Everyday Linux User

Introduction

Windows 7 has come to the stage whereby the support it receives is minimal.

Windows 7 users therefore have a number of choices:

Stick with Windows 7
Upgrade to Windows 8.1
Buy a new computer with Windows 8.1 pre-installed
Wait for Windows 10
Switch to Linux Mint

There are pros and cons with all of these options.

Windows 7 is now a second class citizen in the eyes of Microsoft. You will receive security updates but that is about it. Stick with what you know if you like but you are virtually on your own.

Windows 8.1 is still the latest Microsoft operating system and you will be well supported but lets face it, Windows 8.1 is just not intuitive and has caused Microsoft to go back to the drawing board for Windows 10. If it was such a success then Microsoft wouldn't have changed it so heavily for Windows 10. It will also cost you upwards of £80.

If you aren't comfortable installing operating systems you might just choose to buy a new computer with Windows 8.1 on it. This will save you install time but the Windows 8.1 issues remain the same and it will set you back a few hundred quid.

You could wait for Windows 10 and to be fair it looks like it will be much better than the current offering and they do have some exciting looking hololens glasses on the way. There is still a fair amount of time before Windows 10 is released and being an early adopter isn't the best time to jump aboard.

This is a site dedicated to Linux and so I am of course going to recommend the Linux Mint option. The look and feel will be much like the Windows 7 interface you are currently using. You won't need to upgrade your hardware. You will never be out of support. It won't cost you a penny. You won't need to buy extra software such as Microsoft Office. You won't get any viruses.

I have written installation guides before and you might be wondering what is different about this one.

A comment I received a couple of weeks ago asked how to install Linux without overwriting the data that is held in a separate partition on the hard drive.

The user in question had Windows 7 installed in one partition and all his data files were saved in a completely separate partition.

This guide shows how to replace Windows 7 with Linux Mint whilst preserving other partitions such as data partitions and recovery partitions.

The Setup

This is my setup prior to installing Linux Mint. I have a single hard drive with 700 GB of space.

The drive is split into 3 partitions:

Recovery partition - 100 MB
Windows partition - 356 GB
Data partition 342 - GB

The recovery partition isn't really a recovery partition. It was a mistake I made whilst installing Windows 7 in the first place but "ssshhh", if we keep quiet nobody will know.

The data partition has some really important files on it.

As you can see I have a photos folder with some pictures from my recent trip to New York.

To prove it here is a picture of the Freedom tower taken from the top of the Empire State Building.

Now of course I might just have downloaded that from Google Images so to prove I didn't....

That photo was taken from my Samsung Galaxy S4 and it has the in shot thingy which can make any photo look ridiculous.

Anyway, now we know I have something to lose if the installation goes wrong.

The Strategy

In order to install Linux Mint and remove Windows 7 without losing my data partition here is the plan:

Backup all of the partitions
Download Linux Mint
Create a bootable Linux Mint USB drive
Boot into the live Linux Mint image
Run the installer
Choose the something else option when partitioning and set up Linux Mint partitions only in the Windows partition. (and delete that 100mb recovery partition)
Complete the installation
Prove that it worked

Backup All Partitions On A Single Hard Drive

The tool I like to use when backing up the partitions on a hard drive is Macrium Reflect.

Here is a guide I created showing how to backup all of your partitions.

Download Linux Mint

Click here to download Linux Mint

There are a number of versions available. If your computer is running Windows 7 then it should be good enough to run the Cinnamon version. Make sure you choose the version with multimedia support.

If you would prefer to, you can buy a Linux Mint DVD or USB drive. Lots of people choose this option and it means you can skip the next bit where you have to create a bootable USB drive.

Create A Linux Mint USB Drive

In order to create a live Linux Mint USB drive you will of course need a blank USB drive.

Click here to buy one

Make sure you have the blank USB drive connected to your computer before continuing.

The tool that I like to use to create a bootable Linux USB drive is the Universal USB Installer.

Click here to download the Universal USB Installer

The download link is halfway down the page.

Double click on the downloaded executable to run the installer and click "I agree" to get past the license agreement.

In step 1 choose "Linux Mint" from the dropdown list and then in step 2 click the browse button and navigate to the downloaded Linux Mint ISO.

In step 3 select the USB drive from the dropdown list. Check the box to format the drive.

Click "Create" to create the drive.

The process will now begin and a message will appear when the drive has been created.

Click the "Close" button and reboot your computer. (leave the USB drive plugged in).

When the menu appears with options to "Try Linux Mint" or "Install Linux Mint" choose "Try Linux Mint".

Install Linux Mint

Your screen should now look like the image above.

Click on the "Install Linux Mint" icon.

The first few steps are fairly straight forward.

Choose your installation language from the list.

You now have the option to connect to the internet.

If you have a good internet connection then set up your wireless connection by choosing the "connect to network" option and then select your wireless network.

If you don't have a good connection it is worth staying disconnected otherwise the installation will take a long time.

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

The list checks that you have enough disk space and that you are connected to the internet and a power source.

You can get away without being connected to the internet as updates can be installed post installation and you can get away with not being connected to a power source if your battery is fairly full.

The installation type screen is the key element of this guide as it will show you how to install Linux Mint over the top of Windows 7 without touching other partitions.

Choose the "Something Else" option.

The partition editor shows you the drives on your computer and the partitions on the drives.

So the first thing I wanted to do was delete that 100 MB partition. In order to delete a partition you can select it and click the minus button. You will need to do this for the main Windows partition.

Make sure you delete the correct partition(s).

Make sure you leave the device for boot loader installation as /dev/sda

After deleting the Windows partition you will be left with free space. You will now need to create 3 partitions in the free space left behind.

Click on the free space and then the plus symbol to create the first partition.

As I have plenties of space I created the main Linux Mint partition with 50 GB of space. (50000 MB).

The partition type is set to logical (if you have a standard BIOS you can only have 4 primary partitions).

I chose the EXT4 file system. There are other file systems available but this is fairly standard. I need to write another guide about file systems sometime in the future.

Choose / as the mount point.

Click OK to continue.

Click on the free space and the plus symbol again to create the second partition.

The HOME partition is used to store all of your files within Linux such as pictures, music, videos and configuration settings.

The size should be set to the rest of the free space minus the number of gigabytes of RAM you have.

Choose logical as the partition type and EXT4 again as the file system. Select /home as the mount point.

Click OK to continue.

The final partition you need to create is for swap.

SWAP is used as a place for your operating system to store inactive processes when the amount of memory is getting low.

Choose "Logical" as the type and choose swap area.

Click "OK" to continue.

Pick your location on the map.

This sets your timezone and therefore your system clock within Linux Mint.

Choose the keyboard layout by picking your country in the left pane and the number of keys and language in the right pane.

The final step in the installation process is to create the default user.

Enter your name and a name for your computer.

Enter a username and choose a password for the user. (you will need to repeat the password).

You can now choose whether to login automatically and whether to encrypt your home folder.

Click "Continue".

The files will now be copied to your computer.

When the process is complete reboot your computer and remove the USB drive.

Welcome To Linux Mint

Linux Mint should now start up and you will need to select your username and enter a password to log in. (Unless you chose to login automatically).

There is a welcome screen on startup. Uncheck the box in the bottom right corner if you don't want this message to appear every time.

The key question of course is did you lose your data partition?

To prove the process worked for me here is my pictures folder:

I hope you found this guide useful but If you have any questions feel free to use the comments section below.

Thankyou for reading.

Introduction

Linux Mint 17.1 is the latest version of Linux Mint and has been available for a few months now.

The title of this article is "Linux Mint 17.1 Is As Good As It Gets" and as far as computing goes on a traditional laptop with a traditional style user interface this is definitely true.

I first tried Linux Mint at version 12 and it was fine enough but the Linux Mint developers have been perfecting this distribution for a number of years and now it is flourishing.

This review is going to look at all of the features of Linux Mint that the average user might be interested in as well as the new features that have been added for 17.1.

How To Get Linux Mint 17.1

Click here to visit the Linux Mint download page.

There are various options available including the choice of 4 different desktop environments (Cinnamon, MATE, KDE and XFCE), codecs or no codecs and 32-bit or 64-bit.

If you have a computer with decent specifications (i.e. your current computer comfortably handles Windows 7 at the moment) then choose the Cinnamon desktop environment or KDE.

If your computer isn't so powerful try out the MATE or XFCE editions. There isn't much to split them in terms of applications. MATE and XFCE are both highly customisable and lightweight.

Generally you will want to choose the version with codecs as opposed to no codecs as this will enable Flash and MP3s to play.

Finally choose 32-bit if you have a 32-bit computer or 64-bit for a 64-bit computer. (Click here if you need a guide for that).

The file size of the downloaded ISO file is 1.4 gigabytes and you will need either a blank DVD or USB drive to be able to try out and install Linux Mint.

If you don't have the ability to create a DVD or USB drive, you can always try Linux Mint out as a virtual machine.

To create a DVD from the ISO use your favourite disk burning tool or click here to create a bootable Linux Mint USB drive.

If all of this seems too complicated you can always buy a Linux Mint DVD or USB drive.

For this review I will be looking at the Cinnamon desktop as it is the flagship version of Linux Mint (and what a triumph it is).

Installing Linux Mint

Installing Linux Mint is incredibly easy and is probably the best example of an installer that Linux has to offer.

Here are some guides that I have written to help you.

How to replace Windows 7 with Linux Mint (without losing recovery and data partitions)
How to install Linux Mint as a virtual machine
How to dual boot Linux Mint and Windows 7
How to dual boot Linux Mint on a MacBook Air

First Impressions

The first thing you notice with Linux Mint 17.1 is the really attractive login screen with changing background images that blend from one to another seemlessly.

Yes I know that this is just eye candy but it is the small things that perfect a product.

After logging in you are presented with a welcome screen with options to see the new features, important information, user guide, access to the IRC chat rooms, forums and tutorials.

The welcome screen also has icons for restoring data and for accessing the software manager.

Finally there are icons for getting involved and donating to Linux Mint.

The help utility is really useful with guides for installing Linux Mint, installing software, navigating using the menu and useful tips and tricks.

For example to copy and paste in Linux Mint you can copy with the left mouse button and paste with the middle button. On a laptop this can be achieved by copying with the left mouse button and then clicking both buttons to paste.

To be honest the tips and tricks could do with a bit more padding because there are really just two tricks.

Spoiler alert!!!!

The other trick is to use Tomboy Notes for taking notes instead of LibreOffice Writer.

The Welcome Screen can be turned off by unchecking the box in the bottom corner.

Linux Mint uses a traditional menu for navigation with useful icons down the left, categories in the middle and applications on the right.

The search box can be used to search for an application.

There is just a single panel at the bottom of the screen (which is standard for all Linux Mint versions).

The menu icon is in the bottom left and is closely followed by icons which enable you to show the desktop, launch FireFox, open a terminal and open the file manager.

The bottom right corner has icons for user settings, removable drives, bluetooth settings, network settings, audio settings, power settings, notifications, the clock and view all windows.

Connecting To The Internet

Connecting to the internet is as easy as clicking on the network settings icon on the panel and choosing the network you wish to connect to.

If the network you are connecting to requires a password then you will need to provide one.

Flash And MP3

As long as you chose the version of Linux Mint with codecs, Flash should work straight away.

However, the browser that Linux Mint ships with is FireFox and the Flash player is therefore out of date and you get this annoying message every time you visit a new site which has Flash.

You only have to choose to allow Flash to work once and it will remember it for next time (unless you tell it not to) but it is a bit annoying.

Now everybody retweet after me:

"Say NO to Flash" or "Die Flash Die"

The European Union decided that everyone in Europe needed to know when a website is using cookies to store information and so every time you visit a new site it inevitably tells you that the site uses cookies and you have to click accept to get the message to go away.

Whilst I appreciate the sentiment it is incredibly annoying because pretty much every site uses cookies.

MP3 audio can also be played instantly without installing any other codecs.

Applications

Linux Mint has all the applications that the average user needs to get started.

As mentioned in the previous section Linux Mint has the FireFox web browser (version 33). The latest version is 35.

Thunderbird is the default email client and Pidgin is included as a messenging client.

HexChat is available for IRC chat and Transmission enables you to download bittorrents.

For image editing there is the GIMP which is a really powerful tool along the lines of Photoshop.

If you just want to view your photos there is an application called gThumb or to view a single image there is an image viewer.

For productivity, Linux Mint includes the full LibreOffice suite which includes Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheet), Impress (presentations) and Draw (think Visio).

The version of LibreOffice included is 4.2.6.3. The latest version of LibreOffice is 4.4.

If you like listening to music whilst you work there is Banshee. You can import music, create playlists and do all the sorts of things you normally do with an audio player.

Banshee is compatible with external devices and apparently works with iPods but I don't have an iPod to be able to test this for sure. It does work with my Sony Walkman, Samsung Galaxy phone and a Creative Zen Micro.

