ChucK is an open source audio programming language.

Chuck’s developers claim it is “strongly timed”. This means that everything can be controlled in real time and code may be modified on the fly, while the program is running. Chuck fully supports MIDI, OSC, HID devices and multi channel audio and works under Windows, Linux and Mac/OS. In conclusion it is a powerful yet simple programming tool that allows the user to develop unique audio synthesis programs.

While working with computers for the purpose of writing reports and sometime surfing Internet, I have been frequently using certain key commands or key combination that I found very useful and I wanted to share them here. Hoepfully they will be helpful to general users in daily applications, writing notes or reports or surfing Internet.

Most commonly used short commands are:

• Ctrl+Home : Go to top of a document
• Ctrl+End : Go to end of a document
• Ctrl+L : Go to/Begin from left end of a line
• Ctrl+R : Go to/Begin from right end of a line
• Ctrl+E : Go to/Begin from center of a line
• Ctrl+J : Justification of text/paragraph
• Ctrl+A : Select the whole file/text/document
• Ctrl+C : Copy selected portion/file/text/document
• Ctrl+V : Paste selected portion/file/text/document
• Ctrl+Z : To undo command/commands and also to undo auto commands that often appear while typing in words document but are not needed.
• Ctrl+A followed by Ctrl+j : To justify the whole text/document in one go
• Shift+Home : To select part of line left of cursor
• Shift+End : To select part of line right of cursor
• End Key : Go to end of a line
• Home Key : Go to start of a line
• Alt+OE : To change the case of selected portion from small to capital letters

Each of these tasks can be done with the mouse, but each one requires the user to leave the keyboard for the mouse and then comeback which in the long run is very time consuming. It might take some getting used to, but with practice you will notice these keyboard shortcuts are much faster.

Slackware Linux is a packaged distribution of the Linux operating system, which is free and open source.

With Ubuntu getting all the headlines in open source world, you kind of have to see Slackware as the “anti-Ubuntu”. There is no package management system, the installer is text-only, and you’ll be doing lots of command-line work. It has a “do-it-yourself” feel to it. And beyond that, the system is highly conservative – Slackware doesn’t update a package until it’s been through extensive beta-testing. So why would anyone want to use it? The benefit of Slackware is that it is reliable, stable, and powerful. Everything you would want to do with a system can be done from Slackware, where other distros break down because they weren’t set up to handle the power-user. The saying goes that when you learn Ubuntu, you learn Ubuntu; but when you learn Slackware, you learn Linux!

Speed up shutting down your PC! When you choose to shut down from the Start menu, Windows attempts to close any open programs and windows. Although this usually works well, a stubborn program or error condition may leave Windows hanging for a full minute before shutting down (or restarting).

By changing four Registry keys, you can speed the process up significantly. After you open Regedit:

Step 1: Change
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP\WaitToKillAppTimeout
from 20000 to 1000;

Step 2: Change
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP\HungAppTimeout
from 5000 to 1000;

Step 3: Change
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\CONTROL\WaitToKillServiceTimeout
from 20000 to 1000;

Step 4: Change
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\CONTROL PANEL\DESKTOP\WaitToKillAppTimeout
from 20000 to 1000.

I have experimented this on my system and works well.