How Do You Pronouce Linux?
Submitted on July 26th, 2007 by admin
Filed under Linux
No. of comments (3)
Why do I wonder about this stuff?
Most people agree that several accepted pronunciations exist…
- Lin-nicks
- Line-icks
- Lean-oocks
The author of linux Linus Torvalds prounounces it this way.
I have always said “lin-nicks” as I related it to “you-nicks” (unix).
How do you say it?
Ubuntu expanding to the mobile world
Submitted on May 8th, 2007 by admin
Filed under Portables and Software and Linux
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I’m a huge Linux fan. In fact, I’ve been running it as my main operating system for close to five years now, so I was really excited to hear that the good folks over at Ubuntu are developing a version of the extremely popular distro for mobile devices. While Linux on mobile phones and PDAs isn’t anything new, the huge popularity and ease of use of Ubuntu could help the market expand drammatically. The mobile version of Ubuntu is expected to be released in October of this year along with the next release of the desktop version, Ubuntu 7.10.
[Via TechWorld; more at the Ubuntu Mailing List]
Sync notes, photos, and more w/ Conduit
Submitted on May 7th, 2007 by admin
Filed under Storage and Productivity and Software and Linux
No. of comments (1)
Backing up your data is extremely important, because quite frankly, you never know when your data will become corrupted. The problem with backing up data, is that it can sometimes be a little tedious. Enter Conduit, a small Linux application which makes the process very simple.
At the moment, I’ve only tried backing up my TomBoy notes to BackPack, but it’s also possible to save photos from F-Spot to Flickr, the ability to sync folders, settings files, e-mails to GMail, and more. It’s still an early release and a bit buggy, but is an excellent tool which will prove extremely helpful. Conduit is free and available only for GNU/Linux.
Make your Ubuntu desktop look like OS X
Submitted on October 29th, 2006 by admin
Filed under Storage and Graphics and Resources and Linux
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A few years ago, the OS X Aqua look was hot, and I belonged to a community of users which modified their Windows (and sometimes Linux) desktops to look like Apple’s new OS. We had people writing applications to clone OS X features (some which Apple shut down), some writing themes, others drawing up new icons. Recently, I decided I was growing tired of the default Ubuntu desktop so I figured I’d start modifying it, and I came upon Lauri Taimila’s site which has a very handy guide to making Ubuntu look like OS X. It’s not exact, and some of the links in the guide seem to have gone missing, but overall, I’m quite happy with the conversion, and it was fairly easy to do. In the end, you’ll have much of the eye candy available to Mac users and your desktop will look a whole lot better than all that brown.
Add Wikipedia to Google Earth
Submitted on October 28th, 2006 by admin
Filed under Resources and Browsers and The Mac Side and Services and Windows and Software and Linux
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I’ve expressed my love for Google Earth quite a few times since it’s first appearance, but always wished it provided a little more real-world information out of the box instead of having to add my own data and coordinates. If you’ve ever felt the same, you might be happy to know you can know, thanks to Geocoordinates from Wikipedia for Google Earth, a website which provides a .KMZ file you can open in Google Earth and which provides coordinates for thousands of Wikipedia entries. Due to the number of possible entries, the database is split up into layers so you’re not overwhelmed by onscreen data.
Geocoordinates from Wikipedia for Google Earth is available in both English and German, and is completely free. All you need is a copy of Google Earth to enjoy it.
Installing MythTV under Ubuntu
Submitted on October 28th, 2006 by admin
Filed under Resources and Software and Video and Linux
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I have been a Linux promoter for a few years now (a very interesting story for another day), and am currently running Ubuntu on my laptop. One idea I’ve been toying with for the past several weeks is of building my own media center PC powered by Ubuntu, but lack of time has kept me from researching how to go about doing it. That is, until I came upon the MythTV Ubuntu Installation Guide.
For those of you who don’t know, MythTV is a fantastic open-source application which lets you turn your Linux-powered computer into a full fledged media center, complete with TV watching and recording pabilities (if you own a tuner card), a DVD player, audio player, weather updates, and more. By following the MythTV Ubuntu Installation Guide, you can have your own media center up and running in no time.
Create a software list and use it to restore your Ubuntu install
Submitted on September 28th, 2006 by admin
Filed under Resources and Linux and Security
No. of comments (1)
Backing up your system is very important so here’s a quick and easy way to make a list of all your installed applications in Ubuntu, and use that list to bring your system back up to how it was before the (potential) crash with some simple Terminal commands. Head on over to nixCraft to get all the fresh details, and if you’re an Ubuntu Linux user, you’ll definitely appreciate this tip.
Gizmo offers free VOIP to landline calls
Submitted on July 20th, 2006 by admin
Filed under Storage and The Mac Side and Services and Windows and Linux
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The Gizmo Project has been around for a while and we’ve mentioned it once or twice before. Even though I like using the program quite a bit, something has kept me from completely dropping Skype in favor it Gizmo, though that may soon change as Gizmo is now offering free VOIP to landline calling to over 60 countries!
There is one catch though…any number you wish to call must be registered by a Gizmo member, so don’t go ahead and start calling grandma; get her to sign up first. Second, if you want someone to call you, you’ll need to fork up the cash and have a phone number tied to your Gizmo account (which is just like US$3 a month). While not as free as it may sound, the new VOIP to landline calling feature should definitely be easy enough to do, and hey, maybe you can just sign your friends up so you can call them.
[Via Engadget]
Getting started with DNS
Submitted on July 20th, 2006 by admin
Filed under Resources and Services and Linux
No. of comments (1)
Are you looking to start hosting a website on your home PC but aren’t sure how to? Linux.com has a good article on getting started with dynamic DNS which should put you on the right path. You could also check out ZoneEdit, a free service which makes the whole process basically painless.
Learn to program in Python
Submitted on March 1st, 2006 by admin
Filed under Resources and The Mac Side and Software and Windows and Linux
No. of comments (2)
If you’ve wanted to start programming, Python is a rather popular and easy language to learn and use. hose of you who remember when BASIC was king, Python is similar to an updated and more powerful version of BASIC, and there’s many similiarities between the two. (It also happens to be named after British comedians!) For the most part, Python is an interpreted language, meaning that you have to have the Python interpreter to run any Python programs. As a rule of thumb, if a computer can run the Python interpreter, it can run most Python programs. There’s Windows, DOS, Windows CE, Mac, Linux (Check your distribution’s package manager), Java, and many other interesting versions officially avaliable.
There’s also many good Python tutorials avaliable, such as Dive Into Python (for people with prior programming experience), and, for those new to programming or with less experience, The Non-Programmer’s Guide to Python. Happy coding, everyone!
