Today’s Featured Linux Website

There’s a site that I’ve been visiting for quite a few years. It’s filled with interesting blogs, tutorials, and links to other sites with great Linux related info.

It’s called TuxMachines.org. srlinuxx keeps things organized and running smoothly over there. Sure, there are bunches of great Linux sites online these days, but this one is pretty cool. It’s a one stop shopping experience. You can learn a lot in just one visit. Check out the forums, read a few member blogs, learn how to do something from a tutorial. It’s all there. Oh, and don’t forget to create an account. It’s good to belong.

Here’s are some latest news blurbs from TuxMachines.org:

• Fotoxx – Simple, Lightweight Photo Editor for Linux
• Fedora 15: A Potential Savior?
• Common user interface mistakes in KDE applications, part 1: Default sizes
• New PiTiVi project settings and rendering UI
• using latest 64-bit Flash player
• Conflicts in open source business models
• Mono: What we are Cooking
• Computer Engineer Barbie has a penguin

Oh, and don’t forget to vote for your favorite Linux distribution. I just finished whining about Slackware and Debian not being on the list.

Take it from me, folks, it’s a great site and another wonderful Linux resource that you can stick in your Bookmarks. Stop by and read there often. It won’t hurt you to learn a thing or two. Oh, and if you do feel that TuxMachines.org was helpful to you in any way, don’t hesitate to maybe slip a buck or two into their tip jar. Nowadays, every little bit helps and is appreciated.

That’s it for today, folks. Stay warm!

Later…

~Eric

Image credits: toothy emoticon courtesy of Drienerlo football club at University of Twente  – Enschede, Netherlands

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What? No More USENET Provided By Verizon?

I’m a little behind on this subject. Seems Verizon dropped its USENET service over a year ago.

Well, I guess I’ve been busy doing other stuff. I could have sworn I accessed a couple of my favorite newsgroups just a few months ago. Hmmm… maybe I did it at Google Groups and just think I did it in Thunderbird via Verizon’s USENET service. Either way, it sucks. What’s the world coming to? First, all the Gopher servers shut their doors, and now the ISPs are dropping their USENET service. *sigh* The world just keeps moving on.

When I first came online back in 2000 (Yeah… I was a late comer to the party), I found USENET. I was absolutely astounded by the size of it. It was a world all its own. It was still pretty active back then, too. There is an amazing amount of information and useful data still on those servers here and there around the world. Google Groups can provide you free access to many of them that are still up and running. Back when I started trolling USENET newsgroups, there were other free providers. I think Google is the only free one in town these days.

Other than a short stint cruising local BBSs back in the early 80s on a 300 baud modem,  USENET was my first real experience with online communities. Remember pen pals when you were a kid? That was where you had a friend in some foreign country that you corresponded with via paper/ink and the mail services. You younger folks probably won’t remember that. They had pen pal programs set up in our schools when we were little tikes. Nowadays, you can just fire up your ‘puter and be yakkin’ with your Russian bud, Yuri, on XChat in a matter of seconds. COOL, huh? That’s progress.

Sadly, progress is also what’s killing USENET (and already killed Gopher). It’s in its twilight time right now, I do believe. Too bad. I sure had a lot of fun on USENET a decade ago. Times have changed. Now we have online boards and forums or Facebook and Twitter, et. al. Man! It’s a whole lot different. Some of it is better; not all. Texting is BS. Tweeting is BS. If you want meat in your online interactions, you’re going to have to do boards or what’s left of USENET. You can’t get much if you have a character limit when posting.

Anyway, getting back on topic…

Yeah, Verizon dropped USENET. But that’s OK. I found a cool little extension for T-bird that allows me to read my favorite USENET newsgroups within tabs inside the email client. Works like a charm! One day, after I’ve reached my goal of financial independence thanks to your donations, I’m going to donate some $ to each and every one of those folks who wrote the COOL extensions that I use in FF and TB. Seriously! They deserve something for coming up with this stuff.

Off to read soc.history.moderated for a while.

Later…

~Eric

Image credit: Google Groups –> Google.com

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Linux Forum

When my Linux Adventure began a few years ago, I did the same thing I did when I was learning the ins and outs of Microsoft Windows, I went searching for a friendly community tech support forum.

