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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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1

Book Update

April 4, 2026
2

Fedora Prix Fixe Menu Gives Flexibility

April 2, 2026March 28, 2026
3

Why Linux Matters More Than Ever in 2026

March 31, 2026March 27, 2026
4

“Using and Administering Linux” Book Progress Update

March 29, 2026March 29, 2026
5

Use FreeDOS to learn about computers

March 26, 2026
6

From ‘Obsolete’ to Opportunity: How Five Old PCs Found New Purpose

March 20, 2026March 19, 2026
7

Fedora 44 Coming Soon

March 18, 2026
8

VirtualBox Problem Solved

March 16, 2026March 17, 2026
9

Is there a better Pi Day than March 14?

March 14, 2026March 14, 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.
FreeDOS

Get started with FreeDOS 1.4

A lot has happened in DOS since FreeDOS 1.3. Here’s what to expect in FreeDOS 1.4, available now.

Jim Hall
April 9, 2025April 7, 2025
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Linux 101 Opinion

Moving from Windows 10 to Linux

Instead of purchasing a new computer just to run a new version of Windows, consider installing Linux.

Jim Hall
March 27, 2025February 4, 2026
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File Management Linux

Connect to a Windows drive from Linux

Here’s how I connected my Linux system to a Windows AD fileshare.

Jim Hall
March 21, 2025March 8, 2025
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FreeDOS Linux Programming

Reading a whole file at once

Two methods to load a data file into memory. Use mmap on Linux sysetms.

Jim Hall
March 20, 2025March 20, 2025
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FreeDOS Programming

Old-school programming with Turbo C

Explore retroprogramming on FreeDOS with this popular freeware IDE.

Jim Hall
March 19, 2025March 20, 2025
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Command Line Linux

Update Linux from the command line

Be a power user by updating your system from the command line.

Jim Hall
March 17, 2025March 8, 2025
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FreeDOS Fun Programming

Calculate pi by counting pixels

This is a very simple way to measure pi, but it was a fun exercise and I wanted to share it.

Jim Hall
March 14, 2025January 27, 2025
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AI Opinion

Don’t skip the learning process

Using AI as a tool to do a thing still relies on knowing how to do the thing yourself.

Jim Hall
March 12, 2025March 6, 2025
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AI Programming

Using AI to translate code

I was impressed that AI did so well translating from an old language like FORTRAN 77 into a more modern language like C.

Jim Hall
March 7, 2025March 3, 2025
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AI Programming

Cautions when using AI for coding

While AI agents can help streamline development, keep in mind these cautions when using AI for coding.

Jim Hall
March 6, 2025March 3, 2025
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Command Line Linux

Selective updates using ‘dnf’

Here’s how I update my system except for one problem library

Jim Hall
March 4, 2025February 28, 2025
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Linux Writing

Learning to love ‘groff -ms’

My journey with markup systems began when I was an undergraduate physics student at university. Until then, I wrote class papers using a desktop word...

Jim Hall
February 18, 2025February 15, 2025
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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
Read More
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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Posts pagination

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Random Quote

Those who don’t understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly.

— Henry Spencer

Why I’ve Never Used Windows

On February 12 I gave a presentation at the Triangle Linux Users Group (TriLUG) about why I use Linux and why I’ve never used Windows.

Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/live/uCK_haOXPFM 

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)“.

“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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  • About Us
  • Computers 101
    • Hardware 101
    • Operating Systems 101
  • End of 10 Events
    • Wake Forest, NC, — 2025-09-20
  • Linux
    • Why I use Linux
    • The real reason we use Linux
  • My Linux Books
    • systemd for Linux SysAdmins
    • 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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The opinions expressed are those of the individual authors, not Both.org.

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