Help a lapsed linux user pick a distro with which to return to the fold.
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posted by 256
on Apr 1, 2010 -
26 answers
Are there any blogs about open-source hardware/software products?
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posted by tmcw
on Mar 14, 2010 -
3 answers
I've just got a new netbook running Windows 7. I've not maintained a windows machine since 2001 (my home machines have been mac then Ubuntu, at work I use Debian). I figure I should give Windows another chance. Specific questions I have follow, but I'm really after any good tips and tricks for becoming a power user of Windows 7. What should I know? What are your top tips?
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posted by handee
on Feb 25, 2010 -
15 answers
What are the best open source web-hosting control panels out there? Are there any that are feature-competitive with commercial products like cpanel or plesk? What are your experiences working with them?
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posted by jenkinsEar
on Feb 24, 2010 -
1 answer
How do I remove Dan's Guardian from an Asus Eee PC 900 Netbook? (Complications inside.)
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posted by mordax
on Feb 18, 2010 -
3 answers
I'm considering switching to Ubuntu with no previous Linux experience. Also, I'm no techie. If this is a dumb idea, tell me why. If not, do you have any tips for making the transition?
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posted by pintapicasso
on Feb 16, 2010 -
46 answers
My laptop (an Acer Travelmate) just gave up the ghost after 3 years and a replaced (but still dodgy) hard drive. Any suggestions for laptops that can handle plenty of travel and being bumped around in bags?
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posted by divabat
on Feb 10, 2010 -
15 answers
My Linux machine has no monitor, which is fine, except I forgot to install SSHD. Help!
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posted by davejay
on Feb 4, 2010 -
11 answers
Why do flatbed scanners seem to have so little dynamic range for sketches? I draw for fun, usually with a 0.5mm mechanical pencil. I do not put a lot of pressure onto the pen because it allows for more details/subtle shading.
When I scan the images, the "light" details are always blown out and no amount of fiddling xsane's settings (gamma, brightness, contrast) seems to reveal them.
Is there a trick I'm missing, or paper+scanner just really sucks and I should just use my tablet?
Example scanned drawing lacking much of the visual information that the eye can see on paper.
Scanners I have used over the years: HP ScanJet 3300C, Canon lide (briefly), and now a Brother MFC-5840CN.
posted by a007r
on Jan 28, 2010 -
23 answers
Do people have ideas about what fun things I can do with a little embedded, Linux-capable machine I have lying around?
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posted by delfuego
on Jan 14, 2010 -
13 answers
On my Windows machine I used rules in Outlook to do various things such as shutdown my system remotely via email.
I have switched to Linux (Mint 8) and would like to be able to do this with my new OS. Unfortunately I have not been able to find an email client that would enable me to execute an application/script/command based on a rule/filter. Thunderbird has filters, but only for sorting emails, not running commands.
Any ideas?
posted by Unhyper
on Jan 11, 2010 -
7 answers
I need to install a small program on a RHEL box - it doesn't matter what the program is or does, as long as it is installed using RPM.
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posted by warble
on Jan 7, 2010 -
6 answers
In the spirit of the season: Mefites, what are your favorite charitable computing / charitable networking projects?
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posted by khedron
on Dec 24, 2009 -
2 answers
Is there some software out there that can turn my netbook into relatively passive display device for news, weather, email alerts, etc? And look good doing it?
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posted by modernnomad
on Dec 24, 2009 -
9 answers
Like a dumbass I took my work laptop off the corporate domain and now I can't log in. Helpdesk can't find the admin password for the machine so it's stuck until I travel to the office and they can re-image it (I'm remote). Until then I'd like to be able to at least boot into Ubuntu (or some such) and browse the web.
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posted by jluce50
on Dec 22, 2009 -
14 answers
This post relates to a Toshiba Satellite Laptop, dual booting WinXP and Kubuntu, where a full package update to Kubuntu ver. 9 has caused some display problems rendering the linux desktop essentially unusable.
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posted by minimii
on Dec 13, 2009 -
10 answers
Which light-weight yet powerful laptop should I buy? I like the Sony Vaio Z, followed by the MB Air and the Thinkpad X200. Am I missing any models?
