Category: Linux

  • How To: Check Your Hard Drive Health With A Linux LiveCD

    Previously, I wrote a guide on monitoring your drive’s status with S.M.A.R.T. tools from a running system [see Check your HDD’s S.M.A.R.T. Status].  Although these programs work well for checking the live status of your hard drive, you may run across a situation where you cannot boot the operating system to access these programs. If…

  • How To: Add Panels (Toolbars) to a Secondary Display in Ubuntu 9.04

    If you’re using multiple monitors in Ubuntu, you may find it frustrating that the Panels (Windows users will recognize these as toolbars) are only available on your primary display.  This means that if you’re working with applications on a secondary monitor, you have to look back to your primary to do any application switching, as…

  • How To: Install Adobe AIR in Ubuntu 9.04

    Adobe AIR is a platform that allows software developers to build rich Internet applications that run outside the browser on multiple operating systems.  A few examples of applications that are based on the Adobe AIR platform are Twhirl and TweetDeck. To install Adobe AIR in Ubuntu: Navigate to http://get.adobe.com/air/ and click the “Download Now” button.…

  • How To: Install and Configure Nvidia Drivers in Ubuntu 9.04

    Although Ubuntu has fantastic driver support in recent editions, I had some initial difficulty getting the Nvidia graphics drivers (for my GeForce 8600GT) properly installed and configured in Ubuntu 9.04 “Jaunty Jackalope”.  The built-in video drivers supported multiple monitors, but I was only able to drag windows halfway across the secondary monitor before they would…

  • Ubuntu 9.04 “Jaunty Jackalope” Released

    Ubuntu – currently the world’s most popular Linux distribution – released it’s newest version today named “Jaunty Jackalope” which offers some major improvements over previous versions.  Available in desktop, server, and netbook editions, Ubuntu 9.04 offers faster boot-up times (23 seconds on a solid state drive!), better device compatibility, and new software such as Firefox…