Like many of you, I occasionally come into possession of an older laptop. Usually, it’s something that used to run Windows XP, sometimes even older. You always hear that Linux is supposed to be so great for resurrecting old hardware, but many modern desktop distributions with all their bells and whistles end up chugging along just as slowly as Windows did. In those circumstances, you can either throw the machine away, or build your own custom install tailored toward the needs of the machine. Today we’re going to put together a Debian installation tailored specifically toward the needs of an older laptop.
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How to Build a Lightweight Linux for your Low-End Laptop
By | August 31, 2011 | 7 Comments
How to Create a Custom Debian Live CD through the Web
By | September 14, 2010 |
If Debian means one thing, it’s functionality. You typically don’t go to Debian for cutting-edge features or fancy bells and whistles, but if you’re after an extremely versatile, stable, and dependable Linux, it can’t be beat. One of Debian’s newer offerings is the ability to create a custom Live CD directly from their website. You choose your options, they generate the image. Like all things Debian, it’s not flashy, you’ll get no AJAX animations or jQuery effects, just a functional, flexible, and powerful tool, and here’s how to use it.
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The Beginner Guide to Use GoogleCL
By | June 23, 2010 |
At some point, the people at Google, who brought you the Linux-based Android platform and the Summer of Code, decided that they still were not geeky enough. To resolve that gut feeling, they have released GoogleCL, a command line utility for popular Google services. Now, even the most hardcore command line Linux purists have no reason to not try out some Google services.
Truthfully, GoogleCL provides a feature-rich command line tool set that will be useful to Linux geeks and regular users alike. With it, users can perform tasks quickly and efficiently.
GoogleCL is a cross-platform python application that includes tools for the following Google services: Picasa, Blogger, YouTube, Google Docs, Contacts, and Calendar.
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How to Run Multiple Linux Distros Without Virtualization
By | August 11, 2009 |
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on How To Run Multiple X Sessions Without Virtualization, which demonstrated how you can run multiple desktop environments at the same time on the same computer, and switch between them at the push of a button. I admit, this was somewhat of a warmup for the real show – how to run multiple Linux distributions at the same time without having to deal with the drawbacks of virtualization software.
Today, we’re going to be using chroot to treat certain parts of your Linux filesystem as (almost) completely isolated systems. This can let you do all kinds of interesting things, like run a full Gentoo system from inside your Ubuntu system with little to no performance loss.
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How To Customize Your Startup Routine In Debian
By | April 8, 2009 |
Every modern operating system has some sort of startup routine. Even DOS had the old AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. The startup system defines what is launched on system startup, under what conditions, and in what order. DOS did things the simple way, having a file that was read on every boot that would run commands in whatever order they’re placed in the file. It is indeed simple, but like much of DOS, not nearly powerful or flexible enough to cut it these days.
You Want A Beautiful OS? Try Elive
By | February 26, 2009 |
What do you get when you put a stable operating system, an innovative desktop manager and plenty of eye candies together? You get nothing short of a beautiful and functional OS.
Elive is a Debian-based Linux distro, customized with Enlightenment e17 desktop manager. It is designed with the aim of providing a stable, fully functional and beautiful operating system that can run with minimal hardware requirement.
The current stable version is based on Debian-etch while the version that is under development is based on the recently released Lenny. Knowing the stability and versatility of Debian and the elegant and simplicity of Enlightenment, there are little things that Elive can go wrong.
The Detail Guide To Perform A Debian 5.0 Network Install
By | February 20, 2009 |
Almost two years after Etch, Debian is putting the much-anticipated Lenny release on the proverbial shelves. There are some pretty nice new features in this release. In this article, we’re going to cover installation, basic setup, disk encryption, and try out some of Lenny’s new moves.
