LightDM is the login screen you see once your Ubuntu machine starts up. It’s a lot better than the old days when you were dropped at a terminal prompt. The following will show you how to customize LightDM with themes and backgrounds to dress up that dull look.
When it comes to producing GUI prototypes, flowcharts, and other business diagrams, Microsoft’s Visio is often the go-to tool on the Windows platform. For Linux, Evolus Pencil is one of the best for creating quality images quickly and easily.
Autokey is great for text-substitution, but its scripting feature can make your Linux desktop even more powerful and useful.
The APT system in Ubuntu may be useful for installing applications, but it is not deploy a service/program. The Juju system aims to make access to server-based programs as simple as those for the desktop. Here’s how to use it.
When you think of editing images on Linux, your first thought may be of GIMP, but do you know that Gwenview can be a useful photo editor as well?
There are several media center applications for Linux users. For fans of KDE, there’s a new Plasma Media Center that will fit in nicely with your desktop.
Virtualbox is a useful application that allows you to run another operating system in your Ubuntu. Here, we will show you how you can setup your Ubuntu so you can log directly into the Virtual Machine from the login screen.
This article examines the desktop toolkits, GTK+ and Qt, that allow developers to create applications quickly and with a common look and consistent functionality.
If you are a writer, you would have used tools like Final Draft or Scrivener to create your work. What if you are a Linux user and those tools are not available on Linux platform? Here are some Linux-based creative writing applications for you.
Instead of the regular basic command you use regularly, here are several improved alternative commands that can make you more productive.
For Linux users, knowing how to get around on the command line is an essential skill. But there are times where you might not remember a command or you actually need to edit a file. The Midnight Commander is an excellent tool to manage your files in the terminal.
Most Linux users are familiar with the various desktop manager like KDE, GNOME, etc, but few understands the important component that makes each of these desktops possible – the venerable X-Window System. Let’s take a look at this important piece of software in more detail.
Most guru will disapprove the using of GUI desktop on a server, but there are situations where a GUI desktop is desired. When such situations arise, you can make use of the instruction here to install a GUI desktop on your Ubuntu server that will only start on demand.
You received a new computer as a present, the next problem you are facing is how to migrate your Linux setup on the existing PC to this new machine. In this tutorial, we will show you how you can move your existing Linux installation to a new machine without losing the files and settings.
If you have tried converting tons of documents from one format to another, you will know that it is a boring and unproductive job. In Linux, you can easily automate document conversion with unoconv. Getting the job done is just a command line away.
To test out a new version of a software in Linux, the usual way is to overwrite your current stable version with the newer one. This tutorial shows you how to test the new LibreOffice without losing your current install.
Most Linux distro comes with a package manager that allows you to easily install binary package (DEB or RPM). However, if you are planning to customize the software you are installing, like adding additional features, then you might want to use the source packages and compile them yourself. Here is how you can do so.
Linux users who are using Red Hat-based distro will be familiar with the YUM repositories. Here are some basics of the Yum repositories that you should know.
“Apt-get” may be the default installer in Ubuntu, but when it comes to installing large sets of software, it can be really slow and obsolete. Fortunately, there’s a “tasksel”, which is just like a “apt-get for apt-get”.
RPM is the package management system for many Red Hat based distro. Let find out how RPMs works and how it compares with the “Ubuntu way” of managing software.
FreeOffice is a good alternative to Microsoft Office and LibreOffice and you can help the charity just by downloading it. Check it out.
XBMC is one of the most popular open source media center systems and OpenELEC is a Linux distribution built with the XBMC code. Check out the distro and its distinct advantages over a XBMC software install
Linux users have an almost infinite number of UI’s to from which to choose. You can choose between KDE, GNOME, Unity, and XFCE and many more. If you are feeling nostalgic, here are a few retro desktops that you can choose from.
Ever wonder how and why your Linux system can always auto update itself to the latest version? Learn about the basics of the debian package management and how the APT and repositories work in Linux.
