An Everyday Linux User Review of Makulu Linux 6 - Imperium Edition

May 28, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: KDE Audio Players - Amarok versus Clementine

≪ Previous: A guide to setting up Makulu 6 in Virtualbox

Introduction

There are hundreds and hundreds of Linux distributions available at this point in time. Most users stick with the major Linux distributions. But what is a major Linux distribution?

Off the top of my head I can think of Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, PCLinuxOS, Zorin, Elementary, Mageia, Slackware, Gentoo and Puppy. Then there are the Ubuntu spin-offs such as Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Gnomebuntu and Edubuntu

Behind all these distributions there are a host of other distributions that you may have heard of but not yet tried. Peppermint, Manjaro, Point Linux, Crunchbang, Kali, Bodhi, Knoppix, SLAX, SolydXK, Antix, Chakra, OS4, Korora, KWheezy and SparkyLinux. I could go on and on.

Every year we lose some distributions and quite often it is a shame because they were good. For example in the past couple of years we have lost SolusOS and Fuduntu. Fuduntu had some really amazing artwork and was easy to setup and use. Alas the way Fuduntu was being developed was no longer sustainable.

Today I am reviewing what looks to be a really good distribution, Makulu Linux 6 - Imperium Edition.

What is Makulu 6 - Imperium Edition?

The first release in our new 6 series dubbed "Imperium" ( Latin for "power to command" ), also our first Dual Mode Solo Mate Build. This release allows users to customize their settings and software upon installation, Now users can setup their desktop the way they want it with the software they want while still experiencing an "out of the box" Experience, those that don't want an out of the "box experience" will now have an option to turn the system into a "bare-bone" system with a few clicks. MakuluLinux Mate brings users the best of both worlds.

The text above was taken directly off the Makulu website.

In essence you get to choose between either having lots of applications or the bare minimum, flashy effects or no effects. It is your call. I will get on to how that works later on in the article.

Makulu 6 uses the MATE desktop environment and the minimum requirements are as follows:

A 32-bit PAE-enabled x86 processor
512 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
8.5 GB of disk space ( Recommended )
Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
CD/DVD drive or USB port

Makulu is based on Debian testing with Kernel 3.13 and MATE 1.8. It also has full SystemD support. (That was the geeky bit for those that care).

How to get Makulu

You can download Makulu 6 from http://www.makululinux.com/mate.htm. The links are at the bottom of the page.

You can burn the Makulu ISO to DVD using your favourite disc burning tool or use UNetbootin to create a bootable USB drive.

If you have a poor internet connection or you would prefer to buy a copy of Makulu 6 then you can do so by clicking this link.

Installing Makulu

I have written a guide showing how to install Makulu 6 as a virtual machine.

There is also a video provided by Makulu on the live desktop which is available on Youtube which shows how to install Makulu 6.

There are basically 2 ways to install Makulu, use the easy option or use the expert installation.

The easy option works great if you are installing in a virtual machine or you are installing on a machine as the only distribution. For dual booting you will need to use the expert installation.

I would recommend watching the video first just to get an overall feel before wiping any disks.

The installation itself has a lot of steps to it and you can see this if you read my guide for installing in a virtual machine.

The main steps are quite common though: partition your drives, configure your users, keyboard, locale, timezone, etc.

Post installation there is a setup utility that runs which has a host of other questions.

If you look back at the Makulu statement earlier on it says you can have a full installation or a bare bones system.

Everything is installed on your system at the point of installation but during the setup you are asked whether you want to keep all the installed applications or go minimal. If you choose to go minimal then all the installed applications are just removed from the computer again. This is a bit like buying a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich and removing the contents so that you can get a couple of slices of bread.

All in all the installation wasn't too tricky although a little more involved than with Mint, PCLinuxOS or Ubuntu.

It took about 30 minutes on my old Samsung R20 laptop.

First Impressions

The first thing I noticed on this really inept piece of junk laptop that I am using is how good Makulu looks on it.

The desktop wallpapers are as good as the ones that came with Fuduntu. The whole experience feels pretty slick.

By default there is a wallpaper changer switched on (which can be switched off during setup) and believe me this is a good thing. There is also a random quote that appears in the bottom right corner. All in all very quaint.

The desktop itself includes a MATE panel at the bottom and an animated docking bar (Docky) at the top (which you can choose to switch off during the setup).

There is the standard MATE menu that appears by clicking the icon in the bottom left and a slingscold dash style menu appears if you click the link in the bottom right.

There are a number of quick launch icons on the panel in the bottom left and status and settings icons in the bottom right.

The quick launch icons on the panel enable you to hide all windows and show the desktop, run the system updater, open a terminal window, open the Chromium web browser and browse your files using the Caja file manager.

Icons also appear in the top left corner with links to your home folder and the trash folder.

The animated docking bar has icons for what are considered to be useful applications such as Thunderbird Mail, Caja File Manager, the Leafpad editor, a terminal window and the Kingsoft office suite. There are also icons for switching desktops.

The system tray has icons for audio settings, configuring the wallpaper changer, setting up network connections, power settings and the all important clock.

For those of you who have trouble keeping time you can feel safe in the comfort that Makulu has a clock in the system tray and as a widget on the main desktop screen.

The menu in the bottom left is the standard MATE menu. The left side of the menu has a list of places such as your home folder, networks, desktop and trash. There are also system tools such as the software manager, package manager and control centre.

The middle section has a list of categories and clicking on a category brings the list of applications for that category in the right panel.

The menu also includes a search facility.

You can switch the menu view so that instead of showing a list of categories and applications it shows a list of your favourite applications. The link for switching between favourites and all applications is in the top right of the menu.

The slingscold menu can be pulled up by pressing the icon in the bottom right corner. The view is more like the dash within Unity or Gnome. Search for applications by entering the name in the search box or by navigating through the pages.

Connecting to the internet

Connecting to the internet should be a fairly easy affair. This computer is about 7 or 8 years old and it was able to find the wireless networks available to me.

Simply click on the network icon in the system tray and then click on the wireless network (or wired) of your choice.

A window will appear asking you for your security key should one be required.

Flash and MP3

Makulu comes with all the necessary codecs and plugins required to watch Flash videos, play Flash games and listen to MP3s.

Email

The default email client within Makulu is Thunderbird.

When you first load Thunderbird you will be asked whether you want to create a new email address or if you want to use an existing account.

If you have an email account with Google (GMail) or Microsoft etc then setting up your account is as easy as entering your email address and password.

If your email provider isn't recognised you can setup the details manually.

Thunderbird can also be used for reading RSS feeds. In my previous article I showed how to use Akregator within KDE to load in a OPML file.

You can load the OPML file linked in that article to load the Linux based RSS feeds into Thunderbird as well.

Kingsoft Office

This is the first opportunity that I have had to look at the Kingsoft Office suite. Usually it is a choice between LibreOffice or Abiword and Gnumeric.

Kingsoft office is strikingly similar to a certain other office suite that is on the market and it even includes ribbon bars.

Now I really do not like the ribbon bar thing. I just find that there are too many options strewn all over the place. I figured Microsoft had done it because they were losing money on operating system licenses and decided a good way to make an extra buck was on the sale of training courses for changing every single menu and toolbar for no good reason.

The Kingsoft office works very well and is a nice alternative to LibreOffice.

With Makulu, Kingsoft office comes with a full word processor, spreadsheet package and presentation tool.

Audio

The audio package in Makulu is Audacious.

Audacious is fairly basic but gives you the ability to create and edit playlists.

As mentioned before MP3s play without issue.

Video

There are various video players and tools within Makulu.

VLC is the main video player but there is also Minitube which enables you to watch Youtube videos within a desktop application.

If you prefer to create your own videos there is Pitivi and for screencasting vokoscreen.

Dropbox

Dropbox is also installed as part of Makulu 6.

Dropbox allows you to store files in "the cloud".

Basically you can take your photos, important documents and other files and store them on a server out there on the web somewhere.

Nobody can view, edit or copy the files without your say so and it is a useful way to backup files and also give you instant access to them from anywhere.

It is a free service up to 2 gigabytes and then there is a small fee above and beyond that.

Gaming

Makulu Linux comes with a decent set of games.

Frets on fire is like guitar hero without a guitar.

If you are nifty with your fingers on a keyboard then you will appreciate playing this game.

It looks and sounds good.

Other games installed with Makulu include:

Dreamchess - Chess

Flobopuyo - Tetris

GBrainy - Logic games

LTris - Tetris again

Neverputt - Mini golf

Tee worlds - 2d shooters

XMahjongg - Mahjongg.

All in all a decent selection. But that is not all, no that is not all.

Steam is also installed within Makulu.

When you first click the icon the Steam updater runs and downloads a file of around 100 megabytes.

As you can see I don't play Steam games very often. I found that Football Manager 14 works much better on a tablet than on a laptop. There are just too many options in the full version.

Makulu really throws the kitchen sink at you. Also included is PlayOnLinux which makes it possible to play Windows games within Linux (and use Windows applications).

Winetricks and WINE is also installed.

I used PlayOnLinux to install Sensible World Of Soccer which is one of the finest football games every made.

Keep an eye out for Tikka Takka football that will be out this year on your tablets as it uses a similar engine to the one used by Sensible Soccer.

Other Software

Cherry Tree - Note taking tool

Pluma - Text editor

Leafpad - Text editor

MATE Calculator - Calculator

Sunflower - File manager

Screenshot - Screenshot tool

Imagemagick- Graphic editor/viewer

Pinta - Graphics editor

Chromium - Web browser

Deluge - Torrent software

Mumble - Chat software (think Google Hangouts)

Iceweasel - Web browser

Pidgin - Instant messenger

Brasero - DVD writer

There are dozens of other utilities such as GParted etc.

The main thing to note is that there are a few duplicates along the way but the software as a whole has been well thought out and for somebody who wants their computer to do daily everyday chores then Makulu certainly fits the bill.

Installing Software

Within Makulu you can use the software installer which lets you search for a package by title and then it installs the package and dependencies.

Alternatively you can use the MINT installer which is a more graphical tool.

Further options include Synaptic. which is less pretty but more functional and on the command line there is apt-get.

Issues

I have been using Makulu for over a week non-stop and there have been no (as in zero) incidents to report.

The default theme is a little bit dark for somebody like me as I am colourblind but this is easily resolved by choosing a lighter theme.

Sometimes on the dark theme it is dark text on a dark background. (invisible ink).

The one other thing that caused an issue was during the live session. The number lock was automatically turned on and on this laptop that meant that the letter keys i,o,p,j,k,l,b,n and m are numerical. This caused a problem whilst trying out networking as my security key kept saying that I was entering the password incorrectly. The problem was easily resolved by using the function key to turn off the number lock.

Summary

I used Makulu 6 on my ageing laptop and it worked a treat. I can only imagine that it would work even better on something newer.

The installer is probably a little bit full on for the less technically minded but there is a video that covers how to install Makulu which is definitely worth watching.

I have the same warm feeling about this distribution that I felt for SolusOS, Fuduntu and more recently Point Linux.

Unfortunately SolusOS and Fuduntu are no more. I hope Makulu will hand around for versions 7, 8 and 9 because it is a decent distro.

I am going to leave you with some more screenshots of the ace wallpaper.

Thankyou for reading.

↧

KDE Audio Players - Amarok versus Clementine

June 3, 2014, 2:47 pm

≫ Next: Ubuntu 14.04 - There has never been a better time to switch to Linux

≪ Previous: An Everyday Linux User Review of Makulu Linux 6 - Imperium Edition

Introduction

Some of you may be aware that I have been taking a closer looks at the applications that are installed by default in the KDE version of openSUSE.

Thus far I have covered

It is time to move on to the multimedia applications and first up is Amarok. In the past I wasn't really a KDE fan but I always considered Amarok to be a decent audio player.

Now I have become a KDE convert I have discovered that Amarok isn't as good as some of the other audio players out there.

To help show what I mean I have installed Clementine and I will show a comparison of the two during the article.

Amarok

There is a default look and feel to Amarok but you can change it to look the way you want it to by dragging the panels around.

In the screenshot above you will see that I have a panel with the recently played tracks, a dummy playlist in the centre and a list of media sources on the right hand side.

The are a number of plugins that can be added to Amarok and the openSUSE version has some useful ones applied by default.

For instance there is a Wikipedia plugin which tells you all about the artist and song that is currently playing.

If you are anything like me then you will struggle with the lyrics to songs. For years I thought Bon Jovi were singing about "Barry Venison". I wondered why an American rock band wrote a song about the former Liverpool centre back, and only a supreme deity knows what the words to Rock the Casbah are. (Actually Amarok knows them as well).

On the right hand side of my screen (although it can be anywhere you choose to put it) is a list of sources and depending on which source you choose you get a different view.

For instance if I choose to look at my local music collection I can select to search the collection by Genre.

I can switch the view at any time though and filter by Album, Artist, Year or a mixture of all the above and more.

There are other online sources to choose from.

For instance you can choose online services such as Jamendo, Amazon, Last.fm and Cool Streams.

Not all of the options worked for me and in some cases you have to download data.

I was impressed by the Podcast directory. The UK coverage is excellent and includes all the BBC podcasts.

If you have podcasts that you listen to regularly then you can add them in to Amarok.

All you need is the RSS or Atom feel URL.

There are various ways to play music within Amarok including setting up folders which are used to build up your local collection.

For a quick start though you can choose the "Play Media" option on the Amarok menu.

As mentioned before you can adjust the layout of Amarok but when you have it the way you like it you can lock the user interface. If things are just getting too messy and you want to get back to the initial settings there is a reset option.

No music player would be complete if it didn't contain the ability to create playlists. Adding songs to a playlist is as simple as right clicking on them and selecting "Add to playlist". You can of course remove songs from a playlist, clear the entire list and export the playlist.

When you click on an an artist the artwork for each of their albums is shown.

How that artwork is downloaded is up to you. You can change the settings to automatically download artwork or you can open the cover art manager and import missing artwork yourself.

Amarok can be configured in many different ways via the settings -> configure Amarok menu option.

As with most KDE applications there are dozens of different options.

One of the key elements of Amarok is where the music is imported from as part of your local collection.

The "Local Collection" tab within the Amarok configuration settings lets you choose which folders store your music files.

The "Full Rescan" option searches the selected folders for any new tracks. The import option lets you import tracks from other applications such as iTunes (I haven't tried this option).

As mentioned earlier there are a number of plugins that are installed with Amarok and these provide functionality such as integrating iPods, MTP audio devices and Universal Mass Storage Collection devices. In theory your MP3 player should be covered by one of these plugins.

There are a number of other add-ins that can be installed and this is why Wikipedia and Lyrics work by default in Amarok.

Integration with audio players

iPods are supposed to work with Amarok but having tried this with my daughter's iPod Touch all I ever received was the following two messages:

To be honest iPod support within Linux is hit and miss and this has much more to do with Apple than any of the Linux based audio players.

I have searched for these errors online and there are various links for Kubuntu, openSUSE, Mageia and PCLinuxOS which all basically state that certain newer models of iPod just don't work.

If you happen to have an iPod Touch then all is not lost as Clementine recognises the iPod without any errors at all. Clementine can be installed via your package manager.

Whilst Clementine can recognise the iPod and play songs from it, actual integration is still hit and miss and you have no real access to iTunes.

Some sources suggest using iTunes via WINE but others state that the performance is horrible.

Apple aren't the only people that make audio players and to be honest for actual audio quality you would do well to find anything better than the Sony Walkman (no not one of those big blue cassette players from the 1980s but the modern and sleek black MP3 players)

Hold on though. Amarok doesn't like that either. An openSUSE issue or a general Amarok issue? From reading up online most people seem to state that they manage their devices using Dolphin (the file manager).