VLC Player is included to enable you to watch videos but you don't really need it because you can use Banshee to watch videos as well.

Banshee can be used to listen to podcasts and you can also add links to your favourite online radio stations.

You can also integrate your Last.fm account with Banshee.

Finally there is the internet archive which lets you watch old movies and trailers, listen to music and speeches.

Linux Mint includes Minitube which is a desktop application version of Youtube. Brasero is also included for creating DVDs.

Installing Applications

The Mint Software Manager is used to find, install and remove applications on your system.

You can either browse the different categories or use the search box in the top right corner to find what you are looking for.

Each item comes with a description, file size, list of dependencies, a rating and a list of comments regarding the package.

Customising The Desktop

The Cinnamon desktop is beginning to mature and therefore there are a number of customisable features such as changing the background, adding panels and launchers and also the inclusion of desklets.

I am in the process of writing a guide to show how to customise Cinnamon and this will be available in a few days time.

New Features For 17.1

Click here to read about all of the new features of Linux Mint 17.1

In essence the changes are as follows:

Various performance improvements were made to the Cinnamon desktop
The Cinnamon desktop starts with a zoom animation
Super + E opens up the home folder
Single button touchpads are now supported and actions for 2 finger and 3 finger clicks are configurable
Localisation has been improved
Theme and background settings were completely redesigned
Privacy and notification settings were added
The Nemo (file manager) toolbar was redesigned and buttons are now configurable
Support for emblems were added to Nemo
The Nemo side bar was improved
The update manager has been improved
The Kernel selection screen has been improved
The Language settings screen has been improved
Login window preferences were redesigned

Upgrading From Linux Mint 17

Click here for a guide showing how to upgrade to Linux Mint 17.1 from Linux Mint 17.

Note that Linux Mint 17.1 will be supported until 2019.

Summary

Linux Mint is great if you are a traditionalist and you like the way things have pretty much always been.

Nice little touches are built upon again and again and the improvements are steady but not spectacular.

Linux Mint is just a really good, stable and solid Linux distribution and it is obvious why it is so popular.

Questions that are often asked on Reddit include:

Which Linux distribution should I use for developing software
Which Linux distribution should I use for gaming
Which Linux distribution is best for newbies
Which Linux distribution can I use on my old computer
Which Linux distribution is good for students
Which Linux distribution would be good for my parents
Which Linux distribution is good for children

I could have made that list much longer but the point is that the answer to all of those questions really could be "Linux Mint".

There is a myth that surrounds Linux Mint (and Ubuntu) that suggests they are only used by people that don't really know Linux that well and once people know what they are doing they should move to something more serious.

This sort of thinking seems frankly nonsensical. Making life easier for yourself by pointing and clicking shouldn't be seen as a bad thing.

I wrote an article last week comparing Linux Mint 17 with Windows 8.1 as a resource for Windows 7 users to refer to when deciding whether to upgrade Windows or switch to Linux.

On this evidence there are an plenties of reasons to choose Linux Mint.

Thankyou for reading.

Introduction

One of the most popular posts on this site shows how to install Ubuntu and Minecraft on an HP Chromebook.

Some people find that guide difficult to follow. I am therefore reworking the article and cutting out any waffle.

The first part of this process is to show how to create the recovery media for the HP Chromebook which is what this article is all about.

What You Will Need

All you will need to create a recovery drive for the HP Chromebook is a blank USB drive and a fair bit of patience.

The recovery drive only needs to be 4 gb in size but as you can see from the image to the left a 16 gb drive is only £5.

You can also use an SD Card.

Create OS Recovery Media

To create a recovery partition open up the Chrome browser and type the following:

chrome://imageburner

Note: there is no http://

A "Create OS Recovery Media" screen will appear. Insert a blank USB drive or SD Card and press "OK" to continue.

Download Recovery Media

The image will begin to download. The amount of time this takes depends on your internet connection.

Extracting Recovery Media

When the image has finished downloading it will be extracted straight to the USB drive or SD Card.

Recovery Media Created

When the process is complete a success message will appear stating that your recovery media is ready.

Take your USB drive or SD card and put it somewhere very safe and leave it there until it is needed. (Which will hopefully be never).

Summary

This is a very short post but hopefully nice and succinct.

This guide should also work for the Acer Chromebook.

Introduction

One of the most popular articles on this site shows how to install Ubuntu and Minecraft on the HP Chromebook.

Some people have found the guide difficult to follow and so I have decided to rework it and I also retested all the steps to make sure they work correctly.

This guide shows how to install Ubuntu with the Unity desktop on a HP Chromebook using Crouton.

I have cut out any waffle and I have left out all of the other switches that you can use with Crouton so that this is a basic streamlined approach to installing Ubuntu and Unity.

Feel free to read the original guide if you would prefer to try out different desktop environments or Debian.

Create Recovery Media

Before you begin make sure that you have created recovery media in case everything goes wrong.

Click here for a guide to creating recovery media on for the HP Chromebook.

Switch To Developer Mode

Bookmark this page (CTRL + D) or send a link to your email as the next step will place your Chromebook into developer mode.

To enter developer mode press the following key combination:

Esc + Refresh + Power Button

(The refresh button is the 4th button from the left at the top and looks like a curly arrow).

Enter Recovery Mode On HP Chromebook

Don't panic when the screen above appears. This is part of the process. Simply enter the following key combination to enter developer mode:

CTRL + D

A message will appear stating that you are about to enter developer mode and that this voids your warranty. This is why you need to create a recovery drive first.

If you are happy to continue press the enter key.

Enter Developer Mode On HP Chromebook

The computer will now enter developer mode and it can take quite a while to do so. (Approximately 30 - 40 minutes).

When the process is complete you will see the following screen.

Developer Mode

Every time you start your Chromebook using the power button the above screen will appear.

NOTE: Always press CTRL + D to get past this screen.

NOTE ALSO: You will be required to set up your internet connection and enter your user details the first time you use the Chromebook in developer mode.

Download Crouton

To install Ubuntu on the HP Chromebook you will need to download a script called Crouton.

Click here to download Crouton.

Install Ubuntu Using Crouton

Open the Chrome browser and press the following key combination:

CTRL + ALT + T

Crosh Shell

A terminal window will open.

Now enter the following command into the window to switch to a command shell:

shell

Command Shell

To install Ubuntu with the Unity desktop enter the following command:

sudo sh -e ~/Downloads/crouton -r trusty -t unity -e

I am not going to go into too much detail about the command.

Please read the original guide to installing Ubuntu on the HP Chromebook to find out about all the switches.

All you really need to know is that the above command installs Ubuntu 14.04, which is the LTS version, with the Unity desktop.

How long this process takes depends on your internet connection speed. It took about 45 minutes on my Chromebook.

When the script is near the end you will be asked to enter the name of a user to be associated with Ubuntu and a password. This will be your login information for Ubuntu.

NOTE: To get back to Chrome after Ubuntu starts press CTRL + ALT + LEFT ARROW
(The left arrow is the one next to the ESC button at the top).

When the installation is complete you will be back at the command prompt. To start Ubuntu enter the following command:

sudo startunity

Setting Up Ubuntu

Ubuntu On The HP Chromebook

This is the section that really improves on the previous guide as it shows how to get Ubuntu to be just like the Ubuntu you would install on a normal laptop.

As you can see from the screenshot above, this is a barebones Ubuntu and Unity install. There are no applications installed.

To set up Ubuntu properly open up a terminal window by using the following key combination:

CTRL + ALT + T

A terminal window will open.

Now enter the following command into the window:

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Enter your password when asked to do so.

All of the files required for Ubuntu will now be downloaded, extracted and installed. Again this can take some time depending on your internet connection.

Restart Ubuntu to see the changes.

Starting Ubuntu On Subsequent Boots Of The Chromebook

Whenever you start the Chromebook from a powered off position you will find yourself at the following screen.

HP Chromebook In Developer Mode

Press CTRL + D to enter ChromeOS.

From ChromeOS open a Chrome browser window and press CTRL + ALT + T to open a terminal.

Enter shell into the terminal window to reach a command shell.

Finally type sudo startunity to start Ubuntu.

Important Key Commands

Press CTRL + ALT + LEFT to get back to ChromeOS from within Ubuntu.

Press CTRL + ALT + RIGHT followed by CTRL + ALT + REFRESH to switch back to Ubuntu from ChromeOS.

NOTE: The left arrow is the one next to the escape key on the top row of keys and the right arrow key is the one next to it.

Summary

Hopefully this guide will make it easier for people to install Ubuntu on the HP Chromebook.

As usual, feel free to use the comments section below if you need further guidance.

Installing Minecraft On The HP Chromebook

I have rewritten the part showing how to install Minecraft on the HP Chromebook as well.

Introduction

I have been reworking one of the more popular articles on the site which shows how to install Ubuntu and Minecraft on the HP Chromebook.

The aim was to streamline the guide to make the steps easier to follow, cutting out the details of the command line switches and to just provide the necessary commands to get Ubuntu and Minecraft up and running.

The new guide is in three parts:

How to create a recovery drive for the HP Chromebook
How to install Ubuntu on the HP Chromebook
How to install Minecraft on the HP Chromebook (This guide)

Installing Minecraft

The steps required to run Minecraft in Ubuntu are much easier than before and there is not much that is special about installing Minecraft within Ubuntu on the Chromebook.

Make sure you are running Ubuntu and open a terminal by pressing the following key combination:

CTRL + ALT + T

In the command window enter the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:minecraft-installer-peeps/minecraft-installer

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install minecraft-installer

The process is fairly quick and takes about a minute at the most.

You should at this point be able to run Minecraft from the Dash within Ubuntu but I noticed that Minecraft didn't appear as an option straight away. I had to restart Ubuntu to get Minecraft to appear.

(Click here for a guide to the Unity Dash)

Unity Dash

Minecraft On HP Chromebook

Summary

As you can see installing Minecraft is much easier than it used to be.

If you have any questions feel free to use the comments section below.

A lot has been made this week about a blog post which appeared on the Elementary OS website discussing the monetisation of the project.

If you visit the Elementary OS website there is a box with the value of $10 already filled in and a download button.

Underneath the download button there is a link which lets you download the distribution for free.

The blog post on the Elementary OS website states that the current download options are changing and there will be more encouragement aimed at getting users to part with their money.

We want users to understand that paying for software is important and not paying for it is an active choice. We didn’t exclude a $0 button to deceive you; we believe our software really is worth something. And it’s not an attempt to get rich quick; currently the only people who have received money for working on elementary OS have been community members through our bounty program.
It’s about asking a fair price to offset the costs of development. It’s about securing the future of elementary OS to ensure we can keep making software that millions of people love and use every day.

Elementary isn't the first Linux based operation to complain that they aren't making money. I remember reading an article about a Linux blogger who stated that he either needed to start getting donations or he would have to close the blog down. (Click here for the article)

This article by Bruce Byfield on DataMation looks at the difficulties games publishers face when developing for Linux. (Click here for the article)

Then there is Ubuntu. Now the article I am linking to here is from 2013 but it states clearly that Ubuntu is still not making money despite being around for a decade. (Click here for the article).

So the question is, can you really make money from Desktop Linux? If Ubuntu doesn't make a profit how can others achieve success. Does it even matter? Is Linux just a labour of love?

Clearly sooner or later Ubuntu needs to make money. Canonical are a company and so either Ubuntu works as a loss leader in order to make Canonical money in other ways or it generates profit for itself. If neither of these things happen then it will all come crashing down.

The key for me though is in the last paragraph. You don't need the distribution itself to make money in order to make money for the company. It is all about generating income from more than one revenue stream and that is what this article is about.

If Mark Shuttleworth didn't believe he was going to make money at some point he would have stopped already.

Over the years a number of avenues have been attempted to increase the income for Ubuntu including Amazon adverts within the Unity desktop interface, the Ubuntu One music store and now the Ubuntu phone.

Some distributions use a default landing page within the web browser installed with the distribution which include a set of affiliate links or a search tool which generates income for every search made.

The trouble with the Elementary OS stance is that you are asking people to spend money for something that 100 other distributions offer for free. I appreciate that a huge amount of effort has gone into the look and feel of Elementary but an equal amount of effort will have been put into Cinnamon for Linux Mint or Enlightenment for Bodhi Linux.

Effort doesn't always translate into cold hard cash. I can state that as a fact based on the amount of money this site makes.

Now this site is clearly a labour of love. I am a software developer and SQL DBA by trade and the hourly rate returned by writing on this blog is miniscule by comparison.

The site does return an income each and every month however and from a number of different revenue streams.

For instance, you will have seen the adverts at the top of the page and down the right side of the page. Google Ads are a great way to make enough money to pay for hosting fees (and a few pints of beer). Every time somebody clicks on an advert this site makes a little bit of money.

There are also a number of affiliate links used within the site. I use Amazon adverts to link to items users might need such as blank USB drives, SD cards, External Hard Drives, blank DVDs and books.

