There are number of Ubuntu (Linux) users and “would be” sellers that might want to stay within Ubuntu and not have to also have a Windows machine to bulk list on Ebay, their own shopping cart or Google base. Although there may be many ways to do this, we wanted to introduce a way that we found that is working for us. This took us quite a bit of time and research and we hope this article helps others.

In short, you have to have the right software that can do the job all the way to completion. We wanted to stay completely open source where possible and not use proprietary file formats. All of the software and resource below are free with the exception of web site hosting. We also decided to use a professional Joomla template that was not free, although there are free templates available.

Here is the software we found to be the most helpful: (OS = Open Source)

• Ubuntu (OS)
• Open Office Spreadsheet (OS and available on-line or within Ubuntu)
• GIMP (OS and available on-line or within Ubuntu)
• Joomla (OS and available on-line)
• VirtueMart (OS and available on-line)
• CSV Improved (CC BY-ND)
• Gedit (OS and available within Ubuntu)
• Firefox (OS and available on-line or within Ubuntu)

This article does not go into the zillions of details that are involved in setting up web sites, ebay, shopping carts and the like. Instead this article simply points the way and lets “would be” sellers that want to use open source software know there is indeed “a way” and what that way is. Again, this is not to say this is the only way.

Spreadsheets:
The key to this system is to create or move your listings into spreadsheet. This allows one to bulk upload (start, edit, update, end, etc) ones listings on Ebay, their shopping cart, Google Base and other venues. You will end up with one spreadsheet for Ebay, one for the shopping cart and CSV Improved will create a Google Base spreadsheet for you. The spreadsheets are each tailored specifically to the tasks they are to perform but the bulk of the information is the same for all of them.

Open Office Spreadsheet
In this article we are suggesting Open Office Spreadsheet as the tool of choice. There may be other editors that are just as nice but we know this one can do all the jobs that are needed.

Gedit
There can be occasions along the way where you might need to edit in “plain text” and Gedit can help us with that. Gedit is similar to the Notepad you find in Windows yet is more powerful than Notepad. This tool can be useful for converting text or code or something you have copied onto the clipboard into plain text also. For example, you can just paste into Gedit, re-select what you pasted, and click copy – now (like magic) what is stored in the clipboard is in plain text, ready to paste into a spreadsheet or XHTML code.

GIMP:
This is a great tool for editing and resizing images for your listings or creating logos and such.

Joomla:
Joomla is a CMS tool for creating web sites and managing content. CMS stands for Content Management System. On a web site you have lots of content to manage in the form of articles, images, artwork and possibly sound and video.

Joomla Template:
Joomla sites need to be styled with a template and there are many templates available. Be careful not to download “free” (as in pirated) commercial templates as they tend to have viruses and other bugs. It takes a lot of effort to set all this up and the last thing you need is your site hacked. Some templates can style both Joomla and VirtueMart. We chose to use a professional RocketTheme Template

Web Site Hosting:
Some web sites hosts like Dreamhost offer “one click installs” of Joomla and easy database management so installation is super is easy. We also like that our site is Green by going with DreamHost.

VirtueMart:
VirtueMart is a component for Joomla that adds a shopping cart into Joomla. This is nice in that you are not dealing with a cart and separate web site for the sake of simplicity, management and styling.

CSV Improved:
CSV Improved is an import export component for VirtueMart so you can import, manage and export your listings. You can even export your listings as a XML file. How to export a ready made XML file for Google Base using CSVI VirtueMart? Within Joomla: Components > CSVI VirtueMart > Export > CSVI Google Base Export XML > Choose the settings you need or leave them at the defaults > Export.

