How to convert a PDF file into a Markdown file or HTML file?

To convert a PDF into a Markdown file using the Python-based tool called Marker on Ubuntu, you need to set up the environment, install the

marker-pdf package, and then use the command-line interface. 

Prerequisites

Before installing Marker, ensure your Ubuntu system meets the following prerequisites:

• Python: Version 3.10 or higher is required.
• PyTorch: Marker needs PyTorch to run, as it relies on deep learning models.
• System Libraries: You may need additional system libraries for advanced features like OCR with ocrmypdf or tesseract. 

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Open your terminal on Ubuntu.
2. Install system dependencies (optional, but recommended for full functionality, including OCR):
   bash

   # Install required apt packages
   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev python3-dev
   # Install tesseract and ghostscript related dependencies
   sudo apt-get install -y libleptonica-dev libtesseract-dev pkg-config
   sudo apt-get install -y ocrmypdf ghostscript
   

3. Create a virtual environment to avoid conflicts with other Python projects (recommended):
   bash

   python3 -m venv marker_env
   source marker_env/bin/activate
   

4. Install PyTorch by following the instructions on the official PyTorch website for your specific system configuration (CPU or GPU). A typical CPU-only installation command might look like:
   bash

   pip install torch torchvision torchaudio
   

5. Install Marker using pip. You can install the basic PDF package or the full version for other document types:
   bash

   # For PDF conversion only
   pip install marker-pdf
   
   # For full functionality (PDFs, images, etc.)
   # pip install 'marker-pdf[full]'
   

6. Convert a PDF file to Markdown using the command line tool marker_single.
   
   $ marker_single /path/to/file.pdf  
   
   --output_format [markdown|json|html|chunks]: Specify the format for the output results.
   --output_dir PATH: Directory where output files will be saved. Defaults to the value specified in settings.OUTPUT_DIR.
   
   https://github.com/datalab-to/marker

How to recognise a song?

SongRec

How to sync files among different devices?

https://syncthing.net/

transform a single HTML list into a double column layout using modern CSS methods

You can transform a single HTML list into a double column layout using modern CSS methods like

column-count (part of the CSS multi-column layout module), CSS Grid, or Flexbox. 

Method 1: Using column-count (Recommended for simple lists)

This is the simplest method and requires the least amount of CSS. The browser automatically breaks the list items into the specified number of columns as needed. 

HTML:

html

<ul class="two-columns">
  <li>Item 1</li>
  <li>Item 2</li>
  <li>Item 3</li>
  <li>Item 4</li>
  <li>Item 5</li>
  <li>Item 6</li>
  <li>Item 7</li>
  <li>Item 8</li>
</ul>

CSS:

css

.two-columns {
  column-count: 2; /* Specifies the number of columns */
  /* Optional: Adds a gap between columns */
  column-gap: 20px;
  /* Optional: keeps list items from breaking across columns (browser support varies) */
  break-inside: avoid; 
}

Method 2: Using CSS Grid

CSS Grid offers more control over the layout, especially for responsive design and managing equal column heights. 

HTML:

html

<div class="grid-container">
  <div>
    <ul>
      <li>Item 1</li>
      <li>Item 2</li>
      <li>Item 3</li>
      <!-- ... more items for the first column ... -->
    </ul>
  </div>
  <div>
    <ul>
      <li>Item 4</li>
      <li>Item 5</li>
      <li>Item 6</li>
      <!-- ... more items for the second column ... -->
    </ul>
  </div>
</div>

Note: This method is best if you can separate your list items into two distinct containers in your HTML structure. 

CSS:

css

.grid-container {
  display: grid;
  grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr; /* Creates two equal-width columns */
  gap: 20px; /* Adds spacing between columns */
}

Method 3: Using Flexbox

Flexbox is also a great option, particularly when managing how items wrap and display on different screen sizes. 

HTML:
(Same as Method 1, applying the class to the <ul> element) 

CSS:

css

.two-columns {
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column; /* Stacks items vertically first */
  flex-wrap: wrap; /* Allows items to wrap into a new column */
  height: 200px; /* A fixed height is required for flex-wrap to work in this way */
}

.two-columns li {
  width: 50%; /* Each item takes up 50% width to create two columns */
}

Note: The fixed height can be an issue if the content is dynamic. The column-count method is often better suited for dynamic list lengths. 