I have tried a number of ways to increase the income. I even tried writing a book and to be fair I have had a little bit of success with it. It has sold about 100 copies thus far. Not everything works though. My attempt at humour failed spectacularly with this one. It turns out I'm not half as funny as I like to think I am.

I have written dozens of Linux distribution reviews and within each review I link to a site called OSDisc.com as a resource for buying Linux DVDs and USB drives. I try to only include affiliate links that are useful.

OSDisc.com sell Elementary OS on DVD for $5.95. The Elementary OS team are asking for $10 at the moment and hope to generate much more than that with their new site design.

Potential users have the option to download for free, buy a DVD for $5.95 or download from the Elementary OS website and donate more than this.

Jeff Hoogland made a great point on the LXER discussion board:

If they were serious about getting payment out of folks they'd pull an elive and add a step to the installer that requires a "donation", but that would require you know - actual work.

Asking people to donate at the point of download is perhaps a bit counter-intuitive. How do users know that they are going to use the product long term before trying it out first? The only way to try out the product is to download it, try it as a live DVD or USB and then possibly install it from there. Even then many distrohoppers only use a distribution for a short period of time before moving on. It would therefore be more beneficial to add a payment option when actually installing the product or after 30 days of continued use.

The new layout for the payment options made by the Elementary OS team may well actually work to a certain extent.

There is a term used by bloggers called a "Call To Action". The idea is to basically ask the readers of an article to do something such as retweet a link to the page, subscribe to an email list or add a comment. Simply having an email box on the right of the screen isn't enough to attract subscribers and just having social media buttons doesn't mean people will click on them. You have to point them out to people in the first place. More than that though if you want people to sign up to your email list you have to offer to give them something.

How many of you even noticed the email signup box on this site let alone be tempted to enter your email address?

By making it easier to make a donation and harder to get the download for free, the Elementary developers will lose the users who were never going to pay them any money anyway and only get users who are serious about using their product. This might be considered a good thing as it gets rid of the people who aren't real customers.

The main issue with this approach is that you reduce your ability to generate income from other revenue streams. If you have 1,000 users every day downloading your distribution without paying then at the end of the month you could have between 28,000 and 31,000 users who could buy other things that you sell based on your distribution.

If you start charging for the distribution then perhaps 1% of the people that currently download the distribution will now actually pay for it and so you only have between 280 and 310 new people to sell extra products to.

Wouldn't it be better to create extra revenue streams and encourage people to buy extra add-ons or features? You can get $10 out of a few people now or upsell add-ons again and again. It is all about providing extra value.

Android and IOS developers worked this out ages ago. Most casual games found on tablets now include in-game purchases and they work. I am far less likely to buy a game without trying it first than one that lets me play for free but charges me for extra features.

Zorin OS utilises this method to generate income. The core Zorin distribution is free but for features such as the OSX look you have to pay money.

You don't have to make money from the distribution itself to make money. You can make money by selling services such as selling training courses, webinars or technical support.

Sometimes putting effort into one project gets you rewarded in a completely different way altogether. For instance, I might not make much money from this blog and I never started the blog with the intention of making money but by doing so I was asked to write for About.com which does actually pay quite well.

So is Linux a labour of love? I think that there is money to be made but not in the traditional sense of just making a single product and selling it. If distributions are out to generate income then they have to be a bit creative about how they do that. Multiple revenue streams are definitely going to be important.

I think charging for a download may help to generate income in the short term but it will ultimately mean missing out on possible revenue streams later on.

The debate is much like the newspaper paywalls. Would you really pay to read a newspaper online when the BBC provide similar or sometimes better information for free? Therein lies the problem for Elementary.

Thankyou for reading.

Introduction

After reading my article on installing and playing Minecraft using Ubuntu, a reader asked whether it was possible to play other games using Ubuntu such as "The Sims" and "Civilisation".

I have written articles previously showing how to use PlayOnLinux to install classic Windows and DOS games. The user in question was having issues with a missing file error so it made me wonder whether there was a problem that I could resolve.

I therefore decided to try out "The Sims" to see if I could install it and play it on a computer running Ubuntu.

The version I am using is "The Sims 3" which I bought on CD a couple of years ago and I haven't really found time to play it yet.

Install PlayOnLinux

PlayOnLinux is available in the Ubuntu Software Centre.

Open the Software Centre by clicking the icon on the launcher that looks like a folder with an "A" on it or by pressing the super key (Windows key) on your keyboard and search for "Software Centre".

Once you have the Software Centre open use the search box in the top right corner to find "PlayOnLinux" and then click "Install".

You can also use the terminal to install PlayOnLinux. The quickest way to open a terminal window in Ubuntu is to press CTRL, Alt and T at the same time.

Within the terminal window type the following:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install playonlinux

Install The Sims

There are lots of steps to follow and lots of screenshots but it is fairly straight forward.

First things first, place the CD in the drive and open PlayOnLinux.

Click "Install a program".

Choose the games category and then click the "install a non-listed program" link.

Click "Next" at the welcome message.

The next screen asks if you want to create a program in a new virtual drive or edit an existing one.

Generally you would edit an existing one if you have made a mistake.

Click "Install a program in a new virtual drive" and then click "Next"

Enter a name for the virtual drive for your application. It can't contain spaces. As this guide is about installing "The Sims" it might be a good idea to go with "The_Sims".

Click "Next".

You can now configure various aspects of the virtual drive. For instance you can choose a specific version of WINE or configure WINE to base itself on a different version of Windows or to change the screen resolution. You can also install extra libraries.

I always leave all this stuff until after the installation.

Click "Next".

You can now choose whether to create a 32 bit or 64 bit installation.

The version of The Sims I am using is "The Sims 3" which was released as a 32-bit binary and therefore I chose to create the 32-bit Windows Installation.

Click "Next".

The next step is to choose where you are installing from.

If you aren't installing from CD click the "Select another file" and navigate to the location of the installer.

If you have a CD click on the CD-ROM and click "Next".

The installer for "The Sims" should start.

Choose your setup language and click "OK".

At "The Sims installer welcome screen" click "Next".

Choose your location and click "Next".

Check the box to accept the terms and conditions and click "Next".

(You have read them first though haven't you. I mean, we all read the terms and conditions. They are incredibly important after all).

Enter the product key that came with your version of "The Sims". If you bought a CD it should be on the back of the booklet inside the CD case.

Click "Next".

You can now decide whether to go for a typical installation or a custom installation.

I chose the "Typical Installation".

Click "Next".

Click "Install" to begin the installation.

After the installation has finished you will be asked whether you want to participate in their customer experience improvement scheme.

I never say yes to these things but if you want to check the box.

Click "Next".

EA, please just let me play the game!.

Yet more questions. Do you want to install the latest download manager?

Again I chose no as I'm not sure how well this would work using PlayOnLinux. Click "Next".

Done. Well almost.

The Sims has now been installed but there are still a few more steps before you can play it.

Click "Finish".

Create a shortcut for The Sims within PlayOnLinux and on your desktop by selecting TS3.exe.

Click "Next"

You can now try The Sims from your desktop or from within PlayOnLinux by clicking on the icon but I found that it messed with my screen resolution.

To fix this from within PlayOnLinux, select Configuration from the toolbar. When the configuration screen opens click the "WINE" tab.

Click on the "Configure WINE" option and when the "WINE Configuration" window loads click on the "Graphics" tab.

Check the "Emulate a virtual desktop" checkbox and then enter the screen resolution for your monitor.

You can find your screen resolution information by clicking the settings icon on the launcher (cog and spanner).

From within the configuration settings select "Screen Display".

Your screen resolution will be displayed.

After setting the screen resolution, click "Ok" to finish configuring WINE.

Summary

I have played the game a few times in the past few days and I have been able to load and save games flawlessly and play without any errors.

I hope this guide helped and thankyou for reading.

Another Great Free Roleplaying Game

I have teamed up with GoodGame Studios to bring some great online games to the Everyday Linux User website which can be played from your browser.

The good news is that the games are all free to play. November's game is GoodGame Empire.

Become the lord of a castle and turn your small fortress into the capital of the entire kingdom in this exciting online strategy game.

Establish a mighty army to defend your realm and extend your territory. Forge alliances with other players worldwide to crush your enemies, and become the sole ruler of a mighty empire!

GOODGAME EMPIRE OFFERS:

Become the lord of a castle and turn your small fortress into the capital of the entire kingdom in this exciting online strategy game.
Establish a mighty army to defend your realm and extend your territory.
Forge alliances with other players worldwide to crush your enemies, and become the sole ruler of a mighty empire.
Combat against other players and an alliance system
A dynamic world map Strategic battles using various units and siege tools
The ability to upgrade your castle with numerous buildings
Resource Outposts for securing more supplies
An entertaining campaign with missions and attractive rewards

Click here to play GoodGame Empire

Introduction

I have been using Ubuntu 14.10 since it was released on the 23rd October, 2014. During that time I have been trying to work out how to write this review because on the face of it, nothing much has changed.

I was half tempted to just post a link to my review of Ubuntu 14.04 and say "Thankyou for reading".

Instead I think I have come up with enough material to form a review. For those of you who are currently using 14.04 I will highlight the main differences as listed in the release notes first and then you can decide whether to continue reading or not.

For those of you new to Ubuntu, 14.10 is the latest release and will continue to be so until Ubuntu 15.04 is released in April 2015.

What Is Ubuntu?

Everyday Linux User focuses on desktop Linux and as such I am not too bothered about reviewing the cloud or server versions.

The Ubuntu website says this about the desktop version:

"Enjoy the simplicity of Ubuntu's stylish, intuitive interface. Fast, secure and with thousands of apps to choose from, Ubuntu gives you a clean and streamlined experience that makes it easy to do whatever you want".

The Unity interface that comes as standard with Ubuntu does everything right that Windows 8 has managed to mess up so badly.

Ubuntu is a GNU/Linux distribution which is both easy to use and modern.

Differences Between Ubuntu 14.04 And 14.10

Ubuntu 14.04 is the long term support release. If you seek long term stability without the requirement to upgrade regularly then you should install Ubuntu 14.04.

Ubuntu 14.10 will be supported for 9 months but having joined the interim release cycle you will more than likely continue to upgrade again in just 6 months when 15.04 is released and then again in 15.10.

There are benefits to using the interim releases such as updated kernels and updated applications but there are likely to be downsides going forward especially when newer technologies such as MIR and SystemD become the defaults.

Ubuntu 14.10 is a maintenance release with a number of upgraded applications and an upgraded kernel.

Ubuntu 14.04 was released with kernel 3.13 and for 14.10 this has gone up to 3.16. The benefits of the newer kernel include improved performance for NVidia, Intel and ATI devices. There is also improved performance with regards to suspend and resume times.

For the desktop edition of Ubuntu there have been a number of bug fixes included for Unity and improvements have been made for High-DPI displays.

The version of Firefox is now 33 and Chromium is 38. GTK is updated to 3.12 and QT is upgraded to 5.3. Ubuntu 14.10 also comes with LibreOffice 4.3

Click here for the full release notes for Ubuntu 14.10.

How To Get Ubuntu

Click here to download Ubuntu 14.10.

You will have to scroll down the page to find the Ubuntu 14.10 release as Ubuntu 14.04 still takes centre stage.

I have written various guides showing how to install Ubuntu including:

How to dual boot Ubuntu 14.04 and Windows 8.1 (will also work with Ubuntu 14.10)
How to dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 7
How to run Ubuntu as a virtual machine
How to create a UEFI bootable Ubuntu USB

The dual boot guide will probably work for most of you without having to follow all of the steps and the requirement for turning off secure boot isn't absolutely necessary. I am working on an updated guide.

If you are going to dual boot it is probably a good idea to backup Windows 8.1 first.

How to create recovery media for all versions of Windows

You can also buy a Ubuntu USB drive or DVD drive. This is a great option for those people who have a poor internet connection and saves the short time and effort required to create one of your own.

First Impressions

Ubuntu 14.10 isn't going to provide current Ubuntu users with much of a surprise but for those of you who haven't tried Ubuntu before the screen basically contains a desktop, quick launch bar and a panel at the top.

The Ubuntu launcher on the left shows icons for all the most commonly used applications such as a file manager, web browser, office suite, software manager and settings. You can rearrange these icons and replace them with icons for the applications you use the most.

Click here for a full guide showing how to use the Unity Launcher.

In the top right corner are some icons which are used for setting up the network, choosing your language, bluetooth settings, power settings, audio settings, the clock and general user settings.

Pressing the super key (Windows key) on the keyboard or clicking the top icon on the launcher brings up the Unity Dash.

Earlier on I stated that Ubuntu did everything right that Windows 8 got horribly wrong.

The dash is a perfect example of this. In Ubuntu the launcher stays visible and is a quick and easy way to launch your favourite applications. The dash is used for everything else.