Click image for a larger version

Google Base:
Google Base is under going a name change to Google Merchant Services. When you upload your products to Google Base your products show up in the “shopping” tab (product search on Google) which is a free service offered by Google. Here is an example showing our product listings on Google: http://www.google.com/products?q=organic%20futon%20vitalbodies

Ebay:
Ebay tends to be very proprietary and can lead one down that path – to help avoid that fate you can use Ebay File Exchange rather than Turbo Lister which tends to only run on certain Operating Systems like Windows. If one learns Ebay File Exchange rather than Turbo Lister, they may only need to use Turbo Lister once to export their listings.  That is if they have a lot of listings already on ebay, otherwise one really does not need Turbo Lister at all. If you do have listing on ebay you need to manage, you must get the ebay item numbers to match up to the title and description within the spread sheet in Open Office. At the time we needed to download our listings we did not know about open source jAOLT that can also do the task that Turbo Lister does. I have not tried jAOLT but it is well worth a look and frees you from needing a Windows machine to run Turbo Lister to get your spread sheet started.
Additionally, if you leave Turbo Lister behind and switch to Ebay File Exchange you are are much more ready to load your own web sites cart with your spreadsheet and add your products to Google Base. This frees you from Windows, IE, Wine and Turbo Lister at the very least. We were able to do just that, using Open Office, Ebay File Exchange, Joomla, VirtueMart, and CSV Improved and the other software listed here. Consider keeping the item titles at 55 characters or less so they are compatible with Ebay.

Firefox:
I mention Firefox because I know it works throughout the whole process. Epiphany is nice for double checking web pages as it uses the Webkit engine to display web pages and Webkit which can pass the acid3 test for CSS.

Additional Learning: Some of the learning curve took a considerable amount of time to figure out so I wrote a few blog posts to help others flatten that curve.

Using File Exchange And Turbo Lister With Ebay Listings In Ubuntu:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2009…ngs-in-ubuntu/

You have to know a few tricks to get Open Office to play nice:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2009…file-exchange/

All in all, there are forums for each of the programs or web sites and the details-upon-details involved go far beyond this article but I am happy to share that there is “a way” to make bulk listing happen and stay in Ubuntu and Linux.

Here is another graphic I created to help simplify what needs to be learned:

VitalBodies bought a RocketTheme template for a job for a customer web site, only later to find out that you need to buy a special program (Adobe Fireworks) just to edit the graphics. VitalBodies uses all open source software so that did not sit all that well. In order to edit the logo and other graphics we needed a work around so we wrote this guide for us and all RocketTheme users. RocketTheme produces very nice templates for open source Joomla!.

CSS:
The first step is to find the logo and the basic things that relate to the logo like the CSS.

NOTE: If you right click on the logo on your new RT site you will not be able to access the logo as there is a blank image in front of that logo.

Instead log into the Joomla panel and go to EXTENSIONS > TEMPLATE MANAGER.
Click on your template.
The click on the EDIT CSS button.
On most RT templates there will be a CSS for the main document.
On Mynxx for example that is template.css.
Click the radio button and choose EDIT.

On most templates, right at the top you can see the size of the logo.
So for example in Mynxx:
/* This is the Main template logo, Edit this to match the width and height of your new logo image */
#logo {width: 260px;height: 44px;}

Remember that size.
It is easiest to make your logo the same size and not mess with the CSS.
If you create your own logo and make it a bit larger or smaller you will need to change this size.
If you change the height you might even need to change the height of the HEADER. That is advanced to some degree so you might want to avoid that if you are not sure.

And if you scroll down a bit farther looking for the word logo:
#logo {float: left;margin-left: 10px;position: relative;}
#logo:hover {text-decoration: none;}
.logo-text {position: absolute;right: 3px;top: 15px;text-transform: uppercase;font-size: 13px;}

Click CANCEL.
And then CANCEL again.

LOGO:
Next let’s find the actual logo itself using FTP.
FTP into Joomla on your site and navigate to the TEMPLATES directory.
Double click your template (in my case it was rt_mynxx_j15)
From here on out, your on your own, as it depends on the template where they store the logo and how many there actually are.
In Mynxx for example I found logo.png in a directory called IMAGES in subdirectories called LIGHT and DARK.
Download the the logo graphic(s) and remember where you got them from and where you downloaded them to.

FONTS:
If you downloaded the RT sources for your template, you received a font or fonts.
If you want to use them, you will need to load them into your Operating System.
For Ubuntu Heron, Ibex and Jackalope check out this blog post I wrote:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2008/07/01/installing-fonts-in-ubuntu/

EDITING THE LOGO:
Open the logo.png (or what ever yours is called) in GIMP, INKSCAPE or both or your favorite open source program for creating graphics.

