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1

SourceForge is ending free personal web hosting

September 18, 2025September 17, 2025
2

Triangle Linux Users Group to hold installfest

September 17, 2025September 17, 2025
3

Why do you love Linux?

September 16, 2025September 13, 2025
4

Minty Fresh on a Meerkat: My Latest Linux Setup

September 15, 2025September 10, 2025
5

My start with BASIC programming

September 12, 2025September 8, 2025
6

Read long lines with getline

September 11, 2025September 8, 2025
7

Rhythmbox is a great music player for GNOME

September 10, 2025September 8, 2025
8

Reading the command line with getopt

September 9, 2025September 8, 2025
9

How do I choose a Linux distribution?

September 5, 2025September 5, 2025
  • Home
  • Don Watkins

dwatkins

Hardware Linux

Minty Fresh on a Meerkat: My Latest Linux Setup

A trip to Denver and the System76 factory in 2018 afforded me a chance to meet their technology team and look at the products they...

Don Watkins
September 15, 2025September 10, 2025
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Linux Open Source

Using QGIS and MerginMaps for Geospatial Data Work

Recently, a friend asked me if I could help him map his walk around the area where he lives. I use a pedometer to track...

Don Watkins
September 4, 2025September 3, 2025
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Linux Moving to Linux Open Source

Good Reasons for Linux as your daily driver

Linux stands out as a consumer operating system thanks to its unique blend of freedom, performance, and community-driven innovation. Whether you’re on a budget laptop,...

Don Watkins
August 22, 2025August 21, 2025
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AI Linux Open Source

Introducing Jan: A Privacy-Centric, Open-Source GPT for AI Enthusiasts

Are you looking for a locally hosted open source GPT that protects your privacy while allowing you to leverage the latest AI models? Then you need to download Jan. Jan is easy to install on Linux, macOS, and Windows and has excellent documentation to guide that process.

Don Watkins
August 14, 2025August 5, 2025
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Linux

An Open-Source AI Tool for Voice Generation

Are you a scientist, developer or just a tinkerer like me? Are you fascinated with the power of AI to generate and clone a human...

Don Watkins
August 11, 2025August 3, 2025
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LibreOffice Open Source Software Tips and tricks

Bulk Document Conversion Made Easy with LibreOffice

 I have many documents created with Microsoft Office for assignments written for graduate school courses years ago. How can I easily convert those dozens of...

Don Watkins
August 4, 2025August 5, 2025
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Linux Open Source Software

Tips for faster note taking with Joplin

Joplin has become my default note-taking app. I use it for everything, whether short notes on what to pick up at the store to saving...

Don Watkins
July 31, 2025July 24, 2025
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Linux

Nextcloud is a snap

Recently I have been tasked with assisting a local medical office with finding a new way to store medical images securely. The office needed a...

Don Watkins
June 18, 2025June 17, 2025
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KDE Plasma Linux Moving to Linux Open Source

Breaking Free from Windows 10: KDE Plasma Is Your Upgrade to Freedom

October 14, 2025, is a big day if you’re a Microsoft Windows user. That’s the day that support for Windows 10 ends. But what if...

Don Watkins
June 17, 2025June 17, 2025
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KDE Plasma Linux

Fine tuning the KDE Plasma desktop

In the my blog post I wrote about the new Lenovo V 15 laptop I purchased and installed Fedora KDE Plasma 42. One of the...

Don Watkins
May 16, 2025May 16, 2025
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Linux Moving to Linux

Upgrading a Lenovo V15 to Fedora KDE Plasma

I’ve been looking for a new laptop for a couple of months because the one I’ve been using is missing a ‘P’ key. Replacing the...

Don Watkins
May 15, 2025May 9, 2025
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LibreOffice Linux ODF Open Document Format

Celebrating 20 Years of ODF: The Backbone of Open Standards

LibreOffice is a free and open-source office productivity suite developed by The Document Foundation (TDF). It originated as a fork of OpenOffice.org in 2010. I...

Don Watkins
May 13, 2025May 5, 2025
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Linux

Mastering Screenshots with KDE Spectacle:

Writing blog posts that share my experiences with Linux and open-source software often requires screenshots of accomplishing a task or an expected outcome. Over time,...

Don Watkins
April 29, 2025April 24, 2025
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Linux

Learning to use System Settings in Fedora KDE Plasma

I have been using Fedora with the KDE Plasma desktop environment for almost three months, and overall, it’s been a wonderful experience. However, I’ve encountered...

Don Watkins
April 28, 2025April 23, 2025
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Linux

Using Linux on Apple Silicon

I bought an M3 MacBook Air last fall to experiment with AI tools and LLMs that were available for use on Apple Silicon.

Don Watkins
April 7, 2025April 7, 2025
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Linux Moving to Linux

A Fresh Start with Linux Mint

A few weeks ago, someone at the faith community I attend asked for my help logging into their computer. I suspected it might have been...

Don Watkins
April 4, 2025March 31, 2025
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Random Quote

Project teams detest weekly progress reporting because it so vividly manifests their lack of progress.

— Laws of computerdom according to Golub

End of 10...

  • End of 10…

Links: Humor

  • Linux: A true story

Links: Interesting info

  • Replace Kubernetes with systemd

Links: Linux

  • Fedora
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Links: Moving to Linux

  • 7 Reasons Fedora Might Be a Better Windows Replacement Than Linux Mint
  • Best Linux distros to try before Windows 10 support ends
  • Isn’t It Time to Switch to Linux? 12 Reasons to Abandon Windows
  • KDE for W10 Exiles
  • Linux: A true story
  • Why I Switched to Linux From Windows

Links: Open Source Software

  • GIMP
  • LibreOffice

“systemd for SysAdmins” Now Available

May 13,2025

My latest book — a #1 New Release on Amazon — “systemd for Linux  SysAdmins” is now available from my publisher, Apress, and on Amazon.

2nd Edition now Available

All three volumes of this best-selling second edition of my Linux Self-Study course are now available from Apress and Amazon. See the details of this 3-volume self-study course.

Technically We Write — Our Partner Site

Our partner site, Technically We Write, has published a number of articles from several contributors to Both.org. Check them out.

Technically We Write is a community of technical writers, technical editors, copyeditors, web content writers, and all other roles in technical communication.

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    • Using and Administering Linux – Zero to SysAdmin: 2nd Edition
    • The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins
    • Linux for Small Business Owners
    • Errata
      • Errata for The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins
      • Errata for Using and Administering Linux — 1st Edition
      • Errata for Using and Administering Linux — 2nd Edition
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