Tag: ubuntu

Ever since I switched to Linux I’ve been toying with running two versions of Firefox simultaneously, even though I now use Google Chrome as my primary browser.  Why two versions of Firefox, you ask?  It’s kind of complicated, but it boils down to: I use Zotero for my bibliographic management software but I have too…

In order to minimize the risk of repetitive stress injuries, I have learned to use computer mice ambidextrously – I can do it either right or left-handed without any problems.  However, it’s a little more difficult to do it left-handed on my laptop.  And since I dock my laptop in my office to use an…

I’ve been a loyal user of Firefox for years and plan to still use it as my secondary browser (and will use it regularly for Zotero).  But Google’s new browser, Chrome, has really impressed me and I’m going to start using it as my primary browser for email, surfing the web, and every day online…

Thanks to a little surplus grant money, I was able to purchase a nice, large, external monitor for my office.  With my docking station, that meant I could use two monitors simultaneously – my laptop monitor and my external monitor.  I had been doing this previously, but the external monitor I had before was about…

On Windows, I used the free program Eraser to wipe hard drives when I was finished with them. I looked for a while for something similar for Ubuntu Linux but couldn’t find any programs like Eraser.  Turns out, however, that this functionality is built into the operating system, though it is command-line only.  Here’s an…

I’m not a computer programmer (sometimes I wish I was), so I’m going to guess that implementing the ability to save handouts as PDFs in OpenOffice.org’s Impress (OpenOffice’s version of Powerpoint) may be a very challenging programming task.  For those who have never used OpenOffice, one of its greatest features is the built-in ability to…

We periodically watch videos from the internet on our TV.  I found a cool piece of software that is getting a lot of attention – Boxee.  It’s pretty slick, though not without it’s bugs (it is beta software and free, though, so I can’t complain).  In the spirit of true American laziness, once I realized…

I mentioned a while back that I switched all of our computers (currently 5) to Linux (Ubuntu, to be specific).  I was committed to making the transition this time and have spent quite a bit of time becoming more proficient with the operating system.  I wouldn’t say I’m a Linux expert, by any means, but…

One of the great features of Tivo (and one of the reasons why we won’t switch to a different PVR) is that you can transfer shows to your computer.  This is great for teachers as you can find shows and copy them to your computer to then use in class.  Alas, switching to Linux meant…

While Ubuntu does about 95% of what I need my OS to do, there are a few things it doesn’t do (or at least doesn’t do well).  I occasionally need to recognize the text of documents.  There are a few programs for this for Linux OSes, but they all suck – really, they do.  Since…