Anybody who has used Windows 8 will note that you could be using the desktop and running a desktop application and then you decide to run another application. Pressing the Windows key takes you back to the tiled window. The mouse then has to go to the right side of the screen to bring up the search tool. You are then able to find the application and run it. This will make the application appear on the desktop again.

The mouse is basically going all over the place and the user loses the view of the application they were initially running.

With Ubuntu the launcher keeps track of everything that is running and the dash merely overlays the applications underneath. Mouse usage is kept to a minimum.

The search tool within Ubuntu is incredibly good and most applications and files can be found within a couple of key strokes.

The dash also includes a concept called scopes (or lenses). By default in Ubuntu 14.10 the scopes include applications, files, videos, audio and photos. For some reason the lens for social media has disappeared in Ubuntu 14.10 but I will come back to that later.

Connecting To The Internet

Connecting to the internet is fairly straight forward. Click on the network setting icon in the top right corner and click on the desired network.

If you are connecting to a wireless network you will be asked for the security key for that network. This will be remembered for subsequent connections.

Click here for a full guide showing how to use the Unity Dash.

Flash and MP3

During the installation of Ubuntu you are asked whether you want to install 3rd party tools and this includes the necessary codecs to run Flash videos and play Flash games.

You can also install Flash via the repositories by either installing the Flash installer or by installing the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package.

The restricted extras package includes fonts that are commonly found within Windows and the codecs required to play MP3 audio.

Audio

The default audio application within Ubuntu is Rhythmbox.

You can import your current music collection, listen to podcasts and listen to online radio stations using Rhythmbox. Rhythmbox also integrates well with external audio devices.

Until you have imported music into Rhythmbox, the music scope within the Unity dash will remain empty.

The Unity Dash can be used to search for and filter audio by decade and genre.

Video

The default media player within Ubuntu is called Totem. The Unity Dash can also be used to view videos that are installed on your system. In addition to this the Dash will also show online videos.

Photos

The default photo manager within Ubuntu is called Shotwell and this can be used to organise all of your photos and run slideshows.

There is a lens within the Unity Dash which can be used to search for and view photos. Until the photos are imported into Shotwell nothing will be displayed within this scope.

Applications

Ubuntu 14.10 comes with the following applications by default:

Screenshot
GEdit - Text editor
Terminal
Calculator -
LibreOffice - Office Suite
Document Viewer - PDF Viewer
ImageMagick - Image Editor
Brasero - Disc Burning
Cheese - Webcam Viewer
Firefox - Web Browser
Empathy - Instant Messenging
Solitaire - Game
Mahjongg - Game
Rhythmbox - Audio Player
Remmima Remote Desktop
Shotwell - Photo Manager
Sudoku - Game
Totem - Video Player

Installing Applications

The Ubuntu Repositories have thousands of applications that can be installed.

One way to access the repositories is to use the Ubuntu Software Centre.

The Software Centre has a number of categories that can be browsed and a search tool to find an application by name or keyword.

When you have found the application you wish to install you can click the "More Info" button to get further details or "install" to install the application.

Customising Ubuntu

The first thing you will probably want to change is the desktop wallpaper.

You can change the wallpaper by right clicking on the desktop and choosing "Change desktop background".

Ubuntu comes with a number of different wallpapers or you can add your own by clicking the plus (+) symbol and navigating to the image you wish to use.

You can also change the size of the launcher icons. If you have poor eyesight you might choose to make them larger or if you are using a netbook you might choose to make them smaller.

You might wish to hide the launcher completely when not in use and this can be achieved by choosing the appropriate option on the behaviour tab.

There are other behavioural and appearance settings that can be amended within Unity and the easiest way to set them is to use the Unity Tweak Tool which can be found in the Software Centre.

There are too many tweaks that can be applied to list them all here but for example you can hide the launcher, change the launcher icon colours, amend the way the search tool works, amend the panel settings, change keyboard shortcuts, change the window manager settings and change desktop settings.

Web Application Interaction

I mentioned earlier that the social media lens appeared to be missing in Ubuntu 14.10.

It is also worth noting that Twitter was missing as an option within the Online Accounts feature.

I installed the Friends scope from within the Software Centre and the Twitter option appeared within Online Accounts.

Unfortunately despite setting up my Twitter account within Online Accounts no messages have come through yet on the Dash.

If you go to a popular web application, such as Twitter, you are asked if you wish to integrate it into Ubuntu. This has the effect of running the web application as if it is a standard desktop application. Anybody who has used Peppermint Linux will be used to this concept.

There are dozens of web applications that this works for and most of them work successfully including Youtube.

One that didn't work so well was Grooveshark. The web application kept coming up with a Flash player error. There is an option to use the HTML 5 version but this basically just opens another browser window so you may as well have just loaded Firefox in the first place.

Netflix and Chrome

Netflix is supposed to run natively within Ubuntu now without any spoofing, fairy dust or wizardry.

To try it out I installed Chrome, by going to Google's website and downloading the latest stable version. I then loaded Netflix into my browser and hey presto.

Issues

I would be lying if I told you that I hadn't run into the odd issue whilst running Ubuntu 14.10.

For example, Unity spurted out an error whilst loading the music lens for the first time after importing music into Rhythmbox.

I have had other similar crashes with lenses, especially whilst trying to get the friends scope to work.

99.99% of the time Ubuntu 14.10 works without error but just occasionally the do you want to report this error dialogue appears and most of the time when it occurs I was blissfully unaware that there was an error because nothing bad appeared to be happening.

Summary

Ubuntu 14.10 is another nice little step forward for Ubuntu without being spectacular.

Linux has faced many hurdles over the years such as lack of MP3 support, Flash support, hardware support, gaming, decent software, running Windows applications and recently Netflix. All of these issues can now be filed away as "used to be an issue".

Ubuntu is one of the more popular distributions for a reason. As Windows users love to say "It just works" and for it just does.

Thankyou for reading

Introduction

It is amazing what the word "ultimate" does to a title.

In all truth this guide will show you how to install Ubuntu MATE on a computer with a standard BIOS. If you are looking to install on an EFI based system then a future guide will cover that.

How To Download Ubuntu MATE

Click this link to visit the Ubuntu MATE download page

There are two versions available for download, 14.04 which is the long term support release and 14.10 which is the latest release. (Unless you are reading this beyond April 2015 in which case 14.10 will no longer be the latest release).

There are a number of download links available as well as bittorrents. I found the download links to be fairly unstable and on a few occasions the download dropped out. The bittorrent worked much better. If you aren't going to use the bittorrent it is worth using a download manager so that you can resume from where you left off if a dropout occurs.

When the ISO file has finished downloading, you will need to either burn it to a DVD or create a bootable USB drive.

To burn the ISO to a DVD use your favourite DVD burning tool.

Click here for a guide to create a bootable Linux USB drive.

Boot Into Live Ubuntu MATE USB/DVD

Leave the DVD or USB drive you created in the previous step connected and reboot your computer.

A menu should appear with an option to "Try Ubuntu MATE". Select this option.

If no menu appears, restart the computer again and look for the key required to enter your BIOS setup. It will flash up very quickly as you boot up and will either be a function key or the escape key.

When you are in your BIOS look for the boot order. Make sure that the device you are using for booting Ubuntu MATE appears before the hard drive in the boot order.

Installing Ubuntu MATE

To start the installer click on the "Install Ubuntu MATE" icon on the desktop.

The installation is fairly straight forward.

The first step is to choose your language and click "Continue".

You now have the option to connect to the internet. There are advantages to being connected such being able to have updates automatically applied during the installation.

If you have a poor internet connection and it is likely to drop out I would recommend not connecting and to apply updates after the installation.

If you choose to connect, select your preferred network and enter a password if required. If you do not want to connect choose the "I don't want to connect to a wi-fi network at this time" option.

Click "Continue' to move on.

The third screen shows you how prepared you are for installing Ubuntu MATE.

To install Ubuntu MATE you should:

Have at least 6.3 gigabytes of disk space
Be connected to the internet
Be connected to a power supply

The 6.3 gigabytes hard drive space is the only must have of the three options.

I discussed the internet option in the previous step and whilst it is useful for applying updates during installation it can also be a hindrance if you have a poor internet connection.

You only need to be connected to a power supply if your battery isn't going to last for the period of time that the installation takes. Generally if you have more than 45 minutes worth of power left you are fine.

The installation will take anywhere from ten minutes to half an hour depending on your machine's credentials and of course if you choose to download updates, your internet connection speed.

There is a checkbox at the bottom of the screen asking whether you want to install third party software. By checking this box you will be able to play MP3s and watch Flash video files. I generally leave this unchecked and install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package after the main installation has completed.

Click "Continue" to move on.

The next screen is likely to be different to the one shown above but will have similar options.

Prior to installing Ubuntu MATE I had a version of Linux called Lubuntu installed. The installer has picked this up as being another version of Ubuntu and so the options I received were to:

Erase Lubuntu and re-install (although I would be installing Ubuntu MATE)
Dual boot Lubuntu and Ubuntu MATE
Erase Lubuntu and install Ubuntu MATE instead (note everything will be erased)
Something else (Set up the partitions the way you want them)

If you are coming from Windows the options are likely to include options to erase Windows and install Ubuntu MATE, install Ubuntu MATE alongside Windows or something else.

This guide shows you how to install Ubuntu MATE as a sole operating system and so the option to choose is erase the current operating system (i.e. Windows) and install Ubuntu MATE.

Make sure you have taken a backup of the current operating system in case you need any of the files in the future or you need to get the original operating system back. Use Macrium Reflect To Do This On Windows Systems.

Choose the appropriate option and click "Install Now".

The next step is to choose your time zone. Simply click on your location and click "Continue".

As well as selecting your timezone it is important to choose the correct keyboard layout for your computer.

Select the language and format of your keyboard and then click "Continue".

The final step is to set up the default user. Enter a name, a username and a password for the user.

Select whether you want to login automatically or whether you require the user to log in on each and every boot.

Post Installation Tasks

After you have finished installing Ubuntu MATE you should open up the Ubuntu Software Centre and search for the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package if you chose not to install the third party extras.

This will allow you to listen to MP3 files, play Flash videos and use common fonts such as Arial, Verdana and Tahoma.

Introduction

One of my favourite gadgets is the trusty Acer Aspire One D255 Netbook. It isn't very powerful and in modern standards is not particularly cool but it is small, lightweight and great for taking on journeys.

Up until last week the netbook was running Lubuntu 14.04 and before that it was running Lubuntu 13.10 and before that Lubuntu 13.04. I have tried a number of different distributions on this netbook over the years but Lubuntu has been the go to distribution because of its performance.

I was preparing to write about the latest Lubuntu 14.10 release but instead decided to give the new Ubuntu MATE edition a go after seeing it in action as a live distribution on my far more powerful Toshiba Satellite Pro.

The specifications for the Acer Aspire One D255 are as follows:

Intel Atom Processor N450 1.66 ghz, 512kb cache
1 GB Memory
160 GB HDD

The Atom processor isn't particularly powerful and there is clearly a shortage with regards to memory so any operating system that is installed on this netbook has to manage its resources well.

There are many benefits to using Lubuntu on this netbook. The performance is excellent. The desktop doesn't have lots of panels taking up screen real estate and the applications installed are all lightweight.

There are some issues with using Lubuntu. Abiword is both a blessing and a hindrance. I use Abiword for preparing articles for this site and for about.com on the way home on the train.

Whilst Abiword is great for basic notetaking and for maybe writing the odd letter it isn't as fully featured as LibreOffice Writer.

Lubuntu doesn't have any presentation tools or anything like LibreOffice draw. There is however Gnumeric for creating spreadsheets. I can honestly say that I have never used Gnumeric on this netbook, which means it is not a necessity.

On a netbook the most commonly used applications are the audio players, video players and of course the web browser. Lubuntu has Firefox, Audacious and MPlayer for these purposes.

So how well does Ubuntu MATE shape up against Lubuntu on this netbook?

How to get Ubuntu MATE

The first step of course is to show you where and how to get Ubuntu MATE.

The installation steps in these reviews can take up quite a bit of room so I decided to create a separate article showing how to download and install Ubuntu MATE.

The first thing to note is that the download kept failing with a network error and so I had to use the bittorrent link in order to retrieve the ISO.

The installation also took quite a while on the Acer Aspire One D255 netbook. It was a process that took around 30 minutes which was a fair bit longer than Lubuntu.

In complete contrast the installation of Ubuntu MATE on the Toshiba Satellite Pro took around 10 minutes to complete.

First Impressions

If you used to use Ubuntu before Unity was released then you will notice that the Ubuntu MATE edition bares a striking resemblence to Ubuntu 10.04 (and every version prior to that).

The desktop has the traditional two panels associated with Ubuntu (circa 2010).

The top panel has three menus:

Applications
Places
System

The "Applications" menu consists of a list of categories including accessories, education, graphics, internet, office, sound and video, system tools and universal access.