As you can see though Clementine provides instant access to the Walkman.

Clementine

Personally I think Clementine is the better audio player of the two.

The user interface is clean, it is easier to use and has all the functionality of Amarok.

To add music to your library click the left pane.

Upon clicking the empty library pane you will be taken to the Clementine settings where you can define playback settings, set your folders, adjust your user interface and choose the online music providers.

To add your music folders click the "Add new folder" button.

You can now find and select the folders you wish to add.

Once you have music imported into Clementine you will see a list of artists and albums. This view can be changed so that it is filtered differently such as by Genre.

There are a number of online services available such as icecast, jamendo, grooveshark etc. You can also add your own podcasts.

As with Amarok it is easy enough to create and manage playlists. In fact I would say it is easier to manage playlists within Clementine.

Clementine includes a song info feature which gives you the all important lyrics. (If only that was around when I was younger, it would have been a lot easier to learn Ice Ice Baby).

The Artist Info option provides information about the artist for the track that is playing.

If you like to have the cover art for your music collection there is a cover art manager similar to the one used by Amarok and you an either choose your own artwork or search online.

Summary

Amarok is the default application installed with openSUSE but I would certainly recommend using Clementine instead.

Clementine feels lighter, has a nicer interface, the online options work better and there is better support for external audio devices.

Thankyou for reading.

↧

Ubuntu 14.04 - There has never been a better time to switch to Linux

June 7, 2014, 3:29 pm

≫ Next: How does the cloud affect the everyday linux user?

≪ Previous: KDE Audio Players - Amarok versus Clementine

Introduction

You would think that writing about the latest version of Ubuntu 14.04 would be easy but it is hard to write about one of the biggest Linux distributions without repeating everyone else's sentiments or covering the same ground that was covered with Ubuntu 13.10.

With that in mind please don't be disappointed that much of what I will be writing here has been written before.

There is nothing revolutionary about Ubuntu 14.04, especially if you have already tried Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10 and Ubuntu 12.04. The improvements to Ubuntu have been slow and steady.

So what does that say about Ubuntu? Have they ran out of ideas? Is it a distribution just coasting along on former successes?

No. I think the developers are doing it right.

When Unity was first released it caused a major backlash with every man, meerkat and narwhal having an opinion.

Unity still divides opinion today but whereas at the time everyone seemed to be struggling with the new interface there are now a great number of people who swear by it.

If you are currently reading this from a computer running Windows 8 then you should realise that the Unity interface, whilst more modern than the traditional desktop, is far more intuitive and much easier to navigate.

How to get Ubuntu 14.04

You can download Ubuntu as an ISO image from http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop.

Once you have the downloaded image burn it to a DVD using disc burning software. Alternatively you can use a program such as UNetbootin.

There are instructions showing how to create a DVD and USB drive on the Ubuntu website.

If you don't like the idea of burning your own DVD or creating your own USB drive then you can buy a Ubuntu 14.04 DVD or USB

Installing Ubuntu 14.04

Using a computer without UEFI makes installing Ubuntu 14.04 a breeze. If you are using a computer with UEFI then it is still supposed to be a breeze but quite often isn't.

Here is a link to the official Ubuntu installation guide.

I have also written a dual boot guide showing how to install Ubuntu 14.04 alongside Windows 8.1.

Click here for a list of system requirements.

First Impressions

So, one of the biggest problems I found with Windows 8 is the method used for launching applications.

In Windows 8 you have the tiles which when clicked launch an application. Any application that isn't in a tile has to be launched by bring up the search icon and then searching for the application.

If you are viewing the desktop as opposed to the tile view (for instance because you are using a standard Windows style application) and you want to run another application (for example snipping tool to take a screenshot) then you have to go back to the tile view to get to it. It is all very slow and cumbersome.

Now I know that the Windows experts amongst you will tell me there are some keyboard shortcuts that can do it quicker but where are they documented?

If you are running Windows 7 then you might feel a little more smug because the interface is fairly standard. It looks and feels familiar and running programs is a breeze.

Take a look at Ubuntu's Unity interface. It does everything right that Windows 8's tile interface does wrong.

For launching the most commonly used applications the Unity interface provides a quick launch bar down the left hand side.

Critics of the Unity interface quite often complain at the fact that there isn't much you can do to customise the look and feel.

Whilst that may be true you will soon see that Unity is so intuitive that you don't really need to customise it. Unity is for people who are interested in running applications as opposed to pimping their desktop.

The top icon on the launch bar pulls up "The Dash" which is used to find and run applications, listen to music, watch videos, converse online and view your photo collection.

Other icons include access to a file manager, the Firefox web browser, LibreOffice, the software manager, Amazon and the system settings.

At the top of the Unity desktop is a black bar and this is used to host the menus for running applications (although from 14.04 the menus can be hosted in the applications own windows again).

On the right side of the black bar are some key icons that enable you to adjust network settings, choose keyboard layouts, connect to Bluetooth devices, adjust power settings, adjust audio settings, see the time and shutdown the computer.

To run an application you can either click one of the icons in the launcher or you can press the button at the top of the launcher. Pressing the super key (windows icon) on your keyboard also pulls up the dashboard.

You will now see a screen known as the dash. I am going to run through the dashboard in a little while but before I do I would just like to say that most files and programs can be found simply by typing into the search box.

I find that I can run most applications within two or three keystrokes. It is much quicker and easier than using Windows 7, Windows 8, the KDE desktop, Gnome desktop or pretty much any other desktop.

You will notice from the screenshot above that there are a number of little icons at the bottom of the dashboard. These give you access to different scopes.

By default when you first access the dashboard you get the all things to all men dashboard which shows your favourite files and applications and a few things you might like to buy. (we will get on to that later)

The applications scope shows you any recently used applications, a summary of installed applications and suggestions for applications you might like to install.

You can filter the results (see top right) and you can expand the installed applications by clicking the see more results option.

In all seriousness though to find the application you want just start typing in the search bar.

The files scope shows you the most recently accessed files, any downloaded files and folders/drives on your computer.

Again it is easier to find a file by using the search function.

The videos scope gives a view of the videos on your computer, online and some suggestions.

The music scope shows your music collection. You can adjust the view by changing the filters.

The music scope is linked to the default music player which is Rhythmbox so before any files appear here you will have to import them into Rhythmbox.

The photos scope provides a view of the images on your computer.

This scope is linked to the default image manager which in Ubuntu is Shotwell. Before any images appear you need to import them into Shotwell.

The final scope is the online lens which links to online accounts such as Google+ and Twitter.

Whilst this scope lets you view recent communications there is no way to reply. You can retweet though.

I have used Ubuntu for a long time and I have to say that despite having all these scopes, I really only ever bother launching applications via the dash and to do that I press the super (windows icon) key and start typing. It is quick and easy.

Earlier I mentioned that in Windows 8 there are lots of hidden keyboard shortcuts.

In Ubuntu and Unity there are also a number of keyboard shortcuts but they aren't hidden. Simply hold down the super key and a list of shortcuts will appear.

Connecting to the internet

Connecting to the internet is easy. Press the network icon in the top right corner and then choose the wireless network that you wish to connect to.

If the network you are connecting to is secure then you will need to enter the security key (only the first time).

Software

The following software is installed with Ubuntu:

Games:

Solitaire

Mahjongg

Sudoku

Mines

Steam

Accessories

Archive Manager (zips, rars etc)

Backups

Calculator

Contacts (Contact management)

Disks (Disk management)

Files (File management)

Screenshot (Screenshot tool)

GEdit (Text Editor)

Graphics

Shotwell photo management

Image viewer

LibreOffice Draw

Simple scan

Internet

Firefox (Web Browser)

Empathy (Instant Messenging)

Desktop sharing

Remmima (Remote Desktop)

Thunderbird (Email Client)

Transmission (Bittorrent Client)

Media

Brasero Disc Burner

Cheese (Webcam viewer)

Rhythmbox (Music player)

Totem (Video player)

Office

LibreOffice Calc (Spreadsheet)

LibreOffice Writer (Word processing)

LibreOffice Math (Formula Editing Tool)

LibreOffice Draw (Drawing)

LibreOffice Impress (Presentations)

Document Viewer (PDF etc)

Software Centre

The Ubuntu Software Centre is used to install applications. You can start the software centre by clicking on the suitcase icon on the quick launch bar.

The interface is fairly easy to use with a list of categories down the left, the results in the right and a search box in the top right corner.

The results that are returned include a mixture of free and paid for options.

MP3s and Flash

To get Flash and MP3s to play you need to install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package.

You can find the restricted extras package within the Ubuntu Software Centre.

During the install of the restricted extras package you will get a blue screen appearing asking you to accept a user agreement. Press the tab key to select the relevant option. (This isn't immediately obvious).

Rhythmbox is the default music player within Ubuntu and it has a very good user interface and links well with external devices such as Sony Walkmans.

For iPod support you might want to read this article: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PortableDevices/iPod

Gamers

The Linux operating system may have been playing catch up on Windows for some time with regards to gaming but it is definitely gaining momentum now.

There are now 500+ games available for Linux via the STEAM platform.

In addition to STEAM there is also Playforlinux which lets you play Windows games within Ubuntu.

STEAM is installed by default but Playforlinux has to be installed via the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Playonlinux has links to a large number of games from GOG.com. I recently bought Sensible World Of Soccer from that site which was a great blast from the past. It works flawlessly via Playonlinux and WINE.

Customising Ubuntu

I mentioned previously that one of the main criticisms of Unity is that it isn't as customisable as other Linux desktops.

Whilst this may be true it doesn't mean that you can't change certain aspects.

For instance you can change the desktop wallpaper by clicking on the settings icon (cog and spanner) and then choose "Appearance".

There are a number of different wallpapers included by default but you can add one of your own if you so wish.

There are other things you can do as well. For instance you can change the size of the icons in the launch bar. This is useful on a netbook where screen real estate is more limited.

It is also possible to hide the launch bar and have it reappear when the mouse hovers over a hot spot (such as the top left corner).

New to Ubuntu 14.04 is the ability to have menus as part of the window's title bar.

The default behaviour in Unity is to have all the menus appear in the black panel at the top. The new feature lets you have the menus per application window.

The downside of having the menus in the top panel is that it is sometimes hard to work out which application the menu is appearing for.

For example I could have Firefox open and I will be editing a blog post, then I might have LibreOffice open as well. I move to the top to access the menu and think that it is the LibreOffice one. I then choose File -> Close. To my surprise Firefox closes.

Why? Well without realising it the focus was actually on Firefox and not LibreOffice.

By having the menus in the application window it prevents this confusion.

Online Accounts

To set up online accounts for use within the online scope in the dashboard, click on the settings icon and choose the "Online Accounts" option.

You can now add accounts by selecting the service you want to connect to and click "Add Account".

In addition to this though when you visit a site such as GMAIL, Reddit, Twitter etc you will see a message asking whether you want to integrate into Ubuntu.

If you integrate the applications into Ubuntu an icon is added to the launcher and when you click on the icon the sites open in a separate window a bit like a standard desktop application.

You will also notice an envelope icon in the system tray in the top right corner. If you have integrated accounts you can select them by clicking the envelope icon.

Privacy

One of the biggest criticisms of Ubuntu is with regards to privacy. Basically when you search for something using the Dash then targeted adverts appear in the results list.

The chances are that many of you use Google as a search engine and you will surely realise that the adverts are targeted there as well. How many times have you visited a news site and the Amazon advert shows a suggestion about a search term you used earlier?

Here is a snippet of the legal notice that appears within the Ubuntu settings:

Collection and use of data
When you enter a search term into the dash Ubuntu will search your Ubuntu computer and will record the search terms locally.
Unless you have opted out (see the “Online Search” section below), we will also send your keystrokes as a search term to productsearch.ubuntu.com and selected third parties so that we may complement your search results with online search results from such third parties including: Facebook, Twitter, BBC and Amazon. Canonical and these selected third parties will collect your search terms and use them to provide you with search results while using Ubuntu.
By searching in the dash you consent to:
the collection and use of your search terms and IP address in this way; and
the storage of your search terms and IP address by Canonical and such selected third parties (if applicable).
Canonical will only use your search terms and IP address in accordance with this legal notice and our privacy policy. Please see our privacy policy for further information about how Canonical protects your personal information. For information on how our selected third parties may use your information, please see their privacy policies.
Online Search
You may restrict your dash so that we don’t send searches to third parties and you don't receive online search results. To do this go to the Privacy panel and toggle the ‘Include online search results’ option to off. The Privacy panel can be found in your System Settings or via a dash search. For a current list of our selected third parties, please seewww.ubuntu.com/privacypolicy/thirdparties.

As you can see there is a way of turning off the online search results and thereby maintaining your privacy.

Privacy has obviously become a massive issue around the world with Edward Snowden, Wikileaks, NSA revelations etc.

It is up to each of us to decide how far we go to try and protect our privacy.

New features

The best place to go to see the new features in Ubuntu 14.04 is https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TrustyTahr/ReleaseNotes.

Upgrades

The Linux Kernel is now 3.13.
Python is at version 3.4
Improvements made to AppArmor
Improvements made to Oxide
Upstart upgraded to 1.12.1
LibreOffice upgraded to 4.2.3
XOrg upgraded to 15.0.1
Mesa upgraded to 10.1

Unity

Support for high-DPI screens and desktop scaling
New screen saver and lock screen
Embedded menus in windows
Improved Super key + W functionality
New window decorations
Dash scopes can be added/removed from the dash

General Changes

Type ahead find in Nautilus
Default applications have integrated menus
Ubuntu specific settings application

Issues

You may have noticed that this review of Ubuntu is a long time after all the other reviews that have been written.

There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that I have been backed up with other articles but the other is that I decided to have it on my computer and use it for some time before making a judgement.

I have had Ubuntu on my computer for a while and whilst I haven't used it everyday, the times that I have used it have been largely issue free.

Nothing is perfect however and here is what I found:

When you first install Ubuntu 14.04 and after you have imported music into Rhythmbox, the music scope in the dashboard doesn't immediately update. It takes a reboot of the computer
The same thing happened with the photos scope. I had to import the images into Shotwell and then reboot to get the photos to appear.
When I set the menus to be integrated, LibreOffice decided it would show no menu whatsoever.

Support

The tag line for this article is "There has never been a better time to switch to Linux".

There are a number of reasons why this statement is true.

Windows 8 is freakishly bad
Ubuntu is superb and has a new long term support release
Linux Mint is superb and has a new long term support release

Ubuntu 14.04 is supported for 5 years. This means that if you install Ubuntu now then it will continue to receive updates for 5 years without having to upgrade in between.

Version 10 of Ubuntu was an LTS release and by the time version 12 came out the desktop environment changed considerably. Version 10 users were at a disadvantage by the time their 5 years were up.

I bet if you ask 12.04 users how they feel about their version of Ubuntu then they will be more than happy. It has been a very stable operating system.

Ubuntu 14.04 is possibly the best version of Ubuntu yet. Much quicker than before and with many subtle but useful improvements

Where else can you get something for free and be given a 5 year warranty on it?

Summary

I think GNU/Linux is the best operating system and I think Ubuntu is the best Linux distribution and no more so than for the Everyday Linux User.

If you find yourself using the same applications frequently and you use a number of online applications then there really is no quicker way to launch applications than with the launcher or the dash.

The hardware integration (which I didn't really mention) is excellent. My MP3 player, printer and other gadgets were all picked up straight away and they all work well.