In Ubuntu Heron, Ibex and Jackalope, these programs are free and super easy to install.
See this blog post I wrote for how to install literally hundreds of free programs that come with Ubuntu and many that do not:
http://www.vitalbodies.com/blog/2008/07/18/how-to-install-programs-in-ubuntu-hardy-heron/

You can also just start with a new document in your favorite open source graphic program and simply make the graphic the same size and your set to go.

I like to open the original graphic and study it:
Does it have a transparent background?
Are the letters light or dark of in the middle range somewhere?
Is the text centered or way off to one side?
High or low, bold or subtle?
Etc.
This gives a nice starting point.

In GIMP I like to check the IMAGE > MODE and see if the image is Indexed, or RGB or Grayscale.
If you want to change the original image you might want to change the mode to RGB if you want more or different colors.

As the creative types we are, we do not have to do what the RT people did, but you at least know they did the math (so to say) and worked out the bugs as far as what works for the template.

UPLOAD THE LOGO:
Once you have created and saved your new master piece logo you just need to FTP in to Joomla again (rename the original) and upload your new logo.
Some of you might need to change the CSS if you made the image larger or smaller than the original.

DISCLAIMER:
This is a brief tutorial (not exhaustive), use at your own risk and yes, there are likely to be typos…
Back up and all that other safety stuff and have fun!

FUN:
Did you use this guide to make a new logo? Show it off here, by adding it to a reply.

Here is what we created:

An additional note is that the little images for the variation chooser are located in the your_site.com/images/stories/styles folder if you decide to change them to match your site.

VitalBodies.net has created an Open Source Drawing of a “Distribution Board” (as the Wikipedia would call it) or an Electrical Panel as we would call it. Some times called a breaker box, fuse box, breaker panel, electric panel or other names.

This Open Source SVG is intended to be a generic electrical panel and not a photo realistic drawing or an exacting drawing of a specific panel, opps box, um, I mean board, yes board, that’s it!

Useful to map out your breakers or as a starting point for a more specific panel/box/board drawing of your own – you know.

Created in Inkscape – Font is Bitstream Vera Sans.

Distribution Box - Click for a larger image

Visit VitalBodies.net for the latest SVG and to learn more…

VitalBodies.net made a number of graphics to support the Open Source DiscWrapper Project.

Use the graphics on your site to help bring exposure to this great project.

Use the software to make disk and jacket covers for your collection of disks!

We used Inkscape or GIMP to create some CD cover graphics graphics.

See all the Graphics

DiscWrapper is a cover designer for home-made discs. It was made with Code::Blocks and it uses the wxWidgets library. It has template covers. Depending on the case there are pages where you can place labels, images, and lists.

Visit DiscWrapper…

VitalBodies has crafted a free LightScribe Template for people that want to create labels on CDs and DVDs using LightScribe.

The Template can be downloaded and changed using GIMP.

There is a also a ready made label for Ubuntu that you can burn for your Ubuntu disks and the Ubuntu Title font is also available for download.

Visit our VitalBodies.net OPEN SOURCE area to download the template and start burning…

VitalBodies has worked hard to create an new web site to show case some of our design and web skills.

Click image to see a larger image.

Visit VitalBodies.net

We thought if we hit 50,000 views we might celebrate by moving our vitalbodies.wordpress.com blog to the VitalBodies.com/blog and start using Open Source software from WordPress.org rather than the free blog offering from WordPress.com.

This allows us much more blogging freedom than a WordPress.com blog like adding extensions.

But could we wait to hit 50,000 views?

We got to excited and started to make the big switch at 47,428 or so views!

So for the next 8-9 days it will take to reach 50,000 views we are launching our new blog and choosing a template and adding features.

Our new Carbon Neutral Web Site Hosting made the switch easy, fun and faster than we had expected and  we wanted to try out the one click install of WordPress and this blog shows it works!

Re-did the charcoal filter on the workstation. Very little dust had gotten in since the filter had been installed. Now, with the new install, the ThinkStation is totally protected with charcoal filters to the extent it can be.  All the air moving in or out passes through a filter.

