Ubuntu, another choice

"Computers are like air conditioners - they stop working properly when you open Windows." TECH SOURCE FROM BOHOL: Top 50 Linux Quotes of All Time

TIPS FOR LINUX EXPLORERS Helpful info for those learning Linux These Linux tips are meant to provide just enough information to whet your appetite for more. They are updated frequently and are not presented in any particular order. There is a site-search box at the end of this page. . . . . . . . The First Things To Know: ISOs and md5sum Checksum ISOs in Windows Burning ISOs Windows Tools: Burning ISOs Windows Tools: Gparted Md5sum of already burned CDs Check CD Script SHA-1 Checksums Live CDs ( distros that run from CD ) Basic rules for install Change the BIOS settings Making a boot floppy Boot/Rescue CD Formatting Floppy and Zip disks The Tree Runaway Processes ( and how to kill them ) Skinny Elephants ( if all else fails ) Copy and paste The "reset"-button Updating your distro Su and Root ( the difference ) Install cheatcodes Lost user password Lost Root password Tricks in KDE home The Linux Counter Ultimate Boot CD Backing-Up the M...

"...the Linux philosophy is "laugh in the face of danger". Oops. Wrong one. "Do it yourself". That's it. " Linus Torvalds

"Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect." -Linus Torvalds, September 2003

You would think that a GNU/Linux distribution dedicated to shipping only free software would be uncontroversial. After all, isn't free software what GNU/Linux is all about? Yet, when the latest version of GNewSense was announced recently, Slashdot readers were divided in their reactions. Some thought the distribution would have too limited appeal, and argued that what was needed was a distribution so popular that hardware and software vendors would have to support it. Others suggested that GNewSense had two uses: As an indicator of what the free software community has done so far, and as a summary of what still needs to be done before the goal of a completely free operating system is realized. GNewSense began at a conference in Tunis in 2005 when Paul O'Malley heard Mark Shuttleworth and Richard Stallman talking about the possibility of a politically free version of Ubuntu, whose various incarnations include proprietary wireless drivers and access to non-free video dr...

We took our first look at components of the Ubuntu Netbook Remix last week shortly after it was announced at the Computex show in Taiwan. Canonical's original announcement provided little insight into plans for subnotebooks based on the software and left questions unanswered about how the Netbook Remix will be distributed, but a blog entry by Canonical boss Mark Shuttleworth offers some answers, along with news that Canonical will push hardware partners to release open source drivers. Shuttleworth says that Canonical is currently collaborating with several hardware manufacturers (though he can't disclose their identities at this time) to create custom installation images that are tailored to particular mobile products. These installation images will focus on hardware-specific optimizations for increased performance, shorter boot times, and extended battery life. They will not be released to the public alongside the regular Ubuntu builds because they will contain third-party ...

Nexuiz is a free, cross platform, first person shooter distributed under GNU General Public License by Alientrap Software. It started back in May 31 2005 with version 1.0 using DarkPlaces, a significanlty modified quake engine. The current version, 2.2.3, was released on January 26, 2007. Nexuiz’s logo is based on the chinese character “力” which means strength. Several notable features of the game include ability to multiplay up to 64 players ability to generate bots for practice sessions dynamic lighting system similar to Doom 3 Download here: Nexuiz

It's official: Open source makes you happy Posted by Matt Asay It's official: Open-source software makes people happy and proprietary software makes people sad. Thus spake Greta, my five-year old daughter. Clearly she's a very smart child... ...Or perhaps she's her father's child, and knows which side her bread is buttered on. :-) Open source makes people happy (Credit: Greta Asay) Don't you agree? P.S. I have no idea why the only male in the picture isn't wearing a crown. Apparently, not only does my daughter dislike proprietary software, but she also dislikes males. Hmm....Is there a correlation? http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9957090-16.html

Linux; the operating system for those to whom resistance is not futile...

EphPod EphPod is a full-featured, easy-to-use Windows application that connects with Apple's iPod. With a FireWire card and EphPod on a PC, it takes under 30 minutes to transfer 1,000 songs to an iPod. In addition, EphPod supports standard WinAmp (.M3U) playlists, includes powerful playlist creation features, and will synchronize an entire music collection with one click. It imports Microsoft Outlook contacts, in addition to allowing users to create and edit their own contacts. EphPod can also download the latest news, weather, e-books, and movie listings to an iPod. latest news: First order of business -- I was able to spare a little development time to whip up a sleep timer for iTunes, Abbie's Sleep Timer for iTunes...

