When you want to run Windows apps within a Linux distribution, you use WINE. Now of course it’s always better when you can run alternative Linux apps because they generally are more stable, but if there are some Windows apps you can’t live without, and that’s what WINE is for. The place to search for Windows apps compatibility in WINE is from...

When using the Lubuntu Linux distribution, the one thought I have more than any other is, "If something exactly like this was available back in 2001, the landscape of desktop computing would have been a whole lot different." While Linux fans make take great offense to what I’m about to say, I’m saying it anyway. Lubuntu’s best feature...

If you check out the www.lubuntu.net web site, the first thing you’ll notice is that it’s drastically changed to look like www.ubuntu.com. Well, there’s a reason for that as Lubuntu 11.10 is the project’s first release as an official Ubuntu derivative. "So? What difference does that make?" Plenty, as it means the Ubuntu team...

Wimamp is a great audio application. There are many people (for instance the author of this post) who seem to be addicted to it. I especially like the earlier versions that didn’t have all the fluff of today’s multimedia apps but, unlike them, could play a clear sound. I have been living under Linux for many years and I certainly don’t miss...

If you’ve ever thought about diving into the world of virtual computing, one of the better ways is to use the free VMware Player client and purposely install a Linux distribution. Why VMware and Linux? Both are free and there isn’t any nagging for serial numbers/product keys/etc. Simply install and go. You can get VMware Player here and Xubuntu...

Linux does video very well these days as there are good solid apps to get the job done. One of these apps is DeVeDe, which takes a ton of hassle out of making a DVD video disc. My favorite feature about DeVeDe is that it will compress any video you throw at it based on the size of the disc you choose and make it fit most of the time. In the video below, I take a...

Definitely one of the underdogs (compared to KDE and GNOME) but still a rock-solid, fast and stable window manager that gets the job done, fluxbox is what I personally believe to be the best lightweight window manager for the Linux desktop environment. The Linux desktop these days unfortunately has ballooned up in bloat by an alarming amount – but...

Recently I was checking out the latest openSUSE 11.4 distribution, which uses the KDE desktop environment by default. This is a very modern, very nice looking way to compute, no question. However there are two other environments openSUSE has installed by default, IceWM and twm, both of which are the absolute definition of a minimalist Spartan desktop...

This one’s really easy. Most people are familiar with the Windows Task Manager, where you can see all currently running processes, how much memory they’re taking up and so on. The Linux equivalent of this is top, and to the best of my knowledge works in every Linux distro there is. Simply run a terminal, type top, press Enter. That’s it. See...

A short while ago I did a quick review of the PCLinuxOS “KDE MiniMe”, a slimmed-down edition using the KDE desktop environment. Phoenix Edition uses XFCE, which runs lighter and faster than KDE does. Phoenix is definitely light on its feet and a breeze to use. See video below for...

This Linux distribution may be mini at an under-500MB size, but it packs in a lot of OS for something so small. In fact, PCLinuxOS 2011.07 could easily be mistaken for a full-sized distribution given there’s nothing in it that feels slimmed down/compromised for size. Personally, I think this is definitely one of the better smaller distributions out there....

Peppermint OS is a lightweight Linux distribution that is making its way up through the ranks because of it’s fast operation, ease-of-use and bundling apps in the distro that people actually use. The latest version is Peppermint OS Two. It’s definitely better than Peppermint One, but is a tad rough around the edges. See video below for...

Bodhi Linux is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution using the Enlightenment window manager. Bodhi is purposely engineered to be minimalist with a very small amount of bundled apps, resulting in a very small distribution image of under 400MB. The system requirements to run Bodhi only require a 300MHz CPU, 128MB RAM and 1.5GB space, so it will pretty much run on any...

The Linux desktop environment continues to make strides from release to release, and I am a believer that one day in the future we’ll all be using some kind of Linux or UNIX variant, mainly due to the reason that people don’t throw out computers as much as they used to. For example, let’s say you have a three-year-old laptop and the hard drive...

Recently I’ve been checking out LXDE environment Linux distributions, one of them being Lubuntu. One thing I immediately noticed is that it’s not exactly easy to change how the clock looks. Sure, it’s easy enough to set the time, but to adjust the clock appearance isn’t exactly simple. Before continuing, yes I know that Windows 7 is...

Peppermint is a lightweight Linux distribution which you probably haven’t heard of, but only because it’s relatively new to the scene.  The distro being lightweight-sized is close to Xubuntu’s size at 512MB distributed. This OS requires an i386 or derivative processor (AMDs and 64-bit are OK as well) and 192MB RAM to operate, so it will run...

Installing a Linux distribution from USB stick is generally much easier than using a CD or DVD because while optical discs require a disc per distribution, USB sticks can simply be erased and used over again with any other distro you want. The easiest way by far to make a bootable Linux distro USB stick is the Universal USB Installer. This is a Windows...

My Dell mini 10v netbook runs Windows XP Home Edition. The XP OS is really old but it works. However I’ve decided to try to give Linux a go again, this time with Xubuntu 10.10. On a laptop in today’s computing world, XP sucks for basically one reason: Power management is abysmal. Today’s modern OSes will literally give you 30 minutes to an hour...

Of the reviews I’ve read, the single largest complaint about Google’s Cr-48 netbook is the fact you really can’t do much of anything outside the web browser. Specifically, "I want local apps" is heard loud and clear. At this point people simply aren’t ready for an all-on-cloud operating system. Chromium OS is, of course, Linux...

According to StatCounter, the total number of all those recorded by that service over the past 12 months states Linux users only account for 0.78%, with no appreciable increase in usage in that span of time: Even if you look at other statistics aside from Statcounter, the result is always the same – less than 1%. I’m not a Linux user personally...