DVD data discs. Volume normalization is supported on audio CDs.
5. Burn CDCC
If you just want a tool to burn ISO files, this is as simple as it gets. Burn CDCC is portable and supports CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray image files. It's totally portable and only takes up 150Kb of disk space. Browse for your ISO, choose the burner you want to use, and press start. That's all there is to it.
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product.
Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements. Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.
Version 8.5 now includes LinkScanner's Active Surf-Shield to check every Web page for threats at the only time that matters--when you're about to click on the link.
Download Here
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
There are already a couple of safe, easy ways to try out Linux on a Windows desktop system. But a new option could be the easiest one of all.
Windows users who want to kick the tires on a Linux distro already have the option of using a Live CD. Ubuntu also offers a cool gadget called Wubi, which installs a fully functional Ubuntu Linux distro on a Windows system without reformatting or partitioning a system's hard disk. Full Article Here
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
How to apply a different color of people's eyes using Photoshop.
1. Open the photo that has the person's eyes in Photoshop you want to change the color of
2. Click from the "Standard Mode" into the "Quick Mask Mode".
3. Select black from the "Swatches Palette" and use an appropriate sized brush 
and paint over the person's eyes in the photo (when you are in Quick Mask Mode, the brush will paint a transparent red). I used a "Hard Round 3 Pixel" brush and just clicked over the eyes where I wanted the highlight. By clicking on the eyes with the "Brush Tool", you will still have some original color come through which makes the color change more realistic. Click on View > Zoom In a few times so you can see the eyes in detail.
4. Click from the "Quick Mask Mode" into the "Standard Mode".
5. Now click on Select > Inverse and you should now have only the eyes selected in your photograph.
6. Click on Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation to make adjustments.
7. Adjust the Hue/Saturation slider to get various colors for the eyes. I set the Hue to [-148] and the Saturation to [+20] for the example below.
8. Your new eye color will appear as in the Angelina Jolie photograph below.
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
AvideMUX is one of the most widely used Video application for Ubuntu Linux.Avidemux is a graphical tool to edit videos. It can open AVI, openDML, MPEG, Nuppelvideo, and BMPs.
Most common codecs are supported (M-JPEG, MPEG, DivX, Xvid, huffyuv, WMA, etc.) thanks to libavcodec and libmpeg2. Video can be edited, cut, appended, filtered (resize/crop/denoise), and re-encoded to either AVI (MPEG4/MJPEG) or MPEG 1/2. The Spidermonkey Javascript engine is used to give powerful scripting capabilities.
Download AvideMUX
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
1. Press Tab will hide tool bar and palette, Shift+Tab will hide only palette.
2. Hold Shift + click the top blue bar for toolbar and palette will move them to the nearest edge.
3. Double click the top blue bar, on any palette window, to minimize it.
4. Double click the gray background will bring up open file option, Hold Shift+double click will open up the browser.
5. Sick of the default gray background around your image? Select paint bucket, hold shift and click on the gray background, it will change to whatever color you have in your foreground color box.
6. In Photoshop, all "Cancel" buttons in a window can be changed to a "Reset" button by holding Alt.
7. Caps lock will switch your cursor for accuracy.
8. Press F button, it will switch between 3 different screen modes and give you more working area.
9. To draw a straight line, click then move to the end point and hold shift + click.
10. Hold Ctrl will temporary make any tool into move tool until you release Ctrl.
11. Ctrl + Alt and click drag the image, it will make a duplication of the current image over lay on top.
12. Hold Space bar, it will make any tool into "Hand Tool" until you release Space bar.
13. While in Zoom Tool, Ctrl+space = zoom in, alt+space = zoom out.
14. Hold Ctrl and press "+" or "-" it will change the % for image in navigator window.
15. When Using eyedropper tool to capture foreground color, hold Alt and click, it will instantly capture the color for background.
16. With Measure Tool, draw a line then hold Alt and draw another line from the end of the first line, it will measure the angle.
17. Ctrl+Alt+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z will go back and forth in the history.
18. Alt+Backspace and Ctrl+Backspace will fill in the whole screen with foreground color or background color, Shift+backspace will bring up option window, Alt+Shift+Backspace and Ctrl+Shift+Backspace, will fill the image with foreground or background color but will leave the alpha transparent area alone.
