Learning to use Linux is now much easier than it used to be. However, for someone new to the system, it can still be challenging to figure out where to start. Here are some tips and tricks that can help new users find a smoother entry point into Linux. The first step should be to … Read more
Earlier this week, I received a phone call from a gentleman whom I helped transition to Linux Mint last fall. He had a Dell laptop with an i5 processor, eight gigabytes of RAM, and a 900-gigabyte hard drive. Initially, it came with Windows 10, but he was no longer receiving updates because it had reached … Read more
I recently made an exciting purchase: a Roland FP-10 electric piano, a decision that has reignited my passion for music after several years away from playing. During my time in middle school and high school, I enjoyed exploring various musical instruments, but life took me in different directions, and I let that part of myself … Read more
My neighbor, who is a middle school student, recently sustained a compound fracture of his left arm, which left him unable to play baseball or do much of anything that a young person would enjoy doing in the summer months. I offered his mother the use of an old Xbox, but he already had one, … Read more
This afternoon, while reading about new developments in Linux Kernel 7.0, my browser session locked up, and I received a verbal warning that my system had been hacked, along with a number displayed for me to call Microsoft for help. I could not close the Chrome browser session, so I just shut down the system … Read more
In a previous article, I discussed the evolution of software installation on Linux, beginning with the early days of compiling software from compressed packages known as tarballs. Red Hat developed the package managers yum and later dnf, while Debian introduced apt. Other distributions, such as Arch, use pacman, and Suse employs Zypper and Yast. Although … Read more
In the early days of Linux, installing software applications was much more difficult. Most software was not distributed in easy-to-install packages. I frequently had to download source code, which usually came as a ‘tar’ file that had to be extracted and then compiled to run on the system. There was usually a four-step process which … Read more
A couple of weeks ago, while volunteering at the public library, a patron came in with a laptop. He was trying to reinstall Windows 11 but was having trouble installing the wireless driver. He asked for my help. I found the laptop’s model and serial number and searched online, which indicated that it had a … Read more
I have done a lot of distro hopping and continue to experiment with different Linux distributions. I started with Linux before Fedora or Ubuntu existed. The first distribution I really explored was Red Hat 6.1, back in 1999. At that time, it used the LILO bootloader, and the distribution was available on CD-ROM. I installed … Read more
The first Linux CD I bought in the mid-1990s was Red Hat 5.0. It came with a book that claimed you could learn Linux in twenty-four hours—or maybe it was a week—but in any case, that seemed unrealistic. Before diving into the Linux learning curve, I had some experience with MS-DOS and, prior to that, … Read more
