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I assume it matters at least a little which apps win these awards, so I suggest you go vote before the deadline

Linux in Exile gets his Linux Install zapped by Windows. Not sure how Windows kills itself, but Linux continues to work fine. I'm reminded how Windows killed my laptop, under different circumstances.

Cleaning up the cable mess behind your computer.

How to DIY a (Linux) OS to serve exactly one function. Or maybe two or three functions. On your laptop. (This is not at "how to" but rather a "How would I")

I'll admit, I'm somewhat interested in Google's Chromebook concept. The Chromebook is Google's spin on the "netbook". Announced in May last year, Chromebook goes on sale in mid-June. The Chromebook runs Google's Chrome OS, which is based on Gentoo Linux. While Linux has appeared on netbooks in the past (and were the only option on the very first netbooks) this is another example of the flexibility of Linux. You can use Linux as a base for almost any computing platform - it's small, fast, and supports a variety of hardware.

Perhaps free market forces can work wonders but when it comes to FOSS, commercial interests usually break the software. Are RHEL's recently revealed "secret patches" an example?

Review of Data Source Handbook, just coming out. A few years ago I did something utterly stupid. I listened to someone's advice. Now, I don't want to sound too cynical, but really, half or more of what people tell you is, shall we say, unconsidered. They don't stop and think that they are actually telling you something that will affect what you do next, what decision you make, how you adjust your plans, or what money you spend. So random sh#t comes flying out of their mouth and you do it and later feel stupid.

Apps designed to organize your photos, files, etc. may get in the way more than help. If you stick to the basic file management system and a few basic tools you may be better off.

Grandma Embedded Linux, aka Grannybuntu: The next big thing in desktop technology, or just another fanboy pipe dream? Well, who cares; As long as it has pipes, it's cool.

When I do an upgrade, no matter the operating system, I prefer to blow everything away and install the new version from scratch. I've done straight upgrades, and they run fine, but I find every upgrade leaves some "cruft" from the old system. So I always reformat and reinstall.

Will Ubuntu follow the MS strategy, keeping just ahead of your hardware? And, is that necessarily a bad thing? Sometimes I feel like I'm watching Ubuntu running quickly towards a big cliff. Recently, it was hinted/announced that Gnome would be dropped as Ubuntu's default desktop, and x.org dropped as the x server. The mint Distro has forked itself to produce a pure Debian distro, which was what Ubuntu was supposed to be (sort of) when I signed up for it, which I take to be a reaction by the minters of Mint to Ubuntu's increasing non-Debian-ness.

gcalcli is a nice utility. Make it better with this hack. I wrote earlier of the very useful command line utility called gcalcli (short for GoogleCALendarCommandLineInterface). Click here to read that post. One of the options is called "agenda" which spits out, by default, the next five days of calendar entries. If you would prefer a different range of time than five days, then you can specify two dates and the utility will give you that set of entries.

Google Calendar is a very useful tool, but it can be made even more useful when you learn how to see your agenda or make appointments from the command line.

Command line weather app is example of why the cli is good. The command line is a great place to get weather information. Here, I discuss one cli-app for current conditions and forecasts, in the larger context of why you would ever want to use the command line anyway. There are several ways to use your computer to check the weather. One is to use the Nakob Weather Rock method. Suspend the computer using a rope from a tripod of sticks. If the computer is swaying, that means it is windy. If the computer is wet, that means it is raining.

This is the first in a series about using the "command line" in Linux. It is also about knowing when to use a gui instead. But before going into any of that we need to understand what is meant by a "command line" application. You'll find that as we explore that idea, a lot of things that are not really true 'cli' (command line interface) apps arguably count as cli, including menu driven console based apps and even gui apps. This will be controversial. Let's start with some basic definitions. If anyone has any problems with any of the following just let me know. Consider this a first draft subject to revision!

Why schools should have students use and learn Linux instead of some other OS. What computer operating system should students learn at school? Most schools use MS Windows or Mac, but a number have switched or are in the process of switching to Linux. For schools the advantages are lower costs, greater security, no viruses or spyware, easier upgrades and better reliability. Lastly, there are very few licensing hassles or concerns about pirated software.

Minimizing is not always seen as the same thing; Plus, an exploration of just how bad it can get with a small laptop screen.

Several organizations have been successful in moving to Linux. I'd like to discuss this topic again. How do you move an organization to Linux? What's the process? It's not as simple as coming in over the weekend, re-installing everyone's desktops with the latest Linux distro, and hoping things go for the best. You need a real transition plan, a strategy to move the organization.

A small but useful HTML function for emacs text editor. An elisp function that, when invoked with a key combination, asks the user for the root of an HTML pair (such as 'em' or 'strong' or 'blockquote'), and then wraps the selected text or the word the cursor (point) is on in the code.

There is a lot of info on using wine to run Kindle for PC, but there are a couple of things you must know to make it actually work. (Of course, there ae no guarantees!) Once it does work, it works passably well.