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Ubuntu Linux installs just fine on many laptops. The fingerprint scanners on those laptops, though, are built for custom Windows security applications. There is, however, a relatively easy way to enroll your fingers and log in with them in Ubuntu.

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Installing the Windows 7 theme pack and doing some tweaks is not yet the end of transforming your Linux Ubuntu. The next thing you need to do is select a different environment for your operating system’s login screen.

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If you’d like to run an Ubuntu virtual machine on your PC, you’ll need to weigh a series of considerations. To be sure, the use of virtualization is commonplace in the IT industry these days. Still, before you decide to run an Ubuntu virtual machine, you must consider whether you fully understand the benefits of setting one up in the first place.

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The Ubuntu kernel developers plan to provide security fixes and minor improvements for version 3.8 of the Linux kernel until August 2014; version 3.8 was released in February. The announcement by Canonical employee Kamal Mostafa came just days after Greg Kroah-Hartman had discontinued the maintenance of Linux 3.8

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About a month ago, Intel released a tool that allows Linux users to easily upgrade to the latest Intel graphics drivers. The tool comes with a repository used for the driver updates and it’s available for Ubuntu (12.10 and 12.04) and Fedora (17 and 18). The repository had some multi-arch issues on Ubuntu 64bit, but they seem to have been fixed, at least according to my test.

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Hadoop distributor MapR Technologies has announced a new partnership with Canonical to package the MapR M3 Edition for Apache Hadoop with Ubuntu.

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In our benchmarks of Microsoft Windows 8, we have found that Intel’s Windows OpenGL driver is generally superior to that of their open-source Linux graphics driver. Some progress has been made, but in today’s testing of an ASUS Ultrabook bearing an Ivy Bridge processor, Linux has a ways to go for some games in matching the Windows binary performance and features.

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There’s nothing like digging into your first Linux distribution, whether you’re a tech-savvy user looking to branch out or whether you’re installing it on a friend’s computer. But which distribution is actually better for beginners? Here, we’ll delve into the differences between Ubuntu and Mint, the two most popular beginner distros, and perform a little experiment to see what new users prefer.

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It has been a busy couple days, and we’ve seen a lot so far at Google‘s I/O event, including quite a bit of Glass news. Earlier today, the Internet giant held a Voiding your Warranty session detailing the process of putting Ubuntu on Glass, showing the process with a screencast from the device beneath the Terminal..

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Yesterday evening I mentioned Ubuntu Linux developers would be discussing replacing Mozilla Firefox with Google Chromium as the default web-browser in Ubuntu 13.10. After the discussion today, it looks like this may very well happen.

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Arch Linux replaced MySQL with MariaDB, openSUSE gutted MySQL, Fedora replaced MySQL, and now Ubuntu Linux is looking to continue the trend.

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Martin Gräßlin, the maintainer of KDE’s KWin window manager, has been vocal against Canonical’s Mir Display Server from the beginning. He’s now written another blog post on the matter in which he makes it rather clear there is little hope of seeing KDE running on the Ubuntu Wayland-competitor.

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The rocky release of Windows 8 has left some users wondering about alternatives. Apple’s OS X, though an obvious choice, is an expensive and dramatic switch. Linux is less intimidating – because it’s free. However, users haven’t flocked to the penguin in droves because of its fractured ecosystem, lack of familiar software, and steep learning curve.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/is-ubuntu-really-an-alternative-to-windows/#ixzz2TICRrpiB

Setting up various methods for Ubuntu file sharing has become easier over the years. In this article, I’ll highlight several of the available Ubuntu file sharing options. I’ll also point out where to find them and provide links for downloads.

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Most Linux distributions come without support for MP3 audio, H.264 video, Flash content, and even commercial video DVDs. Patents, closed-source software, and even laws that make certain types of software illegal restrict what can be included in a Linux distribution.

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Ubuntu Phone is finally here, thanks to the recent launch of the developer preview. Although it runs on Android hardware, this new software is an entirely different operating system, offering a gesture-based menu, a totally unique layout and – possibly most exciting of all – full PC functionality when docked to a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

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According to Dell, the Ubuntu build of its Alienware X51 gaming rig has a starting price of $599 and spans across four base configurations, each featuring a third-generation Intel Core CPU and Nvidia GeForce graphics. The system comes with supported Ubuntu drivers from Nvidia right out of the box, Dell said.

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FREE SOFTWARE PIONEER Richard Stallman has asked a South American free software association not to promote Ubuntu Linux at its events because it “spies on its users” by collecting its users’ desktop search activity and selling the data to Amazon.

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Sometimes, the symbolism of an act becomes more important than its actual consequences. A case in point is the repositioning of the link to the community page on the Ubuntu home page, which has reopened the divide between Canonical, Ubuntu’s commercial face, and parts of the Ubuntu community. Not only has that divide reappeared, but a possible error in tactics may have cost the community sympathy that is needed for reform.

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The Ubuntu Technical Board has decided, at its most recent meeting, to finally abandon the Ubuntu Brainstorm ideas site. The site was created in 2008 to bring together the community and developers on a collaborative crowd-sourced platform where problems could be posed, ideas for solving the problems offered and users could vote on preferred solutions

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