I had a bit of a head start in my search for a helpful and friendly Linux forum, though. My favorite Finn, Urmas, had started his Linux Adventure a few months prior to me. He converted. Then he converted his mom. Nowadays he’s one of my fellow Admins over at Scot’s Newsletter Forums – Bruno’s All Things Linux, the very forum where he recommended I go to find the friendly help I was seeking.

Why the complicated name for that forum? Well, it’s like this… Scot Finnie, the Editor-in-Chief for ComputerWorld, started this board back in 2003 as an adjunct to his excellent MS WIndows-based tech newsletter. Scot has since become a bit of a Mac fan, but that’s a whole ‘nother story, pardner. Anywho, Scot’s board has many forums. There’s All Things Windows, All Thing Mac, and there’s Hardware, Application Software, Browsers and Email, etc. It’s all there for your reading and posting pleasure. The members of the community are known as Highlanders. Get it? Scot = a highlander. Oh, nevermind.

The area of Scot’s board that I visit most frequently is, of course, Bruno’s All Things Linux. Why is it Bruno’s? Well, you can read my very first article on this blog to find out that story. The man I’m talking about in that article is Bruno Knaapen, the founding Administrator of All Things Linux at Scot’s board. We changed the name of the forum to honor Bruno’s memory. He was a special man. You can still read my first posting over at Bruno’s All Things Linux about my issues with my Zip100 drive on my newly installed Ubuntu 6.06 installation. Bruno quickly solved that issue for me. The rest is history.

Not a day has gone by since then that I don’t visit Scot’s – BATL at least once a day. Usually, it’s 5-10 times a day. The staff and members are the very best. I’m at home at Scot’s. It’s a nice feeling. There are other Linux forums out there, but none have that feel of community that Scot’s – BATL does for me. If you’re looking for a friendly community of geeks, tech weinees, and all-round great folks, stop on by for a visit. Tell ’em Urmas sent you. Heh! I’m not getting involved.

I’m going to close this with a quote that Bruno was fond of posting anytime anyone would use the verboten word “newbie” over at BATL:

QUOTE (Bruno @ Forum May 25 2003)

We try to avoid the word “newbie”, it does no justice to the efforts we, also the beginners, put in to learn a new operating system. I think the wish to learn Linux shows a brave attitude and deserves a better qualification.

–Bruno

To this day, we honor Bruno’s wishes regarding that word. Oh, and you won’t ever see RTFM there either. I guarantee it. How can I guarantee it? Because I’m an Admin there. If I don’t catch it one of the other staff will. We try to make Scot’s board a learning place for explorers of all levels and interests… not just Linux. If you’re looking for a change from the overcrowded, impersonal places you’re used to visiting, give Scot’s a shot.

Later, folks…

~Eric

Linux.com – Your Linux Community Resource

Looking for friendly assistance? Looking for new friends with similar interests? Looking for a large Linux information resource?

C’mon over to Linux.com for a visit. Click on that Linux Community link on that bar running across the top of the main page to start the fun (see Fig. 1)

Figure 1 – Linux Community at Linux.com

Back in ’08-’09, the Linux Foundation was brainstorming on their beta website for Linux.com. Many Foundation members worked long hours and volunteered their ideas and their labors to create the new Linux.com site that was finally unveiled in April of ’09. I joined the Linux.com Community shortly after the website premiered. I’m there on a daily basis; helping, sharing, teaching, and learning.

There was the typical avalanche of new member sign ups and lots of activity the first couple months that Linux.com was online. However, that soon faded as the true Linux.com Community began to coalesce. Right now, there is a core of some really great members there. New folks still sign up every day; some stay, some just site-see and boogie on down the road.

Linux.com would like to invite YOU to become a member of there Community. You don’t have to be a guru. You don’t have to be an IT worker. You don’t have to be anything… except interested. There’s lots to do there. The site has a Q&A Database, a Tutorials Database, Community Blogs, Groups, Forums, etc. There’s so much that it’s actually a bit overwhelming till you learn how to navigate the site.

Sign up. It’s free. You’re getting in at a good time, too. The 2010 Collaboration Summit just ended. There are some really cool improvements and changes coming soon to Linux.com. It’s a work in progress, as are all living communities. You can point your mouse right HERE and click to register. Tell ’em Eric, The Nocturnal Slacker sent you.

See ya’ there…

~Eric