In 2008, I wrote the popular post "Top 100 of the Best (Useful) OpenSource Applications" http://ubuntulinuxhelp.com/top-100-of-the-best-useful-opensource-applications/ As of today, it has been viewed over 1.8 million times. Still, one of the more common questions I get asked by new Linux users, revolves around the subject "What application do I use for..."Over the last couple of months, I've received more and more of these type of questions. I remember when I first started this blog, I think I was using Ubuntu 7.04...
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One of the things I've personally found frustrating in Linux is the development status of screencasting applications, or lack thereof. Some projects remain in beta, never coming to fruition, and eventually being abandoned. Others have quirks that seem to cause different issues based on what system they're installed on.Why am I posting about this? It's very difficult (at times) when new Linux (Ubuntu) users ask me how to do something and I cannot show them. Sometimes I'm far away, a...
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As someone whose business also provides web development and graphic design, among other services, it was a real treat to bump into this font management gem (a few hours ago) "Fonty Python".As the name implies, it's a python based application used to manage fonts - Great if you have a lot of fonts that you'd like to manage and preview. The first thing that grabbed my attention was that users can create what the developer calls "pogs", as the developer indicates, the name comes from ...
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Prelude: Why write about a screenshot tool?
It is a mistake to think that only "big" things (supported hardware, multimedia codecs, office applications and data conversion) matter when you want to successfully switch to an alternative operating system. For true happinessTM, the small things are as, or even more, important - the things that make your daily work routine run smoothly and that you'll only miss once you don't have them anymore...Taking screenshots is one of these small things. Everybody who develops dig...
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I recently read a Digg post "10 Free Apps that Turn your Ubuntu into a Video Studio" and it annoyed the heck out of me! Maybe I'm being too critical, but I don't see 10 top video applications in Linux (I'm an Ubuntu user). In fact, I don't even see ten productive, functional, Linux based video applications that I would use in a production environment. Maybe I'm a bit too outspoken, but in my opinion, the article that Digg post points to is not worth the pixels it's displayed with. Ba...
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Recently I posted "Build a Web Developer PC and Enable Most Media Playback Using Ubuntu Linux" and received a few messages asking what other tools I use. To save me time with answering email messages that essentially contain the same information, and to help the maximum number of readers, I thought it would be a good follow up to that earlier post.First off, there some other applications I use, namely:xVidCap. This facilitates screen capturing video so that I can create tutorial videos. After which ffmpeg can be ...
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For those of you who follow my other blog, you'll know that my last Windows PC had a major failure again. You can read some of the specifics in the "When Disaster Strikes - Again" post. At that point I decided to install Ubuntu (effectively removing Windows based PC's from the network).In some ways I was bothered about this. Why? I work best with Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, Dreamweaver, WinSCP, Flash and so on. I felt like I was going to lose all the productivity these applications provided. I enjoy bein...
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Earlier this month, I posted Part 1 of "Browser Problems - Creating a Linux Based Virtual Box" where the issue of being able to load different environments to test web site development was discussed. In this post (Part 2), I've received all the hardware (Shuttle SN68SG2) and am happy to note that the unit is Linux compatible. I've installed Ubuntu Linux 8.04 x64 (Hardy) on it.I did have two issues to fix after the initial install.1) The integrated network card did not seem to work.
2) The integrated video was sho...
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Recently several people asked me about trying Linux without actually installing it. Obviously the first thing that came to mind is to try versions via LiveCD. For those not familiar, LiveCD means:"A CD-ROM that contains a working copy of an operating system or other application that is run without installing it. Used for demonstration and evaluation as well as system recovery, the software runs intact from the CD." Source: http://dictionary.zdnet.com/definition/LiveCD.htmlWhile I was fast to mention and ...
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Last month we posted a great idea "Make Your Own Plug ‘N Play Zone Using Ubuntu Linux!", discussing and introducing the concept of a "zone" where laptop (or other) users could plug their units into and have Linux automatically installed upon boot up."...It’s a simple 3-step method. Users plug their laptop into one of the two ports and boot off the network. Go away, come back later and it’s all done..."Some readers have asked me about the actual "code" or parameters - this means the PXELinux Boot Lo...
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