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Filed under: Fun, Features, Linux, Lists

10 easy ways to play with Linux without leaving Windows

While I haven't made the switch to Linux full time, I find myself spending more and more time experimenting of late. In particular, I'm enjoying projects like Moblin and the Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

If you're still using Windows for your primary OS there are tons of ways to get your feet wet like a true penguin without making any serious commitments. Here are ten ways to play with Linux painlessly -- if you have another to share, please post it in the comments!

Virtualization

Moba LiveCD

Moba uses QEMU to boot LiveCD and LiveUSB images right from your Windows desktop. It works as a portable app and also offers context menu integration so you can right-click to launch fresh images.

Portable Ubuntu
Using Colinux, Pulseaudio for Windows, and the Xming X server, this package allows you to boot a fully-working Ubuntu environment inside Windows right from your usb flash drive. The bigger the better, obviously. I'd recommend an 8GB or 16GB if you plan on using it regularly.

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Filed under: Internet, P2P, DLS 101

DLS 101: 6 free programs for casual users that download torrents

Most of our regular readers probably have a favorite stand-alone torrent application like uTorrent, Vuze, Transmission, etc. Our friends and family, though, who don't download via torrent all that often may not want a dedicated program.

There are plenty of other programs you can use that come with torrent downloading abilities baked right in. Here are six options I've recommended to my friends. If you have some other options to share, leave them in the comments!

Use your web browser: Opera and Wyzo (pictured above) - What better place to get support for torrents than in your web browser? WIth Opera and Wyzo (which is based on Firefox) torrents are handled just like any other download. Click a torrent, and the download manager kicks in the same as it would if you downloaded an image, document, .zip file, or whatever.

Use your file sharing program: Limewire and Frostwire - Many of you are already using one of these programs to download music, but they can also handle your torrent downloads. The newest version of Limewire features much-improved torrent support (thanks to the LibTorrent project). Frostwire is built on Limewire's foundation, and provides the same functionality. One key difference is that Frostwire won't ask you to upgrade to the pro version, because there isn't one.

Use a download manager: Free Download Manager and FlashGet - FDL does tons of great things that you'll appreciate. It can accelerate and resume your downloads, grab Flash videos from sites like YouTube, easily upload files to share with your friends, and tell you what the community thinks about the files you download. FlashGet also does download acceleration and resuming, and it adds some handy download organization features. And, of course, they both support torrents!

Filed under: OS Updates, Features, Linux, Novell, Open Source

Flipping the Linux switch: openSUSE, geeko of many colors

YaST looks really hawt today.Please, allow me to explain. This week's FTLS was not at all what I intended it to be. For weeks now, I've been toying with idea of dual-booting a Debian based distro with a RPM based distro. Ubuntu Hardy (now reasonably mature enough for day to day use with minimal bork ups) was the obvious choice for a Debian flavor, as it already existed on my hard drive.

I am not a big fan of RPM based stuff, in general. I historically have had some real issues with installing Fedora on any piece of hardware I touch. I am intrigued to pieces by PCLinuxOS, but not intrigued enough to actually try it. SuSE, when it was just plain ol' SuSE, was the first Linux I ever tried. I liked it well enough, and it does hold a dear place in my heart. I guess it's kind of like a first crush.

The last openSUSE install I tried for any real length of time was 10.1. I installed 10.3 a month or two back to try some things, and found, though it's really usable, there wasn't anything that made me want to say, "Screw Ubuntu."

But I wanted to try openSUSE as my RPM based distro, again, because there are some nifty little apps on the horizon that seem, for now, to work best/easiest with openSUSE and/or RPM distros. I intended, wholeheartedly, to write about one of those little apps this week.

Until I reinstalled openSUSE 10.3, with the GNOME desktop. I was taken by the whole presentation, the whole delivery of the OS. I am still blown away by it.

Maybe not blown away enough to stop using Ubuntu entirely... but I haven't actually booted into Hardy for some time now. And I am anxiously waiting to see what changes are in store for openSUSE 11.0, due this summer.

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Filed under: Linux

10 things you should know about Linux

LinuxEven if you're an experienced computer user, stepping into Linux the first time can be disorienting. TechRepublic has an article called 10 things you should know about every Linux installation  that begins, "There are numerous common features with every Linux installation. This document lists 10 of the more important ones you should know about." It won't turn you into a Linux Guru, but it will show you the basics of Linux's file hierarchy, package management, permissions, the CLI, and more. Every little bit helps, right?

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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