Joshua Price, Author at Make Tech Easier

Getting Started with Amazon EC2

When Amazon first launched their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) in 2006, many people were a bit surprised. Those of us who'd always just thought of Amazon as a retailer were skeptical that they'd have much to offer. In the 5 years since then, Amazon has proven that they're serious about this business and in making […]

How to Integrate Google Reader and Google+

Like many of you, I use a lot of Google products. It's hard not to - they're usually useful and free. To date, nearly everything Google has released has been a game-changer in its field. Earth, Maps, Gmail, Android, and countless other tools have each raised the bar for what we expect out of software, […]

How to Play MP3s From The Linux Command Line

At first, this may sound pointless. After all, aren't there dozens of perfectly good GUI music apps out there? Haven't we all found something we like, or at least don't hate? Perhaps that's true, but how much happier would you be if your music app of choice used a whole lot less resources? Or what […]

Living with Fedora - A Debian/Ubuntu User's Take on Fedora 15

I've been a die-hard Debian fan for about 10 years. That said, most of our Linux-savvy readers are Ubuntu users, so that's been my main desktop OS for as long as I've been a MakeTechEasier writer. Ubuntu has always been fine, and generally got the job done without hassle, however this past release (11.04, Natty […]

How to Colorize Black And White Photos with Gimp

Ever come across an old family photo that would really look great if it had some color? Or perhaps you found a gorgeous wallpaper online but the monochromatic color scheme just doesn't fit with the desktop of your dreams. Thanks to modern photo editing programs like the Gimp, this process is a lot easier than […]

How to Play The Sims 3 in Linux

Wine has come a long way in the last few years, making it fairly simple to install many popular Windows games on Linux. Cedega and PlayOnLinux have made it even easier by providing GUI assistance and management of your games. One game series, however, has proven to be consistently difficult to get working, and that's […]

How to Create Flames in Gimp

For whatever reason, flames are neat looking. I'll leave it to psychologists to explain exactly why that is. All I know is that things on fire usually look cooler than things not on fire. To me, that also includes my wallpaper. As regular readers may know, I like to create my own abstract wallpapers and […]

From Noob to Ninja - Your Guide to Mastering Linux

Every Linux user has been new at some point, and unless you've got a history of UNIX administration, the transition was likely a bit daunting. Many people began learning Linux before sites like Google and StackExchange made it easy to find answers, and ended up having to figure everything out in their own. While inconvenient, […]

How to Set Up Your Own (Free) Dark Age of Camelot Server

Before World of Warcraft, there was Dark Age of Camelot (DAoC). Learn how you can set up a server and run on your Windows desktop.

How to Easily Create a Custom Lightweight Desktop Environment

Gnome and KDE are great - they give you a beautiful desktop with all the tools and utilities you need. On either system, you'll find a solid window manager, desktop icons, a panel full of applets, the works. That's all well and good for your average desktop PC, but what if you need something lighter, […]

How to Easily Fix Window and Linux Boot Problems with the Super Grub Disk

Just about anyone who's attempted dual booting or another non-standard boot setup has, at some point, made their own system unbootable. If the words "GRUB Error 2" or "No Valid System Disk Found" make you break into a cold sweat, then fear no more. Now you can include the Super Grub Disk in your geek […]

How to Easily Create Abstract Wallpaper In Gimp

Just about everyone loves a good looking abstract desktop background, but not everyone agrees on exactly what defines "good looking". There are dozens of websites that specialize in these types of images, but you have to sift through hundreds, sometimes thousands, to find one you really like. Sometimes, after all the searching, the one you […]

How to Create Space Scenes Quickly and Easily in Gimp

I'm a sucker for a cool space wallpaper, and judging by the images I find online, so are many of you. Creating a cool space scene can be done in a few minutes once you've got the basic method down, and Gimp provides several ways to go about adding random elements to keep things interesting. […]

How to Create Your Own Torrent Tracker with RivetTracker

There are some things that are less about usefulness, and more about the cool factor. One such thing is setting up your own torrent tracker. There are plenty of legitimate use cases, but for most people, a personal tracker would be overkill. If, however, you need to distribute large files without wasting bandwidth, or just […]

Beginner's Guide to Fluxbox Configuration

On any list of lightweight Linux window managers, you'll find Fluxbox. Originally a fork of Blackbox, Flux is well known as a fast, light, highly configurable desktop. Unfortunately, Fluxbox's emphasis on text files for nearly all configuration often acts as a roadblock for those first trying it out. There is a GUI which provides some […]

How to Run Multiple Linux Distros Without Virtualization

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on How To Run Multiple X Sessions Without Virtualization, which demonstrated how you can run multiple desktop environments at the same time on the same computer, and switch between them at the push of a button. I admit, this was somewhat of a warmup for the real […]

How To Run Multiple X Sessions Without Virtualization

One of the best things about a Linux system is its flexibility. Even though I've been a heavy Linux user for years, I still come across features in the OS a related applications that surprise me. A while back I learned to run multiple desktop environments at the same time, using nothing but the features […]

How to Install Software from a Tarball in Linux

Most of the time, installing software in Linux is a breeze. Package management utilities like Apt, Portage, and Yum have made software installation in Linux even easier than it is in Windows (in my opinion at least). If you know what you want, you simply tell your package manager that you want it, and it'll […]

Making Full Use of the Super (Windows) Key in Gnome

I use a lot of different computers. Many of those computers are on different operating systems, or desktop environments. Just when I find myself growing accustomed to a particular way of doing things, I find myself on a different system with a different way of doing things. Key combinations are some of the most common […]