Clicking on a category shows a sub-menu with the applications that are available for the chosen category.

The "Places" menu links to various folders on your computer including your home folder, the desktop, external devices, network folders and servers.

You can also search for files and view your most recently accessed documents.

The "System" menu lets you configure your computer.

For instance you can add printers, configure networks, keyboard layouts and display settings.

The top panel for Ubuntu MATE also includes system panel style icons such as network settings, audio settings, power settings and the calendar.

The bottom panel has an icon to show the desktop and a list of all the currently running applications. There are also workspace switching icons and the recycle bin.

Connecting To The Internet

Connecting to the internet with Ubuntu MATE is dead simple.

Simply click on the appropriate network icon in the system tray which is located in the top right corner and then choose the network you wish to connect to. If required enter the security key for the network.

Customisation

One of the nicest things about Lubuntu is the ability to customise the desktop.

Unlike the main version of Ubuntu that comes with the Unity desktop the Ubuntu MATE edition also provides a wealth of customisation options.

You can choose to leave the standard two panel setup as it is or you can remove one of the panels or add more panels.

The panels can also be set up the way you want them to be. For example the bottom panel can be amended to work more like a dock with a series of commonly used applications.

Each panel can have other items added to it including application launchers, clocks, applets, window selectors, weather reports, etc.

The thing that nearly everybody likes to change is their desktop wallpaper.

With Ubuntu MATE it is simply a case of right clicking on the desktop and choosing "Change desktop background".

A window appears with a number of available backgrounds. You can also choose your own by clicking on "Add" and navigating to the image.

Applications

The thing that sets Lubuntu and Ubuntu MATE apart is the choice of applications.

Lubuntu strictly sticks to lightweight applications such as Abiword and Gnumeric and lightweight games.

Ubuntu MATE has pretty much the same applications available as the default Ubuntu Unity edition.

Accessories

Engrampa Archive Manager - Zip File Management
Galculator - Calculator
Pluma - Text Editor

Education

LibreOffice Math

Graphics

Eye Of MATE - Image Viewer
Shotwell - Photo Manager
LibreOffice Draw

Internet

Firefox - Web Browser
Hexchat - IRC Chat
Thunderbird - Email Client
Pidgin - Instant Messenger
Transmission - Bittorrent Client

Office

LibreOffice Calc - Spreadsheet
LibreOffice Draw - A bit like Visio
LibreOffice Impress - Presentation tool
LibreOffice Math - Maths tools
LibreOffice Writer - Word processor
Atril Document Viewer - PDF Viewer

Sound And Video

Brasero - Disc Burning
Cheese - Webcam Viewer
Rhythmbox - Audio Player
Totem - Video Player

The main thing to note is that Ubuntu MATE provides a more complete set of applications.

Thunderbird is a decent email client for those of you that still prefer to use a mail client over the standard webmail tools that are provided by services such as GMail.

Rhythmbox is a better audio player than the one provided by Lubuntu. You have the ability to import your music collection, listen to podcasts, Last.FM and there is great support for external audio devices such as MP3 players.

The Shotwell photo manager is a great tool for viewing all your images and totem is a decent video player.

All of these tools are great for when you are on the move and the fact that you can use Firefox for browsing the web makes Ubuntu MATE a great choice.

There is a little bit of a trade off though in terms of performance. Whilst using LibreOffice on the netbook there was a little bit of degradation. The cursor hung at various intervals and the menus would sometimes get stuck as shown below.

It is worth noting that if you are using Lubuntu then there is no need to switch to Ubuntu MATE in order to use LibreOffice, Rhythmbox or Shotwell. All of these applications are available in the Lubuntu repositories.

Similarly if you choose to use Ubuntu MATE and you find that LibreOffice is too overkill you can install Abiword, Gnumeric and any of the other tools that come with the default Lubuntu installation.

At this point of course the only difference between Lubuntu and Ubuntu MATE is the desktop environment.

Installing Applications

There are a couple of tools provided by Ubuntu MATE for installing further applications.

The main application is the Ubuntu Software Centre.

The Software Centre provides a list of categories and a search tool to make it easy to find and manage software installations.

The alternative to the software centre is to use the apt command line tool.

In order to play MP3 files, watch Flash videos and play Flash games you either need to have checked the third party tools option whilst installing Ubuntu MATE or you can install the Ubuntu Restricted Extras package.

Issues

There were no real issues running the Ubuntu MATE edition on the netbook except that compared to Lubuntu there was more lag.

The menus in LibreOffice refused to hide once they were shown on the odd occasion.

Whilst importing music into Rhythmbox and importing photos into Shotwell the system became a little bit unresponsive but these two processes took most of the processing power of the netbook.

The netbook worked well when performing simple tasks such as watching videos, listening to music or browsing the web.

Summary

If you are going to use an older style netbook such as the Acer Aspire One then Lubuntu still rules due to the lighter desktop and lighter applications.

Ubuntu MATE wins when it comes to the choice of applications. Rhythmbox, Shotwell and LibreOffice are far better than the Lubuntu equivalents.

On a slightly more powerful machine the Ubuntu MATE edition is perfect. It certainly outperforms the Unity version on both my Dell Inspiron and Toshiba Satellite Pro.

Ubuntu MATE provides a glimpse of where we might have been today if Unity hadn't been developed. Having lived with Unity for 3 years though I have to say that I now prefer Unity over the older style interface. MATE might be fast but does it make you more productive?

This was the main reason that I chose to compare Ubuntu MATE with Lubuntu as I believe it is in direct competition for older style computers or computers with less power.

I think the Unity version of Ubuntu is superior to Ubuntu MATE and I also think that the Cinnamon version of Mint is better than the MATE version of Mint.

A more interesting comparison might be to compare Ubuntu MATE with the MATE version of Mint. Will Ubuntu MATE win back some of the users that switched to Mint because of Unity?

Personally I like the double panel that Ubuntu MATE provides over the single Mint panel. Other than that there really isn't much reason to switch back to Ubuntu or switch from Ubuntu MATE to Linux Mint.

If you are yet to make the decision as to whether to choose Ubuntu MATE or Mint then it really is difficult to separate them. You can read my review of the Mint MATE edition here (note version 17 has been released since then).

So to sum up, Lubuntu for speed and performance, Ubuntu MATE for applications and the toss of a coin to choose between Ubuntu MATE and Mint MATE.

It is worth noting that Ubuntu MATE worked reasonably well on the netbook but you don't have to have many applications open for performance to degrade. Lubuntu performs better with more applications open but limited memory, limited graphics and a limited ATOM processor obviously provides a somewhat limited experience.

Using Ubuntu MATE with lighter applications will make things slightly better but there is always going to be that trade off between performance and usability.

Finally, before I sign off, why is Ubuntu MATE called Ubuntu MATE?

Ubuntu is called Ubuntu because it is the main product.
Kubuntu is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop.
Xubuntu is Ubuntu with the XFCE desktop.
Lubuntu is Ubuntu with the LXDE desktop.

So why not Mubuntu? Why is it Ubuntu MATE? The same question could of course be asked for Ubuntu Gnome. Gubuntu anyone?

Thanks for reading.

Ubuntu Vs Xubuntu

If you are running Ubuntu and finding it a bit sluggish then you might choose to consider Xubuntu.

Read this guide which compares Ubuntu with Xubuntu and shows how to install the XFCE desktop in Ubuntu.

Service Update

The Google anti-spam approach for handling comments isn't working.

Last night I had to delete upwards of 700 spam comments from this blog which was both time consuming, dull and annoying. This morning they were back.

I have therefore decided to change the comments section so that you can no longer post comments anonymously. The only way to post comments is to sign up for a Google account.

I am sorry for the inconvenience that this will cause to those of you who leave genuine comments.

Nobody wants to read about virility drugs or designer handbags on a blog about Linux, so I had to do something.

If you have any comments that you would like to make about this service update feel free. Some of you might not like to sign up to Google to leave comments, if that is the case I am on twitter (@dailylinuxuser) and there is an email link in the top right corner.

Update On The Update

Well limiting the posters to Google only accounts didn't work. The spammers just created a Google account.

I have turned on comment moderation for the time being until whoever it is that has decided to spam the site gives up and moves on.

Introduction

This week I wrote a tutorial at About.com showing how to dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu.

I have written a number of installation guides over the past few years. On many occasions I have included the installation steps as part of the reviews but for trickier installs and for more recent reviews I have created separate guides.

This article lists all of the Linux installation tutorials and guides that I have created with a brief description of each one.

1. How To Dual Boot Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 14.04

I have written a couple of guides about dual booting Windows 8 and Ubuntu. This is the updated version with extra steps incorporated for the 8.1 release of Windows.

The guide shows you:

how to backup Windows 8.1
how to create a bootable USB drive
how to shrink the Windows partition
how to turn off fast boot
how to turn off secure boot
how to install Ubuntu
how to use boot repair
how to fix the Windows 8 boot loader

I am about to update the guide once again as the process appears to be getting easier. One of the key updates in the new guide will be how to backup Windows 8.1.

I can no longer recommend using the native Microsoft backup and recovery tools. I have been let down by them too many times.

Instead I recommend following this guide for backing up all versions of Windows.

Click here to read how to dual boot Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu

2. Install Ubuntu Alongside Windows 8 In 10 Easy Steps

This was the original Ubuntu and Windows 8 dual boot guide.

The guide shows

how to backup Windows
how to shrink the Windows partition
how to create a bootable USB drive using UNetbootin
how to turn off fastboot and secureboot
how to install Ubuntu
how to partition the disk
how to run boot repair

Click here to read how to dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 8

3. How To Dual Boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu

I created this guide as an alternative to the Linux Mint and Windows 7 dual boot guide which appears later in the list.

The guide shows

how to backup Windows 7
how to shrink the Windows partition
how to download Ubuntu
how to create a Ubuntu DVD
how to create a Ubuntu USB drive
how to install Ubuntu
how to partition the hard drive

There are full step by step instructions as well as screenshots

Click here to read how to dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 7

4. How To Install Ubuntu and Minecraft On A Chromebook

I try to cover as many devices as I can get my hands on when writing installation guides.

I was lucky enough to get hold of a Chromebook and this guide provides the basic concepts for dual booting Ubuntu and ChromeOS on a Chromebook.

The guide shows you:

how to create recovery media
how to switch to developer mode
how to download Crouton
how to run Crouton
how to switch between Ubuntu and Chrome
how to install extra packages and Synaptic
how to install Minecraft

Click here to read how to dual boot Ubuntu and ChromeOS on a Chromebook

5. How To Install Ubuntu As A Virtual Machine In Windows

If you want to try Ubuntu out as a virtual machine then follow this guide.

There are step by step instructions and screenshots. At the time of writing there was an issue with Virtualbox which has now been resolved but the guide is still perfectly valid.

The guide shows

how to get VirtualBox
how to install VirtualBox
how to download Ubuntu
how to create a virtual machine
how to install Ubuntu

Click here to read how to install Ubuntu as a virtual machine within Windows

6. Upgrade Ubuntu From 13.04 To 13.10 When Dual Booting With Windows 8

Ubuntu 13.04 and 13.10 are both very much in the past but the guide works for upgrading from 13.10 to 14.04 and 14.04 to 14.10.

If you want to upgrade Ubuntu within a dual boot system this guide shows you how to do that.

The guide shows

how to backup Windows
how to backup Ubuntu
how to upgrade Ubuntu
how to fix Grub

Click here to read how to upgrade Ubuntu when dual booting with Windows 8

7. How To Install Linux Mint Alongside Windows 7

If you would like to try out Linux as a dual boot system then this guide shows how to install Linux Mint alongside Windows 7.

Linux Mint is one of the more popular Linux distributions because it has a very familiar look and feel and because it is easy to use.

The guide shows you

how to create Windows 7 recovery media
how to get Linux Mint
how to create a bootable Linux Mint DVD
how to make a bootable Linux Mint USB drive
how to boot into a Linux Mint live desktop
how to partition your hard drive
how to install Linux Mint

The guide has full step by step instructions incorporating screenshots for clarity.

Click here to read the Linux Mint and Windows 7 dual boot tutorial

8. How To Install Linux Mint Alongside OSX on the MacBook Air

This guide shows how to dual boot Linux Mint and OSX on a MacBook Air.

The guide shows you

how to backup the MacBook Air
how to get Linux Mint
how to create a bootable USB drive
how to partition the drive
how to boot into Linux Mint
how to install Linux Mint
how to fix the boot loader
how to fix the Grub menu
how to connect to the internet

As with the other guides this one comes with step by step instructions and screenshots.

Click here to read the Linux Mint and OSX dual boot tutorial

9. How to install Linux Mint As A Virtual Machine Using Windows

Virtual machines are a popular method for testing out distributions and Linux Mint is one of the more popular Linux distributions.

This guide shows how to install Linux Mint as a virtual machine using Virtualbox within Windows.