There is a good selection of software installed by default and the software centre is a decent enough tool for installing applications.

If you want to use Linux but want to limit your exposure to terminal commands then Ubuntu is a perfectly good option.

There are some reasons for not choosing Ubuntu however. If you have an incompatible sound or video card for instance or your hardware is getting older. In this instance you could consider using Kubuntu, Xubuntu or Lubuntu.

Thankyou for reading

To make it easier for everyone who wants to read my Ubuntu based articles and tutorials I have formatted them, rewritten them and added extra content which has resulted in the eBook "From Windows To Ubuntu".

The book isn't massive like a SAMS guide so it isn't going to take you forever to read it but there is certainly a lot of content.

Click here to buy the eBook "From Windows To Ubuntu"

↧

How does the cloud affect the everyday linux user?

June 9, 2014, 3:40 pm

≫ Next: The World Cup of Linux

≪ Previous: Ubuntu 14.04 - There has never been a better time to switch to Linux

Introduction

Cloud computing is one of those terms you hear about and see all the time whether it is in the national newspapers, online news websites, podcasts, technical blogs, technical news sites or on radio and television.

It is a fairly woolly term that encompasses so many things but what exactly is it?

Cloud computing is a term used to refer to a model of network computing where a program or application runs on a connected server or servers rather than on a local computing device such as a PC, tablet or smartphone. Like the traditional client-server model or older mainframe computing,^[1] a user connects with a server to perform a task. The difference with cloud computing is that the computing process may run on one or many connected computers at the same time, utilizing the concept of virtualization. With virtualization, one or more physical servers can be configured and partitioned into multiple independent "virtual" servers, all functioning independently and appearing to the user to be a single physical device. Such virtual servers are in essence disassociated from their physical server, and with this added flexibility, they can be moved around and scaled up or down on the fly without affecting the end user. The computing resources have become "granular", which provides end user and operator benefits including on-demand self-service, broad access across multiple devices, resource pooling, rapid elasticity and service metering capability.^[2]

The above quote was obviously taken from Wikipedia.

In the past we either used dumb terminals to connect to a mainframe or more recently desktop computers connected to applications on in-house servers which in turn connected to databases also kept on site.

The management of the desktops, applications and servers were all local and all had to be supported by the company who owned them.

Whilst this might be great for software houses it isn't good business for other companies such as banks, insurance companies and oil companies. Information Technology is not a banking function in the same way catering isn't a function of drilling oil out of the ground.

Large companies have long since outsourced many functions to dedicated companies. For example outside catering companies provide the staff canteen and we all know about the offshore call centres handling customer calls for the banks.

IT has also become an offshore function with a number of support and development functions shipped out to China, India, Malaysia and Eastern Europe.

Cloud computing is different to the typical model in that it is all about virtualisation. It is about putting applications on virtual servers which could all be in one location or could be thousands of miles apart but the point is it doesn't matter because it is somebody else's job to make sure they work.

In common usage the term "the cloud" has become a shorthand way to refer to cloud computing infrastructure.^[4] The term came from the cloud symbol that network engineers used on network diagrams to represent the unknown (to them) segments of a network.^[5] Marketers have further popularized the phrase "in the cloud" to refer to software, platforms and infrastructure that are sold "as a service", i.e. remotely through the Internet.

This article is therefore all about the cloud and what it means for the everyday linux user and what it can do for you and what, if any, pitfalls are there.

From an end user and home user point of view, cloud computing has basically come to mean any service that is hosted online.

So here goes, which cloud services are useful for an everyday linux user?

Email

I would be very surprised if you are reading this and you don't have an email account.

PC Advisor magazine analysed the top 6 emails services back in March, 2014 consisting of Outlook, GMail, Yahoo, iCloud, AOL and GMX.

Office Suites

As well as an email client one of the most commonly used tools required by everyone is an office suite.

In the past people would toddle off down to PC World, buy a computer and come home with a great big machine and half a dozen CDs containing 5 programs you definitely won't use and Microsoft Works which was a cheap and virtually useless cut down version of Microsoft Office.

Now you don't even need an office suite on your computer even though there are some great free choices out there including LibreOffice and Kingsoft.

The obvious choices are of course Google Docs and Office 365. Does Office 365 work for Linux? Well this article from PC Pro in 2012 seems to suggest that it does.

I don't believe everything I read though so I signed up to Office 365 to see what would happen.

Signing up was free for a month and I was presented with a list of online applications that I could use which included Word, Excel and Outlook.

All looked to be going well. I started Microsoft Word, chose a template to use and then of course it didn't work at all.

Office 365 isn't yet supported on Linux and to be honest you don't need it. Move on.

Google Docs works and for home use it is perfect. There are hundreds of templates for the word processing and presentation tools and the spreadsheet application does most things although it doesn't really replace Excel because you haven't got hundreds of wannabe developers creating naff macros and VBA scripts everywhere.

Another alternative to Office 365 is Zoho.

Similar to Google Docs, Zoho includes a word processor, spreadsheet tool, presentation tool and mail.

There are finance and CRM tools as well.

The interface for the tools is actually very nice and clean.

Services such as Google Docs and Zoho also give you the power of collaboration.

Documents can be shared and worked on by different people in different locations.

This site provides a good list of alternative choices to Google Docs and Zoho.

Online File Storage

Another good service provided by Google Docs and Zoho is the ability to store the documents and files you create online.

There are other services however such as Dropbox that are used to exclusively store your documents in the cloud.

The benefit of storing files with services like Dropbox is that if your house is burgled or catches fire then you have an offshore backup that remains intact. You can also access your files anywhere.

Dropbox is free for up to 2 gigabytes of use. If you have a lot more data, and most of us do nowadays, then there is a $9.99 monthly plan that is available allowing for 100 gigabytes. There is also a business version available from $15 a month.

There are of course alternatives to Dropbox and this site provides a list of the best online backup solutions.

Photos

Since the introduction of digital cameras and more recently smart phones, more and more of us have memory cards full of photos.

I bet that at some point or other that you have lost photos because your phone died and the photos were on the phone and not the memory card or you lost your phone losing pictures of your child's sports day or another important occasion.

Losing a phone is never a good thing. If you are clever you will have set up some sort of security because most people have their phones synchronised with their email accounts, Facebook, Twitter and even online banking.

All it takes to fix a lost phone is to change the passwords to all of the above accounts but lost photos are just not possible to recover and are a little bit more upsetting when lost.

One solution of course is to backup to your computer. This is of course a good first step but occasionally laptops break as well and you are back to square one.

Online photo storage sites are great resources because not only do they keep your photos safe you can also share them with whoever you choose to, eliminating the need to get 5 copies of the same photo developed to send to mum, nan, sister, aunty and mother-in-law.

The solution I like to use is Google's Picasa but many of you will have heard of services like Flickr as well.

Lifehacker has a list of the five best photo sharing services.

Remember though that just because they are called photo sharing services doesn't mean you have to share them. You can keep them just to yourself.

Music

The first record that I was ever given was a 12 inch vinyl version of "Kings of the wild frontier" by "Adam and the Ants" back in the early 1980s.

As the 1980s progressed the long play records were replaced by cassettes and just as I had accumulated a decent number of cassettes the compact disc became the thing to have.

Hundreds of compact discs later and MP3 file sharing became the norm and it even became the legal way of doing things.

Nothing sits still with technology and the future is now with audio streaming services such as Spotify.

Spotify is free to use but is supported with the inclusion of adverts. In this regard it is like having your own personal radio station where you choose the playlist. Of course you can pay a monthly fee and have the adverts removed altogether.

There are dozens of similar services including Grooveshark and last.fm.

Techradar has a list of 7 alternatives to Spotify.

Film

The first film I ever watched in the Cinema was Dumbo. The first video I ever watched was "Krull" which contained a young Dulph Lundgren. The format of the video was on Beta Max. (My next door neighbour had one).

My dad came home one day with a video recorder from Radio Rentals and my sister and I used to take it in turns to pick a video to hire from the video store. I remember my first choice being "The Black Hole".

As with music time moves on. Just as you get large units full of movies, some genius comes along and develops DVDs and then they come out with Bluerays.

Now of course video streaming is the order of the day especially if you have a decent enough internet connection.

The most commonly known services are Netflix and Lovefilm.

This website has a list of good alternatives to Netflix. Not all of these services (including Netflix) work seamlessly on Linux.

Gaming

Music, films and now gaming have moved to the online arena.

Gaming is of course more difficult. Music is relatively low cost in terms of bandwidth and although films require a little more, the stream just needs to remain steady to get a clear picture.

Games need to run at a consistently high frame rate to be playable and unless you have a decent connection it probably isn't even worth trying.

Current services offering a cloud gaming service include OnLive and StreamMyGame.

This site contains a list of 6 online gaming services to rival OnLive.

Pitfalls

Cloud computing isn't free from issues.

There is the obvious problem of hacking. If someone gets access to your online banking or your email then you have a real problem.

What about online file storage? There is currently the high profile case of Megaupload.com.

Megaupload.com was essentially a file storage site for storing large files. The problem is that a lot of people used the service to share copyright material and the US authorities came down like a ton of bricks and the service was shut down.

Now a lot of people losing files would perhaps be expecting the inevitable but what about people who genuinely did nothing wrong. Their data has been lost. The US authorities refusing to give it back.

Finally there is the subject of service maintenance. If your email went down for a day could you cope? What about 3 days? What about a month? You are at the mercy of the service provider.

A lot has been made about large companies losing data and there has also been a lot of noise regarding heartbleed which is a vulnerability found in SSL left unpatched for years.

If you have services hosted for you online then you are relying on technical support staff to do their job properly and if they don't you could be at the mercy of hackers, hardware failures and poor backup and recovery maintenance.

Summary

Cloud computing has really become the buzz term for any online service. Your web browser is a client connecting to a server or clusters of servers hosted anywhere in the world. The point is that you don't care. You don't need to know.

Generally speaking I have barely touched the surface. We all use the cloud everyday and most of us don't even think about it.

How does the cloud affect the everyday linux user? It turns out quite a bit.

Is the cloud a good or bad thing? Neither. Each service has to be judged on it's own merits.

The term "The Cloud" is just something marketing people and the technical press get excited about. Anyone remember when they kept using the term "Web 2.0"?

Thankyou for reading.

↧

The World Cup of Linux

June 13, 2014, 4:30 pm

≫ Next: Announcing Lubuntu Week

≪ Previous: How does the cloud affect the everyday linux user?

Introduction

The FIFA World Cup 2014 kicked off last night and over the next few weeks we will see the best footballing nations in the world go toe to toe to see who will be crowned world champions.

You may be wondering how I can take the World Cup and turn it into anything remotely related to Linux.

There are 32 teams in the first round of the World Cup and it got me thinking.....

How many of the 32 nations have a Linux distribution that originated from that country?

The results of this investigation are quite interesting because first and foremost there are a ridiculously large number of Linux distributions and secondly some of the bigger Linux distributions don't originate from the 32 World Cup playing nations currently in Brazil.

The Linux Distributions

Nation	Distribution
Brazil	GoboLinux
Croatia	None
Mexico	BeakOS (Discontinued), KlikitLinux (Discontinued)
Cameroon	None
Spain	Antergos, Trisquel, WIFISlax
Holland	SolyDxK
Chile	Parabola
Australia	Puppy Linux, Korora, Quirky, LegacyOS
Columbia	None
Greece	AntiX, Slackel
Ivory Coast	Emmabuntus
Japan	VineLinux, TurboLinux, BerryLinux
Uruguay	None
Costa Rica	None
England	Crunchbang, Simplicity, Pinguy, KWheezy
Italy	Sabayon, Semplice
Switzerland	Kali, Slitaz
Ecuador	Elastix
France	Mageia, Lubuntu, Manjaro, OpenMandriva, Zenwalk, Voyager
Honduras	None
Argentina	Musix, Dragora,
Bosnia	None
Iran	Parsix, AriOS
Nigeria	Wazobia (Discontinued)
Germany	openSUSE, Chakra, Knoppix, Netrunner, ZevenOS
Portugal	Linux Caixa Magica, Open Xange
Ghana	None
USA	Fedora, PCLinuxOS, CentOS, LXLE, Bodhi
Belgium	ELive, Madbox
Algeria	Bee Linux
Russia	ROSA, Point Linux
South Korea	Annyung, Asianux, WOWLinux (All dormant or discontinued)

At some point or other 23 of the 32 nations have had a Linux distribution. As you can see by the list I have had to name some discontinued distros and this is the nature of Linux.

For every Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora there is a Fuduntu and Mandriva which retire never to be seen again.

As you would expect, a number of the distributions are based on either Debian or Ubuntu but there are some based on other distributions or are indeed independent

Antergos and Parabola are both based on Arch.

There are also a number of Puppy based distributions although of those listed above three are from Australia.

You may have noticed that neither Ubuntu or Linux Mint appear in the list above.

According to Distrowatch, Ubuntu is based and derives from the Isle Of Man and Linux Mint hails from Ireland. Very tax efficient.

Out of all the nations it is the African states that have left me with the most blanks.

I borrowed Emmabuntus from France and placed it next to the Ivory Coast.

The Emmabuntus project is doing all sorts of good things in Africa and specifically the Ivory Coast.

Nigeria and Algeria had distributions at one point but they are both discontinued.

The image to the left is for Parsix which hails from Iran.

Some of the top distributions come from the USA of course with Fedora, PCLinuxOS and Bodhi.

The UK has it's fair share of decent distros as do France and Germany.

I have written a number of articles recently about openSUSE and it has been my main distribution for a number of months now.

Germany has produced an amazingly high number of really decent distributions. Is there anything the Germans aren't good at?

Over the next week I will be writing a number of articles about Lubuntu to celebrate the release of 14.04.

As a challenge, can you help to fill in the blanks. If you know of a distribution from one of the countries that has no distribution listed please add it to the comments below.

Why not share the article using the social media buttons below and unlike my Mexico 1986 sticker album I might fill in all the slots?

Your reward for helping is the following cat picture. Everyone loves cat pictures right? This screenshot below comes from BerryLinux which hails from Japan.

Before I sign off I would like to say that a number of the screenshots were provided by LinuxScreenshots.org.

LinuxScreenshots.org provide screenshot tours of all the major Linux distributions and the smaller ones as well.

Thankyou for reading.

↧

Announcing Lubuntu Week

June 14, 2014, 2:00 am

≫ Next: 5 reasons you should switch from Windows XP to Lubuntu

≪ Previous: The World Cup of Linux

This is just a quick note to say that for the next 7 days I will be releasing a number of Lubuntu based articles to celebrate the release of Lubuntu 14.04.

On the horizon are how-to guides showing how to install Lubuntu 14.04 from scratch, how to upgrade from 13.10, an article showing how to truly replace Windows XP with Lubuntu, a Lubuntu 14.04 customisation guide, a complete review of Lubuntu 14.04 and anything else I can think to write about Lubuntu.

↧

5 reasons you should switch from Windows XP to Lubuntu

June 15, 2014, 1:22 pm

≫ Next: What other people are saying about Lubuntu 14.04

≪ Previous: Announcing Lubuntu Week

Introduction

A lot of the articles I write look at Linux from a Windows user or a former Windows user's point of view.

The reason for this is that the average computer user started off using the Windows operating system and future Linux users are likely to have come from a Windows background initially.

If you have a modern computer then there is no doubt that you would probably find it more interesting to try something like Ubuntu, Linux Mint or even Zorin OS.

If you are on an older computer then you would be better off running a distribution that has a lighter desktop environment and applications that aren't too hungry on resources.

