Linux
Tag archives for Linux
Which Linux Do I Turn To In My Hour of Need?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 29, 2012 RIP Ubuntu. Ubuntu was great. For years, I kept trying to get my own Linux box up and running, initially so I could relive the halcyon days of UNIX and later so I could avoid Windows. But every time I tried to get Linux working some key thing would not be configurable or would not…
Firefox menu, FreeDOS, bash, Mint, question
Posted by Greg Laden on June 3, 2012 
The big new of the day in the OpenSource world is that FreeDOS’s web site, revised and updated, is out of Beta and fully up and running, here. If you click through you’ll find an update on a number of recent changes and updates to the operating system. Just in case you need to know…
Running Netflix on Linux
Posted by Greg Laden on March 11, 2012 Do you have a Roku with which you watch Netflix? Do you watch Netflix on a Mac? If so, you are using either the Linux operating system or a closely related “*Nix” operating system. (Mac’s run on a form of OS that is the same basic system as Linux*)
Linux Readers’ Choice Awards
Posted by Greg Laden on December 7, 2011 The Linux Journal reader’s choice awards have been announced. You’ll recall that I suggested to you some time ago that you contribute your vote. Now, you can find out if you won!
$25 tiny computer!
Posted by Greg Laden on May 7, 2011 The games developer David Braben and some colleagues [developed] something called Raspberry Pi. It’s a whole computer on a tiny circuit board – not much more than an ARM processor, a USB port, and an HDMI connection. They plugged a keyboard into one end, and hooked the other into a TV they had brought with…
How to organize your stuff
Posted by Greg Laden on February 14, 2011 The issue has been raised (recently, and many times in the past) of how to organize your stuff. And by stuff, I mean files on your computer which may be documents, photographs, videos, or other files. I want to record a few thoughts on this having just done a bunch of organizing of my stuff,…
Command line unit conversion
Posted by Greg Laden on January 18, 2011 The Linux command ‘units’ may or may not be installed on your system. If not, if you use synaptic or apt, type (at the prompt) sudo apt-get install units or equiviliant for other distributions. Then type in the word “units” and play around. Here are a few sample outputs: The program is a little clunky.…
Linux Ease of Use: Designing The Ultimate Grandmother-Ready Computer
Posted by Greg Laden on December 31, 2010 When it comes to ease of use, there is no difference between a computer with Windows and a computer with Linux, assuming both systems are installed properly. That there is a meaningful difference is a myth perpetuated by Windows fanboys or individuals who have outdated experience with Linux. Also, the comparison that is often being…
Hacking a Google Calendar CLI Tool
Posted by Greg Laden on October 19, 2010 I wrote earlier of the very useful command line utility called gcalcli (short for GoogleCALendarCommandLineInterface). Click here to read that post. One of the options is called “agenda” which spits out, by default, the next five days of calendar entries. If you would prefer a different range of time than five days, then you can…
Using Google Calendar from the Linux Command Line
Posted by Greg Laden on October 8, 2010 Computer-based calendars are very useful, and the Google Calendar is probably one of the more widely used personal calendars other than scheduling programs such as MS Outlook and Groupwise (both of which are broken). But, webby gooey applications can be rather bothersome because they tend to take up a lot of screen real estate and…
Whither the weather? Linux CLI solutions
Posted by Greg Laden on October 7, 2010 The command line is a great place to get weather information. Here, I discuss one cli-app for current conditions and forecasts, in the larger context of why you would ever want to use the command line anyway.
Being a console geek in Linux
Posted by Greg Laden on October 5, 2010 This is the first in a series about using the “command line” in Linux. It is also about knowing when to use a gui instead. But before going into any of that we need to understand what is meant by a “command line” application. You’ll find that as we explore that idea, a lot of…
Coming Soon to an OpenSource Platform Near You
Posted by Greg Laden on July 31, 2010 Item 1: Linux has perfectly good fonts these days, and they are getting better. Patents held by Apple Corporation did not allow basic technology (the Bytecode Interpreter)to be implemented in Linux fonts (without paying). FreeType (the Linux font system) worked around this and things were workable, but still, having the Apple technology would have been…
How To Actually Get the Kindle Reader To Work on your Linux Desktop (UPDATED)
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 UPDATE: GO HERE. UPDATE UPDATE: I no longer have that file, because it is not the most current one. However, people who want to read their Kindle books on their Linux machine need only to use the browser-based Kindle Cloud Reader. It’s pretty nice. There is a Kindle reader application for the PC (and the…
The iPad and Skeptical Computing
Posted by Greg Laden on April 7, 2010 I’m going to make an argument that you should buy an Apple iPad despite widespread rumors of hardware problems and despite widespread criticisms of its design as funky and flawed. And by “you” I mean yooz guyz who are skeptics.
