Internt music & the cat command

Happy day to you!

This week I'll introduce you to a web site where discovering new music is automatic and fun. However, you must check out this web site soon because the unjust royalty rates demanded by SoundExchange is sure to delete internet radio.

Also this week, I'll cover the Linux cat command. Now before all you anti-cat folks start to form some not so Gandhi opinions, the Linux cat command is your friend, and will help you to see files in a new way!

Internet Music

If you enjoy listening to a certain style of music, and discovering new artists, then you have to visit www.pandora.com. According to the faq (frequently asked questions) on pandora.com, "the name Pandora means 'all gifted' in Greek", and was chosen as the name of the site because, "In ancient Greek mythology, Pandora received many gifts from the Gods, including the gift of music, from Apollo. She was also, as we all know, insatiably curious."

Enough about ancient Greek mythology (side note - I love Greek salads!). So here is how pandora.com works. When you first go to pandora.com, you are asked to enter the name of your favorite artist or song. After clicking the "Create" button, a new station is created for you, playing music you'll enjoy! Upon my visit to pandora.com, I entered Dave Matthews as the artist. After a few seconds, a station called "Dave Matthews Radio" was created for me. The first song to play was a Dave Matthews' song, and I was shown a brief description of the characteristics of Dave Matthews's music. When the Dave Matthews's song was finished, next played a song by Mike Holden, an artist I never heard of until using Pandora. Pandora figured if I like Dave Matthews, I may also like Mike Holden, and Pandora was right!

Pandora.com has some neat features such as, creating up to 100 stations of customized music, the ability to vote songs "thumbs up or thumbs down" - refining your listening preferences, and hours of commercial free music. In conclusion, pandora.com is superior to conventional radio by allowing you to choose from a wide variety of music what you like best, and the ability to discover new artists and songs.

As a preface to the Linux cat command, I should probably give a little more information on Linux. Linux is no longer the operating system for 'geeks only'. Linux has evolved to the point where if you know how to use a computer running Windows, you can easily run a Linux computer. (Side note - I have a crazy fly buzzing around me as I write, so please excuse me if I have to step away for a moment).

For those of you who have never seen Linux, I encourage you to head over to www.ubuntu.com; here you will find a great overview with screen shots and a list of some of the applications that come with Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Linux distribution. Unlink Windows where you have one choice (i.e. Windows XP or now Windows Vista), Linux offers its users a wide variety of choices, and Ubuntu is one such choice - did I mention it's FREE! Anyone who's interested in trying out Ubuntu, feel free to contact me and I'll help you.

Linux Command Line Command

cat - concatenate files and print on the standard output

Now for the command of the week, the cat command. The technical definition of the cat command is, "concatenate files and print on the standard output". What the heck does that mean? Let's say you have a file called resume.txt (.txt meaning it's a text file). If you want to see the resume, you can type [cat resume.txt] and press enter. You will now see the contents of the resume file on your screen. I included an example below for your reference.
Example
troy@emac:~$ cat resume.txt
This is my resume.

That will do it for this week. Please join me next week for another exciting web site and a new Linux command line command. Please continue to send your great links and comments to troythetechguy@gmail.com


Have a great week!

Introduction

Hello,

Welcome to the "What's New" blog for Troy the Tech Guy. My purpose is to cover new and interesting developments in the technology world, with a strong emphasis on computers, Linux, social sites, and fun stuff.

I am currently working my way through an introduction to Linux book, but I've been bogged down the past couple months on the chapter covering Vim. Each post into the blog, I will discuss a Linux command and how to use it.


Linux Command Line Command
ls - lists the contents of a directory

To use this command, open a terminal and type the command at the command prompt, and hit enter. Your screen will now display the contents of your current directory.

Example
practice@emac:~$ ls
Desktop Examples mydata.txt test.txt


I hope you will join me by sending your great links, comments, and suggestions to troythetechguy@gmail.com