A new version of the encryption software TrueCrypt 7.0 has been released yesterday, as usual for Windows, Mac and Linux systems. The jump from version 6.3a to 7.0 is more than justified by the new feature additions in TrueCrypt 7.0. True Crypt now supports hardware acceleration; By default, hardware accelerated AES on computers that have [...]

The gnome-terminal is one of the finest terminals available for the Linux operating system. It’s rock-solid, does it’s job, and has a ton of features you might not find in other terminal emulators. One of those features is the Profile. A profile is a way to have multiple terminal configurations at once. You can create [...]

I have covered the Evolution groupware client on Ghacks before (check out all content containing Evolution here). Everything from basic tasks to connecting to an Exchange server, it’s been here on Ghacks. But one thing I have neglected is some of the lesser known, but very useful features tucked away in this fantastic application. So, [...]

In this series we are discussing the Fvwm window manager for the Linux operating system. This little gem isn’t a full-blown desktop the likes of GNOME, KDE, or Xfce4, but you will be surprised how well this ICCM-Compliant window manager will work for you. It’s lightweight, powerful, flexible, and has some nifty, old-school Linux goodness. [...]

This time around, in our Alternative desktops series, we’re going seriously old-school Linux with Fvwm. Although using Fvwm will make you feel like you’ve gone back in time, it still has it’s place in today’s world. Where speed and simplicity are the single most important desire on a desktop, you really can’t go wrong with [...]

For many, the biggest barrier to adopting Linux is the challenge of having to use the command line for too many tasks. One of these tasks, it is though, is the installation of applications. While everyone has seen this is not true of any application installed via the Add/Remove Software utility (which nearly every distribution [...]

I thought I’d take a bit of a break from the desktops (we’ll come back to a new alternative desktop soon) and help the users out with getting both Ubuntu 10.04 and Fedora 13 working with some of the popular media types. This is a crucial chapter in a users life with Linux as we [...]

Are you desperately searching for ways to finally reach that elusive 10 second boot time? You certainly heard that Ubuntu 10.04 has the capability of doing just that right? It can…but you have to help it along. One of the ways you can help your boot time is removing unnecessary services and drivers that are [...]

So you’re enjoy the series on Xfce4. What’s more, you’re enjoying Xfce4 itself! It’s a fantastic desktop environment that should get far more attention than it does. And because Xfce 4 is so lightweight, you might get the idea that you could easily add more to it and hardly feel the hit. You are very [...]

Lately I have been focusing on the desktop environment Xfce. NOTE: You can see all the Ghacks Xfce content here. Why have I been focusing on Xfce? It’s a very light weight desktop that you will find much faster than other Linux DEs and it’s come a long way in terms of usability and incorporating [...]

As we continue on with our travels down the Xfce path, I thought it would be smart to highlight the Xfce calendaring application Orage. This tool is not an “all in one” tool like Evolution, nor does it have all of the bells and whistles of the Mozilla Sunbird calendar. But what it does, it [...]

Today we take another look at the Xfce desktop environment. If you are just now tuning in, you might have missed the previous two Xfce articles “Installing and using Xfce 4” and “Get to know Linux: Xfce 4“. Both of these articles were more introductory pieces. Now it’s time to start focusing on how Xfce [...]

I don’t spend much time, or give much love to the other Linux desktops here on Ghacks. Well that’s going to change. In the next few weeks I am going to focus on some of the “other” window managers…not just “introductory” articles, but usability articles and more. I am going to start by showing how [...]

How many browsers does an operating system really need? If you are looking from the outside in at the Linux operating system you would think it needed plenty of browsers. Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Chromium, Konqueror, Midori, Epiphany, Arora…and now Rekonq. That’s right, Rekonq. The description of Rekonq is simple: the Konqueror browser using the WebKit [...]

“In the beginning was the command line” is not the just name of a great book by Neil Stephensen (read the text here), but a way of life for many Linux users. The command line is the tool for just about any level user. However, the power user takes the command line to newer and [...]

On this, July 4, 2010, the day the United States celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I thought I would take a moment to celebrate that same day with a toast to those Linux distributions that shirk all non-free software. This means EVERYTHING on these distributions is protected under, at least, the GPL. [...]