For more examples and information, the MDN Web Docs and CSS-Tricks Flexbox Guide are excellent resources. 

Automatically reminds me when recipient did not reply in a week

Google Workspace itself doesn’t have a built-in feature to automatically remind you (the sender) to follow up if the recipient doesn’t reply—but you can achieve this using a combination of Gmail features and Google Calendar or third-party tools. Here’s how you can set it up:

✅ Option 1: Use Gmail + Google Calendar (Manual but Reliable)

1. Send your email as usual.

2. Right after sending, create a Google Calendar event:

   - Title: “Follow up with [Customer Name] – Payment Reminder”

   - Set the date/time for 7 days from now.

   - Add a description with a link to the sent email (copy the URL from Gmail—see tip below).

3. Enable notifications for the event (e.g., email or pop-up 15 minutes before).

💡 Tip: To get a direct link to your sent email in Gmail:

- Open the email in your “Sent” folder.

- Click the three-dot menu → “Copy link to message” (you may need to enable this in Gmail Labs first, or use a workaround like noting the subject/date).

✅ ** Option 2: Use Gmail’s “Nudge” Feature (Limited Control)**

Gmail has a built-in “Nudge” feature that can remind you about important emails you’re waiting on—but it only works if the conversation is in your inbox (not Sent mail), and it’s not fully customizable.

To try:

- After sending the email, BCC yourself or ask the customer to reply (so their reply keeps the thread in your inbox).

- Gmailmight auto-nudge you if there’s no reply in a few days—but this isn’t guaranteed or precise.

✅ Option 3: Use a Free Third-Party Tool (Recommended for Reliability)

Tools like Boomerang for Gmail (boomeranggmail.com) let you:

- Schedule a follow-up reminder only if the recipient doesn’t reply.

- Set it right from your compose window.

Steps with Boomerang:

1. Install the Boomerang extension for Chrome.

2. After composing your payment reminder email, click “Boomerang” → “Remind me if no reply”.

3. Choose 1 week → Done!

Boomerang offers ~10 free reminders/month—enough for occasional use.

Summary

- For simple & free: Use Google Calendar with a manual reminder.

- For automated & smart: Try Boomerang for Gmail.

Would you like step-by-step instructions for any of these options?

Step-by-step instructions for boomerang, please 

Absolutely! Here’s a clear, step-by-step guide to using Boomerang for Gmail to remind you to follow up only if your customer doesn’t reply within a week.

🛠️ Step 1: Install Boomerang for Gmail

1. Open Google Chrome (Boomerang works best as a Chrome extension).

2. Go to the Boomerang for Gmail website or the Chrome Web Store page.

3. Click “Add to Chrome” → “Add extension”.

4. Once installed, you’ll see a small Boomerang icon (↩️) in your Gmail compose window.

✅ You’ll need to sign up for a free Boomerang account the first time you use it. The free plan includes 10 “remind me if no reply” messages per month—perfect for occasional reminders like this.

✉️ Step 2: Compose Your Payment Reminder Email

1. In Gmail, click “Compose”.

2. Write your email as usual:

   - To: your.customer@example.com  

   - Subject: Friendly Reminder: Outstanding Invoice #123  

   - Body: Include payment details, due date, and a polite request.

⏰ Step 3: Set Up the “Remind Me If No Reply” Feature

1. With your email ready (but before clicking Send), look for the Boomerang button at the bottom of the compose window. It looks like a curved arrow: ↩️  

  (If you don’t see it, refresh Gmail or check that the extension is enabled.)

2. Click the Boomerang button.

3. From the dropdown, select:  

   “Remind me if no reply…”

4. Choose the time frame:  

   → Select “In 1 week” (or pick a custom date/time if needed).

5. Click “Boomerang” (or “Set”).

✅ That’s it! Boomerang will:

- Send your email immediately.

- Monitor your inbox for a reply from that customer.

- If no reply arrives within 7 days, Boomerang will resurface the email in your inbox with a notification so you can follow up.

