Erica from Canada asks: "... I'm using Ubuntu 9.04... the "Check for Updates" in Firefox is grayed out and apt-get does not upgrade Firefox... I'm stuck at 3.0.18, how can I get upgraded?..." This is an issue, I've encountered before. The newest versions of Firefox are not yet in the repositories, and the "Check for Updates" is [...]

Nicki from Toronto asks: "...I've made too many coasters, where is the link to check the MD5 of the Ubuntu iso downloads... Someone told me I should check them before burning, but I can't find them anywhere..." I have had the same issue untill I bookmarked the page. But for ease of reference to all new users [...]

Ruud emailed asking, "How do I install Chrome and Google Earth? I've tried using apt-get, but the packages are not found. I am using Ubuntu 8.04" For Ubuntu 8.04 users, please try the instructions below. (I'm not in front of a Hardy, 8.04, box right now, so please comment below if you find I've made a [...]

While perusing through Digg, I found it interesting to note that both the Linux and Windows users have something to say about hardware failure issues. I found it interesting, that regardless of software issues, both groups of "observant" users have come to realize that the hardware quality (read that as "robustness" - is there such [...]

This post begins the first (an introduction) in a series of several posts, discussing the benefits that Ubuntu Linux provides to business owners. Naturally, by default, I'll be touching on several open source applications and server packages throughout the series. Hopefully I can also dispel some of the myth and uncertainty, for business owners who [...]

I recently installed a fresh copy of Ubuntu Jaunty (9.04) and set up access to (DNS-321) my network shares using smbfs; as in the post "Sharing the Same Files Between Two PC’s". Shortly afterwards, when rebooting, shutting down, etc. I received this error message: ACPID: Exiting NM_SYSTEM_SETTING: SCPlugin-Ifupdown: Devices removed (UDI: /org/freedesktop/hal/devices/net_00_30_1B_BE_38_3D) [601.136038] CIFS VFS: Server not responding [601.136085] [...]

I recently (finally) upgraded to Ubuntu 9.04 (I've always had issues with x.10 releases for some reason). Until the upgrade I wanted to remain with the LTS track, but (it seems) less developers are supporting it, hence the move. I've performed excessive numbers of installs of Ubuntu and various applications on test boxes, but they [...]

One of the things I've personally found frustrating in Linux is the development status of screencasting applications, or lack thereof. Some projects remain in beta, never coming to fruition, and eventually being abandoned. Others have quirks that seem to cause different issues based on what system they're installed on. Why am I posting about this? It's [...]

I had some spare time over lunch today, and revisited some of the best Linux video links that have been sent to me. Some of them are really great (and we've probably seen before), but I just wanted to share them as it's nice to watch cool things from time to time... Flying Penguins: Prodigy: The Web Site is [...]

As someone whose business also provides web development and graphic design, among other services, it was a real treat to bump into this font management gem (a few hours ago) "Fonty Python". As the name implies, it's a python based application used to manage fonts - Great if you have a lot of fonts that you'd [...]

Becky asked: "...I am running Ubuntu Linux.  I want to wipe my hard drive.  How do i do that?..." I'm assuming that you don't have another computer you can plug that hard drive in? Additionally, you cannot wipe a hard drive if you have no OS to run the software. And finally, I assume by wiping, that [...]

Steve emailed asking: "...because all the DVDs I was burning were useless. Thanks for helping with that, only thing, how do I check the md5sum stuff? Should there be a separate file showing what it is? Where do I find what it's supposed to be? Thanks for..." This is a common occurrence, we download a CD or [...]

Janice emailed asking: "...and lots of your posts show us how to do things in a terminal. Each time I have to go to Applications / Accessories / Terminal, isn't there a faster way, like some key combination or something?..." In Ubuntu (for that matter pretty much all Linux distros), you can set up "hot keys" to [...]

It's been a while since I "seriously" posted on this blog, as I've been super busy. One of the things I do in my work is custom build desktop computers and servers for clients. There's been a sudden demand for new desktop systems. While talking to clients, they've all danced around the issue of having [...]

One of my earlier posts, Faster Internet With an Old Laptop – Ubuntu and Squid, discussed how to install Squid and Webmin on an old laptop. The premise being that having a proxy server on the network helped speed up web browsing (because of the caching capabilities), reduced external bandwidth usage, etc. In that post, I [...]

I had an interesting chat with a friend today, part of which dealt with the differences between Windows and Linux (hence this post). In a nutshell, he was trying to grasp why I really preferred  Linux. He wanted to get into the meat and potatoes of the issue - Why Linux? Funnily, on the spot, I [...]

Here's the scenario: Box #1: Ubuntu Linux 8.04LTS Box #2: Windows XP SP3 Box #3: Remote storage (NAS) DLink DNS-321 Linux and Windows both need read and write access to the remote files stored on the DNS-321 backup unit. This way there is only one set of files and directories to manage, that both computers will share. In other [...]

George one of our readers emailed to ask: "... your solution said it was for Ubuntu 8.04, how do I find out what version I'm running?..." There's a simple, quick way to see what version of Ubuntu Linux you are running. Open a terminal and enter the command: lsb_release -a If you're using Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy), your output will [...]

Rhonda, one of our readers asks: "...I forgot my username and password on my ubuntu/Linux computer. How do I get back on? I have 2 computers just so you understand. One I use windows and the other I use ubuntu. I don't want to throw the computer away so any help would be greatly appreciated..." I'm assuming [...]

This article continues the series of articles on Firewall Builder, a graphical firewall configuration and management tool that supports many Open Source firewall platforms as well as Cisco IOS access lists and Cisco ASA (PIX). Firewall Builder was introduced [...]