Showing headlines posted by Jeff91

x86 hardware has always been fairly free and it should remain as such right? Yes it should. Something that really bothers me though is the fact that ARM hardware is treated in a very different way.

I caught an article on Lxer.com entitled:

"Shuttleworth: Linux Power Users Aren't too Cool for Unity"

There are a number of quotes in the article from the originator of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, Mark Shuttleworth, that clearly attest to the fact he is completely missing what so many people find wrong with Unity.

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of the Enlightenment desktop. I recently got into contact with the project's lead developer "Rasterman" and we did a little bit of a question and answer session.

I think one thing that often confused people when they first get involved with free software is the difference between FOSS and freeware (or shareware). The source of this sometimes confusion can be sorted with the Latin statement:

Gratis versus Libre

If you already installed Bodhi 1.2.0 (or an earlier release) and your system is working fine (odds are it is, this issue was only affecting some users) there is no reason to install this new release. It is simply a bug fix release so the ISO image has the updated kernel by default.

Not only for Windows, but also for Linux the hour of truth comes near. October-November are months with new releases and upgrades. Let's forget about Windows 8 for now; it's still an early Beta. However Ubuntu 11.10 and Linux Mint 12 will come out soon. So are updated desktops: Gnome and KDE to name but two. It's no secret that I am still not convinced that the Gnome based Gnome 3 shell and Ubuntu's Unity desktops are matured enough to compete with either Windows 8 Beta or Apple's OSX.

Adobe Flash. Those two words have driven fear, annoyance and hate into the hearts of many users and developers for some time now. I am here to say today, in case you had not noticed, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I say with certainty that the days Adobe Flash enjoys as a dominant web development tool are numbered.

So you've taken the plunge and opted to install Bodhi Linux. Perhaps you read a recent review or one of the screen shots in our gallery caught your eye. Either way you've got a newly installed system and you might be wondering what exactly to do next. The following are seven things that are a good idea to do on a cleanly installed Bodhi system.

It was recently announced that Windows 8 would support a shiny new feature that is known as "secure boot". In case you have been living with your head under a technological rock for the last couple of weeks, this feature would allow hardware vendors would have the option of only allowing operating systems signed with their secure key to boot on the hardware.

You’ve heard the talk, the complaints, and the scathing reviews. Both GNOME 3 and Ubuntu Unity have been met with a hailstorm of bad publicity — so much so that people are turning away from adopting Linux — at least Linux that uses either of these two desktops. So if you want to switch to Linux but you don’t want to use either of these desktops, what can you do? Well, I’ll give you five what-to-do’s that will ease the troubled Linux desktop selection.

ARM is often toted as one of Linux's largest successes. Thanks to Google's Android platform it is true that a penguin powers at least half of the world's mobile devices today.

Is this a bit of a hollow victory though?

Those of us who enjoy open source software often forget that the vast majority of open source developers do this on their own time and their own dime. For some that’s not a problem … a precious few some. For many these projects are headed up by younger developers, students, and people in less fortunate situations (for whatever reason). So every five dollar donation can go a long way to keeping a project running.

AS a user of Ubuntu Linux since 1996, I viewed with some trepidation the decision by its commercial sponsor, Canonical, to revamp its user interface, which was based on the Gnome desktop. Over the years, I’ve grown accustomed to Gnome’s simple elegance, which I found gave me a surprising amount of freedom to customize my desktop environment. Combined with special effects from programs such as Compiz and Emerald, my Gnome-based Ubuntu desktop was truly beautiful.

Today I am happy to let all of our users that have limited or no-internet access machines know that our service pack 2 is ready for download. For those that do not know our service packs allow for a single download upgrade of your Bodhi system from the previous stable release to the current.

In the Linux world the releases of the Gnome 3 and Unity desktops have been pushing a touch-geared interface not only to touch-screen devices, but also the large screen of your home PC! Mac's OSX followed this line of thinking and it appears Microsoft's Window 8 will be no different...

Bodhi Linux 1.2.0 has been out of the gate for a full week now and I must say we are truly pleased with the response we have received. There has been a spike of new users present on our forums and our ISO image has seen over 16,000 downloads in this week's worth of time.

Those of us that do real work on our computers know the value of having a physical keyboard. At the same time some of us have use for a touch screen, but don't want to carry two physical devices.

Enter the tablet/netbook hybrid.

Something that has always annoyed me about a good deal of netbooks is the fact that someone decided that 1024x600 was an acceptable maximum resolution. While this isn't always an issue, it becomes extra annoying when you attach an external display to your tiny computer. By default your are typically forced into one of two choices...

I've been going through some rounds with Asus tech support/customer service the last couple of months. Two RMA's and a brand new unit later, I have resolved the issue. I must admit it is a slightly embarrassing fix. It is a true example of making a mountain out of a mole hill in the technology industry.

I recently set out to get a new tablet/netbook combo. After reading many reviews about different models I settled on a Dell Inspiron Duo. One thing you will find most all of the Inspiron reviews have in common is that they mention the touch software layer running on Windows 7 is slow. If I said this surprised me it would be a lie...