Two open source desktop recording tools
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but a video demonstration can save much talking. I'm a visual learner, so seeing how to do...
The Linux Filesystem Hierarchical Standard
In Linux, and many other operating systems, directories can be structured in a tree-like hierarchy. The Linux directory structure is well defined and documented in the Linux Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). This standard has been put in place to ensure that all distributions of Linux are consistent in their directory usage. Such consistency makes writing and maintaining shell and compiled programs easier for SysAdmins because the programs, their configuration files, and their data, if any, should be located in the standard directories.
Can Windows security get any worse?
Really -- the lack of security. If you've been reading this site or my books for any length of time, you know my attitude towards...
Intro to the Linux chgrp and newgrp commands
In a recent article, I introduced the chown command, which is used for modifying ownership of files on systems. Recall that ownership is the combination...
Intro to the Linux chown command
Image by: Opensource.com CC-by-SA 4.0 Every file and directory on a Linux system is owned by someone, and the owner has complete control to change...
Intro to the Linux chmod command
Every object on your Linux system has a permission mode that describes what actions a user can perform on it. There are three types of...
Learning with the turtle
Image by: Patti Black on Unsplash Mathematics was anathema to me in my early years. As a visual learner, abstract concepts were challenging for me....
How my easy, home-made backup program saves time, space on the storage medium, and network bandwidth
Nothing can ever go wrong with my computer and I will never lose my data. Riiiiight.
This article discusses the backup program I created to prevent catastrophic data loss and facilitate easy recovery. I also show how you can install and use it yourself.
Intro to the Linux useradd command
Adding a user is one of the most fundamental exercises on any computer system; this article focuses on how to do it on a Linux system.
5 note-taking apps for Linux
Notes are part of any writer’s life. Most of my articles begin in a note taking application and that’s usually Joplin for me. There are a large number of note taking apps for Linux and you may use something other than my favorite. A recent blog article reminded me of a half dozen of them. That was an invitation to learn more about how each of these applications came to be and who were their developers.
As many as 400,000,000 Windows 10 PCs can’t be upgraded to Windows 11
According to a study by Lansweeper, and reported on ZDNet in 2022, less than 43% of PCs can be upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Will you ditch your old Windows 10 PCs for new Windows 11 ones, or is there another way?
How to run DOS apps on Linux
With QEMU and FreeDOS, you can run your favorite DOS applications and games.
Using the command line calendar and date functions in Linux
have always been interested in historical dates and determining the actual day of the week an event occurred. What day of the week was the Declaration of Independence signed? What day of the week was I born? What day of the week did the 4th of July in 1876 occur? I know that you can use search engines to answer many of these questions. But did you know that the Linux command line can supply those answers, too?
6 Linux metacharacters I love to use on the command line
Using metacharacters on the Linux command line is a great way to enhance productivity.
Early in my Linux journey, I learned how to use the command line. It’s what sets Linux apart. I could lose the graphical user interface (GUI), because it was unnecessary to rebuild the machine completely. Many Linux computers run headless, and you can accomplish all the administrative tasks on the command line. It uses many basic commands that all are familiar with—like ls, ls-l, ls-l, cd, pwd, top, and many more.
David Both: My Open Source Story
Here I am, almost 30 years into my personal crazy open source story, and it shows no sign of abating. And my problem is that I like to know how things work and to fix things. I started fixing TVs, ours and the neighbors’, when I was nine or ten. Read on to discover how that led me into the open source world.
Why DOS only has 16 colors
Have you ever wondered why DOS text only comes in 16 colors and 8 background colors?