Lessfeet » opensource

Ubuntu Precise Pangolin

Mark — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:42:49 +0000

Ubuntu 12.04 (code name Precise Pangolin) is the latest version of the OS. I installed it on my laptop this morning. I haven’t been using it long enough so I really don’t know about its bugs yet. So far I haven’t found any. What I can tell you is that it’s very fast. Maybe much faster than previous versions. I fill that the user interface is very intuitive, at least for me.

Ubuntu still has all of you old favorite applications like…

Firefox – Web-Browser
Thunderbird – Email Client
LibreOffice – Office Suite
Empathy – Messaging Client
Transmission – Bittorent Client
Shotwell – Photo Manager

…and many more.

experience it yourself in this online simulation.

The Winner Mint 10

Mark — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 06:32:30 +0000

I’ve been using Linux Mint 10 on my laptop for a while now and found it to be completely reliable. I’ve been using some form of Linux on it for about 4 years. I have now installed Mint 10 on my desktop. I don’t find Windows reliable. There is always some issue. Lately there is always some process hogging the CPU, RAM or Internet bandwidth. I never have this sort of problem with Linux. Linux Mint 10 is so easy to install and use. It will be my primary OS. I still use PhotoShop and Lightroom on Windows and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Also I have to support Windows users which requires me to use GoToAssist for Windows and GoToMeeting for Window so I have made my desktop a dual boot system with Windows 7 and Linux Mint 10.

LibreOffice

Mark — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:01:06 +0000

LibreOffice is a new free office suite that is much like OpenOffice because it is from the same code-base as OpenOffice 3.3. LibreOffice was started after fears of the possible sale of Sun Microsystems to Oracle Corperation. Sun being the sponsor of OpenOffice. OpenOffice is still available but who knows for how long.

Get LibreOffice!

Diggin On Some Firefox 4

Mark — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 07:31:11 +0000

A few weeks ago I told you I loved the Google Chrome browser. I’ve been testing the Firefox 4 Beta and I’m really happy with it. It’s clean, fast and packed with some great features.

I know a few weeks ago I was all hyped up about Chrome and you think this is just a faze. There are a lot of great things to say about Chrome but the extensions are are to buggy. Google should really help developers build them better. The Firefox extensions almost always work great. I’m sorry this is such a showstopper for me. I’ve been dependent on the extensions for quite some time.

Firefox 4 isn’t even out of Beta and I’m already hooded. They’ve stolen some of the best features of Chrome and added them to the great pluggin platform to create a great browser.

Ubuntu Better Than Ever

Mark — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 06:06:00 +0000

The new Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx is by far the best Ubuntu ever. I installed it on several computer. The installs have been flawless. Every easy! It is much more difficult to install Windows. Lucid finds all of the drivers except of course my Broadcom wireless drivers but it found a proprietary driver and ask me if I wanted to install it. I click OK and Ubuntu did the rest. The user interface is pretty much the same. All the same free software you grown to love. (Open Office 3.2.1, Firefox 3.6, Empathy IM Client and many more.) Of course you can easily install more free software using the Ubuntu Software Center. I love Ubuntu 10.04. I use it much more than Windows. Lucid is simple and powerful!

Lucid Lynx Countdown

Mark — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 05:13:39 +0000

The Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx is out. You can download it now.

recordMyDesktop

Mark — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:48:52 +0000

recordMyDesktop is a opensource desktop session recorder. It records everything you do on your desktop. It is very simple to use, much easier than Jing for Windows and Mac. Basically you select the region of the screen that you want to record and press record. When you finished recording press stop and wait for it to finish processing the video. That it! It’s that easy.

Speed Up Ubuntu

Mark — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:58:34 +0000

There are several programs that may start up when your Ubuntu computer starts. Many of these programs are not needed. You can turn these off by going to “System, Preferences and Startup Applications”. You can turn off some of these but first you must know which applications do not have to start up so I made a list.

AT SPI Registry Wrapper – The Gnome a11y infrastructure allows end user assistive technology (AT) programs such as screen readers to get rich information about an application’s UI state. In most cases it’s OK to disable it.
Bluetooth Manager – If your computer does not have Bluethooth or you don’t use it it is OK to turn it off.
Check for new hardware drivers – keep this enabled
Disk Notifications – keep this enabled
Evolution Alarm Notifier – I do not use Evolution for email so I do not need this. If you use Evolution and want to be notified about ne messages keep it enabled.
Gnome Keyring Daemon – I do not like this application to manage my passwords so I have it disabled.
Gnome Login Sound – I don’t like the login sound I turned it off.
Gnome Settings Daemon – Keep this enabled.
Gnome Settings Daemon Helper – I have no idea what this is but I have it disable with no ill effects.
Indicator applet – I have this disabled with no ill effects.
Network Manager – Keep enabled unless you don’t use the Internet or have a network.
PolicyKit Authentication Agent – keep enabled.
Power Manager – keep enabled.
Print Queue Applet – Keep enables unless you never print.
Remote Desktop – You may disable this if you have no plan to use remote desktop.
Screensaver – disable
Seahorse Daemon – keep enabled.
Update Notifier keep enabled.
User folders update – keep enabled
Visual Assistance – disable
Volume Control – Keep enabled.

Favorite Firefox Extentions

Mark — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:16:43 +0000

I love the Firefox web-browser. One of things I like the most about Firefox are the extentions.

Here are some of our favorites:

FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers.
1-Click YouTube Video Download – Download YouTube in a single click. Download YouTube videos in FLV and MP4 (both High Definition and iPod compatible High-Quality)
Delicious Bookmarks is the official Firefox add-on for Delicious, the world’s leading social bookmarking service (formerly del.icio.us). It integrates your bookmarks and tags with Firefox and keeps them in sync for easy, convenient access.
Gmail Notifier – The original notifier for Gmail. Supports checking multiple accounts as well as Gmail Hosted accounts.
LastPass Password Manager – Lastpass is a great password manager LastPass Password Manager is a terrific companion to this service.
Omnibar – Integrates location bar and search bar into one. Shows search and url suggestions. Quickly switch search engine using search keywords. Provides different auto-complete popup styles for compact displays.

Dearly Gparted

Mark — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:01:03 +0000

I’ve been using “Powerquest Partition Magic” (a non-distructive partitioning program) for sometime now. Here is a great free and opensource tool that replaces P-Magic. Gparted is a non-destructive that pretty much has the look and feel of P-Magic. The only difference I see is P-Magic runs in DOS and Gparted runs on a Linux GIU. Both good programs but Gparted is free!!!