So what is the solution? For one, you can use Cygwin on Windows as mentioned in the previous post. For the other, you can download the all powerful gVim. Once you install this, you can use favourite editor in Windows too!

Note: gVim is also having a WYSIWYG interface, with which you can perform the tasks easily using menus even if you are not so well versed with the command interface of Vim. So it is a win-win for both novice and advanced users.

1. Live CDs: A live CD is a bootable disk which runs the whole operating system without modifying anything on your Hard Disk. Generally live CDs are used for system recovery. However, it’s not a bad idea to use it for learning purpose. Just download any of the Linux live distros and burn it onto a CD or DVD. (Knoppix and Ubuntu are popular distros). Once this is done, you can insert the disk and boot the system using that disk. The whole operating system will be loaded on RAM. You can run and work on Linux just as you do it with the insatlled Linux.
2. CygWin: First, let me make it clear: CygWin is NOT Linux. It is a Linux-like environment which installs on Windows, and is best in its class. Once you install it, you can use the CygWin’s Bash shell (similar to the familiar Command Promot in Windows). You can run almost all the native Linux commands and play with them. Best thing about CygWin is that it installs just as  any other application in Windows.

This should get anyone started with Linux. Once you are familiar with the basics of Linux, you can install any full-fledged version of Linux. And once you dive into the world of Linux, there is no turning back! All the best!

• You enter wiki technology in address bar of Mozilla Firefox and you will land in the wikipedia page for Technology.
• You enter img taj mahal in address bar of Mozilla Firefox and you will land in the Google image search page for Taj Mahal.
• You enter man grep in address bar of Mozilla Firefox and you will land in the Unix man page fro grep command.
• You enter cpp qsort in address bar of Mozilla Firefox and you will land in the Function reference page for qsort() function.

Doesn’t it seem fascinating? Yes, and this can actually be done in Firefox, with no additional software or plugin installed! Here are the steps to make it work:

1. First thing you should know is the website where you need the query to be searched. For example, in the first example Wikipedia is the search site. You can see the search box in the sidebar on the left side.
2. Right click on the Search box and select Add a Keyword for this search…
   

   Add keyword for this Search

3. Give a meaningful name, say, Wikipedia and a convenient keyword, say, wiki for the bookmark.
   

   Add Bookmark

4. Press Add, and you are done!

You can type wiki <search term> to search a topic in Wikipedia.

Similarly, goto Google image search page and create a bookmark as before, with keyword img. You can give any name, since it is just for your reference. Done!

If you observe the third and fourth examples that I have given at the beginning, you’ll come to know that you can not get the expected result with this technique. For the Unix man page site, there is no search box, and for the C++ complete reference you’ll land in a search result page instead of actual reference page. This is more involved and more interesting.

If you observe the URL of the Unix man page, it is something like:
http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/CGI/man-cgi?<search-term>

So, you’ll have to follow a slightly different step in this case.

1. Copy the URL i.e.,. http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/CGI/man-cgi?grep
2. Right click anywhere on Bookmarks toolbar and choose New Bookmark... (If Bookmarks Toolbar is not visible, goto View -> Toolbars -> Bookmarks Toolbar. You can also right click on the Bookmarks menu instead)
   

   New Bookmark

3. Give appropriate name, keyword and description.
4. Paste the copied URL in Location box.
5. Replace the search term with %s. (In this case, replace grep with %s).
6. Click Add and you are done!

Coming to the last example, the procedure is exactly same as the above, but the trick is to find the appropriate URL to be pasted in Location box. For this, you need to play around the web site for a while. If you search any term, say grep, in http://www.cplusplus.com/ you’ll see that it generates an URL something like http://www.cplusplus.com/query/search.cgi?q=grep. In that page, it also tells you:

This is the keyword page for “qsort” (quicklink: cplusplus.com/qsort )

Now, this is your hint! You have to paste http://www.cplusplus.com/%s (Note the replacement of search term with %s).

With this technique, you can create a custom keyword for any search. Create a bunch of them, and make searching fun!

Gmail provides Labels & Filters. By using these features effectively, you can keep your Inbox clean. I will demonstrate it with an example.

Creating a filter to keep Orkut emails out of the inbox

1. Login to your Gmail Inbox.
2. Click On Create a filter link near the Search box.
   

   Create filter in Gmail

3. Type orkut has sent you a friend request next to Subject.
   

   Gmail Filter by Subject

4. Click Next Step.
5. Check Skip the Inbox (Archive it)
6. Check Apply the label:
7. Select New Label… from the drop down list and give a meaningful name, say, Orkut
8. Click Also apply filter to n conversations below. (where n is a number).
9. You may select Mark as read and Never send it to spam if you like.
   

   Filter in Gmail

10. Click Create Filter and you are done!

Similarly you can create a filter for subject line orkut has written you a scrapbook entry and choose the same options as above.

By following the above method for other regular emails that you get, like new job offers, comments on your blogs, etc., you can keep them away from Inbox, thus keeping it clean. You can always access them by clicking the respective labels in the sidebar.

Let this new year bring all happiness to everyone.

I’m still under the process of setting up the site properly and customizing it. So stay tuned and get ready to get a whole bunch of new tips and tweaks in the new year!

Have a blast!

Here you can expect many interesting technology tips.

Thanks to HyperWebEnable for providing this domain for free. If you are an internet geek, go get a domain and start blogging in your domain