Linux has a number of Twitter Clients (for example, Qwit and Twitux), but they are limited to Twitter. What about one client that works with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and other social networks? Which ones will actually work on older machines with limited memory? Can we track them all at once, with regular updates that do not require refreshing the page? We live in a world driven by instant information. We live in a world of social networks via the Internet. Are there Linux solutions to the world of instant microblogging? Continue reading →
Microblogging clients for Linux
January 12th, 2010 — Linux Social Networking Software
XUbuntu 9.10 – Disappointing
January 2nd, 2010 — Linux Distributions
The project was to convert a Micron Transport ZX laptop with 256 meg. of memory into an Internet Gateway. On the Internet side is a USB modem, and the Lan side is a Belkin Wireless card with the dreaded BCM43xx chipset. I only had an XUbuntu 8.10 CD, so I installed with no problems. Network Manager recognized the USB Modem without a problem, so I was able to download the Window Wireless Driver program, installed the Windows driver, and used NDISwrapp Then I decided to upgrade to 9,04, and it was easy. The next hop was to version 9.10. The upgrade went without problems, but 9.10 is not the greated version of Ubuntu. Continue reading →
openSUSE 11.1
June 10th, 2009 — Linux Desktops, Linux Distributions, Linux Installation
I put off upgrading my primary laptop, until yesterday. I finally upgraded to openSUSE 11.1. It is a triple-booted machine, so the upgrade include installing Simply Mephis 8.0 and Ubuntu 8.10. I really wanted to install Debian 5.0, Mandriva 2009, and openSUSE, but had a few problems. I did discover a new trick.
Easy Multi-boot Systems
April 3rd, 2009 — Linux Installation
There are easy ways to do things, and there are hard ways. My Dad used to tell me that I spent more time figuring out the easy way, than it would have taken to do it the hard way. Ah, but the next time around, the easy way paid off. When it comes to multi-booting, there are many methods, I like the easy way.
Knoppix 6.0
March 24th, 2009 — Linux Desktops, Linux Distributions, Linux screen readers
Knoppix is Live CD, and they were one of the firt to produce a Live CD. I have use Knoppix in the past as a quick way to demonstrate Linux. My initial reaction to version 6.0 was “how far they have fallen.” The automatic boot into Adriane with no instructions on how to boot straight to Knoppix was a bit disconcerting. Knoppix now uses LXDE, but with a twist. Work on another project allowed me to see Knoppix 6.0 from a different perspective. My first opinion needed some adjustment.
Xubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid)
March 15th, 2009 — Linux Distributions
Xubuntu 8.10 is Ubuntu 8.10 with Xfce as the graphical desktop. Even though LXDE is lighter, there are reasons to use Xfce as a desktop manager. Each graphical desktop manager comes with a set of packages for the common, and not so common tasks. Each graphical desktop manaager comes with its own menu structure for accessing packages. When choosing your default graphical desktop manager, you need to consider the entire package with lightness being one of the factors.
Window Manager versus Graphical Desktop
March 14th, 2009 — Linux Desktops
Linux / UNIX systems are based around the X Window System. To avoid confustion, we need to clear distinquish between login managers, window managers, and graphical desktops. Each plays a role in creating the desktop environment. While they may be the same, I separate login managers from windows managers.
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Xfce versus LXDE
March 12th, 2009 — Linux Desktops
Who is the lightest of the lightweight desktops? Is there enough difference to be worth the switch? What are the pros and cons of having multiple choices in desktops?
Choosing a Desktop
March 6th, 2009 — Linux Desktops
Linux doesn’t give you one graphical desktop, it gives you a choice between a lot of different graphcal desktops. Of course, you can run Linux in a pure text mode, which is fine for servers, but not for a workstation. The top two graphical desktops are KDE and Gnome. For systems with only 256 megabytes of memory Xfce is my preferred choice. Each distro has a default desktop, and some distros are offering different install sets for KDE, Gnome, Xfce, or LXDE. If you are new, which one do you choose.
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Which Linux Distribution?
March 6th, 2009 — Linux Distributions
According to Distro Watch, there are over 300 distributions of Linux available. I am not going to cover all 300 distributions of Linux. I leave that task to those who have much more patience and time than I. The Linux distributions that are going to be covered in this blog are:
