Working with open source will mean learning to use the tools used in the project, as well as communicate with the other developers involved in the project by using mailing lists, wikis, IRC or any other mean used within the project.

So, if you’re a student and you want the opportunity to work on Pidgin, LibreOffice or any other FLOSS software, please apply for a place at Stagii pe Bune.

Fig. 1: The Add Security window in GNUCash

After the Bucharest Stock Exchage Module for Finance::Quote, I made another module, to retrieve the values of the Romanian Mutual Funds. The data is extracted from the Kmarket website which prooved to be a useful resource.

Here is how you can add this package to your own system:

1. Install Perl. If you’re using Linux, you probably already have it. Write perl -v to find out the version you have. If you’re using Windows, ActivePerl or Strawberry Perl should do the trick.
2. Install Finance::Quote. GNUCash offers an automated program to do that.
   1. Make sure GNUCash is not running.
   2. In Linux, open a root shell and write update-finance-quote. In Windows, go to the start menu and you will find a shortcut to a BAT file called “Install Online Price Retreival”.
3. For now, the script is not yet included in Finance::Quote and must be installed separately.
   1. Download the provided archive and extract it along with the rest of the Perl scripts for Finance::Quote (you will see the download path during the installation). Make sure the Finance folder overwrites the current folder.
   2. In the Finance folder you will find 2 files named Quotes.pm and Quotes.pm.patch. You can apply the patch by using the command
      patch Quotes.pm Quotes.pm.patch

      On Windows, just open the Quotes.pm file in Notepad, search for a line that begins with @modules = and add ROFunds to the list of modules.

4. Start GNUCash and go the the Tools->Security Editor menu. You will see a window similar to the one on the left side of Fig. 1.
5. Click on the Add button. A new window, just like the one on the right side of Fig. 1 will appear. Let’s say that you want to get the stock price for BT Index (a fund from Banca Transilvania Asset Management). You add the following information in that window:
   1. Full Name: BT Index
      
   2. Symbol: BT Index (this is very important, as this is the search criteria – you need to put the full name of the fund, without diacritics, as there are no symbols)
   3. Type: Funds (or whatever you want)
   4. Check the Get Online Quotes checkbox. Three new options will be activated.

   5. 

      Fig.2: Automatic price retreival

      Choose Type of quote source: Unknown

   6. From the drop-down choose rofunds.
   7. Click OK twice and you’re ready to test it.
6. Go to the Tools->Price Editor menu. You will see the dialog in Fig. 2. Click the Get Quotes button and you should see a new price appearing. You can notice the source is “Finance::Quote” and the price is the correct one for that date. If you wish, you can check it on the K-market website.

On November the 12th, Novell and the openSUSE community will launch openSUSE 11.2. This calls, of course, for a celebration. Actually, there will be 2 celebrations in Bucharest:

• On November 12th, 20:00 EET, there will be a gathering at Trattoria di Bugsy, Bd. Iuliu Maniu 59, Bucharest – Map
• On November 14th, starting from 14:00 EET, we will have some presentations together with the guys from Fedora and Firefox in UPB, Room EG301 – Map

We’re waiting for as many of you as possible!

Fig. 1: The Add Security window in GNUCash

GNUCash has a very good automatic price retreival utility, based on the Perl Finance::Quote library. Unfortunately, the sites it is using to get the data from don’t have any quotes from the Romanian markets.

Therefore, I decided to write my own modules, and I started with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, since their data was reliable and available in a accessible format.

Here is how you can add this package to your own system:

1. Install Perl. If you’re using Linux, you probably already have it. Write perl -v to find out the version you have. If you’re using Windows, ActivePerl or Strawberry Perl should do the trick.
2. Install Finance::Quote. GNUCash offers an automated program to do that.
   1. Make sure GNUCash is not running.
   2. In Linux, open a root shell and write update-finance-quote. In Windows, go to the start menu and you will find a shortcut to a BAT file called “Install Online Price Retreival”.
3. For now, the script is not yet included in Finance::Quote and must be installed separately.
   1. Download the provided archive and extract it along with the rest of the Perl scripts for Finance::Quote (you will see the download path during the installation). Make sure the Finance folder overwrites the current folder.
   2. In the Finance folder you will find 2 files named Quotes.pm and Quotes.pm.patch. You can apply the patch by using the command
      patch Quotes.pm Quotes.pm.patch

      On Windows, just open the Quotes.pm file in Notepad, search for a line that begins with @modules = and add BSERO to the list of modules.

4. Start GNUCash and go the the Tools->Security Editor menu. You will see a window similar to the one on the left side of Fig. 1.
5. Click on the Add button. A new window, just like the one on the right side of Fig. 1 will appear. Let’s say that you want to get the stock price for Banca Românâ pentru Dezvoltare (symbol: BRD). You add the following information in that window:
   1. Full Name: Banca Română pentru Dezvoltare
   2. Symbol: BRD (this is very important, as this is the search criteria)
   3. Type: BSE (or BVB, or whatever you want)
   4. Check the Get Online Quotes checkbox. Three new options will be activated.
   5. 

      Fig.2: Automatic price retreival

      Choose Type of quote source: Unknown

   6. From the drop-down choose bsero.
   7. Click OK twice and you’re ready to test it.
6. Go to the Tools->Price Editor menu. You will see the dialog in Fig. 2. Click the Get Quotes button and you should see a new price appearing. You can notice the source is “Finance::Quote” and the price is the correct one for that date. If you wish, you can check it on the BSE website.

ProMec is a small graphical project I did for the Mecanics course in the first year of faculty at UPB, with prof. A. Craifaleanu. It simulates the movement of a complex system made out of several bars.

The software is distributed under CC-GNU GPL license.

Download (source)

Talk is a simple chat program. It uses the very simple Cesar code to encrypt the messages. Select the mode (client or server), the IP address and the port, then press “Conectare” ( “Asteapta” for the server), and, if there is another user, the message area will be activated.

The software is distributed under CC-GNU GPL license.

Download (source)

Query is a whois-like program that allows you to find the status of a domain or IP address. He uses Whois servers to obtain informations like the domain owner, expiration data, etc.

The software is distributed under CC-GNU GPL license.

Download (source)

The software is distributed under CC-GNU GPL license.

Download

The software is distributed under CC-GNU GPL license.

Download

The software is distributed under CC-GNU GPL license.

Download