19. When free transforming with Ctrl+T, hold Alt to keep the original image and then to transform a duplicated layer of it. Ctrl+Shift+T to repeat whatever you did in the last transform.
20. To make sure your Crop is on the edge of the image, hold Ctrl while cropping.
21. Ctrl+J will duplicate the current layer.
22. Ctrl+Shift+E will merge all visible layers to one layer, Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E will make a copy of the original and merge all visible layers.
23. While using Marquee Tools, hold Alt it will make the starting point as a center of the selection.
24. Ctrl + D to deselect, Ctrl+Shift+D to reselect what you deselected.
25. While selecting with Marquee tool, pressing the space bar can allow you to move the selection.
26. Hold Shift and press "+" or "-" it will switch between the layer mode:
N = Normal
I = Dissolve
M = Multiply
S = Screen
O = Overlay
F = Soft Light
H = Hard Light
D = Color Dodge
B = Color Burn
K = Darken
G = Lighten
E = Difference
X = Exclusion
U = Hue
T = Saturation
C = Color
Y = Luminosity
Q = Behind 1
L = Threshold 2
R = Clear 3
W = Shadow 4
V = Midtones 4
Z = Highlights 4
***The shortcut works even for following situation:
***Alpha turned off, Indexed Mode, Line tool, Bucket Tools, Dodge and Burn Tools
27. While using Brush or any other tools, change the opacity by typing the number.
*** type one number for % of it's ten times [4=40%]
***type two number for exact % [press 7 then 2 will get 72%]
28. Hold Alt while clicking on the eye icon beside the layer, it will hide all other layers.
29. Hold Alt while clicking the pen icon beside the layer, it will unchain this layer from all layers.
30. Select a layer, hold Alt and click the top edge of another layer, it will group them.
31. Hold Alt and click the button "Create a new layer", it will create a new adjustment layer.
32. Select a layer and hold Alt, then click on the garbage can button. It will instantly delete the layer, marquee where you want alpha and Ctrl+click the "Create new channel" button, it will create an alpha only on the area you marquee.
33. File> Automate > Contact Sheet: this can create a small thumbnail for every file, this can save you some time from searching.
34. When Move Tool is selected, toolbox on top can be useful from time to time, these are "Auto select layer" and "Show bounding box".
35. While Move Tool is selected, hold Shift (Alt+Shift+Right click) and allow whether or not to make a current layer chain with your upper layer.
36. With grid on, click the top left corner of the grid and drag to anywhere on the image to set the pivot, double clicking on the icon again reset the pivot.
37. After, draw a path on the image with pen tool, Ctrl+shift+H can hide/show it.
38. Control Navigator with keyboard sometimes can be more time efficient than mouse.
***
Home = move to top left corner
End = move to right bottom corner
PageUp = move up one page
PageDown = move down one page
Ctrl+PageUp = move left one page
Ctrl+PageDown = move right one page
Shift+PageUp = move up 10 pixel
Shift+PageDown = move down 10 pixel
Ctrl+Shift+PageUp = move left 10 pixel
Ctrl+Shift+PageDown = move right 10 pixel
39. Ctrl+Tab allows you to switch between different image files you are working on.
40. F12 = Revert to how the file was the last time you saved it.
41. Shortcuts for Channel: RGB, CMYK, indexed color...
***
Ctrl+"~" = RGB
Ctrl+1 = red
Ctrl+2 = green
Ctrl+3 = blue
Ctrl+4 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
Ctrl+"~" = CMYK
Ctrl+1 = light green
Ctrl+2 = pink red
Ctrl+3 = yellow
Ctrl+4 = black
Ctrl+5 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
Ctrl+1 = Indexed
Ctrl+2 = other path
Ctrl+9 = other path
42. hold Ctrl then you can draw a red box in the Navigator thumbnail for viewing.
43. Hold Alt and click on any of the history steps, that step will be copied and become the most recent one.
44. Alt drag a step from a serial action can copy it to another action.
45. Alt-click the flare preview thumb, and you can fill in numerical co-ordinates for lens flare.
46. Holding Shift + Alt while transforming an object will do it proportionally, from the center.
47. If you have the move tool selected and you want something duplicated just hold the alt key and move the image, holding the Shift + Alt while doing this, it will move it along one axis.
