I want to keep singing the praises of an operating system that I used to make fun of on our show; Linux. In partial defense of myself, Linux traditionally has been known as the geeks operating system, and a user needed to be permanently attached to a forum for help and have an affinity for the command prompt or as its known in Linux, the terminal.
If I keep recommending Linux/Ubuntu and Apple Macintosh to my customers, I will have to find another line of work.
Admittedly, I came to the Linux table very late (just over a year now) and have only been luke warm to Macintosh over the years. Windows Vista put me over the edge last year, and I started looking seriously at other operating systems. What I found in both Ubuntu and Mac OSX was an extremely stable, secure, easy-to-use operating system. I estimate that over the past 18 months or so, I have recommended and help setup more than 2 dozen Apple computers or Linux computers that I either installed Ubuntu on or were bought new.
Last week, I was charged with finding a computer for a customer who only wanted it for Internet, email, and word processing. He didn’t want to add any games, extra programs, or anything else to it. My first thought, as I was listening to his needs, was Ubuntu. One other request was not to break the bank on cost. Lastly, he told me that he would be hooked up to a high speed cable Internet service.
Upon talking a little more, I explained my idea bout an Ubuntu Linux machine. He asked, “Does it do Internet? Email?” I said, “Yes.” He agreed that it sounded fine to him.
All your icons are gone off of your desktop and you can’t bring them back.
It’s an easy fix:
1. Right-click on your desktop
2. Click Arrange Icons By (or something similar depending on your version of Windows)
3. Click Show Desktop Icons
Wait a few seconds and all of your icons will come back. If they don’t you should get a Mac or Ubuntu computer.
Before I get a bunch of comments about the news story on the bad guys who were caught, it doesn’t appear to be the same bad guys at the moment. My stuff was not in the initial find and the dates don’t match up.
Maybe the bad guys know each other, but until the police contact me with a find, I am assuming that my laptops are still out there.
Yes, both my laptops were stolen out of my car last night. One was an Averatec with tons of stickers plastered on the top cover, the other was my Asus Eee PC. There was a lot of other stuff in the bag, but nothing that I can’t replace.
Windows user can use this tip to start programs automatically when they boot up their computers. This week I learned how to do the same thing with Ubuntu Linux (and its derivatives). Since my goal for this site is to impart all the knowledge I have in my brain to you, here is how to start programs on boot up in Ubuntu Linux:
1. Click System –> Preferences –> Sessions from the menus
2. Click the Add button in the Startup tab (should be already open)
3. Type the name of the program you want to start
4. Click the Browse button next to the Command box
5. Browse to the /usr/bin folder
6. Find and double-click the name of the program you want to start
7. Click OK
8. Click Close
Then next time you restart your Ubuntu machine, it will start the program you added. Of course, you can also uncheck the boxes next to programs you don’t need to start automatically just as easily.
It’s not as complicated as it sounds in writing. Watching the video below (2 minutes) will demonstrate the tip for you.
Rick sent me a link to this site earlier in the week. I think everyone should see it as it does a great job of explaining why the average person should be interested in alternative operating systems.
Today, I helped my customer who I installed Ubuntu for almost four months ago. “It has been working great so far”, he informed me. We mainly worked on fine tuning some aspects of the desktop and panels (Ubuntu toolbars). He also wanted to use a calendar, but didn’t know how to approach the included Evolution program which is similar to Microsoft Outlook. However, as I pointed out last summer during my “14 days with Ubuntu”, I like the direction Evolution is heading, but it is far from polished.
Although Evolution comes with Ubuntu automatically, I still recommend using
As I move more and more of my computing away from my desktop computer to the Internet and Ubuntu, my computing life becomes less complicated and quite mobile. I can access documents, calendar information, contact information, and more from my phone (Treo 755p at the moment) and any Internet connected computer any where I happen to be.
I encountered another department store computer fix-it horror story today. The client called me because they had the proverbial slow computer. I show up and the owner proceeds to tell me that they just got it returned from a big box electronic store with the initials CC whose computer experts work under the initials of FD. Incidentally, I could tell similar stories of woe with another store whose initials are BB and their resident experts work under the initials of GS.