Getting JDownloader to work on Ubuntu

JDownloader is open source, platform independent and written completely in Java. It simplifies downloading files from One-Click-Hosters like Rapidshare.com or Megaupload.com - not only for users with a premium account but also for users who don't pay. It offers downloading in multiple paralell streams, captcha recognition, automatical file extraction and much more. Of course, JDownloader is absolutely free of charge. Additionally, many "link encryption" sites are supported - so you just paste the "encrypted" links and JD does the rest. JDownloader can import CCF, RSDF and the new DLC files.

 Getting it to work on Ubuntu is quite straightforward. Instructions are provided here
Basically, you need to add an untrusted repository to your aptitude repository list. Open a terminal and run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jd-team/jdownloader
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install jdownloader

this will install JDownloader. The first time you run the application (From internet/JDownloader program group in Gnome) it will launch a downloader/updater which will download the latest version for the application.

 This screen closes automatically when finished and shows the regular application after that.

Control the calories you eat with Cron-o-meter

After playing around with some on-line calorie counter sites, specially this one, I decided a local software would fit my needs best, rather than going on-line every time I needed to check-in my meals.
After some searching I stumbled upon cron-o-meter. It's an open source JAVA program so I can run it both in my Ubuntu Lucid Lynx and Windows XP installs.
I have two disk partitions in my computer, so I needed to do some tweaking to make it work.

Here's how:

1. download the windows installer and install as usual
2. set up the a user profile following the software instruction. This creates a "cronometer" folder on the local applications settings folder. We'll use this folder from the linux install to share the profile data.
3. download the zip file from sourceforge and unzip, this is the generic version, works on linux or mac-os
4. create a cronometer.sh script with this contents:
   
   
   #!/bin/sh
   
   # INSTRUCTIONS
   # 1) Install Java 1.5 or later for Linux (http://java.com/download/)
   # 2) Download Mac OS X Version and Unzip in desired location
   # 3) Place this launcher script next to the application bundle
   # 4) Execute script to launch CRON-o-Meter
   
   cd "CRONoMeter.app/Contents/Resources/Java/"
   java -cp cronometer.jar:jcommon-1.0.10.jar:jfreechart-1.0.6.jar:swingx-0.9.3.jar:cronometer.jar:usda_sr22.jar:crdb_004.jar:docs.jar ca.spaz.cron.CRONOMETER
   
   
5. before running the program create a simbolic link to the windows folder
   
   ln -s /media/HDC-SYSTEM/Documents\ and\ Settings/austin-user/Application\ Data/cronometer .cronometer
   
   If you already ran cron-o-meter once, delete the ~/.cronometer directory before running the ln command above.
   
   
6. Run the application using the cronometer.sh script. It will launch the application and any custom foods or entries you create on both sides will get synchronized automatically.