48. If you want to straighten an image that is crooked (maybe from scanning), click on the eyedropper tool or hit the I key 3 times to get the ruler. Click on the left side of the straight edge, then the right side of the straight (but crooked) edge. The choose Image> Rotate Canvas> Arbitrary, Photoshop will give you the degrees of rotation you just click ok.
49. If you create something in Illustrator, copy and paste it in Photoshop, it will ask you if you want this to be a pixel, path, or shape layer.
50. If you have a mask on a layer and you want to place a image in there and keep the mask. Simply open the image, say copy, and then Ctrl click on the layer to select the mask and use Shift + Ctrl + V to paste it into the mask which will also put it on a new layer as well.
51. To center an image, Ctrl + A , Ctrl + X, Ctrl + V, I think it also puts that image on a new layer.
52. Ctrl+E will merge the highlighted layer down to the next
53. When you have a brush selected, using [ or ] will scroll up or down that brush list.
54. Double clicking the zoom tool will make the image 100%, double clicking the hand tool will fit the image to your screen resolution.
55. Typing Content:
Ctrl + H will hide the highlight on your selected type.
If you click once while your type is selected on the font list, you can use your arrows to scroll up and down and see the fonts change on the fly!
Alt + Left or Right arrows will change your tracking in increments of 10
Ctrl + Alt + Left or Right arrows will change your tracking in increments of 100
Ctrl + Alt + Up or Down arrows will change your leading in increments of 10 pts
Shift + Ctrl with <> will change your font size in increments of 2 pts
56. Ctrl + Alt + T to make a copy of the layer in which you want to transform.
57. Ctrl + Alt + Right arrow. duplicates the layer you are on.
58. Change the active layer : Alt + [ or ].
59. Move the active layer up and down : Ctrl + [ or ].
60. Link 2 layers: with move tool click in the first layer hold Shift and click in the second one.
61. Ctrl+[plus key] will let you zoom in on an image anytime while Ctrl+[minus key] zooms out. Ctrl+Alt+[plus key] will zoom in AND RESIZE the window to fit the image size... same for Ctrl+Alt+[minus key] as well.
62. When using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, click backspace to undo a lasso step.
63. Pressing X will switch the selected foreground and background colors.
64. Pressing D will reset the foreground and backgrounds colors to black and white.
65. If your image has multiple layers, create a Marquee selection and press Ctrl+Shift+Cit won't work if you selected a hidden layer) will copy the image into memory as if they were flattened! Paste it on a new document to see the result.
66. Ctrl+Alt+Z will do multiple undo, versus just one.
67. Ctrl+click a layer thumbnail to select the layer transparency
68. To see what your layer mask looks like (and edit it), Alt+click its thumbnail in the layers palette
69. Press and hold Ctrl+Alt and click the Help bar with your mouse, drag it down and highlight "About Photoshop" and let go of the left mouse button for a different About Photoshop splash/screen.
70. When using Polygon lasso tool hold Shift to make a perfect line, it goes every 30 degrees
71.Photoshop CS2: Group many layers by clicking the layers you want to group by clicking it while holding the Shift key down, and then press Ctrl+G to group them into a folder for means of better organization.
72. Ctrl+Shift+N creates a new layer with a dialog box; Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N gets you a new layer without the hassle.
73. Back to brush, [ and ] will increase/decrease your brush size, Shift + [ or ] will soften or harden your brush edge.
74. Still in [ and ], Ctrl + [ or ] will move your currently selected layer up and down the hierarchy and Shift + [ or ] will select upper layer or lower layer.
75. Stamp Tool (s) is used to copy an area of image (defined by alt+clicking and area) and paint it somewhere else (cloning). It also works when you have multiple images open at the same time. Alt click an area of any opened file image and paint it anywhere else.
76. After you created a text you can click on font type tab and tap "down" key over and over to scroll through the font list and see the changes in (relatively) real time. A feature that I am tired of waiting to happen in illustrator.
77. Still in text mode, a trick from Microsoft word to apply hi-light to your text hit Ctrl+Shift+ <> to resize your text, to your preferred font size. Pressing Ctrl key while you are typing also gives you a free transform box temporarily and will go if you release it. Resizing text also works by pressing Ctrl+T (on selected layer, not when you are typing). It still retains as an editable text layer after.
78. And remember, pressing enter when you type will take you to a new line just like typing a letter but pressing Ctrl+Enter or Enter on numeric key will finish what you type.
