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News, Opinion, Tutorials, and Community for Linux Users and SysAdmins
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  • End of 10 Events
    • Wake Forest, NC, — 2025-09-20
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    • The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins
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      • Errata for Using and Administering Linux — 2nd Edition
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1

Triangle Linux User Group (TriLUG) February Meeting

January 29, 2026January 29, 2026
2

Update on my Oldest Computer

January 27, 2026January 28, 2026
3

Why I Installed Fedora Server on My Primary Workstation — and How

January 26, 2026January 26, 2026
4

Network Upgrades Completed — Sort of

January 24, 2026
5

Saving Public Library Computers With Linux Mint MATE

January 22, 2026January 21, 2026
6

Network Upgrades at Both.org

January 21, 2026January 22, 2026
7

Why I Didn’t Convert My Primary Workstation to BtrFS

January 21, 2026January 18, 2026
8

Create a Linux kiosk at your library

January 20, 2026January 14, 2026
9

Writing a fun turn-based game

January 19, 2026January 7, 2026
  • Home
  • Jim Hall
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jhall

Jim Hall is an open source software developer and advocate. His first contribution to open source was in 1993 with a patch to GNU Emacs, but he is probably best known for his work on FreeDOS, the open source version of the DOS operating system, and for his work on usability in open source software. In addition to writing open source software, Jim also writes about open source software, including Both.org and All Things Open, and about technical writing at Technically We Write.
Linux Programming

Read and write data in C

If you’re new to C programming, here are a few tips to improve reading and writing files.

Jim Hall
October 30, 2025September 26, 2025
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Linux Retro Computing Terminal

Why I love Cool Retro Term

Try Cool Retro Term for a classic terminal feel.

Jim Hall
October 28, 2025October 31, 2025
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Linux Video

Setting up OBS Studio to record videos

Here’s how I configure and use OBS Studio so I can create videos for my YouTube channel.

Jim Hall
October 27, 2025October 17, 2025
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Desktop Linux

3 easy ways to make screenshots on Linux

Here are three methods I use to capture screenshots on Linux.

Jim Hall
October 20, 2025October 18, 2025
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Linux Programming

How to parse text strings in C

Use strtok to parse a string using ‘tokens’ in your next C program.

Jim Hall
October 17, 2025September 26, 2025
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Linux Security System Administration

A caution about using sudo

This example shows why it is important that users should not be able to edit scripts that they can run with sudo.

Jim Hall
October 14, 2025October 11, 2025
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FreeDOS Programming

Print ‘Hello world’ in color with conio

Learn how to write your first C program on FreeDOS with this example.

Jim Hall
October 10, 2025September 26, 2025
Read More
Command Line Linux

Unzipping archives from the command line

For many years, the de facto standard in file archives was Pkzip and Pkunzip, by Phil Katz. Phil created the Zip archive file format because...

Jim Hall
October 6, 2025October 1, 2025
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FreeDOS Programming

Write directly to the screen with DOS conio

Write text anywhere on the screen using conio.

Jim Hall
October 3, 2025September 26, 2025
Read More
Command Line History Linux Text Editors

7 ways I use ed every day

Here are 7 ways I like to use the ed editor for daily tasks.

Jim Hall
September 30, 2025September 21, 2025
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Command Line FreeDOS

3 ways I use aliases in FreeDOS

Here are 3 ways that I use aliases on FreeDOS:

Jim Hall
September 29, 2025October 2, 2025
Read More
Information News Open Source

SourceForge is ending free personal web hosting

SourceForge will end personal web hosting (unrelated to project web hosting) in October.

Jim Hall
September 18, 2025September 17, 2025
Read More
Linux

Why do you love Linux?

We’ll collect your ideas in a future “round-up” article with comments from our community!

Jim Hall
September 16, 2025September 13, 2025
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Fun Programming

My start with BASIC programming

Here’s how I wrote my first BASIC programs on the Apple II.

Jim Hall
September 12, 2025September 8, 2025
Read More
Linux Programming

Read long lines with getline

Getline offers a more flexible way to read user data into your program without breaking the system.

Jim Hall
September 11, 2025September 8, 2025
Read More
Applications Linux

Rhythmbox is a great music player for GNOME

I like Rhythmbox as my music player on Linux because it’s simple and stays out of my way.

Jim Hall
September 10, 2025September 8, 2025
Read More

Posts pagination

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David Both ATO Interview

Last October at All Things Open (ATO) I was interviewed by Jason Hibbits of We Love Open Source. It’s posted in the article “Why today’s AI isn’t intelligent (yet)“.

Random Quote

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

— Laws of computerdom according to Golub

Links: Moving to Linux

  • 7 Reasons Fedora Might Be a Better Windows Replacement Than Linux Mint
  • 7 Reasons Why Windows Users Avoid Linux (Which Aren’t True Anymore)
  • Best Linux distros to try before Windows 10 support ends
  • How to switch your Windows 10 PC to Linux Mint – for free
  • I replaced my entire Microsoft Office subscription with free open-source apps
  • Isn’t It Time to Switch to Linux? 12 Reasons to Abandon Windows
  • KDE for W10 Exiles
  • Linux: A true story
  • Why Denmark is dumping Microsoft Office and Windows for LibreOffice and Linux
  • Why I Switched to Linux From Windows

“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.

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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  • End of 10 Events
    • Wake Forest, NC, — 2025-09-20
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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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