Linux Tips, Tricks, and How-Tos

How to Get MacBook-Style Finger Gestures on Ubuntu Linux

Apple users have been swiping, pinching, and rotating Mac’s user interfaces to their fingers’ content. In today’s article, we’ll show you how to do groovy things like expanding and reducing windows, and changing deskt…

Zainul Franciscus Feb 15th, 2011

Ask How-To Geek: Dropbox in the Start Menu, Understanding Symlinks, and Ripping TV Series DVDs

This week we take a look at how to incorporate Dropbox into your Windows Start Menu, understanding and using symbolic links, and how to rip your TV series DVDs right to unique and high-quality episode files….

Jason Fitzpatrick Feb 14th, 2011

How to Configure the Linux Grub2 Boot Menu the Easy Way

We, like many Linux geeks, have had some trouble making the transition to Grub2, or for some of us, learning how to configure it from scratch. Fortunately, a new graphical tool has made this process easy and straightforward!…

Trevor Bekolay Feb 14th, 2011

How to Stream Media Files From any PC to Your PlayStation 3

Have you ever wished that you could stream video files from your computer over to your TV without actually hooking the two directly together? If you’ve got a PlayStation 3, you’re in luck, because that’s today’s geek lesson….

Zainul Franciscus Feb 14th, 2011

How to Manage and Use LVM (Logical Volume Management) in Ubuntu

In our previous article we told you what LVM is and what you may want to use it for, and today we are going to walk you through some of the key management tools of LVM so you will be confident when setting up or expanding you…

Justin Garrison Feb 7th, 2011

How to Turn Your Home Ubuntu PC Into a LAMP Web Server

Got a Linux PC you want to put to work? Maybe you’re not comfortable with the command-line only version of Ubuntu Server Edition. Here’s how to keep the standard Ubuntu desktop and add web-serving capabilities to it….

YatriTrivedi Feb 4th, 2011

Create Your Own Quick Calculator Function for the Terminal

If you’re anything like me, you’ve always got a Terminal window open, and you probably have even assigned a hotkey to bring it up anytime. So why open up the boring calculator when you can solve equations right there on t…

Lowell Heddings Feb 3rd, 2011

How to Archive, Search, and View Your Tweet Statistics with ThinkUp

Worried about archiving your tweets? Want a more powerful search? Want to see your tweet statistics? You can do all of that and more by installing ThinkUp on your home server.

YatriTrivedi Feb 2nd, 2011

Hard Drive Monitor Script for Headless Linux Servers

Modern Hard drives have an internal mechanism called S.M.A.R.T. through which it is possible to know when a hard disk is about to fail. Wouldn’t it be nice of the server to Email you before such a failure?…

Aviad Jan 25th, 2011

How to Use Linux Commands in Windows with Cygwin

Windows command-line tools have advanced a lot with PowerShell, but Linux has had a much more usable terminal for many years. Here’s how you can get the best of both worlds with Cygwin, a ‘nix-style terminal for Windows PCs….

Justin Garrison Jan 25th, 2011

How to Be More Productive in Ubuntu Using Keyboard Shortcuts

We’re always looking for new ways to speed up everyday tasks in Ubuntu. We’ll show you some keyboard shortcuts you might not have known about, and show you how to make your own custom shortcuts.

Dave McKay Jan 24th, 2011

How To Process Camera Raw Without Paying for Adobe Photoshop

You might think that you need expensive software to take advantage of Camera RAW—something like Photoshop or the more modestly priced Lightroom. Fortunately there is freeware that can help you achieve professional results w…

Eric Z Goodnight Jan 24th, 2011

Ask How-To Geek: Learning the Office Ribbon, Booting to USB with an Old BIOS, and Snapping Windows

You’ve got questions and we’ve got answers. Today we highlight how to master the new Office interface, USB boot a computer with outdated BIOS, and snap windows to preset locations.

Jason Fitzpatrick Jan 17th, 2011

What is Logical Volume Management and How Do You Enable It in Ubuntu?

Logical Volume Manager allows for a layer of abstraction between your operating system and the disks/partitions it uses. In traditional disk management your operating system looks for what disks are available (/dev/sda, /dev/…

Justin Garrison Jan 17th, 2011

How To Add MP3 Support to Audacity (to Save in MP3 Format)

You may have noticed that the default installation of Audacity doesn’t have built-in support for MP3s due to licensing issues. Here’s how to add it in yourself for free really easily in few simple steps….

YatriTrivedi Jan 11th, 2011

Ask How-To Geek: Clone a Disk, Resize Static Windows, and Create System Function Shortcuts

This week we take a look at how to clone a hard disk for easy backup or duplication, resize stubbornly static windows, and create shortcuts for dozens of Windows functions.

Jason Fitzpatrick Jan 10th, 2011

How to Setup Software RAID for a Simple File Server on Ubuntu

Do you need a file server on the cheap that is easy to setup, “rock solid” reliable with Email Alerting? will show you how to use Ubuntu, software RAID and SaMBa to accomplish just that.

Aviad Jan 7th, 2011

Network Your Computers & Devices: Step by Step

If you’re looking for a great book to help you learn more about Windows home networking, there’s a new book on the market by our good friend Ciprian, and published by none other than Microsoft Press….

Lowell Heddings Jan 6th, 2011

How To Boot 10 Different Live CDs From 1 USB Flash Drive

Ever get the urge to try out a bunch of Linux distros at once? Maybe you’re hosting a Linux installation party. Here’s an easy way to get a bunch of Live CDs working from a single thumb drive.

YatriTrivedi Jan 3rd, 2011

This Week in Geek History: Birth of Linux Creator, FM Radio Appears, and Q*Bert Released

Every week we bring you interesting trivia from the annuals of geekdom. This week in Geek History witnessed the birth of Linux creator Linus Torvalds, the patent for FM radio, and the release of wildly popular 80s arcade game…

Jason Fitzpatrick Dec 30th, 2010

The 20 Best How-To Geek Linux Articles of 2010

We might be known for our Windows articles, but in 2010 we sure posted a lot of really in-depth articles covering Linux. Here’s the 20 best articles that we covered this year, covering everything from how to tweak your setu…

Lowell Heddings Dec 30th, 2010

How To Access Your eBook Collection Anywhere in the World

If you have an eBook reader it’s likely you already have a collection of eBooks you sync to your reader from your home computer. What if you’re away from home or not sitting at your computer? Learn how to download books f…

Jason Fitzpatrick Dec 28th, 2010

VirtualBox 4.0 Rocks Extensions and a Simplified GUI

The new interface is a significant improvement over the old one. Previously information about your virtual machines was packed into a two-tab interface on the right hand side of the main window. The information was there but …

Jason Fitzpatrick Dec 23rd, 2010

The Beginner’s Guide to Linux Disk Utilities

Knowing how to check the condition of your hard disk is useful to determine when to replace your hard disk. In today’s article, we will show you some Linux disk utilities to diagnose the health of your hard disk….

Zainul Franciscus Dec 15th, 2010

The Beginner’s Guide to Managing Users and Groups in Linux

Ubuntu Linux uses groups to help you manage users, set permissions on those users, and even monitor how much time they are spending in front of the PC. Here’s a beginner’s guide to how it all works….

Zainul Franciscus Dec 7th, 2010