The MAC address is a very important string of characters that your computer depends upon in order to be networked. MAC stands for Media Access Control and represents the true address of a machine on a LAN. The MAC address of an ethernet device is a 6-byte number that is expressed as a 12 digit hexadecimal [...]

We all have too much to do. So much so that we need tools to keep track of everything we need  to do. It used to be we just slapped sticky notes everywhere to remind us what was coming up, what we had to buy, what we had to do…everything. Now we use various applications [...]

After I set up RGBA support in Ubuntu (see my article “Enable RGBA support in Ubuntu“), I sat about to find applications that could replace non-GTK+ applications currently in use. Replacing the web browser proved to be a challenge. And although it’s not able to stand alone as a full blown replacement for my favorite, [...]

If you are a user of KDE then big things are happening in your world. The development team has released the SC (Software Compilation) version of 4.5 which means this is the final bugfix version. The feature freeze has already happened so you know this release means it’s nearing in-the-wild stability. But why should you [...]

For those with disabilities, using a computer can be a serious challenge. Whether it’s a vision impairment or physical challenge making the most of the PC seems nearly impossible. That is why, on every platform, you will find accessibility tools that strive to make the use of the PC desktop possible, even to those with physical disabilities [...]

We all like wallpaper. Some people even search for days for the perfect wallpaper. But why not create your own wallpaper? You say you don’t have the talent? That’s okay when there are tools like Fotowall out there. Fotowall is a create tool that lets you work with images in a very creative way…helping you [...]

It’s been a long time since I offered up a nice Linux game for the Ghacks audience. So I thought, today I will introduce them to one of my favorite Linux time killers Chromium B.S.U. When I first discovered this game it’s original title was simply Chromium. Obviously this was  a serious conflict of interest [...]

Security sometimes equates to sanity. You have to keep sensitive information from prying eyes for various reasons. You might have a folder that needs to be given access only to certain people and it lives within a public folder. Or you have a folder on your desktop machine that you want to ensure no one [...]

If you use Linux, have a tablet (or a pen/tablet addon), and want a graphics tool designed specifically for that device, you need to take a look at My Paint. My Paint was designed to be used with these tools to keep the interface out of the way (unlike The GIIMP) and offer a collection [...]

There are basically two types of computer users when it comes to organizing files on a computer system. Type a sorts files neatly in folders based on type or other criteria while type b likes to put all files into one folder that is growing immensely over time. The ever growing single folder can slow [...]

Do you administer Linux machines? Or do you just need the ability to remotely connect to your Linux machines from other Linux machines? If so, are you looking for an easy solution for this task? There is one, if you are a fan of the GNOME desktop. Vinagre is a remote desktop tool with plenty [...]

Some times you just have to pull some tricks out of the vault.  These tips can be timeless, classic, or just retro. But generally speaking they still apply to users today. I’m not talking about how to backup to a tape drive, or using punch cards to create a program. I’m talking about tangible tips [...]

Early adopters who have already download the latest version of VLC Media Player 1.1 released yesterday may have noticed that Shoutcast support was dropped in the player. Shoutcast, or Shoutcast Radio, is a service that provides a directory of radio stations that can be sorted by genre or popularity. VLC Media Player did integrate that [...]

Nothing is more comfortable than being able to upload photos or files directly from the desktop to free online storage providers. Without the use of a software users have to open their web browser, load the page of a file or photo hoster that they want to use as a storage provider, add the files [...]

How many passwords do you have to remember? Or how many client passwords do you have to keep hidden away from prying eyes? If you have too many passwords to remember, I always find it best to store those passwords in some form of encrypted tool. Because of the amount of passwords I have to [...]

As you well know, I am a big fan of the Linux command line. Because of this I use the terminal a lot. I am also a fan of Linux eye candy and making my desktop as clean and sleek as possible. I don’t like to have things in the way and I like easy [...]

I have been bragging to everyone how user-friendly Fedora has become with it’s most recent release for a while now. Some people are prone to believe me and some are not. No matter where you stand, if you have any experience with Linux, you know there are certain aspects that can be a bit of [...]

