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...
Usability testing in open source software
Through usability testing, we can make open source software projects easier for everyone to use.
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...
Tips on writing open source documentation
Adjust your style when writing documentation to reach a wider audience.
Open source in organizations
Open source is a power multiplier for today’s IT organizations.
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.
Play a fun math game with Linux commands
Use these commands to generate random numbers for a fun math quiz game.
5 common C programming bugs (and how to avoid them)
Add a little extra code to your next program to avoid these common C programming mistakes.
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.
Running FreeDOS on Linux
Here’s how I boot FreeDOS on my Linux desktop machine using QEMU.