Skip to content

ubuntu

Did you miss us last night?

Many thanks for everyone who attempted to tune in last night. It was a great trial run and we have most of the kinks worked out. We didn’t actually get the live video and chat up until around 10:45pm. Once everything was up and running it was pretty lively. By the time we got off at almost midnight we were getting computer questions right and left.

We are very excited to get this going. One thing we can promise is that the new show isn’t just going to be an Internet version of our radio show. Last night we had questions from all areas of technology. We discussed HDTV, wireless networks and Internet security with people who had never heard the show.

Ubuntu – Day 14 – Final Report

 
Ubuntu Header graphic

I can’t believe it has been two weeks already that I’ve used Ubuntu Linux exclusively. If I had to sum up the experience in one word, that word would be “satisfying.” And my regular readers/listeners know that I can’t sum anything up in one word, so I will use this format to provide a complete synopsis of my Ubuntu thoughts.

Ubuntu – Day 13

Haven’t used my computer at all today except to write this blog entry. I will answer some email later, but again, Ubuntu does that without any problems at all (except that I miss my Cloudmark spam filter). I have one more day before I return to my Windows machine and use it as my primary again. I did hook a regular mouse to this laptop and it makes it easier to run the machine than relying full time on the touch pad. Thankfully, this laptop has a button that can turn the touchpad off when I’m typing since my palms tend to rub on the touchpad and then throw me out of the box where I was typing.

Tomorrow night, I will give a longer summary of my 14 day Ubuntu report and how I feel it would work for other computer users.

Ubuntu – Day 12

Over the past two weeks, we have been working diligently to come up with a solution for our newsletter problems. We can’t apologize enough for the delay in getting the news to your email box…remember that you can come here to read the newsletter as well.

In my ongoing quest for finding an email newsletter solution, I discovered that Mozilla Thunderbird email program will handle RSS feeds (search our site for RSS for more info) very capably. I plan to write a tip on that in the future. Since I’m using Thunderbird as my email program on this Ubuntu machine, I have been able to become more familiar with it. And the features it has on Ubuntu are the same as Windows. I’m actually becoming quite used to it and might switch to it on my PC as well.

Easy WiFi with Ubuntu Linux – Video Tip

This week’s tip addresses a rough area with Ubuntu Linux…using wi-fi (wireless) Internet. I have had some of the same problems utilizing wireless Internet as other people, so I set out to learn more about it and find as straight forward a solution as I could. What I found was called WiFi Radar. I wrote about it in Day 3 of my 14 day Ubuntu only series. In today’s tip, I submit to you the video version of that tip.

Ubuntu – Day 11

We are continuing to have problems with sending the newsletter out since our web host changed what they allow us to do. Rest assured we are working diligently to find a good solution for everyone. Remember that in the interim, we post the newsletter here on the site and you can read or print it from here. Please accept our apologies while we work on this problem.

I’m using the Ubuntu version of OpenOffice to work with our newsletter database to clean it up and find a new better solution for the newsletter. The spreadsheet in OpenOffice works great, but the database is pretty pokey compared to Windows based databases like File Maker Pro and Access.

Ubuntu – Day 10

Ubuntu is becoming so routine for me, that I have nothing to report. And that is a good thing in my opinion…no problems, no worries. I haven’t touched my Windows Vista or XP machine since starting this learning quest 10 days ago. In fact, my Visa machine sits beside me right now in the OFF position, and my XP laptop is probably feeling neglected in its bag.

I will do another Ubuntu tip for tomorrow. If you have suggestions, leave a comment below!

Ubuntu – Day 9

After using this laptop for a solid week plus, I see pluses and minuses in laptop use. The Ubuntu continues to roll along perfectly. With Ubuntu, for the moment anyway, there is no need to install anti-virus or anti-spyware software because there are very few problems with Linux being hammered on like Windows. I’m running the base install of Ubuntu with no extra security software at all…definitely one reason that it is so fast compared to Windows Vista and XP. I did download and install the new Google Earth for Linux last night, and it works flawlessly in Ubuntu. I don’t use Google Earth often, but it is nice to have it and to see Google make a Linux version speaks volumes…in my opinion.

Ubuntu – Day 8

Week two with Ubuntu starts today, and still no shakes, dry heaves, or headaches after leaving Windows last weekend. I’m enjoying the Ubuntu and even have the spam a little more under control with Thunderbird email. Normally, I don’t play games on my computer, but I do like puzzle games that challenge my mind and help me wind down after a long day troubleshooting Windows’ problems. Ubuntu comes with a literal plethora of small, fun games. I like one called “Same Gnome” that challenges you to clear a game board of small orbs by lining them up as the same color. Sounds simple, but it is fun and like all good puzzle games is addicting.

Ubuntu – Day 7

Today marks the one week mark that I quit using my Windows Vista machine and started using Ubuntu exclusively. I pledged to use Ubuntu only for two straight weeks to really put the operating system through the paces of daily use. After a rough start with email and fighting spam, I am almost in a groove of using this free and robust operating system. I think that Microsoft has the work cut out for themselves over the next few years to maintain their huge share of the operating system pie.