Tech and life

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I run a Windows 7 PC, an Ubuntu desktop PC and an Acer netbook with Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10. It’s important to keep my data and services synchronised between them so each machine is up to date with the latest files and cloud services, and so I thought I’d run through the software and services which I currently use:

Google Chrome

This is my browser of choice. You can use Chrome to keep your tabs, bookmarks and extensions synchronised. I’m using Chromium (the open source version of Chrome) on my Ubuntu netbook and Chrome on my Windows desktop and everything syncs just fine. To start syncing between Chrome/Chromium on your different devices, just go to the spanner/wrench icon at the top right of the browser on each of your machines and choose Options then the tab marked Personal Stuff. Click Set up sync and when it’s done you’ll see

At the moment you can choose to keep everything synced or choose to sync any or all of Apps, Autofill, Bookmarks, Extensions, Preferences and Themes.  Doesn’t have password sync yet but I believe this is coming in the next Chrome version. Of course, the Chrome Xmarks extension will also allow automatic synchronization of bookmarks, passwords and open tabs between Windows and Ubuntu machines.
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It’s possible to run a small office/home office (SOHO) set-up with a completely free operating system, software and internet services… but do you? Are there any commercial packages or paid online services you consider ‘must-haves’? I thought I’d quickly run through my paid/free stance and I’d love to hear your thoughts although I don’t think we need to get into a discussion on ‘acquiring’ commercial software for free.

Free operating system

If you run a Linux system, you’ll be familiar with free operating systems and open source software. I run Ubuntu Netbook Edition on my Acer Aspire netbook and I’m just about to try out Linux Mint on my second desktop. What holds me back from completely moving to Linux is my day job where I have to be able to work on Microsoft Word files. More on that later. I’m running Windows 7 on one desktop. Of course in the Windows world, once you’ve bought the OS, you can run a completely free set-up too.

Free software

I run a small office/home office (SOHO) set-up and work from home. Pretty much all the software I use is free or open source. However, I do some work in the publishing sector and they still rely very much on Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat. Many authors submit work in Word doc format (rarely docx I find) and authors and publishers usually expect work to be returned in doc format with Track Changes turned on. It’s a real shame that open source software hasn’t really caught on in the publishing field yet. So I have to use Microsoft Office to cope with clients who use commercial software. Yes, you could convert Word doc format to Open Office Writer odt format, turn on track changes in Open Office Writer then convert back to doc format but there’s always a worry that some formatting/changes will be lost in conversion. So for work, I have to use MS Word on my desktop running Windows 7. There’s a good recent discussion on office software, free and commercial, at How-To Geek.

The only other paid software I use on my Windows system is an old copy of Serif PagePlus for DTP and Serif PhotoPlus for photo editing. I haven’t upgraded these in years – the old copies I have are just fine. But a quick look on the AlternativeTo website shows that I could move to Scribus as a free alternative for DTP and there are lots of free alternatives (software and online services) for photo editing.

But for many working from home on a Windows system, I’m sure it’s possible to find all you need if you look at free software alternatives and online services. By the way, I don’t believe it’s necessary to pay for security software either. If you’re running a Window system, Microsoft Security Essentials is free for you and is probably all you need for real-time protection. If you’re running a Linux system, you probably don’t need any antimalware software.

Free services

Every online service I use is free…so far, although I don’t expect it to remain that way in the future. We’ve had it good so far. Like many of you I’m sure, I use a good spread of Google apps. Yes, they’re free but the downside is targeted ads, which I don’t mind, and the knowledge that they’re building up a fair old archive of information on you. So I try to use good alternatives to Google services when I can.

So over to you. Do you use a free OS? Is there any commercial software you must have on your Windows system? What about online services – anything you’re paying for? Drop a comment below.

Do you pay for software and online services is a post from Tech and Life. If you’re reading it in full elsewhere, it’s been copied without consent. Please go to Tech and Life to read the original post and many others in the archive.

