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  • Ubuntu Java versions
    Just a quick note. I discovered that the Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) version of sun-java6 provided in one of their updates is a higher version than the base version provided in Karmic (9.10). This produces installation errors if you try to add any additional Java packages. The solution is to remove sun-java6 and its associated [...]

  • Proper USB Portage
    When will computer manufacturers finally get it right? For a serious computer user, four or even six USB ports is just not enough. In this day and age, I should not have to attach a HUB just so I can have all of my devices connected at once. Everyone is different, but let me give [...]

  • KDE 4.4 and Tabbed Windows
    KDE 4.4 Beta 1 has been released, and the talk of the town is the new “tabbed windows” feature. They completely slipped this one past me. I didn’t even know anyone was working on it. Anyway, it is exactly what the name implies: the ability to have multiple windows all tabbed in one window. You [...]

  • The Year of the Linux Desktop Mobile Phone
    Since its creation, over fifteen years ago, free software and open source advocates have longed for the day when masses of people around the world would adopt GNU/Linux or Linux (depending on who you ask). There is little doubt that the past five years have seen tremendous strides in Linux desktop adoption. Some hardware vendors, [...]

  • How to Use Digikam to Export Photos to Flickr, PicasaWeb, and Facebook
    Digikam is a free and open source photo management software package for KDE. Many KDE-based Linux distributions either come with Digikam installed or have it available in their repositories. With Digikam, you can import photos from your digital camera or flash memory, organize and tag them, rate them, edit them, and export them to various [...]

  • Nokia N900 Phone?
    The Web is buzzing about Nokia’s announcement of the next in the Nokia Nxxx series, the N900.  I found it odd that Nokia had chosen to make this version a phone when the previous three versions, the 770, N800, and N810 were all “internet tablets”.  The only reason I even believed this one would be [...]

  • Employers and Social Media
    There have been numerous reports lately about employers checking up on employees or potential employees on Facebook, MySpace, and other forms of social media.  I do not have a problem with this in principle.  I am one who has always believed that you should be real wherever you are.  If the real you is a [...]

  • A Quick and Easy Guide to KDE KIO slaves
    One of the many ways KDE makes our lives easier is by providing graphical interfaces for many of the  tasks that computer users want to perform. Web browsers typically accept certain protocols that connect them to resources, such as http, https, and ftp. In KDE, these are called KIO slaves, and nearly all KDE applications can [...]

  • How to Set Special Window Settings with KWin
    KWin is a free and open source window manager and is the default in KDE. It is a powerful, highly customizable window manager with a plethora of both aesthetic and nuts and bolts features. With the release of KDE 4, the developers added 3D desktop effects, but they also carried over many customization features from KDE [...]

  • How to layout a book with OpenOffice.org Parts 2 and 3
    I am a little behind, but here are parts two and three of my article series on formatting a book in OpenOffice.  Both articles are available on MakeTechEasier.com. Part 1 (if you missed it) Part 2 Part 3