I’ve written software on Linux, compiled kernels, set up servers, and a whole host of other pretty technical feats. Having been a die-hard Linux user for 10 years, I thought I had handled just about every situation a desktop user is likely to encounter. That is, until I installed Linux for a friend, who then said to me “Ok, so how do I add new fonts?”. Such a simple thing, yet I had absolutely no idea how to answer. It just never came up. To help restore my credibility, I did some research to find an easy way for a Linux newcomer to manage fonts, and came across FontMatrix. It’s a simple and powerful way to add, remove and configure your system fonts.
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Joshua Price
How to Manage Fonts in Linux with FontMatrix
By | September 7, 2010 |
How to Add Physics to Google Sketchup
By | September 2, 2010 |
Have you ever wanted to design your own catapult? How about a toy robot, or maybe a more complex machine you’ve been layout out in your head? If so, you might already be familiar with Google Sketchup. It’s a simple to use 3D modeling program for Windows and Mac that has been popular for years, and is used in such other products such as Google Earth to create the buildings. What you may not know is that you can add a plugin to Sketchup which will enable physics, turning your sketches into simulators.
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IObit Toolbox – A Windows “Fixer” That’s Actually Worth Using
By | August 31, 2010 |
We’ve all seen them – those ads on nearly every software website that offer to clean your registry or speed up your downloads. Many of us have learned to ignore them. Occasionally, however, you come across such an application that actually does what it says. It really cleans the registry, and it really can help repair your system. Such a program is IObit Toolbox. It’s a general purpose repair package reminiscent of the old Norton Utilities. It’s useful, portable, works on several versions of Windows, and to top it off, it’s free.
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Review of Qimo: Linux for Kids
By | August 26, 2010 |
We’ve talked about Linux software for kids a few times here at MakeTechEasier, but so far we’ve never actually sat down to take a closer look at whole distributions intended for children. Many people are familiar with Edubuntu, the Ubuntu spinoff intended for school and other educational institutions, but you may not know much about Qimo. Unlike Edubuntu, which is designed for a client-server network model, Qimo is intended for a sole desktop user – in this case children 3 years old and up. It uses a customized version of the XFCE desktop, with large icons and simple menus, to make it easy to navigate. Included are many of the top titles in kids software for Linux, such as GCompris and TuxPaint. Today we’ll take a look at what Qimo has to offer, and submit it to the ultimate test: a real live toddler.
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Configuring Conky The (Very) Easy Way
By | August 24, 2010 |
Conky, the amazingly versatile and useful Linux desktop application, has a bit of a reputation. It’s clearly a great app, but getting it configured can be a serious pain. Changing anything about it has always required digging through a long text file and editing cryptic lines like ${offset 240}${time %a, } ${color }${time %e %B %G}. As many people don’t have the patience to dig through manuals to find out what all that means, Conky’s popularity has been somewhat limited. Lucky for us, there’s now an easier way to configure it. A MUCH easier way – ConkyWizard.
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Using the /proc Filesystem to Examine Your Linux Inner Working
By | August 19, 2010 |
Quick – answer me this: How much swap space is in use on your system right now? How big is the cache on your CPU? What kernel modules are currently loaded? How many total drives and partitions are you running? If you’re running Linux, all these questions (and a whole lot more) can be answered one easy way: take a look in /proc. It’s a goldmine of system information, just waiting to be retrieved by users, administrators, and scripts. In this guide we’ll take a trip through /proc to see just what valuable system information you’ve been missing out on.
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OpenOffice Base – A Simple And Useful Database Management Tool
By | August 17, 2010 |
When most people think OpenOffice, they think of word processing or spreadsheets. What many people do not realize is that OpenOffice also includes Base, a database system roughly equivalent to MS Access. Many businesses and individuals use these systems to allow even non-technical people to enter, store, retrieve and organize their data. Using Base, you can follow simple steps to create an easy, user-friendly way for people to store and retrieve information using custom-designed forms and reports.
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Comparing Three Linux RSS Feed Readers
By | August 12, 2010 |
If you a web user and don’t already love RSS/Atom type feeds, you’re missing out. Not only can you have all your favorite news sites and blogs pipe into one location for easy browsing, you can even get updates on discounted shopping, or be notified when a new Simpsons episode lands on Hulu. Feeds are among the best features of the modern web, and many tools and sites have sprung up to give you incredible control over how you can access all this information. Here at MTE we’ve already covered some useful desktop feed readers for Windows and Mac, so now seems like a good time to check out what Linux has to offer.
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How to Easily Create a Custom Lightweight Desktop Environment
By | August 10, 2010 |
Gnome and KDE are great – they give you a beautiful desktop with all the tools and utilities you need. On either system, you’ll find a solid window manager, desktop icons, a panel full of applets, the works. That’s all well and good for your average desktop PC, but what if you need something lighter, faster, or cleaner in appearance? You could try a smaller desktop environment like XFCE or go with something ultra-slim like Openbox or WindowMaker. On the other hand, you could get exactly what you want, no more no less, by combining individual pieces together into your own custom desktop environment.
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How to Customize the GDM Sessions List
By | August 8, 2010 |
Have you ever installed a new Linux window manager or desktop environment, only to find that it doesn’t show up on the Sessions list in GDM? Have you ever wanted to remove items from that list? How about create a new list item so that you can boot into a custom desktop environment? It sounds like it should be simple, but many people are surprised by the fact that this small task is actually a bit tricky, and there’s very little documentation to help. We hope to resolve that today with a quick and simple guide to editing your GDM Sessions menu.
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