Photo credit: k40s

Continuing the Useful Links series, here’s another post with links to post-installation tips for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid. I did a similar post in June last year and here’s the link as most of the tips in that older post still apply.

Tips and tricks for Ubuntu after installation – Tech Support Alert

Top 5 changes you should make on a fresh Lucid install [Linux] – Make Use Of

Ubuntu 10.04 post-install guide: What to do and try after installing Lucid Lynx! – The Silent Number

10 Applications you must install on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx [Linux] – Make Use Of

What to install after installing Ubuntu Lucid? – Make Tech Easier

What 10 things do you do after a fresh Ubuntu install? – OMG! Ubuntu!

What to do after installing Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx? Run this script! – WebUpD8

Top things to do after installing Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Lucid Lynx – Unixmen

Do you have any Ubuntu post-installation tips? Drop a comment below.

Useful links: Ubuntu 10.04 post-installation tips is a post from Tech and Life. If you’re reading it in full elsewhere, it’s been copied without consent. Please go to Tech and Life to read the original post and many others in the archive.

Most visited posts

Here’s a list of the most visited posts on this site throughout 2009. Site analytics are from Woopra. I’ve only included those posts with over 500 hits. As you can see I had a phenomenal response to my slow Firefox post. If you’re new to this site you should find some interesting older posts listed below. If these aren’t of interest, have a look around – there are about 90 posts to choose from at the moment.

Is Firefox slow for you? Here’s some tips to try which might speed it up – 11736 visits

Installing Easy Peasy Linux on my Acer Aspire One netbook – 2880 visits

Finding lost bookmarks in your info archive – 2037 visits

Send free SMS reminders to your mobile phone -1128 visits

Some Ubuntu resources for beginners – 776 visits

Uploading files to your website with Notepad++ – 649 visits

What is the best time to tweet? – 599 visits

Useful links: A to Z of search – 543 visits

Most retweeted posts

What is the best time to tweet? – 29 tweets

Is Firefox slow for you? Here’s some tips to try which might speed it up – 19 tweets

My top 15 useful bookmarklets – 13 tweets

Installing Easy Peasy Linux on my Acer Aspire One netbook – 9 tweets

Some Ubuntu resources for beginners – 5 tweets

Quick tip: Disable or remap the Caps Lock key in Windows and Linux – 5 tweets

Can I take this opportunity to thank everyone who has visited this blog throughout the year – hope you found your visit was worthwhile and thanks too to all who’ve taken the time to comment on the posts. Please subscribe to the RSS feed if you can – I blog in my spare time and it’s blog comments and rising subscriber numbers which are a great encouragement to keep blogging. Link back to any of the posts if you can and retweet any if you like them. And if there’s anything you’d like me to cover, or like to see more of, drop a comment below.

Wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2010!

I’ve already done a post on Some Linux Resources for Beginners so I thought I’d round up some great resources specifically for those starting out with Ubuntu. I haven’t included many blogs here where posts are put up regularly, only if they’ve mentioned a good Ubuntu resource in a blog post. Mostly these are just Ubuntu reference/resource sites with tutorials, guides, how-tos, forums, etc.

General Ubuntu resources

Going Ubuntu: Getting Started

Ubuntu Guide

Ubuntu Documentation

Ubuntu Linux Resources

Hardware Support

UbuntuHCL: Ubuntu Hardware Compatibility List

Gnome-Look: Eye Candy for your GNOME desktop

Ubuntu Brainstorm: submit your ideas for inclusion in future Ubuntu versions

Ubuntu FAQ Guide

Ubuntu Installation Guide: One of the most comprehensive guides on installing Ubuntu I’ve seen

