By default when you create screencasts using recordmydesktop in Linux (Ubuntu specifically), the output is an OGG container file. As anyone who has tried to bring that file into Windows quickly learns, there’s not too much software out there that will “understand” OGG in Windows, and even less available if you want to edit it later on using...

This article covers the following:Setting up a workgroup in Windows XP. Setting up a workgroup in Ubuntu 8.10. How to share out files from your Windows XP computer on your home network so you can access them with Ubuntu 8.10. How to access files shared by your Windows XP computer on your home network in Ubuntu 8.10. How to share files out from Ubuntu 8.10 to a...

Note: My upgrade didn’t work but my new 8.10 Ubuntu is freshly installed. Here are the immediate things I noticed from my initial use of the OS:Above: When I customize my appearance settings to “Subpixel smoothing (LCDs)”, “Slight” is now automatically selected and this is cool. Saves me a few clicks.Above: You can now create a...

The upgrade did not go so well. Actually, that’s an understatement. It went horribly, horribly wrong. Here’s how everything went down: Per the instructions on the Ubuntu web site, I followed the upgrade notes for a network installation to the letter. During the upgrade process, it timed out at least a dozen times. This is totally understandable since...

At the present time I’m trying to upgrade my Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 but the servers holding the files are getting slammed right now (first day of release – it’s expected). You can upgrade your Ubuntu 100% from the internet just by clicking a few options and letting the update manager do its thing. See video below for details – it’s...

This isn’t exactly the most secure thing to do (as anyone who turns on your computer can easily get access to all your stuff), however there are those out there who prefer their computer to be as “automatic” as possible. Many people who run Windows XP have no password set on their account. Dumb? Yes. But people do it anyway. You can have Ubuntu...

An anonymous reader on Slashdot wrote that based on exhaustive benchmark testing, the upcoming v8.10 of Ubuntu Linux is noticeably slower in some areas compared to previous releases (namely v7.04). "Linux" and "Slower" never fall within the same sentence, but they do now. To calm the masses out there, no, Ubuntu 8.10 will not be a crawling...

Using the freely available Terminal Server Client in Ubuntu Linux it’s easy to connect to your Windows XP computer(s) on your local network. See video below for...

For those of you out there that run a dual-boot system with Windows XP and Ubuntu, you’ve noticed that Ubuntu is the default OS that loads on each system startup. There is a way to change this so that XP is the default OS instead. Full documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto/ChangeDefaultOS What that documentation instructs you to...

I have an older Dell Inspiron 6000 that I recently decided to go true-blue dual boot with Ubuntu v8.04 and Windows XP Professional SP3. For those interested, the system specs on my laptop is that is has a 15-inch LCD screen with a native 1680×1050 resolution monitor, 60GB hard drive, 1GB RAM and a 1.5GHz Intel Celeron M processor. The reason I decided to...

My Ubuntu desktop looks like this (click any image for full size):When I have an app open it looks like this:The way to get Ubuntu to look like this is fairly simple. 1. Download Microsoft core fonts to get Arial Like it or not, the Arial font looks good on Windows just as Helvetica looks good on a Mac (unless you’re some typography nerd that insists...

In a few days Ubuntu 8.10 will be released. For those following Ubuntu news, you already knew about this. But for those that weren’t, now you know. Some are wondering what some of the new/improved/updated features in 8.10 will be compared to 8.04. Here’s a short list (not a full list – just some of the newer features I noticed personally): New...

What exactly is a “persistent” install? With a normal Live-CD boot of Ubuntu, you can’t save your session settings on exit of the OS. And if you boot off USB stick from a transferred CD image (such as one created using the Unetbootin utility), that won’t save your settings either because the OS is still in Live mode on boot. A persistent...

I came across a rather interesting walkthrough the other day which explains how to reset your Ubuntu password. The walkthrough is great as it tells you exactly what you need to do. However, when I started reading the comments on this post, it really got me thinking since it was “that easy” to get around a password. One commenter on this post makes a...

I’m writing this from Ubuntu 8.04 in a live session (booted from USB stick). This *nix distribution runs well, does what I want it to do and runs just fine without complaint. Let’s forget the fact that it’s super-awesome-cool I can just pop in a USB stick, boot Ubuntu, run it, connect to a wireless network with no problems at all and do my...

The following assumes that your wireless networking card has been properly detected by Ubuntu and all you want to do is connect to your network at this point. I have an older Dell Inspiron 6000 and the Intel PROset wireless detects with no problem whatsoever. Other from-OEM wireless cards should also detect properly as well. If you have a USB-based wireless...

A primer: In Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X you only know of one desktop environment – that being the one provided to you by the OS. Yes you can change around the colors, move things and so on, but the fact of the matter is that you’re only given one choice for window management, theirs. A GNU/Linux distribution isn’t limited to just one...

Sick of burning CDs of Linux distributions every time you want to try out a new one? Don’t worry, you can reuse your USB stick as many times as you like and burn bootable ISOs to it. Is there an easy way to do this? Yes. It’s actually pretty easy. But before I tell you how there’s a small list of things you need to do first:You need a USB...

The fire that rages on concerning Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux as far as “which is better” continues to burn hotly. You will find zealots (a.k.a. “fanboys”) for each party, but the plain fact of the matter is this: that they’re all wrong because that’s not what the future of computing is about. What is...

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