Trying to automate the creation of PDFs with the Hindi flashcards for http://www.ISpeakHindi.com.  I am open to anything that can run on Windows or Linux.    I prefer something that would run on Linux so I can put it on the webserver.  So I am focused on looking at solution in PHP or Ruby.

I found a wonderful PDF creation library for PHP, but it does not support unicode:

http://www.fpdf.org/

I found a “not quite ready for PRO” version that has been internationalized

http://acko.net/blog/ufpdf

I could not get it to work with the Hindi characters, i.e. क ख ग घ etc.

I found PDF::Writer for Ruby, but still no luck..

In the process of looking for this, I found this Ruby on Rails screen cast in Hindi:

http://www.fromjaipur.com/?p=4

23 super useful command line tools:

http://enterpriselinuxlog.blogs.techtarget.com/2007/07/10/23-super-useful-linux-command-line-tools-it-pros-choices/

Three ways to improve performance of your Linux machine

http://www.linux.com/feature/116693

Linux powered laptop

http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/131

Best distro for LinuxDummies

http://www.linuxdummies.com/the-most-suitable-distros-for-linux-dummy-freespire-opensuse-mandriva-ubuntu.html

Making your laptop Linux friendly

http://binarypower.com/2007/07/making-your-laptop-linux-friendly.html

OpenMoko

http://www.openmoko.com/

TrollTech’s Qtopia Geenphone

http://trolltech.com/products/qtopia/greenphone

http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page

 I go the link from this story:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=475709

http://www.beryl-project.org/

http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1248001,00.html

I got Open Suse 10.2 from www.opensuse.org.  Installed it on my Compaq TC1000.  The installation went just fine.  Had to increase the screen size. 

 I get a terminal service prompt going.  Then I “su” to root.  Then “tail -f /var/log/messages”.  Pop in my Sierra Wireless Aircard 875.  I see it recognize it and map three tty’s to it:  /dev/ttyUSB0, /dev/ttyUSB1, and /dev/ttyUSB2. 

Then I set up a modem mapped to /dev/ttyUSB0, I follow the directions on: http://andy.hillhome.org/blog/2007/02/05/using-a-umts-card-on-opensuse-102/

Step 2. Configuring the modem

The last thing to do is configure the card as a modem so you can actually connect with it. Load up YaST or other favorite tool, and add a new modem using device /dev/modem, as in the following screenshots.

The important thing in the image above is the second intitialization command. For Cingular, it needs to be as follows:

AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","ISP.CINGULAR"

The next step is creating the ISP/provider entry that contains the phone number to dial:

For Cingular, here are the correct details:

Phone number: *99***1#

User name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

Password: cingular1

Then I go to network manager, go to “Dial up connections”, connect to Cingular.

And it works just fine!

I did a speed test and get about 460kbps down.  (I got around 750kbps down under windows.)

It works reasonably fast!

Sites that describe how to install Linux on a Compaq TC1000 tablet PC

http://linux-tablet-pc.dhs.org/

Linux Tablet PC – Debian GNU/Linux on the Compaq Tablet TC1000

Status

 http://groundstate.ca/TC1000

Mandrake 10 on a TC1000