Ubuntu: search resources

Ubuntu Search Engine

Ubuntu Search

UbuntuWire Search

Ubuntu cheatsheets and shortcuts

Ubuntu Linux Cheatsheet

Useful Shortcut Keys in Ubuntu

Ubuntu ebooks

Download Ubuntu Installation Guide and Cheatsheet Now

Ubuntu Linux Bible

Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference

Ubuntu forums

Ubuntu Forums

Ubun2

Ubuntu how-tos and tutorials

Ubuntu Geek: quick tips and how-tos

Ubuntux: a community for beginners and experts

Ubuntu Linux Help

Useful Links for Ubuntu Beginners

Learning Ubuntu

Addictive Tips: Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu Tutorials

Ubuntuts

Useful links: Ubuntu post-installation tips

Ubuntu software

GetDeb

SourceForge

Ubuntu Software and Tweaks: The Best List Ever

Ubuntu magazines

Full Circle Magazine: free downloadable magazine

Ubuntu User: subscription magazine

This is just the tip of the iceberg and I’m sure I’ve missed many important Ubuntu resources here. Just drop a comment below with any you’ve come across that you find really useful and I’ll add them.

Related posts

Great Ubuntu and Linux blogs for beginners

Photo credit: k40s

Photo credit: k40s

So you’ve installed Ubuntu and given it a quick test drive. What next?

For the first in our Useful Links series, I’ve chosen to gather together some recent ‘things to do after installing Ubuntu’ type posts which I’d bookmarked on Delicious. You’ll find there’s a bit of repetition in the tips probably because good ideas get passed on from post to post so that’s probably some kind of recommendation. And yes, it just goes to show how many of this type of post are floating around the net. Anyway, here’s the list:

10 tips for after you install or upgrade Ubuntu – Tombuntu

Top things to do after installing Ubuntu – Jam’s Ubuntu Linux Blog

9 things you need to do/install after installing Ubuntu 9.04 – Make Tech Easier

List of services you can shutdown for better system performance – Noobs on Ubuntu

5 things to do after installing Jaunty – Help for Linux

Ubuntu 9.04 post installation guide – My-Guides.net

19 things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux – eackouye

10 things to do immediately after installing Jaunty – OMG! Ubuntu!

To do list after installing Ubuntu and Linux Alternatives Applications – The Indexer

Five things I do with every Ubuntu installation – Linux Fanatics

10 things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux – Ubuntu Linux Help

How to setup the perfect 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope desktop – ChrisJohnston.org

Hope you find them useful. Any good tips I’ve missed?

How do you discover great new blogs and content online? Well of course you can use your RSS reader, Delicious, Stumbleupon, follow links in tweets, or recommendations that a friend has emailed to you. But what about one-off posts from smaller blogs that may be of interest but which you’re missing? You could search for the keywords you’re interested in on Twitter. I blogged about this earlier. Or try subscribing to your topic of interest on Digg. I discovered this recently and it’s a great way to discover new content.

As some of you know, I’m starting out with Ubuntu at the moment and am trying to learn as much as I can from reading content online. I’ve subscribed to a number of Ubuntu and Linux blogs in my RSS reader but I’ve found it’s also really useful to subscribe to upcoming diggs in the Linux/Unix topic under Technology. There’s a button in the top left (not shown in the figure below) which allows you to subscribe to this category in your reader.

Many bloggers submit their latest Linux posts to digg and you’ll find a wide variety of content here ranging from how-to’s to reviews of Linux applications. A lot of it doesn’t get picked up by the larger tech blogs or by Twitter so it’s worth doing. Of course, you don’t have to subscribe to upcoming Linux diggs – pick whatever takes your fancy and add it to your RSS reader.

So how do you discover new content? I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment below.

First, a Happy New Year to one and all! I hope you’ll eventually be able to look back on 2009 as a great year where you achieved all you set out to.

