nemilar's blog

Drastically Speed up your Linux System with Preload

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:06:10 +0100

Preload is an "adaptive readahead daemon" that runs in the background of your system and observes what programs you use most often, caching them in order to speed up application load time. By using Preload, you can put unused RAM to good work, and improve the overall performance of your desktop system. Best of all, it's easy to install and use!

Manage your Movie Collection with Griffith

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:19:49 +0100

From Techthrob.com:

Griffith is an application for the Gnome desktop that organizes your movie collection, much in the same way Alexandria is used to organize your book library. Simply by entering the name of a movie, Griffith will query various databases on the internet and download cover art, plot details, and cast information.

A Sneak Preview of Picasa 2.7 Beta for Linux

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 09:09:19 +0100

From Techthrob.com: Google's Picasa software is a powerful tool for managing your photo collection. It provides a simple interface for organizing your pictures, as well as some easy-to-use, yet powerful image manipulation tools. However, until recently the Windows version of Picasa has had some features that put it above the Linux version; some of these features, like Picasa Web Album integration, are at the core of the program, without which Picasa isn't very useful. With its newest release, the Linux version is being brought up to par with its Windows counterpart.

Explore the Universe from your Desktop with Celestia

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:55:04 +0100

From Techthrob.com: While it may not let you go where no man has gone before, Celestia is an amazing desktop application that lets you go anywhere in the known Universe.You can view any object in the Solar System, travel to distant stars, and even leave the Galaxy, traveling faster than the speed of light, viewing high-res images of objects millions of miles away.

Customize the Update Manager in Ubuntu

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 04:19:18 +0100

From Techthrob.com:One of the great things about using open source software is the frequency with which bugs are fixed, security holes are patched, and new features are added. Ubuntu includes a very convenient update manager but constantly upgrading your system can be a burden. This guide will explain howto customize the manager to run less often, or automatically install updates.

10 Steps to Convert a Windows user to Linux

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:25:14 +0100

From Techthrob.com: With Linux becoming more popular and easier to use, more and more people are adopting it as their primary operating system. But the transformation from Windows user to Linux user can be a tough road to take. Most new users become long-term users because they have friends that introduce Linux to them. Here are 10 steps to convert a new Linux user. Read More at Techthrob.com

Howto: Add Items to the Right-Click Menu in Nautilus

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 03:40:04 +0100

From Techthrob.com: Linux is known for letting users configure settings to customize nearly every aspect of their desktops. In the past, this has largely been relegated to the more advanced crowd, since it often required editing text-based configuration files; but as Linux becomes more mature, many GUI programs are being written to allow easy customization of the user interface. The Nautilus Actions Configuration utility is one such program that lets you add custom commands to the right-click menu in Nautilus, the default file manager in Gnome. Read More at Techthrob.com

Setup a Software Firewall in Linux using Firestarter

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:56:21 +0100

From Techthrob.com: One of the great features included in Linux is the IPtables firewall. Unfortunately, its command-line use is rather complex, and it can be intimidating for even experienced Linux users to configure it. Firestarter is a friendly graphical interface that allows you to configure a software firewall in Linux using the built-in IPtables/IPchains utilities. Read More at Techthrob.com

Fluxbuntu: User-friendly Featherweight Linux?

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:10:41 +0100

From Techthrob.com: Fluxbuntu's aim is to be a "lightweight, productive, agile, and efficient" operating system; this review takes a look at Fluxbuntu and whether it lives up to the challenge of creating a user-friendly experience on a tight resources budget. The review discusses included applications, the user interface and ease-of-use, as well as some limitations. Read more at Techthrob.com

Virtualization in Linux: A Review of Four Software Choices

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:16:59 +0100

From Techthrob.com: Virtualization is the technique of running a "guest" operating system inside an already-running OS; for example, Windows inside Linux, or visa-versa. This article compares four virtualization products available for Ubuntu Linux: the free, open source Qemu; the closed-but-free versions of VirtualBox and VMware-Server, and the newly-available, commercial Parallels. Read More at Techthrob.com

Howto: Delete Files Permanently and Securely in Linux

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:38:24 +0100

From Techthrob.com: We all know that when you simply delete a file, it's possible to recover it later. Sometimes this is useful, if you accidentally delete something important; but usually this is a problem, and you really want that file gone forever. This howto explains how to delete a file in Linux securely and permanently, so it can never be recovered. Read More at Techthrob.com

Backing Up in Linux - (Finally) made easy with TimeVault

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:35:20 +0100

From Techthrob.com File backups are a key element for every user and on every computer. Whether it be an office setting or a home desktop machine, backups are essential - your hard drive will fail at some point; you will need a backup, and you'll be kicking yourself if you learn this lesson the hard way. Here is an in-depth review, complete with telling screenshots, of the new TimeVault program, a backup utility for Linux similar to Apple's Time Machine. Covers installation, configuration, usage, and discuses some of the advantages and limitations of its backup abilities. The days of manual rsync are over! User-friendly backups are finally here for Linux.Read more at Techthrob.com

SSH101: Secure Shell Basics and X11 Forwarding

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 10:28:58 +0100

From Techthrob.com SSH is an incredibly powerful tool. It lets you connect to a computer anywhere in the world, share files, and even run applications remotely. This tutorial will take you through installing and configuring the SSH Server, discuss some of the basic options of the SSH client, and show you how to run even graphical applications on a remote computer, from anywhere. Read more at Techthrob.com

Hardy Heron Alpha4: A Glimpse into the Future of Ubuntu

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 07:52:36 +0100

From http://www.techthrob.com/tech/hardyalpha4.php This is a look at the fourth Alpha release of Hardy; including many of the applications that are now included by default and the major changes that will improve stability and usability. Among these are the addition of Firefox 3 and Remote Desktop on the applications side, and a new method for systems control known as Policy Kit, which enables the administrator to unlock certain functions for normal users. Read More at Techthrob.com

Enabling Temperature Sensors in Linux

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:18:12 +0100

From: http://www.techthrob.com/tech/linuxsensors.php Most computers these days come with a myriad of sensors to monitor the temperature of your computer. These sensors are generally located on the processor and the motherboard, and you might also have sensors on your video card. On top of that, all S.M.A.R.T-enabled hard drives have built-in temperature monitoring. The temperature of your computer is a vital thing to keep track of - heat and computers don't mix very well. Unfortunately, Ubuntu doesn't setup your computer's sensors automatically; but you can follow these steps to enable the temperature sensors in your computer in Ubuntu. Read More