Windows XP users are now at the point where they should really consider using another operating system.

Windows XP was released a long time ago and so it would make sense that anyone running it is probably using an older computer.

In one of my previous articles I made a suggestion that PCLinuxOS would be a better choice for Windows XP users than Ubuntu and compatibility was one of the reasons.

In the comments section at the bottom there were several other suggestions like Linux Mint Debian Edition, Xubuntu or Lubuntu.

As this article is part of Lubuntu week I am going to list 5 reasons why you should switch from Windows XP to Lubuntu.

1. Windows XP is dead

Windows XP is dead. Some people may not be aware of this fact but I'm telling you now "That parrot is dead".

Microsoft ended support for Windows XP on April 8th 2014 but what does end of support mean? Does it mean it doesn't work anymore?

Actually, Windows XP will continue to work perfectly well for quite some time but the trouble is that any remaining security holes will remain unplugged and that leaves a huge opportunity for the cyber criminals to exploit any individual or organisation that remains on that platform.

Security companies haven't given up on Windows XP and so antivirus and firewall software will continue to work for a little while yet.

Sooner rather than later though you will find yourself isolated if you remain on Windows XP. It is a bit like continuing to stick with VHS videos when most of the world has moved on to DVDs and even they aren't the new thing anymore.

I would say that if you use Windows XP you are now a second class citizen but I don't even think that is true. You have ceased to be a citizen in Microsoft's eyes.

If you switch to Linux then you will be a first class citizen. Lubuntu continues to be developed and the look and feel is very much like that of Windows XP.

2. You have older hardware

As I mentioned in the introduction, in a previous article I suggested PCLinuxOS would be a good distribution for Windows XP users. However PCLinuxOS is probably not right for all of them.

Windows XP was around for a long time. In fact it has been around since 2001. To put this into perspective in 2001 I had an eMachines desktop computer, 800 mhz, Pentium 3 with I think 512 megabytes RAM.

I know that at that point there were still companies selling Pentium 2 computers with 256 megabytes of RAM because I had a Packard Bell laptop that ran Windows XP with those specifications.

If we fast forward to 2007 when Vista was released then the specifications of computers increased considerably. For instance my Samsung R20 laptop is a pretty low end affair and came with a 1.73 ghz Intel Core Duo, 1 gigabyte RAM and 256 megabytes worth of graphics capability.

The Samsung R20 was a terrible laptop and should never have been sold with Windows Vista. It would have however worked perfectly with XP and it does work perfectly with most lighter Linux distributions as demonstrated in my recent review of Makulu. I can't believe this review of the Samsung R20 by PC Advisor magazine, it beggars belief that they thought this was good.

Companies were still selling laptops long after Vista was released with Windows XP installed and so I would imagine there are some pretty decent computers out there with Windows XP installed.

Those of you on a more modern machine running Windows XP will probably want to try something like PCLinuxOS but if you are using a computer from the early part of the century then it will almost definitely be worth using Lubuntu.

3. You have a netbook running Windows XP

Netbooks that are currently running Windows XP will almost certainly be better running Lubuntu. I have an Acer Aspire One D255 netbook and I have been using Lubuntu on that netbook from virtually day one of having it.

Windows XP was never very good for a netbook. By the time you loaded antivirus and a firewall it was virtually unuseable. Lubuntu uses less resources and so your netbook will definitely perform better. There is no need for antivirus or firewall software so you don't have that overhead either.

Acer Aspire One D255 10.1 inch Netbook (Intel Atom Dual-Core N550 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Wifi, Webcam, 8hrs battery life, Windows 7 Starter&Android) - Ruby Red

The Acer Aspire One D255 is still for sale and where the Samsung was a useless lump of plastic, the Acer Aspire One is a brilliant little Netbook.

I have tried a number of different Linux distributions on this netbook but a customised Lubuntu desktop is definitely the way to go.

4. Familiarity

The Windows XP interface has a number of defining features.

The traditional task bar at the bottom consists of a menu, quick launch icons, and a system tray.

The menu itself consist of a series of categories followed by the program names.

There are also icons on the desktop.

Now look at the Lubuntu desktop.

A taskbar along the bottom, quick launch icons next to the menu and a system tray in the bottom right.

There are no icons on the desktop but you can add them.

The menu looks very familiar as well.

The learning curve for Lubuntu is not that steep. Yes there are differences and most of them for the better once you get used to them.

An example of this is the way you install software. Windows users have to download and run an executable from a website that they have to decide whether to trust or not. With Lubuntu you download from a software repository and each application is vetted before being added to the repositories.

A fear for many Windows users moving to Linux is that you will have to use the command line. You can use it if you want to but most modern distributions such as Lubuntu don't make it a necessity. Most things can now be achieved using a graphical tool.

Hardware support for Lubuntu is as good as Windows and actually if you are using Windows XP then the Lubuntu hardware support is likely to be better. Your laptop or desktop computer may be into double figures in terms of age but I bet you can't say the same for your printer. Finding printers that will work with Windows XP is going to get harder and harder.

5. Long term support

The latest version of Lubuntu (14.04) is supported for 3 years. It has only just been released and if you install it today then it will be supported until April 2017.

If you are still using Windows XP then Microsoft are advising you to upgrade to one of their newer operating systems such as Windows 7 or Windows 8. Quite frankly it is unlikely that your computer would run well on either of these and so what you are really being told by Microsoft is that you need to buy a new computer.

Lubuntu will give you a bit more time to decide whether a new machine is what you need and you can download it, try it and install it for free. There are no hidden costs. Just install and use.

If you don't like it or you decide you need a newer machine then you won't have lost anything.

Summary

The chances are that if you are still using Windows XP then you aren't necessarily bothered about having the latest and greatest new gadget or operating system as it is released.

It is also likely that you are fond of Windows XP and it doesn't let you down. I can understand that. It really was quite a decent operating system.

If you stick with Windows XP now, then you are storing up problems for another day and they will be problems fewer and fewer people will be able to help with.

Over the next few days I am going to show you the steps you need to take in order to make the switch. These steps include more than the usual download, create CD and install. The steps are going to include practical steps such as backing up pictures, videos, music and even your bookmarked web pages. The steps are going to show you about the new software you will be using and how to run any Windows software that you can't live without.

Interested? Bookmark this page or subscribe to the blog by entering your email address on the right hand side.

Thankyou for reading.

↧

What other people are saying about Lubuntu 14.04

June 17, 2014, 1:37 pm

≫ Next: How to create a Lubuntu live CD or USB

≪ Previous: 5 reasons you should switch from Windows XP to Lubuntu

Introduction

In my previous article I listed 5 reasons why you should switch from Windows XP to Lubuntu 14.04.

Simply reading my article isn't enough of a reason for switching your operating system. How do you know that Lubuntu would be a decent choice? Other people might be saying that Lubuntu isn't at all suitable.

Personally I think Lubuntu is great, especially for low end computers short of RAM. Lubuntu lends itself perfectly to netbooks and I wrote an article when Lubuntu 13.10 was released explaining why.

Shortly I will be showing how to try Lubuntu out without messing up your current Windows XP installation. Before I do though I thought I would list a few alternative reviews so that you can get a fully balanced opinion.

Lubuntu 14.04 "Trusty Tahr" Review: All Well except the Wifi bug

There is a blog out there that occupies a similar space to this one and writes articles for people who are non-technical. That blog is called "Linuxed" and can be found at http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.co.uk/.

The Linuxed blog is written by Arindam Sen who is an Indian national living in Bangalore.

Arindam has written a very good review about Lubuntu 14.04. I think you should read it before moving forward because there are some interesting points such as possible WIFI problems.

The review covers aesthetics, hardware recognition, software repositories, installation, performance and pre-installed packages.

Arindam has given Lubuntu a rating of 8.6/10.

Reading the review is imperative to understanding how that score came about.

An Ubuntu-derived Linux operating system built on top of the LXDE desktop environment

Softpedia is a site that covers many different areas and focuses on everything from Windows downloads to Linux distributions.

It includes tabs for Drivers, Windows, Linux, Mac, Scripts, Mobile, Handheld and News.

In the Linux section there is a review of Lubuntu 14.04.

The Softpedia review is more upbeat than the Linuxed one but is also more generic in its praise. There is no mention of any issues with the WIFI settings.

Softpedia's assessment is much more aligned to my own personal viewpoint in that the review states that Lubuntu is perfect for older hardware.

Lubuntu 14.04 LTS Review

Jim Lynch is one of the best in the business at writing Linux based reviews and has been doing it for as long as I can remember.

Jim has written a review of Lubuntu 14.04 on the Desktop Linux Reviews site.

This review has a number of screenshots of Lubuntu, a snippet of the description from Wikipedia, sections on installation, the included software and it also highlights the known issues within Lubuntu 14.04.

The overall impression was a good one stating that Lubuntu 14.04 performs well and is a great choice for minimalists.

Whilst I agree with this assessment it is also a good replacement for Windows XP to keep that old hardware running well.

Check out Jim's other works at www.jimlynch.com and www.itworld.com/opensource.

Summary

The next article in this series will show you how to create a live disk with Lubuntu so that you can try it out for yourself.

There will also be an article with a quick overview to show what issues I found when I installed it on my Samsung R20 laptop.

Thankyou for reading.

↧

How to create a Lubuntu live CD or USB

June 18, 2014, 3:18 pm

≫ Next: 5 things to do before replacing Windows XP with Lubuntu

≪ Previous: What other people are saying about Lubuntu 14.04

Introduction

Before blitzing Windows XP and moving to Lubuntu full time it is worth giving it a test drive to see if it does everything you need it to.

The concept of a live disk is a trick that Linux has that Windows has failed to replicate. You wouldn't buy a car without test driving it so why buy an operating system without trying it?

Now you might think that because Lubuntu is free you have nothing to lose but if you overwrite your Windows XP without trying Lubuntu first and you find out that you don't like it then you will have wasted time and as some people say "time is money".

This guide will show you how to create a live CD and/or a live USB.

If you choose the USB option then you will be able to save data using something known as persistence. This means that when you install applications they will still be installed the next time you reboot from the live USB.

If you choose the live CD then you will be able to try Lubuntu out but every time you reboot you will be back to the base install even if you installed software the last time you used it.

The live version basically loads everything into memory and when that memory is cleared your system is left in the same state as if you hadn't loaded Lubuntu in the first place.

This is the safest way to try Lubuntu without harming your Windows XP installation.

Quick and easy way to get a Lubuntu 14.04 live CD/USB

Creating a live CD is really quite easy but if you would prefer to you can actually buy a live CD with Lubuntu 14.04 already on it or indeed a live USB with Lubuntu 14.04 pre-installed.

Click here to buy a Lubuntu 32-bit live CD - $2.95

Click here to buy a Lubuntu 32-bit 8gb USB drive - $14.95

Click here to buy a Lubuntu 64-bit live CD - $2.95

Click here to buy a Lubuntu 64-bit 8gb USB drive - $14.95

1. Download Lubuntu

The first thing you will need to do is download the Lubuntu 14.04 ISO image from the Lubuntu website.

To get more information about Lubuntu visit

http://lubuntu.net/blog/lubuntu-1404-trusty-tahr-released

To download Lubuntu visit https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu. The download links are halfway down the page.

Note that there are two versions of Lubuntu 14.04 available, one is 32-bit and the other is 64-bit.

If you are on older hardware then it is highly likely that you are using a 32-bit computer.

To find out whether you are using a 32-bit computer or not press the Windows start button and right click your mouse on "My Computer". When the context menu appears choose the "properties" option at the bottom.

If you are using a 64 bit computer the section that says "Computer" with your computer specifications will say 64-bit. If it doesn't then it is a 32-bit computer.

Note that there are 4 download buttons, 2 for 32-bit and 2 for 64-bit. For a direct download click the "standard image disc" link. If you prefer to use torrent software click the "torrent file".

2. Install Disc Burning Software

If you plan to create a live USB drive skip to step 4.

The disc burning software that I like to use in Windows XP is called CDBurnerXP and can be downloaded for free from https://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

Visit the download page and click on the big download icon with the green background.

When the file download icon appears it is usually a good idea to save the file, scan it for viruses (using your virus scanner) and then double click the icon. The alternative to this approach is to just fly by the seat of your pants and click "Run".

The first screen shows the usual Welcome message and you can just skip through this by pressing "Next".

The next screen shows the license agreement. Accept the agreement by checking the radio button and click "Next".

You will now be asked where you want to install CDBurnerXP. Choose the folder you wish to install it to or leave the default if you are happy to.

Click "Next" to continue.

If you so wish you can now choose to add extra languages.

Click "Next" to continue.

Almost there now. You are now asked to choose whether to create desktop icons, quick launch icons, etc. Notice that there is a checkbox at the bottom that associates ISO files with this program. Make sure this option is checked.

Click "Install".

Most free software in the Windows world has the habit of asking whether you want to install something else. I recommend selecting "I do not accept".

Click "Next".

The software will now be copied and installed onto your system and when the installation is complete the application should run.

3. Burn the Lubuntu ISO to a CD

The Lubuntu ISO image still fits onto a blank CD. Most other distros now require a blank DVD. This is important for older hardware because not all the older computers out there will have a DVD writer but most will have a CD writer.

To create a bootable CD either double click on the Lubuntu ISO file downloaded in step 1 or open CDBurnerXP.

If you opened CDBurnerXP from the desktop icon then you will have a number of options available. Choose "Burn ISO Image".

If you double clicked on the ISO you will see the above screen with the ISO image already selected otherwise you will have to click the "Browse" button and find the Lubuntu ISO image that you downloaded in step 1.

Now you will need to insert a blank CD in your CD writer and click "Burn Disc".

The image will now be copied to the disc.

When the process is complete you will now be able to boot into Lubuntu live simply by keeping the CD in the drive and rebooting the computer.

You can now skip to step 6

4. How to create a Lubuntu live USB drive

Before you begin make sure that you have a blank USB drive. If you don't have one you can buy a USB drive from all good computer supply stores and a few bad ones as well.

Insert the USB drive into one of the available ports on your computer.

The software used to create a bootable USB drive is called "Universal USB Installer". You can download "Universal USB Installer" from http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

Halfway down the page is a download link. Click on that link to download the software.

Again, the best thing to do is save the file, scan it for viruses and then double click the executable from the downloads folder but if you feel like going wild simply click "Run".

The first step is to agree to the license agreement. Click "I Agree".

The 2nd screen requires a bit more thought and comes up in stages.

The first thing to do is select "Lubuntu" from the drop down menu. This will bring up the rest of the options.

Click the "Browse" button and find the Lubuntu ISO downloaded in step 1.

Select the USB drive from the dropdown in step 3 and if your USB drive isn't empty then select the "We will format" option.

(Note that you will lose all data on that drive)

To create a persistent USB drive slide the bar along until you think you have allocated enough space for the drive.

Click "Create" to create the Lubuntu live USB drive.

A warning will now appear informing you the steps that the installer will follow.

Click "Yes" if you are happy to continue.

The drive will now be formatted and the files will be copied to the drive.

A progress bar will now appear and there is some indication as to how long the process will take.

Note that when this finishes you will go back to the previous screen and a few more minutes will go by as the installer creates the persistence file. Do not close the window, it isn't stuck.

When all is done the close button will become available and a message will appear stating the installation is complete.

5. Booting the Lubuntu live USB

If you are on older hardware it is likely that the hard drive is higher in the boot order than the USB drive.

Reboot your computer and before it starts up again look for a message that says something like "Press F2 to enter setup screen". It will flash up very quickly.

