Getting Started With Inkscape.

November 14, 2013 Training

Inkscape is a Free and Open Source alternative to Adobe Illustrator and other vector graphics packages. First released in 2003, it aims to fully implement the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.1 standard and has been making strong progress towards that. You’ll fine Inkscape in pretty much every Linux distro software repository, so installing it is [...]

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TLWIR: Bittorrent Sync Brings Decentralized File Synchronization to GNU/Linux

August 21, 2013 TLWIR
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Summary: Dropbox and Google Drive are two fantastic file synchronization programs, but both have some serious drawbacks. Google Drive is a very good solution if you have a Windows or Mac PC, an Ipad or Iphone, or an Android device. However, there is still no native client for GNU/Linux. Dropbox has a client for most [...]

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A Kmail Rundown

August 13, 2013 Training
Kmail Tutorial

Does KMail – the default Email client shipping with KDE – come up to the mark? Despite the ubiquity of web-based email and email apps, Desktop email clients still have their uses.

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TLWIR: Developing a GNU/Linux-Based Quality Assurance System

August 11, 2013 TLWIR
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Summary: I write about GNU/Linux for a living. It always frustrates me when I make a mistake that makes it through my review process to the actual published article. Most often, it is a spelling error that I missed during my proofreading process. I recently decided that I had to find a systematic method of [...]

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The Bittorrent Sync Preview

August 4, 2013 TLWIR
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 Summary: I recently starting using Bittorrent Sync, a new alternative to Dropbox and Google Drive that does not put a copy of your files on a central server. Instead, your files are synchronized between your devices using the peer-to-peer Bittorrent protocol. Bittorrent seems to be secure, is very fast, but, unfortunately, Bittorrent Sync is not [...]

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Funding Open Source Projects With Devcoin

July 26, 2013 TLWIR
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Summary: Devcoin is an ethically-based crypto-currency that is a direct descendant of Bitcoin. Devcoin has been developed specifically for funding open source projects. 90% of the Devcoins generated go to open source developers, and the remaining 10% go to Devcoin miners. Devcoins have the potential to revolutionize how open source projects receive funding. The History [...]

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Getting started with GIMP

July 1, 2013 Training
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GIMP – GNU Image Manipulation Program – has long been recognised as the premier Free Software package of its type. If you want to do serious work with photographs and you don’t want to pay anything (or you like your software free and open) GIMP is the first place to come. Now on version 2.8, [...]

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Why Every GNU/Linux User Should Support Tesla Motors

June 21, 2013 TLWIR
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Summary: A group of established business operators collude to lock a radical new upstart out of the marketplace (O’Toole, 2013). Does this sound familiar? It should: as proprietary software vendors tried to lock GNU/Linux out of the computer market, traditional car interests are trying to block Tesla Motors’ direct sales business model. In both cases, [...]

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Why Windows 7 Is My Last Stop on the Windows Train

June 4, 2013 TLWIR
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 Summary I have been a faithful user of the Microsoft Windows operating systems for over two decades, starting with Windows 3.1 back in the early 1990s. Over the years, I upgraded to Windows 95, 98, Millennium, 2000, XP, Vista, and finally Windows 7. When I started using GNU/Linux in about 2004, I happily used GNU/Linux [...]

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Getting Started With Linux Shell Scripting

May 23, 2013 Training

Pretty much every normal task you need to perform on Linux should be possible through point-and-click on the graphical interface. There are occasions when you need to use the command line or terminal window, and that’s normally when something’s gone wrong or isn’t working the way it should do. The command line isn’t just a [...]

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TLWIR 55: How Moodle is Revolutionizing Education With Open Source Freedom

April 16, 2013 TLWIR
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Summary: Moodle is a free software Learning Management System (LMS) that is taking the educational world by storm. It is bringing advanced features that used to only exist in expensive commercial products to the educational community. Technically speaking, Moodle is a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that allows one to administer every aspect of student courses. [...]

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MailMerge on OpenOffice and LibreOffice

March 29, 2013 Training
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In its most common use, MailMerge allows you to customize a standard letter you want to mail out to a bunch of people. You have your letter and you have a file with their names and addresses in. Using MailMerge you put the two together and end up with one individually addressed letter for each [...]

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Introduction to Blender

March 22, 2013 Training

If you’ve ever dreamed of creating the next Shrek or Kung Fu Panda, or even working on a more modest 3D modelling project, you’ll need a piece of software like Blender. 3D modelling is a specialist area, and there aren’t too many software players in the field. Commercial studios tend to use proprietary software like [...]

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Using Separate Drive Partitions for MySQL Databases

March 15, 2013 Training

One way to enhance database performance is to break large database files into smaller chunks. These smaller chunks can either be all on the same hard drive, or they can be spread across different hard drives. Either way, this process is referred to as “partitioning” the database. But, there are a few problems with this [...]

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