XBMC is one of the best media center software around and one of its ability is to access and stream media from all sorts of different devices. Let’s suppose you have pictures on your Windows PC, Music in iTunes on a Mac, some ripped DVD’s on your Linux file server, etc. Here’s how to connect your XBMC box to them all.
WINE is a great tool for you to run Windows apps in Linux. qt4wine made the installation process easier. Check out how qt4wine can help you easily install Windows apps in Linux.
A great way to keep track of progress on a project is to use a system designed for that task. Collabtive is a web application that includes what most project groups need, and is simple enough for anyone to use
Package management in Debian and Ubuntu-based distro is easy. But if you are looking to create your own deb packages, there aren’t many useful tools around. Learn how you can build your own deb packages here.
Deb is the commonly used package management system in Debian-based distro, including Ubuntu. In this tutorial, we show you the basics of a debian package and its file structure.
Many, many “productivityists” are followers of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” methodology. The methodology itself doesn’t rely on a specific tool or application, but that hasn’t stopped fans from trying to develop the perfect one. Let’s take a look at one – Zanshin, which is part of the KDE Software Collection.
BitNami packages are a great way to test out a specific application. With a few extra steps, you can quickly deploy and try out all sorts of web-based applications. Here’s the full tutorial on adding web apps to your BitNami LAMP stack
If you are using KDE and are in need of a backup solution, KBackup is one simple application that can get the job done. Where Backintime provides a nice, OS X-esque interface, KBackup is back-to-basics program that will equally well. Check out the full review here.
It’s a good practice to keep a version of your back-ups on and off your computer. Here, we’ll show you how to back up your Linux machine to Box
If you are just starting out creating your own shell scripts, here are the ways to easily add conditionals and GUI to your shell scripts.
One of the best things about the Linux command line is your ability to put together scripts that make your life easier. While shell programming may seems difficult to learn, these 2 simple tricks cn allow you to easily simple shell script to automate your life.
Have you ever wanted to try a web app without dabbling into the installation and configuration? Luckily, Bitnami have stacks for different web apps so you can easily test them out effortlessly. Let check it out.
We mentioned how you can use FengOffice to create your own Google Drive. In this article, we will show you how to extend FengOffice to include email handling and doing some simple spreadsheet work.
Text editors are great for creating markdown document because they run light are mostly distraction-free. In this article, we’ll show you how to convert the markdown document in Kate text editor (KDE) to HTML with a single shortcut.
Back in Time backup your Linux system and allows you to restore it much like the Time machine in Mac. Here’s the full review of the KDE edition.
Google has a great set of services available for general consumers, and even offers it for a reasonable rate for businesses. But if you’re the paranoid type, or just like to do things yourself, there’s a way you can create something like Google Docs that you install and host on any Ubuntu box you might have. Here is how you can do it.
There are a number of ways you can log into one computer to run software from another: ssh for purely command-line work, VNC for a remote view of your desktop, RDP if you’re stuck (temporarily) in Windows. Nomachine is known for their NX system, which it compresses the data it sends and receives, making it suitable for slower network connections.
In this part 2 of the Google Apps on Linux series, we will show you how to integrate your Google Documents, Music and Picasa to your LInux desktop.
Google is a favorite among free software lovers because of their tendency to “don’t be evil.” This guide will show you how to hook up the programs on your Ubuntu desktop to the variety of Google web apps, for the nice, Linux-y experience we’re all looking for.
We have shown you how to use Markdown to quickly produce clean HTML from text, but what if you also want to produce an ebook using the same content as you have on the web? There is another tool that allows you to take Markdown and turn it into OpenOffice/LibreOffice documents, PDF’s, or even e-books suitable for a Kindle or other e-reader.
When it comes to writing, it is great to always create the draft in plain text. The problem lies when you need to transform those plain-text words into something nicely-formatted and readable. Fortunately, Linux provides two programs that allow you to draft in plain text, then convert to other, more graphical formats.
In this Part 2 of the Subversion series, we’ll show you how to recall a previous version of a document as well as how to download all your in-process work to another machine.
Do you know you can easily setup your own document versioning system without the need of GDrive and Dropbox? Subversion (SVN) is all you need. Here is how you set it up in Linux
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