If in doubt search Google for your make and model and find out which button to press to enter the BIOS.

Generally speaking it is likely to be F2, F10 or F12. If in doubt try all of them.

The above image shows a typical BIOS screen. They all differ ever so slightly but what you are looking for is a boot menu which shows the drives available.

You need to get the "Removable Drives" option to appear above the "Hard Drive".

For the BIOS above you would select "Hard Drive" and press the minus button (-) on your keyboard to move it down the list.

Now insert your USB drive from step 3 and press F10 to save and exit (this may be different for other BIOS setups but you are looking for the save and exit option).

Your computer should now boot up into Lubuntu first.

6. Boot into the Live version of Lubuntu

Insert either the CD or USB into the drive and boot your computer.

The first thing you will need to do is choose the language you wish to use. You can use the arrow keys for this and then press return.

A boot menu will now appear. To boot Lubuntu in live mode make sure the top option "Try Lubuntu without installing" is highlighted and press return.

Your computer should now boot into Lubuntu.

To get back to Windows XP reboot your computer and remove the CD or USB drive.

Summary

I realise that you now have a live Lubuntu disk or USB drive and you may not know what to do next.

There are some great videos on Youtube which will give you an insight of how to use Lubuntu.

You can also play around a bit to see if you can work out how it works.

I will be writing a review and tour guide for Lubuntu in a couple of days time.

Thankyou for reading.

↧

5 things to do before replacing Windows XP with Lubuntu

June 18, 2014, 11:30 pm

≫ Next: 8 hours on a train with Lubuntu and Abiword

≪ Previous: How to create a Lubuntu live CD or USB

If you have read my previous articles then you will know that I started off by listing 5 reasons why Lubuntu is a good replacement for Windows XP and you may have read the alternative reviews that I listed and following on from that you may have tried out the live version of Lubuntu.

The next step is to actually install Lubuntu but before you do you should perform the following 5 tasks first.

Create a backup copy of your current Windows XP setup.
Copy important files from your computer to external sources such as DVDs, USB drives, external hard drives and cloud backup services.
Export your Internet Explorer bookmarks
Make sure you know all your usernames and passwords for all sites and applications you use.
Make sure your system is ready to go

Points 1 and 2 above can be achieved by following this guide "backing up data and creating a system image using Windows XP"

To export your Internet Explorer bookmarks open Internet Explorer and click on the Favourites icon in the top left corner (This assumes you are using Internet Explorer 8).

Click on the "Add to favourites" option.

Click on the "Export to a file" option and then select "Next".

Select "Favourites" and click next. If you have RSS feeds then you might like to export these as well. It may be possible to import these into Lubuntu as well.

Click "Next" to continue.

Select the top level folder or the folder full of bookmarks that you want to keep.

Click "Next" to continue.

Now select the folder and filename that you wish to call the export file. Click "Export".

After creating the bookmarks file it is now important to copy this off to a USB drive or to Dropbox. You will then be able to import the bookmarks into Lubuntu after you have installed it.

When people visit websites they quite often choose to have their password remembered. This seems handy at the time but when you need to log in from another computer it is sometimes difficult to remember what the actual username and password is.

As your Windows XP set up is likely to be set up to log in to various places automatically it is definitely worth making sure that you can remember the usernames and passwords to all the sites and applications that you use including iTunes, Amazon, PayPal etc.

Make sure that the Lubuntu live disk works. If you are using a CD/DVD then make sure there are no scratches and that it reads properly. Make sure your computer is plugged in (laptops) so that the install doesn't fail halfway through.

Finally check that your computer meets the system requirements:

The next article will show how to install Lubuntu 14.04.

↧

8 hours on a train with Lubuntu and Abiword

June 19, 2014, 11:00 pm

≫ Next: How to replace Windows XP with Lubuntu

≪ Previous: 5 things to do before replacing Windows XP with Lubuntu

Back in April of this year I went down to Birmingham with my son to go to the Gadget Show Live.

I live in the North East of Scotland and travelling to Birmingham consists of either flying, going by train or driving.

The flights to Birmingham were priced obscenely high. I think the airlines must have been confused because they seemed to think that instead of wanting to buy a ticket I must be wanting to buy the entire plane. To be honest with the prices they were charging I would expect a place on the board of directors.

Last year we drove down to Birmingham and it was actually quite a fun way to travel. My son who was 11 at the time thought it was great playing with the dial on the radio to see what local stations he could pick up.

Anybody who has ever travelled from Scotland down to England by car will know that there is a point between Kilmarnock and Carlisle where there appears to be nothing at all. The radio stations disappear (even the national ones).

After what seems like an eternity you suddenly hit Carlisle and you think that you must be almost there now. Then you see the sign that says "Preston: 100 miles".

Whilst travelling by car was novel it was too much to do in two days.

This year therefore we decided to go by train.

As we were going to the Gadget Show you can appreciate that we are the sort of people that would never go on a train without our fair share of technology.

My son had brought along his Kindle to read and his Samsung Galaxy to listen to. I had brought along my trusty Acer Aspire One Netbook, an external hard drive full of videos, 2 copies of Retro Gamer magazine and my Sony Walkman.

The journey from Aberdeen to Edinburgh went fairly quickly and the Scotrail train was reasonably comfortable. The Virgin train from Edinburgh to Birmingham was less so.

Somebody needs to explain to Virgin trains that in the middle of April it isn't necessary to have the heating on so high.

The most annoying part of the Virgin journey however was that whereas on the Scotrail train the WIFI was free, Virgin wanted to charge a kings ransom.

This of course isn't really a problem because my mobile phone has internet connection sharing and so for a while this is what I did.

The train of course must hit that same area that the car hits whereby all radio stations cease to exist and the 2% of 3G disconnectivity kicks in.

Without a working internet connection I had a choice of reading the magazines, listening to music or watching films on the netbook.

I had already read the magazines on the journey down to Glasgow and so that left the movies or the music.

As I listened to my music my mind started to wander and whilst thinking about the parking ticket that I had received a few months earlier a story came into my head.

I therefore opened the netbook and started typing.

Lubuntu ships with Abiword, which isn't the most powerful of word processing applications, but it didn't need to be.

I didn't even know why I started writing really because I'm not sure that I ever planned to do anything with the story.

On the journey back to Scotland I finished the story.

For those of you that may be interested the story is about a guy who has been arrested by the police and who is being interviewed over the death of a traffic warden who died in extraordinary circumstances.

(He had thrown a deep fat frier that was on fire out of a first floor window which just so happened to land on the unfortunate traffic warden).

I decided to release the short story on Amazon and to do this I had to save the file either as a Word document or a HTML file. Abiword is capable of doing both.

I am extremely artistically challenged so I asked someone on Fiverr to create a cover for me.
And here it is....

↧

How to replace Windows XP with Lubuntu

June 19, 2014, 11:30 pm

≫ Next: An Everyday Linux User review of Lubuntu 14.04

≪ Previous: 8 hours on a train with Lubuntu and Abiword

Introduction

Continuing with the Lubuntu week theme, here is a tutorial showing how to replace Windows XP with Lubuntu.

Before you begin you might like to read the following articles which all lead up to this point:

Installing Lubuntu

Boot from your live CD or USB drive and choose your native language. (Unless of course you feel you need an extra challenge).

You can either choose the "Try Lubuntu without installing option" or the "Install Lubuntu" option. I always boot into the live mode and run the installer from there.

When the live version of Lubuntu loads double click on the Install Lubuntu 14.04 icon.

The first thing you will need to do is choose your language. (Again, unless you feel like an extra challenge it is probably best to choose the language you are most comfortable with).

Click "Continue".

The next screen checks that you are ready to install Lubuntu.

The three ticks make sure that you:

have at least 4.4 gigabytes of disk space (Unless your computer is from 1992 I would expect it to)
is plugged into a power source (you will see that mine wasn't when I ran the installer)
is connected to the internet (this is actually optional and not required).

Being connected to the internet lets you download updates as you install. I actually prefer to install the updates after the installation and this is a good choice if you have a poor internet connection.

The other option lets you choose to install the third party software which allows you to play Flash, MP3 files and other media. Again I always choose not to check this option and I run a post installation task that does the same thing.

Press "Continue".

Now you have a choice to make. You can install Lubuntu alongside Windows XP or you can replace it with Lubuntu. The something else option lets you partition your drive manually and set the partitions yourself and is for more advanced users.

Quite often the dual boot option is useful for running essential Windows software that you can't run in Linux, such as iTunes. The alternatives include running Windows in a virtual machine or using WINE.

If you have an older machine then dual booting is probably the best option if you desperately need to keep any Windows software because it only takes up disk space. Using a virtual machine isn't a good idea as the host operating system will use resources and the virtual machine will take up resources. WINE is fine for lots of Windows applications but doesn't work for all of them.

If you have no Windows software that you are attached to then go for the replace option. If your main use of Windows software is Internet Explorer and Outlook then you can get away with replacing Windows with Lubuntu as there are better alternatives available.

Choose either to replace or install alongside and click "Continue".

The next step is to choose your timezone. Simply click where you live on the map and click "Continue".

Now choose your keyboard layout and click "Continue".

Almost there now.

Create a default user by entering your name, a name for the computer, a username and a better password than the one I obviously chose judging by the screenshot above.

If you are the only user of this computer then you can get the computer to automatically log in. I don't really like this option because if somebody else uses your laptop then they are automatically using your user account.

Click "Continue".

The files will now be copied to your computer.

That is all folks. You now just need to restart your computer.

If you chose to install alongside Windows then you will now have a boot menu whereby you can choose to use Windows or Lubuntu otherwise you will be able to boot into Lubuntu only. Welcome to the world of Linux.

Summary

The next article will show you some post installation tasks that need to be made and after that there will be a review of Lubuntu 14.04.

As the week is drawing to a close I have decided to add another week to Lubuntu week. Hmm that would be Lubuntu fortnight then.

There are some more articles that I think would help people moving from Windows XP and I want to write some articles that are generic for everyone using Lubuntu.

↧

An Everyday Linux User review of Lubuntu 14.04

June 24, 2014, 3:29 pm

≫ Next: How to upgrade from Lubuntu 13.10 to Lubuntu 14.04

≪ Previous: How to replace Windows XP with Lubuntu

Introduction

This is one of those reviews that should be really easy to write. Just last week I wrote an article listing 5 reasons why Lubuntu would be good for Windows XP users. Therefore with this in mind you might think that this review would list all of Lubuntu's good points and paint a positive picture.

Unfortunately it isn't that simple. As far as I am concerned Lubuntu 14.04 feels like a step backwards when compared to Lubuntu 13.10.

There is nothing that is so broken that makes it unusable but I would have thought that because Lubuntu 14.04 is the long term support release it would have had less obviously visible bugs when it was first released.

System Requirements

The full system requirements can be found on the Lubuntu Wiki page.

The bare minimum that you can use is a Pentium II with 128 MB of RAM but this would not hold up well for daily use.

The system becomes more usable with 256 MB of RAM and with 512 MB of RAM you should be able to use the system without too many problems.

Realistically speaking 1 Gigabyte of RAM would be more of an ideal starting point.

Lubuntu really is one of the best solutions for older computers and for all those netbooks that were released earlier on in the decade with those Atom based processors.

The Aim Of Lubuntu

The objective of the Lubuntu project is to create a variant of Ubuntu that is lighter, less resource hungry and more energy-efficient by using lightweight applications and LXDE, The Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment, as its default GUI.

Lubuntu is targeted at PC and laptop users running on low-spec hardware that, in most cases, just don't have enough resources for all the bells and whistles of the "full-featured" mainstream distributions.

The above text came from the Lubuntu Wiki. The aim therefore is to provide a lightweight operating system for older low-spec hardware.

How to get Lubuntu

You can download Lubuntu from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu.

After you have downloaded Lubuntu you can create a Lubuntu DVD or USB drive.

If you have a slow internet connection you might wish to buy a Lubuntu DVD or USB.

Lubuntu is available in 32-bit or 64-bit format.

Installation

As part of the Ubuntu family of distributions Lubuntu shares the same installer and this therefore makes it very easy to install.

The steps for installing Lubuntu are basically as follows:

Insert Live DVD/USB
Boot computer
Choose language
Choose whether to boot into Live mode or run the installer

Once the installer starts

Choose your language
Make sure your system is ready (plugged in, connected to the internet, has enough disk space)
Connect to the internet, choose whether to update during the installation and choose whether to install Fluendo which enables you to play MP3 files
Choose whether to install alongside your current operating system or replace it
Choose your timezone
Set up a user
Wait for files to copy across
Reboot

The following guide shows how to replace Windows XP with Lubuntu.

First Impressions

For somebody who has used Windows XP for a while the look will be almost instantly familiar.

There is a panel at the bottom with a menu in the bottom left, quick launch icons and a system tray in the bottom right.

When you click on the menu icon it opens out into a series of categories with the actual applications listed under those categories.

There are some quick launch icons next to the menu button. These can be customised but by default open the file browser, the web browser and iconify all windows. You can also toggle between virtual workspaces.

The system tray has icons for selecting your language, adjusting the volume, adjusting keyboard layouts, power settings, network settings and a clock. Again these can be customised.

Customising the desktop

The default Lubuntu wallpaper is fairly bland. Most people using Lubuntu will be using it on their own machines and people like a bit of colour.

To change the default wallpaper right click on the desktop and choose "Desktop Preferences".

Click on the open folder icon to choose a new image.

Lubuntu ships with other wallpapers and you can scroll through them with your mouse. A preview image appears in the top right corner.

Click "Open" to change the wallpaper.

I know that when I write these reviews I quite often get the response that a review is more than just showing off a few wallpapers but I just happen to think that the image above makes a much nicer first impression.

One of the best features of Lubuntu is that because it incorporates the LXDE desktop it is highly customisable.

This guide shows you how to customise the LXDE desktop.

Connecting to the internet

In my review of Lubuntu 13.10 I wrote the following with regards to connecting to the internet.

As Lubuntu is based on Ubuntu it is very easy to connect to the internet.

Simply click on the network icon and choose the wireless network (or indeed wired network) that you wish to connect to.

You will be prompted for your password and then you will be asked for the security key to the network.

You would therefore think that connecting to the internet is as simple in Lubuntu 14.04.

Unfortunately though the network icon is missing from the system tray and so setting it up means jumping through a few hoops first.

I have added the solution to an article listing 5 things to do after installing Lubuntu.

I am a little bit surprised that this managed to get through testing. Did nobody install Lubuntu from scratch and try and connect wirelessly?

What is interesting is how many Firefox releases there have been since Lubuntu 13.10 was released.

In Lubuntu 13.10 the Firefox version number was 24. The version in Lubuntu 14.04 is 30.

Flash and MP3

Rest In Peace Rik Mayall - One of the finest British Comedy Actors

In order to be able to play Flash video files and MP3s within Lubuntu you will need to install the Lubuntu Restricted Extras package.

The process of doing this is also listed in the article 5 things to do after installing Lubuntu.

Applications

As mentioned before Lubuntu is designed to work on computers with low specifications. The applications included are therefore less on the glitzy side and focus more on basic functionality.