🔔 What Happens Next?

- If the customer replies before 7 days: Nothing happens—you won’t get a reminder.

- If they don’t reply: On day 8, the original email (with your sent message and any replies) will reappear in your inbox with a note like“Boomerang: Following up on this message.”

You can then send a stronger reminder, call them, or take next steps.

💡 Pro Tips

- You can edit or cancel pending Boomerang reminders by clicking the Boomerang icon in the top right of Gmail → “Pending” tab.

- Use “Snooze” (another Boomerang feature) to temporarily remove non-urgent emails from your inbox and bring them back later.

Let me know if you’d like help drafting a polite payment reminder email template too!

I connect my ubuntu laptop to my philips tv. The contents at the edges overflowed my tv screen

The issue of content overflowing the screen is called  
overscan, a common problem when connecting a computer to a TV. The primary solution is to adjust the display settings directly on your Philips TV.   
Solution 1: Adjust Philips TV Settings (Recommended)   
The best and quickest solution is to use your Philips TV's remote control to change the picture settings.   
  
    Press the "Home" or "Menu" button on your Philips TV remote control.  
    Navigate to the Settings menu, often represented by a cogwheel icon.  
    Select Display and Sound or a similar option like Picture.  
    Find Screen or Picture format.  
    Change the aspect ratio setting to an option that prevents zooming. The ideal setting names to look for are:  
        Screen Fit  
        Just Scan  
        PC mode  
        Auto Fit  
        Original or 1:1 mode   
  
These settings will force the TV to display the input at its native resolution without artificially zooming in (overscan).   
Solution 2: Adjust Settings in Ubuntu   
If you cannot find a suitable setting on your TV, you can adjust the display settings from your Ubuntu laptop, though this might slightly compromise picture quality compared to a pure "screen fit" mode on the TV itself.   
  
    For NVIDIA GPUs:  
        Install the NVIDIA drivers and the NVIDIA X Server Settings utility if you haven't already: sudo apt install nvidia-settings.  
        Open the NVIDIA Settings application.  
        Go to X Server Display Configuration.  
        Look for an "Underscan" slider and adjust it until the screen fits.  
    For other GPUs (Intel/AMD) using xrandr:  
        Open the Terminal in Ubuntu.  
        Identify the name of your TV output (e.g., HDMI-1) by running the command xrandr --verbose.  
        Use xrandr to manually set the overscan/underscan borders. You will need to experiment with the pixel values (e.g., 30 pixels) to get it right:  
        xrandr --output <output_name> --set "underscan on" --set "underscan vborder" 30 --set "underscan hborder" 30  
        (Replace <output_name> with your actual output, e.g., HDMI-1).   

How to live transcribe from microphone or mixer into text?

Use Notion -> Try AI Meeting Notes

 https://www.notion.com

 

 

On Ubuntu terminal, how can English text be automatically translated into Chinese with ChatGPT AI?

Here’s how to automatically translate English text into Chinese on an Ubuntu terminal using ChatGPT (OpenAI API) — with simple examples you can run right away.

---

✅ What You Need First

1. Ubuntu terminal

2. OpenAI API Key
   If you don’t have one, create it at https://platform.openai.com/ and copy your key.

3. Install jq (for JSON in shell)

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install jq
   

4. Set your API key in your environment

   export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-…your key…"
   

---

🧠 Option A — Bash + curl (Simple & Fast)

You can call the Chat Completions API to translate text.

👉 Create a file called translate.sh:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

text="$1"

if [ -z "$text" ]; then
  echo "Usage: ./translate.sh \"Your English text here\""
  exit 1
fi

response=$(curl -s https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
  -d "{
    \"model\": \"gpt-4o-mini\",
    \"messages\": [
      {\"role\": \"system\", \"content\": \"You are a helpful translator.\"},
      {\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"Translate to Chinese: $text\"}
    ],
    \"max_tokens\": 200
  }")

echo "$response" | jq -r '.choices[0].message.content'

Make it executable:

chmod +x translate.sh

Then run:

./translate.sh "Hello, how are you?"