This modification would be helpful for most anyone that is Multiple Chemical Sensitive (MCS).

Workstations tend to be loaded with heavy metals and flame retardants and who knows what. Plus this keeps the dust out and makes the workstation quieter.

Here is the filter roughed in before using double faced tape where the air comes in.

Here is the filter roughed in before using double faced tape where the air comes out.

How well did this work?

The toxic fumes dropped many fold and made a huge difference. From sore throat level to nearly unnoticeable! We are talking vision blurring fumes here also!

Will this block air flow?

These are air filters, and are unlikely to block much air. Massive amounts of dust on fans and heat sinks definitely block air. This will make the workstation run a little warmer perhaps, but so far the fans have not even sped up any. And yes these fans can speed up, sounds like a jet when the power comes on, then gets really quiet, and even quieter with the filters. There will be some amount of charcoal that gets in but I doubt that will cause a problem.

If you try this yourself do so at your own risk of course.

Side Notes: Also found another used Triplite Isobar surge protector so now the workstation has 12 outlets (total) of surge protection that can hold at bay much higher electrical strikes that the normal cheapo surge protectors. These are really nice protectors. Added another burner and a hot swappable SATA drive.

These workstations are very well made!

UPDATE: Looking up E-waste or electronic waste or the like quite a bit is written.

Motherboards and all those components are made of ALL kinds things including Toxic Metals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-waste

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxic_metal

The elements in computers span a huge portion of the Periodic chart.

Heating all these components, as you can imagine, can send fumes of dozens of elements into the air.

Fire retardants are used in many components and in electronics and computers.

The US tends to still be in the dark ages of what is toxic and not, plus the US (and China) are the 2 of the worlds leading polluters.

Be aware also that “the powers that be” have to AGREE and ACKNOWLEDGE toxicity and then BUDGET and ACT.
Those are human acts which happen very rarely.
Something that is toxic, is toxic, even if the government does not ACKNOWLEDGE the fact.
Thus there are many many toxic things that are not acted upon.
And the toxic things that are ACKNOWLEDGED are not ACTed upon the most part.
Even, the EPA will not regulate anything that they do not have the mandated BUDGET to regulate – even if they freely ACKNOWLEDGE something is toxic.

And companies are basically self regulated.
If you make the component or item, you have to decide if it is toxic -
And do you think all the companies that make all things do that?
Not likely, that is huge science and effort unto it self.
Even the drug companies for the most part do their own testing.
And those are monitored by medical people where electronics are not.

…Unless a huge clamor is raised.
The loudest of the loud is what most people might hear about – mercury, lead, asbestos etc.

E-waste because of it’s toxicity is a huge global problem. So I decided, why breathe it?

(Click Image To See The Full Size Version)

Today’s cartoon is dedicated to dads that like to read The Funnies.

Cartoon created using all open source software including Inkscape.

“A weir is a small overflow-type dam commonly used to raise the level of a river or stream.”

THE CURRENT WEIR:
The water for the water system comes from a very small creek deep in the dense old growth woods on the Oregon Coast. The water is loaded with fir needles and sediment and the flow is weak rather than strong. The current weir is a small dam that raises the water level so we can pre-screen the water before sending the water down the hill through nearly a 1/4 mile of tubing. Even with the existing screen the tubing or screen can become clogged because of all the fir needles and sediment naturally occurring in the area and water.

THE CURRENT SCREEN: Our current screen is an open-ended 6 inch diameter pipe less than 2 feet long that has been drilled with lots of holes and wrapped in a stainless steel screen. The screen is Zip-tied on each end and the Zip-tied ends of the screen are then stuffed into the open ends of the pipe. This design works well for it’s intended purpose but tends to need cleaning about 4 times a year and clogs un-expectedly every now and then. What usually ends up stopping the flow is the weir filling up with sediment and completely choking the filter.

