Recently I tasked myself to begin creating promotional videos for the ebooks I have written for my publishing company Autumnal Press. These videos needed to be short snippets that could serve to attract attention to the books. Naturally I turned to open source solutions and open source solutions directed me to one very obvious, powerful, [...]

Categories: Linux, Open Source, Software, Tutorials Basic

If you have a need to manage MySQL databases, you know that learning the syntax for the various MySQL tools can be a real nightmare. Fortunately there are tools out there that make this job far more easy. But of the web-based tools, which are easiest? You might have given phpMyAdmin a try, but found [...]

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

If you are looking for a tool that can give you a graphical, interactive representation of what is taking up all of that hard disk space on your Linux machine, look no further than Baobab. Baobab (also a tree native to Madagascar) is a graphical, menu-driven viewer that allows you to get a birds eye view of [...]

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

If you are a fan of Pandora Music and a user of Linux you know that Linux is a bit behind in the app space for this service. There are only a few possible clients and, until now, those clients simply were not options. The official Pandora client, due to flash issues, could bring your [...]

Categories: Desktop Manager, Linux, Music Industry, Networks, Online Services, Open Source, Server, Software, Tutorials Basic

By default, a Ubuntu desktop with Samba installed will be a member of the Windows workgroup named WORKGROUP. Because that machine is a member of WORKGROUP, you would think you could browse and connect to other machines on the same network by hostname. That is not the case. Instead you would still have to locate [...]

Categories: Linux, Networks, Open Source, Security, Software, Tutorials Basic, Windows

For many, the introduction to the Ubuntu Software Center was a breath of fresh air for the installation of applications on the Linux desktop. With the ability to install thousands upon thousands of applications from a single location, the Ubuntu Software Center was the Apple App Store well before Apple could migrate from the iPhone [...]

Categories: Linux, Open Source, Software, Tutorials Basic

So you finally made the plunge and have a brand spanking new Ubuntu Linux desktop. You feel far more superior and safer than you did prior to using Linux. So much more safer you feel like there’s nothing more you need to do to keep your machine and your data safe. And relatively speaking you [...]

Categories: Desktop Manager, Linux, Open Source, Security

Many administrators/users prefer to set up their servers as headless machines. If you’re not sure what a headless machine is – it’s a PC without a monitor. This is an outstanding way to use Linux as a server as typically people install Linux servers sans GUIs. Thing is, a problem has arisen with recent iterations [...]

Categories: Linux, Open Source, Tutorials Advanced

I will preface this by saying I am not a champion for any type of censorship. But when there are children involved, there are times when this is very appropriate. But parental controls are not just about blocking specific web sites from your children’s view. Parental controls also includes keeping your children off the computer all [...]

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