One of the greatest mysteries to me is why most file managers don't have tabs - it makes performing tasks so much simpler. I've found a lightweight file manager for Ubuntu called PCMan that gives you most of the functionality from Nautilus, but also has tabs. To install this file manager, you can either use the built-in Add/Remove applications dialog or use the command line. Just type in PCMan into the search box, and change the drop-down to "All Open Source applications" and you'll see it in the list. Or you can much more quickly install it with apt-get: sudo apt-get install pcmanfm Once it's installed, you can find it under System Tools \ PCMan File Manager And there we are… you can see that it has a decent amount of options, although not quite as many as Nautilus does. The one option that it has by default that Nautilus doesn't have is the "Open in Terminal" option, which I find muc...

In May of 2007 I wrote a post called Open Source and Microsoft Free . Little did I know that this post would show up on Digg, Slashdot, Craigslist, and several other popular web sites and become a platform for both the Linux and Microsoft camps to wage yet another flame war. This whole "Microsoft free" experiment started when a colleague of mine challenged me to eat my own dog food after reading many of my posts about my dabbling with open source technologies. The next day, after a few blue screens of death and various issues with Outlook, I grabbed a Ubuntu CD and installed it on my laptop....at work! From that day forward, I have not used a single Microsoft product at work. It has been one year now and I have survived with Thunderbird and Evolution, Open Office, Firefox, and many other open source replacements for Microsoft products. I put "Microsoft free" in quotes because there are a few exceptions. First, I did install IE 6.0 under wine for that rare occasion ...

Mark Shuttleworth, who runs Ubuntu's distribution arm Canonical, says top PC makers are turning to him to help build out the next generation Internet notebook devices, or "netbooks." In a Monday item on his blog, Shuttleworth provides more detail about the effort, what the technology aims to do, and how it aims to do it. "The Canonical OEM team has been approached by a number of OEM's who want to sell netbooks (small, low-cost laptops with an emphasis on the web) based on Ubuntu," Shuttleworth writes. "Almost universally, they've asked for standard Ubuntu packages and updates, with an app launcher that's more suited to new users and has the feeling of a 'device' more than a PC." Shuttleworth's piece also provides screen shots of some of the software that is at the center of this activity, and is worth reading on its own. But what's also worth considering is what Shuttleworth doesn't mention: Why are OEMs turning to U...

Although Ubuntu is highly regarded by desktop Linux users, the popular Linux distribution has been the subject of perpetual criticism from a small but vocal minority of users who believe that it doesn't set a high enough standard for software freedom. New initiatives announced this week aim to tackle those criticisms at their source, by resolving the perceived problems. Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has announced the availability of daily CD images of a "freedom-focused flavour of Ubuntu" called Gobuntu. Gobuntu, which will eschew virtually all proprietary software components, aims to pacify critics who think that Ubuntu's support for "non-free" software is detrimental to users. Last year, the Free Software Foundation announced the release of gNewSense, an Ubuntu derivative without proprietary graphics drivers, proprietary plug-in components like Adobe's Flash player, and patent-encumbered proprietary media codecs. According to Shuttleworth, the ...

is a first-person shooter follow-up to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. It also has the same science fiction universe as Quake 4, with a story serving as a prequel to Quake II. Quake Wars is the second multiplayer-only game in the Quake series after Quake III Arena. The gameplay is almost the same as Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, but with the addition of controllable vehicles and aircraft, asymmetric teams, much larger maps and the option of computer-controlled bots. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars is being developed by Splash Damage for the PC using a modified version of id Software’s Doom 3 engine and MegaTexture rendering technology. At E3 2006(Electronic Entertainment Expo), the game won the Game Critics Award for Best Online Multiplayer. Enemy Territory : Quake Wars

by Emmett Dulaney 6/6/2008 Did the few minor tweaks included in the latest version of Ubuntu actually warrant a new release? Emmett's not so sure. Make no mistake about it: I think Ubuntu is the best Linux distribution for the corporate/institutional desktop available, and I'm not likely to change my mind. With that said, however, I have to question the logic behind the latest release. Version 8.04 was officially launched this year in April (hence the "04") and Canonical, the company overseeing Ubuntu, has been fairly good at keeping to the new-release-every-six-months schedule. Likewise, back in the early days of PCs, Microsoft seemed to release new versions of operating systems around every turn -- but was often lambasted for it. (Interesting: What we perceived as iniquity in Microsoft then, we attribute to advancement in Linux now.) This Ubuntu release is notable in that it's the first Long-Term Support (LTS) release in a while (about two years). Because it...