The guide includes:

how to get Oracle Virtualbox
how to download Linux Mint
how to install Virtualbox
how to create a virtual machine
how to install Linux Mint

Click here to read how to install Linux Mint As A Virtual Machine

10. How To Dual Boot Windows Vista and Linux

If you are still running Windows Vista then you might consider dual booting with Linux for a while before deciding on your next move (whether that will be a new Windows 8 computer or a full time switch to Linux).

This guide shows

how to create a bootable DVD and USB
how to backup Windows Vista
how to prepare your disk for installing Linux
how to install PCLinuxOS

There are screenshots to help you through each step.

Click here to read how to dual boot Windows Vista with PCLinuxOS

11. How To Dual Boot Windows XP and Linux

I wouldn't particularly recommend dual booting Windows XP and Linux anymore because Windows XP is out of support.

However if you want to do it, this guide shows how to dual boot PCLinuxOS and Windows XP.

The guide includes steps for:

how to create a bootable DVD and USB
how to backup Windows XP
how to prepare your disk for installing Linux
how to install PCLinuxOS

There are screenshots to help you through the installation process.

Click here to read how to dual boot Windows XP with PCLinuxOS

12. How To Replace Windows XP With Lubuntu

This tutorial is for those of you running Windows XP on an older computer.

Lubuntu is a great replacement for Windows XP and will be supported for a number of years to come.

This guide links to other tutorials which show how to create a live DVD and USB drive as well as step by step instructions for replacing Windows XP with Lubuntu.

Click here to read how to replace Windows XP with Lubuntu

13. How To Upgrade From Lubuntu 13.10 To 14.04

If you already have Lubuntu installed then this guide shows how to upgrade to the next version.

The guide shows you how to backup your system, how to update the system and how to upgrade.

You can use this guide for upgrading from 14.04 to 14.10 as well

Click here to read the Lubuntu upgrade tutorial

14. The Ultimate Ubuntu MATE Installation Guide

This guide shows how to install Ubuntu MATE.

In the main it shows the installation procedure one step at a time and includes screenshots.

The guide also links to other guides which show how to backup your computer and how to create a bootable DVD and USB drive.

Click here to read the Ubuntu MATE Installation Tutorial

15. How to replace your operating system with Zorin OS 9

This guide shows how to install Zorin OS 9 on a non-UEFI based computer.

As with the Ubuntu MATE tutorial it links to another guide showing how to create a bootable USB drive.

Click here to read the Zorin OS 9 Installation Tutorial

16. A Guide To Setting Up Makulu Linux In Virtualbox

Makulu has been one of the distributions of the year as far as I am concerned. It combines ease of use with a nice blend of pre-installed applications and some really amazing artwork not seen since Fuduntu disappeared.

This guide shows you how to set up Makulu Linux as a virtual machine.

Click here to read how to set up Makulu as a virtual machine

17. How To Install openSUSE

If you are looking for an alternative to the Debian and Ubuntu based distributions then it is worthwhile checking out openSUSE.

I spent a number of weeks during the middle of the year writing articles about the KDE version of openSUSE including posts about the KDE games, picture editing software, Kopete, Konqueror, Choqok, KMail, KTorrent and audio players.

This guide shows you:

how to download openSUSE
how to create a bootable DVD
how to create a bootable USB
how to install openSUSE

Click here to read how to install openSUSE

18. How To Install Peppermint Linux In 10 Easy Steps

Another great distribution for older machines, Peppermint Linux provides a way of integrating web applications into the desktop for a seamless experience.

This guide shows you:

how to download Peppermint OS
how to run a live DVD/USB
how to install Peppermint OS

The guide doesn't show how to create the live DVD and USB but it does link to another tutorial showing how to use UNetbootin to create a bootable USB.

There are full step by step instructions with screenshots.

Click here to read how to install Peppermint Linux

19. Installing And Booting Multiple Distros On A USB Drive

This guide shows how to use YUMI to create a USB drive with multiple live distributions installed on it.

The guide shows

how to get YUMI
how to add Linux distributions to a USB drive

Click here to read how to create a multiboot Linux USB drive

Summary

Number 20 is on its way and will be released sometime in the next fortnight.

Having all of the Linux installation tutorials listed in one place will hopefully make them easier for you to find.

Simply bookmark this page and every time I add a new installation tutorial I will add it to this list.

Thankyou for reading.

Introduction

The most popular graphics package in the world is much like the most popular search engine in the word. The name of the package isn't just a noun, it is now also a verb.

When you want to find information about something you don't just search on the internet for it, you Google it. The ability "To Google" didn't exist 20 years ago but it is now a term used daily in the office in which I work. For instance "The program keeps crashing with a strange error", "Have you tried Googling it to see if there is a solution".

Other search engines don't have the same clout. You don't hear people say "Have you Bing'd it?" or "Have you Duck Duck Go'd it?".

The most popular graphics package is Photoshop. Any picture that appears to be doctored in any way is now said to be "Photoshopped".

Photoshop is a difficult act to follow and the closest thing that Linux has to Photoshop is GIMP. Expecting somebody to move from Photoshop to GIMP is probably as difficult as getting somebody to switch from Google to Bing. It doesn't matter how good GIMP is it probably isn't going to happen. GIMP users though are also unlikely to switch to Photoshop.

There is a category of user though that couldn't care less about either Photoshop or GIMP because there are just too many features and the learning curve is just too high.

Some people are more than happy drawing pictures or editing basic images using Microsoft Paint and that is what this article is about.

Linux has a number of applications that provide similar functionality to MS Paint and in this article I will be looking at 8 of them.

Microsoft Paint

To be able to compare Microsoft Paint with some Linux alternatives I thought I would start off by showing the features of the latest version of Paint.

Paint is one of those programs that hasn't changed much over the years but the latest version in Windows 8.1 does have the now standard ribbon bar.

The ribbon bar has a number of shapes to choose from and they can be drawn onto a variable sized canvas.

The lines for the shapes can be set at varying thicknesses and can be one of a preset colour palette or a user defined colour. The shapes can be filled in or left empty.

Text can be added to the canvas. The text can be set to one of a number of fonts, font sizes and styles such as bold or underline.

The image can be resized and saved in a number of different formats.

There is nothing particularly special about Microsoft Paint but it is a good toy for kids to play with. It can also be used for resizing images and for adding funny captions to photos.

Imagemagick

Imagemagick doesn't look anything like MS Paint and it is much better for editing photos than it is for drawing images.

You can create a canvas in the same way as you can for MS Paint and you can add all sorts of shapes including triangles, rectangles and circles.

The width of the lines can be adjusted and you can fill in the shapes using different colours.

There are some nice effects such as wavy lines and bricks that can be used to fill shapes and as you can see in the image above there are some nice shading effects.

One feature that appears to be missing is the ability to add text.

Image Magick doesn't look as clean as MS Paint but it is easy enough to use. I don't think it would suit younger children in the same way that MS Paint would.

Kolour Paint

As part of the KDE desktop, KolourPaint looks much like the versions of MS Paint that would have been released with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7.

This is probably the closest package that I have found to Microsoft Paint on Linux. The package is lacking the predefined shapes that come with Microsoft Paint but you can create basic rectangles, circles and polygons. There is also the ability to add text with varying fonts.

You can resize images using KolourPaint and save them in a number of different formats including JPEG, BMP and PNG.

This is an ideal package for kids to use for creating pictures.

MT Paint

I found MT Paint to be horrendously difficult to use which begs a question, "Who is it for?".

The toolbar has a number of tools including the ability to paint, select shapes, fill shapes, draw straight lines, clone, make a selection, make a polygon selection, add a gradient, lasso selection and add text.

The issue I found was getting it to keep any of the selections to hold and then to fill the selections with colours. It just isn't very intuitive.

You can resize the canvas and adding text was simple enough. The image can be saved in a number of different formats although JPEG doesn't appear to be one of them.

Gnome Paint

Gnome Paint is the Gnome equivalent of Kolour Paint.

At first glance Gnome Paint looks much the same as Kolour Paint and older versions of MS Paint. There are tools for drawing, erasing, and selecting shapes including circles, rectangles, rounded rectangles and polygons.

Gnome Paint works quite well but there are a few issues.

First of all there appears to be no way of editing the colour palette so you are stuck with the 32 colours.

If you select the text tool a message appears stating that this function is not yet available.

It isn't obvious how to finish editing a polygon. You basically continue selecting the shape until you are finished and then right click. There are no clues that this is the case and it is fairly unintuitive.

Gnome Paint could also do with some tool tips so that it is obvious when picking an item in the toolbox what that tool does.

GNU Paint

GNU Paint is another drawing program that looks and acts much like MS Paint. The actual design is more basic than Gnome Paint but functionality wise it is more advanced.

You can create basic shapes such as rectangles and circles and you can add free format lines.

The colour palette enables you to add more than the default 32 colours and the text function works.

Not quite as easy to use as Kolour Paint and it is a shame that there is no undo feature. Your average child would get to grips with it in no time at all.

Tux Paint

Tux Paint is unique compared to all the other packages and clearly the target audience is children.

The Tux Paint package is great. Not only can you add the standard shapes such as circles and rectangles but there are a whole host of effects that can be added such as grass, rain and bricks.

There is also a number of pre-defined images or stamps that can be added including Tux the penguin.

Grafx

Do you remember Deluxe Paint from the Commodore Amiga? Grafx is a clone of that package.

Some things from the past belong firmly in the past and in my opinion the Deluxe Paint way of doing things is definitely in that category.

The application is far too difficult and convoluted compared to many of the other packages.

I couldn't get to grips with the software at all. The mouse would get lost on the screen and even doing something as simple as changing the canvas background was too challenging.

I could have read the manual but I couldn't get the mouse to behave long enough to click on the icon.

XPaint

XPaint provides a good balance between functionality and ease of use. There is a canvas and a toolbox.

Each shape can be filled in or left hollow. There are a plethora of colours to choose from and you can define your own.

The text tool works well and there are even a few extras including filters. The shapes to choose from include rectangles, circles and polygons.

The Verdict

The best and most complete package was Tux Paint. It isn't a clone of MS Paint and has far more features, yet it is still easy to use.

The next best was Kolour Paint. It was more in line with the traditional paint package and included most of the features of MS Paint except the colour palettes were limited and there weren't as many predefined shapes. XPaint is also a decent enough application for basic drawing purposes.

Image Magick and GNU Paint were both reasonable but not really spectacular. Image Magick is much better utilised for basic image editing such as cropping and resizing photos.

Gnome Paint wasn't as polished as Kolour Paint but given a bit of love and care could easily be improved.

MT Paint, well, I'm not sure what the purpose of MT Paint is and Grafx is just overly confusing with no really good selling point.

Thankyou for reading.

GoodGame Empire

Spoiler alert. This article has nothing to do with Linux.

This is a review of the game "Goodgame Empire" which is a free online strategy game that you can play in your browser or via your Android phone.

Goodgame Empire is about building up a medieval village by expanding a settlement, building battlements, adding buildings, building up armies and collecting taxes.
You start off with a small settlement and through various tutorials expand the settlement by adding buildings and troops.

The game is multifaceted. Your job is to make sure that your villagers are happy and that your village remains guarded against enemy attacks.

You can add more troops and add buildings to help train the troops and then set about attacking other villages controlled by other players.

Planning attacks involves building up and placing troops and choosing whether to attack head on or outflank the opposition.

You have different types of warrior to help you attack enemy villages and they must be placed wisely to prevent annihilation.

The game isn't all about attacking other villages though. You have to keep the villagers happy and that is achieved by adding decorative features and keeping them well fed.

In order to be able to afford new troops, food and decorative features you have to earn money. You can earn money by adding new buildings where people can settle and then collect taxes from those people.

The game starts off quite slowly as you learn all of the features but once you get into it becomes quite addictive.

Goodgame Empire is free to play.

Click here to play.

The subjects that I write about on Everyday Linux User really just scrape the surface in terms of what Linux really is.

The point of Everyday Linux User is to help ordinary people decide whether they want to make the transition to Linux and to help them make that transition.

The idea is to let the average person find out about the best Linux distributions and the purpose of those distributions.

Beyond the reviews I also provide how-to guides including tutorials for creating live USB drives, testing virtual machines and installing the Linux distributions that I review.

I also write reviews of applications such as video editors, audio players, video players, graphics programs, office suites and games emulators.

There are areas that I don't touch and that is because I, in Linux terms, am just an end user or at best a power user. I know how to drive the thing and I have a rudimentary understanding of the engine but if you ask me to change a gasket and I am likely to end up with a warped head.

“How Linux Works (2nd Edition)”, authored by Brian Ward, is a book that really shows you the inner workings of Linux.

For those of you that bought the original version of "How Linux Works" it is worth knowing that the second edition has been completely revised and expanded with new content.
You won't find instructions for dual booting Ubuntu with Windows 8 in “How Linux Works” and nor will you find out how to install a particular graphical environment. That is not what
“How Linux Works” is about.