---

🐍 Option B — Python Script

If you want more flexibility, use Python:

1. Create translate.py

import os
import openai

openai.api_key = os.getenv("OPENAI_API_KEY")

def translate_to_chinese(text):
    response = openai.ChatCompletion.create(
        model="gpt-4o-mini",
        messages=[
            {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful translator."},
            {"role": "user", "content": f"Translate this to Chinese: {text}"}
        ],
        max_tokens=200
    )
    return response.choices[0].message.content

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import sys
    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
        print("Usage: python3 translate.py \"Your English text here\"")
    else:
        print(translate_to_chinese(sys.argv[1]))

2. Run:

python3 translate.py "This is a test sentence."

---

🛠 Tips & Enhancements

🔹 Translate a text file

./translate.sh "$(cat input.txt)" > output.txt

🔹 Use other models

• gpt-4o — highest quality

• gpt-4o-mini — cheaper & faster

Just replace the "model" field.

🔹 Batch translate multiple lines

Wrap in a loop over lines of a file:

while read line; do
  ./translate.sh "$line"
done < lines.txt

---

🧩 Notes

• Using the official OpenAI API avoids web scraping or GUI tools.

• You pay per token — shorter prompts cost less.

• The “system” message helps ChatGPT understand the task (translation).

---

If you want a version that watches a file and auto-translates new text (e.g., with inotifywait), tell me and I can tailor it!

Fix your Ubuntu translate script to use the latest OpenAI API, please.
Thank you.

 

You’re right to ask for this 👍 — the earlier example used the old Chat Completions API, which is now legacy.

Below is a clean, working Ubuntu terminal translation script using the latest OpenAI Responses API (current as of 2025), designed for English → Chinese.

No admin keys, no deprecated endpoints.

---

✅ Prerequisites (quick check)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install curl jq

Your API key must be set:

export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your_real_key_here

Verify:

echo "$OPENAI_API_KEY"

---

✅ Latest OpenAI API (Responses API) — Bash Script

📄 translate.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Translate English to Chinese using OpenAI Responses API

if [ -t 0 ] && [ -z "$1" ]; then
  echo "Usage:"
  echo "  ./translate.sh \"Hello world\""
  echo "  echo \"Hello world\" | ./translate.sh"
  exit 1
fi

# Read from argument or stdin
if [ -t 0 ]; then
  INPUT_TEXT="$1"
else
  INPUT_TEXT="$(cat)"
fi

response=$(curl -s https://api.openai.com/v1/responses \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_API_KEY" \
  -d "$(jq -n --arg text "$INPUT_TEXT" '{
    model: "gpt-4.1-mini",
    input: [
      {
        role: "system",
        content: [
          { "type": "text", "text": "You are a professional translator. Translate English into Chinese accurately and naturally." }
        ]
      },
      {
        role: "user",
        content: [
          { "type": "text", "text": $text }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }')")

echo "$response" | jq -r '.output_text'

Make executable:

chmod +x translate.sh

---

✅ How to Use

1️⃣ Translate a sentence

./translate.sh "This is a test."

2️⃣ Translate piped input

echo "Linux is powerful and flexible." | ./translate.sh

3️⃣ Translate a file

./translate.sh "$(cat input.txt)"

or

cat input.txt | ./translate.sh

---

✅ Why this script is correct & future-proof

✔ Uses /v1/responses (latest API)
✔ No deprecated chat.completions
✔ Proper structured input (role, content, type)
✔ Uses .output_text (recommended aggregation field)
✔ Works with stdin & arguments
✔ Cost-efficient model (gpt-4.1-mini)

---

🔧 Optional tweaks

🇨🇳 Simplified vs Traditional Chinese

Change the system prompt to:

Translate English into Simplified Chinese.

or

Translate English into Traditional Chinese (Taiwan).

💰 Even cheaper model

model: "gpt-4.1-nano"

---

🧪 Troubleshooting checklist

Issue	Fix
401 / invalid_api_key	Re-export key
jq error	sudo apt install jq
Empty output	Check .output_text
Permission denied	chmod +x translate.sh

---

If you want next:

• 🔄 Auto language detection

• 📁 Batch translate directories

• ⌨️ Real-time clipboard translation

• 🔌 Offline fallback (Argos Translate)

Just tell me.