Here’s my short list of tech targets for 2009:

1. Move to Ubuntu. I currently use Windows XP and although the signs are that Windows 7 is going to be an excellent OS, I believe that Linux, particularly Ubuntu, is finally becoming a real alternative for us all. I’ve already installed Ubuntu 8.10 without problems and now have to find the best Linux alternatives to my essential Windows applications. If anyone is interested, I’ve listed these Windows apps on my About page. If you haven’t tried Linux but want to give it a go, I hope you’ll follow me through 2009 as I overcome all the hurdles in making Ubuntu my main OS. I hope we’ll all learn along the way.

2. Improve this website. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed starting out with WordPress and I want to become more proficient with it in 2009. I have a few ideas including trying new themes and plugins and I’ve recently installed a Contact page on this site. If anyone has any thoughts on how I could improve this site, please drop a comment below. I can take any criticism!

3. Build my @techandlife Twitter community. I’ve really enjoyed my 3 months with Twitter and it has undoubtedly helped drive traffic to my blog. I’m looking forward to building my community on Twitter. My next blog post will be about what I’ve learned so far with Twitter.

4. Build my business Twitter community. Spurred on by the success of @techandlife on Twitter, I want to use what I’ve learned so far to integrate Twitter with my small business. I believe Twitter is going to be really important in 2009 in driving traffic, so I must start to build my business presence with it.

Well that’s my main targets. What do you hope to achieve in 2009? Drop a comment below.

I’ve blogged earlier about how I tried Ubuntu 7.04 last year. It installed fine but I couldn’t get online as it was only configured for WEP protocol and my wireless router is set to WPA. Yes I know I could have probably solved it given time by searching and asking online but I figured that just shouldn’t be necessary. If Linux is to be a viable alternative to Windows, it should install without a hitch – indeed, it should be easier than a Windows install.

So with that in mind, a few days after Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex was released, I downloaded it to try again with some trepidation and not a little excitement. Was this to be the release where for me, Linux becomes a real alternative? Again I was determined that the install should be intuitive and I shouldn’t have to resort to online forums to sort out any problems.

Downloading from a UK mirror was fine on my slow (1MB) broadband connection. Took 1h 50 min. But that was okay. I let it work away during my lunch break and then into the afternoon. I burned the iso file to a CD using CDBurnerXP – that took 4 minutes.

I have a couple of removable hard drives on my old (back-up) PC. Windows XP on one drive and Ubuntu 7.04 on another. So I’ll just wipe away my old Ubuntu 7.04 install. No problem, I’ll just boot off the Linux CD and then reformat. Booted up fine to the GNOME desktop. I wondered if I could get online from the Live CD. Gave it a try. I clicked the Connect icon at the top right. As before, Ubuntu recognized my wireless Zoom router but this time gave me the option to enter my WPA passphrase. Yes I thought. We’re away this time. Sure enough after entering the passphrase I was connected. I fired up Firefox and confirmed that I was indeed online.

So far so good. Now to install Ubuntu on the hard disk. I booted up again from the Live CD and picked the option to ‘Install Ubuntu‘. When I got to the repartition menu, the choice for me was either keep the 7.04 install and add 8.10 in two partitions or to create a new single partition with 8.10. I couldn’t see an option to wipe 7.04 and install 8.10 in two partitions. So I went for the single partition. Anyway it’s only a test install. If I’ve messed up I’ll just reinstall again.

So I went ahead with the option Guided – Use entire disk, and Ubuntu installed flawlessly in 50 minutes. Again, I entered my WPA passphrase and I was online without a hitch. I grabbed the latest Ubuntu updates and that’s where I am at the moment. Quite painless really and having been through it, I know I can easily reinstall in less than an hour if I’ve messed up. In fact, all in all, it was easier than a Windows install so I urge anyone out there interested in switching to Linux to give Intrepid Ibex a try.

I hope to blog about Ubuntu now and again and let you know how I’m getting on. The burning question really is do I move eventually to Windows 7 from XP or can I take the fork in the road which says Linux?

Feel free to comment if you think I could have done things differently with this install.

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