79. You can drag a layer on to any other opened images in Photoshop and it will copy it as a layer (better than copy and paste image). Holding down Shift while moving it will snap the image right on the center of the other opened image
80. If you are working with sets....
Click on the set, in the blending mode it shows pass through by default... if you have an adjustment layer within a set and you want that adjustment layer to effect those layers underneath it within the set only, set the blending mode of the set to "normal" instead.
CODE
Mentioned before with more explanation:
- Pressed F to switch to 3 different viewing mode... when I first try it I said "wtf? what it's for?" Well, if you are sick of painting your image on the corners just to find yourself resizing your current image window, with F you can pan way outside your image. Happy corner painting!!
- Create a new file, 500x500 px, create a new layer, get a standard brush and paint a dot on the top center of your image (like the number 12 position on a clock). Press Ctrl+Alt+T, it will duplicate your original layer and free transform the new one. Move the pivot point (the circle with little dot in it found when you are free transforming something) to the center of your image, rotate your image 30 degrees to the right and hit OK to confirm the transform
now.........
Be excited..........
Hit Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T 10 times and see what happens!
81. When using the "move tool" you can select any layer by holding down the CTL key(CMD on a Mac) and clicking on the part of the layer on the canvas with your mouse. This way you won't have to go to the Layers palette every time and you don't have to keep checking on or off the auto select options for the move tool.
82. You can link up layers without going into the layers palette, by selecting the layer (how I just mentioned above) and holding down CTL + Shift(CMD + SHIT on a Mac) for each additional layer you want to link up. You can unlink them by clicking on the layer again.
83. You can delete more than one layer at a time.......by linking up all the layer you want to delete, and holding down CTL(CMD on a Mac) while you click on the garbage icon to delete the layer.
84. When using the type tool you can ok it by pressing CTL + Enter(CMD + Enter on a Mac) instead of clicking on the check mark on the options.
85. If you have more than one type layer, and want to make any of the following changes color/font/size/alignment/initializing to all of the type layers at the same time.....All you have to do is link up the type layer, hold down the Shift key and in the options for the type tool make your change i.e. color, size, etc.
86. You can use your number pad to change opacity for a layer.... I.e. type 5 and the opacity will be 50; type 55 and the opacity will be 55. You can use the number pad for any tool that uses opacity...like the airbrush tool, stamp tool, brush, gradient, etc.
87. Pressing Tab key will hide the Tools palette and any other palette that you have on the stage. Pressing "F" will change between Full Screen modes. Using these two tips you can view your work Full Screen without any palettes.(You can press CTL+Alt+0 to fit your work to the screen, or you can press CTL+0 to zoom to 100%)
88. Pressing the "+" and "-" keys while holding down CTL+Alt will resize the whole document window, not just the work area.
89. You can delete a layer by holding down the "Alt" key and pressing "L" twice......actually now with Photoshop 7 you got to press "L" three times. It's not actually a keyboard shortcut, but it's a quick way to do it....don't know if it works on a MAC.
90. Pan documents with the space bar.
91. Ctrl+click a layer (in layers palette) to select it's transparency.
92. Ctrl+Alt+click between 2 layers in the palette to group them.
93. Alt + click in “add layer mask” button to add a black layer mask (instead of a white one).
94. When you select something, pressing Ctrl+J will copy the selected area and add another layer with the copied area - opposing copying the layer, making a new layer, and pasting it.
95. To glue the palettes together (all palettes combined into one strip), you just drag & drop a palette onto the end of another palette (watch the rectangle that indicates where the palette will get attached to).
96. Hold down Alt while Burning to Dodge instead, and vice versa.
97. Ctrl-click a layer to select an objects; alternatively, you may select more than one object/s in more than 1 layer by holding Shift while using the method just mentioned (Ctrl-click). To deselect, just press Ctrl+D.
98. If you have a mini scroll on your mouse, you may use that to zoom in (scroll up) or zoom out (scroll down).
99. Need to locate a layer quick? Use the Move Tool (V) and right click on the area the object lays. There should now be a “cursor-menu” with all the layers that is in that particular area. Now take a good guess and see which one of them fits the shoe; select a layer and Ctrl-Click the layer in the Layer Palette - see if the selection traces the object you desired to edit/find. Useful for those messy people (i.e. me!).
