Finally, a way to annotate PDF files under Linux (provided you can run Wine)

I have been looking for years for a solution to annotate PDF files from my Linux box. I usually do a lot of proof-reading, and these highlight and post-it features are just gold when you have to transmit your comments using the internet.

My 250Gb external hard drive (a Seagate Barraccuda, which I was expecting to last at least for many years) just died a couple of days ago after less than two years of service. No matter the reputation of the manufacturer, hard drive failures can happen any time, so it's better to be prepared and not rely on only one storage for your important data. Fortunately, that was my case and nothing critical has been lost in the process.

Well anyway, now I just bought a new, 500Gb Western Digital Caviar drive, and the first thing I want to be sure about is that it is safe to store things on it. So, before even creating a new partition, let's make a complete surface check with badblocks!

The digital age has brought us new ways to preserve information. By allowing infinite copies of the same quality as the original, and to concentrate large amounts of data on tiny devices, electronic documents are clearly the way to go if you want to keep a book forever.

If you own a personal server, you are probably using it to perform many useful things: fetching your mails, hosting your personal web pages, connecting your local network to the internet, ... Now, you can also take advantage of its heat to make your own yoghurt.