There are a number of reasons why you would want to restrict network access. You run a cafe with web access or you have young or teenage children and you want them to only be able to use the network at certain times. Their are certainly tools out there to do this on a PC-by-PC [...]

I take notes. I take a LOT of notes. When I’m not at a PC I use pen and paper. When I am at a PC I use whatever tool is the most accessible and the most usable. For the longest time that tool was my text editor (most likely Nano). The only problem with [...]

Some applications in Windows have an option to be always on top of other open windows even if they become inactive. That’s a helpful feature for users who want to have the application window in sight all the time. But what about situations where the always on top feature is not offered? What if the [...]

Recently I covered the addition of RGBA support in Ubuntu (see my article “Enable RGBA support in Ubuntu“). I’ve had a lot of people contact me about various tweaks to that desktop to further refine the look. So I thought I would take the time to show you just how to tweak a Ubuntu desktop [...]

For any open source advocate, one of the biggest needs is an Exchange-like server. There are plenty of them available, some of them offer less-than enough features to really be viable. Some of them offer plenty of features but are insanely difficult to install. And then there’s Zarafa. Zarafa is an open source collaborative software [...]

In a recent article I introduced to the Ghacks readers the latest release from Fedora (see “Fedoras Lucky 13“). In this article I mentioned a number of features that helped to make Fedora one of the more user friendly Linux distributions available today.  One of the reasons this is so is the inclusion of some [...]

If you’ve been around Linux long enough you know there are many ways to secure your box. What you may or may not know is that a number of those means are simply front-ends for the all-mighty iptables tool. IPtables is a very powerful, complicated system which can control packet traffic on your system. It [...]

If you are new to Fedora, or if you are now returning to Fedora from a long haitus (since Fedora 9 for me), Fedora 13 has been a welcoming experience. Not only has it reached near-Ubuntu-like levels of user-friendliness, it includes some of the best tools around for certain jobs. One of those tools is [...]

There was talk, some time prior to the release of 10.04, that RGBA support would be included in the release. Well, it wasn’t (much to the chagrin of many – including myself). That doesn’t mean it can’t be done. In fact, it can and it’s not all that difficult. There are a few bugs lingering, [...]

Where would we be today without social networking? I have heard many tales how a social tool has saved a life or joined two lives together. Just recently a friend of mine found our her son was wounded in war not by the Red Cross, but on Facebook. These tools have become an integral part [...]

The number 13 is usually associated with bad luck. Friday the 13th (both the date and the movie). Many buildings don’t have a thirteenth floor. Fedora just released it’s number 13 and one might wonder if the number was good or bad for the release. I am happy to report that the number 13, for [...]

Microsoft’s Windows Explorer can be used to map network locations, websites and ftp servers so that the contents become accessible directly in the file management tool. SFTP, which stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol, is on the other hand not available by default. This can be problematic in situations where secure connections need to be [...]

If you do much bash scripting then you know there are some pretty nifty tricks you can pull off with it. Bash is a very flexible tool. Most Linux users don’t realize how powerful it is and rarely use it. But when you do need it, it is always there. I play around with bash [...]

Tired of having to get clever with your bash scripts so that you can be notified when something happens? What if you want instant notification on an event? Say you run a regular backup sync every, oh, 30 minutes and you want to be notified while you’re sitting at you computer the minute it happens. [...]

One of the things I really like about Linux is how it handles a file’s ability to be executable. If you create a script and you want that script to be executable, you just set the permissions as such. Say you’ve created the script myscript.sh and you’ve placed it in your home directory. To execute that [...]

I get this question a lot. And generally speaking the answer is a resounding “no”. I have gone nearly twelve years using Linux without defragging a drive and I’ve never noticed a slowdown on a system. But just because you don’t need to doesn’t mean you can’t. I have found  it possible to actually check [...]

I’ve done a few articles about the Evolution groupware client here on Ghacks and I promise more. As Evolution is, essentially, the Outlook of Linux, it deserves plenty of attention. In this article I am going to show you how to tackle the task of handling junk email in everyone’s favorite open source groupware client. [...]