100. Need to get rid of a background quick? Assuming you at least know how to crop around an object, do so. Now press Ctrl+I or Shift+Ctrl+I for Inverse Selection. Press Ctrl+X to %@#!* that part out, and you should be left with the object!
101. Want to save the time from loading All your Photoshop brushes, when your Photoshop accidentally forgets to load them up (happens to me sometimes)? Select the brush tool, and click the little arrow pointing right (located at the top toolbar), next to the Master Diameter tick. Go down to Preset Manager and now there should be a menu of all the brushes currently loaded. Click on the first brush (top left) and scroll down to the bottom. Now hold Shift and click the last brush (bottom right). This should highlight all the brushes. See the “Save Set” to the right in the menu? Click that and name your brush set whatever you want, for this matter I just name it All (so I remember that this brush set contains all the brushes I currently have loaded, and is located near the top when loading the brushes up).
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
Open Culture has a comprehensive list of totally free resources for anyone looking to learn a language though audio files. Whether you're brushing up your Yiddish or delving into Dutch, you'll find a free feed here.
Organized alphabetically by language, Open Culture's list of free foreign language lessons includes links to each lesson series' iTunes site, podcast RSS feed, or basic web site to get you downloading and e-nun-ci-a-ting immediately. It covers a whole lot of languages you might have no idea there were freely-available tutors for, and the variety of lesson types is intriguing. If straight-up repeat-after-me audio lessons get tiresome, many language areas also have humorous amateurs offering some local color, or the language's mother nation's news, read extra slowly to help with vocabulary and comprehension.A great way to learn 37 languages for free. Spanish, French, English, Mandarin, Russian and much more. Why pay for Rosetta Stone when you can learn a new language for free.
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
If you plan to get your Linux knowledge a formal nurturing, an online course may be something you would be interested in! These courses would be beneficial for people interested to master the art of Linux.
1. Linux.org:
They have three levels of course modules: Linux Online hosts these courses considering the students at all levels. You can graduate to the next level, soon after you’re comfortable with one. The best part if that you can carry out the learning process without you having a need to register or download any software whatsoever. Apart from the course material, you can get a lot of how-to’s & tips to make you more efficient as a Linux guy.
2. Novel OpenCourseWare Project:
Novell offers a good learning platform with free Linux courses on their OpenCourseWare project. These courses can easily be accessed via the website without having the need to register. Product documentation, softwares, tips, etc. come assorted for free!
3. IBM - Linux Professional Institute:
The links mentioned below provide an array of Linux tutorials, courtesy IBM. These tutorials are intended to help the candidates prepare for the Linux Professional Institute(LPI) Exam. One needs to register before accessing the material, but it’s free for all!
4. Shuttleworth Foundation’s - Learn Linux Project:
It is an Open Source initiative backed by the Shuttleworth Foundation. These courses are again free and can be accessed without any registration for free.
5. VTC University:
VTC University is well known for a lot of computer software training courses. Most of them need you to pay for an access. But VTC offers free Linux training material. You can access a few free video tutorials and can view them on QuickTime or Flash!
6. About.com’s Linux courses:
About.com is a well known website and form a part of the NYT. They offer a number of online courses for free. One can get the course material delivered directly to an email account on day-to-day or weekly basis, depending on the course! The website also hosts a lot of how-to’s, tutorials and a forum for Linux enthusiasts.
7. Begin Linux:
Begin Linux also provides free Linux courses. You may have to register for a few courses. However, Guest login is allowed for most of the courses. This would mean no registration glitches. The courses are well designed and include textual as well as video content.
8. University of California at Davis - Professor Norm Matloff’s Tutorial Center for Linux/Unix:
The link below leads to a great Linux and Unix tutorial center. All the tutorials are pretty much detailed and are available for free to both students and non-students of the university. There is need for any registration.
9. The Linux Tutorial:
This website was started by author & systems admin Jay Mohr. He maintains a lot of free Linux tutorials on the website. Apart from the course material, one can find some good articles, glossary and a forum. All for free!
10. Linuxtopia - Linux Security for Beginners:
It is a great learning website for beginners who wish to learn Linux security. It provides an in-depth knowledge of various concepts involving security of a *nix system. The left-menu bar allows easy navigation to other Linux courses as well. A must visit for a Linux security enthusiast.
by Kenergy Ichi Read more...
KenergyIchi is a technology blog created by Kenergy, a man from Borneo, Sarawak.