Accessories

Archive Manager (Zip file management)
Disks (Disk management)
PCManFM (File management)
Galculator (Calculator)
GPicView (Image Viewer)
Leafpad (Text Editor)
XPad (Note Taking)

Graphics

Document Viewer (PDF viewer)
mtPaint Graphic Editor (Graphic editor, think MS Paint on drugs)
Simple Scan (Scanning Tool)

Internet

FireFox (Web Browser)
Pidgin (Instant Messenger)
Sylpheed (Email Client)
Transmission (Bittorrent Client)

Office

Abiword (Word Processor)
Gnumeric (Spreadsheet)

Sound and Video

Audacious (Audio Player)
Gnome MPlayer (Media Player)
Xfburn (Disc Burning)

For general day to day use most of these applications are perfectly usable. Abiword isn't a real replacement for Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer but if your only requirement of a Word Processor is to type the odd letter then Abiword is just fine. Hey, I used Abiword to write a short story whilst on the train to the Gadget Show Live.

The same can be said of Gnumeric. It is fine for basic spreadsheet tasks such as creating basic budgets but it is no Microsoft Excel.

If you need something more powerful then it depends on your computer what you can afford to do. You can either install LibreOffice (assuming your computer can handle it) or you can use Google Docs.

Audacious is a functional audio player and includes the basic items all audio players should have including the ability to import files into collections and create playlists. Again it isn't as good as some other audio players but it does the job.

Sylpheed is a decent enough email client and if you have a GMail account it is easy to set up.

One thing with Lubuntu 14.04 is that the games section has gone. I remember asking the question does anyone ever play the KDE games? The response was a resounding yes. The question therefore has to be asked "Will Lubuntu users miss the LXDE based games?".

Installing Applications

If you do miss the LXDE games then all is not lost, you can always use one of the package managers available to install them.

In theory the best method for installing software would be by using the Lubuntu Software Centre.

I don't really like the Lubuntu Software Centre. I mentioned in my Lubuntu 13.10 review...

The search function starts searching after just 300 milliseconds of typing. So if you haven't finished typing your search term in that time then you have to wait for the search to complete before you can enter the rest of the search term.

This behaviour hasn't changed.

The problem with the search function is that users of Lubuntu are going to be on older hardware and so the responsiveness of the computer might not be that great and maybe you can't type your search term in 300 milliseconds. The search box is therefore clunky.

It would be better if the search box let you finished typing before attempting to return results.

I also noticed that when I ran the Software Centre the first time it wouldn't return all the results. Only after hitting the reload button in the Synaptic Package Manager did the Software Centre then start showing everything. Why not add a reload button to the Software Centre?

I still think that the best way to install software is by using the Synaptic Package Manager. It may not be pretty but it works.

New for Lubuntu 14.04

All the new features for Lubuntu 14.04 can be found in the release notes.

The best new feature is the fact that Lubuntu 14.04 is an LTS release providing support for 3 years. That is a big thing as it means you can install Lubuntu 14.04 and it should still work in 2017.

There is a new version of PCManFM, there is updated artwork and a new version of LXSession-Default-Apps.

Gaming

STEAM is available via the software centre and you can also install PlayOnLinux and WINE for playing Windows games.

It is probably worth noting that the majority of modern games will struggle on older hardware.

Known Issues

I have already mentioned the network manager issue whereby the icon is missing from the panel.

Another big issue (especially for users in the UK) is with keyboard layouts. When I installed Lubuntu 14.04 I chose the UK as my country. After Lubuntu loaded the keyboard layout was set to US English which has the effect of turning pound symbols to hashes and various other inconsistencies.

I covered this issue in the article 5 things to do after installing Lubuntu and that shows how to resolve the problem.

You can view more known issues here.

Summary

Despite the issues that I have highlighted through this review I would still recommend Lubuntu for older hardware and netbooks over most other distributions.

The network applet and keyboard issues were slightly disappointing and I would like subtle improvements made to the Software Centre.

And finally..... why and where have the games gone?

Thankyou for reading.

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↧

How to upgrade from Lubuntu 13.10 to Lubuntu 14.04

June 27, 2014, 1:35 pm

≫ Next: A quick update

≪ Previous: An Everyday Linux User review of Lubuntu 14.04

Introduction

To complete the series of articles about Lubuntu here is a guide showing how to upgrade from Lubuntu 13.10 to Lubuntu 14.04.

Backup your files

The first thing you should do before upgrading your system is to backup your important files such as photos, music, videos, documents etc.

Consider using a service such as Dropbox for synchronising all your data. This service lets you back up your files to external servers.

Using Dropbox gives you two levels of safety. If Dropbox ceases to exist you still have the data on your computer but also if you lose all your local files (perhaps to disk failure or even worse a fire) then you will be able to download the files from Dropbox again.

If you prefer to keep your data where you can see it then you can use DVDs, USB drives or external hard drives/NAS drives.

Update your system

Before you can upgrade your system you must update it.

To update your system select "System Tools -> Software Updater" from the menu.

The "Software Updater" will check to see what needs to be updated.

A list will be displayed showing how much data will be downloaded and also you can see which programs and files will be updated.

To update your system click "Install Now".

The updates will now be downloaded and installed.

Upgrade to Lubuntu 14.04

To upgrade your system from 13.10 to Lubuntu 14.04 select "Preferences -> Software and Updates" from the menu.

If you have updated then you will see a message stating that you can now upgrade.

To upgrade click "Yes, Upgrade Now".

A welcome message will appear telling you what you will get from Lubuntu 14.04.

Click "Upgrade".

The upgrade will now start to take place.

After all the files have been downloaded you will be asked once again whether you want to upgrade. (safety first I guess).

Click "Start Upgrade".

Towards the end you will be asked whether you want to remove obsolete packages.

You can click on details to see exactly what will be removed but I would err on the side of caution and just not bother removing.

The remove procedure as stated in the message is very time consuming and all you gain is a bit of disk space.

When the upgrade has finished click "Restart Now" and you will have Lubuntu 14.04.

Post Installation Tasks

It is worth following my guide "5 things to do after installing Lubuntu" as there are a couple of issues you might notice after rebooting.

The first is that the network manager icon will be missing from the panel and if you are from the UK then you might be stuck with a US keyboard layout.

Summary

This article concludes the series on Lubuntu for now.

I hope that you found them useful.

All the how to articles will be added to the tutorials section shortly.

↧

A quick update

June 27, 2014, 1:41 pm

≫ Next: Is it possible to create the ultimate operating system?

≪ Previous: How to upgrade from Lubuntu 13.10 to Lubuntu 14.04

This is just a quick update highlighting what is coming up in the next month.

July will concentrate mainly on reviews starting with Handy Linux but closely followed by Linux Mint 17, Bodhi and many more.

Also coming up is a tutorial showing how to install Linux onto your Macbook Air.

There will be more articles about the KDE software released with openSUSE.

I also have a few Raspberry PI articles in the pipeline.

↧

Is it possible to create the ultimate operating system?

July 3, 2014, 2:10 pm

≫ Next: How to install Linux Mint alongside OSX on the MacBook Air

≪ Previous: A quick update

Introduction

Last weekend my daughter, who is almost 7 years old, asked to go to the library so that she could get some books about the Loch Ness monster.

I looked out of the window in our house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and realised that my original plan of painting the fences outside was now going to be put on hold due to the heavy rain falling from the sky.

I looked at the weather forecast for Inverness and it seemed that they were going to be having a much nicer day than we were and so as the old saying goes "if you can't beat them, join them".

I therefore said to my daughter "I can do one better than find you books about the Loch Ness monster, we can all get in the car and visit Loch Ness".

2 and a bit hours later we arrived at Drumnadrochit and we entered a museum/exhibition that showed us all about the search for the Loch Ness monster.

Following on from the museum we decided to take a boat trip and we managed to get on a small boat with a guy called Dick Raynor. (www.lochnessinvestigation.com).

If you have ever researched the history of Loch Ness then you will know that one of the authorities on the subject is a guy called Adrian Shine. Adrian Shine has written many books and appeared in many films about the subject. Dick Raynor also appears in a number of the books and claims to be one of the only people still actively looking for the mythical creature.

During our tour of Loch Ness, in the small vessel which bounced to and fro on the waves, it became clear that Dick doesn't really seem to believe anymore (if he in fact ever did) but he still strives to answers the mysteries of the Loch.

Ok, so there are a number of you probably wondering what any of this has to do with Linux.

Last week I received an email from a guy called Andrew Bernstein and the first line of the email read as follows:

"Hi Gary, my name is Andrew Bernstein, me and my team of developers are currently trying to create the ultimate linux distro"

Hopefully you can see the tenuous link. Is it really possible to create the ultimate distro? If you asked 20 people they would all come back with a slightly different answer in the same way that if you asked 20 people to look at something in the Loch and describe what they are looking at they would also come back with different answers.

The Plan

How are the Operating System U team planning to create the ultimate operating system ever.

Operating System U will use Arch Linux as the base distribution and the desktop will be a customised version of MATE with less bugs and more features.

In addition, Operating System U will be dispensing with the XOrg system and will instead be using Wayland which is apparently less clunky and it directly renders with applications.

OSu (A shorter name for Operating System U) will also have something called Startlight which is akin to the Windows Start button fused with Apple's Spotlight. According to the website this will make the system easy to use and familiar to most users.

OSu will be a partial rolling release and the main concept appears to be around consistency. The look and feel won't ever change based on the developer's whims unlike certain other operating systems such as Windows.

Possibly the most ambitious plan is that the developers plan to have OSu pre-installed on laptops and available for sale in shops.

The developers acknowledge the fact that this will be difficult to achieve in places like Best Buy and PC World so they are targeting different outlets such as pharmacies, newsagents and supermarkets.

The Team

As mentioned before the person who emailed me is called Andrew Bernstein and I was shocked when I read his profile:

As the Founder and CEO of Operating System U, I hope to bring Linux to the mainstream. I'm 17 and have a fiery passion for open-source, Linux and entrepreneurship.

17 years old!!!

I looked at the list of developers currently associated and there are currently around 10 of them and I was expecting that the rest of the team would be around the same age and that perhaps they were a group of friends daring to dream the dream and become the next Mark Zuckerbergs.

However it is fair to say that the team is incredibly diverse with varying skill levels ages, backgrounds and nationalities.

For instance, second on the list of developers is Diego Woitasen, an Argentinian developer who has over 10 years Linux experience and has worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Argentina.

There is Ioan Calin Borcoman who has been using Linux since 1997 and he has been an active Debian developer maintaining packages such as the VDK library.

Christian Fernandez is another name that jumps out having worked on the gNewSense project and the kgNewSense project.

As a team it doesn't look like a bad starting point although their website clearly states that they are looking for more developers on a volunteer basis.

The Catch

Big claims and a fairly decent set of developers on paper. So what is the catch? Where is the ISO? What about the source code? How far have they got?

In order to ride the unicorn and develop the ultimate operating system the Operating System U team are starting a Kickstarter campaign and they are asking for $150,000.

You can also donate $10 for which you will receive access to the full documentation. (When the documentation is created).

The Summary

Dick Raynor said during our tour of Loch Ness that it isn't his job to say whether the Loch Ness monster does or doesn't exist and likewise it is not for me to say whether OSu can ever be the ultimate operating system.

The plan is certainly incredibly ambitious and my immediate concern is the amount of money they are trying to raise via Kickstarter.

$150,000 is a large sum to generate but it is also probably not going to go that far when you consider the amount of money that Canonical have ploughed into Ubuntu.

Is it even possible to define the ultimate operating system? Some people would say that Ubuntu is pretty close whilst others would say that Ubuntu is about as far away as you can get. Likewise, there are users of Arch, Gentoo and Slackware that would say that their distros make their versions of Linux the best that you can get. Other users would say they are just too intense.

Apple users certainly become evangelical about their devices and operating systems and Android users are almost as bad.

I think with $150,000 you will be able to create a decent operating system that large numbers of people will think is great but having a mission statement saying that "the aim is to create a good operating system that some people will like" isn't exactly aiming for the stars.

I wish the Operating System U team all the best with their project and hope that one day they achieve their objectives, in the same way that I hope one day Dick Raynor finally gets a glimpse of Nessie.

To read more about Operating System U visit http://www.operatingsystemu.com/

And finally and completely off topic...

If you ever find yourself in Fort Augustus (and you should because it is truly amazing) and you decide to head back towards Aberdeen at night make sure your car has plenties of petrol and don't head into the Cairngorms in an attempt to cut across.

Whilst the views of the Cairngorms are truly spectacular it is a bit unnerving when you are travelling along the winding single track roads with a quarter of a tank of petrol with absolutely no idea where the next 24 hour petrol station is.

I finally ran out of petrol in a place called Aberlour. I would like to say thankyou to the Aberlour Arms Hotel for allowing me to use their phone and to the AA guy that came out at 2 a.m with some extra petrol.

↧

How to install Linux Mint alongside OSX on the MacBook Air

July 9, 2014, 5:27 am

≫ Next: Celebrating Geekness Day

≪ Previous: Is it possible to create the ultimate operating system?

Introduction

In previous articles I have shown how to install Ubuntu Linux alongside Windows 8 and how to dual boot Ubuntu with ChromeOS on the HP Chromebook.

This time I am going to show how to install Linux Mint alongside OSX on the MacBook Air.

Linux Mint has been top of the Distrowatch rankings for the past year. Whilst the rankings have to be taken with a pinch of salt there is clearly merit in writing an article showing the best that Linux has to offer working on hardware that oozes quality.

The actual installation isn't too difficult but there are some challenges on the way and the steps highlighted are the steps I used to complete the task. As always if there are better ways to achieve the same goals please feel free to leave a comment.

What you will need

A MacBook Air - If you don't have a MacBook Air you can pick one up from here.
A USB drive
Time and patience

Optionally you might look into purchasing an Apple USB Ethernet cable as it will help when setting up the internet.

Back up your drive

The first and most important step you can take before undertaking any of these steps is to back up your drive.

One thing I really like about the MacBook Air is the fact that if you completely destroy your operating system it is always possible to get back to a point where the computer is working again. The chances of you turning your MacBook Air into an expensive brick are highly unlikely.

If you have been using your MacBook Air for some time you will probably have accumulated some data and you will have installed some applications which you probably want to keep.

Therefore before we start partitioning drives and changing boot settings let's look at backing up what you have.

The MacBook Air that I am using is new and therefore I don't have much installed. The size of the recovery drive is showing as 16.7 gigabytes.

On a fairly vanilla system you could therefore get away with backing up to a 32 gigabyte USB drive. If you have lots of data then you might need a bigger USB drive or an external hard drive which is what I used for the task.

Insert a blank USB drive or external hard drive into your MacBook Air. A message will be displayed asking whether you want to use it as a recovery drive.

Click the "Use as Backup Disk" option.

A message will now appear asking whether you are sure you want to use the external drive as a backup disk.

If you are sure click "Erase".

Note: All data on that drive will be deleted so make sure you use a blank drive

The "Time Machine" software will now start backing up your system to the external drive.

Note: You can also run the "Time Machine" software from the "Applications" menu and you can then choose the drive you want to backup to.

Download Linux Mint

The current version of Linux Mint is version 17 and this is the long term support release with 5 years of support.

If you are looking for stability for your computer then Linux Mint 17 is definitely a good choice.

To find out more about Linux Mint visit http://www.linuxmint.com/.

To download Linux Mint 17 visit http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php

There are a number of different download options available. The version I installed was the Cinnamon 64-bit edition.

Cinnamon provides a modern take on the traditional desktop. What you end up with is something familiar looking but very stylish.

The MATE, KDE and Xfce editions will all work equally as well but you should always pick the 64-bit version and there is no merit in going for the no codecs versions.

Create a Linux Mint USB drive

In order to install Linux Mint you will need to create a bootable Linux Mint USB drive.

Insert the USB drive into one of the available slots in the MacBook Air.

The tool I used for this job is called the Mac Linux USB Loader.

Click here to download the Mac Linux USB Loader.