How To Use Linux ~ 02 Distros
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2009 This is a continuation of a series of posts written for non-geeks just starting out with Linux. Today, we look at the concept of a “distro” and why it is important to you as an average user of Linux.
How To Use Linux ~ 01 Introduction
Posted by Greg Laden on December 20, 2009 This is the first of a series of posts written for non-geeks just starting out with Linux. The idea is to provide the gist, a few important facts, and some fun suggestions. Slowly and easily. Some of the posts in this series may end up being useful references, so consider bookmarking those.
Running Alpine in Function Key Mode
Posted by Greg Laden on October 22, 2009 By now I assume you’ve experimented with Alpine, as a character-based email client. Well, I have another tip for you.
Do you want the alpine email client to remember your passwords?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 8, 2009 By default, the text-based email client ‘alpine’ requests a password the first time, per session, that it is requested a password from any email services it checks. For the duration of that session, it remembers the password, but forgets it if you quit alpine so you have to enter it again later. From a security…
alpine email software: the better way to opening links
Posted by Greg Laden on October 5, 2009 For today’s Linux Hint: How to pick which browser will open when you pick a link while using apine in Ubuntu.
How to get alpine to spell check your email
Posted by Greg Laden on October 4, 2009 If you are using alpine as your email client, you may find that hitting ctrl-T to invoke a spell checker does not work, in alpine 1.0 as installed in Ubuntu. It is easy to fix.
The Command Line in Linux, Mac OSX and Windows
Posted by Greg Laden on August 10, 2009 This is the first in a series of posts on just what the title says: The command line. The main point will be this: Stop worrying about the command line.
Linuxoids: Butter Eff Ess is in your future. Background here.
Posted by Greg Laden on August 2, 2009 btrfs (pronounced as in the title) is the next gen linux file system (you can tell it is a file system because it ends in “fs” which means “File-related stuff.” Valerie Aurora nee Henson gives us “….a behind-the-scenes look at the design and development of btrfs on many levels – technical, political, personal – and…
Ubuntu Server: Why you want one and how to do it.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 27, 2009 Why would you want to install Ubuntu as a “server” rather than as a desktop? The simple answer is: If you need to ask, you don’t want to do it. But, there is a more nuanced answer as well: By installing a server, you get to a) have loads of fun installing a server; b)…
Redirecting Output
Posted by Greg Laden on May 9, 2009 Sean Powers’ tip of the day: Thank you Sean. now, can we do a better job that Sean did and come up with some actual uses for this ability?
Why Linux is Better
Posted by Greg Laden on March 21, 2009 Why is Linux the coolest erector set in the world, that you should be willing to pay for? In part because Linux lacks the kind of freaky design oddities that arise when the makers of the software must go to meetings with a marketing department and a bunch of liability conscious lawyers, alternatively. In part…
The One True Editor
Posted by Greg Laden on March 3, 2009 Emacs is exactly like a religion. A western religion, at least, operates by testing the faith of its participants. The god coldly allows babies to die of unexplained illnesses, violence to affect the innocent, wars to break out, natural disasters to ruin everything. That we mortals have faith that this is a loving and intelligent,…
Technology Tidbits
Posted by Greg Laden on June 24, 2008 A new thing called “sporn” hits the intertubes Erv writes a post: SPORE: Obvious happens, EA shocked which points out a flaw in the plan by EA games to take over the world … they may be causing the “The Internet is ruining society” scenario du jour. You see, spores (entities that users, players of…
OMG It’s So Cute!
Posted by Greg Laden on November 15, 2007 I like to report advanced technology that runs open source systems, like LInux. From Manufactum of Germany, we have a two pound PC, running Linux, of course, just over seven inches maximum dimension. It runs at 500 MHz, can handle a gig of RAM (default 512 MB) and an 80 gig hard drive. It is…
A True Linux Hero
Posted by Greg Laden on November 14, 2007 Robin ‘Roblimo’ Miller writes: I’ve been hearing the phrase “This is the year of the Linux desktop” for 10 years. For me, it’s been a true statement for each of those years, because GNU/Linux has been my primary desktop operating system since 1997. But for most people around the world, this is the year of…
, which is now available for the 
