What is Scratch and what is it for

know scratch, what is it

Scratch is a programming language created by MIT and based on a block-based visual interface, so that it greatly facilitates the programming of children and people without knowledge. It is recommended for ages 8 to 16 years.

All of this is supported by the Scratch Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is:

Our mission is to provide all children, of all backgrounds, opportunities to imagine, create and collaborate, so that they can shape the world of tomorrow.

But to the important ones, what can be done with Scratch.

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Scratch for Linux (Scratux Ubuntu)

Scratch alternatives for linux

I start to play Scratch and I see with disgust that they exist desktop applications for Windows, MacOS, ChromeOS and Android app but there is no official application for Linux.

There was an application for Linux and they discontinued it. Your message right now is

For now, the Scratch App is not compatible with Linux. We are working with contributors and the open-source community to find a way for Scratch to work on Linux in the future. Stay informed!

It is true that the online version can be used from the browser. But I like desktop applications because they have the advantage that we can continue using them even without an Internet connection and that if we want to focus on the task we can close the browser with the other thousands of tabs, which is always a source of distraction.

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How to run .sh files

how to execute sh file
Discover how to run it with the terminal and double clicking

The files with extension .sh are files that contain scripts, commands in bash language, which runs on Linux. SH is a Linux shell that tells the computer what to do.

In a way we could say that it would be comparable to the Windows .exe.

There are different ways to run it. I’m going to explain 2. One with the terminal and another with the graphical interface, that is, with the mouse, that when you double-click it is executed. You can see it in the video and below is the step by step for those who prefer traditional tutorials.

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How to navigate with the ip of the country we want with TOR

sail with tor through the country we want

Sometimes we want to navigate pretending that we are in a certain country, that is, hiding our real IP and using another from the country we choose.

We may want to do this for many reasons:

  • browse anonymously,
  • services that are only offered if you navigate from a certain country,
  • offers when hiring services,
  • check how a website that contains geolocated elements works.

In my case it was the last option. After implementing several plugins on a WordPress website, I needed to check that it displayed the data correctly to users in each country.

Various methods can be used to do this.

Browse through a proxy, use a VPN or use TOR forcing it to the last node to be from the country that interests us.

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Recovering an old Linux computer

computer that comes to life thanks to a lightweight Linux distribution

I continue with the repairs of PC and devices although this cannot be considered in itself a repair. But it is something that they ask me more and more. Install some operating system that makes them work on computers with old hardware.

And although I tell you a little about the decisions I have made in this specific case, it can be extended much more. I will try to update and leave what I have done every time the case is presented.

Follow the series of articles on computer repair. Common things that anyone can fix in our house like when the computer turns on but you don’t see anything on the screen.

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GIMP batch processing

BIMP (Batch Image Manipulation Plugin) for Gimp

I use Gimp as my photography and images editor. I don’t open Photoshop for more than two years. I begin to use it

My main use nowadays is to edit in bulk the blog articles images. I resize it, add the watermark and reduce the image weight in seconds I handle them all at the same time.

But it is useful for photographers, and all people who work with images and repetitive tasks and routines.

There are different ways to batch processing in GIMP. Here I see two of them using Gimp 2.10.12

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How to convert tables from PDF to Excel or CSV with Tabula

convert pdf into csv and extract data from tables

One of the most laborious tasks in Machine Learning consists of data collection and treatment.

There are a meteorological observatory in my city. You can see main meteorological indicators in real time trough its we and it share historical data too, but it share it in PDF

I have talk with them in order to share all data in CSV and allow people to use the data easily, but it seems that is not possible 🙁

Therefore I want this data and I want to convert this PDF files to a workable data collection. And I have been searching a good solution to convert this table PDF to CSV and the solution is called Canvas.

Once you have data in CSV you can use this data in many ways, opening with excel, Libre office, Google Sheets, etc, because is easy import them in spreedsheets or using pythons and its libraries.

As I want an automatized process I will work with a python script and is here where I introduce Tabula.

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