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If you’re a Linux desktop user like myself you may have experienced problems finding for a decent Twitter client. In many distributions the default is Gwibber, it’s even integrated into the Unity desktop for Ubuntu. I’ve used it on and off for years but it’s monumentally slow, buggy and unstable. Whenever I try Gwibber it hangs and I get the classic Compiz grey window while I wait for the machine to stop having a panic attack. All I’m trying to do is refresh my messages. Out of frustration and purely by chance I stumbled across the answer, Turpial. A lightweight Python app for the Linux desktop. Finally I can take Gwibber out the back and shoot it.

Today I’m going to write about my experiences of Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. I’ve been running it as my main desktop for about a month. The last version I properly reviewed was Ubuntu 9.10, and though I’ve used the other releases in the meantime, there’s still a lot of changes to talk about with Natty. Most notably the complete shift to the new Unity interface, which feels very different to Gnome 2. I’d heard a lot about it but how would I fare? Let’s find out…

Today I’d like to tell you about Firefox Mobile on the N900, running in conjunction with the new Mozilla Weave web service. I’ve been testing them out on my handset for about a month now since the beta release of Fennec (the codename for Firefox Mobile). The N900 is the first device to get Firefox Mobile but it should also appear on Google Android phones in the near future. There is talk from Mozilla of an iPhone version, but Apple are so draconian with 3rd party software I’m not sure that’ll actually happen. I just can’t see them allowing another browser on the iPhone to compete with Safari. Anyway, here’s my thoughts upon testing Firefox Mobile for some time.

I’d like to talk about the Nokia N900 Linux-based phone I’ve been testing for the past 6 weeks. It’s the first Maemo powered device to feature phone functions. Does this move signal a new direction for Nokia? Nobody seems quite sure just yet, but the hardware and software are causing a lot of interest in the Linux community. Here’s my thoughts on the experience so far. A Linux fan's view.

Today I’d like to talk to you about Linux Mint 8, AKA Helena. I’ve said this many times before, but the codenames still sound a little tacky to me. The distro itself is anything but tacky though and it’s been one of my firm favourites in the past. How would this release stack up? Well, I’ll tell you…

There’ve been a lot of big releases in the Linux distro world lately, and none bigger than OpenSUSE 11.2, the latest offering from Novell. They can be a controversial company in some parts of the FOSS community, but whatever your personal view, you can’t deny they’re also contributing to progress in many ways. They employ a lot of important Linux kernel developers for example. The last time I did a really in-depth review of OpenSUSE was 2 years ago with 10.2, though I did do a quick review of version 11 for Linux Planet. I decided it was high time to take a look at how things are developing in the SUSE world. So here’s how I got on.

Today I’d like to take a look at a newly released distribution, Mandriva 2010. In the past I’ve found it to be a well accomplished and easy to use desktop distro, even if the last release wasn’t quite as stellar as I’d hoped. How would this version stack up? Let’s find out.

Today’s victim… *ahem* I mean guest of course sorry, is the new version of Ubuntu. 9.10 to be precise, the Karmic Koala. The names seem to keep getting worse but is the distro itself getting better? I wanted to find out. So I installed the latest daily build in the lead up to release and got to work kicking the tyres, investigating and randomly tutting while stroking my beard. I’ll try to be fair in describing any rough edges as I realise this testing version is pre-release software, but the final version has actually been released today. So I think it’s fair to give it a look. Here’s how I got on…

After some delay it’s finally time for me to write up my thoughts about SAM Linux 2009, a distro I must confess I hadn’t really heard of until someone asked me to review it. It’s a German distribution based on the very popular PCLinuxOS. So how would I get on with this unknown quantity (to me at least), read on to find out…

In this talk I take you through how I produce podcasts like the Software Freedom Law Show and Linux Outlaws using only Free Software and Open Source solutions. Sound engineering is something I’ve done for a long time and it’s a real passion of mine. I hope that comes across in the talk.

