Tavis J. Hampton

Tavis J. Hampton is a freelance writer from Indianapolis. He is an avid user of free and open source software and strongly believes that software and knowledge should be free and accessible to all people. He enjoys reading, writing, teaching, spending time with his family, and playing with gadgets.

Recent Posts

How to Use KVM with Virtual Machine Manager

kvm logoVirtualization has many uses. You can use it to test another operating system, run applications that your OS does not support, or even maintain virtual servers within one or more virtual machines.

KVM (kernel-based virtual machine) is a Linux virtualization tool that makes use of hardware-assisted virtualization (also called native virtualization) using processor technology such as Intel VT-x and AMD-V. Red Hat’s Virtual Machine Manager now has support for KVM, making it easy to setup a virtual machine with a free graphical interface. It is also available for Fedora, Gentoo, FreeBSD, Ubuntu, and many other operating systems.
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A Guide to the KDE Notification System

KDE notification iconKDE offers one of the most comprehensive and flexible notification systems (KNotify). In addition to system notifications, nearly every program has notification settings that are integrated into the larger desktop environment. Moreover, KDE’s notification system is configurable for just about any type of user, including those who need specific accessibility features.
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How to Secure Your Torrent Downloads

secure torrent downloadsInternet security and privacy are two topics that are frequently in the news. Those Internet users who use the BitTorrent protocol to share files are perhaps more aware of these security and privacy issues than others. Many government agencies, special interest groups, corporations, and hackers with malicious intentions monitor torrent downloads and look for people to catch, sue, or attack.

Because of this reality, it is important for torrent file sharers to find ways to protect themselves from litigation, prosecution, bandwidth shaping, and malware. The following tips should help you make your torrent experience safer, private, and more secure.
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How to Get Great Looking Fonts in KDE

kde-fonts-mainText appearance is probably one of the most underrated features of any computing experience. It is easy to overlook fonts because words are all around us, and we expect them to be pleasing to the eyes and easy to read, but probably only notice when they are not.

In reality, a font can make or break a desktop’s appearance and accessibility. KDE makes it incredibly easy to install and configure fonts, but since I could not find any one document that lists all of the features and functionality, MakeTakeEasier comes to the rescue again.
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How to Optimize KDE Desktop Effects

KDE desktop effectsSince its official inclusion in KDE, the Desktop Effects component of KWin has received mixed reviews. Many of the negative reviews point to performance problems, some of which are the result of the dramatically diverse offering of Linux drivers available for graphics cards.

Not all graphics cards are equal, but one would expect them to perform the same or close to the same on one operating system as they do on another. Unfortunately, the lack of cooperation from some graphics chip manufacturers and the slow development of some open source drivers have created an environment where every user’s experience may be different.
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How to Stream Media to Your Xbox 360 or PS3

PlayStation 3Video game consoles, particularly the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, are increasingly becoming more than just gaming devices. They have become complete entertainment systems. You can now watch Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and other streaming video content. You can purchase and listen to music, and with the new Xbox 360 dashboard update coming this fall, you can even watch exclusive live content from cable providers.

One media streaming dilemma that still faces some Xbox 360 and PS3 users is the ability to stream content from another device, such as a desktop or laptop computer. If you have home movies, pictures or photos, a collection of MP3s, or other content that you have downloaded to your computer, it is a pain to have to copy that content to your game console. For Windows users, they can connect their Xbox 360 to their Windows computers without much difficulty. For the rest of us, there are third-party tools. One in particular that I have been using lately is PS3 Media Server.
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Steel Storm: Burning Retribution Review

Steel Storm Burning Retribution artOnce in a while, an indie game comes out that reminds us that great games need not come from huge companies with large development budgets. Steel Storm was one such game, as my previous review of Steel Storm: Episode I highlighted.

The developers of Steel Storm, Kot-in-Action Creative Artel are back again with the next installment, Steel Storm: Burning Retribution. The formula is still the same, an action-packed top-down shooter with strategy elements woven throughout. This time around, there are new weapons, more maps, new enemies, new missions, bonus campaigns, and new multiplayer features.  Steel Storm: Burning Retribution also includes Episode I, so you can play it again or, if you are new to the game, for the first time.
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How to Batch Convert and Resize Images with Converseen

Converseen iconConverseen is a free and open source batch image converter and resizer. With it, you can quickly and easily convert your images to and from over 100 formats. It is based on Qt4, making it cross-platform, and it uses ImageMagick to handle the heavy lifting. Supported image formats include JPEG, PNG, EXR, SVG, Postscript, TIFF, PDF, and GIF.

Converseen is easy to install and use and will have you on your way to converting and/or resizing your small or large collection of images in just a few simple steps.
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A Review of Red Eclipse, Free and Open Source FPS

Red Eclipse LogoThe number of truly free and open source games available for download is small in general, but in terms of genre, first-person shooters (FPS) have plenty of representation. This is largely due to the 3D engines that have been released into the free software community, which lend themselves well to FPS games. The Cube Engine 2 is one such 3D system, and Red Eclipse is the latest FPS to utilize it. Version 1.0 of Red Eclipse was just released a few weeks ago, and I decided to give it a try. It is free to download for Linux, BSD, Mac OS X, and Windows
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Open Source File Syncing And Collaboration With Sparkleshare

sparkleshare-iconWhenever software development or any other type of project requires collaboration, the process of exchanging files, saving them, revising, and re-uploading can be tedious. Because of this, developers have created revisioning control systems. These systems have even been used for documentation in collaborative tools like wikis. Sparkleshare is an extension of these collaboration tools that provides a simple and easy-to-use interface: your own file manager.

Once setup, users can connect to the Sparkleshare server and edit/add/create files that are shared with collaborators, who can then do the same. Sparkleshare also has the potential of being used for simple cloud file storage like Dropbox or SpiderOak. The major difference is that Sparkleshare is free and open source, and you can install it on your own server.
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