GNU Pem on the Nanonote
Ernest Kugel
erik.kugel at gmail.com
Sun Jul 3 17:06:42 EDT 2011
Hi guys, I've added GNU Pem to the Applications page on the Wiki under
"accessible from console". Since there was no room to leave instructions
on how to use Pem, about which Xiangfu Liu rightfully inquired, I've
compiled a short guide about using GNU Pem. Here it goes.
How to use GNU Pem:
GNU Pem is a console personal expenses manager. It uses brief commands
to document transactions in comma separated files, which are stored in a
calendar directory tree inside the ~/.pem folder. Each month is stored
in a separate file, and months from the same year are stored in their
own folder. A typical file will be named
~/.pem/11/Jul
for July 2011, and will look something like this:
1309723909,candy,10.00,0.00,
if you spent 10 dollars on candy. The developer does not advise editing
these files manually, but using Pem to interact with them. I would also
add they look like they can be easily imported into spreadsheet software
like OpenOffice.org's Calc or KDE's KSpread.
*System clock notice!*
Because Pem relies on the system clock to save the time of the
transaction, setting your clock before using Pem is necessary.
*Installation*
To install GNU Pem on the Nanonote, get your Nanonote online and follow
instructions by Xiangfu Liu:
# opkg update
# opkg install perlbase-essential perlbase-posix perlbase-xsloader perlbase-autoloader perlbase-encoding perlbase-fcntl perlbase-tie
# wgethttp://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/xiangfu/packages/pem_0.7.8-1_xburst.ipk
# opkg install pem_0.7.8-1_xburst.ipk
*Usage*
To Begin using Pem, simply start documenting transactions from the
console, by invoking pem with an amount and a description, like this:
# pem 10 candy
Both description and amount are mandatory, and if you specify an amount
first it would be interpreted as a description. You can track earnings
by specifying the -e option, like this:
# pem -e 60 eBay
Finally, you can generate reports, the easiest of which is the daily
report which can be generated with the -s option, like this:
# pem -s
(please note Pem's other options are available through with the --help
option:
# pem --help
Usage: pem.pl [OPTION] [DESCRIPTION AMOUNT]
Manage personal income and expenses.
Options:
-c --category<name> categorise/tag your expenses
-e --earned indicates income
-f --file<name> specify file name
-s [n] show daily report with total after [n] days
-m [n] monthly report with total after [n] months
-C show category/tag-wise report
-t --total shows just the total when used with -s
-M<mm> select the start month (01<= mm<= 12)
-N<mm> select an end month (01<= mm<= 12)
-Y<yy> select an year (00<= yy<= 99)
-h --help show this help
-v --version show version
Report bugs to<pj.pandit at yahoo.co.in>
*Bugs*
- Reports wrap around. This results in poor formatting of otherwise very
readable reports. here's what reports should look like:
http://www.gnu.org/software/pem/pem-tags.png . On the Ben Nanonote,
because of the relatively small screen, the same reports appear readable
but poorly formatted. Workaround to view perfect reports: (1) Generate
the reports on the Nanonote and view them on a different machine (this
would make sense for people carrying their Nanonotes around all month
and then "downloading" the monthly expenses report through an SD card or
SCP), or (2) SSH into the Nanonote with a larger screen and view the
reports thus (this would make sense for those who have their Nanonote
sitting at their desk, networked through USB).
More can be read at http://www.gnu.org/software/pem/
--
Ernest Kugel
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