This week I revisited a distribution I first wrote about back in 2007, Pardus Linux. It’s developed by the Turkish National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptography, it has its own package management system called PISI (Packages Installed Successfully, as Intended), and it’s not based on any other Linux distribution, which makes quite a change these days. I was eager to see how it had developed since our last encounter.

My next stop on this journey is Crunchbang 9.04.01; a distribution I’ve used only briefly in the past, but one that many of my friends both use and like. It’s a British Ubuntu-based development and largely the work of one man, Phillip Newborough AKA Corenominal. What started life as his pet project has grown to become a very popular Linux distro in it’s own right. I even have something of an interesting personal connection with it, I inadvertently named the eeePC variant Cruncheee on the Linux Outlaws podcast. So how would I find a week with #! (that’s the abbreviation they use btw) as my main desktop. Let’s find out…

Spotify is a free and legal service which gives you access to millions of songs. They achieve this by licensing the tracks from record companies in a similar way to radio stations, and they pay for it with advertising. When I first heard about it, like many others I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. I also discovered there was no Linux version, so I pretty much gave up on it. That was until recently, when a friend was extoling it’s virtues to me so enthusiastically that I decided it warranted a second look. It turns out it’s pretty easy to install and configure with WINE on most Linux distributions. So I wanted to share with you how I did it, in the hope it might prove useful to others.

Today I thought I’d report back in detail on my experiences with Fedora 11, the community distribution release from perennial Linux giants Red Hat. It’s a distribution with a reputation for being close to the cutting edge, some would argue too close. Many people have complained to me about bugs, but is this fair? I haven’t looked at Fedora in depth since version 8 or 9, so I wanted to see for myself. I have some history with Fedora, but I felt it lost it’s way a little a few years back. It was time to put past experiences – both good and bad – aside, to really see what Fedora 11 could bring to the table…

Time for another distro review, and this time I thought I’d look at the latest version of a distribution I’ve enjoyed a lot in the past. Linux Mint 7, AKA Gloria. I’m tempted to make references to Van Morrison here, but I’ll restrain myself. The last version I reviewed was actually Linux Mint 5, so I’ve missed a release. At the time I said it was the best Linux distribution I’d seen for new users, better even than the hallowed Ubuntu (upon which it is based). Would I still feel the same?

I’m a big fan of Free Culture and free open source web services too, licensed under the AGPL. I wrote about the creation of Libre.fm a little while back, and I think we could really use more of these truly “free” web services. So when I heard about a new AGPL social network for film fans, I was very happy. The site is called Filmaster and I was lucky enough to have a chat with Borys Musielak (the site’s creator) about how it all came to fruition.

Today I’d like to take a quick look at a distribution still in the early stages of development, but one that in my opinion, holds massive potential. That distribution is Chakra Project and it’s based on Arch Linux, which I reviewed not too long ago. The idea to create a liveCD displaying the virtues of Arch and KDEmod is a noble one. I tried out alpha 2 this week to see how they were getting on…

The last time I looked at Ubuntu in depth was 12 months ago with the 8.04 release. I found it to be a solid enough but somehow lacking in ambition. Would Jaunty jump forward with exciting new features? I decided to find out…

Recently I wrote an article about the creation of a new free (AGPL) web service called Libre.fm, aimed at replacing Last.fm and even going beyond that to develop an identity of it's own. Things have progressed very quickly since, so I thought I'd better follow up with more information...

After many broken promises and much procrastination, I finally made it onto Arch Linux, and that’s where I’ve been for the past couple of weeks now. I had a failed attempt at Arch last year when my hard drive died; not Arch’s fault in any way, but since then I haven’t really had a chance to get back to it. It’s a distro that a lot of people tell me about. The Arch fans are always really passionate and enthusiastic in describing it to me; so I figured it was high time I found out for myself just what all this fuss was about…