When you run the Mac Linux USB Builder a message appears stating that you need to install Java. (Unless you have already installed Java previously).

To install Java click "Install".

A license agreement will appear and you must click "agree" to continue.

Click the "Create Live USB" button. You will then be shown a window which enables you to find the Linux Mint ISO downloaded in the previous step. Click on the "Downloads" option in the left pane and then select the Linux Mint 17 ISO.

Now all you have to do is click on the "Make Live USB" button.

A progress bar will appear and a message will appear stating that the USB drive has been created.

Partition the drive

Normally the disk partitioning is the trickiest part when it comes to dual booting.

The disk utility within OSx makes the task incredibly easy.

To run the disk utility click "Go" from the menu and select "Utilities" and then click on the "Disk Utility" icon.

The "Disk Utility" shows the states of each drive and can be used to create recovery partitions, erase disks and restore partitions.

As you can see from the image above I have three disks. One is the Apple SSD drive which comes with the MacBook Air. I also have the 8 GB USB drive which now has Linux Mint on it and another 8 GB USB drive used for storing the images for this article.

To create a partition for Linux Mint on the Apple SSD all you have to do is select the drive and click the "+" symbol under the disk layout.

The disk will be split right down the middle. You can adjust the new partition by increasing or decreasing the size.

You should format the disk to "Free Space".

Once you have the disks looking as you want them to click "Apply".

A warning message is displayed and if you are unsure as to whether you want to go ahead then you should click cancel.

If you are happy to continue click "Partition".

The partitioning process takes a little while to complete.

Booting into Linux Mint Live

To boot into the live version of Linux Mint reboot your computer and hold down the "Alt" key.

When the computer boots you will have an image similar to the one above. The number of icons will depend on the bootable devices available.

Click on the drive that represents your USB drive. Which one is that? In theory if you have just the Macintosh HD (The Apple SSD) and your USB drive you need to click on the drive that isn't the "Macintosh HD".

Install Linux Mint

When the Linux Mint Live USB boots into Linux Mint you will see an icon on the desktop called "Install Linux Mint". Click on this icon.

The installation is now fairly standard. Click the language to be used for installation purposes. If you feel like a challenge try Welsh (Cymraeg) otherwise I would select the one you are most comfortable with.

The next screen shows you how prepared you are for installing Linux Mint.

It is a good idea to have the MacBook Air plugged in during the installation and you must have at least 8.6 gigabytes of disk space. The internet connection is optional and for reasons I will explain later quite tricky to achieve.

Click "Continue".

You are now given the option of replacing OSX or installing alongside it.

Normally I recommend choosing the something else option and creating separate root, home and swap partitions but as Linux Mint 17 is going to be around for 5 years I chose the "Install Linux Mint alongside Mac OS X" option.

Click on "Install Now" to continue.

In the next step choose your location by clicking in the appropriate position on the map.

Click "Continue".

Almost there now.

Choose your keyboard layout from the list and then click "Continue".

Enter your name, pick a username and enter a strong password.

Note that the computer name has junk in it so change the computer's name to something more meaningful.

Click "Continue".

The files will now be copied to your MacBook and once the process has finished a message will be displayed saying you can now reboot your computer.

Click "Continue Testing" as there is a little bit more work to be done.

Fix the boot loader

If you restart your computer without following these steps then you will boot straight into OSX.

To fix the boot order open up a terminal window. You can do this by clicking the 4th icon from the left in the panel at the bottom of Linux Mint. (Black background with >_).

Type the following commands:

sudo apt-get install efibootmgr
sudo efibootmgr

As you can see from the image above my MacBook Air is going to boot 0000 first and then 0080.

The labelling of the disks is shown underneath. Boot0000 is Ubuntu and Boot0080 is OSX.

Note that it says Ubuntu and not Linux Mint but it means the same thing.

If the boot order shows Ubuntu as 2nd in the boot order you need to run a command to put it in 1st position.

sudo efibootmgr -o 0,80

The above command will put boot0000 first and boot0080 second. If your disks are the opposite way round then you will need to switch the 0,80.

Now when you reboot your MacBook a menu will appear with options to boot Linux Mint and OSX.

If you choose Linux Mint then it will work perfectly fine but if you choose OSX it will fail.

You can boot into OSX by pressing the escape key at the menu and then type "exit". This is not the best solution though and the next part of this guide will provide a slightly better one.

Fix the Grub boot menu

From within Linux Mint (not the live version, the installed version) open up the terminal window again (4th icon from left on the bottom panel).

Type the following:

sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom

When the editor opens enter the following lines at the bottom:

menuentry "Exit to Mac OSX" { exit }

Press CTRL and O to save the file and then CTRL and X to exit the file.

Now run the following command:

sudo update-grub

Reboot your computer and you should now have a new menu option called "Exit to Mac OSX". If you want to use Mac OSX select this option.

Connecting to the internet

Connecting to the internet is usually incredibly easy but the MacBook Air uses Broadcom for connecting wirelessly and this has always caused issues for Linux.

I have read a number of guides for resolving this issue and none of them worked for me, so here is the way I did it.

The main issue is that to connect to the internet you need to install the Broadcom driver but to install the Broadcom driver you need an internet connection.

Normally you could get around this by connecting your computer via an ethernet cable but the MacBook Air doesn't have an ethernet port.

You can get around this issue by spending £25 at your local Apple Store.

All you have to do then is connect USB cable in to the MacBook Air and an ethernet cable from your MacBook to your router. You are then able to install the correct drivers by using the driver manager within Linux Mint.

There is another way though that costs no money at all which is the method I used.

The required Broadcom drivers are available from the Linux Mint ISO downloaded earlier and so by loading the ISO as a CDRom it is possible to install them.

First of all boot into Mac OSX and then copy the Linux Mint ISO to a USB drive (just copy the ISO, don't use the loader).

Reboot into Linux Mint and copy the ISO from the USB drive to your home folder.

To do this click the file manager icon which is available on the bottom panel (5 from the left, looks like a folder).

Click on your USB drive and then drag the ISO to the "Home" folder.

Click on the "Menu", select "Administration" and then "Software Sources".

Click on the "Additional Repositories" tab and then click in the CDRom box.

Close the "Software Sources" icon and then open up a terminal window.

Type the following lines into the terminal window:

sudo mkdir /media/cdrom
cd ~
sudo mount -o loop linuxmint-17-cinnamon-64bit-v2.iso /media/cdrom

Finally, open up the driver manager by clicking "Menu -> Administration -> Driver Manager".

Ignore the warning.

Click "OK" and then select the "bcmwl-kernel-source" radio button.

Click "Apply Changes".

If everything goes well you should now be able to click the network icon in the system tray and a list of wireless networks should appear.

Summary

The biggest challenge to installing Linux Mint 17 on a MacBook Air is trying to get the wireless working.

I have tested many of the other features of the MacBook and most things seem to work well such as audio, the trackpad, recovering from sleep mode etc.

If you have found any issues whilst following this guide leave a message in the comments section and I will try to help solve them.

Thankyou for reading.

↧

Celebrating Geekness Day

July 10, 2014, 3:24 pm

≫ Next: Bored of your Raspberry PI? You just need some inspiration

≪ Previous: How to install Linux Mint alongside OSX on the MacBook Air

Introduction

A couple of weeks ago I was informed about "Geekness Day" which is coming up on the 13th July.

I was asked to answer some questions to prove my geek factor and to show how I embrace my geekness.

So without further ado here we go...

What makes you a geek?

I have always been a geek. When I was younger being a geek was not considered very cool, yet nowadays it appears to be something that everyone wants to be.

So what makes me a geek?

It all started at a very young age.

My parents used to take my sister and I on holiday to the Isle of Wight, just off the south coast of England.

Every night we would go for a walk along the sea front to the pier and my parents would give us £1 each to play on the machines.

My sister always chose to play the penny fall machines or the slot machines.

I was only ever interested in the games. Space Invaders, Pac Man, Punch Out, Out Run and my personal favourite Track and Field.

Track and Field was a game based on athletics and the idea was to compete against a computer opponent in a series of events and if you beat the opponent or beat the qualifying times you were allowed through to the next event.

To play the game you repeatedly hammered two buttons as quickly as you could and the more speed and rhythm with which you hit the keys the faster you ran. Other events required you to use a third button for releasing Javelins, jumping into the sandpit or leaping hurdles.

Playing computer games isn't particularly geeky but the fact that as a child I could play Track and Field for an hour with £1 and still come back with 90 pence in change has to give me some merit points.

Over the years my game playing has cost me dozens of broken joysticks, loads of money and an inordinate amount of time.

When I was younger it was Jungle Hunt on the Atari 2600 and then Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and BMX Simulator on the Sinclair Spectrum.

Through my late school and college years it was Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder and Road Rash.

I remember having a period of playing Bubble Bobble with a friend in our local club and we managed to complete 67 out of the 100 levels. There were people looking over our should as we rapidly fired out bubbles desperately evading the killer shark.

At college we used to have Sensible Soccer competitions, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter battles.

I still enjoy retrogaming today and I have the Blaze Ultimate handheld gaming device for playing Megadrive/Genesys games, an OUYA and a Raspberry PI for games emulation.

I was one of those kids at school that did everything in my power not to have to be outside of a lunch hour and so I enrolled in just about every kind of club there was. I joined chess club, music club and computer club. I even enrolled in a school play.

I started programming when I was 11 using the Sinclair Spectrum. Like most kids, my early programs were written in BASIC by copying reams of code out of magazines only to be disappointed by the fact that I could always get them working. POKE this and PEEK that.

After leaving college I started work at Data Sciences which was later bought by IBM. I worked as a software developer in London working on large financial systems and then I joined Systems Union working on one of the largest accountancy packages.

I have worked as a software developer, SQL Server DBA, SQL Server developer, software tester, applications support consultant and configuration analyst. I am currently developing an allocation management system for a large oil company in the UK.

I have programmed in COBOL, C++, Visual Basic, PERL, PHP, ASP and nowadays .NET.

I first tried using Linux in the early 2000s and I was delighted when I managed to get Mandrake working with full internet access, a working printer and scanner.

Mandrake still didn't satisfy all my requirements and the world was still at the stage where websites were made for Internet Explorer and everything else was an afterthought.

A couple of years later I tried openSUSE for the first time and it was just what I was looking for. It was at this point that I decided to go full time with Linux at home and I have never really looked back.

I have now tried dozens of Linux distributions on multiple platforms including netbooks, laptops, Chromebooks and MacBooks.

Absolutely none of the above is what makes me a real geek though.

What I think makes me a geek is the fact that for every problem I try and think of a way of programming a solution to it.

For instance imagine I have a folder with 100 files and I need to change 1 line in each file but there is no particular rule as to which line that is.

Any normal person would open each file one by one and edit the one line, save and move to the next one. The task probably wouldn't take more than an hour or so.

My mind doesn't work like that. I can't think of anything more tedious that editing 100 files. I therefore have to find the programming solution. The programming solution might take 5 times as long to produce but it means I didn't have to edit those files by hand.

Worse than that though, after running the program and achieving the original intended aim I will then edit the program and refactor it again and again until it is as optimised as it can possibly be.

The pointless thing is that the program will probably never be required ever again.

Now that is what makes me a geek.

What is your proudest geek moment?

A difficult question this one.

I remember feeling pretty chuffed when I posted my article about finding my lost cat using my Raspberry PI.

The Raspberry PI developers liked the article and sent me a camera board to go with my Raspberry PI.

As a blogger it was great when I reached 1,000,000 page views and then 2,000,000 and now over 5,000,000.

It was also pretty cool when I was asked to be a guest on the Everyday Linux podcast.

From a programming point of view I remember being called to a customer site in Edinburgh where a client had a report that was taking 36 hours to run. I optimised the queries and the report ended up running in less than 2 minutes.

From a gaming point of view there is no prouder moment than when you win the league for the first time on Championship Manager.

What is your geek motto/favourite geek quote?

I don't have mottos as such but I do have a couple of theories.

1. The application life cycle

All applications start as spreadsheets.

Generally the office expert creates a spreadsheet and they add macros and VBA code to the spreadsheet.

That person generally leaves the company and the next person in line looks at the spreadsheet and asks the question "which muppet produced this?" and their solution is to turn it into a Microsoft Access database.

The Access database works for a little while but then somebody else suggests writing a dedicated application with a SQL Server database used for storing the data.

Once the application is written somebody says "This is all well and good but it would be better if we could export the data to Excel".

2. Programmers would rather program anything than the thing they are supposed to be programming

My day job is all about developing software that tells the Oil company that I work for how much oil and gas is being produced.

Give me any other reason to write code and I will take it and I am not the only one.

Programmers are always looking at their colleague's projects and issues because the thing they are developing always looks more interesting.

I know of one contract developer that wrote a program that calculated how much time he spent in the bathroom at work during the course of the year so that he could show the company how much it costs them.

4. Who is your geek role model?

I guess everyone wishes they were the person that came up with Facebook and so Mark Zuckerberg is an obvious choice.
From a Linux perspective I like the stuff that Jim Lynch writes and I love the Linux Outlaws and Ubuntu UK Podcasts.

In the UK we have a television program called The Gadget Show and I doubt there are many true geeks that wouldn't want to be in the same shoes as Jason Bradbury or Jon Bentley.

Finally there is a guy called Larry Bundy Junior also known as Guru Larry who used to run a show about retro gaming on British television. I loved that show.

5. Which SingleHopper geek do you most relate to?

I had to read a fair few SingleHop blog posts to work this one out but I reckon that Dennis Guzman would be the blogger I relate to most because of his affiliation to retro gaming.

Of course though some people will see a striking resemblance between me and Adrienne Wicklund.

6. How familiar are you with Singlehop's product offerings?

I am not particularly knowledgeable about Singlehop in particular but I am aware of the sort of products on offer such as cloud hosting.

Unfortunately it isn't the sort of service I have had much of a need for.

7. Anything else

Well I have added what makes me a geek. It is now up to everyone else to tell me what makes them a geek.

Use the comments below or use the hashtags #everydaylinuxusergeeks and #singlehopgeeks.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter. @dailylinuxuser

↧

Bored of your Raspberry PI? You just need some inspiration

July 15, 2014, 4:45 pm

≫ Next: Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon - The ultimate Windows 7 replacement

≪ Previous: Celebrating Geekness Day

How many of you bought a Raspberry PI that is now lying around doing nothing?

When the Raspberry PI took the world by storm in 2012 it seemed that every man and his dog bought one.

Some people bought the Raspberry PI for retrogaming whilst others bought the Raspberry PI to use as an XBMC media centre. There were some really clever people who did far more imaginative things such as this and this.

I documented some of my projects for the Raspberry PI on this site such as using the Raspberry PI as a web server, connecting to the Raspberry PI from a tablet and using the Raspberry PI to rip music from online radio stations. I even described how I used a Raspberry PI to find my cat.

There are some people who bought the Raspberry PI and didn't have any reason to buy it but they bought it anyway hoping to find a purpose later.

The truth is that there are a lot of people that probably found better solutions for media centres and retrogaming. Personally I found the the OUYA was a better choice for games emulation as it supports more systems and is easier to set up.

Now that the hype has died down there are probably hundreds of Raspberry PIs sitting in bottom drawers doing absolutely nothing.

I have re-purposed my Raspberry PI. I use it for various automated tasks such as using it to send me web pages that are blocked at work or posting tweets about links to pages on this site (These are future guides).

The Raspberry PI model B+ is due in July and has many improvements over the original PI whilst keep the same low starting price.

Key selling points are more USB ports, the switch to a micro SD card, lower power consumption and better audio.

