Newsletter Archives

• The state of Linux in 2022

  Posted on August 29, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums

  LINUX

  

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  Linux continues to play a major role in a number of market segments, from everyday embedded devices to supercomputers.

  While it is used on fewer than 3% of desktops, it dominates supercomputing, web servers, the cloud, smartphones, and more. Linux-supported systems have even helped in the successful completion of 65 SpaceX missions. The fact that Linux is open-source means that it can be optimized for many different purposes and, looking at the Linux roadmap, it has.

  Let’s take a stroll through Linux and see where it stands in 2022!

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.35.0, 2022-08-29).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux

• Ewaste or usable – week 4

  Posted on May 28, 2022 at 21:39 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Previous posts:  Week 1 here,  Week 2 here

  Week 3 here

  So this weekend I’ve installed various versions of Linux Mint on the Acer Aspire One.  I’ve been sticking to using 32 bit versions and have tried Tricia and then Tina . For Tina I’m trying the XFCE version — the reason?  Even Cinnamon Tricia was causing the system to be slow.  It IS an old laptop after all.

  So I started out downloading RUFUS .  If you aren’t aware of what this tool does, it allows you to easily build a bootable flash drive.

  

  You click start and off it goes to install the downloaded ISO to a bootable flash drive.

  Once you’ve installed it on a flash drive, then comes the fun part – booting the laptop so that it grabs the operating system from the flash drive rather than the hard drive itself. In the Acer One case, you hit F2, go into the bios and change the boot order to where the usb flash drive is the primary boot device.  Boot from the flash drive and then choose Install Linux Mint.

  

  Click install mint and off you go.  It will ask you for the wifi password if it’s seen the network card. Installing it is straightforward – you are asked if you want to replace the OS that is on the computer or do a dual boot.  In my case I want to replace the OS because regardless if I let this unit go to anyone or ewaste it, I have to have the existing data totally wiped.

  Now comes the question – is it usable?  Compared to my trusty Thinkpad, it’s slow. I’m trying the XFCE version as it’s meant to use less resources. Once you boot up you have a functional browser (Firefox) and programs like LibreOffice and Thunderbird. Are all of those functional?  Absolutely yes.

  If you have questions, remember the forums on this site as well as the Linux Mint forums.

  What’s the major difference?  Well like anytime you make changes from one platform to another, there’s a lot of “I did this here, how do I do that there?”

  Case in point?  Want to know the IP address of the computer?  Instead of the windows version of ipconfig /all it’s ip a in the command window . You do much more command line work in Linux than you do in modern Windows or even Macintosh.

  Next up – to find tools to remote into the computer similar to RDP.  I always like to have ways to go from one computer to another.  Once tool I should be able to use is RealVNC.  There is also XRDP (more on this in a later post)

  Decision so far?  I definitely wouldn’t rely on this for my main computer.  I can still protect and defend myself on a Windows computer. But if you have spare time and old hardware, you can certainly entertain yourself for a while!

   

   

   

  Linux Patch Lady Posts

• Linux malware is on the rise. What should you do?

  Posted on March 7, 2022 at 02:43 CST by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums

  LINUX

  

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  Threats to Linux systems used to be relatively mild because Windows was such a larger target, outnumbering Linux systems by a huge percentage.

  Not any longer. Linux has become a much bigger target due to its increasingly significant role on Internet of Things (IoT) devices, virtual machines, containers, cloud services, and supercomputers.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.10.0 (2022-03-07).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux, malware

• Preparing for your move to Linux

  Posted on October 11, 2021 at 02:43 CDT by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums

  LINUX

  

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  For most of us, our Microsoft Office suite is far from the only thing we use on our Windows computer. What about email, messaging, screen captures, password safes, tax-preparation software, calculators, image-manipulation tools, video players, backup tools, and such?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.39.0 (2021-10-11).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux, Migrating

• Good choices for your Windows-to-Linux transition

  Posted on May 31, 2021 at 01:01 CDT by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums

  LINUX

  

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  If you’re a long-standing Windows user thinking about moving to Linux, there are several distributions in particular that you ought to consider.

  In this article, we’ll take a quick look at Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Manjaro and then spend some time examining Ubuntu more closely. These three are some of the most popular Linux distributions and have a considerable user base, along with a very active support community. In fact, TechMint ranked Manjaro, Linux Mint and Ubuntu as the second, third, and fourth most popular Linux distributions of 2021, respectively.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.20.0 (2021-05-31).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux, Ubuntu

• Windows to Linux? Are you ready to take the leap?

  Posted on April 19, 2021 at 01:02 CDT by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums

  LINUX

  

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  Are tighter security, more customizable interfaces, and the availability of source code enough to make you switch? What does Linux have that Windows doesn’t, and what might you lose by moving to Linux?

  Key to answering these questions is understanding how the two systems differ. I am asked this often, and it’s a really good question — but not the easiest one to answer.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.14.0 (2021-04-19).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux

• Windows and Linux Interoperability

  Posted on March 15, 2021 at 01:04 CDT by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums

  LINUX

  

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  If you, like me, have both Windows and Linux systems on your network, you don’t have to walk from one desk to another to work on each of them in an isolated fashion.

  Instead, there are some very useful options for Windows-Linux interoperability. They allow you to move files between the systems, log in from one system to the other, and mount file shares so that you can use Linux files on Windows or vice versa. You can even run commands remotely between the systems. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at these options.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.10.0 (2021-03-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux, Windows

• Trying Linux on your Windows system

  Posted on February 15, 2021 at 01:20 CST by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums
  

  LINUX

  Trying Linux on your Windows system

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  Did you ever think you might like to give Linux a try without making a commitment to a new operating system? Well, guess what? You can!

  In fact, there are a number of ways to pull this off — without disrupting, interfering with, or unseating your Windows installation. You can install a command line tool on top of Windows 10, run a Linux desktop on top of Windows, run a full Linux distribution with its own GUI from a DVD or USB drive, install it as a second OS and decide at boot time which you want to run, or install Linux on some old PC you don’t use anymore.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.6.0 (2021-02-15).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.6.F (2021-02-15).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux

• Linux sudo flaw

  Posted on January 27, 2021 at 23:55 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Over there on the “other” platform, Linux also needs to be updated this week.

  As bleepingcomputer notes,

  A now-fixed Sudo vulnerability allowed any local user to gain root privileges on Unix-like operating systems without requiring authentication.

  What’s interesting is the bug has been under the hood for 9 years!

  Linux Patch Lady Posts

• What Linux is and why it has persisted

  Posted on January 18, 2021 at 02:45 CST by Sandra Henry-Stocker • Comment in the Forums
  

  LINUX

  What Linux is and why it has persisted

  By Sandra Henry-Stocker

  When all your friends are using Windows and the desktops at work are all running Windows, Linux might be one of the last things you’d even think about.

  Anyone who has never taken a dive into Linux may wonder why anyone would bother using what might appear to be a nonstandard, aberrant, fragmented operating system with hundreds of different builds. There are, however, many reasons why Linux has become a successful OS, why hundreds of Linux distributions have come into being, and why Linux enthusiasts are so enamored with it.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.2.0 (2021-01-18).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Linux