“How Linux Works” looks at the inner workings and details the philosophy of why Linux works the way it does.

The book is over 300 pages and split into 16 chapters. It starts with a chapter called “The Big Picture” which highlights the various levels that encompass a Linux system. At the very lowest level there is the physical hardware such as your hard drive and RAM. In the middle sits the Kernel which manages the memory, process and device drivers and at the top is the user space (which is the area Everyday Linux User focuses on).

The 2^nd chapter gives an overview of the basic commands used within Linux such as ls, cat, awk, grep and find. This chapter also covers the Linux folder structure.

The Linux folder structure is actually a very important concept to understand but most consumers of GNU/Linux probably don't venture much further than their own home folder.

For day to day use it isn't really an issue not knowing what all the other folders are for because package managers deal with installing applications and graphical tools handle settings but when it comes to switching from one distribution to another or upgrading a distribution that doesn't provide an upgrade tool it is vital to know the folders you need to back up.

Chapter 3 gives an overview of devices, how the dd command works and provides details of udev.

The book has lots to offer on almost every aspect of the Linux architecture but there is one chapter that should make most Linux newbies add this book to their basket and that is the chapter on disks and file systems.

The disks and file systems chapter gives a really good insight into partitions and file systems. One of the most common questions I am asked is “how do I partition my hard drive?” and that is usually followed by “how big should my swap partition be and do I need it?”.

How Linux Works has a good section detailing what swap space is and the reasons it is used. By understanding how something works and why it exists you can make a better judgement as to whether you need it or not.

Following on from the disks and file systems chapter there is another great chapter detailing the often hazardous and touchy subject of bootloaders. There is a good section showing how to install and configure Grub as well as information about UEFI.

Other chapters in the book deal with networking, resource utilisation, system configuration and shell scripting.

Before the finale, “How Linux Works” briefly encroaches into the world of Everyday Linux User looking at desktop environments, window managers and applications. What sets “How Linux Works” apart in this area though is the way it approaches the subject, giving a great amount of detail about how X works and the tools available. The book also touches upon potential forthcoming technologies such as Wayland and MIR.

My day job is as a software developer, writing Windows and web applications. I am also a qualified SQL Server database administrator. One thing that I have barely touched upon is developing software for Linux, although I have developed websites using PHP and MySQL.

For the uninitiated, working out how to obtain the source, edit the source and compile the packages is a daunting and confusing experience. “How Linux Works” gives a great overview on this very subject and helps to join up some of the dots.

In the past I have found books of a similar ilk as “How Linux Works” to be quite dry and difficult to read. They are usually very good for helping to get to sleep at night. “How Linux Works” is different though. It is very well written and each subject is clear and provides a good level of information without burying you in detail.

I would be lying if I told you that I understood every word that I read from cover to cover but on the whole I gained a lot of knowledge by reading this book and I thoroughly recommend it, especially if you want to get to grips with the inner workings and stray away from the comforts of the desktop.

“How Linux Works” is available from Amazon, nostarch.com and all major booksellers.

Introduction

It has been quite some time since I last reviewed a Puppy Linux distribution and I forgot how much fun it could be.

Barry Kauler has stopped developing Puppy Linux but the mantra has been taken up by the community and there are two main forks. Slacko Puppy is a version of Puppy Linux which utilises the Slackware Repositories and Puppy Tahr utilises the Ubuntu repositories.

In the past I have reviewed Lucid Puppy and Precise Puppy and I felt it was about time to give Puppy Tahr a go.

How To Get Puppy Tahr

I have written a guide at about.com showing how to download Puppy Tahr and how to create a bootable Puppy Tahr USB drive.

You can use UNetbootin to create a USB drive but I would advise using the tools that come with Puppy Linux.

After you have created a bootable USB drive it is worth rebooting your computer and creating the save file before continuing. The save file is used to provide persistence within Puppy Linux.

If you would prefer to you can click here to buy a Puppy Tahr DVD or Puppy Tahr USB Drive.

First Impressions

As it has been so long since I last reviewed Puppy Linux I am going to treat this as a whole new review as opposed to just listing the changes since the last version.

The first thing you should notice is that Puppy Tahr boots insanely fast even on the oldest of computers.

The screen is split into a number of different sections.

At the bottom is a standard panel with a menu and quick launch icons for showing the desktop, opening the web browser and opening a terminal. Next to the quick launch icons are the virtual workspace icons.

In the bottom right corner are icons for the firewall, clipboard manager, power settings, network settings, storage, audio settings and a clock.

There are lots of icons on the desktop.

The icons on the left side of the screen are split into 6 distinct rows.

The first row is about navigation and setting up Puppy Linux. Icons are included for the file manager, mounting drives, installing Puppy, setting up Puppy, opening an editor and opening a terminal window.

The second row of icons is about productivity. Abiword, Gnumeric, MTPaint and Inkscape Lite.

The third row of icons are web based tools including the browser icon, email icon and chat icon.

The fourth row is more of a mish-mash and includes icons for a calendar and media player.

The fifth row has one icon for connecting to the internet and the sixth row also has one icon which provides access to the quickpet tool which I will come to later.

Just above the panel at the bottom of the screen you will see a list of icons for the drives that are currently mounted.

On the right side of the screen there are further icons and these are for locking the screen, archive management and recycle bin.

There is one final icon which is located to the centre of the screen. This icon saves any changes you have made since the last savepoint to the save file.

The Puppy menu is a fairly basic affair. The menu has a list of categories and hovering over a category brings up the items within that category.

You can open the Puppy menu by clicking the icon in the bottom left or right clicking on the desktop.

Puppy Setup

The Puppy Setup tool can be accessed by clicking on the "Setup" icon on the desktop.

From the setup tool you can change your language (keyboard layout, language, timezone), choose startup options, configure your mouse and keyboard, adjust your audio settings, change your screen resolution, setup 3D graphics and setup a printer.

When Puppy boots it loads in a default save file. You can add further save files for Puppy to load during boot up by clicking on the "Startup" button in the Puppy Setup screen. You can also load extra kernel modules and drivers.

A single package in Puppy Linux is called a PET. An SFS file (save file) is like a collection of packages (PETs) which can be loaded all at once.

Simply download the SFS file and place it in /mnt/home and then click the button in the SFS-Packages tab and load the SFS file in.

Connecting To The Internet

The initial setting up of the internet connection in Puppy Linux has always been a little bit hit and miss.

There are a number of tools available for setting up an internet connection but I find it is a case of trial and error trying to find the one that is going to work for each particular release of Puppy Linux.

To set up an internet connection either open up the Puppy Setup application and choose "Internet" or click on the "Connect" icon on the desktop.

There are a number of options to choose from. If you want to connect to an ethernet or wireless connection choose the "Wired or Wireless LAN" option.

As mentioned previously there are a few options to choose from for connecting to the internet.

Simple Network Setup
Frisbee
Network Wizard

The Simple Network Setup in theory is the easiest way to get connected and the Network Wizard is the most difficult but more complete tool for adjusting settings.

The good news is that once you have your network set up you don't have to go through the same pain again. (Unless of course you need to connect to a different network).

Flash And MP3

Flash isn't installed by default but can easily be installed by clicking on the Quickpet icon.

I will cover that application more fully later on but to install Flash simply click on Quickpet, choose the "Internet" tab and click on "Flash".

You will be given the option to choose from a number of different versions of Flash.

MP3s didn't provide any cause for concern and played straight away without having to install codecs.

Applications

Puppy Tahr has a lot of applications installed by default but they are in the main lightweight in nature meaning that the performance is exceptional.

For productivity there is Abiword and Gnumeric. (Word processing and spreadsheets). These applications won't set your world on fire but are functional.

Inkscape Lite is fairly good as a drawing package but I'm not that enamoured with MTPaint which is the closest Puppy Linux gets to a Microsoft Paint clone.

I am quite impressed however with the Palemoon web browser. It is lightweight but has all the features I am looking for in a browser including tabs, bookmarks, decent rendering and the ability to play Flash videos. (Once Flash is installed).

I am also impressed with Sylpheed which is the email client. Again it is lightweight in nature but connecting to GMail was easy and the client supports many of the basic features you would expect from an email client.

There is an IRC chat client called XChat which has been pretty much a standard for IRC chat until recently. (Hexchat seems to be the client of choice for many distributions now though).

For watching videos the VLC media player is available and for listening to music there is DeaDBeeF. My main complaint with DeaDBeeF is the name. Trying to work out which letters to capitalise is a nightmare.

DeaDBeeF isn't going to win awards for beauty and it isn't as fully featured as Rhythmbox or Clementine but it sticks to the mantra of doing one thing and doing it well.

Puppy has a lot of little applications that make it stand out. For instance there are CD Rippers and DVD rippers. There is also an application called pupRadio/pupTelly which lets you stream online radio and television programs.

Installing Applications

There are two main ways to install applications using Puppy Linux. The first wy is to use the Quickpet application.

I touched upon this earlier on in the review.

Basically the Quickpet application provides a tabbed display split into categories:

Browsers
Internet
Audio
Video
Graphics
Games
Office and Other
Useful PETs
Desktops
Drivers

The Browsers tab lets you choose from a list of browsers including Firefox, Chromium, Seamonkey, Opera, Chrome, Tor and Slimboat.

The Internet tab gives options for installing Java, Flash, Skype, etc.

The Audio tab provides links for other audio players such as Guayadeque and qmmp. You can also install Spotify.

The Video tab has links to video players and editors and the Graphics tab has links to applications such as GIMP.

The Office tab has links for LibreOffice and fun stuff such as Virtualbox and WINE.

The Useful Pets tab has links for things like Conky and the Desktops tab lets you install LXDE and Compiz.

The other way to install applications is via the Install icon on the desktop.

The Install application not only enables you to create installation media for Puppy Linux it also provides links to the Puppy Package Manager.

You can also install official SFS files such as LibreOffice and Spotify from the Install application.

The Puppy Package Manager is a fairly standard application.

There is a list of repositories to choose from in the top left corner and below that a list of package types.

In the centre is a list of categories. Selecting a category changes the list of applications in the right pane.

Customising The Desktop

Puppy Linux provides a whole host of tools for customising the desktop including a wallpaper changer, theme changer, theme maker, icon changer, etc.

Puppy is like a swiss army knife of small Linux tools.

For something that comes in such a small package it is truly amazing.

Users

Puppy Linux is set to run as a single user system and therefore you are always the root user on a Puppy Linux system.

For those of you who feel uncomfortable about running as a root user you can change Puppy to run in either Spot or FIDO mode.

Summary

Puppy Linux continues to be a tremendous distribution. The performance is incredible and the amount of quality applications that are provided in such a small download is breathtaking.

The default applications won't appeal to everyone and they are built for functionality over style but the Quickpet application makes it possible to install old favourites like LibreOffice and GIMP.

It would be good if Puppy could get around booting on UEFI based machines but modern machines probably aren't the target market at the moment.

I would definitely recommend Puppy Linux for netbooks, older laptops and for computers that have no hard drives. It proves once and for all that you can teach an old dog (of a computer) new tricks.

Thankyou for reading.

Introduction

As the year draws to a close it is a good time to reflect on the good and bad of 2014.

In this article I am going to list my favourite alternative Linux distributions of the year.

What constitutes as an alternative Linux distro? To define the alternative, we need to look at the mainstream distributions first.

I consider the mainstream distributions to be any of the following:

Debian
Ubuntu
Linux Mint
Fedora
CentOS
Arch
Mageia
openSUSE
Gentoo
Slackware

These distributions have one or more of the following characteristics:

A large number of users
A large number of developers
A large support base
They are not derived from any other distribution
Have their own software repositories

An alternative distribution is one that either doesn't have these characteristics or it has been created for a specific purpose.

I would like to clarify that Ubuntu is deemed to include Ubuntu Gnome, Ubuntu MATE, Xubuntu, Lubuntu and Kubuntu which is why they don't make this list.

Whilst the list is numbered the Linux distributions are listed in no particular order.

1. Puppy Linux

There is a reason that Puppy Linux has its own category on this site (Look at the top menu).

Puppy Linux is unique in so many ways.

Packed into a download of less than 200 megabytes, Puppy Linux is designed to run from a pen drive.

The performance of this miniature distribution is incredible, even allowing for a slow USB 2.0 drive.

I recently reviewed the latest version of Tahr Puppy and I was really impressed by the Quickpet installer for installing common packages.

Puppy Linux is perfect for older hardware and for computers without hard drives.

Click here for a full review of Puppy Linux

Click here to get Puppy and install it to a USB drive

Click here to buy a Puppy Linux USB drive

2. Makulu

I reviewed Makulu earlier in the year and my opinion is that if you are going to steer clear of the mainstream distributions then Makulu has to be a contender.

A lot of effort has gone into the look and feel of Makulu. There are a number of different desktop versions available but I chose to install the MATE version and to be honest it compares very well against Ubuntu MATE and Linux Mint MATE.