SCREEN DESIGN GOALS: Ideally the next newly designed screen within the weir would be self cleaning or non-existent. Because of the remote location on the side of a small water fall, that might not be possible. Additionally the size, shape and amount of fir needles and the low amount of flow also tend to make designing a self cleaning filter difficult. If a self cleaning design is not possible, the next screen design should prevent clogging and be easy to clean and monitor. Additionally, adding some degree of filtration to remove dirt and sediment would be helpful providing the filters do not clog or need changing more than the screen. The design should also be such that the water flow is not slowly reduced until the screen clogs. Instead, the flow should not be reduced until the entire screen or the entire filter needs to be cleaned.

CLEANING: Cleaning the existing screen is done roughly 4 times a year. As the screen slowly clogs, water flow is slowly reduced until the screen needs to be cleaned again. Cleaning the current screen requires
removing the entire screen and pipe unit from the weir and carefully removing all the fir needles and sediment. Occasionally the pipe and screen unit need to be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned or even rebuilt with a new screen. The next screen design should be able to achieve easier cleaning and perhaps only need to be cleaned once a year.

NEW WEIR DESIGN GOALS:
SELF CLEANING
PREVENTS CLOGGING
EASY TO CLEAN
EASY TO MONITOR
ADDITIONAL FILTRATION
DOES NOT REDUCE FLOW
INCREASES POTENTIAL FLOW AND HEAD
NEEDS CLEANING LESS OFTEN

NEW WEIR DESIGN: One idea is to build a small waterfall into the current weir. The waterfall could be a flat, contained area that the water flows over. This would allow the water to flow as a small, wide waterfall into a newly designed screen and filter box. By having the water flow in the form of a small, wide waterfall (rather than a tube) we would prevent clogging. In the diagram there is a 12 inch wide waterfall, that is seen from the side. Another even better design is to use a short run of large pipe coming from the weir to the weir filter. This would allow the Weir Filter to be completely outside of the stream bed. Large rocks can make their way down the stream bed in the rushing waters of winter. Over flow could (and should) pipe back to the stream. Ideally one should only take what water is needed and using a simple shut off like a float valve down below, stop the water from flowing down the pipe. This would leave as much water as possible to flow down the stream bed.

NEW SCREEN DESIGN: VitalBodies design idea was to buy or build a filter box. In water garden design they are often called POND SKIMMERS or WATER FALL FILTERS. This basic design is not self cleaning but is easy to clean, monitor and maintain. The design illustrated meets most all of our requirements. The filter basket would catch things like fir needles and small rocks and could easily lift out and be dumped.

“UV filtration could mean that we no longer have to use Chlorine.”

NEW POTENTIAL: Another design idea that VitalBodies proposed, is to make use of the water that is used for a micro hydro-electric generator. The power could be used to run a UV filter and what is called a UV clarifier. The UV clarifier is an underwater light that could be placed in the cistern to prevent algae and such. UV filtration could mean that we no longer have to use (or could at least use less) Chlorine Bleach to “purify” the water, much of which is used for drinking.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: VitalBodies also pointed out in our consultation that bleach, sadly, is only 6% chlorine, and the other 94% they do not have to state on the label what that is. What ever mystery 94% is, could be almost anything?

MAKING USE OF NEW POTENTIAL: To make use of this potential VitalBodies recommended that they might need to raise the low spot of the water line (tubing) that runs down the hill by moving a small section. In addition, we could have the tubing up by the waterfall be of a larger diameter for some distance, then come back down to the current diameter to increase HEAD. Since the flow of water is nearly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the water has HEAD and FLOW from traveling so far down (nearly 1/4 mile) to the cistern, we could likely create enough power to make cost-efficient energy.

NOTE: Electric UV (Ultra Violet) water purification can happen with or without hydro.

CONCLUSIONS:

Creating a new design for the weir and screen seems possible and affordable.

The new design could be allowing more water to flow down the stream bed by making simple changes to how the valves are set up like using a float valve.

As Eco Consultants,  VitalBodies promoted generating sustainable power with the system of tubing already in place or create even more power with some small modifications.

The system could easily reduce the amount of maintenance needed.

A more consistent flow of water could be achieved.

SIDE NOTES: VitalBodies used Inkscape an Open Source Vector Graphics program to create the illustrations.