Ubuntu, another choice

Submitted by Drew I can't remember where I learned this but I use it whenever I need to reinstall Ubuntu on my machines, or when I am doing a fresh install on a new machine. What this does is very simple. The first step creates a text file with a list of installed programs and after reinstalling Ubuntu you will be able to apply that list and reinstall all of the programs without searching through endless amounts of packages trying to find out what programs you are missing. Pros: Very easy to do. Just three commands and you are back up and running. Not much interaction from the user.It just works. Cons: Requires some initial setup. Depending on the amount of applications you originally had installed, downloading and installing those packages may take some time. Prerequisites: Your 'home' folder must be on a separate partition. I will explain later in this article. Let's get started. The first step you will have to do is create a text file. Full article here: How to Setup...

linuxartist - a directory of resources for artists using Linux linuxartist a resource for artists using linux-

Teacher threatens to call the cops over Linux A teacher has thrown a student into detention and threatened to call the police for using Linux in her classroom. The teacher spotted one of her students giving a demonstration of the HeliOS distro to other students. In a somewhat over-the-top reaction, she confiscated the CDs, put the student on detention and whipped off a letter to the HeliOS Project threatening to report it to the police for distributing illegal software. "I am sure you strongly believe in what you are doing but I cannot either support your efforts or allow them to happen in my classroom," writes the teacher, identified only as Karen. "At this point, I am not sure what you are doing is legal. No software is free and spreading that misconception is harmful. I will research this as time allows and I want to assure you, if you are doing anything illegal, I will pursue charges as the law allows. "I along with many others tried Linux during...

Open source hardware 2008 - The definitive guide to open source hardware projects in 2008 What is open source hardware? Briefly, these are projects that creators have decided to completely publish all the source, schematics, firmware, software, bill of materials, parts list, drawings and "board" files to recreate the hardware - they also allow any use, including commercial. Similar to open source hardware like Linux, but hardware centric. This is one of the new and emerging trends we've seen really take off over the last few years. Each year we do a guide to all open source hardware and this year there are over 60 projects/kits - it's incredible! Many are familiar with Arduino (now shipping over 60,000 units) but there are many other projects just as exciting and filled with amazing communities - we think we've captured nearly all of them in this list. Some of these projects and kits are available from MAKE others from the makers themselves or other hardware m...