The Linux Command Line For Beginners: Part 1 Opening The Terminal For The First time Many people coming to Linux for the first time are wary of the command line. It has a fearsome reputation It is supposed to be difficult and hard to grasp. In fact it is a language which you can learn if you choose to, gradually increasing your vocabulary and mastery of the syntax at whatever pace you find comfortable. Of course you do not need to learn it at all in order to use modern user-friendly Linux distributions like Ubuntu but your experience with Linux will be vastly enriched if you take the time to master the basics. Whole HubPage article here: The Linux Command Line For Beginners: Part 1

It can sometimes be rather difficult for new users to find information, software and downloads for the Ubuntu operating system or for Linux in general, especially if they are just switching over from Windows. Thankfully, there are plenty of sources to look for new information. The easiest place to look is the official repositories , located on the Ubuntu website. It has the full listings of all the packages available. As soon as you find a package you want to install, you can do it from Synaptic (located in the System menu) or from the command line. Use the following command: sudo apt-get install [package name] If that doesn't work, try doing this first: sudo apt-get update This will update your package database from the internet repositories. Now, if you want a graphical display of many different Ubuntu apps, you can try going to The Daily Ubuntu . They have screenshots and install information for a variety of applications, optimized for Ubuntu Feisty and Gutsy. Also, you can ...

GnuCash - Keep Your Cash (or lack thereof) in Order Thank you to John J. for suggesting this application. Be sure to subscribe to the site feed to keep up with the bombast of new applications. GnuCash is a personal finance and accounting application created to keep you crazy organized. It can do simple things like recording expenses and take care of register transactions, but it can also handle tracking bank accounts, income, and a slew of financial instruments and derivatives. John J. summed it up quite well in his suggestion e-mail: ...GnuCash is a great piece of financial software. I just use it to keep my home financials in order, but it has so many other functions that I would never even need to use. It uses professional standards like double-entry accounting, which my professors babble on and on about being important. They generally mention words like 'Enron' and 'lawsuit' in context. The register has an easy interface that can handle checking and credit tr...

Canonical , the company behind Ubuntu Linux , has introduced a version of Ubuntu that is specially designed for netbooks – mini notebooks modelled on the Eee PC – that are being presented by various providers at Computex. Ubuntu Netbook Remix is designed to run on devices equipped with Intel's Atom processor. It builds upon the Linux technology for mobile internet devices designed by Intel and others within the framework of the Moblin project. The system, slated for release in late summer, will look similar to the normal Ubuntu desktop, but the program launcher will be adapted to a lower resolution more suited to mini-notebok displays, making it easy for users to start key applications. Canonical stated that they are already working with hardware manufacturers, but the company did not name names. Still, it appears that Intel is on-board. Intel boss Paul Otellini has emphasized that the next generation of mobile internet devices will run Linux. Xandros has also announced a new ver...

Tremulous is an open source team-based first-person shooter with a game play that is similar to Gloom(a quake 2 mod) and Natural Selection (a Half-Life mod). The game features two teams, humans and aliens, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The game has been downloaded over 200,000 times and was voted “Player’s Choice Standalone Game of the Year” in Mod Database’s “Mod of the Year” 2006 competition. Tremulous

David White who started Wesnoth back in 2003, had a vision of a free open source strategy game that had very simple rules, uses a strong artificial intelligence, challenging and fun. Wesnoth has already passed the 1 million mark for downloads. The game is available in 35 different languages. A normal Wesnoth player has 200+ unit types 16 different races 6 major factions to choose from. Actually, you can even make your own custom units, design your own map, scenarios or even campaigns. It’s all up to your creativity. The most interesting part of any game is the ability to multiplay. You can challenge up to a total of 8 friends in multiplayer fantasy battles. Download here.

Short gimp video showing some of gimps functions.

"Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems." -Linus Torvalds

"Like cold fusion or a painless weight-loss plan, a user-friendly version of Linux remains elusive. But developers are getting closer with Ubuntu -- a free, Linux-based operating system that appeared in October 2004 and is winning over waves of converts, including high-profile geeks like Cory Doctorow. The southern African word ubuntu roughly translates as "humanity toward others," and Ubuntu distributor Canonical does play nice, making the open-source OS available as a free download and on CDs shipped free of charge. Updates come on a regular schedule, and Ubuntu is relatively easy to install, although a recent update caused the OS to lose its graphical user interface and was subsequently pulled. Canonical issued instructions for repairing the damage. If you ever need help getting started with the open-source OS, the user community at places like Ubuntu Forums tends to be pretty patient with newbie inquiries. That's important, because Ubuntu will prompt many ...