Ok, I have to admit it sometime, so now is as good a time as any…. Yea, I did it, I’ve got a new laptop coming and yes, it’s got Vista…. I’ve been getting a lot of calls for private tutoring, most of these people are running Vista, despite me telling everyone I see NOT to buy it! I can’t very well sit down with someone and their new Vista computer and have no idea where to start, so I sucked it up last night and ordered one.

Now, you KNOW I’m not going to have a new computer and NOT have some sort of Linux installed on it. Thus began my search for information on dual booting Vista & Linux. This in turn brings me to post this article. (and use my favorite Tux image)

What I came across was a dual boot setup of Vista & Mepis, perfect because that’s what I wanted to use anyway. I can’t to say I’m surprised by what I read in this article by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols over on Desktop Linux, but I can say I’m very pleased!!!

Put side-by-side on the same machine, Mepis (and linux in general) kicks Vista’s butt!!! I know it’s not a big shocker, but still really nice to see! Read it for yourself. In particular the Hardware Wars.

Part 1: Leveling the Playing Field

Part 2: Dual-Booting Vista and Linux

Part 3: Hardware Wars

Technorati Tags: Linux, Mepis, Vista, Dual Booting

A handy tip — if you use Thunderbird to get your email, don’t forget to occasionally run File -> Compact Folders. I did so yesterday and reclaimed nearly 20GB of hard drive space! Comparing my mail folder to my backup, I discovered that every single email that I’d “deleted” for over a year (by putting it in the Trash and then emptying it) was still lurking on my disk.

Now I know what to tell folks when they come to me and say they think something is filling their hard drive, Baldy

 

HOWTO Get a load of hard-disk space back

If you need to share files or printers with Windows machines, you’re likely using Samba and know how to administer and configure it by editing configuration files and starting and stopping the daemon. However, there’s an easier, graphical way to configure your box: the Samba Web Administration Tool.

Heck I tell folks to use this all the time it really is the easiest way for a new administer to get his (or her) feet wet, Baldy

 

SWAT your Samba problems

Howto Auto Start Modules in gOS

This tutorial uses Nano, a terminal text editor to edit /etc/modules

Technorati Tags: gOS, Linux, Linux Tutorials

Powered by ScribeFire.

Mozilla has given a proof of concept Firefox vulnerability a “high severity” rating because an attacker can collect session information such as cookies and history, according to Mozilla security chief Window Snyder.

Snyder said the vulnerability will be patched with Firefox 2.0.0.12, which will be pushed out “shortly.”

On Jan. 22, Snyder confirmed a proof of concept vulnerability discovered by researcher Gerry Eisenhaur on Jan. 19. Simply put, Firefox leaks information that can allow an attacker to load any javascript file on a machine. This “chrome protocol directory transveral” is in play whenever there are “flat” files–common in add ons–are installed. Chances are good that most Firefox users will have at least a few of these add ons installed. That’s a lot of data leakage.

The list of the add-ons affected is long, but Snyder noted it was only a partial list. A few add-ons that stuck out,

* ajax_yahoo_mail_viamatic_webmail_-0.9-fx+fl
* quickjava-0.4.2-fx
* open_java_console-1.5-fx
* firefoxit-0.1.2-fx+fl
* ie_view_lite-1.2-fx
* extended_statusbar-1.2.4-fx
* sourceforge_direct_download-0.4-fx
* no_new_window-0.1-fx
* farky-1.1.3-fx
* livejournal_friends_checker-0.8.1.1-fx
* termblaster_firefox_edition_-1.3.7-fx
* myurlbar_a-2006.04.19-fx
* pingpong-0.7-fx
* print_print_preview-0.3-fx
* world_of_warcraft_realm_status_tool-0.2-fx
* settlers_3d_connector_user_info-0.1-fx
* gmail_skins-0.9.8-fx
* firephish_anti-phishing_extension-0.1.1-fx
* bookmark_sync_and_sort-1.0.6-fx
* inline_blocked_image_view-1.1-fx
* myspace_friend_renamer-.75-fx
* facebook_o-state_cowboy_style-1.2-fx
* flickrgethighrez-2007.02.06-fx
* refspoof-0.9.1-fx
* arfcom_ad_blocker-1.0-fx
* downloads_in_tab-0.0.2-fx
* adwords_keyword_multiplier-0.1-fx
* livejournal_addons-5.2.7-fx

In other words folks a ton of addons and you might want to check out and see what of those you are running and shut them down for a while, Baldy

Setting the Stage

Microsoft has released a self-analysis of Vista that proclaims among other things that Vista has less found vulnerabilities than any other OS in their first year. Written by a member of their Trustworthy Computing group, this report exhibits more spin than the teacup ride at Disney Land.

It’s an interesting way to get a favorable number — to say that the code base is brand new, thereby resetting all the expectations. Wrong way, guys, newer code always has more bugs in it, you just counteracted the whole point. Never mind the fact that Vista’s feature set could arguably (and kindly) be called XP Service Pack 4, and totally ignoring the fact that it took 5 years to come up with and release this new set of code/features/functionality.

Read the Rest of the Article

What would life be without music? Given the proper codecs, in Linux you can play almost any digital audio format. Linux has many graphical applications that can do the job, such as Amarok, Rhythmbox, Audacious, and XMMS, all of which provide an intuitive user interface, playlist sorting, and various other options. But what if you want low resource usage so you can play tunes on aging hardware? Here are some alternative players for the Linux command line.

Cmus has always been my favorite, but I might have to try out mp3blaster!

Source: Linux.Com

Technorati Tags: Digital Audio, MP3, CLI,

There’s been quite a bit of buzz recently after it was announced that OpenOffice 3 was due in September. It seems, however, most people still aren’t aware of what’s in store..

Source: Venture Cake Blog Archive

Technorati Tags: OpenOffice, Open Source Software

You know YouTube now meet LinTube, A site that has linux related videos ,it has some nice looking videos so stop in and check it out. they have a video for almost any question you might have.
Check it Out

In a recent issue of Popular Mechanics, the main MythBuster Jamie Hyneman waxed eloquent about troublesome and downright irritating technology. He briefly recommend against Windows Vista and instead suggested Ubuntu. My opinion of him just went up another notch. Now if we could only find a way for them to disprove a myth with Linux/Windows that includes a large explosion.

MythBusters support Linux