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posted by bkudria
on Dec 10, 2009 -
22 answers
Two-part question regarding a potential XP/Ubuntu dual-boot setup: a)Do I still worry about viruses if I'm not accessing the internet from the XP half? b) From reading online it seems that I'll be able to access files from the XP half while in Ubuntu, but will the opposite be true?
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posted by mannequito
on Nov 27, 2009 -
6 answers
Which Python GUI framework is right for someone new to GUI programming? But who may also aspire to open source community (linux) development/involvement? Cross platform, wonderful documentation/tutorials, and cruft-free new technology are also welcome.
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posted by cowbellemoo
on Nov 25, 2009 -
14 answers
Please hope me: my Linux machine cannot boot when my external drive is connected: it can't get past POST tests when USB legacy is enabled, but it also can't mount the drive when USB legacy is _not_ enabled. :(
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posted by xmutex
on Nov 21, 2009 -
12 answers
Can you recommend a known-good 4-port PCI-Express SAS adapter for Linux? I need out-of-the-box in-kernel driver support.
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posted by krilli
on Nov 17, 2009 -
6 answers
x86 embedded Linux filter: Please recommend a not-too-costly embedded x86 system that is fanless, has a full set of the usual external I/O ports and doesn't use a lot of power. Should be the size of a VHS tape or smaller. Probably Mini-ITX form factor or nano-ITX. Relatively low cost would be good.
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posted by thewalrus
on Nov 7, 2009 -
20 answers
I would like to be able to monitor my own bandwidth usage/data transfer rates on my laptop, whilst using an o2 mobile broadband dongle. Difficulty: Linux.
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posted by Petrot
on Nov 3, 2009 -
5 answers
Does anyone know any simple Ubuntu music software for me to have fun composing with my eight year old son?
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posted by Sch01ar
on Oct 26, 2009 -
4 answers
I'm looking for a step by step recipe for log rotation from a web server to Amazon S3.
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posted by anonymous
on Oct 22, 2009 -
7 answers
I need to put an older version (2.
x) of Firefox onto my computer. I am using the latest Kubuntu version (Karmic, still in beta for a few more days). How do I do this?
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posted by mannequito
on Oct 20, 2009 -
9 answers
How do I turn my GPS track logs into a nice-looking trail map? Do I need a GIS package?
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posted by Kadin2048
on Oct 20, 2009 -
7 answers
Please help me find software for creating tests from a bank of questions, ideally open-source and even more ideally Linux.
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posted by fogovonslack
on Oct 5, 2009 -
6 answers
Looking to build/buy a (maybe) Linux-based media center. Requirements: HDMI, YPbPr, and (bonus) standard RCA output (not all at once), region-free DVD/Blu-ray playing (physical drive[s?]), some sort of remote control, automatic boot into media center interface, small size (not a tower), and (of course) lots and lots of codecs: Blu-ray rips, H.264 .avi, VIDEO_TS folders, the works. Need to know: cost, upkeep, storage options.
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posted by reductiondesign
on Oct 5, 2009 -
5 answers
Open source, command line, low "impact", png-producing, full-featured, good-looking graphing on Linux and other Unices?
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posted by DU
on Sep 29, 2009 -
13 answers
Is there a way to move Google Docs' offline cache storage to an external card?
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posted by Sch01ar
on Sep 29, 2009 -
5 answers
Can anybody immediately see why nc and tar didn't work together the way I expected they would?
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posted by flabdablet
on Sep 26, 2009 -
21 answers
I'm curious as to what are the current "best practices" when it comes to centralized administration of a network of Unix (primarily Linux, but not necessarily so) machines? Essentially, what is the equivalent of Active Directory for a network with one or more Unix hosts? The immediate answer I come up with would be something like
OpenLDAP plus PAM but what I'm looking for is the suite of tools (GUI and CLI apps) for managing the directory, deploying software, centralizing sign-on and security, managing printers, etc.
In a perfect world, I would like to centralize administration of Windows, Unix, and OS X machines via a single directory service, though I imagine such a solution would be expensive and/or cumbersome if it even existed. Or is this something
Samba 4 will do?
posted by Imhotep is Invisible
on Sep 9, 2009 -
5 answers
Where can I find estimates of server operating system market shares? To be concrete, I'd like to know what percentage of web servers, either by absolute numbers or popularity, use Linux, Windows, etc.
posted by espertus
on Sep 6, 2009 -
3 answers
