Monthly Archives: January 2008

What NOT to do with your old computers

Posted on January 29, 2008 by Peter Loshin

Why throw away your old obsolete PCs when you can re-purpose them as a file/print server, firewall or some other single-purpose appliance? People have been doing this forever–at least since about 1988, when those old dual-floppy IBM 5150 PCs started … Continue reading →

Posted in Command Line, How-To, Upgrades | Leave a comment

Encryption with Ubuntu, Two Looks

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Peter Loshin

There are tons of reasons to use encryption on your computers, especially if you store sensitive information on them. But I won’t go into that stuff right now. I will point you to a couple of how-to pages that explain … Continue reading →

Posted in How-To, Security/Cryptography, Ubuntu Linux | Leave a comment

Linux Directory Structure

Posted on January 16, 2008 by Peter Loshin

Want to know more about the directory structure that Linux uses? Like, why it’s that way, and how it works? Here’s an article that might be worth starting with: Linux Directory Structure. But definitely consider that a start, because the … Continue reading →

Posted in Linux Tech Talk | Leave a comment

Desktop Environment, or Window Manager?

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Peter Loshin

One of the many puzzling things about Linux, at least if you’re a typical end-user (like me), is figuring out what the difference is between a desktop environment and a window manager. But puzzle no longer after you read this: … Continue reading →

Posted in Switching to Linux | Leave a comment

Notes on little Linux notebooks

Posted on January 10, 2008 by Peter Loshin

The biggest little notebook of this past season is the Asus Eee, which is sort of like the OLPC XO, except it’s a commercial product that you can actually buy in the store (if you can find one). These things … Continue reading →

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Tips for speeding up Linux

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Peter Loshin

Lifehacker.com is a good source for all kinds of tips, but this one is nice for us Linux users: Slim Down and Speed Up Linux points to some basic and not so basic suggestions for making Linux run even better/faster. … Continue reading →

Posted in Performance Tuning | Leave a comment

Power user tips for Firefox

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Peter Loshin

I do a lot of websurfing, so when I see a headline like this one, Five Firefox Tips You May Not Know About, I’m always skeptical. But in this case, there actually were five tips that I didn’t really know … Continue reading →

Posted in Firefox, How-To, How-to Websites | Leave a comment

Snapshot backups in Ubuntu, with Timevault

Posted on January 2, 2008 by Peter Loshin

Here’s a good one from HowtoForge: Creating Snapshot Backups Of Your Desktop With Timevault On Ubuntu 7.10. From the TimeVault UbuntuWiki entry: TimeVault is a simple front-end for making snapshots of a set of directories. Snapshots are a copy of … Continue reading →

Posted in Backup, How-To, Ubuntu Linux | Leave a comment