The themes for Makulu look particularly good and there are some nice cosmetic touches such as the quote of the day.

If you prefer a dash for choosing applications rather than a menu there is Slingscold.

Makulu comes with Thunderbird, Dropbox, Kingsoft Office, Audacious and VLC.

Makulu also comes with a good selection of games including Frets On Fire and Dreamchess. The Steam installer is also included.

There are two ways of installing applications within Makulu, the Linux Mint installer and Makulu's own Sofware Installer.

If you remember the artwork that use to come with Fuduntu and Point Linux then you will really like the artwork within Makulu.

Click here for a full review of Makulu

Click here for a guide showing how to install Makulu as a virtual machine within Windows

Click here for the full Makulu installation guide

Click here to buy a DVD or USB drive containing Makulu

3. SparkyLinux (Gameover Edition)

If you are looking for a Linux distribution dedicated to gaming then look no further than SparkyLinux Gameover Edition.

This distribution utilises the LXDE desktop environment keeping it lightweight in nature.

The best part about SparkyLinux is obviously the sheer library of applications that are installed.

SparkyLinux isn't all about games. There are applications for listening to music and watching videos as well as graphics editors. Dropbox is also installed as is the Transmission bittorrent client.

There are literally hundreds of games installed including Linux standards such as Battle For Wesnoth, SuperTuxKart and SuperTux. If you are into retrogaming there are some clones of classic games including breakout, lemmings and tetris.

The best part of SparkyLinux Gameover Edition is the games emulators. Whether you want to emulate a SEGA, Nintendo, Sony or Atari games system everything you need is included within SparkyLinux Gameover Edition.

Click here for a full review of SparkyLinux Gameover Edition

Click here for a SparkyLinux installation guide

Click here to buy a SparkyLinux DVD or USB drive

4. Peppermint OS

Peppermint OS provides a great fusion between a desktop Linux distribution and a web kiosk.

LXDE is the default desktop within Peppermint. The applications are kept to a minimum including Gnome MPlayer, Guayadeque Audio Player, a text editor, file manager, web browser, terminal application and screenshot tool.

The main feature of Peppermint is the ICE editor which enables you to incorporate web applications into the desktop.

In my review of Peppermint OS 4 I showed you how to make Peppermint OS look like a Google Chromebook and to be honest if you have a mid range laptop and you mainly use web applications you could easily utilise the laptop in this way.

Click here for a full review of Peppermint OS

Click here for a Peppermint OS installation guide

5. Netrunner

There are a lot of people who like Ubuntu. There are a lot of people who don't. There are many people who like most of the things Ubuntu has to offer but prefer to use an alternative desktop environment such as KDE desktop.

Netrunner takes everything that is good about Kubuntu and adds a little extra value.

Installing Netrunner is easy, with a linear approach showing you all the steps required to get from point A (from a live distribution) to point Z (a fully installed system).

The added value comes mainly in the form of extra applications.

Click here for a full review (including installation guide) of Netrunner

Click here to buy a Netrunner DVD or USB drive

6. Simplicity Linux

Earlier on in this article I sang the praises of Puppy Linux.

Simplicity Linux is based on the Slacko version of Puppy which gives you access to the Slackware repositories for installing applications that are not installed by default.

There are three versions available:

Minimal
Netbook
Full

Simplicity Linux looks and feels more like a standard desktop distribution but has all the great little applications and most of the performance benefits.

Click here for a full review of Simplicity Linux

Click here to buy a Simplicity Linux USB drive or DVD

7. Zorin

As with most products a solution survives either by being the best, being the cheapest or by having a unique selling point.

Trying to be the cheapest in realms of free software is a little bit hard to achieve and being the best is largely subjective and virtually impossible to achieve unless you have a huge developer base.

The survival of the alternative distributions is therefore achieved by having a unique selling point.

Zorin OS goes for the glitz and sex appeal of the desktop and is not afraid to include all the desktop effects that are provided with Compiz.

Zorin's USP however is the look changer which enables the user to switch between a Windows look, a Gnome 2 look and even an OSX look.

Click here for a full review of Zorin OS

Click here for a ZorinOS installation guide

Summary

I am sure there are other alternative distributions that you would have included as part of this list. Feel free to add them by using the comments section below.

Thankyou for reading.

I was idly looking through the press releases and news stories when I came across this article which talks about the new Debian fork called Devuan.

Devuan is a complete fork of the Debian system minus systemd.

I know that there are lots of people who aren't happy with the inclusion of systemd as part of the next release of Debian but to make such a radical decision to clone the entire thing and start your own project could be deemed overkill.

I can understand a single developer or a handful of developers taking a Debian or Ubuntu base and then creating a new distribution with a specific purpose in mind. I actually think smaller distributions are a good thing because they come up with and implement ideas that might not reach the light of day in one of the base distributions.

Many people are of the opinion however that it is better to pool resources and have just a few distributions where everybody works together to make those distributions as good as they can possibly be.

I am not sure that the Devuan fork is a good thing. In a democracy, we vote for people to make decisions on our behalf and if we don't like the decisions they make we either vote them out again or we move to another country that is more aligned to our way of thinking. In Linux terms this would mean if we don't like Debian then we would switch to another distribution.

In the UK at the moment there is a rail project being implemented which aims to reduce journey times between the north and the south, called HS2. It has greatly divided opinions as to whether it is or isn't a good idea.

People who live in the areas where the new infrastructure is being implemented aren't particularly happy. Where they used to overlook rolling green fields as far as the eye could see they now have heavy machinery and rail tracks. They are obviously against the idea.

People who live in the north and who regularly visit London will see the rail link as a good idea and will be happy that it is being implemented.

There are of course another group of people. The unaffected. These people don't care if HS2 is or is not implemented. They can see the argument from both sides but are largely uninterested.

The one thing that nobody is thinking of doing is creating an exact clone of the United Kingdom and moving it slightly to the left.

If a few developers working on their own Linux distribution is seen as counterproductive then what effect does it have when a whole group of developers take a mammoth distribution such as Debian and decide to fork it?

The people who are against systemd may well go over to Devuan but at what cost? Is productivity going to be as good, is it going to move forward as a distribution at the same pace as Debian would have had they stuck with it?

The people who are for systemd now have less people working on the distribution but are partly responsible for the split.

The people that lose out the most are those who don't care either way about systemd. There are now two projects instead of one with less people working on each.

What do you think about the new Devuan project? Is it a good idea or should the people involved look for a comprimise?

Being a sysadmin is a difficult job, but we can help. We’ve compiled a list of a few awesome apps perfect for any admin looking to make things a bit easier.

Being a systems administrator is a difficult, often thankless job. You’re one of the people responsible for keeping the entire IT infrastructure of your business up and running. What that means is that whenever something doesn’t work the way it should, all eyes immediately turn in your direction.

You can hardly be blamed for looking to make your life a bit easier. I’d actually recommend that you do so, truth be told. The less time you spend slogging through all the basics of administration, the more time you can devote to improving your server.

To that end, I’ve compiled a list of a few of the best sysadmin apps on the web; tools that any Linux administrator worth their salt should consider using.

ServerAuditor(Remote SSH)

ServerAuditor is quite possibly one of the most powerful remote SSH clients on the web. Even better, it’s available on Android, iOS, and the Chrome Web Store - meaning that you’ll have access to it no matter what system you’re using. Free users gain access to its highly-secure SSH terminal; users who shell out for a subscription, meanwhile, gain access to multiplatform synchronization through the cloud, an easy, Python-based SSH config tool, tabbed navigation*, an SFTP client*, and a screen widget that allows you to view all servers and active connections*.

*Android only.

Alternatives: ConnectBot, Prompt 2

Cura SysAdmin (Remote Server Administration)

If you’re running a Linux server, then Cura’s pretty much the best tool you’ll find if you’re looking for remote management. It makes maintenance, configuration, and general administration incredibly simple, equipping you with a personalized Terminal emulator, a Syslog module that lets you read logs directly from your server, a monitor that visually graphs your resource usage, login monitoring with notifications, general server statistics, and a remote wipe feature (in the event that your smartphone isn’t already equipped with one).

Alternatives: Servers Ultimate, Server Admin Remote

Server Monitor(Remote Monitoring)

If you’re just looking for a general monitoring app, then Server Monitor is just the ticket. It adds a widget to your Android device that allows you to monitor any number of servers. It allows you to keep track of everything from accessibility to ping between hosts. Better still, it’ll notify you if and when your server goes down - allowing you to respond immediately to any problems it may have encountered.

Alternatives: Pingdom, Pulseway

Hacker’s Keyboard(Usability/Ease Of Use)

Have you ever tried to configure your server through your Smartphone or Tablet and found yourself frustrated by the lack of functionality? If so, Hacker’s Keyboard should be like a dream come true. It’s a tool designed to make the soft keyboard on your tablet or phone a bit more like the one you’d find on a standard desktop - including separate number keys and arrow keys.

Alternatives: N/A

PushBullet(Productivity)

Last but certainly not least, we’ve a bit of an unusual choice for our fifth entry- an application known as PushBullet, which allows you to link all your devices together for a more unified workspace. That might not sound particularly useful at first glance, until you consider the fact that, as a systems administrator, you’re probably working with at least two or three separate devices on a daily basis.

As such, the capacity to link all those gadgets together into a single workstation - that includes files and notifications, by the way - should prove invaluable.

Alternatives:Trello

Anyway, there you have it - a few of our favorite apps for systems administrators. Got a suggestion of your own that didn’t appear on this list? Give us a shout in the comments - we’d love to hear from you!

About Graeme Caldwell -- Graeme works as an inbound marketer forInterWorx, a revolutionary web hosting control panel for hosts who need scalability and reliability. Follow InterWorx on Twitter at@interworx, Like them onFacebook and check out their blog,http://www.interworx.com/community.

Times Square

As the year draws to a close I just want to say a big thankyou to everybody who has visited this blog during 2014.

Here are a few highlights from the year:

Over 100 articles added to the site
Those articles generated 4,931,288 pageviews
The current total pageview count is over 10.5 million

There have been guest posts from the following people:

There have been interviews with the following people:

The blog has been mentioned in the following podcasts:

A big thankyou has to go out to sites that link to Everyday Linux User as well:

I would also like to thank the following people:

860 Feedburner Subscribers (Link in top right corner)
337 Email Subscribers (See the box on the right)
307 Twitter Followers (@dailylinuxuser)
91 Google+ Followers
Anyone who has commented on the articles

I would also like to thank the following people who have also helped to contribute during the year.

Amy Breuckman
Robert Schulties
Katherina Wittke
Reuben Rowles-Doble
Marlon Rigel

Of course the other person I have to thank is my Wife, Stephanie, who loses a lot of my time, as I write these articles. This year I turned 40 and my wife took me to New York as a surprise.

The significance of the photo is therefore from our time in New York and the fact that it is of Times Square, where many people will of course be seeing in the new year bells.

Happy New Year to all of you and of course my fellow Linux bloggers:

Dmitry (Linux Notes From Dark Duck)
Jim Lynch (JimLynch.com)
Igor Ljubuncic (Dedoimedo)

The first new article of 2015 will be out on Sunday, 4th January.

If you can't wait that long then visit About.com as a new article will be appearing tomorrow.

Introduction

The Setup

The Strategy

Backup All Partitions On A Single Hard Drive

Download Linux Mint

Create A Linux Mint USB Drive

Install Linux Mint

Welcome To Linux Mint

Introduction

How To Get Linux Mint 17.1

Installing Linux Mint

First Impressions

Connecting To The Internet

Flash And MP3

Applications

Installing Applications

Customising The Desktop

New Features For 17.1

Upgrading From Linux Mint 17

Summary

Introduction

What You Will Need

Summary

Further Reading

Introduction

Create Recovery Media

Switch To Developer Mode

Download Crouton

Install Ubuntu Using Crouton

Setting Up Ubuntu

Starting Ubuntu On Subsequent Boots Of The Chromebook

Important Key Commands

Summary

Installing Minecraft On The HP Chromebook

Introduction

Installing Minecraft

Summary

Introduction

Install PlayOnLinux

Install The Sims

Summary

Another Great Free Roleplaying Game

GOODGAME EMPIRE OFFERS:

Introduction

What Is Ubuntu?

Differences Between Ubuntu 14.04 And 14.10

How To Get Ubuntu

First Impressions

Connecting To The Internet

Flash and MP3

Audio

Video

Photos

Applications

Installing Applications

Customising Ubuntu

Web Application Interaction

Netflix and Chrome

Issues

Summary

Introduction

How To Download Ubuntu MATE

Boot Into Live Ubuntu MATE USB/DVD

Installing Ubuntu MATE

Post Installation Tasks

Introduction

How to get Ubuntu MATE

First Impressions

Connecting To The Internet

Customisation

Applications

Accessories

Education

Graphics

Internet

Office

Sound And Video

Installing Applications

Issues

Summary