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1

Thinking about Algol 68

June 27, 2025June 26, 2025
2

The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins, Tenet 22—Mentor the young SysAdmins

June 25, 2025June 27, 2025
3

Do I have enough space for that?

June 24, 2025June 20, 2025
4

A beginner’s guide to dc

June 23, 2025June 20, 2025
5

Strange problems with switches

June 19, 2025June 21, 2025
6

Nextcloud is a snap

June 18, 2025June 17, 2025
7

Website problems circumvented

June 17, 2025June 17, 2025
8

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

June 17, 2025June 17, 2025
9

I need a list of URLs

June 16, 2025June 10, 2025
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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.
FreeDOS Programming

Draw a Cylon eye in DOS

Have fun by writing a program to simulate a Cylon’s sweeping red eye

Jim Hall
February 5, 2025February 1, 2025
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Command Line Linux

Quoting text with ‘sed’

Another great use of sed to make quick edits to a text file.

Jim Hall
February 3, 2025January 30, 2025
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Command Line Linux

How I automate file edits with ‘sed’

Here’s a neat command line trick to make changes to a text file.

Jim Hall
January 31, 2025January 30, 2025
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Backups Linux

Personal backups with ‘rsync’

Make backups of your personal data in case your laptop is lost, stolen, or damaged.

Jim Hall
January 20, 2025January 20, 2025
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Programming

Using enumerations in C

Using enumerations with enum makes it easy to store values in a program, yet keep the code easy to read.

Jim Hall
January 17, 2025January 10, 2025
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Programming

Using bit fields and bit masks in C

Using bit fields and bit masks is a common method to combine data without using more complex structures.

Jim Hall
January 10, 2025January 10, 2025
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FreeDOS History Installation

Looking ahead to FreeDOS 1.4

Help test the next version of FreeDOS with the FreeDOS 1.4 Release Candidate 1 distribution.

Jim Hall
January 7, 2025January 2, 2025
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Command Line Linux

Processing files with ‘find’ and ‘xargs’

Here’s how I used ‘find’ and ‘xargs’ to locate the articles I wrote and count the words.

Jim Hall
January 2, 2025
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Both.org FreeDOS

Explore FreeDOS with these 5 articles

FreeDOS is a 16-bit open source operating system that replaces the DOS on older computers. These are your favorite articles about FreeDOS.

Jim Hall
December 26, 2024December 1, 2024
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FreeDOS Programming

Enjoy the holidays with this ASCII fireplace

Enjoy the holidays by writing a ‘fire’ program in ASCII text.

Jim Hall
December 24, 2024December 20, 2024
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FreeDOS Programming

What I learned by teaching others

Sharing knowledge with others is often a great way to refresh and update your own expertise.

Jim Hall
December 20, 2024December 17, 2024
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Linux Web Server

My first Linux in the enterprise

My first experience and lessons learned in deploying Linux in the enterprise.

Jim Hall
December 18, 2024December 17, 2024
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FreeDOS

Set up an embedded system with FreeDOS

Setting up an embedded system with FreeDOS requires defining a minimal DOS environment that runs just a single application.

Jim Hall
December 17, 2024December 5, 2024
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Both.org Programming

5 ways to learn about programming

Read these popular articles from the last year to get started on your programming journey.

Jim Hall
December 16, 2024December 1, 2024
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FreeDOS Linux

How to install FreeDOS the old-school way

Here’s how to install FreeDOS the old-fashioned way, with every step done by hand.

Jim Hall
December 10, 2024December 1, 2024
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Both.org Text Editors

5 popular articles about editing text

Text editors just do plain text. Explore these top 5 articles about text editors that you can use to edit files.

Jim Hall
December 9, 2024November 26, 2024
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Random Quote

Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far the universe is winning.

— Rich Cook

Interesting Links

  • Replace Kubernetes with systemd

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
  • KDE for W10 Exiles
  • Why I Switched to Linux From Windows

Linux

  • Fedora
  • KDE for W10 Exiles
  • Linux Mint
  • Ubuntu

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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    • The Linux Philosophy for SysAdmins
    • Linux for Small Business Owners
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      • 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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