One of the greatest options to test out a Linux distribution is to create a Live CD and use that to boot the operating system from. That way, no changes are made to the current system, and the user is still able to test Linux extensively. Then, when the user feels comfortable using the operating [...]

Categories: Linux, Windows

Back in the old days, the compiling of a Linux kernel was often a necessity. If you wanted to get a particular piece of hardware working or if you wanted to prune some of the “fat” from the kernel you had to compile a kernel specific to your machine. It was never an easy process [...]

Categories: Linux, Open Source, Tutorials Advanced

There are tons of possible backup solutions for the Linux desktop (and/or server). I have covered a number of possible solutions here on Ghacks. One of my favorite (and the one I use most often) is Luckybackup (see my article “Luckybackup: Linux backup made easy“), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of really good [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, Software, Tutorials Basic

Let’s say you’re a little bit behind the times. You’ve wanted to do some upgrading of your Linux machines but you’ve just not really had the time. Or let’s say you did do some upgrading of your Linux system but you didn’t make any changes to your file system and you’re still running a machine [...]

Categories: Advice, Hardware, Linux, Open Source, Tutorials Advanced

Some time ago I did a series on the Postfix email server here on Ghacks (see the Postfix content on Ghacks for more information). Hopefully you found this outstanding mail server as easy to set up and maintain as I do. But you might have noticed a bit of a challenge using your smtp server [...]

Categories: Email, Linux, Networks, Open Source, Security, Server, Software, Tutorials Advanced

There are so many Linux distributions out there. Some of them are pretty standard and some of them go well out of their way to try to bring something different to the table. I’ve seen just about every take on the Linux desktop. Today, however, I came across a distribution, Peppermint Linux, that added another [...]

Categories: Desktop Manager, Google, Linux, Online Services, Open Source

If there’s one thing that Linux has it’s flexibility. And this is true from the top down; from the desktop environment all the way down to the kernel. One area that offers a lot of tweaks, one that most new users aren’t used to being able to tweak, is the file manager. This is true [...]

Categories: Desktop Manager, Linux, Open Source, Software, Tutorials Basic

There is an old saying in the Linux community (actually in just about every community – but I heard it from a Linux developer first) “eating your own dog food” (or the shorter “hipster friendly” version dogfooding. This basically means using the product you create. It can also be associated with practice what you preach. [...]

Categories: Advice, Linux, Open Source, Security

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 [...]

Categories: Desktop Manager, Linux, Open Source, Software