The Raspberry PI model B+ might be a harder sell than the original Raspberry PI because there are now dozens of single board computers on the market.

It is easy to forget that the Raspberry PI was designed to aid learning and the target market was initially schools. However, it was the many strange and diverse uses which were devised for the Raspberry PI by people willing to experiment that gave it the cool factor.

The Raspberry PI price point is key to its success as it is fun to experiment with something that costs £25 but it is not fun to experiment with something that costs £100+.

I was sent a link to a video from Newark Electronics / Element 14 who are one of the major distributors of the Raspberry PI.

The video doesn't contain anything specifically to do with the Raspberry PI but it shows what you can do when you are willing to experiment.

Ben Hicks obviously has a lot of technical know-how and I wouldn't expect all of you to do what he does and start ripping apart old games consoles or computers apart.

By watching this video though you might be inspired to take your Raspberry PI out of the drawer and come up with a new purpose for it. Consider perhaps buying a breadboard and trying out basic electronics or using the Raspberry PI to learn how to use the command line in Linux. There are guides all over the internet showing just how to do both of these things.

In the video below, Ben takes a Sinclair Spectrum and modifies it to output the images to a small LED screen. He also removes the EPROM from an old computer and replaces the ROM built into the Sinclair Spectrum with the EPROM. Why? Well the EPROM enabled Ben to have not just one but two operating systems on the EPROM.

A dual booting Sinclair Spectrum, brilliant.

Thankyou for reading.

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Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon - The ultimate Windows 7 replacement

July 19, 2014, 7:42 am

≫ Next: Netrunner 14 - KDE for the Everyday Linux User

≪ Previous: Bored of your Raspberry PI? You just need some inspiration

Introduction

I believe that there is a version of Linux out there for everyone. One of the hardest sells is trying to convince someone who is using Windows 7 that there is a version of Linux suitable for them.

I have already written articles giving 5 reasons why Lubuntu might be better for Windows XP users and that PCLinuxOS might be better for Windows XP users with more powerful machines and Windows Vista users.

For Windows 8 users, I would imagine that just about any flavour of Linux is preferable but I would probably lean towards Ubuntu as I think Ubuntu provides the killer new desktop that Windows 8 has tried to introduce but in a much better way.

Windows 7 users are not running out of support and there isn't all that much wrong with Windows 7, especially if you have used it for a while. Windows 7 is probably the best version of Windows there has ever been.

The best Linux alternative for Windows 7 that I have found thus far is probably Zorin OS 8. That is up until now.

Today I am going to be reviewing Linux Mint 17 with the Cinnamon desktop environment which is the best that Linux Mint has to offer.

System Requirements

x86 processor (32-bit) or x64 processor (64-bit)
512 megabytes RAM (1 gigabyte recommended)
10 gigabytes disk space
DVD or USB support

Installation

Click here for my guide showing how to create a bootable Linux Mint USB drive.
Click here for my guide showing how to install Linux Mint as a virtual machine.
Click here for my guide showing how to dual boot OSX and Linux Mint 17 on a MacBook Air.

I will be writing a guide shortly showing how to dual boot or replace Windows 7 with Linux Mint 17.

For now though I am going to take you through the installation steps to show just how easy it is.

You will need to follow the guide showing how to create the Linux USB drive first.

Before you begin, backup your computer using the Windows 7 backup and recovery tools.

Insert the USB drive and reboot your computer.

Your computer should boot into a live version of Linux Mint 17.

Click on the install icon on the desktop.

Choose your installation language and click "Continue".

You are then asked to connect to your wireless network. This is optional and to be honest I always choose not to connect.

The installer will use your internet connection to download updates as it goes which means when you boot Linux Mint 17 for the first time after installation it will be completely up to date.

If you have a slow internet connection this can take ages and if your connection drops then it is hard to know the state of your installation. I prefer to get the installation done first and then apply updates later.

Select your preferred option and click "Continue".

The next steps shows you how well prepared you are for installing Linux Mint. If you have three green ticks then you are good to go. (The only one you really have to worry about is disk space and if you are not using a power source make sure your battery is charged).

Click "Continue".

If you are running Windows 7 then the image above will look slightly different but basically you get the option to replace the current operating system, install alongside the current operating system or something else.

In the past I have always recommended choosing something else as this will help during upgrades but because Linux Mint 17 is a long term support release with a number of years support it is OK to choose the option to erase the disk and install Linux Mint 17.

Choose your preferred option and click "Continue".

The rest of the steps are very straight forward. Choose your location.

Choose your keyboard layout.

Create a default user and a name for your computer.

and wait for the installation to complete which for me took less than 10 minutes.

First Impressions

The best thing about Linux Mint is that the developers haven't tried to be too clever.

One thing that turns people off Ubuntu is the Unity Desktop because the user interface just isn't familiar to them.

Don't get me wrong, I really like Ubuntu and I like the user interface that Unity provides. I get what the Ubuntu developers have tried to achieve and I think they have done an amazing job.

A few years ago people heard the word Unity and they said "Yuck". Now more and more people ask how to get Unity for their Linux distribution.

Linux Mint bucked the trend and stuck with the same principles that made Windows XP and Windows 7 a success. The user interface is completely familiar to anyone who has used computers for the past 20 years.

Linux Mint is also incredibly consistent. Whether you use the lightweight XFCE version, KDE, MATE or Cinnamon the look and feel is pretty much the same. The only thing that changes is the programs used to achieve the look and feel.

The Cinnamon desktop is extremely well polished and more than matches anything that Windows 7 has to offer in terms of asthetics.

Everything is just where you would expect it to be. The panel at the bottom works in much the same way as the Windows 7 task bar. There is a menu, a set of quick launch icons and a system tray.

The quick launch icons allow you to show the desktop, load the default web browser, open a terminal window and open the file manager. The quick launch icons can be customised.

The system tray has icons for helping you to manage common system settings.

The default icons are as follows:

Notifications
User settings
Bluetooth settings
Network settings
Audio settings
Power settings
Updates
Clock
Workspace selector

The menus used by Linux Mint are slightly different depending on the desktop environment that you choose to use.

The Cinnamon desktop environment doesn't try and confuse you with new interfaces but enhances on the experiences that you are likely to already have encountered.

The menu is fairly straight forward.

The left column has a series of icons for the applications that you will use regularly. (Favourites).

By default the icons are as follows: (From top to bottom)

FireFox Web Browser
Software Manager
Settings
Terminal
File Manager
Lock Screen
Log Out
Quit

The second column in the menu is a list of categories and by hovering your mouse over a category the third column changes to show the applications within that category.

Dragging an icon from the applications column to the favourites column will make it more accessible next time you open the menu.

Connecting to the internet

Connecting to the internet with Linux Mint is generally incredibly simple. Assuming that you have a network card that is automatically catered for then all you need to do is click on the icon in the system tray and select the wireless network you wish to connect to.

You will then also need to enter the security details for the wireless network (assuming that it isn't an open network).

To browse web pages use the FireFox web browser.

Flash and MP3

Some Linux distributions do not include proprietary technology such as the ability to play Flash videos and listen to MP3 audio.

Linux Mint has everything you need installed from the outset, so you can watch your favourite Youtube videos, play your favourite games and listen to your music collection with no further setup required.

Applications

Linux Mint has a great selection of applications that are installed by default.

Linux Mint is in a better state when it is first installed than Windows is and for the most part requires no extra specialist software to be installed for the most common uses of home computers.

Accessories

Archive Manager
Calculator
Document Viewer
Screenshot
Terminal
Text Editor
USB Image Writer

Graphics

GIMP image editor
gThumb image thumbnail viewer
Image Viewer
ImageMagick
LibreOffice Draw
Scan

For those of you that haven't heard of GIMP it is a fine picture editing tool. A lot of people liken it to Photoshop. Generally there is a debate to be had as to whether it really has everything that Photoshop has to offer but for the casual user it certainly is incredibly powerful.

Internet

FireFox Web Browser
HexChat IRC Chat Client
Pidgin Internet Messenger
Thunderbird Mail Client
Transmission BitTorrent Client

Office

LibreOffice Writer (think Microsoft Word but without the awful Ribbons)
LibreOffice Calc (think Microsoft Excel but without the awful Ribbons)
LibreOffice Impress (think Microsoft Powerpoint)
LibreOffice Draw
LibreOffice Math

LibreOffice complements Linux Mint very well as it provides the same sort of continuation and familiarity that Linux Mint provides. There are certainly none of those stupid ribbon bars making it impossible to find settings.

For home use LibreOffice definitely has all the features you will require and is perfect for children who have homework assignments or for parents to create budgets.

Sound and Video

Banshee Audio Player
Brasero DVD burning
Totem Video Player
VLC Video Player

One thing that Linux isn't lacking is good quality audio applications.

Off the top of my head there are Rhythmbox, Banshee, Amarok, Clementine, GMusicBrowser, DeadBeef, Noise and QMMS.

Linux Mint comes with Banshee. I have had problems with this application in the past but it works perfectly within Linux Mint 17.

Importing music is as simple as selecting the "Import Media" option from the "Media" menu. This allows you to select the folders on your computer that contain audio files.

Banshee lets you listen to music from your own collection or you can listen to online radio stations.

All the standard features are available such as the ability to create playlists.

Banshee works very well with external audio devices and picked up my Sony Walkman and Samsung Galaxy S4 without any issues.

The VLC media player can be used to watch online videos and also to watch videos stored on your computer.

Installing Applications

One area where Linux Mint is better than Ubuntu is the graphical tool used for installing applications.

The Ubuntu Software Centre is probably the biggest let down and the one area where Ubuntu really needs to improve.

Linux Mint's software manager is actually pretty decent.

The default view provides a list of categories and a search box in the top right corner.

If you just want to browse applications click on a category and a list of applications will appear.

The applications are listed by title, description, rating and number of people who voted.

To get more information about an application double click on the name.

The details page includes screenshots, version numbers, file sizes and reviews.

To install the application click "Install".

Gaming

One thing that isn't installed by default is games.

There are various ways of installing and playing games in Linux Mint.

The first way is to open the software manager and browse the games section.

The number of games listed in the software manager aren't incredibly extensive but there are first person shooters, platform games, racing games etc.

Another option is games emulation. The software manager has emulators for the Commodore Amiga, Atari 2600, Sinclair Spectrum, SNES, NES, Playstation One, N64 and many others.

If you already have a good selection of Windows games then the third option is to use PlayOnLinux which is also available from the software centre.

PlayOnLinux sits on top of WINE which allows you to run Windows applications within Linux Mint.

PlayOnLinux can be used for more than just installing Windows games and it can be used to install other Windows applications such as Microsoft Office.

The level of success with running Windows applications is improving but is still a bit hit and miss.

The games seem to work very well generally. I bought and installed Sensible World Of Soccer from GOG.com and it works really well.

The final but best option for playing games is through STEAM. More and more top quality games are provided for Linux via the STEAM platform.

You can install STEAM from the software manager.

Using STEAM you can buy, download and install games which can be used directly from your Linux Mint desktop.

Customising the desktop

The first thing that you might like to change is the default desktop wallpaper.

To change the wallpaper right click on the desktop and choose "Change Desktop Background".

Linux Mint comes with a nice selection of wallpapers but you can add your own by clicking on the "Add" icon.

Another thing you can add to the desktop is something called desklets. The "Add Desklets" option is available from the right click menu on the desktop.

By default there aren't that many desklets available but you can get more online. (Click the "Get More Online" tab.

The desklets for me look a bit clunky but they make it easier to view photos and provide instant access to your music collection etc.

Another thing you can customise is the panel at the bottom. You can add more items to the panel by right clicking the panel and selecting "Add applets to panel".

New features for Linux Mint 17

The release notes for Linux Mint can be found at http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_qiana_cinnamon.php.

The new features are as follows:

Improved update manager
The driver manager can now install drivers without an internet connection
Refined MDM login manager and multi monitor support improved
HTML greeter comes with HiDPI support
MDM now has a recovery command
Language Settings tool added to make it easier to select your language
Improved Software Sources display
Welcome screen now uses less resources
Improved graphical interface for system settings
Power management and screen saver settings redesigned
Menu improvements
HUD and Hover Management Improvements
MPRIS support added
HiDPI and Retina display support added
The "WACOM" plug has been re-introduced
Windows opacity improvements
Better integration with Gnome
Better support for GDM
Support for MDM failback shutdown sequence
New shutdown hotkey
Lots of bug fixes

This list doesn't cover everything and may not make sense to new users so it would be beneficial to click the link above to get the full list.

What is important with Linux Mint 17 is the LTS strategy. Linux Mint 17 will receive support updates until 2019.

Until 2016 Linux Mint will use the same package base as Linux Mint 17 making it easier to upgrade.

Until 2016 the developers won't begin work on a new base and will be focus completely on the current base.

Hot Corners and Workspaces

The Cinnamon desktop has a configuration tool called "Hot Corners" which lets you determine what happens when you move your mouse into the corners of your screen.

Before thinking about hot corners it is worth discussing workspaces first.

In Windows you only have one workspace. This means if you have lots of applications open then you either have to make windows smaller to place them side by side or have them overlay each other.

To switch between applications you have to either alt and tab or click with your mouse.

Linux has virtual workspaces which means you can have for instance one workspace which you use to do work and another for emails, chat, Facebook etc.

To use hot corners open the settings screen and select "Hot Corners".

You can specify what happens when you click or hover in a corner. The choices are to show all workspaces, show all windows, run a command or show the desktop.

All four corners can be customised to work the way you want them to.

For instance if I hover into the top left corner on my computer I will see the following screen:

By default there are two workspaces and switching is as simple as clicking the workspace. To add a new workspace click the plus symbol.

Issues

There are a number of known issues listed as part of the release notes:

The "Replace OS with Linux Mint" option doesn't just replace the operating system with the Linux Mint it erases the entire disk. This is important for people who dual boot. You need to use the "Something Else" option.
There may be an issue with Skype which can be fixed by installing "ia32-libs".
If VLC does not find your DVD player, click on Media->Open Disc, and specify '/dev/sr0' as the disc device.
HiDPI is detected automatically. You can however force Cinnamon to run in low or in high DPI mode by going to Menu->Preferences->General.
If your system is using secureBoot, turn it off.
Note: Linux Mint 17 places its boot files in /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu to work around
Freeze issues with NVidia cards (there are workarounds provided via the release notes)
Booting with Non-PAE causes issues (refer to the release notes for the workaround)

Something that isn't on the list but that was reported via Reddit last week is that copying from a device to Linux Mint via the file manager can cause the file to get lost.

To try this out I plugged in my Samsung Galaxy S4 and moved files from the Samsung Galaxy to my Linux Mint 17 installation.

As you can see from the images above I wasn't able to reproduce this issue.

My advice when moving files from one device to another would be to copy the files first and then when you are sure they have reached their destination delete the source files. This prevents the chance of the files getting lost.

I haven't had any other issues whilst running Linux Mint 17 and I have had it installed for around 2 weeks now.

Summary

Linux Mint 17 is a great choice for the everyday Linux user. It is easy to install, easy to use and has a good selection of applications.

There is nothing revolutionary about Linux Mint. It isn't like Ubuntu daring to enter new territory with a new user interface. It sits firmly in the camp of "things were and are working just fine so lets not change them".

The user interface for the Cinnamon desktop is visually pleasing and very professional.

The hardware support is extensive and the stability is incredibly good.

I would recommend Linux Mint for all users and not just Windows users looking to try Linux for the first time.

Linux Mint is a great example of how good an operating system can be.

Thankyou for reading.

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